We check out the first few hours of this not-very-subtle nod to Final Fantasy's golden years.

It's apparent from the few hours poured onto Bravely Default that the Flying Fairy subtitle isn't fooling wary gamers. The recent JRPG with the rather silly name is the spiritual successor to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light in tone, spirit, and gameplay mechanic. And believe us when we say that it's a sight for sore eyes, especially when creator Square Enix is bending over backward to make its mothership RPG series relevant again.

Players control four heroes who are on a quest to purify the game world's elemental crystals, while also shaking off an elite group called the Eternian Air Force Jobmasters. The heroes you control aren't blank slates in the personality department. You've got the straight man do-gooder, Tiz; the amnesiac casanova, Ringabell, the demure Wind Crystal keeper, Agnes; and tomboy, Edea. While not the most original of all typecasts, they're still endearing to listen to and watch as they play off each other during the main story quest.

Make it rain!!!

Then again, BD:FF's story isn't the main draw. To get the leg up in turn-based combat, players can switch each party member's classes at any time--except during combat. These classes, or jobs as the game calls them, range from melee specializations like the Knight and Monk, to ranged and magic-using roles such as the Summoner and Time Mage. Abilities you learn from one particular class can be used on a different class as long as you fill up the required job points from the previous class.

In essence, the game takes the best portions of the job class system from Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy V, and has amped it up further so that there's plenty of room for customization. For example, you can use a White Mage's self auto-healing ability (you recover from ailments after a fight) while you're using a pirate class.

The list of combinations go on: you can use a ninja's dual-wielding ability on a Dark Knight, making them even more dangerous up-close, or even take a Summoner's mana point-siphoning ability on a magic swordsman class where the majority of your attacks take up a lot of mana. To say that you'll be taking a few hours building up the perfect party of four is underselling its simple-yet-complex nature.

The other feature that sets this one apart from its predecessors is the Brave and Default modes. Players can choose to either use up Brave points to take extra turns performing actions, or go into default mode to defend and gain more Brave points. If you just start off using Brave points until your character's points drop to the negatives, you'll be inactive and vulnerable as your enemies receive extra turns in a row; they'll most likely use it to punish you or buff themselves up tenfold.

Akihiko Yoshida's artwork translates well into 3D.

The trick to the combat here is to save up as many points as possible so that you can unleash the most damage within a single span before your opponent can react. Conversely, you can just go all-out and spend Brave points until you're in the negative zone, if you think you can take down your encounters in one fell swoop.

We had to learn this through the very first major battle against a rogue White Mage and Monk. As the former can heal both herself, and the monk pretty quick, we had no choice but to play defensively until we unleashed hell upon them with enough Brave points. The system introduces a risk/reward system for players: they can either play it safe and defensively or throw caution in the wind and hope for the best with an all-out assault. We suspect that future boss battles will require us to exploit the system if they have abilities that can wipe out a party with just two attacks.

Just like any 3DS game, BD:FF uses the Streetpass functions of the system it's on; specifically for the "friend summon" system and the Nolende village-rebuilding minigame. For the former, getting Streetpass data from friends and strangers allow you to summon their avatars for a special attack not unlike FF VII's Cloud summoning a giant fat yellow bird to kill his foes.

As for the minigame, players can use Streetpass to recruit people to help rebuild Tiz's village that was totally wrecked from the events of the game's intro. The big incentive for players to invest time in this is that they can buy items and weapons not found anywhere else in the game, provided that the village population is huge. So if you want an uber-weapon for your ninjas and hunters, or if you want to customize a party member's deathblow move (the game's limit break that's weapon-dependant), you'll want to start mingling with civilization and collecting Streetpass data.

Ninjas, freelancers, magicians in large Victorian dresses: no esoteric class is spared in Bravely Default's job system.

BD:FF is not only a throwback to the old days of Final Fantasy, but it also keeps up with the times by adding in nuances from modern game design. These include the options to skip cutscenes, as well as fast-forwarding battle actions. During our playthrough, we got fair challenges, though the game showed that ample party preparation (items, job setups) is key in taking down the multitude of dungeons in the main story mode.

While there is currently no official word from Square Enix on having it localized for the Western market, we feel that it would be a missed opportunity if it wasn't on the company's mind to do so. We strongly feel that BD: FF could be the RPG to bring the company back to good graces with former fans who may be feeling betrayed by the recent changes its Final Fantasy brand has been through.

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With all the talk of a more vulnerable, realistic Lara Croft, we delve into the first 2.5 hours of the game to find out just how human this heroine is.

Video games often struggle to produce believable characters. Striking the right balance between fiction and reality is hard for any medium, let alone one whose drive to entertain frequently overrides its capacity to comment on the human condition. This is why we generally commend video games that succeed in creating convincing virtual worlds, but abstain from criticizing the ones that don't.

