Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Wii)



Resident Evil 4 is one of the many fond memories I had of playing the game all those years back, along with the likes of Metroid Prime, Tales of Symphonia, Smash Bros, and Ikaruga. And RE4: Wii Edition just makes the greatest action game ever even better. Everything from the aiming, to the content has been given an update, and a tweak or two. Using the Wii Remote, and the nunchuk is by far, the most natural method of controlling the game, and adds a whole load of depth, and flexiblity that none of the three other version could ever offer you. It's an essential purchase for any Wii owner, even if you've played the game on other platforms. Especially at the cheap price.

The Darkness (360)



The Darkness is, in my opinion, the finest experience that both the 360, and the PS3 has to offer. The sheer atmospheric quality of The Darkness, both visually, and narritavely puts it head over shoulders ahead of any other FPS game out there at the moment. Coupled off with Starbreeze's amazing ability to make a game that play great, and feel unique. It's by far the greatest looking game available on any console out at the moment too. Developers could learn from Starbreeze when it comes to making a shooter, they're pretty much one of the few glimmers of hope that the genre has left if the genre doesn't want to fall into a state of repitition, and mediocrity.

Shadowrun (360)



Without a doubt, the most fun I've ever had on LIVE in months. At a time when dissapointments like Gears of War, and Halo 2 dominate the LIVE user charts, it's nice to see a game like Shadowrun that cuts all the bullcrap, and just provides you with a laid-back team experience, that not only is fun to play, but provides players with as little, and as much depth, and strategy as they want, thanks to the class system, and the Magic/Tech/Weapons purchase menu, ala CS. It's great stuff, even if it does skimp on the content.

Disgae 2: Cursed Memories (PS2)



Well, this was my first dive into the world of the strategic RPG, and I must say, I came away pleasently surprised by Atlus' RPG offering. The gameplay is nowhere near as confusing as I thought it'd be to get into, but I can see this becoming a fairly complex little games as I progress through the game. At a budget price at £20 in most UK retailers, you can't go wrong with picking this up on the cheap, and giving it a whirl. Even a hardcore Action RPG fan like me can appreciate something with a bit more depth and strategy like this.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence: Limited Edition (PS2)



Metal Gear Solid 3 has always intrigued me in the past, but the static camera angles, and awkward movement always put me off playing further into the game whenever I borrowed it. But when I heard that Konami were releasing another version of the game, with a full movable 3D camera, and a load of extra tweaks, I knew I'd be getting it quite far down the line when the game went cheap. Finding the thick, limited edition box of Subsistence with the extra content for £15 though, made me pick up this enhanced version of the game a lot sooner than I thought it would. Unfortunately I haven't played much of the game yet, but once I'm done with RE4, I'll gladly play this all the way through.

Marble Madness!

Rolling balls around courses, not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an idea that very few games have used in the past and present. EA really kicked off the whole idea of manipulating spherical inanimate objects with Marble Madness, on the Sega Genesis, and more than a decade later, SEGA's Amusement Vision studios brought the idea back to the table with the Super Monkey Ball series, which experienced a surprisingly high amount of sales when it hit the Gamecube. After SEGA's Monkey Ball series though, the wait for another new ball based puzzler on a home system began. Thankfully, GarageGames decided to bring their popular ball based puzzle game to the 360, with Marble Blast Ultra, exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade. Available for 800 MS points. So, how does it hold up?

Marble Blast Ultra, at first glance, looks to be just a simple Marble Madness clone, albeit in 3D. The whole concept, and look of the game does reek of inspiration from EA's decade old game. But after delving past the games first few stages, it's made apparent that the game's structure is actually quite a bit different from that of Marble Madness. You see, Marble Blast Ultra doesn't just stick to the puzzle orientated gameplay that games like Marble Madness, and Monkey Ball so religiously cling onto. Instead, it mixes the puzzle elements with a whole load of platformer inspired elements too.

The aim of the game still rings true to that of other similar games, work your way from the start of a course, to the exit at the other end of the course. Simple in theory, but Marble Madness' platforming twist on the standard formula helps make it a much more complicated, and in-depth game than any other game in the past. You see, with the inclusion of platformer elements comes the ability of being able to jump. There are a lot of instances in Marble Blast Ultra that require you to climb up slopes, clear stairways, and jump gaps, and MBU's jump is just the ticket to working up, over, and under these obstacles. From the moment that you discover this, it makes you realize that MBU has a lot more going for it in terms of challenge, and variety than the likes of Monkey Ball.

As you progress through the earlier stages and learn the ropes, you'll find a lot of other things that'll change the way you play MBU. The primary thing being power-ups. The select placement of power-ups around each course adds a lot of potential for figuring out different routes, and shortcuts throughout the games 60 stages. And these power-ups are pretty creative as well. Aids like the Gyrocopter, which allows to to gently hover over large gaps, and drop slowly through wide chasms, and the super jump which allows you to jump higher than usual are a joy to use, and feel intuitive in their execution. The inclusion of a jump function, and these power-ups, transform MBU from a simple puzzle game, to a puzzle/platformer hybrid, and doesn't detract from the games ease of use, or accessibility because of it. They meld in with the core gameplay of MBU extremely well.



A Load of Balls!

Good gameplay is nothing without good level design though, and MBU does quite an impressive job on this side of things. As you progress through MBU's single player, you'll find a wide variety of different courses to roll, jump, and wobble your way around. Just a few of the 60 courses involve navigating on, and around things such as Icy surfaces, trap doors, moving bumpers, moving platforms, and thin balance beams. Many of the things I just mentioned often pop up on just one course as you advance. The gradual increase of obstacles that get thrown at you as you progress further into the game feels well paced, and by the time you've reached the halfway point of MBU you'll have only experienced just a few of the trials that MBU challenges you to overcome. The inclusion of switches that change the direction of gravity, and levels that require you to collect a set number of objects before finishing a stage add an overwhelming amount of difficulty, and challenge in the latter half of the game. It can be a lot for people who aren't familiar with the Monkey Ball games to take in at times, but with a bit of perseverance, and patience, you'll be able to conquer the seemingly impossible challenges that lay ahead of you towards the end of the game. Puzzler virgins are bound to find hours of playtime in Marble Blast Ultra, and the mix of frustration, and joy that those hours will bring will ensure them that all those hours of playing MBU, will make the game an experience worth remembering. The inclusion of achievements that require you to beat all the stages under the par that the games developers have set you, and a couple of achievements that revolve around finding hidden easter eggs that are dotted around 20 of the games 60 stages are bound to add countless more hours for those of you who are looking to perfect the game. Good stuff. The addition of a simple multiplayer mode with LIVE support may add a tad more length to the games overall lifespan, for those who like the idea of playing MBU in a competitive environment.

Veterans of games like Monkey Ball on the other hand, may find the challenges that MBU presents all too apparent. Outside of a few courses here, and there, MBU may not provide people with more experience with games like this the same buzz that less experienced players may experience as they play through the game. It's familiar territory for the more experienced player, but an enjoyable experience while it lasts, nonetheless.



I sure did type the word "Experience" a lot there!

Little things go a long, long way, and MBU has a lot of little things that make it a visually appealing game. MBU uses a shader toner engine, which allowed the games developers to throw around a bunch of really neat visual effects. From the light shining off the games many textured surfaces, to the shadows that walls cast, and wavy transparent effect that windows emit, MBU is a surprisingly sharp looking game, for a game that sports a clean, yet simple look. The fact that the game is only around 33MB makes Marble Blast Ultra look just that little bit more impressive. The presentation of each of the games courses could've left a little bit more to the imagination, but as it is, MBU still looks good on both an SDTV, and a HDTV.

The audio side of things, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of the visual side of things. The music in Marble Blast Ultra is, quite frankly, dull as hell. The same dance track that repeats over and over throughout the course of the game is quite possibly one of the most dull things I've heard in a game to date. Muting the music, or sticking custom soundtracks on is advisable whilst playing MBU if you don't want to give yourself a self induced headache. The sound effects are good though, the different noises the marble makes as it rolls across different surfaces feels spot on, which is a good thing, because apart from an annoying looping music track, and a few beeps, and bloops, that's all you're going to hear.

Marble Blast Ultra is a great example of the type of games we should be seeing on the 360's XBLA. In a fountain of classic game remakes, it's hard to find a really well put together, unique game made especially for the XBLA crowd, but Marble Blast Ultra provides gamers with just that. And at 800pts, most puzzler fans, and curious newcomers should find enough meat in MBU to justify the price tag. An essential for any budding games collector.




