This year marks the 15th birthday of Jet Set/Grind Radio, a game about Olympic-grade rollerbladers who bear their eccentric souls through colorful street art (when they aren't busy grinding across skyscrapers). One of the first titles to incorporate graffiti as a game mechanic, Jet Set's a decade and a half later, when using graffiti as nothing more than a post-apocalyptic flavor enhancer has become a tired trend.

But it's not all bad. While some games have morphed in-game graffiti into little more than a forgettable storytelling shortcut, others have put the power of aerosol to good use. Whether it's giving you tips through crimson-colored etchings or letting you leave your still-wet mark on the game world, these titles show gaming graffiti's true potential. Read on, and see what games have done grandaddy Jet Set proud.

We can't all be Banksy. For every fine artist that graces the mean streets with their aerosol masterpieces, there's 1000 taggers who focus on ten-second spray jobs that are either incomprehensible or pretty damn dull. Most games don't tend to showcase that part of graffiti culture, preferring their nameless citizens to be articulate and ominous in their frantic wall-scribbling. The Last of Us, however, makes a point of including some more everyday graffiti, from messy tagging to deliberate notes that get their message across in the most functional way possible.

While some games create graffiti that tries so hard to be unnerving or atmospheric that it quickly grows stale, mixing it up is a great way to keep the player immersed. By incorporating a mix of tagging, direct messaging, and the more cryptic writings games like to go for, The Last of Us' world feels a lot more real. Plus, it's nice to get a warning about the guy who'll shoot you if you want into his house. Thanks for the heads-up!

Most 'graffiti' written in blood is hard to take seriously. That's especially the case when the message is vague and enigmatic, because you'd think when you're dying of massive blood loss you'd get to the point a lot faster. This once unique shortcut to creepy has been trod so often it's basically a five-lane highway, and now blood-based messaging almost always looks cheap. Almost, because Dead Space gets a special exemption. The first time you see CUT OFF THEIR LIMBS fingerpainted across the wall, it actually looks incredibly disturbing and gives you critical information.

Given that Isaac just witnessed his comrades being brutally murdered by an unknown monster and almost got chewed on himself, you were probably pretty freaked out when you first stumble upon this helpful and sticky message. It plays well into the atmosphere the game is building, and it's such practical advice for how to deal with necromorphs that it doesn't seem out of place. The UI kind of ruins the moment by immediately explaining what them note means, but don't blame the graffiti for that.

While Dishonored does commit some of the standard game-graffiti sins ("Rats are eating our babies" was scary the first time, but less so the ten times after that…), it's not all the same vague declarations of misery that make every post-apocalyptic reality look exactly alike. In addition to giving you information about Dunwall that's more specific than 'here be generic unrest', it's also tailored to Corvo and what in particular would catch his eye.

Specifically, the street art of Dunwall does its greatest service to the Empress, who appears in stenciled form frequently throughout the city where you least expect to find her. Given that she's the North on Corvo's moral compass, the fact that images of her are everywhere makes it feel like you're being carefully watched, and gets you wondering (usually uncomfortably) if you're doing the right thing.

Most games stick exclusively to graffiti as a controlled, atmospheric component, which is kind of ironic when you think about it. Infamous apparently decided it's had enough of the man's version of graffiti, and decided to put the spray can in your hands. Through a series of mini-games that require you to turn your controller on its side and shake it around (and you'll do it regardless of looking dumb because it's fun as heck), you choose between various 'good' and 'bad' stencil designs that you can paint across Seattle. You'll also get good or evil karma depending on if you paint something uniting or inflaming, so maybe stick to giant rubber ducks if you want to stay benevolent.

Second Son isn't the first game to make graffiti an interactive experience, but it adds an extra layer of player agency by letting you choose what kind of tone you want to give the work and how you want it to affect the world. Do you promote unity and peace, or rebellion? That's up to you, but whatever you choose, it's gonna look sick.

In the Aperture Science Labs, where everything at first seems so purposefully and perfectly arranged, it's the small inconsistencies that make you realize something's amiss. Like, say, a wall panel that's propped open a little too far. Get close enough to crawl inside, and the wall of manic scribbling that greets you removes any misguided feelings of safety you might have had.

