Tag Archives: xbox 360

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Review

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Life can be truly strange when you think about it; I mean if you had asked me anything about Warhammer years ago I would have probably recalled memories of having my tie ‘peanutted’ and being resigned to the geek crew in school. Playing this with a closetful of outcasts who shared similar experiences, arguing whether chess was better than Dungeons and Dragons – this was the age of what could only be called the ‘original tabletop RPGs’. Now here it is brought dynamically and almost eagerly up to date on the latest console hardware and many would fail to agree that in the trailers at least it looks good – real good. Turning this into a console game is bound to bring positives and negatives. Gone are the cards, the dice and the makeshift boards that take an hour to put together and bring to life, gone are the 100+ interpretations of different rules, but do the positives of late nights and hardcore action remain? That’s exactly what I wanted to find out.

Warhammer Space Marine, takes the transition from board game to a visceral brutal third-person shooter/beat ’em up that has blood, more blood and monsters which I will fondly refer to as ‘greenies’ which you will blow to bits – yes with more blood. Yes, no dice and scorecard needed here to tell you whether you are going to hit or miss, all you need is the R2 button, and hey in this environment you don’t even need a cover button because this game is geared towards consistent ‘lets take them on from all corners’ type game play that even ‘Team America’ would be proud of. So table-top RPG this is not, and world of Warcraft this is not, but what Warhammer removes, it replaces with action and above everything else it captures the spirit of the universe epitomised in the board game.

A fantastic opening sequence sets the pace nicely, looking like it could have been pulled from a summer blockbuster and it really looks amazing, but once you press the start button any delusions you may have had that you are playing a game with in-game graphics the quality of God of War quickly dissipate. That’s not saying the graphics are poor, they are just standard fare and to be honest at times – below standard.

The Ultramarines’ are gung-ho, nicely voiced and still wearing the same huge armour from their board game counterparts years ago. The storyline is hardly worth going over and is almost non-existent – ‘humans versus aliens’ is about right. Aliens aren’t nice and the good guys aren’t nice enough not to shoot anything that gets in the way of getting the job done.

Gameplay is pretty straightforward too; stepping into the boots of Captain Titus – a member of the ultramarine squad it is your job to basically kill the alien forces and that it is really. The action is a mix of third-person shooting and melee.  You have guns, you have chain-swords and later you have rocket packs; all which carve a path of destruction through the enemy hordes. You fight in trenches, on the alien’s machinery, and you basically work your way up through the food chain until you get to the big fry, which in this game are aptly called ‘the forces of Chaos’.

I would be lying if I said the action was not satisfying; you do get the feeling that you are up against the odds.  When you take down the enemy forces and emerge victorious, the feeling of success in the initial stages at least is solid. It is a shame then that the game falls into a repetitive pattern. When the big cheese of the enemy arrive – ‘the forces of Chaos’ – it’s almost too late as at that point you have been subjected to a multitude of sequences each feeling like the one before. There’s just too little to break up the pace. The boss fights are few and far between, with only the final boss fight offering something different.

Online Multiplayer should extend the game’s longevity and appeal but it doesn’t. I honestly think that the melee combat approach here isn’t too well suited for competitive online play. The ranged combat ‘lets get a bigger gun’ idea though, works just fine, as does the game class and goal objectives. Needless to say Warhammer doesn’t try to re-invent the wheel or bring anything new to the table when it comes to online play which, considering the sheer number of fans out there I would say is a total shame.

My Verdict

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is a fair attempt at crossing a genre and bringing a franchise to life. The result is a likeable title, but one that falls foul of repetitive play. When I think of all the other titles being released this week such as Resistance 3, Star Fox 64 3DS andDeadIslandI know which one I would rather spend my money on. But fans of the original and gamers that decide to take that plunge and splash out their pocket money on this one will find a solid third-person action/shooter at its core. Just don’t expect miracles. Smart gamers will wait for the price drop.

7.5 / 10

 

How does this game compare to others in its genre?

Equal to: Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

Better than: Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team

Worse than: Vanquish, Red Faction, Resistance 3, Resident Evil 5, Dead Space

 

Captain America – Super Soldier – Videogame Review

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When Captain America throws his mighty shield…erm…lets put a cap on that…

Another month, another super-hero movie tie-in; with a staple diet like this as a games reviewer I am starting to feel undernourished You get good games, you get great games you get crap games and then you get these. However I always try to be optimistic, Captain America is the big, big film of the summer; the one I most want to see and although trying to find a decent movie tie-in is almost as hard as trying to find a particular drop of water in the whole of the Irish Sea it does happen….occasionally. I live in faith.

