Feature Type: Hands On

Hands On: Hitman (beta)

IO Interactive’s latest Hitman game has been getting quite a lot of attention of late and not for entirely positive reasons. You may have heard that the game has recently adopted a episodic structure, meaning players will get new levels every month, meaning people that had pre-ordered the game had their orders cancelled and that the ‘full’ game would ‘only’ launch with two levels to play.

Luckily I had a chance to get some time with the beta this weekend and I have to say my impressions are very positive. Whilst the beta was made up of two basic tutorial missions, the fact I replayed them both a dozen times over is a good sign that Hitman looks set to hit its mark.

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Hands On: The Division (Beta)

Having spent a weekend with the Beta for Tom Clancy’s The Division, it was a pleasant surprise not to immediately fall into a coma at the rehashing of yet another mindless cover shooter. It still clings onto the elements that made cover shooters morose in the first place, but the Beta promises to deliver an experience to those who found their time was well spent with games like Destiny, where XP and loot are king.

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Demo Impressions: Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae

This is gorgeous...

Stepping out of the tent of my four Choco-Bros and seeing the open, rolling green hills of Duscae for the first time has undoubtedly been one of my favourite moments of 2015 so far. Final Fantasy XV: Epsisode Duscae, a generous, 2-3 hour demo for Final Fantasy XV (included with the PS4/Xbox One remake of Final Fantasy Type-0) provides you with a gorgeous, sizable playground to explore, a powerful boss to hunt, plus plenty of wildlife to slaughter as you get a feel for what’s new and what will be on offer when the full game releases.

The end result? I could not possibly be more excited to play the full game.

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Hands on with Tropico 5 on Console

Many years ago, I remember stacking shelves at a games store as one of my first jobs. I noticed a game I immediately dismissed, it was called Tropico and at the time I thought it was a poor man’s version of Civilization or Sim City, one of those titles that will fade away after the first game.

Oh, how I was wrong. Fast forward nearly fourteen years and Tropico is still going strong, now on its fifth iteration and making the leap to the new generation of consoles. I recently had the chance to sit down with the PlayStation 4 version of the game to see how it was coming along.

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Hands On: The Crew

If you’ve ever sat with a country road extending ahead of you and wanted to just drive as fast as you could until the police or a rogue corner stopped you, then The Crew may just be the thing you need. Originally slated for release this week, Ubisoft decided it best to delay it until December 2 and run a second Closed Beta instead. Ubisoft’s presentation at E3 was impressive, but does The Crew deliver on that promise? The quick answer: it depends on what you’re looking for.

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Hands on: Randal’s Monday

Randal is having a strange day. He’s been fired, twice, seen his best friends corpse, twice, and been accused of stealing on several occasions. Of course, Randal is a kleptomaniac, so the last one is kind of understandable, but still it is a very strange day.

He has somehow managed to get himself in a Groundhog Day situation, and must now figure out how to set everything right, get himself out of the loop and save his best friend from various gruesome, though hilarious, deaths.

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Hands On: Bedlam

Based on a novel of the same name, Bedlam is pitched as a shooter for “those who survived online gaming in the 80’s and 90’s”, and is a nostalgic first-person shooter.

Bedlam, the novel, gives you the story of Ross Baker, a scientist who volunteers to be a test candidate for a new brain scanner. Upon ending the experiment, Ross discovers that he’s no longer “in real life” and is instead trapped in Starfire; a violent sci-fi game he played as a teenager.

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Hands On: MX vs. ATV Supercross

Everyone knows that a sport can only be as good as the drama it creates. I don’t even mean on-the-field drama. We want to see people returning from injury when others said it couldn’t be done. We want someone who was considered ‘down-and-out’ returning stronger than ever. We want to see Rocky Balboa defy odds, not Ivan Drago win because he’s the best.

MX vs. ATV Supercross has its own dramatic story. A phoenix from the flames tale of a publisher going bankrupt (THQ), a developer being disbanded (Rainbow Studios) and a second chance at the big time. The newly formed Big Bang have emerged from the ashes and have got their franchise back. Let’s hope it’s not a false start.

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Prepare for Destiny

As of today at 10:00am PDT, you can access the Destiny Beta on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, and here is some important information to get you started. Don’t worry, everything applies to Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners as well, who will gain access to the Beta on July 23 at 10:00am PDT.

I had a chance to play Destiny during the first-look Alpha on PS4 and while I expected it to be a cross between Mass Effect (design, setting) and Borderlands (gameplay), I discovered that the single-player, co-op, adversarial, first-person shooter and third-person dance sim MMORPG is much, much more than that.

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Hands-On: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS / Wii U

During the week of E3, Nintendo brought the upcoming Super Smash Bros. to Best Buy stores in the US and I was able to spend a few minutes with both the 3DS and Wii U versions. I’m not sure whether to call what I played a demo or an early build because each version had twenty playable characters, eight stages, and multiple modes.

For a game that is at least six months from release, it looks and plays amazingly well.

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Beta Impressions: Battlefield: Hardline

It’s probably no real stretch to assume that EA would like the Battlefield series to become an annual release à la Call of Duty, and that apparent desire seems to have lead to Dead Space developer, Visceral Games, trying their hand at a cops ‘n’ robbers themed spin-off using DICE’s Frostbite engine. It seems a bit of a departure for Visceral given their story-heavy back catalogue, but it allows them to show just what they can do in the multiplayer space while DICE are no doubt busy readying Star Wars: Battlefront and Battlefield 5.

Just as surprising as the initial announcement, however, was that a beta – for PC and PS4 – was to go live during E3 and beyond, allowing for a solid look at the new setup, unique modes and one of the maps.

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Hands On: Sniper Elite 3

There’s a certain appeal to playing as a sniper in video-games. The idea of outsmarting your opponent, watching them from afar and then taking them out before they even know you’re there. It’s a refreshing change from the traditional ‘kick-down a door and shoot everyone’ gameplay we’re used to.

Well, Sniper Elite 3 aims to bring more of the sneaking and long-range headshots that made the previous two games (three if you include the zombie spin-off) popular. Though what else can be added to the formula of ‘Sniper + WW2 = Shooting Hitler’s Ballsack’?

Thanks to the people at Rebellion, I got to find out.

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Steam In-Home Streaming is here, but how well does it work?

If you’re a PC gamer (“PC Master Race unite!” etc.), you don’t need me to tell you the many benefits of our beloved platform. It’s not always the most practical gaming machine of choice, however. The most common form of gaming computer, whether prebuilt or lovingly constructed by our own fair hands, consists of a pretty large and hefty desktop tower, stacked full of beefy components and wired up to a multitude of various input, display, network and storage peripherals.

Once you’ve experienced the joy of a massive range of titles that play smoother and with better visual klout than on any console out there, you’ll start to wish that you could access this goodness anywhere. Though unless your machine of choice is a gaming laptop (and that comes with its own set of disadvantages), then lugging your PC and all of its accessories from the bedroom to the living room, or vice-versa, is not exactly ideal.

This is where Steam’s new In-Home Streaming feature comes in. Steam really wants to become a part of your living room too (and why not?), so In-Home Streaming boasts the bold claim of letting you play those blockbuster games at ultra settings, 1080p and 60FPS, on your lowly netbook, family desktop or laptop. I’ve been putting the feature through its paces for the last week, and here’s how I got on.

