Wherever you are in the world, if you are a gamer then chances are you would have found the screen of your choice to soak up the moment that Microsoft revealed their new console Xbox One. All the familiar buzzwords were repeated, such as ‘franchise’, ‘community’, ‘immersion’ and ‘innovation’. The main reason people tuned in, however, was to find out the answers to two questions that will make them part with their hard-earned cash: what does the in-game footage look like? And how much is it going to cost me?

It’s of no surprise that we are all going to have to wait a little longer yet, as Microsoft and Sony continue their little game of cat and mouse. An interesting revelation, though, is the confirmation that gamers will have to pay an extra fee to play pre-owned games on Xbox One.“On the new Xbox, all game discs are installed to the HDD to play,” a Microsoft representative told Wired.

The Wired article also reveals the following: “What follows naturally from this is that each disc would have to be tied to a unique Xbox Live account, else you could take a single disc and pass it between everyone you know and copy the game over and over. Since this is clearly not going to happen, each disc must then only install for a single owner.”

It also stated “Microsoft did say that if a disc was used with a second account, that owner would be given the option to pay a fee and install the game from the disc, which would then mean that the new account would also own the game and could play it without the disc.”

In a world where customers are turning their back on Apple for being too restrictive, this could open up a whole can of worms for the gaming industry. People cannot afford to purchase a console for £400 and games for £50 a title, and this is why the pre-owned and rental market is so strong. Especially when you consider the cost of big-name games on a tablet for under £5.

Restrictions really have no place in the modern digital world, and this really could be make or break for the next generation of consoles. I understand the reasons for the parties involved, but what I don’t appreciate is being hoodwinked by EA who recently had some unlikely positive headlines by announcing that they were dropping online passes because ‘their users didn’t like it’.

Five days after EA cancel the online pass, Microsoft announce pre-owned game fees.

As EA attempt to rebuild their reputation and prove to the world that they listen to their customer base, it appears that the reality was a deal was already confirmed that an alternative method of charging users was on its way anyway.

Generally gamers are a savvy switched-on bunch that spend a long time online reading the latest stories and are never going to fall for the usual bullshit, especially when the two announcements are under a week apart. I mean come on people, what do you take us for? A quick look on Twitter reveals that many have not forgotten the recent news, which is of no surprise considering that a good memory is essential for gaming.

I am not interested in my gaming console doing essentially what my TV does anyway, and certainly don’t want to read if my mate John is eating a sandwich via its social media features. I just want to play awesome games.

Make no mistake; there is war in your living room as TV, gaming, internet and cinema are all evolving into one big bubble. Companies are fighting to the death to make you choose their product, as conventional entertainment continues its decline. Sometimes though, I just want to play games, and I hope both Microsoft and Sony do not lose sight of this.

My dream game, surely?

Me and my shadow
Set two months after the events of Persona 4, our Player Character, now dubbed Yu Narukami (Yu = You. Get it?) is heading back to Inaba to spend the school holidays with the friends he reluctantly left behind. On the train there, he’s once again summoned to the Velvet Room, met by Igor who provides him with a cryptic message about his upcoming vacation. This obviously leaves Yu wondering (see how that works?) if something has gone amiss since he left.

After arriving and settling back in at his uncle’s house and taking to his room, his curiosity gets the better of him and he tries to view the Midnight channel. Sure enough, he sees something, but not what he expects. Rather than a potential murder victim, a TV Promo plays that shows our hero and all his old friends competing in a TV World-based fighting competition, hosted by their friend Teddie.

Perplexed, Yu calls Yosuke immediately, who relieves him by explaining that he’s safe and well. After meeting up with him, Yukiko and Chie the following day at Junes, they explain that although they’re safe, Kanji, Rise and Noato are nowhere to be seen. Naturally, it’s time for the investigation team to reform and head to the TV World. Once there, they’re tricked (underhandedly, of course) into facing each other in combat.

Vive la Investigation Team!

The story mode here is presented a little differently. Rather than the traditional fighting game format, P4A’s plays out like more of a virtual novel with each fight preceded by 5-10 minutes of witty and charming dialogue. How much you’re going to enjoy this aspect will depend entirely on how much you loved the game that Arena has spun from, as it’s presented in exactly the same style and is actually written by Persona 4’s director, Katsura Hashino.

If you’re not a fan of the RPG, then it’s likely you’re going to suffer a little in this mode, in spite of the lengths it goes to show you what came before. You’d be coming into a game with established characters and relationships and without the intimacy of getting to know them as you do in Persona 4, you’ll constantly feel like you’re missing a beat. If you’re already a Persona fan, however, then you’ll be in your element. As one of those myself, I found the chat and banter continually engaging as I reacquainted myself with these fantastic characters.

