It’s time for Sony’s flagship shooter to really step up as the shooter genre swells with top titles like Black Ops, the Battlefield series, Bioshock, Halo and newcomer Bulletstorm, who are all fighting for gamers’ hearts and cash. Our wishlist: cinematic Campaign mode, multiplayer, local co-op Campaign, Move support and jaw-dropping graphics. Can Killzone 3 really pack all this in? Continue reading Killzone 3 (Review)
Category Archives: Reviews
Little Big Planet 2 (Review)
After the success of the original, which spawned millions of levels, the guys at Media Molecule have decided to see what we can do when they throw a bigger tool-kit at us to create any type of game we can think of. The short answer? Absolutely kick their ass at their own game. Continue reading Little Big Planet 2 (Review)
Shift Extended (PSP Minis Review)
As a part of a strange experiment you’re tasked with escaping each room using your Shift ability in this maze-treading, platforming puzzler. If you’re a fan of games like Echochrome, Exit or Crush, you’re going to love this. It’s even better.
To reach the exit door, you must activate a ‘Shift’ (L or R button) to invert the game world. You can move along the white background or change to travel the opposite black side. When a Shift is activated you sink into the ground and the world is flipped 180 degrees. Shifts can only be performed when your feet are planted on the ground. So when confronted with a spiked column, just change it around so it’s a hole to jump over. Still confused? Have a quick look at the video below. Continue reading Shift Extended (PSP Minis Review)
DC Universe Online (Review)
After what seems like an eternity of waiting, PS3 gamers finally have a MMORPG. A genre that never took off on PS2 has been given another shot by dropping the genre’s staples of orcs and elves for the more intriguing world of DC superheroes.
If you’ve waited this long another two hours won’t hurt and that’s how long it takes to install the game. You’ll be needing 15GB of space too, most of which is taken from the disk, but at least 2GB needs to be downloaded. There’s a bit of unwanted PC-style experience for you already.
Modern Combat: Domination (Review)
Don’t let the uninspired name put you off, this is a game worth the attention of any online FPS fan. The delightful price of £6.29 gets you five maps and six modes to enjoy that puts the likes of Blacklight: Tango Down to shame.
An old-school approach is taken in regards to your health, take damage and it stays. No health packs or regeneration makes for extra tense matches and balances things out nicely, especially if you manage to get a few shots into an opponent before you get taken down. When you do get killed it shows how much health and armour your killer has left. This works to annoy you further when you see they only had 7% left.
Ace Armstrong Vs The Alien Scumbags (PSP Minis Review)
For anyone that may have downloaded this side-scrolling shooter when it was first released, you have my sympathies. It wasn’t just you, it was ridiculously and miserably tough.
Thankfully Laughing Jackal listened to the fan feedback and have since re-released a new version on PSN. If you’ve already downloaded the game just delete it and download it from your PSN account again to get the new version at no extra cost. I’ll explain the improvements throughout the rest of this review. Continue reading Ace Armstrong Vs The Alien Scumbags (PSP Minis Review)
Vibes (PSP Minis Review)
Guitar Hero and Rock Band have made the traditional button-controlled rhythm-action game obsolete thanks to their Fisher Price-style range of plastic instruments. However, those of you who’d like to see the return of games like PaRappa the Rapper and Frequency might want to take a look at Vibes.
Vibes is a PSP Mini released last year that passed most of us by with barely a whisper. However, I recently gave it a go and decided it was well worth a mention as it’s one of the finest Minis I’ve played in ages.
Kung-Fu Live (Review)
The ominous safety warning and disclaimer that precedes the game acts as a sinister precursor to the first time you kick a wall, housemate, sofa or yourself in this motion-controlled martial arts PSN title.
Unlike, say Sports Champions, which allows you to play from a lot closer than it recommends, Kung-Fu Live really does need the epic space suggested. So if you can’t clear a square space sized (at least) 2.5 x 3 metres, then forget it. Various player heights can throw up a few problems too.
PDC World Championship Darts: Pro Tour (Review)
Immediately you’ll realise there’s a problem with playing darts with a PlayStation Move controller. Compared to a dart it’s like throwing a wacky TV remote, it’s just way too big.
Despite this and the hand-cramp it causes during longer sessions, there’s actually a decent darts game here that is fun to play once you get used to it.
