This Is My Joystick!
Tom Clancy’s HAWX was a flight sim set in the now infamous Clancy universe that has been used in many a good book, video and game and was released last year. This year’s sequel follows on from the original and is available now on all platforms courtesy of UbiSoft.
I was lucky enough to get my hands on a review copy for Xbox360, so I donned my bomber jacket, picked up my shades and stuck on the Top Gun soundtrack before taking to the skies to see just what this baby could do.
I have played quite a few survival horrors in my time; Resident Evil, Forbidden Siren, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead (if that even counts) and Clock Tower 3 for instance but few have gotten to me like Amnesia: The Dark Descent has. Developed by Frictional Games, also known for their similar Penumbra series, Amnesia is a first-person adventure game based on exploration and puzzles. This sure as hell ain’t no Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbados’ treasure, mind.
Amnesia was my introduction to the works of Frictional Games and I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. They’re an indie developer outputting lower-budget games (at release, Amnesia will set you back a mere £12.99 on Steam) and I was therefore unsure of the quality that I could expect. Read on to find out if my fears were warranted or not (and believe me, I experienced a lot of fears).
Before I start I have a confession; I have never played a King’s Quest game. I’ve done a little bit of research before playing this latest game but I have never picked up one of the classic games and unfortunately, this new episode isn’t that good.
After several slightly disappointing DLC packs for Bioshock 2 that included multiplayer maps which no-one uses, and the Protector Trials that was a good idea even if we had already saved all the Little Sisters, it was nice to hear about Minerva’s Den as it was an actual story add on for the game.
Is this the DLC that will salvage Bioshock 2 and all its failings? Don’t get me wrong, I loved the story of Project Delta, his little sister and the evil Sophia Lamb, but it was quite lacklustre in comparison to the terrors that Andrew Ryan & Frank Fontaine inflicted upon us. Sure, there were some new toys for us to play with but it just didn’t feel quite the same and it certainly lacked the twists and turns of its predecessor.
One game that has always been a firm favourite of mine is Mafia. It wasn’t as refined as games like GTA, nor as expansive, but it had a style of storytelling that hasn’t been duplicated in any other sandbox game. Little adjustments to gameplay made it a very different experience, one that I enjoyed. It wasn’t just that which made me like the game, it was the story; which was as engaging as they come. From taxi driver to made man, you became Tommy, you became a member of the Mafia. You did what you could to survive and dish out your own justice.
I never thought in the years to come that it would have ever got a sequel, but low and behold, here it is in all its glory. After playing the demo anyone who read my impressions would have gathered that I was taken back to that original game. I re-entered the world of a made man, but this was different, I had a new character to become, a new era to explore and now I have found out if it lives up to the first game’s legend.
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is available for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC and is the next step in the story of two infamous criminals, following on from the previous title Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. This prequel was met on release with mediocre review scores and a mixture of enjoyment, apathy and even disgust from the gaming community. As a result, I approached Dog Days with some scepticism and decided to not place my expectations too high.
The developers, IO Interactive, are also well known for their more popular and well received Hitman series, so it’s not like they’re strangers to making good games. Will Dog Days be banished to the kennel like its predecessor, or turn out to be the dog’s bollocks?
To people of a certain generation, the name “Worms” brings up certain memories, most of which involve huddling round a PS1 and throwing Sheep at each other. It’s hard to deny the success of Team 17’s most famous franchises, and its recent edition on the Xbox Live Arcade and the iPhone have been insanely popular. However there hasn’t been a version on PC for quite a long time; a situation that is being rectified with Worms Reloaded. Is it a wriggle to victory or an Armageddon?
Pixar seem incapable of putting a foot wrong and continue to produce quality animated products that are suitable for every age. However, the sceptic in me still couldn’t believe they were daring to go to the Toy Story franchise for the third time and I was scared that they may have finally considered the lure of money over quality. While the film proved me utterly and completely wrong as its absolutely brilliant, I was tasked with seeing if the game matched the same quality. With the history of film/game cash-ins, my expectations weren’t high, but with such a high quality film, surely they can’t get it wrong?
There was a time when RTS games used to saturate the market the way FPS games do today. Before Call of Duty and Halo, we had Command and Conquer and Total Annihilation. AAA Developers from all over the World were involved with the genre from Microsoft to Westwood Studios, to the mighty Blizzard themselves. Blizzard’s exploits in the RTS genre were particularly memorable with three titles in the Warcraft series that would later set the tone for an ever-expanding MMO World and arguably the most successful and best-selling RTS game of all time, Starcraft.
However, in recent years, the genre has lost steam with several attempts to try and reinvigorate it falling flat, and providing altogether forgettable forays. With these failing efforts and dwindling support, a quality RTS game soon became something of a forgotten relic, lost in droves of open world sandbox adventures, motion controlled shovelware and numerous takes on the ‘war on terror’. Yet, there were a few die-hard fans who would not just let the genre slip away, especially fans of Blizzard, that continued to religiously play both Warcraft and Starcraft, hoping that one day they may see a resurgence worthy of the original heyday glory. Blizzard supported the genre as much as they could through the Battle.net service, but ultimately had to remain focused on allowing the thriving World of Warcraft to meet the demand of its flourishing fanbase.
Many years have passed since the original Starcraft hit store shelves; clearly something Blizzard had not forgotten either as they’ve decided to release not one, not two, but three separate instalments making up the long-awaited sequel to their Space Shoot-Em-Up Soap Opera Starcraft 2! Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Storm and Legacy of the Void will represent parts 1, 2 and 3 respectively, however in this review, we will focus solely on Wings of Liberty, a campaign based on the Terrans (humans)
I won’t keep you waiting any longer as to whether it was worth the wait or not.
You know what’s a good film? Aliens. This 1986 sci-fi classic from James Cameron is still a major influence on both games and cinema and while also providing a huge number of quotable lines that come in handy when playing Valve’s newest co-op shooter, Alien Swarm. Based off the same tech as Left 4 Dead and Half Life 2, is this game a worthy successor to the other high quality games in Valve’s collection or is it “Game Over Man”?
Babes, bullets and bombs! A fantasy lifestyle that many a heterosexual male would wish to have, or a burly lesbo if I’m going to be all politically correct. Fortunately for one particular man, this is exactly how he lives his life, and he is the self proclaimed “King of the world, baby!”. No I’m not talking about Titanic lovely Leonard Di Caprio, I am of course referring to 3D Realms iconic chauvinist action hero, Duke Nukem.