For everyone else, there’s the Arcade Mode, which condenses the story into a few sentences of dialogue pre-fight and keeps its slick fighting mechanics at the forefront of the experience.

Personsa!
In pure gameplay terms, Persona 4 Arena will be considered complex to many, and you wouldn’t really expect anything less from Arc System Works. P4A, however, while more testing of your memory and your speed of thought than your Street Fighters or Mortal Kombats, is a lot more accessible than Arc System Work’s more recent work with Blazblue. Blazblue, unfortunately, remains one of those games that I enjoy a whole bunch, but still haven’t really got the hang of in the way that I would like.

P4A does lift some of its basic mechanics from Blazblue, though, such as double jumps, dashing, air-dashing and back-steps. The last item on that list is one that I always forget about; too preoccupied with getting at my opponent than giving myself space and hitting on the counter.

Aside from those few things, P4A goes mostly in its own way. The handing feels less weighted and more freeing than Blazblue and the titular Personas make for a unique take on the genre, largely because they appear and attack concurrently to their owner. With this, there are four attack buttons at play; two for your character and two for their persona.

The character’s two attacks are split simply between weak and strong and, when used in union with all the customary joystick motions, are capable of much stronger special moves. As in any fighting game, stringing these moves together to keep on top of your opponent is essential. What helps make the game accessible for newcomers, however, are the auto-combos. Continuously tap the weak attack, and if you land the first hit, your character will automatically go into a reasonably powerful, multi-hit combo. Should you have 50% SP built up in the bar at the bottom of the screen, they’ll also end the combo with the character’s super attacks.

While the auto-combo is an unusually accessible element for this genre and could be considered cheap, worry not; P4A is a game of many deep systems.

For example, if you find yourself under relentless assault and the large B next to your health bar is full, you can perform what’s known as a ‘Burst’, which will break your opponent’s current combo and send them flying, giving you chance to recover. There are four types of bursts in offensive and defensive flavours, and are extremely useful in turning the outcome of a round. Their usage is limited, though, recharging over 90 seconds; and it doesn’t recharge in-between rounds, so use sparingly. Likewise, there are a number of ways to cancel your animations in the middle of an attack, but they’ll use a fair amount of your SP meter.

Effective use of your personas in battle is the real key to victory and, like your chosen warrior, they too have a myriad of their own standard attacks and special moves. Chaining their attacks with that of your character is the most enjoyable part of the game, as you strive to forge your own set of powerful combos. Be warned that the personas aren’t invincible, though. Should they be hit four times (as indicated by the blue cards at the top of the screen), they’ll be unavailable for 10 seconds which, let me tell you, is a long time to do without their power.

Kick her ass, Chie!

To help keep fights nice and balanced, when a fighter gets below a dismal amount of health, they’ll enter an ‘Awakening’ state, which boost defences and increases their max SP, while also supercharging the rate at which it builds.

Persona 4 fans will be delighted to find that there is plenty of fan service in combat. Status ailments from the RPG can befall your characters when hit with particular attacks and can change the nature of the fight. Getting hit by an electric attack, for example, prevents you from attacking directly, leaving you only able to use your persona, who is more vulnerable without you. Ice attacks, on the other hand, have you waggling your joystick to get free of your character’s icy restraints. You could also lose steady health by being poisoned, have your directional controls reversed with confusion or enter a rage state where your defenses are less reliable.

My favourite nod to Persona 4, though, is the All-Out Attack. This is an initially innocuous looking move that, when landed, dazes your opponent long enough for you to pummel the shit out of them in a cloud of smoke, just like attacking a downed enemy in the RPG! *swoon*

Of course, no fighting game would be complete without a flashy finisher and Persona 4 Arena outdoes itself in this regard. While you’ve got the standard super moves I mentioned earlier that take over the screen true to form, they’re nothing compared to the Instant Kills. If you’re on your match-winning round, have over 100 SP on your gauge and can hit the right button combo without getting interrupted, you can end the fight instantly in a spectacular fashion, which plays out in a fun in-game cut-scene. While some are harder to land than others, they’re hugely gratifying and are pure Persona 4 goodness. My favourite so far is Chie’s, who uses her Galactic Punt to knock her foe into the middle of next week.

The Story and Arcade modes are well-bolstered by a typical Training mode and a brilliant Challenge mode, the latter of which is easily the best way to master an individual character. As seen in other games, it sees you pick a fighter and then simply work your way through a list of moves as you try to emulate their biggest combos. The implementation here is great, made all the more user-friendly by the ability to see exactly how the given combo should look just one button away.

Golden
P4A is a spectacular feast for the eyes. Every special move, every attack; hell, even every typically mundane movement is elegantly animated in its loud, hand-drawn anime style. That art style, of course, is taken right from Persona 4 and while Atlus can take most of the plaudits in terms of its original design, the game looks undeniably outstanding brought to life in this manner by Arc System Works. It’s also every bit as ‘busy’ as you’d expect from this developer, with action and motion over every inch of the screen, especially vibrant when those fists start flying.

