Super Powers

No Love on This Battlefield

HIGH More screen time for the Hakuoki hunks.

LOW The gameplay.

WTF The best thing I can say about the game is that it has nice character designs.

It's a Tomb Raider extravaganza! We dish on the latest incarnation of Lara Croft, female protagonists in general, and the state of the "Cinematic Action" genre, a term which I claim full credit for coining. With Richard Naik, Brad Gallaway, Ashley King, Sara Rich, and (later on) Tim "Skype Connection Dropped" Spaeth.

Also, check out this article by our good friend Rhea Monique if you have time. Well worth a read.

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Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Extra Credits talks about the "exposition dump." What is that, you ask? The "exposition dump" is one of the easiest ways with which a developer can tell a story, explain a game world or explain a game world's rules. Even lauded game designers like Hideo Kojima use this method to tell a story—and why not, if Metal Gear Solid's success is any indication, there are few repercussions for overusing it. Thankfully, there are examples of doing the opposite and being rewarded for it. The Half-Life series, Fallout 3 and Journey are examples of doing it right.

Still a D*ck

HIGH Seeing that Vergil has his own fully-developed skill trees.

LOW Too many of those irritating Wisps.

WTF Why isn't Mission 5 the final mission?

Dante Must Combat

HIGH More glorious DmC combat...

LOW ...that takes too long to really get going.

WTF The time required for an entire session is substantial.

The Return of the Ripper

HIGH A spectacular boss battle with a sai-wielding man made out of magnets.

LOW Finding out who the final boss is.

WTF I normally don't like heavy metal music, so why do I like this soundtrack so much?

A Vapid Beauty

HIGH The dance number after the credits roll.

LOW The "story" is a bloated, empty mess of half-realized nonsense.

WTF Why is Jeanne glowing there?

Better Than the Devil You Knew

HIGH The Barbas battle is a true showstopper.

LOW Vergil is… kind of a dick.

WTF The awkward button combos required for Devil/Angel dodges.

Today I had the chance to visit Signal Studios located in Kirkland, Washington, and I spent about three hours talking with the good people hard at work on the upcoming free-to-play Ascend: New Gods coming to XBLA and other platforms to be announced.