Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Sega Superstars Tennis

Sonic is back, and this time he’s brought some Sega related friends and some tennis gear. The latest Sega offering allows you to play tennis as of 16 Sega characters – Sonic, Dr Eggman, Amigo (from Samba de Amigo – a classic Dreamcast game, soon to be released for the Wii), even the ever-camp Tails.

There’s the usual mission and challenge mode, quick play mode and of course online play, even a viewing mode where you can watch a random game being played in the world.. should you ever want to of course. Saying that, as a spectator you can be heard commenting on the game, and the ability to wind up the 14 year old Americans who make a ‘wooo’ noise after every point is great fun. My advice – commentate on the game.

Obviously as you play through the game you unlock different Sega themed songs, arenas and characters, although it is likely they were scraping the barrel a bit when Alex Kidd was put in the game. The game play is intuitive and easy to pick up, but as you find out after your first online game.. playing against other people is completely different than playing the computer. You’ll find in fact, that playing online has the learning curve of running into a brick wall.

It is, in essence.. fun. Plus of course, it’s not a serious tennis game. Critics who missed this huge point of this game are quicker to jump at ‘unrealistic shots’ and a ‘poor physics engine’ than Rick Waller was at the deep fried mars bar. Its hard to imagine Federer throwing bananas at the opponent on centre court, or Nadal distracting others with maracas and a carnival atmosphere.. hilarious to imagine, but about as likely to happen as understanding an episode of Frasier.

Of course, the game is available on the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and DS, but with no online version on the Wii or DS, and an awkward control system on the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 is the obvious choice. Its enjoyable, a fun multiplayer game and has a good life span. Finally, feel free to see how bad I actually am at it.

My gamertag on Xbox Live is muller7uk.


New Game Scores, 1 word sum up and buy or not to buy..

Sega Superstars Tennis - 8/10 – fun – Buy

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Bully : Scholarship Edition

Now, you might be confused why the text below is written in a weird style. Ive recently been doing reviews for www.xtaster.com. Its a review site which does games, music, bands, and its done by unbiased people so you know its honest!

Anyway, below is Bully : Scholarship Edition! Have a look a www.xtaster.com anyway, look in latest news and then go to more articles till you find mine! O and join as a member and you could also get some free stuff!

The popular Canis Canem Edit has been relaunched for the Xbox 360 under the no nonsense name of “Bully”. The story line is the same as the Playstation 2 version, you are a troubled teenager who in the UK would just be passed off as having ADHD. The new kid at a hostile school, you arrive and are instantly picked on more than a dwarf at a midget convention. Battling your way through the social hierarchy enables you to play more demanding missions, and as the game is based in a boarding school, you have to attend lessons as well.

The game is from the makers of Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar, and whilst the similarities are definitely there, the feel of the game is completely different. Rather than knowing that being caught will end in your carcass looking like swiss cheese, you will get told off.. its just not quite the same. The storyline is still good enough however for you to have the want to play ‘just one more mission’ and then to realise you should have gone to bed 4 hours ago. Whilst the graphics might not match up with other 360 titles, they are good enough, but it does feel like there hasn’t been much progress since the Playstation 2 version.

Anyway, aside for the fact your main accomplice in the game is as annoying as the people who WrItE LikE tHIs, the banter between the jocks and geeks, and all other characters are generally funny. The only problem with the school setting really is the lack of variation from day to day. The wake up, go to class, do a mission, wedgie a nerd, go to class, get started on but end up beating up a bully, do a mission, go

to bed routine limits what you actually want to do. Miss class and the teachers who always seem to be mulling about outside will ‘bust you’. Now it might just be me, but if the teachers put that effort into teaching I doubt the school would have its problems.


Although the game was never intended to be a sequel, some owners of the PS2 version might be tempted to buy this one too. Don’t be. It’s the same game, just put in a pretty green box and given a few extra missions. To everyone else? It’s a game that will keep you going for a while and give you a few cheap laughs, especially when you lean how to put kick me signs on peoples backs.



Scores, 1 word sum up and buy or not to buy..
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7/10 – B+ - Buy

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