Hey all! It's unusual for us to take down a review, but we unfortunately had to do so today with our review of All Zombies Must Die, an unreleased Xbox Live Arcade game. The reason for this has nothing to do with the content of the review but, rather, a miscommunication regarding the review's embargo date.

If you don't know what an embargo is, here's the gist: Publishers and developers sometimes give us advance review code of their games. The twist is that we can't publish it whenever we want but, rather, at a specified time provided by the publisher or developer. (Of course, once a game is on shelves, it's fair game.) The original embargo date and time provided to us for All Zombies Must Die was today, December 21, at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. As it turns out, the embargo was changed because the game was delayed, but we didn't receive the notification sent to various publications.

Out of respect for the developer of the game, we have decided to unpublish the review until the new embargo time has arrived. When it does, the review will be published without change. I just wanted to make sure we were being as transparent as possible about the circumstance. If you have any questions, you are always welcome to send me a private message (username: kevin-v).

And in case I don't get another opportunity to say so: Happy Holidays!

-Kevin VanOrd, Senior Editor

If you're anything like most of us at GameSpot, you can't wait to get your hands on Battlefield 3 next week. You might also be expecting to check out reviews of the game this side of the weekend, but I'm afraid that's not going to happen.

Just yesterday we received an email asking us to confirm our mailing address because review copies of Battlefield 3 are coming soon. More specifically, the email explained that the game will be making its way to our mailboxes "early next week." In case any of you have lost track of time during this busy fall season, Battlefield 3's release date of October 25 is also "early next week." Clearly, receiving a game so close to its release makes it impossible for us to deliver a timely review.

The silver lining here is that Electronic Arts' thinking behind not sending out copies of the game early appears to be very much in line with our own reviews policy. Day-one updates sometimes make it hard for us to review the exact same game that you'll be playing on launch day, but we never knowingly review from unfinished builds of games, and on consoles we always insist on testing copies that will run on retail hardware (as opposed to debug/test kits) before committing to a review score. EA and DICE want to make sure that everyone reviews the game that you'll be playing at launch rather than the game that's on your disc, and we really can't fault them for that. Here's the official line:

Copies are set to arrive on Tuesday because there is a Day 1 update. DICE are perfectionists -- they will not stop polishing the game until it is in your hands. The Day 1 update incorporates real-time feedback from the beta, ensuring that the consumer experience on launch day is outstanding. It is the actual consumer experience that we wish to be reviewed. The game with the Day 1 update will be available for review on Oct. 25.

At the time of writing it looks like we might be able to get our hands on a PC version of the game (complete with launch-day patch) this side of the weekend, which is great news for our reviewer and for any of you hoping to read a review before making a purchase. Where the console versions are concerned, though, it looks like we'll be stepping out onto the battlefield for the first time alongside many of you.

The soul harbors many mysteries.

It's appropriate, then, that Dark Souls harbors a multitude of them as well. I've been playing the follow-up/non-sequel to Demon's Souls for over a week now, and I have uncovered some of this game's secrets, but many horrors and delights still await. Demon's Souls sunk its claws into me, poisoning me with its glory. That game coursed through my veins so that I was living it--feeling it--whether I was at work or at play. How impressive that Dark Souls' invasion of my being is even more complete than I thought possible. I breathe this world; it fills my lungs until I am high on the dread and fear it instills in me. This might be the most terrifying game you'll ever play.

A full review comes next week, but for now, I wanted to give you a taste of this action role-playing game's delicious stench. Explaining how a stench can be delicious is difficult, but if you played Demon's Souls, you might understand what I mean. The world has weight. The thick atmosphere burdens you. In the depths of Darkroot Forest, you walk cautiously, wondering when the foliage might turn homicidal. In the dreary burg of Blighttown, you can almost smell the swamp gas as you trudge through the marsh, fending off fire-breathing monsters on your way to the ghastly spider-lady who awaits at the end of your journey.

