Uncharted 3 feels like a step forward and a step back, so to speak. The net effect is that it's in the same neighborhood as Uncharted 2 -- which is a pretty good place to be in. For my money, though, it falls slightly short of its predecessor, for not playing quite as well to the franchise's strengths.

The controls and mechanics are slightly more polished this time around, although still not enough for the later-game encounters to feel like anything other than unfair. Encounter balance remains elusive -- I don't care how much armor someone is wearing, a shotgun blast from six feet should ruin him. And when I have to work my way through three waves of enemies before the next checkpoint, when each wave consists of two snipers, two heavies, and a grenade launcher, that's just cruel. At any rate, it's, eh, slightly better than in the previous game.

The step backward, though, is that there aren't as many standout "Uncharted" moments. The sinking ocean liner sequence is pretty great, but it's not really as memorable as The Train Scene from the second game. And none of the puzzles in Drake's Deception can measure up to the elaborate mechanisms in Tibet. It's still an exhilirating, thrill-a-minute ride, but even though I just finished it this evening, my memories of Among Thieves are more vivid.

While the differences between Uncharted 2 and 3 aren't necessarily drastic, they're most illustrated in the games' endings. Uncharted 3 doesn't have a ridiculous, over-extended boss fight like its forebears did; but it also doesn't have as much narrative resolution, as the main villains and conflict just sort of fade away.

Uncharted 3 makes iterative improvements in the series' gameplay mechanics (and in graphics, naturally), and still has all the great characterization and banter that makes the franchise a joy to play through. And the gameplay improvements do bode well for Naughty Dog's next project. But if I had to choose my favorite travel destination, I gotta go with Shambhala.

Better than: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Not as good as: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
The new villains are a little disappointing: but new partner-in-crime Charlie Cutter is just a delight

Progress: Finished on Normal

I didn't really understand the "pre-order and get early beta access!" concept until it happened for a game I actually want to play. I was going to buy Trine 2 regardless -- my co-op experience with its predecessor was well worth the price. So pre-ordering it was a no-brainer, and as a bonus, I got the opportunity to play through what is effectively a beta-quality demo.

Which is pretty great, by the way. The snake boss at the end was a confusing encounter, and the overall experience is still a little unfinished (chiefly, the thief's controls feel a little floaty ... although maybe they're supposed to). But it's already as good as the first Trine, and I really can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the game.

Progress: Finished the beta levels

I picked this up the other week on super Steam sale, although I haven't had many chances to play it recently. Now that the dust around its release has settled, I've gotten over the fact that it isn't a Guerrilla-style open-world -- although the story isn't very remarkable, it's solid enough, and the campaign pacing is sophisticated enough, that the moment-to-moment gameplay is actually pretty compelling. (Being able to blow everything up helps, too.)

While Guerrilla included an extra mode for just blowing up buildings with a time limit, Armageddon has the brilliance to include a "Free Play" version of this as well: so you can pick a loadout, with infinite ammo, and just blow the hell out of bridges, cooling towers, and multistory complexes. It's a small touch, but despite the absence of a proper open world, this Ruin Mode is a great way to jump in for a few minutes at a time and disintegrate some load-bearing walls.

So it's pretty fun so far, although it lacks the sheer intensity of a Gears of War, and its high-powered weapons and destructible objects don't feel like a perfect fit for the extremely linear campaign.

But the most important thing I've taken away so far is, when it isn't just farming the port out to a foreign contractor, Volition is very capable of making a good PC game. It's stable, it runs great, and it controls great. This is what gave me the confidence to pre-order Saints Row 3.

Progress: Looking for water

Yes, yes, yes. Come on guys. Give me the trailer. And then the game. And then DLC, and, and, oh man now I just want to drive cars into things.

I don't care that it's nothing like the original Syndicate (not that I'd played it, anyway). This looks pretty awesome.

Me and my buddy actually co-oped our way through Gears 3's campaign in the first couple days after it came out, and it was a real blast. The Gears of War campaigns have always been great at scripted set-pieces and judicious use of super-powerful weapons, and the third is no exception -- I wouldn't say that this installment's more-fleshed-out story makes it a narrative masterpiece, but it does provide the impetus for a ton of really good, story-driven encounters.

Every combat scenario feels unique due to some excellent level design, and the difficulty pacing - which progressively ramps up both the amount and toughness of enemies - is nearly pitch-perfect. There are only two encounters which I would say stretched the limits of reasonable design (a mid-boss about halfway through the game, and the final boss, who both just had too much trouble dying). And the length of GoW 3's campaign is such that, without dragging on, I felt like it really sufficiently explored its gameplay potential.

I've read some people claim that the voice acting is lackluster, but that's simply not true. (Except for Ice-T, in that he sounds a lot like Ice-T.) Marcus puts the mission first, but his inner turmoil is clearly visible just below the surface; Dom's recovered from his emotional instability in the second game, but it's changed how he looks at the war; Anya, in the field and suited up, still lives to support the COGs with everything she's got. It may fall firmly into space-marine sci-fi stereotypes, with to-the-point lines and gruff deliveries, but almost everything in Gears 3 is presented exactly as you would expect if its world and characters were real.

