Shuffling up to the zombie party the day after the night before can hardly be called fashionably late, but here we finally are. The Yakuza series is renowned for its unique blend of beat em’ up RPG, so it was surprising and (whisper it), slightly disappointing to see them announce a gun-packed zombie game when all I really wanted was a new city to play in with Kiryu and the rest of the face-stomping gang.
Previously, the series only used firearms as brief power-ups before the game got back to doing what it did best: letting you swing street thugs by their ankles face-first into lamp posts. Sadly, there are no options to enjoy such violent delights here. A few melee weapons remain, but for the most part it’s all about the boomsticks.
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The PS2 was spoilt for choice with platforming adventure titles, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper and of course Jak & Daxter. So an excuse to dive in again in shiny HD with widescreen support was a no-brainer.
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is admittedly one of my favourite games, but have I been remembering the game through rose-tinted glasses, was it really that good? Hell yes it was. Originally released in 2001, this was ridiculously impressive both technically and in terms of gameplay. All the levels are linked together, and you can run from one end of the game to the other without a single loading screen.
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Third-person shooters were something to be avoided on the PSP, but thanks to the Vita’s second analogue stick we can now safely embrace the genre on a handheld device. Unit 13 comes from Zipper Interactive, the team behind the Socom games, most recently the impressive Socom: Special Forces, so there’s potential here.
Despite Zipper’s last game having a decent plot, this game is very much business only and broken up into individual missions with no story at all. Essentially, you pick one specialist from the unit and get dropped into a level to kill terrorists, kill leaders, kill intel, I mean pick up intel and diffuse bombs. Standard 9-5 counter-terrorism.
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It’s been too long since we had a great PlayStation Move game. Sports Champions and Killzone 3 are still the champs standing tall above the minigames collections and hasty last-minute ‘me too’ efforts like Virtua Tennis 4. So it’s with some confidence and hope that I approached Medieval Moves.
Had I not previously played a few unfinished versions of the game I would have been let down by the opening moments that show some terrible illustrated cutscenes. I know we’re in a recession and this game came out at half the price of regular games, but… ew.
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It’s strange how the one thing many of us gamers clamour to first for a new console is something familiar. It’s a brand new machine, but let’s not go nuts. With most only buying one or two games at best for launch, you’ll want something reliable, familiar and with just enough ‘new’ about it to make that transition to a new machine that little bit smoother. Uncharted: Golden Abyss is the perfect purchase for that purpose.
This is a great entry point to the series for non-PS3 owners as the game is a prequel, with a story that never relies on past knowledge of the series, not that there aren’t a few familiar characterisation elements for fans to enjoy. This time Drake is in the jungles and ruins of Central America. Initially hired as a sort of archaeological plundering partner in crime with new-guy Dante, Drake stumbles upon a mad army General intent on a typical power-mad scheme. With Elena not yet on the scene we’re introduced to new girl, Marisa Chase. Sharing -and perhaps really kick-starting- Drake’s passion for all things ancient, it’s not long before a new friendship is born. This relationship is well written with plenty of Uncharted’s trademark humour despite Naughty Dog not being at the helm. The writing and the flow of the story is pretty dam excellent throughout to be honest. A few hours in and you realise that we have another development team that can do the series justice.
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If you only buy one HD collection this year, make sure it’s this one. Pretenders to the stealth genre have come and gone over the years, but the Metal Gear Solid series has outlasted them all and with good reason.
This collection includes Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and the PSP title Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Yes, that leaves one glaring omission, the original PS1 Metal Gear Solid. Considering it was remade for the GameCube, it’s a missed opportunity. However, we expect it will get its own release soon. Considering the quality that we do get in this collection though, it’s hard to stay mad for long.
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Survival horror continues its search for a new host as this promising download-only effort fails on all fronts. A technical nightmare that feels rushed, untested, unloved, thoughtless and irritating. Amy, we are upset and disappointed. More so because before we got to hold your hand we thought this would be the post-Ico hit we’ve needed.
The premise was so deliciously tangible it was hard not to get excited about this ambitious studio bringing survival horror to the downloadable market, especially seeing as the genre has ebbed in recent years on modern consoles.
