Review: War of the Worlds

The imagination of Science Fiction allows us infinite possibilities, bringing with it compelling, thought-driven characters in search of far-reaching goals in completely alien environments. While many might associate such scenarios with the likes of Inception and Mass Effect, the times of Sci-Fi date back much further.

In 1898, H.G.Wells published The War of the Worlds which, at the time, was a ground-breaking piece and one of the first to deal with mankind’s conflict with an alien race. Since then, it’s been made into a radio drama, had several films made about it, numerous comic book adaptations and even has its own touring theatrical production.

Now, with Other Ocean at the helm, Wells’ classic has been converted into a platforming action/adventure, with full narration from Sir Patrick Stewart.

Is the subject matter still as enticing and relevant over 110 years since its initial publication?

Review: Worms: Ultimate Mayhem

For years now, I have been entertained by Team 17’s Worms. Back in the early days of PC gaming, Worms was my go-to game; all my friends would come round and we would play the multiplayer by taking turns on the mouse, creating teams of worms with hilarious (and sometimes rude) names. After years of producing 2D games things were beginning to get a little stale, and in the early 2000’s Worms took the path taken by many games of the era, and made the jump from 2D to 3D. Now, in 2011 those 3D worms are back…

Review: Dragon Age II: Mark of the Assassin

Bioware have always kept stories within their worlds very exclusive, and rarely outsource. It’s a testament to the quality of their in-house staff, and also to how highly they value their franchises.

For the first time ever, though, they’ve broken the mould, and allowed The Guild star, Felicia Day, to help create her own character within the Dragon Age world, pen a web series based on their popular franchise, and star in a piece of downloadable content featuring her newly created character.

A nerd’s paradise, for sure, not only has Redemption started airing on YouTube to rave reviews, now Mark of the Assassin has infiltrated gaming marketplaces. However, with Dragon Age II being a sore spot for many, and the victim of regular trade-ins and dust collection since March, can even Day enrich the franchise with her natural charm and enthusiasm?

Review: Gears of War 3

It was cold and wet, dark and dreary, but I knew what I had to do. My team and I threw caution to the wind and set course into the dark, unforgiving night with our eyes on the prize. I am, of course, referring to the midnight launch of Gears of War 3. I am not normally someone who feels the need to have a game the instant that it comes out, but previous experience with the other games in the series made this an obvious choice. So after around an hour of waiting (small talk with other fans included), I finally received my copy of the game.

You may be thinking that it is pointless to pick up a game at midnight if you are going to have to head to bed afterwards because of work the next day. I solved this problem by booking the day off work for the sole purpose of playing. I do come across as rather obsessive, but I assure you that it was totally worth it.

Marcus, Dom and the crew are all back for the final part in the Gears of War trilogy. After what seems like an age, it is finally time to end the fight against the Locust. Those of you who haven’t played any of the other games may not feel it the same as those who have, but this truly does feel like the end of an era.

Review: Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster

I don’t care what you say; Kids TV is not as good as it was back in the 80’s. Lazy Town, In The Night Garden, Peppa Pig? Pfft! It’s all about The Muppets, Rainbow, Sooty and Sesame Street. That’s how I learned my life lessons, and look how I turned out… Yeah, okay, not the best example, I know…

Regardless, it’s an era I hold in high esteem, and I credit those who spent tireless hours sticking their hands up a puppet’s bum, doing voice overs and creating educated scripts to inspire my childhood fantasies and bring a smile to my face whenever I felt low. Naturally, you’d suspect that at 28 I’ve grown out of such things, however when Double Fine announced they were doing Sesame Street on Kinect, I think I was probably more excited than the five-year old demoing the game.

Double Fine are renowned for their boundless creativity and far-thinking worlds, but this is the first time they’ve worked on an established intellectual property, and the first game they’ve produced for Kinect.

Was it a combination made in heaven, or a collaboration bore of sin?

Review: RAGE

id Software is often the developer labelled as the daddy of the modern-day first-person shooter. While their pedigree in that field is without question, and something we witnessed first hand at the Eurogamer Expo, it’s been a really long time since they’ve given us something new. Instead they’ve focused on great sequels, polishing their idTech5 game engine and re-releasing their classic games across multiple platforms.

So, after a hefty wait, RAGE becomes the first new IP from id Software since Quake in 1996. Does it live up to the heritage that they’ve been reminding everyone of recently?

Review: PES 2012

In the long battle between Konami and Electronic Arts, the former has taken a severe bruising in recent years. Whilst the series lost its way for several years, PES has been regaining its fitness and this year looks as though it is back to full strength. The recovery has taken some time; is the latest iteration of the series good enough to make the first team or will it be sitting on the subs bench until footy fans get bored with FIFA 12?

Review: The Baconing

I love bacon, and I know I’m not alone. Hell, even the veggies like bacon! So, one has to wonder, what isn’t there to like about a game called The Baconing? Surely, it will be filled with slices of pig, all frazzled and fried into streaky meaty goodness, ripe for sticking between two slices of bread with some brown sauce for a good, early morning hangover cure. Surely, the Armageddon of our world wouldn’t be so bad if we were to be engulfed by hog?

Well, Hothead Games clearly think so, and obviously have a phobia of Trotters and Troughs, as they’ve tasked their intrepid hero, DeathSpank, to rid the World of such an impending doom. However, with this being his third outing, and with such a hero being compared to bacon, one has to wonder, is Spanky-two-hands the one overstaying his welcome?

Review: Driver: San Francisco

Despite a solid heritage on the PlayStation, the Driver franchise left a lot to be desired during the last console generation (particularly Driv3r, abysmal in both name and design). Like a disgraced uncle who got a little worse for wear at the last family reunion, flashing his nieces and vomiting over the vol-au-vents, it has been too embarrassed to show much of its sheepish face for a few years now.

In a last bid attempt to revive the series, Ubisoft have released Driver: San Francisco on this generation of consoles for the first time. Does the ol’ gal have some life left in it yet, or is it barely worth its weight in scrap?

Review: Just Dance 3 (Kinect)

You’ve cheated at Just Dance. You might as well own up and admit to it now. For the last few years, it’s been easy to pretend that you’re working up a sweat by just flicking a Wii Remote up and down, side to side. Heck, you may even be preparing to cheat when you get your paws on Just Dance 3. If that’s true, just know that I’m onto you, and you have issues.

However, while you may be able to get away with it on the Wii, Xbox and Kinect have other plans. For the first time in the Just Dance series, you will need to use all of your body to get any sort of score. It’s everything the series has been striving for since its inception and now it’s finally in place, it seems the days of hax0ring the dance floor may be over…

Yet, while Kinect seems like a natural fit for the Just Dance series, the burning question is, did Ubisoft do a good job of translating it?

Review: Burnout: Crash

Burnout is one of the most successful racing franchises of the modern era, offering players a high octane, high adrenaline experience across all platforms since 2001. One of the things a lot of us loved about the series was the Crash mode. You actually got points for doing damage, meaning you could spend your time targeting the other vehicles rather than trying to avoid them.

The Crash mode has been so successful over time that this September, Criterion Games decided to release it as a game in its own right to XBLA and PSN, and I have been spending my time creating some havoc. The question is, will it Crash?

Review: Red Bull X-Fighters

Watching daredevil motocross drivers on big bikes hurl themselves up big ramps, and twist their bodies around in impossible postures while flying through the air can be quite exhilarating. Doing it yourself is much less appealing to most of us. Doing it on a console from the comfort (not to mention relative safety) of your favourite gaming chair is a much more attractive proposition… unless that proposition comes from Red Bull X-Fighters.

Review: FIFA 12

In the words of the third-best manager in English League history: ‘Some say that football is a matter of life and death; I assure you it’s much more important than that’. This is why every year, without fail, millions of gamers get excited when autumn arrives. The trees turn from green to brown, shorts are replaced by jogging bottoms and EA Sports release the latest game in the behemoth that is the FIFA franchise.

Over the life-cycle of this generation of home consoles, FIFA has not only gone to the top of the football tree, it has left its competitors behind in a swamp of Ultimate Team Pack wrappers, dreaming of the day they too can get a full 11v11 online match running.

Although I have been quick to champion the possible return to greatness of the other big football franchise (review forthcoming), it is pretty clear from the sales, the forums and my friends list that FIFA is still the daddy. Question is, does it justify this position? Read on to find out.

Review: NBA Jam: On Fire Edition

On the world stage, 1994 was a memorable year. O.J. Simpson lost a police chase, Kurt Cobain blew his brains out and Commodore Computers went bust. This was also the year of the Rwandan genocide, an event all of western media could not care too much to cover because they were too interested in mourning Ayrton Senna, Richard Nixon or watching Friends. Whilst 1994 past me by without too much excitement, there were two key moments of that year. Firstly, in my mind, Graham Taylor was a cock for leaving England but mere spectators for USA ’94. Secondly, and more relevantly, it was the time I spent hours that year at my friend Andrew’s house, before school, playing the coolest game on the Sega Mega Drive; NBA Jam.