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Hands On: Alien: Isolation

As soon as another Alien game came up on our motion tracker, we were nervous. Alien, as a franchise, has had a fairly rough time when it comes to videogames. Even the ‘good’ games don’t hold up to real scrutiny. Take off those rose-tinted glasses, people. Alien Vs Predator, Alien Trilogy – they were mostly rubbish. Mostly.

Also take into consideration the disastrous reception that greeted Aliens: Colonial Marines (no matter how financially acceptable it was)  and you can see why everyone was frightened of seeing what Alien: Isolation was. Luckily I can say that you should be frightened of Alien: Isolation. Not because it’s awful, but because you’re stalked by an nine foot tall Xenomorph and you’ve got no way of stopping it.

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Beta Impressions: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (PS4)

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is the relaunch of Final Fantasy XIV, a MMO originally released by Square Enix in 2010. The reborn realm of Eorzea has been available to explore on PS3 and PC since August 2013.

FFXIV will soon be available on PS4 and Square Enix has just launched a free and open beta. I’ve played the PS3 version prior and have now spent a few hours with the PS4 version, so I’m going to focus here on the key differences I found between the two.

Note: Although considered two different games, I’ll be referring to A Realm Reborn as FFXIV throughout.

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Beta Impressions: Titanfall

Back at an E3 2013 full of next-gen reveals, Titanfall game seemed to steal the show with over sixty awards in total, including a number of mainstream media outlet’s ‘Best of Show’. That same game has continued to receive rave previews and rewards at every game show in the eight months since, including Gamescom and the Tokyo Game Show. Suffice to say, when Respawn announced there would be a Beta of its upcoming mech-based FPS, one or two people around the world were a wee bit excited.

Titanfall is a game that I would normally run a mile from. Giant robots have had a chequered past for me, from the incredibly enjoyable Zone of the Enders to the incredibly boring Armored Core, and my record on FPS’s is somewhere between awful and non-existent. I do, however, have to hold my hands up and say I am one of those people that has bought into all the hype surrounding this one. Fortunately I was lucky enough to get into the Xbox One Beta before it became open and have spent the past few days working out whether Titanfall will be more ZoE or AC

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Hands On: PlayStation 4 & Knack

GAME stores around the country are currently holding PlayStation 4 preview events, letting you get your hands on the upcoming console. Out of a questionable selection of playable titles including Fifa 14, Contrast, Super Mother Load, Octodad: Dadliest Catch (groan) and Pinball Arcade, I opted for the platformer Knack. As it was my first encounter with the PS4, here are my impressions of both Knack and the next-gen console itself.

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Demo Impressions: FIFA 14

FIFA, led by a man who personifies the phrase “compromised”, have been something of a laughing stock in these parts over the past decade. The organisation has been widely ridiculed by a large percentage of British press for their handling of affairs, from bribery amongst their own executives to racism and match fixing via the well-publicised decision to host a summer tournament in a country that makes sitting in an oven feel like a trip to the Arctic Circle.

What’s that? Oh, you meant FIFA demo impressions. I’ll start again.

By now, regular visitors to TIMJ will be well aware that I am something of a sports nut and I love sports games. Ultimately that makes this time of year incredibly exciting for me as we get all the big sporting releases over the few months that sees the transition from British Summer to Autumn. The daddy of all sports franchises over the course of this generation at least, is unquestionably EA Sports’ FIFA. The major criticism of any big franchise is how much it progresses year on year, and with the leap to next-gen just around the corner that question is even more at the front of people’s minds.

I’ve been playing the recently released FIFA 14 demo to get an early idea of where we stand on the current-gen consoles.

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Hands On: Killzone: Mercenary

After the veritable train wrecks that were Resistance: Burning Skies and Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, it’d be easy to find yourself pessimistic about the future of the first-person shooter on Sony’s handheld platform. Sure, Stranger’s Wrath restored faith somewhat after Nihilistic Software’s reign of actual terror, yet I don’t think that I’m alone in saying that I couldn’t help but look at the upcoming Killzone: Mercenary and worry, even if just a little.

Having now had a small taste of the game, I find my concerns are completely allayed; it seems every bit the real deal.

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Hands on: Prison Architect

I’m an impatient soul. I was simply not content with waiting for the full release of Introversion’s 2D overhead resource and build game, Prison Architect, before giving it a go. Seemingly being developed with a mantra of ‘it’s done when it’s done’, it’s now in an ‘Alpha 12’ release.

What this means, fair reader, is that it’s got a lot less bugs than in the initial releases, but don’t blame us when you find a bug. It also means there are some new fancy features, flexing their criminally fantastic fingers at you. Now say that last sentence out loud while eating.

Introversion have taken a certain amount pride with the bugs that have been found on the path to Alpha 12, and considering the humour and chortles that these code demons can generate, I think their view is allowed. They’ve a video trailer for Prison Architect, I’m sure you’ve seen it already, where they make grandiose statements about some of the specific funny things that have happened along the way. One can’t help but smile when you play it; it’s all so cute and fluffy. Then your first task is thrown at you in the opening tutorial: construct an execution chamber. Nice.

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Hands On: PayDay 2

It’s safe to say that the days of always being the ‘good guy’ in video-games is over. Every other title has you playing as a scumbag that you’d want locked up if they existed in the real world.

Whatever it is that makes being bad so good, I don’t know. What I do know is that the hugely successful heist-em-up Payday is getting a sequel and I was lucky enough to play it recently. So put your hands up. Don’t give me no funny business. Read my preview. Do it. Do it now!

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Rezzed 2013 Roll Call: The Future Is Bright

Nestled in a dark corner of the apocalypse ready mega-plex that is the Birmingham NEC, a whole bunch of sub-cultural gaming goodness was going down.

This year’s Rezzed brought together aspiring hopefuls and returning champions of the indie scene and sat them on a bench next to the potential PC landmarks of the next year. Here’s a rundown of everything I got my hands on.

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Hands on: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2014

Spring is usually the time of year that has large numbers of us turning the heating off and heading to the garden centre for our vegetable seeds, while many others see the lengthening days and the Spring sunshine as an excellent opportunity to get out and walk off the post Christmas extra timber. It’s also the time of year where a huge number of frustrated golfers get the clubs out of the loft and head to the local course in an effort to get through 18 holes without the loss of too many golf balls.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that Easter is fast approaching and the clocks will be going forward in just three weeks time, it’s still far too cold to consider venturing out for any length of time, unless wearing at least six jumpers. Fortunately, we are also only three weeks away from the annual release of EA Sports’ golfing giant and for those of you keen to sample the wonders and frustrations of the Golf Course without having to get your thermals out, the TW14 Demo is already available on Xbox Live and PSN.

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Hands On: Obscure

Remember that survival-horror game Obscure on PS2? You played as some students who had to stop other students that had been infected with some kind of plant spore, and the only way to stop them was with a flashlight. Well, this is… different.

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Demo Impressions: Crysis 3 Multiplayer Open Beta

The term ‘beta’ has a very different meaning to what it used to. Whereas it used to refer to a crucial stage of development in which testers would help developers discover bugs and gameplay flaws, it’s now often simply a marketing tool to give the public a demo of an almost-finished product, getting them salivating and reaching for those credit cards and pre-order buttons.

