Matty's Gaming Blog

Just Cause Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

Just Cause has been under the radar for some time now. Popping up at this year's E3 it took everyone by surprise. You play as Rico, a freedom fighter who comes to the tropical island of San Esperito to overthrow an evil dictator. Along with your rebel group, PRASE (People's Revolutionary Army of San Esperito), it's your aim to start a revolution.
To do this you must perform the usual set of tasks such as kill x and return safely, blow up x and return safely and collect x and return safely. It must be said that although the missions are fairly generic in theme, they are very enjoyable. Every single one has many ways to approach them thanks to the 'stunts' (more on them in a bit), and there's never a shortage of army troops for you to cause mayhem with.

The only problem is that there are only 21 missions in total, which if you set out to do straight in a row will last you maybe 6 hours at best. This is partly due to the fact that the game is incredibly easy. The shooting is fluid, however the auto-aim is so accurate that it's mostly a very brainless activity. You can take down half a dozen guards in 5 seconds without any trouble whatsoever. When you pair this with the fact that you have so much health, that decreases so slowly, you'll seldom die. There's also many checkpoints throughout each mission which means in the unlikely event that you do die, you won't lose much progress at all.

There are various side missions on offer that reward you with weapon and vehicle upgrades, but there's no real motivation to play them as they're all basically the same. You have two types of missions to work through: Races and taking over sections of the island. Whilst the former is good fun, it's very easy to simply ram your rivals off into a tree and calmly drive to the finish. The latter is simply very dull, as it's the same thing every time. Kill some troops, blow up a roadblock and then put up a flag. I ask anyone to not tire of it by the 4th time.

Physics and realism is something Just Cause doesn't pay very much attention to and thankfully adds a lot of lifespan to the game. 'Stunts' that you can perform whilst in numerous situations are a tap of a button away. This varies from jumping onto the roof of your car when it's still moving, then onto a another car, all the way to the most ridiculous of sights such as jumping out of your plane cockpit and hanging onto the wings. Anyone who needs a certain level in realism in their games will probably be annoyed by this, however it is an insanely fun feature. All it requires is for you to suspend belief for a little bit and endless possibilties open up. It really seems to be a love or hate feature, I've yet to talk to anyone who is on the fence about it.

The handling over vehicles for the most part is pretty spot-on, and there's a huge varied choice of ones to pick from. Like in the GTA games, anything you spot you can use. Whether it's a little sand buggy, or a huge jet liner in the airport. The air travel is by far the most fun you'll have in the game as not only does it provide a great sight, but the stunts you can perform are easily the most satisfying.

One of my personal favourites was in one of the very last missions of the game. I was flying along in a jet, with a few helicopters chasing me. My jet was nearly going to blow up, so with a simple tap of 'Y' I hopped onto the roof, took my grapple hook, fired it at one of the helicopters, and smashed into the cockpit knocking the pilot out and making my getaway. It can be tricky at first trying to get these actions right, as it does require good timing, but once you master it you can link incredible moves together that not only look cool as hell, but are also handy for whatever missions you may be attempting to complete.

There's no shortage of places to go on San Esperito, either, as the map is absolutely huge. If I had to guess I'd say 2/3x big as San Andreas'. Many of this is simply jungle which doesn't hold much to do, however it's still a great feat. When you're in the air overlooking thousands and thousands of miles without seeing ANY pop-up you realise the developers really did tap into 360's potential and squeezed everything they possibly could from it. It's an amazing sight.

A sight made even more amazing thanks to the graphics on show. Everything in this game is utterly beautiful, whether it's the jungle swaying in the wind, the sunset shining on the sea or a big ass explosion - it's some of the best visuals on offer currently for the 360. One tip though: Turn the blur off in the options, as it tends to be a bit overwhelming at times and does take away from the sharp visuals.

Whilst it's obvious GTA is a big inspiration, Just Cause shares very little things in common other than the huge world and freedom. Unfortunately, the island is hardly heavy populated, and outside of the side missions, there's not much to do. After a while it's inevitble that jumping from planes will get old, at which point it's unlikely you'll play ever again. With a world so huge and a story that's so flexible, there could have been a real deep structure to everything outside of the main story, but it seems there wasn't time, or they simply didn't feel like doing it. It's a shame too as this is a game I'd like to get 30/40 hours play out of, but that's never going to happen.

Just Cause is a very over the top but fun free roaming action game. It's incredibly short and easy, but provides great thrills along the way. Whether you're messing around with the insane stunts or just exploring the huge world, there's not much that you can't do. As easy as most of the action is, it's extremely satisfying to perform and great fun to watch.

The ammount of play you'll get from this game really does depend on how imaginitive you are, as after the main missions are done you'll have to work hard for your entertainment.
Nevertheless, it's at least worth a rent to complete over a weekend just to experience the beautiful sights and crazy action that Just Cause presents you with. It's just a shame there's not more depth to this gamer, otherwise it would be one of 360's finest.

81%

Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-21T12:51:00.001-07:00

Lego and Star Wars. Who would've thought those two franchises would ever team up? After the success of the first game, it was inevitble that a sequel would pop up, and here it is. Luckily, this game gets everything right yet again.

The game covers the first three original movies, Episodes IV, V and VI. Each film is split into 6 chapters, leaving you with 18 to play through. As with the original game, you have a huge range of characters to play as, giving you basically everyone who had a major (and even not so major) in each of the films. You'll seldom be alone, as most of the gameplay puzzles involve you working as a team. For example, if you had Luke Skywalker, CP3O and Wookie on one level, each person would have their own skill to bring to the table. Jedis have the power to move many objects with their mind, or 'force', to help you on your way; The droids are good at hacking locks and other electrical equipment and the others are usually used for fire power or getting to high places.

You can control any person in your team at any point, simply by walking up to them and hitting 'Y' transfers the controls over to the character in question. It's very fluid and doesn't hold back gameplay in the slightest. The gameplay in question is infact extremely simple, you run, you shoot, and you jump and you push. That's about it. The occasional flying level aside, there's no deep RPG elements or amazing physics engine on show here. But the bottom line is that you won't care. From the moment you put the game into the disk drive you realise this game doesn't take itself seriously in the slightest. The gameplay is solid and does what it has to, it's not the main focus of the game. What's around you as you go through the level is the real genius.

For example, one of many wonderful moments was in the Death Star in Episode IV. As I was going along I blasted a few crates that revealed an elevator. I went in it, and as I got to the top I walked in on a few Stormtroppers half naked in a jacuzzi.
Another level there was a jukebox that I put on, out came blaring the music that plays in the film whenever they show Darth Vader (Again, showing my lack of Star Wars knowledge) and in the next room were two bounty hunters headbanging, using their guns as guitars.

These are just two examples of the humour that this game holds. Though it must be said these are NOTHING compared to the hilarious cutscenes. Before and after (sometimes in the middle of) each chapter, there's a cutscene that keeps the story of the film flowing. These are all done with the game engine and don't use any voice-overs, but are so entertaining it's unreal. The humour and charm that the developers managed to express from pieces of lego on a screen is beyond words. I could sit down and watch them over and over again without ever getting tired. You want to complete each level so you can get to see the next cutscene. It's not even just Star Wars fans who will love them, I can't stand the films.

Not that you'll have any trouble completing any of the levels in any case, as the game is very easy. If you die, you respawn instantly on the spot, do dying has no real consequence in this game. I imagine this was included so the game would be more kids friendly, however it doesn't really matter. It just means the game flows much nicer and you're more focused on enjoying what's around you rather than worrying about trying to stay alive.

There is one flaw with this game though and it's a trap that many many games have fallen into in the past: the camera. It's always in a fixed position, which is annoying enough as it is, but a lot of the time it's in such a place where it's easy to miss a doorway or a switch. I got stuck many times in areas where I just couldn't see the button I was meant to press because the camera was stuck in an awkward place. It's nothing that wrecks the game, it's just annoying at times.

Each chapter will probably only take the best part of 15mins to complete, so you're looking at a game that lasts no more than 6hrs if you do the bare minimum. However, surprisingly this game does get quite deep. Throughout each level are MANY hidden items to collecting, and various side missions such as bounty hunting. Once you complete a level it's open to go back to at any point and roam about freely, messing around with anything you see fit. To get a 100% completion rating you'd probably be looking at the best part of 15 hours, if not more.

The co-op mode is great fun and everything that was once entertaining about the game is once again brought to life when you're with a friend. The fact it's so accessible to most people means that this game is a good one to keep on your shelf just to pop out if you're ever bored/looking for something to do with a younger sibling.
Be warned, however, that the looks do decieve. Though I've said the game is easy, I can't see anyone under the age of 10 figuring out a lot of the puzzles. For a kids game it does have some tricky spots that stumped me at times for a while, so unless your kids are smarter than I (which, admittedly, is likely) this might not be the best game to get them to play alone with.

At the end of the day, this game won't change your world. It's a few hours of good solid fun that's never so great it's mind blowing nor so simplistic it's dull. The use of unique humour throughout the game provides many thrills and laughs, and is more than enough reason to at least give this game a rent. It's very rare you see any humour in games these days, let alone humour this good. The beauty is you don't even need to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy the game, if you know the story loosely then that's enough.

It's an easy ride that very seldom challenges you, so if you need a challenge in your games then look elsewhere. anyone who can appreciate what this game has to offer, however, should most certainly check it out.

78%

Top Spin 2 Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

2k games quest to topple EA's spot as king of the sport titles continues on the Xbox 360. Along with the NFL/NHL/NBA games, you have the sequel to one of the most highly regarded tennis games ever - Top Spin. With 16 licensed pros and a brand new engine to work with, it's a tempting title for any tennis fan. What exactly is new, though? Not much in all honesty, but what it does have is tweaked to near perfection..

Career mode is where you will spend most of your time. Throwing hard and long matches at you, it's an easy place to rack up 20-25 hours of gameplay before you even look at the other modes. Starting off as a rookie at rank 200 in the world, it's your task to get to the number one spot over the 5 years that your career lasts. It's important that before you do anything that you pick a good trainer and get some stats under your belt. Unlike most sports games, you simply cannot max out every aspect of your skills, you are limited to 60 skill points that you must use wisely. Picking what type of player you want to be early on is a must.

