Pandemic Studio's 2005 Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, took the sandbox genre and placed it in a military setting with rather impressive results. Three years, various delays, and a purchase by Electronic Arts later, Pandemic gives us Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Swapping the previous game's Korean setting for Venezuela, Mercenaries 2 ups the ante with improved graphics, an enhanced arsenal, new fire physics, and am all-new multiplayer co-op mode, Has the leap to new and improved consoles produced a new and improved game? See what happens when game critics team up to take on Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Eurogamer
...apart from some cool explosive effects and solid controls, Mercenaries 2 is utterly mediocre in almost every sense that matters. From the initial sorties onwards it's bogged down by the worst kind of brain-dead cannon fodder enemies, lead-you-by-the-hand level design, arbitrary boundaries, and some technical howlers. It lacks challenge, excitement, personality and any real verve whatsoever.

Videogamer.com
One of the fundamental problems is the AI of enemies. We've seen plenty of action games with dumb enemies, but those in Mercs 2 rank very near the bottom of the list. They show almost no signs of intelligence other than raising alarms or occasionally moving to a vacated gun emplacement. We regularly saw enemies stood motionless between buildings, firing RPGs at us from touching distance and driving into each other

IGN
Mercenaries 2 seems balanced for two players more so than one. Especially since, in co-op, your teammate can revive you if you die. They just have to get near you, hit the proper button, and you're back on your feet. In single-player, death kills you, so to speak. It helps to communicate, as one man's explosion can often be his friend's untimely demise. With two people calling in air strikes, these can get pretty crazy on screen. There's something eerily poetic about laying a hail of bullets on an enemy as your face is awash in the glow of a nuclear detonation. Co-op is a powder keg of goodness.

Gameplayer
There’s also the occasional odd visual glitch or letdown. Scooting about in a chopper, at one point, we were engulfed in the thickest fog of war seen this side of an RTS. Other glitches saw the AI spot our position even though we were obscured from view, and our support chopper got stuck on the environment on more than one occasion. That said, these aren’t deal breakers. For a virtual world that spans 8 square kilometres we guess this sort of stuff is, at times, unavoidable.

Variety
But what makes the game a true standout is how streamlined its design is — the controls are extremely approachable and players are trained slowly in their use. Rather than inserting endless fill-in dialogue, "Mercenaries 2" makes in-depth data on characters, locations and story elements available for optional reading through an intuitive menu interface. The overall effect is that players can concentrate on everything there is to do in the game world without getting stuck in an overburdened story or overcomplicated controls.

Things aren't always simple in the world of mercenary game critics.

Ah, the game of golf. Some consider the sport to be nothing more than badly dressed men walking through the park with sticks, but for hundreds of thousands of gamers it's actually about controlling badly dressed men walking through the park with sticks. I've actually always been attracted to the sport, but my particular build doesn't lend itself well to putting my hands together in front of my body and then moving them with any sort of grace, so video games are all I have. For years now EA's Tiger Woods series has been the go-to franchise for realistic golf, and now that the 2009 version of the game is upon us it's time for the critics to chime in on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09. Is it a hole in one, or does it get lost in the deep rough? Softly whispered verdicts after the jump.

GameSpot
Tiger Woods 09's controls aren't vastly different from TW 08, but they're much more forgiving. You start your swing by pulling back on the analog stick and then strike the ball by moving the stick forward. A more traditional three-button-press option is available at any time by clicking the right analog stick. Last year, the slightest deviation left or right during your swing would result in a terrible shot, particularly if you were using a golfer with low skill attributes. This year, not only are you punished less severely if your swing isn't perfect, but you also get instant feedback via an onscreen meter that shows exactly how you moved the stick. By monitoring this feedback, you can learn how to straighten your swing or compensate for your natural swing by adjusting your aim or by adding a draw or fade to the ball with the press of a button.

