Category Archives: PlayStation 3

Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, RPG, Xbox 360

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (Review)

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lightning returns“The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows”

Who among us dared to imagine that after playing the miserable corridor that was the first Final Fantasy XIII, we’d be lining up for a third game in the series a few years later. The sequel, XIII-2, eased up on the linearity, but was still a mess on the battlefield. It’s baffling to think that of all the great Final Fantasy games in years gone by, the almost universally slated XIII series is now a trilogy.

But throughout my time spent playing the previous two games, there remained a streak of perseverance. The ongoing story of sacrifice, family and loss always deserved a better game to be a part of. The cast have always been one of my favourites in a JRPG too, despite being a bit on the broody side a times.

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News, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

South Park Co-Creator Brands Ubisoft’s Censorship “lame and stupid”

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South Park Co-Creator Brands Ubisoft’s Censorship “lame and stupid”

Much has been made of Ubisoft’s decision to cut scenes from the console version of South Park: The Stick of Truth in some territories outside of the USA and it’ll come as no surprise that one of the show’s co-creators wasn’t best pleased about it.  Continue reading South Park Co-Creator Brands Ubisoft’s Censorship “lame and stupid” →

News, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Castlevania Director Lashes Out At Low Review Scores

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Castlevania Director Lashes Out At Low Review Scores

Enric Alvarez, Director of the recent Castlevania: Lords of shadow 2, has publicly lashed out against the low scores his game has received since launch, even going as far as to call Edge’s 4/10 review “blind”, “stupid” and “totally unfair.”“One must be blind or stupid to give it a 4/10 for a game of this quality. With a 4/10, people interpret it is a crappy game, badly done, it breaks, with mechanics that do not work, with some awful graphics.”  Continue reading Castlevania Director Lashes Out At Low Review Scores →

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

South Park: The Stick of Truth (Review)

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Review of the new RPG game South Park: The Stick of TruthThis generation of consoles hasn’t had the best run for licensed tie-ins or traditional RPG experiences. And now, as it winds to a close, the two genres get one last chance in an odd-sounding hybrid. A South Park RPG.

How do you fit South Park into an RPG experience? Simple, just have the kids pretending to be on an epic adventure with elves, mages, wizards and warriors. Adults may know it as LARPing (Live Action Role Playing (like in the movie Role Models), but to the kids of South Park, they’re simply playing outside.

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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Review)

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Way short of the full Belmonty

Hundreds of years after Gabriel Belmont’s journey began; we’re here to witness the grand finale as we see him return as Dracula, to take on Satan and his acolytes one last time in the hope of finally finding peace and an escape from his immortal torment.

If the events of the original Lords of Shadow, the expansion DLC and Mirror of Fate are a little faded in your memory, there’s a summative cutscene early on to bring you back up to speed. Robert Carlyle and Patrick Stewart reprise their roles from the first game, attempting to add as much brooding and grandiosity respectively as possible. And lots of hammy dialogue so cringe worthy, it’ll give you a sore neck.

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Features, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Tekken X Street Fighter: Going Next-Gen or Cancelled?

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Where is Tekken X Street Fighter? That’s the question many of us fight fans have been wondering recently. Nobody has even seen a screenshot of the game, and yet it has been two years since Capcom released Street Fighter X Tekken. Namco’s return effort was set to give the Street Fightercharacters a Tekken-style makeover, but it’s been a notorious no-show for years now.

Recently, we were sent a UK release schedule from Bandai Namco (they changed their name around, remember) and thankfully the game was still on there, but the date was only down as TBC. More interestingly, the formats no longer read PS3/360, instead they’ve also been replaced with TBC. The optimists inside us are hoping this means that we could be seeing the game on PS4 and Xbox One -two consoles desperately in need of a decent fighting game. With a relatively small install-base for the new consoles though, we’d still expect the PS3 and 360 (and probably the Vita) to see the game too.

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Action, Platformer, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews

Legend of Kay Review – This kitty has claws

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Looking at gaming’s release schedule, you may notice one genre in particular doesn’t seem to have anything on the horizon – the action platformer. Has the flop of Knack on the PS4 put developers off making new ones? Until someone says otherwise, it would seem that the best way to get our fix is to look backwards.

