1 minute review Dragon Age 2

When you are regarded as one of the best gaming developers out there you are given the benefit of the doubt when you make a average game or when you slip up just a little and thank god that over the last few years Bioware have not been one of those as time after time they seem to hit the right notes and release pure quality with every game that come out however it seems that time has come for Bioware to slip up a little and unfortunately it had to be the follow up to what some people call one of the best action RPG's on this generation of consoles.

To kick things off with Dragon Age 2 you have the usual Bioware thing where you get to create the look and style of your character from what their face looks like to their gender, after this has been done it's time to choose what class you will be playing as throughout your journey and trust me when i say this that this is one of the most important decisions you will have throughout the game.

You have 3 classes to choose from, first off there’s the typical warrior who will be able to wield big swords and charge at enemies like they are covered in £5 notes, secondly there’s the Rouge class who prefer to attack their enemies with a bit more stealth and love to sneak up on their enemies before hitting them with some devastating attacks, lastly and by far my favourite class is the mage who loves to use magic and likes to stay in the background attacking from afar with some devastating magic attacks.

So why is choosing your class one of the most important things well when I created my character I thought I would play it safe and use a warrior however I soon found out that the warrior is rubbish and I was starting to becoming more and more interested in the mage, by the end of the game I don't think I used the warrior that much as i just couldn't get to grips with her.

So after all of that you are ready to set foot on your journey from a lonely poor person all the way up to being the most important person in the game, now I’m not going to bore you with the story as in my eyes it's very week but I will say that for the first 2/3 of the game it's very generic it's not until the last 1/3 when the game comes alive and you fully find out which one of the characters you meet along your journey that you really do care about.

Speaking about the characters there are a few hit and miss ones for me the best character in the whole game and the one I seemed to use the most is Anders the mage, he seemed to be the most interesting character with a story that you want to take interest in.

The same cannot be said for most of the rest of the characters who are just boring and whine a lot apart from the brilliant varric who interjected with a few wise cracks throughout your quest.

Like I said in the opening paragraph Bioware are geniuses when it comes to this type of game so why did I feel like they missed the mark on a few aspects first off it takes ages for the game to become interesting, during the first 2/3 of the game you have the same generic quests that seem to be a part of any of these games it's not until you have gone past the 2/3 line before it becomes more gripping and interesting and by the time you hit that mark you will see that you have been playing for 20 hours plus.

Secondly the areas that your quests are set in get used over and over again so while they do look interesting the first time you see them they just becoming boring and lifeless the more you have to traipse through them.

Lastly throughout the game I came across some really stupid bugs from characters not loading to cut scenes repeating themselves over and over again.

It's not all doom and gloom though there are times when Bioware flexes there gaming muscles with some really interesting quests especially the one called haunted where you have to journey through a haunted house to help one of your team mates.

The graphics have also got a really interesting simplistic look to them which in my eyes work really well for this type of game and the soundtrack does have a very epic movie feel to them.

The best thing though about this game though is that when it gets the quests right and the characters stop being whining moaning arseholes then you are in for a treat as the game becomes something we have known Bioware for and that’s pure excellence.

Overall

There is nothing more worse than when you have the highest praise for a company only for them to let you down and while this is not a terrible game it just doesn't hit the mark like some of the previous games, yes it does have some fantastic elements to it and yes you will be captivated with it for some of the game but it takes so long for it to get it right that you really do have to stick with it and by that time you just think to yourself why bother.

+ Some really Interesting characters

+ When the quests are done right they are really engaging and interesting

+ Some nice graphical touches

+ At it's best the quests are brilliant

- Takes too long to get going

- Some really annoying characters

- Boring and over complicated conversations

- Some of the quests just seem to be to pain by numbers

Rating 75%

Review Roundup

Over the last few months i have played a lot of games and to try and write reviews for each one of them would take to long as E3 is coming up so i have a quick review roundup for a few of them where i will tell you what i think and not go into to much detail like storyline etc.

Alan Wake
When a game has been in development for so long you get a little scarred as you don't know how it will turn out and most of the time these games end off being crap at best, so it was a joy to find out that Alan Wake bucked the trend by being a really decent game however not a brilliant game.

The game follows a writer who is has gotten a bad case of writers block so his wife takes to a small town called Bright Falls however on arriving he knows that things arn't going to go so well and when his wife disappears and strange people called taken show up Alan's writters block isn't the only thing that's going to go wrong for him.

The game is a very good one on a technical point of view and a sound one however it does fall apart a little because it can become a bit repetitive as you have to go through a lot of forests and battle against same looking enemies however for the first half of the game this isn't a problem it just starts to grate the further you go through the game.

With this being a survival horror/thriller game you would expect to be scared however you don't get that feeling but it's always there in the background wanting to creep up on you, it's a shame that it doesn't.

Overal
A very good game on it's own Alan Wake does have enough to keep you playing until the end to discover a really good ending however it has it's problems which can mare the game itself a little.
If you are after a survival horror/thriller game and were pissed off that the last resident evil or silent hill didn't provide this then Alan Wake should satisfy a little, however don't expect anything big.
81%

Split Second Velocity
Racing games are one of my weak points when it comes to videogames as i can't get my head around them little, so the only racing games i can stand are ones that are not your straight forward ones and ones that feature some kind of explosion or power ups and it's a joy for me to hear that Split Second is one of those explosive games and explosive is a understatement when describing Split Second.

