After starting a series as well as the original Dead Space did, it’s always a point concern that in an attempt to make the experience feel fresh again, the developer might just change too much. In contrast, there’s also worries that the second game will only succeed in watering down the series and leave it feeling stale and stagnant. This is a balance that Dead Space 2 struggles to keep through its 8-10 hour campaign.

Taking place three year after the events of the first Dead Space, main protagonist Issac Clarke awakes in a hospital wearing a straight jacket and having no memory of the past three years. Dead Space 2 successfully launches you into the story with an intense and disorientating beginning with Issac struggling to survive the recent infestation of Necromorphs while trying to find answers. Through the course of the campaign, Issac will make use of many weapons, armors, and a familiar upgrade system keeping you one step ahead of the Necromorphs.

Despite still lacking proper anti-aliasing, Dead Space 2 offers some greatly improved visuals from the previous game, with some great lighting effects and much improved character and facial animations. And of course, we get more of that awesome HUD-less gameplay that made the first game unique. Issac Clarke now has a voice and it fits surprisingly well. Visceral Games did a great job making Issac feel very mortal and believable, despite the Iron Man-esque suit and advanced weaponry.

Between curb-stomping Necromorphs and pimping out your suit, you’ll meet a small handful of characters that play large roles in the story’s development and progression. Unfortunately, these characters are not given enough chance to develop and that leaves most of the already small cast of characters very stunted and flat.

Turning the gore up to 11, Dead Space 2 offers enough excessive death scenes to keep even the most avid Mortal Kombat fans happy and includes a wide difficulty range that should please everyone. Gameplay throughout is very cinematic and engaging, mostly due to how effortlessly the game switches between gameplay and cut scenes. However, this causes several annoyances when sudden quick-time events pops up or gameplay resumes quickly and unexpectedly, leaving you at a disadvantage. Perhaps it’s a tactic to keep the player tense or on their toes, but it really only succeeds annoying the heck out of you.

Overall, Dead Space 2 takes the safe route in its design and gameplay by staying very true to the first game’s look and feel while focusing more on developing the main character and his story (even at the cost of supporting characters’ development).  The whole journey leads up to a satisfying conclusion, complete with a little setup after the credits for the next installment in the Dead Space series.

Scores

- Graphics: 9
Dead Space 2 brings us space in a graphical quality that the series deserves. Textures are much sharper and character animations are even more fluid while still managing to stay easy on the resources. The game’s engine still lacks proper anti-aliasing, but this is made up for in lighting effects that create fantastic environments without having DOOM 3 flashbacks.

- Storyline: 7
Though slow to get started, the game does a great job of progressing the storyline from the original Dead Space and offers an enlightening look into the mental struggle of Issac as he progresses through this space-borne hell. The whole Unitology story arch is still rather confusing, but the game does a good job of keeping you informed with journals and logs found throughout the levels.

- Gameplay: 9
Like the previous installment, expect some cheap horror and quick-time events littered throughout an otherwise fantastic gameplay experience. Offering not only a solid 8-10 hours of cheap thrills and cinematic singleplayer gameplay, Dead Space 2 also features some tacked-on multiplayer that will give you a bit more enjoyment, but don’t expect too much.

- Controls: 8
For the most part, the controls are simple and straightforward, even in zero-gravity. There are a few awkward actions to deal with, but a bit of gameplay gets you acclimated to the changes easily enough.

- Lasting Appeal: 7
Despite its multiplayer features, Dead Space 2 probably won’t keep you entertained for much longer once you’ve completed the campaign. Granted, EA has promised some DLC, so for a few extra bucks you might be able to breathe a couple more hours of life into the game. If nothing else, it might make you want to play through both games again, just to fully appreciate the story arch between the two.

Overall Score: 8 Olives

While the driving force behind Tech Olive is based entirely on the US-side of the proverbial pond, you’d be surprised just how many fans we attract from Europe. However, it seems we only attract fans from Europe that are female, because all we’ve heard is whining and crying about our ICE articles lacking their version of “sweets.” So, sit back, pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy our thoughts on one of the UK’s most popular and oldest treats.

It’s called Curly Wurly. I’m not kidding, that’s the name. It’s neither curly nor wurly, but we’ll take what we can get. Put simply, it’s caramel drizzled in a bar-shape and dipped in chocolate. It may sound like an old person’s idea of “candy,” but it’s actually quite enjoyable. Having said that, don’t expect your inner child to be excited by this snacking option; there is nothing fruity, sour, tangy or tarty to be found here. It really is the guilty pleasure of snacking.