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Ignore the messy Harry Potter titles that EA have been squeezing out over the last few years. If you’re after a game that will please Harry Potter fans, look no further than this Lego-flavoured compilation spanning the last four films.
For the most part, you’ll control the familiar trio, with other characters popping up occasionally. Harry has his cloak, Hermione unlocks swot boxes and Ron can access his brother’s Wesley boxes for destructive fireworks or wall-climbing shoes. As is standard with the Lego games, you can play local multiplayer. The screen will split when it feels it is appropriate. We found it to be a nightmare though. Splitting when it didn’t need to and giving one player loads of space and the other a corner. The divide also made a nasty habit of dizzyingly spinning around.
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Buying titles for the little gamer in your life can be a difficult task. Especially if they’re of the age that bright colours and fun take precedent over playing GTA. So you’ll want to get it right this Christmas.
Disney Universe is a good place to start in addition to De Blob 2 and the tougher Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One. It’s cheery, inoffensive, impossible to hit a Game Over screen and has so many playable characters that kids might even still be playing it by New Year’s.
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GTAV will have to wait its turn. We’ve been looking forward to Saints Row: The Third for a while now and after the dirty delights of SR2, we can’t wait to get stuck in again with the current console generation’s most enjoyable open world crime series.
After pissing off The Syndicate, the Saints are forced out of Stillwater despite being the world’s most famous street gang. Instead, they’re dumped into Steelport and have to start from square one again. Their rise to power pits them against The Syndicate and the gangs of Morning Star, The Deckers and The Luchadores, the latter of whom are led by Killbane, voiced by Hulk Hogan. With this fresh start, the series is welcoming to old and new players.
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Nathan Drake returns for another top-rate adventure. After hearing his very distant relative, Francis Drake, must have taken a detour on the way back from one of his famous voyages we’re off to search for clues to see if he discovered the lost Arabian city of Ubar.
The story takes time to delve into Nate’s past, allowing us to explore how he met Sully, who now plays a larger role than the previous games. It never feels like padding and fans will enjoy the insight into the friendship. Don’t worry, Elena and Chloe are still around too.
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Co-op multiplayer Ratchet & Clank. The series has been consistently fantastic without it, but we’re always keen to watch a great game grow. But with co-op, we knew there would be concessions to the game we know and love. Would this sour the overall experience though? In short: no, this is still a great Ratchet game, even as a single-player experience.
If you’d prefer to play through the game alone (also the best way to build up your arsenal), just choose a character and get going. With Ratchet, Clank, Captain Quark and Dr. Nefarious all working together against a common enemy, you can choose to play as any of the four. An AI partner follows you around to help in gunfights and co-op tasks if you’re flying solo. Co-op partners, either local or online can drop in or drop out at any time, which allows you to progress through the game as you choose.
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After the chaotic events of Arkham Asylum, only the corrupt world of Gotham City would let the madhouse’s warden become mayor and allow him to hire Dr. Strange to cordon off a whole section of the city for a new asylum/prison. Dr. Strange being the head-case he is, it isn’t long before innocent civilians find themselves locked up without warning or trial. Soon enough, we’re walking Batman himself through the prison gates too, albeit as Bruce Wayne.
It’s going to be another long night for the Batman. Arkham City takes on an open-world approach with various missions available around the city map. It’s clear that films like Escape from New York have heavily influenced the landscape. Electricity is limited and streets are littered with trash, barricades, burnt out cars and mobs of angry thugs. Famous in-mates like Two-Face, Penguin and Joker all have their own areas and gang members. Despite the place being a shit-hole, they’re still all having a massive turf war.
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This collection was one of the first of the HD re-releases to be announced and since then we’ve had many more come and go. With the long development time, you’d expect perfect conversions, with little need for rose-tinted glasses to help you get through it. So let’s take a look.
For many gamers, this will be their first taste of these games, and after going back to check the PS2 versions you can see there are clear improvements thanks to the high-definition remodelling. There are also a few downsides, but more on those later.
