Last Thursday night, I was too restless to sleep. I usually take some time to relax after my late class, and I found the perfect way to unwind. I cracked open my brand-new copy of Mirror's Edge and played until two in the morning.

It's been a long time since I've loved a game enough from the start to play for hours. I had a feeling that I would like it from the demo, but I didn't know that it would be this much fun.

Perhaps the best part of Mirror's Edge is the sensation of flying. Sometimes this comes from familiarity with a level; after failing a certain part several times I would find the swiftest path. However, good level design can create the feeling of flying without practice runs. For example, when running through a particularly intuitive portion of a level, I found myself suddenly faced with just one option for escape: jumping down the steep side of a building. To my surprise, I slid smoothly down and then used my momentum to complete a particularly long jump. It was a great feeling, and the fantastic sensation of flying felt completely natural in that environment.

Aside from flying, I found many other areas to commend in Mirror's Edge. The first couple of levels that I played through were quite intuitive. When running through small spaces at high speeds, this is a particular accomplishment. I was impressed with the level design, since players need to run through the level as fast as possible, and ordinary platformer and adventure game rules do not apply. I was also glad that the enemies were not an issue, at least at this stage in the game, since I could avoid combat. The combat system seems less refined than other mechanics, and it's nice to have a more peaceful option.

My greatest challenge when playing action-adventure games like Mirror's Edge is jumping. I don't know what it is about me, but I seem to be lacking a key skill in the spatial-relations department. For a game that I enjoyed so much, it may seem surprising that I swore like a sailor half the time I played. I have an odd habit where I almost never curse, except when playing games. Perhaps that was the release I needed to cure my restlessness.

My love-hate relationship with Mirror's Edge became more of a love when I discovered how forgiving the game was regarding death and respawns. Most of the particularly difficult jumps only had to be completed once, which made them much more accessible for people like me. The game had a plethora of triggered spawn points that minimized the time it took for me to reach the points where I got stuck, which also reduced my frustration. No matter how hard a part may have seemed, at least I knew that I only had to complete it once.

I'm excited to play more of Mirror's Edge. The sleek aesthetic, modern music, and HD graphics round it out to create a very enjoyable experience. I hope that it continues to be this fun. If so, Mirror's Edge could easily become my next favorite game.  

When a classmate showed up at a study session proudly clutching the strategy guide to Warhammer Online: Age of Reconing (WAR), I rolled my eyes. For the past week, he had talked of nothing except WAR. Clearly, his obsession had only gotten worse. I initially dismissed him as a lone fanboy, but then I saw how more and more of my friends were joining this WAR. It was time for me to log on and check it out.

I was initially hesitant to play WAR given my aversion to PvP experiences. Yet I wanted to give it a fair shot, and at least take the time to explore the opening PvE gameplay.

At first, I was impressed with WAR. A fantastic opening cinematic sequence clearly established the characters of the world, from the goofy goblin squig herder to the seductive and deadly dark elf sorceress. There were massive enemies, brutal attacks and flashy effects, all of which helped create a welcome sense of chaos.

Then I was asked to create a character. After consulting some friends, I decided to play as a dark elf sorceress. While I normally like to create a little blonde girl that's a glamorized version of myself, I decided instead to make a fierce Megan Fox lookalike.

Once I got to the gameplay, I became disoriented. The UI was unnecessarily cluttered and confusing; for a game that plays a lot like World of Warcraft (WoW), the UI was rather unintuitive. I wouldn't have minded getting used to a new system, but I felt that a lot of UI decisions didn't make sense to me. For example, the colors for quest givers didn't clearly indicate to me which I had visited and which were strangers. While I did appreciate the indications of quest locations on my map, I found that a lot of the UI changes made from other MMOs (such as Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) or WoW) were essentially less user-friendly. If I were new to MMOs, my eyes surely would've glazed over.

However, the opening quests in WAR were decent. While the quests themselves weren't written with at the same level as MMOs like LotRO, the actual quests were interesting and went beyond the simple "Kill 5 Generic Enemies" quests. I don't expect WAR to be as detailed as LotRO since WAR is a PvP-focused MMO. Yet the PvE quests still had fun details like firing a special weapon at enemies and unleashing creatures resembling dinosaurs.

I must commend WAR for some great scripting, which helped to create a fantastic atmosphere. It was very rewarding to watch the dinosaur creatures I unleashed run to the nearest enemy and attack. I also liked how the elves I needed to defeat were already engaged in battle, and my allies would aid me when nearby. Then there was the quest that gave me a fantastic bird's-eye view of the war around me.

