Let it be known that I have ventured no further into BioShock 2's first-person guns-and-superpowers multiplayer modes than its playable lobby. Such are the limits of preview builds that playing an online multiplayer session requires coordination with a game publisher that can be compromised by the flu, vacations and other stuff.

But here's the shock: Even just stepping into the lobby it seems that, well, maybe this multiplayer mode can serve as a prequel to the first BioShock. (To slightly-latecomers, the single-player part of BioShock 2 is a sequel to the first game , previewed on this site earlier this week. Also, please note I have no visuals to illustrate what I'm about to describe. The screenshot up top is from single-player.)

The BioShock 2 multiplayer mode begins with a choice. The player needs to choose one of several citizens of Rapture to be. I chose football player Danny Wilkins, though I apologize for not remembering the details of his written profile. I've yet to figure out if you can change your character, as I wasn't able to back out to a character-selection screen.

To start playing my multiplayer experience, I chose a menu option called "Prologue." This triggered a cutscene that put me in an apartment in BioShock's undersea former Utopia, Rapture. From a first-person perspective, my character picked himself off the floor, a dripping syringe of blue liquid near him. On Wilkins' black and white TV screen, Rapture leader Andrew Ryan was making an address to all citizen, celebrating the turning of the calendar from 1958 to 1959. "Andrew Ryan offers you a toast, to Rapture, 1959... May it be our finest year!"

Ryan was wrong, fans know. Rapture endures civil war in the year that follows. That's the content you apparently play in multiplayer.

The apartment, which presumably belongs to my character, is a 3D space like any other room in BioShock's campaign. Amid the decor were a desk and chairs, a working stereo, and a recording machine that played back a message welcoming me into the Sinclair Solutions rewards program. Sinclair Solutions makes the Plasmid super-powers available in the series. I/Wilkins was being selected to test some of the company's "home defense products in the field." Test them well and I'd be eligible for company rewards.

Standard options that you would expect in a multiplayer set-up menu screen were rendered as elements of Wilkins' apartment. At my closet, I could change my outfit and melee weapon. I had my football hero put on a goat mask and wield a football trophy as his weapon. At a Gene Bank device on the wall, I could configure and save up to three weapons load-outs. For my guns, I chose a revolver and shotgun. For my Plasmid powers, I went with Electro Bolt and Incinerate, leaving Winter Blast behind. Other weapons and Plasmids were locked, presumably accessible only when my character levels up (make that: only when my character earns more Sinclair Solutions customer appreciation rewards.)

But before I could even make all my wardrobe and weapons selections, an audio alert played, informing me that there was trouble and people should return to the safety of their homes. Yeah, right. I assumed that was my cue to gear up for multiplayer battle. To do that I'd need to leave the apartment. Before I did so, however, a tape recorder caught my eye. It was sitting on a coffee table. I activated it and discovered that it contained audio messages from all of the playable characters. Each character had one unlocked and two locked monologues. The locked audio clips had messages next to them, explaining which level my character would have to achieve to hear each one. The levels required were different for each clip, meaning that players will be steadily unlocking a new one bit by bit as they level up in multiplayer, until all of the monologues are available in full. Wilkins' first one was all about how he told a young football player that the way to be as great a player as he was is to recognize that, the way Danny Wilkins spells it, there is an I in team. It's no wonder this guy made it to the Objectivist, individualist paradise-to-be of Rapture.

I couldn't get more information out of this lobby/apartment.

To progress I'd have to leave and step into the Bathysphere, located down a hallway containing a bucket catching ceiling leaks. In that Bathysphere, I'd be able to select a multiplayer mode of play — Survival of the Fittest, Civil War, Capture the Sister, Turf War or Team ADAM Grab — and proceed with traditional online multiplayer matchmaking.

I can't say, therefore, whether actually playing multiplayer advances the story and makes the mode feel like a prequel that has narrative to it. I can say, though, that the apartment will be able to serve as a means for telling some story and revealing some lore. That's already more than I expected. It gets me thinking that, as with BioShock 2's single-player mode, I may have been too hasty in assuming such limited potential in the storytelling ability of the series' multiplayer offering.

The second installment of Borderlands DLC ditches the exploration found in The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned in favor of strengthening the ties between the game and the Mad Max series of post-apocalyptic action movies. Stealing a premise from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot sees players fighting for fame and fortune in a series of new Riot Mode arenas, facing wave after wave of enemies in either single player or co-op battles.

It sounds intriguing, but it's got to be more than three new arenas to warrant a $9.99 price tag, right? Read on.

What Is It?
Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is the second set of downloadable content for Borderlands. Rather than a new area to play in, which we got in the first downloadable content, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, Mad Moxxi delivers a new gameplay mode, Riot, which is almost like a game show version of Gears of War's Horde Mode. The titular Mad Moxxi, a widow several times over seeking to relieve her boredom with carnage, entertains a cheering crowd as you and your teams take on five different waves of enemies in three new arenas - Hell-burbia, the Angelic Ruins, and The Gully. These aren't simply pits that fill with enemies - they are relatively sprawling yet contained battlegrounds, ready to be soaked with the vital fluids of your prey.

What We Saw
I played through each of the three new arenas multiple times, using a pre-made level 30 soldier graciously supplied by the folks at Gearbox. Okay, I attempted to play through all three arenas several different times, dying frequently. I unfortunately only got to play single player, but it's easy to imagine having a blast with a couple of close total strangers on Xbox Live.

How Far Along Is It?
The new DLC releases next week on the Xbox 360, so the build I was playing is damn near close to the finished product.

What Needs Improvement?

No Experience Necessary: You don't gain experience while battling through wave after wave of enemies in the Underdome, which quite frankly feels odd. I understand the draw here is new weapons and the glory of triumphing over seemingly impossible odds, but when I spend an entire game on a steady climb towards max level, spending several hours tooling around a plateau just feels like a slight waste of time.

What Should Stay The Same?

Riding The Waves: The enemies in Mad Moxxi's Underdome come at you in different waves, each consisting of different types of enemies. One visit to an arena might start you off with an Easy Wave, with powered-down enemies that are easier to dispatch, before moving on to a Gun Wave, in which all enemies have guns (duh), or a Horde Wave, where swarms of melee enemies come at you mindlessly. There's a variety, but it's not so much that you can't anticipate what's coming next after you're done scrambling for the health and ammo Moxxi tosses into the stadium between rounds.

Moxxi's Got Talent: Black widow Mad Moxxi is a constant presence in the DLC, shouting out taunts to you as you struggle to survive, egging on the crowd, and just basically being the consummate showman, adding to the feeling that you are a contestant in some sort of twisted game show birthed in the mind of a violent husband-killer. Good times.

The Penalty Box: If you die during a wave, you're warped into the penalty box, an area overlooking the arena where you can shoot from, but cannot leave. Once again, I only played single player, where its mission failed if you wind up in the box, but I can easily imagine the fun that will come of having 2-3 other players in the box, urging the survivors on while desperately searching for targets to take out long range.

Final Thoughts
Gearbox's Randy Pitchford has said that Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is "like Smash TV in coop FPS, but in the Borderlands." I'd have to say he hit the nail on the head. There might not be piles of cash spawning at the end of every round, and the enemies aren't quite as numerous, but once you step into the Underdome you're the star of a game show where your life is on the line. I'd like to think that if the world had body replicating technology, this is the sort of thing we'd find on every street corner.

And if they can take the "Th" out of Thunderdome, I can take the "B" out of Beyond.

Lop the boss battle off of the original BioShock and the 2007 game would seem to be just about perfect. It was a novel dive into a failed Objectivist utopia called Rapture. It was a philosophical exploration of free will played as a first-person shooter designed to accommodate a player's tactical ingenuity. It introduced one of the great and weird new relationships in video games, the life-force/Adam-draining Little Sisters and their monstrously powerful protectors, the Big Daddys.

And aside from that final boss battle, BioShock ended well enough that nothing could improve it, not the addition of a 2 at the end of the title, not the tacking on of multiplayer and certainly not the opening title screen that credits twice as many studios for the sequel (four, none of which are the series' founding studio, 2K Boston).

I have, however, returned to Rapture, with the help of 2K Marin, 2K Australia, 2K China and Digital Extremes. I have played BioShock 2's single player campaign through its prologue and first full level, and I am both impressed and pleased. Dare I write this, but the new game has improved elements of the first.

BioShock 2, in its preview form, does not start with the elegance and magic of the first game. There is no scene-setting plane crash, swim through sinking, blazing wreckage nor an elevator ride down to an Art Deco paradise gone wrong on the sea floor. There is instead an abrupt awakening, a look into a reflecting pool that confirms, that, yes, I will be playing this game as a Big Daddy. And then, swiftly, there's combat. It is less artful, and it continued my worry, though that worry would soon end.

Jarring though the beginning of BioShock 2 may be, it is more with the gradual awakened clearing of the eyes that Rapture is revealed as a better-looking place this time. Outside the windows, the sea is now blue instead of green, its waters more clear and the sea-life around it more abundant and vivid. Graphical improvements are, I remembered as I began playing, a reasonable expectation even in the successor to something that was so good.

