The past few posts have been pretty comic-centric, but with Comic-Con come and gone, it’s hard to not get sucked in by the whirlwind. So we’re going to hit the newly released Watchmen Blu-Ray Disc.

I can understand how the movie alienates most of the general populace. It’s definitely one of those movies you have to absorb. To be honest, it flows like you’ve been sitting down reading 12 comic books in a 3-hour sitting. Which I’ve done before, but this can probably make the average moviegoer pretty restless. I was however surprised by how many of my non-comic book friends enjoyed it though.

The Movie Itself

Watchmen is based off of the critically acclaimed graphic novel of the 80’s. It creates a what-if scenario that asks ‘what if superheroes existed?’ and drops them in the middle of the Cold War. It also creates characters that are a pastiche of major heroes. You can pretty much see parallels of Superman, Batman, The Question, The Punisher, Joker and Lex Luthor rolled up in an amalgam of characters.

Thematically the film presents itself confidently and competently. Repercussions of a Superman existing and the intrinsic fears the world would harbor due to that were thought provoking. This paralleled the time’s fear of nuclear war. This nearly single-handedly elevated the comic book medium into a more sophisticated art form.

But the story is still a superhero one, so it needs to have action. Zack Snyder knows how to deliver it and it’s a shame that it can’t be even more prevalent in the film. Visually, it feels like how a comic book movie should be. There are at most a handful of directors on the planet that can make silly Silver Age costumes look like they properly exist in a living, breathing world.

Personally, I thought the music soundtrack was a bit too needle-drop. 90 percent of it was music pulled from the 1980’s. While I actually enjoy the nostalgia of the era, and appreciate the intent, a bit more original scoring would have been better. Used in moderation, the 80’s music could have served as accent pieces rather than constant distractions in this reviewer’s opinion.

Director’s Cut

The new release version is mostly minor tweaks here and there. As the original movie was already gratuitous, there isn’t much more save 1 scene in regards to violence. There are subtle changes that worked in the movie’s favor that tend to be more respectful to the original comic book. The running time is just barely pushed from 2.5 to 3 hours. All said and done I would say this is the version to watch. There is only 1 scene that should have been left out and it involves some thugs talking for a brief two minutes that feels like an eternity because the actors are painfully inept at well, acting. A small blight, but when you’re stretching an already long movie to 3 hours, make sure the extra stuff is all quality.

The Disc

Since this is the blu-ray review, it would be poor form to not mention the technical achievements of the disc. It always seems redundant to praise the picture of a BD because they all look great in hi def. But Watchmen is such an art piece that it’s a shame to not see all the details. Like taking the time to study comic panelwork, appreciating the glory of Watchmen’s visual mastery is worth taking in at full force. Speaking of force, this brings us to the audio. Despite my personal soundtrack preferences, the audio experience is truly impressive. The fight scenes are fast and visceral largely due to each bone-cracking, face-smashing crunch that can be heard throughout the Dolby HD 5.1 mix.

The extras are largely your standard faire with the making-ofs and behind-the-scenes and what not. But the exceptional case is the Maximum Movie Mode, where if you are an extras junkie, you’re to be treated to the holy grail of director’s commentary. Snyder stands with dual screens and expounds upon every facet of production with seamless cutting to full film and Snyder’s exposition.

Closing

The mediocre box office figures obviously do not dictate the quality of film. It does however mean that it’s meant for a select audience. If you liked the movie, the blu-ray director’s cut is the ultimate experience. Some purists have issues with what few liberties Snyder and co. took in the adaptation of the story. As a fan of the material, I believe that if there was a Watchmen movie to be made, I’m glad we have this as an end result. Some may wish to wait for the version this Christmas where they splice in the Black Freighter. While I appreciate the pains to make a an even more faithful edition, I feel it may make watching the Watchmen a cumbersome experience. Personally, I feel that this current version will be the most streamlined in the end. With most BD’s still pushing the $30 line, it was nice to see this one at $20-23 at some popular outlets. This release can proudly stand as a top-tier feature in your blu-ray collection.

Recommendation 8.5/10

Pros - A Ghostbusters story that lives up to the two movies. Superb voice acting. Gameplay that captures everything you thought busting ghosts would be about. Destructible environments make for a kinetic and fun ride. Engaging multiplayer gives the game some legs in terms of replay value. Many parts of the game play out like a survival horror, and dare I say ’spooky’.