While it might seem passé now that THE CAKE IS A LIE memes have driven us all up the wall, Portal's graffiti is cleverly designed to make sure you feel truly unsafe in Aperture while still making basically zero sense. Not only is some person hiding in the walls so he can write this stuff, but turning familiar imagery into something sinister (like a security cameras with the words SHE'S WATCHING YOU scribbled next to it in bright red) while not giving you anything concrete immediately sets you on edge. Good thing too, since that sets you up for a close call later.

Silent Hill knows that less is more, especially when it comes to street visibility and safe places to hide. The series is known for using a visual or trick only once, making the most of the one moment when it would be scary and then not falling back on it again. But enough about that one damn bathroom jump scare (*shivers*), because Silent Hill 2 does something similar with graffiti. There are only two notable pieces in the whole game, but they're used to such chilling effect that I remember them to this day. And not by choice.

The two pieces are drastically different - one is nonchalant gibberish about a missing hole in the wall, while the other is a direct threat to the state of James' semi-rotten soul - but they work together to scare the health drink right out of you. The nonsensical but eerie nature of the first primes you for fight, and, so you're even more shaken when you see the note telling James to kill himself. In one splashing of gorey street vandalism the game puts you on edge, tells you that someone wants you dead, and leaves you wondering why James and his late wife Mary wouldn't show up in the same place afterward. And isn't that a doozy of a question.

Few games like to take the 'metro station bathroom stall' route with their graffiti, but sometimes that's just the most natural, embarrassingly human way to go. The safehouses in Left 4 Dead are littered with graffiti from survivors who've gone before, with messages varying from poetic notes to helpful information to mocking the guy who wrote the poem because oh wow, that was terrible. Special ridicule is reserved for the kind of eerie messages common to other games, and you can expect a note like "We are the real monsters" to be annotated with "You are the real moron" in response.

In addition to being realistic - you know you've seen some bit of graffitied wisdom with PS I'm fat scribbled below it - it also does the exactly opposite of most game wall writing by making the world feel less empty. While you only have your wits and your three friends of varying combat skill to save you from the oncoming horde, seeing that other people have made it to the safehouses and brought their juvenile humor with them creates a weird sense of hope. Maybe misplaced, but let's try to be optimistic.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, a series that started with the events of the Vietnam War then moved to a near-future timeline, is going even further down the road of tomorrow. Even though last year's Advanced Warfare from Sledgehammer also introduced a high-tech, militarized era, that future isn't Treyarch's Black Ops 3 future. Black Ops has its own timeline, and the sequel's setting introduces new characters, advanced gadgets and tech, and gameplay features the series hasn't seen before.

With Treyarch at the reins, the first dedicated, new-gen Call of Duty may just be the most massive to date. Once again, Treyarch's new Call of Duty game contains three different parts: the story campaign, competitive multiplayer, and the horde-style Zombies mode. As we wait for Black Ops 3 to release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC this holiday season, check out the following slides for everything we know about the upcoming shooter's game modes, story, and more.

The last time we left the Black Ops series was with David Mason shoving his GI boot up antagonist Raul Menendez's butt. But that battle has long passed by the time Black Ops 3's events come along. The year is 2060, more than three decades after the events of Black Ops 2. So far, the Masons are nowhere in sight, but in their place you'll create and take control of your own soldier as you battle the new age's military threats.

The specifics of the global threat are still unknown, but where Black Ops 2 saw the world's military forces being devastated by city-destroying, weaponized drones, that world-ending situation will not repeat in the upcoming sequel. The world's nations are now outfitted with a whole lot of anti-drone defenses, putting an emphasis back on having strong ground forces to settle political differences - which is, of course, where you come in.

Black Ops 3 is set pretty far into the future, so physical and neural enhancements are no longer a thing of science fiction. Soldiers are often more machine than man, using cybernetic arms and legs to improve their strength and mobility. In addition to enhanced body parts, soldiers also have computers attached to their brains allowing them to use new Cyber Core and Cyber Rig abilities.

Equipping Cyber Cores gives you skills to do things like remotely hack robots and small drones with your brain at any point in the battle, while Cyber Rigs are passive abilities that can improve your soldier's mobility and defensive capabilities. The soldier you equip and take into a campaign mission can be vastly different from anything your friend might bring to the same situation, and yes, what your friends equip will matter because...

