Portal 2

Overall Rating: 9.7/10

Replay Value: 9
D20 Roll for Non-Nerds: 20
Playtime: About 10 hours on the single player and maybe 5 hours on Co-Op


Portal was one of the break out hits to come from Value. When it was first announced for the "Orange Box" I don't think anyone knew how much of a break out hit it would be.
You first impression of Portal 2 is a lonely world of disrepair. Your starting room is in disarray and your the only living being in the world. This would be disconcerting if you did not have your pal Wheatley, helping you through this dark world with light quips and bumbling assistance. Wheatley is voiced by Stephen Merchant and this is one of those performances that should cross entertainment mediums! There should be a special Golden Global or Oscar for Mr. Merchant because without him Wheatley is just a sphere floating in air. You will enjoy every moment that Wheatley is on Screen and miss him when he leaves.

In this sequel you are still up against your old enemy GLaDOS. She is just a little annoyed at being destroyed in the last game and is out for revenge. No longer is she helpful. Now her true nature comes to life! Even with all that has happened to her she has the same desires as before and with hilarious lines and murderous rage that made her one of the greatest video game villains.

With any sequels you have to worry that the game will just resort to the same old tricks. Your main weapon will still be the portal gun. Able to fire two interconnected portals, it will push the limits of your problem solving imagination. If you played the first game and thought there was nothing more you can do with the portal gun, well you were wrong. Added to the mix is acceleration gel, light bridges and living companion cubes! There are more tricks in this game than ever!

The single player game is broken up in 3 acts with 9 Chapters, this game is about 3 times as long as the first. Added into the mix is an amazing Co-Op mode that continues the story from the single player. I don't want to talk to much about it because it might spoil the Co-Op and single player game but it is one of the most innovative Co-Op modes in recent history.

If you are looking for a game that is not about shooting hundreds of nameless bad guys and will challenge your problem solving skill and make you laugh, Portal 2 is the game for you. Science and exploration await in this Game of the Year contenders!

LEGO Harry Potter for the iPad

Overall Rating: 9.5/10
Replay Value: 8
D20 Roll for Non-Nerds: 18
Playtime: I've played ~20 hours, and have gotten through the first pass of the first 4 episodes and nearly finished finding the secrets in a reply of Episode I

Fleeing from Fluffy is an exciting "minigame" in Episode I

Lots of games have been modified for play on the iPhone and the iPad with varying degrees of success. The games that have been really successful, however, are native to that touch OS, and tend to be short, non-committal, games that you can start on your subway ride and end at a moment's notice when you've reached your stop.

Games like Doodle Jump and Angry Birds are transitory in nature -- sure, there is a progression and a storyline, but they operate more like many tiny one-shots than one larger, fluid, game.


LEGO Harry Potter is, at its core, an RPG. It tries really hard to break each of its four "episodes" (the first four books of the series) into shorter chapters, but the fact is, it would be really, REALLY difficult to play on the subway, not only because you'd definitely need a seat, but because any chapter you don't make it to the end of before quitting the game doesn't save your partial progress.

Using a spell to discover hidden secrets is fun!

Because of the familiarity of the books (to most of us, anyway), LEGO Harry Potter has a really good sense of continuity and flow. Some elements have changed around a little to make it work in a video game setting, but overall, the story is the same so you know what's coming and what's in store.

Gameplay is extremely easy. Sliding your finger toward and enemy or an errant bookshelf will blast it apart, leaving lots of lego "studs" that disappear after a short time but are collectible toward your totals for each level.

You start each level as Harry, or sometimes a combo of Harry/Ron or Harry/Ron/Hermione. In replay mode you can pick anyone you want, but the Story mode limits you to the characters present in the books.

"Wizard Chess" instead tests your memory from previous
Potions minigames!

Like some of the best RPGs, LEGO Harry Potter is an excellent mix of puzzles, hack and slash, clue-finding and patience/dexterity with sneaking levels that keeps you on your toes. It's filled with tons of mini-games: memory, design duplication, potion-making, that gives one the satisfaction of playing a game like Hotel Dusk or Cooking Mama within the Harry Potter genre.

It's not a difficult game, but it's not so easy that it's dull. I'm impatient, so the levels where you have to hide from prefects by waiting and timing your moves while watching the Marauder's Map were tougher for me, while I thrived on the puzzle-deducing levels.

Hagrid found a Chocolate Frog card!

They have also FILLED it with little extras -- if you pay attention, Hedwig hoots at you and puffs out her eyes when you're near some special treasure, and it is so delightful to find!

As the episodes progress, you learn more spells, but there are lots of puzzles and extras in the early levels that you need advanced spells to unlock, encouraging the gamer to go back and replay the game in order to collect these things: Blocks, Wizard Hats, and Chocolate Frog cards -- that allow you to unlock special features in the "lobby" of the game, the Room of Requirement.

Replay is actually quite fun. You can customize your own LEGO wizard, or play any character you've unlocked -as Ginny Weasley or Lupin or Lucius Malfoy. There are some realistic limitations, and so you can't push huge items until you've unlocked a character like Hagrid or Dudley to muscle them about. Dudley can't cast spells, nor can Filch, but it is fun to see what they DO have access to do.

Similarly, once you unlock Moaning Myrtle or any of the other ghosts, you can access a whole host of secrets because you can go through gates.

Reconstructing a clock that I can later blast for coins

Each level is ranked by the number of studs/coins you collect, and if you collect enough you are considered a "True Wizard." And, while you can get injured, if you "die" you only lose coins, but the game itself doesn't end.

LEGO Harry Potter therefore gives a wonderful mix of challenge and curiosity, but is at the same time easy to play and not terribly stressful. There are some touchpad-related gaming issues, especially while "jumping" that can be frustrating on some levels with falling platforms, but they don't diminish from the game experience as a whole.