Lost Planet 2 review: A fun mess

Lost Planet 2 feels very similar to the original. This is mostly a bad thing, but returning players can find some relief in it. Many can fault LP2 for it's problems such as disconnecting controls scheme, frustrating difficulty, and imprecision, but a few will find the scale, set pieces, and co-op to be as largely enjoyable as the biggest bosses you'll slay.

Why I play who: Rufus

Anyone playing a fighting game to win comes to the point where they decide to stick with on particular character. Learning the intricacies of their main allows them the fun of one play style while also learning how to deal with unfavorable match ups. Instead of spreading your focus across several, hoping to counter pick, you focus on one to be proficient with and readily know how to play bad match ups.

Right now, I'm going to describe the reason for my choice in playing Rufus, one of the newer characters introduced in the Street Fighter IV saga, but has been around for a few years since arcade launch.

Super Street Fighter IV: relearning everything from scratch

I'm amazed at how my view of Street Fighter has become refreshed with Super Street Fighter IV. Nothing overly major was changed. What has changed are only smaller tweaks to the overall game, but it's amazing how different a character like Rufus, my main pick from the previous game, can be so different with just a different ultra move.

Fist bumps in the dark: A week with Splinter Cell Conviction

Playing through Conviction alone isn't enough to really get the experience. Since Pandora Tomorrow, the first sequel following Splinter Cell, Ubisoft has made multiplayer a blast in Splinter Cell. People expect the Tom Clancy, convoluted conspiracy theory-laden story at first, but multiplayer has always kept them coming back.

Enjoying Splinter Cell Conviction; got Super Street Fighter IV early

So I finally got back from watching Kick-Ass and it was pretty kick ass (yeah, cheap). Anyways, I find myself with peace of mind to actually post something substantial.

• Splinter Cell Conviction: skulking around the shadows as Sam Fisher is fun and all, but it's twice as fun with a buddy.
• It's amazing what ten new characters, rebalanced attack properties, and a new online mode structure will do with a game that's a year old.

Picture of Splinter Cell Conviction from Ubisoft. Picture credit to Konsole Kingz.