Having some great cars at your hands isn't the biggest selling point of this game it's the huge explosions or power plays as it's know in this game that is the main thing.
Drifting or drafting behind other players adds power to your power play meter at the bottom of the screen and as soon as it fills up 1 or 2 blue segments you can unleash a level 1 power play that will either knock the other drivers for six or blow them up in an explosive fashion however it's the level 2 power plays that cause the most damage.
As soon as your meter hits red when you get the the chance you can either change the route of the track or unleash a power play that will guarantee you to get a few drivers in a big massive explosion.

I could go on and on about the power plays and the impact of the however the joy of this game is to experience them yourself instead of me ranting on about them.

It's not just the power plays that create an impact on this game it helps when a game like this looks nice and sounds nice and Split Second doesn't fail as it's a really nice looking game with some impressive explosions and some eye popping tracks.
The sound doesn't disappoint either as you do get some roar from the cars and the noise of the explosions just adds some meat to the sound track.

The game isn't all just roses though as some of the challenges can be a bit annoying and a lot of the cars are useless as you find yourself using some of the early cars, but these are just a few niggle in a really good game.

Overal

The game is enjoyment from it's start to the end and will provide so much fun whether you play it online or offline.
There are a few problems but these don't spoil much of the fun that you get from Split Second
88%

Well there is 2 of the games i've played there are a few more however i will do a separate post for these after this years E3 is over

Review Roundup

It's been a very long time since i've written a review for the site and in that time i've played so many games it would take me forever to type up 1 minute reviews for each of them.

So below you will find mini reviews for a few of the games i have played just to give you a heads up on what i think.

Heavy Rain
These days it's really hard to find a game that has a story that will stick with from the start to the end credits however there is a few exceptions and this game is the king of it.
Not only is the story gripping from beginning to end but it has fantastic character developments, some of the best motion captured graphics ever seen in a game and overall you will have not played a game like this before so it makes it one of those rare things by being unique.

If you have a PS3 and want to play something that will make you see games in a different light then go out and buy the brilliant Heavy Rain now.
94%

Bioshock 2
The original Bioshock game came out of nowhere and became one of the best games on this generation of console so it was a bit of a headscratcher when 2K announced that a sequel was going to come out.
It turned out though to be a good and bad thing.

Instead of controlling a basic character you are in the shoes of a big daddy which makes the game a bit more easier because you don't have the fear of being a human instead you are a man in a big metal suit.
It's not just the character change that hampers the game it's the fact that it feels like you've played this before but better and that game turned out to be the original.

It's not all doom and gloom there is still a great game under the surface, you still have the sense of terror because you never know what or who is around the next corner and the graphics still are a joy to look at.

One last thing to mention is that it has multiplayer added to it a it's completely pointless as the game didn't need it.
So to sum things up take a brilliant original screw with it a little and add multiplayer and you have a sequel that falls short of the original but still remains to be a good game in itself.
82%

Other quick reviews
Saw - Take the movies and stuff it into a videogame and you might think you have a disaster however the game turned out to be ok with a few interesting elements.
It's not the disaster you might think it will be but it's not a brilliant game as well, it's just fine.
71%

Ratchet and Clank a Crack in Time - I've always been a huge fan of the R&C games as i've found them to be Sony's answer to Mario and the latest one doesn't disappoint.
Brilliant graphics coupled with some really funny humor and some fantastic set pieces you have a space and time adventure that you will enjoy from beginning to end.
90%

Dantes Inferno - A very straight forward hack and slash adventure with a few interesting elements is the best way to describe this paint by numbers game.
82%
Chime - I had to mention this little Xbox Live game as not is it a great little puzzler but if you download it some of the money goes to charity so go download it now.

Thats it for now i will do another review round up at the end of the week so check back then

1 Minute Review : Modern Warfare 2

A few years ago the FPS genre was really stale as all we were getting were world war 2 shooters however there was one developer who decided to try something different and set everything in a modern day time, that game was Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare and it turned out to be one of the best FPS games ever, flashforward to now and we have a sequel to that fantastic game so can it live up to its big brother.

Single Player
Now I'm not going to blab on about the storyline as this is the Call of Duty games weak point but i will say that the game is set 5 years after the events of Modern Warfare and very little as changed so much so you could copy and paste the storyline from Modern Warfare and just stick it in this game as they are very much the same.

As i said the storyline isn't it's strong point however what the Call of Duty games do best is its set pieces and we have a shed load of them here.
Kicking off after the first basic normal mission we are thrown straight into a icy tundra where you are given the task of infiltrating a base before escaping on snowmobiles in an all out chase sequence, it's not just arctic bases we have to contend with there are shoot outs in a shanty town, infiltrating a submarine with an interesting twist to it, trying to stay alive in an airfield while both sets of enemies are trying to kill each other and finally an epic over the top fire fight on American soil.

Like I've said there is a lot of interesting mission here with some fantastic set pieces however these are knitted together with some of the weakest strands of a storyline that it feels like you are playing a collection of set pieces and not through a storyline.

Multi Player
Like with COD4, Modern Warfare 2 strong point is it's multi player and we have so much to deal with it's a bit of an over kill.
First off we have the usual game modes from team deathmatch to headquarters and search and destroy but we have a few new additions like capture the flag and even a 3rd person mode where we can play all of the standard multi player stuff only this time we can see our character.