Gears 3 doesn't push the genre, in the same way that the first Gears of War made snap-to-cover the Next Big Thing; but it refines the series' staples and mechanics to absolute perfection. As unlikely as it is that Microsoft would let such a popular franchise lay, this is going to be a tough act to follow.

Better than: Vanquish, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Not as good as: BioShock, Resident Evil 4
I'm not really into the multiplayer, myself: but it looks very impressive. I watched my buddy play a "Horde 2.0" round where you can purchase weapon upgrades and defenses with kill-points! Pretty neat.

Progress: Finished the campaign in Normal (co-op)

I played the E3 demo of this very briefly, and I wasn't too impressed, because I only got up to two Kirbys at once -- while you're building up your Kirby army, it's really just a platformer with no particularly unique features. But it looks like once you're running full-tilt, it could be a real blast.

Also, some of the minigames look really awesome.

Oh, yeah, I lost my save file in an unfortunate data mishap. But I was having a hard time getting back into Valkyrie Profile, anyway.

The mechanics are pretty cool: in addition to the battle stuff I've already mentioned, the platform-inspired dungeon layouts (with an ice crystal move that allows you to do some cool jumping tricks, and solve some other puzzles) are inspired, and not quite like anything else -- even to this day.

But having seen all this already, I'm having trouble motivating myself to push any farther into the game (or, at this point, going through the first few hours again). Assuming I've seen all - or nearly all - of the neat mechanics Valkyrie Profile has to offer, even though the later game is sure to ramp up the challenge and make me learn how to master them, I'm not really sure what else I can look forward to. Aside from wandering around the countryside, watching sepia-tinted cutscenes.

I guess that's it, really. I like the idea of playing the game, but it's long-winded enough that it demands a certain patience of me, which I don't really have anymore.

Progress: Gave Up -- Midway through Chapter 1

If there were three words Square Enix could say to get me interested in Final Fantasy again, it would be "like Chrono Trigger." Which isn't, word for word, what they are saying, but it's close enough to catch my eye.

Progress: Gave Up

The combat is a little more sophisticated than is apparent in the demo: there are a few weapons to swap between - notably, the warhammer's slow, brute strength changes the melee mechanics somewhat - and situationally-available guns that are pretty great, like a laser cannon and a heat-shotgun. And some enemies do actually demand different tactics, ... but this is where the game can get a little messy.

As the campaign marches on, you'll encounter enemies who can do increasingly ludicrous damage from range: devastating mortar launchers, disturbingly strong machine guns, lightning laser beams, and grenade spam will annihilate you handily unless you're well covered. Granted, this isn't "supposed" to be a cover-based game, but while it's easy enough in the early chapters to charge into a horde of enemies and start mopping them up, later on this tactic is suicidal.

It doesn't help that Space Marine's execution-system, which is built to allow you to stay in the thick of melee combat, is fatally flawed in the presence of enemies who can do great damage, and/or who can attack from range. Captain Titus can refill his health by stunning and then executing enemies, but he will still take damage - and can even be killed - while the (lengthy) execution animation is playing. So while you're cutting one guy's head off and waiting for the health bonus, another nearby enemy might shatter your health bar with a single large attack, or a half-dozen dudes with guns might just whittle you down unopposed.

In the last wave of the waves-of-enemies-based final boss battle, I actually died while executing an enemy because another enemy just dropped a grenade at my feet. Since the execution takes so long, and there's no way for me to move, or cancel it, there was absolutely nothing I could do. (And since the game rarely saves checkpoints between waves, I had to start back at the first one again. Which I did about fifteen times, before giving up and restarting the chapter on Easy mode.)

When the game works, though - that is, when the number of enemies you're fighting is manageable (or when you have a jetpack and can just dive-bomb them) - it can be pretty fun. There is a little depth in terms of choosing which enemies to toss bullets at, when to charge in, and how to balance melee combos between stunning and finishing enemies. But in general it derives its simple joys from running headlong into foes and smacking them around.

Also, the campaign is pretty short, which is really to the game's benefit -- it already feels like it's stretching its premise a little thin. As long as your expectations aren't too high, you can make a fun weekend out of it.

For a studio that's only known for its real-time strategy games, this is a fairly competent first attempt at an action/shooter formula, and it's interesting to think of how they'll evolve their ideas in the inevitable sequel. But within the action and shooter genres, Space Marine is generally unremarkable. Its controls are solid, but it too frequently avoids genuinely interesting combat encounters by throwing out wave after wave of enemies. And while the guns are fun to play with, the lack of a proper cover system significantly limits your opportunities for dealing damage without dying instantly.

Better than: Conan (2007), Dark Void
Not as good as: Darksiders, Vanquish
Launching without co-op: is kind of stupid, right? Who's going to care about this game anymore in October?

Progress: Finished on Normal (except the final boss, on Easy)