Of course, any game that explicitly promises players a glimpse of this elusive verisimilitude is exempt from the rule.

The upcoming Tomb Raider reboot from Crystal Dynamics has made a point of emphasizing the believability of its protagonist Lara Croft. We are led to believe the much-loved gaming heroine has been reworked into a younger, more vulnerable creature without her trademark impishness and overt sex appeal. We are told the game will pay more attention to Lara as a person, giving her a more complex set of feelings and capturing the not-so-glamorous side of a human being coming to terms with her own mortality; a necessary reminder that heroes are made, not born.

But if the first 2.5 hours of the game are any indication of what's to come, then Tomb Raider might not live up to these promises.

Your introduction to Lara Croft is a taste of what to expect in this first part of the game: a series of injuries and narrow escapes so incredulous that they could almost be mistaken as a deliberate comment on the absurd damage that befalls video game protagonists of this genre. Not even the somber context of the opening act--the underground labyrinth of some kind of psychopathic island-dweller--is enough to lift it towards an honest representation of a vulnerable woman left to fend for herself in an inhospitable environment.

Much the same can be said for Lara's first human kill. Crystal Dynamics has invested a lot of time and energy in reiterating the importance of this moment: how you would feel a connection to Lara, how the moment would define her character, how it would feel genuinely shocking, disturbing, and exhilarating. Instead, you are presented with a quick-time event much like any other quick-time event before it. It's hard to believe it was this scene which caused so much controversy earlier this year. Had sexual assault actually been a theme here, you might have been forced to question the very nature of human behavior, or at least to think about why humans act the way they do; that would have at least been something.

Instead, the scene shows us Lara, captured by a group of armed men, forced to defend herself and pull the trigger on one of her captors. She looks distressed, sure. But from this point on until the end of the 2.5-hour playable demo, Lara shows no signs of fighting with herself over the moral consequences of killing another human being. She adapts to her new role with what appears to be the mindset of an experienced killer, leaving a trail of dead bodies in her wake.

While past glimpses of the game hinted heavily at survival--something that could undoubtedly help set this new Tomb Raider apart from previous entries in the franchise--the first few hours of the game are mostly free of survival elements. The one exception is Lara hunting and skinning a deer after remarking that she's hungry. (But at no other point in the first 2.5 hours of the game after this moment does Lara mention food again, despite the impression that a lot of time has elapsed since that first meal.)

The integration of story and gameplay is also problematic in the first few hours of the game. You discover much of the game's story through scripted cutscenes presented as home-made videos made by Lara and her fellow crew members prior to the shipwreck that brought them to the island. It's not quite as obvious as flashback sequences, but not much more original either. However, there are also diary entries and documents scattered throughout the island for you to discover, which provide insight into Lara and her crew, the details of their expedition, and the island's secrets, and give you an incentive to explore.

This leads to one of the most promising things about this game so far, a stark contrast to the otherwise lacking survival elements and linear platforming-to-combat sequences. The ability to upgrade Lara's abilities through experience points is presented in a neat RPG-like upgrade system that rewards you for taking the time to explore the environment, collecting bits and pieces that translate into more points.

This feature helps match Lara's personal growth as a character to what is actually happening in the game--her combat skills, weapons, tools, and survival skills can all be upgraded to make her a stronger, more confident warrior--while allowing you an element of freedom in dictating what kind of person Lara will be when she emerges from her ordeal.

That, at least, gives us something to hope for.

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It retains series' trademark combat and emphasis on theme, but Bioshock Infinite handles world design and storytelling in an entirely new way,

Say goodbye to the confined, melancholy remnants of Rapture, and hello to the unbounded beauty of Columbia. The “heavenly,“ strictly American society, sequestered from the unworthy foreigners below, exists thanks to Father Comstock, the prophet who, amidst the darkness of uncertainty and external pressure, lit the path towards a brighter future for Americans. In his vision of the future, they are the chosen, and they are the deserved.

Bioshock Infinite opens with you, Booker DeWitt, en route to Columbia on a mission to either rescue or kidnap a girl in exchange for the forgiveness of past debts. A chest of your personal belongings is revealed: a pistol, a key featuring an etched birdcage, and a note containing symbols. When your boat arrives at a lighthouse in the middle of an angry, stormy sea, your porters depart.

Inside the lighthouse, Booker sits down in a conspicuously lonely chair. The floor opens beneath your feet, and whirring, powerful machines begins to stir. The lighthouse comes alive, bellowing and flashing an ominous red light. Gyrations cause your gun to slip away into the chaos below. Without further warning, the lighthouse skyrockets. The ocean disappears from view and turbulence increases as the lighthouse passes through the rain and clouds. The cocky Booker is shaken, and uncertainty overcomes any remaining shreds of confidence until suddenly, a serene blue light washes over the lighthouse interior. Columbia“s fabled airships and monuments come into view. Despite its idyllic appearance, Booker knows there“s more beneath its glossy veneer. If his mission is worth the forgiveness of his debt, and requires a pistol, there“s a fair chance Columbia isn“t as peaceful as it appears to be.