It's not the game modes that will that will cause your brain to melt it's the amount of customization that you have at your finger tips instead of them going for the much more easier approach like they have done they have given us so much that it boards on the insane.
The amount of challenges have been increased so much so that ever weapon, add-on etc has it's own challenge for us to earn XP.
It's not just the challenges that have increased there are much more weapons, attachments, perks and even kill streaks have be pumped up so much so you have over 15 to choose from instead of you using the standard few that COD4 gave us.

Now if you think that multi player ends with the standard fair your wrong as ever game these days have to have some king of extra co-op attachment and Modern Warfare 2 is no exception.
You and a friend can challenge yourselves with a selection of hand picked mission that will see you controlling an AC130 helping out your friend to get to en extraction point, to having a race on snowmobiles down to the standard killing wave after wave of enemies.

Overall
The single player side of Modern Warfare is full of fantastic set pieces and some really nice graphics however it's not a very long campaign and the storyline is so weak even a 5 year old could of wrote it, this is not to say that the campaign is bad it's not but so much could of been done with it oh and as you have noticed not once did i mention that there is one scene that can be a bit controversial the reason is the fact that the game just doesn't live up to it and it ends of shooting it's political load to quickly.

The multi player is the part that will bring people back to MW2 again and again however with the amount of challenges and extras it can cause a little bit of confusion and make you wonder what was wrong with how COD4 did the multi player.
There is one big thing that has not been fixed with multi player and will never be fixed is how stupid other people can be thus making it feel just like another FPS game.

Modern Warfare 2 is a really really great game however i was expecting a little more and i didn't think i would hate the multi player as quickly as i have, i know it will grow on me over time and that will show how well it can be but for now it just feels like the same thing from COD 4.

The biggest saving grace is SPEC-Ops mode and i hope that they release extra content for it as it would be a shame if they forget something that really does lift the game a little.

Rating
+ Fantastic set pieces in the single player mode
+ Graphics are the best in any COD game
+ Spec Ops is a brilliant addition to the Multi Player side
+ Multi Player can become addicted
- The single player storyline is very thin
- Single player campaign is very short
- Multi player can be frustrating because of the usual idiots
- To many challenges makes it a bit complicated
Score = 92%

1 Minute Review : Uncharted 2

Back when the PS3 came out everybody thought that Naughty Dog would have a new Jak and Daxter game ready however they were preparing something a bit different for them and that game turned out to be one of the best PS3 games around.
Fast forward to now and Naughty Dog have a sequel to that fantastic game in the form of Uncharted 2 Among thieves and the sequel betters the original game in every shape and form, just.

Single Player
Just like the original game you take control of Nathan Drake a treasure hunter who is hired to find a mythical lamp for a fellow archaeologist that is supposed to lead the way to a ultimate treasure that Francis Drake hid however things don't turn out that simple when Drake is betrayed by one of his best friends only to find out that the lamp would not only show them to this fabled treasure but it would also lead them to one of the biggest secrets in human exsistance.
On your journey you are treated to some of the best vista's and sites ever to be seen in a videogame, unlike the first game where you spent most of your time in a jungle this time you have to contented with snow storms, huge villages overlooking massive drops, ancient temples that have been there for centuries dilapidated and covered in greenery and many more.

The single player campaign keeps you moving at such a high speed that you are glad when its time for a little breather as you know you are going to have to deal with another huge set piece and Uncharted 2 is littered with them.
The big stand out moments from me are the huge fight you have to do with a lot of henchmen on a moving train, the helicopter fight sequence that was shown off in the E3 demo so i don't have to describe it for you and finally seeing the lost city of Shambala for the first time.

Multiplayer
Unlike the original game Uncharted 2 has a couple of multiplayer modes, first off there is co-op where you and up to 2 other friends are given the chance to play through a select few mission taken for the game that are designed for a multiplayer experience, each mission does get harder and harder thus making it a huge challenge and adding extra life to the game.
Secondly we have the standard multiplayer modes that we normally see in this type of game, from team deathmatch to the standard capture the flag every base is covered for you and your friends to have a good time.

Like the single player the graphics and style of the game don't suffer as you are given maps straight out of the single player campaign thus giving you more time to gawp at how fantastic this game looks.

Overal
Like the original game Uncharted 2 is one of those rare things that the hype for a games is very just and critics are not wrong this time.
With some of the best graphics around Uncharted 2 has raised the benchmark for this genre of games.
I know that graphics aren't the be all and end all of a game thats why Uncharted 2 also has one of the most engaging and brilliant story lines i have ever seen in a videogame let alone a movie.

If you have a PS3 and want the whole package i couldn't recommend Uncharted 2 enough, go out and pick yourself up a copy NOW.

Rating
+ Best graphics you will ever see in a game
+ Amazing and engaging storyline
+ Brilliant voice over cast
+ Plenty of multiplayer modes to extend the lifespan
- Cover system can get on your nerves slightly
- Puzzles are a little easy compared to the first game

Score = 95%

1 Minute Review: Splosion Man

During the Summer months we know we are going to have a horrible time of it as developers and publishers decided that they don't want to release anything thus making us so bored, however we might have Microsoft to thank for brightening up our Summer a little this year with the release of Splosion Man on Xbox Live Arcade.