It’s not just in the game’s fights where it looks gorgeous, though, as its presentation all round is clean, sleek and greatly effective.

Every day’s great at your Junes!
A lot of Persona 4’s infectious J-pop soundtrack has made the move over to Arena, albeit in some cases remixed. It’s every bit as iconic and as fitting as it was before, but it’s also surprisingly effective in a game of an entirely different genre. In particular, the battle music from P4, tracks like “Reach out for the Truth” as a quick example, are especially well-suited to the ebb and flow of a fighting game.

The previous voice actors retain their duties as everyone’s favourite teen gang, and the game is all the better for it. Their performances here will play a large part in ensuring that existing P4 fans fall in line with the story, while the exuberant shouts in combat never get old.

Friends forever?

A Persona-al experience.
A lot of fighting games, quite rightly, will live and die by their online modes, though thankfully Persona 4 Arena’s is as admirable as any I’ve experienced before. Amazingly, I’ve encountered absolutely no lag whatsoever when jumping online, and at least one or two laggy matches are expected in even the most stable online fighters. It does, however, have this weird slowdown as the first round gears up, but the actual match is always flawless from the exact moment that the announcer says the word ‘fight’. Quirky, but whatever; if it means a lag-free fight then I’m down for it.

When approaching the game online I highly recommend taking a patient approach; there are some highly talented players out there and with the fast, flashy pace it can prove to be a very unforgiving learning ground at times. That said, it’s rarely ever unfair and as with any decent fighting game, putting in the hard yard and taking the time to hone your skills is half the fun. Rest assured; no matter what your level, when you do start accumulating those wins, it’s satisfying in a way that few other genres can match. The online training mode, which is pretty much what the name implies (a training mode, but online with a real person), will no doubt be a blessing for many.

Fast becoming a standard in the genre, replay recordings are also a key feature and, as you’d expect, you can upload your favourite battles to the server to show off your ability. The system to view other player’s replays could use a little work, however, as at the moment it’s a bit behind the competition when it comes to quickly finding exactly what you’re after, but I’m nit-picking, really.

Victory!
Fans of the genre that aren’t particularly fans of the Persona series might well come to struggle with some of Persona 4 Arena’s themes in the offline modes, but it’s impossible to fault the game’s multi-layered fighting mechanics. Based on those alone, it’s something of a paradox; a deep, complex, hard to master fighter, but one that’s somehow accessible at the same time, ensuring that newcomers aren’t totally lost or alienated, and are encouraged to learn and improve.

There have been a lot of high-quality, recommendable releases in this genre over the last year and beyond (and I should know; I’ve reviewed most of them!), but with its quick pace, action-heavy combat mechanics, timeless characters and completely stable online mode, it’s fast become one of my favourites.

I believe the item most people are interested in the new controller since that will have the most cosmetic alterations. Sony has confirmed that all will be fully revealed at their E3 Press Conference on June 10^th, 6:00am PST.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Are you happy they are sticking to a simple design? What are some changes you hope to see or are you mostly looking forward to seeing the games in action?

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all the latest.

I was recently sent a link by a good friend of mine, for a Huffington Post article about the NRA’s latest campaign that was effectively “guns for kids”. At first I was utterly dismayed; why would any kid need a gun? Not just a bright orange, space ranging, plastic dart gun either, but a real gun that shoots real bullets that can injure and potentially even kill? Marketing real rifles at kids in a similar way the tobacco companies of old told us that cigarettes were healthy and that kids should smoke them too.

It turns out that the NRA have a website for kids, featuring kids with real guns. To be fair to the NRA kids site, there is a button on there that runs a video featuring young boys and girls proudly holding rifles like they are part of some child militia, talking about gun safety. The video goes through the important things a rifle user has to remember. Now it’s here where I have a problem. This site is specifically for children, and kids that are browsing it on their own and potentially without parental consent.

It’s the Internet, though, there are worse things to find, right?!

Okay, so there are many things on this amazing world-wide-web that are nasty, horrible and are really not suitable for children and, I suspect, most adults too (I checked). To be honest, the NRA for kids site, gives those without the right to vote a place they can learn more about rifles in a kid friendly environment. Lets face it, target shooting is something that should be a healthy hobby, yeah?

Of course, paper target shooting with a fully or semi automatic rifle is perhaps a tad too advanced for your average eight year old, and I’m really sure it’s not wise just to leave little Johnny cleaning “his new favourite toy” unattended. To give kids the image and impression that, as a child, it’s okay to carry a gun and to use it without an adult’s supervision and guidance, is frankly irresponsible.