Until you get a decent stat standing, it will be near impossible to beat anyone inside the top 100 without struggling. Once you start to progress, things get tougher and tougher. By the time you start playing the top 20 players, matches usually last on average from 20-45 minutes, depending on whether your character is male or female (Males play 5 sets, females play 3). Whilst this does give the game a good sense of realism and makes matches epic, it can become tiresome. Losing a game by one point after working hard for 45 minutes really does crush your spirit, and you will lose a lot of motivation to play again. This game is not for the faint of heart, as it will beat you badly time and time again as you question your skills.

Any inability to win is purely because of your lack of skills, also, because it must be said the game plays perfectly. It's not the easiest game to pick up and play, the shot process is extremely complex and takes time to master, but once you do then there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to pull off some amazing shots. A lot of them require immense skill, but the pay off is more than worth it.
Using the A, B, X and Y buttons, you can do numerous things. The obvious stuff such as spin and lob is there, but when coupled with 'power' shots you can aim the ball with amazing accuracy, providing balls that are next to impossible for your oppenent to reach.

Away from the career mode you have the usual exhibition and party modes, which are nothing more than a mere distraction. The main place you'll be focusing on is the online mode that the developers have put a rather lot of effort into. Everything is based on rank, you can choose to play someone lower, higher or equal with you, and depending on who you beat your rank changes accordingly. This gives the online mode the same feel as career mode in a way, you're just facing real people instead. Getting inside the top 5000 will take quite a bit of effort, and from there things get really tough.

If you, like I, are not one to care about online rank, don't fret! The game is still fun to just play casually without worrying about how many points you'll gain from playing. As with career mode, the players you face are usually very skilled, so taking your custom character with the best stats in to use is the only option. The game is seemingly lag free and never suffers any real problems at all. It did have a tendancy to crash a few times when I was connecting, but that's it.

Graphically the game is top notch and looks just about as good as any tennis game could. All of players are incredibly detailed, especially the pros who have a scary likeness to their real life counterparts. As you play, hair flows nicely, your knees bend realistically and it all just blends into a seamless game of tennis. You'll very rarely see any graphical glitches or clipping, even when you're making your player run around like mad.

Likewise, the courts that you play in come to life when playing with an extremely realistic crowd and set of trainers/ball boys etc. My only complaint is that whilst the balls physics are awesome, when it goes out of play it does bounce again some objects in the scenery, but unfortunately not people. Nothing major, just something that would've been neat. Who wouldn't want to spend all day trying to get Tin Henman to smash the ball boy in the knackers. Just me then? Oh.

Top Spin 2 isn't a game for the casual gamer. The main meat of the game lies in career mode and online, both of which you will be ripped apart in unless you're a skilled gamer. The game takes a while to master, but once you finally find your groove there'll be no stopping you. No other game can produce a tennis experience quite like this.
The career mode is extremely long and quite deep, meaning that you'll constantly be finding new events or challenges to take part in long after you reach the number 1 spot. Add to this the addictive online mode, and you're onto a game that has an enormous lifepspan.

73%

Dead Rising Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

Ever watched Dawn of the Dead and wished you could be the one beheading hundreds and hundreds of zombies? Well guess what, it's your lucky day! In Dead Rising you play as Frank, a freelance journalist who has heard rumblings about something strange happening in a small town in the middle of no-where. Naturally, his journalist instincts tell him that they may be a good story there, so he hires a helicopter pilot to take him over there so he can have a snoop around. When he gets there, army presence is heavy and the undead are walking the streets, eating every living thing in their way. You asked to get dropped off ontop of the mall, and instruct the pilot to pick you up 72hrs from now at noon.

Let's get something straight, there are a shitload of zombies in this game. As you'd expect, really, but until you play it for yourself you really can't imagine the scope. Standing in the mall, looking into the distance you will see hundreds of zombies infront of you. You could only get an experience like this on a next generation console, as a mall full of 20 zombies hardly has the same impact. This is basically Dawn of the Dead in everything but name. Whilst the zombies are slow, they are also dangerous. You can easily avoid them in open spaces, however in the more crampt corridors you'll have a hard time getting past without a weapon.

But don't worry, weapons there are a lot of. Now you have the usual stuff, pistol, machine gun, baseball bat, iron pole etc, however you are in a mall, and pretty much everything you can imagine to use as a weapon in this game you can. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a kitchen sink in the hardware store. Since the mall is very big, with lots of shops, you will waste hours upon hours away simply picking up random stuff and using them against the zombies. This could be as gruesome as running into a pack of them with a chainsaw, or simply putting a toy mask on them so they bump into each other blinded. There couldn't be a better possible setting for this game. The range of items is just staggering.

In most games, time is simply something used to hurry you and force you to test your skills in missions, in Dead Rising however, time is everything. Whilst it's not in real time, the time does constantly keep ticking away, forcing you to always be aware of what's going on. The game sets you case files that you must do at certain times, or else your leads dry up and it's game over for you. Inbetween these case files you can either choose to sit around, or if you're sane go nuts and try some of the side missions.

Some people will hate being restricted like this. In this day and age when you can pretty much have as much time as you want on games, it's a shock to the system being told to be here and there at a certain time, but the vast majority will love it like I did. Granted, it does take some getting used to, however it gives you a real sense that you're there and that this is a real adventure. The story is constantly flowing, and if you think sod it and don't bother with a certain mission, the person(s) related to that will simply die, thus changing the game. Every action has some consequence later on in the game.

For example, I was busy focusing on the brilliant case files, and didn't have enough time to go save some guys who were trapped in a store. After a while, that mission faded from the HUD, which lead me to assume they were dead. Later on, however, as I was going towards the gunshop to stack up on ammo for a future mission, all 3 of them were hiding behind the counter with guns taking shots at me. The fact I didn't help them drove them nuts and in the end I had to kill them.
And that's alot of what this game is about. Yes, there are TONNES of zombies, don't worry, but the people who are afraid, depressed or downright crazy because of the events that happen are the most fun. Within the first two hours of playing you'll be confronted by a crazy clown who likes to juggle chainsaws - one of my personal highlights.

The thing is, you can't do everything in this game first time around. You only have 72hrs, which is probably 12-14hrs at the most real time, and it's just impossible to fit every side mission inbetween the mandatory case files. However, that's not a problem, as this is a game you will play again, and again, and again until you know it like the back of your hand. I can't wait to go through it a second time and instead of saving everyone I did last time, do everything I couldn't find time for originally. The first time through you'll probably only stick to the case files most of the time, as the story is just so interesting and really sucks you in.

There is one downside to the game being set like this, however, and that is that if you save at the wrong time where it's impossible to do the next case file (whether it's due to a lack of time or health), then you have no choice but to start over. The game does have a level system, which is carried over into your new game, so you have all the skills of your previous game to help you play through faster, but that's still not much consolation if you are right at the end and save somewhere stupid.
Personally, though, this was not a problem for me. I've heard a lot of horror stories, but all it requires is some good time management and some common sense. Learn where all the save points are, and only save when you're positive you have enough time to get to the next case file. If you mess up, you only really have yourself to blame.

The visuals and audio of the game are pretty much a perfect blend. Everything in the mall is bright and shiny, and then in the middle of it all are the grusesome undead. It's a wonderful contrast. Everything is very smoothe and sharp, and you should have no real complaints about the graphics. There's extremely minimal pop-up with the zombies that you'll seldom notice, and slowdown only occurs rarely when the action is really kicked up a notch.
The sound of having a chainsaw ripping through a zombies head, or hearing a knife slice through a torso can't be beaten. Every single weapon that you can use has it's own sound which is just perfect. You will NEVER tire of slicing a zombie up, purely because it sounds so good and looks cool as hell. If you closed you eyes, you could imagine that you were actually doing it. If you get off on that kinda thing, that is.

Dead Rising is just a fun game. The story developes greatly through the game, as do the characters, all of which is incredibly interesting and entertaining to watch. The way the time dominates your moves may not be for everyone, but it does make the game stand out from the crowd and gives your actions a real sense of urgency. You learn to adapt and play like this was a real emergency. The save system will confuse at first, but after an hour or so of play you'll figure out the best way to handle it.

I honestly can't find any other faults in the game other than that. Pretty much anyone will be able to have fun with this, whether they get sucked into the story or simply enjoy messing around in the huge stores located throughout the mall. This game has at least 50 hours of play in it, if not double that if you go hardcore about it.

90%

Tony Hawks American Wasteland Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

For the past seven years, one unlikely franchise has remained at the top of the gaming charts: Tony Hawks Pro Skater. Who would've thought that a game about skateboarding would get such popularity, both in the skater and gaming scene. Since the first installment, the game has expanded and developed with every annual release. With Tony Hawks American Wasteland (THAW), they've taken to the streets of LA to provide you the 'grittiest' and 'realistic' look at the skateboarding world.

The actual story is the usual thing you'd expect from a Tony Hawks game. You're a lone newbie skater, hot on the streets of LA and before you know it, boom, you've been mugged. You bump into a girl that takes you under her wing, introduces you to a few skaters around town and you take it from there. By the end of the game, you do actually feel some connection with the characters through the cutscenes and actions you take in the missions. Whilst the story isn't the most complex or developed in gaming history, it does it's job and keeps you interested in the story mode.

The big selling point that Neversoft have been hyping this year is how they've created LA for you to skate in without any loading screens whatsoever. This is technically true, as there are no loading screens, but as you move from area to area you go through thin and dull tunnels/corridors which are obviously being used to load the next part of town. It's not fooling anyone, and is boring to experience, moreso than a loading screen. I wouldn't be so mad about it if it wasn't for the fact they were blatently hyping this game up to be loading time free, then cop out like that.

It's a shame that the developers didn't go the whole hog and get rid of all the 'craziness' that the Tony Hawks series is known for, because if it did the story could've been twice as good with added realism. That, however, might've made the missions harder to create, as all of them are pretty much the craziest, whacked out challenges you could possibly think of. Lots of them are the generic 'Get x points', 'Find x before the time runs out' and such, but there are a few unique and challenging ones in there too. For the most part you won't be doing anything drastically new, but every once in a while they throw something cool out there that will be a refreshing change.

