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Game Reviews

We Review: Gran Turismo 5

I’d like to start by clearing two things up. The first is a reiteration, whilst I am a gamer and have always played games on a pc, console gaming is new to me (you could call me a console noob, but I like to say I have a ‘fresh’ approach.) The second is that I have never played a ‘Gran Turismo’ game ever. I once played an epic multiplayer session of ‘Burnout 3: Takedown’ but all we did was see how much stuff we could blow up and before that I played much ‘Carmageddon’ and racing was never on the agenda, what with all those zombies to mow down. Also you should know I’m not a big car person, cars are transportation and any more than that is excess as far as I’m concerned.

So now you know my GT status, shock horror, a virgin. I feel it’s important to let you know right off the bat, because as I discovered, driving game enthusiasts are ferociously enthusiastic. When the latest installment of their choice enters the market they react like small girls given a puppy and an espresso. And then the puppy shits on their shoes and the espresso goes to their head and they start to scream, complaining about the smallest little things. With no preconceived notions of what a Gran Turismo game ‘should’ be like or indeed what a ‘Driving Simulator’ ‘should’ be like, this might just be the review for you, at least if you’re anything like me. But if you believe Polyphony should have rendered the Ferrari F500 000’s front bumper better… perhaps you should go elsewhere.

Gran Turismo 5 Review

Tyrannical Duck the fiendish water bird recently reviewed James Bond 007: Blood Stone in the form of an epic poem, Beowulf style. Unfortunately my attempts at poetry usually end at ‘roses are red’, and then I get fed up because I’m quite certain roses come in a variety of colours and ‘roses are multicoloured’ is more difficult to rhyme. So instead let me take you on a short drive with GT5 after the jump.

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Game Reviews

We Review: James Bond 007: Blood Stone

Because of the slight lack of originality in this game, we’ve decided to inject some originality into the review. So this review will be in the form of an epic poem. The full, poetic review after the break.

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Featured Game Reviews

We Review: Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

If you’ve ever been a fan of anime and manga, then odds are you’ve come across Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto at some point or another. Inevitably, a string of video games accompanies such a successful franchise, and since Naruto is a story about ninjas, these aforementioned games have a very heavy fighting bent to them. Happily, I am a huge fan of the Naruto series, so I was quite pleased to get a chance to play through one of the latest games in the series, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2.

Find my full review after the break.

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Game Reviews

We Review: Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock (Xbox360)

The problem with all rhythm-based games is that you either love them or hate them; you either have a talent for them or you stay away from the whole dratted genre in case you embarrass yourself either by playing badly, dancing badly, singing badly, or flinging various plastic instruments around the room. That being said, there is a wonderful social element involved, especially if everyone sucks at the game to the same degree. On the other hand, if you do have a talent for rhythm games, they’re a great source of fun, relaxation (in a stressy kind of way), and new music for you to listen to. Happily, yours truly falls into this category. If you’ve any interest in rhythm-based games, read on. If you hate them, reading this review will not change your mind one whit, jot, dot, or miniscule iota.

After the break: the full rocking review.

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Featured Game Reviews

We Review: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Let’s begin with a simple question, your answer will determine whether you will enjoy this game or not. What colour is Darth Vader’s lightsaber?

Is it…

  1. Blue
  2. Red
  3. Can we start hacking people up with it yet
  4. Meh… who cares

If you answered blue, you might be confused. Anakin Skywalker used a blue lightsaber and when he is turned to the dark side gives it up for a red saber, the colour favoured by Sith Lords. I knew I was going to have trouble liking this game about two minutes in when, in a stunning consistency error, a ‘memory segment’ shows Vader stabbing our hero with a… blue lightsaber. Shudder! How can a company that only works on Star Wars games commit such an obvious error? Well once you have played the game from start to finish you may have your answer. To my mind this game lacked polish, and whilst enjoyable it needed refinement. Maybe they rushed it out? Who knows, but let’s be honest this is a mediocre game. I’ll tell you why I think that, after the jump.

Star Wars The Force Unleashed II

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Featured Game Reviews

We Review: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Konami has been making Castlevania games for 24 years now. They have legions of fans and followers. I was not one of them, you see when all the cool kids were cracking whips and kicking vampire ass on their NESs and SNESs, I was relegated to the pitiful Sega Master System. Our other reviewer TyrannicalDuck is far more interested in the franchise but sadly he was taken ill with the flu when this review copy of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow arrived. So I thought I’d give it a bash seeing as I’m now a cool adult and possess a console that is able to run the game.