I finished reading the article and looked at the NRA site a bit more, until I eventually became oddly reminiscent and looked back at my own childhood and my own relationship with guns.

I grew up on a farm and I was taught to shoot by my Dad from around the age of eight (though I can’t remember exactly how old I was). Perhaps like many kids my age that lived and worked on farms in the UK growing up in the 80′s, my dad and I would go shooting together and he taught me the skills that were needed to be successful at it. Being quiet; reading and adapting to the wind’s speed and direction; understanding how smell and sound travel; breathing; laying low and, above all, patience. The purpose of shooting too was clear: We needed to control vermin that would otherwise have destroyed our produce, livestock and, ultimately, our livelihood.

It turns out I am a pretty good shot with an air rifle and if you asked me to hit a specific part of a paper target, I would rarely miss that mark. I can produce a compact grouping at distance. Something I can do with a bog-standard air rifle, yet still cuss when I see “Olympians” target-shooting, where try as they might, even with all their specialised kit and balanced, light weight rifles; they miss the required target.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

My dad was clear about guns and gave me my most important gun lessons that I abide by to this very day. Never aim a gun at anyone, even when you think it’s not loaded. Only put your finger on the trigger the second you need to. Never shoot towards houses, roads, into hedges or where you cannot see where the projectile will go. Never let your friends use the gun. There was an extensive list of other do’s and do not’s. Guns are not toys and, in a house where they are treated as toys, the real thing better be locked away and out of sight (and legally they should be).

I was allowed to use the gun on my own from about the age of thirteen. I can almost hear you calling me a hypocrite, but please bear with me I have an important point. This wasn’t until my father and my mother had assessed my maturity, my mental state and most importantly whether I was safe to use a gun on my own. Trust has no shades of grey, you either have it or you don’t. When it comes to weapons you have to tick all the trust boxes, if one hangs in the balance then there is no trust.

When I was older some friends came around to the farm and even though my dad had blessed them to use the gun, I barked orders at them the whole time. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. No one screwed about.

We shot at paper targets, compared scores and most importantly no-one got hurt. I’ve been tarred with the “hey it’s Mr Gun-Safety!” brush ever since that day by those two friends , but I don’t care. I even tell my kids off if they point toy guns at each other, animals or anyone else for that matter. I take guns 100% seriously, fake or not.

Now, isn’t this a site about gaming I hear you ask. It is, you’re damn right, but this has been bothering me for along time. I’ll introduce my point Mr Miyagi-style. “I’ve already given you the skills, Daniel-san, of how to be the parent of a kid that wants to play games that are officially certified as being unsuitable for them.”

Firstly, children should be allowed to be children for as long as possible, real effort should be made to ensure there is no rush. Secondly, as a parent it is our responsibility to nurture their skills, to teach them right and wrong and to assess their maturity along the path to adulthood. Thirdly, games are marked (as are films) with age ratings, they have age ratings for a reason, they are deemed unsuitable for a child under that age.

So, to explain how I turned out in the end and to show what incredible parenting can do for a child; I do not own a gun and never will. While I enjoy first-person shooters and violent computer games that utilise violence for story-based purpose, I find it very hard to extinguish even the most seemingly insignificant life-forms, such as bugs and spiders that invade my home. I became sentimental about all living things early on in life and I actually turned out to be terrible at vermin control, I killed one poor rodent and cried about it for days. My dad is a bit more old-school and does what needs to be done, but he doesn’t like it any more than I do. If this were Game of Thrones, he’d be Ned Stark for sure.

That’s it, I’ve said my piece but I have something really important to add before I go. All variations of mental illness are still greatly misunderstood and little is really known about them, let alone how to cure or even control them. There is great stigma attached to mental illness that prevents us from properly handling someone affected and this can get in the way of seeking treatment, support and proper care. It is also this stigma that seemingly prevents us as a society from being able to see the real underlying problem, so we look for something simple to blame. It’s not books, films, games or guns that physically harm human beings, it’s other human beings.

Seemingly aiming to break that stigma is fledgling indie developer Spiders. Previously focusing on porting games and assisting other studios, Mars: War Logs is their first foray into the world of sci-fi action-RPGs. It’s available for a budget price, but does that mean budget quality? Well, not entirely…

Someone’s poisoned the water hole!
The background behind M:WL‘s shaky plot reads like a GCSE Creative Fiction piece, albeit a decent one. Mars was colonised and terraformed, with the colonists living in luxury and beauty on the new planet. For a while, anyway. At some point Mars tilts on its axis and everything goes tits-up. In the ‘Turmoil’ that followed, water companies took power and by the time the game kicks off there are four water guilds wrestling for control of the planet’s surface. As back-stories go it’s not bad, but little explanation is given for many of the cataclysmic events that put the planet into such a shit state of affairs.

