Mullers Gaming Blog

Skyrim

2011-12-08T16:27:00.007Z

Goodbye real life?

No, well, not for me.

For a few weeks leading up to the release of Skyrim all I saw on my Facebook feed was 2 types of status based around Skyrim. Either those males apologising in advance to their significant others for making them a Skyrim widow, or the single ones who were cracking potential jokes about booking time of work to get stuck into the game.

Skyrim was always going to be extremely popular, thanks to its fans who have followed and hyped it up since their copy of Oblivion probably disappeared into dust in their CD tray. The Elder Scrolls series are notorious for being almost open ended in terms of game time. Similar to other sandbox type games, Skyrim has put considerable effort into making sure each person playing the game has an individual experience. The randomly spawning Dragons, Trolls, Horses, Rabbits and Bears are the easiest example of that. Sometimes a Dragon will appear, with no chance of you beating it. Which, although frustrating, allows the story to have some consistency to it.

When the game first starts, a bear is the most terrifying thing you can imagine. Later in the game, a few levels and skills up, a simple bear poses as much threat to you as Fernando Torres to opposing teams goalies. (for now)

I shall however share with you an important secret. I never liked Oblivion, and never gave it much of a chance either. About 2 hours into the game I kept getting shouted at for not knowing how to make a simple potion? Why didn't I know? I really didn't care. I, in the most, enjoy games that have their equipment and items right there for you to go and grab. If you want a new ability, you buy it, or select it from the menu. Oblivion got under my skin instantly for not letting me progress until I'd take then year 11 science lesson from a fat woman who scarily resembled a male lecturer from my University. I just wanted to get stuck in. Even go out, start fights with the guards and then run away - that would have done me! In hindsight I was probably wrong. I imagine there were ways around it - not choosing a character who relied on magic has crossed my mind..

So, a few weeks after most others I ended up picking Skyrim, trying to trade my way out of the completed RAGE (I can review if wanted). I got home, my girlfriend left and with a few hours to burn, I stuck in the disk and promised to give this game a real good go..

Ah.

First issue.

What class should I be? Hmm. Well there must only be a couple to choose from ill just..

Balls. Theres loads. I know, i'll ask on facebook. 20 minutes later, advised (yet to be seen how well) by Rob Welling, I chose a fugly Elf character who would make Katie Price look half presentable. Hmm. Right, another 10 minutes sorting his looks out and im ready to go. No? O, cutscene. (whistles..) Anyway.. about another 15 minutes of dark and blurry running around and killing later.. I'm out in the open. Wow.

The graphics are superb.

The more of the game you play, the more little touches you see inside the game that make it so unique. I've played for a fair few hours (when my girlfriends out, unlike a heap of you other thoughtless bastards) and made very little progress. Mainly as I am trying to get everywhere I can on foot. It takes longer, but there's a whole lot more to experience of the game when you do take it slowly. I really am enjoying this game, some of the story-lines I am struggling to really get into, but regardless of that, with a little patience, the game has very few flaws. With the amount I play this game, i see this game keeping me going for a fair few months at the very least.

If a long, submissive, impressive, visually stunning game is your cup of tea.. then this is a bucketful of it.

Rating – 8.5/10
Fair Price - £28

Portal 2

2011-05-03T11:06:00.004+01:00

Good science?

Very rarely, a game comes along which truly rejuvenates love for console gaming. For me, Portal 2 has done just that.

As much as they dress them up, adapt, alter, promote, shorten, lengthen.. The games market has reached a bit of a plateau. Long running sports franchises which make slight adjustments each year, War games which make a half assed attempt at a single player game (we all are expecting a Call Of Duty : Take Down Osama type game now), but make their majority of interest with people killing each other for hours online.
Which, to be honest, bores me. I neither have the time, or interest in getting good enough to play online for long enough so that I am at a reasonable enough level that I am alive for more than 20 seconds at a time.

Portal 2 features one of the most intelligent and interesting physics engines around.

Now, I know Portal 2 isn't a 'new' idea. The 2 should really be a give away.. But I doubt I was alone in being excited and apprehensive about the immensely enjoyable side-game from The Orange Box having a sequel. The basic idea behind the game is your ability to fire 2 portals that are linked – walk through one, and you come out the other. Pretty simple? Sounds it. But as the game progresses, this relatively fundamental idea is exploited to the point where you will feel like crying due to the complexity of it. Turrets, cubes, buttons, lasers.. all are controllable by you.. and your portals.

The main reason I love this game, is the real feeling of accomplishment you get after the levels. I refused to use the walkthroughs, and there were some puzzles I was stuck on for almost an hour.. Sometimes it was something simple I had missed, others were something completely new in the brilliant physics engine I hadn't thought of. I found myself giggling at times. Literally, laughing at how clever the game was. The voice as Steven Merchant as your initial clumsy, simple robot companion is a brilliant touch – Not sure how but I would love to see Karl Pilkington voice a game..

Co-op character Atlas and P-Body.

Finally, another thing that Portal 2 does so, so well, is the Co-op mode. I played it with a friend, from start to finish. We giggled like school girls as we shot portals infront of where each other were running. We fired cubes at each other through our portals. We fired each other a mile into the air, we childishly squabbled over who would do what. It was superb, and took us a day to do – not bad for a side game.

Portal 2 is fun, unique, challenging.. It is superb, and like I did after each level, I look forward to what is hopefully next in the series.

Rating – 9.5/10
Fair Price - £35

iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

2010-10-16T11:51:00.002+01:00

169000. At present there 169000 published apllications that you can put on your iPhone/iPod Touch. Are there actually decent ones in between the thousands of useless ones? Here's a selection of some of the ones I have encountered..

DoodleJump
Incredibly simple game, in which you aim to jump your little green fella up a never ending tunnel of platforms and enemies, using various power ups to help you. Sounds simple, and is. But has a great lifespan in it, and you find yourself coming back time and time again. Would the Chilean Miners had this game, I could have seen some real injuries coming.
Rating - 7/10

Flight Control

Another simple little game, where you have to direct planes onto their correct runway by drawing flightpaths with your finger. Starts simple, gets incredibly challenging. Less of a want to go back to the game after a few times though.
Rating - 6/10

Field Runners

Absolutely amazingly addictive game. Building your own defence system, you buy different weapons, and they will do their best to stop the runners reaching your base. Can quite easily lose an hour at a time on this game.
Rating - 7/10

Monopoly

Handheld version of the popular game - very nicely set out, very good interface and all the money working out is done for you. Really enjoy this game. Good multiplayer too.
Rating - 8/10

Angry Birds

Quite simply - the most addictive, the best game you can own on a smart phone. So so simple - all you have to do is catapult birds into various flimsily made castles, in the hope of getting to the green pig monsters inside. Hundreds of levels, a game that will frustrate you, and elight you in its simplicity. Simply put - its superb.
Rating - 9/10

Cut The Rope

Cut The Rope is an extremely nice little game, where the aim is to cut ropes, in the hope of giving a little green dude some candy. The levels switch in difficulty quite frequesntly, which is one of the only real faults with the game. Although no iPhone game is really diverse, sometimes you are left longing for something else with this game. Still a good buy though.

Rating - 7/10

To end, I should mention that I play all thse on an iPhone 4G. I bought all apps from the iTunes app store. There are many many other apps avaliable - theres Flick Football, Flick Fishing, Paper Toss, Stone Loops - all great games, that are worth 59p. Please feel free to comment and let me know your favourites!

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11

2010-10-14T17:15:00.008+01:00

Birdie or Bogie?

The standard playing interface, but still looks great..

Tiger Woods didn't exactly have the quietest of years..

A woman emerged as the golf stars additional piece on the side. Then 2 did. Then a handful. A dozen. Before you knew it, the women who alleged to have Tiger in their bunker could have filled the empty seats for a Manchester City home game (I know, I know, a slight exaggeration, I doubt Hugh Hefner's exes could fill those empty seats).