As always, the skating itself is top notch, and never misses a beat. Neversoft have totally and utterly got the art of skateboarding down.
Bikes are included in the game, and whilst not a huge feature, are used every so often. The trouble here is that the skating is so tight and tweaked, you can notice the flaws easily in the not-so-perfect bike mechanics. These are nothing more than a mere distraction, in any case, so it won't bother you that much.

Classic mode makes a return this time around, once again, however it's clear from the off that the 'classic' term is used lightly, as the best have been used in the THUG games and these are bottom of the pile. They're still fun to play, reliving the 2 minute adrenaline pumping ride that made you fall in love with the series in the first place is fun, but you wish you were playing better levels than the ones you were provided with.

The online mode makes up for this fact, however, as it's great fun. I didn't expect it to be that special, but once I started I couldn't stop. Trying to top some random dude from Mexico's 20 million combo is alot more fun than sounds. The way the lobby has been designed is also very unique and fun to use, instead of staring at a list of names who have connected, you're free to skate about the level as you wait. It's a shame more online games don't make use of ideas such as this.

Graphically, this game is a letdown. It's obviously a straight port from the Xbox, with no graphical improvements whatsoever. It's not an ugly game, but when compared to other 360 games it does look plain. It's a shame Neversoft were so lazy, as they really could've brought LA to life if they used the 360's power to it's maximum potential.

Overall, THAW is an enjoyable game that unfortunately lacks any real next-gen qualities. Those who have followed the Hawks franchise for years will find a lot of fun in this game, and see it out to completion. Those, however, who are not huge Hawk fans will simply see this as a very sloppy and rushed game, and will want nothing to do with it.

The story mode isn't all it's hyped up to be, but it does provide some entertaining moments. Couple that with a good online mode, and a fairly decent classic mode, and you have a nice week or two of entertainment ahead. Don't pay full price for this, rent or find it cheap at your local game store.

65%

Saints Row Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

It's impossible to play this game without thinking of Grand Theft Auto. It's also impossible to write a review of this game without mentioning GTA. Saints Row is obviously a game that was heavily 'inspired' by GTA. So inspired, infact, if you squint you might think it was GTA. Great, you're thinking! GTA on my brand new Xbox 360, what more could I want? Well, don't get your hopes too high, because despite Saints Row copying nearly everything GTA has done, it unfortunately doesn't capture the quality.

You play as a nameless dude who for the most part is entirely mute. Sound familiar already? Well, one nice change here is that you can totally customise the way your character looks. Nothing new in games these days really, but it's a nice addition nevertheless. You find yourself in the middle of a turf war and get your ass saved by a mysterious black man who introduces himself as Julius. He takes you to safety and reveals that he is the leader of one of the many gangs who reside in Stillwater, The Saints.

After a short fight to prove you're worthy of joining their gang, the fun begins. The first thing you'll notice is pretty much every gameplay feature is near identicle to that of, yes you guessed it, GTA. The flash new graphics and few tweaks aside, anyone who has ever played Rockstar's game will slip into this nicely. Driving is smooth, the shooting is responsive and..that's about it. One of the most disappointing things about Saints Row is that it feels very underwhelming most of the time. All you can do really is drive and shoot, so your missions are hardly that varied. If you compare them to that of GTA3 then yes they are impressive, but we've moved on now and they simply do not hold up against San Andreas.

The main story spreads over 36 missions that has your character try to run the three rival gangs out of the city and claim 'The Row' as your own. 36 doesn't sound like much, however you cannot do them back-to-back. You have a 'respect meature' that you must fill to be able to continue the story missions.
You do this by doing various 'Activites' spread right across the city. These are for the most part very fun to do. Things such as the Mayhem game is basically GTA's Rampage, but there are a few original ones also such as the ability to take on a hitman role or be an escort for uh..ladies of the night.

At first, this seems like a cheap way to extend the gameplay lifespan and force you into playing things you may have no intention of doing before, however after a bit of play you realise that is not the case. These activites greatly improve your skill at the game and teach you quite a lot on the way, most of which will come in very handy for later missions. It's also not that hard at all to get respect, so if you really don't want to do anything over than the main story you'll probably spend 2 hours at most doing these.

The story itself is fairly generic, but keeps you interested. The voice acting is superb, which makes the cutscenes extremely fun to watch and you form a connection with a few of the characters. The 'attitude' that the game has seems to be a bit forced, but that's mainly due to your character being mute for 98% of all the cutscenes. This is a shame, as if they bothered to give him a few lines then why not for every cutscene? It really has me baffled.

The game engine unfortunately lets the game down a lot. Whilst the graphics are very crisp and beautiful for most of the game, and the world design is pretty good, it's simply far too glitchy. When you're driving along the interstate you see the half the city pop-up infront of you, which simply isn't acceptable for a console that's supposedly 'Next generation'. There are more minor problems, also, such as cars just randomly disappearing right infront of your eyes. Sometimes including a car you need to chase for a mission which means you instantly fail. How this was not caught at the testing stage I have no idea.

I must say the game focuses far too much on sexual content to get laughs too. I don't think I heard one joke that wasn't about a hooker, blowjob or sex. You chuckle the first time, but then you realise they're trying to appealing to teens who probably get off on pixels and nothing else. It gets so irritating, especially when you're used to the clever humour of GTA.

I really wanted to like this game, I did. When it's good, it's good, but unfortunately when it's anything less than that then you really do want to smash your disc to pieces. It's a good GTA clone, but at the end of the day that's all it is. It simply doesn't bring anything new to the table, and that which it copies is never as good as the real thing. There's absolutely no reason to play this over any GTA game that I can think of.

If you really like the look of it then it's worth a rent, though be warned the story mode will take you the best part of 15 hours to complete. I honestly don't see anyone having the passion to play this game ever again after the final cutscene roles unless you seriously want the gamerpoints.
A Saints Row 2 is inevitble, so here's hoping they expand on this game just like Rockstar did with GTA and maybe, just maybe, in 2008 we'll be playing a game that can stand on it's own two feet. Until then this is just a cheap rip-off.

60%

Tomb Raider Legend Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

After a dire outing on the PS2 last gen, the Tomb Raider series was as good as dead. All but the hardcorest fans of the series had faith in Lara. Crystal Dynamics also had faith and decided to rip Lara and her world apart then slowly build it back together piece by piece. This was make or break for the Tomb Raider series and if Crystal Dynamics couldn’t make this adventure a good one, Lara would have been put on the shelf like many gaming icons before her.

Luckily for her, Crystal Dynamics have done an extremely good job of going back to Lara’s roots (Hence the subtitle ‘Legend’) and bringing back the magic that made Lara the gaming legend she has become - almost a decade ago. The engine is brand new and feels as solid as ever. No longer must you worry about lining up those tricky jumps perfectly, Lara will grab for them instantly with a fairly big margin for error. All your usual Tomb Raider activites can be found: Climbing, swimming, swinging from ropes etc. and they feel as great as ever.

The brand new addition of a grapple hook adds another much welcome dimension to the game however. With the abililty to hook various objects around a level, it has various uses to help you make your way through the level. It's very much like Indy's whip in the Indianna Jones movies. Whilst unfortunately you can't use it as a weapon, you can pull and activate objects with it as well as use it to swing over jumps and obsticles.

Level design is also very fresh and inviting, if also a little lacking in some ways. There’s always one route and that’s it, you must find your way and stick to it, there’s no room for variation. This isn’t that bad but it would be forgiven more if the game through some truly stumping puzzles at you, which it just fails to do. The original game had areas so big that as you entered them you couldn’t help but look around and feel baffled about where you go next. As big as the environments are, they don’t manage to capture that.

It must be said that as solid as this adventure is, there’s not much of it. 7 levels is all you get to explore and that isn’t likely to last you much more than 6 or 7 hours on medium difficulty, if that. For this reason I played it through on hard first time which was a wise choice, it bulked the game out to around 10 hours and made it much more enjoyable since many of the bosses were actually challenging.

The story is solid throughout however which makes up for this mostly. Past Tomb Raider games have always had very good story motivation and this is no different. I won’t spoil anything for you, but after a plot twist or two you’ll be glued to your TV for the fabulous ending. Much of this credit must go to the woman voicing Lara, whilst she might have a bit of an exaggerated English accent, she does put emotion in the game very well. You’ll feel for Lara on more than one occasion as the story unfolds.

Whilst many aspects of the game have been greatly improved, some still leave a lot to be desired. The combat is really simplistic and doesn’t feel too satisfying. You lock on to a target with the left trigger, fire with the right and that’s basically it. You can pick up various guns that mercenaries drop, such as SMGs and Assault Rifles, but your dual handguns always have infinite ammo so there’s not that much need to pick them up unless you want the range.

It’s not awful however, once you get the grip the of it you can play about quite a bit. Lara has an impressive range of jumps she can do whilst shooting and the scenery can always be brought into play too. Aside from the generic ‘baddy standing next to explosive barrel’, the developers have spent quite some time making the world around you harazdous to your foes, if used correctly. If you’re near an object that is destructible, the Y button logo flashes above it for you to lock onto and shoot. This can range from boulders being shot down a hill to whole walls collapsing on them. It does add some, if not a lot, of depth.

It’s never a bore nor is it an annoyance, it’s just a shame that the combat couldn’t be tweaked a bit more to reach the quality that the platforming did.

Graphically it puts 360's power to good use for the most part. It's true that this isn't the biggest leap from the Xbox and PS2 versions, but the changes are considerable and worthy of that extra 10 pound note from your pocket.Lara herself looks curvier than ever and if perving over pixels is your thing, you'll be in heaven here.

It’s real easy to pick holes in this game, but after playing it for a while you just don’t want to as the positives outweigh the negatives and it doesn’t spoil the enjoyment that much, if at all.
Sure, another 5 hours of gameplay with half a dozen more levels would have been nice, as would a better tweaked combat system, but this is still an extremely solid game.

