Badass—if there is a word to describe the upcoming PSP bloodfest God of War: Ghost of Sparta, this is it. The game is so far perhaps one of the best handheld experiences I've had to date. God of War: Ghost of Sparta combines eye-pleasing graphics with a simple to learn interface intertwined with what promises to be a very entertaining storyline. Indeed, during my hands-on with the game earlier this month, it seemed to be something that perhaps every God of War fan may want to pick up.

Premise

God of War: Ghost of Sparta takes place right after God of War and before the second game. Kratos has just defeated Ares and is the new God of War. Despite the new powers, he is still haunted by ghosts of his past. One particular ghost, his brother, is particularly bothersome to him. Kratos feels regret because he was not able to save him from Ares' wrath and his long lost brother has been presumed dead. Upon receiving a vision though, Kratos concludes that his brother is still alive and being tortured.

To quell the visions that haunt him, Kratos embarks on a quest to rescue his brother despite Athena's begging him not to. Along the way, he encounters, as always, many of Greece's mythological figures.

Graphics

During my demo, I played on a PSP hooked up to a high definition television—which was a unique experience in itself. The graphics look very polished with the rain effects not slowing down at any point during Kratos's combat with enemies. Additionally, blood splattered on Kratos when he attacked certain foes.

Perhaps one of the most pleasing parts was watching Kratos charge opponents, tackle them to the ground, and simply beat them to a pulp. That's not to say that the rest is lacking: the King Midas sequence was very entertaining and the lighting effects were really quite interesting. Though this still might change, the way that Kratos was illuminated when turned to gold by King Midas just didn't seem very convincing. He didn't look like much of a golden figure but rather front lit with an orange fire.

The couple glimpses I had of the frozen areas and Atlantis weren't enough in my opinion to make a full judgment.

Gameplay

The areas I was able to play included the first boss battle with Scylla shown off previously, but the gameplay videos do the experience no real justice. Having to beat Scylla like a true Spartan requires quite a bit of work and dodging of her attacks. When she's down, you'll need to act quickly to get to the anchor and do maximum damage on her.

Later on in the game, players will want to make great use of the spear and shield combo as well as the ice, fire and lighting powers given to Kratos. Throwing spears is fun as is charging at opponents, throwing one into another and then rushing them together with the spear and shield combo.

Perhaps the most fun though had to be beating the living Hades out of King Midas (no Hades is not an actual character). Midas tends to try to get away from you when you're dealing with his dog minions. The longer you take to disperse of them, the further Midas will drag his body. When you do eventually throw him into the lava, you'll be able to scale it and get to another area that leads to a new level.

Sound

The voice acting sounded a bit cheesy to be quite honest. However, I couldn't get over how fitting the music was. Combined with the sounds of death, weapons clashing and the ambient environmental sounds, this seemed like a game that will be very immersive for anyone that connects their headphones to their PSP.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta comes out November 2. PSP users and God of War fans alike will want to get their hands on this chapter of the story.

At New York Comic Con, there is one specific guest that seemed to really steal the show. One attendee seems to have created his own R2-D2 robot that was brought to life via a remote control transmitter carried around by the creator. I didn't have much time at all to talk to him and his kids seemingly were going off and about, but major kudos need to be handed to this guy. Here's a quick video of it.

If you thought that Day 1 at New York Comic Con was awesome, check out the day 2 gallery here.

Note: These photos are property of Chris Gampat and are protected by my government copyright. If you'd like to use them, shoot me an email at chrisgampat[at]thephoblographer[dot]com. Thanks and be sure to visit me at ThePhoblographer.com

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This posting is about hot chicks, and cosplay. And hot chicks at New York Comic Con 2010. That is all. Carry on now.

Note: These photos are property of Chris Gampat and are protected by my government copyright. If you'd like to use them, shoot me an email at chrisgampat[at]thephoblographer[dot]com. Thanks and be sure to visit me at ThePhoblographer.com

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Do not play Civilization V. As with Starcraft 2 (reviewed here), Civilization 5 for the PC is one of those games that players will generously spend large amounts of time playing as they become addicted to the game's depth. The last game in the series that I played was Civilization 3, a game that ate up almost my entire summer. Once you start playing, it's easy to see why Civilization is such a strong franchise, and why it's loved by gamers across the world.

Premise

In Civilization 5, you play the leader of one of the great nations of the world. It's your job to ensure that your nation grows and prospers throughout the ages. To do this you'll start out in the ancient age, settle a city, build workers, scout around the continents, interact with other states, and manage all aspects of the creation and maintenance of a thriving civilization. Players can choose to win through conquest, technology, diplomacy, culture, or by simply scoring the most points by a certain year.