Graphics: 8.3

A simple, yet sharp look, mixed with subtle visual effects makes MBU a visually pleasing experience. The fact that the game looks great on both a standard definition TV, and a high definition TV only helps bolster how good the game looks. Surprising for a Live arcade game. Good stuff!

Sound: 5.0

Horrid music, but solid sound effects help soften the blow. Custom soundtracks are a life saver, as is the ability to mute the games background music. More than one track playing in the background would've been nice GarageGames!

Gameplay: 8.7

A clever little twist on a familiar formula helps elevate MBU from other games of its type. The platforming elements intertwine with the core gameplay of MBU well, and the courses, for the most part, feel solid, and well designed. Plenty of variety here then.

Lifespan: 7.8

60 stages, and an increasing difficulty helps ensure that most people will get a surprisingly large amount of playtime out of Marble Blast Ultra. More experienced puzzler fans though, may find the game a tad easy for the most part though. But well thought out achievements help lengthen things out.


Overall: 8.2

Uber Tricky

SSX was one of the Playstation 2's best games at launch, it was a snowboarding game that didn't take itself too seriously, which was a breath of fresh air when compared to the more serious and sim-like snowboard games that launched on the PS1 and N64. It was over the top, and extreme in every sense. When the sequel & remake, SSX Tricky hit multiple platforms a lot of Sony fans were actually quite sad to see the series lose it's PS2 exclusitivity, after all, it was a highly polished game that provided players with a zany style, and unique interface and trick system that really set it apart from many of the other liscensed snowboard games. It was the unique characters and enviroments that allowed EA Big to really expand on the series, there was unlimited potential for the developers to mess around and tweak the game without limitations and deadlines set by sponsors or affiliates. Bored with the old system EA Canada decided to expand on the series with SSX3 for the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox.



Give me air...

SSX3 has been totally reworked from top to bottom, the premise is still there, the over the top characters, sizable courses, and unique tricks and huge air oppurtunities, but structure wise the game has got a complete overhaul. Unlike previous additions SSX3 allows you to make your own way to your destination, keeping menus to an absolute minimum. SSX3 introduces you to a mountian system, which is divided into 3 peaks, you originally start on the bottom slope which is the easiest and most laid back peak of the three, by completing events and competing for money you get the oppurtunity to visit the other three peaks, naturally they get harder as you work your way up, with race events becoming more intense and stunt course becoming more riddled with high score trick oppurtunities and more obstacles to overcome. It's possible for you to board all the way down all three peaks without a loading screen or menu in sight, but you can bring up a menu that allows you to quickly travel to a certain venue or peak. It works very well and it suits both type of players, those who enjoy exploration and taking their time, and those who just want to get straight into the action.

There are a multitude of events for you to take part in, the most obvious being the race events, that allow you to take part in a downhill race with 5 other AI controller characters, Big Air, that places you in a straight slope that has 3 huge slopes in which you must get as big a score you can as possible, Trick Style, that gives you complex tracks on which to get the highest score out of all the competitors. The 2 biggest and newest additions to the mode list though are the on-slope challenges and the outback challenges. The on-slope challenges take place outside the venues and allow you to partake in mini challenges for sizable amounts of money, these tasks vary from simple collection challenges, to meeting certain requirements in a short amount of time. The outback challenges involve you and a rival competing with each other in either a race of a trick competition. Racing in the outback challenges are a drastic change from the venues as the outback tracks provide you with a much bigger and challenging slope on which to race down. There are all sorts of natural hazards and obstructions to fight against, be it huge icy crevices, avalanches, and thick foilage and tumbling rocks. It really makes a change from the shorter courses and they're by far the highlight of the game.

The layout of the game isn't the only thing that has been changed dramatically. The control system has been revamped and been given some worthwhile additions. SSX Tricky didn't allow you to link tricks together, the only way you could boost your scores in the past was through collecting multiplayers that were dotted around exclusively throughout tracks in the trick attack mode. SSX3 dumps that system and gives players the ability to string tricks together using manuals. Using the second control stick you can switch between frontside manuals, backside manuals, and sideway manuals, it's a great system that forces the players to apply pressure and precision at the correct time and pace. Instead of using a balance bar to predict how unstable your boarder is, the game requires you to watch your boarders stance, the more unstable he is, the closer he is to bailing, at that moment you must switch to a different manual stance, it works great, and doesn't make balancing feel awkward unlike other games. The ability to do lip tricks on rails and vert slopes has also been added, this helps you to get back on a rail after falling off or missing a grind. This is much more forgiving than previous installations as it allows you to recover from a previous fault that you had made. The ability to land back on your feet if you bail mid air is also another good addition that yet again, adds to the less frustrating experience SSX3 tries to acheive.

The stat building elements of the career mode also adds a lot more to the game. Using the money that you earn from playing in events you can buy stats to upgrade certain criteria in your selected boarders stats. In the previous game you improved your boarder by meeting certain requirements to acquire new boards. This time round the boards are just clearly for show. The new system also allows the player to purchase additional things such as extra boarders, more songs. concept artwork, and additional clothes and gear for your rider. This really adds a lot more longetivity to the series. If your going to try and unlock everything for every single character then it's going to take literally months of practice and play to complete the game.



...Or give me death!

Graphically the game doesn't push things. Upon analysing the enviroments you'll find that the game doesn't throw out rich textures or hi definition , but the game has a lovely array or particle effects, enviromental changes, and level design that never feels dull or too artificial. It all flows together so well and it simulates the atmoshpere and the effect of a real time mountain to a tee. Mix this with great animation design and characters and you have a game that performs in the graphics department.

Audio on the other hand is a mixed bag, the game has a fully fledged soundtrack which offers many different genres of music, from Punk to Dance. The only problem is that certain genres are more dominant in the soundtrack than others. You'll find a lot more electronic & dance mix music than the likes of Punk or more upbeat rock. It favours some genres more than others. Voice acting is rather silly, but that's because its a silly, over the top game, the goofy and often over the top voices suit the characters really well. Especially madman "Psymon" who babbles out random phrases such as "Monkey's and Rabbits in a washing machine which is just plain bizzare.

SSX3 is a perfect example of how sequels should be done. The game feels like a more natural evolution than just a simple continuation with a few minor tweaks or changes. It's everything you would want from a series that prides itself in being different and more varied than other games of the same type. It's an addictive engrossing game that goes a lot further than other games to provide you with an enyoable and fun experience, now if only EA would take this into consideration when developing their other sports title... Hint Hint!

School Of Rock

Guitar Hero, a franchise that, right out of the gate, grabbed the worldwide population of gamers by the cajones and refused to let them go. The first games' simple, yet satisfying premise, mixed with it's mass appeal, and multiplayer appeal helped the original Playstation 2 game shift over 1.5 million copies worldwide. Whilst a large handful of games have sold well over a million copies before, the fact that a Rhythm game has done just as well as many of those best-selling games in the past is a surprising turn of events. DDR's complete dominance of the genre beforehand made Guitar Hero's success even more of a surprise again. Not only did a rhythm game hit the milestone of a million copies sold, but it managed to break into a market that one hugely successful franchise had a tight grip on for well over a decade. It's a testament to how much people enjoy this franchise, and proof that not all rhythm games have to involve you moving your feet to be really successful in this day and age. What makes these Guitar Hero so special you say? Well, taking a look at Guitar Hero 2 cosmetically really doesn't reveal anything different about Guitar Hero 2 when compared to many of the other games in the same genre. It's the standard "hit the icons at the correct time, and order" formula that you've all grown used to in the past, it's tried and tested stuff, and when compared to the likes of Frequency, and Gitaroo Man it doesn't really strike you as anything different or new. You see, the big appealing factor that Guitar Hero 2 oozes doesn't come from the information on screen. But what lays in your hands when playing the game. I'd like to introduce you to Guitar Hero 2's primary controller, the Guitar Pad.



Guitar Zero!

This little baby is what makes Guitar Hero 2 so much fun to play. Now I know some of you who haven't played the games may be thinking, "What the hell? It's just a different shaped pad, with a few buttons slapped on it", but in order to appreciate either of the Guitar Hero games you actually have to place your mitts on one of these pads and play the game for yourself. Both the PS2 and 360 versions of the Guitar Hero pad feel great to hold, and intuitive to use. Whilst the concept of using a Guitar shell to play a rhythm based game isn't exactly a new idea (Konami's Guitar Freaks game experimented with the idea in the past) Red Octane's Guitar Hero games were the first games to really push the idea out into the mainstream market, and succeed with aplomb in the process. So what do all these levers, and buttons do? Well here's a simple overview of the structure of the game, and how the pad works its way into the core gameplay of Guitar Hero 2.

