2012. The year of dragon. The year of the apocalypse. An Olympic year. An election year. The year that vampires inherit the earth. Major Hollywood blockbuster. And, if your facebook friends are anything like mine, the year that everything changes and everyone gets their life together. 2012 is a pretty big year and if the rumor mill is to be trusted (PROTIP: it probably shouldn't, and pour one out for GamePro), it will see a number of new technologies to change our lives such as the iPad 3, iPhone 5, Google Nexus Android tablet, and the Apple Television. In the gaming sphere, there is a number of high profile games coming out in every genre: Mass Effect, GTA, Bioshock Infinite, Max Payne, Twisted Metal, Diablo, Assassin's Creed, Halo, SoulCalibur, Kid Icarus, Metal Gear Solid, StarCraft, the list goes on and on. And let's not forget that Sony is rolling out a whole new handheld with the PS Vita and with it comes the strongest launch lineup since the US DreamCast launch, plus the Wii-U is expected to make it's debut in the fall. As I said, 2012 is a pretty big year. But I believe that for one company in particular, 2012 is going to be more than just a big year. For one company, 2012 is going to be a break out year that will take it back from dire straits. That company is Square-Enix, and while it's had a really hard time in the last few years with the reception to Final Fantasy 14 and disappointing sales numbers, this year could get it back in the game. Let's look at why.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Final Fantasy XIII-2: sequel the highest profile JRPG on high definition consoles

I loved Final Fantasy XIII (Will didn't - ed.). And in spite of its virtual crucifixion in the court of public opinion (and Will's - ed.), the game still holds an 83 on MetaCritic and an 85.17% on GameRankings, both higher scores than any other turn-based JRPG on PS3 or Xbox 360. In fact, out of all the reviews for FFXIII by major outlets, only one was distinctly negative and I remain unconvinced that that review wasn't an attempt at trolling the internet with the reviewer's ego. FFXIII wasn't a bad game, but it had its flaws, like its very linear path and no towns. Whether you could look pass this or not more or less defined your reception to the game; I enjoyed the "keep pushing forward, don't look back, don't stop" pseudo-action movie mentality of FFXIII. FFXIII-2 picks up moments after the conclusion of FFXIII and takes a markedly darker tone than the previous game. It will also delve much further into the Fabula Nova Crystalis mythos, with major plot elements and characters referencing it directly. The game is actually much closer to Chrono Trigger than Final Fantasy in concept, with its multiple endings, one of which being the obvious canon ending, others being more "what if" fare, and a plot that has you going to multiple points in Pulse's future including one end of time-type setting. The game has been getting fantastic scores for Japanese publications, something that I expect to continue for the Western release. And yes, the game has non linear paths and towns this time around. Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out at the end of January.

Final Fantasy Type-0

Final Fantasy Type-0: Final Fantasy + Monster Hunter + a whole lot of fun

Monster Hunter appeals to me. At least, the concept of Monster Hunter appeals to me. It's a cool idea, but I've never been able to get into playing the actual Monster Hunter games in spite of buying three of them. Ironically, I love Monster Hunter clones. Phantasy Star Portable 1 and 2, Gods Eater, even White Knight Chronicles' online mode: I will play any and every one of them. So when I heard that the game then known as Final Fantasy Agito XIII was a Monster Hunter styled game, I thought, "that sounds pretty cool." I can state empirically that this is the greatest understatement I have ever made: I have sunk nearly 40 hours into the three mission Famitsu demo for Type-0. Much like the previous game on this list, Final Fantasy Type-0 is a much darker take than that of typical Final Fantasy fare; the game takes place on a backdrop of war among countries and as students of a military academy, the protagonists soon find themselves in the middle of the battle. As you might expect in a war game, happy things do not happen to the main characters; in fact, the game opens with a pretty depressing character death. This is one of the few PSP games to ship on two UMD's, so the fact that there is going to be a PSN release is welcome. No release date has been set, but a western release has been confirmed. Here's hoping it doesn't slip into 2013.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance - Because eff you English language