Part of the Summer of Aracde Splosion Man sees you taking control of a thing that is made of Splosions a chemical condition that causes the main character to explode so he can reach higher spots or travel at a further distance.
Trying to explain how the mechanics work for Splosion Man is a really difficult premise so i'm not going to try but i will say that this is probably one of the most unique characters to come into videogames for a long time.

The game is layed out the normal standard way you have platforms that you have to cross and switches that need to be hit to carry on but Splosion Man tackles this is such a different way it feels that it's not just your basic standard platform game it's something different.

Humor also plays a big part in the game with our main hero having such character you don't care when hit a brick wall in some of the level design you just want to try and continue as you know that the humor and puzzles will captivate you.

There is a few problems with the game, like with all platform games there can be times when you just want to scream as it's taking you ages to get past something, plus the level design is a bit bland as you are stuck inside a huge lab with walls and levels all looking the same.
This however isn't the biggest problem with the game the main problem comes from the fact you are doing the same thing over and over again and it can feel really really repetitive.

One last thing to point out there is Multiplayer in this game with up to you and 3 friends tackling puzzles and levels that are designed for how many people who play with you however at the time of writing this review there is so much lag you can barely get past one level but the developers are planning to release an update to fix this.

Overal
Splosion Man is one of those games that will past a bit of time away in a fun and interesting way, the mechanics of the games are so much fun that for a little while you forget that there is a bit of a games drought happening.
Yes it does have it's problems but can forgive them a little as this game will make you smile it's humorous way.
Score - 83%

1 Minute Retro Review : Call of Duty World At War

The Call of Duty games have always been set during the war however when it was announced that Call of Duty 4 would be set in modern days gamers where happy because we were getting sick of the WW2 setting, after the big success of COD4 you can just imagine what we thought when we heard that the next COD game would go back to it’s old roots and the bastard child of the COD series Treyarch would be making the game i don’t think very many people were happy and it does show in the new COD game.

Again set during WW2 you either take control of the Russians who’s aim is to get to the Reichstag and the Americans who have to survive during a pacific assault.
Now the problem here is that this is the whole story and that the game feels just a disjointed as Call of Duty 3 the last game Treyarch attempted in the series.
What we have here is more like COD3.5 with the COD4 engine and a 4 player co-op mode added in just so it can make us feel happy and this makes us very unhappy as we have played this before and do we want to go through the same crap again, i think we know the answer to that do we.

The multiplayer side of the game remains the same as COD4 but again with a COD3 feel and like the single player this gets really annoying as this is supposed to be a new game not an add on pack and this is how this game feels.

Throwing some new perks and a few added extra things does not make a new game and i think thats how they planned it because they were concerntrating on the new james bond game instead of giving us a new experience like COD4 did.

It isn’t all doom and gloom though because it can suck you in a little and if you loved the multiplayer then this is going to put a big smile on your face plus when you finish the game you do get the fantastic zombie mode where you and up to 3 friends get to face off against wave after wave of zombies.

Overall
Not the step forward that we hoped but instead going back in time with a few added extra bit’s Call of Duty World at War feels like a game that has been done before and done better.
There are a few sparks of excellence but these happen few and far between plus the single player campaign can get so frustrating that you want to hunt down a member of Treyarch and smack him in the face for screwing up the COD franchise.

If you can be bothered to go through a WW2 game again then you might find this game worth your while but if like me and you couldn’t care less then you will be going MEH a lot and i mean a lot.
68%

1 Minute Review: Wanted Weapons of Fate

How can it be that these days developers can get away with creating very low quality games and pawn them off as something fantastic, it's not very clever and it just pisses us gamers off even more.
Now the biggest culprits of this are movie tie In's as 9 times out of 10 companies just want a game out to cash in on the success of the movie, however there is that one time that a movie tie does enough to make it a descent game and i was hoping that Wanted was going to be one of them seeing as the game came out a while after the film but i was so wrong.

Now before i tell you my gripes with the game (and there are a lot of them) the storyline needs to be told and again like with all movie tie ins it's a simple one, you have a special ability of bending bullets and you have to use this ability to get revenge on the person who killed your mother and betrayed your father, see i told you it was a very simple plot (just like the game).

Well seeing as i got the storyline out of the way quickly i can finally get round to telling you how bad this game is and believe me it's the worst game I've played this year and one of the worst games i have ever played.
To start off with the level design is some of the most lazy work i have ever seen all they have gone and done is copied and pasted levels from other games and shoved them into this one, the graphics don't help either because you can take levels from other games and make them yours by giving them an interesting graphical feel but when you think that lots of shades of the same colour is a good idea then you need to stop making levels for game.
The graphics don't just hold the level design back they are also responsible for the terrible character design and the really bad looking cut scenes, where one minutes you might get a flash of something interesting but the next it takes it away from you by making it so ugly that it looks like it was done by a 5 year old.

It isn't just the graphics fault there are so many other reasons that this game stinks, from the horrible main character down to the stupid difficult level of the enemies where one minute they are so easy to take down to the next where they seem to be able to kill you from miles away with a shotgun, if you couple all of this with the bad weapons and the short length of the game you know you are on to a real loser.

