In Third Person

Back when this first came out in 2007, Crackdown was I think the first demo I downloaded when I bought my XBOX 360. I heard a lot of hype about its crazy GTA-meets-super hero gameplay and the demo of it was good enough to sell me on it...eventually.

I didn't pick it up that year. For whatever reason, I could not justify purchasing this game, making a note to myself every time I saw it that I would pick it up someday. Well, when the opportunity arose to get it for $5, I couldn't resist.

Is it worth more than $5? Absolutely. If you're the type of person that played Grand Theft Auto for the fun that comes with messing around with a big city, then this is right up your alley. In particular, the super powers of strength and agility make this game its own beast. The sensation of being able to jump to the top of a skyscraper and across rooftops is pretty exhilarating. It's this awesome gameplay mechanic that has left many a gamer scavenging the world for every last agility orb to maximize their hops.


Compared to Grand Theft Auto IV, Crackdown is a much more "free" experience. The game gives you essentially only 3 types of "missions" (capture a supply point, kill a general or kill a kingpin) and technically, you can complete them in any way you choose. However, the lack of structure can be a downer to those looking for a good story. The game ultimately boils down to "kill dudes", and not much else. Which for the most part is fine, because for what it does, it does really well.

My only real beef at the moment is that the game isn't really as open as it hypes itself up to be. Players are kept away from playing the game "out of order" by making elements of the world physically unreachable or the opposition too strong and too vast to take out. I totally understand why this was done, but it did feel really cheap in implementation.

With Crackdown 2 on the way early next year, this game is still worth a look even after all this time. I'm almost done the game, and maybe see myself picking up Crackdown 2 a lot faster than I did with this one.

One of my initial concerns over The Beatles: Rock Band was the limited song selection. With Rock Band 2 packing over 80 songs on the disc and currently over 900 songs total available, 45 Beatles songs seems paltry in comparison. Even if the game eventually included every single Beatles song ever made, the catalogue would never catch up in terms of sheer volume of songs.

Since the game came out though, I've played way more Beatles than regular Rock Band, because most of those 45 songs are really, really awesome. Adding to that awesome this week was the release of Abbey Road as downloadable content. If you're familiar with The Beatles catalogue, you probably already know wheter or not you want this.

For me, Abbey Road is easily my favourite Beatles album, so buying this was a no-brainer. The moment I had a chance, my brother and I played the whole album front-to-back.

The joy I felt from playing through the entirety of Abbey Road may have only been rivaled by the first time I "got" Guitar Hero. Your experience will vary based on how much you like the music, but for me that is the best music game content to date (and maybe the best it will ever be).


For all of the hyperbole, there are two caveats to this package. For the cost of completing the Abbey Road package, you're paying a lot for not much. Most of the big songs from the album came on the disc, so you're paying mainly for 2 full songs and the 16-minute medley. If you love Abbey Road then this doesn't matter. The pricing for individual tracks is a bit dicey as well. Would you pay $1 to get "Her Majesty", a 21-second song?

The only other beef that some may have is the inability to play certain songs from the medley separately. Due to te way these songs were put together, it would be weird to have "Polythene Pam" abruptly stop when "She Came Throgh The Bathroom Window". If you've played The Beatles: Rock Band, you've experienced this withthe first 2 songs off of Sgt. Pepper.

And in the end...if you're looking for more Beatles music for your Rock Band, this might be as good as it gets.

Released in 2008, Mirror's Edge was a game I was following closely. The concept of a game built around first-person parkour action in concept seemed totally awesome and totally un-doable. Most first-person games don't even let you see your own feet, control like you're a walking turret rather than a person, and platforming elements more often than not are a chore. How could a developer pull off such acrobatics from a first-person perspective?

Well, the game turned out good, hitting 79 on Metacritic, but a few of the flaws I found in the demo (as well as a limited budget and other games to get) prevented me from "jumping in" (sorry for the pun). I thought that the parkour action at its best was exhilarating in a way a video game has never made me feel before. However, I felt like I was constantly fighting with the controls and the combat systems felt clunky. I would die repeatedly because of the controls not doing what I wanted, which either caused me to fall off a building or get shot in the face at point blank range.


In spite of all that, I still wanted to give the game a chance. Today, I finally bought a used copy of the game for $5. At that price, I think I could take a chance on it. I also got Crackdown for $5, which was a game I waited even longer on to try out, but I'll talk about that another day.

I admit, I'm currently not that far into Mirror's Edge. From what I've seen so far though, it's kind of everything I hoped for (and feared) when I played the demo. The art style is awesome, the scenarios are exciting and the sensation of being a free runner flawlessly doing crazy stunts is incredible. But with all the awesomeness came dying. A lot. I must have died roughly 40 times in 60 minutes because I couldn't get a grasp of the controls. I feel that the buttons by default are mapped weird, and don't always respond the way I want them too. Also, the game really does fall apart when you're forced to fight, because the hand-to-hand combat and shooting engine are pretty bad.

I really want to love this game. I applaud Dice and EA for taking a chance on this and am glad that a sequel is on the way. I'll give the game more time and hopefully the game can change my opinion over the course of the game.