Sonic the Hedgehog is a seminal video game character. Who knows what the world of video games would look like today if not for the little blue speed ball. So it is with that respect that the venerable Sonic Team has made the newest and most nostalgia heavy Sonic game short of bringing it back to 16-bits.

Sonic Generations is a love letter to all things Sonic, providing game that takes you through the entire Sonic history. The game revolves around a mysterious being that is disrupting space and time. As a result, modern Sonic comes face to face with his classic self and the two speedy hedgehogs go on an adventure to set right the Sonic universe.

Gameplay:

There are two main gameplay types in Sonic Generations. The first is a classic super speedy 2D Sonic platforming style of level, and the second is a more modern 2D-3D hybrid style that is common amongst today’s Sonic games. The game has a pretty nifty story explanation for the two types levels, making the switch in gameplay between Acts natural. Each Act One is run by classic Sonic in his typical fashion and each Act Two by modern Sonic.

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The world of video games and the world of toys have always had an interesting dynamic. Many people will remember the main outlet for purchasing their original NES games was from the cage at Toys R Us. Then, as gaming evolved and players matured along with the content of the titles, video games began getting their own stores and found their way into electronics superstores like Best Buy.

As that happened, many people began their arguments that video games were a form of art and not just simple boys. But… why can’t we have both? Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure works behind the concept of “Bring Your Toys To Life” where players blur the lines between their collectible figures and their gaming console experiences.

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A year ago, Activision proved you could have too much of a good thing with their Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock release which has been the last major band based rhythm game to come out with any sort of real backing to the mass market. For years, guitar and band games dominated sales charts between Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Those who presumably had taken this the worst had to be Harmonix who had pioneered the plastic instrument market with the original Guitar Hero only to see their own new franchise Rock Band take a beating from the oversaturated market caused by Activision. But from the ashes of so many plastic guitars and drum kits, a new genre came back to life with the dance game with both Dance Central and Just Dance.

Dance Central would captivate the world by measuring the full use of the dancer’s body to see how accurately they could replicate the motions on screen which quickly made it the defining piece of hardware for the newly launched XBox 360 Kinect peripheral. Now, Dance Central 2 returns to show you really can’t have too much of a good thing… as long as you do it right.

Gameplay:

Dance Central 2, like its predecessor, revolves around players standing in front of their TV and mirroring the dance moves in front of them. At heart, it is an incredibly simple concept but anyone who has tried dancing at any point in their life can vouch that just because you can see it done in front of you, it doesn’t mean you can do it too without a little practice.

Dance Central 2 works with all levels of dance skill thankfully so people who are experienced dancers can be challenged while rookie rump shakers can still enjoy themselves even though their arms and legs flailing in the air may make them look like they are having a seizure to passersby. Thankfully, individual dances still have the freestyle sections where the Kinect takes pictures of players to remind them just how silly they look in motion.

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It’s been year since the release of a quality X-Men title. Not since X-Men Legends and its sequel has there really been a game that captured the essence of Marvel’s band of merry mutants, especially with the pitiful movie tie-in titles that have been released.

When X-Men: Destiny was announced by Activision and Silicon Knights, the makers of Too Human, players hoped their prayers would be answered as they would get to experience what it was like for an emerging mutant caught between the turmoil of the X-Men, Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants and the humans who seek to end the “mutant menace”.

Instead, what they got was a half handed execution that feels like a franchise cash-in rushed out in order to hit the holiday game season before the larger releases like Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3.

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Since the genre began, tower defense games have always been downloadable titles with very few ever making it to full retail release. This has been an advantage for the genre as it has given more opportunity for innovation. For example, with Toy Soldiers and it’s sequel Toy Soldiers: Cold War, players were allowed to both roam the battlefield in various vehicles as well as take on the role of the towers themselves.

Now, Robot Entertainment, the makers of Age of Empires Online, releases their second title to the world with Orcs Must Die!.

Orcs Must Die! is another new take on the traditional tower defense formula. Instead of setting up towers throughout the enemies path, Orcs Must Die! focuses on the use of traps along with third person action mechanics such as shooting, melee and magic spells. The result is an incredibly addictive experience.

Gameplay:

Each level starts with a player in one of the many keeps of the Order where he must stop a horde of the Mob from reaching rift points. Players see the start locations of the Mob and the paths they will take in order to reach the rift points. Once enough of the Mob has reached the rift, the player loses. Players need to use a combination of an ever expanding assortment of traps along with their own combat skills to hold off the horde.