The thing is though that this games isn't 100% bad as there are two features that do push this game from being a rotten one to being just bad and they are the fantastic music score and the equally brilliant use of the bullet curve.
You see with the bullet curve if an enemy has decided that he wants to pussy out (by the way it's the name of one of the difficulty levels in the game) and hide behind a wall or some other cover then you can still lodge a bullet in his brain by holding down the right bumper so that a red line appears on the screen when this line turns white you can then release the right bumper for that bullet to go and fly into your target resulting in there death (well most of the time).

Overall
I didn't fully hate this game i just didn't like it a lot, i was going to give it a really good chance because i did really enjoy the movie but i couldn't bring myself to like this game as there are so many problems with it.
If the developers take out the brilliant bullet curve then you would have one of the worst games of all time but because they had such a good element in a broken game it made it tolerable to play it through once and only once.

If i had some advice for Grin who made Wanted i would say take the bullet curve element and put into a game that works, don't waste your money on this piece of trash go out and rent it to see what the bullet curve feature is like then forget you ever touched the game, well until you look at your gamer card and see those stupid achievements looking back at you.
40%

1 Minute Review: Fallout 3

It's really difficult to merge together two different genres as it would alienate each party and thus affecting the game itself however this can sometimes work in the favour of the game by adding an element one genre wouldn't be able to do and Bethesda are the masters of this and it proves that they are by just looking at Fallout 3.

Set in the wastelands of 2277 you take control of your own character creating him from scratch by following an RPG style route.
As soon as you are born you are given the task of making the character the way you want him and not having to stick with how the developers want him to look, on top of this you also have abilities, stats and perks to worry about giving you even more freedom on how your character evolves during the course of your adventure.
After you have suffered the first 16 years of your life disaster hits when your father for no reason leaves the vault that you are born in so you decide to follow and find out why he has done this however you uncover a plot that could change the face of the future even more than the past.

The story isn't the main strong point of Fallout 3 however there is enough to keep you caring just a little but you will get more enjoyment out of all the side quest than the main one.
The main star of the show however is the size and scale of the wastelands that stretch out in front of you, from the second your eyes see the wasteland to the first time you come across any of the small towns you realise that this is more than just a gaming world it's a living breathing society that is only just surviving from the nuclear disaster that had happened a few hundred years before.

Another point that sets this game higher than most is the fantastic VATS system that you activate during a battle that will give you the upper hand during you battle, on activating the VATS system you are given the option of targeting certain parts of the body that will inflict more damage than in the standard way of point and shot.
It's this VATS system coupled with the fantastic amount of weapons available that really make you want to be more involved in the world of fallout and give you comfort when you have to go up against the many mutants, ghouls and pissed off wastelanders that confront you.

There is so much more about this game that i could go on about from the fantastic way you add abilities to the many ways you can customise the way your character lives and breathes during the game and so on and so forth but this review would go on forever and it's only meant to be a 1 minute review.

I have never had so much enjoyment for a game for a very long time and Fallout 3 delivers on so many elements that made me want to play for over 60 hours and I'm stilling playing it now.
Everything is taken and such an easy pace that nothing feels like it's daunting even though there is RPG elements to the game, so this does prove that to genres can be mixed together to make a very special game.
If i do have a few gripes there are only minor ones from slight slow down to getting lost in the stupid underground tunnels of the dilapidated LA these only provide slight problems but there are so many plus points that you can forgive them for the slight few bad points.

Overall - 92%

There is one thing that makes this review slightly different and that's the view of two other people who have also played the game so below is what they thought.

James Says
Fallout 3 surprised me as i wasn't expecting much from it but it has shown me that there are more to videogames than just pointing a gun at somebody and pulling the trigger.
From the fantastic graphics to the way that every action changes the way people feel about you in the game, to the amount of content that is given to you Fallout 3 is one of the best games i have played on the 360.
Overall the game is a breath of fresh air from the usual sequels and crap movie tie ins that litter the consoles at the moment and i couldn't recommend it enough.

Greg Says
Most of the stuff that has been said in the review i would agree with 100% but i would like to add that the sound impressed me given it the 50's style feel that i think that developers wanted to go for and the freedom that is offered to you to tackle the quest any way you want it is a fantastic way to pace out the game and not limiting you to the way a normal linear game would be.
I do have a few problems with the graphics however it's the scale of the game the game that has made me forgive them for this.
Overall like James and Stuart this game had surprised me as i never had high hopes for it and everybody who is not sure about playing it should take the plunge as it's one of the most rewarding and well thought out game on the 360

Retro Review : Dead Rising

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if your local shopping centre was full with zombies and you could use anything from that shopping centre to slaughter those zombies? Like raiding a hardware store and using the sickles or hedge clippers to rip into the zombies? Capcom might be making your dreams come true with their latest stab (we had to ? ed) into the zombie genre.

Dead Rising sees you taking control of photo-journalist Frank west, who is after his next big scoop, so he decides to charter a helicopter to the quiet small town of Willamette where weird and unusual things are happening. The opening sequence sees you flying over Willamette photographing all of the weird things that’s happening before landing on a helipad on top of the mall. This sequence gives you the chance to experience what you are about to see in the main game without getting attacked by any of the walking undead. After landing on top of the mall your given 72 hours to discover what is going on by exploring the mall and uncovering the truth.

On your first jaunt through the game you?re not going to be able to discover everything as this mall is huge and the 72 hours (6-8 gameplay hours) is not enough to rescue all of the survivors, fight all of the psychopaths, going through the main story and exploring every shop.The best bet here is to follow the main storyline and rescuing a few of the hostages then go for the rest of the survivors and psychopaths on your second and third run as your stats should be high enough to get you past some of the tougher psycho’s.