Back in ‘94, NBA Jam was gaining major plaudits for its arcade gameplay, slick presentation and superb commentary. Quotes such as “He’s heating up!” and “From downtown!” have stayed in my mind for over a decade, right until this day. Those last ditch Shot Clock moments where you somehow sink a three pointer from the other side of the court still sit with me as being one my most treasured gaming memories of all time. NBA Jam has had a few releases since the iconic 1994 release, but it’s not been until recently that the game has once again captured the quality of its heyday.

NBA Jam ’99 and the 2003 self-titled reboot were games that rubbed a dirty sanchez on the face of that once hallmarked name. The 2010 release redeemed NBA Jam’s reputation to a degree, but a disc-based release of that game on today’s digital downstream just did not make a great deal of sense. EA, however, have decided to release NBA Jam: On Fire Edition for digital download and we have the game in front of us.

Will it expand and improve upon the almost faultless 1994 release or will it do a Graham Taylor and cock it up?

Review: Resident Evil: Code Veronica

I suppose it’s ironic that over the last few months, I’ve reviewed more re-releases than I have brand new games. You can tell when the end of a console’s lifecycle is approaching when they start to take games from a previous gen, give them a new lick of paint, and release them for those who were fans of the original, or those who never got the chance to play the first time around.

Interestingly, however, Resident Evil: Code Veronica hasn’t benefited that much from High Definition. In fact, it’s damn near a straight Playstation 2 port. Granted, the source material represents one of the very best additions to the Resident Evil series, but the point remains in place.

With that in mind, is this version of the game an example of Capcom wanting to give something back to the fans, or more of a reason for them to make a quick buck?

Review: F1 2011

It is the start of another F1 season, another year of excessive luxury at Monaco and the acrid smell of burning rubber. Countries from around the world cheer on their home-bred driver and favourite car manufacturer, whilst in the UK we sit and watch Lewis Hamilton star in another Santander commercial.

Formula One is a motorsport that’s like Marmite; you either love it or hate it. For such a high-profile class of racing, it is somewhat mystifying that the license was left wandering around unclaimed since Electronic Arts gave up with it last generation. If anyone was to pick it up and do justice, it would be Grid & DiRT 3 developer, Codemasters.

F1 2010 brought back respect to F1’s gaming reputation after a rather shoddy PS3 exclusive effort by an interim license holder SCE Liverpool, and while it gained many plaudits, fans knew it was far from perfect, especially when it came to the online experience. So what have Codemasters Birmingham done in the last year to bring this game to pole position?

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters

Golf is viewed by many the way it is referred to in the titles for the BBC comedy programme ‘Mock the Week’: officially dull. I’ve never agreed with this, mostly thanks to my Great Auntie Evelyn who was a massive golf fan when I was a nipper. My other Great Auntie, Olga, and I used to annoy her by sitting either side of the TV, flinging paper air-planes with messages written on the wings across her line of sight while she watched the golf, until she gave us both what-for!

I even got quite into playing it as a young man, and was pretty good, but unfortunately golf can be an expensive sport and I never pursued it any further. This is a long standing regret I intend to rectify in a few years time, when my son is old enough to come and play a round or two with me.

So, how to fill that golfing void in the meantime? Enter stage left Mr Tiger Woods and The Masters course in Augusta, Georgia (pause for applause).

Review: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition

You know the guy who gets beat in fighting games amidst a whirlwind of combos, special moves and finishers in ten seconds flat? That’s not quite me, but I’m only the next tier up from that. I don’t own an arcade stick or a rapid-fire controller, nor do I possess a strategy guide with all the answers; I’m just a dude with a pad and a fuck-ton of patience…

Believe me; you’ll need that with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Balanced it might be, but this one will go down in history as one of the toughest fighting experiences on the market. It’s sink or swim, do or die; there’s no middle ground.

I’m about to dive right in…

Review: Resident Evil 4 HD

It’s been a weird year for me in regards to reviews. I’ve already been able to pass judgement on my favourite game of all time thanks to one re-release, and now I find myself in a position to review the second in my list of personal favourites thanks to another. While the first three Resident Evil games helped define what we all thought of survival horror, Resident Evil 4 came in at the right time and changed the landscape of the genre forever.

The ripples of Resident Evil 4’s impact on the industry didn’t just stop at survival horror, either, also helping to shape many of today’s standards in the third-person shooter market. While its influence on the likes of Dead Space is obvious, those currently enjoying Gears of War 3 might take a second to reflect that it might not have existed in its current format, if it wasn’t for the work of the legendary Shinji Mikami on the 2005 classic. Don’t believe me? Hit Google; Cliffy B has cited RE4’s influence on Epic’s trilogy on many an occasion.

So, it’s fitting that in the same week that one of the modern-day classics concludes its trilogy, Capcom digitally re-releases the game that helped make it what it was.

Does it still hold up today? Mostly.

Review: Mercury Hg

I was never any good at Science at school; I was always more into English and Drama. One thing I do remember, though, is mercury. Deadly to inhale and possessing mysterious properties, this odd silver liquid transcended the lab years ago and has been featured in many films and games in many different forms. Usually, though, these forms have been bombs or gadgets or even existential code-names. Mercury Hg, however, brings the shiny liquid to the forefront and tasks you with guiding it about.

Review: Rotastic

It has been an incredibly long time since an arcade game release that has got me totally addicted to high-score leaderboards. Then, just like a bus, two come out in the same week. Firstly we have Burnout: Crash (review forthcoming), and secondly we have a little-known game called Rotastic, from a small known developer in the heart of Paris. If you loved the addictive qualities of Popcap’s Peggle, then you are going to fall in love with Dancing Dot Studio’s simple but addictive arcade gem.

Review: Bodycount

Black on the PS2 and Xbox was a cult classic. Full of thrilling gunfights, top-notch graphics and audio, and previously unparalleled environmental destruction, it brought something new to the table for the first-person shooter. Through a different developer, but with some of the original team still present, the game has finally found its spiritual successor: Bodycount.

Whether it can repeat the triumphs of its predecessor is another matter. Rumours of many of the original development team jumping ship part-way through, and the recent announcement of the studio closing, do not bode well. Read on to find out if Bodycount is guaranteed to make a killing in shops, or if it has in fact massacred its respectable heritage.

Review: SBK: Superbike World Championship 2011

Okay, let me get straight to the point. SBK: Superbike World Championship 2011 is a great example of when video-games in the simulation genre are so busy aiming to be technically realistic, they forget to be a game, and any element of fun is lost creating the real-world experience. As for myself, I have never driven a powerful superbike, so I do not know what it feels like. I have tasted two-wheeled speed when I was in my late teens, however, ‘hooning’ about on my 50cc Honda moped.

It felt fun, and even moving at a top speed of 41MPH, there were times it genuinely felt quite fast and dangerous ( especially the time I came off the thing and broke 2 ribs and my wrist). That, however, is where I feel the game’s creators Milestone Studios miss out on key reality elements. When driving your all-powerful superbike in SBK 2011, it is seriously lacking in any sense of fun, speed or danger.

Review: Crimson Alliance

Crimson Alliance pitches itself as an Action RPG, and is listed on XBLA Marketplace as free. It is developed by Certain Affinity, who may have only been going since 2006, but thanks to the fairly unique nature of their set-up, boast some of the most experienced and talented developers in the industry. None fit this description more so than founder and Creative Director Max Hoberman, one of the main men behind the juggernaut that is Halo.

That kind of pitch suggests that passing up on it would be nothing short of folly, right? Read on to find out.

Review: Renegade Ops

What do you do when the world is threatened by the might of an evil super villain, who has nothing better to with his time than to systematically destroy the world and all life on it? The answer? Well, according to the leaders of the world in Renegade Ops, the answer is actually very little. When that threat is the nefarious Inferno, it seems like he really doesn’t mess around. However, you can set your fears aside; General Bryant isn’t going to take this one lying down.

Instead, he is going to amass a team of specialists (‘Renegade Operatives’, if you will), and hook them up with enough weaponry and destructive power to leave the enemy begging for them to stop. With his crew by his side, it is time to take on Inferno and make him pay for ever thinking about being a party in the destruction of the Earth.

Review: Madden 12

The Madden franchise is one of the games industry’s longest running sports series’, endearing fans of Gridiron action for well over a decade.

So, another year and another Madden release, but will the 2012 offering take the series forward with new features, or is it just more of the same, hiding behind another high-profile cover athlete?

Review: BloodRayne: Betrayal

There are things that go bump in the night, but none of them are as sexy and deadly as Rayne, the sexy-yet-deadly dhampir who made her debut on consoles and PC in 2002. She has since led a quiet existence, ‘thanks’ in part to some truly awful movies that sent her rising star crashing down. She is now ready for a comeback, by way of a 2D hack-and-slash extravaganza.

