Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Release Date: March 14, 2013

Score: 8.0

Platforms: PS3

The Short: The typical God of War experience, with a few additions to mix it up, a weak story, and better than expected multiplayer.

God of War: Ascension acts as a prequel to the whole God of War series (even Chains of Olympus.) The game starts off as Kratos being imprisoned by the Furies; the ones that keep in line blood oaths to Gods. Kratos, of course, escapes, and we start the first epic battle of the game. The game then takes us back three weeks, and we start the journey that will eventually lead us to killing all three of the furies, so Kratos can break his oath with Ares.

The games story is very loosely told, and can be a bit patchy at times, and nowhere near as engaging as any of the stories in the other games. While the story isn’t exactly bad, you can tell that it didn’t really need to be added to the God of War lore.  During the game I never really felt this strong sense of urgency, or really know exactly why I needed to go where I was going, just that I needed to get there, so I could get to the furies, it felt like I was just trotting along a path until the end boss battle, where I had to face the furies. On the plus side, it did have a really awesome opening on the Primordials, as well as some pretty nice cutscenes.

Just like God of War III, the game is absolutely gorgeous, with the fixed-camera panning out to show epic landscapes and grand vistas, and seamlessly zooming back in on Kratos, ready for action. While there a few key differences in Ascension, anyone who has played any of the other God of War games will feel right at home. During the ten or so hour campaign you will be going through the typical tropes: epic combat, broken a part by puzzles and platforming, with a few boss battles. And there seems to be a lot more platforming in this game than any other. Not a lot of it is particularly hard or interesting platforming either, just scaling objects, or statues, or crumbling buildings; it doesn’t require much amount of skill. Nor are the puzzles, they are pretty infrequent, and none of them will have you scratching your head for too long, which can be seen as a good or a bad thing depending on whether you want hard and big puzzles, or to just get straight back into the action.

Although, Kratos does get some nifty abilities that add some spice to the puzzle solving, and other parts of the gameplay. First off, there is the Amulet of Oroborus, this allows Kratos to repair and decay objects in the environment, which makes the puzzles feel like something different from the rest of the blockpushing stuff that we otherwise see. There is also the Oath Stone of Orkus, which is pretty useful in combat, but also allows Kratos to create a stand-still double of himself to be used during puzzles.

When it comes to the action, the most notable thing is that Kratos now has a new grappling ability, which allows him to grapple onto enemies, complete finishing moves, and swing onto and around applicable objects in the environment. This grappling feature comes especially useful in combat with the smaller enemies, as you can grab them and throw them into other enemies. It’s nice to see some new features added, to mix it up from the previous games.

Kratos also now has only one weapon that remains constant: his trusted Blades of Chaos. But the way they mix this up is that Kratos quickly gains different elements for him to switch through: Ares’ Fire, Poseidon’s Ice, Zeus’ Electricity, and Hades’ purple ghost hand summoning thing.

As for the creatures, anyone who has played God of War 3, will have a strong sense of been-there-done-that, (that goes for a lot of the environments as well.) A lot of the same creatures, with the majority of the same finishes make a return, with only slight changes made. All though, just like Kratos’ weapons, a lot of the creatures in the game, have different variants for each of the elements, which mixes it up a bit. The new thing added here, is that some of the finishes for the bigger creatures are dynamic, meaning you have to tap square, then dodge easily predicted attacks during the finisher. While this does add a bit of flair to taking out an enemy, it doesn’t really add too much, and while you do get used to it, it sometimes is confusing knowing whether it’s going to be dynamic (and you should start tapping square) or just a quick time event.

The boss fights as well are very well put together and thought out, and require a certain amount of thinking to beat them. They don’t feel cheap, and you may die a couple times before you realise what you have to do. Too bad there aren’t that many of them, and while they are good, they don’t feel as epic as the ones you have faced in previous games

As always in these games, you still have the red orbs to collect to upgrade your weapons, and upgrading them coincides with upgrading your magic. Although, you don’t unlock magic for any of the other elements until their fifth upgrade, which means, the only magic you’ll be able to use is Ares’ until very late in the game, when you finally get enough magic to unlock the fifth upgrade. There are also the gorgon eyes, and phoenix feathers to collects, which will upgrade how much health/magic you have, although these aren’t especially challenging to find, and are usually located just outside the camera’s view, or in the opposite direction in which it is pointing you.