Getting through the main storyline while slaughtering a lot of zombies with almost anything is the fun part of the game. At the start of the game your given basic weapons to use like metal pipes, planks of wood and baseball bats but besides these basic weapons there are a few interesting ones like hitting zombies hard with golf balls and trying to kill as many zombies as you can with a bowling ball. Later on in the game is where all of the best weapons come into it like mowing down loads of zombies into a gory pulp with a lawnmower or slicing them in half with a katana or a chainsaw. Unfortunately for frank the weapons don’t last long so stocking up on the right weapons and having enough health on you as well needs you to think up a little strategy because item slots are limited to certain amount of items.

One best example of this is when you are facing off against the many psychos you might of only taken one bottle of orange juice then not having enough health so you end off dying having to restart over again and this is where one of the main problems of the game pop up and that?s the small amount of save points in the game, getting killed then having to restart all over again can be really annoying and can leave you swearing a lot at your television screen. One of the other main problems with the game is the difficulty curve, when you go up against the zombies in the game you could be killing a lot in one go however when fighting one of the psycho’s the difficult setting just ramps up and you find yourself dying a lot having to redo the fight over and over again which can become annoying. However. these are only slight problems in a really solid game.

Controlling Frank is smooth as there is only one button to attack with and holding the right trigger is used to aim with so you can throw an item at your enemies. Aiding Frank in his journey to find the truth is his camera, Frank can use it to take photos of important events as well as capturing all of the zombies, doing this will give him PP points and as soon as he has gained enough he will level up and learn new techniques to fight the zombies with or his health bar and items slot will increase. PP points are also gained by rescuing survivors in the mall or by defeating the psychos.

Dead Rising for the most part is a fantastic game, getting to take all of your anger out on zombies is a good way to let off some steam if you’ve had a bad day. The storyline -if you follow it- is engaging and really strong with a very serious note added to it which takes away some of the comic book style violence of the game itself. The game is let down by the save system and the learning curve plus the graphics are not the best on the 360 but you can see a lot of power of the console is used on the amount of zombies one screen. It can also become a little repetitive and there is also a slight problem with slow down when there are too many zombies on screen at once.

Overall Dead Rising is a worthy game that should be added to your collection and gives the 360 one of those triple a titles that it needs. Apart from very minor flaws this is a must have game.

8/10

Retro Review : F.E.A.R

F.E.A.R arrived on Tuesday this week completely out of the blue. Not expected till Thursday at the least, the game has changed my life. Not in the sense that I?ll never be the same again, but in a way that means I’m more open to a different type of game. For me, the nearest I?d gotten to any type of horror experience on console was the outstanding, yet completely devoid of all scary moments Resident Evil 4 on the trusty GameCube.

F.E.A.R changed this and for good reason. Before I go into the actual gameplay, graphics or level design, I really have to say this so you understand. From the emotion evoking intro-sequence with its soaring soundtrack laden atmosphere, to the gloriously executed in-game audio inserts, the game never fails to send a chill up my gameplay induced, contorted spine. Not since the night I watched The Exorcist had I felt a connection like this. That night, I?d watched the cult horror alone, with no problems, until I ran up the stairs, turning every light on as I went. The film leaves an underlying air of suspense with you, just as F.E.A.R does. Watching Alma, a little girl and an ever-present mind-fuck of a character giggle as the heads up display fractures as she walks beautifully rendered across the screen for a matter of moments. These times are the one?s when the proverbial brick is very much shat.

But Lo! I?m a 27 year old man, slightly overweight, but very manly in every sense. I even have a rather good amount of chest hair. Why is a videogame scaring me? The answer is in the within the code itself. Whoever came up with the idea for a horror first person shooter needs shooting, because everything before this has been lame, uninteresting and something I?d rather use as a drinks coaster. Monolith?s prowess in engaging the player inside a tense and lucid world is evident across the entire game, so much so that I find myself letting slip the occasional “fuck me”, or worse still; bugger!

What do you mean you’re scared?

Anyway, my complete lack of balls aside, the game itself is based around you, a member of a super secret (you can say this in a corny US accent if you so wish) combat response unit named First Contact Assault Recon or F.E.A.R. Now, although the name sounds cool as just fear, maybe they could’ve thought of a name that doesn’t contradict itself. Look again and you?ll see what I’m saying ? bad Monolith. So, as the game opens, you start to realise that some funky events are starting to unfold, and as you progress through the game, flashbacks, or lucid dreams occur, where you?ll see souls wondering through tunnels or Alma herself, scaring the living shit out of you. Strangely, after having the aforementioned shit scared out of me, I still had a giggle. The type of giggle where you don?t sound manly, but you realise you?re not as ?hard? as you thought. The kind of laugh you?ll never let out in the presence of a lady.

The control mechanics are based on the now standard configuration of left and right analogue to move and rotate the camera, with reload assigned to the X button and action controls applied when holding the X button also. It feels much better for quick control situation than in most FPS of our time, and certainly a welcome change. A weighty but responsible camera improves as you progress, with health and reflex boosters dotted around the various environments. You’ll need these, because as the action gets hot, you’ll have to think about how you?re tackling enemies and plan on the fly how to overcome ambushes. The ability to take cover and use the environment will also keep you on your toes, and just as you think you’ve got your shit together, Alma comes and?well, you get the idea by now.