GameCinemaHD
(The) Tour Pro setting, along with the new Presentation Camera, is something that hardcore golf fans will definitely appreciate. This difficulty setting disables the after-touch spin control, power boost, and the Putt-Preview, therefore leaving the golfer with only skill to rely on. The ball’s overall sweet spot is greatly reduced as well, and there’s much less forgiveness in the left analog stick, therefore resulting in more frequent hooks and slices. Combine this with the aforementioned Presentation Camera – a television-style camera that offers multiple perspective changes – and you’re left with a much more realistic game of golf.

TeamXbox
The Tiger Challenge mode, like in years past, gives you a series of minigames and situational scenarios that earn you points you then use to unlock challenges against other famous golfers. Stages that require things like, “hit three balls at a pin and have the total distance from the hole add up to less than 45 yards.” Or win three skins off of this character. Or win a game of Bingo Bango Bongo. Things like that all help you improve your skills, especially when you follow them up with one of your coaching drills starring Tiger’s real life performance coach Hank Haney.

1UP
On the "most improved" front, I need to give a shout-out to one major change to multiplayer: simultaneous play, where all four players take shots at the same time, with opponents' shots indicated by colored trails. This works surprisingly well, making it possible to polish off a full 18-hole game without committing an entire evening to the enterprise, which magically turns work back into fun.

As consistent as the money rolling into Tiger's bank account.

Too Human has been in development for more than a decade by Denis Dyack and the crew at Silicon Knights. The kick-off for the Cybernorse trilogy was critically panned when previews hit and Dyack was quick to attack those who dug into the early code. But now the game is in stores and there's no more room for excuse making. We've gathered together a cross-section of critical analysis from across the web to try and find a bit of insight into whether the game is worth buying and playing.

Hit the jump for our Epic Frankenreview.

The Guardian
The Guardian did not provide a score or grade.
I've tried to love Too Human, I really have. For a start action role playing games - think Diablo 2 etc - are rarely found on the consoles. And those that are tend to emphasise the hack and slash action over the deeper character development stuff. Too Human has skill trees, levelling, looting, big guns, co-op - heck, this should be great, right? Sadly not. Repetitive action, bland graphics, iffy controls, technical glitches - for a game that has been in development for years this is unforgivable. Or maybe the protracted birth explains the game's flaws? The clumsy inventory and general lack of interface polish are possibly symptomatic of an overly inward looking development process. Or maybe I've been spoilt by the likes of WoW? But with the amount of inventory management that Too Human requires you'll wish there was a more elegant solution.

NZ Gamer
Presented in-engine, the cinematics are horrible. They are poorly scripted, poorly animated (for the most part) and just downright painful to watch. Much ado was made about the cinematic capabilities of Too Human, with Denis Dyack (the head cheese at Sillicon Knights, the studio behind Too Human) talking about how this was the next step in story telling and would really blow people away. One can only assume that the good stuff got left on the cutting room floor because what shipped in the title really is quite poor - garishly so compared to the likes of Heavenly Sword, but even old PS2 games like Tomb Raider would have beaten this presentation hands down. It's unfortunate but it's hardly a show stopper - you don't even see them at all in multiplayer, which is where most hardcore players will spend most of their time.

GamePro
Baldur maybe a little bland and walks around like he's got something pointy in his boots but put a crowd of enemies in front of him and he suddenly turns into an Olympic speed-skater. With simple rotations of the analog sticks, you can send Baldur flying across the screen like an angry hornet, doling out punishment with bright sparks and the satisfying clank of metal on metal. The combat system is pretty slick, letting you launch guys into the air and then juggle them with gunfire to rack up combo points for devastating "ruiner" attacks, or leap up to get out of the fray and bash them silly. I personally loved every minute of it. The targeting system is less helpful when using guns because it stubbornly "sticks" to one particular enemy when you're frantically trying to target another, but the action is intense and enjoyable nonetheless.