While I enjoyed playing as a lovely avatar, I have to admit that WAR seems to be more clearly geared toward a male audience than other MMOs. My Megan Fox lookalike started out in what amounted to a bra and skirt. I kept trying to buy clothes, but I couldn't at my low level. So when I finally got a new gown, I was excited to try it on. But then I saw that my new outfit was composed of even less fabric than my default bra and skirt. I wouldn't object if I could choose between the shamelessly exhibitionistic lingerie and the skintight leather catsuits, but there were no catsuits to be found. I also wouldn't have minded if there were more shirtless males running around, but, at least in my starting area, all the men seemed to be fully-clothed. Yet all the women I encountered seemed to be wearing things like Nehmora the Hag, dressed in essentially a bikini and thigh-high boots.

I must admit that WAR does seem to do well sticking to their theme. WAR stays consistent with many details. For example, as a dark elf sorceress, I could choose abilities that followed the paths of agony, calamity, or destruction. When I was continually asked to "kill the poet high elves," I began to feel slightly guilty for being so evil. Despite my feelings, I was glad to see how deeply the developers had explored the dark atmosphere.

As a single-player PvE experience, WAR didn't pull me in like LotRO. While I appreciated the quests and themes, I don't feel that WAR's PvE has the same level of polish as some other MMOs on the market. However, WAR was not made to excel as a PvE game. I tried to explore more of the PvP aspect, but I gave up after queueing for a PvP quest for half an hour. I think I will reserve judgment until I've played more of the PvP. Unfortunately, I fear that I may not be the right person to appreciate WAR, given my preference for the "care bear" experiences.  

I'm more of a hardcore gamer than a casual gamer by nature, but I do enjoy indulging in the pleasures of casual games from time to time. I often find casual games to be a nice break from the intense commitments I make to my usual 50-hour RPGs. Like a summer fling, good casual gaming experiences can inspire a sense of fun and freedom that only comes from a short-term, minimal commitment.

I recently tried out the casual game Ikibago: The Caribbean Jewel. Ikibago is not your run-of-the-mill casual game. It takes the usual match three mechanics to another level, much like Puzzle Quest. The game is loosely centered around a the story of a lost jewel. However, the only way to get the jewel is to journey across the high seas and puzzle your way through each level.

The basic mechanics of Ikibago are familiar. The core match three principle is expanded through several variations, such as keys, locks, empty spaces, pattern-making, multiple combos, a moving board, and the unusually flexible piece-switching options. Instead of games like Bejeweled, where only corresponding pieces can be switched, Ikibago allows any piece on the board to switch places with the others. This creates a fun dynamic which allows for a wider variety of play styles. I found that my love of organizing and sorting motivated me to arrange rows of one color each. However, there were many other ways to create combos and get just as many (or more) points.

The overall style of Ikibago was well-suited to the game. The pirates looked cartoonish but not childish, and the bright colors created an upbeat mood. The music was fun and definitely set a nice pirate mood. I enjoyed the aesthetic experience and the cute cutscenes.

Ikibago displays one of the most important traits of good casual games: it is easy to learn, but difficult to master. While I found myself breezing through the opening puzzles, I soon faced a welcome challenge. Ikibago is a polished game experience, with fresh variations on a simple mechanic. I had fun solving the puzzles and I'm looking forward to playing more soon.  

While I was working on The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, one of our advisers was a man named Jonathan Blow. He was working on a game called Braid, an independently-created 2D platformer that dealt with similar themes of bending the laws of time. Our lead designer raved about Jonathan Blow's genius and could not wait to play Braid. So when the demo was finally released on Xbox Live, I wanted to give it a try.

Just minutes into Braid, I could see why the critics were charmed. There was beautiful music, a refreshing art style, and incredibly clever puzzles. The opening story was broken into portions that could easily be skipped, if desired. The tutorial was integrated tastefully into the very art of the backgrounds. The how-to tutorial images were simple enough to be understood visually; no words were necessary. The level of polish was clearly obsessive, and the final result was impressive.

I'm not quite sure on where I stand on the whole "games as art" argument, but I'm certain that many of the pieces of Braid are very artistic. David Hellman's art is stunning and quite dynamic; it really pushes the 2D limits and creates a beautifully-animated world. The art fits the story rather well; it's a storybook-inspired style with quaint details like a dinosaur and tiny cannons that fire everything from clouds to enemies. Equally stunning is the musical score. It is lovely and suits the scale of the game. Each level seems to have its own special theme that is thoughtful and filled with emotion. My only complaint regarding the music is that some themes seemed to get slightly annoying when I rewound small portions multiple times in a row (for gameplay reasons). However, this is likely due to my personal lack of skill rather than an error on the part of the composer.