The new open beta of Crysis 3 is no different. Released on the 29th January, it’s available to anyone on PC, Xbox 360 or PS3 wanting to get a taster of the upcoming shooter’s multiplayer mode. As a fan of the Crysis series I downloaded the beta from Origin and got stuck in to the two available modes, Hunter and Crash Site.

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Demo Impressions: Dead Space 3

Dead Space is a name synonymous with bumps in the dark, monster dismemberment and sating our thirst for a decent Aliens game while we wait the endless wait for Colonial Marines. After two relatively successful releases the series is back this year for another round, inducting it into the Trilogy Club that counts Mass Effect, Fable, Assassins Creed and Saints Row among its recent inductees.

Seemingly making a departure from the shit-scary corridors of a spaceship, this limited release demo sees unfortunate engineer Isaac Clarke dealt another bad hand after his ship crash-lands on a freezing planet. The big question is, can Visceral Games retain the tension and fear the series is famous for in these large, open-air environments?

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Hands On: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

It was surprising to see Konami giving control of development for the next Metal Gear entry to an external developer. Platinum Games has plenty of experience in the genre, so perhaps it wasn’t such a shocking move. The question is, will Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance live up to the high expectations set by previous titles? I had a chance to get a sneak peek and find out.

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Hands On: Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse

Family guy has had previous gaming incarnations, but you’ll be forgiven for forgetting them. In fact, you’d be advised to. Not one to give up on a popular franchise, we have Activision who are presenting us with Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse. A 3rd person shooter with some platforming elements.

Taking a cue from the best Family Guy episodes, this is a Brian and Stewie-centric romp through a whole bunch of alternate universes to stop an evil baby. Sound fun? Well, don’t form an opinion just yet, I’ve more to say.

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Hands On: Foul Play

Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! The following is a tale – based entirely on fact – of a man, an expo and a game. Gasp as poor public transport is overcome! Shudder as people giving out ‘free hugs’ are avoided! Cheer for the hero of the piece as he gets his hands on Foul Play!

What I’m trying to say is that I got to play Foul Play at MCM Expo after messing about with the DLR for too long.

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Hands On: Tank! Tank! Tank!

As part of the MCM Expo I got to have a go on a number of unreleased games. This game went one step further, as it’s on an unreleased console. How lucky am I?

Tank! Tank! Tank! (TTT) boils down to an arcadey ‘shoot everything you see’ experience that takes advantage of the Wii U’s features. So, if that’s what it is and that’s what it does, is it any good?

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Developer Session: Remember Me

Who says this generation of console is dead? Who thinks there is no room for new IP’s in the current market? Who dares to suggest that you can’t have fun with a story-centric experience? Certainly not the guys over at Dontnod, that’s for sure.

The game that some may still Remember as Adrift (see what I did there) is coming along nicely, thank you very much. At this year’s Eurogamer Expo we were given a short but interesting little walkthrough of the game’s customisable combat system.

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Developer Session & Hands On: Hitman: Absolution

This time last year I was fortunate enough to be sat in on the developer session that pretty much announced the next Hitman game to the UK market. This year at the Eurogamer Expo, we have been given a sneak peek at the Contracts mode in another developer session, as well as finally getting hands on with Agent 47 ourselves down on the show floor.

Having done both I am now part of the what is probably the biggest group Agent 47 photo ever (having been made to don the red tie and strike the Hitman pose with everyone else in the Developer session), and am also the proud owner of a small Hitman model that is now sitting pride of place on my desk.

As for the game itself, what have we learnt? Read on to find out.

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Developer Session & Hands On: Far Cry 3

I think it’s safe to say that I have been more than a bit excited about Far Cry 3 ever since the original “Definition of Insanity” trailer. That seems like an awfully long time ago now and we have seen a steady stream of teaser trailers and developer walkthroughs hitting the Web since that day at E3 2011. These have given us a really good look at the world, the characters and the story that lies in waiting when the game finally launches this November.

This steady drip feed of information has made me increasingly more impatient for the game but, fortunately, at the Eurogamer Expo this year we were treated to a double whammy of Far Cry 3 goodness with a developer session in the company of Lead Game designer Jamie Keen, and an actual playable demo on the show floor. The way my journey down to London panned out, the Far Cry 3 Developer session was actually the first thing I did when I got there, and boy was it a good start.

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Hands On: Dishonored

You can usually see the end of a console cycle coming a mile away, as publishers get lazy and press their development houses to rehash any and all franchises that have made them any kind of profit rather than taking a risk on a new IP. With the Wii U about to launch and the entire industry shouting from the rooftops that next year will see, at the very least, an announcement from both Sony and Microsoft regarding their next generation efforts, finding a title without a numerical value at the end is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

However, in spite of this current situation there are still a few development houses out there prepared to take a chance and break the mould, like Arkane studios, developers of the upcoming Dishonored. At the recent Eurogamer Expo we were given a compelling first-hand show of what the game has to offer while also getting a chance to play through the demo level ourselves on the show floor. Here’s what we thought.

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Demo Impressions: Silent Hill: Book of Memories

Poor old Book of Memories. Despite never being billed as anything but a non-canonical spin-off, the upcoming Silent Hill game has received nothing but undue scorn for not being a canonical instalment. Given the level of the outcry, you’d be forgiven for thinking that developer WayForward had travelled back in time and erased the classic titles from the history books, before heading to every single fan’s house and bricking puppies on their doorsteps.

Call me crazy, but as long as it’s not hurting the legacy of the series (it’s not, plus Konami have done that enough themselves), I kinda like the idea of a dirty-looking top-down RPG in Silent Hill’s clothing…

Well, whatever your disposition, every Vita owner now has the chance to see how the game might turn out, thanks to the recently released demo…

How does it play out?

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Hands On: Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider is one of those game franchises that everyone knows and anyone who has ever played video games has played at some point or another. So much so that Lara Croft has actually become an icon almost at the same level as Sonic or Mario down the years. It therefore seemed a strange decision when Square Enix announced the series was getting a reboot that would steer us away from the Lara we’ve come to know and love over the past fifteen years into a very different character.

At this year’s Eurogamer Expo we have been privy to both a playable demo and a developer session to see and hear a little more about the new direction the franchise is taking and whether this will ultimately lead to a hit or miss for Miss Croft.

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Demo Impressions: Resident Evil 6 Public Demo

One of the cool bonuses I got for purchasing Dragon’s Dogma was early access to the Resident Evil 6 demo. Being a games writer and seeing the rare opportunity for an early impression I downloaded it as soon as it was available. You can see how disappointed I was here; the demo pretty much put me off buying the game altogether. It’s one thing giving in to hype or rumour but the proof is really in the pudding, and from that early demo the pudding was incredibly sour.

Imagine my surprise when I found that the recently released public demo was in fact entirely different to the one I’d played before, which meant there was a chance that Capcom had listened to the heavy criticism and sorted things out.

NOTE: I suggest you read my previous article; to impress how much has improved I’ll be referring back to my opinion of the early release demo regularly.

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Demo Impressions: FIFA 13

Having had two recent demos for Konami’s PES 2013, this week has seen the release of its big rival from EA Sports. FIFA 13 looks to build on the huge success that the franchise has seen this generation, by adding an extra degree of depth and polish to each of its existing game modes.

Unfortunately the demo, which is now available on XBLA and PSN, gives us very little interaction with any of these game modes, except for a few new training mini-games. Instead, you only get a very quick friendly match.