Little known fact: I bought my PS3 two days before Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots came out. I bought my first 360 just prior to the second Summer of Arcade. I bought my Wii with Metroid Prime 3, my DS with Feel the Magic XY/XX, and my first PSP with Metal Gear Ac!d. The release date for Kingdom Hearts 3D is the date Nintendo will get my money for a 3DS. Everyone has their favorite game series and this one is mine. Unlike Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days and RE:coded, Dream Drop Distance is a completely new Kingdom Hearts experience. All of the Disney worlds are new and include worlds based on Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pinocchio, and Tron: Legacy. Both Sora and Riku will be outfitted in new clothes and the battle system will be once more based on the deck system used in Birth by Sleep and RE:coded. Along with the characters from the various Disney films, the game will feature the return of somebody forms of Organization XIII as well as the antagonists of the previous games Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, Master Xehanort, Vanitas, and Maleficent. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is confirmed for a western release in 2012 and will lead directly in Kingdom Hearts III.

Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider = Lara Croft + Dirt - Age - E cups

The Tomb Raider series was always on the periphery of my gaming experiences. I had heard of lots of things about it (sexist game, nude mods, general suckage), but it wasn't until I played through Uncharted that I finally decided to Tomb Raider a shot. I figured that if I was having this much fun with the off brand "Dude Raider", I might as well give the real deal a try. The first Tomb Raider I played was Tomb Raider Legend and it is good enough to get me to buy Anniversary, Underworld, and The Guardian of Light. Early impressions of the reboot have been generally positive, and though I'm not usually a fan of the "darker and edgier" trope (see Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Bomberman: Act Zero for examples of why), I think that this game is going to be great.

Hitman Absolution

Hitman: Absolution - Completely Olyphant free

Hitman is a series that has always fascinated me. Hearing people talk about the varied ways you can go about fulfilling your missions made me really want to play these games. Now that the franchise is coming to HD consoles and with it comes a host of features to ease newbies like me into the killing game. Absolution will have an "Instinct Mode" that works very much like Batman's detective mode and Ezio's eagle vision. Instinct mode will maximize 47's disguise, allow him to see enemies through walls, show patrol routes in red, and mark vents and climbable ridges. Of course, in order to not completely break the game, instinct mode consumes a power bar that must be recharged by performing silent takedowns. The game will give you a variety of weapons with which to perform your assassinations including environmental weapons such as a shovels or chair and the ever trusty Garrote wire. Hitman: Absolution comes out sometime in 2012.

In addition to those titles, there are a number of titles without release dates that are likely to drop in 2012. While it's unlikely that Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Kingdom Hearts III, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Volume 2 will come out this year, especially considering the fact that the last two haven't been officially announced yet, this year will certainly bring new info about them. True Crime has never been a huge series, but Square-Enix must have seen something for them to have sunk so much cash into reviving the previously cancelled True Crime: Hong Kong. Bravely Default: Flying Fairy continues the SE trend of pissing all over the rules of grammar, but it's the coolest new IP from SE since The World Ends With You. Theif 4 will hopefully give the franchise the spotlight it so very much deserves and the double whammy of the Dragon Quest X and Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 MMORPG's should make this quite the year for Square-Enix.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the best games of the year. It's also one of the most imperfect, buggy, and flawed games of the year. Since this is a Bethesda Softworks game, neither of these things should be surprising to you.

Skyrim takes place 200 years after Oblivion, and Tamriel has changed. It's now the Fourth Era, and the Empire has weakened. The Septim bloodline is gone, and the Empire has survived a bloody war with the Thalmor, an alliance of elves that broke away. Now they have  peace agreement that keeps the Empire under some rules, including banning the worship of Talos, the first Emperor and the Ninth Divine. The people of Skyrim aren't happy about that, so Ulfric Stormcloak killed the High King of Skyrim and started a bloody civil war in the region. Also, dragons are back, and no one knows why. You start as a prisoner who escapes and has to find out why he has the power to speak in the words of dragons and absorb their souls. Begin the game.