Review: Mortal Kombat Kollection

It’s 1992 and you’re eleven years old. You’re at a friend’s birthday party, and you’ve had a belly full of jelly blancmange, crisps, cake and sandwiches. While the parents clean up, your friend excitedly tells you to come up to his room and play his new game. It’s Mortal Kombat. He’s absolutely too young to play the game (as are you, by the way!), but d’ya think he cares? Heck no!

So, there you all are, a group of four, cramped up on a small, single bed, huddled around a 12” TV, passing a SNES pad around. There’s the one friend who wins every fight and boasts about it (a lot), the one who doesn’t know how to throw a kick, the one who screeches annoyingly when he loses and thus, always has his go skipped, then there’s the one who knows how to do a fatality and asks for everyone to ‘let him win’ so he can show them. After all, he’s the one with the cheat guide that may as well be the 20th century equivalent of a Googlewhack.

The Mortal Kombat series does bring about some fond gaming memories for me. It was one of the first franchises that was bold enough to push boundaries and rattle cages, but it was also complemented by raw aggression and fluid gameplay. I spent quite a bit of my youth (when I may possibly have been underage… *ahem*) playing and enjoying these games.

Back then, you could quite easily have paid £60 for just one of them. Now, it’s 800 points for three. The question we ask ourselves, fifteen years on, is it even worth that?

Review: Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon

The Apocalypse is upon us again, and Armageddon is following closely behind. The undead are stumbling down the streets, juvenile demons prowl seedy back-alleys and horny semi-naked bird-men are covering peaceful parks with giant bird-poo droppings. That’s right! Horny semi-naked bird-men! The end of days might be here, yet we need not take it too seriously if Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon is anything to go by.

Review: From Dust

Despite half of the developed world claiming to have no religion, and religion itself slowly being purged from every aspect of daily life to be replaced by realism and science, we just love to play God. From the careful nurturing of Civilization to the all-powerful nature of Black & White, ‘God games’, as they’ve come to be known, have dominated PC top-ten lists since time began.

They haven’t done so well on consoles, however, most likely due to the difference in gamer preference and the notable absence of a mouse pointer. From Dust, an XBLA release by Ubisoft’s sunny, south-of-France studio Ubisoft Montpellier, is set to change all that. With a simple, controller-based system and a shit-ton of hype preceding it, can it really be the one to break the mould? I think not, and here’s why…

Review: Virtua Tennis 4

I admit that in order to play a certain type of game, you don’t exactly need to participate in the activity in real life. I don’t work for criminal gangs and mob bosses, or spend time joyriding in cars stolen from my neighbourhood, but I still enjoy playing Grand Theft Auto. It’s rare that I visit magical fantasy worlds and slay dragons for my holidays (sadly), but that doesn’t stop me from being absolutely psyched for Skyrim.

That said, my general apathy (and incompetence) as far as sports are concerned has effectively caused me to steer clear of practically all games in the genre. I couldn’t care less about the yearly rivalry between FIFA and PES, and nor was I excited about SEGA’s latest release in their Virtua Tennis Series. When a reviewer was needed for Virtua Tennis 4, however, I bravely stepped up to the role regardless (I know; I’m an inspiration).

With absolutely no knowledge of the real-world game of tennis, or previous video-games of the sport, I wouldn’t get your hopes up for an overly informed review. Nevertheless, read on as I serve up my own spin on the game (and hopefully not too many more terrible puns).

Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

The future is coming, and with it comes promise of a better life, a better world and even a better kind of humanity, through the marvel of technology. In fact, the future is closer than you think. As time has gone by, technology has been marching closer and closer to the human body itself.

It started out with a massive computer sitting in a warehouse somewhere… then it got a little smaller and moved onto a desk in your house… then it got even smaller and jumped onto your lap. Then it got even smaller still and leapt into your pocket, and we’ve already seen examples of it jumping into the body itself: artificial limbs, glass eyes with miniature cameras, and even artificial hearts. The future is closer than you think, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a wake-up call for you stand up and take notice.

Review: Rock of Ages

Sometimes video-games can be a little bit out-there, giving us a real chance of escapism, such as Mr Mosquito or Toe Jam and Earl. On other occasions they can be supremely realistic and offer a chance to live out our childhood fantasies, like Call of Duty or FIFA. Rock of Ages from ACE Team certainly falls into the former category; this is of course unless your childhood fantasy was to roll a giant boulder down a hill on a mission to storm a castle while avoiding angry bulls.

Released this week to the XBLA for 800MP, I have loaded my catapults, built my towers and given my boulder one almighty shove, to see if this strange mix of attack and defence can bowl a strike. Read on to find out if it did.

Review: Dead Island

Holidays are a necessity. We all need a break from the insanely fast-paced nature that the 21st Century dictates. Without time to relax and unwind, we’d probably all be bouncing off the walls, our eyes spinning inside our head and our tongues permanently poked out, looking like a cross between a gargoyle and a caffeine-fuelled cartoon character.

Naturally, the concept of rest and relaxation varies from person to person. Some choose to go to remote, countryside landscapes, others choose to go to theme parks and ride turbulent rollercoasters. Then there are those who love the all-inclusive beach resorts that offer free food, drink and sun. For the cast of Dead Island, this final option certainly seems to be the most enticing.

That is until their blissful nirvana is marred by cannibalised corpses and swimming pools discoloured with blood. Suddenly, they wish they were back home, stuffing envelopes and making daisy chains out of paperclips.

Dead Island is one of most talked about games of the year, and one that certainly seems to have people on the fence. Now that the wait is finally over, I tell you, once and for all, whether the whole experience is worth taking a vacation for…

Review: Crazy Machines Elements

If you know anything about the existence of Rube Goldberg, then you are pretty much on track for understanding the premise of Crazy Machines Elements. If not, then it can be rather simply explained. Imagine you want to make a cup of tea (a simple task I understand) but instead of just boiling the kettle, you construct an apparatus to do so. One that sets fire to a towel, which in turn acts like a fuse and lights a puddle of petrol on the ground, which then goes over to the wooden table and catches fire, causing the kettle to boil!

Basically, your task is to figure out the missing parts of these kinds of machines, to help them perform certain tasks. Now, if you thought my explanation of a Rube Goldberg machine was slightly over the top, just wait until I tell you what sort of madness Crazy Machines Elements produces.

Review: Toy Soldiers: Cold War

Back when I was a child, home consoles were a thing of science fiction, and computers were the size of cupboards. We spent our summer holidays playing football in the park, or at home around the houses and gardens of our neighbours. The only guns we even dreamt of firing were plastic, and fired caps or bits of potato.

On those rainy days you couldn’t get outside, one of my favourite past times was playing ‘Toy Soldiers’. I would spend hours lining up the little green men across the rug or the dinner table, creating a hill with a bowl under the table cloth, and playing out the biggest, loudest, most intense battle known to man.

Last year Signal Studios released Toy Soldiers to XBLA; a game, I admit, passed me by despite receiving some pretty positive reviews. Now they have released a sequel, Toy Soldiers: Cold War, which takes the same tower defence gameplay of last year’s original, and just ramps up the testosterone a little bit. Question is, can Toy Soldiers be a Top Gun, or will it blow cold?

Review: Fruit Ninja Kinect

Mobile games are being developed as Kinect killer apps. Who’da thought it? Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja started life as a simple touch screen game on your phone. Simply slice your finger across your touchscreen to take out a piece of fruit, and do this as much as you can before the time limit reaches zero.

Of course, Kinect ramps this up to the nth degree. Now, you’re not just using one of your fingers; you’re using both of your arms, but how does the experience translate?

Review: Call of Juarez: The Cartel

Call of Juarez: The Cartel is the third game in the Western First Person Shooter series from Techland, and moves the series from the badlands of Mexico to a modern day setting on the streets of Los Angeles. That is not to say that there aren’t still some links to its predecessors, with a few levels still based in the Mexican planes, and both the chief hero and villain being descendants of those in the earlier titles.

Out now for both PS3 and Xbox 360, and with a PC version due in September, all the major platforms are covered here. Read on as I pick up my six-shooter, to see if the modernisation has helped or hindered what has become something of a cult series, since its debut back in 2006.

Review: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Entertainment has worked diligently to try to envisage the feel of far-off Worlds, bringing us closer to a reality we’re never likely to see. The depiction of Mars varies from film to film, and then you get distant, fantastical Worlds such as Tatooine and Pandora. We’ll never know beyond the reach of our Galaxy (at least, not for several hundred years) so we conceptualise, and we produce what we think an alien lifeform would look like: Long pointy fingers which glow, green antennas, tall and blue figures with tails, even men and women with Cornish pasties stuck on their foreheads. Our imagination has become key in allowing us to explore beyond the realm of our possibilities; such is the beauty of humankind.

Upon playing Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, I was once again reminded of how powerful another person’s imagination can be. How much you can be drawn into fiction, sucked into it like a vacuum, and absolutely believe that the world set before you is as good of a depiction of other-worldly presences as could be. All of this, without a single line of dialogue uttered.