Come in to it with the right frame of mind and you won’t be disappointed. This game doesn’t bring Lara back to the quality that she had in his first few games, but it does right majority of the wrongs from previous games. If you want to rekindle your past love with Ms. Croft and have 8-10hrs of pure fun, then you can do much worse than Tomb Raider: Legend. It’s good to have you back, Lara!

Tiger Woods PGA Golf 2006 Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ever since EA took the Tiger Woods brand and revamped it with the unique swinging system and accessible gameplay all the way back in 2002, it’s become one of their biggest franchises and is treated to a yearly update like all of their other big sport brands.

This game had been out for quite some time before the big 360 launch, so why would you get this instead of the substantially cheaper last-gen version. Well, for starters, the most obvious difference is the graphical enhancement. All courses and golfers are now presented in stunning HD which really just make quite some difference when playing. The sea gleams in the sunlight, trees are no longer pixilated and you can judge what you can and can’t knock that little white ball through.

There is one downside to this upgrade, though, and that would be the fact there are only six courses to choose from. Six. Considering the previous versions of the game had upwards of 20, this isn’t really acceptable. Sure, I can imagine it must take some time to rebuild the courses with HD graphics, but EA would have surely been planning a 360 release for months so I see no excuse why there are so few.

This won’t bother you too much at first, but after playing every course 10 times over you’ll be dying for a round on St. Andrews. The career mode is rather deep and presents you numerous challenges, and working through it will take you some time, but there is no real motivation to do this. For starters, all the achievements on this game are for online play, so that’s where you’ll want to be playing in tournaments, not with random AI opponents that earn you nothing.

Thing is, Tiger Woods is unlocked from the go online, so you can just pick him and have stats maxed out in the first tournament you enter. Those tedious challenges to get your custom golfer better stats are looking less and less appealing, aren’t they?

Thankfully, the only mode is the best part of the game. Whilst the annoyance of so few courses is still present, the fun of competing with real people all over the world makes the game much more exciting. There are various different types of gameplay modes with wagers and such being an added bonus. Climbing the rank and earning money for new clubs and such is where the real beauty of this game lies.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 is a very, very good golf game that will provide great fun to anyone who likes a round of golf, and even to some who don’t. The new HD courses look stunning and are a joy to play on, but it’s just a shame there’s so few of them. 5 or 6 more could have made this an essential purchase and the best Tiger Woods game to date, but unfortunately it’s highly debatable whether or not this is worth the extra money for the 360 when the PS2/Xbox versions have so much more content.

If you’re desperate to get a few birdies on your shiny new 360 then by all means pick this up, but if you’re a casual golf fan and aren’t going to put lots of time into it then it’s probably wiser to wait until December when the 2007 edition comes out with, hopefully, much much more content.

Rockstar Table Tennis Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:17:00.000-07:00

When you hear Rockstar, what do you think? Grand Theft Auto? Guts? Gore? Nudity? Me too. So, surely they’re way out of their depth with a sports game, and not just any sport – table tennis?! Well, thankfully they’ve proved once again that they are one of the best developers in the world by pulling it off and moreso than that, making a bloody great game and has surpassed my expectations.

The gameplay is seemingly very simple on the surface, but after playing for 45 minutes and then going through the training mode you’ll realise how much effort Rockstar have put into it. The A, B, X and Y buttons are all used for different spin shots (Back, forward, left and right) and depending on what shot your opponent fires at you, you can counter with a shot that will make the ball increasingly hard to hit. As the ball knocks around the table it has a slight glow around it, this glow is different colours depending on what type of shot he did, so it’s real easy to judge what’s the best way to return the shot to try and catch him out.

When you add that to the fact this game really does feel and play like a real game of table tennis, you get one hell of an adrenaline rush feeling. The beauty of table tennis compared to the big version is the fact you obviously have much less space to play on so it’s all at a much faster pace. As you build up a rally techno music in the background starts to play louder and louder and an increasingly fast pace which adds so much tension and excitement to a match. It’s a feeling that really can’t be matched on any sports game I’ve ever played. It gets your head and heart pumping like nothing else.

The look of the game also adds a lot to the experience, whilst many next-gen games are focusing on creating huge worlds, Rockstar have sat down and tried to make the settings in which you play rather simple. That’s not to say they don’t look fantastic – because they do – but it’s a huge contrast to, say, playing in Madison Square Garden on Fight Night Round 3. This was a great move, though, because nothing takes your attention off the game being played and the players, who also look stunning. The detail in the facial expressions and smoothness in the moving animations are basically flawless.

It’s true that you could say the game is lacking – the absence of a career mode is noticeable in the days of intense ‘climbing the ladder’ gaming, and there’s no doubles play, but that would be unfair to criticise. Sure, these additions would be nice, and you might be thinking that without them there really isn’t that much to do, but that is where the beauty of this game lies.

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The feel and mechanics of the game are so spot on, and more importantly fun, that you can mess around against the computer (or online, but I’ll reach that later) for hours on end without the desire to win any championship or achieve an achievement. Just trying to perfect a certain spin shot or catching your opponent out time and time again is fun enough in itself, there really doesn’t need to be many goals to reach because you have just as much fun playing in any old match.

After being that much fun against the cpu players, surely it’s the shit online, right? Well, I’m undecided. Sure, when you get a game without lag it is fantastic, the thrills of offline are the same but just much more intense since the person on the other end is actually real, but getting a game without lag can be a problem. Some people have said they don’t get much, but majority of people have asked have said they have trouble with it just like I do. 3 out of every 5 matches I have online are basically crippled by lag, which is a shame.

Rockstar have succeeded in their goal to make a simple, yet highly addictive and fun version of table tennis. Sure, it’s understandable many people, like myself, will have reservations about buying it because of the fact it’s a table tennis game, but the discount pricetag is more than enough reason to give it a shot. The fast paced action is good enough reason to keep anyone who is remotely interested in sport games interested..

It has it’s flaws, notably the lack of career and doubles play, but you really won’t care. Sure, the game is a bit simplistic, but that's why it has a discount pricetag. Don't think you're getting discount quality, because you're not, this game is as good as any other sports game out there and considerably better than the majority. Even if you have zero interest in table tennis you'll find some fun in this game so there's no reason not to pick it up!

85%

Project Gotham Racing 3 Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:16:00.001-07:00

Since it's debut on the Dreamcast (Originally titled Metropolis Street Racer), Project Gotham Racing has been one of the most sucessful and favourite racing series amongst gamers along with the likes of Gran Turismo, Ridge Racer and Burnout. The appeal of it is rather simple: Race gorgeous licensed cars around some of the most famous cities in the world at breakneck speed. Has much changed in the first next-gen installment of the game? Not really. But if it ain't broke..

First thing you'll notice is the graphics. My god, the graphics! I've honestly never seen such a beautiful game in my entire life. The eighty-something fully licensed cars are all photo-realistic and look twice as good as they zoom around the neon lights of Vegas or sunny afternoon of London.

It's not just the initial wow factor, either. Play it for 40hrs and you'll still be thinking how gorgeous that F50 looks. The impact of the visuals match the ones you had from playing Half-Life 2 for the first time easily. The scenery is as detailed as humanly possible and sometimes you feel like slowing down, losing your first place award and just reading some of the signs.

Having the looks is all well and good, but if the gameplay isn't up to much cop then it doesn't really mean much. Luckily, that's all still in order and the cars are as satisfying to drive as ever. It's true that nothing drastic has changed since the last time around, but it has been tweaked to even more perfection and it's hard to imagine ever having a game that handles as well as the cars do in PGR3.

It doesn't matter if you're in a Ford GT40 or a Ferarri F50, you know you can always take corner after corner perfect if you have the skill. Spin the car and you'll get mad at yourself, not the game, as you'll know it's your lack of skill or concentration that messed up your race, not the car itself.

One of the biggest new features this time round is the inclusion of a first person view from inside the car. Bizare have worked extremely hard at adding as much detail as humanly possibly to make it feel like you are actually driving inside one of the world's most expensive cars and it's certainly adds alot to the gameplay. It is hard to master, but once you do you won't regret it. Any other camera angles simply don't compare. The joys of seeing something simple such as having dust collect on your windshield or see a crack form when you smash you car is is strangely high

The length of the game is also likely to please the hardcorest of gamers. Solo career spans across 23 championships, mixing street racing with the usual Kudos challenges. New editions include Time vs Kudos where you're given a certain ammount of time that isn't quite long enough to complete the track, but when you earn Kudos the timer stops. It's good fun and challenging, but really the only new edition. A few more original scenerios would've been nice. By the 50th cone challenge you start to crave something more. .

After you complete all that you can move onto the online mode which is where the real strength of this game is. You have roughly 8 different types of races where you compete against 7 others contenders from all around the world. You have various challenges: Win each scenerio, win 3 races in a row, have a clean win etc. It's all very good fun and much more challenging than the solo career.

As with any game, the ammount of fun you have online all depends on who you play with. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot more people who think it's more fun to ram your off the road than actually race, but don't let that put you off. Look at players ranks, only play with those who are high up and you'll have thrilling races. Ignoring the online mode is a crime as it's where PGR3 really stands out from other racing games. .

Gotham TV is a great idea on paper: You sit back and watch your friends or the best players in the world race around online. The only trouble is you're not likely to use it more than a dozen times, if that. I don't see who would sit there for 30mins watching people race when you could be those races yourself competiting. Still, I'm sure some people will find some great pleasure in being able to witness these races and it should certainly be expanded for the next Gotham game.

Project Gotham Racing 3 is, in my opinion, the highlight of the launch titles and shows what the console has to offer. It mixes beautiful graphics, great gameplay and a deep online mode that together make one of the most complete racing games ever to grace our consoles. If you like racing games this simply must be in your collection. It's true that it doesn't have much new content, but it doesn't really matter. The smaller number of cars and tracks aren't noticed because they simply look so beautiful and the type of race modes are given new life when you bring them onto LIVE

92%

Prey Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

You play as Tommy, a native american cherokee who is a bit pissed off with life. His girlfriend, Jen, won't move away with him, his grandfather won't get off his case about embracing his cherokee roots and to top it all off - all 3 of them then get abducted by aliens when they decide to invade Earth. It's just not going his way, is it? Before you know it, you're up in space looking back on the Earth with hundreds more humans who have also been abducted. As they get squished to be made into food, there's an explosion and you manage to break free. Tommy wants to grab Jen and get the hell out of there, but of course, it's not that easy..