How does it shape up against last year’s version? Read on to find out.

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Demo Impressions: PES 2013 Demo 2

It is not often that big developers see fit to give us two separate demos of the same game, even less so within a short space of time. However, this is exactly what Konami have done with this year’s PES title, releasing two different demos within less than a month to try and get the jump on their biggest rival. Having been impressed by the first effort, I have been spending time with demo two to see what more is shown off this time and whether it adds to the expectation for the upcoming release.

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Demo Impressions: Resident Evil 6

It’s coming. After the somewhat cautious reception Resident Evil 5 received, with its action-heavy slant and Hollywood-style sheen, many fans were more than excited when early info on its sequel pointed to a decidedly different tack. We now know that Resident Evil 6, one of the most anticipated games of this year, will feature three, distinct campaigns and bring together all the elements of the ever evolving franchise.

Leon Kennedy returns as the secret service agent along with his new partner Helena, once again caught up in a town gone mad with a new strain of the seemingly unbeatable T-Virus. Fan-fave Chris Redfield is drafted back into the BSAA by fresh-face Piers after a stint as a barfly and gets back into pumping round after round into mutated beasties. Rounding off the triplet of stories is new character Jake Muller, son of the ever-present antagonist Albert Wesker, who brings a brand new mêlée focus to proceedings as he galavants around with Resi 2 alumni Sherry Birkin.

The demo has just come out on XBLA for all to play and offers a taster of all three campaigns. The big question is: will splitting up the action into three, distinct flavours appease fans, or just make us wonder why they couldn’t mesh it all together?

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Demo Impressions: DUST 514 Beta

First-person shooters tend to be games that I take a lot of enjoyment in playing, so a large-scale FPS sounds like it is right up my street. Not only is this shooter a large-scale game, but it can actually have an effect on parts of the game Eve Online; and vice versa. Not only that, but the game would be free to play!

Okay, so let me just prefix this entire write-up by saying that I have never played Eve Online. Make of that what you will, but I think that this gives me the ability to talk about the game from a fairly interesting perspective. Remember, Dust 514 is not a PC-based game, and is a PS3 exclusive, so there might not be as large a cross-section of users from Eve as you would think. This could potentially mean that a large number of players will be coming to the game in the same state as I am.

So, what did I actually think of the game? Read on and find out, and please bear in mind that the game is still in beta, and is subject to change.

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Demo Impressions: Madden NFL 13

Our friends in America would like us to believe that Football is a game played almost entirely with the hands and where the biggest scoring play, a Touchdown, is achieved when the ball crosses the goal line in the air. Naturally us Europeans know different, and so to differentiate from what we know as football we simply say ‘American Football’ instead. However, this in itself is a bit of a disservice to a game that is growing as both a spectator and participation sport worldwide and which has also recently professed a desire to one day be part of the Olympics.

This increase in popularity is as much to do with the Madden franchise from EA Sports as it is the ever-increasing hype machine that is the NFL, its source material. This year’s game is out at the end of this month and I have been playing the recently released XBox 360 demo to see how it’s shaping up.

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Demo Impressions: PES 2013

It’s been a pretty short summer for us football fans. On the back of the European club season and an exciting (all be it horrible) end to the Premier League, we’ve had one of the best European Championships in recent memory. Deservedly won, of course, by one of the best teams ever. Now, after a very short break the Olympic football tournament is in full swing with a few surprises already, and a close look at some of the world’s most exciting young players.

With only two weeks to go until the start of the English football league season, Konami have decided to add to the overload and give us what has to be considered a very early look at this autumn’s PES 2013, with the demo now available on XBLA, PS3 and PC. Never one to miss out on a bit of football, I’ve been spending the past week dissecting what’s good and not so good at this early stage.

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Hands On: Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Tekken has been around for so many years, yet the team still manages to come up with new ideas to make it fresh and relevant. The first Tekken Tag Tournament introduced some interesting concepts to the series. Does its sequel, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, have anything worthy to add? I had the opportunity to preview it and find out for myself.

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Hands On: Tales of Graces f

Namco Bandai is like the saviour of the current generation, when it comes to bringing RPGs to the West. Not only have they released the highly anticipated Ni No Kuni and Tales of Xillia next year, but they also have a few treats for PlayStation 3 owners. The first is the upcoming summer release, Tales of Graces f. Europe is the last region to get it, but will it be worth the long wait? I had a chance to preview the title and find out.

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Demo Impressions: Spec Ops: The Line

A little while ago I flew the TIMJ flag at The Gadget Show LIVE in Birmingham, schmoozing (if you could call it that) with Rebellion developers and generally having a great time. One thing that especially caught my eye was the demo of a game called Spec Ops: The Line. While I’d read a little about it and heard the name of the series before, I knew little to nothing concrete. So it was with a fresh pair of eyes I picked up the grubby cabinet controller and had a go. Check out my video coverage of the event to see what I thought.

Now that very same demo is available to all, I gave it a download to see if it could still hold its own without the excitement of a good expo.

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Hands On: Inversion

Namco Bandai’s latest gamble would probably make Newton turn in his grave. Inversion is a video-game that defies all laws of gravity. It’s also a third-person shooting video-game, so it’s interesting to see how the changes in gravity will affect this.

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Hands Off: Crysis 3

One of the video-game industry’s long running jokes involves the first Crysis. Many gamers found it difficult to run Crysis, back when it came out on the PC. A few years later and Crysis 3 has just been announced. It certainly would not run on PCs from that time, but are there any striking differences when comparing it to Crysis 2?

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Beta Impressions: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (Multiplayer)

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series has been doing the rounds now for a quite amazing ten years. Although there has not been a release this generation since the critically acclaimed Advanced Warfighter 2 way back in 2007, Future Soldier has been on the horizon for quite a while now. Those who purchased Splinter Cell: Conviction were promised access to the Multiplayer beta when Fisher’s last outing hit shops two years ago.

Finally though, the release of the latest game from the Tom Clancy stable is imminent. Those who had kept their copy of Splinter Cell (or got in quick enough last week) will have been able to experience a taster of what the new Ghost Recon multiplayer will bring to the table when the game hits our shelves this summer.

I was one of those people, and I like what I’ve seen.

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Hands On: Chillingo titles At EA Spring Showcase

Chillingo (owned by EA) is arguably the most prominent publisher of iOS video-games, boasting hits such as Cut The Rope, Anomaly: Warzone Earth, and the unfathomably successful Angry Birds series. They had a strong lineup at the EA showcase, with plenty of upcoming titles to look out for. The following is a round-up of my impressions for many of them, so if you’re an enthusiastic iGamer, read on.

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Hands Off: SimCity

A lot of people have fond memories of spending countless hours playing entries in the SimCity series. This writer, for example, remembers fondly spending whole afternoons building up a metropolis on the Sega Saturn classic SimCity 2000, only to see it all end in a flash, with imminent bankruptcy and public mutiny. The fans have begged for a new SimCity for many years, so it’s great that Maxis granted their wish.

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Hands Off: Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Medal of Honor started out as a series that focused on World War 2 events. The previous title jumped forward a few decades and efficiently brought the series into the present.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter is not so much of a sequel, as it is a continuation to the story of the previous instalment.

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Hands On: Risen 2: Dark Waters

When people talk about Western RPGs, most people think about Bethesda and their free roaming worlds or Bioware and their expansive stories. What most people don’t think of is what Germany has been turning out, in the form the of the Gothic series.