Of course, as with all games, the deciding factor in the purchase narrows down to, ‘Is this a game that I want to spend my time with?’ and ‘Is it any good?’ Let’s explore that…

Review: Dragon Age II: Legacy (DLC)

I’ll be honest: Dragon Age 2 disappointed me [if you remember, Debbie rather liked it – Andy]. I was a big fan of the original game, but found that its sequel fell quite short of the mark. Confining the player to a city for 80% of the game with only a few brief excursions outside, it became tedious deep into the second act. By the time you reached the end, you’d gone past the stage of caring. Really, I expected much more from the series, and from Bioware. It seems I wasn’t alone either; the outcry against Dragon Age 2 still continues and seems to outweigh the positivity at every turn.

Bioware have heard the feedback, and claim that they’ve been listening. Upon announcing the DLC, they said that they will be focusing on the things that people love about Dragon Age, and moving away from the foundations set by Dragon Age 2 which they disliked.

Now that I’ve got my hands on Legacy, I can tell you that it is definitely a step in the right direction…

Review: Boulder Dash-XL

I am (just about) old enough to remember the original release of Boulder Dash back in the Mid Eighties. In fact, it is one of the first computer games I ever played on my nice ZX Spectrum as an impressionable five-year old. 25 years on, as part of Microsoft’s now infamous “Summer of Arcade”, the game has been lovingly re-created and given an XL makeover by Catnip Games.

The usual questions regarding “classic” remakes inevitably follow, so I have taken to the time machine and entered 1984 gaming to see if the new version can equal the original and acquire the “classic” tag all over again.

Review: Shadows of the Damned

I have a confession to make that may surprise, upset, or even anger some of my peers. I’d never played a game by Suda 51 before. I know, I know, and it’s not that I didn’t want to. I was desperate to sample the evidently stylish Killer 7, I just never managed to pick up a copy, and although I wouldn’t say I was busting a gut to play No More Heroes, I kinda had my eye on it as one to sample at some stage.

Thankfully, I have been able to rectify this situation with the recently released Shadows of the Damned; a dark and twisted collaboration between Suda 51 and Resident Evil 4 director, Shinji Mikami. I would say that I had no words for the sheer depravity that I witnessed during my time with the game, but then that wouldn’t make for a very interesting review, would it?*

*Probably neither will the actual review, but screw you guys, I do this for free…

Review: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Kinect)

If I was to say to you that Kung Fu Panda 2 is one of Kinect’s better games, you would either laugh in my face, or say, ‘Really? Well, that proves it’s all a kiddy fad then!’

Well, here goes: Kung Fu Panda 2 is one of Kinect’s better games.

Intrigued? Read on…

Review: Backbreaker: Vengeance

I think it is safe to say that I am widely regarded as the resident Sports Freak around the TIMJ offices, as I have something of an unhealthy passion for almost anything that constitutes sporting competition. As such, when titles such as Backbreaker: Vengeance come along I am usually somewhere near the head of the queue, jumping up and down, arms waving and shouting “Me! Me!” when the question of “Who wants it?” is asked.

Developed by NaturalMotion Games as a kind of spin off to last year’s Backbreaker title, Vengeance puts you in the uniform of an American Football team but does away with all the boring parts like scrimmage and tactics. Instead it focuses on the crunching tackles and speed that make the game so exciting to its fans (lockouts aside). Question is, does this maximise the gaming fun or leave you feeling a little short changed? Read on to find out.

Review: Child of Eden (Kinect)

As I’m sure you’ve heard already, Child of Eden is an experience. It’s not a game in the traditional sense of the word, more an interactive, musical kaleidoscope. It’s a bold, ambitious new IP, and one that takes a great deal of risks in a market saturated by action and adventure.

Undoubtedly, Child of Eden offers something truly unique, and allows you to experience Kinect in new, exciting ways. The burning question, as always; is it worth your investment?

Review: Alice: Madness Returns

Whenever the name “Alice in Wonderland” is mentioned, one of two images spring to most people’s minds. The cuddly yet strangely disturbing Disney telling or the original text penned by the literary legend Lewis Carroll. Recently, however, a new imagining of the tale has been creeping into our cultural history,  a version that is quickly becoming the definitive one for many. American McGee, iD Software (the guys behind a little game called Doom) veteran and gaming visionary showed us his twisted vision of the classic in 2000, introducing us to his broken and insane Alice and scaring the shit out of us with his ruined Wonderland.

Fast forward eleven years and, despite the fact that most of the world has forgotten about it, Alice is back to finish what she started. Alice: Madness Returns, developed by McGee and his Shanghai studio Spicy Horse, is out now for all the consoles and the PC, which is what I’ve been playing it on. Alice has been away for a long time, almost as long as Duke, so can she still compete with the best out there? Titles like Darksiders, Enslaved and Prince of Persia have brought new innovations to the action platformer genre, while the style itself has fallen out of favour in recent times. Does all this really matter? Not at all, and I’ll tell you why…

Review: Red Faction: Armageddon

From First Person Shooter to Third Person Sandboxer, the Red Faction series shows that THQ developer, Volition, aren’t afraid to reinvent the wheel when it comes to one of their cult franchises. The first Red Faction was famous for its ‘Geomod’ technology that allowed players to deform the terrain and structures around them with explosive power, making Keycards a thing of the past. After a lengthy hiatus (for the gaming world, anyway), in 2009, Volition brought the series into the current generation with Red Faction: Guerrilla, and boy was it impressive.

Alec Mason’s tale of a political power struggle on a terraformed Mars stayed with me for quite some time, and after playing it, I was happily labelling it as one of the most polished Sandbox games I’ve encountered. The upgraded destruction was easily the most memorable aspect of a largely enjoyable game, as nearly every building you looked at could be destroyed in some way, shape or form. Toppling entire buildings was a joy to behold as you could almost feel damaged structures struggling under their own weight, before satisfyingly crashing to the ground in a destructive orgasm of steel and concrete.

Two years later and Volition are back again with their next instalment, and once again they’ve decided to change things up. Is it for better or worse?

Review: L.A. Noire

It would be fair to say I was an unusual kid. While most of my school chums would spend their free time playing football, watching football and generally delving into the all-consuming universe of football, I was playing cops and robbers. I was obsessed with crime fiction; I wrote it, read it and watched it on TV as much as I could. There was something about the way a crime was committed, investigated and solved that captured my imagination and it is an interest that’s stayed with me throughout my life. The one thing that was missing was a really good crime game. I bought every game that had a modicum of police work in it, only to find bland shooting and driving taking precedent over grass-roots investigation.

Enter a Team Bondi and Rockstar double act, and me at 22. My ear is usually pretty close to the ground and I heard rumblings of L.A. Noire soon after Red Dead Redemption hit the big time. First details were slight but immediately exciting. As more was revealed, the excitement only built. Would this be the game I’d been waiting for since I began playing? Could Team Bondi, a developer I’d never heard of, harness the gameplay we know and love from Rockstar and truly embrace new technology to deliver something stellar? Let’s find out, or should I say, investigate…

Review: Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (DLC)

I’ve declared my love for Street Fighter a few times on here since we started, not least when I reviewed Super Street Fighter IV last year. My entire youth was spent playing Street Fighter games in some capacity, and to this day the series still means a lot to me and my life with games.

Now, Capcom have decided to see out their fourth iteration of their seminal fighter by releasing a DLC pack that will update your copy of Super Street Fighter IV, making it the definitive and final version that they’ll release. Available now on Xbox Live & PSN for 1200MP and £11.99 respectively, and soon on retail disk; is it worth your cash?

Review: Hunted: The Demon’s Forge

Way back in October last year, I was fortunate enough to go to Earls Court for This Is My Joystick and take in the Eurogamer Expo for the first time. Whilst there I managed to get some hands-on experience with a few promising titles that we have subsequently seen hit the shelves with varying degrees of acclaim. Titles such as FIFA, PES, F1, Gran Turismo, Killzone 3 and Medal of Honour were all on show and at various stages of development, but as I left the Exhibition Centre there was only really one game that I was thinking about; Hunted: The Demon’s Forge.

The game, created by inXile and published by Bethesda, is a third-person Dungeon Crawler that is very much geared towards co-op play. The early demo was covered in some detail by Jacob, who also had some hands-on time at last year’s E3 and we have been tracking the game ever since. The Xbox 360 version finally hit the shelves on June 3rd and I was quick to get my hands on a copy to find out if the final product lived up to the early promise.

Review: Duke Nukem Forever

I took my time in reviewing Duke Nukem Forever. Not because I decided to conduct some weird, parallel ritual to its development time or because I was waiting for others opinion. I did it because I wanted to make sure I got this review absolutely right. That I was giving a semblance of sacrifice through carefully considering my words, hoping it goes some way to help justify the efforts of numerous developers who have worked on this game and have done for the last thirteen years.