Kratos can also now pick up weapons in the environment, and use these during combat. Seeing as this a prequel, and Kratos is, understandably less enraged than the later games, (he actually saves someone at one point) the new ‘rage metre’ makes sense and fits in with the lore. For Kratos to unleash his super awesome rage powers, he must first fill up a bar in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. The trick here though, is that when enemies hit you this metre goes down, so this puts a lot more emphasis on dodging, so you fill your bar and unleash on your enemies. While this adds strategy and put emphasis on dodging it, sometimes, especially in tight corridors or elevators with a lot of enemies, becomes a bit of a dodge/blockfest, as you try to dodge/block the enemies attacks, get a hit in, and slowly fill up the bar so you can do some real damage.

As for the difficulty of the game, it’s probably overall the easiest in the series, and you won’t find many really challenging moments like in the other, nor will you be getting into enormous fights, like facing something along the lines of five gorgons at once, which does make sense, considering Kratos would be less powerful, but it does take away some of the epicness that can be found in the third game. My normal playthrough was relatively easy, except for one level near the end of the game – the Trials of Archimedes – which will infuriate even the most skilled players. For the whole game to not be too challening, to throw in a level that took me over two hours to beat, will throw off many gamers. Usually a challenge in a God of War game is exactly what I play the games for, this level is impossibly hard, and frustrating to get through, and completely out of balance compared to the difficulty of the rest of the game, and makes you wonder exactly what the developers were thinking.

Considering how casual most of my playthrough was, I would have recommended starting on hard, if you’re looking for that real God of War challenge. Although, I can’t do that due to this one level, as, unfortunately, there is no way to change the difficulty of your playthrough, which is odd, as it is in all the other games. So if the game became too difficult for you, which there is a huge potential that it might in the last hour or so of the game, you won’t be able to change it to an easier difficulty without starting the whole game again.

And then there’s the competitive and cooperative multiplayer, which is actually surprisingly deep, and for someone who was sceptical of it, actually better than I thought it would be. The game plays sort of as a 3D fighter, where you can focus on each of the four elements, and upgrade your character, giving him new armour, weapons, better defence, attack, magic, the usual stuff. The thing here though, is the combat is actually quite deep, more so than the actual single player, which means that it requires a certain amount of skill and practice to become skilful at it; being a master at the campaign isn’t going to guarantee your success here. There are different modes, like Capture the Flag, domination, straight up arena battles; with the more objective orientated modes involving more interaction with the level and its environment. For new players, while it is deep, and will take a while to get a hold of, it is also helpful in how everything is also colour coded, showing when a player is invincible, about to use a strong attack, etc. The multiplayer, while not perfect, it does have a few camera and level design issues, is good enough not to be written off as something that was tacked on just for the sake of having multiplayer.

The new God of War game doesn’t revolutionise the God of War experience, but it does add a few things to mix it up. The story won’t make you feel Kratos’ rage and need for his actions like the other game, and will just keep you trotting along, until end game, where you realise this story didn’t really need to be added to the lore. The whole game isn’t as epic as God of War 3, which is understandable, but there also aren’t many new creatures to fight, which leaves a whole been there done that feeling. The multiplayer is surprisingly deep, and all though it won’t replace other multiplayer gems, its quite a bit of fun, that you can many hours out of, after you finish the campaign. If you’re a God of War fan, this is still a great game and you won’t be doing any wrong by picking it up, but don’t look for anything more than what you’re familiar with. For the others that aren’t too fanatic about the series, if God of War 3 didn’t win you over, this one definitely won’t.

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Release Date: March 7, 2013

Score: 4.0

Platform: PC, Mac

                                                                                   The short: SimCity could have been a good addition to the franchise but not enough content was added to outweigh the terrible bugs and business model.

SimCity has been the talk of the town recently, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons, so we’re here to clear through the battle-torn comments section and give you some actual information on Maxis’ latest city simulator. Most of the drama surrounding SimCity has been due to mechanics outside of the actual game, stuff to do with Origin, the always online DRM and server outages. Let’s list the mistakes. First, it wasn’t possible to pre-load the game before the minute of release. That led to Origin’s servers being overwhelmed in the hours after launch. When players did have the game installed and ready to play, they found the servers unable to cope with demand, being either down or sticking them in lengthy queues. And once they did finally connect, they were likely to be disconnected shortly thereafter, sometimes losing progress. EA scrambled to respond, adding more servers, reworking its infrastructure, and temporarily dropping some of the functionality used to justify the always-online requirement in the first place. At the time of writing, some features are still unavailable. The result is that people bought a game that didn’t work at all or didn’t work as advertised, and it’s tempting to write the game off here. Please don’t, because there are good reasons to drive into the heart of SimCity, both to discover sights worth seeing and to discover how deep its problems run.

