VideoGamer.com Plays

The game's we've been playing this week.

Tom Orry, Editor - Portal 2, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

After what seems like an eternity I finally got round to continuing with Portal 2, taking me up to the first few areas that make use of the 'white stuff'. It's still just as brilliant as I remember. Even in the short two-hour session I had playing it this week, there were numerous occasions where I thought the puzzle looked too complicated, the room too big to possibly get my head around. Then, moments later, it all clicks. You put the pieces together and before long you're flying through the, zooming through portals and bouncing off blue surfaces. Hopefully I'll finish it before Christmas.

Neon Kelly, Deputy Editor - Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PC, PS3, Xbox 360

I've finished it. After the hype, the long wait and a dedicated week's worth of play, my travels with Adam Jensen have come to an end - for the time being, at least. It's been a strange seven days too, locking myself away from the troubles in London and elsewhere, only to explore a future dystopia in which full-scale civil disorder only ever seems just around the corner.

As for the game itself… well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the week after next for my full, unrestricted impressions. For now, I'll just say this: Human Revolution has given me no shortage of things to think about.

Martin Gaston, Previews Editor - Demon's Souls, PS3

My time with Demon's Souls has become almost a parody of gaming. I don't know why I'm doing it anymore, but I'm about one incredibly rare drop from getting all the equipment I need to blaze a Platinum trophy.

The problem? It can take days to get the aforementioned drop. I don't think I have anything left. I'm not even sure I want to play games anymore. Stop the ride. Stop it. I want to get off.

Jamin Smith, Staff Writer – SpaceChem, PC

I've reprised my second job as a space chemist this week. I've been putting in some serious hours (about 15 since Monday), and have made considerable progress. I'm on world seven now, which introduces a new command called the Flip Flop. I'm not going to bother explaining it (a: because you won't understand, and b: because I can't), but it opens up a world of new opportunities. Despite being a game based on commands, inputs and outputs, SpaceChem reaches a point where it becomes strangely creative. Laying down all those symbols in such a way that the equations work out is an almost artistic process. As an example, check out this masterpiece.

Emily Gera, Staff Writer - StarCraft 2, PC

For anyone clamouring for a game that combines zombie conceits with dying in StarCraft 2, then I suggest the StarCraft 2 mod Left 2 Die. Left 2 Die gives you a short day/night cycle, and basically spends the latter of the two pouring zombies into your game, leaving you all but crippled unless you manage to churn out enough marines to clog the entrances to your base. It's been a year since I last played the game, but I really stand by my first impression - it's a near-perfect RTS, and one of the rare few games I'll repeatedly come back to every few months. RTS' are one of those genres that have a tough time penetrating the brains of normal, mainstream humans. But if you, like me, have the kind of robotic tin-brain built to strategise and click a mouse until you lose feeling in your arm then I highly recommend picking it up again.