NBA 2k12 is not an easy game, to be sure.  It’s not quite the Falcon 4.0 of sports games, but the learning curve is steeper than you might expect.  You might, if so inclined, consider this the thinking man’s basketball game, which is a pretty inadequate description and doesn’t cover half of what makes NBA 2k12 fun, but the point is that it doesn’t emphasize aggression, stats, or relying on one key player to get the job done.  (Jordan Challenges, this is not.)  You’ll have to use your head to beat the game’s defensive moves, or to prevent the opposing team bringing the ball downtown for an uninvited visit  Partially, this is because NBA 2k12 gives you  unprecedented player control, and isn’t shy about letting you pass or fail on your own merits.  You have nearly complete control over your player’s footwork and shooting stance, which translates into more responsibility for you, the player, to succeed or fail on the merits of your own skills with a gamepad.

Learning to anticipate the AI’s rhythm of blocking and jumping, for example, is a talent that has to be developed, in part because all of the players do feel startlingly unique.  This makes the timing of your shots, and the associated level of accuracy with which you can control the shooter, even more critical – especially because all of the players feel startlingly unique!  Everyone’s got a different rhythm and responsiveness in different situations.  Making 3-pointers with Dr. J is not the same as making them with Kobe Bryant; neither is running, passing, or making layups.

In a (nother) word, though, what makes NBA 2k12 stand out against the crowd is how slick it is.  Every aspect of the game is presented with such polish and attention to detail, you can almost glimpse that one, far-off day when we’ll experience honest confusion, on occasion and within reason, about whether we’re watching real people do a thing, or seeing a simulated CGI recreation .  (Almost.)  Apart from a few egregious outliers, the player models are strikingly accurate and convincing, and their movements and animations  match the finesse with which you’re required to control them on the court.  From the announcer’s varied, appropriate, and seamless commentary, to the old-school-TV camera filters on the historical matches, 2k12 is a wealth of attention to little details that add up to a completely immersing game experience.

Nowhere is this more apparent than the “My Player” mode, which ditches training and introductory games and puts you right on the spot for one all-important performance that will determine your draft options.  The negotiations with managers, their seeming interest and capricious rejections feel genuine and believable.  As you listen to the play-by-play gushing or condemning your performance under the net, as your player grows in skill and becomes a functional link in a chain of  progressively better and better athletes, you’ll get attached, invested, proud of your accomplishments and embarrassed at your failings – especially because the game makes you work for every point.   If you make it to the Hall of Fame at the end, it’s an accolade you’ll have earned in every sense.

For those who’d rather assume the role of a GM, the Association mode is also a joy to play – it’s a thrill to take an essentially defunct team and watch the seats swell with newly interested fans, hearing them cheer and jeer at the players you’ve selected.  Online play for the Association  mode is also possible now, opening up a whole new realm of possibilities as you pit your lovingly pruned franchise against your friends.

Although, it’s worth pointing out here and now that style over substance in city-building/resource-expansion games does not make for winners.  Of all the SimCity titles, SC2000 remains a personal favorite, and arguably the highest-regarded of the series, because it worked balanced mechanics into a graphical framework that was clear, manageable, and pretty to boot.  Looking at screenshots of Anno 2070, you will undoubtedly be seduced by its graphical wiles; the big question is, will this be the kind of seduction that leads to a pleasant pancake breakfast and dinner plans the following evening, or will you instead wake up to a missing wallet, misplaced underwear, and the belligerent shouting of an angry, jilted, heretofore-unmentioned and possibly armed spouse?

SimCity was about the joy of building – of covering blank tiles with your idea of what a city should look like.  You had to listen to the Sims, after a fashion, but their complaints about pollution or buses or whatever were mostly in the background.  Civilization, by contrast, was about sticking it out through the ages, getting farther, faster, so that you could outpace (and therefore rule) everyone else on the board.  In Anno 2070, you’re not really in control, to be honest – your citizens are, as they are the metric for your advancement.  You can’t win unless you tech up (this is the future, after all), and you can’t tech up unless you’re meeting the demands of your populace.  The workers you start with require relatively little, but executives behave exactly as their namesake suggests.  It’s a calmer, more deliberate, but definitely still engaging mode of play.

