Keep a tissue at the ready as we bid Tim a fond farewell. But before he takes his final bow, we explore the light and dark sides of BioWare with Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Mass Effect 3 demo. Plus The Horror Geek tackles Final Fantasy XIII-2; surely it can't be worse than its predecessor... or can it? Featuring Tim "Yup, I put my name first" Spaeth, Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Richard Naik.

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The only interesting thing about NeverDead is that it's not actually as bad as it seems after you've beaten it. I don't mean that NeverDead is secretly a good game. It truly stinks, mostly for boring reasons—awkward and mushy controls, inconsistent mechanics, stock characters, vapid story. However, NeverDead leaves an even worse impression than it deserves to, because its concluding bosses exhibit excruciatingly stupid design.

More than Just Eye Candy

HIGH Gorgeous illustrations and plenty of heartthrobs for all persuasions.

LOW A little lacking in the romance department for an otome game.

WTF Since when did Hijikata of the Shinsengumi swear like a sailor?

Greetings all. We're trying out a bit of an experiment here, and no, it isn't "how many times can I fit the word 'game' into the headline?" It's the first ever GameCritics game night, which will hopefully give our wonderful community the chance to play, interact, and mercilessly embarrass each other all in the name of good-natured fun.

The first game that we're going to try is Team Fortress 2, for which we've set up our own server (details below). If you haven't played before/aren't experienced, don't worry! This is going to be about having fun above all else, and all skill levels are welcome.

The first date we're shooting for will be Thursday Feb. 23rd, at 7pm CST/8pm EST. I will also post an announcement in the Steam group around that time. Also, we'd like to know what games you would like to see for possible future game nights-post your suggestions in the comments.

Hope to see you there!

TF2 server address (add to favorites in the game): 8.6.75.26:27015

Steam group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/gamecritics

You Face a Dúnadan Now!

HIGH The environments and weapon/armor models look great.

LOW "Defend this point for X amount of time" wears out its welcome fast and early.

WTF Three people defeat an entire siege by themselves. Maybe Aragorn should have taken them with the Fellowship instead.

Welcome back again! Here's Part Four of our fantastic discussion with Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid.

In this piece, you'll hear more about Braid's shifting story, we discuss fulfilling out own artistic expectations, and we get into his new game, The Witness!

What if the Prince of Persia left an 8-Bit Iran and landed in present day Israel? Could he cope in this new land? As you might expect, things didn't go so well.

So, the Mass Effect 3 demo. I hesitate to bring it up, but I can't let it pass without making at least a few brief comments. First off, I really hope that the game addresses Ashley's radical make over... if the game hadn't told me that's who it was, I never would have recognized her, and I don't mean that in a good way.

Quadrilaterals Unlock Barred Egresses

HIGH Being stumped on a puzzle until that eureka/euphoria moment hits.

LOW Laser puzzles that show up out of nowhere, and just as swiftly vanish.

WTF Just what is the protagonist? Male? Female? Robot? Ghost-possessed gloves?

Dynasty Warriors wouldn't generally be considered broken, but it has been negatively seen by a large portion of critics out there. This series saw its best ratings early on, but as time passed, the ratings continued to drop. Warriors (as a whole) isn't safe from the ire of the gaming masses, but it's still a game that I love to call my guilty pleasure.