Unfortunately, the development team behind those games, Piranha Bytes, no longer work on them. Instead they are now working on Risen, a new series of German RPGs. Risen came out in 2009 and now a pirate-themed sequel is almost out. I managed to get a look at a preview build and it’s an interesting title to play.

This was a preview build so some things may be tweaked before release.

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Demo Impressions: FIFA Street

We, hopefully, are all fully aware that when it comes to churning out sports franchises, EA Sports rule the roost. We should also all be honest enough to admit that FIFA has surpassed PES on current generation machines in terms of the quality and the depth of its gameplay and mechanics, even if we are/were huge PES fanboys once upon a time.

However, there is still one thing missing from FIFA, something that the guys at EA Sports clearly feel can warrant enough excitement and desire to get us gamers to splash another £40 on a whole new game. That’s right folks Street Football is here.

Incredibly, the upcoming FIFA Street title is actually the fourth game in a spin-off franchise that takes the fundamental elements of Football and adds a dash of flair and trickery to proceedings. It moves the game away from all-seater, grand arenas with formally marked pitches to makeshift arenas that will take some of us back to our childhood on the playground. Jumpers for goalposts and all that.

The question clearly is going to be whether there is enough on offer to warrant an additional or alternative purchase to the mainstream FIFA 12 title.

It just so happens I’ve been spending a little time with the demo on Xbox Live to get an idea on the answer.

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Demo Impressions: Twisted Metal

After a massive absence from the franchise, Twisted Metal is back, baby! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, Twisted Metal is a car combat game with crude humour, masses of weapons, destructive vehicles and a hell of a lot of character. I have been looking forward to the game’s hopefully triumphant return for years now, and it seems that the moment has finally arrived.

I remember when I was a lot younger, I played through the original games just to make sure that I got used to every character and saw their individual endings; it took hours of play and the help of a very good friend, but it was all worth it in the end.

However, the question everyone wants to know the answer to, “is Twisted Metal still relevant now?”

The answer, I am happy to say, is an emphatic yes!

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Demo Impressions: Asura’s Wrath

The only contact I’d ever had with Asura’s Wrath prior to this demo was a very pretty looking, yet confusing trailer that was shown at E3 last year. What could be taken from this trailer? Well, the only thing that I took from them is that the game is completely and utterly insane.

Even after playing the demo through several times it is difficult to gather my thoughts into a constructive and descriptive article; there isn’t a scrap of sanity to be found anywhere in what I have played. There have been many games in the past which have enthralled me with intriguing madness and absurd story, but is it going out of its way to be deliberately insane?

There is no easy answer to this question, and so far my many attempts at playing the demo have left me with many thoughts.

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Demo Impressions: Mass Effect 3 (Single-Player)

Mass Effect is an interesting franchise. The first was a classic Bioware-style RPG, with a rich backstory and focus on exploration. The second game focused more on combat and fighting and, for many, it did wonders for the franchise.

It makes sense that the third game does the same, considering what it’s all about.

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Demo Impressions: Binary Domain

If there’s a game that hasn’t seen a lot of public attention, it’s Sega’s Binary Domain. The development team has faced various struggles getting their game out there due to the obvious similarities to other popular games, such as Gears of War.

Binary Domain hasn’t done much to try to steer clear of any of the comparisons, either. If it wasn’t for the odd trailer here and there, people would have probably completely forgotten it exists. That is perhaps the driving force behind the release of this demo, a good few weeks before the game hits stores.

The demo is currently only available for Japanese gamers, but it is surely only a matter of time before it hits other regions.

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Demo Impressions: Syndicate

I’ve got Syndicate Wars on PS1 in a box under my bed. While many have regaled me with tales of its awesomeness, I’ve never really been that into it. The concept was fantastic; futuristic, rival corporations literally fighting for control of the world’s dwindling assets.

The execution, for me, was overcomplicated and boring. So when it was announced that the franchise was being reinvented as first-person shooter Syndicate by Starbreeze Studios (of The Darkness fame), I was intrigued rather than outraged. Much of the old guard may be staunchly against this switch from strategy to gunplay, but I can see how the move was necessary in these modern times of CoDs and Battlefields.

All that aside, the Syndicate demo has recently graced the interwebs and I gave it a go.

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Demo Impressions: UFC Undisputed 3

UFC appears to be a bit like Marmite in that you either love it or hate it. To its fans, the skill and strength of its hybrid fighters, matched with the sheer brutality of the sport make it a must-watch spectacle. To its detractors, that same brutality is often used as the stick to beat it with.

Personally, I have to admit I have never really been taken in by a sport that seems to mix the grace and strategy of top class boxing with an element of school ground wrestling, but having never really watched it I can’t categorically say which side of the fence I sit.

The fact is, whichever camp you’re in, UFC is increasingly popular and has all the ingredients for a really special video-game, which brings me to the point of this little aside. UFC Undisputed 3 looks to bring you all the action and intensity of the real life sport without the cuts and bruises you’d get if you took to the “ring”.

With a rather ironic Valentine’s Day release ahead, I’ve been getting hands on with the XBLA demo to see if it’s any good.

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Demo Impressions: Cooking Mama 4

Are you one of those gamers that sucks at making your own food? Do you live off microwave meals? Beans on toast? Sometimes stretch to a Bacon Sarnie? While I can’t say that making food on your 3DS is going to appease the growling in your stomach, nor can I say tapping the screen with a stylus will improve your ability to pat out dough, I can tell you that Nintendo’s newest handheld has finally got its own instalment of the phenomenally popular Cooking Mama series, and a demo can be found on the e-shop right now.

Strap on your aprons, we’re going to the kitchen!

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Hands On: Touch My Katamari

Anyone trying to pitch a game to a Western publisher involving objects rolled into a ball would probably be laughed out of the room. Fortunately Japanese publishers are more open-minded or the brilliant Katamari games would never see the light of day. The latest sequel of the bizarre Japanese game, Touch My Katamari, is coming to the upcoming PlayStation Vita handheld.

Is it time for the King to retire, or is there still a need to go back to his colourful realm of magic?

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Demo Impressions: Resident Evil: Revelations

If this really is the last year of current gen consoles, then they’re definitely going to go out in a zombie-fuelled Resident Evil style KABOOM! With Operation Racoon City out in March, and the just-announced RE6 coming to us in November, later this month we’ve also got the series first foray into 3D with the brand new Revelations on 3DS.

With gamers being rather impatient creatures, and it still being a week until launch, the lovely lot at Capcom and Nintendo have given us a little something to be going on with. A demo.

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Demo Impressions: Grand Slam Tennis 2

Let’s be brutally honest, when it comes to sporting titles, EA Sports pretty much hold a monopoly. They have dominated for quarter of a century on the big American sports n Football and Ice Hockey with Madden and NHL respectively. Then there’s the more globally popular sports of Soccer and Golf with FIFA and Tiger Woods, which have also both had enormous sales over the same period of time. More recently, they have added Boxing to their catalogue and with the growing success of the Fight Night franchise blowing away its competitors, it seems the writing is on the wall for another annual sports franchise.