I'll stay light on story spoilers, and instead reveal the mood. Rapture is still a wreck, still one with wrecked lives in it. The city feels changed. Sofia Lamb, a psychiatrist brought in by BioShock's Andrew Ryan, is now a worshipped leader and apparently our nemesis within radio contact. On the attack, she sends splicers and the well-publicized Big Sister, a stalking seemingly invincible foe that leaps and springs through levels, only to be beaten back temporarily as was so many times the dark Samus in the sequel to Metroid Prime. There are friends within radio contact, but most of the character that emerges in the new game appears to do so in the same successful manner as it did in the first: From, literally, the writing on the walls of Rapture, from discarded radio logs, from the posture of corpses that reveal failed dreams and failed struggles.

Rapture as a place of wonder and as a trigger of player curiosity is back, successfully.

In the early going, being a Big Daddy feels different only in armament. On our right arm is a drill, a better melee weapon than a wrench. Soon, we earn well-animated guns, like a rivet gun and a 50-cal. Machine gun. On the left hand we earn plasmids, some of the same early ones as in the first game: Electric shocks and fire. New is the ability to dual-wield, which leads to the discovery of the shock/stun-and-shoot left-right combo. Even more useful is a hacking tool which can even, with the help of a rare type of dart, hack from afar. I played many fights from a distance, shooting a hacking needle into a turret and then hacking it so it would kill the enemies for me. Hacking, by the way, is no longer a puzzle game of pipes but a reflex test of well-timed button presses, like a gaming golf swing.

What's so winning in BioShock 2 is that, as it refrains early on from re-writing the rules of the first game, it instead amplifies that original's best aspects. It doesn't just look better or explore more of Rapture's interesting world, but it recognizes what played best in the first and does more of it.

There were two things that had played so well in the first BioShock.

The first, was the original game's linear sequences, passageways through Rapture's sights and sounds that allowed the player to absorb the history of the place and its people. This is best executed early in the sequel in an area called Ryan's Amusements, which is a theme park and museum that reintroduces and elaborates on Rapture's history, Ryan's philosophy and, as much of the place is defaced, on the views of those who rebelled against Ryan shortly before the first game began. Walking through this place makes evident the genius and madness of Rapture.

The second gameplay achievement in the first game was the dynamism of its combat, the offering to the player of numerous direct and indirect ways to fight. This was a key element, utilized when attempting to take down a Big Daddy. Players could fill a room with explosive traps, plan to electrify water when a Big Daddy might rush through it, and then begin shooting. The new game makes these tactics all the more available, thanks to the ability to hack from afar and with projectile-based trap ammo. The game requires this kind of play when a player prepares to take down a Big Daddy. It also requires it of them when the alert sounds that Big Sister is coming in for an attack. And, in a twist, it forces this kind of planned combat when a player has taken their own Little Sister to a corpse full of Adam energy. Placing her next to the body is prelude to setting the room up to defend against Splicer attack. Give her the signal to begin and they swarm. You have to keep her safe until she drains the energy. Then you can decide whether she is rescued or harvested. These types of planned offensive and defensive combat work so well, the designers of the new game clearly relishing the opportunity to let the player strategize and orchestrate organized chaos.

Earlier demos and hype for BioShock 2 showed off the ability to walk outside on the sea floor, and much has been made of the game's placement 10 years later in the timeline from the first. I did indeed walk on the sea floor in the new game, and while it was a beautiful sight, the sequence lasted too briefly for me to recognize any significant gameplay change it introduces. The plot is mostly still a mystery to me now, as it is intentionally unclear just why and how the player's Big Daddy, one of the original line, has been revived nor how some of the supporting characters who appear really relate to each other.

I started playing BioShock 2 worried that the inspired execution of the first BioShock would consign a sequel to being a pale imitation. It seems, though, that I had underestimated the room for technical improvement and gameplay refinement. I see little sign of re-invention and a lot of signs of love and polish. That love could smother, that fealty to the past could still render this game as superfluous. But in the early going, I am happily immersed in Rapture again, joyfully mystified as to what its inhabitants are up to, pleased with the way it plays and wanting to play more.

During subway rides and at home for the past couple of days, I've been stealing some time to play a preview build of development studio Renegade Kid's February 2010 game, Dementium II. I fared better than I did during my first hands-on with the game just before Halloween.

Renegade Kid has created a first-person horror game that, for a cumulative two hours, kept my character perilously close to danger and death as I crept through an insane asylum and neighboring town. This is not a game to play if you want to feel comfy and settled, though as far as controls go, it actually is quite solid: The action is on the top screen, the stylus controls where you look, face buttons handle foot movement, and a shoulder button triggers melee weapons and gun attacks. The lower screen shows a map, which, in Super Metroid style is marked with blocked passageways that can be accessed with only the correct weapon — or, in more of a Resident Evil-style flourish, by solving a puzzle.

The game does creepy well. You wake up in an insane asylum that at its most hospitable has guards running after you with electrified shock sticks. Sometimes this demented place becomes an alternate hellish version of itself, its colors turning sickly greens and grays and its inhabitants suddenly including demons and helpless screaming men whose bellies are being bored by giant drills. The sounds, as I noted in my first preview are full of screeches and scratches and other unsettling tones. This kind of environment mixed with ammo scarcity and lots of angry demon enemies makes playing the game an experience of feeling perpetually imperiled.

For this preview I played into the game's third chapter, leaving the asylum after beating a monster boss (who wasn't as tough as he seemed when I fought him in October) and trudging out through a boiler room and into the snow. I found a village and some locked-door puzzles but mostly had to kill monsters, being sure to never use too many of the scarce revolver bullets and shotgun shells I found. My Metroid skills were put to good use, as I noted green markers where I'd found areas blocked by boarded-up doorways. Once I found a sledgehammer I was backtracking and knocking through those boards.

There's a so-far simple story driving me through the game. My character is William Redmoor and he's being taunted through voice-over both by a guy who seems to be running the asylum and possibly by the former Mrs. Redmoor. At the wife's behest I was eventually trying to dig up our daughter's grave. Creepy stuff. The story didn't feel complex, but it suited the atmosphere, as did numerous graffiti marks on the asylum's walls and the too-placid homes in the snow village through which I trekked.

There's little like this kind of game on the DS. There are few M-rated games, few horror titles and few Metroid descendants. Ultimately, though, this is a DS game, which means that someone who likes those things best not be bothered by the system's limitations. Renegade Kid's game looks good, but can't look much better than Nintendo-64-level 3D. For a horror game, I think that works, as the abstracted gory realism takes on almost a nightmarish edge. Less easy to tolerate is the limited artificial intelligence, which leaves enemies running at you in predictable patterns and results in combat that can feel more repetitious than what you're getting in 3D horror games on consoles.

There's plenty here to like, with key questions only lingering about the game's length and variety, both of which will be answered when Dementium II is released for the Nintendo DS in North America on February 16 of next year.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2's multiplayer has a tank gimmick, as you may have guessed. I'm not completely sure if it's in every single mode of multiplayer, but it was the centerpiece of EA's game demo. The tank is supposed to change the nature of multiplayer by providing a mobile control point that acts as a magnet for all the action in the game. It also acts as a magnet for tank driving fanatics like myself.

What Is It?
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a first person war themed shooter set in various locations in and around Russia North and South America*. The multiplayer uses both custom versions of campaign mode maps and original maps — all of which are tailor made for the tank gameplay. We were told that up to four squads could face off at once in any map, for a total of 16 players in a multiplayer match. Matches are ranked and there's a hardcore mode that removes the kill cam, applies friendly fire, ditches your targeting reticule so that you actually have to use the gun's scope and abandons a lot of heads-up display elements. Additionally, there's an unrevealed squad-based multiplayer mode EA plans to announce later.

What We Saw
Due to some technical difficulties and my unfortunate need to leave a little early, I was only able to play three matches of the one vehicle gameplay with only two to three squads on the same jungle map (called Laguna Presa). I tried out all four classes (engineer, assault, scout and medic), but I wound up sticking to engineer because of my tank obsession as the engineer is the only class that can repair tanks and that comes with rocket-propelled grenades for the blowing up of tanks. That and I wasn't able to successfully attack anybody with my defibrillator while playing as the medic. Bummer.

How Far Along Is It?
Pre-alpha. The game isn't due out 'til March 2, 2010 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

What Needs Improvement?
Laguna Presa Map: There were two things about the map that didn't work for me. One, there were at least two places where you could drive the tank up onto a hill and rain down tank fire upon approaching enemies. It seemed a little unfair — but that may have been because we didn't have four squads in play for the necessary chaos to balance that out. Second, there were no physical boundaries on the map. So you could just be running toward what looks like likely cover and be told by the game that you're leaving the battlefield and you've got 10 seconds to turn around. It was pretty jarring.

What Should Stay The Same?
The TANK! It's nice to have a mobile magnet like the tank — it means spawn points suddenly become less important for would-be campers. It also gives players a way to switch up the gameplay if they're able to get to the tank before the other squad does. I was only able to get into the tank once, but for the time I had it, I loved it. It was easy to drive, it automatically fired at anybody within range and if I was really worried, I could change positions within the tank and fire out the sides while somebody else drove. Except I never let anybody else drive because I kept running them over. Then I got exploded and spent the next two matches trying to blow up the tank which kept getting occupied by other squads.

