Hidden object games are something of a rarity on PSN. I haven’t played any since a range of PSP titles in 2010 including Route 66, The Mystery of the Crystal Portal and Actual Crimes: Jack the Ripper. Sanuk have returned though with another detective puzzler to test your peering skills.
The game has already seen a mobile/PC release, so it’s unsurprising to see the game using a mouse cursor to navigate. The analogue stick or a Move controller can be used to point at objects with ease, although your arm will get tired using the Move. Continue reading Voodoo Chronicles: The First Sign Review→
Lost between long-range brilliance and shooting itself in the foot
A glitchy but somewhat enjoyable first game had us crossing our fingers for an improved sequel from City Interactive. The sniping genre has intensified of late with stiff competition coming from Sniper Elite V2 last year so they need to hit the ground running this time.
The CryEngine 3 (also used for Crysis 3) certainly gives the game a graphical boost. The game is off to a sunny start in the Philippines with wonderfully bright lighting in the jungle environments being a fine tonic to any gamer fatigued with all the grey corridors and city environments in others shooters.
Review note: This review mainly focuses on the Vita version of the game. A few days ago (after already finishing the game on the Vita), I was also sent the PS3 version, which allowed me to test the Augmented Reality and cross-save features too. All images are my own screen grabs from the Vita version of the game. If you buy the PS3 version, you will get a free digital copy of the Vita game too.
Aside from the excellent HD re-release a while back, we’ve not had a Sly Cooper game since 2005. This has left a gaping wound in the platforming genre that nobody has even attempted to heal. Sucker Punch have long since left to work on the InFamous games, leaving unknowns Sanzaru to take over full-time after successfully overseeing the aforementioned HD collection. While probably not under as much pressure as 343 Industries with Halo 4, there are parallels. Let’s see how they got on.
Following up the cataclysmic events of God of War III must have been a terrifying ordeal for a studio to go through. However, when a series already has a prequel along with another game filling the gap between games one and two I struggled to see how Kratos’ adventures could do anything but go forwards.
In an old panel interview with the other four individual God of War director’s, David Jaffe (GOW1) said that he would have liked to see gods from around the world (think Norse and Chinese) move in on Olympus in a power vacuum caused by the death of the Zeus and his brethren. That would have been an unbelievably hot premise and the only true way to follow up Kratos’ gloriously enraged finale. It’s going to happen; it’s too good an idea to not. But sadly, I expect we’ll have to wait until PlayStation 4 as Sony are playing it safe with this prequel set before even the events of Chains of Olympus.
After Duke Nukem’ Forever, you wouldn’t be insane to doubt Gearbox Software’s capabilities. But hold on a sec, they were only finishing off someone else’s mess right? They were just keen to finally get the game out. Even so, pride should have stopped them releasing it in such a poor state.
Then Borderlands 2 came along and was met with great sales and wide critical acclaim. So, maybe their frequently delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines would be ok on the day. After all, it’s been Gearbox’s game since birth and numerous videos clearly show a franchise-adoring staff. So, they wouldn’t f**k it up, right? Cue the angry sobbing.
There have been many HD re-releases over the last few years and it’s always a tough ask when the game was pushing the original hardware to the limit. Exactly how much more can we expect from a HD remaster? Rest assured though, Killzone HD looks, and more importantly, still plays exceptionally well today.
I was worried that having been such a fan of the original game, I may have been remembering the visuals with rose-tinted glasses and the HD reworking would shatter those memories. Thankfully, the game looks fantastic today and pulses with graphical finesse. It’s fortunate that the original game featured a texture-friendly grainy filter and a lot of mist, which transfers well today, giving the game a distinguished look.
At first glance, I was caught by Sumioni: Demon Arts’ looks. As a massive fan of Okami, I was able to compare art-styles and upon watching the trailer and finding out I’d be drawing ink lines to affect the game world, I was ready to embrace the game.