Columbia's heavenly appearance conceals its inner demons.

The lighthouse docks, and the door opens. Booker find himself in what appears to be a flooded chapel. Robed men with blank stares and clasped hands line the halls. After a set of stairs leads you past religious iconography and architecture, you enter the chapel hall. More men in robes tread through knee deep water towards a congregation lead by a priest. You work your way to the front of the line, and he sees that you are burdened under the weight of past sins; sins which must be cleansed prior to your acceptance into Columbia. Once, twice, are you baptized in the holy waters of Columbia“s chapel. Initiation complete, your entrance to the city is finally granted.

The opening to Bioshock Infinite is heavy, foreboding, and a clever introduction to Booker and his past. You“re given just enough of his backstory to understand his motivation and personality. Columbia, too, is presented in such a way that paints a picture rife with hints and clues of its origins. You see that it“s a utopia, you“re told that it“s lead by the prophet Comstock, and you observe that his sheep are utterly devoted to his vision for America. Citizens figuratively refer to it as a heavenly place, or simply, as heaven. As the player, it“s easy to want to connect the dots that are given, but inferences only tell so much of the story.

Upon arrival into the heart of Columbia, Booker finds himself wandering into the middle of a carnival. Men, women, and children are enjoying attractions, games litter the boardwalk, and the city is bustling with anticipation for the upcoming raffle drawing. Your first objective is to obtain a ticket, but the vending machine refuses your request. After exploring the area, you happen upon a woman selling Vigors, tonics crafted from technology that grant the consumer with new abilities. She offers you the Possession Vigor, giving Booker the ability to control machines and robotic contraptions. After a quick zap with your newfound possession power, the raffle machine dispenses a ticket, and it“s off to the drawing. Before you arrive, you notice a billboard warning people of the beast that bears the mark, “A.D.“, the same mark that appears on the top of Booker“s right hand.

Public displays of hatred and intolerance are commonplace in Columbia.

Up until this point, Columbia“s darker tendencies have yet to reveal themselves. Once you arrive at the drawing however, it becomes clear that Columbia is built on a foundation of exclusion, religious persecution, xenophobia, and racism. While it“s immediately shocking to hear a character utter lines such as “Have you ever seen such a pretty white girl?“ as she presents the basket of raffle drawings, it's even more unsettling to learn that the winner earns the ticket holder the “privilege“ of publically stoning an African American. This spectacle definitely drives home the notion that Columbia is unwelcome to anyone who defies their ideals. That is, anyone like Booker.

Of course, Booker wins the raffle. The host of the drawing offers you a basket of baseballs intended to be thrown at the bound, mixed race couple who are pleading for your mercy. As you wind up, prepared to lodge the ball into the hateful mouth of the host, a policeman notices the mark on your hand and grabs your wrist. In that moment, your cover is shattered, and the game truly begins. You wrench a hook from the hand of an officer and gouge the face of his partner in order to make your getaway.

Leaving with the hook, your search for an escape route and come upon the skyline: a series of tracks in the sky connecting the numerous islands that make up Columbia. An in-game prompt encourages you to leap toward a coupling on the line, and a magnetic force draws your hook to the tracks. Booker is whisked along as he circles around his pursuers below. The track stops above a platform, and a new prompt instructs to dismount the skyline. An unwitting enemy patrols nearby, and a swift blow to the head renders him a non-threat. Booker acquires the man“s pistol and continues his escape.

At this point, Bioshock Infinite has introduced its setting, theme, and gameplay mechanics, and it“s up to you to avoid capture while searching for your target. The girl in question is held captive atop the statue of Columbia, America“s “goddess,“ in the middle of Monument Island. At first, Columbia looks like a completely open world, but it“s fairly linear at this point in the game. In true Bioshock fashion, there are plenty of alternate paths to explore, but they never take Booker far off the beaten path. Ultimately, your curiosity is rewarded with missing links to the story and occasional coinage or health pickups.

Eventually, you find your way to the tower, and gain access by entering the symbols from the note found inside your chest of belongings. Along the way, Booker is introduced to Elizabeth by way of two-way mirrors. When you finally meet in person, she“s startled by your unfamiliar presence and tries to fend you off. Even after you reveal that you“re there to free her, she doubts you and your intentions, until you show her the key with the bird cage etching. Only then does she accept that the time to flee has finally come, but no sooner than you unlatch the door to freedom, the tower shakes, and a harrowing shriek resonates through its steel walls. Elizabeth knows this is her keeper, the giant mechanized Song Bird, and as you two sprint for the ground floor, it begins to tear away at the tower in a desperate attempt to prevent her escape.

