If you never had the privilege of playing The Darkness, then you will still enjoy playing The Darkness 2. If you did happen to play the original game, then you will love the second game. There are a lot of things that make a return in The Darkness 2, but you have to understand one very important thing. You can’t own The Darkness, The Darkness owns you.

What is The Darkness 2?

The Darkness is not really a physical creature. It is more of an apparition. It can and will do massive harm to people, but it is not some sort of monster in the sense that we think of monsters. The Darkness is a powerful entity that has existed since the beginning of time. Its whole goal is to turn its human host into an empty shell that it will have complete control over.

What The Darkness 2 is not?

This is no kids game. You will not find a lot of bright colors (except red) and fluffy unicorns. There is no happy music either. You will find lots of extremely violent scenes. Some of these scenes are borderline disturbing. No, wait a minute. Scratch that thought. They are not borderline disturbing, they are very disturbing, and if playing through this game does not make you feel a little uncomfortable, you may want to question your sanity.

It is as beautiful as it is violent. The sights and sounds of the game will make you want to watch what is happening with just one eye open. The game’s M rating seems a little tame once you dive into The Darkness 2.

Your ears will be impressed.

One very cool thing about The Darkness and The Darkness 2 is the voice of The Darkness. It is easy for game companies to use the latest and greatest digital effects to get some really creepy sounds, but it is even better when they can use the talent of an actual person to get the sounds done. Mike Patton returns to play the voice of The Darkness in The Darkness 2.

Mike Patton has been the singer for several bands, and he also did all of the creepy sounds in the movie I Am Legend. He is a true voice talent, and the sounds that this man can make with his voice alone are completely amazing. So when you are playing The Darkness II, and you here The Darkness speak to you, remember that this voice is really nothing but Mike Patton.

Changes have been made for the better.

Starbreeze was the original developer of this game, but they have had their hands full developing Syndicate. Instead, Digital Extremes has taken the reins, and they have improved on just about every aspect of this violent game.

The story telling is great and it always keeps you guessing what is around the next corner. It is hard to give a review of this game without creating any spoilers. From the moment you start the game, it will be difficult to put down. The way the story is told leads you from one scenario to the next. Finding a spot to take a break in the game is challenging. You will most likely want to play through the entire game in one sitting, and when you finish the game, you will want to start all the way back at the beginning and play all over again. There are very few games that hold this much replay value, but if you don’t like violent video games, then you will not like The Darkness 2.

How does the game play in the Darkness 2?

The Darkness 2 is a FPS game, but it is a lot different. When first person shooters were first introduced , think back to the time of Doom, you only had one hand for weapons. Then Halo 2 introduced dual wielding. With The Darkness II, you get four hands. This gives you the chance to quad wield weapons. You become a bullet vending machine that shoots more lead than the New York City Police Force.

Your human form gets two hands, and The Darkness gets two hands at the same time. You don’t have to use your Darkness arms for just guns either. They are actually much more powerful using other attack methods, and you can easily mix and match the two. This can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will soon think that regular first person shooters are kind of lame in comparison.

The Darkness is a powerful beast, and it will rip people in half, tear off heads, impale people and more. If you want to play a game that has a real dark side to it, then fire up The Darkness 2, but don’t say that I did not warn you. You might want to sleep with the lights on after you play a few rounds of The Darkness 2.

Click here to buy the Darkness 2.

GUILDFORD, UK. – Feb. 21, 2012 – Electronic Arts Inc.and Starbreeze Studios (The Chronicles of Riddick and The Darkness) today announced that Syndicate™ will be available Friday 24th February at retail stores across the UK. A re-imagining of EA’s cult classic from 1993, Syndicate blends fast-paced action and futuristic settings with an innovative chip breach gameplay mechanic to provide a brutal sci-fi first person shooter experience. Using the advanced DART 6 bio-chip technology implanted in their head, gamers can dilate time, see through walls, and breach the digital world and enemies around them. Critics are recognizing the advantages of this unique hacking mechanic with GameSpot.com touting, “there’s some sick satisfaction to be had with the game’s breach abilities” and @Gamer Magazine praising the game for its “addictive hacking gameplay.”

