Category Archives: Xbox 360

Hands-on previews, Interviews, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360

Disney Infinity (Hands-On Preview)

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Skylanders makes millions. Serious millions. So it was only a matter of time before other companies decided to get into toy/video game hybrids and names don’t come much bigger than Disney. When we learned that the biggest name in animated movies was stepping into the fray, we knew things were about to get interesting in the war for a spot under Christmas trees.

Like Skylanders, Disney Infinity is going to sell toys that are placed on a docking device (the Infinity Base) which makes them appear in-game. These characters will be sold in ‘Play Sets’ based around specific film franchises. These sets will include a couple of toy characters along with single-player stages/missions based around that film. Pirates of the Caribbean, Monster’s University, The Incredibles, The Lone Ranger and so on.

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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Fuse (Review)

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Insomniac’s first outing since leaving Sony’s nest was always going to be a tough task. But with such a strong history of inventive weaponry in the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance games, chances were that anything they put their minds too involving boomsticks would be fun.

Fuse is a third-person cover shooter with a heavy emphasis on co-op. With the multiplatform competition consisting of the like of Kane & Lynch and Army of Two, it’s all there for the taking. Fusepacks a little extra punch by allowing for four-player co-op action, rather than a paltry two.

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Action, Interactive Drama, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

The Walking Dead: Retail Edition (Review)

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After receiving widespread critical acclaim over the course of the first season of the episodic download game series, The Walking Dead has finally followed the tracks and shuffled its way to retail. Telltale have missed an opportunity though as this release features no extras, like making of videos, interviews and so on. Hell, if they’d chucked a poster in they could have called it the Collector’s Edition.

I’m making a fuss about this because as many of you will be aware you can download the series on PSN/XBLA for around £15 or even cheaper on PC or during a sale, but the RRP for this is £30. I love having physical copies of games, but you may want to buy this digitally or wait until this version drops in price, which it surely will. At least with this on the shelves it may stop people buying Activision’s awful -entirely unrelated- The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct by mistake.

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First Person Shooters, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger Review – Finding redemption

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Ah, the old west. It’s good to be back. Techland’s last Juarez title (The Cartel) opted for a modern setting and suffered from a large dose of ‘bloody awful’ leaking from every festering orifice. So, um yeah, we weren’t fans.

However, I was a huge fan of the game before that, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, which featured a fantastically realised Wild West setting during and after the Civil War. After the mega success of Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, you would have thought that Ubisoft would have insisted Techland cranked out a Wild West follow up to Bound in Blood. Well, several years later (now that the Wild West bandwagon has long gone) we have one in the form of Gunslinger, a low-priced download-only game. Continue reading Call of Juarez: Gunslinger Review – Finding redemption →

Action, First Person Shooters, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Wii U, Xbox 360

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (Review)

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I should begin this review with a public warning announcement. This Walking Dead game has nothing to do with the multiple award-winning downloadable series The Walking Dead by Telltale Games. Whereas that game was based on the comics, this is based on the AMC TV series and is a first-person action game.

Seeing as the critically acclaimed one that features multiple story choices and plays more likeHeavy Rain than Dead Island has just been released at retail too (review incoming), we wouldn’t want you to pick this one up by mistake.

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Platformer, Platforms, Reviews, XBLA, Xbox 360

BattleBlock Theater (Review)

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Platforming performance receives standing ovation.


Fans of Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers rejoice. The Behemoth have returned and they’ve struck gaming gold again. After nailing 2D scrolling shooters and beat em’ ups they’ve turned their hands to old-school platforming. And it’s fantastic.

The bright and crisp cell-shaded 2D art style is striking, compelling throughout, and consistent with the studio’s previous games. Many of the characters have something of a cutout feel to them, hell, some of them are literally being bounced around on sticks like puppet placards, but it all works so well.

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Beat 'em up, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Injustice: Gods Among Us (Review)

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Smashing heads, walls and expectations.