Final Thoughts
If not for the tank, I probably would have been very bored because not much else about the multiplayer stood out as special or different. It's also too hard to pull off the defibrillator attack — in theory, I should've been able to put that puppy in a puddle to shock an enemy within range. Sure, I might've died too, but at least I would've taken him out with me.

ETA: Here's the official reply from EA publicist, Jino Talens:

Squad Deathmatch is a brand new mode to BFBC2, so we're still testing and building it out to the way we want it in the final game. The PS3 beta out now is a general term used in the industry when a game is released early to the public for testing purposes, but the game overall is still in early Alpha.

*Additionally, Talens says, "The game is not set in various locations in and around Russia. It's in North and South America. We did say you are fighting against the Russians though."

During a gameplay demo, game director Patrick Redding explained that players might recognize "echoes" of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory gameplay. However, the experience is more the result of everything Ubisoft learned from the Splinter Cell series — up to and including that little identity crisis the game suffered between 2007 and 2009. Development on the multiplayer began in that time period, approximately two years ago, and what grew out of it is a story-heavy "prologue" meant to be played by two people cooperatively. From there, the rest of the multiplayer just sort of fell into place.

What Is It?
Splinter Cell: Conviction is a stealth action game starring Sam Fisher, a National Security Agency operative who may or may not be on the lam in this installment. Fisher doesn't figure directly into the main multiplayer mode — but two operatives (one from Fisher's agency and one from its Russian counterpart) engage in about six hours' worth of black ops work that sets up the story Fisher follows in the main campaign.

In total, the game has five multiplayer modes, four of which being separate from the main campaign. You can find out more about Prologue mode by reading on below — but here's what we know about the special "deniable ops" multiplayer modes:
—Hunter is for one to two players to go in and stealth kill everybody they find.
—Infiltration is a "pure" stealth mode for one to two players where the second you're spotted, you lose.
—Last Stand is a survival mode where one to two players have to protect a warhead within a level from a group of AI that want to set it off.
—Face Off throws out co-op and pits two players against both each other and a lot of hostile AI within a level.

What We Saw
I teamed up with Jose Sanchez from Electric Playground on a couple of Xbox 360s for my playthrough of the first Prologue level. I think Jose wound up being the Russian while I played the American. On this mission, we were tasked with getting into some facility or another in Siberia (although we were told the campaign isn't set in Siberia because it'd be "weird" for multiplayer participants to encounter Sam Fisher on their mission) — and making this dude open some sort of door. The whole thing went by in about half an hour for me and Jose — but I think we were doing exceptionally well for noobs.

How Far Along Is It?
Still sort of early days. The framework is there, but there are some kinks to work out like this one crazy bug that doesn't let you complete the mission. Also, they apparently were unaware that a placeholder idle animation had been left in the game — so we were treated to a surprise when we came upon idle Russian guards dancing. I hope you'll write in to Ubisoft and plead with them to leave this in on account of it being hilarious.

What Needs Improvement?
Sonar Goggles Aren't Night Vision Goggles: Jose is willing to bet money that Sam Fisher's trademark night vision goggles with make it into the game, yet. But for now, all anybody has seen (and gets to play with) are these sonar goggles that let you see the gameplay environment I guess the way a dolphin would. I'm not a fan because it turns everything gray. This gives me a false sense of security because when you're in cover, the world is sort of gray — and when you're out of cover, everything is in color. So if I'm wearing my goggles, I sometimes forget that that doesn't mean I'm in cover, and then the Russians shoot at me and oy...

Don't Leave Me!: You do not want to play this game with people who can't communicate. Often times, you'll need to coordinate your assassinations or attacks perfectly or else one player will wind up shot to shit while the other player gets stranded in some distant part of the level. For example, there was a choke point on the map where I was supposed to shoot one guard while Jose grabbed the other guard to make him use his keycard to deactivate a security gate. I kind of shot the security guard he was holding and then went through the gate and shot the other guy — which made a bunch of Russians show up to shoot Jose because I was already long gone by the time they got there. I think if Jose had said something ahead of time, none of that would've happened — but it also would have been nice for there to be some kind of non-verbal communication in the game reminding me not to be a jerk.

SPOILER WARNING
Torture Team-Ups: When you get to the guy, you have to beat him up three times to make him cooperate. You can take turns with your partner beating the guy up. This very closely resembles a gang bang and I was pretty uncomfortable — so I let Jose bash the dude's head into a printer and a desk while I watched the door.

END SPOILER WARNING

What Should Stay The Same?
Complex Concepts: Sure, I've played co-op with people before; but always in situations where I knew I could carry them if they turned out to be dead weight. Never have I been in a position where I simply can't do it without my buddy. And I'm not talking about getting a game over screen when they die — I really mean that the level would be too hard to go it alone. In particular, the mark-sharing mechanism really reinforces the buddy system. Jose would run ahead, climb a little half wall (because I guess they can't afford real walls in Russia) and mark a bunch of people walking by. I'd wait in a dark corner down the hall and when the marked men got to me, I could activate the quick assassinate mode and then run down the hallway to join Jose. There is also that revival mechanism, but I consider that standard buddy system gameplay.

Branching Paths: There are points where you have to go a certain way in the mission we were playing on — but every so often there would be open areas that presented options for how to progress. For example, there was one place where we didn't have to shoot anybody at all. Jose could go along the ceiling panels and I could cut right and (using his verbal communication) know when the guard in my area was looking elsewhere so I could book it past him without killing him. I wound up doing it anyway, because I accidentally hit the trigger button instead of the slide-into-cover button, but it's nice to have options.

To The Rescue! There's a cool thing where a bad guy can grab your partner in a choke hold. You've got a limited time to reach him and once you do, you have to make the difficult decision about whether or not to shoot the baddie and risk hitting your partner. Or get your partner to throw an elbow and then shoot the baddie as he's doubled over in pain. Decisions, decisions!

Final Thoughts
I wish I could've followed the plot more assiduously, but I spent way too much time trying not to die.

For those of you who missed that evolutionary step, here's what happened: You created a microbe through a streamlined version of the Spore interface and then used the accelerometer to tilt your creature around endless levels of a primordial ocean. As you bumped into smaller microbes that you could eat or bigger ones that you had to fight or flee from, you gained DNA and were able to increase in size. You could also edit parts of your creature, so such as color and specific body parts that helped you fight or flee.

What Is It?
Spore: Creatures is an adventure game much like Origins — only now we're on dry land with other evolved lifeforms. Players still control their creature by tilting the iPhone in different directions to move and can accelerate them toward other creatures by tapping the creature with your finger. The game adds a social interaction layer, has a total of 45 different parts to customize your creature with and four other abilities in addition to socialization. There are four zones in the game total with an "Epic" boss at the end of each.

What We Saw
I played through an early level of the game and fought one boss that required you to push poisonous mushrooms at it.

How Far Along Is It?
Near final. No release date has been provided, however.

What Needs Improvement?
Quicksand Is a Drag: There are various environmental hazards your creature can fall victim to as you tilt your iPhone around. Quicksand is by far the most frustrating because you've got the shake the iPhone to free your creature — which could bring on a sudden case of Dropped iPhone for a klutz like me.

You Can't Fall In Love: The social interaction is limited to making friends or enemies. You make friends by bringing certain creatures certain items; you make enemies by attacking other creatures. That's about as deep as the socialization gets. You can't "apologize" to creatures you attacked and you can't fall in love.

It's Pretty, But... I really, really liked how in Origins the world around you changed as you changed. Like at first the background was a hazy, faraway thing that suddenly sharpened and came closer as your creature grew. I just don't get that sense of accomplishment or wonder from Creatures.

What Should Stay The Same?
Steady Progression: The game has a structure I didn't get with Origins. When you know you've got to beat a boss in a level to get an epic skill, it gives you a goal to work for instead of roaming around wantonly eating crustaceans.

It's Super Cute: In addition to being able to make your creature a whole lot cuter and less sperm-like than a microbe could ever be. Also, one of the bosses was called King Mussle-Ups or some such — and yes, he was a mussel. Hilarious!

Someday We'll Get To Space: If Spore on the iPhone continues the steady trend of evolution, that means that someday we'll get to space. I cannot express in words how much the idea excites me.

Final Thoughts
If evolution is essentially small changes made over time to a core being, then I supposed Creatures fits the bill. However, I can't help but feel like the added features that make Creatures more like a video game than Origins might be some kind of step backward for people who liked the aimless roaming in Origins.

Need for Speed Shift iPhone is very much a driving simulator instead of a traditional racing video game with it's unrealistic boost pads and such. All the cars and licensed and handle fairly realistically and the real thrill of the game comes from the visuals. Because true fans of the driving sims don't care about body damage or getting the cops to chase — they just want to see that glistening BMW slide through the corners like a warm knife through butter.

