Category Archives: Platforms

Beat 'em up, PSP, Reviews, RPG

Young Thor (PSP Minis Review)

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Young Thor is a traditional side-scrolling platformer / beat ‘em up title. It follows the journey of Thor on his way to rescue four maidens from Hel, ruler of the Norse Underworld.

Combat is pleasingly simple and the lack of depth is hidden by the way you can attack enemies in different body parts for better effects. Numbers fly off enemies to indicate the damage done and when these numbers turn yellow, you know you’ve just discovered a weak spot. For example, the best way to deal with the tall trolls is to jump over them, turn around in mid-air and give them a crack to the back of the head. Continue reading Young Thor (PSP Minis Review) →

Features, Hands-on previews, PlayStation 3, Previews

PlayStation Beta Rooms Round-up Part One

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Well the PlayStation Move games at Birmingham’s Sony’s Beta Rooms have been covered now with Part 1 and Part 2, but don’t worry I didn’t forget about the rest of Sony’s upcoming titles. Today I’ll be going over MotorStorm: Apocalypse, Eat Them and Dead Nation with more to follow soon. Continue reading PlayStation Beta Rooms Round-up Part One →

Hands-on previews, PC, PlayStation 3, Previews, Xbox 360

Medal of Honor Multiplayer Beta Impressions

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While EA LA are handling the single player game, Battlefield veterans DICE are in-charge of multiplayer. After the success of the BF series, we’d say it’s in good hands.

The matches in the beta have up to twelve players on each side with the maps being just the right size for the numbers meaning you never go too long without snapping up your gun sights. Continue reading Medal of Honor Multiplayer Beta Impressions →

Features, Hands-on previews, PlayStation 3, Previews

PlayStation Move Hands-On Preview – Part One

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I was fortunate enough to get invited to the awesome-packed PlayStation Beta Rooms event for the press preview in Birmingham last night. It wasn’t a hard decision making the hundred mile plus journey down south considering I’d be getting my hands on the likes of Sony’s new motion controller, Move and a slew of upcoming titles such as Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5 and MotorStorm: Apocalypse. This is part one of my coverage of the event that begins with the PlayStation Move. Continue reading PlayStation Move Hands-On Preview – Part One →

PC, PlayStation 3, Previews, Regular previews, Xbox 360

Rage (Preview)

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An asteroid has beat humankind to nuking itself back to the stone age, but the results are pretty much the same. Most people are dead, mainly violent assholes survived, mutants are every- where and the world has become a desert.

You were one of the lucky few who were put into a pod underground to be protected from the blast. Once the dust and fallout settles and everything looks ok, your pod releases you. Ok, so everything’s not exactly great, but as good as it was going to get in the pod’s mind-set anyway. Continue reading Rage (Preview) →

Platformer, PSN (PlayStation Store), PSP, Puzzle, Reviews

Archibald’s Adventures (PSP Minis Review)

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£2.49 and 191 levels. BAM! That’s what we call a good deal! This is a 2D puzzle/platforming game that starts off with easy puzzles before soon leaving you scratching your head wondering what the hell to do next.

You control Archibald on his skateboard trying to find his way out of Professor Klumpfus’ creepy mansion/laboratory by hopping across gaps, avoiding mutants, flicking switches, moving boxes and teleporting, with the aim of reaching the exit door for each of the levels. Continue reading Archibald’s Adventures (PSP Minis Review) →

Action, PSN (PlayStation Store), PSP, Retro, Reviews

Car Jack Streets (PSP Minis Review)

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It’s been a while since I’ve dusted of my old PS1 GTA games, so will this be a nostalgic experience or a grim reminder of why some titles are best left in the past?

The top-down view in the crime-sim raises obvious comparisons with the old GTA games, but for a £3.49 PSP Minis title it definitely has my attention. Continue reading Car Jack Streets (PSP Minis Review) →

PSN (PlayStation Store), PSP, Puzzle, Reviews

The Mystery of the Crystal Portal (PSP Minis Review)

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Hidden object games are a nice match for the PSP Minis range, with their relaxed nature passing the time on a commute or ad break with ease. Route 66 scored well with a 7 a few months ago, so let’s see what G5 Entertainment can come up with.

There’s an actual story here, as a young archaeologist (that absolutely does not look like Lara Croft) is searching for her father who went missing while searching for the Crystal Portal. It’s not exactly Fallout 3, but the effort is appreciated. Continue reading The Mystery of the Crystal Portal (PSP Minis Review) →

Platformer, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Racers, Reviews

Joe Danger (Review)

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If Demon’s Souls was like getting your head kicked in and asking for more, Joe Danger is like waking up in hospital the day after with Katy Perry sat by your side telling you she’s murdered Russell Brand and everything’s going to be just fine.

