Borderlands 2

Border-ing on the amazing?


I'll make no secret of this - I loved this game.

Borderlands 2 is one of the best games I have ever played. It's addictive, lengthy, challenging, and, the most important factor, which I feel is overlooked in computer games - fun.

The game is based around your character, a vault hunter, in search for treasures in a huge land under the rule of Hnadsome Jack - the most likeable bad guy since Bane in Batman.

As the game starts - you choose your character class - Commando, Ninja Assassin, Gun Mad Fat Bloke, and a Siren. All of the classes have their own advantages, and all are as useful in a co-op game online, which again, is great fun.


There are a huge huge number of guns to find and choose from. Killing the bosses produce the rarest loot, and in the end you may stick around re-killing the same enemies to try and get the best items you can. Guns make this game, get the Social Conference Call Shotgun, twin it with the Elite Class Mod, and the Bee Amp Shield, and you're laughing. Well, until the game makers introduce a new splattering of guns into the game.

Anyway, I can't recommend this game enough. It's superb, the story is brilliant, and the gameplay is faultless. Get it now.

Rating - 10/10
Fair Price - £40

Halo 4

Spar-tan or Spare-us?

The 27th game in the Halo Franchise (may not be accurate) returns the the FPS format that made the games so popular. There has been promise of improved single player, a great storyline, the always impressive multiplayer (co-op and online). So, does it deliver?

FPS games really struggle to impress me now. The ridiculous 3 hours Call Of Duty storylines, which are exactly the same as the game produced the year before, make me incredibly skeptical of any new games coming out. Rare games breakout, Borderlands 2 for example, is one of the only games of this genre in the last few years which I actually strongly advise people to get.

However, i'll try to review this game independent of that. Halo 4 is a fantastic game for people who are a fan of the series. The enemies are varied, levels are challenging but fun, the graphics are good, but it is the atmosphere of the game is the element that impresses me the most. Rarely during a game do you get the real sense of panic that Halo 4 gives you. Speaking to my brother in law, he backs me up on the notion that the correct gun choice can make or break your success.

The game doesn't wow me though. It's a good game, but once again, I don't feel like the game lives up to the hype. Or not as much as I'd like.

Rating - 7/10
Fair Price - £20

WWE 13

Stone Cold, or um.. Stone Hot?

I'll make no secret of the fact that I haven't watched a WWE program since 2002.




However, the games tend to provide a fair few hours entertainment. Working out new ways of throwing people through tables, off of cages and evoking blood from your opponents cranium can be a great, simple idea for a game.





 The main implemented mode is the Attitude Era - allowing you to take charge of the biggest Superstars from the years that truly brought about WWE as the main wrestling brand, in the matches that went down in wrestling history as the most important, or memorable. The mode allows you to recreate certain historical events which I really enjoyed, especially as it was from the few years that I actually watched WWE, however, my main issue with this game comes after the Attitude Era is completed.

I thought I would check out the story, or career mode, only to find that the only true way to play the mode is to take control of every superstar - and enter every match.. which I have no interest of doing. You can play throught the games, entering into the matched you want to, but without the storyline. I just want to take control of 1 person, play through all their storylines.. not everyone elses. Maybe that's because I'm not a giant WWE fan now.

The usual features of creating your own player, arena etc are there, but without a decent story mode, this game really lacks something.

Rating - 7/10
Fair Price - £19.99

Goldeneye 007

Shaken, not stirred. Underwhelming, not impressive.

I was warned about this game, and that it fails to live up to how good you want it to be, based on the original N64 classic.

Unfortunately, the reports were spot on. The game offers nothing new or impressive. Its a bog standard Run, get shot, hide until screen gets less red shooter.

The story line is bland, voice acting more so. Graphics are average, and after the first 3 levels, I really had lost all motivation to carry on playing the game. And I review the game like I felt when I played it. Sub par, and if anything, longer than it needed to be.

Rating - 3/10
Fair Price - £8

Prototype 2

I feel... taller. And mutated. And I have a sword for hands.

You gain the ability to morph your hands into multiple items.