Before you know it, you're grandfather is dead and he's contacted you from an ancient spirit world of the cherokee people. This is where you gain your spiritual abilites that you'll have to make the best of throughout the rest of the game. With a tap of the 'Y' button you learn to leave your body and send your spirit to previously unreachable places, hitting buttons or simply taking out enemies before they can see you. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's an even more charming take on the 'indian in space' setting.

That's not all though - oh no - Prey also has two more tricks up it's sleeve. First of all is the portals that open up all around you, which has enemies spilling out of and also that you can travel through. It's quite hard to explain using words, but just imagine walking down a corridor as you sound a bright orange circle appear infront of you. As you get closer, you can see right through it into another room that has many aliens in. You can choose to shoot through the portal to kill them all, or simply jump through and go rambo on them.

Sounds cool, right? Well it is, at first, anyway. Unfortunately the game doesn't put it to the best use as it could by any stretch of the imagination. Most of the time, it's just used as a glorified spawn points for your foes. There are a few neat puzzles involving them, but that more often than not consists of messing with gravity to get there rather than the portals themselves. Speaking of which..

Messing with the gravity and perception in this game is fucking sick. There, I said it. I really love it. As you go about your travels, you'll notice blue pads on the walls, floors and ceilings that, if shot, flip the room upside down, from left to right etc. It messed with your head so bad you wouldn't believe, trying to keep track of where you're going as you're walking on the ceiling is not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it's so damn cool you won't care.
The puzzles involving this function is also the best part of the game, and honestly did stump me for a minute or two in certain places. It's a shame there wasn't more of them, but the ones that are there are extremely fun.

Obviously, between all these funky little distraction is shooting. Lots of it. If you've ever played Doom 3 or Quake 4 then you'll quickly slip into the groove of this game. The engine is the same and to say the feel of the game is similar is understatement of the century. The action is fast paced and very loud, opting for the Quake style of strifing and blasting moreso than Doom's slow and atmospheric exploring.
The variety of weapons is your bog standard sci-fi beam blasters really, nothing spectacular is ever used and the selection is quite small to be honest, only having 9 weapons in total - though you won't really be bothered by this as it never feels like too little.

As you come to the end of the game, the action REALLY kicks in and not only will you get sucked into the story (which until you reach halfway really is so much in the background you'll probably forget why you're in space to begin with..) but also find since the enemy count is bumped up you'll get much more out of the shooting. It's a shame the early parts of the game didn't feature action as intense as the last 5 chapters, because once this game is over you will be wanting more..

The difficulty of the game is where it falls at the first hurdle, though, unfortunately. Due to your spirit abililty, whenever you 'die' you simply get taken to the spirit world where you must shoot a few evil spirits to be teleported right back into the action. This takes roughly 10 seconds and results in you not fearing death at all, since technically you can't actually die. Sometimes it's even wise to let yourself 'die' and get taken to the spirit world, as if you collect enough health whilst you're there you can pop back into the action with better odds than you entered with. Cool if you like an easy right, rather annoying if you like your games to challenge you.

Because of this, you'll be lucky if the game lasts you more than 9/10 hours. I went through it at a steady pace and got it over and done with in just under 8 - which for an FPS like this really isn't acceptable. There are 22 chapters in total and whilst there is good variety throughout most of them, you can't help but think they could've stretched this game out 2-3 more hours easily without making it reptitive.

Luckily, there's multiplayer to waste some time on. Or not, if you have any sense. I should point out I'm reviewing this 2 days after it was released, so in all likelyhood this will be patched, but at the moment playing it online is just impossible. The ammount of lag is ridiculous and you'll be lucky to hit anything even with a rocket launcher.

Prey isn't as good as it should've been. The gravity and portal tricks are nice, but just a distraction from the generic shooting most of the time. Whilst the story does get very good towards the end, most of the time the shooting seems very shallow and without purpose. When you consider the fact it's stupidly easy and only lasts around 8 hours, it doesn't seem like the potential here wasn't used to the max. If they had gone the extra mile this really could have stood out from the Doom and Quake's of the gaming world.

Nevertheless, as short as the journey is, it is certainly very sweet. It's one of those games that you can't help but enjoy, amongst all the blatent flaws there's some untouchable charm and beauty. It's not going to change your world, but there are plenty of worse games out there. For every flaw, there's always one moment that makes it all seem worth it.
Maybe it would be wise to rent, rather than buy, but anyone who likes their FPS should most certainly consider this. Don't set your expectations too high and you'll be more than happy with it.

79%

Perfect Dark Zero Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

Originally planned as a Gamecube title, Rare have been working on the follow-up (technically a prequel) to the smash hit N64 title ‘Perfect Dark’. Praised by many as the best first person shooter ever made.
You play as the very same Joanna Dark that you did in the original title, following her journey into the bounty hunting business. She and her father, Jack, get hired to save a scientist but things quickly turn pear shaped and Joanna soon finds herself in a fight against time to save the world.

Single player is where some of the best, and unfortunately worst game moments take place. It starts off well, level design is very good taking you through a nightclub, over city rooftops and infiltrating a mansion in the snowy mountains. However, half-way through the game it seems Rare ran out of level designs and decided to recycle them a few times to bulk out the game.

You go through the same underwater complex three times desperately trying to navigate your way through corridors that are all seemingly identical. The game does pick back up afterwards, but then finishes very abruptly after you’ve experienced just 4 more levels.
Finishing all 13 levels on Secret Agent is possible in about 7hrs and the higher difficulties aren’t quite the challenge you expect once you learn the tricks of the trade. Hardly has the lifespan that you'd expect.

The gameplay is very smooth and responsive as you'd expect from Rare. Aiming takes a while to get used to, it may be wise to fiddle with the control setup to see what fits you best, but after you adjust you'll find it a very rewarding experience. Guns are extremely accurate and varied so you can tackle a level with various tactics. It's always possible to do a level in a stealthy way if you have the patience and is probably the best way to play the game compared to all out blasting.

Graphically, it definitely showcases what the 360’s beastly power is capable of. Levels are very shiny and smooth, very rarely will you see any texture glitches. Bodies tend to ‘clip’ the scenery and bump about long after they’re dead which is sometimes distracting, but the general look of the game is fantastic.

Gun models are especially gorgeous as they blast out bullets and reflect the whole world around you. After playing with meaty guns that look that good it’s very hard to go back to any other first person shooters and feel that they have the same ‘oomph’.

Multiplayer and online is where you’ll be spending most of your time. Only 6 maps are on offer, but they are huge and for the most part very well designed. These range from brilliant Counter-Strike inspired ‘Dust’ desert levels to the neon lit ‘Urban’ streets.

You have the usual deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag game modes plus a few new scenarios such as Infected (Where you must fight, or more realistically camp out, to avoid being killed and infected) and Territorial Gains (where you work as a team to clear certain areas of your rival team).

On the surface, multiplayer is a very generic and shallow experience, but stick with it and you’ll get more enjoyment out of it than any other aspect of the game. There are enough variants of game modes to keep you interested well after you've gone through the story mode a few times and will drag you back in every now and again once you put the game on the shelf to have a game of something else.

Perfect Dark Zero is a very good start for first person shooters on the Xbox 360. Single player is a very solid and enjoyable experience that is marred by a few small flaws. Overall, these don’t really bring the game down that much, but you know that Rare could’ve done so much more and it’s hard to understand why they didn’t. Boring level design and missions bring down what would otherwise an enthralling single player experience.

Luckily, multiplayer comes to the rescue and gives Perfect Dark Zero the extra lifespan it desperately needs. It falls short of the classic and maybe even must-have status that the original had, but is still a game that anyone who likes their shooters should check out.

89%

Need for Speed: Most Wanted Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

The Need for Speed series has always been one of EA’s biggest titles and the annual updates have gotten somewhat sour lately. For the last few years it’s followed the ‘urban’ trend that his hit the gaming scene, but for the first outing on the Xbox 360 it’s gone back to it’s roots and faces you off against the street racers biggest rivals: The fuzz.

You’ll be spending most of your time in the story driven career mode., where you start out as a rookie, new in town, looking to make a name for yourself as a street racer. The ‘black list’ consists of the top 15 racers in the city and you must work your way through this list until you’ve beaten all challengers and reach the top spot.

The story developes mostly using memos and text messages that you can access at any time, but now and again the game throws a cutscene at you which can only be described as hilarious. I have no idea if EA intended them to be so funny, but if so they deserve a comedy award because they are great. The actors in them (which are rendered to look like they’re part of the game) are so serious and goofy it’s impossible not to laugh. Whilst it could’ve easily gone a bit far and been extremely embarrassing to watch, they’re luckily something you look forward to.

You won’t really care about the story though honestly - I read about 4 memos the whole time playing the game and they didn’t tell me anything useful. The racing is so fun that you’d rather get to the next face-off than read something about a cop being pissed at you.

It’s true that the gameplay isn’t that much different to the previous Need for Speed games, but it’s definitely been tweaked enough to make it the best experience possible. It controls somewhere between Burnout and Project Gotham Racing 3, whilst you can’t go around corners sideways at 209mph, you do have to break and pay attention or else you’ll end up with your bonnet wrapped around a pole.

It’s found a good mix between the two so that almost anyone who likes racing games will be able to pick it up and not have too much trouble staying on course.
There are no new radical gameplay modes, either. Races and time attack modes are where the bulk of the game lies, but now you can also wander around the city as you please challenging random racers to drag racers and, better yet, messing with the cops.

To be worthy of challenging the next racer on the black list, you need to have a high bounty, however, and to gain bounty you can explore the entire city in free roam mode and cause as much havoc as humanly possible. The more cops that are chasing you and scenery that you destroy the better. It feels more like GTA than NFS, but that’s nothing but a positive and it’s great that they’ve managed to make a normally hardcore racing game so fun in that respect. It’s the most refreshing addition to the series easily.