Fortunately, I’ve been saved a visit to my local preowned store and plugging my PS2 into a modern TV (scart lead consoles on HD TV’s look horrendous) thanks to PS2 title, Legend of Kay being released in digital form on PS3. This isn’t an HD remake, but to be honest, time has been kind to the game and it still looks good today. Widescreen and 60Hz support helps too. Continue reading Legend of Kay Review – This kitty has claws →

Platforms, PlayStation 3, Puzzle, Reviews

Adam’s Venture Chronicles Review

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Sometimes you need to take a break from all the cover shooters, the chequered flag chasing and alien blasting to exercise the old grey matter with some puzzles for a change. PSN has been a bit bare of late for head-scratching titles, which is why we’re so keen to give Adam’s Venture Chronicles a go.

The name may sound familiar to PC gamers as the game was originally released in episodic chunks in 2009 through 2012. So, while not exactly fresh, it’s nice to see the game eventually reach another platform. Continue reading Adam’s Venture Chronicles Review →

Features, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Are Game Development Costs Set to Spiral out of Control?

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Last week we learned via a Eurogamer interview, that 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot only started to make a profit nine months after its March release date, despite selling 3.4 million copies in its first three weeks. If it takes that long for a game that good that sold that well to actually make money, how long can companies afford to make similar blockbuster big-budget games?

Tomb Raider’s budget was reportedly around £60 million ($100 million), which is probably why Square Enix set their sales targets so high (5 million units) in the first month,  which would have seem them move into the black straight away. Continue reading Are Game Development Costs Set to Spiral out of Control? →

Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Reviews, XBLA, Xbox 360

Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD (Review)

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Releasing at the busiest time of year, Liberation went largely unnoticed when it released towards the back end of 2012 on the PS Vita. So when Ubisoft announced they would be polishing it up for a downloadable release on PSN and XBLA it was collective high fives all-round. Sorry Vita, but the big TV wins again.

So often, I cringe when I see the prices of digital games or HD remakes, but Liberation’s £15.99 asking price is very reasonable. Mainly because the original Vita version costs more and the visual upgrade is huge. Some of you may be disappointed to hear that the multiplayer options have been ditched, but this makes sense really. Why would Ubisoft want to dedicate resources to keeping more servers alive when they know most fans will be enjoying the superior multiplayer offerings of Assassin’s Creed IV?

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Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Video, Xbox 360

Opening Scenes | Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD – First 20 Mins

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Opening Scenes | Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD - First 20 Mins

Thanks to my recent acquisition of a Hauppauge capture device, I’m able to bring you an Opening Scenes video for Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD, the new HD port of the 2012 Vita game. I’ll be bringing you a review very soon, but if you’re eager to see what the opening twenty minutes hold, then marvel at my restraint as I avoid succumbing to collecting all the shiny things instead of doing actual missions.

Instead of playing an Assassin’s game like my usual obsessive-compulsive (but very stabby) magpie, this playthrough video will show you cutscenes, climbing, fighting, costume changes, mistimed jumps and some ruddy vicious looking machetes. I’ve put a few hours into the game since recording this footage and am pleased to say it’s going well so far. Aveline is a delightful character and the story is shaping up to be better than most Assassin’s games. Stay tuned for that review. Continue reading Opening Scenes | Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD – First 20 Mins →

Features, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, PS4, PSN (PlayStation Store), XBLA, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Consoles Doomed to Pay High Digital Prices Forever?

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For years, PSN and XBLA gamers have been enviously staring at the generous offerings PC gamers can gorge themselves on via sites like Steam, GOG and Green Man Gaming. The ever-increasing number of sites sees regular price war over these digital titles, leaving PC gamers the clear winners for cheap games.

For console gamers, it’s been a very different story as PlayStation and Xbox gamers have been left with one first-party option for a digital game store on their console. With only one option available, this has of course meant that there is no need for competitive prices or discounts bar the odd sale.

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Action, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Reviews, RPG, XBLA, Xbox 360

How to Survive (Review)

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Bring duct tape.