Cons - When the game is standing still, there’s not much to look at. The story while high in quality, is lacking a bit in length. Some quirky bugs hamper the experience at certain locations. Music can be repititive.

Last week I posted my first impressions of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. After another full week, I’m ready to give my final verdict for the game that puts a proton pack at your disposal, and drops you alongside the gang of Ghostbusters we all love.

That alone should be enough of a review. Since you’re looking for a bit more substance, I’ll elaborate on my thoughts a bit..

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a release that has been 20 years in the making for me. 1989 was the last time a full-on, live action Ghostbusters movie had been released. Now, after the long wait I believe we have the quintessential third movie we’ve been waiting for. Being the ‘third movie’ entails some strengths and weaknesses that depending on how big a Ghostbusters fan you are will either warrant a purchase or not.

Ghostbusters starts out much like the original movies do. There’s a huge psycho-kinetic wave of energy that explodes at a museum and traverses all across New York City. This triggers an effect that allows the ghosts, and ghouls to turn the city into their own personal playground. Of course, the Ghostbusters step in to try and save the day. I’m purposefully being as general as possible in my summation of the story, because if you’re like me then you like to go in fresh without knowing anything. As you play the game the story unfolds like a homage piece at certain points, while standing on its own in others.

The game is presented with a slick main menu, and from there the presentation only gets better. Developers should really take inspiration with how Terminal Reality utilizes screen space. I’ve always been someone who likes to see the least amount of HUDs as possible. In too many games, the screen is littered with health bars, ammunition counts, and maps. If a game is trying to capture a cinematic feel, then plastering HUDs all over the place really takes away from the experience. Luckily, in Ghostbusters there are no HUDs what-so-ever. In fact, the only time you’ll see something pop up on screen that isn’t directly related to your character or the action is when one of your teammates needs revived.

Terminal Reality is able to achieve a clear screen, by utilizing the character’s proton pack. All the information you need to keep up with is displayed on the proton pack itself. Genius. You’re health is represented by two horizontal bars that will deteriorate and go from green to red depending on how much damage you take. Your proton pack is also your weapon, but instead of using ammo there’s a heating/cooling system you have to track. Like your health, your proton pack’s heat meter is represented by two bars that will rise the more your proton pack is used. When your pack heats up to a certain point, the bars will turn red and your controller will shake. You’ll then need to cool it down by pressing the R2 button. If you overuse the proton pack then you’ll be knocked back and take some damage.

Overall, I really like the heating/cooling system of the proton pack. I honestly think it’s better than a standard ammunition count, as you’re not trapped with reloading all the time and you can stretch the pack to its limits if need be. I’d like to see more risk based weapons in games for the future.

The progression of Ghostbusters: The Video Game plays out very linear, and is where you’ll either be sold or turned off. With so many sandbox type games on the market, it’s as though so many people expect it in every game. I’ve heard too many times, “I want to be able to roam the city”, or “I want 20-30 side missions”. I could possibly support the side missions idea, but for Ghostbusters a sandbox environment just isn’t need. And for me would have ruined the experience.

I stated earlier that the game has a cinematic feel to it, and that just wouldn’t have been achievable with a non-linear structure. I like the fact that if I wanted to, I could play the entire game and everything would unfold without a pause (except loading screens). There’s no menus for choosing missions, or me having to drive across the city to my next location. Everything is streamlined, and keeps the narrative and gameplay tight and cohesive.

While Ghostbusters: The Video Game has a wonderful story, what feels even more like a ghost busting experience is the gameplay itself. I’m sure if you were a child in the 80’s or even early 90’s you have Ghostbusters toys. If you have/had the plastic proton pack with the nerf stream at the end of it then you imagined what an actual ghost capturing experience would feel like. Well, Terminal Reality allows you to actually experience ghost busting in a virtual world.

Moving around in the game feels a lot like many other third-person action games out there. The speed of movement plays like a solid middle ground between the slower Resident Evil 5 and something like Gears of War. It’s a bit on the clunky side, but you have the option to dodge, and run for smaller periods of time so you do have options with maneuvering.

Once you run into a ghost, most of your encounters will play out like the ghost wrangling you see in the movies. Your proton pack shoots out an energy stream that damages ghosts. The aiming system is tight, and at no time did I feel that the analog movements were off. The ghosts generally move in a frenetic pattern, and it can be challenge to chase them around while staying alive and damage them. At a certain point, the ghost’s health will reach a critical point. This is when you throw your capture stream on them. Holding the capture stream, you can drag the ghost around and slam them against the environment to daze them. You’ll then throw out your trap and guide the ghost in. One nifty aspect of ghost wrangling is that the more capture streams your teammates have on it, the easier the capture is.