If you've played an Elder Scrolls game, Fallout 3, or Fallout: New Vegas, you know the deal. It's a first-person RPG that puts you in the middle of a big world and sends you on a vague quest you might or might not eventually get around to. It's a lot of freedom, little direction, and an absurd amount of things to do. The main quest is a small fraction of the content, which includes taking a side in the civil war, rising through different guilds and groups (the Mage Guild is gone, but the College of Winterhold serves as the mage guild quest line), finding shrines and ruins, getting famous and becoming nobility in the different parts of the game, and killing lots of things. We've talked about this before. If you want hand-holding and a single path through the whole world, pick up a Final Fantasy game. In Skyrim, you can go anywhere you want.

Of course, that's not always a good idea. While enemies grow with you and get better equipment and powers, the curve is much less linked than it was in Oblivion and Morrowind. In Skyrim, if you're a low level and you find a saber cat, an ice troll, or a hagraven without preparation, you're probably going to die. The combat feels more frustrating because of this less equal curve, but it also feels more rewarding, because the challenge is there and you get a real sense of power and growth as you play.

The character system has gotten an overhaul, with only three attributes (Magicka, Health, and Stamina) defining your character and everything else controlled by your skills and the perks in your skills. You get directly better at things as you do them, and the higher your skills go the more points you can put into their perk trees, which unlock very useful things. You can learn to cast destruction magic with both hands at once to make spells more powerful, make your favorite type of armor weigh nothing when you wear it, let you smith magical items, and brew more useful potions and poisons. If you want a class-specific benefit, you can look for the different Guardian Stones, which give you star sign powers, like turning invisible once a day or boosting your combat/stealth/magic experience rate. It lets you play the way you want and create your class while you do it, instead of pigeonholing you in a specific role and forcing you to put much more work into your off-class skills.

Crafting has become much more useful. You can still enchant items and brew potions, but now you can also smith your own items. More importantly, you can improve the equipment you already have based on your smithing skill, turning a good blade into a great one. It adds a new level of interactivity, giving you reason to search mines and toil at forges. When you have a (Superior) or (Legendary) piece of armor, it's something you didn't just find in a dungeon. It's something you made your own. Like all Elder Scrolls crafting systems, this is easily abused with an alchemy enchantment-smithing potion cycle that lets you build up your smithing very high and create overpowered weapons. You shouldn't do this, because it takes the fun out of the game. It's also not something the game forces upon you, so even though it's present it's not something that automatically makes the game too easy. If you want to break the game, it's your choice, and it's not pushed on you.

The world is huge, with several dozen caves, ruins, and keeps that you can explore. There are nine Holds in Skyrim, each with their own town, so there's plenty of urban adventure even if there aren't any cities as large as Imperial City or Vivec. Several groups have their own lengthy quest lines, and you're never more than a few minutes from a new lead on what to do. The Radiant Story system even nudges you towards parts of Skyrim you haven't explored, by giving you random quests based on where you've been and how you play. Most importantly, the different places you can explore feel different, and I didn't get any sense of the copy and paste repetition of caves and ruins I felt in Oblivion and Morrowind.

I talked about this before, but the story takes a back seat to the adventure in Skyrim, like most western RPGs. The story with the dragons is interesting, but it doesn't rise above the war between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks, the intrigue of the College of Winterhold, or the secret of the Companions. There's less a "main quest" and more a "quest you should probably get through to say you 'beat' the game as you play dozens of other interesting quests." Unfortunately, most quests boil down to dungeon crawling and finding an item, but there's enough variety to keep things fun.

The biggest problem with the game is the menu system. It doesn't feel right for PC or consoles. While Morrowind's menus were clearly PC-oriented, and Oblivion's were console-oriented, Skyrim's menus seem to be a strange compromise that relies mostly on text, partitioned into arbitrary columns on the screen. Items, magic, skills, and the map are separated by directions, meaning you have to either leave the menu screen completely and come back or jump up through several levels of tabs through which you've sorted your spells and items to find something else. There are no tabs, except in the quest screen (which is puzzlingly not even part of the main menu, and instead tucked away with statistics and save and load screens). A favorites menu lets you bring up your most commonly used spells and items, but it still feels like a convoluted mess. A patch that returns Skyrim to Oblivion's menu system would be very welcome, even if Oblivion's wasn't particularly good.