It’s worth noting that America actually did have something similar to Curly Wurlys, called Marathon bars. It seems the American snack market evolved past such primitive treats in the early 80s when they discontinued production of the Marathon. Some say that Curly Wurlys can still be found in parts of the United States, but most of us just snort, “who cares?” as we grab a packet of Twinkies and speed away on our motorized carts provided by the supermarkets. Now that’s luxury!

During-Gaming Edibility…

Due to their crumbly chocolate coating, you should avoid eating Curly Wurlys while seated at your PC unless you enjoy licking melted chocolate off the crotch of your pants (a good alternative would be that loyal mutt of yours). Furthermore, eating it while gaming is simply out of the question due to the slightest amount of heat from your fingers immediately melting the chocolate, which in turn happily clings to your finger like a leech.

How to Eat It…

Hidden in a dark room or closet if possible. As I said before, eating Curly Wurlys is one of those things that’s just hard to admit in regular company without feeling dirty or traitorous to your age group. This isn’t to say you should avoid eating the tasty treat if it tickles your fancy, just keep in mind that others might not understand your lifestyle choices.

Best Enjoyed With…

A sturdy toothbrush. As far as cavity-rendering candies go, Curly Wurlys storm ahead of the pack with pride and haste. Just opening the packaging and taking a whiff of the chocolate and caramel aroma gave me two cavities. You might also want to keep a backup snack that is fruity or sour, just to wake your taste buds up if they become dormant during the consumption of a Curly Wurly.

We’ve all heard the Call of Duty. Millions of us have responded to this Call over the years, but what happens when Duty Calls? That, my friends, is up to you. Whatever you choose, I hope it includes reading this quick review.

Breaking the boundaries of possible, redefining the definition of High Definition, and reinventing the wheel, Duty Calls makes a radical design choice by putting you in the shoes of an unnamed American soldier in (presumably) enemy territory. Your task is to kill anyone carrying an AK-47. Saving the free world is, of course, your secondary objective.

There’s really no reason for you to not download 2011′s Game of the Year. Weighing in at 758MB, the game is far too radical to be priced, sold, marketed, or retailed. As a result, the game’s creators are forced to give it away for free. Just prepare for some force-fed Bulletstorm-advertising footage upon completion of your mission. GO DOWNLOAD IT.

Olive Score: Two patriotic thumbs up.

Undeniably the first of its kind, the original Grand Theft Auto title ushered in a whole new sub-genre of gaming: open world. Nowadays we take this type of gameplay for granted, even going to extremes by often labeling them as “GTA clones.” Today, we pay respect to the game that started a revolution and a series that continues to blow our minds with each new installment.

Many titles in the long-running GTA series have made massive leaps in gaming technology by bringing whole new levels of detail, exploration, and freedom. Unsurprisingly, the first game in the series was no exception. There are tons of cars, trucks, and motorcycles to steal, several rival gangs to piss off, countless police to evade, and tons more hidden goodies and details that will simply blow your mind. The fact that emergency services would actually respond to crimes, fires, and dead bodies alone was something I could never quite believe.

With this new open-world gameplay, the possibilities were endless. I would spend countless hours stealing cars, pushing other cars onto the subway tracks to be electrocuted and exploded, or driving a motorcycle at high speeds along the subway tracks to see how far I could get before exploding. Even just running around and evading the police provided hours of the best and most unique car chases that gaming had to offer. When you did finally dive into the game’s massive pool of missions, you were greeted by a massive range of murder, prostitution, bombings, robberies, and every other punishable crime imaginable.

The best part of all this is that Rockstar now offers GTA and GTA 2 as free downloads.

I Could Eat is a feature that showcases a scrumptious snack or drink that we think other geeks and gamers “could eat” (in other words, would greatly enjoy). If you have any snacks or drinks that you think are worthy of an I Could Eat shout out, let us know!

Children everywhere have come to know and love blue raspberry as a flavor, but what do we actually know about this flavor? Blue raspberry is the Santa Claus of the candy industry; rooted in fact, but completely fictional for all intents and purposes, except to make the candy makers more money.

Moving onto the topic at hand, it’s no secret that I’m a fan of just about every Sour Patch-branded edible snack ever made. And much to my surprise, I found yet another variation that to which my tongue is a virgin. This is an issue that will meet its remedy today.