So SimCity’s release was handled poorly, “That’s fine, it’s been released for some time now, how does the actual game run?” you might ask. We’ve waited to write this review to give you a review actually based on the game itself not just its management features. Not much has really changed on the surface, you start by building roads, zoning areas and dealing with complaints. The game runs smoothly when progressing from town into city, but as you start increasing the density of your town you will find a fatal flaw in the AI.

Unlike in SimCity 4, this time round the Sims don’t actual live in just one house. What they do when commuting to and from work, is to find the first empty house and stay there for the night. This means you get tens of thousands of people flooding into one house and then on to the next one no matter how bad the traffic is on that road, this results in massive congestion which you can’t solve meaning that your police and fire trucks can’t get to their destinations. Small oversights like these make it seem like Maxis didn’t spend enough time on the very basic mechanics.

It’s clear though that Maxis has attempted to focus on multiplayer and the connection of cities. This brings two changes to SimCity’s long game. The first is the specializations system. Each city can be focused on a single purpose. Cities that specialize in tourism can become a miniature Las Vegas, littered with casinos. A mining or drilling town built on a large supply of ore, coal or oil will deliver huge profits, but produce a similarly grand amount of pollution. There’s also trade, electronics, culture and education.

Each of these goals gives more structure to SimCity’s open play, with targets – make 800,000 Simoleons in oil profits in a day, say – gating access to buildings and upgrades. Thankfully, it never overwhelms the core sandbox. Specializations instead force you to make extreme decisions in crafting a city, and push you towards the kinds of infrastructure problems that are fun to try to solve.

The second change is the game’s shift from micro- to macro-management. Old games of SimCity used to begin with not just the placing of roads, but the careful construction of a network of sewer pipes, water pipes and power cables. Now your roads are more than just the backbone of your traffic system: everything automatically flows down them, at least as long as there’s the appropriate sewage treatment center or nuclear plant placed somewhere en route.

That means that you’ll spend less time making systems more efficient on this zoomed-in scale. Instead you’ll leap up to the region view. Cities in a region can be interdependent as never before; if your city’s low on power, you can buy it from another with a surplus. That city can, of course, be run by another player, which serves as one of the tenuous explanations for always-online functionality.

In reality, the system works much better without others. If you’re dependent on a friend’s city for power, and they lose interest in it, you might find it deleted and your metropolis in the dark. But on your own, you can find yourself hopping from one city to another in quick succession. You’ll build a city and realize it needs more tourists to visit its upmarket shops, and so switch to your neighboring town to place a train station to smooth the commute.

So we’ve established that some of the game’s new features are actually well thought out but the sheer number of bugs makes it very very frustrating to play this game, though you’ll be compelled to try to sort through these bugs, and find no answers. One bug prevented my Recycling Center from collecting anything in the city, so I spent the next few hours trying to decipher why. For all the information SimCity Support provided, it gave me no logical explanation, and a subsequent message board search offered no answers. The recycling started up months later (in Sims-time), and I still don’t truly know why.

All these deficiencies truly hold SimCity back, as do the simple absences. There are no terraforming tools, and it’s a slight disappointment that you can’t construct more elaborate highway roads and overpasses. Just as badly, a much-needed feature, “Cheetah Speed,” was removed from the game shortly after launch, preventing you from hyperaccelerating time and thus slowing the entire SimCity experience.

EA and Maxis both stated that these very easily fixed but the game has been released for some time now and many of these bugs are still hampering the experience of the users, which is a real shame because Simcity could have been a truly great addition to the SimCity franchise.

Bohemia Interactive has released anew Arma 3  trailer which provides a “sneak preview” . The Alpha test has gone live today, and you can pick it up on from Steam and the Bohemia store.

VentureBeat was issued a statement from PETA on the matter, which read:

“Whaling—that is, shooting whales with harpoons and leaving them to struggle for an hour or more before they die or are hacked apart while they are still alive—may seem like something out of the history books, but this bloody industry still goes on today in the face of international condemnation, and it’s disgraceful for any game to glorify it.

“PETA encourages video game companies to create games that celebrate animals—not games that promote hurting and killing them.”

The group has been using games as of late  in trying to get its message across, such as slamming Super Meat Boy, Cooking Mama.

What do make of the above?

Apparently Dead Space 3 allegedly failed to hit its proposed sales target, and saw EA executives meeting with Visceral Montreal to tell them the production had been terminated.