It all became public in a bizarre, yet ironic way. After much covering up, it emerged that when Tiger's wife found out about his other ladies, she chased him out the house, followed his car, and smashed the cars window to get to him with a golf club. The irony, for those wondering, is that the swing taken by his wife, was probably the best swing taken by a Woods family member this year. Since, its been no secret that Tiger has struggled to retake his form which saw him become a cover star for his own brand of computer game.

EA Sports now had to decide whether to continue with the now disgraced golfers franchise of videogame, or whether to start afresh. They obviously took a while deciding this, as it doesn't appear alot of time went into game testing.

The game (I know, I finally get onto the game bit, hip hip hooray), isn't necessarily bugged or faulty.. but it is just ridiculously hard. My lasting memories from previous Tiger Woods games, has been the pick up and play ability of it. For the amateur or pro, the game could be played relatively easily. The console controller analogue stick way of playing was easy to grasp - and allowed minor faults to go unpunished in the interest of a smooth and non frustrating game..

This year however, the game has the learning curve of diving with sharks wearing a suit made of bacon. Even on the easiest setting, you find yourself increasingly frustrated as you start off in your career. I am sure this is how hard it would be in real life - so congratulation must go if that was their plan. But the slightest movement in the wrong direction of the analogue stick feels like it results in a far too harsh movement of the ball. To start off with, the game lacks fun.

I moved therefore onto a quick round, playing as Tiger Woods. Same issue. Extremely sensitive stick, and an exaggerated swing adjustment to match it. It is possible of course to change this, which is a nice feature, but requires you to be consistently good or bad with your swing - something I apparently can't do. I should mention that after around 20 or so events, I was no longer getting a double digit bogey round, but it just seems like Tiger Woods 11 takes far too long to get into - especially for the career mode, a mode which is normally the top of my liking list on a game.

Aquiring skills on "your" player has always been the first challenge on any Tiger Woods game and for some reason EA Sports seems to think that they have to change the way to do this for every single installment of the series. They had it spot on for the 2004 version, unfortunately the 2011 versions take on it is in my opinion the worst yet. Why? You now earn XP points very, very, very slowly....
Lester Freamon, www.redcafe.net

The link for Lester's full thoughts on the game, the link is at the bottom of my review.

As Lester Freamon mentions about slow XP building, EA has a plan - along with Ultimate modes in Madden or FIFA, to grab even more money off you after you have forked out in the game. To gain XP, you can now purchase it. Very disappointing.

The graphics can't really be faulted - the courses look superb, and with the additional camera views the play looks extremely realistic. Banana shaped club and egg shaped ball aside, the physics engine is improved - and after a while, the necessity of saving "focus", (the thing which gives you the ability to power up a shot, or put spin on a ball) becomes a real drawing feature to the game.

Courses from all over the world, including the Ryder Cup match at Celtic Manor

So the game is good. Apart from the most fundamental part of it. With quite a considerable amount of practice it becomes easier though, but I still think that Tiger Woods 09 was the most enjoyable of the series, and now for less than a tenner in some shops, I don't see Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 as a £30 improvement..

Rating - 5.5/10
Fair Price - £20

O and Chile - absolutely brilliant. Congratulations, the best story there has been in years. Gives hope to alot of people. Felt sorry for the rescue worker standing there unharnessing one of the workers while he screamed "I am only alive because of god" in his face. Irony.

http://www.redcafe.net/8754677-post50.html

Recent Games.. Red Dead Redemption and Just Cause 2

2010-10-10T16:30:00.003+01:00

During my rather long gap from reviewing, I missed a fair few “top” games. Heres 2.

Red Dead Redemption

The big named release of the year. From the same people who bring us GTA, Red Dead Redemption (RDR) was always going to be open to criticism. In the main, the 14 year olds (who wrongly play GTA anyway)were going to be at the forefront of complainers.

“Theres no cars, no rocket launchers, its just a poor, old version of GTA”.

In a way, that is correct. The only cars are driven by the police agents who are blackmailing you. There are no rocket launchers. You make money by completing missions, for less than respectable characters. You own and use guns, you kill people. You make choices that affect your story..

But a poor GTA? Not a chance. For what its worth, I didn't really “get” GTA IV. I thought it took for too long to get into the fun aspect of a sandbox game that most look for. I thought you immediately lacked freedom in the game, and that the missions were not fun. The characters were annoying... It just was not a game I enjoyed. For this reason, I started off slightly apprehensively on RDR.

Within an hour, any doubts were well and truly cast aside.

Red Dead Redemption is amazing. And it gets better the more you play it.

The game looks.. just fantastic. Despite playing in the desert, and desert looking towns, there is a distinct feel to different areas. The towns are all set out differently, look differently, and have individual parts to them. The map is huge, it can take about 25 minutes to travel from 1 side of the map, right to the other.. But you don't mind doing it. Choosing, catching, taming and then riding your horse is a real intricate part of the game. Invest in horses, you will need them later. And you will get a bit cut up when your first long term horse collapses unexpectedly..

Missions are varied (but, as for all great games, missions are not the forefront of your experience), gameplay is natural and enjoyable, and most of all – the game is fun, and sucks you in.

Well played Rock Star. Now hope Cowboys come back into fashion..

Rating – 9.5/10
Fair Price - £40.99

Just Cause 2

Computer Games should be fun. They should put a big smile on your face, like you slept with a coat hanger in your mouth. Just Cause 2 well and truly does this.

The main reason for the fun in this game, comes from your dual ended grappling hook – meaning you can attach anything, or anyone, to anything. A car to a lamp-post so it pings back. An enemy to a plane you then fly around. A jeep to a helicopter. A rival gang member to a gas canister which you then propel into the air..

Just.. look at this..

And the beauty of this game? It is so, so fun. There really is no big deal made of not completing missions. Its simple, its easy to just dip in and out of, and you have around 120 hours of gaming until you achieve 100% completion.. And even then, I was tempted to play it all over again.

Just type in “Just Cause 2 Stunts” into youtube. If after watching a few of those videos you don't want to buy this game.. well then, um, I really do not know what more you want out of a game. Watching videos is worth so much more than me writing about the game..

The designers have actually pointed out they wanted “Rag doll and insane physics” in the game, and they did a fantastic job in putting them in.

Rating – 9.5/10
Fair Price - £40.99

FIFA 11

2010-10-10T11:38:00.005+01:00

As the game gets another year older, how is it maturing? Not too well..

FIFA has reached the difficult adolescent years. Since the vastly underrated World Cup game was brought out in May, I have been extremely excited by this years FIFA offering. The gameplay in WC was superb, graphics, as per usual fantastic, and a pretty seamless game.

After a fair few days spent attempting to immerse myself in FIFA 11 however, I am unbelievably disappointed. The game is nowhere near seemingly finished. Even a true FIFA purist/fanboy, must acknowledge the cheek of EA to put out this game, especially promoting it with promises of improvements from FIFA 10, which, in my opinion was the best club football game released in a long, long time. The hard truth though, is that this game is a drastic step back.

It almost feels like it is not actually you playing the game, the reaction speed and response time of the players is often comparable to a dead slug, and even worse online. Players often disappear, and will sometimes reselect who you are controlling for no real reason.

The career mode is a welcome highlight – no longer stuck in a 4 year cycle, there is more depth to the mode now, with more choice over your playing, or now managerial life. The Virtual Pro mode, as many will discover is extremely addictive, but the fact that gameplay is so slow, means it can be incredibly frustrating. Starting off at Bradford, my first season was a mixture of lows and other lows. Its hard to level up your pro, when you cannot pass (although that's just the game in general, not just my player), cannot shoot, and seem to care about the game as much as Tevez cares who he plays for.
The other main edition is the ability to play as the goalkeeper. Some will turn this into an art form, but I got bored extremely quickly with waiting endlessly to do something.