First impressions indicate that these blue raspberries have a nice, strong flavor with a hint of a waxy undertone. Though not as sour as other variations of the Sour Patch brand, blue raspberry is still an appealing choice and is just as effective at shredding your mouth lining like you’re making flesh-colored confetti for Mardi Gras. The snag here is that the blue raspberries are best enjoyed by the mouthful; a balance between mouth-shredding and flavor explosion must be found.

Moving back to the Keyser Söze of the candy industry for a bit: why didn’t the mastermind behind painting raspberries blue make up some “Razzle Dazzle Fairy Berry” flavor that could be any shape, much like the magical marshmallows in Lucky Charms, rather than restricting the newly created flavor to being forever shaped like the raspberry fruit it’s based on? Seems pretty illogical to me.

Note: If anyone steals my “Razzle Dazzle Fairy Berry” idea, legal action will be taken. Sadly, legal threats are nowhere near as threatening as illegal threats. Which is scarier? “I’ll shoot you in the face” or “I’m simply unhappy with you”?

During-Gaming Edibility

As with almost every other sour candy in the world, the Sour Patch Blue Raspberries are coated in “sour sand,” which gets shockingly sticky after being paired with moisture (the moisture in question being your warm spittle). So unfortunately, this marks another snack that is simply unrealistic for consumption during a gaming session. In small doses and with careful finger-work , it’s possible, but hardly effortless.

How to Eat It

We’ve mentioned the spoon-and-bowl-cereal-style method of eating such sugar-coated candies in the past, but this is an inconvenient and boring way to enjoy your snacks. Sadly, I have no real recommendations here. I suppose you could put it on pizza and that would prevent the sticky-fingers issue while gaming, but then you have to fight with the grease from the pizza. You just can’t win with this one.

Best Served With…

Because the blue raspberry flavor carries the same hate for your mouth-lining as any other candy in the Sour Patch line, it’s not advisable to combine it with any alcoholic or highly-acidic drink, as the resulting pain will simply hurt. Luckily, they are subtle enough in flavor and sugar content that a drink is not necessary, which does make them nice for on-the-go snacking. Tongue discoloration is also not an issue with these, despite their vibrant blue color.

On the last day of every month we [usually] write a review of a classic video game of yesteryear. While today is the last day of the month, it’s also the last day of the entire year, so we’re going to recap all of the Retro Reviews that we’ve posted in 2010 and put them all in this one convenient post for you to nostalgically enjoy. Please join us after the break for all the retro goodness of 2010.

Note: There are some months that we missed due to either being knee-high in timely content or we were just too freakin’ lazy.

January: Nerf Blast Arena
- “Back in the early days of first-person shooters, it took a lot to peel me away from games like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark 64 and Wolfenstein 3D, but Nerf Arena Blast (NAB) was one of the few games that managed to do it. I decided it was time to install the 328MB, hard drive-eating, Unreal engine-based monstrosity.”

February: The CRT Monitor
- “Ah yes, the familiarity of CRT monitors astounds me. We’ve all used one at some point because it was the only thing we had. LCD monitors didn’t become extremely mainstream until just a few years ago. Heck, it was only last year that I made the switch from CRT to LCD and some people are still rocking the ancient display technology to this day. For this month’s Retro Review, I’ve decided to dive into the mysterious world of the one technology that changed the planet, but now serves as a stupid inconvenience and a desk space waster.”

March: Alien Carnage
- “For this month’s Retro Review, I decided to review one of the many games from my past that I wish I had played more. Unfortunately, I only ever had the small, demo-like “shareware” version of Alien Carnage (Originally released as Halloween Harry) and if that wasn’t enough, the game’s mechanics were always a bit hard for me to grasp in my early years. Here I am to finish the job.”

April: Atomic Tanks
- “We all like a good destroy-and-conquer type game every now and then, but today’s games of this genre are just way too complicated it seems. We need to go back to our roots when games were just plain simple. This brings us to a game that I recently acquired much interest in and have already played way too many hours that destroying targets has become a pure science. This is the game only known as Atomic Tanks (not to be confused with Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank).”

May: Bio Menace
- “Bio Menace was one of the many games that I played as a youngling. It was one of those games that spawned in the 90s when the entertainment industry was enamored with gritty, bullet-proof hero-with-bad-guy tendencies that have awesome names like Snake, Ace, Maverick, Duke, Bunny and so on.”

July: USB 1.1
- “One port that rules them all! USB is the most widely used port in existence, so it only makes sense to honor the great history of the early days of USB in this month’s Retro Review.”

August: Cannon Fodder
- “Back in my early days of gaming, I remember going to a friends house and catching glimpses of his older brother playing this top-down military strategy game that captivated me. I never learned of this game’s name, so I was tortured by this mystery for many years.”

