Atlus

So Brink has been out for a little while now. I'm not going to dig too deeply into it since (for me, anyway) there's not really a lot to say. I spent a bit of time with the full version and, well, let's just say that I didn't spend much.

Chrono Trigger's Spiritual Successor?

HIGH Figuring out how to change a timeline in order to save one of your allies from permanent death.

LOW Skipping through the same story scenes for the fifth time.

WTF The main character was originally supposed to be a sword...thank God they changed that.

If you ask me, the situation with Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was exactly the sort of instance when the industry should have rolled out a lower price point to reflect the relatively small amount of content on the disc, in addition to enticing more people on a budget to take a risk on something that they may or may not like. As much as I hate to say it, $60 is just too much for a game of this sort and as a critic, I would've had a much easier time recommending Enslaved if it had launched at $30 or even $40.

I can't say that I was a very big fan of Ninja Theory's first work, Heavenly Sword, but from what little was shown in the demo, Enslaved seems to have its head in the right place. I like the overall concept in general, and it's pretty clear that the developers are going for a big-budget slam-bang action sort of thing.

Don't Knock the Farmer

High Wiping the floor with enemies who wiped the floor with you earlier.

Low Adding a new class mid-game can mean a lot of painful leveling-up.

WTF Would it really kill the game to have the experience accrue just a bit faster?

Game Description: Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City is a turn-based role-playing game (RPG) for DS and DSi that places the player in command of a band of adventurers on an ongoing quest to return their city to its once great status. The third release in the Etrian Odyssey franchise, the game features five character party combat, 5-player local wireless multiplayer support, a large number of character classes, the ability to explore and battle from sea vessels, customizable maps and three possible game endings.

We try our best to keep things positive, but Tim screws it up in the home stretch. The topic is "New RPG's We (Mostly) Love" and that means Dragon Quest IX, Etrian Odyssey III, Puzzle Quest 2, and DeathSpank. Guess which one we don't love! Plus we premiere a new segment: "Quote of the Week." With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim "Spahnk" Spaeth.

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Topics discussed:

• 1 vs. 100
• Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
• Etrian Odyssey III
• Puzzle Quest 2
• DeathSpank

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

So DeathSpank is out. I saw it at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) last year and I couldn't see what all the excitement was about, but I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Time went by, and I never saw anything that really caught my attention. Didn't see much on it at all, really. Then, all of a sudden, it's available for download and everyone in my Twitter feed is talking about it.

Visit Tartarus for a Third Time

HIGH The addition of a female protagonist and new social links.

LOW Climbing the tower can still be a bit of a grind.

WTF Yet another RPG with a dog as a playable character. WTF Japan?