Much like the majority of Rhythm based games, colored icons (which the game calls notes) scroll down to the bottom of the screen, your job is to hit these icons in the order that the game throws them at you. This is where the first, and most important buttons on the face of the Guitar controller come into play, the frets. Holding down one of the five frets highlights one of the colored "hotspots" at the bottom of the screen, as you hold down the corresponding fret button, you're required to flick the "strum bar" at the base of the controller as a note matches up with correct fret hotspot. Hitting the strum bar as both the note, and fret hotspot meet each other rewards you with points in return. A pretty basic concept on paper, but playing the game reveals that hitting, and stringing notes together, proves to be a much harder task than it seems in theory.

Whilst hitting notes one at a time may be the meat of Guitar Hero 2's gameplay, the game throws a few curve balls at you along the way. As you progress you'll be required to hold more than one fret at once, and nail two, three, and on very rare occasions four notes at once, these are called chords. Whilst hitting more than one note at a time only becomes common practice on the harder difficulties, it breaks up the action nicely, keeping you alert, and on your feet, watching out for any changes in note patterns as you play through any of the games 70+ songs. Chords aren't the only curve ball Guitar Hero 2 throws at you, you'll often find yourself having to hold specific notes for long periods of time too. Whilst it isn't necessary to hold these notes, it does help you get higher scores at the end of these songs, holding these notes down all the way isn't the best way to maximize your total score though, there is one other method that can help double your overall score, and that's Star Power.

Not everybody who plays either of these games the first time through may know this, but the Guitar Controller has a tilt function built into it's shell that, once tilted back, activates your star power, which gives you a score boost for every note you hit for a limited time. Using Guitar Hero isn't just a simple case of tilting your Guitar whenever you want though, you have to work for Star Power by hitting a string of Star-shaped notes as they whizz down the screen. Successfully hitting every star-shaped note in a row gives you a small amount of star-power to add to your star-power meter on the bottom right side of the screen. Filling this bar at least halfway then allows you to activate your star power. Using Star Power whenever you wish may automatically give you a score boost whenever you hit a note, but using star-power to it's full potential requires you to fill up your score multiplier. Hitting a string of ten notes in a row doubles the amount of points you get from hitting notes immediately, hitting 20, 30, and 40 notes in a row helps to ultimately multiply your score to four times it's original value, whilst quadrupling you score is generous enough, you can further double that value by using your star power, maximizing the score multiplier to a hearty 8X overall. This is the key to getting some of the highest scores in the game, and learning when to use your star-power at the right moment in a song makes learning the pattern, and structure of each song a necessity if you're to get a really high score.

The last feature on the Guitar controller I'm going to tell you about, is often the most overlooked feature on the controller, the Whammy bar. This metal bar only ever comes into use when you're confronted with a note, or chord that you have to hold for a long period of time. Wobbling the bar whilst holding a note not only allows you to wobble, and bend the sound a long note/chord makes, but it also helps you squeeze out even more points from these elongated point zones, they also help fill up a bit more star power when you hit long star-power chords as well. Folks who want to get the highest score possible will most definitely use this in unison with Star Power in order to squeeze as many points as they can from each song.

All these elements blend together really well, to give the game a much deeper interface than most Rhythm games. It may take a bit more getting used to than other games in the genre, but once you do wrap your head around the basics, and the little subtleties you'll find the core gameplay of Guitar Hero 2 to be a rewarding, and fun experience.



Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo

Mapping such an extensive list of features onto a simple plastic guitar shell is quite an achievement, but making them all work in perfect unison with each other is what matters the most, and fortunately for Guitar Hero 2 both the PS2, and 360 pads map all the buttons, and levers onto the face of each controller almost flawlessly. Both the Gibson, and Xplorer designs that both the pads boast feel comfortable to hold and use, and look nice cosmetically to boot. The differences between the PS2, and 360 pad are minute, and they're essentially the same when it comes to ease of use, and overall quality, the only real differences being that the 360's start and select buttons are smaller, and that the pad has been given a home button and D-pad for bringing the guide up at any given moment, and navigating the dashboard when leaving the game. Nobody gets shafted in terms of control when purchasing either version of the game.

The only really big difference you'll find in either version of Guitar Hero 2 is the amount of content in both games. This is where the 360 version of Guitar Hero 2 really stands out. Red Octane added a total of 10 new songs to the 360 version of Guitar Hero 2, which is quite a considerable amount more when you think about it, it's a neat extra for later adopters of the 360 version of Guitar Hero 2, but what's even more impressive is the inclusion on online leaderboards. Those of you who are major score junkies out there are going to fall in love with this addition. Seeing everybody else's scores, and trying to get as high up the board as you can is great fun, and adds a countless amount of replay value to those who want to dedicate themselves to playing the game and improving on their previous scores. A big plus for the 360 version, along with some really good achievements that encourage extensive play in order to unlock them all. The 360 is clearly the better version overall, but PS2 owners will still get a meaty package if they get the PS2 version, just not as meaty a package compared to 360 owners. Downloadable songs is also another plus for the 360 version, and Red Octane have added songs from the first game to download onto Guitar Hero 2, but at 500pts for only three of the original games 40+ songs are you really going to want to download all of these songs in succession, one after another? Rip-off detected!



No Encore, Please!

Visually, Guitar Hero 2 is pretty damn nice looking for a rhythm game. Most rhythm games go for a plain look so users can concentrate on hitting icons without getting distracted by flashing lights, and moving backgrounds, but Guitar Hero 2 goes for a more visually vibrant look, without distracting the player at the same time. The premise of the game allowed Red Octane to go for a cosmetic look that emulates the atmosphere, and look of a standard Rock "Gig" as those people in the know call music events these days. The on-screen avatars that resemble different members of your band look great, boasting a cartoony that works a lot better than any realistic art method ever could. The menu presentation is also top notch, boasting a look and feel that games like SSX: On Tour boasted before it. It all looks great, and it makes a change considering the bland pallet that most rhythm games present you. The 360 version is visually a lot sharper with better lighting, and blur effects added to the backdrop when playing the game. More detailed character models, and sharper visuals overall make a world of difference.

As with all rhythm games, a good soundtrack is one, if not the most important thing besides gameplay that a rhythm game can have. And sadly, Guitar Hero 2 doesn't quite get things right here. Whilst there are a number of good songs in the game, the majority of the games licensed tracks vary from average, to poor. To be fair, the inclusion of tracks from the likes of Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Kansas, Aerosmith, The Foo Fighters, KISS, and Rush are commendable, there are a whole bunch of songs that feel like they really shouldn't of been in Guitar Hero 2. With so many classic tracks from the past, and present to choose from you'd think that Red Octane would go out of their way to try and better the fantastic selection of music the original game boasted, sadly, it just isn't the case with Red Octanes follow-up as a lot of the songs just feel out of place in GH2. The fact that there's a lot of repetition in songs like Dead! by My Chemical Romance, and Who The Hell Was In My Room, by the Butthole Surfers doesn't help add any more fun to the proceedings either. As a result, less than half of the songs in GH2's soundtrack really stands out from it's predecessor's soundtrack. Which is a shame really. As they did at least get a handful of really good songs in this game, but the average and poor tracks heavily outweigh the good tracks. At least some of the 360's bonus tracks are good. The inclusion of Deep Purple, and Iron Maiden are great. But whoever thought that adding a "My Chemical Romance" song in a Guitar Hero game ought to be either shot, or fired, really.

The 360 version boasts clearer audio than the PS2 version. Which is made much more apparent when you hook the game up to a sound theater. Nice bonus for 360 owners there then.

Even with a less than stellar soundtrack, Guitar Hero 2 still proves to be a whole load of fun. The same great gameplay from the original game is there, and whilst the mixed quality of the soundtrack may be a disappointment from the view of some veteran Guitar Hero players, younger players, and newer players alike may find the more recognizable list of songs much more to their liking. It's still a fun game to play by yourself, and a great game to play with your friends, or families at parties, due to the inclusion of a new co-operative mode, and the return of the Versus mode from the original Guitar Hero. Rhythm game newbies beware, Guitar Hero 2 may just get you hooked on the genre. It's good stuff, albeit a little disappointing. Let's just hope Red Octane try and make a more robust list of quality tracks next time.





Graphics: 8.7

A great cartoon art style, and an atmosphere that emulates the whole "rock band" ethos rather well makes Guitar Hero 2 a treat for the eyes visually. The whole sketchy look that the games menus boast work extremely well too. The fact that it looks great on both the old PS2, and the 360 is a great bonus too. Good stuff.