And through it all, you can expect to die. Often. Death is woven into the experience, though the particulars have changed. In Demon's Souls, death took you to the hub zone known as The Nexus. But Dark Souls is an actual world, rather than separate levels connected by a hub. After the tutorial, you begin the game proper at Firelink Shrine. You then set out to explore, making your way through the game's interconnected regions. Within them, you find bonfires, where you can rest, level up, replenish your supply of health flasks, resupply the number of spells you can cast, and perform a number of other tasks. (Though you do have to purchase the ability to do certain things, such as upgrade your equipment.) When you rest at a bonfire, you set it as your spawn point upon death. The caveat? Every time you rest--just like when you die--most creatures you defeated respawn, and you have to battle your way through them again.

And what a world this is; I am 80 hours in and still pushing ahead. Slowly. It's a treat to defeat a boss and encounter a new area, as well as the new creatures within it. Dark Souls is much, much larger and even more atmospheric than Demon's Souls. You explore a fortress filled with deadly traps and long-necked lizardmen; a valley infested with lightning-spewing drakes; a castle guarded by towering dark knights; and other incredible-looking regions. The creatures that murder you repeatedly are some of the most fabulous ever devised. You've seen rats before--but Dark Souls' rats? The glowing gashes infecting their skin make them more grotesque than garden-variety rats. Shambling undead, flame-spewing bugs, and giant trolls that roll boulders at you are just some of the standard enemies. But the bosses are something special. After many grueling attempts, I have triumphed over a humongous demon coated with flames; a gigantic wolf wielding a sword in its mouth; and a creature called a gaping dragon. I'll let you imagine what such a monstrosity might look like. Or better yet, allow me to show you:

Oh yes. It gapes, all right.

Some mechanics have been changed, and others have been added. For instance, you earn a rare currency called humanity and use it to regain your human nature. Possessing humanity has its advantages, perhaps the handiest of which is the ability to "kindle" at a bonfire. Doing so increases the number of healing flasks you earn at a particular bonfire when resting. The covenant system is a brand new mechanic in which you align yourself with a particular faction. The reasons to join a faction are numerous. For example, I am currently in the Forest Hunter covenant, which allows me to traverse through certain areas without being attacked. There are multiplayer benefits as well, though at this early stage, those benefits aren't immediately obvious. (In some cases, you can have a beneficial effect in another player's world; in others, you gain access to unique spells.) I haven't yet experienced how covenants affect your interactions with other players, but betraying your covenant might have dire consequences.

As for standard multiplayer interactions, well, you still see ghosts of other players and encounter bloodstains that show you the final seconds of another player's life. You still may write messages to other players, as well as view and rate other messages. And you can still summon/be summoned to the worlds of other players--or invade them. Invasions have returned as well, but some parameters have changed. For instance, a key non-player character was killed in my game, and I was given the chance to invade the world of the phantom that assassinated her.

As you can tell, Dark Souls is complex, sometimes extraordinarily so. Everything you do has consequences, but sometimes, those consequences are a mystery. And that's part of the joy. You never know what is around the bend or what fate might befall you if you don't take care as you make your way through this extraordinarily challenging game. At one point, I had bizarre froglike creatures breathe a cursing mist all over me, causing me to become cursed. Becoming cursed means losing half of your health bar, and lifting the curse involved sprinting through the murky New Londo ruins, avoiding ghosts while seeking the special healer who could lift the curse. After idling for too long in a demon's abode, a bulbous growth sprouted on my head, and I could no longer equip a helmet. Now I have a giant tumor growing on my neck instead of a head and no access to the defensive benefits of the black-hemmed hood I love so much!

And yes, Dark Souls is exceedingly difficult, but it's almost always fair. Like Demon's Souls, it has its quirks. The lock-on system hasn't changed, so if you don't manage it properly, you might whip the camera around rather than target an enemy or lose your lock if a boss jumps too far away from you. And the frame rate can get a little rough from time to time, especially in Blighttown and Darkfalls Basin. But it rarely interferes with the combat, which is still ultraprecise. When you die--as you so often will--it is because you didn't manage combat properly. I could go on and on about Dark Souls and the unique pleasures within it. What game could make me shout, sweat, and gnash my teeth--and yet make me want to spend every waking hour playing it? What RPG could so forcefully break the rules we've come to expect from most games, yet never feel cheap or unfair? For now, I will simply say this: It's good. You'll find out just how good soon enough.