The HD Room
Is Too Human a dismissible "hack and slash" best eternally shelved with the likes of Kingdom Under Fire as reported from E3 2006? At times in the thick of battle it sure feels like it. But even when staleness creeps into combat and urges to "save and quit" grow, there’s the enticing payoff of leveling up one more time in the quest to reach level 50 or trigger the next extensive cut-scene unraveling a story on-par with, or better than, most of what airs on the Sci-Fi Channel. Diablo may continue to skirt around ever appearing on Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, but Too Human is finally here and has a legitimate shot at successfully picking up some of the big production action/RPG-on-consoles slack.

GameSpot
Too Human drops a juicy plot development at the most inopportune time: its very end. It's the obvious manner of setting up a sequel, the infamous "to be continued..." we've come to expect from television shows and, yes, even some modern video games. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it exemplifies the core experience of this action/role-playing hybrid. Too Human is a game of false starts and unrealized potential that infiltrate almost every aspect of the game, from story, to combat, to balance. Its elements feel stitched together, making for a patchwork quilt of a game that's fraying at the seams.

Our review won't run until later this week because we've decided not to review the review code which was sent out early but with several notes that it didn't represent the final and completely polished product. Instead I'm just finishing up the final, boxed retail code (my second full time through the game) and will be posting our review later this week.

It's that time of year again folks. Time for guys (and not a few girls) to don football jerseys declaring their allegiance, stock up on meat and chips, perhaps smear some of that black stuff under their eyes and then head over to the couch to obsessively play the latest game in EA's Madden franchise, Madden NFL 09. It's the 20th anniversary of their flagship sports title, and that should indicate that fans are in for something special. Has the series, often criticized for taking baby steps between installments, managed to deliver a truly special game to mark this milestone, or have they dropped the ball? Now with the post-game report, the assembled game critics of the internet.

GameDaily
To further assist your play style, EA added EA Rewind and EA Backtrack. Rewind allows you to erase a play in case you screw up with an interception or fumble. Cheaters are sure to squeal in delight over this addition, while devoted players will turn it off. Backtrack is more helpful, with Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond, the in-game announcers, breaking down certain plays to tell you what went right or wrong.

GameSpot
Just as there are plenty of good things to talk about with regard to 09's gameplay, there are some problems worth mentioning. Slants and crossing routes are exceedingly difficult to defend against. The linebackers who could snag almost any ball out of thin air last year were annoying, but so is watching a lousy QB and below-average tight end pick you apart like they're Peyton Manning and Dallas Clark. It's not all fun and games for QBs and receivers though. Quarterbacks will frequently overthrow passes in the flat so that they lead receivers right out of bounds or receivers will get stuck in an animation and, head to the sidelines, lose yards, or run right into a tackler.

Associated Press
One of the problems in a series with so much history is that it can be somewhat daunting to a newcomer. Many of the new features in "Madden 09" are geared toward helping the novice. For example, play selection can be as simple or as deep as you want it. At the easiest level, the computer will select your plays for you. Later on, you can arrange your playbook by play type (power run, quick pass) rather than by sometimes confusing formations like Z slant wide corner or double Z LB spy.

1UP
A perfect example of the upgrade: Beautifully realized snow games — a quantum leap from the pseudo-sleet that passed as powder in recent years (though why do footsteps stay in the snow, while tackled players leaves no trace?). The rivalry games (Giants vs. Cowboys or Jets vs. Patriots, for example) receive a different, more epic visual treatment than regular games, which seems a tad overdone — during a Broncos vs. Chiefs clash in the rain, the jerseys were so muddied and the lighting so dramatic that it was tough to tell the sides apart.

G4 X-Play
With EA owning the NFL license till 2012, they could have easily milked the franchise with minor tweaks and the occasional roster update till their deal expired. Madden NFL 09 actually reinvents the series with upgrades to previous modes as well as the introduction of new ones like Madden IQ, Online Leagues, and Madden Moments. The new commentating team, Backtrack replays, soundtrack, and improved graphics really packs that extra punch of realism making this game a must buy.

While I still haven't even opened my copy of Madden NFL 09, I've heard it's very nice.