Dead Space 4 has not been canned, according to EA. Earlier today, rumoured surrounding the future of the series were questioned after a source from VideoGamer.

According to a tweet from Gamasutra, the rumour that the Dead Space franchise has been cancelled is “patently false.”

The tweet in full:

“Rumors about poor Dead Space 3 sales and an unannounced Dead Space 4 being cancelled are are “patently false,” EA tells us. Spread the word!”

Here’s the letter that THQ’s CEO and president sent to all employees:

To All THQ Employees:

We now have the answers we’ve been seeking through our financial restructuring and
Chapter 11 case. While much will be written, here are the facts of the bids and auction
that occurred t:

• Yesterday morning, we received a competing bid for the operating business,
  along with Clearlake’s offer, and numerous offers for separate assets.
• During an auction process that lasted over 22 hours, the final conclusion was
  that the separate-asset bids would net more than a single buyer for the majority
  of the company.
• Shortly, we will, present the results to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which must
  concur with our assessment.
• The proposed sales of multiple assets is as follows :
• Sega agreed to purchase Relic
• Koch Media agreed to purchase Volition and Metro
• Crytek agreed to purchase Homefront
• Take 2 agreed purchase Evolve and
• Ubisoft agreed to purchase Montreal and South Park

We expect these sales to close this week.

Some assets, including our publishing businesses and Vigil, along with some other
intellectual properties are not included in the sale agreements. They will remain part of
the Chapter 11 case. We will make every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible.

What this means for employees

We expect that most employees of the entities included in the sale will be offered
employment by the new owners. However, we cannot say what these owners may
intend, and there will likely be some positions that will not be needed under the
new ownership. You should receive notice this week or early next week if the new
owners intend to extend employment to you. Please note that the terms of your new
employment, including pay and benefits, may be different from the current terms of
your employment with THQ.

If you are an employee of an entity that is not included in the sale, we regret that
your position will end. A small number of our headquarters staff will continue to be
employed by THQ beyond January 25 to assist with the transition. THQ has sufficient
resources to pay these employees for work going forward, and we will be contacting
these employees immediately to ensure their continued employment during this
transition period. We are requesting the ability to offer certain severance pay to
minimize disruption for employees of non-included entities as they determine the next
steps in their careers.

We know you will have many questions about this news. We’ll be meeting tomorrow
when we return to talk through this announcement and to answer any questions you
have. You will receive a benefits fact sheet and FAQs with answers to some questions
that may be on your mind. Please review these materials closely.

A personal note

The work that you all have done as part of the THQ family is imaginative, creative,
artistic and highly valued by our loyal gamers. We are proud of what we have
accomplished despite today’s outcome.

It has been our privilege to work alongside the entire THQ team. While the company
will cease to exist, we are heartened that the majority of our studios and games will
continue under new ownership. We were hoping that the entire company would remain
intact, but we expect to hear good news from each of the separate entities that will be
operating as part of new organizations.

For those THQ employees who are part of entities that are not included in the sale, we
are confident that the talent you have displayed as part of THQ will be recognized as you
take the next steps in your career.

Thank you all for your dedication and for sharing your talent with the THQ team. We
wish you the best of luck and hope you will keep in touch.

Sincerely,

Brian Farrell
Chief Executive Officer

Jason Rubin
President

Purchases

• SEGA has bought Relic for $26 million (Company of Heroes 2, Warhammer series)
• Ubisoft has bought THQ Montreal development team including 1666 (IP) and Underdog (IP) for $2.5 million
• Take-Two Interactive has bought Evolve (IP) for $10.8 million
• Koch Media (Deep Silver) has bought Volition (studio responsible for Saints Row, Red Faction) and Saints Row (IP) for $22.3 million
• Crytek GmbH has bought Homefront (IP) for $544,218
• Koch Media (Deep Silver) has bought Metro (license) including 2033, 2034 for $5.8 million
• Ubisoft has bought South Park: The Stick of Truth (license) for $3.2 million

 

Publisher: EA  Games

Release Date: 1 November 2012

Score: 9.0

Platform: Xbox 360,Ps3,PC

The short: Need For Speed: Most Wanted is a great addition to the NFS series. Even though lack of direction and motivation hamper the games effect these seem to be the only major problems.

In 2010 British developer took the reigns of the famed Need For Speed series. This is their second shot at the famed racing series and once again they seemed to nail it. This time around they have clearly aimed for an arcade-y feel with very little story whatsoever and some very familiar gameplay. They’ve also added a very well thought out open world multiplayer where you can participate in competitions with friends. Another Criterion staple is the AutoLog networking system, possibly one of the best networking systems in a game, making playing against friends very natural. After the disappointment of need for speed the run, released earlier this year, criterion shines again bringing the series back to its nostalgic glory.