What Is It?
Need for Speed Shift on the iPhone ditches the plot-driven antics of Need for Speed Undercover and focuses purely on the driving. The game features both quick race and career modes, career having four tiers with 28 events total with three difficulty settings throughout the game (Rookie, Pro and Expert — also you can create a custom level by choosing stuff like steering assists and manual transmission, etc.). There's also multiplayer on WiFi for four players and via Bluetooth for two.

What We Saw
I eventually managed to complete a single racing track with the default car and then got schooled in a two player match. It went something like this:

EA Mobile Producer: Oh... I must've left the settings on Pro, so maybe you're not getting the brake assists...

Me: No, I just suck. It's cool.

How Far Along Is It?
Very, very final. EA declined to give a release date but there is no way we'll be waiting longer than about a week to see this in the App store.

What Needs Improvement?
Graphics Create Class System: Unless you have the 3Gs iPhone or the super-high end iPod Touch, you won't be getting the full benefit of the beautiful graphics in this game. There are also nifty special effects you can really only see on these higher end devices. So what we have here is a game that rewards the rich and punishes the people who bought iPhones and iPod touches last year or before. For shame!

Damage Only Shows Up In Cockpit Mode: Due to some weird licensing rules where car companies demand complete authenticity in damaged car models, EA Mobile was unable to include damage to your car in the game unless you're in the cockpit view. And even then, it's just some paltry shattered windshield — none of that dramatic crushed hood that I kind of expect to see after ramming into a guard rail at 80mph.

You Have To Hold The iPhone Perpendicular To The Floor: The game uses the accelerometer to control the car. You tilt the iPhone as you would a steering wheel and tap in any of the four corners around your car to trigger the brakes for that wheel. This presents a problem for me, because my natural gaming pose is to the hold the iPhone parallel to the floor and look down at it. Holding it up in front of my face makes my arms tired — and I'm pretty sure people on the bus will stare at me.

What Should Stay The Same?
Yay! Cockpit Mode! Because the game makes you twist the iPhone like you were turning a steering wheel, I find it very helpful to have the cockpit view in the game so I can see a real steering wheel turn when I tilt the iPhone. Also, it really shows off the detail of the game.

A Lot of Licensed Material: There are 20 licensed car models that are fully customizable and 20 licensed music tracks that actually don't suck. That's a lot of material for one tiny iPhone game and it definitely raises the quality level.

Multiplayer: Racing really only feels like racing when you're up against other human players. There's just something about knowing that that person can make mistakes that gives you a competitive spirit — and it's always fun to talk smack back and forth during the race.

It's Sooo Pretty: I really wish I could afford an iPhone 3Gs — the graphics were smooth enough to make me want to lick the touch screen*.

*Never lick your touch screen — aside from being plain gross, it's dangerous. Do you have any idea how much bacteria is on that thing?

Final Thoughts
Here's how the demo ended:

Me: Stop pity braking! I can see you up there... Just finish the race and end my shame already.

EA Mobile Producer: Aw. Demo fail. But you still have to finish the track even after I beat you.

Me: *crashes into wall*

My personal favorite is probably still Bart's Nightmare on the Super Nintendo — because it was the only game that I could beat that my big brother couldn't. His claim to fame is still the old NES game, Bart vs. The Space Mutants. But both of us will always remember The Simpsons Arcade game from Konami as the ultimate Simpsons video game. It was the only one we could get our parents to play with us, and they only one we never ever beat because we always ran out of quarters in the dream world.

What Is It?
The Simpsons Arcade for the iPhone is a beat 'em up, much like the Simpsons Arcade of yore — but other than that, it's a totally different game. Featuring six levels with a boss and mini-boss each, the game stars Homer Simpson at the center of a plot involving Mr. Burns' sinister plan to suck Springfield's resources dry. The control scheme uses a virtual joystick and two virtual buttons that give the appearance of playing the game in an arcade cabinet.

What We Saw
I played the Krustyland level and saw sections demoed at the beginning of the game, at the end of the game and at Channel 6 News where you fight Bumblebee Man as a mini-boss.

How Far Along Is It?
Near final. EA declined to give a specific release date, but all the levels and sounds were in place and everything looked pretty finished.

What Needs Improvement?
A Little Slow On The Combos: Homer can perform punch-kick combos as well as an area-affect shoulder-check or belly flop that you can follow up with a second attack. It's great when it works, but it takes some work to master the timing needed on the virtual buttons. Worse, since you're not getting that physical feedback of pressing a real button, you're not always sure if you messed up the combo because you were late on a button press or because the touch screen didn't pick up on it.

Can't Store Family Members: Bart, Lisa, Maggie and Marge show up in gameplay whenever Homer finds a pickup with a family member's face on it. This triggers a Family Frenzy attack where said family member will show up on screen for a short time and help Homer attack enemies. For tight spot situations, it's not a bad system — but I wonder if it would be more fun to hang on to those family icon pickups until you assemble the whole Simpsons clan for some kind of super attack. It'd definitely reinforce that family feeling I remember having while playing the old arcade game with my parents and brother.

What Should Stay The Same?
Authenticity: EA got a lot of the main cast of the Simpsons (Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer) and a Simpsons writer (Michael Price) to work on the game. The result is a product that not only looks, feels and sounds authentic — but one that can take as many risks as it wants with the story and dialogue. For example, when you're playing through the Channel 6 level, you can hear Kent Brockman making snide news reports on the loud speakers and every menu selection results in Homer yelling "D'oh!" or "Whoo-hoo!" That would get old if these were knock-off voices or the writing was a hollow imitation of a real Simpsons writer — but because it's the real deal, it's actually quite pleasing.

Homages Galore: There are a couple of mini-games in Simpsons Arcade iPhone — and one of them is a direct throwback to the inflatable heads bonus level in the old arcade game. Dedicated Simpsons fans will have a lot of fun picking out all the homages to other Simpsons exploits throughout the game. Also, Binky the Rabbit of Matt Groening's classic Life in Hell comic series appears on all the loading screen. Awesome!

A Complete Gaming Experience: It's nice to have a portable game that's actually paced for portable play. I can easily imagine picking up and putting down this game while waiting in line at the movies or during a long commute. I just might have to resort to using headphones because all the "D'oh!"s are sure to piss off other commuters who easily recognize the Simpsons but can't join in on my fun.

Final Thoughts
Sorry guys, Comic Book Guy isn't in the game. You'll find plenty of other character cameos, but EA felt that Comic Book Guy was way overused.

Given the nature of No More Heroes, I'm not sure whether my altered perspective detracted from my experience or enhanced it. I'm going to go with enhanced because as I read over my notes from that meeting all I see are good things written around giant smiling cats I don't remember drawing. It must've stuck some kind of chord.

The thing I feel bad about, though, is not knowing how to say "stress fracture" in Japanese. Suda 51 was kind enough to inquire why I was limping at the end of the appointment and the best I could do was "It's a little broken." Which I think freaked him out because either something is broken or it isn't right?

What Is It?
No More Heroes 2 is the sequel to Wii game No More Heroes in which players take the role of Travis Touchdown and go about laser-swording various enemies to death for cash and stuff. The third person action adventure game is broken up quite nicely with some motorcycle segments and 2D mini-games. The major appeal comes from the game's insane brand of mature humor, which targets a very niche and dedicated audience of Wii owners.

In NMH2, Travis is dragged back into a tournament-style chain of fights once again as part of a revenge quest. Many character favorites from the first game return and you actually get to play as other characters besides Travis, like the sexy Shinobu.

What We Saw
I shared a playthrough appointment with some journos from 1UP where we passed the controller around for a series of mini games, a section in Travis's apartment, part of a Shinobu level and the first level of the game where Travis fights Skelter, brother to some dude you killed in the first game (which I confess I never beat).

How Far Along Is It?
Near final. The game is due out January 27th.

What Needs Improvement?
If You Can't Stand The Crazy, Get Out Of The Game: No More Heroes 2, like its predecessor, is weird, violent and totally proud of both. The narrative is bizarre, the action is gory and the mix of gameplay types between story missions and side missions can leave you reeling. Do not ride this ride if you have a heart condition, a poor sense of humor or a weak grasp of Suda 51's brand of insanity.

Camera Is A Little Bit Too Crazy: I noticed during Shinobu's level that the camera would sometimes have trouble keeping up with her during sharp turns in narrow corridors. Shinobu seems to move a lot faster than Travis, so I could see this becoming a real problem if you're racing through the level, slicing up a storm.

It's No Longer "Open" World: If you liked the open world of the previous game (although some people found it small), you're going to be disappointed to hear that NMH2 sticks to a map system instead. The map system marks where story and side missions are in town and when you select one, you teleport there. To me, it didn't make the world feel small or anything (and given my drugged state, I actually really appreciate the hand-holding with regards to knowing where the next story mission is), but I can think of a few people who wanted more open world, not less.

Shinobu's High Heels: Just watching her sprint in those thigh-high puppies made me want to cry, imagining my poor ankle going through the same motions.

What Should Stay The Same?

Still Endearingly Crass (And Violent): "Tone it down" is not in Suda 51's vocabulary — not even in its Japanese equivalent meaning. From the fourth-wall-breaking narration where Sophie dismisses the need to catch the audience up on the plot of the first game to chopping off people's heads in slow motion with buckets of blood flecking the screen, NMH2 is every bit as inappropriate and violent as the first game. And I don't think the fans would want it any other way.