Street fighter IV has held all the glory this generation thanks to a lack of creativity in the fighting genre. Developers NetherRealm hadn’t really managed to reignite brawler fans’ enthusiasm for the Mortal Kombat series either. So, upon learning they were working on a fighting game with the DC character roster it perhaps wasn’t unfair to assume something of a DC cosplay version of Mortal Kombat.

Except this isn’t a reskinned Mortal Kombat. This is a great game. While some of the control inputs bear a strong resemblance to Mortal Kombat, this feels much more responsive and fluid when layering combos and juggling opponents. These may sound like basic things to get right in a fighting game, but they form an essential foundation and grab your attention early on.

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Features, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, PSP, Wii, XBLA, Xbox 360

The Sunday Seven: Most Wanted Gaming Crossovers

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After looking at the insane mashup that Sega, Namco and Capcom have put together for the upcoming Project X Zone on the 3DS, it got me thinking about other gaming brands I’d like to see pushed together. These could be games pitting legends against each other in a fight to the death or something involving them working together. Publishers and IP owners can be very protective over their brands, but here’s a selection I think would work well together given half a chance.

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Features, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Why We Love… Single Player Games

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Recent news has seen gamers lash out over the launch fiasco surrounding EA’s latest SimCity title. The game requires an always-on internet connection, which meant it broke as soon as it went live as thousands of enthusiastic gamers tried to play at once.

This happened days after Crytek CEO, Cervat Yerli, said, “I think the notion of a single-player experience has to go away.” Instead, he believes there should be more integration with the online world with “online single-player.” So, while keen to plug his upcoming online game, Warface, he’s stupidly kicked his other game –Crysis 3– in the stones. Guess we know why Crysis 2 and 3’s single-player modes can only muster a rental recommendation then.

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Features, PlayStation 3, PS4, Xbox 360

Games at Retail: Adapt or Die

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Last week finally saw HMV find a new buyer, ensuring one more traditional bricks and mortar business would enable gaming to have a high street presence alongside Blockbuster and Game. With most of us using online retailers to buy and pre-order games nowadays, you may wonder why we still need video games to be represented on the high street.

As this console generation winds down, we’ve seen a steep decline in game sales across the board. In 2012, retail sales were hit the most and dropped by over 20%. Game, Blockbuster and HMV barely survived, as gamers’ attention wavered. The original Wii’s bubble burst and there was a lack of any serious mass appeal products to renew lapsed players’ (read: more casual than you and I for example) interest. The numbers for Call of Duty are down and we’re repeatedly hearing of sequels selling only a shadow of what the previous game did – hello DMC.

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First Person Shooters, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (Review)

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Lost between long-range brilliance and shooting itself in the foot

A glitchy but somewhat enjoyable first game had us crossing our fingers for an improved sequel from City Interactive. The sniping genre has intensified of late with stiff competition coming from Sniper Elite V2 last year so they need to hit the ground running this time.

The CryEngine 3 (also used for Crysis 3) certainly gives the game a graphical boost. The game is off to a sunny start in the Philippines with wonderfully bright lighting in the jungle environments being a fine tonic to any gamer fatigued with all the grey corridors and city environments in others shooters.

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First Person Shooters, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Aliens: Colonial Marines (Review)

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Gearbox’s first -and hopefully last- bug hunt

After Duke Nukem’ Forever, you wouldn’t be insane to doubt Gearbox Software’s capabilities. But hold on a sec, they were only finishing off someone else’s mess right? They were just keen to finally get the game out. Even so, pride should have stopped them releasing it in such a poor state.

Then Borderlands 2 came along and was met with great sales and wide critical acclaim. So, maybe their frequently delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines would be ok on the day. After all, it’s been Gearbox’s game since birth and numerous videos clearly show a franchise-adoring staff. So, they wouldn’t f**k it up, right? Cue the angry sobbing.

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Features, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

The Sunday Seven: THQ’s Best Games This Gen

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This week saw the sad end of an era as THQ’s assets were finally sold off at auction. While many of the licenses, franchises and development teams found new homes, there were a few that are still holding out hope for a lifeline.

