Talk about something not great for kids. Brutal Legend is all about the rock, the cars, hot chicks and demonic forces. Surprisingly, that sums up the 64 kilometer world that is Brutal Legend, a giant landscape filled with essentially rock album cover art, headbangers, giant guitar swords and, inevitably, the occasional cute animal that makes a funny sound when run over.

As Eddie Riggs, or Jack Black since that’s who we’re all really playing as, except with better hair and strangely large chest and broad shoulders, it’s the player’s job to bring order back to the world of rock. How you get there, what you’re doing, who the hot chicks are and where they roam…important, but not for your eyes now.

Brutal Legend is like Ratchet and Clank, except replace the sci-fi world for a down-and-dirty, and I might say awesome looking Earth-ish landscape, Ratchet’s little wrench for a giant axe and an electrifying guitar, and Clank for the occasional hot chick. Oh, and remove the platforming for an open-world feel, and get rid of the kiddy humor for something a little less tasteful, and a lot funnier.

It could be that Ozzie makes an appearance in the demo, helping players make the car Eddie puts together in ten seconds flat into something more respectable. Add on chainguns, art, an engine so big that it blocks the view from the steering wheel…you name it, it can probably be stacked on top of whatever’s on the car already.

So far, the first 15 minutes of the game were not as funny or exciting as I’d hoped. Then again, the insane standard I have, especially when I think a game will be great, doesn’t help in the slightest. Neither does the fact that it was only the first 15 minutes and I wasn’t impressed by the dialog or action incredibly. Then again, the developer commentaries I watched were more interesting, so perhaps it’s only a slow start to a much more exciting game, which I hope and expect. I mean, there’s a list of rock legends doing voice work, Jack Black to make me laugh, and eventually a completely open world to explore and, hopefully tarnish and destroy if it hasn’t been already.

Would I say I was disappointed by the demo? Eh, no. Demos can never be perfect, regardless of who makes them, and I appreciate that. It sucks I wasn’t on the floor, clutching my sides because the GAME WAS SO FUNNY HAHA, but hey, nobody’s perfect. It’s a good warmup, to the full game, so we’ll see if it leaves us hanging, or goes all the way, this Rocktober

It goes without saying that movie games suck. They do. If you’ve ever purchased one, you know that nine out of ten times, you regret that purchase, and the ten remaining percent you can’t decide whether it was actually worthwhile, or not. While it’s bad enough the GI Joe movie looks like it could very well be crap nobody wants to see, the game has remained a bit more mysterious. Until now.

The GI Joe game is similar to the recently released Wolverine title; players pick a character from the GI Joe universe and fight off bad guys. It’s much more linear, so everything is literally pointing you where to go, like Advent Rising, except without the openness. It is, in fact, an extremely closed game, but playing it by yourself is the reason why it would feel ridiculous.

GI Joe is meant to be played cooperatively. Or, more specifically, competitively for points. Two players are supposed to, with different characters utilizing different strengths and weaknesses, gather as many points as possible by fighting off the enemy, finding secrets, and stealing kills. This is tremendous fun, especially when your adversary can hear your roar of victory.

In my play-test, I wielded a sword and a pathetic pistol, while my opponent had a giant gun. Because I learned everything mentioned earlier while playing, I ran around shooting everything, and slashing the occasional bad guy when they came near. Only then did I realize my opponent had double the points I did, because his bigger gun was just wrecking the playing field. No fair!

The rest of the game was I playing catch up, and I did. I slashed everyone and everything, shot last-second and guys who had no health and stole kills like a 10 year old playing Halo 2. At one point, the developer told us both to push the Y button, and suddenly both our guns got a massive boost for a cooperative strike. Giant tanks started rolling in and we were dodging equally giant rounds that would look unseemly in the tight clothes our characters wore.

After all this, GI Joe is fun. By yourself…I can only imagine how lonely one must be to play a cooperative game alone, not even competing against an AI. As someone who didn’t grow up with GI Joe because Transformers was better, I didn’t get all the references, which the developer pointed out each and every time, to which I insincerely nodded “oh yes, I remember that. Fond memories!” Like a rail shooter, it’s fun in a quick-action sort of way, and like Wolverine, you can sit back and relax while tearing the guts out of, well, just about anything. Plus it’s great for kids!

Note: This is an article was written for the sole purpose of the Arthur’s experience with Left 4 Dead 2, with his dislikes and likes, however, this isn’t a “hands-on” of the game, but we will have a review once the game has released.

At E3, we were shown the first revealed level of Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to the revered PC and Xbox 360 title. There, we had our choice of preferred console, select food and drink, and even some excellent posters courtesy of Valve. In case you don’t know, Valve does an excellent E3 suite, and to my knowledge, always has.

EA’s showing of the latest revealed level, a swamp, was a little less homey and a little more ghoulish. Set in the same room as Dragon Age, GI Joe and Saboteur, L4D2 had its own entire wall, and to the right of it a leg sticking out of a wall and a body hanging from the ceiling. A nice touch, though perhaps a little extreme for the fast-paced fun that is Left 4 Dead.

Seated, armed only with puny Xbox 360 controllers (seriously, it’s a PC game, and I’m not being a snob about it), the new team begins in the swamp area. A large building, some marshes and a sniper rifle later, my friend and cameraman, myself, and two strangers were under attack by a horde while trying to escape from one land mass to another. Glitchyness aside (one guy accidentally flew off into the water, for no apparent reason except that the hiding alligators compelled him), the brainless zombie defeat was at hand.

I spent half the fight halfway down a ledge in the water, unable to pick myself back up. This, of course, wouldn’t have been a problem if my teammates didn’t have either the brainpower of a piece of toast or the finger dexterity of roasted duck. Suffice to say, I’m used to playing on the hardest difficult on the PC. Normal on the Xbox 360, no matter how much I distaste using a controller for this game, is still ridiculously easy for a veteran, and is only good as fuel for hating your inept teammates even more.

So if you see or have seen any videos of EA’s showcase, you may have heard me yelling at them to do things properly. Like shooting their guns, or throwing pipe bombs/molotov cocktails, or picking up the new incendiary ammo over and over when a horde attacked near a weapons cache.

What does this all mean? It means that Left 4 Dead 2 is as good, if not better, than the first. A few new bosses, larger open areas and more necessary teamwork mean player compatibility is at an all time high, and I was taken out by Valve and beaten with an ego-crushing stick to learn that. At least when it was done, I had that prop zombie to high five, since their side did pretty damn good in comparison to the puny human survivors.