I always harp on about realism in games – and in effect, I am sure this game is extremely realistic to real life top flight football, but the fact that passing is so frustratingly inconsistent is a painful reminded that FIFA, and all computer games are supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Is this game? In the most, not at the minute. Is it too realistic?

Player growth in career mode makes career mode unplayable for me. Its random, and despite getting emails that your players are improving, they dont. I've been on the forums and EA have listed it as one of the things they are fixing for the next patch. Apparently if you play the career mode till players are like 25+ the growth speeds up... But what of younger players until then? You can play 2 or 3 seasons without them improving at all. Who wants to do that? And how does that make sense anyway? - Ekeke, www.redcafe.net

As for online, I can only really speculate how good it is/will be. Out of my 12 attempted online ranked games, I have managed to complete 2 of them (other friends have a lower %), and I am 0/9 on completion of the Pro Clubs online version. Its appalling. As mentioned earlier, the lag makes the game unplayable too, sometimes a full 4 seconds after pressing a direction, will your player make that move. Its just not good enough for a game which so many look forward to.

To be honest, I could continue to look at the bugs, glitches and canyons of faults with the game – but I fully expect EA to provide us with multiple patches to fix these at some point or another.

Maybe we have just been spoilt with FIFA's last few years releases. Few would argue that FIFA is sitting on top of the football sim pile over the last few years, but with Pro becoming a little more well respected this year, next years releases will be extremely interesting. I also fully expect to get a torrent of abuse about this review - but as always, it is my personal opinion. I do not enjoy this game the the minute, and cannot see it being worth the RRP of £44.99. Nowhere near.

Get working on your patches EA, then bring us something memorable next year please.

Rating – 4/10
Fair Price - £14.99

(Rating and Price will change, dependant on patches)

Madden 11

2010-10-05T19:23:00.003+01:00

Good game for American Football rookies, or just for seasoned vets?

As with most sports games, there is a point where you wonder... where else can this game go? FIFA, PES, NBA, NHL etc, have all managed to keep there appeal and freshness, despite obvious limitations. It's often a hard choice whether a years improvement is worth upgrading and parting with your hard earned money.. So how does this years Madden fare?

The main feature that is new to this years game is the inclusion of "Gameflow", a smart play calling feature, that acts like your co-ordinators during the game. Depending on how you play, and what works against your opponents in games, so your given play will adjust. In the most, it has to be said that I love this feature. True, sometimes it makes an error and gives you an odd play, but it really makes the game quicker and easier for anyone who isn't a tactical master at American Football. I am a Wide Receiver for an American Football team in the UK, but I have as much clue about the defensive side of the game as Katie Price has a clue about how to be a mother.

For some reason however, there seems to be a different movement mechanic for offence and defence. Running backs and receivers seem to be able to make turns tighter than the New York Jets salary room when the cap comes back in. But the covering corners, linebackers (think Waterboy) and other defensive players seem to be as agile as a Robin Reliant without wheels. Or without wheels. I don't think there's a great deal of difference. The movement just seems sluggish for the defence, which can be frustrating.

The 2 main offline modes are Franchise and Superstar modes, each offering different challenges. I have mentioned before how I really approve of customisable difficulty settings, and with a individually tailored Madden difficulty to set yourself, the game really fits around you. I am brilliant at my running game, as well as air game - but struggle to defend against air targets. Therefore I am a significantly higher difficulty setting for Offence, than I am for my poor Defensive skills. Working your way through seasons of franchise can be a long challenge, but extremely rewarding too.
Superstar mode allows you to create, or take control of a Rookie in the NFL. Similar to Be A Pro in FIFA, you can improve skills based on your effectiveness in matches. The game engine is faultless in this mode, you really feel part of the action, but it's nard not to feel a little left out by the lack of off the field interaction. After being able to talk to the press, train on certain areas, negotiate contracts etc, slipping back to the only options of "Complain about Coaches", "Ask for a trade" just seems extremely basic.

Some may disagree, but I feel this game lacks a little personality. Sure it's not what it's job is, but you still feel a little let down. However, the gameplay is addictive as per usual, the difficulty settings are brilliant, and the inclusion of the Gameflow play selection system is quality. It lets you play the game, even if you are not entirely sure what is going on. Just like Nigel De Jong.

Rating - 7/10
Fair Price - £27.99

Crackdown 2

2010-10-03T21:45:00.004+01:00

Agent or Failgent..? (Sorry)

The first Crackdown was an unsung hero of the Xbox 360. With its slightly cartoon graphics, many actually wrote the game off before it had even been released.

I was actually thrilled though to see that this game hadn't updated its image too much. The look of the game is superb, and fits perfectly with the setting. In the same way you wish your sports team wouldn't change its image – generally classy players, great academy set up, controllable egos, strong work ethic – since turning into a bunch of ruthless mercenaries/thugs for hire who love a dive more than anyone over 16 on facebook despises the “like” button on there. (A heads up for Manchester City fans around before 2006) – I wished this game would stick to its style.

Crackdown 2 is just really, really fun. The game itself is simple, some say repetitive, but theres no real frustration. The large (without comparison to Fallout, Red Dead Redemption, Far Cry 2 etc) open world map is actually pretty easy to distinguish between different areas, and landmarks add to this – meaning you, with enough game time, can actually feel like you know the neighbourhoods. There is so much to do – as you increase your characters abilities, different areas become open to you, and different challenges too. There is a real difference in the abilities of individual agents too, your character will very quickly improve in areas you excel in (for me it was explosions and agility), and the other areas, that maybe you don't use as much, will take more time for you to level up on (for me it was driving and firearms).

As well as fighting the criminal underworld, Crackdown 2 also features the surge of mutants to deal with. As well as taking over Criminal strongholds, you must now also clear mutant pits, using the Agencies technology. Whilst some will no doubt criticise the games lack of variations in missions, I rarely played more than a couple of missions in a row.. I was far too busy just mucking around. Picking up and throwing cars, blowing pretty much everything up, driving around and ploughing down mutants, this game is extremely personalised. Its often only that you are reminded that you remember that you have to do some missions. The game is as engrossing as Angry Birds.

Online, the game adds another dimension. With so many games pushing towards the main emphasis of itself to online play – its refreshing to see a game that could be pushed down the similar path.. not. Online was an afterthought, not that that statement is meant negatively. With a good group of friends, the game is extremely good online. Crackdown 2 is just pure fun. Sure, if you so choose you can run around killing the other players, but for the most, its more fun to much around with the environment. (However Tim, Kieron and John may have a duck grenade heading there way for forgetting to text me when they were playing!)

In conclusion, I am extremely impressed by the game. Would I want a few more and varied missions? Absolutely. Would I be pleased with a few more weapons? Of course.. But it is just a fun, exciting, great game. Highly recommended.

Rating – 9/10
Fair Price - £42.99

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2

2010-10-03T19:25:00.003+01:00

Take Off or Crash Landing?

The second of Tom Clancy's aerial warfare games was always going to have a tough act to follow, after the suprise success of HAWX 1. The storyline follows a fairly predictable storyline – Crack team of fighter pilots, best in the world. For hire. Good vs Evil.. Nuclear threats and bombs. Giants mutant snowmen. Ok, fine, I made that last one up.

Unfortunately, the game fails to deliver in many areas – the graphical content of the game looks somewhat 10 years ago, the soundtrack is.. well, a standard plane game. The game controls are too twitchy, and extremely slow to react in some areas. The weapons promise a wide range of abilities, but deliver very little. Some longer range ones are virtually impossible to effectively use, due to the twitchy and unsmooth controls of the game.

The game however, is pretty fun. During the (short as a lifespan of a Premier League manager), single player mode – there is a wide range of missions for you to deal with – as well as on plane gun turret shooting, there is actually different types of missions, as well as a compelling last mission too. But, as I always find with most warfare games – the game is just far too short. By the time you feel involved in the game, its over. And to me, there is very little want to replay the game, even on a more difficult setting. I am not highly interested in planes, so had no determination to unlock different planes.