Like any good zombie attack, you never see it coming and How to Survive will sink its teeth into your nights if you let your guard down while patiently awaiting the arrival of your shiny next-gen console.

EKO Software’s game is a top-down action-RPG that can be loosely compared with the likes of Diablo III or Dead Nation. After crash landing on a zombie-infested tropical island, you’ll need to scavenge for salvage and build weapons and armour to hold off the infected masses. The overall aim is to make a series of vehicle repairs via completing fetch quests. Ok, so not exactly a revolution of new ideas, but once How to Survive gets going, it’s hard to put down.

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PC, Platformer, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PS4, PSN (PlayStation Store), Reviews, XBLA, Xbox 360

Contrast (PS4 Review)

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Shadow Starlets

Contrast has been thrust into the limelight of the PS4’s launch thanks to its inclusion as a free game for all PS+ subscribers. And given that said subscription is required to play the PS4 online, it may be getting a bigger audience than it expected on opening night. No pressure then.

The game’s setup is an unusual one from the start as you control the odd pairing of Didi -the young girl- and Dawn, a female stage performer. More unusually, the other characters in the game don’t seem to see Dawn, and they only appear as shadows. This is the norm though as we see Didi talk with her parents in their shadow form throughout.

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First Person Shooters, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Reviews, XBLA, Xbox 360

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Episode 1 (Review)

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Elizabeth brings us home to Rapture


Bioshock Infinite’s first DLC surprised many of us when Irrational announced it would take place in the original game’s underwater city of Rapture and not in the floating city of Columbia. Surprised? Yes. Disappointed? Not one bit.

With Bioshock Infinite indicating the many possibilities of alternate universes, the concept of taking (a version of) Booker and Elizabeth to one of the most inspired locations in gaming history is one that pulls you in from the start, more so after teasing us with the idea in Infinite.

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Action, Platformer, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews

Ratchet & Clank: Nexus (Review)

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Get your Zurkon!

Sony’s long serving pair are back for another dose of platforming and mad scientist-style firearms. Let’s get straight to what you want to hear, yes, Ratchet & Clank: Nexus is a return to form after the misguided effort that was Q-Force. So, with no threats of ridiculous tower defence to worry about we’re free to enjoy the series as it was always meant to be.

That said, I’ve been surprised to see Insomniac continue to work on the series since they started working on non-Sony titles, but I supposed something has to pay the bills between Fuse and Sunset Overdrive (an upcoming Xbox One exclusive). This could explain why we’re getting a shorter Ratchet adventure than usual, but in fairness, it’s only £20.

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Features, Hands-on previews, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Video, Xbox 360

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 – Hands-on Playthrough Video

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If you read my hands-on preview of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 a few weeks ago you may be interested to take a look at my new hands-on preview video. Taking place at what may turn out to be the first stage of the game, you’ll see a variety of new weapons in action such as the Void Sword and the Cestus Claws. And you see Gabriel rip a knight into what can only be described as a red splash. It’s messy.

With only Ryse on the horizon, this is one of our most eagerly-awaited hack n’ slash titles. Kratos better come out of retirement soon if he doesn’t want to lose his title.

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Features, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

What’s Right and What’s Wrong with Call of Duty: Ghosts’ Single Player

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Infinity Ward’s latest shooter, Call of Duty: Ghosts, hit the shelves this week and has again proved a big success, although not to the same degree as previous titles. There’s been a drop in sales, albeit one which could be explained by players waiting for next-gen versions later this month. The critical reception has taken a hit too though as the series dips into the ‘dreaded’ yellow zone on Metacritic with a current average of 75 instead of the usual 80-90 range.

Much of the criticism has been aimed at the game’s single player element, which is surprising, given that Infinity Ward should know what they’re doing by now. Have they become lazy? Are we expecting too much? Have our tastes changed? Or do we just want to get on with the multiplayer?

Well, today let’s tackle the single player side of Ghosts, by looking at what’s strong and what’s wrong with it. My experience and thoughts are based on my recent complete playthrough of the campaign on the PS3.

Continue reading What’s Right and What’s Wrong with Call of Duty: Ghosts’ Single Player →