We return to Pacific City in Crackdown 2, the sequel to 2007’s open-world crime smashing game for the Xbox 360. Ruffian Games and Microsoft Game Studios have taken the original and tried to see if they can push it a little further without breaking their winning formula resulting in a mixed bag and some inner conflict. continue…

In a world where Michael Bay has an unlimited budget and a reality-TV show of his own, he might come up with something like Split/Second from Disney Interactive Studios, developed by Black Rock Studio. Indeed that’s loosely the premise of the game.  You are a contestant on a television show in which you race against other drivers on a sacrificial race track which is one part urban recreation and two parts obstacle course and all demolition zone. The result is a classic arcade racer feel set in the middle of what can often feel like a war-zone. continue…

Darwinia has made it’s presence known on the Xbox Live Arcade in the form of Darwinia+. This game has won multiple awards and received lots of attention in the past in it’s PC incarnations. Introversion Software has now brought it to the console where it is surprisingly easier and more natural to navigate. They even threw in the multiplayer incarnation ‘Multiwinia’ to boot.

The game exists in it’s own little digital tron-esque universe. It’s an ecosystem populated with industry, civilization, wild life, and various stimuli. It’s a virtual ecosystem where evolution and artificial intelligence is studied. There even religion as a component. continue…