One word of caution: this is not a game for those with short attention spans or mercurial attitudes.  It takes time to learn this game, and more time to get better at it, although the lengthy campaign tutorial makes the learning curve almost too shallow, even.  And it’s no RTS – there is some air and sea combat, but it’s not a major focus of the game.  Having said all that, though, most of the tasks that could be outrageously annoying (and a real deal-breaker) are well-implemented enough to make them non-issues, and thus a real credit to the designers.  As every player begins on an island, trade and transport by sea is important from the get-go, but automated trade routes and resource management are a snap to set up.  There’s an extensive list of resource interdependencies that your production tree will have to serve, but these also are available at a glance from easily-accessible menus.

Honestly, the worst part of this game is the DRM, lessons about which apparently weren’t learned from the dreadful patch-necessitating glitches in Dawn of Discovery/Anno 1404.  Even if you choose not to use multiplayer, you still need a viable connection to the publisher’s servers – assuming they stay up – or you lose a whole host of in-game options, a trend which can’t be railed against enough.  However, if you’ve got the stomach to swallow being punished for legitimately buying a game, Anno 2072 will be the one to beat next year in the strategy/empire building genre.  You’ll spend hours learning and then playing it, but they’ll be nice hours, and you’ll be staring at really pretty buildings the whole time.

That, in case you didn’t know, is the required lead-in for any review about a wrestling game this year.  Don’t trust any review that doesn’t start that way.  Awwww, hell yeah.

WWE-style wrestling is about one thing, and this is equally important to understand if you’re a developer as it is if you’re a wrestling fan:  it’s about putting on a good show.  It’s not really about pulling off elbow drops, clotheslines, and Koronco busters.  It’s about letting the audience taste the pain and anticipate the swelling tide of violence.  Everyone knows that wrestling isn’t real, it’s pure theatrics.  And when you play a game that puts you in the ring, it’s not just about winning.  It’s about rhythm, staging, drama, smack-talk, and looking fearsome in tights.

WWE ’12 understands this perfectly.

Step one to creating an epic match: get your lineup straight.  WWE ’12 has a great one built-in, with more players available to be added via downloadable content.  Check.

Step one point five is to make sure the real-world wrestlers are represented accurately, right down the costumes and smoke-and-laser filled theatrical entrances.  WWE ’12 does you one better by allowing you to tweak existing wrestlers’ stats and abilities, and customize your own player-generated characters down to the minutia of logos, signature moves, and zebra-striped patent-leather chaps.  Check.

Step two is to get the rhythm of a match, which has to start with aggravation and end, preferably, with a stunning display of shame-inducing ultra-violence.  Unlike previous entries in the series, WWE ’12 supports a fluid progression from grappling with an opponent to choke-slamming the memory of their momma out of their stupid, stupid heads.  Matches start light and end satisfyingly heavy.  Escaping a particularly devastating move is possible, but requires superb timing and attention.  And the more you win, the more damage you can do – skillful performance in a match results in visibly weakened opponents and allows even more punishing attacks, with seamless and convincing animations that won’t disappoint.  It’s the spirit of Mortal Kombat, but with scary-looking beefy dudes with funny names in skin-tight outfits instead of…actually that’s kind of still Mortal Kombat, huh.  Whatever.  Check.

Step three is to make the focus on the wrestling matches themselves, and not bog down the game with lots of cutscenes and weird sequences of characters blathering while definitely not busting heads.  Here’s where the wagon does lose a wheel or two, as there is kind of too much of this in WWE ’12,  and the single-player campaign is, as is often the case in the era of massively multiplayer everything, kind of restrictive (limiting you to four characters) and stultifying.  Still, all the fake commercials and backstage shenanigans do add an air of authenticity to a game which is based on what is, in the end, a really popular TV show.  So, OK.  Good enough.  Check and mate.

Three steps is way more than enough for me, and I would expect for most wrestling fans.  Do you like wrestling?  OK then, you can stop reading.  Do you think wrestling is stupid?  Hoo boy.  Play this game and accept my dare not to get caught a-whoopin’ and hollerin’ by the end of your third match.  You will be able to smell what THQ is cookin’.  This is The Game…and it is that damn good.