Set in 2069, Syndicate takes players into a dark, Machiavellian world where corporations are vying for market dominance. With no government to question their intentions or actions, mega corporations are at the forefront of this war. Stepping into the mind of Miles Kilo, Eurocorp’s latest prototype agent, gamers embark on a brutal action adventure full of corruption and revenge. Syndicate features the talents of celebrated actors Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Men in Black II) and Brian Cox (The Bourne Identity), who take on the roles of cutthroat executives working for the biggest and most aggressive syndicate. The engaging storyline was penned by award-winning sci-fi writer Richard Morgan (Altered Carbon, Thirteen) who has brought these deeply conflicted characters to life in an unforgiving world where violence, corruption, technology and betrayal have become the everyday tools of business.

Check out the Syndicate Features

In addition to the intense single-player campaign, Syndicate features a four-player co-op mode* where gamers play as an upstart syndicate, Wulf Western, aggressively taking over the rival syndicates. Throughout the co-op campaign, players will be fighting their way through nine different missions, many of which have been reimagined from the original hit game. Gamers need to team-up to defeat the other syndicates’ bosses, ripping the bio-chips from their heads and stealing their technology blueprints to put their syndicate on top.

Developed by Starbreeze Studios, Syndicate will be available from February 24 in Europe for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and the PC. For more information on Syndicate, please visit www.syndicate.ea.com. Become a fan of Syndicate on Facebook at www.facebook.com/syndicate to download the exclusive remixed tracks of the original Syndicate theme song from some of the world’s top DJ’s including Skrillex, Digitalism, Flux Pavilion and Nero.

Internet connection and Origin account required to play. Must be 13+ to create an account.

Shop for the Syndicate.

Video games always seem to follow popular concepts from age old movies. The world of science fiction is nothing new. People have been eating up science fiction since the time when science was actually fiction. Some of the early concepts that seemed so far out there have become reality, and one of the most popular science fiction concepts is that of a super soldier with the abilities to play a lot more than mind games. How about some sort of mind control? Syndicate attempts this line of science fiction in the form of a beautiful first person shooter.

Is the Syndicate’s concept fresh and new?

No it is not, but Syndicate does a fine job of keeping the player interested. If you like science fiction games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, then you will fit right into the shoes that need to be filled in Syndicate. The core concept of super soldier with mind controlling abilities is where Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Syndicate walk the same line, but every other aspect of Syndicate is different. Is it enough to get gamers to hand over their money in exchange for controlling a science fiction super soldier with mind controlling abilities? The question remains to be answered.

Corporate Greed

Syndicate takes place in the future. It takes place in the year 2069 to be exact. The landscape in this future world is much different. The old ways of electing politicians to rule the land are all but a dream that rarely enters the minds of the people that inhabit the world of Syndicate.

The world is now controlled by huge corporations. These corporations are known simply as, Syndicates. Does that sound familiar? Games like Deus Ex, and Resident Evil have used this very same concept, but that is where the similarity stops.

Syndicate Features

No more hand held devices.

Today just about every where that you look, you will find people using their smart phones. It has become a great tool for communicating and sending and receiving all kinds of data. In the future world of the Syndicate, there is no longer a device that you hold in your hand. The device is implanted in the brain in the form of a neural implant.

Now people have everything that they could ever want in the blink of an eye. Every bit if data is streamed to the person’s brain. All forms of entertainment are instantly available through the neural implant. People can access all sorts of data with their neural implants. Sounds great doesn’t it?

These neural implants come at a huge price. The corporations that make them, also have access to just about everything that a person does. The Syndicates can also control each individual person. It goes beyond mind control and extends into slight behavior control as well.

Without a government to control the Syndicates, each and every corporation will fight to the death to gain dominance. Business is no longer sales and customers. Business has now become full out war! Hopefully this part of Syndicate’s science fiction world does not come true.

You get to play the character known as Miles Kilo. You are a prototype super agent that is not supposed to have a conscience. Syndicate is brutal to say the least. You will be able to use guns to get what you want, but you can also use brute strength to achieve your goals. You can snap necks, and plenty of other brutal things that most FPS games leave out.