Some of the best games on the PlayStation 3 have never seen a Blu-ray disc, all thanks to the folks at Q-Games. The first two games in their PixelJunk series - Racers and Monsters - proved that you didn't need photo realistic graphics to make video games that truly belong to the next generation. Now they've released PixelJunk Eden, a game about jumping, grabbing, and pollinating. Looking at the graphics alone you'd have absolutely no clue what was going on. Watching a video sheds a little light, but doesn't quite make things clear. No, to experience PixelJunk Eden you need to get your hands on it, just like the reviewers did in our latest Frankenreview.

Eurogamer
What's confusing is the game's wild and carefree disdain for consistency, and the way it throws its head back and laughs in the face of the laws of physics. Many jumps are hard to judge, because the game seems to decide whether your character will make them based on how it's feeling at precisely that moment in time. A plant that looks impossibly far away might be easily reachable, and vice versa. So you're left confused about what your character's capable of, which routes through the level are feasible and why these two aspects appear to change on a moment-to-moment basis.

Boomtown
Remote play on PSP makes a welcome appearance, and works very well, in no small part due to the simplicity of the controls and visuals. Then there is the ‘revolutionary’ trophy addition which will certainly sell a few more copies of the game for those hoping to ‘level up’ their PSN accounts. Thankfully, adding more value than just having to complete each level, the trophies vary between a completist’s dream, opening all of the seeds in each level to a rather crazy trapeze based three player achievement.

1UP
Eden's heart lies as much in its audiovisual detail as it does in any structural or gameplay elements. Strikingly colorful and abstract, the mesmerizing backdrops complement the sparse game perfectly. Even when the levels start flipping gravity and tweaking the relationship between the enemies and environments, it's easy to appreciate the visuals acting as the motivating force behind the action. The music isn't quite as interesting and doesn't evolve much throughout the journey, but the beats are still an essential part of the experience (the louder, the better).

UGO
PixelJunk Racer was cool and PixelJunk Monsters sucked away a good few months, but PixelJunk Eden is straight-up digital crack. The ever-increasing difficulty challenges without ever becoming overly frustrating, probably because the sights and sounds are so damn calming and the controls, so charmingly simple and intuitive. If it sounds too abstract, do yourself a favor try the demo on PSN. PixelJunk Eden is a wholly unique gaming experience, one which is difficult to accurately describe. Like the best things in life, it must be sampled to be truly understood.

I spent the better part of Tuesday playing PixelJunk Eden, leading to me having to stay up until 6AM to finish Eternity's Child for my review. 'Nuff said.

When Namco first introduced SoulCalibur - the sequel to Soul Edge - to arcades in 1998, fighting game fans took notice. They then took that arcade gameplay, tightened things up, polished up the graphics, and released it on the Dreamcast, creating what many consider to be the best 3D fighter of all time. Even the next two sequels couldn't stand up to the DC version of SoulCalibur, despite the addition of gimmicky guest characters and an in-depth create-a-fighter mode respectively. Now Namco Bandai has released SoulCalibur IV on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, perhaps hoping that the extra polish of next-gen graphics, the new create-a-fighter, and the addition of online play will launch it out of the shadow of the original. Failing that, hey look - Star Wars characters!

The question here is, are any of the new challengers enough to take on the toughest opponents of all? Game reviewers ready? Fight!

Eurogamer
To get the bad news out of the way first, Namco has done little to refresh or redefine a genre enduring a terminal decline in popularity. Undoubtedly, Soulcalibur IV is very good and has at least one genuinely brilliant new feature. But in terms of the basic fighting gameplay barely anything has changed since the series' last- gen console outings. The formula that has stood Namco in such good stead has been tweaked yet again, but there has been only gradual evolution since the arcade debut of Soul Edge more than 12 years ago.