This is all by way of pointing out that there are really three kinds of people when it comes to perspectives on sports games.  Some people just don’t care, and won’t come near them, because even Wii bowling smacks too much of physical activity for their comfort.  Then there are people who would rarely if ever pick up a pigskin or hockey stick, but will happily jump into a computerized simulation of any activity with the patina of either violence or competition (preferably both).  And then there are actual sports fans, who may not actually play many video games, but will sink their teeth into one that lets them utilize their vast internal libraries of statistics and deeply-contemplated opinions of which players are the most awesome, and which totally, totally suck.

This is particularly problematic if you’re an American, because few topics display both the pride we take in maintaining a national state of ignorance and chuff the worldwide community quite like our gleeful disinterest in soccer (sorry, “football”).

So who is a game like FIFA 12 for?  Increasingly, it seems, everybody.  You’ve probably already mostly made up your mind whether you want to play a game of pretend soccer, using either a game console’s mechanical mind or some random internet people as opponents, so I’m going to give each category one stellar reason to play this really quite excellent game.

Sports people: come on, this is like the most extensively researched and detailed soccer game ever, bar none.  If you  harbor a secret and as-yet-somehow-unsquashed dream of playing pro football (sorry, “soccer”), this the best that consumer entertainment technology can do for you.  Great animations, a stellar “Player Impact” physics engine, and the ability to dribble and control the ball close-in when a player has possession will disappoint no one who owns a replica of another man’s numbered jersey.  Same goes for your still-unsquished dreams of managing a pro team, as FIFA 2012 retains  the multiple play modes, which allow you to micromanage your players, lineup, competitions, and tactics in as minute detail as you’d like.

Gamers who don’t care about sports: You know how in earlier versions, defense was kind of embarrassingly easy?  It’s not anymore.  You can’t hold down two buttons to make your whole team mob an attacking player; timing and accuracy are now necessary in organizing a successful defense.  That dribbling stuff ain’t a piece of cake, either – that requires finesse with the gamepad that doesn’t come from yelling at televisions while drunk – televisions that don’t have joysticks plugged into them, that is.  Plus there’s that stuff about the physics engine I mentioned earlier.  Gamers love physics, as long as they don’t have to balance vector equations or, you know, learn anything.

Gamers who actively hate sports:  You know why FIFA ’12 is great?  You can eff with people.  They should really put this in huge letters on the package to snare more window-shoppers.  If someone sneaks past your defensive line, you can tug on their shirt, try to trip them, or just outright tackle them, which usually produces hilarious (and non-repetitive) animations.  These actions are not likely to be looked on kindly by the pretend referees, but heck, it’s worth it just to see them dirty so-and-sos go down.  Totally worth it.  And you know how violent soccer fans get anyhow. Sorry, I meant football!  You don’t need that bottle, sir, it’s supposed to be recycled!

There you have it.  Now play ball, or whatever it is they say at the beginning of soccer matches.  I don’t know, I’m American, and just writing this has given me the strong desire to go hit something with a heavy, blunt object.

So what’s got Group B)’s knickers in a twist?  The most salient complaint: “I already own this damn game.”  They’ll readily admit to the following positives: the game looks beautiful; the game is fun; shooting computer guys continues to be fun; the game types are satisfying; the controls feel great; completely decimating the opposing team with a coordinated series of assault strike packages is awesome.  The beef is that nearly all of the above could have been said about Modern Warfare 2 – and they’ve already paid for that, so what is this, some kind of yearly licensing fee where Infinity Ward slaps together some new maps and goes around the country collecting rent from all the CoD fans?  Eff that my friend – eff that.

And that’s right on the money, to a large extent.  Weapons?  Pretty much the same.  Squad-based anti-terror kill frenzies?  Like it, but also, seen it.  Wretchedly boring single-player?  Check.  Constant stream of rewards, unlocks, weapons upgrades – in Modern Warfare 3, in fact, your performance in-game can improve more than just your weapons via “killstreaks” and “perks” – creating a pharmacopia of addictive stimulant-based gameplay that keeps a frightening number of derrieres in chairs until the late late hours?  Check.  Play Modern Warfare for ten minutes, and it’s pretty obvious this is not so much a “new game” as “the same game, tweaked somewhat, with new maps, also you have to pay us again.”  So basically, there are some people who think all of the above is worth sixty bucks, and those who violently disagree.