 

From the start it is clear that Games Developer – Next Level – wanted to immediately set Captain America – Super Solider apart from the mediocrity of its counterparts; how I hear you ask? Well they…erm…‘borrowed’ some ideas from a small selection of winning franchises such as Arkham Asylum and Prince of Persia. Well, I say ‘borrowed’ but ‘stolen like sweets from a baby’ could equally be a fitting metaphor.  There is the solid and capable fighting engine, a similar mode to the Detective mode used in the Batman games and there is a fair bit of leaping and jumping around too. Chris Evans (no, not that one) provides both his voice and likeness to ‘Cap’, the game even plays in decent stereoscopic 3D but despite these credible assets Captain America is still left with just a few good things going for it.

 

The first disappointment for me was that although the game is based on the film world there is very little of the film in terms of content. Developers Next Level should be hitting themselves over the head with Captain America’s shield for this penalty kick as this is a huge missed opportunity; who wouldn’t want to be the young Steve Rogers? Heck, they could have even given you a training level based on his training as Captain America, but oddly they decided to leave this out and worse still, leave out Red Skull too –his sworn enemy – who only ever appears briefly in the whole of the game.

 

Equally disappointing is the fact that the whole game unfolds within the confines of a castle in the Bavarian mountains. Whilst on its own this is not totally a bad thing as it is a maze type complex with different routes and levels very much like Arkham Asylum, it is quite pithy and delivered with so much less finesse than its Batman counterpart. For example the game does not allow you to explore you surroundings; heck you cannot even jump over a table unless the game says so. So finding yourself stuck to predefined routes can and does get repetitive and boring.

 

Combat though is satisfying and solid.  It is not out of this world but a nice variation on the Arkham’s fight controls; as such it is easy to take on multiple enemies all at once and is all about timing of button presses to parry and deliver devastating blows. Each fight ends with smooth and sweet slow-motion finishers and you can even grab an enemy and use their weapon against more oncoming assailants. Captain America’s shield plays a big part of his fighting style too; deflecting bullets and of course you can throw it in a way similar to the way Batman throws his Batarang.

 

However, graphically the game suffers, although characters are detailed nothing really stood out at all to me at all, I think the programmers just stopped when they reached the point were it was all functional. Equally enemies and environments are blander than a Grey pot of Dulux emulsion and critically they are uninspiring. By the third boss I quickly stopped caring who was going to win as there was no sense of danger, no sense of urgency, instead, I felt like I was just going through the motions, which somewhat ironically I feel perhaps the programmers of this game were doing. Shame.

 

My Final Verdict –

Captain America has got some great ideas but far too many reasons mean it fall flat on its face. There is potential here and there are a few good button presses to be had, but there are just so many games out there which do the job better it is just not good enough.

 

It is becoming irritating to think that with so many crap movie tie-ins out there you would think that by now games developers wouldn’t even try to go down this route unless they had something solid or refreshing to bring to the table. It really is a shame because it’s doubtful there would even be a Captain America game unless there was a movie being released to cash in on. Yet the sad thing is I get the feeling that if the programmers were allowed to be a bit freer with their ideas and not rushed to meet the deadlines then this game could have been so much better.

 

Lets hope the movie is better than this.

5.6/ 10

 

How does this game compare to others in its genre?

There are a whole host of genres which Captain America could compete but unfortunately he wouldn’t stand a chance

Equal to: Marvel Super Hero Squad: Infinity Gauntlet, Green Lantern

Better than: Iron Man, Thor,

Worse than: Arkham Asylum, God of War, Castlevania – Lords of shadow, Bayonetta,

 

Green Lantern – Rise of the Manhunters: Game Review

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Hey, who turned out the light?

My first thoughts when I got this game were not overly positive. I mean, movie tie-in games tend to be pants and synonymous with rushed deadlines, repetitive game play and pointless plots that neither push the console’s hardware, or push the player on the end of the controller to anything other than utter suicide. And lets face it, there are enough useless games out there without the need to resort to such attempts that are no more than cash-ins on an audience looking to ‘vividly’ re-enact their favourite moments from a flick that will inevitably end up on DVD in a bargain basket somewhere.

Rise of the Manhunters tries desperately to reverse this trend. Gosh, it tries so, so hard. But try as it might, it never comes to the point where it is truly spectacular or ‘an essential purchase’.