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The origins of The Gunstringer are not what most people would expect. At Comic-Con in San Diego, TwistedPixel CEO Michael Wilford let us in on the story that has already spread throughout the internet that the pitch for the game came about during the time span of a bathroom break.

After talking to TwistedPixel about the Kinect technology, Microsoft executives went to the bathroom. Michael and one of the other’s on his team looked at a skeleton marionette on the wall of the Mexican restaurant they were at and came up with the pitch by the time the Microsoft suits had returned. The rest, as they say, is history.

Gameplay:

At first, the Gunstring appears as a fairly simple concept. Players use one hand to control the motion of the character left, right or jumping while their other hand aims an imaginary gun at up to six targets. Players fire by lifting their right hand quickly just like they would back in the childhood days of playing cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers.

There is something to be said for the immediate nostalgia brought to this game with that one simple action. Not only does it have a control that is intuitive to the Kinect sensor for the action it represents, but it brings people back to their childhood which makes it almost impossible not to like.

Whether its ninjas, ducks, cowboys or Indians, everything in the Old West wants to take out the Gunstringer and the player needs to be able to shoot it out before it gets to him or at least get out of the way.

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The first impression the world got of Dead Island left it with some lofty expectations to uphold.  In one of the most emotionally stirring game trailers of the past decade, no one knew really what to expect from the Techland developed zombie title. At that point, no one even had any idea what kind of game Dead Island would even be.

What Dead Island brings is a combination of many genres both in theme and gameplay style. Debating whether the title is a first person shooter with RPG elements or an RPG with first person combat becomes a moot point as the lines are so blurred in the intoxicating gameplay of Dead Island.

Gameplay:

As just mentioned, Dead Island is a combination of both FPS combat with tons of RPG style gameplay seamlessly mixed together. Add that to an open world environment and the Fallout comparisons begin building up quickly. To say that Dead Island is Fallout 3 with zombies though would be an oversimplification of what Dead Island brings to the table.

First, let’s talk combat. Dead Island is played entirely from a first person perspective. Players begin with nothing more than their fists but soon begin picking up common items found on an island paradise such as paddles, kitchen knives, coat racks and machetes (with all that jungle, it doesn’t seem odd that these are found throughout the game world). Through the use of these items, players must bash their way through zombie attacks.

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One of the most rapidly changing genres in gaming today is that of Tower Defense. Really only starting a few years ago, the genre has gone from a simple, yet addictive desktop Flash based game to one of the most fun and diverse in gaming. From its basic origins to Defense Grid: The Awakening to the upcoming Orcs Must Die, different companies have come up with new and creative ways to put their own spin on Tower Defense.

In Toy Soliders: Cold War, Players are given a limited supply of funds and locations to deploy various armaments against a soviet assault. In addition, players can hop in to these various turrets and control, aim and fire themselves at the oncoming forces adding a whole new level of depth instead of being solely focused on building and upgrading.

Gameplay:

As stated above, players must create a line of defense against waves of oncoming enemies during Toy Soldiers: Cold War. To do this, they are given a choice between six different kinds of turret, each with its only strengths and weaknesses like the machine gun which can mow down foot troops but doesn’t do much damage to heavily armored vehicles to anti-air artillery which can be used to shoot copters out of the sky but cannot target ground forces.

Each of these has three levels of upgrades which include special alternate firing modes depending on their level. For instance, players can zoom in on a “bullet cam” and steer anti-tank missiles at their intended targets. During this time, players must also monitor the health and repairs of all their other turrets and keep a watchful eye out that no enemies have snuck past them on their way towards the Toy Box (the location players must prevent enemies troops from reaching).

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If you own an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, you have most likely tried the already classic casual title Fruit Ninja. In its first three months, it sold over a million units and continues to top the App Store charts. Players are tasked with swiping through a fruit cluttered screen while not letting any fall off the bottom and avoiding the dreaded bombs. It is a fun frantic minigame that uses a mobile smart phone’s touch technology in an intelligent and rewarding way.

Now Halfbrick has teamed up with Microsoft for the Summer of Arcade to bring Fruit Ninja Kinect to the XBox 360. Using the Kinect motion technology, players hands act as ninja swords to slice and dice apples, oranges and strawberries in one of the most accurate uses for the Kinect since its release.