Online, despite having promise of an open ended dog fight, the game is poorly designed in the online aspects. The default plane is a slow bomber, and its not always at the forefront of your mind to change your plane type, There is no prompt, which inhibits the want of people playing online, who have to constantly quit back out of the game to re choose a plane that is faster then the snail in prit-stick , and manoeuvrable as Rik Waller on a segway default. I played 1- games online, and enjoyed about 2 of them. There is just something decidedly unfinished about the online game.

All in all though, it would be a lie to say I didn't enjoy the game at all. It has its charms, and it will no doubt delight the hardcore plane enthusiasts... until the next Ace Combat comes out.

Rating – 6/10
Fair Price - £18.99

F1 2010 - Finally released, but still not finished.

2010-10-01T08:27:00.004+01:00

The game that has had more delays than a train into London finally came out.. But it's still not finished.

F1 2010 finally makes it's first bow onto the large stage of joint Xbox, PS3 and PC, after a long running saga involving separate companies playground squabbling, F1 fans patiently waiting, and a release date that was changed as often as the Sugababes lineup.

The game aims to get you into the life of an F1 driver. In the driving seat, when flying around at 200mph, the only communication you have is with your race engineer. There is no commentary on the game, which for some is an added bonus. You can now change various settings on your car whilst driving, similar to real life F1. Wing settings, engine power and even commands for your next pit stop can be adjusted whilst on track, which is a very nice touch, and helps immerse you into the game.

Immersion

Whilst there are many issues at present with the game (which I will get to), immersion certainly isn't one of them. I started my career with Lotus, the historic team which has returned, and I was determined to be their saviour. Which I did.. Sort of, finishing my first race for the team in 14th. Now, to people who have not played the game, it may seem slightly irrelevant - not in the points, not on the podium, not important. But I was extremely pleased. I had been having an epic (as epic as a 14th-15th place battle can be) 5 lap battle with Rosberg, and finally managed to overtake him on the last corner, literally standing up and punching the air when I did so.
Of course, with assists on, down to easy modem, I probably could have won the race. But when a game has truly immersed me, I prefer to make it realistic. And as my next race finishes were 12th, 8th, DNF, 19th, I would say that is pretty much in line with the real Lotus. But then to my greatest hour. Pitting late at Spa, I had managed to outwit the rest of the drivers in waiting for the rain to come. I saw the darker clouds, radioed to the pits for wet tyres, and then made my stop. Then the rain came. Every other driver had to re pit, which pushed me up the field, and the pack trailing in my wake. Sensing Hamilton right behind me, and now with the correct tyres, I increased my engine, lowered downforce to combat the rain... And proceeded to fly off on the next corner. However, I finished the race in 2nd place.

As you can tell, the game sucks you in. You feel a real part of everything. The game looks fantastic, feels amazing, and the sounds are individual to each team. The small details are fantastic on the game.. But there are certain, rather large, glaring errors which stunt this games amazingness.

Bugs, bugs, bugs. Theres a bug which delays you leaving a pit stop if there is a car in the vicinity of you – vicinity being nearest mile.. The cars on track do not match their lap times. You have no way of knowing if you are gaining on the person infront. The cars randomly turn into ghosts, allowing you to crash into them, with no impact.. But then you are on the gravel. Fans of the game are hopeful that this will obviously be rectified via a patch.. But its pretty ridiculous the game was allowed to be released with these ridiculously large and glaring errors.

But weirdly enough.. the game is just brilliant. You really have a sense of acheivement gaining a place tht means nothing, and you have to work for it. The various assists and difficulties mean that you can really tailor this game to exactly whats right for you.

By no means is this game perfect, the glitches are ridiculous, but should a magic patch fix everything.. its going to be pretty close.

Rating – 8/10
Fair Price - £30 (£40 if no issues!)

Halo Reach

2010-09-26T20:24:00.001+01:00

Let's be honest from the get go here. Halo, the whole series has never been about the story line or single player mode. It is primarily a multiplayer game, a very very good one.

Before 8 year olds were running around in playgrounds mimicking killing each other (with weapon names most military generals would probably be alien to), after their parents decided that the Call Of Duty games were an adequate baby sitter (seriously, and we wonder why the next generations are increasingly violent?!), there was Halo.

Few would argue that Halo was the first online gaming sensation. Virtually every xbox owner who had any kind of Internet connection played the game, and subsequently "lag" became a household term.. Halo has evolved with the years, and now Reach has been released, I was extremely skeptical with it's market pulling power, especially with COD games now being released with the regulatory timing of a player being bought by Manchester City. How silly did I feel though, when release day came, and I saw queueing out of shops to get a hold of a copy. It seems Halo has retained fans, although with comment "yeah it has jet packs, so cool.", produced from one spectacularly stereotypical looking Halo fan, i was unsure how much uniqueness this game would show.

First impressions of the game, visually, was nothing amazing. When I saw the first piece of level on Planet Reach, I initially though "Mass Effect". Then on further reflection thought "Avatar". However I mean neither of those in a particularly good way. It seems like a half budget copy. Whilst roaming, some backgrounds still seem like a cardboard cut out. Players still move with a certain rigidity. Levels are predictable. This is by no means the worst looking games you will ever see, but with landscapes in other games literally taking it g your breath away, this falls relatively short.

But as I said, Halo has never been bought to look at the trees..

Single player. (Honestly, stay reading, it gets better.) I honestly know people who have played over 100 hours on Halo 3, and are yet to play the single player mode. Again, this one is nothing special. It lacks the intensity of missions in Call Of Duty, the amusement of Just Cause 2, although in all honesty, virtually every game does. However, it's ok. It would pass the time if your router breaks.. The levels awe far too long in most cases, which is rarely seen as a negative, but the missions lack variation, and checkpoints too!

But, again, as previously said, it's not about that.

Online however, the game is once again superb. Halo Reach somehow manages to bring players of all abilities together - and every game is relatively fair. Personally, in all honesty, I am awful online in FPS games. I can survive for about 20 seconds tops on COD before having to respawn because I have been humiliated by a 16 year old child. On Halo though, the game is much slower, and therefore much more enjoyable. It's hard to say exactly what makes the game just so good online, so please have a go and try for yourself!

Overall - 7/10
Fair Price - £27

Fifa 09 vs Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

2008-10-06T10:02:00.001+01:00

Every year around October time, 2 rival sets of fans join together in one of the most hotly contested competitions in the world.

What is the years best football game? Fifa, or PES.

This year however, its less of a contest than last year – which was, by no means, a close run thing. Whilst not everyone will always agree on any verdict, even some of the original die hard fan boys have swapped over to the “dark side” in recent years, and this year some people seem to be flocking 1 particular way faster than speedy Gonzalez going downhill, with roller blades on and a rocket attached to his back.

Like all runner up medallists, I shall drag the game up who have underperformed and left their fans unsatisfied (again) up first.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

In short; Underwhelming. Extremely underwhelming. Even more underwhelming than last year.

The AI again is non existent, oppositions make robotic runs, and defenders go to block you the same way, every single time. You feel like your playing a game, not playing a game of football. There is no desire to play past a few games, especially in single player, and this is compounded by the frustration of inconsistent ball pace, apparent inconsistent gravity and player animations about as realistic as a Manchester United shirt in Cyprus.

The game play is marginally better than 2008’s offering, but this is nothing to shout about. Konami have simply failed to bring the PES series into next gen gaming, and in such, are losing a huge market. There is a lack of substantial improvement in both graphics and game play though, and especially after last year, most expected a much stronger performance than this. The same little niggly problems are back from last year too – unrealistic kick action, late ball movement, lack of AI intelligence – but they have managed to fix the frame rate issue that annoyed everyone so much for so long.

However, this may be the kick up the ass Konami needs to knuckle down and try to recreate the Pro Evo game that we all loved so much from around Pro Evo 4 times. I hope so anyway, when Fifa and PES were close, it was a lot more fun to have banter with your mates. Now the only ones who stick up for PRO are shareholders or deluded..