360 owners have been enjoying Trials HD, but Joe Danger has leapt over the competition – and a few school buses and shark tanks for good measure to top the podium. Boost, jump and trick your way to the finish line racking up gloriously brave combo multipliers on the way. The game works on multiple 2D planes like Little Big Planet, but with set points for ‘changing lanes’. Continue reading Joe Danger (Review) →

PSP, Puzzle, Reviews

Mahjongg Artifacts (PSP Minis Review)

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The launch of Minis on the PSP has been the best thing to happen on the underused console for years. Even the cack games only set you back a few quid. Mahjongg Artifacts (their spelling) doesn’t have to worry about such things and is well worth the £3.99 asking price.

We get the feeling this version of the ancient game is a bit simpler than the original, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be hooked within minutes. All you have to do is match up pairs of identical blocks, that have pictures on them. Some fall into groups like Roman numerals, Egyptian eyes and so on. Some blocks from the same group can be paired despite being different, such as flowers, weather icons or theatre masks.  Special glowing blocks can be paired with any of its kind or suit. Continue reading Mahjongg Artifacts (PSP Minis Review) →

PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Racers, Reviews, Xbox 360

Burnout Paradise Review

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Burnout is trying something a little different to the previous games in the series and has opted for an open-world feel with a major refocus towards the online action.

The single player mode has suffered in order to make this great online multiplayer racer / crasher. The new menu-less free-roaming city feels too vague and unstructured for racing. There aren’t any tracks so to speak as races have turned into point A to point B style races letting you find the best route, but it’s a nightmare trying to keep your eye on the compass, the sat-nav map and the road. Continue reading Burnout Paradise Review →

PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Puzzle, Reviews, Sport

Planet Minigolf (Review)

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Ah minigolf games and Demon’s Souls in the same weekend. Will my pads survive? Will my sanity hold? Probably not.

£6.29 gets you an impressive amount of crazy golf shenanigans with 144 holes, 6-player local or online multiplayer and a course editor to create your own knuckle mawing middle finger salutes to reason. Continue reading Planet Minigolf (Review) →

PlayStation 3, Reviews, RPG

Demon’s Souls (Review)

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For many, Demon’s Souls will be like Marmite, with its love it or hate it appeal. That’d be fine except many gamers will be struggling to get the lid of the damn thing. This RPG game’s tutorial gives you a few weak enemies while going over the controls and just as you start to think ‘this isn’t so bad,’ a boss appears and kills you in one hit. Welcome to Demon’s Souls, meatbag.

In this dead Soul form, your health is greatly reduced and you’ll have to defeat a boss to get your body back. To avoid going insane, it’s best not to think of yourself as ‘dead’ in the traditional sense. You’ll be spending most of the game in this state, so just get on with it. Continue reading Demon’s Souls (Review) →

Features, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Xbox 360

E3 2010’s Hidden Gems

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With over 800 games on show at E3 2010, some were always going to fall between the cracks of coverage as we all clamoured over the like of Gears 3, Killzone 3, Halo, Need for Speed, Call of Duty, Zelda, Kinect and Move. We’ve covered our picks of the big games, so let’s have a look at some other titles that we feel deserve a little push too. Continue reading E3 2010’s Hidden Gems →

Horror, PSP, Reviews

Hysteria Project (PSP Minis Review)

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Heavy Rain made with a cheap video recorder is a good way to think of this game. The video footage is blurry on the small screen but in fairness, as a Minis title it has to be a small file size and it’s a lot of footage compressed into 80MB.

This ‘interactive (college student-esque) movie’ has you playing as a potential murder victim from a first-person perspective. Everything is shot on camera with no real graphics to speak of. The ‘story’ is simple, escape from captivity and get out of the woods before the hooded axe murderer catches you.

Continue reading Hysteria Project (PSP Minis Review) →

PSP, Puzzle, Reviews

Block Cascade Fusion (PSP Minis Review)

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Another block puzzle game for the PSP. It’s simple, colourful and cheap. What’s not to like?

The setup is very similar to the classic Lumines games. Blocks come down from the top in three different colours, either in squares of four, a block of six or a line of three. Rotate them on their way down to line up five of the same vertically or horizontally. Try and get as many connected to the line as possible for a combo.

The last block of the five needs to be put in last as you can’t add to a highlighted group afterwards like you can in Lumines. After the timer at the side of the screen reaches zero, a line will sweep down from the top and clear away any linked squares. Sometimes it takes ages to arrive, 25 seconds can feel like a lifetime when your screen is filling up.

Continue reading Block Cascade Fusion (PSP Minis Review) →

Features, News, PlayStation 3

E3 2010: PlayStation Press Conference

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The world’s biggest game show continues in LA with E3. It’s Sony’s turn to take to the stage and stake their claim for bragging rights for the next year of releases. 3D gaming is gets a real push and like Microsoft, motion control is going to be play a big part in the show. But will they be ignoring gamers in favour of the casual market too? We’ll tell you below while also looking at some proper games. Continue reading E3 2010: PlayStation Press Conference →

Features, News, Xbox 360

E3 2010: Microsoft Press Conference

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Microsoft managed to pack 90 minutes with some tasty looking games and the newly named Kinect motion control camera. The slimline 360 makes a late appearance too. Here’s the No Sleep Gamer summary of what looked good and a bit of what didn’t. Continue reading E3 2010: Microsoft Press Conference →