Developer: 343 Industries
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Genre: Sci-Fi FPS
Players: 1-2 for campaign, 2-4 for single-console multiplayer, 2-16 online
Console: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Hours Played: 6 hours 47 minutes in campaign, 14+ hours in multiplayer
Progress: Completed the campaign doing the first 3 chapters in Heroic and the last few in Normal. Reached SR 19 in online multiplayer.  Played a good deal of local multiplayer including a lot of Grifball.

The reins for the famous Halo series were handed over to 343 Industries from Bungie after their polarizing release of Halo Reach in 2010.  The release of 343’s first main series Halo game was met with considerable hesitation from the gaming community, which is understandable considering how this is one of the first AAA game series to completely and permanently switch development studios in modern gaming history.  Some people were worried that 343 might tarnish their beloved series falling short of Bungie’s original magic, while others were hopeful that the switch might cure the Halo series of the stagnation it was experiencing in the hands of its creators.  Is Halo 4 a step in the right direction for Microsoft’s flagship game series, or does it fall short of the glory of the series’ earlier entries? Perhaps we should just lose faith in the series and start a poker binge on partycasino.com, or whatever it is us gamers do in our spare time instead.  Read on to see what we thought of our latest jaunt with The Chief. 

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Developer: 5th Cell
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Genre: Online third-person shooter
Players: 1 (2-6 online)
Console: Xbox 360 (XBLA)
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Progress: Reached Level 10 (Sergeant)

5th Cell is known mostly for their very ambitious Scribblenauts games, but in an uncharacteristic move they decided to try their hand at making a Source engine shooter for the Xbox 360.  Does Hybrid end up being a unique and valuable take on its genre like 5th Cell’s Run Roo Run iOS game or does it end up just missing the mark like too many of their other titles?  Read on to find out what we thought of 5th Cell’s apocalyptic shooter.

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Developer: Tequila Works
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Genre: Survival Horror Platformer
Players: 1
Console: Xbox 360 (XBLA)
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Hours Played: 5-6
Progress: Beat main game and beat the highscore on one of the unlockable LCD minigames

It seems like every second or third M-rated game that comes out these days has something to do with zombies.  If it’s not a blatantly zombie-centric game like The Walking Dead, Left 4 Dead 1/2 or Dead Rising 1/2, then zombies will all too often be worked-in somehow as in games like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Red Dead Redemption, ARMA 2 and Borderlands.  One genre that hasn’t been too saturated in zombies as of late, though, is platforming games. Deadlight steps up to the plate as one of the more highly anticipated entries in this year’s Xbox Live Summer of Arcade by putting zombies into the moody platformer mix.  Does Deadlight live up to its anticipation, based largely on the generally high quality of titles released in each year’s Summer of Arcade, or does it become mired its many aspects often seen as technical faults like being from an indie development team and containing zombies?  Read on to see what our zombie-bashing playthough uncovered.

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