Category Archives: Xbox 360

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

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Review)

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

Metro: Last Light (Preview)

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Now I’m not saying looks are everything, but after slumming it through the grey roughness of the original Metro 2033 game, it’s amazing to see the difference in Metro: Last Light. This game looks gorgeous. Yes, it still has a bit of a grey fetish, but like Killzone, it’s made pretty work of some of the colour palettes old-timers. And the game’s still only at pre-alpha code level, so it could get even better.

Those of you that played through the original game will find that the story of Last Light follows on from the (SPOLIER) ‘bad’ ending where you did launch the missiles to destroy the Dark Ones. So it would seem that your initial fight will be against human enemies, we’re sure there’ll be a few mutants along the way too. We’ve already seen those winged gargoyle-like arseholes (they pissed me off a lot last time) flying about in one of the trailers. Towards the end of the presentation, we also saw some large troll/gorilla-like creatures that featured some astonishingly slick animation and textured rocky skin that almost distracts from them trying to rip Artyom’s face off.

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

Lollipop Chainsaw (Preview)

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Just looking at the Suda 51 name and Juliet Starling’s outfit, you know this is going to be another bat-shit crazy game from the Japanese auteur and Grasshopper Manufacture. What I didn’t expect to see at the developer walkthrough with Producer Scott Warr at Warner Bros Interactive’s Gamescom HQ was some of the most engaging action of the week.

You are high-school cheerleader Juliet Starling who forgoes further extra-curricular activities in favour of a spot of vampire zombie slaying and it looks like they’ve chosen her 18th birthday (cutting it close, Suda-san) to come and find her at school. We’re not asking why zombies are there; let’s face it, if no film in history can give us a decent explanation, why should we expect any more from Suda 51’s pigtails-and-chainsaw vision? Juliet attends San Romero High, an on-the-nose reference reference to the classic zombie director, who still manages to get his dues despite his last few films being absolute shite.

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

Goldeneye: Reloaded (Hands-On Preview)

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If you don’t have a Nintendo Wii, then you may have ignored their Goldeneye remake. Hell, you might have a Wii, but the prospect of taking it out of the box to mangle your childhood memories with bastardised controls just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Well now the N64 classic, a game that many regard as the best movie tie-in ever and one of the finest multiplayer games in existence, is getting the HD treatment it deserves. Fuck knows why emotional potato man Daniel Craig is in it though.

Goldeneye: Reloaded isn’t an entirely faithful HD reworking, it’s more of a ‘reimagining’, which if you remember Tim Burton describing his remake of Planet of the Apes the same way a few years ago, isn’t always a great thing. In fairness though the game scored well on the Wii and it’s bound to be better than the last Bond title we saw on the HD consoles, Blood Stone.

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Hands-on previews, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, PSN (PlayStation Store), Video, XBLA, Xbox 360

Joe Danger: The Movie (Hands-on Preview)

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2011 can just end already. First, it was Bioshock Infinite making the wait pure agony, now I can add Joe Danger: The Movie to my most wanted list. Hello Games are well on their way to creating another classic. Seeing as I gave the first game 9/10, I was damn keen to play the sequel at Gamescom 2011. And I did. Every time I passed the stand. By the time I officially met up with Sean Murray and Grant Duncan of Hello Games I thought I had it all worked out. Then they showed me some of the tougher but doubly awesome levels. Now I really hate 2011.

Before I carry on with the platitudes, I’ll quickly re-cap the first game for newcomers: a mainly 2D motorcycle stunt platformer that encouraged linking tricks while getting to the finish line as fast as possible. Gold stars could be won for each event by collecting all the icons, landing on all landing pads and comboing 100% of the level. The controls were simple as you could jump high and perform multiple flips in the air and land doing endos and wheelies to chain stunts; you could even adjust your trajectory in mid-air forwards and backwards.

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Hands-on previews, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, PSN (PlayStation Store), XBLA, Xbox 360

Renegade Ops (Hands-on Preview)

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From Avalanche Studios, the minds behind the Just Cause series, we have the new twin-stick vehicle shooter, Renegade Ops. A downloadable title, that’s less than a month away and looks like one of the hottest downloadable titles at Gamescom 2011.