Prototype 2 follows on from the mould of the first. A virus is let loose in New York (where else), which turns its victims into flesh eat monsters. Your new character (James) is infected by the primary character from Prototype 1 (Alex Mercer), who gives you his gift. Instead of becoming brain dead, the special strand of virus you obtain mutates your DNA, giving you super human speed, strength and abilities, as well as the vital ability to consume others and assume their form - your primary tool in being stealthful. The game mixes both stealth play and all out attacking well.

A couple of things before I continue -

1. New York. Again. Virtually every film and game based around zombies, mutant.. it's based in New York. I wish that there was slightly more variety in locations. Apart from the name and cliche that the game is set in New York, I can't imagine it is geographically accurate. I have never been, but I can't imagine Private Military bases every few blocks. Base the game in Manchester or Liverpool (fairly complex DNA in the people there anyway). Get the Greyhound and set the game in Boston, Chicago.. Just something slightly different would be appreciated.
2. An additional side effect of the virus is apparently the replacing of all socially acceptable adjectives in the brain to extensive swear words. Prototype 2 is very, very sweary. A !&@# load of !&@#s come !&@#ing streaming out of almost every mother !&@#ers mouth and every !&@#ing opportunity. Not to be played around children.

Your character can use the environment to eliminte the zombie threat. And the army, who areof course trying to kill you as well..

 The game itself is ridiculously fun. Sandbox games are often limited in enjoyment duration - either it takes far too long to do anything "cool" you lose interest, or it gives you far too many abilities to master with the learning curve of running into a brick wall. Prototype 2 has managed to control these aspects perfectly. The game itself is fun from the beginning, spoon feeding you new skills at a speed which allows to master each one. Graphically, the game is nothing special, there is nothing ground breaking in terms of music, or voice acting. But the game is undeniably fun.It manages to do what few games do and completely immerses you in a different reality and lets you have fun with it.

Eventually you'll be able to hijack tanks, helicopters, weapons.. Whilst the story follows a pretty standard zombie/infection path, the gameplay keeps you hooked, and like a good sandbox game should, you often find yourself roaming around the map doing odd bits and bobs rather than missions.

I have really enjoyed playing Prototype 2. Its pretty £%#!ing good.

Rating - 8/10
Fair Price - £28

Batman : Arkham Asylum and Arkham City

Theres a very good reason I am only doing 1 review for these 2 titles.

Unless you are bankrupt, a few clowns short of a circus, have had a twin thumb-ectomy.. there is no chance you would have bought the first of these exceptional games, and not the second.

Both games are very similar in game play, objectives and style. But both are monumentally brilliant and addictive by themselves.

I never really got into the comics. The awful computer game releases coinciding with recent super hero films have not set the world alight – Spiderman, Superman and Iron Man to name the key culprits here. These 2 batman games are monumentally different from previous releases though.

As previously stated, I have never been heavily interested in comic books, or graphic novels as I will no doubt be reminded is their proper name (thank you Leanord, Sheldon and Penny). There is always a danger in being plunged in too deep when entering this world. Batman addresses this perfectly though, giving you the opportunity to read up on the background of each character (if you want to!), but not making your knowledge paramount in enjoying the game. I suppose though I should draw a slight distinction between the two games.

The first, Batman Arkham Asylum, plonks you right in the middle of a mental institution/correctional facility, as your old nemesis Joker is put away for his crimes. And he stays there and the game ends.

 Ok, fine.

 As predictable as a Liverpool FC statement being cringeworthy, Joker escapes and you spend the game searching through the Asylum and surrounding grounds. Along the way you gain control of Batman’s many gadgets and use them in your quest to solve riddles, challenges and puzzles laid out for you by The Riddler, and fight a large number of Batmans foes.

Batman Arkham City? The same concept, but set inside a cordoned off area of a city. Fighting to find a cure to a disease you’ve picked up along the way (no, not from catwoman), again your side missions are as compelling as the main story line.

Both games are truly brilliant. The combat system in both games is extremely simple, but you’ll need to master every concept to be able to beat the game. As batman you’ll use no guns, but instead rely heavily on stealth and distraction to lure your enemies and pick them off one by one. That or enter into a full on brawl with the grace of a Liverpool FC statement. That is to say, with none. The games look great, play great and are very hard to put down. Even with the main story lines complete and all side mission finished, you find yourself continuing to play the games through, and very tempted to just start the games all over again. A superb game series and I hope there will be more.

