Category Archives: Reviews

First Person Shooters, Party, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, Reviews

Ape Escape (Review)

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The Ape Escape games on PS1 and PS2 utilised the dual-analogue sticks of the controller to masterful effect, so it felt natural to be excited about how the PlayStation Move motion controller would add to the game’s experience.

The original games were action-packed platformers where you had to capture cheeky monkeys. The right stick controlled gadgets like nets, catapults and monkey detectors with fantastic efficiency. The logical step for the Move would have been to use the navigation stick or Dualshock to run around and the Move controller to swing your net and other gadgets.

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Platforms, PlayStation 3, Puzzle, Reviews

Akimi Village (Review)

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Many console gamers have avoided this kind of game on facebook for years, but put a genre back onto consoles and I just can’t help but take a look. Akimi Village is a light-hearted building sim where you control a giant avatar, plodding around a floating island helping the Akimi recreate their world. The genre is almost non-existent on PSN, but XBLA regulars might remember NinjaBee’sKeflings’ games, which are very similar to this one.

Most of the land is shrouded in a dark cloud called ‘The Gloom.’ Any Akimi folk under this cloud are unable to work and you can’t build on the land either. You must plant healing acorns to clear the land of Gloom and liberate the wondering little dudes. These elusive acorns can only be earned by rebuilding the settlement.

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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews

Infamous 2 (Review)

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Our electrical star of Infamous, Cole MacGrath, begins the game with an encounter against ‘The Beast’ an almost god-like deity, hell bent on destroying everything. Cole is unable to stop the destruction of Empire City and is forced to retreat south to New Marais while he prepares himself for round two.

The city of New Marais is inspired by New Orleans, so the settings include recreations of the Latin Quarter, swamps, vault-packed graveyards and also the poorer areas of the city. After the eternally grey Empire City, the new setting is an inspired choice, especially the eerie swamps and the neon lights of the city’s nightlife district. The colours of some of the sunsets are real showstoppers too; seriously, you won’t see better skies anywhere else. The terrible real-life effects of Hurricane Katrina are also mirrored, as Cole arrives years after a flood, to find large areas still submerged with a few nods to the lack of government support New Orleans suffered. It feels tastefully done, as ignoring such an event when basing your location on New Orleans would have been insensitive.

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First Person Shooters, Platforms, PlayStation 3

Sniper: Ghost Warrior (Review)

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After being released on 360 and PC to scathing reviews you have to wonder how much twelve months of bad publicity affects the decision to release the same game on PS3. Especially seeing as PS3 gamers are more used to quality 360 hand-me-downs like Bioshock and Mass Effect 2.

Let’s give this a fair go though. It can’t be that bad, maybe the devs have fixed the problems since the original release. The schizophrenic AI that went from blind to instantly knowing where you are and telepathically informing every soldier on the base being one of the main complaints. Well that’s still there, so not a great start.

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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, Reviews

No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise (Review)

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This is what we’d like to see more of, good Wii games in HD, instead of violating our beloved HD screens with scart leads. The series has already had its second game on the Wii, but this is just the first game polished up. So don’t fret if you’re new to it, but perhaps feel a bit annoyed they didn’t put both titles on one disc for the asking price.

The story in this bizarre beat em’ up is one of an assassin named Travis Touchdown (see how close they came to making Travis a cool name?). Not happy with always being strapped for cash, Travis decides to take out the Top 10 ranked assassins to become the new number one and score with a hot French chick. Kill Bill, meets Highlander with Suda 51 refereeing if you will.

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Features, First Person Shooters, PlayStation 3, Reviews

Killzone 3 Multiplayer Round-up

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We’ve had plenty of time to get stuck into Killzone 3’s multiplayer since release although the PSN crisis interrupted our play for a while. Since then there’s been a patch to tweak gameplay and multiple double XP weekends to tempt us back. Missed out? Then check out what you’ve been missing online and offline.

The 32-player multi-mission Warzone matches from Killzone 2 return and will be very familiar to series fans. Newcomers will probably recognise the contents from other shooters. However, unlike the competition, you’ll play all the following modes in one match. With the winning team being those who can win the most modes or ’rounds.’
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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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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, Reviews

SOCOM: Special Forces (Online Multiplayer Review)

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I recently enjoyed the single-player side of SOCOM: Special Forces and gave it a shiny 8/10 for its efforts. Now the PSN is finally back online I’ve had a chance to get online with the game and see if the multiplayer was worth the wait.

Matches can feature up to 32 players, but many match-types seem to limit the action to 20. Even so, there’s no sign of lag at all, even during busier matches. I suppose the servers get a break seeing as there’s rarely a full field of players alive at once, someone’s always a wrong turn away from having to respawn. At least you only have to wait a few seconds to get back into the fight.