Sound: 7.5

A mixed soundtrack may disappoint people who played the first game. Some really odd song choices, and some middling covers of the original songs just doesn't help things either. A bunch of good tracks help stop Guitar Hero 2's soundtrack from plummeting into negative waters. Price hiking on the DLC for the original songs is a disgrace though.

Gameplay: 9.0

The same great gameplay from the original game made it to Guitar Hero 2 completely intact, and unchanged. Playing the game in conjunction with the Guitar Pad feels satisfying, and the level of control you have over how you play the game is more satisfying than most rhythm based games. If it ain't broke then don't fix it. And the series formula is far from broken.

Lifespan: 8.8

Over 40 licensed songs to sink your teeth in, and an extra 30 bonus tracks means there's a lot to do in Guitar Hero 2. Online leaderboard support in the 360 version increases the lifespan of the game tenfold for those of you who are high score junkies though. This really is the game for perfectionists.

Overall: 8.1

GTA: Incredible Hulk Meets Judge Dredd Hyper Parody

Free form exploration games. A group of games that not until recently, have exploded onto the gaming scene. Grand Theft Auto III on the PS2 was the first game to establish the concept, and showcase the idea of exploring a big 3D world to the gaming masses. Another two games after GTA3, and it looked like nobody would ever dare challenge GTA for the title of best sandbox game. Until Mercenaries came out in the later half of the Xbox and PS2's lifespan. Whilst it never received the same amount of popularity as any of the GTA games, it was proof that not only Rockstar games could develop a really good sandbox game. Years after Mercenaries release, we now see a lot of new games that try and experiment with the formula the GTA series originally established, with games like Just Cause, Saints Row coming out on a regular basis, we'll see a lot more of these type of games in the near future. The latest attempt at the sandbox genre though, comes from the original brainchild of the GTA & Lemmings series, with the help of his Scotland based gaming studio, Real Time Worlds, and with funding from Microsoft Game Studios. The game? Crackdown.

Crackdown doesn't beat around the bush with a complicated story involving multiple characters with a deep back story, instead Crackdown tells a simple story about you, a genetically enhanced supercop being dispatched by an organization called "The Agency" to clean up a group of islands that fall under the name of "Pacific City". The city is owned, and ran by three groups of gangs, and you're the agencies last hope in finishing the job that The Agency's police force never finished. All of this story is presented through some neat comic book stills, with a little bit of narrative thrown in too. Nice and simple. Now, onto the gameplay...



Criminal Crackdown

Those of you who are familiar with any of the previous Grand Theft Auto games should feel right at home when booting up the game. The basic foundations are all there, cosmetic things such as the world map, and the radar, are all present in Crackdown, and you'll have no problem using them to navigate your way around the island. Outside of the general concept, some loosely related gameplay elements, and cosmetic similarities, the comparisons end here. Crackdown throws you straight into the action after you leave the games main hub, literally. You'll shoot a few gang members, blow up a few barrels and cars, and then you'll be free to do whatever you want. Explore the city, take on a few bad guys, do a few menial tasks, or just goof around, it's entirely up to you.

Which brings us to the first, and most noticeable feature of Crackdown. You can tackle any of the games missions, and challenges in any order that you wish. Whilst the GTA games boast a lot of side-questions, and mini-games to do whilst following the main story, the games have never allowed you to tackle any of the games main missions in whatever order you want to. Due to the limitations that a storyline brings to the tables, but Crackdowns minimalist story makes for a much less linear experience. You can go to any of the three islands, and tackle any of the games 21 crime bosses, that lay waiting in many of Pacific Cities biggest buildings, and landmarks. It's a welcome change of pace from other games in the same genre, and it may leave you thinking why other games don't offer this sort of freedom of choice. This refreshing take on the sandbox genre just would not simply work if there isn't any decent gameplay to back it up. Luckily, Crackdowns core gameplay is very well done. Think of it as Grand Theft Auto, & Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, fused into one with some RPG elements thrown in for good measure.

Being a supercop, you'd naturally assume you would have some pretty awesome skills right out the gate right? Well, in Crackdown, you're going to have to work for these powers. Right at the start, you'll find that your character really doesn't excel much in anything, except being able to jump just a little bit higher than any regular human. This is where the RPG elements fall into place. You see, your characters skills are split into 5 different categories, Agility; which governs the speed which you run at, and the height and distance you can jump, Strength governs what things you can throw, and how hard you can pummel your enemies, Marksmanship, (obviously) governs how accurate you are with weapons, your explosive skills govern how effective your explosive are in power, and range, and your driving skills govern how well you can handle civilian vehicles, and agency vehicles. Pretty straightforward stuff, but what's even more straightforward is the way you go around getting better at each of these five skills. The most common way of increasing your Driving, Explosives, Strength, & Marksmanship is by killing as many gang members that litter the streets with the required skill in order to level up. For example, mowing down gangs with vehicles will give your driving skills a boost, and killing gangs with explosives increases your explosive skills, it a neat system and it encourages a lot of dedication, and playtime with the game without complicating things too much, the simplicity of the levelling up system blends well with the games primary focus on mindless action. Good stuff.

The only skill that may take a bit longer to level up than all of the other skills is your agility and seeing as you can't really kill anybody just by running really fast into them, or jumping on them, RTW dotted 500 green orbs around the city, and surprisingly, the task of finding all 500 of these orbs really is the meat of the main game, despite being given the task of taking out 21 crime bosses. These little green orbs of light are anywhere, and absolutely everywhere, and it's your job to find and collect all of them. Whilst the concept of finding hundreds of glowing orbs may seem like a rather dull objective, Crackdown actually makes such a dull, and meaningless task, fun! You'll only roughly need about 200-300 of these orbs to max out your agility, but as you level up your agility higher, and higher you may think to yourself "I wonder of I could climb that building" or "I wonder if I could leap this chasm". Maxing out your agility skills should be everybody's first priority, as it really opens the game up. You may just find yourself mindlessly exploring each nook and cranny for these stupid spherical orbs, instead of tackling any of the games main missions, it's that damn addictive. You may question yourself at times whether collecting hundreds of these things really is necessary,but before your brain can respond with a logical response to your question, you'll find yet another building that needs scaling, and hopefully, another orb to collect while you're up there. The fact that RTW dotted an extra 300 "hidden" orbs around Pacific City doesn't make dragging yourself away from such an addictive task any easier.



Oooooorbs!

It's a good thing that collecting orbs is such an addictive task too, because outside of jumping around the city, and taking out the cities crime bosses, there really isn't that much to do. Whilst infiltrating each crime bosses hideout, and taking them out is fun enough, there just simply isn't enough meat to each of these missions to help stop people from completing the main campaign in less than a day. And whilst there are on-foot race events, and driving events, there aren't many of them to hold your interest either, and for the most part, they're incredibly easy to complete. With the lack of any real substance to Crackdown, it's strange that the game has so much lasting appeal, where there really shouldn't be any at all. It's all thanks to Crackdown's uncanny ability to take one really good thing, and do it so well that it manages to keep you entertained for hours on end. What there is to do in the game is fun, and addicting, but you may find yourself thinking why Real Time Worlds didn't add more meat to the main game.

The most glaring omission Real Time Worlds made with Crackdown though, is the lack of any option to play through the campaigns main quest again with full stats. You see, in order to play through all the bosses again you have to delete your original save data, and start a new file. For all those people who spent such a long time building up there character this may be a bit of a turnoff, as Crackdown is one of those games that begs to be played over and over again, because its so much fun, fighting all the crime bosses, and collecting all the orbs again with full stats could've been so much fun, but the lack of any feature to do so may seriously hurt the overall lifespan of Crackdown for a lot of folk. There's a Time Trial where you can fight all the bosses again, but tackling them in short bursts just doesn't feel as satisfying as it does first time through the game.

Crackdown does boast a rather fun online co-op component though. It's a neat feature, as jumping around the city and taking out gangs with your friends is even more fun with a friend than it is on your lonesome. But much like the offline portion of the game, the lack of being able to play through the whole game with full stats again may only limit you to a few sessions of Crackdown with a friend, because, as soon as you've both cleaned up the city, there really isn't that much to do except go your separate ways and finish the tasks which the game requires you to do on your lonesome. A shame.



What is your major malfunction Agent?!

What little there is in Crackdown though, reeks of quality. The city not only looks great, but the way each and every building and structure is designed so you can scale every single one of them really makes you wonder how much time, and effort Real Time Worlds put into the world of Crackdown, it's a testament to just how imaginative developers really can be with these type of games. Other developers would do well to study the design ideas Real Time Worlds came up with when developing Crackdown. They could learn a thing or two.