So, what next then? Basketball has been covered, with mixed success, by NBA Jam and NBA Live. Baseball is barely viewed outside of North America, so the guys at EA Sports have elected to turn their attentions to Tennis instead. Some might think that with Sega’s Virtua Tennis and 2k’s Top Spin already selling well, that they might have picked an easier market. Especially considering that Tennis is often seen as elitist and is only really on our TV screens when the big tournaments roll around. Still, last year’s Wii-only Grand Slam Tennis sold well enough (despite mixed reviews) to warrant a multi-platform follow-up.

Which brings me on to the recently released demo of Grand Slam Tennis 2, which I just happen to of downloaded last week to see if it can hold up against the established order ahead of its February release.

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Demo Impressions: Final Fantasy XIII-2

If one series will forever rule the J-RPG universe it’s Final Fantasy. Spanning over twenty years, five console generations and everything from High Fantasy to steampunk futurism, it is the undisputed daddy of all. Its greatest merit and constant magic is its ability to repeatedly reinvent and innovate itself while retaining the core of what makes it brilliant. Each new game brings a brand new world, new characters and enemies and usually a new battle system. We’ve come a long way from the basic turn-based battling of old and the last game, Final Fantasy XIII, switched it up again with the breathless and intoxicating Paradigm system.

Let’s forget that part about reinventing and innovating for a while, because the double-numbered sequel has struck again. On February 3rd, Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be hitting the shelves of game shops across our bleak nation. Aside from making you sound a tit when saying the name out loud (Final Fantasy Thirteen Two doesn’t quite have a ring to it) it continues the tale of Lightning and co, but with a brand new perspective in the guise of her sister, Serah. Joining forces with anime menswear model Noel, she sets out across time and space to do… something.

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Demo Impressions: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

What do you get when you bring three legendary men of the arts together in the pursuit of one goal? Well in this case you get Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the new action RPG from EA being developed by 38 Studios and Big Huge Games.

The aforementioned men of legend are none other than Ken Rolston, lead designer on Morrowind and Oblivion who is heading the game; popular fantasy, Baldurs Gate and D+D author, R.A. Salvatore, tasked with writing the lore and crafting the world; and undisputed King of the Fucked Up, Todd McFarlane, churning out his own special breed of concept art. With pedigree like that involved KOA: Reckoning has more that a good chance of making a splash when it hits the shelves on February 10th.

Does good stock make a good soup? Like any new IP with something to prove, raising awareness and getting people excited is paramount to boost pre-orders and corral sales when D-day arrives. The KOA: Reckoning demo is currently nestled on PSN and XBLA and can also be downloaded for PC, so I thought I’d grab the 360 version and give it a go.

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Hands On: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

I realise this is something I’ve been running into the ground recently, however it’s only because it’s true (and I’m slightly excited): 2012 is full of big hitters. Huge hitters. Games that will blow our socks off, find them, put them back on and blow them off again. As such, there isn’t any room for games that aren’t going to pull their weight, who aren’t ready to push gaming to the limits.

While I was excited about Kingdoms of Amalur, my previous point applies, unfortunately. Having been able to play the game for the better part of two hours recently, I was met with a decent, enjoyable game, but I wasn’t left feeling Amalur deserved a spot on our shelves this year.

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Hands On: Guild Wars 2

MMOs are set to steal your very soul. Not even just your soul, the essence that makes up that soul, which they will then process and turn into money and laugh, whilst sitting on big chairs and mocking you.

At least that’s what many people seem to believe MMOs, or more specifically World of Warcraft, is set out to do. To a degree, they’re right. MMOs aren’t your fancy, hold-your-hand games. They focus on turning your time spent into profitable game benefits. If you want to bear fruits in an MMO, you have to be ready to sacrifice a lot of time, sweat, blood and tears, and possibly family.

One game that may shake things up a bit, is Guild Wars 2.

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Hands On: Escape Plan (PS Vita)

It’s always ironic how the games that make the most efficient use of a system’s capabilities are the ones that end up being ignored. This is the case with Escape Plan, which is a video-game that focuses solely on touch based controls. The game’s basic premise is that the mute character needs to escape and needs the player’s help to do so.

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Hands On: Virtua Tennis 4 (PS Vita)

Tennis is not only the favourite Summer sport in England, but also the sport used in one of Sega’s better sports simulator. Virtua Tennis 4 released on other formats earlier this year to a lukewarm reception. Not even the spirit of Wimbledon tennis season managed to save a title that felt like a step back when compared to previous games. The same game will release on the Playstation Vita as a launch title next year, but will it have the same fate?

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Hands On: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz (PS Vita)

Since those heady days when Sega were hardware giants have long gone, they’ve had to focus on publishing and software development, even putting games on the console of their biggest rivals, Nintendo; an angle which has been extremely successful for them over recent years. One of the games that helped bring that success with a Nintendo machine was the original Super Monkey Ball, which turned out to be well received by critics and gamers alike. Since then, we’ve seen further sequels on Nintendo consoles and other systems.

The latest game coming out is Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz on the Playstation Vita. It won’t be the first time a Super Monkey Ball game gets launched alongside a new console, but will it be worth the rush?

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Hands On: Xbox 360 Dashboard Update 2011

The Xbox 360 is now six years old and with the evolution of the console experience, the dashboard has inevitably been changed to keep up with the times. The original Xbox 360 design with the blades would be considered an eyesore by today’s standards, and every feature new update caused it to become more out of touch. Looking at it now actually makes my eyes hurt a little, and I find it very difficult to believe that this was classed as good UI design not so many years ago.

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Hands On: Star Wars: The Old Republic

A long time ago in a galaxy far away, George Lucas came up with what turned out to be a very lucrative film franchise. Star Wars has gone on to become widely recognised all over the world. It didn’t stop at the films either; since Star Wars has dabbled in other media forms such as cartoons, comics and obviously video-games. There has been various Star Wars games and even a few with LEGO versions to boot, but it’s the PC games that fans love playing the most. The latest PC game in development is the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

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Hands On: Lord of the Rings: War in the North

It’s hard to find a franchise like Lord of the Rings that is still widely recognised all over the world after so many years. Lords of the Rings began as literature written by renowned author J.R.R. Tolkien, and later moved on to the big screen, thanks to Peter Jackson’s epic film adaptations. Video-games based on Lord of the Rings have come out but the latest, War in the North, is attempting to offer something different.

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Beta Impressions: Star Wars: The Old Republic

Since my initial 70 levels in World of Warcraft, I’ve been waiting for an MMO to leap out at me and make me give a damn about its content. Burning Crusade worked for me, but after only one play through of Wrath of the Lich King, I was finally done with an MMO that had absorbed over two years of my life, never to return.

Since then, I’ve tried to recapture the magic with other titles, trying my hand at Warhammer Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Star Trek Online and more recently, Rift. These were all fleeting affairs that never made me feel even an inkling of the spark that Blizzard’s behemoth had stoked for so long. It was at this point that I genuinely believed I was done with the genre for good, never to find any semblance of satisfaction in it again.

That’s until I was invited to The Old Republic Beta. Then, suddenly, everything started to change…

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Demo Impressions: Rayman Origins

This 2D Platformer has allot to offer and you’ll see why in our 15minute+ video, of course along with the unique commentary throughout.

In a complete retuning of the Rayman concept, this game is a pure return to form and has gone from being not even remotely on the radar, to something absolutely worthy of being on your purchase list. Developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, let’s see what the French have to offer other than cheese, attractive football and fine wine.