The twin-stick shooter controls for these armoured vehicles are comfortingly familiar -left for driving, right for aiming and shooting- and allow you to enjoy the simplistic gameplay immediately. An extra boost of speed and braking is handled with the face buttons. A secondary weapon is assigned to R1, while L1 initiates a special ability like EMP strikes to stun enemies, extra armour, helicopter backup or a flare to mark a target for an airstrike, with their use limited while they recharge over time.

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

Saints Row The Third (Hands-on Preview)

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Since Saints Row 2 surprised us all by being a hell of a lot better than the original and for many, a more enjoyable game than GTAIV, we’ve been waiting to see how the next game would handle the pressure. Well, just remember it was a bit bonkers before and it’s not prepared to put its pants back on quite yet.

With just one hour to play the new game, we couldn’t believe how quickly it went. The first part of the demo is a bank heist with your Saints Row buddies, and all of you are disguised in oversized Johnny Gat heads, including Gat himself. It would appear that the Saints might have chosen the wrong bank to knock over though. As soon as they let their guards downs, all the bank tellers pull out some serious military grade hardware and open fire.

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

Brink (Review)

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Hopes were high for Brink. Cool character design, mixed with Mirror’s Edge FPS platforming and served as an objective-based shooter that could instantly take the fight online, replacing bots for real people. With all these elements and a name that implies it’s already on the edge, it’s a tough task on the hands of developers Splash Damage.

Brink features two campaigns based in the Arc, a futuristic city built for mankind’s rich survivors after the melting of the polar ice caps drowned the world. One story has you playing as the Arc’s security forces, the other shows the same events from the rebels (the former builders of the Arc) perspective, who are trying to escape or destroy the Arc. Yes, someone has been playing Bioshock. Both sides are shown as the potential good guys, but the story is merely filler between matches.

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

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Hands-On Preview)

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When the developers first announced there wouldn’t be a cover system for this third-person-shooter it raised a few eyebrows. Now that I’ve seen the suicidal nature of a swarming orc hoard eager to test the might of a Space Marine’s weaponry, it seems it was a great decision.

So forget about turn-based choices, real time strategy and dice rolling, this is the full-on action title we’ve been waiting for. Strategy fans have enjoyed the Dawn of War games, but action fans always intrigued by the rich sci-fi lineage of the series can now look forward to the first decent Warhammer game since Fire Warrior.

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Platforms, Reviews, RPG, XBLA, Xbox 360

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale (Review)

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The legendary Dungeons & Dragons universe has never really had the game to stand tall in its legacy. While the more popular brand, Games Workshop, has the Dawn of War games and soon the very tasty looking Warhammer 40K: Space Marine to keep gamers coming back. So it’s about time D&D had another roll of the dice with us.

Daggerdale takes the Warcraft route for its XBLA/PSN debut and be warned fellow-console gamers, it’s a bit PC-beardy. The best way to go would have been to try to replicate a slick combat title like last-gen’s Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance as this slow style of combat is always going to feel a little stale on consoles.

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Platforms, Racers, Reviews, XBLA, Xbox 360

Sega Rally Online Arcade (Review)

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Not the best time to release a rally title as Dirt 3 is power-sliding into stores on Tuesday. But if you can’t afford that right now Sega hope you might drop a few points for their bite-sized rally release.

This really is a small game though. Five tracks are all you’ll find here, along with 13 cars and modes. The initial tracks are a tropical jungle with mud and sand, a canyon with dirt and tarmac, and an alpine mountain pass with tarmac and snow sections. The time limit between sections returns, but never actually presents anything resembling a challenge, unlike the older games.

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Platforms, Racers, Reviews, Xbox 360

MX Vs ATV: Alive (Review)

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These games keep surviving, despite never really amassing much acclaim, even after merging the two world of motocross and ATV quad-bike racing, which at least saved fans of both a bit of money. So is there enough here to warrant a purchase rather than another indifferent shrug two laps into the demo? Let’s find out.

There’s no a typical career mode in place, either by label or structure, which is initially off-putting. But at least there’s no terrible story. You can choose to ride an MX (bike) or ATV (quad) around a small handful of tracks while earning experience points for yourself and for each vehicle.

