Portal 2
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3
Release date: Out Now
Portal was a sleeper hit hidden amongst a collection of games that include Half-Life episodes. With Portal 2, the series gets the spotlight all to itself, and it sure deserves it! While at its core, Portal 2 is a unique puzzle game that lets you travel via portals to solve puzzles, it’s really a lot more than that. There’s a gripping story that unfolds as you progress through it, there’s brilliant writing that will have you laughing out loud, and there are several new gameplay elements that are constantly being introduced to keep you on your toes. Apart from the single player campaign, there’s also a separate, and equally fun, two-player mode with puzzles designed for co-operative gameplay. It’s easily one of the best games of the year so far.
Shadow of the damned
Platforms: PS3
Release Date: Out now
Shadows of the Damned is the epitome of eccentric Japanese game design. A product of the combined creative genius of Shinji Mikami and Suda51, it is a glorious mix of clichéd characters, cheesy dialogue, and totally random and over-the-top story progression, all presented with a very unique art style. It’s a third-person shooter with an over-the-shoulder perspective similar to the Dead Space games. The controls are far from smooth and combined with some average graphics. The game comes across as unpolished, but it doesn’t really hurt the overall experience because this definitely is unlike any other shooter out there. Feed crying babies to open doors and a gun with a British accent named Johnson; these are just a couple of the bizarre elements that make up this one-of-a-kind game.
THE WITCHER 2: ASSASSINS OF KINGS
PLATFORM: XBOX 360, PS3, PC
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
The Witcher remains one of the best PC RPGs of recent times, and its sequel raises the bar even further. The game takes place a short while after the first game, with Geralt of Rivia implicated in the murder of the King of Temeria, thus sending him on a journey that will help him prove his innocence and find the real culprits. The developers have adopted a more action-oriented approach to the combat, which is closer to the instinctive swordplay of hack-n-slash games than the strategic variety seen in the first game. The game is shorter and linear as well but that is justified in its more cinematic and story-driven approach. If you love RPGs, you cannot miss The Witcher 2. Just make sure you have a PC capable of handling it.