No game has ever taken this long in being developed and, as a result, the Duke Nukem name has gone from being one of the most beloved and iconic in our industry to a laughing-stock. Back in ’96, Duke was ripping other games and their developers to shreds, revelling in his own self-worth at how much ahead of the pack he was. Now, he’s fallen so far behind, the competition doesn’t even acknowledge that he even existed.

So, is Forever the comeback Duke needed, or will this be the final nail in his coffin? Can he really make an impact all over again?

Review: Operation Flashpoint: Red River

I remember a time when there were plenty of realistic and punishing shooters available on the market (it wasn’t that long ago either, even for consoles!), but in times when even Ubisoft are taking Ghost Recon in a faster-paced, action route, the hardcore market is looking remarkably bare. To me, it’s a great shame that while the Call of Dutys’ seemingly rule the market, those after something a tad more cerebral have to lose out. Defiantly, Codemasters are back with Red River, another entry into the Operation Flashpoint series; a squad-based shooter that’s well known for its brutally punishing nature and requirement for tactical foresight.

In spite of its flaws, I have to admit that to being a fan of the previous game, Dragon Rising. It was tense, challenging and absolutely thrilling from start to finish (former Staff Writer, Brian, agreed in his review), so you can probably imagine how I must have been eagerly awaiting the new game something chronic. So, did it make the grade?

Review: SNIPER: Ghost Warrior

SNIPER: Ghost Warrior was originally released on the PC and Xbox 360 around a year ago to universal panning from the critics, earning itself an average of only 45/100 on [Metacritic] for the 360. Dodgy technical integrity and questionable design decisions left SNIPER with a bitter, acquired taste that many would have rather spat out. This begs the question: What possible reasons could City Interactive have to port the game over to PS3?

Well, firstly, the game actually didn’t sell too badly despite its shortcomings, amassing one million sales altogether in the first seven months. I don’t know whether its decidedly badass name and pretty picture on the front cover saved the day here, but either way, SNIPER shifted enough copies to justify a sequel; Ghost Warrior 2 is headed to store shelves later this year, for all three platforms at once.

A slightly more compelling excuse for SNIPER PS3 arriving to the party almost a year late, than merely to prepare Sony fans for the sequel, is that (according to the advertising spiel) the game has been ‘massively enhanced’, this time round. Sadly/thankfully I didn’t get to experience the apparently messy original on PC and Xbox 360, so I’m approaching the PS3 version with a fresh outlook, untarnished by any past mistakes. Will SNIPER: Ghost Warrior have its sights set for a dead-on hit this time round, or is another miss inevitable?

Review: Portal 2

Portal 2 has been one of the most anticipated games in recent history, and with so much hype around the release, James ‘O’ looks at the sequel to one of Valve’s most popular games ever, the genre-revolutionising Portal. Released on PC, Xbox and PS3 back in April, Portal 2 is a great example of how a small game like Portal can grow up and stand on its own two feet against other behemoth titles in the gaming industry.

Review: DiRT 3

There aren’t many games out there that I can look back to as being landmark titles in my gaming life, but one of them would easily be the Colin McRae Rally series. While I’ll never class any of the series among my favourite games of all time, the reason I recall it with so much importance is it was one of two titles back in the 90s that helped change my mind entirely on the merits of the racing genre (the other was Gran Turismo, if you’re wondering). Since the series’ inception in ‘98, a lot has changed in its transition from simple Rally simulation to the off-road extreme Motorsports powerhouse it has become in recent years, but the most felt change came with the passing of the titular man in tragic circumstances in 2007.

With McRae gone but not forgotten, Codemasters have decided that now is their time to move on, with DiRT 3 being the first off-road game from them in eight iterations to omit the McRae moniker that would no doubt have otherwise adorned the box. It’s fitting then, that while respecting what came before, Codies have taken a chance on implementing what could be a big part of the series’ future in Gymkhana. The burning question, though; is that future bright?

Review: Sega Rally Online Arcade

Back when I was a kid, holidays meant camping or going to the beach. Like any gamer, wherever we went I made it my business to seek out any and all arcades within walking distance of the campsite or holiday park. Lucky for me, British beaches are jam-packed full of the things and I spent all my money on countless games of Tekken, Street Fighter, House of the Dead, Silent Scope and Outrun. One game that I always had a crack on, wherever I was, was Sega Rally Championship. Offering short, exciting races with a rally twist, it became a staple favourite in arcades across the country and is on many veterans top 5. Why do I bring this up? Well Sega have seen fit to rip this classic out of its cabinet, doll it up for the HD generation and slap it on Xbox LIVE Arcade for all to play under the moniker Sega Rally Online Arcade. Wishful thinking or shrewd business move? Can a 15-year-old arcade port make modern, money conscious gamers part with their hard-earned cash? Let’s find out…

Review: Moon Diver

Back in 1989 Ted Bundy was executed, George Bush Senior became the 41st president and there was the Massacre of Tiananmen Square. Movie lovers had the likes of Batman, Look Who’s Talking and The War of the Roses. It was also the year that a very clever chap called Kouichi Yotsui came up with a side scrolling platform game called Strider, which kept arcade goers very happy and very poor.

Why are we going on this trip down memory lane I hear you ask? Well Kouichi has directed a new PSN and XBLA title, developed by feelplus and published by the mighty Square Enix, that is something of a homage to that title and is available for download at £9.99 or 1200MP respectively.

Can it reach the stars or is this destined to dive in the charts? Read on to find out.

Review: Brink (Console)

When playing Brink, the very idea of getting tooled up, sprinting ahead into the enemies base and firing away at them until your heart’s content without back-up or any sort of strategy will find you lying face down in the dirt quicker than you can say ‘Help Me!’

If you’re a lone wolf who wants glory, fame and notoriety and complains every time someone in your team ‘steals your kill’, don’t even give this a second glance on the store shelf. Don’t even blink when you pass it by. This isn’t for you, you’re not for it. Go back to CoD.

For the rest of you, read on. Brink may just be the best thing that ever happened to you…

Please note: There will be two reviews of Brink coming from This Is My Joystick! This has been reasoned due to the differences of online play on both PC and Console versions of the game. The review you’re about to read has been played on Xbox 360. A review of the PC version is forthcoming…

Review: Michael Jackson: The Experience (Kinect)

So, as one of the least graceful people in the entire universe, complete with an aversion to games that get you moving, you might be wondering why I’m reviewing the first attempt at a Michael Jackson game since the much-moved-but-equally-terrible ‘Moonwalker’. A number of reasons, really. I like testing myself outside of my comfort zone and a willingness to try new things, maybe, but it’s certainly not just so that I can use it as an excuse to make tasteless jokes about the late, legendary singer’s questionable relationships with children…What?! Don’t look at me like that, it’s not!

Ahem, so, with that out-of-the-way, onto Michael Jackson: The Experience, then; is it a Thriller or just plain Bad?!

Review: Outland

Outland is a new 2D platform/adventure title of the Old School Prince of Persia variety, developed by Finnish studio, Housemarque, and published by Ubisoft for both PSN and XBLA. In fact, anyone old enough to remember the early Prince of Persia games from the 8-Bit era will see more than a few similarities here; from the running and jumping to the way your hero swings his sword and hangs from ledges. There is very much a sense of nostalgia as an older gamer.

That’s not to say Outland isn’t a breath of fresh air, though, and with a fairly unique graphical feel and a well written audio score to match it has everything you’d expect of a modern day title. So the only question that remains is; is it any good?

Read on to find out.

Review: WWE All Stars

Ah, wrestling! Socially unacceptable to like, you’ll find yourself vehemently mocked if you’re a fan, and yet it somehow still draws some of the largest television audiences and crowd attendances on Planet Earth. Myself? I am a die-hard fan, and have been ever since I saw my very first Saturday afternoon wrestling on the television. Of course being British, my first exposure was to the “sport”, was mainly watching obese overweight old guys in ill-fitting leotards. I’m talking about the likes of the infamous Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, and Jackie Pallo plodding about the ring and being out of breath within the first minute of a match starting.

Then with me at the age of eleven, my family got our first satellite dish and I had my mind blown by what was then called the WWF; the World Wrestling federation. In the WWF, the wrestlers weren’t fat old men; these guys had muscles where muscles shouldn’t be, and they pulled off manoeuvres Bid Daddy could never even dream of. All round there was a higher level of performance and showmanship. From that moment on I was hooked, I loved wrestling more than I loved… erm, my Gran!

Fast forward some twenty-four years later and here I am, still into wrestling. Not in the same way as I was a kid, but none the less I remain loyal and still watch the WWF; or WWE as it is now known (the panda loving people apparently got to the WWF name rights first, so the wrestling folk were forced to change it). Alongside this addiction has also been my need to buy every wrestling game ever released; from the likes of the Megadrive’s WWF Super Wrestlemania, through to the Dreamcast’s WWF Attitude, right up to today’s WWE: Smackdown versus Raw franchise. There is literally no wrestling game I haven’t played, so I think that legitimately makes me the front-runner to review the latest WWE and THQ offering; WWE All Stars.