You play Roy Temperance (I’ll get to his daft name in a bit), a prisoner of the latest war between his guild, Aurora, and the biggest and hardest one, Abundance. Thrown in a POW camp with no end in sight, he decides to break out. This forms the first third of the game’s shortish lifespan and is probably the most effective section. Once you escape the confines of the camp it all gets a bit vague and ghostly, with strong twists and plot nodes in short supply.

Everyone from Aurora has a ridiculous name. Temperance is Roy’s proper name and I can’t blame him for wanting to change it. Solidarity, Charity, Innocence; pretty much every virtuous word is used but even then it’s pretty unbelievable that there wouldn’t be a million Solidaritys or Defiances wondering about outside of the camp.

The Abundancites (?) have normal names, except they’re too normal. The scary, cold and Wesker-esque Technomancer who runs the camp with an iron first? Sean. The guard who’s nice to you and wants to help you escape? Bob. I can understand Spiders wanting to break the mold of futuristic names, but instead of settling with a neat balance or original concept they seem to have gone with both sides of the silly spectrum. It’s difficult to respect the toughness of a guy called Temperance, or shit bricks when a guy named Sean pops up.

Forgive me if I’m not quaking in fear at your name, Mary…

While most of the characters are written well enough, it’s almost like the writers were told to pen way too much dialogue. What a character doesn’t say can be as important as what he does and M:WL‘s rambling NPCs certainly don’t understand that. The rare short and sharp exchanges border on Witcher 2 levels of wit and quality, but then another bunch of silly ramblers come along and spoil it all. A little more editing and proofing would’ve worked wonders here.

While the main plot quests make sense, almost every side quest is a case of finding a certain amount of something or backtracking to ferry items around. The former type are instantly irritating as there’s no indication where to find said things, and you end up treading old ground desperately looking for a shiny ‘you can loot here’ area. The latter are about as enjoyable as fetch-quests can be. Some creativity here could have solved the issue but it seems all the focus was put on the main quest and that side-quests were handled by the intern.

I have a broken light fixture… fear me!
Combat is probably the best element of M:WL and thankfully makes up a hefty percentage. Oddly for a sci-fi game it’s almost entirely melee-based, making it feel more Fable than Mass Effect. It’s refreshing and works relatively well. Unusually for a PC-only game, it has clearly been designed for the Xbox 360 controller and has a HUD to compensate. I can’t imagine how awkward it would be with a keyboard and mouse, and this fact will likely irritate PC purists.

Basic attacks are broken up with guard breaks, blocks and dodges. You’ll have to use all your moves to get through the grueling battles that permeate the initial few hours. You’re regularly outnumbered by enemies that are faster, stronger and tougher than you and it feels like you’re being cheated. It’s too easy to get surrounded and stuck in a loop of stunning, helplessly getting batted between foes like a human tennis ball. I felt as is if I was being forced to pour all my upgrade points into increasing my health and damage just so I could survive the next section.

Luckily this difficulty plains out once you leave the camp, and although you still need to be on your toes, the opening up of other skills makes it much more fun. As you level up you can upgrade three trees; combat, stealth and technomancy. The latter is M:WL‘s version of magic, encompassing four electricity-based abilities. A shockwave helps push back foes, a lighting bolt stuns, a shield protects you for a bit and a weapon-charge ability adds stunning to every strike. While not very inventive, they end up being useful most of the time.

These abilities, as well as additional secondary weapons and items, can be used from the tactical menu with a tap of LB and assigned to the remaining shoulder buttons for battle. You can also command party members from here and it slows the action to a crawl to give you time to think.

Talk about bringing your mates…

Stealth, however, is a joke. You’ll rarely come upon a layout of enemies you can realistically skirt around and pick off. Most attempts at sneaking end when you whack the first guard, instantly alerting all his mates. Leveling up the stealth tree just makes things more ridiculous, almost to the point where you can crouch in front of a patrol and still not be seen, simply because you’re in ‘stealth mode’. I’ve never been an advocate of jamming stealth in where it’s not needed and M:WL certainly hasn’t changed my mind.

You can gather materials from the environment to upgrade your various weapons and armour. This is absolutely necessary considering the former includes light fixtures and bits of iron bar and the latter are basically costumes. While there’s a neat level of customization available, you feel kind of stupid when you’ve broken out of prison and a bit of bone with some more bits of bone strapped to it is still your primary weapon.

Serum is used as both currency and crafting element. Most bought weapons are worse than the ones you can find or win though, so you’ll mostly be buying health kits and materials. You can also craft these things, but considering it costs more Serum to make something than it does to buy it, this only helps when you’re stranded without a shop nearby.