Anyway though, onto..

Fifa 09.

Quite simply.. The best football game since Sensible Soccer on the MegaDrive. By a considerable margin too. Since playing this game far too much since release day, I am yet to find any part of the actual game that I can heavily criticise. (I never thought that I would ever say that a few years ago when I was a PES-head). The game is ridiculously realistic, and the sheer amount of attention the developers have put into it have not been missed. Teams play the way they do in real life, not just have the same players.. Individual players are so similar to real life – for example.

Run with Ronaldo - you will either get past your man or get a foul about 9 times out of 10.
Stand their with Vidic – someone will run into you and die.
Torres – Always in the right place for a shot, silky running
Adebayor – Powerful shots, not a lot else.
Lampard – Shoot at the corner flag, get a deflection off of 14 players, and watch the ball trickle past the keeper whilst Andy Gray sings what a marvellous and talented player he really is and how he meant to do that.
Robinho – Constantly sigh and have a go at his team mates for not being good enough.
Terry – Cries whenever he treads on a daisy on the pitch.

There are hundreds of little things that make this game so brilliant, not to mention the highly addictive “Be A Pro” mode, where you take control of a single player for the path of a few seasons, and work your way from Reserves to Club Hero. Plus, there is a 10 vs 10 mode, where you are a single player in a team made up of 9 other people playing as a single players, against another team of 10 doing the same thing. I apologise if that’s as clear as a Stokies STD test, but hopefully you get the picture.

In all serious though, the game is a must buy. Whether you have any friends, or find them all online, the game is a real gem and I cannot recommend it enough.

Final Score

Fifa 09 9(.5) -- 6 Pro Evolution Soccer 2009.

Lost

2008-07-22T23:13:00.000+01:00

Lost was and is a massive television show revolving around the survivors of a plane crash on a desert island. The plot has more turns in it than Hockenheim, and trying to explain it would take longer than having Rebecca from Big Brother read you a Jean Paul Satre novel. However, having watched quite a fair amount of the TV show, I slotted into the game relatively easy.

The game however relies too heavily on prior knowledge of the show. Had I not seen the show before, I would have been as lost as a Universty of Manchester student without Wikipedia.

The gameplay is interesting though, and playing the part of a photographer you are subject to various flashbacks detailing your history as you attempt to discover more about the island you are marooned on, and yourself. After some getting used to, the camera controls are easy to get to grips with, but can be a challenge to master. The game is as forgiving as Jeremy Clarkson is about pollution though, and all key pictures must be perfectly focused and aimed. Another large part of the game is puzzle solving – which starts off as hard as it finishes. This will probably require a lot of guess work at first, or a handy prompt from the internet, but once you get the hang of it, its not too bad. In the way that should you be allergic to fish, having a goldfish swimming in your mouth wouldn’t be too bad – you put up with it.

The game is short though. 5 hours and 32minutes short in my case. Plus, after this, I had no real desire to play it again. Apart from of course, the fact I almost had 100% of the achievement points and it was rude not to finish it off. So, silly to buy it? Yes really. Feel free to rent it though, especially should you be a fan of the show. Plus, in that time you should be easily able to complete it.

Just to end, the graphics and the game look superb. The fact that you see little apart from jungle didn’t deter me much either, but this may because I have been stuck in a lift for a longer period of time.

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

Lost : Via Domus (Xbox, Ps3, PC) - 6/10 – short-flight – Don’t Buy (Rent)

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Las Vegas 2

2008-07-22T23:11:00.001+01:00

When starting to play Rainbow 6 Vegas 1, I was instantly disappointed. O, another desert type level. Sand and broken houses in a country that is blatantly

Iraq

. In fact, I really had to dig in to get through this, till I actually got to Vegas.

I found the controls easy to get to grips with, and the gadgets were actually used throughout the game which made it useful.

At this point you may be wondering why exactly I’m talking about Rainbow 6 Vegas 1, and not 2.. Well, the games are incredibly similar. Whilst this was going to be expected – RSLV2 is of course the sequel, this does seem to be a Vegas 1.5 type game. It doesn’t feel like a whole new game. How to explain.. its like, eating a Big Mac, then getting another one, but this one has got angus beef in it, instead of whatever it is that goes into the normal one. It’s the same burger, but a slight difference allows it to come under a separate title. Sorry, im hungry.

However, the gameplay again is almost spot on. The story is fun and keeps your interest, and the levels have a pleasing learning curve – a concept a lot of other games seem to miss. Although sometimes the game can be too dark – (as in, the screen too dark, not too dark as in, having to kill a rabbit and eat it in front of a little girl) the graphics were very good overall. But, the tactical shooter tag has sort of died on this title. More often than not, you can achieve the same outcome by shooting the funk out of everything than you can from the sneaky shooting action that made LV1 such a good game.

The story is basic, but lets face it, its realistic – well, realistic for a game anyway. Anyway, at the end of the day, I enjoyed the game. It was fun, and the Co-op and multiplayer modes were brilliant – but as mentioned, it didn’t seem that it was whole new game.

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

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Las Vegas 2 (Xbox, Ps3, PC) - 7/10 – Similar – Buy

Nascar 08

2008-07-10T23:55:00.004+01:00

Fast, dangerous, glamorous, and in serious need of an occasional right corner.

It was always likely that a non Nascar fan (me), would find it hard to enjoy a game that always seemed limited from the start. However, the start of the game showed promise. Well designed mini games help you get to grips with the game, and at first, the game is entertaining. Then your digits get tired of holding down accelerate, and moving the analogue stick from slightly left to slightly more left.

This is where I run out of things to say for the game play. The graphics are alright, the menus are great, and the story mode of the game is fresh and entertaining. But the problem is, by your 4^th or 5^th race, you are bored. O, another circle type circuit. There is also a huge gap in difficulties – beginner is far too easy, but progressing up a level makes you feel like you’ve never played a game before.

There is little variation between races, and the feeling of each car and driver being different has backtracked to F1 97 days, where all cars followed an exact line, were impossible to knock off of it, and only overtook at certain places. One final dig is the inconsistency of cautions given – gently nudge a car in front and you’ll receive a caution or pit penalty, but when you are taken out by a t-bone manoeuvre you see on Bravo 50 times a day, causing you to roll and ruin your car – your opponent is apparently invisible, and you receive a caution for unnecessary roughness – and while I was apologetic for getting my teeth all over the track, I did feel it was a little unfair.

Whilst I may be a little biased, I just find it a little hard to see how well this game will keep you interested past the first hour.

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

Nascar 08 (Xbox, Ps3) - 4/10 – circles – Don’t Buy

NFL Tour

2008-07-10T23:25:00.001+01:00

Having played, loved, beaten and replayed the past few Madden games, I was slightly dubious about how good the spin off, NFL Tour could be. This was of course not eased by the sheer monstrosity that was Fifa Street 3 – with its bendy players, awful controls, and game play that has been bettered by a drunk Cuban blacksmith called Eduardo.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. Considering I picked up this game for just over a tenner, within minutes I was happy with the financial risk. The game oozes playability. For non long term American Football/ Madden series fans, the game can be controlled easily and effectively, and new controls are easier to pick up than a girl if you were David Beckham.

The game is simple, and the street feel of it, along with new little tricks and skills to master gives you a whole new sensation than of Madden. The game modes are a little limited, mini games are few, but the brilliant way the game is set up, the main game mode is fast enough to keep your attention, whilst keeping you attention for more. The “create-a-player” is back as well, admittedly very much shrunken, but still always a welcome addition.

The worst part of the game by far is the commentary. After 5 minutes, you may well be laughing at the commentator as he makes fun of himself. Saying phrases such as “don’t you hate how video game commentators always repeat themselves”, or “I’m sure I just said that”, but the novelty quickly wears off. In a roughly 8 minute game, I heard “Repetitive line coming up”, a piss-taking 12 times. I mean common, even Jamie Carragher has more to say than that.