September: Super Mario Bros.
- “In honor of Super Mario Bros.‘ 25th birthday earlier this month, we’ll be celebrating with a Retro Review of the classic NES title. Released in 1985 and developed/published by Nintendo, Super Mario Bros. captured the hearts of millions of gamers around the world by selling over 40 million copies, which makes it the second best-selling video game of all time (Wii Sports is first). 25 years later, it is still a fan favorite amongst nostalgic gamers and today, I’ll be taking a trip back in time to see just how good this game was.”

October: SkiFree
- “This month’s Retro Review touches on a game that just about everyone has played or at least seen. SkiFreewas created in 1991 by a programmer at Microsoft, the game has seen several updates over the years, and today we pay homage to a true classic. If you’ve never heard of this game, then go drown yourself prepare yourself for one of the biggest classics since Super Mario Bros.”

I Could Eat is a feature that showcases a scrumptious snack or drink that we think other geeks and gamers “could eat” (in other words, would greatly enjoy). If you have any snacks or drinks that you think are worthy of an I Could Eat shout out, let us know!

It’s Christmas, so I wanted to do something festive. If I have to deal with all this Holiday music everywhere I go, then you’ll be suffering too. And, because it’s Christmas time, the best themed edible I could find was Santa’s face. As this Holiday’s mascot says: gobble gobble. [Editor's note: That's Thanksgiving, stupid.]

It’s at this point that I should note that I’m not actually eating Santa’s face. Rather, I’ll be eating a chocolate mold taken from the big man’s face and whiskers. But, if he shaved, eating Santa’s face wouldn’t make for a bad last-resort kinda situation. You could certainly do worse.

Anyway, what I’ll actually be eating is Santa’s chocolate face filled with crisped rice, provided to the Crunch line of Nestle’s candy brand. According to the nutrition facts, serving size is “one medallion”. This is certainly the first time I’ve seen Santa’s head –or any part of his anatomy, for that matter– referred to as a medallion. A pear, perhaps, but never a medallion.

During-Gaming Edibility

The best advice I can offer here is to break the medallion into bite-sized pieces before you begin gaming, and it should make for a fine snack. Alternatively, you can take pre-game measurements to make sure it’ll fit in one bite. However, I’ve found that no matter how it’s consumed, such a boring lump of chocolate just gets boring about half-way through.

How to Eat It

So it’s no secret that everyone first bites the head off any edible object that is shaped like anything with a head, right?  Well, this whole thing is the head. Half of the work is done, and you’re asking how to eat it?! With pride. Perhaps also with a little hope that you won’t have to pick Santa beard-hairs out of your teeth for the rest of the night.

Best Served With…

Drink with just about anything, but because it’s the season, try it with some sparkling grape juice, or Egg Nog if the bubbles tickle your nose too much. Keeping in mind the potential onset of bordem while eating, it might be worth countering with a fantastical and exciting drink that will keep you on-edge during the snacking procedures. I recommend something flammable and/or poisonous. [Editor's note: We can't tell our readers to poison themselves.] [Writer: In the words of our President: "Yes we can."]

A nice, hearty chunk of chocolate. But you just get bored half-way through

I Could Eat is a feature that showcases a scrumptious snack or drink that we think other geeks and gamers “could eat” (in other words, would greatly enjoy). If you have any snacks or drinks that you think are worthy of an I Could Eat shout out, let us know!

For several months, the Oreo Cakesters have taunted me from the shelves of the snack aisle. Could they really deliver on their promise of soft Oreos without the need for milk? Or was this all just marketing hype and black-magic trickery? Today I will put my money, mouth, and stomach on the line to answer this great mystery. Paramedics are standing by.

After getting the package home and tearing it apart like I’m Han Solo holding a frozen Luke Skywalker and the package is my Tauntaun, I am greeted by nothing more than chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Of course, this is a perfectly respectable snack, but I was expecting some grand experience, so now I have nothing to write about.

In the days leading up to my eventual demise and purchase of these strange sugary treats, I imagined regular Oreos that were soaked too long in milk, but in a potentially good way. Turns out they’re best described as a mini cupcake burger. Instead of a burger in the middle, you get white filling that tastes like cupcake frosting. And instead of bread buns, you get cupcake buns that taste like…well…cupcakes. Sadly, there’s no cheese.

