The ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection

Remastered in HD with full stereoscopic 3D support, the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection brings together two of the most highly-acclaimed single player video games of all time into a single package, playable on PlayStation 3. Relive the magic and fall in love with these PlayStation 2 classics all over again, or discover the wonder of the two of gaming's most beloved games for the first time, now available in crisp HD resolution, 7.1 surround sound and fully stereoscopic 3D compatible. Additional features include: five exclusive behind the scenes bonus videos featuring the making of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus and a sneek peek at the upcoming Team Ico release, The Last Guardian; two dynamic XMB themes based on memorable scenes from ICO and Shadow of the Colossus; and Dualshock 3 wireless controller support.

ICO
Enter a world of enchantment and wonder, where once was, is nevermore. Ico, a mysterious boy, has been expelled from his village to an isolated castle. Within his confines, he begins to have eerie dreams of rescuing a young princess from the evil spirits that dwell within the fortress. Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, Ico embarks on a quest to save the princess and along the way, discovers his own cryptic fate. Key

Key Game Features

• Embark on a heroic quest in ICO, encountering mysterious obstacles and enchanted wonders within a forgotten world
• Explore more than 30 immersive levels within large, vibrant worlds
• Solve a variety of mind-bending puzzles and overcome the evil that resides within the castle
• Deep, involving storyline that will captivate you for hours

Shadow of the Colossus 
Experience a majestic journey through ancient lands on your quest to bring a girl back to life by defeating sixteen gigantic beasts. On the back of your trusty horse, explore expansive landscapes and seek out each Colossus in its own place of hiding, armed with only your wits, a sword and a bow. Each one represents a unique challenge as you attempt to find its weakness and topple it.

Batman: Arkham City (Game of the Year Edition)

Developed by Rocksteady Studios, Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City, the new maximum security "home" for all of Gotham City's thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds. The game features an unique combination of melee combat, stealth, investigative and speed-based challenge gameplay. Set inside the heavily fortified walls of a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City, this highly anticipated sequel introduces a brand-new story that draws together a new all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe, as well as a vast range of new and enhanced gameplay features to deliver the ultimate experience as the Dark Knight.

Arkham City is a DEFINITE MUST PLAY experience. If you have never picked up the original then this is DEFINITELY the version to get. As legendary as Arkham City was, there were definitely problems with disc reading and data corruption that will all be likely fixed in the Game of the Year Edition. It is an amazing game and has so much to do and so much more depth than it seems at first glance. The Game of the Year edition is a must buy if you skipped out on the original version because buying the Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman, Skins, Batcave and Harley's Revenge packs can be slightly expensive. As great as the game is, the riddler's revenge campaigns and predator missions can be a little tricky. Getting the missions requires pretty specific routes that are hard to figure out on your own, but if you check out some YouTube videos it'll give you a good foundation in defeating these stages. Regardless, the Riddlers Revenge challenge maps are still fantastic. They also could have also taken some bigger risks with the side mission villains. With some of the side missions they could have had some intense boss battles but instead they have it end with a push of a button. Regardless the side missions are still pretty cool.

Once again, if you have never played this game then definitely pick this edition up. It's by far one of the GREATEST games ever made. Can't wait for the third one.

Batman Arkham Asylum: Game of the Year

Recognized as one of the best games of 2009, Batman: Arkham Asylum is a single player, third-person action/adventure in which the Dark Knight takes on his greatest challenge yet when he is trapped by arch rival, the Joker, within Gotham City's facility for the criminally insane, Arkham Asylum. The special Batman Arkham Asylum: Game of the Year Edition for PlayStation 3 ratchets the crime-fighting action up even further with an innovative new technology which allows you to play and watch in 3D with two sets of TriOviz glasses compatible with all standard and high definition TV sets. Also included are access to challenge maps that allow you to play as the Joker, and four additional standard challenge maps.

Story
Batman: Arkham Asylum features an original story penned exclusively for the game by famous Batman author and five-time Emmy award winner, Paul Dini, whose credits include "Lost" season one and "Batman: The Animated Series." As the game begins Batman is personally delivering his nemesis, The Joker, to the asylum at Arkham Island, but he is uneasy. Although the Arkham asylum is well fortified, he has a nagging feeling that all is not well, which proves to be the case when seconds after turning The Joker over to the guards, the master criminal breaks free of his captors. Even more surprising than this quick turn of events is the revelation that it was never The Joker's intent to escape the vault-like facility, but instead to trap Batman there. Surrounded by an asylum full of dangerous criminals, many of which he put there and all at the beck and call of the Joker, can Batman survive and discover what is behind the Joker's intricate plot?