Aside from that though, the game is a rare spin off gem.

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

NFL Tour (Xbox, Ps3) - 9/10 – Touchdown – Bargain, Buy

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

2008-07-09T20:56:00.002+01:00

Where to start. I loved Super Smash Bros Melee for the GameCube in 2002. It was imaginative, easy to get to grips with, a good party game and with a large cast of characters to choose from, there was plenty of playability. This time around though.. well it’s the same. But its aged. There is nothing new this time, and the controls are suddenly impossible. Like waking up, getting your hands cut off, then being told to do a Rubiks cube. Infact I dug up my old GameCube controller, and this was marginally easier, but stil not great.

Apart from the fact the controls are hard anyway, the actions and moves are awful. There is no distinction between them, and there are only a few for each character on the game, half of which send you hurling yourself off the edge, killing yourself in the process. You can play the game as your usual Nintendo favourites, Mario, Peach, Yoshi, Kirby, and the occasional Pokemon. This time, Sega has got involved, sending Sonic into the game.
The game still is fun, but you sometimes feel that the game is trying too hard. In the way the Jordan, o I’m sorry, she’s grown up now – “Katie Price” tries too hard to be attractive. The 1 Player mode is monotonous, with little difference to the original mode. It is enjoyable, but like too many games released recently, the game is designed around a multiplayer and or online style of play, which is fine, if you’re alright at the game. Instead, you can find yourself in a game, dead and back in the lobby within seconds. “fun”.

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

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) – 5/10 – Expired – Don’t Buy

Beijing 2008

2008-06-29T23:37:00.001+01:00

Athens 2004, the last instalment of the official Olympic video games was without a doubt, one of the best multiplayer games for me, along with the high flying classics, Pro/Fifa, Madden, Mario Kart, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, Uefa Euro 2008.. You get the idea.

The idea of alternate button pressing for hours on end will seem like hard work, but its well worth it. After we found Athens at uni, and proceded to play it to death over a month, I dont think I have ever felt healthier. Days and days of blisters and used socks.. (putting a sock over your fingers and sliding them back and forth over the 2 alternate buttons is a much faster way of running/swimming etc..) was amazing fun.

And I'm delighted to say that Beijing is no change. More events, more challenges, a better career mode is only let down by the severe lack of the fundamental aspect of a track and field game - ALTERNATE BUTTON BASHING. Its like replacing having a great looking steak, tastes good, smells great.. but to eat it you have to drink it after its been in the blender.. It not how you imagine or want to be doing it.

Yes, there is some. But why o why am I sat here, rotating sticks to lift up a weight? No, I want to alternate button bash.. Its a fundamental aspect that is sorely missed, missing like a log book from a mysteriously cheap Romanian car. But yes, it was still fun to play multiplayer - you have events where everyone is relatively equal, and some where the gap between people is equivilant to the space between Jennifer from Big Brothers teeth. But at the end, you are normally pretty close. Or you would be if I wasnt so useless at the Kayaking. Kayaking is by far the worst and most embarresing 5 minute experience in my life. Ive had better control of my bladder on the first night out when going back to Uni and ant decides to play drinking games all day and we have a crate each before leaving and then having to sit in a minibus for 30 minutes and then running to the toilets in the club only to find out we have lost everyone.... than I had when playing the Kayaking. Stupid event.

Anyway, the graphics are good, the gameplay is good, the sense of 1-up-manship on your mates is still there - its a great party game.

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

Beijing 2008 (Xbox, Ps3) - 8/10 – goldmedaly – Buy

Earth Defence Force 2017

2008-06-29T23:17:00.001+01:00

Ok, so, randomly when at my brothers great new flat he decides to pick up a game which he's had for a year and a bit, never played, and bought because it was a tenner. Most people would have never heard of it, a relatively old limited budget game from Japan with the "aliens" and "army" type approach. But this game is different, and something really special.

Earth Defence Force 2017 for the Xbox360 succeeds where other budget games have failed for 1 main reason. It kept the game, gameplay, story and everything else simple.

Within 3 minutes of putting in the disk, I was standing destroying giant ants from outerspace (and most of the surrounding city) with a huge rocket launcher. As a EDF agent, you repel and defeat enemy defeats with an array of weapons. Kills = item drops, and if your lucky, more weapons. Its what all games should be like. Simple, and most importantly, really, really fun to play.

If that doesn't make you interested, then I dont know what you want out of a game. After playing for 3 hours, me and my brother had completed 3% of the game - and of course, it does not get old for obvious reasons.

1. Weapons
2.Destruction
3.Giant Ants
4.Bigger weapons.

Anyway, keep an eye out for it. Its pretty rare, but well worth a £10 note.

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

Earth Defence Force 2017 - 9/10 – boomy – Buy

Rock Band

2008-06-25T00:15:00.003+01:00

Rock Band is the next logical progression in the latest "talent" series of gaming, following on from games like "Sing Star", "Guitar Hero", and the more obscure (but amazing) Samba de Amigo.

The game allows you to dominate the world of Rock like a Scouser with a fiver rules Liverpool. The main difference is of course, that you are able to play in your band as either/or/all of the guitar, bass, vocal, or drummer. Prices with kit (1 guitar, microphone, drum kit) are around £200, which is a serious amount of money for, what is at the end of the day, 1 computer game. But is it worth it?

Well, put it this way. Buy an additional guitar controller, invite round 3 mates, and see what happens. (This is of course, providing you have mates. Failing this, find 3 of the cleanest hobos you know - and offer to pay them with turps).

The result really is quite magical. As you may know from other "team" multiplayer games, you normally will be at each others throats faster than Vanessa Feltz is on a cream cake. But with Rock Band, you immediately bond. For a brief moment, you forget that your mates have shagged your sister, bitten off a bit of your ear when drunk, and set up a facegroup book with graphic photoshopped images of you with Michael Barrymore. You are, for all purposes, now bigger than the Beatles.

The timing on the game is great, and a varied song choice will please almost anyone.

9/10, pretty revolutionary, one of the best multiplayer experiences since Mario Kart.

The End Of Exclusive Games?

2008-06-23T19:01:00.003+01:00

Most PS3 buyers bought for future potential. The release of Metal Gear Soild 4, and Gran Turismo meant many people bought a overpriced console because that would be the only way they could buy the games they wanted.

Since and apart from its opening week and the following week, PS3's have not outsold their rival Xbox360's in any single week, month. Saying that, neither has outsold Wii's demand. So this means added pressure on games to sell better than a job paper in Liverpool.

The biggest release of the year, Grand Theft Auto 4 sold out in 92% of shops/stores/companies it was released in. Extra imports were brought in, and copies sold for up to £90 on ebay. This game of course, was released on both consoles.

Metal Gear Solid 4, released solely for the PS3, sold out in just over 10%.

The price of developing a game for 1 console is not only big as it stretches what the console can do, but also the pressure on it to sell to 100% of the console owners. 2 weeks after it full release, Metal Gear Solid 4 is still a loss for Sony (ie, enough havent been sold to make it a profit).

So this probably means that in the future, exclusive games will not be as popular or released just on 1 console. This is apparent with the new Gran Turismo, as talks have begun which detail bringing on GT on both the PS3, and Xbox 360. This will not please many PS3 owners, but will make the shareholders of Sony alot less angry at the lack of demand for the new games.

Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns Of The Patriots

2008-06-13T04:11:00.005+01:00

Ok, lets get things straight. I love the Metal Gear Solid. I actually didn’t buy another game for 6 months after the first one was released on the Playstation, because I played it all the way through, 3 times. The idea of not actually having to fight anyone to beat the game was revolutionary, its stealth system was great, and the series has always had cutting edge graphics, even when you were hiding in a cardboard box.

But the best part of the game, was actually playing it, and the amazing gameplay made you want to keep playing, and playing the story.

So, now to MGS4.