Booker capitalizes on his ability to ride the rails.

As the Song Bird rips a staircase, you tumble from the height of the tower only to catch your hook on a skyline momentarily before plummeting into the waters below. The Song Bird dives headlong after you, but seems to give up as Booker loses consciousness. Everything fades to black.

You comes to in a dreamlike state. You“re in an office, and someone is banging at the door, demanding you repay your debt. Answering the door brings you back to life as you see Elizabeth trying to resuscitate you. You“ve washed ashore, and though you“re worse for the wear, you“ve escaped for the time being.

For the first time in her life, Elizabeth experiences freedom. A ragtime cover of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun“ plays in the background as she dances around the beach, taking in the sights and sounds of a world she“s only experienced from a distance. She“ll generally follow Booker, but she“s always up to something, usually out of frame. Sometimes, she“s captivated by an unusual sight in the environment, swaying to the sound of music coming for a nearby radio, or perhaps she“s searching for loose change under an armoire. She“s every bit a living, breathing part of the world, and not a typical video game companion tucked away in a robotic NPC with minimal AI.

Elizabeth sets a new standard for companions in a video game.

As the rest of the demo plays out, Booker and Elizabeth continue their journey, all the while confronted by Comstock and his hordes as they try to recapture Elizabeth and do away with Booker. Elizabeth doesn“t possess offensive capabilities, but she can control tears, rifts in time space that allow her to access alternate realities and dimensions. Through these tears, she“ll reveal secrets and items to aid your mission. Sometimes, she can open rifts that alter the world of Columbia, influencing battle sequences and environmental puzzles.

Though you can occasionally direct her use of tears, she usually has an agenda all her own. When she discovers items in the environment, she“ll call out for you attention. A quick button press will turn your focus to her so she can flick a coin or underhand toss a health item your way. As much as you are her protector, she“s your trusty sidekick.

There's nothing these two can't accomplish through trust and teamwork.

Our demo concluded shortly after this extended, multi-hour introduction. Like the first Bioshock, the opening draws you into the game“s world, revealing just enough to captivate your curiosity and send you on your mission“s path. The heart of the gameplay is again focused on finding creative solutions through the use of varying super powers, but the open environments of Columbia and implementation of skylines in Infinite dwarf the relatively restrictive confines of Rapture from Bioshock and Bioshock 2.

What“s most intriguing about Infinite's evolution is the introduction of Booker and Elizabeth as conduits for the narrative. As you learn about Elizabeth and Columbia, you also learn about Booker. Infinite feels like a Bioshock game, yet it expands upon the elements that made the first game so successful years ago, rather than simply adding to them. Columbia still conceals many mysteries, and uncovering them should make for a truly engaging experience. After another brief delay, Bioshock Infinite“s newly scheduled release is now set for March 26, 2013.

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Crytek debuts a new multiplayer mode that puts an interesting twist on survival.

There's a whole bunch of new Crysis 3 multiplayer on display here at Gamescom 2012, but what has caught our attention most is a new mode called Hunter. Why is this mode interesting? Well, the reason is simple: you can win the match without firing a single bullet.

Odd, right? That's the thing about first-person shooters. You usually win by, you know, shooting at stuff. And that's something you can certainly do in Hunter mode, but in our experience playing it, you can just as easily find success by taking your finger off the trigger and avoiding the action.

See, Hunter is a test of survival. The match begins with two players in ultrapowerful nanosuits who get to enjoy both (A) the benefits of an invisibility cloak and (B) sweet bows and arrows. The rest of the 12- or 16-person roster (depending on whether you're playing on console or PC, respectively) is rounded out by guys called troopers, who are basically run-of-the-mill soldiers with decently powerful gear, but nothing on the order of what the hunters have.

As the two-minute rounds progress--matches last five rounds--any trooper killed by a hunter respawns and becomes a hunter. And, as you would expect, the guy who survives the longest tends to become the victor of the match.

The interesting bit about all this is the way playing as the plain ol' trooper tends to make you avoid conflict at all costs. You're constantly trying to get to where the hunters aren't, using the screams and calls for help from fellow troopers as a road map revealing places best left alone. And because your enemies are cloaked, there's this tension when you see things moving out of the corner of your eye, be they falling leaves or rippling water.

The whole thing feels a bit like the Predator movies. A group of tough guys going at it against much more powerful, much more invisible foes stalking them like prey. It helps that the Manhattan of Crysis 3 shows the city in a state of overgrowth, with vegetation taking over the city like a spiteful jungle invading the city.

All in all, we rather liked this new Hunter mode. The foundation is admittedly the same as various "infection" modes done in zombie games before, but it felt like a nice change of pace for Crysis 3. The tension and conflict avoidance let you appreciate the game's environment that much more, taking in the world around you as you desperately try to avoid taking an arrow to the head.