Then there are the bugs. This is an Elder Scrolls game, so of course there are bugs. Lots of them. Quest triggers can sometimes fail to happen, NPCs can act confused, companions can act stupid, and Skyrim can sometimes simply freeze. It's not perfect, and you will have to save often (at 5 MB a save).

Skyrim is an immensely rewarding game if you can push through the awkward menus and numerous bugs. You're going to have to go through sections of dungeons more than once. You're going to have to reload. You're going to have to dive into menus more often than you should. Despite all of this, you're going to keep coming back if you like even a tiny bit of the western RPG genre. There's so much to do and so much to see in Skyrim that it's a great game, even with its flaws. And there are many, many flaws.

I reviewed the PlayStation 3 version, but if you have a computer that can handle it, pick up the PC version. You can mod and adjust the game to be visually spectacular beyond the consoles' abilities to show, and the inevitable mods from the community will add a lot of value to the game.

This is pretty big, if not specifically useful yet. Jesse from Finland on Tumblr went to the edge of Skyrim and beyond, and found that the game has land masses modeled all the way to Morrowind and Cyrodil. You need to turn on no clipping after you go east of Stendarr's Beacon, but from there you can find the landscape of Morrowind, with Vvardenfell and the Red Mountain. If you go south of that, you can find Cyrodil, and even the island where the Imperial City should be located.

There's no content there, or even any foliage, but the fact that the land masses are modeled could indicate ambitions for remakes of Morrowind and Oblivion, or expansions into Morrowind and Cyrodil. Modders now have big land masses ready for them to get started with their own remake projects, and that could mean some great things for PC users (and me kicking myself for getting the PS3 version). Skyrim's already a massive game, but if you can move out to the other provinces? Best RPG ever. I want my Telvanni wizard tower back.

[Source: Destructoid]

I'm just saying.

The Warhammer 40,000 universe is a grimdark place, where a corrupt, crumbling empire rules over millions of worlds, endlessly warring with aliens, demons, and other nightmarish creatures (and said empire is the only "good" faction, save for the psychic space elves of the Eldar). Life is short, brutal, and often meaningless except as fuel for the for the Imperial war machine. Few aspects of this setting are as emblematic as the Space Marines: immortal, genetically enhanced, psychotically xenophobic super warriors clad in power armor and charged with defending humanity from terrible threats both without and within. As such, it's no surprise that an action title featuring Space Marines prominently would appear at some point, especially after nearly every sci-fi shooter since Doom has effectively involved less badass versions of them. Relic and THQ's Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is the game fans have been waiting for, since it finally puts them in the power armor of an actual Space Marine.

Space Marine is a third person action title that follows Captain Titus of the Ultramarines as he attempts to secure a valuable strategic asset on a world ravaged by Orks. The greenskin horde has shattered the planetary defenses and what few defenders are left are fighting a desperate, losing battle for survival. Players are immediately thrust into the action with little exposition, starting with Titus' arrival to Forge World Graia.Space Marine is unequivocally and unapologetically an action game. It doesn't have any puzzles, or dialog choice sequences. It doesn't allow for exploration, it doesn't offer more than the pretense of drama, and it doesn't involve any character leveling, gear tinkering, skill trees, or work benches. What it does offer is an orgy of bone crunching and enjoyable combat with a variety of satisfying weapons in a beautifully rendered world that perfectly captures the feel of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Combat is both brutal and fun, capturing the sort of carnage that only a genetically engineered, immortal killing machine could unleash. Melee and ranged combat play an equal roll, and the game allows you to seamlessly switch between the two as the fight demands. Enemies are plentiful and often come in large waves that Titus wades through with gusto. Titus feels extremely responsive, letting the character dodge, shoot, stab, and blast his way through the hordes of enemies in his way with ease.

