Recent Games.. Red Dead Redemption and Just Cause 2

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

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

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

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

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

Nascar 08

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

Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns Of The Patriots

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

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

Burnout - Paradise?

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

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.

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..

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?

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

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

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