Still Pretty Easy To Pick Up: There are some updates to gameplay that make bosses more complicated to beat and the training gym mini-games are notoriously difficult. But other than that, it's not hard to master the sword fighting moves or the procedure for charging up your weapon. Newcomers won't be lost.

Fashion Statements Are An Option: You can take Tavis clothes shopping and customize a great deal about his outfit — right down to some shades straight out of the 80s. But what I found really cool is how developer Grasshopper Manufacture gave a nod to Japanese fans by holding a shirt design contest. You can find the winning entries on the racks at the clothing store.

OMG Kitty~! My favorite thing next to the anime video game you can play in Travis's apartment is Travis's cat, Jean. At the end of the first game, she appears to have let herself go and is now a big ball of cat blubber. A mini-game lets you train her with "cat exercises" and arrange her diet so that she loses weight over time. The cat exercises were pretty hilarious — one of them involves Travis hoisting her up over his head, which probably benefits his weight loss more than hers. So adorable! And probably the reason I drew giant smiling cats all over my notes.

Final Thoughts
Now that my ankle is mostly better and I no longer am under the effects of painkillers, I realize how ridiculous the cat thing is. My cat would kick my ass if I tried to lift her over my head under the pretense of trying to make her lose weight.

Also, here's some news you can use:
—There are about 10 hours of gameplay total (side missions and all).
—No save data from the first game carries over or has any impact on the game.
—It doesn't use Wii MotionPlus.
—The motorcycle returns in some side missions.
—Suda 51 had nothing to say either about the ports of the first game to the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, or about his ongoing project with EA.

Over the weekend I played the first several chapters of Heavy Rain using a preview disc supplied by Sony Computer Entertainment of America. It was my first at-home trial of one of the major early 2010 games, a hands-on test of whether ambitious French game development studio Quantic Dream can meet its high goals of high-definition interactive fiction, last seen by players in the studio's 2005 PS2 game Indigo Prophecy (Farenheit in its native Europe).

Or let's call the Heavy Rain genre not interactive fiction but something else, a different name signalledby one of the early rewards unlocked for starting the game is a Trophy that states: "Thank you for supporting interactive drama."

Interactive drama. It's not quite a classic video game, at least not in what it asks the player to do, how it shows the action of its scenes and how it marks progress. Having experienced Hevy Rain's first several chapters I've not repeated many actions the way you might repeat Kratos' combat moves 25 times in the game's first 30 seconds. In those Heavy Rain chapters I seldom saw my controllable character from behind, as you would any number of heroes of Final Fantasy or Dead Rising. And I never scored points, lost lives, collected items or so many other things that we do when we play games.

I searched for clues about a serial murderer, the Origami Killer. I also washed dishes, turned on light switches, smooth-talked a convenience store stick-up man and took a shower. Concerning that last one, I took a shower both as one of the game's male characters and later as one of the game's female characters, and didn't just get to control the shower — I got to control the drying off.

Heavy Rain is bound to perplex some gamers. Its description will agitate a certain kind of macho gamer who is already angry about the alleged watering down of gaming by so-called casual and party game experiences.

But Heavy Rain may even test the tolerance of those who want to believe in development studio Quantic Dream's zeal to develop genuinely mature games. This, Heavy Rain, is a slow trickle of interactivity within a deluge of dark tones. This game is sad and slowly paced. It is melancholy and as sunless as the weather pattern from which it gets its name. Those who will enjoy it will be those who can stave off impatience.

The game begins, in an exception, in sunshine. The player controls Ethan Mars, taking the happily married father of two boys through some basic morning routines. That's the tutorial, teaching the player that a hold of a PlayStation 3 controller's shoulder button will walk Ethan forward, twists of the left control stick will turn him, but that most meaningful action will be generated by presses and pushes of the right stick and face buttons. Getting up from bed is a push of the right stick up. Opening a door might be a slide to the side. Shaving, washing your face and brushing your teeth is a combination of button taps and motion-triggered controller shakes. Any available action is signaled by the presence of a floating controller prompt, making the gameplay largely one of walking, searching for the next prompt that signals an available action. A hold of another shoulder button often generates a swirl of words around Ethan, representing his thoughts or topics of conversation, once he is around other people. This helps the player as a hint system.

This first Ethan chapter is your tutorial, the first gaming tutorial I've ever played consisting entirely of actions possible in the real world. In other words, Heavy Rain begins in an un-fantastic way, taking the aforementioned risk of lulling its players to disinterest. But the developers maintain that their quiet moments and quotidian options are character-building moments, mood-setters that make later actions more impactful. Sure enough, when one of Ethan's sons goes missing in a mall in the next chapter, it feels like it matters. And it's hard to say if it would have felt so relevant had the game not enabled the player to have Ethan horse around with his sons in the backyard one scene earlier.

About that backyard scene. There's a triumph there in the presentation of a challenging option. Once his wife and kids had returned from the store, I had made Ethan go outside to the backyard with the boys. The two sons vied for their father's attention and the game asked the player to choose: Who do you play with first? Who do you gleefully swing around like a propellor first, among these two cheerful boys jumping up and begging you to pick them? It's the simplest and seemingly least-perilous question posed in this or any other PlayStation 3 game. There's no stakes of life or death. But the feeling does seep in that something else is at stake: How the boys feel and how the one who won't be chosen first will lreact. Games seldom evoke such subtle and empathetic reactions. Heavy Rain doing it there, strikes the right note.

The game unfolds in chapters. Soon, Ethan's life is ruined, with death having struck the family and Ethan resigned to live by himself, struggling to maintain being a decent father while suffering mysterious blackouts. At this point the game's skies get dark.

Each chapter is established with some text that doesn't just name the day but notes the amount of rainfall. Sunshine is gone as the player becomes vexed with simpler things, like figuring out whether to force a child to do his homework or what to make for a dinner — and the domestic despair of not being able to find any as it gets later and later.

The player gets control of new characters in new chapters, taking command of an overweight, middle-aged private detective who visits a prostitute to speak to her about her son, a victim of the Origami Killer. The player controls Madison Page, in a nighttime scene played intermittently with Page in her underwear or, when she's showering, nude. The sequence might seem pandering and overly sexualized until those themes are twisted and made all the more disturbing when men seem to break into her apartment to attack her. She, with the player in control, can fight them off, as Heavy Rain prompts the player to input series of button presses and control stick swings to choreograph the fight (Bad timing in this game might result in a missed punch or, in a less threatening moment, a dropping of the grocery bag you were supposed to be taking from your wife).

A fourth character, Norman Jaden, is an FBI profiler who seeks clues to the identity of the Origami Killer with the help of some advanced glasses and glove that allow the player to produce a clue-highlighting circle of light. Jaden's sequences, using that clue-finding mechanic, are the most classically game-like in Heavy Rain.

Quantic Dream has promised a malleable story and one with consequences. Those claims were hard to test in the incomplete build I have of the game. I recognized options for how Ethan could interact with one of his sons, but I didn't see consequences yet about how that would affect their interactions later in the game. I had the private detective, Scott Shelby, play out the convenience store stick-up scene in two very different ways (honestly, I was trying to get him killed the second time), yet each scenario ended the chapter in the exact same way. It feels like there are choices, but it's hard to recognize if and how they matter. That they will is supposed to be one of the draws. After all, the game's executive producer, Quantic Dream CEO Guilaume de Fondaumiere told me recently in New York that any one of the four characters I played can die — and die early. The game has approximately 20 endings. So there is variation, just, for better or worse, nothing that is obvious about it in the early going.

Another more worrisome detail is the quality of the voice-acting, which sounds as if accents are being suppressed and characters are talking in isolation, conversation being stitched together rather than occurring in person. There is time for that to be improved.

It's hard to convey just how much of a sad experience Heavy Rain is without giving away some of the plot. It might suffice to say that it seems that almost every major character in this preview build has experienced a death of someone close to them. That sadness weighs on their moods, is worn on their faces and matches the relatively slow movement and quiet activities of this game — or interactive drama.

What was building by the time my preview build reached its end was a decent mystery about who this killer was but also a deeper interest, in me, as to how these four main characters would wind up. I want to know what happens next, what I can make them do and where their emotional journeys will land them. These are not the impulses I typically have about game characters. There is no ultimate weapon to seek, not level to conquer, no stat to raise. I didn't mind the quiet actions, though the brushing of teeth, washing of hands, turning on and off of light switches was a little more than I expected.

I finished the preview the least interested in playing Ethan the father, in terms of the game mechanics available to this sad and broken man. The other characters were more dynamic and physically fun to play. But I find myself drawn to the emotion of Ethan's story the most and I do desire to know what happens next. I'm interested in feelings and drama. So far, that change of pace is a welcome one.

Heavy Rain ships for the PlayStation 3 in the first quarter of 2010.

I get that they're supposed to be a more badass version of a Sith Warrior with different ranged abilities. But if that's the case, wouldn't all players playing as Sith Warriors graduate to Inquisitors after playing long enough? Jedi Consular — the other new class revealed — confuses me less. "Consular" sounds like a political position; one you'd have to train for specifically as opposed to a rank you achieve over time.

