The original Operation Flashpoint often gets paired with the phrase "military simulator," so that you're completely aware it's the kind of game where a single bullet can kill you, bullet trajectory actually drops over long distances, and switching between carrying an assault rifle to an anti-tank rocket takes considerable time. Operation Flashpoint simply prided itself on being a hardcore simulation of infantry combat. So any follow-up, such as the new Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, has quite a legacy. Except, there's the whole drama of how Flashpoint's actual developers (Bohemia Interactive) went and made new Flashpoint-esque games under a different publisher without the official name (ArmA and ArmA 2). Flashpoint 2 isn't a Bohemia Interactive production; it comes from an internal Codemasters studio that tries its damnedest to create a worthy follow-up. What we have is close, but as I keep playing, I realize that "military sim" isn't quite accurate in this case; a better descriptor for Flashpoint 2 would be "'war is hell' sim" -- a game where more of the negative/hellish aspects of combat are emphasized.

  With kid-friendly turns in Lego Indy, Lego Batman, and Lego Star Wars, the pegged-block franchise has extended its roots pretty far into the videogame world. But the next Lego-themed adventure does away with the action-focused collect-a-thon of previous outings, and adds a new graphical skin to the ever-expanding rhythm genre with Lego Rock Band. It won't be as "hardcore" as the recently released Guitar Hero 5, nor as "artistic" as Harmonix's own The Beatles Rock Band; instead, Lego Rock Band is looking to fill a family-friendly niche with a light, pop-centric setlist and plenty of Lego humor.When Harmonix brought the game around to the 1UP office for a recent hands-on demo, I got to see the changes that Lego will bring to the Rock Band series. With a newly added Super Easy mode, and a selection of music that should appeal to a wider audience, this looks like it will be the most easily approachable Rock Band yet. As a fan who's played every title in the series to death, what I find most exciting about the upcoming game are the fun tracks (like Bowie's "Let's Dance," or Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters") -- songs that that you'd normally only find on games like Karaoke Revolution or Elite Beat Agents. But also adding to Lego Rock Band's value: Harmonix claims you'll be able to export almost every song in the game over to Rock Band 2, and vice versa: almost all of Rock Band 2's DLC (the songs that don't contain offensive language/subject matter, anyway) will also be playable in Lego Rock Band.

  Note to all game designers out there: making it impossible for the players to fail at your game tends to make it impossible for them to have any fun. There is no success without the specter of failure, and without success, what the hell are we moving these thumbsticks for? I'm not training for the Thumb War World Championships here. As you might guess, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes needs a lot of work in a lot of areas -- especially in the area of being good. It's almost impossible to play without dying dozens and dozens of times during a single mission, either from enemy damage, falling into the abyss because you can't see your character on the freakin' screen (more on that later), or because of some control glitch.And the developers didn't fix most of it; Apparently, they worked around the problem by simply making it impossible to die. So, if you fall off a gap, get blown to bits, or just decide to go take a nap in the other room, you'll simply respawn at the nearest checkpoint as many times as it takes for you pass through whatever challenge you may be facing. What this leads to, ultimately, is players not caring about how they play. There's no incentive to do anything other than stand out in the open and mash buttons until you finally kill all the bad guys or make it through the platforming sections. As a result, Republic Heroes is less a game and more an exercise in repetition. Playing through it involves entering a kind of meditative state in which you and/or your partner (there's local co-op) stare blankly at the screen and just go through the motions like you're participants in some kind of team cud-chewing marathon.

  Whenever I try to imagine what the development process might have been like for Aion, I usually picture a circus performer trying to manage half-a-dozen spinning plates on sticks. See, NCSoft's latest MMORPG tries so hard to simultaneously cater to a number of divergent tastes: Namely, fans of either Western or Eastern MMO design. The developers have made an admirable effort, for sure, but I'm afraid it's one that's doomed to disappoint on more than one front.Aion's heritage as a Korean MMORPG lends it a refreshing and distinctive look, especially in a genre dominated by Tolkienesque clich