Amongst all the misery, there have been numerous reminders of some of the great times THQ games have provided over the years. So here’s my tribute to some of the best games I’ve played from THQ over the years on this generation of consoles.

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Features, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, PS Vita, PSN (PlayStation Store), Wii U, XBLA, Xbox 360

Game of the Year 2012

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What with the gaming industry still being keen to strangle itself every year by releasing all the good games at once, I’m going to be playing catch up on some of the great titles long into next year. This might even give me something to do next summer if the lineup for the ‘sunny’ bit of the year is as grossly thin as it was this year.

I’ve played some great stuff this year though, many of them get a mention below, but a few other honourable shouts go out to Dishonored, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, Black Ops II,Sports Champions 2 and WipEout 2048 and Virtua Tennis 4 on the Vita.

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Features, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

The Sunday Seven: Far Cry 3 Survival Tips

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Far Cry 3 is a hot contender for Game of the Year and should be on any FPS fan’s Christmas list. The postcard-perfect tropical location is fraught with danger though so you’ll want to take note of our handy survival guide before you pack those grenades, assault rifles and sun cream. These seven tips will make your life much easier and allow you to enjoy the game to its maximum potential. Feel free to add in your own tips in the comments section or anything cool you may have come across in the game.

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Action, PC, Platformer, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Lego The Lord of the Rings (Review)

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One brick to rule them all? Or in the laziness bind them?


Despite being released nine years after the final film, the memories are still strong enough to make the latest tie-in feel like a relevant entry to the series rather than a late cash-in. I’m sure the upcoming release of the first Hobbit movie has nothing to do with Traveller’s Tales and Warner Bros. Interactive waiting this long. Ok, so maybe a little.

Since the Lego series began, we’ve seen it grow in terms of production values. The graphics have been steadily improving and the recent Lego Batman 2 introduced fully voiced characters for the first time, which allowed the series to portray a proper story and a damn amusing one at that.

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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (Review)

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Join Brian and Stewie in their dimension-hoping adventure as they use the Multiverse remote to stop Bertram, Stewie’s evil half-brother, who plans to use his own remote to build an army and destroy the Quahog duo’s Universe.

This gives the game a chance to provide a wide range of settings. From Amish farms, Santa’s weapon workshop with inbred elves, to a world populated by the handicapped and so on. Bertram has convinced everyone in these universes that you must be killed, so in turn you’re shooting pretty much everyone in sight. Be they Amish farmers, jocks, cripples on crutches or small homicidal alien chickens.

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Features, PC, PlayStation 3, Previews, Regular previews, Wii U, Xbox 360

The Sunday Seven: 2013’s Most Wanted Games

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We’re used to all the big games coming out in the months leading up to Christmas and this year is certainly no different. However, many of our most wanted titles slipped into the 2013. Many of them are coming out in the first quarter, essentially giving us Silly Season Part 2. We’re still trying to get this year’s line-up finished but next year looks set to be even busier. Hopefully, we’ll actually have something to play in the summer next year instead of everything bookending the release calendar.

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First Person Shooters, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Review)

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Subtle is never a word I thought I’d use to describe any element of a Call of Duty game, but the pre-title cutscene that paints a picture of how Black Ops II’s villain was formed is beautifully put together, in no short thanks to an excellent song choice with Elbow’s ‘The Night Will Always Win.’

The emotional reactions from most COD moments are usually sudden violence, be it first-person execution, slowly dying in a nuclear blast, the death of a child and so on, it’s never had anything like this. After this strangely heartfelt and sympathetic opening, subtlety kind of goes out of the window as it’s all slit throats and shotguns to the knees for the other scenes. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. After all, we’re here to blow shit up.

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

The Sunday Seven: Reasons to Buy Black Ops II

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We’re sure most of you are planning on picking up Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on Tuesday. If you’re still on the fence though, we think you should take a look at our new Sunday Seven feature that gives you our Top Seven reasons to buy the game. Even if you already have your pre-order down, take a look and join in the excitement for the year’s biggest shooter. Don’t forget to sound off in the comments section with your own reasons for or against the game too.

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