Being a newcomer to the franchise I have no preconceived notions of what a Castlevania game should be, and having chatted to TyrannicalDuck it seems people are wondering how this can be called a Castlevania game when there isn’t a hint of free-roaming nor does perpetual antagonist Dracula show up as the end-of-game boss. Another thing, it’s not canon – this reboot by relatively unknown developer, MercurySteam, has nothing to do with the rest of the franchise. OK, fine. Instead of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow we could call it Gabriel “Lesley” Belmont: Melancholy Monster Slayer but it still won’t change the fact that it’s an absolutely fantastic game. So now, you know my feeling about it right off the whip. If that’s all the affirmation you need then feel free to stop reading here and hunt down the game at the nearest shop, but if you want to hear more about the innards of this entertaining action adventure title, then my review continues after the jump.

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Featured Game Reviews

We Review: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Set 150 years from now, assuming 2160 AD, there was a colossal war on planet Earth. Combat mechs were designed to play out the war, but when it ended, nobody told them. Now these mechs ravage the lands, still following their century old instruction.

Our story starts you off as a prisoner on a Pyramid slaver ship. The hero then attempts to trail another prisoner who had a head-start on the escape and ends up being ejected off the ship with the aid of a escape pod (I say aid very lightly), to notice that the young woman has beaten him to it.

After the hard crash landing you wake up in a blur to find that she has equipped your forehead with an electronic crown of sorts. It turns out that it is a slave device, which commands you to the will of the slaver. She announces herself as Trip, a member of one of the larger tribes left on earth, who now wants to make her way home with our help. Not that we have a choice, because no one likes dying from an aneurism.

The hero, Monkey (Voiced by Andy “Gollum” Serkis), is a wanderer who travels the land for food and fuel, is now bound to Trip. Equipped with a plasma staff he has to battle his way through impossible battles with mechs of all proportions. The staff also doubles as a rifle of sorts where he is able to target and shoot enemies from a distance.

The +1, Trip (Voiced by Lindsay Shaw), is a computer wizard who helps Monkey through the adventure in every aspect. Be it with scanning environments, combat assistance, or just generally not getting involved.

Enslaved1

Alright it is time now to get into the “nitty gritty” of things. The adventure continues after the jump.

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Game Reviews

We Review: Shrek Forever After The Game

The life of a game reviewer can be difficult. Sure, it may SOUND like fun and games, but it often means putting aside games I want to play for games that I’m required to play in order to review. Shrek Forever After is one of those games. In extreme cases, I’d much rather use the game disk as blunt razor and slit my wrists than play the game all the way to the end.

If you can forgive the blood-spattered typing, I’ll just get this review underway then. I promise I won’t waste your time as much as playing this game will.

Ready? 3…2…1…jump!

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Game Reviews

We Review: Singularity

2009 proved a mediocre year for Raven Software who produced X-men Origins: Wolverine and Wolfenstein. They’re back, but this time with a wholly original IP and an altogether different enemy. It’s not the dastardly Germans out to ruin the world, rather the other equally hated nation of Russia. In the 1950s, the mysterious island of Katorga-12 experienced a devastating event known as the “Singularity” and now in 2010, the ever-meddling U.S. government has noticed strange radiation signatures emanating from the island. Players assume the role of Captain Nathaniel Renko, a crack black-ops soldier sent in to investigate the situation. You find out the place was a research station where Cold War scientists were experimenting with E99, a powerful but terrifyingly unstable element only found on the island. It even has the ability to alter time itself, and that plays a major part of the story where strange events result in Captain Renko being sent back and forth in time, his actions in the past have massive consequences in the present. Renko needs to battle soldiers and all manner of mutated life forms to fix what is broken. It’s hardly an original concept and this is further experienced when you explore Katorga-12. Even though it’s themed fit the USSR theme complete with the Cyrillic Иs and Яs and dodgy accents, the moody environments and certain game mechanics share an uncanny familiarity with Bioshock, which is not necessarily a bad thing…

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Featured Game Reviews

We Review: Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls is, at a very bare-bones level, an epic fantasy RPG with a tongue twister in its name. That description is also about as apt as calling the Internet a “series of tubes”: you’re missing a lot of subtle nuances, nuisances, and other wonderful, shaggy things that begin with the letter “n”. Calling Demon’s Souls “very difficult” doesn’t quite describe the game aptly, either. Nor does calling it “the hardest game you’ll likely play in a long while”. “Brutal”, perhaps. “Punishingly unforgiving”, almost certainly. But at no point is this game “unplayable”. Not by any stretch of the term. Either way, most gamers today are gutless pussies, and this game eats a bowlful of them every morning for breakfast. Without sugar. And with white-hot lava instead of milk. And it hates every mouthful of gutlessness, hoping for a gamer of some substance to come along and give it a chewy challenge for once. Someone that will make it spit you out in disgust because you’ve defied all its attempts to swallow you down and drown you with antacids. Is it you? Are you gamer enough? Will you rise to this challenge? Find out after the jump.