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

Red Faction: Armageddon (Infestation Mode Multiplayer Hands-on Preview)

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Red Faction Armageddon’s multiplayer is going for a co-op angle this time around, similar to the Horde mode in Gears of War. Teams of four players will face off against 30 stages of enemies for each of the eight maps. Expect lots of tighter arenas compared to the last game’s open multiplayer deathmatches on the surface of Mars. We’re going to miss those epic jetpack battles.

The main map we got to try out was the underground Black Market. For the most part this level was made up of fairly narrow tunnels with low ceilings, making for some claustrophobic chaos. There’s a small square decorated with lots of neon signs which all too often distracts you from looking out for the alien’s bioluminescent glowing parts. The area of play seems to loop around in a circle. With the terrain including slopes and staircases.

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

Duke Nukem Forever (Hands-on Preview)

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Release date: June 10th 1998 2011

This isn’t the way it was supposed to be. I was psyched to hear I’d get to play Duke Nukem Forever at Gadget Show Live at Birmingham’s epic NEC venue, but I left the Duke’s area and its collection of PR girls in schoolgirl outfits feeling empty and confused.

If Duke Nukem Forever is released after 13 years of development in the condition I played it on Tuesday morning, there’s going to be a backlash of epic proportions. Hopefully the recent delay is seeing Gearbox adding a few buckets of polish to it.

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

WWE All-Stars (Review)

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As the UFC games send the wrestling genre towards ever-duller reality the WWE universe gets a style overhaul as WWE All-Stars throws in the biggest, names past and present, into the squared circle. Expect to battle with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Bret ‘Hit Man’ Hart, Ultimate Warrior, Stone Cold, The Rock, John Cena, Triple H, Shaemus and Rey Mysterio.

The emphasis is on setting everything to the extreme. The character models are beefed up to ridiculous proportions and their faces are amusing cartoonised charactertures of themselves. The first time you see two wrestlers standing toe-to-toe at the start of a match you’ll only be able to think ‘they’re effing huge!’. There are no Divas to oggle at, but considering the beefcake visuals, that’s probably a good thing.

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First Person Shooters, Reviews, Xbox 360

Homefront (Review)

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The son of Kim Jong Il, proves to be quite a nasty daddy’s little boy and after ‘unifying’ North and South Korea, he decides to stretch his legs a bit in this alternative future-based first-person-shooter.

While Korea was on the up, America was trying to recover from a flu virus that killed millions and soaring gas prices that crippled the nation’s industry. When Korea launched a surprise attack, the US never stood a chance. Using EMP strikes, Korea destroyed America’s vulnerable, digitally reliant infrastructure.

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Features, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360

Ten Unannounced Sequels I Already Despise

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We live in the world of the sequel, the remake, the annual release, the safe bet, the lazy rehash. Occasionally a new name might emerge, a new IP (Intellectual Property) that hopes to become the next big franchise, but they’re generally seen to be too risky in the world of the multi-million pound costs of developing and marketing a game.

Some sequels are essential though and 2011 will be no different with Uncharted 3, Mass Effect 3 and Batman: Arkham City already driving us nuts with the wait. Sometimes though, when we see an announcement for a sequel, our hearts sink, we question the sanity of developers/publishers and usually have a bit of a fight around the office to see which poor sod will have to review it.

So here’s a look at the sequels that haven’t been announced yet, but in all probability will be in the near future. Albeit with slightly more marketable titles. Continue reading Ten Unannounced Sequels I Already Despise →

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

Red Faction: Armageddon (Ruin Mode Hands-On Preview)

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The demolition minigames from the previous Red Faction game have been reworked into a stand-alone Ruin mode.

Rather than being more of the same though, it’s set to be a big improvement thanks to the addition of the Magnet Gun, which if you read my recent preview of the single player game, you’d know is the new toy that every big kid should want.

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

Red Faction: Armageddon (Single Player Hands-On Preview)

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The level begins with the game’s star, Darius Mason (grandson to Alec Mason of Red Faction: Guerilla), fleeing for his life.

He’s just been duped into unleashing an alien horde from a mysterious underground shaft in a Marauder temple, deep underground on (in?) Mars. We never see any people, but we can hear them cursing Mason in the tunnels ahead as they flee from what he’s let loose from the planet’s depths.

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