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Preview: Trine 2

Frozenbyte have a couple of decent games to their name and if anyone bought the Frozenbyte bundle pack, they would have seen that their strongest release thus far is the wonderful action puzzler, Trine.

Well, such a beautiful game with seamless handling wouldn’t go a miss for sequel surely? Caught between the white-noise of big game announcements, Frozenbyte announced Trine 2 and we were lucky enough to get on the beta to try the game’s character introduction and the first few levels.

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Hands On: Metal Gear Solid: 3D

It’s still something that I’m trying to get my head around. The two don’t sound right next to each other, Nintendo and Metal Gear Solid, like some sort of warped oxymoron. However the series has found its way onto the 3DS console for a handheld exclusive, with Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater, a 3D port of the Metal Gear Solid 3 game. Nintendo haven’t been ones to fail when it comes to pulling some tricks out of the hate.

Handhelds and the Metal Gear series have been interesting. If we cast your minds back to 2004 when Metal Gear Acid was released for the PSP which gave an interesting turn-based element to the tactical gameplay we were used to; it worked well, and was fashioned specifically for the device.

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Hands On: The Darkness II

If you don’t know, The Darkness was a video-game by Starbreeze Entertainment, based on a comic book with the same name. It told the story of Jackie Estacado and what he had to do in order to control the gift and burdon of The Darkness, a strange, devlish power that resides within him.

The sequel, by Digital Extremes, occurs two years after the events of the first game, with Jackie now being able to fully control his Darkness powers, but it wouldn’t be a sequel without something going awry, would it? Jackie will face his worst nightmares yet again, but will he be strong enough to defeat them and keep everything under control?

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Hands On: LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7

The Harry Potter books have been out for a few years but the final film has only been released this year. At some point in the last few years some genius at Traveller’s Tales thought of putting LEGO and the Harry Potter world into one game. The result is another superb interaction in the world of LEGO games

The first Harry Potter game focused on Harry’s adventures at Hogwarts throughout years one to four. This second game focuses on year five to seven, which are the darkest moments in the adventures of Harry Potter.

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Demo Impressions: LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7

So, the new Harry Potter game (the good one) is drawing closer and a sumptuous demo has just been released by Warner Bros. Is the return to the land of LEGO another run of the mill trip down the lane that is called ‘familiarity’, or does this game serve up some fresh ideas to give the tried and tested formula a new gloss? James Ireland brings you a video of his demo impressions after the jump!

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Hands On: Defenders of Ardania

Tower defense games over the years have degenerated into an overworked, repetitive and innovation-deficient genre. Every now and then, however, a gem like Defense Grid: The Awakening comes along, with its fascinating style and sublimely well-tuned game mechanics. As my personal stand-out favourite of the category so far, its quality and innovation was definitely the exception rather than the rule.

I’ve had an extensive hands-on preview with Defenders of Ardania, a new IP in the genre possessing the kind of game title you want to bellow out in the manliest, most epic-sounding voice possible. The question is, can it compete with the likes of Defense Grid, or is it no better than the mindless grunts that march ceaselessly towards your castle?

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Hands On: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

It’s been eight years since Return of the King graced our cinemas, and brought to conclusion to Peter Jackson’s take on a classic fantasy trilogy. It was with mixed emotion that we watched it through to its conclusion for the very first time, desperate to see how he brought the final scenes to life with his dramatic cinematography, but equally sad that it was all about to come to an end.

Jackson’s take on Rings is beloved and memorable, so, naturally, it was accompanied by hordes of merchandise so crazy collectors and devoted fans could express themselves in the comfort of their own home (and even outside of it!). It was also synced up with several video-game tie-ins, including hack and slash-em-ups, Two Towers & Return of the King, and an RPG called The Third Age.

Now, after the dust has settled on the ring-focused epic, we’re surprisingly faced with another game tied into the films. One that seems to take the best elements of its predecessors and merge them together.

Enter Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

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Hands On: All Zombies Must Die!

We all know how popular zombies are these days. It’s impossible to go to a shop that stocks video-games without finding at least one that has zombies in it.

While you won’t find the latest game from Doublesix on shop shelves, it does have zombies and, I might add, is looking rather promising.

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Hands On: Batman: Arkham City

Unquestionably, Batman Arkham Asylum was my Game of the Year in 2009. Rocksteady came completely out of left-field and blew me away with reckless abandon. Suddenly, it was cool to dig on the Caped Crusader once again; long forgotten were his woes with film tie-ins and cartoon spin-offs.

Now, the team what done good last time are back with Arkham City, and they’re looking to take things to a whole other level. At Eurogamer, I got the chance to see whether they managed exactly that, or if this one is more a THWAP than a POW!?

Please note: This is quite heavily spoilerific about various story elements of the game, so if you’re avoiding all talk of the Arkham City plot, please stop reading. Thanks.

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Hands On: Chillingo’s iPhone Line-up and Chat

The mobile gaming market continues to thrive and prosper; anyone who disregards that is completely naïve. It’s not all Angry Birds, either. Other enormously successful games have materialised over the last few years, and one of the main figureheads for iOS publishing success has been Chillingo PR. Throughout their tenure, they’ve handled games such as Spider Jack, Cut the Rope, Blobster, Infinity Field, and most recently, Pixel Ranger, Roll in the Hole and Saloon Poker.

Last month, James O’Leary and myself met with Chillingo in the Earls Court arena, overlooking the Eurogamer show floor from a small bar up in the rafters. We were there to see their next batch of games which included Super Crossfire, Hank Hazard and Little Lost Chick.

In between the time James and I could draw our attention away from playing the games, and drinking our pints, we also got to chat to Dan Tausney and Jan Day about Chillingo’s exciting line-up and the future of mobile gaming.

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Hands On: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Special Ops)

A few years back when Call of Duty 4 was released, there was a certain bonus level right towards the end of the game. The infamous “Mile High Club” put players aboard a hijacked air plane while they attempted to eliminate the group of terrorists responsible. What made it so different was the fact that it was timed and players had to be quick to finish the level.

This idea helped form the critically acclaimed Special Ops mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was a deeply popular mode. Special Ops provided two players with a set of missions where working together was essential if you were to complete them. As expected, such was the success of those missions, Special Ops is also included in the upcoming Modern Warfare 3.

Special Ops has been modified to include some new features, but the latest Special Ops revelation comes in the form of a new mode. Those familiar with the likes of the Horde mode in Gears of War 3 are in for a treat as in this section of Special Ops, players must work as a team to get through multiple waves of enemies. This is not exactly a unique concept, but it still managed to impress as I played two of the included levels.

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Hands On: Ninja Gaiden 3

The Ninja Gaiden series has been around for almost 25 years in one form or another, spanning pretty much every platform since its debut in arcades back in 1988. Back then I used to save my pocket-money for a month and then take a bus down to Southend (from my home town, Chelmsford) for a day in the arcades and the side scrolling slash-em-up always got its fair share of my coins.

Early next year will see the third title in the series’ most modern iteration and is a direct sequel to 2008’s Ninja Gaiden 2. For the first time in the franchise history it has a new director in Yosuke Hayashi and, as a fan of the series, I was keen to have a closer look when I heard it would be playable at the recent Eurogamer Expo at Earls Court.