Developed by Double Helix – the developers behind Front Mission Evolved, G.I Joe, (yes, I see you laughing at the back), Rise of the Manhunters takes place shortly after the events in the movie. Hal Jordan (voiced almost persuasively by Ryan Reynolds) is the Green Lantern and the story takes place at the centre of the universe on the Green Lantern homeworld, Oa.

For the uninitiated, the Green Lantern Corps is an ‘elite police force’ created by the ancient guardians of the universe in order to protect it from evil. Each Green Lantern carries a ring which can channel and manifest their willpower into any object or mechanism they can think of.

You play as Hal Jordan, the most recent Green Lantern recruit and immediately find yourself tasked with stopping the Manhunters – an ancient race who are sworn enemies of the Guardians – from stealing their powers.

It is sad to see that the plot line from the movie has been thrown out of the window along with any back story. Yes, well, we all knew the big bucks cash-in cow would make some sacrifices didn’t we? What we have here is no back story, no continuation from the film and no ending. So what DO we have?

Well, gameplay-wise, what we have is basically no more than a basic hack ‘n’ slash, button-basher in the majority of the green palette. Yes, you have to time your combos. Yes, you have button combinations. Yes, you get to use your green ring, and yes, you have upgrades, But inevitably, it is wave after wave of the same thing.

The developers failed to work more variety into the missions and as a result, far too many of your ‘duties’ end up as systematically taking down robots or shutting down teleportation gates, and shamefully, besides the odd palette change, the majority of your enemies look continually similar.

There are some nice set pieces though. For example, the boss battles are quite nice, as are the flying sections which really make good use of the 3D effect. You also have the ability to collect XP from your fallen enemies which you can use to upgrade your powers and construct new weapons such as a massive baseball bat to send enemy projectiles back at them, a huge buzzsaw that can give multiple hits on your enemies or even turn yourself into a massive jet in the flying sections.

Another thing that this title brings to the table is drop in, drop out co-op play. So if you have a friend, you can both partake in some ring-blasting action (pun intended). Although the game only supports it offline, I found it really good to see. So many developers go for online play, but nothing quite beats that ‘Streets of Rage’ feeling you get with a friend when you are taking on the best of what the enemy has to offer.

I found the controls and movement to be a little dated. There is no sprint option for instance and even worse, no camera control, so this means there are set angles of play with no way of rotating the camera to see behind you. You do have a dodge button and quick attacks, but the enemies tend to circle round you and if you are caught in a corner, you have no choice but to fight your way out or watch as your life force gets blasted away.

Although it is fair to say you won’t be blown away by the graphics, as mentioned before, the game features 3D visuals and it is pleasing to see that this applies to all formats – the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360’s 3D can be accessed in two forms, TriOviz Inficolor 3D – which is usable on any standard TV with the game’s included 3D glasses – and stereoscopic 3D for ‘proper’ 3DTVs. While the 3D effects are not as dramatic as say Black Ops, there is evidently more depth and some nice explosions too. This is something I think that more games should do.

Although I have slated the sheer expense of 3D in the past, the fact is the cost of them is dropping. More movies (including Green Lantern) are coming out in 3D, so they’re bound to be out by Christmas on 3D Blu-Ray. Therefore the only thing lacking is the number of games, which can really make or break the market.

To sum up: How does this game compare to others in its genre?

It is here that I feel a little bit sorry for Hal Jordan and his green ring…

Equal to: Marvel Super Hero Squad: Infinity Gauntlet, Thor.

Better than: Lego star wars the clone wars, Fantastic 4 – Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Worse than: God of War, Castlevania – Lords of shadow, Bayonetta.

My Final Verdict –

For a movie tie-in, Rise of the Manhunters doesn’t do as badly as expected, but is still not worth the money – even on a reduced price tag. There are just so many games out there which do the job better. Granted it is not bad – it is just not that good either.

5.5/ 10

 

Battle of the heavy hitters – Top new games of 2011 {Gaming}

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After the clichéd games of 2010 and the somewhat slap-dash approach by developers to get games out in time for Christmas, 2011 is (hopefully) going to bring some big games to consoles and PC’s.

In my erm, crystal ball, I shooters – loads of shooters, I foresee sequels – tons of sequels, I foresee games that will open up the Kinect and Move to new levels and I see re-hashes of older games being brought up to date by the new hardware and increased player involvement.