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If you thought the PSP wasn’t capable of hosting spectacular action games then you’d be very wrong, as Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta are a fine pair of beasts. But let’s face it, Kratos was always way too angry to settle being stuck in your pocket.
While the first God of War collection and the Sly or Prince of Persia HD trilogies were upgrades of already good-looking PS2 games, this has taken more of an effort coming from the PSP. Sporting the best visuals the handheld ever saw, these games are now re-born with their potential fully realised in HD.
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The Games Workshop space faring Warhammer 40k universe has been begging for a proper action game for years. Having provided so much inspiration for video games it’s about time it had one.
Relic Entertainment have served 40k well already with their Dawn of War strategy games on the PC, but now they face a different challenge with an assault on the crowded action shooter genre. This is no Gears of War clone though; you’re playing as a Space Marine, the toughest soldiers out there. These seven-foot tall genetically engineered killing machines don’t need a cover-system; they’re all about fighting through the pain.
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The EDF (no relation to Red Faction’s EDF) games have been something of a cult hit on the 360 for a while now and the series has finally made its way to the PS3 too. New recruits listen up; your mission in this arcade third-person shooter is to defend the planet from an invasion of giant bugs. Ants, spiders and wasps have all been super-sized to form an alien army of nature’s bastards. Over-turned cups and rolled up newspapers aren’t going to cut it anymore.
The carnage over the game’s fifteen levels is simple enough to grasp: kill everything in sight and occasionally plant a demolition charge. The single-player campaign missions match those used for multiplayer, so levelling up is consistent across the board. Playing offline is clearly not the way the game was intended to be played, as your AI team-mates struggle to focus on taking down bosses, although they are impressively reliable for reviving you, which is more than can be said for some players online.
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After the recent relentless slew of comic book movie tie-ins ranging from hideously deformed horrors to the dizzy heights of ‘not awful’, it’s a great relief to be able to report we have a game we can call ‘good’.
Captain America: Super Soldier borrows from all the right places, namely Arkham Asylum, and stuffs its world with hidden objects to find to appeal to the gamer’s hunger to collect everything possible.
The game seems to run alongside the film rather than portray the same events. But you’ll hear Chris Evens as Cap and see enemy soldiers resembling the movie ones. The story is simple fodder, Cap must clear the way in a Bavarian fortress for the good guys against the Hydra army. The setting is WWII, which provides plenty of faux-German accents. They’re terrible and the dialogue is laughable but it all adds to the game’s charm and will raise a wry smirk and even a laugh or two.
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It’s been a while since we’ve had a look at some of the PSP’s Minis, mainly because of the PSN crisis and recently a lot of them looked like complete pump. There hasn’t exactly been a deluge of titles since PSN resumed normal service either. Two of the three games we’re looking at today come free with PlayStation Plus, which some gamers might still have as a part of their Welcome Back package.
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Our electrical star of Infamous, Cole MacGrath, begins the game with an encounter against ‘The Beast’ an almost god-like deity, hell bent on destroying everything. Cole is unable to stop the destruction of Empire City and is forced to retreat south to New Marais while he prepares himself for round two.
The city of New Marais is inspired by New Orleans, so the settings include recreations of the Latin Quarter, swamps, vault-packed graveyards and also the poorer areas of the city. After the eternally grey Empire City, the new setting is an inspired choice, especially the eerie swamps and the neon lights of the city’s nightlife district. The colours of some of the sunsets are real showstoppers too; seriously, you won’t see better skies anywhere else. The terrible real-life effects of Hurricane Katrina are also mirrored, as Cole arrives years after a flood, to find large areas still submerged with a few nods to the lack of government support New Orleans suffered. It feels tastefully done, as ignoring such an event when basing your location on New Orleans would have been insensitive.
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Shuffling up to the zombie party the day after the night before can hardly be called fashionably late, but here we finally are. The Yakuza series is renowned for its unique blend of beat em’ up RPG, so it was surprising and (whisper it), slightly disappointing to see them announce a gun-packed zombie game when all I really wanted was a new city to play in with Kiryu and the rest of the face-stomping gang.