Team Xbox
The best feature of Soulcalibur IV’s online play– the ability to use user-created characters in versus battles– also happens to be at the heart of the most prominent portion of this entire Xbox 360 SKU. Namco put together a very robust Character Creation mode for Soulcalibur IV, and did the necessary follow-up to ensure these created characters were a part of as much of the battle action as possible (even in the cut-scene bits). You can either take one of the famous Soulcalibur IP’s or some of the newer blood and modify a multitude of items to create a one-off fighter to your specifications.

GameSpy
It isn't the first online fighter (and Virtua Fighter 5 is by no means a slouch), but by my estimation it's the one with the most juice, perhaps ironically because of the elements I like least about it. I scoff at the inclusion of the balance-compromising "Star Wars" characters — they're basically like cereal box prizes amidst, um, high-end, limited edition action figures? — but for every Mitsurugi I've fought online today, there have been six Apprentices and eight Yodas. I can only imagine this trend will continue once people start to unlock the characters designed by the anime artists. I give it 12 hours.

UGO
It is without question the best title in the series. The core game modes are solid, the rule changes and moveset tweaks give die-hards some fresh material to learn, the guest fighters - particularly Yoda - prove to be more than a gimmick and the graphics are unrivalled in comparison to other fighters. Best of all, for any changes or new additions, fans and newcomers alike can rest easy in the knowledge that SoulCalibur IV is still the same highly accessible, weapon-based fighting game that it's always been.

Sounds like they added polish to a good thing to create an even better thing. Who'd have thought?

Every Final Fantasy fan has their favorite game from the series. Hell, some even break the franchise down into two eras, pre and post-PlayStation. For myself and good percentage of the FF fanbase, Final Fantasy IV (II in the U.S.) is that game. The story was deep, the characters memorable and well-developed, and the graphical leap from the NES to the SNES made it the prettiest version of the game to date. Now Square Enix has upgraded FFIV in the same fashion as they did FFIII precious, bringing the game to the Nintendo DS with new graphics, voice overs, and new mechanics to keep things fresh.

Remakes of classic games are often a dangerous proposition, risking alienating fans of the original games in order to attract new players. For this week's Frankenreview we've gathered opinions from RPG-centric sites along with the more mainstream gaming press to see how Final Fantasy IV measures up.

RPGamer
It is disappointing, then, that while the characters are tweaked to update and strengthen their personalities and motives, the main story and its transitional events are left entirely untouched. The happenings which progress the narrative often conflict with common sense or with the game world itself. The characters are the most believable they have ever been, but their actions are not. Added lines of dialogue, mostly with NPCs, explain or foreshadow the most spastic story moments and definitely create a rounder, more interesting world. Logic-defying occasions still stand out, though, and reveal a thick, solid line Square Enix refused to cross when remaking a famous game with a large fan following.

RPGFan
The opening FMV is marvelous, but that's basically the first and last time you'll actually be impressed. More FMVs would have given the game the cinematic feeling it deserves, like the FMV's in Final Fantasy VIII. FFIV uses a polished in-game engine for cutscenes, which is not bad but underwhelming. The resolution and detail are average for DS. Stylistically I found myself even less impressed. The characters looked cleaner and more mature back on the SNES. The blocky, disproportioned, childlike models do not suit the game's mature story.

G4 X-Play
The best changes to Final Fantasy IV are the minor ones. The game is less stingy when it comes to precious items. A new feature rewards players for uncovering every corner of dungeon maps. This tiny innovation does double the work. It provides much needed access to resources and it encourages players to get into more fights. The game encourages and, more importantly reduces, the tedium of grinding by rewarding exploration – an act that, for most of us, is a reward in and of itself.

GameSpot
Although it has been rereleased several times throughout the years, this full remake of one of the most celebrated stories in video game history is in many ways more poignant and impressive than it was all those years ago, despite minor irks with the voice acting. With a cast of memorable characters and villains, a more accurate and authentic translation, a new skill-customization system, and a few important new story elements that help to better explain key plot points, this is the definitive version of Final Fantasy IV that everyone should experience.

Interesting. RPG sites are generally more forgiving with roleplaying games, but not so much when you futz about with a classic.