You Won't Even Notice That All The Humans Are Gone

HIGH: Overlooking the city from the game's high points.

LOW: The somewhat anti-climactic ending.

WTF: The oddly convenient series of pipes in one of the puzzles.

In my review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, I disagree with my peers that the game is not a compelling example for games as art, rather it's perfect for a sports argument. Take 36-year-old David Dague of Chicago. When interviewed by The Associated Press, he said the game's launch is like the start of football season for a sports fan, and the comparison couldn't be more fitting. But there's another, more obvious landmark the game reaches in the form of its controversial level, "No Russian."

First up, news from Electronic Arts (courtesy of Kotaku) concerning the release date for the game's official demo. PS3 and XBox 360 owners will be able to try out the first level of the title sometime next month. EA hasn't been more specific than that but you can at least sleep easy tonight knowing that you'll be guiding Dante through Hades sooner rather than later.

If that wasn't enough to satiate your need for all things Inferno, here's another developer diary on the game. This newest segment covers level six, better known as "Heresy". This new level finds Dante going deeper into Hell–and it's the first area in the game that really portrays a fire-and-brimstone Hell that many of us recognize from the Bible. One of the producers mentions that by this stage, we're "in Satan's backyard".

Dante's Inferno continues to impress me with each new diary they reveal (which means EA's marketing plan is working). We'll all get a chance to experience the finished product when it hits retailers everywhere on February 9th of next year.

As is somewhat apparent, I've been spending some time (a lot of time, actually) with BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins. Although it's got a few issues, it's a great Adventure-RPG if you like the style as much as I do, and it's had no trouble keeping my interest. However, there has been something that's been bothering me about it—the character Shale.

For those that don't know, Shale is an extra character that can be recruited into the player's party. A powerful wrecking-ball of a golem with a witty personality, he's a very attractive prospect. The issue? He's only available via DLC.

Above And Beyond The Call Of At Least One Duty

HIGH Covering a human player with AC-130 armory.

LOW A hole-ridden plot that ends in obvious sequel bait.

WTF Tactical nuke?!

We continue debunking The Myths of Game Criticism in the second half of our two-part series. Do we live in constant fear of Twitter putting us out of business? Are games so spectacular now that the average score really is 8 out of 10? Do publishers send strike teams to our homes and force us to change scores? We set the record straight. With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim "Five Point Scale" Spaeth.

Download: Right click here and select "Save Target As..."
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For your reference, the eight myths we discuss are:

1. Critics should be required to finish games before writing a review.
2. The goal of a "proper" game review should be to inform the reader as to whether they should or should not buy a game.
3. Those who write about games are not journalists, rather, should be considered "enthusiast press" or simply "games writer."
4. There is no difference between a "review" and a "critique".
5. The explosion of blogs, podcasts, and Twitter has rendered formal game reviews obsolete.
6. Individual game critics and review sites are under constant, unrelenting pressure from publishers to change scores.
7. Game scores are often purposefully tweaked to either generate controversy or avoid it.
8. A reader should not need to be familiar with the author of a review in order to derive value from it.
9. NINE? There's a ninth myth?! Listen and find out!!

Topic and Game References:

• Feedback from Brad's Drinking Coffeecola Blog
• Feedback from GC Forums
• Borderlands Review
• GTA 3 Second Opinion
• Disaster Report Review
• FFFXI: Lu Shang's Fishing Rod
• WoW: Delicious Chocolate Cake Recipe
• GoldenEye 007: Invincibility Cheat

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

So, now that it's here I've been able to log some hours with it and at this point all I'll say is that despite some of the big talk BioWare was putting out, Dragon Age = KOTOR/Jade Empire/Mass Effect in a Medieval-ish/Lord of the Rings skin. Frankly, it's the same game they've put out a couple times now, so everyone's mileage may vary. In my case, this is one of my favorite game types and BioWare does them best, so I'm digging it. However, I'm under no illusions that the game pushes any boundaries or explores new territory. This is firmly-established boilerplate.

The Style Is In The Details

HIGH Finally glimpsing the lost city of Shambhala.

LOW Quickly dying ten times during a chase sequence before getting a hint as to what I should be doing.

WTF "Don't you love how the water makes your jeans all squidgy?"

Playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 with the wife right now, doing co-op throughout the entire campaign. I didn't expect much more than a complete rehash of the first game, but I have to admit I'm a little surprised at how lackluster it feels. It's basically there, but needs more polish to really make it pop. We've stumbled across more than a handful of bugs and glitches which always detracts from the experience, and parts of the game just don't feel very well-thought-out. The boss fight with Yellowjacket was a complete mess, and it really drives me up the wall the way the game is so capricious with the team you’ve selected.

In This Case, The Length Is A Good Thing

HIGH It's a real JRPG, except it doesn't waste your time.

LOW The Knight 30 mode could have used a little more work.

WTF Why is nobody talking about this game?