Syndicate looks and feels great. It is a nice balance between your standard FPS type gaming with a few new things thrown in for fun. This game is no simple walk in the park though. You can’t always run and gun your way out of a situation like most of the Call of Duty games. There will be times when you have to use your brain to get through the game. For a lot of gamers, this can be a huge turn off. They would just prefer to mindlessly shoot and kill, but for those of you that like a little bit more of a mental challenge, then Syndicate will be like food for your brain.

The whole mind control aspect of the game is a lot of fun. There are plenty of big guns, and you will have plenty of chances to use them, but using the human mind as a weapon is a much more fun way to play the game. It is also just fun to control other people and try to put them in humorous situations. You can make people turn on their partners, and then you can make them turn on themselves. It is fun and addicting.

The further you get into Syndicate, the more you start thinking about mind control, and the more you start thinking about the game itself. Are you really thinking about the game, or do you have a neural implant that is being controlled by a Syndicate? Wrap your hands around a controller, and wrap your mind around Syndicate February 21st 2012 for Xbox, PS3, and PC.

Shop for Syndicate.

In the not too distant future, the world is divided into regions controlled by mega-corporations known as Syndicates. In this future, business is war, and you are the weapon: the latest prototype agent for Eurocorp, one of the most ruthless Syndicates in a world dominated by greed. In single-player, embark on a unique sci-fi shooter adventure of corruption and revenge, as you utilize DART 6 chip-enhanced technology to breech, manipulate and control the wired world. Or form your own Syndicate in four-player co-op and dominate nine action-packed missions inspired by the original Syndicate game.

2069 – No longer governed by politicians, the developed world is divided up into regions controlled by megacorporations known as Syndicates. These Syndicates have revolutionized how the consumer interacts with the digital world. No longer does the consumer require a device to access the world’s data and control their technology, they can do this at the blink of an eye via neural chip implant. Civilians flocked to be “chip’d” and enjoy all that their selected Syndicate has to offer; housing, medical, banking, insurance, education, entertainment and jobs. One complete package. One complete lifestyle. In return, the Syndicates gained unprecedented insights, and control, over the individual and their behaviour. With little governmental oversight, business has become war. The Syndicates will stop at nothing for ultimate market dominance. At the front line of this war are the Agents, the Syndicate’s bio-engineered and chip-augmented enforcers. They can breach anything in the wired world including their enemies, their weapons and the environment that surrounds them, making them the most efficient and deadly technological weapons in the world. Take on the role of Miles Kilo, Eurocorp’s latest prototype agent, and embark on a brutal action adventure of corruption and revenge.

Shop For the Syndicate

Syndicate Features

• Chip Enhanced Gameplay: Slow down time, see through walls, and breach your enemy and everything digital in the world with Dart vision – A neural DART6 chip implant that allows you to interface directly with the Dataverse.

• 4-Player Online Co-op: Assemble your Syndicate for global domination. A 4-player, online co-op experience like no other, with chip enhanced gameplay and 9 missions re-imagined from the original Syndicate.

• Visceral FPS Experience: Utilize an upgradable arsenal of futuristic weapons, armor and gear to annihilate your enemies and harvest their chip technology for personal advancement and sinister corporate greed.

• Sci-Fi Fiction: Immerse yourself in the world of Syndicate 2069, with a world-class sci-fi story experience, written by bestselling author Richard Morgan.

The Darkness II Players will be taken down the brutal and personal path of Jackie Estacado, head of a New York crime family and wielder of an ancient and ruthless force of chaos and destruction known as the Darkness.

The Darkness II stands out visually with its distinctive graphic noir style, and it is the only first person shooter to feature Quad-Wielding : the ability to simultaneously utilize four different weapons.

The Darkness II Features:

• Quad-Wielding Chaos Redefines the FPS Genre: slash, grab, and throw objects and enemies with the Demon Arms while simultaneously firing two weapons for an all-out assault on multiple assailants.