In order to progress, the player needs to advance in the technology research tree. Each new technology will give access to new buildings, new improvements that workers can build, new ways to make sure that your military has the pointiest stick, and eventually new ages for the entire civilization. New technology is critical in creating improvements like roads that open up trade routes and allow your units to move faster across terrain. Depending on how you play, no technology is useless.

Each nation has different strengths, weaknesses, and unique units that set them apart. Unique units are essentially just units already in the tech tree but with special characteristics, strengths and abilities. Nations get their unique units at different points in history. For example, the Persians receive their Immortals (spearmen that heal fast and are extra effective against mounted units) very early on in the game, while the Americans only get access to their Minutemen after gunpowder has been researched. Don't think that you'll be throwing units away once they're obsolete—they can be upgraded as technology advances and different types of resources become available to your nation. That means that your Horsemen will eventually be able to become Knights, and then Tanks.

Each city in your nation can grow as general communities or become specialized hubs. For example, creating buildings that your military adviser recommends will boost military unit output, while building lots of gold generating buildings will make that city very wealthy. Choosing the actual specialization comes with the special menu for that city. When choosing the buildings, pay careful attention to your advisers, your surrounding resources, and the needs of your city.

Besides other nations, players will also be able to interact with City-States and barbarian tribes. City-States act like regular nations, except that they're not playing to win the game—they're in it more to survive and benefit themselves without expanding. This is evident in the fact that they need to often by given tributes in order to keep them appeased. It also doesn't hurt to agree on a mutual protection pact of some sort with them. City-States can be very useful to crafty players as they make their decisions. Be careful, though, because if you declare war on too many City-States they will all eventually turn on you for your aggressive actions.

Barbarians on the other hand do nothing by try to raid your city, kidnap workers and antagonize all around them. These camps appear in unsettled areas of a continent and emphasize why it is so important to ensure that all areas are covered so that they don't pop up. After some time they can actually take to the seas and try to attack your units. They cannot be negotiated with, and only see reason at the end of a sword. Different bonuses will be given for raiding their encampments such as gold, workers, or even finding advanced weaponry that immediately upgrades the unit that destroys the camp.

Leaders will find that they will need to keep their citizens happy to keep everything moving smoothly. Different cities will demand various resources like furs, wine, ivory, or even just food. Players will need to deal with these problems accordingly, whether it means building extra farms around the city or building quarry to get a steady flow of marble coming into the city. In order to deliver the resources to the citizens in the exact city that is making the demands, roads will need to connect the various parts of your empire.

Keeping your citizens isn't always this easy though. During times of war, you'll eventually conquer other cities with your troops. When you take a city this way, the citizens in this city will not be happy. If you choose to leave the city as a puppet (which doesn't allow you to order it to produce certain buildings or units) they will be relatively satiated. Annex the city and they'll be upset, but you'll be able to control that city's production directly. Of course, sometimes the best thing to do is just raze the city to the ground.

If you capture a city that was captured before by another player, you also have the choice of liberating the city—which will become an immediate ally with you and your cause.

Different social policies will also help the player to gain an edge as some, like Commerce, will greatly aid overseas trading while Tradition will help with defense against invaders. The social policy system replaces older government and religious systems. Instead of switching from a democracy to a dictatorship, your civilization's global bonuses depend on which policies you adopt. Some are mutually exclusive, which makes the choice all the more difficult; if your civilization values culture-boosting piety and army-building autocracy, it won't be able to embrace science-boosting rationalism and settlement-spreading liberty.

Gameplay

The Civilization franchise has always been an extremely cerebral game in that each of your moves requires a lot of thought. In this way, it combines the balance of Starcraft, the versatility of Age of Empires and the strategy of Risk, since many players will take the military stance on finishing the game. The gameplay changes and is dependent on various factors: player experience, maps used, the amount of players in the game, technology tree progression, number of wonders held by the players, resources that are available, nations used, etc.

Perhaps the biggest single change to the gameplay is the fact that the map grid is no longer dominated by squares but instead by hexagons. This means that unit movement can be much more fluid and that attacks can happen on many more fronts than before. If you don't think this is such a big change, think about a chess board and why the Queen (the new Hexagons) is so much more powerful than the Rook (the old squares). More movement means more strategy and opportunities for flanking, retreat, and setting up a front.

Single Player

In single player, players will be taking on a number of AI controlled nations who will vary in personality type based on many different variables. For example, if Catherine the Great of Russia approaches you and sees that your army is very measly then she will probably not want to be allies with you and will even threaten you at certain points. In my experience, Catherine continually did this to me until I sent a slew of Persian Immortals and Horsemen into her front doors in Moscow. The sad thing was that she only had one large city, opposed to my three large cities.