Once you’ve got the hang of it and have a solid set of equipment, combat begins to reach normal levels of enjoyment. Deftly dodging around the battlefield, landing crushing blows and breaking guards, whilst slipping in the occasional well-timed counter makes you feel like how you’re supposed to. Roy is constantly referred to as a badass and it’s sad that the game has to make you wait so long to feel like that.

The Brown Planet
While it has its share of vistas, M:WL is generally pretty dull to look at. While I understand that Mars is a dusty red shithole and that terraforming is unlikely to change that, that doesn’t excuse the boring design of everything else. Each location has its own look but within that there’s little variation. The overlay map is a necessity if you want to avoid getting hopelessly lost.

The NPCs share that level of normality. There seems to be around 10 skins for the POWs and about four for the guards. Only speaking characters have unique looks and even then some of them are recycled. It’s okay for people to have the same haircut or beard sometimes; that happens in real life. Though when two guys standing within 10 feet of each other have not only the same haircut and beard but the exact same face it’s a little stupid.

Mars can look sorta purdy when it wants to…

Despite all this, the environment manages to be an adequate arena for the combat and exploration and cannot be described as ugly. With a limited budget and using their own engine, Spiders have crafted a decent looking game that can make good use of my high-end graphics card.

F**king c**t s**t…
As far as audio goes, MWL is bizarrely spectrumised. The dialogue, while mostly alright, often tries so hard to be gritty and adult that it borders on hilarious. The first character you meet (a fat prison rapist) drops so many curses into his short monologue you’d think there was a swear-per-minute ratio needing to be met. While it generally phases out after, if a character has an opportunity to swear, you’ll be damned if they don’t take it.

Roy himself has a strange, whiny voice. While it’s nice to hear a difference from the archetypal growl of Gravelman, he almost sounds like a Midwestern teenager trying to do Solid Snake. The other characters are often better voiced, with one guard in particular matching Roy’s look and purpose much better than the actor they got to voice our hero.

Battle, however, sounds great. Blows land with satisfying thuds and enemies cry out orders and painful wails as you bring the smackdown. Technomancy cracks and fizzes with aplomb and the soundtrack is generally quite good.

It’s usual to experience a lack of voice-acting quality in budget games; actors are paid based on their ability and fame. With games like The Witcher 2 getting it so right while using absolutely no known actors though, it’s becoming less and less of an adequate excuse.

Mass reject?
Mars: War Logs, however uninspiring that title is, manages to be an enjoyable, mildly original action RPG. It doesn’t bring much new to the table or break any conventions but as a slice of sci-fi entertainment it’s more than capable of filling your time.

Considering their small team and lack of full-game experience, Spiders have done a great job. I found few, if any, bugs and it’s plainly obvious that with a bit more experience and a few more resources Spiders could be a studio to rival the best of them. It’s not easy making a game, let alone a full-length RPG.

I can’t excuse the poor writing quality and the lack of creativity in the design but I have to admit many of my criticisms can be put down to a lack of money. Cash is everything these days and it’s no wonder that only the richest, most powerful studios are usually capable of producing games like this. Again, The Witcher 2 is a perfect example of how it can be done but, let’s be honest, it’s been the exception to the rule since it came out.

So give it a shot. It’s a steal at 15 quid on Steam and once you realise that the combat is supposed to be brutally hard it’s easy to enjoy. While the side-quests are tedious, most are optional and don’t really reward you with anything terribly necessary. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from the big-budget bombast and spend some time with an indie creation. Big love, Spiders, much respect.

Still, the way things change so quickly in the gaming world, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised to hear this piece of news. EA have announced that they’ve currently got ‘no games in development for the Wii U’.

Whilst this may sound like a big deal, it’s probably not. This isn’t likely to be a ‘Dreamcast’ scenario.

EA games aren’t exactly what the ‘Nintendo’ crowd are into, so no tears will be shed at this news.

NOPE.

What is worrying is the fact that the ‘Nintendo crowd’ want Nintendo games. Which they’re still not getting.

Even with today’s Nintendo Direct stream, nothing new was really announced or shown. There was news of demos being available, some HD re-makes and very little else.

I’m not about to write off the Wii U, heck no. Once the first party titles are out, we’re bound to see some success. You only need to look at the 3DS, which recently reported increased software sales this year. Once a Nintendo console has Nintendo games on it, it tends to do fine.

So whilst the lack of EA games is hardly cause for concern, the lack of Nintendo games is. Get a move-on Nintendo.

Right off the bat, let me make it clear I have no love for the GT series. I don’t think it’s bad, I just don’t think about it at all. In fact, if you’re a racing game that’s not called Road Rash or Burnout, you’re dead to me. So let’s get the details over and done with.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Having said that, I can see the appeal. The hyper-realistic driving simulator has always sold well, and even if it’s not my cup of tea, the guys at Polyphony truly do some amazing work in terms of driving simulation, graphics and sheer content.