• Harness Unstoppable Darkness Powers: Master the Demon Arms and summon the powers of the Darkness for even more explosive gameplay. Talent Shrines also offer upgrades, from collected essence, for weapons and Darkness Powers.

• Distinctive Graphic-Noir Art Style: Hand-painted textures, shading and color give a rich and unique visual style that pays tribute to the source material and brings the pages of the comic series to life.

• Kill the Lights: The vicious powers of the Darkness manifest only in shadows, so use the environment as an advantage and strategize against enemies who will use light as a weapon.

• Intense and Personal Journey: Experience a dark, twisted and gripping story written exclusively for the game by acclaimed comic book author Paul Jenkins whose credits also include The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, and the original The Darkness game.

• 4-Player Co-Op Campaign: Play as one of four unique characters each capable of wielding weapons infused with Darkness powers.

The Darkness II Vendettas

Vendettas is a co-op multiplayer mode for The Darkness II that can be played with up to four people! The story of Vendettas runs parallel to the events of the single-player campaign, and features a cast of characters with unique abilities and histories tied to the Darkness.

The Darkness II Plot:

It’s been two years since Jackie Estacado used the Darkness to kill the men responsible for his girlfriend’s murder. He’s been unable to shake the memory of Jenny’s death since bottling up his supernatural power and now the Darkness wants out. A sudden, unprovoked attack on Jackie’s life heralds the start of a full-scale mob war and opens the door for the Darkness to reemerge. The botched attempt sets Jackie on a journey to hell and worse as he unravels the mystery behind the attack and the motivations of the Darkness itself.

The Darkness II is available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and Pc Download.  Shop for the Darkness II.

Guildford, UK. – January 19, 2012 – Award-winning independent game developer Klei Entertainment and EA Partners, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), today announced that the highly anticipated 2D action brawler, Shank™ 2, will be available on the Xbox LIVE® Arcade and on the PlayStation®Network Europe on February 8, 2012 for 800 Microsoft Points or £7.99.

Set in a pulp fiction world, Shank 2 puts players back in control of their favorite ex-mobster hitman, Shank. Klei has evolved the combat experience with precise controls, new weapons, smarter enemies, and more advanced combo techniques, all set to the backdrop of beautiful 2D art and animation. Players can put Shank’s trusty arsenal of handguns, chainsaws, grenades, plus all-new weapons to use in order to protect those close to him.

Introducing an all-new Survival Mode, gamers can team up with a friend online or locally, working together to take down hordes of goons in an action-packed, arcade-style brawl. Featuring stunning visuals from Klei’s veteran cartoon director, Jeff Agala, Shank 2 raises the bar even higher for 2D brawlers with art and animation that won Klei multiple awards and nominations, including IGF’s Excellence in Visual Arts nomination, and the Canadian Animator of the Year award for Klei’s lead animator, Aaron Bouthillier.

For more information on Shank 2, please visit www.shankgame.com and follow the development team at www.twitter.com/klei and at www.facebook.com/shankgame.

About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company’s game franchises are offered as both packaged goods products and online services delivered through Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets. EA has more than 100 million registered players and operates in 75 countries.
In fiscal 2011, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.6 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for critically acclaimed, high-quality blockbuster franchises such as The Sims™, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, Need for Speed™, Battlefield, and Mass Effect™. More information about EA is available at www.eagames.co.uk/press.

About Klei Entertainment
Founded in 2005, Klei Entertainment is an award-winning game development studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Klei has been developing original games since its inception, and has developed and published games for the PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation®Network and Xbox LIVE® Arcade. To learn more about the Klei team and its latest projects, visit www.kleientertainment.com.

SHANK is a trademark of Klei Entertainment Inc., used under license. The Sims and Need for Speed are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Mass Effect is a trademark of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. John Madden, NFL and FIFA are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Xbox, Xbox LIVE and Kinect are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and used with permission.

Shank 2 Features.

• Multi-Weapon Combat System – With a brand new redesigned weapon system, take on smarter and greater variety of goons and bigger, badder bosses with new weapon combos and new counter moves that let you use enemies’ weapons against them!