The weaponry in Space Marine includes a wide variety of both ranged and melee options. Even Titus' initial compliment, a bolt pistol and a combat knife, feel powerful in his hands, and that feeling only increases as he acquires more tools of destruction. All of the melee weapons are excellent, with the over-the-top, silly ultraviolence of the chainsword particularly noteworthy. The ranged weapons fair almost as well, and are representative of the usual assortment of weapon types found in 3rd person action games. The bolter fills the role of the assault rifle, but with a lot more punch. The meltagun serves admirably as a close range area burst weapon, turning its victims into cinders. The lascannon serves as the sniper rifle,firing through objects to kill whatever's hiding behind. Only a grenade launcher seems superfluous, having no counterpart within the setting and feeling a little sluggish in comparison with the rest of the arsenal.

Despite the blood-spattered nature of the game, it often looks beautiful, perfectly capturing the horror and the grandeur of the Imperium of Man. The massive edifices and sprawling vistas are one of the strongest points of Space Marine. The characters themselves are also beautifully rendered, with the Space Marines and the other characters perfectly in keeping with the source material. Any fan looking for a visual representation of the Warhammer 40,000 universe is certain to get a treat out of the gorgeous sights, and even players unfamiliar with the setting are likely to enjoy the visuals.

Space Marine's campaign is not without its flaws, however. The campaign is short, and while paced reasonably well it slows down in the middle. The game's plot is little more than a pretense for the action to take place and isn't particularly interesting. The character's are flat and the dialog is often stilted and forced. Titus is well-represented, but his fellow Space Marines and most of the other supporting characters are little more than cardboard cut outs. While there are a few moments that work extremely well within the confines of the story, most of it leaves little impact.

Space Marine's multiplayer is entertaining but shallow, with only a few modes of play. While the character customization options are a ton of fun, they can't add enough to extend the longevity of the multiplayer experience. Certain die hard aficionados are likely to enjoy it for a long time, but most players will lose interest quickly.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine offers an excellent experience that captures the feel what we can imagine Space Marine combat to resemble. The combat is fun and deeply satisfying, the setting is beautifully realized, and many of the environments are astounding. While the campaign has a few issues it's still an utter blast, and the multiplayer offers a pleasant diversion. Space Marine is definitely worth it for any fan of the setting or the genre, and will offer a solid play experience for everyone else. It's too bad it doesn't have enough meat to it to be worth much more than a rental.

When I first heard that there would be a new Deus Ex game, I was uncertain. It was going to be a prequel. It was going to be made with no input from Warren Spector. It was going to have cover-based shooter mechanics. It sounded like a recipe for worse disaster than Deus Ex: Invisible War.

I was wrong. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is fantastic. It's deeply flawed in many ways, but it's also one of the best games of the year and stands as a worthy successor to Deus Ex, regarded by many to be one of the greatest PC games ever. This is the Deus Ex sequel we've needed, and despite its status as a prequel with cover mechanics and no development from Warren Spector, it's incredibly deep and satisfying.

Adam Jensen is the ex-cop security bigwig of Sarif Industries, a biotech and cybernetic augmentation company working on military contracts. Cyborg mercenaries attack, Jensen's ex-girlfriend is killed, and he's scarred horribly. Soon he gets a complete cybernetic upgrade, with shiny new arms and eyes and lots of other metal bits that give him new abilities. Did I mention this happens in Detroit? Because I really need to point out that this game is about an ex-cop who's almost killed and becomes a cyborg who works for a huge corporation in futuristic Detroit.

This isn't a huge joke-filled Verhoeven parody, though. Deus Ex: Human Revolution might seem like Robocop on paper, but it's really a tense drama held together with excellent stealth and shooting mechanics. Adam's search for answers takes him all over the world, from the grimy streets of Detroit to the twin city of Heng-shua, to Montreal, to parts even stranger. All through the story, it asks what it means to be an augmented human, and how the technology to replace our arms, legs, and eventually entire bodies and let ourselves be controlled by others. You're more than human, but you're also less than human, and no one in the game will let you forget that.