I know what you're thinking: There can't be a review in progress for Age of Empires Online; it's free-to-play, and GameSpot doesn't review free-to-play games. Wrong. At least as of sometime next week when our review of Age of Empires Online is expected to post. We've largely ignored free-to-play games in the past, but they're becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from retail games, and more importantly, some of them are a lot of fun. Reviews for these games won't be radically different from those that you already see on GameSpot, but there will undoubtedly be some subtle differences. Value for money isn't a consideration when a game costs nothing to play, for example, but whether or not these games can really be enjoyed for free definitely is.

These advisor bonuses are available only when you play as a premium civilization.

There's no doubt that you can have fun playing Age of Empires Online without spending any money whatsoever, but both the promotion and pricing of its premium content options are aggressive. After choosing to play as either the Greeks (which I'm playing as currently) or the Egyptians, the game rarely misses an opportunity to remind you that for only $20 you can upgrade your chosen civilization to a premium civilization. What does that $20 buy you? You can use/equip rare and epic loot items that otherwise just sit in your inventory waiting to be sold, your inventory expands from a maximum of two warehouses to five, and otherwise unavailable buildings for your city grant you access to party PVP options and additional unit types and crafting options, to name but a few.

I spent maybe seven or eight hours playing for free before going premium, and right now I feel like that $20 was well spent. Other premium options right now include the Egyptian premium civilization for $20, a horde mode of sorts set on the island of Crete for $10, and four Empire Extras packs containing statues and plants for your customizable hub city that run $5 each. Launch offers include buying both premium civilizations and the Crete pack for $40, or paying $100 for everything that's available now and everything that's released in the next six months. Since I opted for that last option, I can tell you that this isn't just the most expensive free-to-play game I've ever played (World of Tanks is the only other one that I've spent money on to date); it's one of the most expensive games I've ever played, period.

Enemy AI isn't great, but it sure is aggressive.

Fortunately, I'm enjoying my time with Age of Empires Online. I like the colorful and cartoony visual style, the uncomplicated RTS gameplay, and the way that MMO staples like crafting, leveling, skill tree, questing, and loot have been incorporated. Repeatable quests are an MMO trope that I'm far less excited about, but they at least afford an opportunity to level up and grab more loot for my units if I get stuck on one of the more challenging campaign quests. For the moment, I'm also not having much fun with PVP. Almost every time I try it I get randomly matched up against an enemy several levels higher than I am, so not only are most of these guys better than me (I freely admit that my tendency to turtle doesn't seem well suited to AOE Online and I'm having trouble adjusting), but they're coming at me with units sporting better gear and, worse still, units that I don't even have access to yet. I daresay the odds will change in my favor at some point (I'm currently level 20, and the level cap is 40), but I don't particularly want to be matched up with opponents who are lower level than I am either.

Before delivering the full review next week I need to spend some more time with the Greek campaign, check out the Egyptians, get into some more PVP battles, and take advantage of the co-op option, which--based on what I read in the ever-present chat window--can make some of the challenging quests significantly easier. If you're already playing and happen to be on the Athens server, feel free to look me up and lend a hand. I'm playing as JusticeCovert.

Earlier this week, the Agents of Change downloadable content pack was released for Bethesda's class-based shooter, Brink. The pack includes two new maps, two new outfits, two new weapon attachments, and five new abilities, and I spent some time with each new element to see if Agents of Change is worth your time. Note that I didn't say "worth your money." Agents of Change is currently free to download for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC owners alike, though Bethesda has announced that it plans to charge 10 dollars for it once two weeks have passed. The only cost now is about five hundred megabytes of storage space. If you're still playing Brink actively, then the download is a no-brainer, but is it worth going back to the Ark if you've already moved on? Read on for descriptions of each shiny new element and how it fares on the battlefield.