The AI isn't particularly smart, and can sometimes be difficult to negotiate with. The diplomacy functions are limited to mutual defense/research pacts, trading resources, and waging war. Hopefully in a future version of the game, there will be other ways to negotiate and work out deals with other leaders vs having to give them lots of resources while they only give you a measly 75 gold per round.

Multiplayer

In multiplayer, your enemies are human beings, much smarter than the AI. Combat and movement animations are cut out in order to allow for speedier gameplay across networks. Players have around 40 seconds to complete their turns, with the length increasing as the game goes on. Additionally, different players will be able to take their turns simultaneously with up to eight players moving at once. More are possible but stability can be a concern. On my three-year-old PC, I had to set the game to its lowest graphic settings for best performance in multiplayer. Negotiating can be very interesting in multiplayer because you are dealing with real people vs an AI controlled player-

Graphics

Though the graphics aren't amazing, they are still very good for what amounts to a depiction of a large, complicated board game. The visual aspects of the game, like unit animations and city details, can be totally eliminated in the strategic view which renders the game as a flat 2D board providing avatars/symbols for each type of unit or resource available. The latter will not always be appreciated by players but it can sure be useful at times.

Sounds

Sounds are similar to the older Civ games. The music is brilliantly composed and the sounds of war are better than games like Starcraft 2, spanning from the caveman-like weapons of the ancient age to the giant mechanized infantry o the future age. Perhaps the best part is the voice acting from the leaders of the various nations, of whom only George Washington and Elizabeth I speak English. Coupled with excellent diplomacy window animations, Civ 5 does an excellent job of making them very lifelike.

Replayability

Providing your computer can handle it, Civilization 5 will have near endless replayability. Even in the single player mode, players of the game will be satisfied constantly experimenting with different maps, different nations, and different starting ages. The game can teach players how to refine their strategy and city placement when facing real-life opposition. An open modding system is available to further customize the game, but at the time of this writing no significant Civilization 5 mods have been released.

Conclusions

Overall, Civilization 5 is a game that is bound to win awards later this year. The graphical updates along with the levels of versatility and balance that each nation gets will have veterans and noobs alike complaining less and playing more. City-States are perhaps the biggest new feature that make gameplay in the long-run quite interesting as alliances change throughout the ages. The addition of social policies also allow each nation to grow into their own unique world power and further give players no excuse to complain about balance factors. All problems with Civilization 5 are easily negligible except for the fact that the game is not available on Mac or iPad—which is a shock considering that I got it through Steam. Either way, players of all levels will enjoy the game and keep coming back to it.

On my way to the subway this morning, it isn't unusual for commuters to pick up one of the free newspapers in the morning. Today, Nintendo has taken over the front and back cover of Metro, a popular free daily here in NYC, with an ad for the new Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. Retro styling the newspaper to look like an old-time tabloid, the ad talks about the game and backstory a bit. Additionally, there is a bit of humor in their own form of ads within the ad on the back page. What it's all hiding though is the fact that this is Metro's Sex Issue.

It's both genius and confusing. And hilarious. It's genius, confusing, and hilarious. More photos after the jump.

The Nintendo DSi is a versatile piece of hardware with some pretty fun and addicting games. Some are better than others and just keep players coming back for more and more. If you're looking for some cool new games and you'll never put down while on the subway or in-between breaks, check out this list.

Legends of Exidia

The game itself is fairly standard: you're a guy that needs to save a princess, beat monsters, slay a dragon, etc. So what was different: the way it was done. There are actually quite a number of awesome puzzles that made this game much better than any hack and slash, and some enemies even require skill and timing to defeat correctly. The most underrated part of the game is the unlockable content. It it extremely difficult to beat, but adds so much more to the story and gameplay.

Dracula: Undead Awakening

By far, this is my favorite Nintendo DSi game ever. You're Van Helsing and need to defeat waves of vampires and monsters. The armies of the undead will unceasingly come at you until you die. And it seems like you can never win.

And that's the awesome and addicting part: you can't win. The best you can do is just try to top your other scores and learn from your mistakes.

Van Helsing typically starts out with a lowly pistol and upgrades the arsenal as time goes on. He also gets to unlock various powers that make him that much more deadly against Dracula's minions. Of all the games on this list, this is the one that I literally always start up each time I pick up my DSi after taking a long break from it.

Earthworm Jim

The remake of the much-loved 16-bit game is also one that I still can't beat. While it won't take up a big chunk of your life like Dracula can, it's still a very badass game. Players of the original may remember how difficult it was to beat; the remake has an easier option, plus specific content designed for the DSi version of the game.