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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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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, Reviews

SOCOM: Special Forces (Single-player Review)

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After a brief dalliance with the FPS genre for the 256 players and 5 minutes of fun MAG, Zipper Interactive return to their long-running third-person military shooter series.

Thanks to the recent PSN crisis I was afforded more time to play the single-player side of the game. It was a great surprise to find that there’s a great campaign to be played through along with some addictive stand-alone solo levels.

The last game, which barely made it to UK PS3s, was online only and was the sort of game you were relieved you only rented. Back on the PS2 the first game had too many squad commands, with dodgy voice-commands if you were foolish enough to trust the headset and was a very dry experience for only the most patient gamers. But respect where it’s due, SOCOM was an early success on the PS2’s babysteps into online gaming.

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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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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews

Thor: God of Thunder (Review)

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I wanted one thing from this game: for it to be better than last year’s Iron Man 2 game that I gave a 5/10. Thor needn’t worry though as this is a much better tie-in.

Rather than follow the earth-bothering, flannel-shirted nature of the movie, this game simply takes place in the fantasy realms of the Thor universe in a separate story-line, which turns out to be a good move.

Famed comic book writer (and unfortunately the scribe of the afore-mentioned Iron Man game), Matt Fraction, has penned a very basic plot, but it is at least unobtrusive. We’ll presume he saves the compelling material for the comics.

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Platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, Reviews, Sport

Virtua Tennis 4 (Review)

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After not quite doing the job Henman and Murray style with Virtua Tennis 3 and VT2009 on this generation’s consoles can Sega’s arcade tennis classic still cut it? Thanks to a long awaited upgrade to the World Tour career mode, they’re in with a fighting chance.

Before getting stuck into the World Tour mode you might want to warm up with a few exhibition matches. The leading names of modern tennis are all present except for one of the Williams sisters for some reason. The PS3 has a few exclusive classic characters too, leaving the 360 version with a comparatively small roster. There isn’t particularly much scope for extra players via DLC either as the favourites of Nadal, Federer, Murray, Sharapova and so on are all present and tennis isn’t exactly brimming with superstars like the WWE.

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Action, PlayStation 3, RPG

Yakuza 4 (Review)

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It can be a bit of a tough sell trying to get pumped up for Yakuza 4, seeing as it’s been out in Japan for a year and they’re getting close to the release of the zombie-packed sequel Yakuza of the End. But hell, Yakuza 3 was a pretty damn awesome beat em’ up adventure game and we won’t be seeing the Kamurocho walking dead anytime soon so let’s just try and enjoy it.

Unlike the past games you’ll be playing as four different characters, each of whom has their own storylines although their paths occasionally cross. Each of them also has a different fighting style and access to some exclusive character-specific minigames and side-quests.

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PlayStation 3, Racers, Reviews

MotorStorm Apocalypse (Review)

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After smashing vehicles and racers to bits across deserts, tropical islands and Arctic tundras, where else in the world is there left to race for MotorStorm? How about the end of it? Or more specifically a city that is absolutely not (it is) San Francisco, during a series of earthquakes and storms.

The setting might be a little close to the bone in regards to the recent tragedies in Japan, but in fairness the game was almost shipping when that happened and Sony sensibly decided to delay the release.

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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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Arcade Shooter, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Reviews

Stardrone (Review)

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Strange one this. Zero gravity pinball with a grappling hook is the best way to think of it. It may look like another arcade shooter set in space, but there’s no shooting and you can’t freely control your movement.

After pushing off with one initial boost you then navigate by using your analogue stick to select a beacon to anchor your grappling hook on. Once you’re hooked up your ship will fly around the beacon until you release the tether. The momentum will carry you forwards until you bounce off a wall or until you grab another nearby beacon. Continue reading Stardrone (Review) →

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

Slam Bolt Scrappers (Review)

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Don’t dismiss this one as another Tetris or Bejeweled clone as Fire Hose Games have made a real effort to try something new, ambitious and a little bit crazy.

The aim is to destroy your opponent’s tower with your own tower of weaponised blocks. Using familiar (read: exactly the same as) Tetris shapes you must create same-coloured squares (4×4, 8×8 etc) which will then convert into a weapon. There are different weapons or shields for each colour. Blue is a shield and protects the next square along, red fires rockets, purple a laser, orange repels enemy missiles with ping pong bats, green launches little drills and even more weapons await you in the later levels. These weaponised squares can be powered-up by making the squares bigger by adding extra blocks, a bit like Lumines.

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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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Arcade Shooter, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Reviews

PixelJunk Shooter 2 (Review)

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Q-Games came pretty close to perfection with the first game. So we were damn pleased to hear it was getting a full-on sequel as we would have been psyched with a few extra DLC levels.

If you missed out first time around I’ll quickly bring you up to speed. The dual-stick 2D shooter has you flying a small ship, rescuing miners, shooting enemies, and blasting, melting and burrowing your way through terrain looking for survivors, treasure and a way out.

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