Most of the game will have you capturing ghosts, but there are variations to the action that keeps everything fresh. There are smaller entities that just require you to blow them up, and some of the boss fights are more about you strategically moving around and firing then going for a capture. Along with the enemies, the proton pack has a variety of different uses and attachments as well.

As you progress through the game, you’re proton pack will naturally upgrade. You’ll start off with your standard proton stream. Then you’ll obtain a slime blower, meson Collider, and finally a stasis stream. Every option has a secondary fire mode as well, and the entire package provides a varied amount of weaponry. Most of the game you’ll be using your proton stream though. The slime blower, and tether are mostly used for puzzles that hinder your progress. The meson collider and stasis stream are adequate additions, but for the most part really just play second fiddle to the proton stream.

A question you might be asking yourself is — if there’s no on-screen maps then how do I know where to go? Well, like the proton pack, Terminal Reality utilizes another piece of Ghostbuster equipment to integrate directly into the gameplay. Here, is where you’ll use the PKE meter. There are a couple of functions that the PKE meter uses, and for the most part keeps slower parts of the game more interesting. A large portion of the levels in the game will have you tracking ghosts, as they can be tough to find. With your PKE meter out, you’ll go into first person mode with your meter in the middle of the screen.

The prime function of the meter is to detect where ghastly entities are hiding. The whole thing plays out like a hot/cold system. As you come closer to a ghost, the PKE meter’s arms will slide up, and subsequently lower if you move farther away. At points this can become tedious, especially if the stage has a ‘maze’ like feel to it and your route isn’t readily apparent. Besides tracking ghosts. For the most part though, it adds an interesting navigation system that’s better than just following a blip on a mini-map.

Along with navigating, your PKE meter will be a way to scan ghosts, and artifacts in the game. Every ghastly entity in the game has the potential to be scanned, and its profile will be added to the Tobin’s Spirit Guide. Along with the ghosts, there are possessed items sprinkled through out that you can scan and add to the archives. These features again are just additions to game play, and keep things form being just ‘find ghost - capture ghost’. Also, if you’re a completist then you’ll find a hefty amount of extras to obtain. Not to mention the large assortment of trophies, which are cleverly named and add to the experience more than feel like a burden.

Once you’re done playing through the story, and unlocking everything then you might want to move onto multiplayer. The multiplayer aspect of the game is a deep experience, which really took me by surprise.

Your standard quick match, lobby, friends menu based system is all there. Your statistics are also tracked, and there’s even a level/cash based system that will keep you wanting to improve. As you catch ghosts and successfully conquer multiplayer matches you’ll receive cash which acts much like experience points. As you level you can unlock various upgrades and items. For example, you can unlock the blue suits from the Ghostbusters II movie.

When you’re in a game lobby you’ll have the choice to be any of the four main Ghostbusters or you can choose to be the rookie. Also, you can choose a weapon specialization but basically all this means is that you’ll start the stage with that weapon. This isn’t really all that important because different weapon ammunition is scattered throughout the various stages.

There are 6 different multiplayer modes in all, most of which feel unique and all provide a faster, more arcade experience than single player.

-Survival
-Containment
-Protection
-Thief
-Destruction
-Slime Dunk

Survival is much like what the name suggest. There’ll be wave of enemies that attack your group, and surviving the onslaught is a must. As the stage progresses, the amount of enemies will increase until you get to the final stage. Which plays out a boss fight, and adds a sense of accomplishment when you win.

Containment is a time attack mode, where you try and capture as many ghosts as possible in a certain time limit.

Protection is much like a King of the Hill mode, where you have to protect PKE disruptors from the ghosts looking to destroy them. This is probably the most team based mode, as communication and making sure that all the ghosts are taken care of requires strategy.

Thief is like a hybrid between Survival and Protection. There are four artifacts that ghosts will try to steal and its up to your team to make sure they stay safe. There’s a time limit, and you’ll win if even one artifact remains.

Destruction, is more like a free-for-all compared to the previous modes. There are various nodes scattered around the stage and you have to destroy them all while defeating the ghosts that will come out from them.