2011 will be the battle of Heavy Hitters, but which ones should you be getting excited about? Which are the ones you should be placing on pre-order? Let’s take a look.

1.Dead Space 2 (PS3/Xbox 360)
When? February 2011

Dead Space was widely recognised as one of the most scariest experiences to behold a console since the likes of Resident Evil and Fear. Already available for pre-order with numerous collectors’ editions, the sequel promises some truly scary moments and an updated Move compatible version of the Wii’s Dead Space: Extraction thrown into the bargain for free. Nice!

2.Batman – Arkham City (PS3/Xbox 360)
When? August – December 2011

The sequel to Arkham Asylum is coming. Rocksteady Studios have been very tight lipped about releasing any information about this upcoming title, although what I have seen is a snapshot here, a snapshot there and the occasional trailer. What they show is action, gorgeous graphics and a Joker truly gone insane – something tells me that this is going to be a game well worth waiting for.

3.Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (PS3/Xbox 360)
When? 15th February 2011

Yes indeed, the mother of all fighting games is coming. After over a decade of waiting, the biggest names from the Marvel Universe will clash head on with the combined might of Capcom’s best known characters. This title promises to deliver the best ever match up of legendary fighters in fighting history. Get ready for action, Valentine’s Day will never be the same again.

4.Gears of War 3 (Xbox 360)
When? December 2011

Hailed as a conclusion to the franchise, Gears of War 3 promises to bring as many ways as possible to kill things back into fashion. A four-player co-op and of course big and even bigger guns ensures that 360 owners have a reason to say ‘size matters’ and of course rejoice after the mourning of Halo Reach.

5.Grand Slam Tennis (PS3/Xbox 360)
When?: January – March 2011

This title was available for Wii since last year and now an updated version reworked for both the PlayStation Move and Xbox 360 Kinect is apparently in development. It remains to be seen if the Kinect control can consistently keep up with rapid movement and this just might be the game that proves its proficiency. If it does it could provide that reason to accidentally slap your granny by mistake.

6.Twisted Metal (PS3)
When? July – September 2011

A rehash of a classic PlayStation title; many remember Twisted Metal for combining hi-octane driving with insane combat action on the freeway. Good news is that Sony is bringing this to the PS3. Twisted Metal will focus heavily on multiplayer motoring tear-ups, with a rumored online play of up to 16 players or a four on one telly split-screen mode. Destruction should be on a truly epic scale – and rage late into the wee early hours – probably.

7.L.A. Noire (PS3/Xbox 360)
When? April – June 2011

Whenever Rockstar start creating a game console owners start getting excited. Billed as their next blockbuster and set in L.A in the 1940’s it’s an action adventure game that sees you behind the badge of Cole Phelps as he attempts to unravel a series of murders. I am not sure what to expect, could it be a sandbox game like Red Dead Redemption or a plot driven story like Grand Theft? One thing is for sure – Rockstar rarely fail to deliver.

8.Max Payne 3 (PC/PS3/Xbox 360)
When? Late 2011

After the crap, crap movie that had me demanding my money back. I am somewhat pleased that we are going to have a return of the game that started it all. Max Payne the police detective that brought matrix style gun-fights to the PC years ago is back – although this time he’s looks more like a mix of Mitch Pileggi and Bruce Willis. I have seen scenes where he is wielding a pair of Mac 10s and taking on enemies from all corners. Guess what? He still looks angry after all these years and guess what? I don’t think those painkillers he was taking in the first game have helped him one bit.

9.Mortal Kombat 9
When? Unknown (PC/Mac/PS3/Xbox 360)

At first I was very dubious over this title, and then I saw the game play. MK9 promises a return to the original style of Mortal Kombat and a welcome return of the original character list that we knew and loved make this well worth a look. Apparently there is a storyline which involves Rayden going back in time to the original Mortal Kombat tournament to right some wrong that changed history later on. Cue fatalities that will make your eyes water and those immortal words ‘Finish him!’

10.Portal 2
When? April 2011 (PC/Mac/PS3/Xbox 360)

I am really pleased that we will have a puzzler and a decent puzzler at that on the way. Portal was almost universally loved and brilliantly designed. So expect more of the same – creating portals that let you negotiate obstacles and overcome various puzzles. The sequel promises to bring a new co-operative two-player mode that allows two sets of portals to be created simultaneously. How this plays out remains to be seen – but let’s face it, it is bound to be interesting.