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Demo Impressions: Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster

Long gone are the days of decent kids programming. These days it’s full of characters that have odd shapes or are dreamt up by producers who spent a good spell using Lithium. Back in my day kids TV had a little more character to them, unlike todays throttle neck cartoons and Dick & Dom.

Sesame Street was a classic back in the 90’s, it became a daily ritual waking up at stupid-o-clock as a kid to catch a glimpse of Big Bird and Cookie Monster. To find that Double Fine (Brutal Legend, Costume Quest) were taking the helm with a Microsoft Kinect project was an interesting one.

Nobody could have expected the announcement of a Sesame Street game, and when it was made known at E3, there was somewhat a tongue in cheek smile on my face. A smile on my face because I was shy to admit I was pleased about the announcement, and also because Microsoft’s conference felt so weak that year they felt the need to devote what felt like ten minutes of their conference to this game…

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Demo Impressions: Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

As a fan of most games with guns, I figured that playing Ace Combat: Assault Horizon would sate my thirst. After all, what are fighter jets, but planes with guns! I was especially interested, having only limited experience of the previous games in the series. So, it seemed like a good idea to check out what people have referred to as the “Call of Duty” of flight simulations.

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Demo Impressions: Battlefield 3 Multiplayer BETA

Pumping out the groundbreaking Frostbyte 2.0 engine, DICE have been working extremely hard to create an FPS to blow Activision’s behemoth off track. James Ireland takes a look at the Rush multiplayer game mode in the Xbox 360 version of the beta. Does Battlefield offer an entertaining online experience, or is the learning curve too much that it will put some people off?

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Demo Impressions: Resident Evil: Revelations

At the time of writing this, I’m actually just putting the finishing touches to our review of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. However, I find myself at an impasse, halted by the fact that there is no Wi-Fi connection in the vicinity for me to leach off and fully test out its multiplayer features.

Still, while I’ve quite enjoyed what I’ve played of that particular game so far, it’s simply a light aside to the things that you’d expect from a Resident Evil title. It’s a spin-off. A game you don’t have to invest too heavily in as it’s all about the arcade-style point racking. Our review of The Mercenaries 3D will be live before this makes it up, so make sure you check that out too.

A true Resident Evil is coming for 3DS, however, and packed away in the ‘Extras’ menu on the main screen of Mercenaries 3D lays a demo; short taster of what we can expect from the upcoming Resident Evil: Revelations.

So, in my webless state, I thought I’d take the time to give you some impressions on the short, early build.

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Hands On: Saints Row: The Third

There was a time, many moons ago when Grand Theft Auto stood alone, without peers, as the sandbox title. It gave us glorified violence and gang warfare in a relaxed, fun manner with some really clever side missions that not only set the heart racing but brought a smile to the face.

Skip to the current generation of consoles and there was a short delay from Rockstar as they worked to give their series a more gritty, realistic feel for the modern era, leaving something of a hole in the market. This hole was rather conveniently filled by Saints Row, courtesy of Volition.

Saints Row carried on the tradition of presenting a fun-filled and action packed sandbox title with a slightly cartoony feel, and despite some graphical imperfections it proved to be something of a hit. Roll the clock forward five years and we are about to receive the third instalment, which promises to be a touch more polished and as much fun as ever.

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Hands On: RAGE

We all have our fits of RAGE don’t we? Whether it’s a game pissing us off to the nth degree, or if we’re in the middle of an argument with the spouse, sibling or parent? Maybe we’re just angry at someone else for being better than us at something. Whatever the case maybe, we all have those ‘Me, Hulk, Smash’ moments.

With RAGE, id Software aren’t creating a game that will allow us to relive all of these wonderful experiences in the virtual realm, but what they have given us is their first intellectual property in over a decade. With racing.

Now I’ve had some hands-on time with the game, I can tell you that they’re back, and in a big way…

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Hands On: Modern Warfare 3 (Survival Mode)

Modern Warfare 3 may be the most anticipated video game of all time, but it’s also one that’s been marred with controversy. Infinity Ward is a whole new development house, as most of the original Modern Warfare team have now joined Zampella and West over at EA’s Respawn. As such, there were grave concerns that this new, young team being tasked with the biggest video-game franchise of current age systems, would cripple under such enormous pressure.

Well, at Eurogamer Expo, I got extensive hands-on time with MW3’s new Survival Mode, and after I was done; my brain would only allow one word to come out of my mouth.

“FUUUUCCK!”

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Hands On: Mass Effect 3

You want it. I want it. The entire world wants it. Unfortunately, we still have to wait another six months for it. The conclusion of Commander Shepard’s story is one of the most anticipated in video game history. Fortunately, Bioware rarely disappoint; yet with the sheer excellence that was Mass Effect 2, one has to wonder if, this time, they’ve set the bar too high.

I got to sample the final instalment of Shepard’s adventures at this year’s Eurogamer Expo, and I can certainly tell you one thing. The future, is quite different..

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Hands On: Mario Kart 7 & Super Mario 3D Land

It’s been a tough old year for Nintendo and their much maligned 3DS console. After poor sales that lead to a controversial price-drop just six months into the console’s life, they’ve since struggled to navigate the waters of the handheld market. As everyone knows, that’s just not like them.

With third-party developers currently letting them down in support, everybody’s eyes are on what the big N will produce from within.

At this year’s Eurogamer Expo, TIMJ’s James O’Leary was on hand to sample two of their most anticipated titles; Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land.

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Hands On: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

There are few games I can completely lose myself in. A game world needs to be as rich as it is compelling, and very few developers can pull off such a demanding feat. Bethesda however, are the masters of it, and despite the unrivalled quality they’re already renowned for, with Skyrim, they’re set to deliver their true masterpiece.

I was fortunate to get a brief hands-on with one of November’s most anticipated games, and I’m here to tell you, that the word ‘masterpiece’ may be the only fair comparison I can make…

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Match of the Year: FIFA 12 vs. PES 2012 (2nd Leg)

So after a narrow victory in last month’s First Leg, the PES franchise managed to put through its own net when it failed to deliver the first of its two demos to Xbox Live a few weeks. This meant that we head into this second leg all square in the battle for the crown of this year’s best football game.

Last week, we saw the release of the demos for both FIFA 12 and PES 2012 on all systems (this time) and I have been putting them both through their paces. Will FIFA hold off the challenge again this year or can PES win back the title after a generation in the cold? Read on to find out.

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Demo Impressions: NHL 12

Back in the days of the Sega Megadrive, the NHL franchise from EA Sports was on a par in popularity with Madden and FIFA. Despite me knowing practically nothing about the sport or its participants, it was still a day-one purchase for me, for a few years at least.

Since then, I would suggest that while Madden and FIFA have gone from strength to strength, the NHL franchise has become something of the forgotten cousin of the big EA Sports series. Naturally, this has a lot to do with the fact that ice hockey is still seen as a minority sport outside of North America, Scandinavia and a few of the old Eastern Block European nations, but the times they are a-changin’.

Thanks to the growing popularity of the EIHL (that’s the Elite Ice Hockey League to those not in the know), ice hockey has become the most watched indoor sport in the UK, and is only bettered by football and rugby for winter sport attendance figures. So, there couldn’t be a better time for EA Sports to push the NHL franchise on these shores. It is also one of the games to benefit from the new EA Sports Season Ticket. I thought I’d take a look at the recently-released demo, to see if ice hockey can challenge for the honours in the sports franchise video-game face-off.

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