Its rubbish. Really, really, really not worth the money. If you have a great store with a return policy, then you might want to buy it, look at the new graphics and the new glorified remote controlled video camera on wheels, which looks like a robot from star wars has had some sexy time with a microwave, then return it. The annoying this is, the gameplay is still good, but they have tried far too hard to make it unique. There as no many little niggly controls you use once or twice, it seems a little pointless, like learning how to cook beef wellington, then never actually doing it – you end up feeling like you could have just done with a pot noodle, or… well whatever the game equivalent is.

The major downside is that you get bored with the endless, endless cutscenes and in game movie bits. This isn’t like a game like mass effect, with an in depth conversation system, you can literally be sat there for 10’s of minutes without doing anything. You also have the feeling that the game is stretched out, so it appears longer, so the story line is very sparse, with very few suprises coming your way. I really do wonder what the percentage of playing to watching time is.

I actually died a few times because I went to make a brew/drop the kids off at the pool/went for a night out, and when I came back, I was in the middle of a gun fight. The game, just doesn’t hold your attention.

7/10 – Bit of a waste of a huge, huge build up. Wait for a MGS movie to come out next, they are pretty much there now anyway.

Sega Superstars Tennis

2008-03-25T00:51:00.005Z

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

Bully : Scholarship Edition

2008-03-08T19:17:00.004Z

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..

7/10 – B+ - Buy

Burnout - Paradise?

2008-02-17T18:59:00.005Z

Burnout Paradise is the 6th game in the series. So is it worth forking out another £40 for this one? Well, yes in short. When playing it, it doesnt feel like a Burnout title.

The old style of menu selected game modes are gone, and replaced by a free roaming interface where similar to need for speed, to play missions, you have to find them. There are over 70 playable cars and 20 square miles of roads to explore from the start. Nowhere is blocked, so you are able to go everywhere from the start. You do miss the thrill of going somewhere new, and unlocking new areas, but by having the whole city free to roam from the start it means no problems in where Burnout Paradise excels, its online mode.

There is no need to save your progress, quit your game, log on, search.. it does it all from in game. You are (almost) instantly connected to a 'freeburn' game with up to 7 other drivers. Online you can follow quests, race with other drivers, or annoy the little stupid kids by continually crashing into them, scoring 'take downs'. The online mode turns out to be more fun than ringing Asda and getting their staff to put a call out for your friend Tess Cosis-Cheaper on their tannoy. While im on the subject of Asda, their customer service is awful, they wouldnt take a game back because their was a finger print on the disk.. grow up now eh?

Anyway, this games single player also boasts an impressive game time. Licenses pass fast, but there is also 400 barriers, 120 Billboards, 45 drive throughs and 50 Super Jumps to find. O and 75 cars to unlock through various means. There are no loading times, and loads of different ways for you to race/smash you car about. Stunt runs, marked man, races, road rage all mixed with cars to suit each event (aggression, speed, stunt). NB No matter what car, crashes always look good.

Negatives? Well of course.. The game is called Burnout : Paradise. The signs in the city say 'welcome to Paradise'. Not Paradise City, and even if they did.. is there really any need to play 'Paradise City' by Guns and Roses that many times?? I mean, im not saying its a bad song, but how long can you listen to that screeching noise? Other complaints.. um.. O apart from the annoying little kids you find everywhere online now, there are also people who have no clue how to play and can make online challenges less fun than watching a football game on setanta.

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

Brnout Paradise - 9/10 - addictive - Buy, because everyone else will..!

Uncharted. Drakes Fortune

2008-02-15T11:49:00.006Z

One of the most hyped games on the ps3, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune see you play an ancestor or Sir Francis Drake, who follows clues in the quest to find treasure left behind. Only he is not alone in the search.

The game launches you straight into the action, with it starting on a boat. With a whole gang of modern day pirates coming at you.

The graphics, as we have come to expect are good, and the cutscenes are amazing. Sometimes though, you have a feeling that you should be playing some parts, rather than watching them. Apart from yourself, you have 2 allies in the game. Sully, an old man who casues you more problems than your stereotypical loud mouth 'friend' on a night out in Stoke, and also Elana, the 'Love Interest' of the game. However, she is not the typical love interest at all. She can do things without you making her, she can hold weapons, and believe it or not, actually kill people for you. In the hard difficulty, it is impossible to complete without allowing her to help you..

Ok, there are a few negatives. The camera angle does make it really obvious where exactly you are supposed to go. As good as the graphics are, the limted size of the levels is obvious, as there is only really one way you can go throughout the game, getting lost is rarer than a happy 14 year old emo. The game is also a little short, admittedly, no game keeps me going for long, but I had this game completed on medium in about 9 hours. I'm currently playing through the hard difficulty, and the only real difference is the accuracy of the enemies shots. The boss fight too i had completed on the second attempt, compare that to the 4 days of metal gear solid, or the never ever cos its so bloody hard boss fight of heavenly sword.

Anyway, i thought this game overall was really good. Its the first action/adventure game ive enjoyed in a while, and this is partly due to its tomb raider-esque feel. The playing system was good, controls easy to pick up, and addictiveness massive. I mean, there are some games i stop playing because im bored, and some that i stop playing because i realise i should have been asleep 4 hours ago, and this is the later..

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

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 8/10 - treasured - Buy

Tiger Woods - Rough As.

2008-02-13T00:35:00.001Z

I bought Tiger Woods 08, again for the PS3 as my Xbox is still broken. (Thanks Microsoft) Ok, ill start with the positives. The graphics are amazing, and the ability to create your own character is a brilliant, mine actually resembled me!

Thats quite enough of that.

Its not often a game take a step back from its predecessor. However, after playing tiger woods 07 on the Xbox till death last year, i felt that this game was trying to be too technical, at the cost of gameplay.
Its like going to a Mcdonalds and buying 'THE NEW BIG MAC", only to find out, its new because its half the size and tastes of actual meat. Its still pleasant, but its not what you were expecting or really, bought the game for. Or the Burger. Whatever makes sense.
I understand im picking, but for someone who has played previous Tiger Woods, this game is instantly frustrating. There were faults with almost all shots played. For those who dont know, tiger woods is played by moving the analogue stick backwards and forwards. The straighter the line made, the straighter the shot, the better the timing of the swing, the better the power.. and so on.

But the game kept on insisting me and others were hooking the ball every single shot. This was tried after a restart of the game, and the same happened. I mean, we could see we werent hooking it, but it was still saying we were. Its like when.. no matter how much someone tries to tell you again and again that a french accent is sexy.. We all know its not the case, and although your input is far different. Ultimately, you just get annoyed and give up. O im sorry, im wrong. Of course they dont just sound like they're speaking out of their nose, how silly of me. Or in this case.. yes tiger woods 08, im hooking it.. ok..

Anyway, apart from the awful controls, there are small bits that you miss. The aiming system on 07 was better, the putting is near impossible, there is no way to speed up the shots. O and of course, with all EA games, there is more chance you'll meet an honest german than being able to connect up to their servers.

Overall, not impressed, and i shall be taking it back asap and swapping it for Uncharted Drakes Fortune. Speaking of which..

It is not often you play a demo of a game you were not convinced of its appeal, and after know you are going to buy it. Uncharted Drakes Fortune is one of these games for me. So ill review it when ive played it!

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

Tiger Woods 08 - 3/10 - backpedal - Don't buy.. plain as that.

PES vs Fifa & Something Terrible Has Happened..

2008-02-10T23:21:00.000Z

On saturday afternoon, when playing football (and performing an amazing save), something awful happened.. this..

Its not a magic picture, but just incase.. that massive lump below my thumb isnt supposed to be there..

I tore muscle tissue in my hand, meaning that movement of my thumb is very limited, and will be for a week or so. Anyone who cant see where im going here?