This all draws the line pretty clearly.  When debating the age-old question, “should I buy Call of Duty x,” where x is whatever number we’re up to this year, retreat to your plush meditation room, gather your silk and tassel-fringed pillows for a good long journey into the Outer Mind, light some incense or a few smelly candles, and ponder these simple true-or-false statements as you inwardly chant your favorite mantra:

1. True or false: I like Call of Duty x-1.  Like, really like it.
2. True or false: I played Call of Duty x-1 so much that am bored/sick of/sickeningly dominant on every decent map in the game.
3. True or false:  all my friends are likely to/in the process of abandoning Call of Duty x-1 for Call of Duty x.

If you come up with two or more “Trues,” find your keys and your wallet – we have a mission for you, and let’s face it, you’ve already accepted.

Battlefield 3 has the same basic ingredients – real-world-esque battle scenarios, progressive rewards and upgrades, realistic weapons, the immersive invitation to pretend you have sweated and drilled endlessly to mold yourself into an elite fighting soldier – but presented in a very different context.  You won’t make a difference by yourself, and you have to accept that pretty early on, which makes multiplayer (do we even bother with single-player campaigns in these games anymore?  If so, why?) a dicey proposition.  If you can get on as a member of a clan, or at least with two or three good buds on voice chat, you’re good to go.  If not, though, you’re going to be at the mercy of whatever ritalin-enhanced squadmates you can dig up on the server.   Once in a while, you’ll get that magical balance of mechanics, spec ops, and AT soldiers crammed into a helo, tear-assing around a map laying waste to everything like the winged horse of Death himself – but often as not, disorganization will lead to defeat, your teammates will wander off to shoot and something shiny, and all your efforts to turn the tide of a losing fight solo will probably be for naught.  Heroic as you may be, you are just a spec on Battlefield’s vast and complicated terrain – which happens to be bountiful with Battlefield 3′s great equalizers, vehicles.  Hoo boy.

Whereas almost every other military FPS franchise has given up any serious attempt at vehicular combat, Battlefield 3 continues the tradition of reveling in vehicular mayhem.  You might be the best video-game shot this side of the international date line; your sniper rifle means bupkis when an armored convoy is bearing down on your position.  Which is all right, if you make it out alive, because you can probably find a helicopter to hijack within a few minutes’ sprint to help you even the odds, although you might engender a TK if you cut in line (there’s always a line…).  Of course, then you have to be suddenly worried about SAM emplacements, rocket troopers, fighter jets…

All game players – indeed, all humans, all life forms – are inextricably entwined in the magnificent and unbreakable Circle of Life.  Battlefield 3 has the Circle of Endless Destruction Through Hardware, which is almost as beautiful, and probably more fulfilling.  The endless opportunities to pit one expensive toy against another in countless  destructive combinations is the truly saliva-inducing aspect of this franchise.  You quickly get beyond the quotidian plane vs. tank, jet vs. jet., APC vs. AAA, and into much more interesting, borderline scandalous scenarios.  Like tank vs. chopper.  Sure, you want to get up close because you  don’t quite trust your WSO’s command of the Hellfire controls – just be sure you know that MBT’s main gun elevation to the millimeter, or you’re going to find your pretty chopper suddenly quite bright and explodey, and yourself respawned in an inconvenient location.

Storyline

Unsurprisingly the game of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 takes you through the journey of the film that bears the same name. The urgent mission to discover and destroy the last of the remaining Horcruxes, and with them the evil incarnate Voldemort, is the theme running throughout. One thing that this particular title does have in its favour is the ability to play as numerous different characters from the film, from the famous Harry Potter himself, to Hermione, Ron, Neville, Professor McGonagall and more. While this means you should be able to see the story unfold from many different angles, in reality all of the characters play in much the same way. As any story elements to the game are told through cut scenes rather than gameplay anyway there really isn’t too much advantage to playing other character.

Gameplay

The basic premise of the latest Harry Potter game is simple. Enter a new level, spot the very obviously placed obstacles to hide behind and prepare to face wave after wave of deatheaters. Very occasionally you may face a different sort of foe, such as the guards at Gringotts, but on the whole it will just be deatheaters, and some more deatheaters, and just when you thought there couldn’t be a single deatheater left in the world, well there are some more.