During-Gaming Edibility

Though far from the perfect gaming snack, Oreo Cakesters are actually quite fantastic even when you’re in the middle of a tense 1v1 against xX_sUpA^sNiPa^420_Xx. Just be sure to follow the instructions in the paragraph below for best results.

How to Eat It

The old remove-the-top-and-eat-the-filling trick works impressively well with the Cakesters, but it’s far from ideal (especially while gaming) and just doesn’t offer the same experience as classic Oreos. Really, the best way to eat these is the same way you eat those mini donuts; by shoving one in your mouth and trying not to choke. Flying bits of chocolate and frosting may be entertaining when launched out of your mouth at high speeds, but I’ve been told that’s not the correct way to eat anything.

Best Served With…

Of course, the first thing that jumps to mind is the traditional glass of milk. Eating Oreo Cakesters with a glass of milk is accepted, but it’s not advised to dip because the Cakesters are already soft and cakey, and it could end in disaster that requires a deep-milk diving operation to recover all the remnants of the wreck. Otherwise, the Cakesters go great with anything. It is worth keeping in mind that these carry a massive sugar overload, even for seasoned veterans of the snack field like myself. You’ve been warned.

Undisputed kings of the casual gaming scene, PopCap Games entrust us with the third installment in what is arguably their most popular series yet, Bejeweled. Is there enough left to squeeze out of this tube of toothpaste? Or will we be left with an all-too-familiar feel that we just paid a hefty $20 for?

It’s safe to assume that we get at least as much gameplay as previous titles, since Bejeweled 3 relies on the same core mechanics of a square-shaped playing field packed with plenty of jewels to shift around and make matches of three or more for points and rewards. Deeper than that, Bejeweled 3 manages to bring new gametypes without making the core game feel foreign. The line between new and old has been walked almost perfectly by the team at PopCap. This makes it the deepest, most appealing and best-looking game in the series.

However, the game’s “Quest” (campaign) mode can get a little repetitive, doing many of the same tasks for each of the levels, but that comes with the territory of casual games. The mini games and challenges are broken up and swapped around enough to keep it fresh for the most part. The Quest mode also gets incrementally more difficult, so it should keep you on your toes for a little while at least.

Long-time fans and newcomers to the series alike will be refreshed and entertained by the perfectly aged and refined Bejeweled formula found here. The addition of new gametypes and challenges only makes the experience that much better.

One of Bejeweled 3‘s newest features is an endless “Zen mode” that allows you to customize your gameplay experience even more. You can change the background music to relaxing ambient and nature sounds, and also enable “Breath Modulation” to guide your breathing, which helps you relax and cool down. You can also enable some built-in “binaural beats”. This is an interesting aspect that is best explained as mood-altering subconscious sounds that are played behind the game’s music. Binaural beats are pretty confusing for those that don’t already know about them, so you might want to check out the Wikipedia page for some more in-depth info. We’ll be testing Bejeweled 3′s binaural beats with a dedicated article in the coming weeks, so watch for that!

If you’ve never played any title in the Bejeweled series (or even if you have), then you can grab the 60-minute-limited Bejeweled 3 demo here and let us know what you think in the comments!

Scores

- Graphics: 8
Despite still relying on 2D graphics, Bejeweled 3 manages to pack in great visual effects and is by far the most crisp-looking game of the series. It even supports proper HD resolutions without stretching any of the 2D sprites.

- Storyline: N/A
None to speak of.

- Gameplay: 9
While it may not be appealing to the pro/l33t/uber gamers of the world, it really doesn’t get much better than Bejeweled when it comes to pleasing everyone else.

- Controls: N/A
If you’ve got a mouse and at least one finger, you should be good to go.

- Lasting Appeal: 9
There’s casual games and then there’s good casual games. The main difference? Replayability and that rewarding yet simple gameplay that’s easy to enjoy in bite-sized gaming sessions. You can guess which category Bejeweled 3 sits in.

Score: 9 Olives

Still not convinced that Super Meat Boy is a really good game? We can’t blame you. We wouldn’t trust us either. For even more opinions, we had to search a little deeper for PC reviews of Team Meat’s challenging platformer simply because nobody gives a crap about PC indie games anymore (except us).

PC Gamer – 90/100
“A delightfully challenging platformer, and the most fun you’ll have by dying repeatedly.”

GamingExcellence – 9.5/10
“If you’ve been looking for a good platformer that actually holds up and lasts for more than a few hours then this is the game for you.”

IGN – 9.0/10
“Super Meat Boy is one of the best modern platformers. It’s infuriating, exasperating, and arduous, but it’s also delightful, thrilling, and hilarious.”