First up, let's talk maps. Labs and Founders' Tower both take place in the well-manicured, Security-occupied areas of the Ark. In Labs, the Resistance is on a mission to steal a sample of Arkoral, the ivory-white substance that forms the floating structure of the Ark, and Security must stop them. In Founders' Tower, Security goes on the offensive as they try to break into the Resistance-occupied spire to prevent an explosive act of sabotage. Labs is the weaker of the two, and the two hotspots, both located in large indoor rooms with balconies offering elevated vantage points, feel overly similar. There's a lot of doorway combat in both of these areas, and not a lot of ways in or out, which makes the map feel limited.

Founders' Tower covers more ground, providing a more diverse combat experience. Security first infiltrates through a labyrinthine courtyard with a lot of different levels to traverse and then enters the tower proper for one of Brink's most vertical environments. Each floor isn't very spacious, so there's a lot of climbing and descending aided by an abundance of ramps, scaffolding, and construction material. Light characters can find a bunch of sneaky routes, which keeps the defenders on their toes and discourages pitched firefights. If you happen to spot a character in skinny jeans and runny clown makeup, don't worry. You haven't run into an Insane Clown Posse concert; you're just spotting one of the new outfits. Likewise you might see a crisply dressed bobby (read: British police officer) who looks like he's about to issue a citation.

Weapon Attachments

The next two videos feature the new weapon attachments and abilities, respectively. After each video, I've included Brink's description of the item in question followed by a brief evaluation of whether it's fit for battle or best left on the customization shelf.

Bayonet

This replaces your normal weapon melee strike with a much more powerful stab. You'll no longer knock enemies down, but will do significantly more damage.

This bottom attachment can be used with assault rifles and submachine guns only. It certainly does pack a more powerful stab, and melee kills with this pointy prod yield a juicy squelching noise. It won't kill on the first hit unless your opponent is weakened, but it will, contrary to the description, knock your enemy down. A second hit is always fatal, and players who like to sprint in for the kill and slide-tackle opponents should find this useful. Those who prefer to avoid getting close because of the occasionally finicky melee mechanic should give this a pass, as it negatively affects your gun's stability and equip speed.

Weapon Shield

The weapon shield can protect you from direct enemy fire but does not provide complete protection.

This bottom attachment can be used only with assault rifles, so light characters can't make use of its mild protective powers. I found it came in handy during mid- to long-range firefights when I was crouched and shooting it out with another player. It definitely helps even the odds when trying to take out someone at a machine gun emplacement, but it is a huge drain on your equip speed.

Abilities

Agents of Change brings one new ability for each category (universal and individual classes), but you have to be Rank 5 to use them. If you haven't maxed out at level 20 yet, you're going to need to get there before you can unlock these new additions. Agents of Change also raises the level cap to 24, giving maxed-out players a bit more room to accrue abilities.

Tactical Scanner - Universal

Tactical scanner lets you see class indicators for up to four buffs on enemy players when aiming at them, rather than just their health, letting you prioritize your targets more efficiently. Please note, if the enemy has more than four buffs, the scanner will not reveal the additional ones.

This is a small aid at best. In addition to seeing enemy health bars and class icons, you now see smaller class icons lined up underneath the health bar indicating what buffs the player has. It's tough to decipher the small icons in the heat of combat, and only slightly easier if you're sniping from longer range. But even if you aren't dissecting who has what buff, seeing a bunch of icons lined up over an enemy's head can make you a bit more cautious. If you're the kind of player who doesn't need reminding, however, there are better ways to spend your credits.

Napalm Grenades - Soldier

Napalm grenades blanket an area with fire that will damage all enemies who try to pass through it. The napalm will last for a short time and then burn out. There is a cooldown period between successive uses.

