<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.explosion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bioshock1.jpeg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25976" alt="bioshock1" src="http://www.explosion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bioshock1-300x168.jpeg" width="300" height="168" /></a></p>
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<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">BioShock Infinite</span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr">BioShock fans were going stir crazy in the early spring of 2013. First, Irrational’s follow up to one of the greatest games of the past generation was delayed out of 2012, then delayed again from February to March. The wait seemed almost unbearable, but fortunately it was well worth it. Nearly five years after BioShock took players on a run-and-gun thrill ride through the dark depths of Rapture, creative director Ken Levine returned to the same universe with new protagonists and a new world to destroy.</p>
<p dir="ltr">There are a lot of games that boasted amazing atmospheres in 2013, but Infinite’s stand out as the most dynamic and the most unexpected. While people tend to associate great atmosphere with oppressively dark worlds, BioShock Infinite sucked you in with its striking beauty in the game&#8217;s opening hours. Wandering through the awe-inspiring world of Columbia, then watching it burn before your eyes is a rollercoaster ride that proudly stands alongside its Rapture counterpart, providing just as many breathless sequences as its predecessor. The devil is in the details and the painstaking efforts of Irrational shine through as a loving hand can be found in every inch of the gorgeous city in the clouds</p>
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<p dir="ltr">BioShock Infinite riffs on the gameplay of its highly praised roots, continuing to force players to mix up old-school gunplay and elemental superpowers. The gameplay is pretty straightforward: See bad guy, shoot bad guy, but Levine and his team at Irrational pepper these sequences with life to give them new meaning. Infinite stands out by making its combat more dynamic, adding Elizabeth into the fray to feed you weapons and ammo, making each battle feel unique and different. You never know when things will get bleak and your charming companion will toss you just enough health to keep fighting, or the rounds needed to finish your boss fight. As opposed to the original BioShock, Infinite plays with the structure of interaction and exploration, giving you more characters that respond to your actions and more inventive ways to mess with the world around you.</p>
<p dir="ltr">While BioShock Infinite may start innocently enough, the game goes to dark places quickly, sending Booker DeWitt and the wonderfully interesting Elizabeth through a series of increasingly bizarre and brutally violent scenarios. In the later half of the game, the team at Irrational find new ways to haunt players and change the dynamics of a game you can try to predict, but will often leave you reeling. The imagery of these moments, like a little girl singing “Fortunate Son” while the fires of revolution burn around her, or of a New York skyline on fire while Elizabeth looks on, or of a hateful spirit floating in a graveyard, are created by filling an environment with powerful tools and letting the players create their own special moments. These moments are what BioShock Infinite is made of, special seconds where a hurricane of brilliance comes together to leave you with jaw dropping memories.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The moments that make BioShock Infinite are only made possible because of the two special characters that propel the game forward. Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth hardly represent the first codependent couple to grace video games, but the two character play off each other with such honesty that they lure players in through touching and simple moments. People often make the mistake of heralding BioShock Infinite’s convoluted and high-brown sci-fi ending, but the story is really told in the moments shared between Booker and Elizabeth. Whether you are dancing on the docks, or carrying her from a terrifying laboratory, Elizabeth and your&#8211;or Booker’s&#8211;connection to her is where the real narrative magic of BioShock Infinite happens.</p>
<p dir="ltr">BioShock Infinite is a game that will pull at you long after you have finished&#8211;or even finished it twice. The game has reestablished Levine as a video game legend, and continued the BioShock name with a pride that all fans are sure to appreciate. BioShock Infinite is a game as hauntingly beautiful as it is creatively ingenious, a rare combination that adds up to one of the finest titles you can find on the previous generation, and definitely of the last year.</p>
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<p> <a href="http://www.explosion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Rayman-Legends2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-34122" alt="Rayman-Legends2" src="http://www.explosion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Rayman-Legends2-300x168.jpg" width="300" height="168" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Rayman Legends</span></p>
<p>The success of Rayman Origins was not only a true surprise, but also a pure joy when it came out in 2011. It is hard to find pure, big-budget platformers these days that have the daring personality the Rayman series has found, and it is good to see that the team behind the Rayman series continue with its initial vision. Rayman Legends packs all of the charm, flavor, and sheer love of its predecessor into this year’s sequel and finds ways to make it even more amazing. Rayman has dozens of levels, hundreds of challenges, and thousands of collectibles, even more impressive is that the game finds a way to make all of these things ridiculously fun.</p>
<p>The gameplay of Rayman Legends is tight and incredibly demanding. The game loses some of its challenge from Origins, but finds a much better pacing. Whereas Origins sometimes lost players after hitting a specific challenge, Legends manage to continue dangling the carrot in front of the player, keeping them sucked-in to the game’s finely crafted levels. Rayman is all about platforming, all about its well crafted levels and driving players through them time and time again. This all goes back to the stop-on-dime controls that keep the game fun and fresh.</p>
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<p>The level design of Rayman Legends is some of the best that you will in video games. Sharpening the pacing from Origins, Legends feels less like a grind and more like something you will want to return to. The levels might not be as thematically sound as Legend&#8217;s title might suggest, but they all introduce interesting mechanics and force players to think in different ways. Whether you are sneaking through the pipes of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or flying through the clouds in a Greek Mythology-inspired level, each world is a brilliantly crafted blend of enjoyment and challenge. Legends doesn’t only boast fantastic level design, but also a series of fun side games; you can compete against friends in a bizarre football game or even return to some of the fantastic levels from Rayman Origins. There are an abundance of ways to spend your time with Rayman Legends, which all feel fresh and engaging.</p>
<p>The highlight of the game, the biggest triumph of Rayman Legends is its incredibly inventive music levels. Every level of the game is a blast, but these music levels are the ultimate reward for moving forward with the game. The addictive tunes and fast-paced nature of the levels demand precision, but wrap you up in such a feeling of joy you will find yourself attempting them until you can complete the songs without interruption. Not only are these levels fantastic, but the quirky genius of the arrangements themselves deserves acknowledgement, such as the kazoo cover of Eye of the Tiger or the castle motif surrounding Black Betty. These levels are worth the price of Rayman Legends all on their own.</p>
<p>Rayman Legends is the most fun I have had platforming in the last year and it is all due to the creativity and fine-tuned game design. The genre Rayman exists in is often dominated by indie games and Mario, but it is nice to see Ubisoft continue to support their own title, and not only support it, but demand a level of quality second to none. Rayman Legends is one of the best games you will find this year, it will surprise you as much as it will delight you and anyone who loves games owes it to themselves to play it.</p>

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