Category Archives: Reviews

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

Castle of Illusion HD (Review)

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Castle of Illusion HDRolling back the clock with the haunted house of mouse


Following the recent retro remake of DuckTales, we now get to see how the classic Mega Drive game, Castle of Illusion scrubs up by today’s standards. As a big fan of the 90s original, I had my fingers cautiously crossed for a nostalgic blast.

The story remains true to the original, with Mickey setting off to rescue long-time sweetheart, Minnie from the evil witch, Mizrabel. Rather than animate some traditional Disney-style cartoon scenes to set up the game, Sega Australia have gone low-budget and opted for some mildly animated illustrations.

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Platformer, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, Reviews

Puppeteer (Review)

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Proof that running with scissors is fun after all

Typical, just like waiting for a bus. We’ve been waiting for a decent platformer for ages, then two come along at once in the shape of Rayman Origins and now Sony’s Puppeteer. So, rather than stress yourself into an early grave trying to beat all the timed challenges in Rayman once you’ve made an initial playthrough, pick up a copy of Puppeteer as it’s been released cheaper than most new games.

This is classic 2D side-scrolling territory, the purist’s choice of dimension for platforming. As you can see by the visuals, this is going for something a bit unusual with its handcrafted puppets and theatrical stage design. While knee-jerk reactions may compare the visuals to LittleBigPlanet, the fact of the matter is that this is a considerably better-looking and better-constructed platformer. I love how so much of the scenery is interactive and not just painted on. With every scene transition, you see everything bounce as if the stage has literally just been dropped into place, giving everything a touchable physicality on your TV.

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

Lost Planet 3 (Review)

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After the slightly frosty reception the thawed out first sequel received, it would seem the Lost Planet series has been pining for those long cold winters again. So the third game is a prequel to the original, taking place many years before.

You are Jim, red-haired (finally!) and awesomely bearded-up for the cold. Jim has a wife and newborn son back on earth, but he’s taken this job on the frozen rock of E.D.N. III to earn some serious money as a Rig operator / go-to guy for exterminating the pesky Akrid wildlife while the NEVEC Corporation searches the planet for T-Energy.

Rather than the Vital Suits of the last two games, you get to romp around in a 50-foot high walking Rig. These huge mechs are essentially maintenance machines, hardly built for combat, but as you and Jim will find out, you’re stuck with what you have.

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

Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Review)

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When the best stealth experiences this generation have come from first person games -take a bow Far Cry 3’s machete and Dishonored- you have to wonder if grizzled vet Sam Fisher and Splinter Cell can still compete. Like any stealth master though, you don’t even notice how good he is until you’ve been completely drawn in.

The so-so wrapping of this long-awaited return belies the high quality within though. Fans of TV’s 24/anything with terrorists will be able to spot the plot a mile off. A rogue ex-military group attempt to start World War III by threatening terrorist attacks on America if they don’t pull all their troops from foreign countries. A few familiar faces from Sam’s past turn up, but newbies can play the game without feeling they’re missing important facts. Blacklist is a great standalone entry point to the series.

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Action, PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PSN (PlayStation Store), Reviews, RPG, XBLA, Xbox 360

Mars: War Logs (Review)

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That’s One Red Dead Planet

Low cost downloadable RPGs are something of a rarity on consoles, with only Rainbow Moon coming to mind in recent years as anything vaguely worth your attention. Mars: War Logs would like to get involved with the genre too, despite being more of an action-RPG.

Set far into the future, Mars has undergone colonisation, but that new civilisation has long since collapsed. It has been replaced by warring water companies as everyone inexplicably fights over the dusty hellhole.

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

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (Review)

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The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is far removed from the strategy roots of last year’s much-loved XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It was off to a rough start when originally revealed as an FPS, before the internet threw its toys from the pram over a few minutes of footage.

Fans were appeased when 2K released Enemy Unknown, and since then The Bureau transformed into a third-person shooter and the tactical side of the game was given some much-needed emphasis in the build-up. After all the fuss and returns to drawing boards, 2K may end up annoying fans anyway. There’s no escaping that this is essentially a third-person shooter with squad commands stapled on.

The story is standard alien invasion fare, but with an unusual setting for most video games, the early 1960s. This gives the early parts of the game something of a unique identity. The sharp suits, the hats, the cars, the picture perfect suburban homes and even the music all feel spot on. Mad Men fans will adore it.

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Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, RPG

Tales of Xillia (Review)

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After waiting nearly two years more than our Japanese friends, we Western gamers have finally got our hands on one of the most eagerly awaited RPGs of recent memory. But was it worth the wait?

Tales of Xillia takes you on a journey with Milla Maxwell, a spirit deity in human form, and Jude Mathis, a young student, as they try to stop a corrupt king using a deadly weapon in a war he’s desperately trying to start.

