Borderlands 2 - Glitch or Feature

Steam pointed out how humiliating this situation is. You run out onto a poopslide. You get electrocuted. Then you get swirled up into a literal s*@%storm. Here's my thought: What do you put in that obituary? (I'm sure I'll have more Borderlands 2 tidbits to come. I'm a little bit enraptured with it at the moment.)

Left 4 Dead

You know, when the vampire trend was spinning out of control and spitting out some of the worst films and television programs known to man (as well as some really cool stuff; I won't forget that), I started believing that it was time for people to start getting into zombies.

When I was first in college, getting my philosophy degree, I descended into the world of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. These films were some of the best movies I've ever seen. I used to watch horror films because of how ridiculous they were, but now I was watching zombie movies that were smart and told me something about "human nature." To this day, Dawn of the Dead remains one of my favorite movies of all time.

Left 4 Dead was a franchise that came about long before the zombie thing started to feel like it was being done to death. And the brilliance of these games stems from the fact that it feels like you are inside of a Romero zombie movie. You are controlling one of four main characters.

I've come to love this game enough that it has crept into my every day life. For example, whenever someone has a headache, I have the unhealthy compulsion to shout out "Pills here!" And sometimes when there is a girl crying in public I like to shout out "WITCH!" OK, that last one was a lie, but I have definitely said the former quite a few times.

Just play the game.

Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution DLC

I only have three more achievements until I have completed all of the achievements in Borderlands. All three achievements take place in Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, and all three require that I slaughter masses upon masses of rebellious robots, pick through the junk pile of their clanky corpses, and find the following items: oil cans, bobbleheads, panties, bags of fish, and slices of pizza. What will I do when I have completed these comical challenges? Well, hopefully Borderlands 2 will be out by then.

A Guide to Video Game Lingo 11

1. Rare Drop (noun) - an item that has a low probability of appearing.

"I can't believe you keep getting rare drop pearlescent weapons every time you beat Krawmerax. I've killed him thirty times and never seen anything above an orange."

2. Exploit (noun) - a bug or design flaw in a video game that allows a player to gain an unintended advantage.

"I got most of my best weapons from the armory exploit."

3. Item Dupe (noun) - a bug or design flaw in a video game that allows a player to create duplicates of items or currency.

"He figured out an item dupe, so now he never has to worry about money anymore."

Borderlands: Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC

When I first devoted myself to PC gaming, there were two games that I really wanted to play: Borderlands and Left 4 Dead (the original; those characters are way better than in the second game). In a strange way, Borderlands: Zombie Island of Dr. Ned combined the two fantastic games. I love zombies, and I love the sci-fi comedy of Borderlands. According to the simple algebra of things I like, I am in love with Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. Headshot. Headshot. Headshot.

Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC

Borderlands provided me with a fair share of difficult bosses. Consider Marley and Moe, for example, two overpowered skag bosses that are horrendous when you are low-leveled and playing solo. (The key, I've found, is to keep the little skags alive. Sure, they'll winnow away at your HP, but they're quick kills, which ensures a Second Wind every time.) Consider Skagzilla, another overpowered skag boss who has, more than once, survived longer than all the ammunition in my arsenal. (This is where action skills come in handy, and let's not forget buffs that heal and regenerate ammunition.) Consider not the end boss, but the army of Guardians lining the mountainside leading up to the vault. (Shock weapons destroy their shields while shotguns and automatic weapons assure that your bullets make contact with speedy alien flesh.) But how does any of this compare with the optional boss in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC named Krawmerax or to the latter arena matches in the Circle of Duty quest-line? Of course, for those brave enough to complete either the Krawmerax or Circle of Duty challenges, there are ample rewards. Tons of great equipment. A guaranteed level for whatever weapon you are holding the moment Krawmerax dies. And let's not forget: Bragging rights. Not everyone is bold enough to follow up on these side quests.

Angry Birds

I used to join in at making fun of hipsters who sit around playing Angry Birds on their iPhones. Then I started playing Angry Birds for free through Google Chrome's application service. It's really a clever and incredibly fun game with a lot of replay value. The unfortunate side-effect of playing this game is I now have to question my identity. Am I a hipster? Compared to my New York friends, I would give that question a definitive, "No!" But compared to most of my Michigan and Texas friends, I think I might just qualify as a hipster. How long have I been a hipster? Well, I've been playing Indie games like World of Goo and Super Meatboy for a few years now. I care to find new and different music, movies and television programs. Maybe I've been a hipster for a long time. Of course, I do find one solace: The only time I ever wear tight pants is when I've put on a lot of weight. As long as that remains true, I should be safe.

Borderlands 2 Trailer

Gotham City Imposters Second Trailer

Dead Island Trailers

From Dust Trailer

Bastion Trailers

To the Moon Trailer

Left 4 Dead 2

My friend Joe Jinn has logged over 800 hours of playtime on Left 4 Dead 2. Before I owned the game, he'd tell me to play it on his computer and he'd watch, something of a video game voyeur. No matter how well I'd do he'd heckle me, saying something like, "It's not worth playing unless you're on Expert difficulty," or "You wouldn't last thirty seconds on Realism mode." Some of my friends scoff at how often Joe plays Left 4 Dead 2, saying things like, "It's a great game and all, but all he does is sleep and play - nothing else," but a part of me not so deep under the surface envies Joe. I'm not saying that I'd give up my fantastic relationship with Amy or the other things I strive for, but were I capable of duplicating myself and sharing my experiences with several satellite-Justins, one of them might just be dedicated to playing Left 4 Dead 2 all the time. On the other hand, maybe Justin-2814 would get bored of it. It's a great game and all, but all I'd be doing is sleeping and playing...

