Reviews
Fallout 3 – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
This review is basically spoiler free.
Fallout 3 is a horrific, buggy, glitchy mess of a game. Large aspects of the design are dated and sometimes even archaic. There are some issues that were problems in Morrowind, then in Oblivion, and are still causing trouble in Fallout 3.
I’ve got stuck in the floor, and stuck to doorways. I’ve had broken quests. I’ve had AI do things which just don’t make sense. I’ve shot an enemy, and instead of sustaining damage, it’s just shot up into the sky in a perfectly vertical line, never to be seen again.
I’ve spoke to a few people who’ve also played it, and some have experienced similar bugs, and some people have not, I guess your mileage may vary.
I don’t really care about these bugs.
0Spider-Man: Web of Shadows – Review
Review by Amitai Winehouse
If Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was a singer, it’d be Britney Spears. Filled with hope and joy at the beginning, and backing it up with stimulus. But then, as you spend more time focusing on it, you realise the small faults. Eventually, it vomits and passes out every once in a while and despite trying to ignore it, it keeps embarrassing itself more and more.
0Portal: Still Alive – Review
Review by Numan1617
To start off, and clear up some confusion surrounding Still Alive, I will state that the main game is exactly the same as the one included in The Orange Box. However, there are an additional 14 test chambers and new achievements that were not on the disc.
Given the length of time that The Orange Box has been out, I will not cover the main story/game of Portal but will instead focus on the new challenges. All of the charisma of the old Portal is still there and the challenges really do make you start “thinking with portals” once again. The new game mechanics add to the feeling of impending doom you get when playing through the story version of Portal, and some of them really make you sit back and think “how the… do I do this?”
0Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 – Review
Review by Amitai Winehouse
As a pre-warning to anyone reading this review, I must tell you that I am reviewing the Playstation 3 version of this game. As far as I am aware, the PS2 Version will likely be the same as last year with minor updates. They have done the same for the last 2 or 3 years.
Last year was not a good year for PES. Poor online play. Not ‘next generation’ enough for consumers. FIFA arguably catching up. A horrible port appearing on arguably it’s biggest non-USA console, the PS3. Konami had a lot of work to do, and I can gladly say that they’ve done that and more. The graphics are better, the atmosphere is better, and the gameplay is what it should be, unlike FIFA.
Pro Evolution Soccer has always been renowned for one thing, even in the days of Oranges11, and that is quality football. It’s been called the “Football Fan’s Game”, and never is this more true than in 2009. From the minute your first game kicks off, you feel as though you are in the stand watching a match, a real match. Players move realistically, the ball flows, and every pass seems to count. When the ball hits the back of the net, you can’t help but celebrate ever so slightly.
0World of Goo – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
World of Goo is as close to perfect as it gets.
Please get it.
It’s genuinely incredible.
0Megaman 9 – Review
Review by Will Templeton
Mega Man 9 is a game that shouldn’t really exist. The current climate of videogames tends to be that games should be challenging, but ultimately beatable. This is a philosophy that works best with the majority of gamers – people who play a few rounds of Call of Duty after work, or pull out Wii Sports with the kids. People who use GameFly and expect to be able to whizz through a game and get the full experience, and then swap it for another. Even Ninja Gaiden, widely acclaimed for its unforgiving nature, takes pity on you if you fail too much and offers you an easier option.
0Lost Odyssey – Review/How I fell out of love with the contemporary Japanese RPG and became a disenfranchised, prematurely middle aged, gamer
Review by Lewie Procter
Lost Odyssey is a bad game.
The problem is, it’s a good JRPG.
0Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball, XBLA – Review
Review by Will Templeton
Whose side are you on? It’s one or the other. It’s a debate that’s raged for centuries. But do you care?
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Crysis: Warhead – Review
Review by Rook
Last time I fought these aliens it marked something of a downturn in the game. This time, there’s a group of nano-suited Koreans on the ridge to the right and a plethora of aliens snaking through icy channels cut out of the surroundings. Cloak mode is on and I’m letting the North Koreans deal with the threat. It’s tempting to grab the high ground lay down fire, but I’d be sandwiched between two sides. A brief moment hauled up to recharge and take stock is where it all goes a bit wrong. The first alien is taken down by a Gauss Rifle shot but two more have taken up predatory stances and are about to pounce, speed mode kicks in and leaves them behind. Underneath the Korean squad now, the new machine pistols are perfect for this. Leaping up behind, strength mode kills the recoil as I rip them apart, grinning. Nomad is gone, and in comes the Psycho.