Yes Mr Nukem is back for his second Xbox Live Arcade title, and like the first release (Duke Nukem 3D) it is almost a direct port of its original 2002 PC version by Sunstorm Interactive. However, where Duke Nukem 3D was a first person Doom look-a-like, Manhattan Project goes back to Duke’s side-scrolling roots, but with a slight twist.
At the time of its PC release it is was somewhat ground-breaking for the genre. Eight years on, and some pretty massive leaps and bounds in gaming technology later, it doesn’t seem quite as an impressive a feat. Credit where credit is due though, you have to admire 3D realms ethic of putting Duke in more than just one genre of game style. Question is though, is Manhattan Project the same game as it was back in 2002, and if so, is that a good thing?
One of the more common questions a videogame journalist will be asked is, ‘What’s your favourite game of all time?’, a question that certainly divides opinion. Whenever you click on This Is My Joystick, we thrust our opinion on you and tell you what we think is right and wrong about the latest game in our cross-hairs, without remorse or pity for those who’ve spent years making it and those who’ve waited months anticipating it.
So, if you’ve read my reviews and seen the marks I’ve given out, you’re probably all wondering what I, as a reviewer, consider to be my standard bearer. What do I consider to be the finest achievement the industry has ever known when every single game is stood side by side?
Coming into this review, I was touting it to be Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, a choice certain to quirk a few eyebrows. However, now that Lucasarts are re-releasing the game for a new audience with a whole host of new features, I feel it is my responsibility as a videogame journalist to at least try to justify myself and determine if those feelings are still relevant today.
So, nearly twenty years on, is this still the masterpiece I remember it to be?
Up until this last year or so, the Xbox Live Arcade has been sorely lacking in some quality first person shooter action. However, slowly and surely there has been a slightly steadier trickle coming forth, with DICE’s Battlefield 1943 probably being the highlight amongst some of the titles that have made their appearances on there. While most of the efforts have been cut down versions of more established franchises, or remakes and rereleases of classic titles, there have been few willing to risk their necks on a completely original IP in the genre. One such brave developer is Zombie Studios, who have just seen their (practically) online only title, Blacklight: Tango Down finally hit the marketplace this Wednesday just gone, and I was lucky enough to be offered a chance to review it.
So, how does it measure up? You know what do to find out. OOH RAH!
Back in 2001 Armagan Yavuz and his wife started to work on a game simulating massive medieval battles in their own garage. That was the original Mount & Blade. During the following nine years the game has grown into a niche with an extremely dedicated fanbase, not to mention a very creative modding community.
The studio (Taleworlds Interactive) grew as well, while still remaining relatively compact; with the help of an actual publisher the small but very productive wargame publisher Paradox Interactive improved the production values, leading to the release of Mount & Blade: Warband at the end of march, this year.
Mount & Blade: Warband is a mix between a RPG and a strategy game, but is also unique in many ways, so it’s not easy to make it fit comfortably in a single category. Being an independent game released by a small Turkish developer it’s quite probable that a sizable percentage of our readers never heard about it or its predecessor.
As part of Popcap’s quest to dominate the casual and puzzle market, they have been known to acquire smaller, independent studios along the way. One such smaller studio is Spintop Games, who haven’t exactly set the world alight with their contribution to the industry (I’d never heard of them before), however their latest game, Escape Whisper Valley, became available to purchase through Popcap and has received a fair amount of marketing. Billed as a ‘Hidden Object Game’, I had no idea what to expect when going in. The title intrigued me, but the premise intrigued me more in what I found to be a very strangely put together package.
Harry Potter is a phenomenon. There is no getting around that fact, there is no avoiding it. Whether you’re a fan of J.K Rowling’s written word or not, it’s a series that dwarfs Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Twilight in terms of revenue and global recognition. That’s why the very thought of crossing Harry Potter with a Lego video game must have been the most appealing idea to Traveller’s Tales and Warner Brothers since turning water into wine or creating Lego Rock Band last year!
As a fan of both Lego and HPVerse, I decided to take the plunge and quickly pre-ordered my copy, keen to see what TT could do with the franchise in the world of bricks. Having spent hours upon hours hunting for crests and collecting studs, I now have a good enough idea of how this plays to give an informed review and to tell you if this has been worth the wait. So, should Lego Harry Potter Years 1–4 be permanently expelled or should this class remain in session?
Please note, the majority of my time playing this game was local co-op with my girlfriend, who has also offered some of her input into this review. Appropriate credit given at the conclusion of this review.
Shamefully, I’ve never really experienced the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood until now. If you’d have uttered that name in my direction few years back and I’d have probably thought that you were talking about a sexually transmitted infection. That’s not to say that I don’t understand that the original Monkey Island games have legendary status in the industry; even without playing it, it’s one of the first games that came to mind when thinking about the point and click genre. The series has seen four full games, with the fifth being released episodically on PC last year, and eventually released on PS3 in June just gone.
So when presented with the option to review the series’ first foray into the world of episodic gaming, I have to admit that initially I was wavering slightly. Think about it; I would be coming into a series with established characters, concepts and inside jokes, and please make no mistake; that is a daunting task. I’ve seen people do it before on other sites with an unpleasant effect; I could upset generations of devoted followers by not ‘getting’ the series, or even by praising a title that peaked back in the day and has alienated since fans. Remembering that I’d purchased the Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition on XBLA last year but never finished it, I even rushed through it over the last week to familiarise myself a little more with the characters and the oddball humour before jumping in with both feet. Consummate professional, me.
So with my research completed, I weighed anchor, hoisted the mizzen mast, shivered my, erm… timbers (?!) as I set sale to catch up with Guybrush and company.
Please note: Rather than review each episode individually as we would usually do with episodic games, I’ve decided to review the series as a whole. The main reason is that the full series has been available on PC for some time, and is readily available in a bundle, where as the PS3 version is only available as a bundle.
Until now, Telltale Games have utilised established intellectual properties to form their catalogue of games, including the likes of Wallace and Gromit, Sam and Max, CSI, Strong Bad, Monkey Island and soon to be Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. However, as part of a brand new scheme they’ve entitled the ‘Pilot Programme’, Telltale have completed their first ever unique intellectual property with the help of the team behind ‘Tales of Monkey Island’ and Graham Anabele (who worked on the storyboards for the animated feature, Coraline) as creative consultant.