Bioshock

I do believe it took me three summers to finish Bioshock. It had nothing to do with disinterest. From the very beginning, the game is already one of the most intriguing stories I've ever encountered. The reason it took me so long was because every time I would sit down to play Bioshock I would get so scared that I couldn't play for long. Someone was always popping out of nowhere and threatening my life, and sometimes they were incredibly hard to defeat. Any time I had just played, you could touch my shoulders and feel the tension that had risen into them. There was a time when I measured the greatness of a work of art by the amount of emotion I felt upon experiencing it. I didn't say happiness or laughter or anything like that. Sometimes anger or sadness, but in the case of Bioshock it is fright and anxiety that make it obviously a work of high art. I'm sure you've all played this game years ago, but if there is anyone out there who hasn't, you really should. It is on almost everyone's list of best games of all time, and there's a good chance it will make it to yours.

Alice: Madness Returns

Most of my friends who played American McGee's original Alice played it somewhere near a decade ago. I was fortunate enough to have played it for the first time this year, so when I entered into the world of Alice: Madness Returns I was still familiar with Alice's story and many of the bits of game-play from the original. I was also used to playing a video game with fairly terrible graphics (though not so bad for the early 2000s) and difficult jumping mechanics.

Alice: Madness Returns is a lot heavier on story than the original, and this makes sense. In the last decade, nearly all video games have beefed up their story, with the exception, I've heard, of Duke Nukem Forever, which was apparently a big let down. In many ways, the story is an expansion of the pervasive motif of the original game, that Alice is having difficulty coming to terms with the death of her family in a fire and she feels responsible for the fact that they are no longer among the living. Since Wonderland is a reflection of Alice's mind, Wonderland has turned into a Terrorland of sorts. In some ways, Alice: Madness Returns feels like a reboot of American McGee's Alice with better storytelling, graphics and game-play, but it is probably better to say that it is actually Wonderland that has rebooted. The story of Alice continues on.

I'm sure a lot of people are talking about the fantastic new graphics in Alice: Madness Returns. I agree that they are fantastic, and that they actually make this messed up fantasy feel like a wonder land. The design that went into this video game is absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, the optimization of this sequel is likely to cause even the most advanced of PCs to chug along at times. (My computer savvy friend Joe suggests that, despite the fantastic quality of the Physx engine, to turn Physx to low. Otherwise, you're likely to have speed problems.)

The best part of Alice: Madness Returns is the innovative new system of control, which opens a whole new world for game-play. Like many video games, the Alice sequel assigns two controls, melee and range. It has a new targeting system for smarter combat, a dodge button so that you don't have to meet enemies' attacks with your forehead, and my personal favorite, shrinking mode. Shrinking mode allows you to access hidden areas through keyholes and what have you, but it also functions as a kind of Batman: Arkham Asylum-esque "detective mode," providing access to secret clues throughout the game.

I haven't even completed the first chapter of Alice: Madness Returns and it is already one of the best games I've played this year. Pick it up sooner than later. You won't regret the choice.

Portal 2

Portal is one of the most respected video games of the last decade, created in relative obscurity for the Valve Corporation bundle pack called The Orange Box. Now, the name Portal is better known than The Orange Box and most of the video games it originally contained. Portal ascended quickly to the top of most peoples' favorite video games of the 2000s lists, and the rumored Portal 2 became one of the most highly awaited games of all time.

As the legend of Portal became getting more and more bloated, spreading by word of mouth, the idea that Portal 2 could be a satisfactory sequel to Portal began to seem impossible. Portal 2 finally came out in April of 2011, and it exceeded most of our expectations. Not only was GladOS back, but we found two more comedic characters to play with: Wheatley and Cave Johnson. The puzzles and physics of this game are fantastic, as are the graphic and music. And surprisingly, we dig deep into the Portal universe to find the origins of the actions of the original Portal as well as what the future holds.

I give Portal 2 all of this acclaim having only completed the single player campaign. Almost everyone I've talked to says that the two player challenges are the reason this is one of the best games they've played. Considering the fact that this is already one of my favorite video games ever, I fear that my heart may stop while playing the two player co-op. Luckily, there will be someone else on-line with me who can call the ambulance if I am AFK for too long and don't respond to stimuli.

Excelsior!

American McGee's Alice

If you are playing American McGee's Alice today (perhaps in preparation for the upcoming sequel, Alice: Madness Returns) you will have to overlook the fact that the graphics are not up-to-date (it was made in 2000, for the love of L. Ron Hubbard). While this seems difficult, the story, world-building (there's more to Wonderland than you could have imagined), and style make it easy to love this game. Alice is older and the story is a bit more messed up. This might be described as a goth kid's Alice, more like the vibe of Pan's Labyrinth than the original Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. This cult hit is an intensely satisfying adventure/puzzle game, with an Alice that a paranoid post-Nixon audience can relate to. If you haven't checked it out yet, you really ought to.

Portal 2: Lab Rat

After the surprisingly interesting Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice comic, I was gung ho to read Portal 2: Lab Rat, a comic book available on the Portal 2 web site that links the action of Portal with its forthcoming sequel. The comic captures the interesting and comedic jargon that, combined with fantastic game play, made Portal such a catchy video game. It even has an interesting take on Schrodinger's cat. I would definitely check out Portal 2: Lab Rat. It is a great way to pass the time until the game is released.

Portal 2: Lab Rat is available via the Portal 2 web site here. The comic can also be downloaded in PDF form here.

Even More Portal 2 Trailers

I just pre-loaded the game. Here are some more trailers.