• It Takes More than One to Survive – Team up with a friend to put a thrashing on hordes of goons in this all-new and incredibly fun arcade-style co-op survival mode. Teamwork is essential to surviving waves of increasing tenacious enemies!

• Rich Environments – Look for opportunities to bring down ceilings, explode barrels, hurl crates, and explore surroundings to find new in-game unlockables!

• Stunning Visuals – Shank 2 draws you into the action with a stunning visual style that sets a new benchmark in 2D brawlers.

The original game set a new standard for its visual style and Shank 2 raises the bar. Shank 2 expands on the original game’s amazing combat system to redefine the 2D side-scrolling brawler.

Buy Shank 2 on Amazon.

Think about it for a second. You pay a good chunk of money for a video game. You most likely do this for some level of entertainment, but how fun can it be when everything is scripted just like a movie. It may be fun the first time through, but with every additional game play, it becomes more stale, more boring. There are no more surprises. You already know what is behind every corner. You know the twists and turns of every plot line. You know the game inside and out, and you either trade it in for a new linear game that will eventually become boring, or the game sits on your shelve, and starts to collect some dust. If you are inventive, you may use the game disc as a Frisbee, or a coaster, but 9 times out of ten, when you finish the game, you are finished with the game.

Multiplayer brought a nice change to video games. It made things more unpredictable. It is impossible to determine your opponents next move in the fast paced world of online video games. This added challenge has breathed new life into what was becoming a stale video game world, but could it possibly get even better? Of course it can!

What about a multiplayer sandbox game? A game that took place in a huge open environment, and you got to enjoy this huge open environment with your friends. Games like Crackdown quickly became huge hits. It was as if video games as a whole just leveled up, but instead of getting a free man, or increasing your health, the world in which we played video games changed and evolved for the better. Now you can play with your friends in a huge open world. You get to make the decisions, and the world around you reacts to those decisions. Could it possibly get any better? Of course it can, but how?

That is where Minecraft comes in. Video gaming as whole just leveled up again, and as a result gamers now get to build the world that they play in. This is huge! This is as incredible as pizza, as good as sliced bread. Minecraft opens the door to a new way to play video games. The only real limit is your imagination.

In Minecraft, you can make anything that you want, and everything is made from blocks. It is almost like playing with Legos, but 100 million times better. Instead of rushing out to the store to purchase every little Lego kit that you can find, you get everything right in the palm of your hand. It is all in a fantastic virtual world that you control. With over 4.5 million purchases, Minecraft has proven that people want creative freedom in their video games.

Minecraft A brave new world!

When you start a new game of Minecraft, you are thrown into a brave new world. An island surrounded by blue water. The blue sky is filled with blocky clouds, and the sun slowly makes its way across the sky. You can do anything that you want, but you should play later, because when darkness falls in Minecraft, you have to survive.

Whoah, wait a minute. Backup. Did you just say, “survive?”

For everything that is good in the world, you can bet there is an equal an opposite bad. So for all the fun that you can have during the day in Minecraft, when it gets dark, monsters will appear. These are hungry monsters who simply want to eat you. You must survive the night, or the darkness. Anywhere in Minecraft where there is darkness, you risk the possibility of being eaten by a creature.

Your first task should be to build a shelter. How do you do that? You have to get some wood. Just walk over to a tree and start hacking away at it. The wood from the tree becomes a wooded block in your inventory. In its raw form, you can’t do anything with it. You are also going to need a source of light for your shelter. Light keeps the dark away, which keeps the monsters away, which helps you to survive!

Minecraft, Let there be light!

How are you going to make light? Think way back in time. What was used for light before electricity?
Fire! Fire make good light. Fire burn! You need to make a torch, but in order to do that, you are going to need some more resources, one of which is coal. How do you get coal? You mine it! With a name like Minecraft, you can only expect to do some mining. You will need to convert your wood blocks down to sticks. You can then attach your coal to the stick to make a torch.

In Minecraft you start with almost nothing, and you have to create everything from scratch. When your health is low, you have to eat to restore it, but in order to eat, you must craft a weapon that will slaughter an animal or two. Do you see the idea yet? You will need to create or craft everything in the game, and in order to craft, you must mine resources. Hence the name Minecraft. All of this happens in a single player game.