Essentially, the Pilot Programme sees Telltale compile an episode and, based on fan response and acclaim, will gauge whether the popularity is significant enough for them to consider further entries in the series. Puzzle Agent is the first of such games, and is based on an agent named Nelson Tethers who is part of a division in the FBI known as ‘Puzzle Investigations’. Nelson is a super sleuth who certainly knows his way around a sudoku puzzle, and TTG have him caught up in an investigation unlike any other which will utilise every fibre of his mental faculties.
The question is, should Nelson have stayed hidden in this secret division, locked up in the deepest recesses of the FBI? Lets find out…
Sam and Max is one of the zaniest franchises you will ever experience. Their off the wall humour and nonchalant policing style has garnered the attention of fans all over the World, taking Steve Purcell’s smartly dressed dog and naked lagamorph from the pages of a comic book into a digitised gaming World, first in the hands of Lucasarts and now in the palms of Telltale Games. Season 3, The Devil’s Playhouse, follows on from Sam and Max Save the World and Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space, once again featuring the eccentric protagonists and a slew of memorable cast members such as Harry the Moleman, Abe Lincoln’s head and Momma Bosco. You can read more about Sam and Max Save the World right here. For now though, this article will focus on Season 3 and the new innovations and adventure Telltale have brought to their headline franchise.
Is this season Telltale’s finest hour? Read on to find out more…
Disclaimer: Please be advised that some spoilers are contained throughout these reviews and so it is advised that you play these episodes in order so as not to ruin your experience with the story. Thanks.
I remember my first thought when I fired up DOOM 2 over fifteen years ago; chainsaw! The hype had been unreal at the time, the ability to wield a chainsaw and double barrelled shotgun in a game was unheard of and lathered in controversy. So, naturally, the first thing I wanted to do at 12 years of age was to slice somebody up. My excitement, for something clearly so deranged, is actually quite unsettling, yet that didn’t seem to bother me in the slightest at the time.
Now I’m 27, and while the thought of picking up such artillery in the re-imagined version of DOOM 2 didn’t nearly have the same impact on me, the moment I fired up the game and heard the opening track, stood behind two marines poised for battle, I knew exactly where to go, I knew exactly what to do and I was ready for action!
The question is, for 800 Points, were these memories of a gaming yesteryear really worthwhile or should Bethesda have stayed well away from putting their name against a fifteen year old game? Read on to find out more…
Alien Breed was first released by Team 17 on the good ol’ Amiga back in 1991, and MS-DOS a couple of years later. For the purposes of this review, I had a quick play on the MS-DOS version and I have to say that considering its age, it still holds it own today to an extent, although some aspects are horribly outdated. The emphasis of the Alien Breed series has always been on a creepy atmosphere, and brainless yet fun alien-slaughtering action.
Recently, Alien Breed: Evolution Episode 1 was released on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade, attempting to remake the original and bring it up to date with modern standards. As you can tell from the ‘Episode 1’ subtitle, they plan to bring this out in a series, and I believe it will be a trilogy if all goes well. Alien Breed: Impact brings the game to the PC platform, and also to PSN (I will be reviewing the former). Impact is similar to the Xbox 360 ‘Evolution’ version yet improves on it, with better graphics, revised aliens, improved co-op play and most importantly, more customisation of weaponry.
Street Fighter series, how I love you. Let me count the ways. Sigh… I’ve written many times over the years about my love for Street Fighter, with its immediate and seminal sequel probably the game that turned me into the overindulgent gamer that I am today. I’m not going to cover old ground but the series has been something of a constant in my life; always there, always something I returned to, something that was always guaranteed to keep me entertained.
It’s fair to say that I never really invested the time into Street Fighter III that the game deserved, but boy did I make up for that with Street Fighter IV in February 2009. The game hit with a drastic visual redesign for the series, while the gameplay returned to the simplicity of the older games in a way that made it almost the perfect brawler and addictive like I’ve never experienced before. The game took a firm hold of my life for nearly six months, being practically the only game I played in that entire time (it took Batman: Arkham Asylum to snap me out of it). Just over a year later, in typical Street Fighter style, Capcom have taken the game back to the drawing board, and while not changing much in pure gameplay terms, have added a boatload of new characters and game modes.
Despite what I heard they were adding, when Super Street Fighter IV was actually announced I was still a little peeved; a new game only a year later? What?! Have we reverted back to ’92 and I haven’t realised? Why couldn’t this have been DLC?! Well, in the end I bought it regardless, so the idea can’t have been all that repulsive. So after sampling, is this a worthy of a full price purchase, or is it just money for old rope? You know what to do to find out.
Left 4 Dead 2 was met with a great deal of controversy upon its release last year due to the speed in its production and releasing a sequel just twelve months shy of the release of the original. It also promoted the killing of the undead in New Orleans, which was still a sore spot for many individuals in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Regardless, the game still outsold its predecessor, improved on a great many features in L4D1 and added some new ones to boot, including melee weapons and defibrillators. For a full review of Left 4 Dead 2, take a look at TIMJ writer Ray Willmott’s full impressions right here.
Of course, a person can only play the same content through again and again before tedium sets in, so fortunately for us Valve have announced elaborate plans to broaden L4D2 with further downloadable content. In this column, TIMJ writers look at the content Valve have produced for their zombie slaying fest and give their impressions on each one individually after the jump.
Playing Bioware’s Dragon Age Origins reminds gamers of the old days of role-playing games. Slaying vile abominations, drinking fine ale, frolicking with fair maidens and handsome rogues while involving yourself in vast amounts of dialogue and lore. While perhaps not the companies finest hour, Dragon Age proved that Bioware are still the masters of telling an amazing story and creating captivating and memorable characters. For more on Origins, read the full review here.
Since the game’s release in November 2009, Bioware have continued to shower the game with an incredible amount of content, including a full blown expansion and several side quests, enabling you to recruit new party members and explore fresh terrain. This article will look at the downloadable content available for Bioware’s innovative role-playing game and tell you what’s good, and what’s not so good. Please be advised, some of these reviews may contain spoilers for the content held within Dragon Age Origins, and it is advised that you have completed the main quest before reading any of the content contained herein…
Indie titles always interest me; it’s all the hard work that goes into making them from developers trying to make a name for themselves. With these games you tend to find that games go one of two ways. You either play a game that is well produced and well put together or you get something like the massage game on XBL: Indie Arcade, that isn’t really a game.
The other day I was given a copy of Legend of Vraz, an indie title from Indian company Zatun Games. This retro style platform game for the PC had me intrigued from the off with its unique style and classic gameplay.
