Finding a licensed superhero game which stays true to the source material while still managing to be fun is ridiculously hard. Just ask a fan of Superman how they feel about the assorted attempts to bring the Man of Steel to consoles and you're likely to hear groans of contempt coupled with regretful sighs. Batman has fared better, with most of his games at least playable if not necessarily good experiences.

Batman: Arkham Asylum works to change all that and works very, very hard. Does it make up for past failures in conveying the world of Gotham's avenger? Join Conrad Zimmerman, Anthony Burch and Jim Sterling for the review by clicking below.

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Nobody likes Nazis. Apart from German people, obviously. That's why it's always so much fun to shoot them, and why you can't keep the Wolfenstein franchise down. id Software, Raven Software, Pi Studios and Endrant Studios all want a piece of that sweet fascist pie, with Wolfenstein for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 being the fruit of their collective labor.

Wolfenstein has been created by four studios, and most people can tell you that in terms of game development, too many cooks can indeed spoil the broth. Is this the case with the latest in the Reich-pounding series, or have the four studios been able to create a sense of order and efficiency that would make Heinrich Himmler proud? 

March in step with Jim Sterling and Brad Nicholson as they tell you.

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Telltale games kicked off their Tales of Monkey Island episodic series with a bang in "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal." We came away very impressed with the inaugural effort, praising its wit and gameplay and firmly recommending a purchase. 

Today, the second episode in the series, T"he Siege of Spinner Cay" is available for download. We managed to get our grubby mitts on it and give it a run through. Can it hit the high bar set by its predecessor or does it come up short? Read on as Conrad Zimmerman and Brad Nicholson deliver a review.

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After a short run against the Washington Redskins, the dreaded notice came up: “B. [Brandon] Jacobs is going to be evaluated by team doctors.” The New York Giants subbed in their smaller, faster running back, Ahmad Bradshaw, while I sat on the edge of my seat, wondering if Jacobs was going to be okay. After two or three plays, a graphic informed me that Jacobs had suffered a strained hip, and that I could put him back in the game -- although the risk of re-injury was “medium.”

I took a chance and brought him back in. On the next play, I called an off-tackle run to the right side, figuring I’d test his hip for any adverse effects. Jacobs took the handoff from quarterback Eli Manning and ran to the right, toward the open field. A Redskins cornerback attempted to arm-tackle the big man, but Jacobs brushed off the defender and continued forward. A few yards later, two Redskins grabbed hold of him, and then another one added himself to the pile. All the while, Jacobs kept his legs churning, trying to gain a few extra yards.

The first defender lost his grasp on Jacobs; that lapse allowed the halfback to break free, and then he was off to the races. But I noticed, with a mix of amazement and concern, that Jacobs’ gait had, indeed, been affected by the strained hip. He was running like a deer that had been wounded in the leg, clutching the injured hip with his free hand while running as fast as he could down the sideline. He scored, and to celebrate, I somersaulted into the end zone. (Watch it all unfold here.)

The story that Samit just related is only possible in two places -- real life, and EA Sports’ Madden NFL 10. It proves the degree of dedication of EA Tiburon, the development team, to their motto: “if you see it on Sunday, you’ll see it in Madden NFL.” How well did they succeed? Find out below, where Brad Nicholson and Samit Sarkar review Madden NFL 10 with an assist from Destructoid’s Video Director, Rey Gutierrez. (For Samit and Brad’s initial impressions, head here.)

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It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Samit Sarkar and Brad Nicholson have spent the past few days playing EA Sports’ Madden NFL 10, and they’re here to give you their initial thoughts. This isn’t the full review; that will be coming sometime next week, after we’ve been able to try out the game’s online modes in real-world conditions.

So what do we think so far -- is Madden 10 a new benchmark for virtual football, or is it just another annual iteration of the long-running franchise? Hit the jump to find out.

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Gonna take you for a ride. Dear God, that song. Some of us have had it stuck in our heads for nearly a decade now, and if you haven't, let us be the first to welcome you to our little club with the release of Marvel Vs Capcom 2 on XBLA earlier this week. The Xbox 360's custom soundtrack feature has never been so appreciated.

After nine years of physical rarity and outlandishly high resale prices on eBay, Capcom's legendary fighter is back in the hands of the veteran brawlers who remember its heyday, and readily available for the first time to an eager new generation. But that song. Is it worth being subjected to that horrible song?

Perhaps more importantly, is it worth doing so again if you already have in the past? Topher Cantler and Jonathan Holmes will tackle that question after the jump with their full review of the game. view full story + comments

The brawler was looking like a type of game that would never return, thanks to the evolving tastes of gamers and demand for more complex, deeper control schemes. Fortunately, digital distribution has come along, and the need for smaller, simpler, bite-sized titles has seen the old-fashioned brawler enjoy a few revivals, most notably the critically acclaimed Castle Crashers.

Vogster's Unbound Saga is a dyed-in-the-wool beat-'em-up. Those who grew up with Streets of Rage or Final Fight will instantly feel right at home, which is helped in no small part by the Comix Zone aesthetic. 

However, while Unbound Saga has used everything good about this thoroughly retro genre, it's also kept everything bad. Read on as Jim Sterling and Nick Chester pull no punches and review this downloadable comic book beat-'em-up.

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Last week we announced our new weekly "feature," something we're calling "Comment of the Week." The idea: encourage legitimate, entertaining discussion about videogaming news, reviews, previews, and more.