It has become very painful and near on impossible for me to play any computer games.
But anyway, I've decided to review this years/seasons two main football games. These 2 are of course Fifa 08 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. To ensure a fair contest, i'm doing both on the same console, the PS3. I'll start off by saying that since I have prefered PES since Pro Evo 4, I have been heavily swayed by the smoother gameplay, and not been bothered by the unlisenced names. But every year it seems like PES has slowed down, the play more bitty, whilst Fifa has slowly improved, the passes even occasionally going where you press them to. But anyway..

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 v Fifa 08

First off, Pro Evo 2008. The case looks as good as ever, the disk and opening sequence build the exitement, and then the gameplay.. Well.. never have I regretted spending £40 so fast. The frame rate it awful, the longest passage of smooth play is a few seconds and then it stops to work out why it was working. Die hard Pro Evo fans will tell you 'turn off some features, it runs fine!'. These few features to my experimentation are no commentary, no SFX, no BGM, no stadium effects.. o and actually installing the game on your hard drive.. And guess what? There is still a noticable delay. Also, to anyone who hasnt noticed, you can score pretty much every single time by cutting in on the edge of the box and letting the ball hit their toblerone handed keeper and pop out to you forwards.. realistic eh? So.. is the gameplay still worth this effort? In short, no. Although most will still try to argue that despite these set backs, Pro Evo is still the best game. It is obvious these have never given Fifa 08 a chance.

Straight off, Fifa 08 is the most enjoyable football game i have played since Pro Evo 4, and before that Sensible Soccer (by the way, download that now from Xbox live if you can) on the megadrive. The graphics are superb, no skipping and the loading times are non existent, well there are some - but you can actually play in the loading arena while you wait. The better commentary is more varied, and without Mark Lawrenson! BGM soundtrack is awesome and as for the previously less superior gameplay? Its actually just as good, if not better (no lag too). The ability to score screamers is actually there, but there is no sure fire way to score. This game is so enjoyable, and finally Fifa has actually shown itself as a world class football game in gameplay as well as graphics. And it has a lifespan. EA are looking into patches for the game which will update team rosters after the next few transfer windows.

Long story short?

Pro Evolution 2008 4 - 9 Fifa 08

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

Pro Evolution 2008 - 4/10 - samey - get fifa instead.

Fifa 08- 9/10 - suprising - definite buy, even if you have no friends and will only be playing the single player version

Guitar Hero 3 - Legends of Gaming?

2008-02-08T15:24:00.000Z

Guitar Hero has been one of the most enjoyable series of games released, but is the idea getting old now?

Guitar Hero 3 sets out similar to the previous 2, but now there is a Wireless guitar on all 3 major consoles. This allows you to wander aroud your room, jump off the bed, go down on your knees without restriction, preventing you from being pulled back towards the console like on a bungee run, or, like how my playstation 2 died, pulling the console off of your desk.

To people new to the guitar hero series, the experience of playing the game is hilarious, challenging and fresh. However, to veterans, the format is exactly the same. Sure, the online modes are better, faster, and there are far more battle modes. To complete some stages you have to beat a 'guitar legend'. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Slash (Most bands at some point in his life). This is, slightly different, but.. your still playing guitar.

It sounds like im having a go, but the desire to play through the single mode more than once is non existent. And there are only so many rounds of so called 'legend' bands you can play through until you get to any good songs (Reign in Blood by Slayer, One by Metallica.... thats pure class). I understand that the game cannot have huge rock songs every single one, but alot of the songs I have barely ever heard of.

However, overall i would reccommend buying this game, especially if you access to the internet. The ability to download songs has been freed right up, and even recent songs youve heard of are now relatively cheap. But remember, in the next couple of months, Rock Band hits the shelves. Thats the ability to play the guitarist, bassist, and now the drummer and singer too. ( Yes there are going to be a mic and a drum kit included), and with alot of hype surrounding it, you might be worth holding on for that.

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

Guitar Hero 3 Legends of Rock- 6/10 - chordy - personally, if you are short of money, wait till Rock Band.

Super Mario, Bee Mario, Ice Mario

2008-02-08T00:42:00.000Z

Another day, another hosts of alter egos we didnt know existed from our friend mario. Only 5 more stars today, but i had other things to do! O and another hard work out on Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games.. with G putting extra effort into his pole vault.. (See right)

I am still, after 21 days waiting for my package to arrive from microsoft so i can send off my xbox to get it fixed. Its now getting beyond a joke, and my 360 games are taunting me. You would have thought after millions of the same fault with the Xbox 360 and the ring of death, they would have worked out a faster system of fixing the system.

O well, heres the view i get when i turn on my xbox, and roughly 55% of all xbox owners will discover at some point in their playing life..

I hate it so much. Ladies and Gentlemen, the ring of death.

Im ending the day playing NBA Live 08 on the Playstation 3. Very similar to the 07 version, but with slightly better graphics, and a much improved shooting and tactical system. The gameplay flows well, but occasionaly the ball will pass to no-one. Helpful when games do that.. American sports games always tend to be alot tighter than fifa is, and everygame is contested right to the end, no matter what team you are playing against. I have not a clue what im doing in the season mode really, just playing each game when they come along.

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

NBA Live 08- 8/10 - swoosh - if you like basketball, or just love multiplayer sports games - buy

Mario, Sonic, Mario, Knuckles

2008-02-06T21:09:00.000Z

More Super Mario Galaxy today, and again, more Mario & Sonic Olympics. The Olympics really is a great group game, taught 2 new people to play today, in the space of about 5 minutes. The Wrists are still caining but with all great games, you play on regardless. The PS3 has really taken a back seat at the minute, Fifa 08 hasnt been touched in days!

Super Mario Galaxy... really though.. what a game. Im on 43 stars now, and im happy to replay all levels to find hidden stars. Every level is well thought out, and fun to play. Today i had to save luigi, and i continue on the trail of princess peach. Its getting hard to distinguish between the games though now, i keep trying to get mario to throw a javelin, or long jump over gaps.

Also my brain grade has risen on Big Brain Academy, im now a B. Not bad for a student with enough time to write a blog about computer games. Big Brain Academy is a fun game, as well as multiplayer benifits. The only thing is that the single player is slightly limited. The want to go back and play the same exercises again and again is doubtful. But now, a copy can be found for £15 it is a great budget game

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

Big Brain Academy (Wii) - 7/10 - expanding - for £15 its a good deal - buy

The Day I Killed My Wrists

2008-02-06T09:51:00.000Z

Nintendo have the habit of building really addictive games, not addictive like BioShock is, in that you desperately want to find someone your looking for, or Fifa, cos you really want to score that 45yard screamer with Gary Neville (it happened!), but just the gameplay is so enjoyable.

Nintendo have a new masterpiece in Super Mario Galaxy.

The variation of the game is endless, the fact that my mate came into my room and asked me if it was still the same game speaks for itself. The controls are basic and easy to pick up, and like all Mario adventures, there is humour and a large range of activities to be found. I am not saying that you are not interested in the story line, but when was the last time you were playing a mario game and were actually concerned about Princess Peach?

They have worked mini games that are missions into the play, so it isnt just space hopping, and of course, like with all Wii games, there is a heightened sense of involvement and you jerk, spin and jump, using the nunchuck and the wii-mote. Im about 25 stars in, and once ive completed it? Ill play it all over again.

In a completely different genre, with similar characters however was Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. This is one of the most enjoyable 'fun' multiplayers since Mario Kart all those years ago. Every event can be picked up quickly, which means no-one starts whining because they 'dont get it', well almost no-one.

Along with the classic events - 100metres, hurdles, javelin, there are certain 'pimped out' events, that are called dream events. I try not to play these in multiplayer as i think they are not as good as the usual events though. Still enjoyable. Anyway, i completed this game, unlocked all the events etc in 6 hours, but with any great mulitpayer game, this is ideal as it means more multiplayer action.

I should point out my Xbox360 is currently broken, so it may be a while before thats sorted.

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

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 10/10 - revolutionary - you havent got this already?!

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) - 9/10 - Sociable - definetly buy if you have friends.