Slime Dunk is really the only competitive mode in multiplayer, as the other game types rely heavily on team work. With Slime Dunk you only receive cash when you dunk a Slimer into your own trap. This can make for some interesting competition, especially if you and someone else are going for the same ghost. You can try and wrangle it away and dunk it in your own trap. And of course they’ll be doing the same as well.

My only complaint really with multiplayer is that there’s no co-op for playing through the story. It makes sense in terms of how the story plays out for certain areas. But it would have been nice to experience everything unfold with a friend.

The graphical quality of Ghostbusters is truly a tale of two worlds. Standing still, there really isn’t anything to ohhh and ahhh at. The proton pack is probably the most detailed aspect of the game you’ll run across, which makes sense considering you’re looking at it all game long. The level textures, and even the character models don’t really look as detailed as they could have been. The in-game cutscenes really lack a polish that could have been pushed farther to their limits.

Luckily, most of the game will have you running around catching ghosts and destroying the environment which looks fantastic. Nearly everything in the game can be broke, blown up, or incinerated. And it all looks glorious. The proton stream is bright and animated exactly like you would want to see it. So, in motion I give the game a thumbs up but standing still too long reveals a lesser quality than I would have liked.

Along with the graphics, the audio of the game feels a bit mixed. First, let me say that the Ghostbusters soundtrack is one of my favorite movie soundtracks ever. However, that doesn’t mean I want to keep listening to it over and over as I play through the game. The main theme is played at every menu, every loading screen, and through out many parts of the game. The are a few other tracks used as well but it seems like Terminal Reality played it too safe with staying nostalgic with their track list.

The voice acting, and sound effects are dead on though. With the return of all the original actors to voice their various roles, the game brings all the lovable characters back to life. They really could have phoned it in, but for the most part the voice acting is natural and provides many funny moments along the way. There are a few repetitive ramblings during gameplay. Like, Ray telling you to use your slime tether over and over when trying to decipher a puzzle. The sound effects seem as though they’re captured directly from the movie. The proton pack sounds just like the wonderful buzzing from the movie.

In conclusion, I can easily recommend this game to any Ghostbusters fan. If you’re strapped for cash but want to see how the story plays out then definitely give it a rental. While the game could have used some polish in a few areas, all the important aspects of the game were handled with extreme care. You can tell Terminal Reality was dedicated to the project, and its really paid dividends.

Score: 8/10

Flower has been out for some time and I finally got around to checking it out. I had read so much about it online that I made a point to put it on my “to get” list. Downloading this PS3 exclusive title has been one of the better decisions I have made on PSN.

The best I can describe the experience is you’re some kind of Nature Spirit that needs to rejuvenate the planet. The themes are a bit bewildering at first, but as you progress the game feels quite literal in its message. There are all these dead plants and fields you fly through while bringing green back into the land. You start off as a single petal and with every flower you fly into more pop off until eventually you fly through the air as a massive collection of color and movement. Each stage has objectives to complete by simple exploration, and once you reach the end of each stage, the player is rewarded with an epic scene of nature’s majesty.

It may be the most relaxing gaming experience ever to be grace the PS3. Or video games period for that matter. As you fly through groups of flowers, often times each will play a single note in the same key signature. So no matter what order you gather, a light musical strumming sequence is played. The soothing sounds fit all of the moods as you progress from day to nightscapes.

As far as the graphics go, it’s the best at what it does. As you fly through grass, each individual blade of grass is parted via Flower’s physics engine. I can only imagine this world being used as an environment in an action or role-playing game. The camera is gentle and flowing and the controls are tight. The 6-axis is used for movement and a single button is pressed to propel you through the wind.

Those with obtuse sensibilities and an insecure sense of machismo may be scared of a title called “Flower”. But the fact is, if you like fun, unique, well-made gaming experiences, then Flower is a must have. Do I enjoy other games better? Sure. But for 10 bucks on the PlayStation Network, you can’t beat that amount of entertainment value per dollar.

Im givin’ this one 10/10

The Street Fighter series has been all but stagnant for the better part of 15 years and finally after countless iterations and 3D attempts Street Fighter II’s true successor has hit the streets. For some reason Capcom always had trouble marrying the fast and furious nature of the series and the flexibility of the camera of their 3D forays. Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha and Star Gladiator, while fun, always felt a bit floaty. It wasn’t until they made Viewtiful Joe soon after the advent of cell-shaded graphics did I see the potential of someday experiencing swooping camera animations during 3D specials.

Today is that day.