Aside from the city is rather large and has many secret places to explore it also looks stunning in the 360’s HD graphics. Need for Speed games, especially the Underground series, have always been exceptionally shiny and this takes it to a whole new level. From the roads to the cars, buildings to scenery, it’s always looks as good as possible and you seldom see a texture that looks out of place.

There’s so much more that the game has to offer to that would take me hours to go into. The customization of the Underground games has been carried over so you can still whore your car up as much as you wish and then there’s the online mode which, whilst I haven’t played that much (due to career mode being so good), seems to be extremely solid and works better than any other EA game online.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted takes the series back to it’s roots and brings you a pure racing game with added next-gen graphics, features and an original story. There’s so much variety and depth in career mode it will last you for weeks and present a hell of a challenge if you want 100% completion, as it's far from easy at towards the end.

Despite the fact it's been overshadowed by games such as PGR3 and Burnout, this game can still hold it's own very well and has a lot to offer even those who have completed the former. Anyone who wants some driving thrills will be more than happy with the product they recieve here and it's seemed that, for once, EA have produced more content than they needed to which is all enjoyable.

84%

King Kong Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

Remember the thrill of seeing Jurassic Park for the first time? Seeing that gigantic dinosaur on the big screen that looked so real it could easily nudge it's head out and gobble you up? Not many things in life manage to capture the magic of moments like that.

Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of The Movie. The title pretty much sums it all up (painfully, infact). The developers of Kong set out to capture the feeling of the movie. They wanted to make you feel small and the big bad things that lurk around you very big. This along gives you great atmosphere and a feeling that at any time you could be killed in an instant by something that is only found in your nightmares.

The game pretty much follows the film to the word, very rarely featuring something that the film does not. This could be seen as laziness, but when you have a film so great, why would you want to risk adding in something that could jepordize the experience by not being up to the same standard.

The game starts out with a clip of the movie, you play as Jack, the writer of a new movie that the director has cleverly decided must be set on an uncharted island: Skull Island. The crew set out and before they know it are shipwrecked on this seemingly deserted island. This is the only cutscene in the game because, just like in games such as Half-Life, you get to play everything and experience the thrills for yourself from the same perspective. As you sail to shore in the small safety boat you take control of the first person view and get a look at the beautiful graphics. The waves crashing off the rocks; The cliffs shining in the moonlight. This truly is a next-gen game.

Within moments you're fighting off creatures that look like they come out from the depths of hell and the action doesn't stop from that moment on until the final credits roll. You very seldom get a moment to rest as you know a giant creature could come crashing in on your downtime at any moments.

The fact that they're so big and you're so small is just one of the great things in Kong that sets the atmosphere like very few games have. You do have guns, but ammo is in short supply. You might be able to take out one or two spider-like creatures, but after that you have to go back to your most basic instincts to survive.

Spears can be found all around the jungle, a precise throw can get an enemy down in one go (if you hit the neck), and when you add something like fire to them (The most beautiful fire effects I've ever seen, I must add) they get even more deadly.

When faced with something such as a T-rex, you stand no chance. Forget all the things you've learnt from actions move in the past, that's all rubbish, if they're 3x bigger than you or more there's one smart thing to do: Run!
Spears and bullets bounce off the biggest carnivores so getting to safe ground or hoping a certain ape crashes in to rescue you is your only hope..

You really are on the edge at all times. You never feel safe. That's the wonderful thing. I won't spoil any of the amazing sequences later on too much, but needless to say that being chased by a 30ft T-Rex has never looked so real or been so thrilling. These sequences, like the rest of the game, are often quite easy, but you will not care. It is a pure adrenaline rush that cannot be compared to any other game. Period.

75% of the game is played as Jack via his first person perspective but the other 25% is taken up by Kong in action-packed third person segments. The fighting is a no-brainer, just hitting swipe and grapple as much as possible, but looks good. You do bore of it by the end of the game, but not before you only have 30mins or so of gameplay left and even then it won't bother you too much.

Swinging through the jungle is very much the same. It's easy and looks great, and the first few times you try it you do feel excited, but it's get dull by the last time you get to handle Kong. Until you get to New York City at the very end of the game, that is, where new life is pumped into it, if only for several minutes. Even then it's not quite as dramatic as the movie, but basing it in the city is much harder than in the jungle, so that can be forgiven.

The downsides? It's very repetitve. The action is thrilling, but between that you must look for levers that open doors which gets old very fast. It could be argued it's also very short, clocking in at 7-8hrs. I don't think this is the case, however. The developers knew they had a game on their hands that would thrill you for short bursts and made the most of it. Having an added 3/4hrs of gameplay that is just boring wouldn't be any good, so I'm more than happy with the length.

As a game, Kong is flawed. It's repetetive and simple, it's going against everything that games are working so hard to get away from. As an experience, however, it simply can't be matched. Where else can you feel the thrill of blasting through the jungle as Kong or being chased by two huge T-Rexs? It's far from perfect, but when you play it you simply won't care. I have never been amazed by a game in so many aspects in such a short time. If you don't play this, you're missing out on one of the best experiences gaming has to offer today.

85%

Kameo: Elements of Power Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Rare have always been good at making platform games, along with first person shooters, it's what made them famous. So it makes sense that along with Perfect Dark Zero they'll throw in a next gen action adventure for you too!
If you’re familiar with any other platformer/action adventure games you should slip into this nicely - The controls are easy to pick up and the opening level does a nice job of showcasing various uses of your abilities. The intro fades out and throws you right into the action. There’s war all around you which makes good use of 360’s graphical power.

You don’t actually play as Kameo for much of the game at all, despite being the main character. You have the amazing ability to morph into 10 creatures that all have different abilites. You must search the world to try and unlock them all and then use them to save your family from your evil sister who is jealous of the fact you got this power instead of her.

Despite the gameplay being exceptionally solid, and the morphing refreshingly original, it’s simply too short. Action adventure games are never the longest in the world, but you’d expect more than a 7-9hr experience nonetheless.
The range of levels takes you across snowy mountains and enchanted forests, which all look and feel fantastic to explore thanks to the power of the 360, but there's no real variety at all. There's one path to take and you just have to take out everyone in your way.

It all seems very cramped, after you unlock a character to morph into, you come across another 30 minutes later. This means that you don’t really use any of them to their full potential as you have so much choice of what to use too early. Granted, the level that you unlock that character on does require their use more than others, but it’s still possible to only use it two or three times. Puzzles should have been built around each one much more and could’ve been much more taxing.

The bosses make up for this somewhat as they’re far from simple. Each one has a different characteristic that you must exploit using one of your alter-egos. It requires a lot of trial and error but once you figure out their weakness the satisfaction of putting together a good strategy is high. It works very much like the bosses in most Zelda games.

One of the highlights of the game is taking part in battles worthy of being in Lord Of The Rings. LITERALLY hundreds if not thousands of characters are on your screen at all time, all in real time, fighting you and your army. It's quite unreal the first time you experience it, as you wouldn't think even the 360 was capable of feats such as this.

The cutscene before the first battle shows hundreds of troops running up a hill to get you, as it was fading out I was expecting to see 20 or 30 characters standing before me, but the game produced everyone who was in the cutscene and more.

The worlds in which these battles take place are also rather big and ready to explore. However, unlike most games with a world as vibrant as this, it doesn't take advantage of that. You'll more than likely just go from A to B as fast as possible and not explore anywhere since there isn't much to gain from it. You can unlock a few hidden items, but some caves or dungeons could've padded out the lifespan and made it a much more magical experience.

Speaking of padding out the lifespan, the story is not the only mode in Kameo. You also get a highscore mode where you must try to complete each level as fast as possible using lots of style to get your rank up. It's a fairly generic idea, but a rather fun one nonetheless. Unfortunately, it's also a bitch to get an A in unless you know all the tricks, so be prepared for lots of restarting.

You also get a co-op mode which is where the real beauty of the game lies in. You can go throughout the whole game with a buddy tackling the obsticles in different ways since there are two of you. Maybe this isn't used to it's full potential, a few new puzzles added specifically to encorperate two players would have been good, but it's still more fun than going through it alone.

Kameo is an extremely solid game and a good start for the action adventure genre on the Xbox 360. It delivers a solid gameplay experience that has an original gimmick to keep it fresh throughout. Throw into the mix huge and gorgeous worlds and you have a winner.

Unfortunately, the one hurdle it falls at is the length and variety. It’s just too short to really warrant anything other than a rental. The co-op and time attack modes are very good, but nothing more than a mere distraction for a few hours. Odds are you'll be left feeling short changed by the time you reach the final level and realise the game has nothing more to offer you
Nonetheless, anyone who's looking for a good game to play through on a boring weekend should most certainly consider this. Despite it's flaws it's extremely fun whilst it lasts.

86%

Far Cry Instincts Predator Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:11:00.001-07:00

Ubisoft's Far Cry was a smash hit on the PC in 2004. It's often praised in the same breath as titles such as Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. The ports onto Xbox were also hugely successful, so now they've decided to combine the two console titles, sex them up and add a bit more content all for the enjoyment of 360 users. Well, in theory, anyway..

The great thing about the original Far Cry was the sense that you actually were on a tropical island. You could go anywhere, see anything and tackle your objectives in any way you wished. That’s pretty much all but gone in the console adaptions, it’s true that the levels are still very big, but there’s one path that you must follow at all times and is extremely linear. Trees and hills that are impossible to climb surround you meaning stealth is extremely hard as you’re forced to walk within a few feet of the mercenaries at most times.

That’s not to say the jungle doesn’t always feel alive, because it does. 360’s power helps make majority of the scenery look very real and helps the atmosphere. The water effects are especially sexed up, and that’s what you’ll notice most of the time as you spend a lot of time on the river. Most of the foliage and such has the same graphical quality, but some textures do look very rough and stick out when they’re in the middle of an otherwise stunning background.

Gameplay is rather different from the original, too. Whilst it’s generally a very solid experience, it takes a lot of getting used to and is much more fiddly than it should be. The guns are rather weak and lack any real punch that you’d expect, an SMG for example can use up 15 bullets trying to kill a guy on medium difficulty. Add the fact that the mercenaries are stupidly smart and what you have is one very hard game.

