Shopping Basket

Other than a brief stint on NFS Most Wanted, I haven’t really played driving games since Gran Tursimo on PS1. I’m too busy shooting people and trying not to get shot. However there’s only so long you can do that (5 years, 5+ hours a day) before you have to branch out again. I was fixing a customers 360 recently when I put NFS Shift in to ‘test’ it out. After about 10 minutes I was hooked and took home a copy for the PS3 (is it just me or does the 360 version play better?) and now MW2 has a serious contender for my time. (more…)

I was looking for a little game to play on my iphone when I realised I’ve been starting to game on it more and more lately. The great thing about gaming on your iphone (other phones may be the same?) is that you can just whip it out, have a quick game and stick it back five minutes later, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. I wanted a puzzle game and, to be fair, you don’t hear a lot about iphone games so I wasn’t sure what to play. I always look at the TOP FREE games as there’s no way I’m paying for rubbish and Unblock Me caught my attention – it looks simple and easy to get into.

Luckily Unblock Me is exactly that, simple and fun to get into. The object of each level (400 levels in the free version) is (more…)

The World Cup may only come around once every four years, but when it comes to the associated videogame there’s usually a sense of over-familiarity. EA Sports’ FIFA games are the best football titles out there at the moment, but with updates already arriving annually, spin-off games specific to international tournaments are a bit like the Premier League’s aborted “39th game” plan – an idea that seems to suit the stakeholders primarily, with only token concern for the fans.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa hopes to change that. As a World Cup game, it’s defined to some extent (more…)

I’ve been looking forward to Just Cause 2 ever since I saw the game demoed here in our office a year ago. A third-person shooter with more explosions than a summer blockbuster, Just Cause 2 promised to burst into the open-world sub-genre with guns blazing. Although the original Just Cause has its fair share of problems, I was confident that the folks at Avalanche Software could put together a fantastic action experience.

Fortunately for all us gamers, Just Cause 2 is just as enjoyable as it looks. Although the game has a few annoying problems to speak of, this stunt-filled affair is one of the best open-world games I’ve played in a long time. The action is spectacular, the game world is tremendous and enemies can be tackled in a seemingly infinite number of ways. This is a title that every gamer with a taste for action should play. (more…)

When discussing the evolution of video games as artistic entertainment, commentators and pontificators alike have asked a simple question: “Can a game make you cry?” Let’s get this out of the way first: Heavy Rain will most likely not make you cry. It does, however, provide one of the most emotional experiences I’ve ever had playing a videogame.

If you’ve been following coverage of Quantic Dream’s latest title you know that Heavy Rain focuses on four protagonists as they fight to track down and capture a serial murderer known as the Origami Killer. But what stands out from this simple premise is the unapologetically adult story. I don’t mean adult in the sense of gratuitous sex and violence or even in the game’s mature rating. Rather, it’s adult in the way that it doesn’t talk down to its audience. Heavy Rain encourages you to empathize with its characters, and in so doing allows you to experience a more satisfying and genuine role-playing game than what we typically consider an RPG. It also puts you in adult situations that, on paper, seem ridiculous, but you’ll find yourself standing in awe at doing something as pedestrian as changing a baby’s diaper. (more…)

Pulse rifles, xenomorphs and shimmering stealth cloaks; all things that have long passed into gaming cliché since their debut on the silver screen, but in Aliens vs. Predator – the first-person shooter that sees Rebellion return to the universe it helped establish over fifteen years ago – the Oxford developer is given free rein to present these toys as God (or as it is in this case, James Cameron) intended. The result is a pitch perfect tribute to action cinema’s greatest icons, wrapped up in a game that’s equal parts horror, shooter and stealth-’em-up.