As any good soldier knows, throwing firebombs at your enemies is a fun and effective battlefield pastime. Unlike the Molotov cocktail, napalm grenades don't knock your enemies down. Instead, they do damage on explosion and leave nasty little fires burning on the ground. These fires are helpful for temporarily blocking doorways or scattering an enemy advance, but they burn for a disappointingly short amount of time (possibly making you yearn for the sticking power of the operative's caltrop grenades).

Field Regen Unit - Medic

Field regen units, when deployed, will automatically increase the health regeneration rate of any teammates nearby.

This is a great support tool and easily the most powerful ability Agents of Change has to offer. The field regen unit creates a cloud of increased metabolism vibes, helping any friendlies nearby heal faster and stay alive longer. Parking this bad boy near a contested entryway or in the middle of an allied sniper nest gives your team a significant edge in combat, and opposing players would do well to grenade any FRUs they see. This ability definitely earns a spot on your directional pad for its support capabilities, and the harvest of experience you reap for a well-placed FRU is a nice bonus.

Pyro Mine - Engineer

Pyro mines can be deployed like land mines but deal increased fire damage to enemies.

With a turret, land mines, and the new pyro mine in his directional pad, the engineer has the capability to make the battlefield a lot more dangerous. Once these mines explode, the result is similar to the soldier's napalm grenade. A damaging fire blazes strongly for a few long seconds but then is over too soon to confer a real tactical advantage.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle - Operative

The UAV lets you place or remotely control a small spy drone. Any enemies the UAV sees, your teammates see. You can also remotely detonate it.

Tiny helicopters have found effective roles in many recent shooters, but the one in Brink is only so-so. Once you activate it, the little guy just sits there until you take remote control. Once it's airborne, any enemies you see will appear on your team's radar. It doesn't handle very well in flight, and you can't manually change the altitude, so you are left hovering at about head height without the ability to surmount obstacles or fly up to a second story. Whoever heard of a helicopter needing to take the stairs? The one redeeming feature is the remote detonation ability, which can easily kill an enemy or two if you are close enough. Also, there's no cooldown period on the UAV, so you can find a safe place and keep spawning little flying bombs until you run out of supplies.

The more gun there is between you and your target, the better.

Despite the uneven quality of the abilities, Agents of Change does provide some nice new toys to play with in Brink. If you're at all interested in revisiting the Ark, you should download this pack soon, because it's going to be free for only the next two weeks. It's definitely not worth the 10 dollars they are planning to charge for it, but if you've got some free hard drive space and a hankering for parkour gunfights, Agents of Change is a good bet.

BONUS: Achievement/Trophy List

Science Maven - Win Labs as both factions in Campaign mode

Towering Achievement - Win Founders' Tower as both factions in Campaign mode

A Burning Thing - Kill an enemy with a napalm grenade

Pyromancer - Kill an enemy with a pyro mine

Remote Control - Kill an enemy with a UAV

Mutual Support - Have a field regen unit buff more than three players simultaneously

Ark King - Reach level 24

Shooter fans: Today was the day Crytek officially released its DirectX 11 update to Crysis 2--an update many a PC gamer believed should have been part of the game in the first place. Regardless, we took some time today to download both the DirectX 11 update and the high-res texture pack. And this Wednesday, there shall be even more downloadable happiness available, in the form of a mission editor, which I'm hoping to spend some time with, if time permits.

The updates add features you'd hope to see in a DirectX 11 game: tessellation, high dynamic range motion blur, improved water rendering, and more. In effect, the changes take an already attractive game and make it look even more stunning. Particle shadows and motion blur are particular striking in sequences with a lot of destruction, and the HDR post processing makes moving from a darker area into an area bathed in sunlight momentarily breathtaking. My work PC took only the slightest frame rate hit when compared to the original, only rarely dropping under a solid 60 frames per second.

The recent trailer does a good job of comparing the enhancements. In addition, we took a few gameplay movies and screens for you to gaze at, though the differences at a glance will likely be minimal to those not searching for them. I am hoping to get some pre- and post-patch screens tonight to share tomorrow, but I hope you enjoy these in the meanwhile!