This is not normal as a crush.

The final word however has to go to Harley Quinn. The vile voiced woman who features in both games as Jokers assistant, whilst is a brilliant evil sidekick, is crazily annoying. Wondering who voiced her, I googled her. Only to find a host of cartoons and real life women dressed as her. Apparently it’s a common occurrence for comic, sorry, graphic novel fans to have a fetish for her. You are as strange, weird, and idiotic as a Liverp.. Yeah, you know the joke.

Ratings – 10/10 and 10/10

Fair Price - £40 (each)

Xbox 360 Kinect

I like to move it, move it.

When the kinect was first released, it seemed, like most console hardware, a bit of gimmick. An attractive, innovative new gadget of course, but an additional expense that may follow the dust-collecting-on-top-of-the-cupboard ways of the DJ Hero decks or Tony Hawk skateboard. For now, there are few games of appeal for the kinect. Publishers rushing games to capture the money from the Microsoft fan boys around the new gadgets release as expected results in poor quality games. However, the kinect has the potential to be a long term success, depending on how future kinect necessary and kinect optional games implement the camera-microphone device into gameplay.

For me and the soon to be missus, the kinect gives us a double workout. Not only do we get a little sweat going playing the motion sensitive games, but we also get a little workout rearranging our furniture to get enough room to play. There are a few nice little touches to the kinect. Auto profile sign in based on facial recognition. Voice activated menus. Movement recognition menu browsing. In general, these all work seamlessly, however, in some games the kinect fails to recognise what you are wanting it to do. Not the kinects fault of course, but frustrating never the less.

So, heres a few quick game reviews for anyone looking at purchasing a kinect and its (currently) small selection of games.

Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports 2

Without a doubt the best games on the device. Both releases are full of fun, entertaining sport games that are extremely addictive – either playing by yourself, or with a friend. The first release contains Football, Athletics, Table Tennis, Volleyball and Bowling. Kinect Sports 2 contains American Football, Tennis, Skiing, Golf and Darts. Of those 10 sports, its hard to single a single one out as weak. All of the games, and mini games are well thought out, making the most of the kinect. All have the same charm – simple to pick up, but a challenge to master. Highlights, for me, are the Football, Athletics, American Football and Darts.

Rating – 9/10
Fair Price - £25 (each)

Dance Central 1&2

Whilst I can’t be too angry at a game that actively gets my other half to play the Xbox, the rumours I’d heard about this game turned out to be true. I myself am an excellent, “Lionel Messi of the dancing world” dancer, alas the game thinks otherwise. I had heard that the game only really works for girls, or overly camp males. And this has proved to be true. To be honest, it really puts me off trying the game again. However, in the interest of fairness, my fiancée loves it, and it probably would be great fun on a girly night in.

Rating – 4/10
Fair Price - £12

Carnival

Rubbish. Very few games, very poor motion recognition. Not even worth a rent.

Rating – 1/10
Fair Price - £1

Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventure

To be honest, this game would get a far higher rating if it didn’t try and be a kinect game. On the off chance you can get past the menus (it completely refuses to recognise your actions and in so declines to let you navigate the menu screens), it then has the additional frustration of turning a blind eye to the exercises you perform in front of the camera. It took about 12 minutes and around 250 sit ups to recognise me doing 10. Had I just bought the game to give me a selection of workout ideas, it probably may have been worthy of a higher score. Which sort of makes the whole “kinect game” redundant.

Rating – 2/10
Fair Price - £4

Kinect Adventures

The base game that comes with the kinect. It’s not without its charm, but there are only 3 different game modes, and all get old very quickly. Addictive and compelling to play for the first hour. Hasn’t been played again since. A bit like Walcott should have been and would have been in almost any other team.

Rating – 6/10
Fair Price - £5


So there we go. A brief look at the Kinect and the main games. Regardless, I am looking forward to seeing how its used and integrated in Mass Effect 3.

A thank you to Christie Duke for helping me review the games! :)