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Shaun stress-tests the Far Cry 3 sandbox to see if it can accommodate his unique brand of madness.

I swear I'm not a bad person. In fact, I like to think I'm a pretty good guy. But set me free in an open-world action game and I immediately set off in search of ways to entertain myself at the expense of every living thing in the gameworld. I won't usually play an entire game like a crazy lunatic, mind you. I just like to size up the sandbox and get a sense for how strict the boundaries are before I settle into the story. So after spending an hour goofing about in Far Cry 3's sandbox earlier today, you can imagine how delighted I was when the game didn't just let me run wild; it was practically an accomplice.

First, some context: Ubisoft's press demo here at Gamescom has story missions disabled so that folks like me can get a sense of what the game's open-world tropical archipelago has to offer. Altogether, I was given roughly an hour of time with Far Cry 3's sandbox with no real rules to speak of. What I learned in that time is that Far Cry 3 is a game absolutely stuffed with hazards, creatures, collectibles, side quests, and random little events to grab your attention. It is, in many ways, a direct response to Far Cry 2's gorgeous but relatively empty landscape.

The game does its best to nudge you in certain directions so that it's not all just mindless wandering. One example is the collection of a dozen-plus radio towers you can climb to unlock information on your map screen that ranges from enemy outposts to plants used for potion-crafting. (Yes, that's the Far Cry 3 team taking a bit of inspiration from the Assassin's Creed team.) These towers actually get more and more dilapidated as you progress through the game, making each one more of a hazard (and thus a reward) to scale.

But once I broke free from those subtle guide markers, I just kept trying crazy new things in order to see what results the island had in store for me. What would happen if I took off from a mountain with a hang glider and tried to suicide bomb into an enemy at full speed? One slightly injured but very angry pirate, as it turns out. What would happen if I threw a grenade into a pack of peaceful mountain goats? Nearby pirates heard the commotion and came charging my way--also quite angry. What would happen if I ran over a friendly civilian, or drove a jeep off a cliff, or straight-up knifed a tiger? It was like a bizarre form of scientific research, but with more explosions and tiger maulings. Oh, the number of times I was mauled by a tiger.

I even managed to find legitimate ways to goof my way through what would normally be a more serious combat situation. Like in Far Cry 2, there are different enemy camps strewn about the world (not respawing ones this time, fortunately) that you can clear out to bring in friendly forces to that part of the map. Having decided that simply defeating these pirates with a standard gun wasn't enough, I decided to try using a sniper rifle to pick off their radios from afar, preventing them from calling for backup. Then I found a jeep and just started swerving around and spinning donuts in their camp until every poor soul fell victim to my terrible, terrible driving.

In a few cases, it almost felt like the sandbox was messing around right back at me. At one point I found a side quest tacked to the side of a building asking for someone to help take out a couple of dangerous bears killing local villagers. Oh, why not! I happen to enjoy a good bear hunt. Only in this case, my quest took me into a pitch-black bear cave with nothing more than a flashlight and a shotgun designed for close-quarters encounters. Yes, what began as a simple side quest ended with me practically playing a survival horror game in order to survive.

There's all sorts of stuff I could mention, but at this point you probably get the point. Far Cry 3's open world is an impressive one. It's filled with all sorts of quests, collectibles, and emergent gameplay moments that practically demand you goof around and experiment just to see what happens next. Combine this with abundant fast travel options and enemy camps that don't respawn and you have an open world that's much livelier and less tedious than Far Cry 2's. We can't wait to play more--tiger maulings and all.

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Bethesda and Arkane Studios inject Dishonored with exciting new features and a powerful new enemy for their press demo at Gamescom 2012.

Arkane Studios and Bethesda Softworks showed off their latest level for the supernaturally infused Dishonored at Gamescom, featuring a brand-new enemy and a relatively laid-back mission compared to those already revealed. While previous demos focused on stealth and traditional first-person combat, what was shown at Gamescom primarily dealt with tactful investigation of partygoers at a fancy estate, with little to no combat required in order to complete the mission.

The protagonist, Corvo, is on assignment to assassinate Waverly Boyle, one of the three sisters hosting a lavish masquerade ball. Theres a catch, however: because of the anonymous nature of the party, you aren't sure which of the three the actual target is. They are all identified as "Lady Boyle" when approached, but all three wear different colors of the same outfit. To identify the appropriate sister, you must talk to the other attendees and explore the estate to gather enough intel to identify the color of the target's garb.

The entire estate is labeled as a neutral zone, so unless you initiate combat, you are free to mingle with guests and engage them in conversation. You can kill party members if you wish, in addition to the mark, but be sure to dispose of the bodies, either by hiding them or by summoning a horde of rats to devour the remains. If a corpse is discovered, you are immediately suspected as the culprit, triggering a full-on assault from the Boyles' guards. That in itself wouldn't be an issue, but the presence of the overseer musicians, a completely new enemy type, makes things particularly challenging once they're alerted to your devious motives.