What puts it on this list is its simple nostalgia value, humor, and the new mini-games. For example, in several places the player will encounter a camera and needs to mimic Jim's facial expression for a certain period of time in order to get extra bonuses. It's a neat use of the DSi's hardware camera.

Dark Void Zero

Ostensibly a companion piece to Capcom's Dark Void on the Xbox 360 and PS3, Dark Void Zero is a surprisingly fun and frustratingly hard retro action game. It feels like a cross between Metroid and Blaster Master, sending the player through three sprawling levels with only a jetpack, a gun, and a very limited amount of health. It's a great bit of faux-nostalgia with great work from Capcom on the game's 8-bit-style sprites and beepy soundtrack. You even have to "blow" on the "cartridge" (into the mic) to start the game. Like Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Capcom managed to make a retro companion piece that completely outshines the game it was intended to promote.

Soul of Darkness

What puts this Castlevania-ish game on the list is just how many challenging puzzles are in it. They require precise timing, skill and care, all in concert with the right in-game powers available to the prince. It's a Twilight Metroidvania for dudes, and you can read my full review on the game here.

Hero of Sparta

If you're a fan of Greek mythology and 300, you'll probably like Hero of Sparta. There's no saving anyone in this game: just defeat the lord of the Underworld and his minions. However, the various types of attacks, combinations, and weapon upgrades keep the gameplay fresh. The sheer pleasure that one gets when chopping and slicing into hoards of mythological creatures is just so satisfying, as are the gorey sounds that go with it. Replaying the entire game again in hard mode is really quite a challenge as well.

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!

What would this list be without a Mario game? Donkey Kong has kidnapped the princess (yet again) and it is up to you to save her. To do this, you'll deploy little Mario robots to do your bidding. The requires sending the robots off in the right directions to solve various puzzles and then getting them home in a certain amount of time. It's actually the hardest puzzle game I've ever played to the point of where I totally gave up but still come back to it on occasion. As a bonus, the level creator and extensive user-generated content available through WFC will keep you coming back to the game.

Do you feel I left anything out? Let us know in the comments below.

Cheap Thrills is a column by Chris Gampat reviewing affordable (under $20) or free games for the recession.

I remember playing the original version of H.A.W.X in alpha form back during my PCMag.com days and then the Android version put out by Gameloft. While I comfortably preferred the latter, the 8-bit version of the game is simply the most addicting. H.A.W.X. 2's 8-bit version is an ode to old-school top down shooters, with a few flourishes that test player strategies and reflexes while offering versatility in the way the game can be played.

Storyline

In the 8-bit version, you are a Navy jet pilot tasked to providing cover to Ghosts on the ground. This requires taking out larger planes, ships and other enemies. The plot unfolds during the games three levels.

For an 8-bit game, you can't expect anything more.

Gameplay

H.A.W.X 2 is an extremely simple game to play. Players have the options of making the plane fire automatically or manually. The former is controlled simply by pressing spacebar and the latter can be accomplished with the Z button. Pressing X will make your jet invincible for a little while, surrounding the plane with blue triangles like the HUD markers that appear when using ERS in the full game.

There are different types of planes: Thunder, Illusion, Eagle, Typhoon and the MFI. The MFI is unlocked only once you've beat the game the first time and it is the most powerful one overall. Each play is different and different stats. If you prefer to be a speed demon, there is a plane for that. Maybe you want great firepower and will sacrifice to have mediocre speed and armor, and there'ss a plane for that, too.

After killing enemies, the player gets to collect different powerups and items to gain points. The different power ups allow the pilot to shoot different ammo, heal you, get an extra life, etc. It's standard shooter fare.

Graphics

Don't expect to get breathtaking views of the Jesus statue in Brazil as you could in the first game. This is a top-down shooter and if anything, reminds me a bit more of Dune if it were a shooter. If you're playing the game on an Android device, it won't even match the beauty of some of the newer titles that you've been seeing.

Sound

This soundscore on this game give the feeling that they're sitting down in front of their original Nintendo system and just having loads of fun with their buddies while enjoying chips and soda. To be honest with you, the game can be played on mute with no problems.

Replayability

H.A.W.X 2 actually has quite a bit of replayability to it because of all the different plane options and the one plane unlocked after you beat the game the first time. If at first you fail with one plane, maybe it wasn't for you. Players can experiment to try to beat each level with different jets. My only critique is that I wish one could save my progress.

Give it a try yourself and let us know your comments down below.

