Online/Multiplayer

In this episode, Mr. Jaffe shares with us his thoughts on God of War 4, the troubles of tumultuous development (including two cancelled games, Darkons and Heartland), the failures of Calling All Cars, and the reasons why he left God of War. Finally, we wrap up with thoughts on the process of creating the brand-new Twisted Metal.

The Dust Settles

HIGH Flying through platforms without stopping and getting every dust piece.

LOW No online play?

WTF Why are level endpoints so inconspicuous?

Welcome to the first part our final interview for Season One of State of Play with Brandon Bales!

We're thrilled to share with you our talk with David Jaffe, director and creative lead for such classics as Twisted Metal and God of War. Join us as we discuss David's humble beginnings in Sony's testing department, his work on the original Twisted Metal games (I & II), and the prevalence of gaming sequels.

Keep a tissue at the ready as we bid Tim a fond farewell. But before he takes his final bow, we explore the light and dark sides of BioWare with Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Mass Effect 3 demo. Plus The Horror Geek tackles Final Fantasy XIII-2; surely it can't be worse than its predecessor... or can it? Featuring Tim "Yup, I put my name first" Spaeth, Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Richard Naik.

Download: Right click here and select "Save Target As..."
Subscribe: iTunes | Zune | RSS

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

Greetings all. We're trying out a bit of an experiment here, and no, it isn't "how many times can I fit the word 'game' into the headline?" It's the first ever GameCritics game night, which will hopefully give our wonderful community the chance to play, interact, and mercilessly embarrass each other all in the name of good-natured fun.

The first game that we're going to try is Team Fortress 2, for which we've set up our own server (details below). If you haven't played before/aren't experienced, don't worry! This is going to be about having fun above all else, and all skill levels are welcome.

The first date we're shooting for will be Thursday Feb. 23rd, at 7pm CST/8pm EST. I will also post an announcement in the Steam group around that time. Also, we'd like to know what games you would like to see for possible future game nights-post your suggestions in the comments.

Hope to see you there!

TF2 server address (add to favorites in the game): 8.6.75.26:27015

Steam group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/gamecritics

Call of Duty has arguably been the biggest and most successful IP that this console generation has seen. Yearly releases have set sales records and the first-person shooter genre reached heights never before seen. Activision has had a great run, and the publisher has become dependent on the success of Call of Duty to carry it to success.

Putting the "Modern" in Warfare?

HIGH Kamikaze jet kills versus infantry never get old.

LOW Someone stole a nuclear device! Again!

WTF Where is everybody?

On the strength of Matt Kaplan's review, I decided to grab Resistance 3. Kaplan didn't steer me wrong. Alongside solid gameplay, Resistance 3 delivers a compelling story about a man's journey through an interesting post-apocalyptic landscape. Like many other recent games, however, Resistance 3 flubs the ending, betraying its own tightly-crafted atmosphere.

Not Much Under that 'Do-rag

HIGH The Cole Train runs on whole grain!!

LOW Marcus's uber-meathead actions at game's end.

WTF So many unanswered questions from so many angles.

Beauty in Motion

HIGH Absolutely gorgeous animations and figures.

LOW Bosses that combo cheap moves over and over.

WTF As a newbie to the series, some of the female animations. Srsly?