So I guess I'll be playing on the Jedi faction simply to avoid asking myself uncomfortable questions.

What Is It?
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer online game set way, way back in the ancient history of the galaxy far, far away. The Sith and the Jedi are rival factions and apparently things are getting explosive between the two. Enough so that players who choose to play on one faction side or the other will have plenty to shoot at, lightsaber cut or otherwise inconvenience on various planets in the Star Wars universe.

The classes are Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor, Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior, Smuggler/Bounty Hunter, Trooper/Imperial Agent. Companion characters will figure heavily into gameplay, as will storytelling (come on, it's BioWare). Space travel has yet to be revealed or discussed.

What We Saw
I played through about 95% of a quest we'll call "The Tomb of Tulac Horde" because I'm not sure what its official name is, but that just about sums it up. I was in the role of a Sith Inquisitor acolyte with a nice rack and red hair — and I was role playing her with an attitude problem that somehow didn't get her Force-choked even once during the play through. The quest involves going into a tomb to collect three tablets and returning to your Sith master. Additionally, you could accept a quest to activate something in the tomb called the Red Machine for some other dude standing outside the tomb. Also, you could talk to and accept another quest involving mind-raping a Jedi being held in a Sith dungeon, but I was told by a LucasArts representative not to pursue that quest.

How Far Along Is It?
It's hard to say with so limited an experience. Furthermore, no release date has been suggested and while names have been collected for the closed beta, there's no word on how that's progressing. I think I was playing on a very unfinished product on account of some missing text, the fact that I wasn't allowed to explore very much and the part where I was playing an MMO strangely devoid of other players.

What Needs Improvement?
I can't tell the difference between Sith Warrior and Inquistor: Just looking at the list of powers suggests that the class difference between Warrior and Inquisitor is supposed to exist. But while playing my big jugged female character, I just didn't feel any different from a Sith. I shocked people, I drained life force, I cut ‘em up with lightsabers. How is this different whether I'm a Warrior or Inquisitor?

Wow, is the whole galaxy a size D or just the Sith chicks? I'm not as annoyed as I am bemused by the boobs I saw in Old Republic. I almost missed half of what my acolyte was saying during the opening quest cinematic because I was watching her bosom stay oddly stationary while the rest of her body would shift when she sighed in boredom at her boss. Then, I practically ran into the bosom of another Sith female just trying to walk out the door. Finally, the Sith who assigned me the Jedi mind-rape quest I wasn't permitted to explore must've been using the Dark Side to keep her rack from sagging. Seriously, they took up one third of the screen in some camera angles during her quest-assignment cinematic.

What Should Stay The Same?
Excellent Voice Work: This is where BioWare really feels different than other MMOs to me. Every character I talked to had a different voice and sounded like they could actually act. It definitely speaks to the quality of the product LucasArts is encouraging BioWare to produce.

Good Use of Camera Angles: During cinema scenes, the camera would cut angles – much like they do in Mass Effect cut scenes. It kept things interesting and gave me more opportunities to look at things other than my character's chest. Also, they didn't over-use it, which is crucial to its success as a storytelling tool.

Hey, It's A Star Wars MMO: The quest involved navigating a series of rooms around an open space. The enemies were all slime-filled worms, reprogrammed droids or escaped Sith slaves. There was also a larger worm near the Red Machine — but it died just as quickly with a quick life drain followed by a lightsaber ground pound. Overall, the experience felt exactly like I'd expect an MMO to feel. The controls worked exactly like you'd expect them to (WASD to move, M for map, numbers or clicking for attacks, etc.), the menu system was familiar and it wasn't hard to master the combat once you got used to lightsaber fighting. Old hats of MMOs will have zero trouble adjusting and the rest of us will overcome the learning trauma for the sheer joy of swinging a lightsaber around.

Final Thoughts
I'm happy I got to see the game, but I'm sad that it was such a limited experience that basically amounts to your average fetch quest in any other MMO (only with more story behind it and higher production values). Also, I would've really liked to see that Jedi mind-rape quest because that sounded like it would yield more of the BioWare dialogue I'm addicted to.

But, from what little I saw, I can say that it's coming along. And no matter how many times I see that E3 trailer, it still looks badass. They actually let us re-watch it in LucasArts' super-huge theater with surround sound. LucasArts Old Republic Producer Jake Neri actually cautioned me when I headed for the third row back from the screen, "Don't sit there, you'll throw up." It was awesome.

First, they got rid of the 2D sprite monkeys and replaced them with 3D monkeys and 3D boards. This of course changes the physics, which in turn requires a revamping of the accelerometer controls. Which means that very likely most of the bad stuff that made me delete the game from a friend's iPhone less than an hour after he downloaded it is already gone.

Here's how the rest of the game rolls:

What Is It?
Super Monkey Ball 2 for the iPhone is a racing-ish game where you tilt your iPhone to steer a monkey contained in a ball through a 3D board dotted with traps, collectible bananas and an endpoint. Fans of the franchise from its GameCube and Wii versions will recognize Ai Ai and friends in the main cast no matter how small they look on the iPhone.

What We Saw
I played three boards in both multiplayer and singleplayer on an iPod Touch. Only the first stage, Jungle Jungle, was unlocked on my machine — but during multiplayer, a PR rep had Pirates Ocean unlocked and was able to include a board from that stage in our competition. There are 115 boards in all.

How Far Along Is It?
It hits the App Store today.

What Needs Improvement?
Monkey Bowling Isn't Online? Monkey Bowling is one of three mini games that give you an alternative to the basic board racing. (Monkey Golf and Monkey Target should be out at some point in the future as a free update.) The point of the game is to flick your finger across the screen quickly or slowly to send your monkey ball down an alley to knock over pins. While it's plenty fun and you can play it with other people via pass-along play, it doesn't look like you can play it using the online multiplayer that the racing mode uses. This bums me out because I'm kind of weird about other people touching my touch screen. It feels... dirty.

What Should Stay The Same?
Fixed It! The basic 3D racing gameplay feels so much better than the previous Monkey Ball. You won't have to fling your iPhone around wildly to make the monkey go and the accelerometer is very responsive to even the slightest shifts. It's such a pleasurable experience, you won't mind replaying boards to complete banana collection challenges.

Democratic Multiplayer: When playing with people who've unlocked more boards than you, you get the rare ability to sample stages that are out of your league. However, players can't just inflict super-hard boards on noobs because the stage-choosing system is democratic. Once a multiplayer match starts, each player gets to pick three or four boards from their own selection and the game determines which ones to use based on votes.

Final Thoughts
It's a perfect time-waster and pretty enough to where you won't feel embarrassed about having it on your iPhone. I suggest using Monkey Bowling as a way to convince skeptics to buy it so you have multiplayer partners. If you can stand people touching your touch screen, that is.

I sat down at Nintendo's Redwood City office to get a good look at the single-player mode for myself (since all I had to go on were Nintendo Power previews and Stephen Totlio's experience) before diving into the multiplayer mode. I was given a choice: I could replay the same demo Nintendo Power and Totilo had already covered, or I could be one of the first to see the second dungeon in the game – the Snow Temple.

What kind of correspondent would I be if I didn't go for the latter? A copycat, that's what!

What Is It?
The Snow Temple was described to me as the "second" dungeon in the game once Zelda and Link are sent to the Tower of Spirits to restore the Spirit Tracks of Hyrule. The level began outside the snow-covered structure with the train parked out front and Zelda hovering beside Link.

What We Saw
The temple had about three floors and judging from the main room that requires puzzle solving, I'd say I completed three quarters of it before having to stop to play some multiplayer.

How Far Along Is It?
The game comes out December 7. I was playing on a normal-sized cartridge that could well be a final version of the game.

What Needs Improvement?
My Snow Temple For An Item-Toggling Button: Link started this dungeon with the Whirlwind item and earned the Boomerang about halfway through. To use an item, you've got to select it from a menu so that it appears in an icon in the upper right hand side of the lower screen. Tapping that icon activates the item and then you do whatever is required of you to use it (blow in the mic for the Whirlwind, draw a path on the screen for the Boomerang). There came a point in this dungeon where you had to use the boomerang to create a path of ice over water (by crossing its path through an ice torch and back across the water) – and then quickly change to the Whirlwind to activate a switch out in the middle of the water. Because the ice path melts quickly, your timing has to be spot on and it can get pretty fiddly when you're trying to bust out the Whirlwind, aim it and THEN blow into the mic. I died at least twice, wishing in vain that a tap of the shoulder button would switch between items.

Dude, Where's My Zelda? As soon as I set foot in the Snow Temple, Zelda shrank and faded away with a sigh. It turns out she can't go with you or help you within the Temples and you can't talk to her for advice the way you could with other companion characters in other Zelda games. This turned Spirit Tracks into an experience that was an awful lot like Phantom Hourglass. Phantom Hourglass was good, so that's not an automatic minus – but I think people were expecting the all-new Zelda gameplay to be a consistent feature instead of an area-specific thing.

