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Neon Kelly, Deputy Editor – Rage, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Even if you only have the vaguest of passing interests in FPS gaming, Rage should be up on your radar. After all, it’s not every day that you get a new IP from the studio that gave the world Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. id invented the genre, but how will the godfathers fare in a landscape so thoroughly dominated by Call of Duty and its peers? You’ll have to wait until next week to find out, but I tell you this: there’s an awful lot to talk about here – and not just because of the way it looks. Expect Rage to start an argument or two.
Martin Gaston, Previews Editor – Gears of War 3, Xbox 360
I’m level 45 now, meaning I’ve just unlocked the Civilian Anya skin, so I will probably wear that for a bit to level up my Battle Mistress medal. For a compulsive multiplayer fan, Gears of War 3 is an irresistible procedural chain of unlocks. I actually can’t stop playing.
This week I’ve had plenty of good games with my dream team – of which Pearson is a member, obviously. Nothing quite stands out like our valiant attempt to tackle Horde on Hardcore, and over the course of an evening we managed to get all the way to the final wave, knocking back four nasty bosses and 49 waves of monsters with little difficulty. We just couldn’t tackle that last boss, and slowly lost our economy and all our fortifications, including the prized Silverback. It was impossible to recover, and absolutely bloody devastating. I’ve not been able to pick up my controller since.
Emily Gera, Staff Writer – Psychonauts, PC
Erik Wolpaw. Sometimes I write your name down in my notebook inside the brackets of a giant pink heart because, Erik, I love you. Sometimes I’ll stare unblinkingly at pictures of your lovely face until my eyes crust over with the dry, itchy feeling of love. Wolpaw is one of the primary reasons I decided to get into games journalism, and as a general rule of thumb any game he’s done scriptwriting for is good enough to make me genuinely angry I didn’t write it myself. He’s to thank for at least half of the reasons you laughed at Portal, Portal 2, and in this case, Psychonauts. If you were reasonably acquainted with games blogs from 10 years ago you might remember Old Man Murray – a site which Wolpaw co-wrote, and helped put acerbic games writing to the foreground of the Internet. Psychonauts is a bit old these days but it’s still a brilliant entry point into near-perfect comedy writing.
Jamin Smith, Staff Writer – Gears of War 3, Xbox 360
I’m known to get quite angry playing games, but Gears of War 3 has stepped things up a level this week, sending me into fits of seething rage; there are few things I hate more than competitive online games. This isn’t ideal, because I’ve just made another bet with Pearson – this time I have to reach level 50 before October 14 (doing so will earn me another pint of delicious beer). I’m level 16 at the moment, and so there’s still a long road ahead of me. I’m not terrible at it, but I’m not great either, and dying every thirty seconds just isn’t my idea of fun. Unlike last week’s bet, this one is going to require some genuine effort on my part.