The overseers are militant followers of the religious sect known as the Abbey of the Everyman. They stand at the ready with an organ-like instrument that possesses the ability to disable all of Corvo's magic, making it particularly difficult to get the upper hand against a half-dozen incoming guards. They blend into the scenery, clad in bland, monotone armor that is initially difficult to distinguish from the surrounding fixtures within the estate. Unfortunately for Corvo, they are also invulnerable to gunfire.

In the case that you don't opt for a frontal assault on Waverly Boyle, you have multiple options when it comes to accomplishing your mission. In fact, one guest who's aware of your intentions to assassinate Waverly offers to whisk her away from the party, never to be seen again. The implications of this will have a lasting impact on the storyline, though the developers from Arkane studios wouldn't elaborate on exactly how it affects Corvo's overarching quest for revenge.

Side missions within the main quest are equally capable of affecting Corvo's future. Upon approaching the entrance to the party, you're presented with the option to hand a note from one of the corrupt Pendleton twins to an attendee of the ball. In fact, what you're potentially handing over is a note stating that Corvo will stand in the Pendleton brother's place during a preplanned duel with said party member. Participating in the duel will win the Pendletons favor down the road, but whether or not this is a good thing is yet undetermined.

Beyond replaying missions for the sheer sake of it, missions such as the one demoed at Bethesda's booth will essentially "roll the dice," which in this case means varying the color of the target's outfit between playthroughs. Carrying out the assigned assassination from various angles is valuable in terms of replayability, and is something that has been seen before in games like the Hitman series, but it was refreshing to see how gracefully Dishonored's structure removes the burden of entertainment from the player.

Arkane Studio's Dishonored is currently scheduled to ship in early October of this year on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

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This transit sim lets you live out the fantasy of showing up your local government.

Is there anyone in the world who genuinely enjoys their city's transportation network? Is there a human being alive who waits for a bus in the morning thinking to themselves, "My god, this is just the most wonderful thing"? Probably not. Because no matter how well designed the transit network is where you live, no matter how much mind-boggling engineering went into it, you can always think of ways the system could inconvenience you slightly less. Therein lies the strange appeal of a game like Cities in Motion 2.

Cities in Motion 2 is a PC strategy title from Finnish developer Colossal Order where your job is to map out, build, and maintain a thriving transit network in a major North American city. In other words, your opportunity to show your hometown how it's really done. On a basic level, you do things like construct roads, build depots, and adjust public transportation routes to accommodate the flow of people going from home to work and back again.

But it's not all quite so easy. When building your metro system, you'll need to examine the surface street traffic to decide whether you can get away with a road-level train track or if an underground tunnel or elevated track might be the better option. A random traffic accident might clog a major thoroughfare, forcing you to temporarily reroute your buses to avoid the congestion. And as you continue to build a thriving network, people suddenly realize your city is a pretty decent place to live, so you'll see new homes popping up and putting additional strain on your transit network.

A lot of this sort of thing was featured in the original Cities in Motion, which came out in 2011. One of the features that's brand new to Cities in Motion 2, however, is the concept of a full day-night cycle. The strain on your roads and public transportation vehicles will vary depending on the time of day, from the night owl routes at 3:00 a.m. to the overloaded streets during rush hour. So in Cities in Motion 2, you're given the ability to create time tables for your transportation system to deal with the wildly varying number of citizens on the go.

And that's Cities in Motion 2 in a nutshell. It's a game that gives you the chance to live out the fantasy of constructing the ultimate transportation network so you can take the train into work tomorrow and gleefully think to yourself, "Pfft! I could do this better!" while knowing that it's true. Expect to see it later this year on the PC.

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Modding games is a complicated process, but CD Projekt's Red Kit hopes to change all that, giving users the power to create Witcher 2 mods with ease.

Following up on the success of The Witcher 2: Enhanced, CD Projekt is hard at work on its upcoming modding tools, collectively known as the Red Kit. Scheduled for release sometime in 2013, it gives users the tools to establish their own worlds, quests, and branching storylines within the Witcher's reality. It's a spiritual successor to their Djinni toolkit based on the original Witcher, but the entire interface and workflow have been refined to make the process simpler to use and easier to understand.

Everyone using Red Kit will have access to all assets from The Witcher 2, including character models, textures, shaders, animations, and sound effects--essentially everything you need to create you own Witcher adventure.

Based on the demo shown at Gamescom today, simple quests can be created in as little as 30 minutes. It all starts with a flat plane, but the world comes to life once grass, foliage, and elevation are applied. Modifying terrain elevation is achieved via a paintbrush-like tool, allowing users to sculpt the terrain to their liking, all in a matter of seconds, not minutes or hours. Vegetation such as grass and trees can be generated on the fly, but with a few alterations to graphic sliders, the density, number of clusters, and even "energy" (action potential) can be adjusted rather quickly. Vegetation is generated based on user-defined parameters, but also on elements such as the chosen terrain's natural ability to sustain water underground.