Street Fighter IV is everything a fan has dreamed of from the series. Tight control, balanced gameplay, flashy finishers, gorgeous character models, stages and online play. HD Remix gave us a taste of what could be in a current online Street Fighter and it’s all here. In fact it’s just about more than anyone could ask for.

They even incorporated anime intros and endings and in-game mini-cutscene character interactions. Died. In Heaven. I understand most these types of games are all about the fight but those kinds of things are what encourage a player to try out different characters and rewards them for beating it with everyone.

I do wish they hadn’t made grapples’ input commands as simultaneous light kick/punch. I assign those to shoulder buttons and that’s just weird. You can assign throw to R1 or R2 but those might be bettter suited for 3x punches/kicks. Ah the conundrum. Oh well I can forgive them. I can also forgive them for putting some crazy Justin Timberlake sounding pop song peppered throughout the game but whatev. This game is the supreme dopeness regardless.

Go buy it. Play it. See me online and let me flash kick you into oblivion and love it.

Score: 10/10

First and foremost this is a product made for RE fans. Those that have played through a multitude of Resident Evil games are rewarded with this CG extravaganza tailor made for them. That said, it isn’t too inaccessible for those not exposed to the lore. Secondly, this is for horror/action/zombie fans. It’s also for animation fans. Wall.E, Shrek, The Lion King. This is a cartoon. And one of the best I’d ever had the pleasure to experience.

The story follows the events and characters of Resident Evil 2, where a tragic zombie incident in the town of Raccoon City tested the survival ability of Officer Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Like John Mclain from the Die Hard movies, these characters can’t seem to get away from the harrowing experiences that define them.

I’ve restrained from buying any Blu-Ray movies as I simply don’t plan on repurchasing my old collection save a few high effects films. This new release title is a perfect excuse to pick up a Blu-Ray for sure. For some reason, animation, especially CG, benefits the most from hi-def resolution entertainment in this viewer’s eyes. And Degeneration is a visual orgy in HD.

They don’t attempt to go hyper-realistic a la Beowulf. They opt for the characters to be a bit stylized, which I enjoy. But all the faces are different and unique. For instance the 2 main heroines, while both obviously rendered to be attractive, have their own distinct facial structures and features. The attention to detail is staggering.

I, for one, love Resident Evil games, horror, action, zombies and cartoons. So, well, you can imagine a positive review coming form me. All I can say is that if you’re a fan of any combination of these elements check it out! For what it is trying to achieve,
I believe it does it flawlessly.

Final Judgment: 10/10!

First off let me say that if you are either a Mortal Kombat fan or a superhero fan, this game is for you. That being said lets get to the nuts and bolts of what makes this game great and what keeps it from being perfect.

The Pros:

The graphics are beautiful and the models are excellently crafted. The background stages take you everywhere you’d expect to go from the Batcave, the Fortress of Solitude, Paradise Island and the Lantern universe headquarters planet of OA. The fighters have specularity maps that reflect real-time light sources that are just an awesome sight to behold.

The story mode takes you though both sides in animated cut scene narratives and breathes life to all of the characters. Everything is explained thoroughly by comic book authors that reconcile both universes coexisting though existing video game and comic book mythos.

In terms of gameplay, it’s the best one since MKII. Aside from the occasional sidestep the fights are held pretty much on a 2D axis. The essence of old 2D kombat is retained with current-gen 3D graphics. The mechanics have been simplified to combo/special move stringing of when and where to perform them.

The Cons:

After such a lavish production quality provided by the Story Mode, the single character Arcade endings only offer a single art rendering and brief voiceover ending. It’s still more than most current fighting games offer but after experiencing Story Mode, they are a bit of a let down.

As fun as the game is, there are still some poorly designed combo strings that snuck their way past testing. “Infinites”, as they’re called, are combos that that can be strung for an eternity by poor and lazy coding. The final boss AI is also very cheap but all of these are par for course for Mortal Kombat games. Something to consider though is that this is the first time an MK game can be patched though the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. As it seems it’s already received an update.

As everyone on the internet has already loudly vocalized, the teen rated diet fatalities simply leave you wanting more. They’re still worth doing since, again, they provide what most fighting games still lack: a “finisher” type of feature. Not a huge gripe but something to keep the game from being perfect.

Bottom Line:

A solid title for any fan of the comic book or fighting game genre.
A must-have for any fan of both.

