Gratis Gamer: The Best Free Gaming on the Web

     Welcome, once again, to Gratis Gamer! Here you will find the best free games that the world wide information superhighweb internet tubes have to offer. Whether you're looking to sneak in some gaming on the sly to stave off the boredom at your soul crushing joke of a job (why else would you be reading this at work), or simply looking for some truly good, totally free, independently created games to fill the hole between those AAA title sequels, this is your guide to some of the best, ya cheapskate.

A Nightmare Wrapped Inside a Dream: What It's Like to Work at E3

     

   When I was a kid, E3 seemed like some kind of Video Game wonderland. Growing up, I constantly devoured every issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (this was at a time before that newfangled "Internets" contraption everyone is talking about) and relished every single page of industry news, game reviews and so forth. Once a year, EGM would have it's E3 (electronic entertainment expo) report, which chronicled the event and supplied not only all of the significant announcements made there, but also would give the reader an inside look at what it was like to attend this mecca of the video game world. Throughout the report, pages were sprinkled with pictures of E3 attendees having the time of their lives; smiling or cheering faces of those lucky enough to be there, surrounded by epic glowing screens, larger than life statues of my favorite video game characters and of course, beautiful and buxom "booth babes" scattered among the show floor.

Regardless of the following comments, yeah, it's still pretty much like that...

Review: Portal 2

Developer: Valve Corporation

Publisher: Valve Corporation

Platform: PS3/X360/PC

Game Completion: 8-10 hrs

     There are games in which you can assume the role of a mighty warrior, saving the universe from a dark evil; epic sagas that see you spanning a fantastical realm. There are games that allow you to get in touch with your devious side, shooting cops, running down pedestrians and rising up the ranks in the criminal world. There are games that can make you feel like a rock star by clicking buttons on clunky plastic instruments. Then, there is a first person shooter/puzzle hybrid which finds you attempting to escape a facility run by a revenge obsessed, homicidal computer who is inherently compelled to force you to repeatedly place a box onto a button in a succession of ever more complex situations until you die. I'll let you guess which of those Portal 2 falls into.

You guessed incorrectly...

Forrest's Epic Rants: The PSN Debacle

   Okay, so maybe it's not quite as dramatic as a nuclear explosion, but the recent Playstation Network hack is definitely the most notorious event to befall the gaming industry in quite some time. Though we have yet to see the full fallout from what will go down as one of the biggest and most comprehensive security breaches in the history of modern technology, there is no doubt that this will hurt not only Sony's (admittedly deep) pockets, but also their reputation. Before we get into that, however, allow me a moment to bring the uninitiated up to speed...

PSN? What in the Sam Hell is a PSN...I still can't figure out where to put the stamp on this e-mail!!!

Gratis Gamer: Featuring the Best in Free Web Gaming

     Welcome to the first installment of Gratis Gamer, covering some of the best (or, simply, most interesting) free games to play around the web. All titles featured are absolutely, 100% free and holy shit, they just might actually be worth your time! So, with that said, hit the jump, follow the links and enjoy the satisfaction of being entertained without letting a single, precious coin slip out of your pocket....

Review: Dead Space

Developer: Visceral Games

Publisher: EA

Platform: PS3

Game Completion: ~11hrs

     Here's a game I had been avoiding for some time. To me, everything I had seen about it seemed to scream "GENERIC ACTION/HORROR SPACE SHOOTER" and thusly I treated it with a fair amount of indifference. That is, until a co-worker showed up with it one day, basically thrust it into my hands and said "play this, you won't regret it". For anyone who has played Dead Space, needless to say, he was totally right.  

You tend to listen to video game suggestions when you work in a place like this....

Review: Uncharted 2 Among Thieves

     Back in the good old Playstation one days, I remember watching the prerendered cg cut scenes for certain games and thinking "man, wouldn't it be fucking amazing, if one day, games actually looked this good while you were actively playing them, like playing a movie?". Obviously, with the advancement of video game technology, this has been achieved by a fair amount of games at this point. The main difference between those games and Uncharted 2, however, is that many of those games only allow the player to pull of those amazing movie-like action scenes through some sort of trick, where the player, while technically controlling the game, is really only following a pattern of pre-set button prompts that appear on the screen (otherwise known as "quick time events"). Somehow, Uncharted 2 found a way to deliver that same level of blockbuster movie style action almost perfectly, all while allowing the player full control. 

Yeah, see that there, that's actual game play...actual. fucking. game play.

Review: Donkey Kong Country Returns

       It's been a long time coming, but Donkey Kong Country is back and in very fine form. An update of the best selling Super Nintendo games, DKCR is all about old school platforming insanity, and the guys over at Retro Studios clearly have a great appreciation and fondness for the source material. Aside from a curiously absent King K. Rool and his Kremlings (the enemies and main baddie from the originals), this game does a fantastic job of recreating the look and feel of the 1990's titles. The overall aesthetic is pitch perfect; the music is sensational and even the extreme level of difficulty has returned...trust me, this game does not pander to today's somewhat coddled gamers.

Trust me, this monkey does not fuck around...

Review: Castlevania Lords of Shadow

     For the last two decades, the Castlevania franchise has seen numerous iterations. The series' most popular (and most critically lauded) titles have followed an evolution of its 2D roots, boasting what many consider to be the finest among them on the Nintendo DS and GBA. Castlevania's initial forays into 3D on the N64 and subsequent follow ups on the PS2 were received with lukewarm consideration, at best. Was the collaboration of game production phenom Hideo Kojima enough to elevate Lords of Shadow to becoming the first 3D game in the series to truly compete with its 2D brethren?

Aww...c'mon, at least gimme a chance...