Review: MotoGP 10/11

For those of you not familiar with Moto GP, it is effectively the Formula 1 of motor bikes. The season comprises eighteen race weekends across fourteen countries and includes insane speeds, superstar riders and all sorts of cutting edge technology just like its four-wheeled cousin.

Moto GP 10/11 is the latest video game iteration of the sport, developed by Monumental, and follows this year’s schedule. Does it match up in video game format to Codemasters F1 title? Read on to find out.

Review: Full House Poker

If there is one game that transcends the ages, it’s Poker. Over the years, we’ve seen Poker games in their hundreds spanning all formats; some awful, some rather good. This isn’t the first attempt to bring the card game to Xbox; however, this one probably has the biggest backing in terms of marketing and attention to detail. So, does this latest effort from Microsoft trump buying a pack of cards, getting a group of friends around with some cans and playing until the early hours? Well, let’s find out…

Review: Fight Night: Champion

Boxing is not everyone’s cup of tea. In fact some would have you believe it is a barbaric activity that simply allows two violent Neanderthal’s to beat the poop out of each other for thirty minutes or until one of them is hurt enough not to continue. I however believe it to be a sport that tests the mind and body of its participants in a way that cannot be matched by any other. Some of the sporting world’s greatest ever athletes and sharpest minds belonged to boxers, not least the greatest of them all.

Over the past five years Fight Night has become one of EA Sports’ flagship franchises, which suggests I am not alone in hailing the great gladiators of Madison Square Garden as heroes and the series has grown and developed immeasurably since Fight Night: Round 3 was released back in 2006. The latest title was released last month on all platforms and I have been putting it through its paces to see if it can become a true Champion.

Review: Dragon Age II

Dragon Age Origins, to me, was always something that could have been brilliant, but just fell a little too short the second it started to take itself too seriously. I remember playing Origins very clearly; sure, there was some light humour here and there but it was always good to put Alistair and Morrigan in the same party if you were up for an extra laugh to distract from the heavy nature of the plot.

Until I played the demo for Dragon Age II I was expecting to feel the same about the sequel. I thought it was just going to be another western RPG filled with over the top lore, sprinkled with a healthy dose of dragons and magic. I am so glad I was mistaken, as this has now turned into a potential winner for my game of the year so far.

Review: PopCap Hits! 2

Not content with releasing four highly addictive and entertaining games on one disk for under £20, we now have a second instalment of PopCap Hits to deal with, all thanks to Mastertronic. Where the original PopCap hits relied on age-old classics the follow-up (cleverly titled PopCap Hits 2) includes a slightly more varied blend of puzzle and action, classic and new breed.

As ever though, the proof of the pudding is in the eating so has PopCap Hits 2 got enough to sink your teeth into? Read on to find out.

Review: Two Worlds II

Two Worlds was released from Polish developer Reality Pump in 2007 to mixed reception. While its ambition was praised, the graphics, gameplay and voice acting were all heavily criticised. I played it only briefly and felt it had so much unrealised potential. When I received its sequel to review, with a problematic release in the UK, I was apprehensive to say the least. The over-complexity and clunky mechanics of the first game were still etched in my mind, and being the cynical bugger I am I fully expected  this one to be more of the same. Was I right to be so jaded in my prediction? Hell no, and here’s why…

Review: Gray Matter

In computer gaming days of yore, point-and-click adventure games were all the rage. I have fond memories of playing the Monkey Island series on my Amiga, along with others like Indiana Jones and even Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders. This eclectic genre of gaming has lived on, albeit nowadays in more of an underground, cult form. I haven’t dabbled in any point-and-clicks for ages, so was excited at the prospect of getting my hands on the latest title by WizarBox, Gray Matter. I’m feeling generous, so I’ll go along with its Americanised spelling and try not to complain too much.

One reason why Gray Matter is particularly promising is that the development team included Jane Jensen, the person responsible for the popular point-and-click Gabriel Knight series from the 90s. With this experience and heritage under its belt, will Gray Matter bring the genre refreshingly up to date, or will it be too stuck in the past?

Review: PopCap Hits!

PopCap games are quite possibly one of the most recognised game publishers in the world and as such, I will challenge any gamer worth their salt who claims they haven’t played (and loved) at least one of PopCap’s back catalogue. From a quick fix at lunchtime via Facebook or on your Mobile Phone while sitting on the bus, to a late night Xbox live or PSN marathon, PopCap have a game for every mood.

With the release of PopCap Hits, the guys have bundled together four of their most popular classic titles on one disk for your amusement and what the collection may lack in graphical or musical prowess it tries to make up for in addictive fun and puzzling genius. Question is; do we have a Hit or a Miss? Read on to find out.

Review: Bejeweled Blitz Live

Popcap sure know how to make an addictive game. One only needs to look at their track record, with the likes of Peggle, Zuma, Plants vs Zombies and Bejeweled under their banner. With an equally excellent label of quality laminated to their products, Popcap are, without question, one of the premier gaming developers out there today. However, if there is one nut they’ve yet to crack, it’s creating a truly compelling, enthralling online multiplayer experience on Xbox Live. Sure, Peggle had an online mode, but it failed to create the same levels of brilliance the single player component offered. They came closer with Plants vs Zombies but ultimately the online experience felt more of a gimmick.

With Bejeweled Blitz Live, did they finally hit the nail on the head?

Review: Torchlight

In a nutshell, Torchlight is the self-assured offspring of World of Warcraft and Diablo. Not surprising, considering a lot of the development team behind the game worked for Blizzard on the original Diablo games. For those that may not know, this was a real cult classic on PC back in 2009 and for good reason; it’s a throwback to the RPG’s of old and blends the very best elements of the genre together into one package.

So surely we’re guaranteed a quality release on Xbox 360 with that kind of pedigree? It would certainly seem that way, although, there’s always the danger of trying to port games such as these onto a console that they will suffer for the translation, be it an issue with frame-rate, controls or things having to be taken out of the game.

So, after many hours of extensive play, This Is My Joystick asks the question, is Torchlight everything we hoped it would be?

Review: Stacking

Double Fine are among my favourite developers in recent years, with games like Psychonauts and Brutal Legend sitting proudly on my shelf despite their flaws. All their games have a quirky sense of humour from Tim Schaffer (he of Lucasarts fame) along with distinctive art styles. However, Double Fine recently went into the downloadable market, first with last year’s Halloween themed Costume Quest and now with their latest game, Stacking. Is it a tower of fun or a stack of… something else?

Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sparked controversy for a number of reasons, one of the main reasons being Activision’s rather steep pricing for its numerous map packs. A decade ago, new first person shooter maps on PC were added by the developers as a free gratuity to the community, or created by dedicated modders. It came as no surprise, therefore, that many gamers uttered a sharp intake of breath at the sight of the Stimulus Map Pack on the Xbox Live Marketplace for a hefty 1200 Microsoft Points, or £9.99.

What made this questionable ‘deal’ even less inviting was that only five maps were included, and two of these were simply recycled from the previous Modern Warfare game. Nonetheless, eager Codders bought the DLC in droves, along with the subsequent map packs for the title. Fast-forward to today and Call of Duty: Black Ops has just received the first map pack of its own, rather appropriately named the ‘First Strike’ pack. Pricing is once again set at 1200 MSP, so the question on everyone’s lips is if the package is worth its premium price this time round (unless you’re one of the really dedicated fans/mugs who would buy it regardless).

Review: Fallout: New Vegas DLC

Fallout: New Vegas is a flawed masterpiece, by now, most of you will be well aware of that. There’s many things the game has done right, aspects which set it apart from its predecessor, and established elements improved for the better. Yet, the game was lathered with appalling, game breaking glitches at launch and remains, despite numerous patches, to be a sloppily presented end product that went gold too soon.

That being said, I’ve spent many hours of my life in the Mojave Wasteland, exploring every nook and cranny, promoting myself from a mere courier, to the very element that will shape the future of New Vegas forever. By no means is New Vegas a small game, but it seems Obsidian aren’t taking any time off from the vast desert wasteland, producing even more content for their open World epic.

The question is, should you go back? Well, This Is My Joystick will throw themselves back unto the blazing heat of the sun, suffering the landscape with parched throats, scorched feet and submitting themselves to radiation poisoning and sleep deprivation to tell you whether you should invest any further into Obsidian’s version of the Fallout series. So sit back, strap your Pip-boy on and let us indulge you with our findings.

Please note: Dead Money is currently only available on Xbox 360, however, on February 21st, will be made available for Playstation 3 and PC. From then on, all future New Vegas DLC will release simultaneously on all three formats.

Review: Dead Space 2

It’s been a very calm two-year break since Dead Space. Neighbours are no longer calling in to check on you every time they hear a scream, fearing that you are being brutally murdered. It’s that time again though, and Isaac and his pals, the Necromorphs, have come back to haunt our dreams once more, causing more concern for those around us as blood curdling screams rip from our throats while we get our virtual heads ripped off.