Red Kit allows you to rapidly create robust landscapes with minimal effort.

After quickly creating a landscape, the CD Projekt artist controlling the demo dropped a cabin and a non-player character into the environment. Before setting characters in a scene, you have the ability to alter their appearance and default animation. In order to turn the NPC into a veritable quest giver, one must simply apply a line of dialogue and possible responses, each of which is an event trigger, either activating, or ignoring, the quest on offer. It's also possible to generate camera angles on the fly based on who's speaking, but you can adjust timing and positioning to your liking as well. Dialogue is represented as text, but CD Projekt is working on tools that will allow you to import your own voice-overs, although this won't initially be available when the kit ships in 2013.

You will, however, be able to import your own 3D models (meshes) created in your favorite modeling software. The one catch is that all models must exist within CD Projekt's proprietary format, but they plan on releasing plug-ins for the most popular tools in order to streamline the process.

There was mention of integration into Steamworks, but there was no official word on it and when it would become a reality.

With such powerful tools, modders are limited only by their imaginations.

All told, Red Kit is an extremely powerful modding tool that puts the power of a CD Projekt dev into the hands of users. The graphic, node-based structure presents the scripts associated with mods in an easy-to-understand fashion, but dig deeper, and you can tweak nearly every aspect of each character, environment, and quest to your liking. The plan is to ship the kit sometime during 2013, but interested parties can apply for early, closed-beta access starting today, at www.thewitcher.com/redkit. As usual for a beta, CD Projekt is looking for feedback from individuals and groups interested in modding in order to iron out some of the existing kinks, as well as refine the experience, but in its current state, it's already looking like one of the most robust modding tools on the market.

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We check out a crazy new MMO game that promises a sandbox world of player-controlled politics.

Project: Theralon is a free-to-play MMO game set in a fantasy world of--wait, are you still reading? You checked out after "free-to-play MMO game set in a fantasy world" didn't you? Oh, fine. We can't blame you. But come back for a second, would you? Ready? Good. Let's start over.

Project: Theralon has dragon pirates. It lets you build entire cities from scratch. It runs on the same graphics engine as Crysis 3. And did we mention the dragon pirates? Yes? OK, just making sure. Because dragon pirates.

See, Theralon isn't exactly your run-of-the-mill massively multiplayer online game. Its cartoonish fantasy art design might look like World of Warcraft had a love child with Conan the Barbarian, but its sandbox PVP structure looks like it'll allow for a pretty unique style of player interaction.

In some ways, you can think of Project: Theralon as a more cartoony version of EVE Online. It's a world where the dynamics between player-run guilds and factions take priority over leveling and classes because, well, there are no levels or classes (though you can still determine your style of character through an open skill tree). Those player dynamics are important because you're able to build cities from the ground up using a modular building system, and the control of these places pretty much comes down to whether a player-run organization has successfully asserted its influence over the local population or whether a free city has sprung up instead.

And then you've got the dragons. Players are able to control two characters: one a mighty adventurer with the ability to fly dragons, and another whom you can use as either a second adventurer or as a more occupational-focused character like a merchant dedicated to selling off your wares when the first character is off exploring the world. (You can switch between these two characters on the fly.)

So with the whole sandbox nature of the game, there's nothing stopping you from starting up a crew of roaming pirates dedicated to pillaging one city after another as you fly in on your dragons with a thirst for mischief and mayhem. But at the same time, there's nothing stopping you from starting an order of knights, or neighborhood watchmen, or a trade union, or whatever you want. That's the whole intent of the sandbox structure.

Currently each shard promises to house 3,000 to 4,000 players at a time, though the team at Infernum insists they're looking into the possibility of getting the entire player base housed in the same gameworld without discrete servers segmenting the player base. And, interestingly, this CryEngine 3-powered game will run either through a game client or in your browser. Yes, a game using the same graphics engine as Crysis 3 will be available to play through Facebook.

There's a very interesting premise driving Theralon, but right now it remains to be seen just how fun the gameplay is when you're engaged in combat, since we didn't get a chance to go hands-on for ourselves. Still, the promise of city-building, dragon warfare, and sandbox politics does sound awfully interesting. We'll see how this one shapes up as it approaches its as-yet-undetermined release date.

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We play through the early sections of Falcom's new action-RPG.

Anyone who thinks that the PSP should be put to pasture may want to reconsider, as the system is still a-ticking over sales-wise in Japan. Ys creators Falcom are still sticking to the system before their official "move" to the Vita with Ys: Celceta Tree, and it goes to show with their latest action game Nayuta no Kiseki.