Playing through on Predator (medium) will frustrate you from start to finish and make you feel very bad at gaming. This is more the games fault than yours, though, as old gaming pains such as infinite enemies until you leave that area pop up all of the time. It’s beyond frustrating when you’ve spent 5 minutes huddles behind a tree sniping everyone you see, only to realize than as soon as you’ve popped a cap in one, another shows up on your radar immediately. You’ll find yourself dashing through areas without firing a shot as it’s easier than trying to take everyone out.

The one redeeming quality of solo mode is the ‘new’ (if you haven’t played the other console versions, of course) instincts ability. Shortly into the game you get experimented on and pick these up and that’s pretty much the focus of the rest of your journey. Your speed increases, your leaps become much bigger and your punches send your foes flying 20 feet. It’s a lot of fun just messing around with these powers and seeing what destruction you can cause. If put to use better they could have saved the solo mode, but unfortunately they’re simply not enough.

If multiplayer is your thing then it’s possible that the map creator feature will, though. Forget Sims and Sim City, you can just as much here in a giant 3D world. There are so many options and possibilities, you can spend hours on one map perfecting it. I built a map that took around 3hrs to do, and once I tested it out I realized there was so much more I could do so I went back and edited it for a further hour and a half.

The only problem is the online play itself isn’t nearly as fun as the map making. You can have the greatest map in the world to play on but the modes are extremely generic and lack any real excitement.

There’s nothing really wrong with this game, it offers a helluva lot of stuff for 40 pounds and is solid enough, but it’s just not that enjoyable. It takes everything away that was fun about the original PC title and leaves a game that feels empty and shallow in comparison. It’ll last you a while, but odds are you’ll lose interest long before the end as the instincts addition is a gimmick more than anything.
Multiplayer is the only real redeeming quality, the map maker is deep and you could waste half your life on it, but then the online experience isn’t the most tweaked feature ever so that’s also a letdown.

If you’re desperate for a first person shooter then this can offer a few cheap thrills, but really it would be wise to wait it out until the next big FPS comes out

61%

Fight Night Round 3 Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

The 'Fight Night' series has always been considered one of, if not the best, boxing games around. Whilst other good sloggers such as Ready 2 Rumble have ran out of steam, EA have managed to keep the franchise alive.

Their main focus this time round has been to make the game feel as realistic as possible. No longer are there health bars, round timers etc..infact, there’s absolutely nothing on the screen except the two boxers in question. This is the best thing EA could have possibly done as it adds to the feel of the game tremendously and makes it seem like a real boxing match is taking place on your TV.

Obviously with no health bars you’re going to have to gauge your boxer’s (and opponent’s) health in a different way to usual, so it’s a good thing that FNR3 looks absolutely stunning and puts 360’s power to good use. Sweat, blood, spots, wrinkles are all clearly visible on the boxers. As the fight progresses and you take or inflict more damage, you can clearly see bruises forming and cuts opening up. It’s very much like the little face you had back in the original Doom games, although obviously much more advanced.

This system is by far much better than the old health/stamina bar ways of old, not only does it add to the overall atmosphere but it’s probably easier to follow. Sure, the old ‘when the bar is empty’ method is hardly complicated, but you never got a feel of what part of the body you should defend. Now you see a bruise appearing on the left eye and can make sure you defend it with your life, so the wound doesn’t open up and do more damage.

Swinging your fists like a mad man in blind rage will get a few wins under your belt, and if you’re playing on easy then this tactic will progress you through the career mode rather swiftly, but on harder difficulty settings blocking is key. You also get a choice of trainers and training methods to boost your stats as you progress from sparring in the gym to headlining Madison Square Garden.

As your fame grows, you’ll find yourself in a few rivalries. Beat a guy down in a first round knock-out? You’ll find him coming back later on for some more action, hoping to even the score. Every fight you’re in has a little build-up (although nothing in the way of say WWE promos) and after the weigh-in (if it’s a title match) and introductions you’ll find yourself pumped up for the fight ahead.

Generally career mode is good fun, but it is lacking in a few places. First of all, it’s too easy for too long. Breaking you into the game is fine – but the level of difficulty doesn’t progress at all for your first dozen fights. You’ll have a few titles under your belt before you come across a fighter that will pose you any real trouble, and then it gets too tough too fast. It’s like after a certain point a switch has been turnt from ‘easy’ to ‘hard’ with no middle ground. Luckily it’s always fun, so you won’t get frustrated with this.

After you’ve conquered the boxing world and have your gloves hung up, you’ll quickly be putting them back on to venture onto the online world. Whilst it’s possible in theory to go online from the start and not be at much of a disadvantage, it’s probably best to work through at least a big majority of the career mode so you learn the way of the game and get some tactics sorted. It’s not the type of environment where you can enter a game and hold your own with them for a bit regardless of experience – you’ll get destroyed in the first round.

Fight Night Round 3 is, in most ways, the perfect boxing game. Short career mode aside, it’s hard to imagine how EA, or any other developer, could possibly improve on it. The amazing use of next-gen graphics and attention to detail provides a real ‘Big Fight’ atmosphere and the intense, solid gameplay will keep you coming back for more. Crunching your opponent’s skull in with a good uppercut is worryingly satisfying.

The game is really the perfect example of how next-gen games should be. It looks beautiful, it has amazing atmosphere, the controls are highly refined and, most importantly, it’s stupidly fun to play. I’m not a big fan of sports game, and an even lesser fan of boxing, but this game will still be one of the best on the 360 in my mind for a long time to come.

89%

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of the most anticipated RPG sequels ever and also one of the hottest titles on Xbox 360. Promising one of the biggest and most dynamics worlds ever and hours upon hours of gripping gameplay, can it really live up to the hype? Simply put, yes.

The game starts with you sat in jail for unknown reasons. Suddenly the emperor and a few guards burst into your cell to use a hidden passage as many of the closest to the emperor (including his sons) have been assassinated. The emperor recgonises you from one of his dreams and claims that it is fate you met and that it must be a message from the gods. He askes for your help, and the adventure begins. Sadly, you fail to protect the emperor but he gives you a mission with his last words; to find his long last son, have him take the throne and stop the assassins as well as shut the demonic Oblivion gates that are opening up all over the land, spewing out all types of evil.

The game introduces you to most of the types of gameplay in this early stage – fighting, stealth, lockpicking – and presents it all in an easy way. Many RPGs can overwhelm or confuse you with all the options but Oblivion, though deep, is surprisingly accessible.

You have a choice of third or first person perspective. The game starts you out with the FPS view and really this is what you’ll be using for 95% of the game as third person is just too fiddly. It does have some advantages, when using stealth for example you can look around corners easier (though, unfortunately, no moves to press up against corners etc) and when you’re exploring the beautiful landscapes it’s nice to have a wider view of the scenery.

And believe me, the scenery truly is amazing. Walking from one end of the map to the other would probably take around 30 minutes and there’s something wonderful to discover on every square inch. Whether it’s a pair of deers hopping down a hillside or a vast cave to explore, you’ll never get bored of walking. You have an option to ‘quick travel’ to a location once you’ve been there once, so whilst doing quests you may opt for that to get to your intended destination quicker, but generally you’ll find yourself on foot or horseback to see what sights you can spot on the way.

That said, the game isn’t completely smooth on the technical side. The map loads as you travel, which often results in slight lag and pop-up. It’s honestly no big deal, anyone will appreciate how big and detailed the landscape is and you will happily overlook it as it doesn’t ruin the experience in the slightet.

After you’re done with the 20+ hour main quest the is of course not over, oh no! There are various guilds to join, many of which will take 8-10hrs to complete each. The stand-out one has to be the dark brotherhood. If you kill an innocent person, after you awake the next morning you will be visited by a member asking you if you want to jump to the dark side, as it were. If you carry out one ‘hit’ for him, you’ll be recruited and can start climbing up the ranks.

The same goes for thieves, mages and fighting guilds. You would have racked up at least 60hrs worth of play before you even move onto the side quests that are scattered around the world. Literally hundreds of odd jobs for you to do that doubles, if not triples, the lifespan of the game.

Every side quest has a story to go with it so it’s not just filler to bulk the game out like many RPGs seem to do. Doing the seemingly simplest of tasks can pull you in for an hour or so as a mini story unfolds before your eyes. A shopkeeper asked me once to find out how a competitor of his was selling merchandise for so cheap as it was forcing him out of business. This resulted in following him for half the night as he had various conversations with different people, finding his supplier and then breaking into his house to get some proof he was handling stolen goods. You get very little reward for carrying most of these out, a few gold pieces usually, but it’s stangely satisfying nonetheless.

One of the most amazing feats, aside from the scope of the world, is the range of gameplay types on offer. You can go fight bloody battles in the arena, sneak into someone’s house and steal all their valuables, go hunting for vampires, collect ingredients for magic…the list goes on and on.

Each aspect has had a tremendous ammount of work and effort put into it and it really shows. You’ll never moan because you have to do a stealth mission or dread trying to steal enough loot to get into the thieves guild as it’s all so fun to do. Many RPGs have extra modes like this tacked on, but it feels like the best of each genre has been mashed into one and the end result is Oblivion. .

Elder Scrolls IV is the definition of a next-game. It mixes stunning visuals, huge environments and solid gameplay to produce one of the best gaming experiences of recent years, if not ever. It blends so many different variants of gameplay together that all work amazingly well and are a joy to experience

Aside from a few technical hiccups that are understandable and easily overlooked, this is the closest thing to a complete package I’ve ever played. Everything the games tries it succeeds in which means there’s not a boring moment in the game. If you don’t have this game you’re just wasting your 360 .

97%

Condemned Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

The first person genre is one dominated by shooting. Many games have since incorporated it for various uses, but never before has it been put to use like in Condemned: Criminal Origins.
FBI agent Ethan Thomas is called out to investigate the latest in a long line of murders by a serial killer given the nickname ‘The Matchmaker’. Naturally, a sleazy downtown slum is not the prettiest or safest places in the world and things go rather wrong. Events unfold and you’re soon accused of killing two of your fellow officers. You must prove your innocence before it’s too late and come to terms with some supernatural going ons that get your senses tingling.