Developed using Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio and already being well received; I had to find out what all the fuss was about.
It’s a good thing that an inherent quality of stealth-action fans is patience, since Ubisoft have certainly taken their sweet time with the release of Splinter Cell: Conviction. From its original conception it was clear that a massive overhaul was in planning, with early pre-release material show a dishevelled and almost homeless looking Sam Fisher swapping shadows and gadgets for crowd mechanics and environmental combat. As the release date got closer however it became apparent that this new looks Splinter Cell was too similar to the Assassin’s Creed series and the concept of Conviction was brought back to something more similar to the original games, but with a less clinical but grittier, action-oriented tone.
This more familiar Splinter Cell is what hit the shelves last week, although it still has gone through a not-insignificant transition since the conclusion of Double Agent. The indecision that dogged Conviction’s development was a cause of concern for me as I felt it could result in the finished product suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. When making these kind of transitions there’s always a risk that the content becomes diluted, so just how does the new Sam Fisher handle? Does Conviction breathe new life into the series or are we left with a “worst of both worlds” dilemma?
When I first heard about Metro 2033 a year or so ago I was more than a little intrigued. After all, a game based on a Russian novel, set in the underground tunnels of the Russian Metro in a post apocalyptic future battling both human and mutant opponents seems to tick a fair few boxes. However, as the release date drew nearer the understated press releases and the decision not to release a demo left me more than a little apprehensive.
So is Metro 2033 the refreshing change to the standard FPS fare that we see all too often or does it fail like so many before in a cloud of failed gimmicks and shoddy gameplay. Read on to find out.
I’ve made no secret of my vehement dislike and disappointment with the latest Call of Duty title. While others continued to stick with it despite constant issues with glitches online or were far more forgiving of a complete shambles of a story than myself, I had my eyes set on another prize, biding my time waiting for the release of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. I had a lot of love for the first game; it was the only online shooter over the last two years that I regularly went back to, even ahead of more popular titles. It was also the first time that DICE had added a ‘proper’ story-based single player campaign, which to their credit, complemented the ever awesome online mode brilliantly. The campaign did have its problems, most notably with poorly mapped controls and dodgy enemy intelligence, it carried a certain charm that made that okay; it didn’t take itself too seriously and as a result had personality in the bagfuls.
While the recent online-only demo had shown that the controls had been readdressed in the sequel, I was a little surprised by the change to a serious tone. It definitely suited the online mode; but I feared that the humorous charm that I loved about the first campaign might now have been lost. I needn’t have worried; DICE have done it again and have delivered an even better overall package this time around.
When attempting to create a sequel to one of gaming’s great masterpieces there is surely a great sense of trepidation amidst those set out with the treacherous task. The very announcement of a sequel to Bioshock scared me. Petrified me, in fact. Bioshock stands alone very well and is not only one of my all-time favourite gaming experiences, but ranks fairly consistently as one of the best video games of all time. Bioshock was a very complete, well thought out and detailed story and is a franchise that certainly doesn’t need whoring out and milking dry. It has a compelling narrative with shocking twists and turns, stunning visuals, powerful sound effects and clever gameplay mechanics that hook you until the very end. Certainly, Rapture is a very full and realised World with plenty of opportunities for stories, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be created as that can ultimately result in being a detriment to a franchise, rather than a benefit.
That being said, I decided to take a second dive into the World of Rapture to make a fair assessment, one way or another.
Back in 1994, Rebellion released their third game; Alien vs. Predator. It would prove to be one of their most fondly remembered titles. How could it fail? Two of the coolest, most violent, extra-terrestrial movie franchises brought together with tantalising execution. With the license for this glorious union having changed hands with varying degrees of success since, I don’t think anyone could have foreseen that sixteen years and two awful movies later, Rebellion would return to the series once more. The new game (which has gained an ‘s’ to its name since the original) has been receiving a lot of positive attention right up until its release, including getting a favourable hands-on from us at the Eurogamer Expo. A bit of a lacklustre online demo dented many people’s hopes, but how does the final product fare?
The Winter Olympics are upon us. For many this is a time of excitement, anticipation and potential participation. For others, it is a time of realisation that something happens in the world of sport other than football. For gamers, it is a time to buy another tie-in game designed to make us feel like we are being healthy and participating in something international, or a time to give away more of our hard earned cash for something that makes us feel slightly cheated. How does the coming of the Winter Olympics and its inevitable game make me feel? Well, you will have to read on to find out.
Race around the galaxy, have a few laughs, make love to a blue alien, tear up a bar after having a lap dance, command a starship save the galaxy… but that’s enough about the first game, it’s time to do it all over again now (especially the blue alien part). Bioware’s Mass Effect set the standard for storytelling with it’s expansive and well-acted script, well defined back-story and branching storyline. While it was always going to be a hard act to follow, we all knew that Commander Shepard wouldn’t be able to resist donning his N7 armour for too long, and with the release of Mass Effect 2 the Normandy is being called into action again for the sake of the galaxy.
Disclaimer: Of course I’m aware that Commander Shepard can be played as either a male or female, but for the sake of this review I’ll be referring to Shepard as a male to keep in line with my playthrough. Please don’t yell at me Bryony…
It’s one hell of a contest we have lined up for you tonight folks. In the Blue corner we have Sherlock Holmes, the legendary detective with an ego matched only by the level of his analytical intellect. In the Red (and lots of it) corner; Jack the Ripper, the mysterious perpetrator of one of the most gruesome unsolved killing sprees in history. Quite a match up I’m sure you’ll agree, and I was fairly excited to be given the opportunity to see these two heavyweights slug it out on either side of the law, constantly trying to stay one step ahead of the other.
With Frogware’s release of Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper on Xbox 360 and PC that opportunity was presented to the masses, so I grabbed it with both hands, eager to start my investigation into the gruesome Whitechapel murders. I began my investigation hoping to uncover a gem of a game that allowed detailed investigation and quests that really got the brain juices flowing, but was quietly cautious of the possibility that this clash of the titans could be more on the level of Freddy versus Jason, Victorian style.
So does a bit of digging into the murders yield positive results? Read on to find out if this mystery is better left unsolved.
I think it’s fair to say that everyone was fairly dissapointed with the conclusion to Fallout 3, at least from a gameplay perspective. After hours upon hours of slow motion deaths, seemingly endless exploring and a hundreds of lines of dialogue, the ending suddenly cuts to black with little more than a whimper. Fallout 3 was over, case closed. Until the inevitable release of DLC of course, which we know now consists of five separate expansions that will take you all over the Capital Wasteland and beyond. I was delighted to be granted the opportunity to extend my experience of Fallout 3, but let’s face it, I would have been able to get an entirely new title for the same cost of the whole set, so they had damn well be up to the standard set by the main game itself.