9/10

Soul Calibur IV has been out a week and instead of rushing out a review I wanted to give an informed opinion about the title. To cut to the chase, Soul Calibur IV is Legendary. Go buy it today if you haven’t already lost precious hours of your time to this masterpiece.

Graphics: The game is beautiful. There are some of the best rendered and animated models seen to date in a fighter. Lighting effects and stages that are so lush, in the middle of the action you can barely appreciate the details around you. There are even subtle camera effects that occur during fight rounds that create even more kinesis and energy.

Sound: Excellent metal clashes, echoing battle cries and death wails. Sound track holds up to the epic scoring found in previous installments. No songs have yet to loop in my head as they actually have in the past but perhaps given more time some tracks will top surface.

Gameplay: The revolutionary system tweaked to near perfection this time around. Characters seem a bit more balanced since SC3. The past few games have added new combatants and have been balanced with old guard favorites. The new critical finishes and armor break elements add new dimension to the fundamental gameplay that’s a tried and true classic. Critique’s lie in that some of the mobility seems a bit stiffened. The 8-Way movement that seemed to perfect itself in Soul Calibur seems a bit clunkier this time around. Also, they include an amazing ‘character swapping’ tag-team element to the single player modes but none in the VS. or any form of co-op implementation. At its, core SC is a game to play with others. Why introduce such an amazing feature and not put it in the modes it would be most appreciated?

Extras: Another crowning achievement. Custom character creation is incredibly deep. An unnecessary feature as the base roster is sufficient enough, you can create all types of combatants with skinny to muscular body types, faces, hairstyles and armor pieces. The color picker for everything looks like an Adobe Photoshop color picker. Any game with character creation need only look to Soul Calibur 4. My only critique in the extras department keeping the score from 100% is that past Namco fighters rewarded the player with rendered CG endings for every character. In this version, endings are adequate even though mostly rehashes of the same storyline per character. A small gripe considering how much work went into character creation, but enough to keep an arms length from perfect, which this game is dangerously close to.

Replayabilty: With an excellent interface that finally takes a PS3 fighter online I imagine many months of online battles with strangers and friends. The single player tower mode will keeps you busy as you unlock character items to adorn the regular cast and your custom fighters.

Bottom Line: Soul Calibur IV - 9/10

I’ve never quite excelled in the Metal Gear franchise as I even remember constantly dying in the first 8-bit Nintendo version over and over again. Even back then the premise seemed super cool and original. I watched with an ex-armyman a more skilled video gamer go through the first Metal Gear Solid. We were both enthralled with the level of detail and the immersion the MGS world provided. Since then, I knew that Kojima had a high standard of quality to deliver with these games.

I didn’t follow the hype this week but apparently the talk is good with the return of Solid Snake in MGS4: Guns of the Patriots. With quotes like these from reviewers, its hard to keep a blind eye to what awesomeness this title must be.

“There’s just moments of absolute genius that make this game probably the best video game I’ve ever played”
~ consolemonster.com

“All in all, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is easily the best game in the long-running Metal Gear franchise, the best game on the PS3 and, one could argue, the best game of this decade.”
~ bingegamer.net

PS3pub is housed by our network of sites that are comprised of multi-platform gaming news sites. While watching the video department capture some GTA4 gameplay, it was easy to see what the excitement is all about. It isn’t just the controversial subject matter that’s the focus, it’s the attention to detail and deep gameplay that’s been evolved since previous installments. Next-gen sequels tend to upgrade games simply on an aesthetic level but GTA4 ups the ante in just about every regard be it graphics, animation, story and most importantly: game mechanics. But don’t just take my limited perspective on it, check out what these esteemed gaming sources had to say:

Editor’s Choice: Perfect 10
“Grand Theft Auto IV is a game that you simply have to play.”
~ Gamespot

10: Masterful
“Grand Theft Auto IV is the best game since Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”
~IGN

5 Stars: Outstanding
“Rockstar’s magnum opus is a modern-day masterpiece that could change the way the world views videogames.”
~Gamespy

“A+”
~1up

If you’ve never been a GTA person now just might be the time to see what’s up.

Images are pouring in along with a look at tons of extras for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots scheduled to launch June 12, 2008. Last week Konami announced that some key features had to be removed because the game could not fit on a 50gig Blu-ray disc. This week was the annoucement of a special Limited Edition ‘Steel Green’ PlayStation 3 and matching Dualshock 3 control. There is no SIXAXIS standard controller in this package. So it’s clear to say that MSG 4 will be full rumbling goodness.