Sadly, fond memories of another game are about as good as it gets for Sumioni. The game got off to a rough start with a dreary and lengthy text-based opening. By the end of it, I didn’t know if I was a good guy, bad guy, demon guy or anything. He’s red and likes to wield a blade. Hellboy, Feudal Japan-style, if you will. Continue reading Sumioni: Demon Arts Review→
If it wasn’t for the Lumines games on the old PSP the underperforming handheld would have faded into obscurity and the back of our cupboards much sooner than it sadly eventually did. As the Vita approaches its first birthday with a distinct lack of killer apps, I’ve been looking over its back-catalogue, desperate for something to justify charging the thing up more than once a month. Now available for under a tenner, Lumines: Electronic Symphony seemed like a good place to start and certainly better value than its initial £35 price tag.
Lumines is a block-puzzler but one that bears little resemblance to games like Tetris andBejeweled 2. By rotating falling blocks of four squares you must create patterns of like colours in 2×2 or bigger blocks. These blocks will then become highlighted and the constantly sweeping timeline comes and clears them from your pile.
The Ratchet & Clank series has been somewhat unpredictable in recent years as it seems to be trying to reinvent itself with the last few games despite a strong following and decent review scores. Its blend of planetary exploration, platforming and fantastically fun weaponry was a hit every time, culminating in the excellent A Crack in Time in 2009.
In 2011, the series delved into co-op gameplay and despite dumbing down the controls to remove manual aiming and allow all players to share a single screen, the game was an enjoyable blast with the usual polish we’ve come to expect from the series. It was surprising to hear the studio was working on yet another R&C title after announcing the multi-platform Fuse. We were hoping for something along the lines of A Crack in Time again, but alas we have a PSN tower-defence download title. Wait… what?
Requested and rumoured for years, we finally have a game putting together a rich collection of the finest PlayStation-exclusive characters along with some top names from third-party brands for a mighty punch-up. The comparisons to Nintendo’s Smash Brothers are obvious, as they always were going to be, but I’m here to review the game on its own merits.
Buying the PS3 game also gives you access to a free download of the Vita version and I’ll go into details about the portable options later on. Let’s get stuck into the game itself on PS3 first.
Nihilistic’s first Vita game, Resistance: Burning Skies, proved that first-person shooters were a suitable match for Sony’s dual-analogue sporting handheld. Admittedly, the game was a bit basic, a bit ugly and rough around the edges, but compared to using the face buttons instead of a second analogue stick like we were forced to on the PSP, it handled like a dream.
On learning that they’d be handling the Vita’s first Call of Duty title though, I was a little concerned as I thought development would go to someone with a more impressive CV. But hey, I was probably worried when Sony gave a little known studio called Ready at Dawn the reigns to create aGod of War PSP game and they utterlynailed it.
One brick to rule them all? Or in the laziness bind them?
Despite being released nine years after the final film, the memories are still strong enough to make the latest tie-in feel like a relevant entry to the series rather than a late cash-in. I’m sure the upcoming release of the first Hobbit movie has nothing to do with Traveller’s Tales and Warner Bros. Interactive waiting this long. Ok, so maybe a little.
Since the Lego series began, we’ve seen it grow in terms of production values. The graphics have been steadily improving and the recentLego Batman 2introduced fully voiced characters for the first time, which allowed the series to portray a proper story and a damn amusing one at that.
Join Brian and Stewie in their dimension-hoping adventure as they use the Multiverse remote to stop Bertram, Stewie’s evil half-brother, who plans to use his own remote to build an army and destroy the Quahog duo’s Universe.
This gives the game a chance to provide a wide range of settings. From Amish farms, Santa’s weapon workshop with inbred elves, to a world populated by the handicapped and so on. Bertram has convinced everyone in these universes that you must be killed, so in turn you’re shooting pretty much everyone in sight. Be they Amish farmers, jocks, cripples on crutches or small homicidal alien chickens.