After painstakingly sifting through the content that each piece of DLC provides (I know, tough gig eh?) I’ve come to some tough conclusions about the quality of each expansion, so read on to find out which ones deserve to be part of the Fallout universe, and the missions that should have died at the same time as Fallout 3 did. If you haven’t already, check out our full Fallout 3 review.
Although the tower defence scene has never been a mainstream part of video games it has recently seen an increase in popularity. iPhone titles such as Fieldrunners and GeoDefense have both frustrated and entertained me on occasional bus rides. While amusing, one common flaw I found these games all shared was the lack of variety. There was never anything else to do once the story mode had been completed.
PopCap is a developer known for its expertise with quirky puzzle games and it’s one that I’ve grown fond of as a result. Some of their puzzle games including Peggle and Bookworm have caused an argument or two within my household. That is why when I first heard it was making a tower defence game named Plants vs. Zombies I felt a bit pessimistic. Looking back almost a year after its announcement, I now feel ashamed for ever doubting PopCap’s abilities.
After I spent some hands-on time with the demo and gave my impressions a few weeks ago, I decided to go ahead and purchase the full version of the greatest zombie slaughter known to videogames. As I alluded to in a previous review, Valve, creators of Half-Life and Team Fortress, have earned their stripes through hard work, dedication to their craft and responsiveness to a thriving community. Although, admittedly during the Microsoft Press Conference at E3, I contemplated that all might be about to change. Announcing Left 4 Dead 2 did not seem to be a logical step, since by the time of its announcement, the original game was just seven months old. What could Valve possibly have to implement in a near brand new game that they couldn’t fit into the original title? Why couldn’t they have held the release back for a few months longer to make the original title a larger, more complete experience? Is there really a point to this release at all except the inevitable desire for money?
Keen to know one way or another, I meticulously played through each campaign and thoroughly tested out the online modes, and I think it’s fair to say that this is more than just your average sequel. Certainly, the mechanics, graphics, sound effects and the premise are practically the same, but what Valve have managed to do is take an already very successful formula, and make it much, much better. In a nutshell, L4D2 is the perfect example to developers the World over on how you approach a sequel to an ultra successful title and confidently set it upon the gaming nation.
What a difference a couple of years make. Before Assassin’s Creed was released by Ubisoft, the gaming world was going absolutely off their rocker at the sight of the athletic Altair, silky looking combat and massive cities. After the actual game came to light, it became apparent that Ubisoft had forgot to build a vaguely interesting set of mechanics around their innovative ideas. I’ve rarely seen critics and gamers reviewing in such stark contrast to each other, with some praising its ambition and scope and others rightly lambasting it for its massively underdeveloped structure and glaring weaknesses.
Assassin’s Creed sold very well so a sequel was inevitable, but it appears that a lot of damage has been done as Assassin’s Creed 2 has ghosted onto the shelves almost unnoticed. Granted Ubisoft made the brave, or stubborn, or just plain foolish decision to release the sequel in the wake of Modern Warfare 2 (other publishers probably wisely ran for the hills at the sight of that behemoth), but the fanfare has definitely been notably muted this time round. It looks like a lot of the criticisms have been addressed though, so my interest in the series has been reignited, but I bought this game feeling ever so slightly wary that it had silently crept into stores (not unlike an assassin) for a reason.
I’m sure there’s been a moment in everyone’s life when you’ve watched your beloved football team getting absolutely hammered by Hamilton Accies and thought “This is a joke, I could do a better job than this.” Well for year the critically acclaimed Football Manager series has given potential tactical maestros the opportunity to prove that, well, you really can’t do a better job and are a bit of a rubbish manager (No? Just me?). After a year of unopposed market monopoly, Sports Interactive are now back in direct competition with Eidos, who released Championship Manager 2010 to unexpected critical acclaim. I’ve been placed firmly in the FM cap ever since the rather acrimonious split between SI and Eidos, but I have to admit that my head was turned by the new look Champy. Of course I wasn’t going to just flit over to the other side without any kind of prior research, and what better research than a whole life consuming season of trying to keep Falkirk in the SPL?
Over the years, I’ve learned to trust the judgement and quality of products from a certain brand of developer, the names of whom can be counted on a single hand. Among them, I would include Valve, Blizzard, Bioware and Bethesda for their care and consideration to both their fanbase and their constantly evolving and exciting franchises.
Just to give you some perspective; in the last decade, Bioware have given us Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights and Mass Effect, to name but a few. Bioware is aware of what makes a good game and a compelling narrative and how to put them both together seamlessly. With Dragon Age: Origins, the true greatness of Bioware continues to shine, and occasionally sparkles and dazzles beyond anything they’ve ever done before.
It’s been a weird few years for the big two football games on the market. EA, whose FIFA struggled to match the quality of Pro Evolution Soccer for many years, suddenly started reaching a consistent quality from 2008 onwards. Concurrently, Konami stagnated and seemingly forgot how to make a good football game. At the very least they weren’t sure what type of game they wanted to make, switching between sim and arcade styles over the last three years. PES fans, disillusioned after years of unfulfilled promises, started defecting over to FIFA in their droves, especially last year when PES 2009 was not just bad; it was broken. So, as expected the same old promises have been rolled out again this year; have Shingo ‘Seabass’ Takatsuka’s team got themselves back on level terms, or is it too little too late?
When Modern Warfare 2 came through my letterbox, I have to admit I felt a bit conflicted. I mean, the hype machine for this game has been gathering pace for a period of time I genuinely can’t remember ever having happened before. We’ve had controversy about the retail price, dedicated servers, digital distribution and civilian massacre, but pre-orders poured in all the same and it all culminated in a supermarket price war and a movie style premiere with Dizzee Rascal DJing. This isn’t a game, it’s a monstrous year long fire breathing media circus that’s actually consumed the product it was trying to promote. So I have to admit I was a bit skeptical as to whether the game, or any game in fact, could possibly live up to the frenzied hype that Activision had so ably whipped up.