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Arcade Shooter, Platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, Reviews

Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear (Review)

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Remember Time Crisis? Great fun wasn’t it? Yes, then Namco went a bit mental and attached half a PlayStation pad to the Guncom and we’ve never been able to look it in the eye since.

So why haven’t the Wii or PS Move stepped in to fill the void with imitator shooters? Hell we barely even have any gallery blasters. Step forward young challenger, Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear. May the spirit of Virtua Cop be with you.

We’ll forgive you for not having heard of the game, it was something of a surprise to us until a few weeks ago too. It’s an on-rails FPS, which can also be played with a control pad. But you really shouldn’t, it’s awful with a pad. The aiming is all over the place. It’s so over-sensitive it feels as though the crosshairs are attached to a hockey puck.

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Action, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Deadpool (Review)

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The spandex-sporting shooty, slicy, shouty scamp

The superhero barrel gets another scraping for yet another video game tie-in. This time, for Marvel’s Merc With a Mouth, Deadpool. The dude hasn’t even had a movie yet. But hey, that might work in his favour.

Newcomers to Deadpool’s universe should know that he’s known as a character that frequently breaks the fourth wall in comics. Essentially, he knows he’s a comic book character even though everyone else in the Marvel Universe has no idea. This allows him to constantly talk to the readers and share jokes with them, often at the bewilderment of the likes of Wolverine who can’t fathom why he’s so laid-back all the time (he’s already skimmed through the script of this game for example). Continue reading Deadpool (Review) →

Hardware, PC, PlayStation 3, Reviews

Aftershokz Bluez Bone Conduction Headset (Review)

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We love a bit of innovative gadgetry here at No Sleep Gamer, and ‘military bone conduction technology’ on the side of the box of Artershokz’s new Bluez Bluetooth stereo headset is certainly a good way to get our attention. Mainly because we’ll need all the help we can get when Battlefield 4 rolls out later this year.

This open ear headset isn’t like ones you’ve used before (shh, you military types, it’s new to us). Instead, the earpieces rest near your ears on your ears bones (see above image), leaving your ear holes free and still able to take in sounds around you.

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

Journey: Collector’s Edition (Review)

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The Genesis of Greatness

*This collection encompasses ThatGameCompay’s previously download-only games including Flow, Flower and Journey. I’ve reviewed all three and discussed the extras also included.

Flow

The first time I played Flow six years ago, I started it late and ended up glued to the screen until 6am. It’s an experience you can just be swallowed up in. Just as it gets difficult, it expands and resets.

You play as a basic underwater life form that must eat smaller creatures in order to grow. The game takes place on a series of 2D stages and movement is controlled by turning the PS3 SixAxis controller with a press of any button making you move faster. As with all of ThatGameCompany’s PS3 games, there isn’t a heads-up display and next-to no tutorial, but you should find this an easy experience to get into.

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

Pool Nation (Review)

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With only Hustle Kings to really compete with, Pool Nation enters the digital pool hall looking to wipe the floor with the posers. No cutscenes, no irritating voice-overs, just pool. We like it already.

You can dive straight into the lengthy tournament campaigns without bothering with the tutorials if you just want to get stuck in. Basic shots are a breeze. Some very handy aiming lines are turned on by default showing the path of the white ball and a separate path for the ball you’ll hit, making even the sharpest angled shots effortlessly simple.

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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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Platforms, PS Vita, Reviews, RPG

Soul Sacrifice Review | Part 2 – Getting slayed with friends

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This is our concluding part of our Soul Sacrifice review. If you’d like to catch up on the basic game mechanics and the single player experience, you can read Part 1 here. Ok, up to date? This could go either way right? The remainder of my review is going to focus on the online multiplayer side of the game.

A range of options allows you to set up public or password protected games with invites via the Vita’s messaging system being a simple if slightly clunky affair. You can label your room to give other players an indication of which chapters you’re playing and if you prefer saving or sacrificing bosses. There were a healthy number of players online during the launch weekend, meaning I never had to wait long for players to join. Although it’s often worth waiting until you have a full group of four to take on some of the boss battles. Continue reading Soul Sacrifice Review | Part 2 – Getting slayed with friends →

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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Platforms, PS Vita, Reviews, RPG

Soul Sacrifice Review | Part 1 – Slaying Solo

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Monster Hunter is a handheld system seller. That’s a fact, particularly in Japan. Yet we’ve only heard the slightest of rumours about the mega-series bringing its giant-chasing exploits to Sony’s underperforming handheld.

We don’t know if it’s a case of Sony not being able to agree a deal with Capcom, but until that champagne spraying day arises, Soul Sacrifice is here to carry the burden and an hefty amount of expectation in the face of the Vita’s barren landscape of recent or future releases. Continue reading Soul Sacrifice Review | Part 1 – Slaying Solo →

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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