Duke is back to kick ass and chew bubblegum—in fact, it has been confirmed that the game is in production right now, and will actually come out in 2011. 1UP and EpicBattleAxe report that Gearbox Software is currently developing the game. and that a playable demo it is currently playable. This could perhaps hint tha fans of Borderlands and mods of the Half-Life series of games could be in store for some real treats. Here's a round up of the news so far.

- Ars Technica confirms that the game is coming to consoles and PC.

- Wired has hands-on with the game and gives us some first impressions. The game apparently seems very true to the franchise from long ago and the CEO of Gearbox is all about promoting it. Joystiq essentially confirms everything Wired says and also has videos.

- Kotaku got their paws on some Duke Nukem Forever swag.

The footage apparently shows off that Duke can now take a piss as much as he wants to and on almost anything there is. Duke sees a three breasted monster in the trailer, where he states that he'd still tap that ass. This seems to be exactly what the fans have been waiting for for quite a while now.

The other day, Will and I were able to get some hands-on time with LittleBigPlanet 2 coming to Playstation 3. Though I've admittedly not played the first, the game has always been one that I've wanted to try because of just how fun it looks. And the sequel is very, very fun. The extra emphasis on fun comes from the forgiving nature of the game and the ultimate customization and creation of worlds.

Once again, you are Sackboy (or Sackgirl, or Sack-person), and your job is to play through dozens of platform- and puzzle-filled levels. Some of the areas demonstrated bore a resemblance in style and design to Super Mario Galaxies 2. Fans of that franchise will perhaps be very pleased with Little Big Planet 2's well-established, excellent level designs and quirky gameplay. Even without the boon of user-generated content through the game's powerful level creator, the game will come with a slew of new worlds to explore.

The pre-fab worlds are fun and filled with puzzles that will keep players thinking and trying to react quickly. In a segment I played, the grappling hook was very instrumental to achieving success; I had to cling to moving platforms, making tricky, swinging jumps as I navigated over an electrified floor. There are lots of potential dangers such as poison gas, losing air underwater, being zapped, etc. Different rewards are also handed to players through collecting items, exploring and even rescuing NPCs.

CGA movie lovers will perhaps really enjoy the fact that the entire game looks like something Pixar created and almost reminds me a bit of Toy Story 3. From the way the characters move, to the way that puzzles and the environments are so much larger than Sack-insert-gender-here will give off a sense of child-like imagination and nostalgia. Players have loads of choices throughout the entire game for nearly every aspect. For example, I chose to make Sackboy look like Mary Poppins with a top hat. Before tweaking, he looked a bit like a pirate complete even with a non-functional sword.

While new items like the aforementioned grappling hook and heavy-object-hefting power glove add variety in the gameplay, LittleBigPlanet 2 really sets itself apart from its predecessor with its deeper, more powerful level creator. The new version gives players far more control over what they can create, and how their creations can act.

In the first LittleBigPlanet, "enemies" were basically mindless robots, given the most simple commands to move back and forth and guided by strings, pulleys, and gravity more than any real intelligence. In LittleBigPlanet 2, characters can actually be given a rudimentary intelligence through a variety of tools and settings. They can be set to react to the presence of players, making them chase after Sackboy, run away from him, or follow him slavishly. This adds a massive new dimension to the game, allowing players to create actual NPCs, units, and monsters, instead of building facsimiles out of them with stickers and engines.

The "Creatinator" gun also adds new possibilities to level design. It's similar to the "Paintinator" paint gun in the original LittleBigPlanet, but instead of just firing paint balls it can spawn anything. It functions like a portable, player-controlled "Emitter," the level design tool that can spawn any sort of object or material. The examples we saw had the "Creatinator" throwing snowballs and creating little robots, and it looks like the gun can be set to create greater, stranger things than that.

It looks like MediaMolecule looked at the sort of tricks players used to create truly clever and varied levels in the first LittleBigPlanet, and then tried to streamline those tricks into actual level creation tools. Thanks to the new features, players will be able to explore different genres and gameplay styles, beyond the standard platform-based puzzle solving in the first game. One particularly clever demonstration level showed a faux-3D rail shooter that used timed enemy spawning and background scrolling to give the impression that the Stickboy, sitting on his little ship, was flying off into the distance. We were told that a rudimentary RTS level was also created, but unfortunately we weren't able to try it.

The first LittleBigPlanet offered a fantastic set of levels and gave players the ability to create their own. LittleBigPlanet 2 is shaping up to offer an even more fantastic set of levels, and give players an even greater ability to create their own. LittleBigPlanet 2 ships November 16, and will be available in both a standard edition and a collector's edition that includes DLC costumes, a 7-inch plush Sackboy, and a set of LittleBigPlanet bookends.