Category Archives: Xbox 360

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

Homefront (Preview)

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The story of the new FPS, Homefront, is one of invasion, occupation and resistance. In the not too distant future, after the death the North Korean President, Kim Jon Il, his son takes his place. Over the next few years, he unifies North and South Korea and starts to invade nearby countries.

Throughout this period, America is weakening with a decreasing military force, further financial difficulties and a flu epidemic. This is when the KPA (Korean People’s Army) strike. Using satellite EMP blasts to wipe out the American electronics, including their defence measures, the Koreans begin their unflinching invasion. The game begins two years into the occupation of the US in 2027.

Continue reading Homefront (Preview) →

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

Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (Hands-on Preview)

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Anticipation is high for Marvel Vs Capcom 3, especially given Capcom’s return to the top of fighting games with Street Fighter 4. After 11 years, the timing is perfect to see the ever-extending list of classic Capcom game characters launch into another almighty ruckus with the best characters from the Marvel Comics universe.

Today we’re fortunate enough to be given a hands-on taste of the 3vs3 two-player action at the Capcom Christmas party in London. Eager gaming journalists are allowed to choose three characters from a choice of favourites. Capcom characters include: Dante, Trish, Viewtiful Joe, Amaterasu (Okami), Chris Redfield, Felicia, Morrigan, Ryu and Chun-Li. The Mash-up continues with the Marvel folk: Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Deadpool, Hulk, Doctor Doom, Thor, Super-Skrull and Dormammu. There will be plenty more added to both rosters before release.

Continue reading Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (Hands-on Preview) →

Hands-on previews, Platformer, PlayStation 3, Previews, Retro, Xbox 360

Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (Hands-on Preview)

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The first title in this 2D HD remake of the 80s game was a game I desperately wanted to enjoy. Alas, it’s old-school reluctance to move with the times ultimately made it a relationship that was doomed from the start.

I am of course referring to the lack of a jump button. Nathan Spencer solely relied on the use of the grappling hook on his bionic arm to swing around the levels and climb up platforms. True to the original it may have been but it was also frustrating, unforgiving and clunky. Continue reading Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (Hands-on Preview) →

PlayStation 3, Racers, Reviews, Xbox 360

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Review)

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With the successful rebranding of Need for Speed as something a bit more serious with last year’s NFS: Shift, EA might have wished they hadn’t already tasked Criterion Games with taking on the old brand instead of working on a new Burnout game. But hell, we were all more excited than we’d like to admit at the possibility of a Burnout/NFS hybrid even if EA couldn’t be arsed coming up with a new name. But is it a Brangelina or a three-thumbed hillbilly?

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit straps you into the seat of some of the world’s hottest cars as both a racer and a police officer in the fictional US location, Seacrest County. Sea crest consists of many, many desert roads, beaches and mountain passes. But mainly deserts. While the races take place on tarmac there are loads of shortcuts you can take to gain an advantage. Often they’ll be more hazardous and over rough terrain, so you’ll have to judge which ones work best for you and the car you’re driving. There are even a few that may take longer than the original route, you’ll have fun checking them all though.

Continue reading Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Review) →

Beat 'em up, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Reviews, RPG, XBLA, Xbox 360

Castle Crashers (Review)

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Talk about delayed, Castle Crashers originally appeared on XBLA in 2008, it then hit the US PSN Store in August, which is where the demo ensnared me. I’ve had to wait until now for a European release PSN release. But was it worth the wait? Hell yes. Hell, yes.

This retrotacular title is a side-scrolling beat-‘em-up with a few simple RPG elements thrown in for good measure. It’s great fun on your own, but to get the most out of this game you should really fire up the multiplayer. You can have up to four players with drop-in co-op action. You can even play it online, but this can throw up problems when you both want to be the same character (because it’s the only one you’ve spent ten hours levelling up) so one of you will be on Level 30+ while the other is Level 1. At least you can revive team-mates. Continue reading Castle Crashers (Review) →

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

Blacklight: Tango Down (Review)

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A brave mission indeed releasing this PSN first-person-shooter less than a week before Call of Duty: Black Ops. It would have fared much better on PSN a few months back, when it was originally released on XBLA. So does Blacklight have the game to back up this ballsy approach? Well…

The main focus of the game are the online matches. There are a few single player levels but the one-life approach means you’ll only bother until you have a grasp of the controls. You can play them co-operatively but the only way I got this to happen was when trying to get into a deathmatch, it seemed to default to it when there were only two of us in the match lobby. Continue reading Blacklight: Tango Down (Review) →

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

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (Review)

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You’ll be glad to hear Sonic 4 features no story, no talking, no towns, no RPG elements and most definitely no Werehogs. This is very much traditional 2D Sonic from the glory days of the Mega-Drive that saw the best titles for Sega’s blue spiky mascot in Sonic 1-3 and Sonic & Knuckles.