Gameplay
In Batman: Arkham Asylum players strap on the gadget-heavy utility belt of the Caped Crusader. Gameplay here is a combination of both the knuckle crunching rush of hand to hand combat as you take on the hordes of thugs that infest Arkham Asylum, and stealth gameplay in which you must dispatch individuals from the shadows. Players can expect an engrossing single player campaign in which Batman continually moves forward to face the henchmen, bosses and traps that The Joker has set for him. With regards to opponents, in addition to The Joker who you will hear more than you see, the dark walls of Arkham also hold familiar villains from the the Batman criminal universe including Harley Quinn, Victor Zsasz and Killer Croc, that you will have to deal with, but don't expect a one-dimensional experience. As players progress from environment to environment within Arkham they will have to use varying combinations of muscle, detective skills, gadgetry and a certain degree of light RPG-like leveling of Batman's skills, arsenal and physical characteristics to survive and discover what The Joker's underlying scheme is.

In addition to the story-driven single player campaign Arkham Asylum also contains various additional play modes. These include an arcade styled combat mode where players accumulate points by engaging hordes of thugs in a hand to hand slugfest across a series of maps, in which Batman's physical strength and agility play a major role. The key here is to chain together as many attacks as possible due to the fact that with each successful combo players increase the point multiplier associated with their actions. The game also features a time-based stealth mode where players must hone their ability to strike silently from the shadows. This gameplay, referred to as 'Invisible Predator' utilizes the Dark Knight's skill with gadgets like the grapple tool, batarang and explosives. These allow for vertical/horizontal mobility, the ability to quickly strike from above and at a distance and to take out enemies and create distractions, even through walls. But remember that Batman works solo and is not superhuman. Your enemies will congregate around trouble areas and work as a team against you, so you must be silent, plan your attacks wisely, strike quickly and discover the value of encouraging fear within enemies.

Toy Story 3 The Video Game

I played this game with my child and we decided the only way to do a proper review was to offer both our viewpoints. So without any further ado, here's what we thought!

CHAPTER ONE: Train Rescue

My thoughts: Woody played the action hero to a T, as he raced off to save a train full of orphans from the evil Dr. Porkchop. It fit the overall mood of Toy Story and I was very impressed. The jumping puzzles weren't too difficult to figure out here.

Quotes from my child: "When I first played Woody, I thought the game would be easy and hard too. I died a lot, but when I figured out how to jump and move around, I liked trying to help the orphans. Those orphans needed to be saved. I felt happy not leaving any of them behind and getting a trophy."

CHAPTER TWO: Andy's House

My thoughts: Unlike the first level's imaginary setting, our characters are set up in "Toy Reality" - we have to move around the room/basement with the limitations that a toy would go through. This level is designed to get us used to each character's strengths and weaknesses like Jesse being able to land on small areas, Woody using his pull string as a lasso, and Buzz throwing each character across long distances.

Quotes from my child: "When I was trying to get the cell phone, I knew this would be hard. My dad helped me when I got frustrated. When we got to the basement, my dad had to explain how the paratroopers flew. It was tricky getting to the cordless phone, but we figured it out."

CHAPTER THREE: Buzz Video game

My thoughts: This level was a lot harder than the previous two levels. It involved platform jumping, but unlike games like Super Mario Bros., this added the dimension of depth. The jumping goes from being challenging to extremely frustrating, especially for younger gamers.

Quotes from my child: "There were 3 parts to this level. The first was the shooting part - the game told me how to shoot the boulders, but I had to dodge rocks while flying and that was hard. The next part was jumping around on moon rocks and I thought that was hard too. There were so many broken pieces and I fell a lot. I didn't understand the part with shooting the crystals at first. The 3rd part was Zurg's fortress, and when those big spikes came at me I knew I would die, I had to run towards "me" which was confusing."

CHAPTER FOUR: Sunnyside Daycare.

My thoughts: This level was fun, but it's another one based in "Toy Reality" - you have to do a lot of platform jumping to get to the lights, and if you have brought the wrong character, it wastes time. Getting the special cards is not easy because you have to complete carnival games, which are tough for an old gamer like me, and extremely frustrating for younger gamers.