Does Minecraft have multiplayer?

What do you think? Of course it does silly! Now you can build, or destroy the world of Minecraft with all of your friends.

Minecraft is a game of where freedom is fundamental. Do what you want, when you want, how you want.

Check out the official website for Minecraft.

Guildford: 21st December 2011: Awarded “Most Anticipated Game of 2012” at the Spike TV VGAs, Mass Effect 3 features gripping musical arrangements directed by returning composers and leading artists in entertainment. The soundtrack sets the captivating tone for hero Commander Shepard’s struggle to take Earth back from an alien race known as the Reapers.

Like previous Mass Effect games, a number of talented composers will play critical roles in the game’s musical development, with direction led by BioWare’s acclaimed audio team.

The roster of composers for Mass Effect 3 includes:

“The magic of BioWare games has always been the emotional power of the story, so music is extremely important to the experience,” said Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the Mass Effect series. “With Mass Effect 3, we’re taking players on a more personal journey, even though the scope is bigger than ever – an all-out galactic war!  Each composer has played an intricate role in delivering the combination of epic scope and delicate emotion that will make Mass Effect 3 the best game in the series.”

Shop For Mass Effect 3.

FPS Games from iTunes: Get some Rage out!

ID software’s Rage makes its way to the iTunes store complete with brutal deaths, blood splattering graphics and all. Rage HD makes great use of the processing power inside the iPad. The graphics are just gorgeous. The controls are interesting. The entire game is on rails so the freedom to move around where ever you want is not going to happen, but don’t let that stop you from making a mess of the post apocalyptic mutant inhabitants of Rage HD. This one has support for GameCenter, and a few other cool tricks up its sleeves. External displays are fully supported. Hook it up to the big screen TV and watch heads explode in an even better way. For the price, it would be silly not to give Rage HD a try.

FPS Games From iTunes: Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

Wipe off the touch screens, and get ready for some massive modern carnage in this one. You will love the way this one looks. It looks and performs so good that it is hard to believe it is playing on a phone. You can shoot down enemies with your iPhone or your iPad because this FPS game is universal. Shoot your way through 13 great missions, and be prepared to spend some fun time with this FPS. One price gets you this game.

FPS Games From iTunes: In Space No One Can Hear You Scream!

In the hit movie Alien that may have been the case, but in Dead Space for the iPhone and the iPad, there will be plenty of screaming. It may be you doing the screaming, or it may be the loads of undead space zombies, either way, Dead Space will keep you wanting to see what is around the next corner. You will be so deeply immersed by the great sounds, and the visuals will draw you right in. There are no rails to ride in this game. You can go where you want to go, but watch out for the dark shadowy places, and sharp corners, because the bad guys love to hide there. Don’t drop your iPad or iPhone when they jump out and scare the living crap out of you. With Dead Space you can bet that it will happen. The price is different for the iPhone and the iPad.

Halo on the iPad? Not going to happen.

There is a game that is very close to it though. N.O.V.A. 2. It has vehicles, great graphics, multiplayer, leader boards, career mode and more. The graphics are gorgeous, and chances are you will be spending quite a bit of time playing this one. The controls are great. They are still not as good as the PC, Xbox or PS3, but they are getting really close. If you liked N.O.V.A. 1 at all, then N.O.V.A. 2 took everything from that game and just made it 100 times better. It won’t be long before more people start playing FPS game like this one on their iPad and iPhones.

FPS Games From iTunes:  Blood, Evil and Zombies! OH MY!

What would the iPad and the iPhone be without a little bit of Call of Duty action thrown in? It is a classic game, and the millions of people that play it on the consoles have proven that fact. Throw in four player co-op, zombies, in game chat, zombies, achievements, zombies, and other bonuses and you get a great game that will occupy hours of your life. Did I mention that it has zombies? Who doesn’t love to shoot zombies?

As more and more people start picking up iPads, and iPhones, the games and Apps are just going to keep getting better and better. If you have not taken the FPS games plunge yet, what the hell are you waiting for? Go blast some zombies! Get some FPS Games!