If you haven’t finished the original Dead Space, close this page down and do it now before you even think about reading the rest of this review. Visceral have not been shy about spoilers in Dead Space 2 , including vital plot points from the first game which will play a major role in the second part of Isaac’s story.

Review: Nail’d

As a youngster I was kind of infatuated with motorbikes, not racing bikes but motocross. This developed after years of watching kickstart after school and riding the mini bikes at the fair at every opportunity. This diminished as I got older but when I got married a few years ago I couldn’t help but take advantage of the stag-doo option of Quad Biking and loved it. As such, when the review copy of Nail’d hit the TIMJ offices I was quite keen to get a look in.

Nail’d is a new arcade racer developed by the creators of Call of Juarez and Chrome: Techland for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Billed as the “fastest off-road arcade racing game”, it is something of a hybrid of Motorstorm and Pure with an added dose of Billy Whizz. I have recently been spending time with the Xbox 360 version to find out if it’s a Nail’d on winner. Read on to find out.

Review: Breach

These days we are overwhelmed with choice when it comes to first person shooters; Call of Duty, Battlefield, Left 4 Dead, Killzone and Halo series just to name a few. Why then would a small, comparatively low-budget first person shooter such as Breach deserve our attention, when there is so much more on offer of a higher calibre? One good reason may be that it’s available on the Xbox Live Arcade for just 1200 points, the same price as a map pack for a certain one of those such games…

Breach, developed by Atomic Games, promises different classes with unlockable weapons and gadgets, three maps (with a nighttime variation of one of them as a bonus), and destructible map elements. The downloadable title Battlefield 1943 released not too long ago at the same price point and was a run away success, so can Atomic Games replicate this achievement or will their efforts, all in all, be just another Breach in the wall?

Review: Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga

When I first got into gaming, I realised that I took to it naturally. Before I knew it I was looking for the next game to challenge me, this proved quite difficult, mainly because I was finishing games so quickly. That’s when I started to play RPG’s for both the length of the story and the fantasy and mystical premise. I was completely hooked and I will admit, I would rather invest my money in a good RPG than any other genre.

Moving on several years and a few thousand games later, I rented Divinity 2: Ego Draconis from Lovefilm only to be disappointed with the whole game. Everywhere I went within the world I found issues with it that just put me off. It wasn’t that it was broken or anything, just that it didn’t feel rewarding getting anywhere within the game. I wasn’t sold and after giving it more than a few hours, I sent it back, unfinished.

At the end of last year, I received Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga. This version intrigued me as Larian Studios had not only created an entirely new game engine fixing a lot of the issues they had in the original port, but they had also included two games in the package. The first was a rebuilt Ego Draconis (the game that made me feel like killing myself) and the second named Flames of Vengeance; a completely new adventure, released as an expansion on the PC. This game describes itself as a 100 hour adventure, and off I set to see if this game was going to make me change my mind about the series.

Review: Bloody Good Time

When the Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Multiplayer was announced, many people were ecstatic about its new and innovative ideas. However, a big group of PC gamers felt that it was a little too familiar to something we had played before. That was The Ship, a gem of a game where players had to murder carefully selected opponents in interesting ways without incurring civilian casualties or letting security see them welding a revolver. Now Outerlight’s latest game has graced Xbox Live Arcade and Steam and it’s a fitting sequel to the original covert murder them up.

Review: Create

Here at This Is My Joystick we have often stated, both collectively and individually, that modern gaming lacks a bit when it comes to innovation. We have bemoaned the endless cycle of regenerated franchise titles such as FIFA or COD as uninspired or repetitive, so when Create arrived in the office there was a genuine clamour and the hands went up almost in unison to claim the review copy.

Fortunately for me, all this interest caused so much confusion that I was able to nip in and pinch it from under the noses of my colleagues, the question now becomes was EA’s new multi-platform game worth the effort? Read on to find out.

Review: X-Men Arcade

I was an arcade rat back in the 80’s and most of my time was spent with the same three games. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons and X-Men. I dread to think how much of my money has ended up in the coin slots of these machines across the country but it did serve me many hours of entertainment while I was growing up. Therefore, the announcement of X-Men coming to XBLA & PSN 18 years later was an exciting moment for me and meant I could finally play this game as many times as I wanted without paying another penny.

Now that the dust has settled, has it been worth the wait?

Review: Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet

Marvel Comics are a company that have no problem reinventing their property in multiple, self-contained universes. Hell, you only need to check out Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions to see just four of the main contenders to see just how diverse these takes on popular characters can be. One such reinvention is probably more popular with younger Marvel fans than your usual comic reader and actually started life as a way of taking Marvel’s popular characters and turning them into a line of cutesy, super-deformed toys suitable for children of younger ages.

Such was their popularity that a Saturday morning cartoon show was formed and maybe somewhat predictably, along came the accompanying game shortly thereafter. Courtesy of THQ and Blue Tongue Entertainment (or Mass Media, depending on the platform), the first game based on Hasbro’s figurines tanked, and rightly so. It offered nothing new or interesting and seemingly was a simple cash-in, marketed at getting little kiddies to beg their parents into buying it to match their Marvel Super Hero Squad bedspreads and lampshades.

Undeterred by the game’s critical and commercial failure, THQ passed the development duties over to Griptonite Games for the sequel, ‘The Infinity Gauntlet’, released last November. Being the site’s resident Spider-Man fanboy (thus making me the authority on all things Marvel, clearly), I was tasked with seeing if this game is worth purchasing for the kids (and big kids) alike.

Review: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Ah, Assassin’s Creed. This series has been somewhat of a puzzle for me. I very much enjoyed the first game in spite of its obvious flaws and in my circles I often found myself to be one of the few defenders of its free-running thrills. It featured what was undoubtedly one of my favourite game engines of all time, but thanks to an undeniable amount of repetition, it certainly couldn’t be considered one of my favourite games of all time. With the second game I pre-ordered as soon as I possibly could, awaiting it with high hopes, but later cancelled once I’d played a very early and clunky build at Eurogamer 2009. In fact, I only just picked up the sequel in the light of this very review of Assassin’s Creed’s first foray into what I was led to believe was a ‘spin-off’.

I found playing the sequel a bit of an eye-opener, instantly wishing that I hadn’t cancelled that pre-order last year. I found myself in awe of how Ubi had listened, then provided more of the great elements of the first title, while adding a better mission structure and removing all traces of the grind that nearly ruined it as a franchise in the eyes of the media. It is probably now fairly regarded as the big title that Ubi had hoped in 2007. Even with that turnaround of success, Brotherhood worried me; was it a lazily developed cash-in, just a year after the last game? Would it really add anything revolutionary compared to last year’s instalment? Can the game engine really lend itself to an enjoyable online mode?

The answers to those three questions in short are; no, yes, and hell yes! Want more detail? You know what to do to find out!

Review: Megamind: Ultimate Showdown

So, the bad guy never gets the girl or the glory. That’s generally how things work out, right?

Well, Megamind, the latest animated feature from Dreamworks, may change your perception on things just slightly. Megamind is the kind of bad guy that is so incredibly awesome, so invincible and maniacally diabolical that he can kill his arch-nemesis (a super hero) and take over an entire city, ruling it with his own iron fist. Now how many of those do you know? Not many I’d hazard a guess.

Naturally, success dictates, and therefore aforementioned animated feature spawns spewed-out cash-in game designed to capitalise on the film’s popularity. However, the game, Ultimate Showdown, is surprisingly not a rehash of the events of the film, but is, in fact, a separate, self-contained story featuring the blue, big-headed protagonist (or antagonist?!) of the hit Dreamworks movie.

Question is, is the story and game any good ? Let’s find out…

Review: MotionSports

The terms Sports and Motion, of late, are like peas in a pod. Using motion controlled peripherals to engineer sport-like experiences from the comfort of your own living room is certainly not a new angle, and therefore it was to be expected that Kinect would quickly become inundated with this type of games from the off. Ubisoft were one of the first to seize the day and launched MotionSports alongside Kinect, quietly competing against Microsoft and Rare’s own effort, Kinect Sports.

With a slightly different assortment of games bundled in the package and a distinct lack of Avatars, the burning question is, how did Ubisoft get on?

Review: Dance Central

When you mention Harmonix you think of plastic guitars, shameful karaoke and scaled down drum kits. You certainly don’t think of flailing your arms and legs around your living room to the latest and greatest club tunes. That’s right, Harmonix has decided to take a slightly different route and has opted to jump feet first into the creation of Dance Central, one of the most exciting and hotly anticipated titles for Kinect, a game that claims to be able to teach you how to dance. This is of course not a guarantee, and if you have two left feet and no sense of rhythm whatsoever, do not expect miracles.

