Probably the most awaited Massively Multiplayer game is here! In Star Wars: The Old Republic, players explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy. Players can choose to play as Jedi, Sith, or a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, defining their personal story and determining their path down the light or dark side of the Force. Along the way, players befriend courageous companions who fight at their side or possibly betray them, based on the players’ actions. Players can also choose to team up with friends to battle enemies and overcome incredible challenges using dynamic Star Wars combat.

You’ll Love:

You’ll Hate:

• Instancing can make open areas feel empty
• Frequent, uninspired corridor levels
• Shallow space combat is a missed opportunity.

 

Overall the game has many Star Wars fans all excited and getting their force on. Bioware I believe has done an excellent job in bringing the overall franchise into the RPG mould. The attention to detail is astounding with very little character you meet along the way and their voiceovers are very well done.

We’ve seen combat as a big plus point to this game and the character depth is very well outlined throughout the game. Space combat is a little disappointing, but it does little to detract from the whole experience.

All in all we’d say it’s a good buy if you’re a Star Wars fan. For non-fans I’d still say pick it up, because as an MMO the game is solid. For Star Wars noobs – don’t bother as the millions and millions of references to the Star Wars universe can overwhelm you and leave you lost.

I’d give it a 3/5

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Darksiders II is going to be one hell of game! We covered the first look of Darksiders II last July. Playing as Death, one of the other Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you’re on a quest to free your brother War from imprisonment and restore his good name.

Check out the trailer breakdown and the man behind the mask.

Watch the video after the break.

Welcome to 2012 dear readers and what better way to kick it off than checking out whats in store for the coming year! In case you haven’t done so already you can check out our re-cap of 2011 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

With 2011 gone, it’s time to get deep into 2012. Today we’re going to give you a sneek peek of what to expect in 2012 and our favorite picks! Let’s get started!

Soul Calibur V

Get ready for the  sixth installment in Namco’s Soul series of fighting games, and will be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 . he game will take place 17 years after the events of Soulcalibur IV.^[2] The main protagonist is Patroklos, the son of Soul series veteran Sophitia, while her daughter, Pyrrha is the deuteragonist. The only revealed guest character so far is Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the Assassin’s Creed series. Do you need any more reasons to be excited?

The Darkness II

If you haven’t played the first Darkness then I suggest you get to it right away, because from what we’ve seen of the Darkness II – it’s going to blow your mind away! Don’t miss a moment of this awesome trailer!

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

RPG fans look no further – a super awesome, fluid and deep action RPG is coming your way. Massive worlds, excellent voice action and at the helm of it is L.A. Salvatorie himself! So this is one game you’ll want to pick up when it’s out!

Mass Effect 3

RPG fans can now go into a frenzy with Mass Effect 3 just months away from release! The game is scheduled for a March 6, 2012 releaseand will mark the final chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy of video games, completing the story of Commander Shepard.

Max Payne 3

oh I’m sorry, did you actually need some bit of text here to describe “Max Payne”?

Silent Hill: Downpour

Silent Hill returns for an 8th installment of the series and by the looks of it; it’s getting creepier and creepier. Silent Hill Downpour was to release for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 25, 2011; but obviously it didn’t happen otherwise it wouldn’t be here now would it? So it’s gonna happen in 2012. Watch the trailer and keep those screams down.

Street Fighter X Tekken

Kuzuya has big plans for Ryu and his abilities in this official cinematic story trailer for new fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken.

Ninja Gaiden III

Ryu returns and descends into hell in the 3rd installment of the Ninja Gaiden series! Check out the trailer and don’t tell me you didn’t get any goose bumps!!

BioShock Infinite

If you’re not kicked about it then you’re a few marbles short up there.

Tomb Raider

Square Enix is rebooting the series and we got a first look in at E3. All I can say is that you’re going to fall in love with the franchise all over again…and yeah, she’s tough as nails in this one!

Diablo III

it’s not just us…it’s the whole wide world that’s waiting on Diablo III and this for me has to be the most anticipated game of 2012!

Grand Theft Auto V

You know you want to steal cars and beat people up. GTA V is going to let you do that like no other. Can’t wait!