The series, which is close to having sold 70 million units, will contain over 1,200 cars from a range of fully licensed manufacturers. Oddly enough, it’s yet to be confirmed for the PS4, with only the PS3 version being spoken about.

With the PS3 version being touted for an ‘Autmn’ release, the PS4 version is ‘in mind’, with Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi saying;

“We actually do have a PlayStation 4 version in mind, but for this holiday season, we thought it would be best for users to release on PS3 for now.”

This is a car. And here ends my knowledge of cars.

On top of the already mentioned huge number of cars, GT fans can expect a strong amount of support post-release in the form of plenty more cars and more tracks. What with this being 2013, a season pass is also being offered. No mention of price though.

Like the sound of it? Well, a demo should be with us by June and for those worried about sinking hours into a PS3 game just before the PS4 comes out, Yamauchi was asked about transferring saves between consoles. According to IGN, the answer was ‘probably’.

Get ready to earn your licenses!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Even so, the number of polygons you’re able to shove into a virtual elderly-man’s doughy-eyed face is not proportionate to the amount of emotion the player will feel.

We know that it’s not true. Many animated, visually simplistic movies are just as emotionally affecting as any live-action romp; the first ten minutes of Pixar’s Up was as gut-wrenching as anything I’ve ever seen in cinema and stands as a prime example.

Likewise in games, Telltale’s The Walking Dead, and even Journey, without a single line of dialogue, were both better written and provided me with infinitely more emotional payout and attachment than either of Cage’s grittier efforts. I held back the tears as the former ended, and felt unbridled joy come the end of the latter. With his games I had enjoyment but ultimately felt nothing following it.

His argument can be put to the test once more thanks to Thomas Was Alone, a simplistic puzzle-platformer where the characters, each made up of a single polygon, will absolutely capture your heart.

Thomas wasn’t alone for long…
Thomas Was Alone starts, unsurprisingly, by introducing you to Thomas. He, as you might have gathered, is alone. He also happens to be a tiny, bright red quadrilateral A.I. that suddenly becomes self-aware and quickly realises that he’s pretty nifty at falling and jumping. As he begins to navigate his way through the testing levels and mazes, trying to reach the portal at the end of each, it becomes clear that he’s not actually alone at all.

He soon comes across other, vastly different quadrilaterals also going through their own trials, each being tested on their own unique skills. This unlikely team will all come to greatly rely on one another if they are to meet their goal, one that they’re only discovering as they venture further and further into the game. Each character, as delightfully detailed in the game’s ongoing narration, has their own personality that could easily be applied to any human being.

For example, the second of the posse, an orange square called Chris, is easily intimidated and jealous of Thomas’s jumping ability, sneering often at his enthusiastic quest for knowledge. His own shorter stature proves useful on more than one occasion, though, and he can’t help but find comfort in that. Claire, with her ability to float in the ordinarily fatal water, fancies herself as something of a superhero and makes it her job to protect and save the others. John is a show-off, but is kind natured and cares about those in his company.

There are a handful of others who join Thomas’s party, but I won’t cover them all here. It’s a rich and charming cast, though, and discovering the events of their collective journey is a massive part of what makes the game so special. It’s an endearing tale, with themes of trying to understand the world around us but most of all about friendship. It’s a journey that will make you laugh often, make you sad occasionally, but only ever beguile you with its charm throughout.

Here’s John bouncing up and down on Laura. Don’t tell Chris, though…

Trying to put a square block in a square hole…
So, as far as puzzle platformers go, Thomas Was Alone is pretty basic with only three buttons (one jump and two to quickly change between your party), but it’s deeply enjoyable nonetheless. A typical level unceremoniously drops a group of our quadrangular team into a landscape of some sort and by controlling each of them independently, you’ll have them working together to reach their individual exit portals.

For example, a ledge might be out of reach for the shorter Chris, so he’ll need to use Thomas and John lined up together as a makeshift set of stairs. Claire might need to take to the water to transport some of the group to the other side. A button might need to be pressed beyond a tunnel that only Chris could reach to allow further progression. Later you’ll bounce higher, double jump and even defy gravity in your quest. There’s more to it beyond that, but it would spoil the story to divulge.

There’s a very gentle difficulty curve in effect over the game’s hundred levels that prevents you from hitting any major stumbling blocks (if you excuse the pun), so unlike something like Portal, you’re never going to come away from a puzzle feeling like a genius. Instead, you’ll be at an almost Zen-like relaxed state throughout, never frustrated and only ever eager to press on and see where the story takes you.

The game is fairly straightforward in this respect, although a number of the puzzles might take a couple of stabs before you breeze by them, but there’s never any danger of failure. Death too is never a real threat; should a non-waterproof character fall into the drink or hit a spike, they’ll merely disintegrate and respawn instantly back at either the beginning of the level or a recently passed checkpoint.