Subtle is never a word I thought I’d use to describe any element of a Call of Duty game, but the pre-title cutscene that paints a picture of how Black Ops II’s villain was formed is beautifully put together, in no short thanks to an excellent song choice with Elbow’s ‘The Night Will Always Win.’
The emotional reactions from most COD moments are usually sudden violence, be it first-person execution, slowly dying in a nuclear blast, the death of a child and so on, it’s never had anything like this. After this strangely heartfelt and sympathetic opening, subtlety kind of goes out of the window as it’s all slit throats and shotguns to the knees for the other scenes. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. After all, we’re here to blow shit up.
Picking a simple premise for a game can be enough to make the most basic of efforts entertaining for hours. Just look at Angry Birds, Plants Vs Zombies or Calling All Cars – the latter being the best PSN game you’ve never played.
When Vikings Attack comes at us with its own simple mechanics aiming to be easy to pick up for the masses. Throw in multiplayer, cross-play with the Vita and extra characters to unlock and it’s clear that the developers think the game has a shot. These ambitions spiked my interest and after five minutes, I thought this could work. Sadly, after 15 minutes, it got boring. Half an hour later and it felt like all possibilities of enjoyment were driven from my very soul.
I’d never make it as a WRC driver. Mainly because my first thoughts to hearing the words “Don’t cut” from my co-driver are “why not?” Which makes the rewind feature an invaluable tool in the boot of my rally experience, as once again Milestone encourage me to take my favourite Colin McRae inspired approach to rallying: “If in doubt. Flat out.”
Milestone has produced two of the best rally experiences I’ve had on this generation of consoles. Admittedly, WRC 2 was something of a version 1.5 over its predecessor, but the vision of the series has always been pure rallying, which is more than can be said of Codemasters’ recent efforts. Codemasters took the great Colin McRae series and produced the first impressive Dirt game before absolutely nailing it with Dirt 2. Then they got a big old man crush on Ken Block and started to make us drive our cars like poledancers. Sad times.
Sony’s PS3 continues to lead as a platform striving to offer as many diverse experiences as possible. Admittedly, most have them have come from That Game Company in the shape of Flow, Flower and Journey. So it’s good to see a new studio emerge from under Sony’s wing to show us such a visually arresting game.
While the game is a first person title, I’d hesitate to class it as a first-person shooter, although it handles that way. There are no bullets here though, only paint and a few platforming sections.
The traditional point and click style adventure game is dead and buried as far as consoles are concerned, which makes Frogwares decision to bring this series to PS3 and Xbox 360 a brave one, but we’re certainly up for giving it a go.
Instead of the usual lever-pulling puzzles we’re used to, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes will require a bit more brainpower to proceed. Solving gruesome murder mysteries is the most enticing prospect and when you’re investigating a crime scene, the game really stands out. As with many of these games though, there tends to be a reliance on bizarre puzzles too. More on those later.
Accessibility and new fans. That’s what Namco would have you believe are the targets that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is aiming for as one of the most respected names in the fighter genre returns. Getting new players used to the basics of the series has always been an obstacle many fighting games so anything that seeks to address this is going to be well worth a look.
The Fight Lab is Namco’s attempt to ease-in new players and get them used to Tekken’s basics. Basics that to outsiders make the game immensely difficult to pick up and play with the same level of success as the Street Fighter or Soul Calibur titles. Button bashing in Tekken games will generally get you nowhere, thus making it less enjoyable to crack out at parties for anyone that hasn’t played them before.
After the first game where War -one of the Four Horseman- jumped the gun a little and brought on the apocalypse and wiped out humanity, we get to step into another rider’s shoes. Running parallel to the events of the original game, we’re now playing as Death.
Death is eager to clear his brother’s name and if possible, restore humanity to Earth. For the most part of the game though, we won’t be going back to Earth. Instead we’re exploring several large open maps of typical fantasy fare – forests, canyons, ice worlds, hell and any other staple you could care to remember.
The No Sleep Gamer 