Gameplay:

In Fruit Ninja Kinect, players must use their arms to slide through flying fruit while avoiding contact with bombs or allowing fruit to fall off the screen. From what we can tell, the Kinect sensor has near pinpoint accuracy in the game allowing for control that is as accurate as it comes for motion gaming. Players can slowly move their arms into position but only when a player speeds up will it count as a sword swipe which is very important for avoiding bombs. An acrobatic player can even use their legs to kick through a wayward pear if necessary.

There isn’t much difference between Fruit Ninja for the iPhone and the Kinect in terms of gameplay mechanics save the inclusion of the pomegranate. Everyone’s favorite source of antioxidants can be used to end timed stages where players can hack away for a few seconds and build up ridiculous combos.

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Every time we hear about an announced comic book movie being tied in to a game, we get a little nervous. There have been so many failed attempts with it in the past. Between Iron Man 2 and most recently Thor: God of Thunder, SEGA hasn’t had the best track record with them. Knowing they’d be publishing the action adventure based Captain America: Super Soldier, the cringing was understandable.

Fortunately, Next Level Games, the people who brought us Super Mario Strikers for both the Gamecube and Wii as well as Punch Out!! for the Wii, tossed a mighty star spangled shield at us and bucked the trend to produce a fun classic beat ‘em up that fits well into the Captain America mythos and uses the movie signature in a positive way.

Gameplay:

Captain America: Super Soldier takes place in an “open world” much like that of the classic Metroid. We use the term loosely because players have the option to back track and explore the European castle to find hidden collectibles but the majority of the game can be done without ever needing to turn back. The size of the level is fairly impressive too with both a castle to explore and the underground workings below it.

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Two summers ago, the world was first introduced to ‘Splosion Man, an ADHD platforming antihero with a penchant for cake just trying to escape a spanning scientific lab where he was being held. And as much as we loved him, (**Spoiler**) he didn’t end up fully escaping at the end of ‘Splosion Man. The opening of Ms. Splosion Man shows the origin of this new breed of estrogen fueled insanity. Ms. Splosion Man takes the core concepts of the original title and, much in the way that Ms. Pac Man became a more challenging version of Pac Man, ups the ante for 2D platformers yet again.

Gameplay:

Ms. Splosion Man is one of the most complicated simple games of the last generation. In the same way that ‘Splosion Man and Super Meat Boy had incredibly simple mechanics, jump and blow stuff up and jump and don’t die (respectively), Ms. Splosion Man leaves players with a controller with a bunch of buttons that all do the same thing: ‘splode. What Ms. Splosion Man did do however was come up with new ways to ‘splode and objects to ‘splode into, out of and on to.

The treadmills have returned as well as the atomic green barrels that launch Ms. Splosion Man across levels. But new items have found their way in to the mad labs. Jetson like flying cars populate the world, giving moving (and crashing) platforms for Ms. Splosion Man to traverse.

There are also rotating cannons, much like those exploding barrels of Donkey Kong Country, requiring both timing and aiming of players to shoot their little pink lady across levels. Barrels sometimes descend slowly with propellers being added to them and floating, rotating atomic green platforms that sort of resemble an original metroid can be found throughout the game as well.

As a result of these and other new mechanics, levels feel fresh and new and have tons more challenge and replayability. The game also now includes a Ghost Mode where they can compete against their friends and leaderboard high scorers as well.

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While Thor has hammered the competition in theaters, it looks as though this will not be the case for the console release of the tie-in game Thor: God of Thunder. Archaic visuals alongside punishing and repetitive gameplay place Thor: God of Thunder amongst the list of failed movie to game tie ins, though the story doesn’t directly coincide with that of the Thor motion picture.

Gameplay:

Thor: God of Thunder attempts to model itself around other successful action games such as God of War or Dante’s Inferno. Players make their way through specific pathways in levels where they hack and smash through redundant hordes of faceless drones.

Thor uses standard melee attacks alongside his powers of wind, thunder and lightning and hammer throws to defeat these enemies. The downside to these god powers is they aren’t exactly very powerful and Thor’s Odinforce (think of it like Mana or Action Points) quickly depletes, leaving him with only a few sparks to shoot off over the course of combat. The rest of the time, players can simply button mash the standard attack button until grapple options become available.

As mentioned previously, Thor combats larger enemies by actually climbing up them and attacking specific spots on their body to inflict more damage. This, much like the rest of combat, becomes quickly repetitive in finding a way to dodge enemies until they are stunning to where Thor must repeatedly beat their armor off of them to uncover their weak spot. Though different enemies have different spots that must be destroyed, the principal doesn’t change.

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