Quotes from my child: "I needed my dad's help to play this level because there were hard games like hitting all the aliens without missing any. I got angry when I would miss a jump and fall off the lights. There were lots of jumps."

CHAPTER FIVE: Bonnie's House

My Thoughts: This level introduced some hard elements - up until now, we had platform jumps that were difficult, but on this level, the jumps have time limits. Instead of playing the game at a relaxed pace, now we have to run and complete jumps before we drown in coffee or fall to our deaths. This stage includes rail sliding on the spaceship, which reminded me of Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction. We also had to pick up batteries...one false move and we had to go back and get the battery again.

Quotes from my child: "I drowned. A LOT. This level wasn't easy, I couldn't figure out where to jump. The rail sliding on the spaceship was super fast and tricky. The part with the peppermints made me angry because I fell a lot. I told my dad I'd have to be at least 15 years old to get past this part. I wanted to take breaks from playing because it kept getting harder with every level."

CHAPTER SIX: Prison Break

My Thoughts: As if the game wasn't hard enough, now a stealth element is added. We return to Sunnyside Daycare at nighttime, and the main goal of this level is to rescue your trapped toy friends. Buzz is not selectable, and you have to avoid searchlights while you wander around. Michael Scofield would be proud that I got through this level without being spotted.

Quotes from my child: "I kept getting caught! This wasn't as hard as Bonnie's house but I still needed help. I got mad when the lights found me but at least I wasn't drowning in coffee!"

CHAPTER SEVEN: Junkyard

My Thoughts: The first part of this level is saving 3 aliens from a chop-o-matic trash machine. Two player assistance is recommended but not required. If you haven't gotten used to switching between characters yet, this next part forces it on you. We have to save our friends before they are melted, crushed, and sliced into fish bait. Each character has a specific task that must be completed for the other two characters to move forward.

Quotes from my child: "I kept getting sad on this level because I didn't want Slinky or Hamm or anyone else to get hurt and when we didn't know what to do quick enough, I knew they wouldn't make it. My dad had to play most of this level."

CHAPTER EIGHT: Haunted Bakery

My Thoughts: After all the previous stages, this level was a well-deserved change of pace. The level consists of running around and shooting an army of muffins and evil witches (yes, you read that correctly). There's no platform jumping to worry about: just shoot, shoot, shoot, and shoot some more.

Quotes from my child: "Finally, an easy level! My dad kept getting the toy balls and I played as Buzz, shooting the witches with the cannon. We got all the cards and hidden things and I smiled a lot."

Ratchet & Clank Collection

Three Ratchet & Clank PS2 Classics Remastered for PS3

Experience the classic adventures of the universe's favorite Lombax, Ratchet and his robotic sidekick Clank in this classic PlayStation 2 Action-Adventure trilogy now fully remastered in high definition. Wield the original tools of destruction as you travel from planet to planet unraveling their original story and explosive adventures in this PlayStation 3 exclusive.

Games Included

Ratchet & Clank 

It's time to rip the galaxy a new one. Ratchet & Clank contains over 36 weapons and gadgets to choose from. With all that hardware at hand, it's no wonder Ratchet, a wrench-wielding Lombax, and his robot buddy Clank, have itchy trigger fingers. Think about it. You can choose from burning, bombing, exploding or obliterating your enemies. So go ahead, blow it up. Blow it all up. It isn't the size of your weapons that count. It's how many you have and better yet... How you use 'em.

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando 

Ratchet and Clank are back, and they're going commando. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando features more than 50 of the coolest weapons and gadgets ever imagined. The more stuff you blow up, the stronger Ratchet gets and the bigger and badder the weapons you'll have. Plus, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando features all-new side challenges: destroy hordes of enemies in gladiator arenas, upgrade your ship and pick off enemies in space combat and leave competitors to eat your dust in hi-speed challenge...You up for it?!

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal 

The third installment of the Ratchet & Clank franchise incorporates new elements of gameplay not seen previously in the series, including online and offline multiplayer capabilities that will appeal to a wide variety of players. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal returns gamers to Planet Veldin, the setting of the original Ratchet & Clank, where the duo set off on a gripping new adventure through a multitude of diverse planets to fight for galactic peace. Players will be able to earn up to 20 weapons (including online and offline) with up to four levels of upgrades for most weapons, plus new high-tech gadgets to help them through their journey.