Visually, Crackdown may be a Love/Hate experience for many people. The game has this really strange cell-shaded vibe about it, but it's a lot more subtle than the likes of say, Jet Set Radio, or XIII. It's bizarre really. When close up to any building or object in Crackdown, you can see the bold, black lines, and flat textures that cell-shading is so well know for, but at a distance, things don't look Cell-shaded at all. It's a strange style, but it works really well, giving it a comic book style, and feel that games like XIII have done in the past, although less blatant. Some lovely explosions, and special effects Crackdown a treat for the eyes. The fact that the game only ever needs to load the game world once, and that the draw distance borders on non-existent is a testament to just how efficient Crackdown's visual style is when it comes to performance too.

The audio for the most part is great, meaty explosions, and gun noises back up the action packed gameplay perfectly, and the soundtrack, whilst not as varied as the likes of Vice City, has a fair selection of really good tunes. Atlas Plus' tracks in particular being a few of the best tracks that Crackdown's soundtrack has to offer. One glaring flaw though, is the Agency contact who keeps contact with you throughout the whole game, some of the things he says just seems so out of place at times. One example being if you look at say, a brick wall, the Agency contact will sometimes say "Best view in the City" even though there's nothing to even see in front of you. There are plenty of these moments in the game, and you'll often wonder what the hell the developers where thinking when coding his chatter into the game.

Crackdown is a strange breed of game. There's hardly anything to do outside of collecting orbs, the main missions have next to no replay value after you complete them, and the lack of an option to start the whole game again with full stats is just downright annoying, yet Crackdown keeps you sat in front of the TV for hours just by doing a few small things, and doing them well. Running around as a supercop with the ability to leap huge distances, scale normally unclimbable heights, and blow up, pick up, and throw almost everyone, and everything that gets in you way is insane fun. Combine this with the simple, yet oddly addicting task of collecting orbs, and some really good co-op support and you have a great balls out action game, with some great ideas. Don't skimp on the meat next time though Real Time Worlds, there's so much more potential to improve on what is already, a really good game.




Graphics: 9.0

A great example of how games don't need to go for a photo realistic look to look great. The subtle cell-shading, mixed with some fantastic special effects, and level design, make Crackdown one hell of a good looking game, that looks great on both standard Definition, and High Definition TV's.

Audio: 8.4

A solid soundtrack, and some meaty gun effects and explosions compliment the balls out action of Crackdown well. The narrator, and contact who speaks to you throughout the game though, often feels out of sync with the action that's going on around you. Strange.

Gameplay: 8.9

Crackdown's core gameplay is a whole lot of fun, the whole concept of being a supercop, and being able to do whatever the hell you want gives Crackdown the edge over all those other Sandbox games out at the moment. Just a shame there's not actually that much meat to the game.

Lifespan: 8.6

Considering the short lifespan of the main campaign, and the overall lack of things to do outside of a few tasks, it's surprising to see that Crackdown has a large amount of replay value behind it. The limitless scope for exploration, and the awards exploration brings you, really urges you to play on. Who knew finding orbs would be so much fun? Simple, yet satisfying.

Overall: 8.6

Well, 11:00PM over here signified the release of Rockstar's much anticipated GTA 4 trailer. The amount of traffic that Rockstar's official GTA site recieved overwhelmed the site so much that it literally collapsed on itself, and a lot of other forums and sites got swamped with so much traffic that the same thing happened to them, though much more breifly. After nabbing a sneak-peak of half of the trailer on the GTA 4 official site right before the trailer cut off, and viewing the other half on Eurogamer a few minutes later, I finally have my impressions of the trailer ready to post.



Setting: I'm going to be perfectly honest here, as soon as I saw the Roadside sign showing "Liberty City" as the name of the locale for GTA 4, my expectations dropped very, very low. The fact that we've already visited Liberty City three times already made me wonder why the hell Rockstar decided to choose Liberty City for the latest games locale. A few seconds after though, my initial dissapointment magically dissapeared. Seeing some parts of the city immediately showed me that Rockstar's recycling of Liberty City is far from a cheap recycle. Far from it, it looks more bustling, bigger in scope, and less dull than the previous 3D revisioning of the series main city. One thing that struck me where previous references to New York, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge make a quick cameo as various aerial, and ground clips of the cities residents, and landmarks are shown. It's all pretty intriguing stuff, and the inclusion of indoor locales such as Train stations, and what looks like a cathedral made me wonder if we'll be seeing a much bigger focus on indoor set-peices, and locations than in previous games. Here's hoping.



Graphics: If there's one thing that struck me about GTA 4, it was the lighting. The way that everything casts an accurate shadow is amazing. One example is the Brooklyn Bridge, each support on the bridge casts an accurate angled shadow over the floor the bridge, and over the car that passes by. Character modelling seems a lot better than previous games, both the NPC character models and the main character model seem to have a proper structure, and proportion to them now, no more "mitten hands", and blurry facial and clothes details anymore. A big difference when you compare it to the likes of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas. A promising start for the visual side of things, we can safely assume that the game will most likely look better than this when pictures, and movies of later builds hit the internet.



Main Character: I really like this guy. He isn't a sterotype like C.J from San Andreas, and with no sign of any sort of a Gangsta influenced storyline so far, it's safe to say that this guy may be a tad more interesting than previous characters, and if his character is well developed enough, he may just be as likable as my other favourite protagonist, Tommy Vercetti from Vice City. The narrative at the end of the trailer hints towards this guy being some sort of solo crime operator, smuggling, and killing people for whoever pays for his services. Intriguing stuff. His plain attire, and rather modest appearance could be hinting that San Andreas' character customization could make a return in GTA 4 too. Here's hoping.



Overall, I'm liking where GTA 4 is going. The initial dissapointment of seeing the series return to Liberty City was a little off-putting at first, but after getting a peek at some of the cosmetic stuff, some of the landmarks, and main character, there's a part of me that really wants to see this game succeed now.

Now, about those clunky controls, and rubbish aiming system Rockstar....

Dancing With Wolves

Those of you who have been following the ventures of 3D Realms over the past decade or so should be familiar with Prey. Originally set for release in the late 90's Prey went into gaming limbo soon after, due to the studio's bigger product “Duke Nukem Forever”. With Prey taking a backseat, 3DRealms offered Wisconsin based studio, Human head, with the task of finishing what 3DRealms had already began. Human head humbly accepted, and the result? Portals, vertigo, and a hell of a lot of motion induced sickness.

Prey doesn't start with the biggest of bangs. You'll find yourself, the main protagonist, Tommy, located in a bar toilet looking at himself in the mirror. After whining about his concerns for the love of his life “Jenna” and how depressed he is that she won't move away with him from her home, the “Reservation”. He makes his way up to the front of the bar. After a series of events involving his Girlfriend, a bunch of slovenly drunks, and his superstitious Cherokee stereotype grandfather, Tommy and company are suddenly invaded and abducted by a mysterious spaceship, taking the bar, and its remnants along with them. Cue drama, a whole lot of panicking, and an escape plan.



Elvis Lives!

Those of you who are familiar with Doom 3 and Quake 4 should feel right at home as soon as you boot up Prey. The game runs of the much touted “Doom” engine, developed by ID Software, which is also being used in the upcoming Quake Wars. Prey benefits from this engine when it comes to control and gameplay. As every single aspect of the game is tightly focused, the design and structure of the game never thinks too far out of the box, and provides the player with a solid, albeit linear experience that concentrates less of the narrative side of things, and more on an atmospheric, and suspenseful FPS. Much like Doom 3 before it did.

While Prey shares a lot of the standard FPS traits that other games in the genre have, it does something that other games haven't tried to tread on too often. The use of portals, and the manipulation of gravity. These two elements were something that the game had originally set out to do from the start, and whilst other games as of late have ventured into the use of both of these elements, with mixed results, Prey is one of the few, if not the first to try and combine the two simultaneously, and the result is surprisingly pleasant.

Portals are a key feature in the game, and provide the player with some of the most confusing, and bewildering moments in the game. Portals are dotted in almost every room in the game, while most of these portals provide an entry point for enemies to jump out at you and attack, portals also allow you to get from place to place, and serve as sneaky entry points for attacking adversaries. Each individual portal has its own purpose and occasionally serve as a key point for solving many of the puzzles dotted around the alien mothership. While the game didn't have to rely on portals to provide the player with a solid experience, Prey decided to throw them in anyway. And whilst they feel like glorified doors to another area, they add a lot of “What the hell” moments to the game, and makes the game all the better off for it. You won't believe the amount of times I stared at my screen dumbfounded at where the portal I entered just took me, there are just too many bizarre moments to count on count on two hands alone. It's a really neat feature, and while it doesn't present itself as a necessary gameplay feature, it does provide a nice change from entering door after door of metallic tubing and hallways.