What Should Stay The Same?
Shallow Learning Curve: Truthfully, I never beat The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and it's been ages since I've touched it. But it really didn't take long to master the stylus-only controls and the menus weren't at all difficult to navigate and interpret. People who missed out on Phantom Hourglass are going to be just fine adjusting to Spirit Tracks.

Sure Rings My Bell: The entire temple was based on moving three bells into a main room together so that Link could trigger them in a sequence to open a door. This objective was communicated entirely through visuals (little panels with bells on different note lines, panels on the floor, etc.) and all of the puzzles were familiar slide-the-block, clear-the-room-of-monsters affairs that I know and love in Zelda games. I got so caught up in the familiar, simple gameplay, I didn't mind dying twice and getting stuck three different times.

Final Thoughts
Despite not having beaten Phantom Hourglass and not really liking The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (yeah, I said it – you wanna fight?!), playing Spirit Tracks felt like coming home. That's probably the best feeling I could ask for from a game, especially so close to the holidays when I long for that feeling and have all this extra time to play games.

But anyway, Spirit Tracks has multiplayer. Boy does it ever have multiplayer, and boy did we ever play it. Here's what we liked:

What Is It?
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks' multiplayer mode is akin to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for the GameCube – four people each control one color-coded Link and move around the same map as the other Links. The difference in Spirit Tracks is that instead of trying to help each other, you're racing each other to collect Power Gems and trying to royally screw each other up on the way.

Note: It's local-only.

What We Saw
I played two matches against a developer and two publicists at Nintendo's Redwood City office after finally getting my hands on the singleplayer mode.

How Far Along Is It?
Spirit Tracks it out December 7. I was playing on a normal-sized cartridge that may have been a final version.

What Needs Improvement?
Little Bit Laggy: When dashing around the dungeon map, things start off steady and the Power Gem drops are few and far between. As the match picks up pace, however, and players start falling into traps or getting sliced up the Phantoms, huge amounts of Gems will suddenly spill out onto the map. That plus all four players frantically running to that point to scavenge Gems caused a couple of super-laggy moments in an otherwise smooth experience.

Trap Door Confusion: There are trap doors in every map that are either random or triggered by switches. I honestly couldn't tell you which, though, because sometimes I'd press a switch and a trap door would open and sometimes the door seemed to open and shut in a kind of rhythm. It was confusing – and that much more frustrating when I fell into one because I didn't know if I should blame somebody for it.

What Should Stay The Same?
Spreading The Phantom: Numerous Phantoms – those big guys in helmets from the last Zelda DS game, Phantom Hourglass – wander the maps, prowling for Links. When one spots you, a little icon pops up above your head, indicating that it's got a bead on you. If you fail to run for your life, the Phantom will speed toward you and cut you – costing you precious Power Gems and precious seconds as you scramble to get up and recover them before the other players get there. The fun part about this mechanic is the bit where you can pass the Phantom's bead onto other players you run by – like spreading Chlamydia. It's amusing.

The Invisible Zone: One map we tried out had a patch of water in the center that rendered players invisible when they ran in. You could still see ripples where their feet landed in the water – and if you look closely, the ripples are color coded like the Links – but with all four players running around in there and Phantoms bearing down on one or more of them, it was blind panic. And freaking awesome.

Mario Kart-style Pick-ups: Occasionally, an orb with a question mark on it will fall from the sky. Players that snag this pick-up are treated to several things like a random Gem drop, invisibility or a lightning strike that you can inflict on other players. It keeps things interesting and can be the salve to the wound of a player who just went from 51 Gems to two after a string of Phantom infections.

Single Cartridge Play: I am so happy that it doesn't require four people to actually buy the game to enjoy this mode.

Final Thoughts
The multiplayer mode in Spirit Tracks certainly isn't the main attractions of the game – but it's a solid addition that deserves to be played if you can tear yourself away from trains and princesses for a little while.

Monster Hunter Tri, however, is going for a different audience with its exclusive Wii release. By streamlining the Wii friend code process and adding features other multiplayer games rely on – such as a chat window – Tri is trying to jump start the online ecosystem that's already built into the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

But how does that impact that actual monster hunting?

What Is It?
Monster Hunter Tri is a multiplayer adventure game where up to four players can team up to hunt down monsters. The game skips over friend codes, instead using a lobby system where you can easily find other players and send friend requests. Additionally, there's a chat window in-game that can be accessed with a USB keyboard if you don't feel like pointing and clicking. Currently, Wii Speak is not in the game – but Capcom is "looking into it."

There's also a singleplayer mode built into the game, but details on it are scarce.

What We Saw
I played three missions during the University event using both the Wii Remote/Nunchuck configuration and the Classic Controller Pro because they had one handy.

Note: It's unconfirmed if the Classic Controller Pro will be brought to the US along with Monster Hunter Tri.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out in Spring 2010. I didn't notice any major show-stopping bugs – but I was sad to see that the Wii was hooked up to computer monitors which have a nasty reputation of making even very good Wii graphics look fugly. So I can't speak to the graphics which are apparently supposed to be pretty.

What Needs Improvement?
There's No Lock On: Normally, this doesn't matter in Monster Hunter because you pan the camera toward a monster, press attack and bam! You've hit it. However, Tri introduces underwater combat where the monsters can change depth quickly during a fight. Panning the camera a la ground combat under water takes a little extra work and can be totally disorienting. So, yeah, a lock-on would be preferable.

At Tiddy Bit Fiddly: On the Classic Controller Pro, I had a lot of problems getting the Bowgun to aim right. Not only do you have to have the weapon out and cocked before you can attack – you also have to choose between shooting from the hip or going into sniper mode with a targeting reticule. Given that battles move very quickly and monsters can charge across a field right at you while you're reloading and re-cocking, it would be nice if the button controls for un-slinging, cocking and aiming your Bowgun were perhaps a little streamlined. Or if there were a Panicked Dodge button that would snap you out of sniper mode at the last second.

Constant Loads: Every time you leave an area of a map – which you will, because the monsters move around – you've got to endure a loading screen. It gets tedious.

What Should Stay The Same?
Wow, It's Multiplayer! I'm not used to more than two people in my multiplayer on the Wii, so I was excited to see four people in the same place, attacking the same thing with no lag – on the Wii! If Monster Hunter Tri can work things out such that people actually buy this game and play it, it's going to be a lot of fun team up with people and make new friends among strangers the way I would on other consoles.

Swimming Is Fun: Once you get the hang of the quick-swim button and the dive button, moving around underwater feels pretty pleasant. I kind of wonder how the lancer doesn't drown under the weight of her weapon, though…

Final Thoughts
Two things will probably make or break this game: Wii Speak and pay-to-play subscriptions. In Japan, they don't have the former, but they do have the latter – and a long history of loving Monster Hunter. Here, we're sad because there are only like two games that use Wii Speak and I really don't think we'd stand for a subscription Wii game no matter how awesome it might be. Also, we're not as fond of or familiar with Monster Hunter – but with any luck and a little attention to these two make-or-breaks, Capcom could be changing that.

But that's just hearsay from an overzealous witness violating spousal privilege*. Here's the real testimony regarding Ace Attorney's transition to WiiWare.

*Yes, I would totally marry that game if such a thing were possible.

What Is It?
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was a crazy-popular adventure crime-solving game for the DS in 2005 where players gather evidence to present at trial to convict criminals. Now it's being ported to the Wii via WiiWare in all its investigative glory.

What We Saw
I played through a segment late in the trial where the murderer in on the stand spouting lies for Phoenix to rip apart.

How Far Along Is It?
It's a straight port with no fancy extras or overhauled graphics, so consider the game done. Ace Attorney hits the United States in January with Justice for All and Trials & Tribulations following in March and May respectively. The bonus fourth episode will also drop in May for an as-yet unspecified low price.

What Needs Improvement?
Annoying Background: Observe the screen and note that little gray border with the Phoenix Wright logo on it. Now imagine that background is actually moving gradually to the upper left hand corner of the screen throughout gameplay. Yeah, kind of distracting, isn't it?

What Should Stay The Same?
OBJECTION!!! The most amazing thing that's been done to Phoenix Wright on WiiWare is adding motion controls – or rather, motion control, because there's only one. It comes when you want to throw an objection out during witness testimony. Now, you could just open up your evidence file and press A to select evidence and then A again to present – or you could press to select and then fling your hand outward a la Phoenix himself to trigger OBJECTION! Which do you think is cooler?

Final Thoughts
Capcom is really supportive of WiiWare between this and Mega Man 9. As long as they don't jack up prices or chop up individual Phoenix Wright games into tiny episodes (which is almost the same thing as jacking up prices), I support the decision to port awesome DS games to WiiWare.

This preview is adjourned. *Thumps gavel*

Not that there's anything wrong with the sandbox third person shooter/action game label; it certainly does sum up both Just Cause 2 and its 2006 predecessor. But with sequels, you're expecting something more, right? Well, Just Cause 2 delivers – in parachute and grappling hook form.

What Is It?
Just Cause 2 puts players in the shoes of Agency operative Rico Rodriguez who is sent to track down his AWOL friend and mentor, Tom Sheldon on the fictional island of Panau. Along the way, he gets enmeshed in conflicts between three different factions and there are a lot of high places that are just begging to be BASE-jumped off of.