Each weapon you come across will serve a purpose in differing situations, so choosing the right one per encounter can often lead to getting your ass handed to you with a sign saying “do come again”. Not something you’ll want to write home about, but the game’s well balanced learning curve will guide you along at your own pace. Experienced players will be more able to pick up and play, whilst novices might take a few minutes to get acquainted. So, there are the basics of the game, but how does it differ from PC?

Deja Vu?

Well, there?s a new instant action mode for the Xbox 360, featuring four maps with four difficulty settings. I’ll stick a paw out in the wind and say it might be a tad too difficult for novices, even on low difficulty settings to jump straight in, so a good stab at the campaign wouldn’t go amiss before attempting the beautifully designed Roopftop map.

A best-seller on PC last year, the game has had a slight overhaul in the graphics department, with some extra shiny concrete walls (they’re not like this in real life) and some really detailed lighting and particle effects. Cold corridors and sparse alleyways await you around every corner, designed specifically to give the feeling of claustrophobia. Even the animations of Alma are frighteningly realistic, which is possibly half the reason I mentioned the above colourful words. The graphics are a means to an end of the game, as the suspense is the driver, but it’s driving a sleek black, shiny bump mapped Subaru. F.E.A.R is definitely one to show off your HDTV with.

A trip down memory lane?

Having never played the PC version, I was looking forward to getting this into the drive and the story was enough to justify my expectations. Maybe it’s because F.E.A.R is one of the only games lately that I haven?t had hands-on with before release. It certainly makes a refreshing change to be presented with something so new that you can?t fail to be swamped inside the reverse reverb effects of Alma’s voice, or the incredibly well designed levels. The atmosphere, or indeed the sheer emotion the incidental music and inserts evoke. Each small detail has been painstakingly worked on and crafted in a way that gives the game an air of simple and shining beauty. This Christmas sees the release of many a game, and with all things considered, F.E.A.E is a diamond in the ever increasing rough. If you don’t have Dolby 5.1, this game is a reason to invest, and if you learn one thing from this review, it’s that games can affect you. You won’t go down a street and start slashing people with knives, but you’ll certainly turn all the lights on as you go upstairs. If that makes me less of a man, then hey, Who cares if I’m a big girl’s blouse?

9/10

Retro Review : Ferrari Challenge

The whole reason we play videogames is to get away from the real world, to be able to try things like you have never done before and to experience things that can only be possible in a simulated world so why do companies think that we want real world style games for our consoles?
Well the answer to this question is that what if you couldn’t take part in these real world style events or what if you were obsessed with that event and you wanted to take it over to a videogame setting as well.

The genre that seems to thrive is this kind of quandary is the racing genre and companies are always trying to out do each other with realistic handling, real looking cars and all the tracks to can race one.
The new game added to this list is Ferrari Challenge and like all other realistic car games the developers Eutechynx state that this is the most realistic car game ever and while this is true in some form most of it has been done before and done much better by other developers.

In the main part of the game you are given the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the Ferrari F430 and have to race over 16 tracks from Europe, America and Italy (why Italy isn’t a part of Europe in this game remains to be seen) to try and boost you winnings so that you can take on better opponents and also release more cars for you to take into arcade mode and the online portion of the game.
Straight from the bat you will notice something and that’s the fact that in the main mode of the game you can only control 1 car and while this is a fantastic car it still is only 1 so the variety that other racing games have has been lost in this game.
Now don’t get me wrong you can customise this car with different decals and also given a mountain of options to tune up this car but it is still only one car so you are just going to have to stick with it.

After coming to terms with the car this is where the game starts to become more for the hardcore and not the casual amongst us as the game will punish you for bad driving because you need to be precise with what you do and concentrate from the start of the racing right to the checkered flag at the end and this is where i got frustrated as I’m not the right person to be handling this kind of game as i don’t like realistic racing games and i don’t have the patience to keep spinning off every two seconds for me to try and get back on to the track to compete in the rest of the race.
Thankfully though you do have the option of the racing line that’s mapped out on to the track that will come in real handy if you are like me but i still felt like this was to much for me.

What did help me though was how indifferent the A.I can be with them one minute pulling away from you giving you no chance of catching them up only for them to screw up a corner for you to easily passing them by thus leaving the A.I cars with egg on there face, however they will catch up on you again and make you cry because one minute you were cheering on the fact that you have finally gotten past someone only to have that snapped away from you and you dumped back behind the pack again.

Unfortunately on of the other big bad points of the game is down to the look of the tracks and the only word to describe them is bland, you wouldn’t expect a Playstation 3 game to have very static and flat backgrounds and also in some cases pop up appearing in the distance when you are driving down the straights.
However the car models are fantastic with rich detail down to the nut’s and bolts on the tires and with the sun gleaming off the bonnet of the car showing how well the paint job is.

When you try out the other modes in the game the game itself picks up a little because you get the chance to try out up to 50 cars and not the one that you have to stick with in the main mode and like the main car each car has been modeled on the original in a lot of detail making each car look more realistic than usual.