As I mentioned in my recent Reality Check column, when MX vs. ATV Alive arrived in stores earlier this week, we had yet to receive anything resembling a reviewable copy of the game. The good news is that shortly after the aforementioned column was written, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 retail copies of the game arrived in the mail. I've spent several hours checking out both versions since then, and our review won't be ready until early next week, but I wanted to post a heads-up on how the game is treating me thus far.

The first thing I noticed about MX vs. ATV Alive is that it doesn't feature a career mode. Rather, you simply have a persistent character across all single-player and multiplayer races who levels up the more you play. That's all well and good, except that your rider needs to reach level 10 before you unlock a decent number of tracks on which to race. Prior to that, you have only four full tracks (two of which need to be downloaded using a code that comes with new copies of the game, so they're currently unavailable on the PS3), two short tracks, and two free-ride locales. Racing the same tracks over and over again isn't a huge deal because they're well designed and there are multiple difficulty levels to choose from, but MX vs. ATV Alive definitely feels repetitive early on because so little of its content is unlocked.

Like MX vs. ATV Reflex before it, Alive is played using a dual-stick control system; the left stick steers your chosen vehicle while the right controls your rider. It's a good setup, and it's taken me a little while to get comfortable with it, but it makes getting huge air off of ramps and successfully negotiating sequences of humps pretty satisfying. I'm mostly playing on the default and Pro difficulty levels right now, and I feel like the game is posing a pretty decent challenge. Unlocking upgrades for bikes and ATVs (vehicles level up independent of you depending on how often you use them) makes winning races much easier, but that's quickly remedied by cranking up the difficulty, at which point you earn experience more quickly.

You can also race online if you're looking for a challenge, of course, though for obvious reasons, I'm currently only able to test this on the Xbox 360. I've yet to race in a full field of 12 riders, but getting into lag-free races with seven or eight other players hasn't been a problem at all. My rider is currently at level 15, and I'm hopeful that, over the weekend, I can get him to level 25 and unlock the six or seven tracks that are still grayed out on the event select menu. I guess I could just go to the in-game store and pay $6 to unlock everything, but where's the fun in that? Some areas of the rather unwieldy "MotoClub Depot" don't appear to be open for business just yet, incidentally, but it's clear that while this is a $40 game, the hope is that you'll spend more money buying new rider gear, vehicles, events, and even butt patches for it.

I look forward to delivering a full review next week. In the meantime, if you already bought the Xbox 360 version of the game and happen to be playing online this weekend, keep an eye out for me playing as JusticeCovert.

Of course you remember Spore, 2008's not-quite-revolutionary game about not-quite-evolution. That game soared because of its excellent use of user-created content. Darkspore uses a few of Spore's creation features, but if you were looking for a similar experience, keep your expectations grounded: Darkspore is an online action role-playing game in the vein of Diablo. The game was released today, April 26, though it was in open beta for some time before. While I did get several days of play in that beta last week, I wanted to take in the full experience this week; online-focused RPGs can surprise us in wonderful and terrible ways upon release. This means I'm not ready to deliver word on Darkspore's quality just yet, but I wanted to share with you a few quick thoughts, along with some screens and video taken from my time with the beta.

Darkspore introduces you to its sci-fi world with a short tutorial, giving you control of a hero creature called Blitz and having you slice up a few foes while a robotic voice-over fills you in on the basics. If you've played an action RPG on your PC before, however, you probably already have a good idea of how the moment-to-moment gameplay goes: you click on your alien foes to turn them into bloody bits, occasionally casting various spells to make them dead even faster, or to keep you alive even longer. You do this alone, or with up to three other players as you progress from level to level, though it's worth pointing out that while you can tackle the campaign alone, this is still an online game meant to be shared with friends and strangers: to play, you must maintain your Internet connection and be signed into the online lobby.

You can play the campaign alone, but to avoid frustration, you really are better off buddying up.