The puzzles themselves were incredibly clever. Unfortunately, sometimes they seemed too clever for me. Even some of the early puzzles baffled me. I'm not sure why, since I love puzzle games. Unfortunately, I felt that some of the puzzles required more chance than skill. Perhaps I was making the puzzles harder than necessary. However, it seemed like some puzzles got very difficult very quickly, and required tediously precise jumps. There also seemed to be some puzzles that necessitated a return later in the game, which is an interesting idea. Regardless, I would've made the earlier levels easier to lure players in and help them develop a confidence through familiarity with the mechanics and conventions of the world of Braid.

However, despite my frustrations with the puzzle difficulty level, I still found some aspects to appreciate. I thought it was brilliant that there is no restart from death in the game; the game can simply be rewound to the precise point a player needs to continue successfully. It was neat to see how certain keys could transcend the laws of time; they magically remained in my character's hand, even through rewinds. The level of thinking required to create these puzzles is certainly admirable.

I'm glad that I played a bit of Braid. I understand why so many critics love it and why it will likely remain inaccessible to a large portion of the gaming population. Like high art, a game like Braid seems to suit a particular audience. I admire Jonathan Blow's efforts, but his game is a bit too difficult for me.  

"Dark," "gory" and "brutal" aren't the typical words that attract me to a game. I'd heard that The Darkness was all of those wonderful adjectives and more, which initially drove me away. Then a friend lent me the graphic novel that became the basis for the game, and I soon found a reason to explore the depths of The Darkness.

The demo for The Darkness is incredibly well-rounded and complete, giving an excellent view of the game in chapters one, three, and seven. The stats have been adjusted specifically for the demo, allowing a smooth experience despite the gaps. Each level had a very different feel. The game has a strong sense of narrative despite the limited dialogue; most of the story was told through the protagonist's actions.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the first level. It felt more like an amusement park ride than a game. My options were very limited; I only could rotate the camera. When I finally got a gun, I couldn't wait to fire it, but I had to sit and wait while my character loaded the gun at the pace of a sloth. Supposedly I wasn't allowed to fire until the guy in front of me was brutally killed, and I could take his place in the front seat. I finally did get to shoot a bit, but then the demo portion of chapter one ended. While being in a car chase is exciting, I would've enjoyed it more if I were able to take part in the gunfight earlier. Part of my annoyance with control of only the camera came from the fact that the animations were stiff and the character models were just so-so. After reading a comic with the fantastic art style of Top Cow, I had hoped for characters that looked more sophisticated. Instead, these mobsters appeared to be precariously perched on the edge of the uncanny valley.

Chapter three was frustrating in the beginning, and I died a few times trying to get out of the cemetery. It seemed as if the voices of the mobsters weren't coming from any particular direction, so I couldn't tell where my enemies were until I was shot by them. I had some trouble getting used to the shooting mechanics and trying to identify men in black suits against a very dark background. While I could crouch behind cover, it appeared as if I couldn't shoot while hidden and thus I had to expose myself to harm. After a few tries, however, I managed to run into a tunnel and take the men down one by one by shooting at them through a small window. Following that small victory, I gained the darkness power and the game became much, much easier.

As soon as I got the darkness, I began to enjoy the game. I could wear the demons like a suit of armor. I could summon a minion berserker and command him to kill those ahead of me. All I had to do was shoot out streetlights; the darkness only thrives in the absence of light. Perhaps one of the coolest abilities was the "creeping" darkness. One of the demons would creep away like a snake, suddenly making unreachable areas accessible. I used this mode to crawl through a vent, take out a fan, then slither through the opening to brutally murder a man for a key. If there's one thing the darkness ability does well, it's giving the player the power of a real badass.

By the time I played the demo portion of chapter seven, I was much more familiar with the game, my powers, and the controls. Fortunately, the designers had the foresight to balance chapter seven by adding the extra abilities that would be available at that point in the game. These included a new darkness ability (that allowed an darkness "arm" to lift and smash things) as well as two new types of minions (the gunner and kamikaze darklings). Although I would sometimes panic about a lack of ammo, the help from my summoned darklings soon proved to be more than a match for the various henchmen.

My main complaint regarding chapter seven would have to be the level design. There was a gate I wasn't sure how to pass in the beginning, yet there were many locked doors scattered around. Once inside the warehouse area, the actual layout was rather mazelike, and I found myself constantly retracing my steps, accidentally exiting, and getting rather confused in general. My objective was behind a door that I got open somehow, but only after much button-mashing and frustration. I'm still not sure how I finally got through that door.