Continue reading PDC World Championship Darts: Pro Tour (Review)
Dead Nation (Review)
By the time the inevitable zombie apocalypse does come around, gamers will most certainly be the best equipped to survive. Well, as long as the apocalypse comes with extra lives, save-points and pause buttons.
Gamers have really taken zombies to their hearts in recent times with Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, COD’s zombie modes and the undead have even burst into Japan’s next Yakuza game. So will our love for the groaning shufflers go on, or will our enthusiasm fade like a Romero movie fan watching his latest 21st Century zombie-flick-flop?
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (Hands-on Preview)
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)
Gran Turismo 5 (Review)
All good things come to those that wait. Not just an adage for the long wait that’s preceded this much delayed game, but a piece of advice for getting through a rough start with Polyphony Digital’s driving simulator.
There have been a few patches already to fix the online issues, such as packed servers infecting the single-player game. So now after the storms have settled following GT5’s release, we can provide a proper verdict of the game as it stands today. Continue reading Gran Turismo 5 (Review)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Review)
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.
The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (PSP Review)
The take on this familiar tale is that of Samwise Gamgee retelling the story to his children from the fireside’s warmth back in the Shire, focussing solely on Aragorn’s adventures. Naturally he’s added a few extra details here and there to keep things interesting.
Which is actually a quite decent excuse for a few elements that are out of sync with the film, such as spiders in Moria, a Balrog chase scene, fights with Wildmen in Rohan or having to fight your way out of a goblin infested cave on the way to Weathertop. Continue reading The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (PSP Review)
Castle Crashers (Review)
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)
Blacklight: Tango Down (Review)
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)
Soldner-X 2: The Final Prototype – The Last Chapter (DLC Review)
The Last Chapter is the expansion pack to Soldner-X 2: The Final Prototype which I found to be an enjoyable, if over-priced blast. It packs in three new levels, 11 Trophies and 13 new Challenges. The challenges though, in true Soldner-style,require you to actually earn the right to play them. There’s even a new difficulty mode, Massive Attack, to unlock. When you get around to unlocking Extra Hard that is.
The extra levels can be played through straight away, you don’t have to replay anything for hours on end in a similar way to the way levels were unlocked in the main game. The levels themselves are excellent to play and outpace the original game’s content immediately. Enemy numbers and their attacking fire patterns are perfectly balanced between manic and fair. Continue reading Soldner-X 2: The Final Prototype – The Last Chapter (DLC Review)
TV Superstars (Review)
Enter your bid to become the next TV Superstar by making your way from a Z list nobody to the ultimate star. Hard work? Graft? Autobiographies? Sleeping with Katie Price? Pfft, just wave your arms around in time to the lines like a mirror-licking basement obsessive.
Mini-games are how you’re going to attain stardom via a variety of TV channels and commercials. You start by creating your character by getting the PS Eye to take a few mugshots of yourself before gasping in horror at the sex offender it seems to have replaced your face with. Got a full beard? It’s only going to pick up the moustache, not a great look. Continue reading TV Superstars (Review)
God of War: Ghost of Sparta (Review)
Looks like Ready at Dawn Studios have done it again. They’ve only gone and made the best action title on the PSP, again. God of War: Chains of Olympus provided a PSP prequel to the original PS2 game and now Ghost of Sparta looks to fill the gap between God of War 1 and 2.
The story follows Kratos as he searches for his younger brother, Deimos, who was taken from him when they were both young Spartan children. We finally get some answers about Kratos’ facial scar and his red tattoo. We also get to find out what really happened to the legendary city of Atlantis.
God of War: Chains of Olympus (Review)
God of War: Chains of Olympus is a real slap in the face to other developers trying to wrangle a half-decent looking game out of the PSP. One look at these screens is enough to show that Ready at Dawn have an understanding of the PSP that nobody else is even close to obtaining. On top of that they’ve kept the God of War brand in great condition while Sony Santa Monica press on with God of War III.
This game is a prequel to the original PS2 title where Kratos is still on the Olympian’s payroll. The tale begins with Kratos taking on an invading Persian army before the true enemy, Morpheus is revealed. The gods believe Morpheus to be behind the recent disappearance of Helios, the Sun god. If Morpheus is not defeated soon, it may be the end of the gods.
The No Sleep Gamer 