Up to now, Call of Duty campaigns have been single player-focused, on-the-rails, highly scripted rollercoasters with lots of corridor shooting and big-ass explosions. In Black Ops 3, there are still big-ass explosions, but Blops 3's campaign is giving up to four players a bit more room to explore different ways to attack their objectives. The mission environments are larger and wide open, the enemy AI has been revamped to account for multiple players and open levels, and new co-op features allow players to effectively communicate and work as a team.

The one mission shown so far was in an open plaza in Cairo, Egypt populated with human enemy soldiers, robot enemy soldiers, mini flying drones, and multiple mission objectives. The players could approach each objective as they liked, hack drones with their Cyber Core abilities, and even highlight threats, danger zones, and tactical opportunities in their co-op buddies' HUDs. The new mission style seems to emphasize player exploration and emergent tactics over setting up blockbuster set pieces like previous games, though there are sure to be massive set pieces sprinkled throughout. This is Call of Duty, after all.

Soldier customization appears to be a major focus in Black Ops 3. In the campaign, players can outfit their soldier with Cyber Cores, Cyber Rigs, weapons, and equipment before they head into battle. But you won't just be scrolling through a menu to equip those items, you'll do all that in your very own Safe House where you can customize the layout and socialize with other players.

On top of that, the multiplayer mode has cranked weapon customization up with the Gunsmith feature. Gunsmith allows you to make your weapon look unique by equipping weapon attachments and creating your own art on a predetermined section of your weapon using various unlockable symbols and shapes. Creating your weapon art is similar to using the series' emblem editor, except you're making dirty images on a 3D surface rather than a 2D plane.

With the advanced technology at the Black Ops 3 soldier's disposal, your trooper's ability to move quickly around the battlefield is even more efficient than before. You get the speed boost by using the new thrust jump, powersliding, mantling, and Titanfall-style wall running capabilities of your combat suit. This enhanced mobility works quite a bit differently than Advanced Warfare's Exo jump and dashing abilities, giving you a more controlled way of moving your soldier around the environment.

The thrust jump allows you to boost yourself into the air with both long, extended thrusts for higher altitudes and short bursts for prolonged airtime and maneuverability. This lets players bounce around corners, change direction in mid-air, and perform maneuvers in any direction at any time. Coupled with the other movement abilities, you're able to chain thrust jumps, wall runs, and powerslides to really jet across the map quickly and perform some truly amazing acrobatic kills.

It wouldn't be a Treyarch Call of Duty game without the game-within-a-game Zombies mode. As of now, there aren't many details on the specifics of this year's zombie-infested offering, but one little tidbit the developers did reveal is that the Zombies mode will include its own version of a progression system.

Whether that progression system will be as extensive as the multiplayer mode's - allowing players to unlock weapons, skins, and equipment - is yet to be seen. But given the developer's dedication to the Easte-egg-turned-full-blown-game, Zombies is sure to be a substantial part of the Black Ops 3 package.

Treyarch is adding quite a few new features to make the multiplayer experience feel much different than it has in past games. For example,Black Ops 3's Specialists are multiplayer characters with unique abilities and looks, and the maps have been designed around the new traversal abilities of the players. There are obvious flat walls to wall run on, tight spaces to powerslide under, and ponds to jump into for underwater battles.

That's right, you can swim in Blops 3's multiplayer. Making the transition from dry land to underwater gunplay doesn't have any jarring control changes, so it’s easy to jump in for cover and boost out of the water at a moment's notice. That's just a small portion of what we know about the multiplayer mode so far. Check out more details on the game's competitive component in our

Treyarch has dedicated a full 3-year development cycle to Black Ops 3 and the extra time seems to have spawned quite a bit of innovation in both the campaign and multiplayer modes. To allow players to personally experience the game and its many changes before launch, Treyarch announced that there will be a Black Ops 3 multiplayer beta made available to all who pre-order the game. And the developer will be bringing the multiplayer to E3's show floor, so you can look forward to even more details on the game in June.

That's everything we know so far, but there are still plenty of questions to be answered and Black Ops 3 features to be unveiled in the future. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to the November 6 launch.