Of course it doesn’t, the only way it could would be if Spec Ops turned out to be a simulated boxing match against the X Factor judges. Where my gloves were filled with hammers… and they didn’t have any protective armour… and they were all tied to chairs. Unrealistic ambitions aside, Modern Warfare 2 had built up so much hype that there would be uproar if it was just an out of the box extension to the first game. Even though it would still be an improvement over World at War if it was, how much actually has changed since Soap MacTavish was airlifted out of Russia all those years ago?
I think it’s fair to say that a story can get away with a lot of things within the realms of a computer game. Having been a gamer for twenty years, I’ve seen a lot of wild and wonderful things: from a janitor in space becoming a hero of the entire galaxy to monkeys being trapped in balls, rolling around a maze to reach the exit and voodoo pirates being killed by bottles of root beer. It’s easy to suspend belief if a game has a compelling concept or weaves a captivating story, and it’s within this freedom of creativity that the industry has flourished so much within the last decade.
Computer games are allowed to be wacky; they can highlight a zany undertone and people are unlikely to bat an eyelid or drop their jaw. In some respects, videogames have become the new art-house of the entertainment industry and are allowing stories and adventures to go to new, remarkable places that other forms of entertainment wouldn’t dare to touch on. That’s why comic book writer/illustrator Steve Purcell’s vision of freelance police officers Sam and Max, a dog in a police uniform who can play the banjo, and a naked psychopathic Lagomorph respectively, works in the context of a computer game. That’s why the game has earned its place on the extensive catalogue of Xbox Live Arcade games and received so much acclaim. Yet, it is perhaps this very reason that it is one of the most underestimated and underplayed games on Xbox 360 in 2009.
When it was originally released, Save The World began as an exclusive PC project, but, since its release, Sam & Max have broadened their horizons and now feature on Nintendo Wii and Xbox Live Arcade, with rumours of a Playstation Network release continuing to hound the airwaves.
I really have a soft spot for Rockstar North. Not only are they responsible for the one of the most critically and commercially lauded game series of all time, but they’re based right down the road from me and even named a racing horse after my hometown in GTA: San Andreas! GTA 4 was revolutionary in the way that it brought the sandbox game to the next generation, with fantastic production values, a fantastic story with great characters and a well accomplished multi-player to boot.
In all honesty, they could have been forgiven for lying back and watching the money roll in after GTA 4 was released, but ever the workhorses they announced two Xbox 360 exclusive DLC packs were going to be released. The Lost and The Damned was released to equally positive reviews back in February, and now The Ballad of Gay Tony completes the saga. A lot has changed since GTA 4 first came out, so there was always a danger that the expansion packs could come across as dated as unnecessary. I was on the case to find out what’s new in the more flamboyant side of Liberty city, and whether it would be worthwhile to make a return visit.
The horse was Falkirk Boy in case you were wondering, not that the useless mare ever won me anything.
Anyone who has been reading my twitter updates probably has a good idea how this review is going to go. Three years ago Gearbox Software gave us a teaser of a new game they were working on.
The video depicted a woman talking to you (the player). At certain points as the camera panned around, you had flashes of some human enemies dubbed ’the locals’, then of some of the animal enemies referred to as ’the wildlife’. One of the flashes tells you you’re going to need guns, lots of guns, showing you a room full of weapons. Finally the camera panned further so that you can see her face; this woman was heavily scarred down one half of her face. She then tells you she knows why you’re there and that you’re looking for the vault (cue a reverse plot of Fallout 3), she finally adds that you won’t find it because it doesn’t exist.
The game has seen a massive transformation in style since that teaser was released, now re-branded as an ‘RPS’ (Role playing shooter), the consistent selling point for me at the time was the huge number of guns the game was boasting, which more often than not something that is restricted in games. Borderlands is finally here with claims that it features ‘87 bazillion guns’. Maybe that’s a slight over-exaggeration but one would find it hard not to be intrigued with a game that has more than 17.6 million of the things.
I am a fool. It seems just like yesterday that I thought Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on hardcore mode was as realistic as it could get on a console. I mean you only got a radar half the time for goodness sake! Well, that was before I got my hands on Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the military simulator from Codemasters. The first Operation Flashpoint achieved unprecedented realism way back in 2001, so I was excited to find out how the new developers were going to take the series forward.
An official sequel has been a long time coming, and I think everyone has been slightly wary of how this ultra realistic series would translate over to consoles. So I strapped on my gear (stop sniggering) and dropped into the landing zone (I said stop it!). My mission? To find out if this war really can be fought on a next gen console, or if the military simulator is doomed to remain on the PC where it has excelled so many times before.
Disclaimer: For the sake of your sanity, you should accept that by putting this game in your disc drive, you are going to die. A lot. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Zuma’s Revenge is the latest installment of the popular Zuma series, published and developed by Popcap games. Like the other games, you play as a frog trying to form different combinations within the game’s puzzle system. The puzzle system consists of different colored balls, and the objective is to create chains of the same color. Will Zuma charm the player once again, or does it croak for air in a saturated mini-game market? Read on and find out.
‘It’s the car, right? Chicks love the car’. Ok well it’s probably one of the best lines in one of the worst Batman movies, but it still remains a fact that we all want the car, but we won’t get it in this review. Batman has been around since 1939, which makes him pretty god-damn old and he is still kicking arse today. Having spawned a hell of a lot of comics, books, films and those all important cartoons, Batman has also had a few games over the years but nothing memorable.
Deep in the basement areas of the Batcave (AKA Rocksteady Studios) Batman: Arkham Asylum has been developed by people who on the basis of the game are massive fans of the character. When Andy looked at the demo, you may remember that he had concerns over the ease of the combat, linearity and whether the game would become too repetitive, thankfully these fears are all now moot as Rocksteady have truly delivered.
You know those games that get critically panned by the mainstream media, the ones that despite all the bad press you still find yourself with a nagging itch that you’d like to give it a go anyway? The ones that when you eventually do experience them for yourself, you wonder where all the venom aimed at it came from?
For me, Velvet Assassin is very much one of those games, but the criticism isn’t all totally unjustified. Developer Replay Studios take us back to World War 2 (yes, again), but rather than being your WW2 generic shooter, Velvet Assassin is all about the stealth.
Wanna be in a movie?! If you were asked that question what would you say?! Me personally, I would say hell yeah! That’s not why we’re here though. We’re here to talk about games but luckily the game we’re talking about takes you into the movies. Rather than sitting on the back row with a cute, sexy, beautiful woman groping your manhood (or if you’re a woman think sleazy man groping your entire body), you’re entering the world of movie making and debauchery. Where the big breasted women wear bikinis, have an IQ the equivalent to that of a peanut, and have sex with average guys like me and you because they think its a cure for cancer.