Overall, I was quite impressed with the faithfulness of the adaptation of The Darkness graphic novel to the gameplay experience. The game chose a strong storyline to follow and did a fantastic job of allowing the player to explore the depths of the protagonist's very dark powers. The brutality of the game didn't bother me, but that was likely due to my exposure to such images in the comics already as well as my high tolerance for blood and guts. I'm not sure if those unfamiliar with the series would enjoy The Darkness as much as I did, but it's certainly worth playing the demo — if you're not afraid of the dark.  

After a few internships and game conferences, I actually know the names and faces of a few people behind some great games. I first heard about MySims at GDC when I met a programmer who worked on it. Then, in the fall, I took a game design class with Robin Hunicke, who was the lead designer. I respect the work of both these people, so I wanted to see what this game was all about.

I have to admit that I am new to the Sims series (unless you count Sim City). However, I do understand that certain aspects of MySims are Sims conventions, such as the gibberish voice-overs. Also, I don't exactly fall into the younger, more casual demographic for MySims, so I did my best to review it accurately given the intended audience. Please note that all comments are based on the Wii version, as opposed to the DS version.

MySims is one of the happiest games I've ever played. All the avatars seemed very excited and hopeful. My own avatar was adorable and skipped around joyfully wherever she went. The entire art style reflects this happy, friendly theme. MySims managed to make everything cute and adorable, from metal detectors to loading screens. This seemed to enhance the game in almost every way. I only had an issue with the cutesy animations when I was trying to point at small features on the customization screen, and my avatar was so excited that she kept bopping around. So instead of changing her eye shape, I changed her hair. Or her mouth, depending on how she was dancing. Overall, it was a rather minor annoyance.

The entire game seems to give players plenty to do and guide them to their goals. For example, when I left my avatar idle while taking a cell phone call (in the real world), a pop-up appeared to help guide me towards my next task. If I were confused, this notice could be quite helpful. The game appears to be set up so players never feel lost and alone in the world.

Yet players don't have to do exactly what they are told at any given moment. About half an hour into the game, I was given a whole bunch of blueprints for items that I could build. By then, I had also learned how to build and remodel houses, prospect (with my trusty metal detector), and plant trees. Resources seemed abundant for those who seek them out. Also, activities are not limited to structured quests or events. I was happy to discover many ways that I could interact with the world around me, from snoozing on a bench to splashing in a fountain (and giggling, naturally).

I think that MySims is generally a decent game, with a careful attention to detail. It seems to be very friendly and well-suited to those who like to explore and build. If I were younger, I think I'd really enjoy it. I'm curious to see what my cousins think, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with them soon.  

As a child, I looked up to Lara Croft. She was smart, brave, and beautiful. Lara broke out of the rich girl stereotype and pursued her dreams. Aside from her unrealistic proportions and illegal tomb robbing, Lara is a relatively positive role model.

Like any fan, I tried my best to learn more about this woman I admired. I owned a PlayStation, but I lost interest in Tomb Raider 2 shortly after the tutorial. The game was difficult and required a set of skills that I didn't have. I turned to comics instead, reading about Lara's adventures in the Top Cow series and Witchblade crossovers.

As I grew older, I have played each new Tomb Raider demo, hoping that the next one will finally capture my interest. Lara has certainly charmed me, yet I never seem to want to play her games. How could a series with such a compelling character frustrate and bore a gamer like me?

I recently played the Tomb Raider: Anniversary demo. It was well-received by critics; the PC version scored 83 on Metacritic. The various revisions to levels and mechanics from previous games sounded promising. I wanted this to be the Tomb Raider I had been waiting to play and love.

At first I was impressed by the shiny new graphics and fluid animations. Clearly motion capture had greatly benefited this series, as Lara now moved with the grace of a real gymnast. Anniversary felt like a next-gen experience and I was thrilled to be immersed in a fantastic set of ruins.

Yet Anniversary soon fell prey to the same faults that caused me to grow tired of its predecessors. I was utterly alone, aside from the sparse enemies who scared me half to death. The graphics were so seamless that I had a hard time figuring out where to go. For example, there were two exits from the starting area, but the most obvious exit seemed to be a ladder cruelly just inches out of my reach.

I felt that the game was rather unforgiving. I got stuck at one point and I had nowhere to turn for help. My feeble attempts at finding a solution caused me to fall into a river, where I was swept downstream and over a waterfall to the beginning of the level. I had the distinct feeling that these puzzles were catered to fans of the series: those who knew how to solve the puzzles could solve them easily; those who didn't were out of luck. While I do appreciate puzzles in games, I felt that I was thrown into the lake without first learning how to swim.

I don't believe that Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a bad game. Tomb Raider fans would likely find it to be a welcome addition to the series, given the lovely graphics and next-gen upgrades. However, I may have reached the point where I give up on the Tomb Raider series. I'll always admire Ms. Croft, but perhaps I'll have to appreciate her from afar.