The upgrades are the core of the game, focusing on improving your skills and giving you new techniques through Praxis points which unlock new features in your augmentations. There are no skill points like in Deus Ex; you're competent with all weapons, and can only upgrade your augmentations to better stabilize guns and give you slight advantages. This works very well, taking away the awkward RPG elements of the first game without removing any of the options you had before. If you want to be a better hacker, you upgrade your augmentations. If you want to be a better fighter, you upgrade your augmentations. How you upgrade your implants controls how you play the game.

Most of the gameplay outside of the hubs areas where you can find side missions and explore consists of combat and stealth. Fortunately, both systems feel tight and fun, with a perfect balance of glass jaw shooting and tense sneaking. You can kill scores of enemies, but only if you fight them strategically. Even augmented you can't survive more than a few bullets, and using cover to protect yourself is necessary even if you want to kill everyone. The cover system shines, with a single button to glue yourself to a piece of cover and movement controls to lean over any open edge of the cover to aim. It's simple and effective, and I hope to see it in other games. It's genuinely the best cover system I've played in any game. Cover is needed for stealth as well, and quick buttons for creeping around corners and jumping between walls makes sneaking past guards fluid and intuitive.

Besides combat and stealth, you can hack computers with a simple but fun strategy game that involves getting to target nodes before security nodes can track you down. Finally, social interaction is another useful tool in Adam's arsenal, letting you get past obstacles and even avoid some conflicts just by facing possible enemies and dealing with them like people. The facial expressions aren't as advanced as the ones found in L.A. Noire, but the interaction and ability to peg peoples' weaknesses and use what you've learned to convince them to help you is just as necessary.

Human Revolution offers the same wealth of choices the original Deus Ex gave players. You can creep through levels, shooting and killing every guard to get to your destination. You can sneak past them, using the shadows to your advantage. You can seek out computers to disable and kill enemies in your way. You can even talk to people and have them simply open the way, if you're diplomatic and smart. Whatever your skills and upgrades, and however you want to play the game, Human Revolution gives you the options you need to get through to the next part of the game.

At least, it mostly gives you those options. There are four boss fights that completely break the flow of the game by forcing you into one-on-one arena battles with augmented enemies. If you're equipped with only nonlethal weapons and stealth abilities, you're going to lose. You need to kill those bosses, and you need to do it with guns and explosives. The boss fights in the first Deus Ex gave you opportunities to strategize, prepare ahead of time, and even kill or walk past bosses with some clever investigation and fancy wordplay. Suddenly being forced to shoot these bosses to trigger a cut scene where they die, without any options to do anything else, feels very out of place.

This out of place feeling extends to the entire last act of the game, where the story collapses and the flow completely breaks up. Without spoiling anything, the last part of the game has a twist thrown entirely out of left field and a final mission that seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the game. The questions and mysteries raised by the game are thrown aside in favor of a James Bond plot that ultimately feels unsatisfying and a set of multiple endings that you access literally by pressing different buttons in the last room. It seems like the developers just shrugged and went out for drinks after doing the last big area before the final area and left the end of the game to a backup crew.

Despite the last part of the game and the awkward boss fights, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a must-play for any gamer. There are tons of things to see and do, and the gameplay is spot-on. The story isn't quite as tight as the original Deus Ex, but it's still a great ride that explores a cyberpunk future full of intrigue and action. Adam Jensen is a worthy precursor to JC Denton, and his story is just as enjoyable, deep, and fun.

This has been a strange summer for video game numbers. You might have already read this, but Duke Nukem Forever was a horrible game. It also made money for 2K Games, despite the bad press. That's kind of surprising. You know what else is surprising? Catherine being a hit in America, selling 200,000 copies for Atlus' biggest game launch in the west yet.