Colonial Marines, Aliens and Predators clash in what’s fast becoming a regular get-together, though rest assured that Rebellion handles the franchises with more care than the two most recent films. They collide in a story that’s little more than an excuse to magpie the original film’s stand out moments, taking place on a planet that seamlessly weaves elements from the second and third Alien films and the first Predator. No opportunity to crowbar in a knowable quote is passed by, and Aliens vs. Predator is all the better for the extended fan service; it plays out like a best-of reel, with Lance Henriksen anchoring the whole show with a knowingly hammy reprisal of his role as Bishop. (more…)

BioShock 2 is, even in premise, a weird beast that many might argue has no real reason to exist. We loved (well, most of us) the first BioShock and thought the world of Rapture was stunningly realised, but when all was said and done we couldn’t honestly claim to want a new chapter in the story.

The first BioShock felt like a complete tale that ended in a reasonable place (even if the finish was rubbish) and we were content to leave it there. It was like a good book that you enjoyed, but don’t really want to see continued by a new author. For sci-fi buffs, if the original BioShock was Day of the Triffids, then BioShock 2 feels like Night of the Triffids – a solid expansion perhaps, but hardly required reading.

BioShock 2 stands up as just as solid a game as the first BioShock by virtue of sharing 90 per cent of the same mechanics and ideas, but suffers from not doing much that’s wholly original or distinct from the first game. The sequel putters a little more verbosely along on similar lines, rather than saying anything different or going in new directions. (more…)

Game Played: Army Of Two : The 40th Day
Played on: XB360
Person Playing It: David Jenkins

Hampered by some poor characterisation and dull gameplay, the original Army of Two came and went with little more than a whimper. As such, expectations were low for this ‘more of the same’ follow up. However, by listening to the first game’s critics, EA has produced a defiantly strong sequel. Army of Two: The 40th Day rights many wrongs of its predecessor and manages to stand on its own two feet in an intimidatingly high profile genre. While not in the same league as the ‘triple A’ cover based shooters -such as Gears of War or Uncharted- The 40th Day does what it does extremely well: put you in control of an armour clad hulk, give you the biggest, baddest machine gun going and let you unleash hell on an army of foot soldiers. Essentially, you are Rambo and his plus one.

Playing out like every bad (read good) buddy cop movie going, you take charge of Rios and Salem, two ex-rangers who have put their military past behind them in favour of lining their own pockets. As mercenaries going about their daily routine, planting beacons, killing guards and such, all hell breaks loose when missiles hail from the sky, bringing a city to its knees. It’s up to you to get to the bottom of this mess and bring the city of Shanghai to justice. Whilst not too heavy on plot, this pure action, popcorn thriller rattles along at pace with plenty of crash, bang and wallop to keep you entertained throughout. (more…)

Game Played: Bayonetta
Played on: PS3
Person Playing It: Benjamin Davies

Let’s try to get Bayonetta’s ever so slightly bonkers premise out of the way first. You play the game’s titular character, a shapeshifting, voluptuous witch in bondage gear who has guns attached to her high heels and clothes woven out of her own magical hair.

She then tortures and kills her foes while battling in an ancient war through the ages and amongst the heavens.

Get all that? Probably not, but within minutes of inserting the disc your jaw will drop and your misgivings will fall away.

Directed by Hideki Kamiya, the man behind such classics as Okami and Viewtiful Joe, obvious comparisons can be made with God Of War and another Kamiya effort, Devil May Cry.

A third-person action game, Bayonetta tasks the player with tackling wave upon wave of angelic foes, racking up combos between ranged and mêlée attacks, culminating in massive boss fights. We’ve seen this sort of game before, but never with such fluidity or wild abandon.

What begins as a visually gorgeous brawler soon reveals itself to be strategically deep, where picking out the right attacks is just as important as a well-timed counter or dodge.

In many ways, Bayonetta plays out as a homage to the Sega days of old, not just in its many nods to classic titles like Super Hang-On, but in the way it rewards skill and super-fast reflexes. Despite its silky yet daft visuals, it is always totally focused on relentlessly entertaining gameplay.

Kratos had better be watching his back.