The basic action may be ripped from the Diablo playbook, but there's a definite Pokemon catch-'em-all element at work, too. As you level up, you earn access to new creatures to command, from 100 in total (well, 4 variants of 25 heroes, anyway), each of which has different skills and genetic types. Before each level, you choose a squad of three, and can switch between any of the three in battle, depending on the role you wish to play and the effectiveness of your various heroes versus the enemies you encounter. Your sole goal is to cut through swaths of buzzing flies and grenade-tossing robots on your way to a final boss, accumulating as much loot as you can. In between levels, you upgrade your heroes with said loot in the hero editor, enhancing their statistics and leveling them up simultaneously. (Player level and hero levels are separate entities.) This editor is a highly streamlined version of Spore's creature creator. You place equipment on your heroes where you like and can paint them in various ways, but the editing tools aren't very robust, and as a result, you aren't likely to invest much time in them.

Heroes don't have skill trees in the traditional sense, though a few of a hero's six total spells vary depending on the constitution of your squad. You have to consider not just how those skills can be used to maximum effectiveness, but also your heroes' genetic types: heroes take double the damage from foes of the same type. My favorite aspect of Darkspore thus far, however, is how you choose after each level whether to roll for extra loot then or to transition directly to the next mission, which gives you an even greater chance to earn good stuff if you triumph. I just wish there were more context to all of this saber slashing and laser shooting. You don't experience much story firsthand--you are simply told about one, by the same disembodied voice that guides you through the opening tutorial. Aside from collecting crystals and stat-enhancing orbs, there are no mission objectives or other structural elements designed to give you a sense of purpose. At least the game has a slick New Age style. Spacey atmospheric music drones while you make your way across glowing walkways and down planetside corridors.

We're not on Pandora anymore.

There are one-versus-one and two-versus-two battles as well, though I haven't experienced enough of them to get a sense of how much fun they are, though you could say the same about the entire game. I am having fun in the mouse-clicky way of most action RPGs, though I am not yet sure whether the hero collection and squad considerations are enough to give Darkspore the legs it needs to be a long-term prospect. I am hoping to deliver a full review late this week or early next. For now, enjoy the screens and movies, and maybe I'll even see you online!

In case you haven't noticed already, we posted our first wave of reviews for 3DS launch games today. Of the 16 launch titles (17 if you include Europe's Splinter Cell 3D), we've managed to get eight of them reviewed this side of the weekend. Ghost Recon is under embargo until Sunday morning, and the rest will follow next week. We'd have loved to get all of the launch titles reviewed ahead of the system's North American launch, but with access to only two 3DS consoles on this side of the pond, our core reviews team simply wasn't able to devote as much time to 3DS reviews as we would have liked. Big thanks to our colleagues in the UK for helping out where they could. Here are the 3DS reviews you can check out on GameSpot right now:

Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Video Review)
Nintendogs + Cats: Toy Poodle & New Friends (Video Review)
Pilotwings Resort (Video Review)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D
Steel Diver (Video Review)
Super Monkey Ball 3D (Video Review)
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (Video Review)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D

Capturing footage was especially fun; currently, we have no way of capturing direct feed from 3DS games, so our crew chief Frank "MacGyver" Adams whipped up what I affectionately call THE CHAIR. This ingenious (torture) device requires us to play the 3DS (which is fixed onto a near-vertical surface) more or less at arm's length, with both the top screen and our heads tilted back. To say that I was skeptical (and terrified) as I sat in it for the first time would be an understatement, but Frank did a great job, and we're all really pleased with the gameplay videos and video reviews that we were able to produce as a result of his efforts.

Tom McShea gets comfortable in THE CHAIR.

As of right now, I think it's fair to say that while we're feeling good about Nintendo's new system, we're pretty underwhelmed by the 3DS launch lineup. I believe I'm right in saying that I'm the only member of the reviews team who has preordered a system. I also preordered just one game, which, at the risk of hinting at how our review is going to look when it posts on Sunday morning, is Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. Anyhow, it's Friday night and about time that I got my weekend started. Have fun playing with your new 3DS systems, those of you who are picking one up, and be sure to put your Mii Maker to good use by scanning in this QR Code of everyone's favorite Nintendo character.