The Last of Us

Watch out for the PS3 exclusive from the makers of Uncharted 3. It’s an epic saga you’ll not want to miss! oh and the footage below is from an actual PS3.

If your gaming platform is the PC, then you’ll not want to miss this! Kick back and read through some of the greatest games that made it to our BEST list in 2011.

Best PC Action Game

Batman: Arkham City

Sure, Arkham City came out on all consoles, but it’s the PC version that really stood out head and shoulders compared to the rest. Rocksteady proved with Arkham Asylum that it was possible to make a great Batman game. Arkham City expands upon its predecessor, giving Batman an open metropolis to explore and fight through. A huge cast of villains, a plot that twists in often unexpected directions, and gameplay mechanics that make you feel just like Batman create an extremely satisfying action experience.

Honorable Mentions:

• Dead Space 2
• Magicka
• Saints Row: The Third
• Sonic Generations

Best PC Adventure Game

Portal 2

Portal 2 was the best PC adventure game this year. Its an adventure of a life time which takes you across vast and varied landscapes and providing an unforgettable experience by forging friendships and overcoming overwhelming odds. Yes sir! this is one hell of an adventure you don’t want to miss!

Honorable Mentions:

• Limbo
• Minecraft

Best PC MMO Game

DC Universe Online

It was a tough call especially with games like Rift and Black Prophecy in contention – but we believe that DC Universe online takes the cake here. Agreed there have been hassles initially, but now that the game is FREE (till a certain point), it bodes well for the franchise and the ability to fight alongside Earth’s mightiest Heroes (or is that what Avengers call themselves?). Either way, DC Universe is a game you cannot afford to miss!

Honorable Mentions:

• Black Prophecy
• Dragon Nest
• World of Tanks

Best PC Racing Game

TrackMania 2: Canyon

You’re probably wondering why the big wigs didn’t take the crown? – That’s because while most racing games strive for realism, some add a story, but Trackmania 2 is focused strictly on delivering fun. It may not make much sense, but it’s a supremely entertaining racing game. You can choose to race solo to learn the standard tracks laden with wild turns, corkscrews, loops and spine-tingling jumps. For the best experience, though, you should hop online and take on time trials alongside others, competing for the fastest run from start to finish across official tracks or custom courses. Trackmania 2’s replayability is nearly limitless as the dedicated community continues to churn out new content using the built-in creation tools.

Honorable Mentions:

• Dirt 3
• Driver: San Francisco
• Shift 2 Unleashed

Best PC Role-Playing Game

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim bags the title of best RPG yet again for the PC, as it did on the Xbox 360. It’s superb game that delivers on all levels – immersion, graphics, gameplay, story, dragons, fighting, dragons and yeah…dragons. You can play virtually any role you want in Skyrim, and you can play it nearly endlessly.

Honorable Mentions:

• Bastion
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Dungeons of Dredmor
• The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Best PC Shooter

Battlefield 3

Yet again another game takes top honors on the PC and Xbox 360. This game sets up a level of chaos and craziness that just has to be experienced to believe it. Offering balanced weaponry and vehicles, diverse classes, sprawling maps, and whopping 24-player online shootouts, Battlefield 3 offers an unparalleled amount of depth and tons of action. Even in an arms race like 2011, Battlefield 3 is the type of game that  rises above the rest and leaves the competition in the dust!

Honorable Mentions:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Crysis 2
• Rage

Best PC Strategy Game

Total War: Shogun 2

I had very very difficult time choosing a winner here. A PC strategy game should allow a certain level of complexity that makes you feel like you’re in the midst of something and yet, offer that delicate taste of victory from time to time tying back the entire package with tactical depth and customization. Yeah, Shogun 2 does it all and does it very very well. Combining turn-based campaign map management with sprawling real-time battles between thousands of troops, there’s something here for every kind of strategy fan. Not only does Shogun 2 deliver the best visuals of the series, lots of strategic and tactical depth, and tons of options to customize your faction leaders through skill trees to gradually win over 16th Century Japan, but includes an immense multiplayer component.