0Spore – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
Spore is life, the universe and everything, packaged up in a charming, albeit sometimes infuriating, user friendly click-a-thon. It is one of the most important PC games released in a long time, and it wouldn’t surprise me if in 10 years time we are feeling it’s impact. That said, it is far from perfect.
0Bakushow, DS – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
I first booted up Bakushow, and found to great surprise that there is no single player mode. That’s fine though, I’m not going to discriminate against a game for being multiplayer only. I will say this though, the packaging should certainly be more explicit in telling you that if you only have access to one DS it is basically just a title screen.
Not that there is much else here even if you do have multiple players.
0S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, PC – Review
Review by Rook
Making your way through the driving rain, the remnants of the abandoned town of Limansk stretches out ahead. Somewhere over the other side is the reactor core, the heart of the zone. Shuttered windows, and nailed up doors leave only the streets which look oh so very open. With the warning of an ambush ahead fresh in mind I find myself pressing up against the few ruined cars that have long since been abandoned. A cursory sweep with binoculars doesn’t give anything away, but a moment later lightning baths the fronts of the buildings and in a window, for a brief second, a black silhouette is outlined in cold white light. Raising the scope of the silenced rifle, the figure remains a shadow in a patch of gloom, but it’s enough. Raising the sights just a little to factor in the bullet drop, the trigger is pulled and the inevitable happens: “This is XRay Engine crash reporting client. To help the development process, please Submit Bug or save report and email it manually”.
1Guild Wars – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
I have never played Guild Wars, or any other NCsoft/ArenaNet game in my entire life.
The nice lady from ArenaNet let me in the PAX party early with the VIPs, and then gave me 8 free drink vouchers.
10/10
0Braid – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
Braid is the most unique, memorable, emotionally engaging and fun experience I have had with a game in a long time.
Forgive the hyperbole. I am still in shock at how much I loved Braid.
0Scene It! Lights Camera Action, Xbox 360 – Review
Review By Will Templeton
Some of you might be surprised to find this here – it’s not exactly a triple-A title. I bought it on a whim from GAME at £20 a couple of months ago so that I could have something to play with the family instead of monopolising the TV, and so far I’ve been very impressed.
It contains a wide variety of game modes, whether they’re actor/film recogition, movie trivia, observation, and so on – I imagine all the modes from the DVD game, and perhaps a few more that would only be possible with a game pad. And most important of all, it saves the questions that each person has seen individually, so that whenever you play it with any combination of people it should give you a question that nobody has seen before. In practice this works most of the time, but there are some modes that appear fairly often but have only a few questions, so you run through those particular ones fairly quickly.
0KORG DS-10 Synthesizer, DS – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
This is a Korg Synth for the DS.
I was tempted to end this review here actually, there is very little else to say.
0Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
I downloaded Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 last night at around 7pm. Before I got into it, I already knew from reading around that there was 6 game modes, all of which needed to be unlocked, which took around half an hour. I allotted myself exactly this amount of time for a first play. Sure enough, I unlocked all six modes, with a little time to spare.
I then, begrudgingly had to stop playing, as real life got in the way.
I returned at around 11pm, hoping to put in another quick half hour before bed. I initially went back to “Pacifist” mode. First I set myself a 1 million point goal, which I then beat. Then I set myself a 5 million point goal, which I also beat. Then I set myself a 10 million point goal, which I then beat, and in the process got my first achievement.
01942: Joint Strike – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
I won’t pretend to be a huge expert on the 1942 series, but I have played my fair share of various entries in the series both in the Arcades and via “Capcom Classics Collection” on the Xbox, which has the original 1942, 1943: The Battle of Midway and 1943 Kai.