Each year we see our fair share of games based on movies, and this year is has been no exception. With the success of the previous three X-Men films, a prequel to the trilogy was added and kick-started the summer blockbuster season. This time the movie focused on the origin of one character, and you should all know by now that it was ‘cleverly’ titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in which the film took a look at our favourite claw wielding mutant. As usual with these big budget films, you expect the dreaded movie tie-in. Rather than being the bog standard drivel that you would usually expect, something slightly different came along. Developed by Raven Software (of Marvel Ultimate Alliance fame) and published by Activision, this game had a lot to live up to.
There are plenty retro games from my youth that I’d love to see remade, re-imagined or turned into a series. A next gen Streets of Rage or Starwing, maybe a fully 3D Theme Hospital or a Golden Axe that doesn’t suck ass. One that certainly wasn’t on my list however was Bionic Commando (it was slightly before my time), but the story of a soldier with an extendable grappling hook for an arm seems like a perfectly reasonable candidate, and some of the marketing footage looked very promising.
I thought I’d check it out, and after a few clicks on a well known DVD rental website I was swinging like it’s 1988, so is Bionic Commando a welcome dose of nostalgia? Or should it have stayed back on the NES where it belongs?
For a small developer, Popcap have themselves something of a big reputation, well known for making highly addictive little puzzlers that are suitable for gamers of all ages and types. Personally, I’ve not had too much experience with a lot of their work despite hearing good things, but I have had the pleasure of being one of many recovering Peggle-aholics after it hit the Xbox Live Arcade. Being completely honest, the last game I would have chosen to sample from their ever growing catalogue would have been Bookworm Adventures, mostly put off by its child-friendly graphical styling, which made it look more educational than fun. Popcap, however, kindly offered us the chance to sample the follow up and I have to say I found myself pleasantly surprised at a game that oddly sits somewhere between turn-based RPG and Scrabble…
Wow, this really takes me back! I could have sworn that I bought the original Secret of Monkey Island game when it was first released. That was until I realised that it first went up on the shelves in 1990, and I think that the game’s top class humour would have flown over my head considering I was but three at the time.
However, it was definitely a long time ago when I was first introduced to the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood. I’ve been a massive fan of the Monkey Island series since I first picked up the original and since 2000’s Escape from Monkey Island, I’ve been waiting impatiently for another helping. Naturally I was delighted to hear that the first game was being beautified for Xbox 360 users to download, so is the Special Edition just a trip down memory lane for aging swashbucklers like myself? Does it reignite my passion for insult sword-fighting, or should it have stayed buried at the bottom of the briny deep?
If you were to ask me what my favourite online shooter was on consoles, I would have to say Battlefield: Bad Company. Yup, I’d have to choose that over the likes of Halo and Call of Duty, and because of that there may be an element of surprise amongst our readership. It’s easy to see why; aside from the fact that these two franchises have been battling it out to be the most played online title on Xbox Live for these past three years, Halo 3 boasts an immaculate online set-up and COD has a brilliant levelling system aimed at keeping players interested.
However, as much fun as I’ve had over the years on these games, over the last year I found myself growing tired of playing nothing but Call of Duty three years running. When I wanted to play online and glanced at my collection, for a long time the first title I always opted for was Bad Company. In many ways it lacked the polish and robustness of COD and Halo, but it was almost like a young upstart against other shooters; loud and brash; there was just this overriding sense of fun and drama that came when playing the game. Last week EA and DICE released the online-only Battlefield 1943 via XBLA and PSN, is this 24 player shooter worth your dosh?
Load up your weapons and fasten your seatbelts, you’re about to take a ride through the good old Red Planet, and it’ll need your help. Your mission, should you accept it, will be to liberate the planet Mars from the domineering Earth Defense Force. Your methods will vary. You may choose to stealthily avoid your enemy in order to safely rescue POW’s, and then blast your way out with brute force; or you may locate the enemy’s stronghold and bring the building down with everyone inside. Whatever you decide, you’ll enjoy every moment of this awesome experience.
I haven’t delved into the world of free roaming environments and worryngly inconsequential violence since GTA4, so when Prototype came through the door, I was feeling a mixture of excitement at the thought of having a new city to explore (and do damage to) and trepidation at the thought of the game turning out to be Spider-man with people’s heads falling off. There’s so much to take into consideration with these games; you need to have an interesting world to explore, varied and substantial game content to keep the player interested, an interesting twisty story ticking along and a few new ideas that sets it apart from the rest of the pack.
While I wasn’t going into Prototype expecting the next GTA4, I certainly had high hopes for a game that seemed to be hitting the right notes in pre-release. So was this a successful Prototype, or do Radical Entertainment need to go back to the drawing board?
Video games are all the same. You play the hero, fighting evil and ridding the land of it. Whether it’s angry aliens or fiery demons, developers preoccupation with inherently ‘good’ protagonists has existed since the dawn of gaming. Who wants to play the bad guy, right? Well in 2007 Triumph Studios turned the whole idea on its head with Overlord, a game where you play the bad guy trying to take over the land. Players loved it, and it garnered moderately good reviews from the big press.
A couple of years later, and a sequel was released. Following pretty much the same premise, with a few tweaks here and there, players could once again assume the role of a demon prince tasked with conquering a fantasy land. Have the new improvements made the concept any better? Let’s find out…
I was browsing the internet the other day and apparently, Modern Warfare 2 is used as a true test of someone’s FPS ability. If you suck at COD, you suck at life. This got me thinking; unless you play on the harder difficulty settings, MW2 isn’t that hard in its brief but brilliant campaign and the only thing that makes multiplayer a grind is the abundance of lifetime players pwning their way through their millionth match of the week. So, to me, it can’t really be a true gauge of a players abilities.