What We Saw
I watched a developer recap the demo shown at E3 where Rico BASE jumps into a speedboat and then goes crazy grappling between points on what looks like a shipping port. Then the dev took me and several other games journalists through the beginning of the Casino Bust mission before handing over the controller so I could try my hand at playing in the sandbox.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out sometime in 2010, but it looks pretty enough to seem like the release could be sooner rather than later.

What Needs Improvement?
Wait, What Was I Doing? It's awfully easy to get distracted by the pretty scenery and raw freedom offered up by Just Cause 2. You do get map notifications of where you can go to complete the next objective on whatever question you might be on – and sometimes cell phone updates from non-playable characters who want you to do something. But the map is easy ignore since you have to open a menu to view it properly. Also the cell phone pep talks are jarring enough to be irritating, so you might tune them out. It'd be nice if the game sent your PDA unobtrusive text messages or something.

Where Am I? Panau feels huge. I'm not sure how it stacks up compared to the first game, but the square mileage of the island is supposed to be something like 400 square miles. With all the ground to cover and topography that makes it hard to scan for landmarks, it's easy to get lost. You might not mind it much if you're an intrepid explorer – but if you're one of those gotta-beat-main-story-now types, getting lost while trying to learn the lay of the land is going to be a huge drag.

You Can't Grapple Two Elevators Together: Bummer.

The Malaysian Faction Boss Is Annoying: I might catch heat from both feminists and Malaysian people when I say that I can't stand the Malaysian faction boss lady. But seriously, she's irritating – especially when she's constantly yelling at you during a mission in heavily accented English.

What Should Stay The Same?
I Want To Have The Grapple's Babies: It is so fun to grapple onto things, grapple things together or just grapple yourself to the ground then deploy the parachute while you're being pulled toward said grapple point to launch yourself into the air for what's basically the Spider-Man mode of transportation. The best part of the demo was when the developer grappled a truck that was pursuing him to the underside of a bridge as they passed by. The physics of watching the wire snap taut and the truck flip up and over were hilarious. Also, you can grapple cars and boats to helicopters. Oh, and you can keep your airborne momentum up when you're parachuting by grappling onto distant points on the ground or environment.

I Might Cheat On The Grapple With The Parachute: You can deploy your parachute at any time, pretty much anywhere if you've got even a few feet of air between your feet and the ground. A single button press deploys it and releases it, which is very low-fuss given all the guns you've got to handle. Once you master the pitch (point up, not down and you'll gain altitude!) and the grappling-to-the-ground technique, you might even forget to hijack cars.

We Could Have A Threesome With The Stunt Driving: Car chases are infinitely more fun when you're not actually driving. It's way better instead to let the car's momentum do the work while you straddle the front of the car as cover and shoot at the dudes climbing onto the back of your car, trying to kill you.

Final Thoughts
Just Cause 2 is pretty and violent and expansive – just like sandbox third person shooter/action games ought to be. It's really the grapple combined with the parachute that sets this game apart from, say, Mercenaries 2 or Saints Row 2.

Also, it occurs to me that if the game really went for realism with the parachute/grappling thing, discarded parachutes and wires would be littered all over Panau by the end of the game. Also, Rico would be covered in vomit.

So forgive me if I can't come up with enough Star Trek quips or effectively weigh in on the Kirk vs. Picard debate. I can, at best, recite the lines from the J. J. Abrams film and shout out "Khan" when somebody cuts me off in traffic. Also, I can tell you about this here Star Trek MMO that's been something like six years in the making.

What Is It?
Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer game previously under development at the now-dead Perpetual Entertainment. Cryptic Studios picked up the aborted project in 2008 and started almost completely over for the game we have now.

What We Saw
I saw a quick demo of a space combat and ground combat before being turned loose on the mission "Stranded in Space" which combines elements of the two.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out February 2, 2010.

What Needs Improvement?
Canon Clarity: Licenses are a funny thing – so much so that the developer couldn't exactly articulate to me what Star Trek Online can and can't do as far as incorporating stuff like the Borg and Space Lincoln. They did say that the MMO should be treated as canon since it takes place in the prime timeline (the non-J. J. Abrams one) and that canon things like the Borg might show up. However, there was some confusion about the alien races that players can customize right down to the skin color. As Cryptic seems to understand it, if a custom-made alien race gets really popular, it could become canon if enough people download it. The possibilities are heady and all; but it's kind sad to think somebody could put a lot of work into building an alien race of their own that then magically winds up in a new Star Trek movie and they don't get any credit for their creation.

No Catchphrases/Bridge Banter (Yet): Currently, the only talking that goes on between non-playable characters and the captain that you take the role of happens in text boxes. There's no free-flowing banter between bridge crewmates and no way to click on individual NPCs during away missions just to chat them up. Cryptic says they're currently looking into adding the catchphrases we're used to hearing from the series during space combat ("Warp speed," "Reroute power to the shields," "Great shot kid, don't get cocky," etc.) – but at the moment, it's all silent and somewhat stilted.

What Should Stay The Same?
Space Isn't Slow: I was afraid the space combat and travel would be too much like Eve Online – where you have to wait ages for anything to happen. Instead, I was pleased to see somewhat snappy movement and reasonable physics to account for the fact that you're maneuvering a huge starship, not a tiny fighter craft. And while the game confines the 360 degrees of space to just forward, back, left and right for the shields, you have the full range of 360 degrees to use in movement so you can evade fire and break line of sight (and tachyon blast) by getting behind asteroids and stuff. Also, the game gives the player the ability to throttle more or less power between the four sections of the shields. This comes in handy when you're too close to a ship about to explode and need to absorb the shock on your aft shields.

Ground Isn't So Bad: It's totally not regulation for a captain to take half the bridge planetside with him as an Away Team (that's what Red Shirts are for!), but the game lets you do it anyway with your three favorite bridge crew members. While in space, these members have special abilities and buff/debuffs depending on their class (Science Officer, Communications, etc.) – but on the ground, you can outfit them with whatever weapons and equipment you like and either let the AI drive them around, or command their every move. The Away Team will still bring some special abilities with them planetside like Harvesting or Diplomacy stats you can use. But if you don't feel like making room for them, you can always leave ‘em on the ship and meet up with other real-life buddies on some planet to shoot at stuff.

Set Phasers To Vaporize! During ground combat, when people are shooting NPCs, you'll sometimes see a yellow icon pop up on a disoriented enemy. Pressing the secondary fire on a certain gun vaporizes that enemy and it's pretty neat. Who needs a stun function, anyway?

Final Thoughts
I wasn't so wowed by the ground combat, but space blew me away. If this were a singleplayer game, I'd still be happy with it. But I guess with so many Trekkies in the world, it'd be a waste not to turn Star Trek into an MMO for the masses to enjoy.

As the name suggests, there's an awful lot of cell phone usage in the horror/adventure game. During a demo given to games journalists by the Japanese director, a poor woman finds a haunted cell phone that just wouldn't stop ringing. Even worse, she keeps answering it and the ghost on the other end keeps giving her updates on its progress (e.g. "I'm on the second floor landing..."). I imagine it would have been scarier in context, but at the time, it was downright funny. Especially because I had no idea which floor the girl started on, so I wasn't sure if the ghost was really close or just taking forever to climb the freaking stairs.

Also, if that haunted phone was the ghost's phone — and she said it was — what phone was the ghost calling from to provide the status updates?

What Is It?
Calling is a horror/adventure game with four main characters for the player to guide through a branching storyline. There are multiple endings, ghostly encounters and creepy environments to explore and hopefully survive.

What We Saw
After watching the demo, games journalists were given the chance to play through a single level starring a male character trapped in the empty apartment of a traditional Japanese doll maker.

How Far Along Is It?
Still in alpha — the game isn't due out 'til some unspecified time in 2010.

What Needs Improvement?
A Little Bit Waggly: For the most part, the Wiimote's motion controls are limited to gentle flicks to open doors or slide screens aside. However, there were two instances in the level where a ghost got the jump on the player and to get free you either had to mash the A button with perfect timing (like a quick time event), or just waggle furiously until the ghost let go. Guess which method is easier?

What Should Stay The Same?
It's Actually Kind of Scary: There was a part in the game where a guy comes upon a room where the sliding doors only open partway. Looking through the door and down, you can see the dead body of the doll maker. After sighting this grisly thing, I turned the character around to go into another room — but I stopped because I heard shuffling and giggling behind me. So I turned the character back around and — gah! — there were dozens of the creepy little dolls filling the slit of the partly-opened doors. Their hair fluttered and their eyes blinked and they were tittering at me in the creepiest way. It was genuinely upsetting.

Movement Is Controlled With The Analog Stick: This is the best possible way to control motion from the first person perspective, I think.

Final Thoughts
I came down pretty hard on Ju-on not because it was a nuanced Japanese horror experience (which Calling also strives to be), but because it fell flat on its face in the scary department. I realize minimalist storytelling is a big part of Japanese horror films — but I think this cost Ju-on dearly in the gameplay department. So already, Calling is a cut above where Ju-on wound up even in this early stage of development. Here's hoping the final product goes even farther toward that ideal scary experience.