Electronic Arts

Electronic Romance-flavored Cotton Candy

HIGH The clever dialogue when I figured out a puzzle without any clues.

LOW Replaying (and re-reading) the final scene four times trying to get it right.

WTF Why is there no option to quit and restart mid-chapter?

I'm not ready to eat crow about Dead Space: Extraction yet (I was pretty hard on it for being an on-rails shooter—making me think it was basically another dumbed down version of a popular franchise for the Nintendo Wii), but I will say that with each new clip and trailer I see, my opinion of the game seems to improve. That may not mean a thing in the long run (because we've all seen great clips and trailers and then played a retail version of the same game only to find out it sucks…), but I like to be honest—and right now I'm getting a positive vibe from the game.

This new clip (running just over four minutes) talks about the characters in the game and shows off some more gameplay. Interestingly enough, the characters on display in the clip look identitical to their voice actors. I don't know that I can recall another game where that's ever happened.

Dead Space: Extraction is set to invade stores on September 29th.

Playing the wrong half of the story

HIGH I got to shoot Castro. That's interesting, at least.

LOW The part where the game tries to explain that killing a drug-addicted prostitute is basically a public service.

WTF So Robert Duvall was too good to be in Godfather III, but he'll be in the mediocre Godfather video games? How bad was that movie?

I'm incredibly bummed that I'm not going to E3 this year. I've gone numerous times in the past and I highly recommend that anyone who really loves games go at least once—even in it's newer, more streamlined, form, it's still a spectacle unlike anything else. I could have gone this year, but I don't have the money to get to LA, so I'll be watching from home like the majority of my fellow gamers. I'm not happy about this.

The show hasn't started yet, but we're already seeing little bits and pieces of things that will be at the show. Take, for instance, this trailer for Dead Space: Extraction. Extraction is the Wii-only on-rails shooter prequel to Electronic Arts' big hit of last year. I'm still not sold on the whole on-rails shooter thing, but the graphics in the trailer aren't bad and the game's universe is interesting enough that I'd make a return trip to it even if the visit was a guided one with little room for exploration.

Dead Space: Extraction hits retailers on September 29th.

Electronic Arts' Dante's Inferno started a Hollywood bidding war before it was even announced. Now, it's not only being adapted as a live-action film for the big screen, it's getting an animated feature as well. That's pretty impressive for a brand new IP…

Variety is reporting that EA will once again team up with Starz Entertainment (the tandem was responsible for the animated Dead Space spinoff Dead Space: Downfall).

According to the article:

Dante's Inferno will mirror the game's plot and follow Dante's journey through the nine circles of Hell—limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery—in search of his true love, Beatrice.

"The animated feature will be a great companion piece to the game," said Jonathan Knight, executive producer and creative director for Dante's Inferno. "The feature will explore aspects of the poem that the game does not, and will provide more insight into the characters and the unique story adaptation that the game has established."

No word on a release date, but the game isn't expected until next year. When it does hit retailers, it will be distributed through Starz's Anchor Bay imprint.

I wonder how different this review would have been if I had played Medal of Honor: Vanguard before trying the demo for Medal of Honor: Airborne. While it's true that almost no game looks good when placed next to its immediate successor, I feel that the things that Vanguard gets wrong are so clearly and fundamentally awful that even if I hadn't played the wonderful Airborne demo I'd still have realized just what an atrocious waste of time Vanguard was.

Game Description: Medal of Honor: Vanguard lets you return to the days of the Second World War, for more of its pioneering first-person shooter action. Join the ranks of the elite 82nd Airborne Division as Corporal Frank Keegan. You'll guide him through some of WWII's deadliest operations—dropping behind enemy lines, sometimes right on top of entrenched Axis positions. Work with America's first paratroopers on heroic missions, from Operation Husky in Sicily to Operation Varsity inside Nazi Germany. Medal of Honor: Vanguard makes you the driving force in the struggle to liberate Europe.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood, Language, Violence