Just make sure you take in the story, as its character development is that important to the overall experience. Playing with the sound off or ploughing through just to get through the levels will see your time with Thomas Was Alone criminally wasted.

Man, you’re so square
As you can probably gather from the handful of screenies, Thomas Was Alone is fairly minimalist in design. Although those uninterested in artsy indie games might look at it and scoff, maybe even call it pretentious, having the game take any other design philosophy would miss the point entirely.

While yes, the visuals are simple, they’re also strikingly crisp and clean, with bold colouring. It looks lovely in motion too; although the characters are simply basic shapes, their stretch and bounce adds much credence to their relative weighting, and I was consciously marvelling at the lovely shadowing effects more than once.

Claire is a superhero!

Making love to your ears
The entire story is told through narration by an old friend of the site, Danny Wallace, whose tone and reading isn’t just a pleasing aspect of the game, it’s vital to it. His delivery is flawless, not only capturing the necessary charm, humour and urgency when story necessitates it, but successfully portraying the very human sides to these inhuman objects.

The chilled-but-always-building electronic soundtrack backs him luminously, as it too successfully rides the waves of the game’s various emotional states. It’s a soundtrack that constantly evokes feelings of wonderment, mystery, and even sadness, and at the points when that story is building it ends in this thrilling, almost euphoric crescendo that countless times sent shivers down my spine. Excellent work.

Don’t leave Thomas alone any longer!
It’s fair to say that although fairly short and at times too straightforward in terms of its existence as a ‘game’, Thomas Was Alone is an experience that is easily greater than the sum of its parts. It’s the splendid way in which those parts come together, though; the way its narrative, soundtrack and gameplay intertwine that makes it such so uniquely special.

A powerful experience that’s entirely worth its modest asking price.

Whether you know the shows or not, I’m here to tell you that they’re both getting new games, and they’ll be out this year. Mathematical!

I appreciate that some of you may have drifted off by now. I mean, who cares about kids shows getting games? Well, these aren’t your cheap THQ-era licensed products.

WayForward, who have produced some great 2D handheld titles in their time, are in charge of both games so we can near guarantee a level of quality. Their previous Adventure Time game (Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage!?) was well received and promises we’re in safe hands.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The full titles of the projects are (deep breath, these subtitles are killer) - Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land and Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW! Catchy titles, I’m sure you’ll agree.

It’s also nice to know that the shows creators are heavily involved in the process. Peter Andrew of D3Publisher had this to say;

“Having the creative talents of these widely popular animated shows working directly with very proven development teams, it has given us the recipe to create the very best and most authentic video game experiences that will please fans of all ages…”

This isn’t the new game, but it’s just here to give you an idea. OK?

You hear that? Fans of all ages. Don’t look at me like that. Who are you to judge? No, how about you grow up!

Whilst both games have been confirmed for the 3DS so far, the new Adventure Time game is also set for Wii U, PS3 and 360. No concrete release has been set, though ‘this year’ has been promised.

Oh, a Ben 10 game was also announced but, honestly, who cares? That stuff’s for kids.

As you may know, every player is known as a Guardian, those with the ability to harness power from the now dormant Traveler (the Traveler’s a strange floating ball that’s now hovering over Earth). Now Bungie have shown us what the different Guardians look like. Let’s take a look at the Warlocks, Hunters, and Titans.

The Warlock’s description hints that they are brains of the guardians. Their study of the Traveler perhaps indicates that this class will be more tech savvy and have the ability to control more of your structural environment than the rest.

The Titans are noted to be among the first Guardians and receive a higher reverence than the other class. The new description and their build would lead us to believe they are perhaps the more stealthy of the crew and are able to maneuver easier than the others.

The Hunters are the bronze the this operation. Formerly outcasts living in the wasteland they have less of a problem bending the rules. Their upbringing has resulted in their more strength based physique and a strong survival instinct.

As far as environment go they briefly mentioned, in addition to a wild and abandoned Earth” outside of The City protected by the traveler, you will have the ability to experience the “Forbidden Zone” of the Moon, the “dunes of Mars” and the “jungles of Venus”.

The enemies will also have a class system of their own.

The Fallen believe the earth belongs to them and they scavenge as much of its resources as they can get their hands on.

Their classes consist of Dregs, your basic grunts, Vandals are more formidable in their tactics, and the Captains are the commanding leader at the top of their groups.

There is very little known of the Cabals other than the fact that they haven’t been seen in years, possibly decades. When they reveal themselves I have no doubt it will be a great show.

While Destiny is set for a release on the PS3 and Xbox 360* it will not be this year. So while I am greatly intrigued I will be putting my excitement on hold until we get an official release date.

*It’s been confirmed for PS4 and safe to assume the nextbox as well.