Honorable Mentions:

• Anno 2070
• Frozen Synapse
• Tropico 4
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II — Retribution

Best PC Multiplayer Game

Battlefield 3

The only game to win top honors across ALL platforms and that again is Battlefield 3. Featuring huge maps, destructible buildings, vehicular warfare, tons of unlockables, and a focus on working as a team, all the pieces of this unrivaled multiplayer battle fit together perfectly. Battlefield comes from a long line of successful online competition, but Battlefield 3 truly sets itself apart as a new bar to reach for when it comes to online chaos. The experience on the PC is by far the best of all the 3 platforms. You cannot go wrong with this game at any level.

There you have it forlks the BEST PC games of 2011!!! Let’s hear your thoughts on these!!

Easily one of the best platformers with stunning visuals and fun physics!

Trine 2 is very similar to it’s predecessor except it just does EVERYTHING better. Graphics, Physics, Co-Op, Online…everything. Well, maybe not the storyline, but we’re really not complaining.

Like the first game, it features a trio of classic fantasy heroes: a  knight, a thief, and a wizard. Their adventure sets them off to rescue the princess–via an enchanted forest and murky cavern, where they test their might and wit and magic against goblins and giant spiders. With all that said, the story itself lays itself out to for an exciting platform puzzler.

Trine 2′s environments are very reminiscent of Disney’s Fantasia. Deep, richly detailed levels pop with lively, luminous color. The forest is home to luscious glowing foliage and glistening colossal snails. Gloomier levels house oversized spiders, animated with skin-crawling authenticity. One level, taking in sunset on a tropical beach, is stop-and-stare beautiful. The hero character models are very slightly less crisp than in the PC version, but that nitpick is dwarfed by the general visual loveliness.

Each hero has a simple, distinct set of powers, and the controls for each are pleasingly intuitive, making smart use of the triggers and right analog stick. The knight has a sword and shield for fighting, as well as a warhammer for smashing obstacles; the thief has a grappling hook, along with a bow and arrow; and the wizard can levitate items and summon boxes or planks from thin air. In single-player mode, only one hero appears onscreen, but you can instantly flip between them to access the powers demanded by the task at hand.

Though many of the puzzles suggest single, efficient solutions right off the bat, some of the best fun is to be had experimenting with the physics and looking for less-obvious solutions. Trine 2′s physics engine is robust and fine tuned, and noodling about with it is engrossing in its own right. The game is generously rigged to allow for the guilty pleasure of fudging a solution when the elegant answer is out of reach; teetering structures of magic planks can be used to bypass clever gate mechanisms altogether or the same planks can be jammed gracelessly into the gears.

Trine 2 prefers to keep you moving briskly along to holding you up with a real brainteaser. There’s even an optional hint system that kicks in after a few minutes of head scratching. It amounts to a friendly game but not an overly easy one; there are much trickier secrets to be found and collectable experience orbs in hard-to-reach spots, with the latter feeding into a simple set of talent trees. For instance, as you level up, the thief can upgrade to fire or ice arrows, the knight can upgrade to a charging shield bash, and the wizard can learn to materialize more boxes at once.

In local multiplayer, or in the online multiplayer that’s new to this sequel, your two co-op companions play the other two characters. This lets you combine powers rather than flit between them, although hero swapping on the fly is also permitted. Combining powers opens up new avenues of sandbox tinkering; the wizard can float other party members on a conjured plank platform or hang a goblin harmlessly in midair for the thief to skewer with arrows. For maximum sandbox tomfoolery, there’s also an unlimited mode, in which any combination of hero characters is allowed.

Overall it’s six hours of pure platforming joy and Trine 2 wouldn’t outstay its welcome at twice that length, it’s no raw deal, given the modest pricing (1200 Microsoft points). This Trine follow-up is a more complete, refined work than its predecessor, and those who didn’t catch the original are in for a real treat.

Trine 2 will be available on:

• PC & Mac (released on 7 December 2011)
• XBLA worldwide (to be released on 21 December 2011)
• PSN NA (to be released on 20 December 2011)
• PSN EU (TBD 2011)
• Linux (2012)

You can also download the game via Steam

It’s been hailed as the Greatest Online Multiplayer FPS. Does it really deserve that title? With 64 player matches and a robust gaming engine; it’s a Hell Yeah!!!!