Review: Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom

When the chance to review Majin came up, I have to admit that I wasn’t sure I was going to like the game. I, for one, had never heard of it up until we were asked to review it, so a little research was my first priority. With my interest then piqued in the title developed by Game Republic (famous for the Clash of the Titans game) and published by Namco Bandai, I had to persuade the rest of the staff that they didn’t want to touch this title (using Clash of The Titans as my main point of reference).

Everybody who knows anything about me (and possibly even regular readers) will have worked out that I have a bit of thing about Japanese games, so much so that I will do anything humanly possible to play them. I will honestly admit that the TIMJ staff as a general rule have to fight me for anything made by a Japanese company (I use big samurai swords, they cut deep).

The game came and so I played, hoping that I wouldn’t be as disappointed with this as I was with Clash of the Titans.

Review: Splatterhouse

Splatterhouse, as you can perhaps tell by the name, is a great game for all the family, involving messy but fun art projects like watercolour painting and making finger puppets. Yeah, right. Splatterhouse is the foulest, most despicably vile filth I have ever had the fortune/misfortune to put in a games console. Developed by Namco Bandai, it is essentially a remake of the classic 1988 arcade game of the same name; a side-scrolling beat ‘em up with over-generous lashings of blood and gore.

The transfer to 3D and modern-day standards hasn’t changed the essence of the game much; if anything though, it’s made it even more gruesome. Imagine the infamous Gears of War chainsaw slice, over and over and over again… for around ten straight hours and you’ll get a pretty accurate impression of what’s in store here. The question is, however, after a thorough disembowelling, has Splatterhouse actually got enough guts on offer to make it a worthwhile experience?

Review: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

At the risk of upsetting my peers of a similar age or older, I’ve never really fully appreciated the simple genius that is Pac-Man. I know all about and respect his lineage, contribution and importance to the industry, but nearly any attempt on my part to plough any time into the game over the years usually ended after ten minutes. In fact, the most attention I ever spent on it was thanks only to Google’s famous interactive logo celebrating Pac-Man’s thirty years in gaming a few months ago. It was also probably the reason that 2007’s Pac-man Championship Edition totally passed me by.

The sequel to that remake, Championship Edition DX, hit the marketplace Wednesday just gone and for some reason I opted to give the trial a go and something strange happened; I couldn’t stop playing it. What made this edition of Pac-Man appeal more than the others? Some subtle reinvention, for one.

Review: Crazy Taxi

I don’t mind admitting that as a younger man I was a huge Sega fanboy. I am also happy to state that arcade racer Crazy Taxi was one of my favourite games back in the day and I did spend a fair bit at the arcades trying to master it. Suffice to say when I first heard it was coming to XBLA I was more than a touch excited and was very quick to nominate myself for the review.

Crazy Taxi also now happens to be available on PSN and at 800MP or $9.99. The question is does this port of one of Sega’s classic titles warrant a purchase or should it be consigned to the Arcade Graveyard? Read on to find out.

Review: Alien Breed 3: Descent

The Amiga defined a generation, bringing with it some classic titles that are still as beloved today as they were back then. Alien Breed, created by Team 17, is a reimaging of one such classic Amiga title and has been released in episodic instalments via digital download mediums across multiple formats throughout the year. Descent is the third and final instalment in this new Alien Breed series and follows the continuing story of Theodore J Conrad, an engineer aboard the spaceship Leopold as he struggles against a wave of unrelenting aliens.

Does Conrad and Alien Breed go out with a bang or will this last episode redefine the series for the worst?

Review: The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout

The influx of fitness games on Kinect continues with THQ coming to bat this time. While you breathe a heavy sigh of dismay, fret not, as I may be able to allay some of your fears. You see, The Biggest Loser might just be the biggest surprise in the Kinect launch line up. Yes, it’s a fitness game but it also innovates in amazing ways that open up new doors of possibilities for the tech. THQ have broken the mould for what is conventionally thought of as a fitness game and have introduced this to Kinect in an unexpected little package.

How did they do it? Read on to find out…

Review: Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

The inevitability of Kinect, despite all of its promises, was that it was going to cater to those who want to indulge in a fitness regime. The trend began with the Wii and Nintendo’s introduction of Wii Fit and has since spiralled into dozens of different titles on to multiple formats. Whether you like it or not, there’s a market for fitness games on computer systems and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is Ubisoft’s first attempt at translating that formula on to Microsoft’s new motion sensing peripheral, Kinect. With the ability to track your motions in new and exciting ways, did this work the way they intended?

Review: Hydro Thunder: Hurricane Tempest Pack (DLC)

Back in July I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of Vector Unit’s XBLA racer Hydro Thunder: Hurricane, and rather liked it, so when I returned from a recent holiday to see the Tempest Back DLC waiting on my TIMJ desk I was more than a touch happy. Available now at a mere 400MP I have again taken to the water to see just what the DLC has to offer and, more importantly, if you should be buying it.

Review: Fallout: New Vegas

Following on from the huge success of Fallout 3, it was hard to know whether it was best to play it safe and keeps things the same, or take a bit of a gamble with something different to keep it fresh. Fallout: New Vegas has actually managed to do a bit of both. Retaining all the charm that made its predecessor such a hit, New Vegas delivers some impressive extras making your journey through the Mojave Desert all the more enjoyable.

I picked up the Collectors Edition which included a set of poker chips from the casinos featured in the game, a graphic novel acting as a sequel to in-game events, a pack of cards from mini-game Caravan, and a ‘making of’ DVD, all packaged very nicely in a collectors box.

Review: Fighters Uncaged

Besides the initial offload of fitness and sports games, Kinect quite surprisingly received a beat-em-up as a launch title. The game is set out on the streets and sees your character competing against a slew of different opponents, each with differing strengths and weaknesses. Without the use of a joypad and using your whole body as a controller for a beat-em-up, throwing punches, knees, headbutts and kicks, ducking and weaving to evade strikes and counter attack, that must be awesome, right? How could that be bad?

Right… ?

Review: Rock Band 3

Unlike Guitar Hero, Harmonix have been slightly less frequent with releasing instalments of Rock Band. Certainly, you can argue that with The Beatles and Greenday, they’re beginning to milk the Rock Band name, but this is only the third actual Rock Band title in the brand for console platforms, which is actually quite surprising when you consider how long its been around. However, what may be more surprising to you is that it’s also the most innovative and forward thinking of the lot, not just for Rock Band but any rhythm game released to date.

How is that possible? Read on…

Please note: the reviewer of this game did not have access to the Keyboard or any of the pro instruments. Reviewed experiences with RB3 are purely based on the original controllers and how the game fares in Single Player and Online. As such, this review may be subject to change in the future.

Review: Alan Wake: The Writer (DLC)

If you read my review of the last set of Alan Wake DLC, ‘The Signal’, you’ll remember that I took some umbrage at how the DLC interfered with the ending of the full game, almost skewering what was in my mind, a massive step up for the games industry in storytelling terms. Soured by that, I was also concerned that Remedy may be looking to clear up what seemed to be a purposely ambiguous ending, aimed at creating interpretation and debate. Since then, it was (surprisingly to me) announced that the second lot of DLC, ‘The Writer’, would be the last for the current game, hinting heavily that Remedy were hoping to start work on a sequel soon. This had eased my mind somewhat; however, did this swan-song instalment cement or dissolve my concerns over the series’ future direction?

Note: If you haven’t finished the full game or The Signal, then I implore you not to read on. This review will have no major spoilers in terms of this episode but may spoil events in the previous DLC.

Review: Saw II: Flesh and Blood

Tobin Bell might possibly be the creepiest guy in a film. Now I’m not saying that the guy is downright weird or anything, he just plays characters far too well. That said, Jigsaw was the only thing I liked about the Saw film franchise. The twisted way of dealing with his victims, having them kill themselves with nothing more than circumstance and swift kick in the right direction.

A while back I had the chance to play Saw: The Video Game, by Blacklight; Tango Down developer Zombie Studios, and I have to admit that I did enjoy it more than the movies. It wasn’t as graphic, but it did try to have shock value but that’s not why I liked it either. It was because it made me feel more engaged within the storyline. I know it wasn’t the best game ever made, but trying to work out the puzzles was brilliant. Even if the setting on occasion was tasteless and so far off the reservation that your moral compass would be telling you to die and save someone else’s life, you knew that a selfless act like that wouldn’t happen.

Zombie Studios once again return to the Saw franchise, and I have to admit that when Saw II: Flesh and Blood was announced I was quite surprised, especially with the first game not getting the best reviews and getting slated for its distastefulness. Dubbed ‘torture porn’, the first game managed to pass classifications and here we are again, with another helping of gore slipping through. Just like the movies, we have another full helping of torture, puzzles and horror; the biggest question to be answered is whether it’s actually any good?

Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops

Even if you don’t like Call of Duty, you have to admit that last year’s Modern Warfare 2 did rather well at its launch, drawing in a huge number of sales ruined only slightly by the Infinty Ward snafu a couple of months later. However, this year is Treyarch’s year and they are taking us to back to the Cold War. Can it match up to last year’s blockbuster or should this game never have got off the boat?