If you forget everything you know about the spells detailed in the books and films then you could have some fun with those options available. You can switch between different spells with ease and each has its strengths and weaknesses, such as Expelliarmus which will break an enemy’s Protego shield, or Stupefy which resembles something like a pistol. Of course those experienced in Harry Potter lore will soon come to the realisation that an Expelliarmus spell should actually make an opponent drop their wand, and Stupefy should in fact inflict a brief stun to your enemy. If you can get over these inaccuracies, then switching between the different spells on offer to defeat the bad guys as soon as possible is one of the more interesting elements of the game.

Even so, there are only so many ways to kill a deatheater, even with an arsenal of varied ‘weapons’, so don’t expect the novelty to last too long. Fortunately the game only lasts for 3-4 hours so you won’t be bored for too long, and as there is almost no reason to replay the campaign upon completion this game will almost certainly be relegated to the shelf to gather dust before long.

Graphics

On the whole Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is an attractive game. The menus are clean and easy to operate, and, although it may play like any other third person shooter in the marketplace, there isn’t a HUD to detract from the enemies swarming toward you in the familiar scenes such as Hogwarts and Gringotts Bank. Unfortunately while the characters and scenes are an improvement on the game’s predecessor, the animations of your favourite characters are almost laughable, particularly when combined with some diabolical lip-synching.

Conclusion

If owning everything even vaguely related to the Harry Potter franchise is important to you then this game will make a nice addition to your shelf. As a game though, even the most diehard fans are likely to be irritated by the obvious inaccuracies and lack of any imagination in the level design.

6 / 10 – Average.

With competition from various smart phones and tablets, the Steel Diver is very critical for Nintendo.  It was touted as the next big thing in the 3DS world when it was unveiled for the first time at the E3 Trade Show some time back. This game has been in the making for quite some time, thus allowing the design team at Nintendo to come up with some amazing graphics. In fact, when you look at the screen you will get a feel of real depth.

Steel Diver is a simulation game that is played slowly. In this game you control the submarine’s speed as well as depth, as it is moving horizontally on the surface or underwater in the ocean. As a simulation, the Steel diver is challenging as it makes it difficult for you to maneuver a submarine. If you go too fast underwater, you may either crash into an enemy submarine or into a rock wall. The only way for you to cut down on the speed is to throw the sub’s engines into the reverse. But this is easier said than done as you will have to skillfully use the stylus to simultaneously control the speed as well as the depth. This will allow you to maneuver through the various obstacles underwater.

The visuals are great in Steel Diver. As you move over the ocean floor you will find that the surrounding scenery is just amazing. You can easily make out the difference between some of the other 3DS games and the Steel Diver.  You feel as if you are in a real ocean, with schools of fish swimming around the submarine. You will come across ship wrecks, enemy ships, plants at different angles, etc which create a very good 3D effect. The best part is that it does not strain your eyes, unlike other 3D games.

The imagery is great in Steel Diver, with some of the most vivid background colors that you will ever see in a handheld 3D game. It is fun and reminds you of a few submarine games played earlier.

Now, let’s get on with the game. Steel Diver 3DS involves five basic missions, along with two bonus levels and one training level. If you want to get to the bonus levels you will have to play the basic missions with three different submarines. Namely: the Manatee, Blue Shark and the Serpent.

The Manatee is a small sized sub that is quick and easily maneuverable. This sub can fire its torpedo vertically. However, this will be no match against the heavily armed enemy ships and subs.

The Blue Shark is a mid sized submarine that is perfectly balanced in terms of speed and power, while the Serpent is a very big submarine that is slow to maneuver. If you are not careful you may crash it into the rock walls.

In fact, each submarine is used for different kinds of enemy assignments. As you go along you will find that the missions get harder. Now, this is what makes Steel Diver compelling and interesting.

By using a local wireless connection, you can play Steel Diver with another player. This allows you to get a very good view of the game when you are in command of a fleet of ships along with a submarine. You also have a periscope mode that allows you to locate an enemy ship and destroy it.

Finally, Steel Diver has tremendous potential and is great fun to play.