For that, we need a FPS that does you no favours, that drops you in at the deep end with no mercy and leaves you wondering whether you really have the cajones to make it through. To really test someone’s metal, we need Far Cry 2. It’s been developed and released by the Montreal base of the legend that is Ubisoft, known for crafting the Assassins Creed series and both the next gen Prince of Persia titles. It’s the first proper sequel since the original Far Cry for PC in 2004 as the series has had an almost Street Fighter like run, preferring updates, expansions and enhanced ports over obligatory, straight sequels. Boasting “the most realistic fire ever seen in a game” and “over 50 square km of open world”, Far Cry 2 burst onto the scene in 2008 with the usual hype and pre-launch excitement. Many of my friends and colleges here at TIMJ bought it, played it and loved it. Let’s get to the bottom of why…
Vin Diesel. Love him or hate him, he was everywhere a couple of years ago. With a successful movie career and even a stint as a writer/director (see awful, ghetto drama Strays), it seems the-man-who-has-a-name-like-a-fuel has now decided to turn his hand to making games with the help of developer Midway Studios. Well, starring in one at least. The Wheelman casts him as Milo, a surly driver for the criminal underworld, shipped to Barcelona for a job. Deciding to stay there, he engages in all sorts of car-centric japery with a few shooting bits thrown in. Is it any good? Yes and no. With a movie planned for release in 2010 as a follow-up, the success of this game will be a good judge as to whether the movie will be worth watching. I for one am about as excited as a pig being led to slaughter, and i’ll tell you why…
It’s always a worry when something that you love and are protective of is subjected to a change in management. No matter how good a job the new guys do it’s inevitable that a large majority of fans will shout “What have they done to my game!?” from the rooftops. This is especially true of the Fallout series, which boasts some of the most hardcore (and unforgiving) set of fans in gaming.
With the announcement that Bethesda Softworks (scribes of the Elder Scrolls) had acquired the Fallout IP and were developing a third title, messages of excitement and indignation poured onto forums across the globe. Being a fan of the series myself, and also of Morrowind and Oblivion, I found myself being pretty excited about the latest instalment. So is it worthy of the glorious Fallout name, or should it be locked up in a Vault and never spoken of again?
Being a child of the 80’s, I was a fan of many of the big cartoon franchises around at the time. Ghostbusters, Thundercats, you name it, I probably loved it, joined the fan-club and owned the bedding for it. One of my other favourites was definitely the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Hero Turtles as it was known in the UK). There have been a whole wealth of Turtles games down the years, some brilliant, some awful. Consider my delight in the summer of 2007 when I discovered that the franchise was not only due a comeback to the big screen in an animated sequel to the live-action movies, but also to our consoles in the accompanying game. Did it buck the trend of awful movie tie-ins? In a word? No. In two words? Hell no. Although there is that little matter of an easy 1000 gamer points…
Bejeweled. A name that is now synonymous with bleeding fingers, millions of lost work-hours and one of the most lucrative tea break games of our generation. It’s also a lot of fun and incredibly addictive. Bejeweled has been ported and adapted to pretty much any medium you can think of; online, download, iPhone, Android, iPod, Xbox 360; the list goes on. Keeping the same simple but very effective concept has allowed creator Popcap Games to push a franchise quickly becoming as legendary as Tetris and Minesweeper. It was only going to last so long before getting stale however, and that’s where Bejeweled Twist comes in. A new spin on the old classic, it’s set to reinvent the wheel so to speak and create a whole new community of disillusioned workers and bored schoolchildren. Does it hit the mark? Hell yes, and here’s why.
“We’re going deep and we’re going hard”. Since its creation in 2003, the Call of Duty franchise has been known for devotion to the World War II setting. The original was widely praised for its gritty, realistic and harsh portrayal of historic battles. The game allowed me to experience war up close and far away simultaneously. I especially gained satisfaction in learning a bit about the past whilst enjoying a video game. Due to the success of Call of Duty, two sequels have since been released. Now, after allowing others a chance at expanding the franchise, acclaimed developer, Infinity Ward, has returned to the helm and (finally) decided to update its calendar with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Very few titles deserve such lavish praise, but this game is a winner with a mountain-sized ‘W’.
Music can be a funny thing. In a similar fashion to games being lost in translation or just plain massacred when adapted to the cinema, music fans do not like to see one of their favourite bands or songs being misused or mistreated in any kind of media. This is particularly true with Metal, and when it comes to Metal, you don’t get much bigger than Metallica, (apart from the clearly superior Megadeth, discuss!).
So when Activision made the decision to take on Metallica’s story and bring it to the popular Guitar Hero series, they may have not realised just how much of a responsibility they had taken on. There was always going to be a danger that it ended up just being a regular Guitar Hero game with Metallica licensing ungracefully shoehorned in, while it should be more of a celebration of the band themselves. I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be on a massive stage playing some of the best thrash songs around, and now I have my chance! Fair enough, the stage is more of a bedroom but we all have to start somewhere.
Developed by legendary giants Valve, of Half-Life fame, Left 4 Dead shambled onto our Xbox 360s in November 2008. A little late for a review, I hear you cry? Well, despite its relative age, Left 4 Dead still holds its own among the new breed of 2009, and with the sequel to this zombie epic infecting us all this November I thought I’d remind us all how Left 4 Dead changed the face of the zombie game forever.
What makes a horror movie? The gore? The suspense? The monsters? A combination of all three? Whatever it is, it’s safe to say that we love them, and have done for years. As long as it makes us cringe, jump and lose sleep, horror is universally popular in film, but not so much in games. While many have hit the nail on the head, just as many have failed to even startle us. Thankfully Dead Space, the latest survival horror offering from giants EA, is shockingly on the right side of scary.
Alternate realities are great. In recent years we’ve had; a World War 1 that never ended, the Cold War that got hot and the Russians invading America and, my favourite; the Nazis conquering England and the US in huge, metal zeppelins. These changeable histories allow developers a degree more creativity and scope than those setting out to make a straight-up recreation. Usually, we the gamers are better off for it, sliding through a plethora of ‘what if’ scenarios like penguins on ice and enjoying the ride. Unfortunately, sometimes the concept just doesn’t work. Case in point; Damnation. Developed by fledgling studio Blue Omega, this odd shooter/platformer is set in the American Civil War; except a nefarious, totalitarian dictator is sweeping across the country and taking over. Oh, and there’s machine guns, motorbikes and modern trains. Confused? You ain’t heard the half of it…
Timeshift had something of a prolonged development schedule, after many delays and presumed cancellations. When it eventually hit shelves it was drastically different to the original time-manipulating vision of developer Saber Interactive. Deciding that graphically and atmospherically in its then current state the game could not compete with the likes of Gears of War, Saber went back to the drawing board and made several notable changes. Gone was the archetypal and never-fazed protagonist Michael Swift, in his place an anonymous mute aimed at making the player feel more involved in the action. The story was also heavily modified, as the game took a far darker tone than that of its previous direction. History tells us that games that go through these troublesome development cycles and false starts don’t tend to perform well (although Resident Evil 4 managed it ok), but have Saber managed to rewrite history and put out something worth playing?