There are four main stages with four acts each, the seven special stages and then the final boss. You can access the four main stages and first three acts in any order. All the stages are basically remixes of old ones with the main differences being HD shine, some new textures and the layout being put through the randomizer. Episode 1 features, a Green Hill Zone-style outdoor location to begin with followed by a labyrinth with underwater sections, a night-time casino and an industrial factory. They look nice, but there’s no avoiding the disappointment of getting nothing genuinely new. Continue reading Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (Review) →

Action, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Vanquish (Review)

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Vanquish is the latest effort from Platinum Games, the minds behind Bayonetta. This time they’re looking to put a boot up the backside of the third-person cover-shooter genre. How? By combining rocket boosting, bullet-time and cover-shootouts that’s how.

The story is nothing more than a vague excuse for the fantastic setting on an orbital colony built on a looping surface with lots of bots and giant mechs to blast apart. It’s the future and a Russian rebel group are trying to take over the world (but in space). Just go with it. Continue reading Vanquish (Review) →

News, PSN (PlayStation Store), Video, Xbox 360

Microbot (Trailer)

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EA have announced a new retro-style shooter for PSN and XBLA. You’ll be controlling a tiny ship about the size of a blood cell, inside the human body. The MicroBot’s purpose is to eradicate diseases at a cellular level by shooting the hell out of them. Drop in/drop out co-op will also be included. We’re even more excited because it reminds us of one of our favourite 80s movies, Inner Space, which in turn went on to inspire episodes of Family Guy and Futurama.  You’ll have to wait until winter 2011 to get your hands on it, but check out the latter part of this trailer to catch a glimpse of the gameplay and strangely calming graphics. Continue reading Microbot (Trailer) →

PlayStation 3, Racers, Reviews, Xbox 360

WRC: World Rally Championship (Review)

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It’s been almost five years since we last saw an official WRC game. The name is now in the hands of Milestone, the team behind the SBK motorbike games. Turns out they’ve been dying to get on four wheels all-along.

The full list of official WRC Rallies have been included. Sweden, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey, New Zealand, Portugal, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Japan, France, Spain and GB all make the cut supplying 78 tracks between them. For those of you that don’t follow the WRC, the tracks are for single cars only, with everyone getting one shot to get the best time over a series of stages. The road surfaces change between tarmac, dirt, gravel, mud and snow; with the car handling changing for each. Some tracks are backwards versions and many of them often share some sections too, so the 78 number can sometimes feel a bit padded.

Continue reading WRC: World Rally Championship (Review) →

Action, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PS3 Review)

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This adaptation of an old Chinese novel has been written by Alex ’28 Days Later’ Garland and Tameen Antoniades. Set 150 years into the future, many wars have taken place and the human race is almost nothing than a memory to the wastelands. People are outnumbered by the mechs; leftover robots from a forgotten war, still running the same programmes of kill anyone that they come across.

You play as the brutish Monkey who is forced to escort the slender young woman Trip back to her home after they escape from a slaver ship.  He’s forced because she slipped a slave headband on him that forces him to obey her and comes with the other downside of killing him if her heart stops beating. Continue reading Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PS3 Review) →

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

Homefront Multiplayer (Hands-on Preview)

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When I was invited to an exclusive press event to play Homefront I was excited. Even though it was only for the multiplayer I realised that maybe THQ and Kaos Studios thought they had something special on their hands that they’d previously kept under wraps. Turns out they have.

The single-player game takes place after a future invasion by North Korea in 2027 and is all about guerrilla warfare. The multiplayer side of the game focuses on the bigger battles that precede the main story mode. So you will be playing as what’s left of the US Military or the KPA (Korean People’s Army) during the 2025-2027 invasions. Continue reading Homefront Multiplayer (Hands-on Preview) →

Arcade Shooter, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Retro, Reviews, XBLA, Xbox 360

Alien Breed: Impact (Review)

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The top down shooter genre is getting quite crowded on the PlayStation Store, so each new release is going to have to really work for our money. At over £10, Alien Breed: Impact is reallygoing to have to work for it.

The game takes place on a huge space vessel overrun by aliens. Most of the crew are dead, you’re the only hope yadda yadda. The atmosphere owes a lot to Dead Space, but hey you might as well borrow from the best. Continue reading Alien Breed: Impact (Review) →

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 →

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) →

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 →

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 →

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 →

PlayStation 3, Reviews, Sport, Xbox 360

Pure Football (Review)

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Ubisoft seem to want a piece of the World Cup cash pie, not content with EA having the pitch to themselves. Ok, so this isn’t an official South Africa tie-in, but it’s international teams only and the final ends in South Africa. Coincidence? The hell it is.

Ubisoft are actually ripping off Fifa Street though instead. It’s five-a-side football with outrageous shots and tricks the order of the day. While the last Fifa Street was a bit meh, this is just bollocks. Continue reading Pure Football (Review) →