Not that you guys don't already do that, but we wanted to spotlight and reward it. Our commenter of the week -- chosen after a discussion between the Destructoid staff -- will win a mystery prize, to be determined weekly. 

To kick it off this week, we're giving the winner a handful of goodies: codes redeemable for Madballs: Babo Invasion and Worms 2: Armageddon for Xbox LIVE Arcade, as well as a physical copy of the recently released BioShock/Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion bundle for the Xbox 360. (We sure hope the winner has an Xbox 360!)

Hit the jump to find out who took it home this week, and why.

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The Conduit is a game with baggage.

After it was first announced last year, it quickly become a symbol to game-fans on either side of the "Wii divide". Many people who hate the Wii want the game to fail in order to prove that "real games" can't survive on a non-HD console. People who love the Wii want the game to succeed to prove that the Wii really is a "hardcore" system too, and not just for Nintendo fanboys and old people. 

So, is The Conduit worth all the hype and fan-boy jousting? Matthew Razak and Jonathan Holmes are here with the straight dope, right after the jump. 

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Electronic Arts Digital Illusion CE’s Battlefield 1943 is a bite-sized downloadable title based upon the foundation of the Battlefield series. In the game, two teams compete for flags with legs, tanks, airplanes and Jeeps. Battles are fierce and often decided by a couple of stragglers who decided to take a base after a lone defender leaves his post in search of greater glory.

The retail boxed versions of Battlefield keep coming. Obviously, shooter fans aren’t tired of playing nice with each other or getting bored with the dated formula the titles use. Still, you have to wonder: how does a 500 MB version of the game stack up? You’ll have to hit the break to know the answer to that one.

[Editor’s Note: Brad Nicholson and Jordan Devore reviewed Battlefield 1943 in an as-is condition as of Sunday, July 12, around 8:00 P.M. Central. When they initially started playing it Thursday afternoon, the game was experiencing massive server-side issues that caused frequent disconnections, freezes, an inability to join friends, create a private match, or get into the “Quick Match” option. Electronic Arts DICE (the studio behind the title) has stated in-game through the scrolling bar, as well as publicly, that they are aware of the issues and have taken steps to fix the problem. Reportedly, EA DICE added servers on Friday (problems still persisted) and fixed the issues with joining friends. Destructoid recommends checking its news section as well as the game’s official message board for the latest information about EA DICE’s progress in addressing the issues, but downloading the demo would be the ultimate trial player-side.] 

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We really liked Bit.Trip Beat. Combining old-school gameplay with an awesomely neo-retro aesthetic and just plain awe-inspiring level design, this first installment of Gaijin Games' new WiiWare series encapsulated everything great about indie development.

Less than five months after the release of Beat, the fellas at Gaijin are back with the second installment in the six-part Bit.Trip series, entitled Core. Eschewing the Breakout-esque gameplay of the first game with...well, with a mechanic a bit too complex to describe in a single pre-jump paragraph, Core presumably seeks to provide a completely different Bit.Trip experience, while still remaining true to the spirit of the first game.

But is the damned thing any good? After the jump, Anthony Burch and Jonathan Holmes will attempt to answer this question.

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The audience for most sports simulations tends to be limited to die-hard fans of the sport in question. But boxing is something that seems to have much higher crossover appeal; perhaps boxing games’ similarities to fighting games are what draw in non-boxing fans. Then again, maybe people just love to beat the ever-loving crap out of each other and see the blood fly.

Either way, that appeal applies to the Destructoid staff as well -- instead of just Samit Sarkar and Brad Nicholson discussing a sports game, Anthony Burch comes out of his indie cave and joins in on the Destructoid review of EA Sports’ Fight Night Round 4. The highly-anticipated follow-up to 2006’s Fight Night Round 3 was developed by EA Canada, who took over the series’ reins from the now-defunct EA Chicago.

Read on to find out if Fight Night Round 4 lives up to the franchise’s lofty pedigree.

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We love you guys; really, we do. And even more so, we love hearing from you. Even better, we love it when you have something relevant, interesting, or even funny to say.

With that in mind, we'd like to introduce a new, weekly occurrence here on Destructoid: Comment of the Week. Each Friday, we'll choose one comment from the past week -- it could be funny, clever, or particularly insightful -- and we'll highlight it on the front page for all to see. 

Best of all, the reader whose comment is chosen will win a prize. We're not going to tell you what we're giving away each week; it could be big, it could be small. But you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain, simply by participating in our comments. 

Note that while comments like "fap fap" or "do not want" are all well and good, they'll likely never be chosen as a Comment of the Week. We all like playing and talking about videogames, right? Make it count. 

The original Call of Juarez had to be played to be believed. An alternately awful and incredible mixture of poorly designed levels with an incredible attention to pacing, narrative, and character (for 50% of the game, you could literally recite Scripture with the press of one mouse button and shoot a bandit in the face with another), CoJ quickly became a favorite among those who could tolerate it.

Fast-forward to a couple years later, as we find ourselves confronted with Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, a prequel to the events of the original game. Early gameplay footage seemed to suggest a less subtle, more outwardly action-packed exprience than the first game. Still, perhaps the chance to get acquainted with the McCall brothers before the crap entirely hits the fan for their family presents an interesting opportunity.

Does Bound in Blood reach the peaks (and valleys) of its predecessor, or does it surpass it to become something more?

After the jump, Brad Nicholson and Anthony Burch will attempt to answer those questions.

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