194X is a series of vertical scrolling shmups, and the common theme across all the games is “There is a war, and we need someone to single handily win it for us, and you’re the pilot for the job”
The thing about the 1942 series, is that it’s fairly old school as far as shmups go, there’s none of the modern level design and scoring system you would find in something like Ikargua, and the pace is fairly relaxed compared to say Triggerheart Exelica, and Joint Strike is no change. It’s half way between a modern remake of the original 1942 and a new entry in the series altogether.
0Amped 3, Xbox 360 – Review
Review by Amitai Winehouse
I don’t like Snowboarding. After all, very few people who are inclined to video games do. The very idea of risking life and limb for very few rewards, not even a few additional achievements, seems foreign to most of my geek brethren. That is not to say that video game companies do not release video games about this sort of sport. EA “Big” has had a lot of success with the SSX franchise, spawning several games. Therefore, almost two years ago when Amped 3 was purchased, I was slightly perturbed, but not yet totally put off.
Never getting further than the end of the ‘tutorials’, I set the game down until only 3 days ago. Looking for something to play, I picked up on this once more, started afresh and began ‘boarding’. There’s no doubt that this game is one thing, and that is fun. The wholly realistic route is not the idea for games of this sort, and therefore I can take great happiness out of performing two backwards flips followed by a corkscrew 180.
0WALL·E, Xbox 360 – Review
Review by Lewie Procter
Foreword
I have not yet seen the film WALL·E, and as such I will be reviewing this game entirely on it’s own merit as a game. It is possible (and in fact likely) that having seeing the film before playing the licensed game would have an impact on your experience.
I do plan to go and see the film at some point though, I am doing the whole thing backwards for the benefit of the game playing public.
This review will probably contain minor spoilers.
0Metal Gear Solid 4, PS3 – Review
Review by Amitai Winehouse
From the off, I want to confirm one thing about myself and my relationship with the Metal Gear Solid series. For some, it is an abusive relationship, in which one partner seems to be nothing but schizophrenic, changing his whim and direction of the game when it suits him. On the other hand, there are those such as me, who take even the very worst with boyish glee, pushing aside the very little we find bad, and savouring the best like the last few inches of a Bacon Sandwich.
I can however see why some may not like Metal Gear Solid. After all, some people do not like balloons, fluffy toys and anything else worth smiling about. Typing away at their computers (yes, I do realise the hypocrisy), they try to confine things to unwritten rules and laws, in this case, video games. Many of those detractors seem to focus on the fact that Metal Gear Solid 4 (and the entire series in reality) is very heavy on sections when you are not allowed to play the game. But the truth is, those who looked forward to MGS4 would in reality be disappointed if we were not told to “Live, Snake” at least once. The games would really only be half the games they are if it wasn’t for these long movie like sections. Kojima has always taken the stance that video games are art, and this is his way of expressing it, through additional story development.
0Alone in the Dark – Review
Review by Rook
Waking up with no memory to see the man beside you murdered by occultist thugs is a strange start to Atari’s last hurrah for big budget single player games. A gritty story, told in the style of a TV series complete with cliff hanger endings to chapters along with DVD styled menus to skip to your favourite parts and the cutscene’s could almost make you buy into it. But Alone in the Dark as a game finds itself in something of a conundrum, and the usual review community has had a difficult time pinning the game down. When a game’s reviews manage to evenly cover 60% of the scale then there’s always something up, something that some people could see, and drag out of the game and other bits that some people couldn’t get over. Alone in the Dark manages to be a game with ideas and vision, and it has them in spades. It just never quite knows how to play its hand.
0Battle of the Bands, Wii – Review
Review by Herby
Battle of the Bands is a rarity in today’s gaming world: a music/rhythm game that does not require some type of peripheral like a guitar, microphone, dance pad or electric tuba. Played solely with the Wii Remote, Battle of the Bands simplifies the genre by requiring only simple gestures in your attempt to destroy your opponent. But does Battle of the Bands win the battle for your cash?
The gameplay at the heart of Battle of the Bands is simple – a series of directional arrows runs along the screen similar to Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Swipe the remote in the direction shown at the correct time and you get points; get more points than your opponent by the end of the song and you win. During the battle, if you get enough notes in a row you can launch attacks at your opponent. Of course, your opponent can do the same so you must watch for attacks and block them before they hit your side of the screen.
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