The games second touted feature, manipulative gravity plays a much bigger role in Prey, and ends up being the basis of the whole game. Whilst gravity manipulation isn't something that comes naturally and can't be used freely by Tommy, there are plenty of electro-magnetic walkways dotted around the ship, that once activated, can help you walk up walls, scale long structures, and help you hand upside-down over both your adversaries and any other matter that blocks your way from a normal perspective. It's a rather clever addition, and makes for some interesting puzzles, and often, some interesting battles as you duke it out with any of your alien adversaries on the floor, or on the ceiling, leading in some rather humorous deaths upon their defeat. Magnetic walkways aren't the only things Tommy can use to defy the law of physics. He can also use various switches located around each level to flip each room upside down. Allowing him to traverse across the ship, and around some huge pitfalls, and heavy machinery. They react similar to the magnetic walkways, but allow you to manipulate gravity a lot more freely. It's these two elements that change the way that you tackle the game completely, and they usually end up turning the game into a methodical shooter, just as much as it is an action shooter.

The use of gravity manipulation and portals isn't the only thing Prey explores, another element the game throws in a fair bit into the game is “Spirit Walking”. Spirit walking allows the player to leap out of their own body, and use their spirit form to wander around ahead of them to scout the area out and tackle certain puzzles. Many areas and obstacles that Tommy comes up against can't be entered or avoided by Tommy's physical form, by leaping out of your body, your spirit can bypass forcefields, the pull of gravity, and can cross paths across chasms that your physical form cannot see. And when your physical self dies you have to fight spirits to regain health before returning to your body. While you can use this ability freely after gaining it, it never gets too confusing as to where you use the ability, as various glowing symbols signify that the ability should be used in the location it is located it. Much like the other two elements. Spirit Walking is easy to use, and easy to spot where to use it. The games hintful nature follows the tightly focused design and structure that the games aims for. And never leaves you hanging around for too long, confused about what to do, and how to go about doing it, but doesn't feel like it's holding your hand too much, by eliminating any on-screen prompts, or blatantly obvious hints.



Preying upon the Predator

The games scripted nature, and tightly focused design may be one of the few things that may deter many a player from playing Prey. Those looking for a totally free form shooter should steer well away from Prey, as the entire game is scripted. From the puzzles, to the action sequences, and the way that enemies attack and approach you. If you've played each level at least once, then you know how enemies are going to attack you, and exactly what to do with them. Much like Doom 3. There is hardly any variation in any of the AI's behavior throughout the whole game. Enemy X will appear from “that” hallway and will attack in “that” manner. It's entirely predictable and really doesn't warrant a second playthrough, even on the second difficulty. Those of you who tired quickly of Doom 3's simplistic nature will be hard pushed to find any replay value out of Prey's single player. The fact that the average time taken to complete Prey is around 6-10 hours doesn't make the experience a lengthy one either. But while it lasts, it's an extremely atmospheric, and intriguing game that throws in some great moments, ideas, and plot twists along the way.

The exhausted and oft dragged out level design during the second half of the game may put some folks off completing it though, but the simple yet effective story may help give you an incentive to put up with the latter half of the games flaws.

After exhausting yourself of the games single player, a multiplayer is also available to play. Problem here is, that due to the games graphically heavy nature, system linking is required to play with your friends. Most people can't afford two TV's as it is, nevermind two Xbox 360's or a friend who also has the system at the current price it is. It's an inconvenience and makes LAN multiplayer too much of a pain to bother with for most, and too much of a strain on the wallet. Especially if you're a college student with hardly a penny to your name. At least the game supports LIVE, so if you have a broadband connection and a LIVE account, you can get yourself acquainted with others, and pwn your friends over live. The multiplayer itself isn't the most in-depth or connect heavy of multiplayers though. Only allowing you a choice of two modes. Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch. The total lack of modes is somewhat disappointing, and makes the multiplayer feel like nothing more than a rushed add-on. All the gravity manipulation and portal tom-foolery could've made for some great CTF matches, or King of the Hill competitions. But instead the multiplayer portion of the game feels bare-boned and nothing but a small distraction from the already brief single player campaign.



Queens with Rags

Visually, Prey is an impressive showcase of what the Doom 3 engine can do. ID's software engine was designed for corridor ridden, sc-fi fests and Prey works well with the engine. Even more so than Doom 3 itself. The excellent lighting and textures do a great job at emulating the atmosphere of being stuck on a dark, alien ridden mothership. The character models also compliment the backdrop nicely. Showing the same great texturing and lighting that the rest of the game showcases too. The models animate smoothly, and look distinct in their appearance and behavior. What also makes Prey such a great looking game is the amount of detail put into the environment, which is oddly enough, one gigantic living organism. As you wander the corridors of the “Station” you'll find many of the walls consist of pulsating flesh, bloody orifices, tentacles, and gaping maws that react to you and other around you in there own way (They also look like a certain female orifice). Everything is a living creature, even the weapons and grenades that you posses. It really is a nice change from the countless metallic corridors and gratings that appear in countless other sci-fi shooters, and helps give off its own unique atmosphere. And looks all the better for it too.

3DRealms seems particularly proud about the audio included in Prey. With good reason. It's as haunting, ambient and as atmospheric as you can get. What little music there is in the game is particularly well done. With subtle jingles floating around in the background as you wander around the ship, and an uneasy ambiance that occasionally litters the games corridors. There's even the odd song done by artists like Judas Priest that pop up from time to time to break up the games ambient soundtrack It compliments the games theme well, as do the weapon effects, they're all satisfyingly sci-fi, and while there aren't too many weapon effects, or weapons for that matter, they do the job. Voice acting is also commendable. Each voice suits there set character well, even the alien characters voices are well done, and are even occasionally humorous at times. Great stuff.

At the end of the day, Prey is one of those one-hit wonders. You'll play through it once, marvel at all the neat ideas that the game has to show, finish it, play a few multplayer matches, and put it back amongst your other games, perhaps to play 6 months down the line, if you have nothing better to do. While it lasts though, it's a great experience, and at the right price, could be a game that you'd enjoy at face value, regardless of length, flaws, or content. It's a great romp through a unique world, with some well thought out ideas, and some memorable moments.



Graphics: 8.8

The Doom engine shows just what it can do here. Whilst Prey's visual style is somewhat reminiscent to your usual sci-fi theme, the drastic alteration of the theme into something more organic and wildly different from what we're used to warrants a lot of praise. A lovely looking game, and a better use of the engine than even the game the engine was originally made for. Doom 3.

Sound: 8.6

A fantastic mix of both liscensed tracks, and original orchestral scores makes Prey a fantastic treat for the ears. A high quality voice cast helps effectively immerse you in the games story, and gives the game a more cinematic atmosphere. A great variety of sound effects help give the game an eery, and ambient atmosphere too. Gun effects aren't too meaty, but they do the job well enough.

Gameplay: 8.4

Prey throws in some fantastic ideas, and they're implemented well, whilst the core gameplay isn't too different from other shooters in recent years, the portal, spectral exploration, and anti-gravity stuff really adds a much needed kick to the gameplay, and stops the game from falling into a state of repititiveness. Shame the latter half of the game can feel like a real drag at times, due to some really annoying design choices.

Lifespan: 6.0

Averaging at around 6-10 hours, Prey's single player campaign won't have you playing for days on end. First time through though, it's a pretty unique experience, and a compelling one at that. The multiplayer is there if you want to play around with it. But the limited scope of the multiplayer, and the lack of match types isn't likely to hold your attention for long. An extra diffficulty in the single player campaign may help stretch the games lifespan a little.

Overall: 7.8

They're sexier than you!

Games developers worry me these days, they really do. In a market full of serious action epics, and 40 hour long cinematic infested grind-fests, one thing is sorely lacking, and that's games with a sense of humor. The majority of games these days take themselves way too seriously, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. A serious story oft equals a good story, and a great atmosphere, as a result, but with very few games providing players with a over the top, "laugh-a-minute!" it may leave some people thinking what the hell happened to those light hearted games we used to play. Conker's Bad Fur Day on the N64, and the Xbox was one of the few recent games who opted for a comedic style, and story, and it got a generally warm reception because of it. Finally, after years of twiddling thumbs, and drooling mindlessly like a dog in a air-conditonless Cadillac, we finally have another "slapstick" game. And that game, is Clover Studio's last game, God Hand.