CSI is the most obvious influence on the game. You have a range of nifty gadgets that will help you solve the case and advance your progress through the levels. When you walk into a room with a vital piece of evidence in, your ‘senses’ will flash up on screen and you must hunt it out.

The game makes it very simple for you, once you find the clue you will automatically pull out the correct tool for the job and collecting data is a matter of aiming and clicking the R trigger. It keeps the game flowing well but it would be nice if you could put a bit more effort into collecting it yourself. You never get any satisfaction out of collecting evidence as you never really did anything.

The other aspect of the game is, of course, the fighting. Guns with ammo in are few and far between so you have to rely on any blunt object that you can get your hands on. Objects such as pipes and planks can be found scattered around the level in bulk, but the real fun is in the biggies such as sledgehammers and axes. They're slower to swing but deliver a much harder punch

Very much like Rockstar's 'Manhunt', the fighting is very simplistic but effective due to the impact of the blows. Swing a 2x4 into a drugged up looney's head and seeing his neck snap on impact is satisfyingly sick. Likewise, taking a hit from a pipe sended the camera swinging back and blood spilling from your nose. Add to that the gruesome sound effects and you have something rather special.

You do get your hands on guns at various points in the game, but they seldom have over half a dozen bullets and you’ll only be able to kill 2 or 3 enemies at best. It’s good that the game doesn’t degenerate into a first person shooter, but it would be nice to have some more guns for variety. You always have a taser with you that can be used to stun your enemies, but it's not really that good or powerful.

The level design is hit and miss. It sets the creepy atmosphere very well, but is very cramped and naturally dull. Many places look the same and you’ll find yourself trying 10 doors in a corridor before you find the only unlocked one.
This can be forgiven, however, as the game is genuinely creepy. Forget Resident Evil and Silent Hill, if you want to give yourself some scares then sitting in the dark and playing this will do the trick.

The first person perspective means that anything jumping out of the dark is much scarier as it's right in your face. It’s easily the games biggest achievement. Anyone who doesn't scream life a girl when a bloody butcher lunges at you with a carving knife has no heart.....Or is much more manly than I.

The only two major flaws the game has is the repetition and story. You’ll get the game completed in about 6 hours and then there is pretty much zero replay value unless you’re dying to earn those achievements.
You’ll walk away feeling slightly confused too as the story takes a few weird twists towards the end and never really wraps everything up. The story is very interesting and could’ve made the game much more memorable had the end cutscene not been so cryptic.

Condemned is a very original game that excels in many areas but also falls short in just as many. The gameplay is very fun and atmospheric but does get old fast. It covers the flaws for a short while but by the time you hit the fourth or fifth level you'll realise there is no change to the pace. If the story was more memorable and didn't have a shoddy ending you might forgive this, but as it stands you'll feel shortchanged going through the whole game for very little payoff.
If you’re looking for a game that will occupy you over a bored weekend then Condemned is just the ticket. Anything but renting can’t really be justified as it just doesn’t have the depth.

70%

Call of Duty 2 Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

The original Call of Duty won nearly every award around on PC, including ‘Game of the Year’. Now, the biggest sequel of the year is out on the next-gen platform too, promising an even more gripping tale of three squads trying to take down those damned Nazis.

The single player mode is split into three separate campaigns for the British, American and Russian forces. There are ten missions spread over all three infantries which are divided by chapters. This does make the missions somewhat less meaningless as there’s no one definitive story, but of course, that’s not the goal of this game. The story to any war game is going to be pretty much the same so COD2 focuses on making the gaming experience the best it can be, and it must be said they succeed.

Anyone who played the original will pretty much know what’s what, the game hasn’t really changed drastically at all. The only major change is the health system, instead of picking up health packs scattered over the levels you have a Halo inspired rest system. Take too many bullets and your vision will go red, meaning you’re critically hurt. It’s at this point you must take some cover and wait to regain your strength. It’s a much better way of making sure you don’t go Rambo on all the German troops and adds realism to the experience

The main appeal is of course the realistic aspect. Whilst taking shitloads of bullets and still standing isn’t realistic, having bombs dropped all around you and foes falling left, right and center is. There’s not one peaceful moment in the whole game, it’s chaos from start to finish. The audio is one of the main reasons that it’s to believable. Shellshock sends your vision into a blur and you hear bullets whip past you until you regain your composure and the audio comes crashing back into your ears in a gigantic explosion. It’s an extremely loud game, but it needs to be to get the full effect through.

During the American campaign you play D-Day from a completely different view, for once you’re not based on Omaha Beach and approach the battle from a giant cliff. As you climb the rope up, shells explode all around you which knocks many of your allies down to the rocks below. You finally pull yourself over the top and have to try and cross the battlefield with the Germans throwing everything they have at you. It’s unlike any experience ever found in other war games and really takes your breath away. It’s amazing that Activision have captured the feeling of war so well.

Playing through on medium will probably take away what makes the expierence so special, however. Veteran difficulty is hard at first, but it’s worth sticking with as it makes you play much more tactically and displays what real war is like. On the easier difficulties you can run out and blow everyone away, but that’s not how the game is meant to be played.

The gameplay has been tweaked so that a stealthy approach is more effective than ever. Crouch behind a barrel and snipe each enemy as they come along. The aiming is so tweaked that you'll be able to hit the smallest of targets if you're good enough.
Of course, you also have your AI squad whom help greatly. They're not so good they'll take out everyone for you, but they don't drop like flies either. It gives you a great sense of teamwork even though you know that they are just AI characters.

Graphically it’s very good, but not quite as detailed as you’d expect for a 360 game. Don’t get me wrong, it does look great, but it’s not a huge leap from last gen compared to some other 360 games.. That said, some levels do impress you more than others. Whist some of the later levels use some fogging and such, Egyptian levels shine with the sun gleaming on the buildings and makes it look much better. You won’t notice any of the less detailed textures unless you look hard in any case, you’ll be too busy blowing up everything in sight.

Online is very good and very bad at the same time. Whilst the game modes and levels are very well designed and fun, the gameplay is extremely laggy and you’ll find more bugs than under a rock. Supposedly since I played it a patch has came out that has fixed this somewhat, but it really should be a much smoother experience. The multiplayer on Call of Duty 1 was one of the main reasons it was voted game of the year, it’s a shame that the sequel hasn’t had as much effort put into it.

Call of Duty 2 delivers in every way it promises to and more. The single player mode is even more frantic and dramatic than the last and the gameplay is tweaked to perfection. The atmosphere found in all levels can’t be rivaled by any other FPS and as such you’ll be sucked in until the final bullet is fired. It attacks all of your senses like a wild beast. War has never been so gruesome but so fun.Anyone who is remotely interested in war games or first person shooters should check Call of Duty 2 out.

88%

Burnout Revenge Xbox 360 Review

2006-09-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

Burnout has always been a game of good timing. Avoid that bus, take the corner, hit the ramp, avoid those cars. You're constantly on edge. The aim of this addition to the series is not so much to race as fast as possible whilst avoiding any solid object in your way, but rather to create as much destruction as possible and take out as many rivals as you can. The Burnout series has slowly been getting more aggressive over the years and has reached it's peak in Burnout Revenge.

Same way traffic can now be ‘checked’, or in other words knocked, in the way of your rivals to cause a pile-up and generally make life difficult for everyone involved. This can take some getting used to as if you’ve played any previous Burnout games you will be trained to avoid every single piece of traffic on the road, now you can simply drive through half of the cars. Once you get used to it, however, you will find it great fun trying to knock a car infront of a rival in a stylish way rather than simply ramming them into a wall. It adds a tactical edge very subtly.

The only complaint really is that the traffic flies a bit too far and doesn’t weigh much. Presumably, this is to make knocking them into rivals easier and is a reasonable sacrifice to make for fun. Considering Burnout is hardly the most realistic game on earth it's not that weird, but sometimes you hit a car at 80mph and send it flying 50ft.

New game modes are based around the new checking system mostly; The new 'Road Rage' mode gives you a target ammount of takedowns to get on your rivals before the time runs out which is probably the best addition. It does a good job of teaching you how to cause and dodge takedowns but is also great fun.
'Traffic Attack' sets you a target ammount of damage that you must make by checking cars all around the course. It's not too different from crash mode, but is considerably harder to get to grips with. Instead of just one junction to cause destruction at you have to do a few laps and hit every car you see.

World Tour mode consists of 169 challenges to get your teeth into and never gets dull. There is a new ranking chart that you must climb by not just completing these races, but also getting gold and a perfect rating (Rating is very similar to the kudos system in PGR3, the more daring and stylish you race, the higer it goes).

Graphically it’s been cleaned up lots from the previous versions and looks remarkably well. Granted, it doesn’t look as good as games such as Project Gotham Racing 3, but still holds it own on the next-gen market. Tracks and cars are very shiny and detailed yet still look great when you’re going at 200mph and everything is blurred.

The audio is what stands out most of all in the presentation however. Despite the usual poor EA soundtrack (As a metalhead, Fall Out Boy is not what I want to hear) the sound effects can’t be faulted. When you hit the boost the world around you swishes away and the sound of a few jet engines blast out of your speakers as you zoom down the street. If you’re unlucky enough to crash you’re blown away by an explosion that rivals a few nuclear bombs going off in your back garden.

Online is where the 360 version steps up from the last gen outing. The game has what they call a ‘long memory’, basically meaning if you take someone out in a race or vice versa, it will mark the opponent the appropriate colour so you know what the score between you is. It does a very good job of pulling you in and getting you more involved with the races than you previously might’ve as you want to get revenge or simply as many takedowns as possible on someone to antagonise them. Joining a server and seeing someone who took you out in a previous race is the biggest incentive to kick ass you'll ever have.

If you like your simulated racing then stay far away from Burnout Revenge. Like the previous outings, it’s all about going stupidly fast and getting the biggest adrenaline rush. If however you’re an arcade junkie and like your thrills aplenty, this game is definitely for you. It’s faster than every and will keep you on the edge of your seat every single race. Some Bunrout veterans may not like the changes, but give it time and you'll accept the game for what it is; pure fun.

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