Let's forget about schaudenfreude and instead look at the facts: this is great news. Yes, both games' successes are great news. Duke might have sucked, but it was made by Gearbox, which made a great little game called Borderlands. Duke Nukem Forever might have made money and maybe 2K Games will want to make a sequel in the future, but for now Borderlands 2 is being made, and that's good news. As for Catherine, it's a surprising victory for Atlus, a company which has focused mostly on niche Japanese games (including the excellent Shin Megami Tensei games), and to see a particularly weird and Japanese game like Catherine become a hit means the company might be more open to putting out even more surreal, unique games.

YouTube user sithlord314 isn't a cosplayer. He's a freaking Turian. I've seen a lot of cosplayers and this is the best Mass Effect costume, and one of the best sci-fi costumes, I've ever seen. The mask alone is unbelievable, and the armor is both sculpted incredibly well and illuminated. All that's missing is pop-out weapons that mount conveniently on the back.

The maker is the proprietor of My Wicked Armor, and based on his other projects it's a puzzlement why he isn't currently working for a major production house already. He does custom jobs, though.

Bruce Lee is possibly the greatest martial artist of all time. Even though he died suddenly in 1973, he's influenced martial arts in popular culture for decades since. Even though video games didn't become really popular until years after his death, and fighting games didn't find their groove until the early 90's, Bruce Lee is one of the biggest names you'll see in the entire fighting game genre, even if you don't actually see his name.

Nearly every martial arts fighting game series has a Bruce Lee. They don't even try to hide it. They intentionally make a Bruce Lee lookalike that's more shameless than The Clones of Bruce Lee or any other Bruceploitation movie. Sadly, they're almost never the main characters, but they're still there, waiting in the background for a player to master him and use him to drive his friends to a choking rage.

Here are the biggest Bruce Lees of gaming.

Fei Long (Street Fighter)

The who: Added in Super Street Fighter II. He's a transparent Bruce Lee clone: a martial arts master who stars in action movies, and... has basically no other traits. He makes Johnny Cage look like Jean Valjean.

The good: Looks like a carbon copy of Bruce Lee from Enter the Dragon.

The bad: Only appeared after Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers as one of the Three Other Lame Characters Who Debuted Along With Cammy.

Marshall Law (Tekken)

The who: A martial arts master who keeps competing in the King of Iron Fist tournament and... keeps losing.

The good: Looks and fights like Bruce Lee.  One of the first Bruces of the 3D fighting genre.

The bad: Keeps sucking in the actual tournament. Grew that creepy pedophile mustache in Tekken 4. Hangs out with a guy with Bart Simpson hair.

Liu Kang (Mortal Kombat)

The who: Shaolin monk who became the "hero" of the series. Until he died. Them came back as a zombie. Then killed everyone. Then the series rebooted, and now he looks like Bruce Lee as drawn by Rob Liefeld.

The good: Basically the main character of the series. His one-inch punch can go through your chest and light your heart on fire.

The bad: Bruce in looks only. Looks like Bruce just because Boon and Tobias decided against a stereotypical bald Shaolin monk.

Jann Lee (Dead or Alive)

The who: See: Fei Long. See also: Boring.

The good: Total Bruce in both fighting style and look, down to the yellow Game of Death jumpsuit as an alternate costume.

The bad: In a game series with tons of jigglies and Ryu Hayabusa, no one will ever pay attention to him.

Li Long/Maxi (Soul Calibur)

The who: Long ago, a Chinese assassin in a funny hat tried to kill a pirate lord. He "died." Then a Japanese pirate said, "I want to fight with nunchucks just like this guy!"

The good: Two of the only Bruces to use nunchucks in their games.

The bad: Out of place in a weapons-focused game, even with nunchucks. Both characters dress like Kung Fu pimps.

Rock Lee (Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Shippuden Tenkaichi Shonen Jump 5 Kai)

The who: In 1939, a puppeteer named Andre Toulon was attacked by Nazis and- wait, no. he only looks like a puppet. Nevermind. Rock Lee's the guy in Naruto who doesn't have any magic ninja powers but can still beat the crap out of people.

The good: Arguably the strongest fighter, since he's also a ninja and is defined using the Anime Scale of Martial Arts Power, which means things can get utterly freaking ridiculous very quickly.