Straight from the off, God Hand stands out as being something of an oddity. Within the first half hour of playing the game you'll question the main protagonist's sexuality, kick demon monsters a few times in the nadgers (Seriously, kicking an otherworldly spirit right in the crown jewels, how awesome is that) and fight a couple of cladly dressed homosexuals who have the hots for you and look like gay pride festival float mascots. It's pretty out of the ordinary stuff, and no doubt will have players questioning just how sane Clover Studio's are, and maybe just how high they where when they made this game. Anyway, as usual I should start off explaining the games story. Believe me, this won't take long at all.

Basically, you're Jean, and you've been give a special gift, an arm that has the power to... well... beat the crap out of anything that moves in ways that you thought couldn't be humanly possible, and every farmhouse freak, and otherworldly oddity is out to get you, and ultimately, the God Hand. Things go all awry quickly as Jean finds himself facing a group of demons who are hell bent on enslaving the human race, and predictably, have their hearts set on world domination. Pretty standard stuff I guess, but who cares! It paves the way for hours of slapstick comedy, and ultimately, a cheesy, slightly camp experience that'll have you questioning just how empty, and sparse your life feels in comparison. Anyway, onto the gameplay!



Streets of Who?

God Hand makes one thing very apparent as soon as you start playing it, this isn't a game that revolves around the tried-and-tested formula that most 3D action games that games like God of War, Devil May Cry, and Ninja Gaiden have stuck to in recent years, instead, you see, God Hand opts for a more traditional style of gameplay reminiscent of games from the early 90's such as Streets of Rage, and Goldenaxe. Those of you who played these side-scrolling classics way back when should be able to predict what God Hand primarily focuses on. And that's beating the crap out of a variety of mindless goons, and henchmen. Those of you thinking of picking up God Hand for an insanely deep, and methodical action game, should steer well clear of it. God Hand is a traditional by the numbers brawler, which, depending on how open-minded you are to games that hark back to more primitive times, may make, or break the game for you.

The focus on a more retro-orientated type of gameplay experience isn't the only thing that may leave many people either intrigued, or disgusted by what God Hand has to offer. The control scheme is yet another thing that many folks will either love, or hate about the game. You see, unlike other games in the genre, God Hand doesn't give you a flexible camera, the camera stays squarely behind you as you dish out the pain. Those of you who aren't willing to adapt to this kind of perspective will find God Hand a hellish game to play. It's a drastic change from the norm, and the lack of a free form camera may take a short, or long time to get used to depending on how willing you are to adapt quickly. To even things out, a radar is placed on the top right side of the screen showing what direction enemies are coming at you from. It's an extremely useful piece of HUD, and if you're willing to use it, you'll find God Hand to be a lot easier to co-operate with.

God Hand's control scheme feels just as out-of-place as the camera placement. Using the left analog stick moves Jean, but the rate at which he normally moves, and the speed at which he turns at is drastically different from other action games, and feels tank-like in comparison. Normally, this would be a bad thing, but God Hand adds a few more control tweaks that makes moving around a lot easier with a bit of practice and determination. The right analogue sticks pretty much has all your "evasion" moves assigned to it. Depending on which way you tilt the controls stick, you'll side-step, backflip, or duck under continuous blows as you're surrounded from every angle. This simple evasion system makes Jean a lot more flexible than he would've been if only the left control stick had been used, and at multiple intervals this simple system proves to be a godsend during both the earlier levels, and later levels. The last feature, in terms of control is the Capcom patented 180 turn. By pressing the L1 button, Jean can turn 180 whenever he wants, making apprehending enemies who think they're smart enough to get up behind you and rape your health, a whole lot easier.



I bet you're not really popular in hell!

Although you'll be beating the living daylight out of everything with your standard string of punches, and kicks most of the time, God Hand does give you the chance to dish out pain in a couple of different ways. The main way is through using the "God-roulette". By holding down R1 everything will go into instant slow-motion, allowing you to scroll down a list filled with various techniques varying from the classic "ball-buster", which predictably gives you the chance to kick dudes in the plums, to slightly more over-the-top techniques like the "Daisy Cutter" which sends your opponent flying into the air with a bunch of Catherine wheels, and various other fireworks, and the "Home Runner" technique, which allows you to conjure up a bat made of pure matter, and hit an enemy out of the park and beyond the clouds, ensuring you'll never see their ugly mugs ever again. Not only are these techniques charming, and admittedly quite satisfying to use, but they pack quite a punch too, allowing you to take care of one, or more enemies at once, depending on the attack, and the amount of power behind it. The process of slowing down the game, and selecting these techniques can leave you open to all sorts of cheap blows so using them at the right time is absolutely critical. The limited usage of these attacks also means you have to take the frequency of which you use these attacks into consideration. Saving these attacks for the harder enemies, and even the bosses is advisable. Especially on the harder difficulties.

The second form of attack is the God Hand itself. By pressing the R2 button, you'll unleash the God Hand (Jean's Right arm) unleashing this will allow Jean to throw punches and kicks at tremendously fast speeds, making short work of anything, or anyone that gets in your way. Filling up the bar by landings hits, and defeating enemies is the most common way of granting access to the God Hands powers, although picking up various cards depicting Women in bikini's is another good way of filling up the God Hand's bar quickly. Although coming across these cards is harder than you'd think. All three of these elements work well together, and add a bit of variety to what would've been an insanely straight-forward game if God Hand didn't have these three things, instead, the variety of ways to pummel, and punish your enemies adds a bit more depth to God Hand, without making it overly complicated, or deep.

Just because God Hand aims for a more traditional form of gameplay, doesn't mean that Clover Studio's have neglected to include a few elements that have been added to more recent action games. In between save points, and stages, God Hand gives you the opportunity to spend your hand earned cash obtained by beating up goons to spend on new roulette techniques, and various other punches, and kicks. Roulette techniques cost a hefty amount of money, where as regular techniques cost a lot less. After purchasing techniques, you can work them into your combo's on the fly using a handy moveset menu whenever you pause the game. Mixing up different punches and kicks in your regular combo string is great fun, and your bound to find some really useful techniques that'll help you overcome some of the harder enemies, and bosses.

Not only do you get the opportunity to spend cash, but you also have the chance to earn more money through a less violent activity, gambling. Hitting the casino gives you the chance to play through a large assortment of games, from blackjack, to poker, and even one armed bandits. They're really well done, and you can waste a fair amount of time to gambling your money away. Those of you who find this classic past time boring, will be more interested in the fighting arena, which allows you to pit your wits against various enemies in a wrestling ring, the harder the scenario, the more gold you earn, and believe me, some of these are tough, and even border on frustrating. Plenty to do outside of the main game then.



That's one loud set of Man Boobs!

People who are too accustomed to the toned down difficulty of most action games be warned. God Hand is a hard game, a very hard game. A game so hard that the game likes to punish you for being really, really good at it. That's right, the better you are, the more pressure the game puts on you. As you kick butt you'll find yourself leveling up, there are four tiers to this system, level 1, if you're getting the crap beaten out of you then you'll most likely never get past this level, pretty basic stuff. level 2 is for the middling player, who find themselves defeating large amounts of enemies without hardly ever getting hit themselves, the speed of the AI, and the aggressiveness of your enemies is sped up, level 3 pops up when you're fighting nearly perfectly, clearing multiple rooms at a time without even taking a hint of damage, the AI on this level gets a lot more aggressive than level 2's, requiring quicker reactions, and an itchy right analogue thumb to avoid getting severely hurt, Level DIE! is pure suicide, reaching this level ensures you'll get your ass handed to you on a plate, the speed, and frequency at which your foes attack is insane, and you'll most likely find yourself surviving for less than a couple of minutes before hitting the floor, and ultimately dying.

Many people may be put off by this system, but those looking for an old school challenge will love the system to bits. Ninja Gaiden, eat your heart out.



You're all a bunch of freakin' idiots!

Visually God Hand has to be one of the worst looking games of recent times. Whilst the character models have a decent amount of attention lavished on them, the less that's said about most of the environments, the better. Whilst some of the games locales vary from functional to solid at best, some of them look downright ugly. Poor textures litter the game, and the amount of jaggies that litter the screen at times is really off-putting. When looking at Clovers previous games like Viewtiful Joe 2, and Okami, it makes you think where they went wrong with God Hand from a visual perspective. Great character design helps soften the blow a little, but not much.

The audio side of things on the other hand, is a totally different story. God Hands soundtrack is quite frankly one of the best I've heard recently. The mix of cheesy surf music, and electric guitar laden rock tracks makes God Hand a bizarre, yet oddly fitting soundtrack that compliments the games action really well. The voice acting comes off as extremely cheesy, but seeing as God Hand opts for a cheesy, over-the-top atmosphere anyway, it works well. Great cast, and every voice seems fitting to the character they represent, Fantastic stuff.