And before you start comparing notes and seeing the lineage between this and past "no Kiseki" games like Zero no Kiseki and Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, don't bother, because there aren't any story ties between this and past Legend of Heroes games. This is a good thing, as no prior knowledge of past Kiseki games is needed to enjoy the narrative.

This is the majority of Nayuta no Kiseki, and it's really fun.

Players control a boy named Nayuta, whose fishing village lifestyle was disrupted when a giant meteor crashed from the sky and created a giant tower nearby. After much exploration, Nayuta ends up having to solve the mystery of the new continent known as Lost Heaven together with his friend Signa and the fairy Noi while figuring out who the mysterious girl in the coffin of the Star Garden is. Along the way, they come across different continents filled with all manners of monsters and platforming action.

Our tag team duo of Nayuta and Noi aren't defenseless, thankfully. Nayuta brandishes a sword to cut foes apart while Noi can cast spells ranging from giant red spinning blades to whirling tornadoes that damages enemies over time for a short period. There's no such thing as mana management here; attacking enemies with melee force will charge up Noi's magic stock fast so that you can continuously pile enemies with magic without much repercussion.

Chaining as many hits together will yield a temporary stat boosts for our hero until he either gets hurt or until the combo counter meter on the bottom left side of the screen goes to zero. Suffice to say, combat is really fun as Nayuta controls like a breeze and the enemies provide ample challenge.

In addition, our hero has access to special gear moves that are bolstered by his fairy compatriot. After acquiring one of these powerups early in the game, players can press and hold the circle button after an attack to unleash a short-ranged gear-powered slash that breaks down tough barriers and walls. Later on, you can hold onto green bulbs using a gear hold maneuver that lets you traverse to hard-to-reach spots.

Changing seasons will open up new paths for Nayuta and Noi to explore.

The catch is that you'll expend a bit of blue energy; deplete it and Noi gets stunned momentarily. While doing the charged gear slash was helpful in dealing big damage, we had to take some time getting used to the gear hold maneuver. The controls were easy enough, but calculating your jumps from one bulb to another required a bit of guesswork.

Rather than having each area interconnecting with each other seamlessly like a typical RPG, Nayuta no Kiseki divides each area into stages you can revisit over and over (like Super Mario). Players can replay them after their first playthrough just to boost up their rankings and collect anything they missed out on. Thanks to the game's weather-changing system, the game encourages you to as certain parts of a stage won't open up unless you change the game's weather.

For instance, certain parts on the second continent aren't accessible unless you change its climate to winter; paths that were bodies of water can now be traversed to reach new areas offering new spells for Nayuta and Noi to use. Changing the weather of another continent from spring to summer will make trees within the area shrink, therefore leading to previously inaccessible pathways to treasure and new spells for Noi.

There aren't any standard potions to use here; you'll need to prep in advance by getting your sister Eartha to make your lunch. Depending on what ingredients you find during your time in Lost Heaven, you can create all sorts of foodstuff that bolsters health and experience as long as you have lunch boxes ready.

Racking up a high combo can buff up Nayuta temporarily, even allowing one-hit kills if you tweak his skills right.

We can't complete our analysis of Nayuta no Kiseki without bringing up the spectacular boss fights. One fight at the start had us going at it with a giant scarecrow wood statue. As it does ground pound attacks with its fists, the platform we were standing on elevated close to its head, meaning that it was our cue to attack its head. What surprised us was that there was another statue that proceeded to attack us in tandem with its partner.

Another boss battle had usu fighting a giant mechanical fish that shoots out lightning; halfway through, we ended up fighting it on a platform heading downstream while it was chasing after us. When it lunged its head towards to bite us, we had to use our gear strike to knock its teeth out, and then attack two of its inner mouth tentacles to expose its core. Yes, demonic fishes have inner mouth tentacles presumably for flossing out dead seamen.

The mechanical crab fight on the third chapter warrants mentioning. It attacks first with laser beams and projectiles; you need to climb up to its position and hit its exposed red spot by using the green orbs using your gear hold maneuver. The crab then assaults you with a spinning attack and its crab spawns for its second phase, while it forms a giant whip made out of other mini-crabs for its third and final phase. Killing the crustacean was a matter of learning how to use the gear hold effectively to reach its weak point while also grinding a bit to make sure you're dishing out enough damage.

Our intrepid hero, grave-robbing in an ancient tomb.

As icing on the action RPG cake, there really isn't any huge language barrier for this action RPG within ten hours of playing through Nayuta no Kiseki. So far, it's been incredibly fun thanks to responsive controls, great boss fights beyond the first, and well-paced action with a few platforming and puzzle bits in-between the killing of fantasy creatures. Furthermore, finishing the game nets you the Infinity mode where enemies level up alongside your character just for that extra push of difficulty.

Nayuta no Kiseki is out now for the PSP via parallel importing and download through the Japanese PSN store. There is currently no word on a North American version at this point in time.

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