Don’t be down beat if you think that there is no online mode because that would be stupid on there part if they didn’t include it and there is one and this is where i had most fun as i wasn’t just the only one who found it hard to control these cars and i was starting to enjoy myself until you race against somebody who knows how to play games like these then you get beaten into a bloody pulp and have to get the smoke form your chest as you will always be behind them.

On a happy note the developers have promised downloadable content that will be free every month but also premium content that will only cost £5 giving you the chance to have one new track and another 5 cards added to your list while the free stuff will range from game mode updates to driver roster downloads and many other cool things.

Overall the game in the right hands is a descent attempt at a realistic Ferrari games as lovers of Ferrari will get a lot out of it but if you can’t play these kind of games (like myself) then you are going to be frustrated with the realistic feel of it.

7/10

Mirrors Edge

Now i know this was supposed to be a review for Left 4 Dead but i still have to play the game a little more before i tell you what i think so i decided to to Mirrors Edge today and the Left 4 Dead 1 minutes review will be up tomorrow.

About a year ago when you heard the words EA and originality you would laugh out loud and think somebody must of made an error however things have seem to changed a lot of the last year and that concepts doesn’t seem so stupid now and to prove that we have the fantastic Mirrors Edge to thank for that.

With a simple premise at have you take control of a runner named faith who has to help out her sister after she has been framed for a murder she didn’t commit and also have to survive the oncoming threat of all the runners being taken out one by one.

Going a long with your task faith is a very agile character and she has to be with her being a runner but also the navigation she has to do with her being hunted down every second and this is the backbone of this extremely polished and very well thought out game.

Jumping for roof top to roof top and making you way over obstacles sometimes can be really tricky has been handled with such easy as the movement of faith is so easy to get to grips with that when a mistake is made you know it’s your fault and not the game thus making you feel every bit as happy when you to manage to succeed that nasty jump or impossible ledge that you have to make your way to.

Graphically this is one of the most unique looking games of the year because many first person games are devoid of colour only throwing shades of brown and green your way however this one hits your pupils with bright whites and reds hitting you at every turn only sometimes letting you rest a little with shades of green and orange and this colour palette is the reason why the game has such a different feel and look to it.
The cut scenes have also been tackled a slightly different way going with a slight 2d feel making them look like more of an early anime rather than the standard CGI that most games companies go with these days.

There is no multiplayer to speak of only races which gives you a set time to complete a checkpoint race with you earning either 1,2 or 3 stars depending on how well you do.
With them adding these races in it has added a little bit more of a competition element to the game because you have the chance to race against the ghosts of your friend to see if you can better them.

Overall
Mirrors Edge is something unique on the market at the moment instead of following the same paint by numbers approach like most games do this has tried something different and for me EA need a big pat on the back.
At times there will be frustration creeping in when you keep dying or when you miss a jump but they soon go away when you finally get passed the bit you are stuck and the game is better for this because you feel like you have achieved something when you do manage this and you are rewarded with a great sense of achievement.
If you are after a game that you have to work for your prize then Mirrors edge comes highly recommended however if you easily get frustrated by dying a lot then you might want to look for something that has been done a thousand times before.
90%

Tomb Raider Underworld

In the big gaming market it’s really hard for new icons to appear so it’s up to the old crop however for them to stand out these days they have to be involved in something really special or they will die on there arses.
Take for example poor Sonic back in the early nineties he was a huge gaming star going toe to toe with Mario however over the last few years he seems to have lost all of his gaming credibility and Mario has gone on to shine.

There is however one gaming icon that has stood the test of time even though one of her games nearly killed off her and this icon happens to be the one and only Lara Croft with her last outing cementing her place as one of the only female icons.

Tomb Raider Underworld is one of those typical Tomb Raider games where you are forced to look for artifacts while dodging obstacles, doing a hell of a lot of climbing, balancing on small ledges or poles and don’t forget the constant spinning on poles just so she can reach areas that she wouldn’t be able to jump to, however even though the typical stuff is present it seems that crystal dynamics have tried to make the experience more smoother and easier to do and for the most part this works.

The problem though is that there is one hell of a bad camera in place which stops you for the most part viewing a jump that you need to do thus you dying a lot because you can’t seem to pull of the easiest of jumps and that can become so frustrating as you want to trek on but you can’t because that little ledge you are trying to get to seems out of reach because that camera doesn’t want you to see it.
The camera is not the only problem with this game the combat system is one of the worst i have seen in a game with it taking you ages to kill somebody even though they only take half of the time.

It’s not all negativity though as the graphics are really nice with the sunlight shining through tiny cracks in the trees to give you a glistening feel thus making you see the tress and vistas for what they are and the water/fire effects are also nice with sharks and smaller fish swimming pass you while you see the are shine up for the sunlight hitting the water.
Controlling Lara seems to be fine for the most part with her doing what you tell her however she can become a pain sometime with her not doing as she is told.
Another element that seems to work is the difficult level with you now having a sonar that maps out the area that you are in for you so you can see what ledge you have to go to plus Lara has the help of two hints this time giving her clues as to what has to be done next.

Overall
Tomb Raider Underworld for the most part is a really good game with some lovely graphics showing off the many levels you have to traverse however it’s that awful camera and that terrible combat system that spoils it for me.
I have never been that much of a tomb raider fan however the last few games have turned me around a little and this game only helps if only they could fix that camera and combat system then Lara will be back to her old self giving us that 5 star experience that she use to give us back in the PlayStation days.

78%