Electronic Arts

Falling off Buildings in a Single Bound

HIGH The exhilaration of fluidly navigating across multiple rooftops.

LOW Harsh gameplay that frequently brings the action to a screeching halt.

WTF Being attacked by a former wrestler named Ropeburn.

Game Description: In a city where information is heavily monitored, agile couriers called Runners transport sensitive data away from prying eyes. In this seemingly utopian paradise, a crime has been committed and now you are being hunted. You are a Runner called Faith—and this innovative first-person action-adventure is your story. Mirror’s Edge delivers you straight into the shoes of this unique heroine as she traverses the vertigo-inducing cityscape, engaging in intense combat and fast paced chases. With a never before seen sense of movement and perspective, you will be drawn into Faith’s world. A world that is visceral, immediate, and very dangerous. Live or die? Soar or plummet? One thing is certain, in this city, you will learn how to run.

In space, no one can hear you snore

HIGH The game's final battle is pure spectacle.

LOW Realizing after four fetchquests that it probably wasn't going to get any deeper.

WTF I'm practically alone on a derelict cruiser and I still need to hoard money?!?

Game Description: Set in the far future, Earth's appetite for natural resources has become a major motivator for deep space exploration. Immense, privately-owned and operated mining ships called "planetcrackers" orbit planets and use sophisticated equipment to carve out entire city-sized chunks of rock, reducing them to component elements and raw ore. When communications go dead on-board the USG Ishimura, a famous planetcracker—systems engineer Isaac Clarke—is sent in to fix the problem. Once on-board the vessel, Isaac discovers that the crew has unearthed an ancient and malevolent alien presence far beneath the planet's surface and brought it on-board. Weaponless, alone and terrified, this lone engineer is burdened with much more than simple survival—he must seal the alien horror back into the dark rock.

In space, no one can hear you splatter

HIGH Blowing monsters to pieces with futureguns is an incredibly relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

LOW The 'plot twist' is so cheap and laboriously telegraphed that when it's finally revealed it seems borderline insulting.

WTF Not being allowed to change difficulty levels during a New Game+. What's the point of keeping weapon upgrades if I can't use them on a harder playthrough?

Playground of Tedium

HIGH Blowing up people and vehicles from inside the safety of a helicopter never gets old, does it?

LOW Actually, it does. And surprisingly quickly, at that.

WTF For some reason EA refused to include any licensed characters as a fun secondary skin. Sure, they don't have access to Lucasfilm characters the way the first game did, but aren't they making a James Bond game right now? Meanwhile, the Sean Connery skin is just lying around in a mainframe somewhere, gathering dust.

Game Description: Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is an explosive open-world action game set in a massive, highly reactive, war-torn world. When a power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply he sparks an invasion that turns the country into a war zone. But for you, international crisis is all upside: You are a mercenary, and you profit from chaos. You are not a soldier. You don't have to play by anyone's rules. You have your own code: you will fulfill the terms of the contract, no matter what. If you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it. Play your own way, or play with the help of a friend in the new co-op multiplayer mode.

The Universe is Yours...And Everyone Else's

HIGH You can make any creature you want, do anything you want, and affect the environment in any way you want.

LOW The first four stages combined are much shorter and simpler than the last one, which is a little strange.

WTF Planet Buster, baby.