Off the Newsstand: Game Informer Issue 232

Just two months removed from the events of E3 2012, magazines are still covering all the big news from the huge conference.  While the July issues of each magazine covered most of the games showed off to the press before E3, the August issues are usually when each magazine breaks down everything at E3.  Giving their grades for each of the Big Three, ranking the games at this year's event and giving away their Best of E3 awards.  For those of us that cannot see every single thing at E3 due to publishers and developers keeping certain games and demos behind closed doors, these issues of each video game magazine serves as our one stop shop for everything that we may have missed at E3.

Being the annual E3 issue, every article excluding the reviews and Game Over sections are all about E3 2012.  From Game Informer's annual breakdown of the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo's showings at E3 to the humongous cover story, which includes previews of Game Informer's Top 50 Games at E3 2012, you are in for some of the most comprehensive coverage of E3 found in any magazine.  For collector's Issue 232 of Game Informer has six different covers.  Each cover showcases a game highlighted in the E3 Hot 50 cover story.  They are all pretty cool, but my personal favourites are the Castlevania, Resident Evil 6 and Splinter Cell Blacklist covers.  The bulk of the issue is dedicated to the cover story which is more or less an expanded previews section and that is not a bad thing.  I am baffled at how Game Informer picked some of the games on this Top 50 Games of E3 list such as Gears of War: Judgment and Star Wars 1313 when they had little to nothing to show at E3 this year, but everybody is entitled to their opinion.  Honestly I do not really see the purpose of even making this a Top 50 when each writer is essentially writing a preview and not selling why a certain game is at a certain spot on the list.  For the sheer amount and quality of the content in this cover story, it is a must-read for any gamer.  Just forget about the numbering because it does not mean much of anything.  This issue of Game Informer also includes interviews with some big names in the industry, an in-depth analysis of Square Enix's Agni's Philosophy tech demo, a rundown of the most interesting downloadable games and Action MMOs of E3 2012, an in-depth interview with Jason Rubin on his new role at THQ and his plans for the future of the struggling company, reviews and a retrospective look at the first game Rod Fergusson, the director of production at Epic Games, ever worked on.

If you have been living under a rock for the past two months and completely missed out E3 2012, Issue 232 of Game Informer is your one stop shop on all the big announcements and up-to-date game previews.  The sheer amount of content crammed into these 116 pages is incredible.  Definitely an issue of Game Informer that any gamer should go out of their way to read.

On the Download: Infinity Blade II

If you are into downloadable games and own any iOS device (iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad), the biggest iOS game of this year came out today.  That game is Infinity Blade II, the sequel to critically acclaimed and best selling iOS game Infinity Blade.  Infinity Blade was the first iOS game to use the Unreal Engine to power its graphics and that was the main reason people bought the game.  Once they got their figures on Infinity Blade, they like myself fell in love with the excellent touch controls and simple premise to work your way through a castle filled with enemies, level up, buy new armour and weapons and defeat the God King.  In Infinity Blade II, you are on a quest to discover the truth behind the many secrets of the titular Infinity Blade.  Your journey will take you to places far beyond the castle from the first game and have you encountering numerous new enemies and villains on the way.  As a sequel for a big iOS game like Infinity Blade, there are high expectations for Infinity Blade II and it looks to deliver.  The world is less linear this time offering multiple routes to traverse.  Now you are able to dual-wield and use two-handed weapons, which should add much more to the combat.  To top it all off, Chair uped the graphics to push your iDevice to its limits.

Infinity Blade II sounds so amazing that you are probably running to your iDevice to buy it right now, but just hold on a moment.  Having loved the first game, I have been waiting for this game for a long time.  So I made sure I bought it the moment I found it in the App Store.  Once it was done installing, I booted up Infinity Blade II hoping for the best.  To my dismay after the game crashed on start-up.  I tried again and again, but suffered the same results.  So at the moment, the game I waited a few months for and paid 7 dollars for is unplayable.  I am not angry, but I am extremely disappointed in both Chair Entertainment and Epic Games for releasing a game with this many reported bugs (I am not the only one suffering).  There is a fix on the way, but in my opinion it is unacceptable for a publisher and developer to release a game no matter the platform that is this buggy.  Yes, it will eventually be fixed.  The fact of the matter is that people like myself will now have to wait because Chair and Epic skipped out on testing their game on multiple iOS devices.  So if you want to buy Infinity Blade II, just hold off for about a week while all the bugs hopefully get worked out unless you want to risk turning out like me.  You have been warned.