The bad: Anime games might not count. Looks more like Bruce Lee's ventriloquist dummy than Bruce Lee.

I wasn't going to turn this into a whole big thing, but wow. What a difference a day makes. Huge scandal involving blacklisting threats from 2K Games/Gearbox's PR company, the Redner Group, all coming from the torrent of negative reviews about Duke Nukem Forever. And why? We've waited 15 years, and to say the end result is underwhelming is being nice. Duke Nukem Forever is a game that would have felt like a mediocre shooter from any major publisher in 2006, and today feels like a piece of bargain bin shovelware.

Forget the juvenile humor and the toothless titillation. This is Duke, we knew what we were in for. Sure, the humor feels less "mature" and even less "naughty" than a 12 year old boy who just discovered how great it is to stare at cleavage and talk about farts, but that's part of the oeuvre. I can't fault the game for that.

I can, however, fault the game for awful graphics, awful gameplay, and even awful physics. Duke looks bad. Even by the standards of five years ago, Duke only looks mediocre, with horrible animations and modeling. Everyone and everything looks plastic and empty. There is no sense of weight or inertia in anything in the game. Every NPC shows the same lazy head-and-arm movement that worked half a decade ago, but only makes characters look like grotesque mannequins now. It's not just the animation and modeling, which are admittedly difficult. Even the little, stupid crap is botched. Water is shown as a rippling surface that does absolutely nothing when you step in it, and doesn't reflect anything. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind came out in freaking 2002 and it had better water effects. Shadows? Try nearly static, blurry outlines of Duke cast uniformly across every surface, regardless of what you're doing. Even depth effects, usually a gentle filter that slightly blurs objects in the far distance or up close depending on what you're looking at, is a jarring instant-blur that obscures NPCs talking to you when you look at a door directly behind them. It is an utter mess.

Gameplay similarly sucks. The weapons have no real weight or feel, and heavy hitters like the RPG are only slightly more menacing than the shotgun. Enemies take the same tactics of either running around you, teleporting or flying around you, or just charging you. Until they finally explode into bloody gibs, there's no sense that you're damaging them. It's always a matter of hitting the enemy until they fall down, with no feel that those hits matter until they actually drop. As for interaction in the world, you can activate certain objects by moving up to them and pressing a button. When you activate them, they do something. You can also pick up some small things (but only some small things, and which small things is totally arbitrary) and throw them, and no matter what they're made of or how heavy they should be, they go flying about as far and about as fast as everything else. This is interactivity that was cutting edge when the Build Engine was still in use.

Multiplayer feels similarly weak, with concepts that were common years ago but now feel stale. It might be fun for a few minutes, but Duke Nukem Forever online just doesn't feel fun. Everyone is Duke, wearing different headwear, glasses, and t-shirts, and since it's multiplayer there isn't any opportunity to hear Duke's quips, which is one of the only reasons this game even exists. As it stands, it feels like a generic multiplayer shooter with Duke thrown in. A leveling system is blatantly crowbarred in to give it some "depth," but all it does it unlock more costume parts for Duke and decorations for your virtual home. Duke's pad is a fun extra and I'd love to see it in other, better games, but you will not explore your trophy gallery more than once.

If it wasn't as big a name on the box and wasn't as big a developer attached, I could go easier on this game. However, 15 years of development and a big company like Gearbox finishing it up, and this is the final product? It turns Duke Nukem Forever from mediocre into simply unacceptable. This game might have been great five years ago, but today it feels like a relic. Not because of Duke's humor, or the classic FPS tropes, but simply because the graphics and feel of the game seem so devoid of effort. Considering how many resources and people were brought in from 3D Realms, the horrible version that was eventually released after over a decade might have simply been inevitable. Gearbox tried to build a decent shooter on a terrible foundation. My recommendation? Say what we all are already thinking, that the game was made purely for nostalgia and immature humor, that little effort was put into the gameplay or graphics and that it certainly wasn't Gearbox's A-game, and that Borderlands 2 is in development. A game this shabby from such a big name and after so much hype can only be forgotten. Then the healing can begin.