God Hand is an acquired taste, it could be nothing else but that. Any game that punishes you for being good at the game, and focuses primarily on retro gameplay, whilst throwing in a camera and control scheme that varies widely from any recent action game to date, is bound to get mixed reactions. It's a sad fact, but true. But the mix of some fantastic humor, and by the numbers action makes God Hand one of games that only retro junkies, fans of hard games, or those who have a penchant for the funny, and downright bizarre, will appreciate. If none of the above applies to you, then God Hand may simply not be the game for you. I urge you to at least rent the game, or buy it at a really cheap price though. It may be the last game of its type ever to hit the shelves after the next generation of systems kick in. Without a doubt the finest last-gen action game money can buy in my opinion.



Graphics: 5.5

Good character models, and character design can't disguise the some of the most visually poor environments seen in a game to date. Whilst some stages look functionable, or solid at best. A lot of stages look like something you'd expect to see in a really, really early PS2 game. A shame when you consider Clover's past games.

Sound: 9.1

Awesome soundtrack, and a great voice cast makes God Hand one of the finest audio experiences the PS2 has to offer. The cheesy, camp atmosphere than emits from God Hand wouldn't be possible without the fantastic music, and voice acting. Great job Clover. Yet another game with fantastic audio under your belt.

Gameplay: 8.9

The drastic change of direction the game takes from other action games may take some adapting to, but it's a pretty damn fun system once you get used to it. Both simple, yet involving at the same time, God Hand does away with all the subtle niceties that other games boast, and throws a huge curveball in your face as the game gets harder the more you play. Simple beautiful!

Lifespan: 7.8

Pretty short game, but the multiple difficulty settings, and a fairly healthy list of unlockables help entice you back into the game. The games great sense of humor may also bring you back to the game a few more times. Just to revel in the games comedy value. Your bound to get some strange reactions from your friends too if you play this in full view of them. Bonus!

Overall: 8.4

Just Chillin'

Capcom as a company, have turned into a completely different beast over the course of the last few years. With the short yet sweet Capcom project entitled Production Studio 5 came a wave of new, and interesting games that literally changed the way a lot of people looked at the firm, a company usually renowned for producing multiple sequels, and spin-offs to well established franchises and series such as Mega Man, & Resident Evil. Whilst the firm still does produce games for both of the acclaimed series mentioned above, production of them is not as rapid, and as spontaneous as it used to be. Capcoms support of the 360 as of late has come as a big surprise for those who remember the firms support for the original Xbox, which was pretty damn poor, with only a small handful of games hitting the Xbox, whilst the PS2, and the Gamecube reaped the rewards. The recent turnaround may either be due to the current fanbase of the 360, or perhaps even due to the fact that Capcom see's Microsoft's newest system as a good platform to develop for. Either way, Capcoms support has done them a load of good with Dead Rising selling well over a million copies. But how does Lost Planet compare to Capcoms last 360 offering?

Lost Planet starts off with the games protagonist, Wayne, infiltrating the headquarters of an organization with his dad. This organization is trying to stabilize an ice-covered planet so that humans can live safely on its surface without fear of being attacked by the planets current residents, the Arkid. A group of wild creatures who thrive off the planets cold climate, and any other foreign creatures that live in it. But the organizations plan to colonize the planet is a bit more sinister than it first seems, something which you'll be finding out as you progress through the game. Certain events unfold, and we find Wayne's father being killed by an arkid called the green eye, shortly after the battle Wayne is dug up from under the snow and revived by a small group of the planets current residents, a group of Snow Pirates. Amnesia kicks in shortly after being rescued, and vague flashbacks of his dad, and the monster that killed him are all that remain, with what little memory he has left, he vows to go after the monster that killed his father.



Worms, and Moths, and Arkids, Oh My!

Lost Planet, for the most part, is a third person shooter, just glancing at the game would have most people who haven't been following the games development to believe that this controls and plays just like any other shooter. But the truth is, this game has many tweaks and changes, both subtle, and large that set it apart from other 3rd person shooters. Upon booting up and playing Lost Planet for the first time, one thing will become certain to the player straight away. The speed and way which your character moves is a lot slower than you're average 3rd person action game. Wayne feels like a tank in comparison, which makes getting around the vast landscapes that Lost Planet boasts, a lot slower than you'd first imagine. The strange thing is, that the pace, and speed at which Wayne moves compliments the visual, and gameplay side of things really well. I mean, you wouldn't expect Wayne to move at the speed of light through inches of snow would you? This drastic change of pace may leave many people who have played standard 3rd person shooters for years a bit alienated. It's certainly isn't for everyone, and this distinctly different design choice will be one of many things that may either discourage, or encourage people to play this game.

Another strange thing about Lost Planet is the way that the game borrows elements from on-rail shooters. You see, Lost Planet throws in a couple of familiar elements from the arcade shooter genre, to help ease users into Lost Planet's gameplay quicker. The first being the games default aiming system. You see, instead of keeping the aiming reticle directly in the center of the screen, Lost Planet opts for a different system though, using an aiming system akin to games like Panzer Dragoon Orta. Instead of using a static reticle, Lost Planet uses a looser aiming system where the cursor moves around the screen a fair bit. It's yet another one of those additions that feel strange, but as you progress further into the game, it's another thing that makes sense. The Akrid, who are the main meat of the campaigns enemies, have specific weakpoints for the most part, what Lost Planet's primary aiming system does is allow the user to move the reticle freely to an enemies weakspot whilst moving at the same time. It's a lot more efficient than your standard aiming system, but anyone who feels uncomfortable with this new aiming style can change it to standard aiming through the games option menu. Although the default aiming system is recommended. The inclusion of a 4 way direction switch using the left and right bumpers also helps the user change direction quicker, and it's a useful addition when fighting enemies that surround you.

You'll also see that you're character has a steadily depleting bar in the top left corner of the screen, this is the thermal energy bar, and in order to keep it up you'll need to be defeating enemies as often as possible, and collecting the thermal energy they drop, failing to do so will result in your life bar slowly depleting. It's a great way to keep you on your feet.

Whilst Lost Planet's story campaign is mostly linear, it does encourage thinking outside the box a little, and investigating places that lay a little out of the way from where you're advancing to. Capcom have added a grappling hook for you to use for getting to these places. Using the hook allows you to latch onto any verticle surface, or ceiling and boost yourself up there. It's a great addition, and can be used for more than just firing yourself up to high places, it can be used to slowly lower yourself into rooms, and avoid things such as big projectiles just in the nice of time. It often makes getting around each of Lost Planets stages a lot faster, and easier.




Extreme Condition? More Like Extreme Frustration!

Exploring frozen wastelands, and taking down monsters feels satisfying for the most part, and the snowy locales look, and feel great to move around. Unfortunately, this is short lived and the inclusion of indoor areas, and other bad design choices later on in the game is where the game starts to slip up. Lost Planet doesn't just boast on-foot exploration, it also boasts a large variety of VS suits (ie: Mecha's) for you to test drive, and move around in. Now this would be fine if using these machines was optional, but the level design in later levels almost requires you to use these things to get around. The inclusion of other robotic enemies doesn't make things any better either. As trying to take out other mechs on foot is incredibly hard, and a chore to do if you don't have the right equipment. Which 90% of the time, is the case. On-foot you'll find that mechs will throw you around like a ragdoll with their explosive weapons and big guns, which leads to a lot of frustrating deaths. Whilst the mechs aren't particularly hard, or clunky to control, they're not very mobile, making confrontations against multiple mechs a pain in the rear end as they nail you with rockets and missiles. The sudden shift in gameplay doesn't do the game any favors, and kind of spoils the whole feeling of the game. Especially when you have to use VS suits to take on the big bosses later on.

The single player is ultimately, a mixed big. The first half of the game borders on perfection, with great pacing, and a very natural and flowing feel to the gameplay, the second part of the game though, is middling mech territory, and doesn't prove as much fun as the monster infested, snowy plains that the first half of the game boasts. It's an entertaining diversion, but the real meat of Lost Planet is to be found in the games multiplayer component.

In preparation for Crackdown, I decided to download the demo now that it is available to the average silver user. I got a bunch of 48 hour trials so I'll be playing this, and a few other games a fair bit. So if anyone wants to play then hit me up on Xbox LIVE. Props to Stukodokka, PyroGamer, Anthone, & Jay Mammoth for putting aside some of their spare time to have a little session with me.

Gamertag: Ajinryu.