The other day I was driving down a snow covered road with white mounds on either side. Out of nowhere a car decided to dart out from their visually impaired driveway. I swerved to miss them, they hit their brakes, and everyone drove away with nary a scratch. The adrenaline hit fast and hard then [...]

There’s certainly quite a bit to do if you want to explore the land of Dotnia (including a new game plus mode), but I found that after a half dozen hours the charm had passed and the dated adventuring mechanics had turned the title into a rather short-loved trip down memory lane. If you’re really into the old school then you may want to grab 3D Dot Game Heroes, but if you’ve never touched anything from days past, you should certainly steer clear. Its main draw is nostalgia, and even that fades quickly.

Perhaps I’m harping on the story a bit too much when it’s a straight up action game but considering that we’ve already done this twice before, I really feel there’s got to be something new to make it worth doing again and the mechanics certainly haven’t changed. With God of War Collection already available, it’s difficult for me to recommend God of War III as anything other than an extended tech demo. Combine Santa Monica’s checkbox approach to game design with a fairly callous and meaningless angst journey of a straight up unlikable main character, and you’ve got nothing worth writing home about except the scale.

In general, I’m not a fan of poetry or motion controls but I am a huge fan of Flower. It is a game that any PS3 owner should try, putting a few hours in to get a simple yet beautiful experience. Who knows, you may even come away more enlightened. Without the PSN, this game would not be possible. I can only hope that future entries into this experimental space turn out so wonderfully.

When all’s said and done, Savage Moon does what it sets out to do. Provide a challenging tower defense game on alien terrain, allowing you to blow up tons of insects by various means. While I fear that it’s difficulty curve will throw off some TD novices, those willing to put in the time will certainly get their money’s worth. With 12 maps, trophy support, and a challenge mode that pits you against a never ending flood of creatures, there’s plenty to do in this downloadable title making it worthy of purchase for anyone looking to scratch the TD itch.

I think what makes Cuboid so attractive and addicting is its simplicity. There’s really not much you have to learn or remember, and with the exception of being split apart via teleporting, you can control the entire game with just the d-pad. There isn’t any multiplayer and there are only two difficulty modes with a total of 66 puzzles, but none of this stuff detracts from the experience in the slightest. If I may be so bold, this is the type of puzzle game that’s almost on par with the likes of Portal. If you enjoy puzzle games, and have a PS3, do yourself a favor and shell out the $9.99 on PSN for Cuboid. Its a great game, a great buy, it has trophy support, and your head will explode at least twice (if you’re into that sort of thing).

I enjoyed what I played of Magic Ball but would have prefered a longer experience and more of a challenge. It really is a nice looking game and there’s nothing like hitting a few environmental power-ups in a row to really get the destruction rolling.

Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom is a decent entry into the casual PSN space. If you’re itching to play some Mahjong on your PS3, it will certainly fit the bill as there’s plenty of content for $9.99 (its got 16 trophies to earn too!), just don’t expect to be wowed in any way.