For those of you who have not heard, or tried, Minecraft is crack. Beautiful, delicious crack. The basic premise of the game is that you are a guy who can build stuff in a hostile world. That’s it. The game is an unfinished product and is constantly being updated. This is both a good and bad thing. The bad news is pretty obvious. The game is not as good as it should be yet. There are fairly steady improvements being made, but this is one of the great bits. The game is constantly changing as you play it. There is something incredibly fascinating about watching the evolution of a game as it is happening. The other great thing about the game being a work-in-progress is that it is cheaper. When Minecraft is finished, it will cost €20, or about $28.75. Right now, while the game is in Beta, you can buy a copy of the game, and all updates, for €15, or $21.54.

Split/Second: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bombs Strategically Placed Around the Racetrack

May 18, 2010, might as well be called Red Deadmageddon. On this date, Red Dead Redemption was released and sold three copies for every living person on the planet. Unfortunately, two other great games were released the same day. Now, if three great movies are released on DVD on the same day, there are a few things that fans might do. They might buy them both today, or pick one up in a week or so. Video games are different for two very big reasons. One, games cost $60, and it is really hard to buy two in a week. Two, games take more than two hours to play. Red Dead clocked in at over 40 hours. That is a regular work week. I have already discussed one of the casualties of Red Deadmageddon, the criminally underplayed Alan Wake. Today, I would like to discuss the other.

This was initially supposed to be a review. Well, I’m sorry, but it will be nothing of the sort.

In general, while I am appreciative of the past, I have no patience for old video games. I loathe health pickups in a shooter, I can’t stand half-hour cut-scenes, and I hate random battles. These conventions were something we dealt with in video games for time untold, and, often, for good reason. Health pickups limited the amount of health available in a certain level, which increased the difficulty and stretched the length of a game. In the era where graphics weren’t great, cut scenes were a graphical reward for an accomplishment such as beating a difficult boss. Honestly, I never understood random battles. The inclusion of these tropes in a game today sometimes, but not often, adds to the experience. Well, not the cut scenes. I’m looking at you, Metal Gear Solid 4. While I do have an appreciation for the games that came before, I have little desire to play them again, with one exception.

I really want to like Brink. Everything from the art style to the world it portrays is fresh and interesting. Brink also incorporates elements of parkour into the shooting genre. Now, there might be one or two of you (I’m not kidding, probably just one or two) who are thinking, “But, what about Mirror’s Edge?” First of all, I love you both. Mirror’s Edge was a phenomenal game, but it wasn’t a shooter. It was a first-person parkour game. Brink is absolutely a shooter, and that’s too bad, because it would have been more interesting the other way.

First, we should discuss the positives of the game. The art style is unbelievably cool. The art is a combination of realism and cartoony that I haven’t seen before. Everybody’s face is stretched out and exaggerated, but the textures are almost hyper-detailed. The result is something awesomely unique.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the game is the setting. Every bit of the environment helps reinforce the story the game is telling. This tiny civil war on the floating city called the Ark is something that really works. Every detail of the environment seems to be there, because of the rebellion on this ship. I won’t get too far into it, but I can tell you that it works.