Strategy/Sim

Not for Kindling

HIGH Look at those realistic flames! And all the different kinds of wood to burn!

LOW You can't stack the fire to insane proportions—no raging bonfires allowed.

WTF This is the Wii's second fireplace simulator. Is this actually a thing?

You know you've struck a cord with the gaming public when you get "immortalized" by someone in a  game like LittleBigPlanet or Minecraft. I mean, it says a lot when someone is willing to forego another Mario or Legend of Zelda homage in favor of something contemporary like Dead Island—not the game of course, but the trailer! 

Unfortunately, this translation doesn't quite match the haunting appeal of the eagerly anticipated first-person shooter/horror/role-playing game. Instead, it is quite adorable. Not exactly the effect its creator was going for I'm sure.

Listen to the Big Guy

HIGH Non-violent, non-stressful, family-friendly gameplay.

LOW Overlooking a Kefling with a message and getting stuck for half an hour.

WTF There's still no "everybody stop everything right now" function?

Continuing the coverage from last week's visit to Sony Online Entertainment, here's a rundown of the upcoming Magic: The Gathering—Tactics for the PlayStation and PC.

Some of you may have heard about a little game called Minecraft. It's all the rage among anyone who has always wanted to live in a real Legoland. Some of the creations have been incredibly creative. Take this guy in the video below. He has created a 1:1 scale model of the Starship Enterprise. Yes, the Starship Enterprise. At 1:1 scale.

As of the posting of this video, he was asking others to help him complete his project. Given the current nature of the video game culture (and the Internet), the Enterprise has probably since been reduced to a pile of rubble by "helpful" griefers. But that doesn't matter because proof of its existence has been recorded for prosperity.

I absolutely adored the first Valkyria Chronicles on PS3, and felt guilty that I didn't play it in time to praise it on my top ten last year. After being reminded by a reader of that particular oversight, I figured I should probably get to the sequel this year to make sure I didn't make the same mistake again.I'm extremely early in the game so I can't speak on it definitively, but what I've seen so far is quite a mixed bag.

Something Old, Something New

HIGH The first time I dominated an encounter after fully comprehending the battle system.

LOW Another last boss? Why can't this game just be over!

WTF Japanese developers really love their quasi-Christian bad guys.

Game Description: Put your foot soldiers, snipers, cavalry, and fighter pilots to the test in Toy Soldiers. Poised to be a smash hit on Xbox Live Arcade, Toy Soldiers is an action-packed strategy-based game in which players command antique WWI toy soldiers vying for control of the trench-filled battlefields of Europe. Deploy an exciting arsenal such as tanks, cavalry, biplanes, and flamethrowers in vintage WWI toy dioramas. Developed by Signal Studios exclusively for Xbox 360, Toy Soldiers allows you to take control of individual units or control the entire battlefield from a strategic view. Integrating multiple game genres and world-class visuals, Toy Soldiers is a unique and action-packed entertainment experience!

It's Hell Out There, Outside the Toybox

HIGH Manning a tank to take care of enemies my mortars can't reach.

LOW It can sometimes be difficult to tell where enemy units are.

WTF "Pope Thrower"?