Before I get any deeper into the review; I want to make one thing very clear – you’re putting down your money for the multiplayer aspect; not the single player campaign. Just so you know; there is a single player campaign, but it’s more of a side note where you go from checkpoint to checkpoint killing terrorists who come in your way.

Now with that established – let’s move on.

Battlefield 3 (BF3) manages to bring in and mix many modern FPS features (like the progressive unlocking of weapons and abilities) with the massive mixed-arms battles of previous Battlefield games. Most maps are populated with an amazing assortment of helicopters, tanks, mobile anti-aircraft guns, and jets. Ground vehicles are easy enough to maneuver, but aircraft are tricky and they’re best controlled with a gamepad.

I liked the leveling up scheme in the game, it’s not very different from most in the genre; but the sheer different ways in which you can level up adds to the game’s depth and keeps you coming back for more. Also the game’s smart; you’re not just rewarded for kills; which is probably the most intrinsic part of the game; but even stuff like team work, how many allies you saved and many more – all the time adding up to much needed experience for upgrades.

You’ll be able to track all of your progress through Battlelog (BL), a complete social network built for Battlefield 3. Use of the service is mandatory; if you have an active Internet connection the game can actually only be launched from your web browser while you’re logged onto Battlelog. Single-player, co-op, server browsing, and matchmaking are all handled through the network’s website. If, however, you set Origin (EA’s answer to Steam, and BF3′s other required online “service”) to offline mode, the game will launch directly to the single-player campaign. Despite this hassle, Battlelog does its job quite well.

The next big question: System Requirements? and PC or Console version?

Firstly – A quad core with a DX 11 card is more than enough to get you going.

Secondly – PC version, get the PC version – 64 players for PC vs. 24 for Console. As far as eye candy goes; the lowest graphics settings on the PC is slightly worse than that of the console. So if you’ve got a mid range machine and you turn up the settings to medium – it will look way better than the console version. We tested it on a AMD Phenom II with an AMD 4870 – it didn’t crank up at Ultra; but played very decently (45-60 fps)  at medium-high settings.

Overall, this is a solid multiplayer game. If you’re buying it for the single player – stay away; but if you’ve got multiplayer in your veins, you need this fix!

With that said; I’ll leave you with a comparison of the PS3 vs PC – see for yourself and judge in terms of graphics.

Electronic Arts today confirmed that the Bio-Ware-developed MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic will launch December 20 in North America, and December 22 in Europe. Since June, the publisher has been proclaiming a general 2011 release window for the game. Don’t for get to check out the video!

We love Gamespot because they get exclusive access to shyte you won’t find anywhere else. Their team headed down to Rocksteady Studios for a hands on with Batman: Arkham City. Joined by Marketing Manager Dax Ginn, he got to grips with Catwoman and the Caped Crusader himself in this developer walkthrough.

Watch the video after the break. You don’t want to miss this!

After the eager anticipation of the closed beta test – looks like fans will have to wait a little longer to get their hands on some Diablo-esque gaming. Instead, the game is now scheduled to find its way to stores in “early 2012,” according to Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime explained that the studio was “hopeful” that the game would ship in 2011, but ultimately that launch window became impossible to meet. “This week we pulled together people from all of the teams involved with the game to decide whether we felt it would be ready before the end of December, and we grudgingly came to the conclusion that it would not,” he explained.

According to Morhaime, the extra time will afford Blizzard the opportunity to add “further polish to a few different elements of the game” and open the beta to more users than was originally planned. Gamers interested in opting in to the beta for Diablo III can visit Battle.net.

Diablo III is the first title in the series since 2001′s Diablo II: Lord of Destruction expansion and will add a variety of new features, character classes, and a new auction house system designed as “a new way for the company to pull revenues from the game.”

Join GameSpot’s Shaun McInnis and Maxwell McGee as they rip into the Diablo III beta!

Real or Fake?

The screenshot is taken in the Skeleton King’s room, and it belongs to Leoric. Gamers need to defeat the boss after they beat the hell out of minions he summons.

As indicated, the screenshot poster enjoyed the beta as Monk and was also able to finist it as a congratulations message appears for him.