Virtua Tennis is more of an arcade style game when compared to another tennis game like the Top Spin, which is more of a traditional variety. Virtua Tennis 4 remains true to the earlier versions. It is more focused on delivering exciting tennis action than talking about statistics and other features.

Virtua Tennis 4 is a very good game to play. It is equipped with excellent controls and great animations.  The game is played at different progression levels, with each level being more difficult than the previous one. There is something innovative and unique about the opponents and you will have to come up with different strategies to defeat them. It can, at times, get you charged up and emotional, which is how a tennis game should be.

There is something very familiar with Virtua Tennis 4, particularly if you have played the earlier versions. The players are more or less the same and the mechanics of the game also remain pretty similar.  This does not mean that Virtua Tennis 4 is old wine in a new bottle. Definitely not! You will find quite a few new features to the latest version of Virtua Tennis. The newer version has a World Tour that adds a level of randomness to the career progression. It has now become a board game and while it is certainly interesting, it does not allow you to play a mini game or a tournament as you will have to move at random intervals on the board.

Similarly, Virtua Tennis 4 also includes the mini games which pretty much retain the same features of the earlier versions. The training sessions in the career mode are very interesting. In fact it is much more than practicing a forehand or a backhand.

Virtua Tennis 4 features an Arcade mode. This is a four match tournament that is pretty challenging and devoid of any unwanted elements. Likewise, you have an online mode that allows you to play against other people. You also have a ranking system that enables you to keep track of your wins making you wish that the online mode also included an online career.

Virtua Tennis 4 comes in three different versions. These include the Kinect version, Play Station Move and the Wii Motion Plus versions. All these versions offer motion control and despite their differences more or less play similarly. If you want to swing your tennis racquet on the screen in the Wii Motion Plus version, all that you need to do is swing the Wii remote or move your arm.

Motion Control is not playable in any of Virtua Tennis 4 game’s main modes. They are playable only through the Special Exhibition mode. This game offers an interesting first person mode during this part of the game. You will find that the swinging mechanics are pretty good and make the game interesting.

Virtua Tennis 4 is pretty absorbing and will keep you hooked to the game if you are a tennis buff. Once you get rid of all the chaff, you will find a tennis game that has some new and interesting features when compared to the earlier versions.

All in all, Virtua Tennis 4 remains true to its earlier versions and remains a very good arcade tennis game.

In Portal 2 there is an expanded list of characters. Each of these characters has been equipped with the skills and the wits to overcome the many hurdles in the dark and devastating chambers of the Aperture science laboratory. The plot of the game is simply out of this world. As you begin playing the game you will soon realise that in order to cross the obstacles you have to take the help of the super computer, GlaDOS. This computer is unlike any other computer because it can guide you through some of the many difficult levels and if you succeed in using your powers right you can excel at the game really fast!

What is so different and interesting about this latest version Portal 2 is that, the player gets to access a completely new mode, the two player mode. This makes the game even more intriguing as it adds a whole new twist to the game, which leaves the player baffled. This aspect helps in building up the suspense and this is what makes the game ever so captivating and hard to stop. Portal 2 is a game you should try if you have an addiction for games that have a sci-fi appeal to them.

One thing that makes Portal 2 stand out from other similar games on the market is that every element of the game is designed in such a way that it keeps you guessing. Once you begin the game you will notice that there is not one moment in the game that you can rest your grey cells. Every single moment is chilling, keeping you constantly on your toes. Now, why wouldn’t an ardent video gamer love this? Definitely he will and so will you! Also if you are into physics and the interesting twist that it brings to things then you certainly in for great news.

Portal 2 allows you to think beyond physics, beyond the laws that govern us. This gives you a lot of scope to think, to analyse and to use your analysis to help you get better at the game. As mentioned earlier this advanced version of the game facilitates the two player mode which opens up gates for a whole new story, a new plot and a totally different campaign. Recently released this game is already topping the video game list.

The graphics of the game need a special mention! Usually what happens with video games is that with a lot going on in the story, somehow the visual appeal of the game takes a very bad hit. However you will not see that happening with Portal 2. It is a game where there are numerous puzzles to solve and a lot of activity going on in the background. But this in no way impinges on the graphics, which are considered to be the best so far. So hurry, the game is up for grabs at the moment and it is selling like hot cakes!