The No Sleep Gamer

This is the third map pack released for Killzone 2. It features two new multiplayer maps and two new weapons. All of which you should be familiar with to some extent as they appear in the single player campaign.

The first map is Suljeva Cliffside, which is from one of K2’s dustier browner levels. This is from a very brief section of the single player game that you will have passed though in a matter of minutes.

It is a fairly straight map with a couple of underground tunnels with sentry guns guarding the passages. Outside there are twisted remains of metal huts which make for handy hiding spaces. The level itself is on a hill with one team at the top and the other at the bottom, it’s almost like a valley with a high verge on one side and buildings on the other meaning you’ll be wide open in this gauntlet like section. Read more…

It cheers me up every time I explain this game to anyone. It’s a 32 player, medieval era game of capture the flag, except the flag is a Princess. And to make it extra difficult to get away with her, the other team stuff her with cake making her a Fat Princess meaning it takes much longer to carry her back to your castle. If you don’t laugh every time you hear her scream “CAKE!” you probably never will.

The maps are symmetrically designed so no team has an obvious upper hand. As you can see by the pictures, the game’s gone for a cartoonish, cell-shaded style that belies all the blood and gore plastered all over the battlefield. It’s a treat to look at and is razor sharp on a HD set. The locations include forests, volcanoes, tropical islands and mountains. Read more…

More retro goodness from Backbone Entertainment, the team that resurrected a disc full of retro classics with Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection. Next up is what got left out, namely this little classic from the Treasure dev team.

Chances are if you had a Mega Drive in the 90s you’ll remember this, if not here’s your chance for only £3.99. Out of the scores of side scrolling shooters this is among the best along with the likes of the Metal Slug series. Read more…

Sony have teamed up with Sprint to give away their PSN download only game, Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic, on the US PSN Store. You better be quick though as it’s only for one week.

No doubt people that have already forked out $9.99 / £7.99 will be annoyed as hell, but if you’ve not got the game already, you may as well try it out. It’s free! Trophies are supported too!

It’s a pretty shallow game on your own and it doesn’t have any online multiplayer options but does feature offline multiplayer for you and up to three of your mates you actually see in person; which makes a nice change considering the fun party games out there without the option, yes you Crash Commando.

Again, the European store is left outside in the rain with its face pushed up against the warm glass of the other regions stores, but we’ll hold off the moaning for now and suggest you set yourselves up a US account and bag it. Have a look here for a useful guide on how to do this. Note you’ll need a different e-mail address from your European account.

On the UK PSN Store this week, Bionic Commando Rearmed has been reduced from £6.99 to £3.99 and Bejeweled 2 has finally been released over here for a mildly annoying £6.29.

Final Fantasy VII has finally been put on the PSN Store for PS3 and PSP! Unfortunately the most celebrated RPG of them all is only currently available on the Japan or Hong Kong stores.
 
Even though the Hong Kong store is in English it is listed as the Japanese version of the game. The game’s full title is Final Fantasy VII International, which indicates a few extra features, but also an unlikely European release as we never get the ‘International’ FF games.
 
The game costs ¥1500 / HK$118 or about £10 to us. Not bad seeing as used PS1 copies on eBay are going for at least £20.
 
Sony seriously dropped the ball not giving us Metal Gear Solid on the store, hopefully they’ll realise what a huge European following FFVII has and sort it out. Oh and we wouldn’t mind that Blu-ray of Advent Children with the FFXIII demo either.