Contrary to recent NFS games, most wanted features no story whatsoever it doesn’t even feature a main character. You are a nameless, faceless character perpetually at the wheel of any car you come across in the ‘racers paradise’ of fair haven. You are tasked with taking down 10 most wanted members on your black list. You can achieve this goal in many different ways but all will result in you competing in a race against each member and then taking them down in any brutal many you can think of. First though you’ll need to bank your SP points to be ranked higher than these racers. SP can be acquired through almost any way you can think of, breaking bill boards, blasting through speed cameras, taking down a cop, winning races, driving on the wrong side of the road. Criterion doesn’t hold back with giving you rewards for your actions, they balance this by making all customisation limited to the car you unlocked it in. Meaning you need to compete in virtually the same race each time you want to try out a new car.

Criterion is determined to keep Need for Speed Most Wanted on the road. Races, cars, upgrades, objectives and multiplayer options can be accessed from the Easy Drive menu. A drop-down, Easy Drive sits in the right-hand corner and can be navigated via the D-pad. Negotiating Easy Drive is like texting while driving. I understand the practical appeal of accomplishing an inconsequential task while going somewhere faster than any land mammal ever has before, but it usually ends in a humiliating car wreck. In practice, I’d race against time to select a new vehicle mod from the Easy Drive menu before my Lamborghini careened into a parked car. To get players in fast cars quickly, Criterion hid nearly every unlockable vehicle throughout the open world of Fairhaven. Ranging from Ford trucks to McLaren sports cars, these are like Easter eggs — find them, and they’re yours. With the tap of the button, you can hop behind the wheel and drive away, abandoning your old ride to wither under the sun like some crummy locust shell. I couldn’t re-enter a car I’d left without warping to where I originally found it, even if it were sitting inches away.

The progression of car collecting is fast, at least at first. While searching out the last twenty-some vehicles, I caught myself slowly patrolling dark alleys and abandoned factories like a two-bit drug dealer. I admit that had its own charm Each car in the single-player mode is limited to a handful of specific races, which start when you arrive at a predetermined point somewhere in Fairhaven. You’ll need to do this at least once before you can select the quick start option for that race from Easy Drive. Too much of the first half of my game was spent cruising from one end of Fairhaven to the next. I hesitated to switch cars, knowing I’d warp to where I came from and would be forced to choose a different race altogether. I understand that Criterion would like players to see its beautiful fictional city, to learn its streets, but these restrictions conflict with the game’s moral of do what you want, where you want, when you want. Finally, I’ll say that the game does seem to gravitate more toward the multiplayer realm, in that it’s just far more entertaining if you’ve got a lot of Friends on your Autolog. That being said, playing solo is hardly a shallow experience, as there’s always plenty to do (even if it can feel a little repetitive) and there are tons of vehicles to try. The city’s top-notch design is another huge plus. Just make sure you’ve got at least a few buddies that will join the competition on the Autolog, because that creates a fully realized, fully fleshed-out game that continually rewards the player.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is fun. Normally, I try to be a bit more elaborate or verbose when it comes to summing up a big game. But I think first and foremost, “fun” was the order of the day when Criterion sat down to make this game. The user-friendly, extraordinarily streamlined presentation, slick technical elements, and emphasis on freedom is all conducive to that little yet all-important three-letter word: F-U-N. It can be a little frustrating due to the numerous and pesky cops, and some will find the lack of direction and motivation frustrating, but most will be more than willing to put up with all that and enjoy the ride that Most Wanted offers.

Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Release Date: November 6, 2012

Score: 9.0

Platform: Xbox 360

                                                                                   The short:  Halo 4 is not only a complete success, but a bar-raising triumph for the entire FPS genre, which is in dire need of some new, non-CoD material.

So, Halo 4. Let’s be honest here, we all knew it was coming. The halo trilogy was just too brilliant to not continue. So the renowned Xbox flagship is back – but does it live up to the glory of its predecessors?

One enormous concern we (and any other Halo fan boys out there) had was the handover from our beloved Bungie to the mysterious 343 Industries, who we feared wouldn’t be up to the challenge. However, this is anything but the case. 343 has revolutionized the Halo franchise, and made what we see as the greatest Halo game yet.

Any experienced gamer should know there’s nothing better than raging through a classic Halo mission in full-on, four player co-op; And in Halo 4, that epic Halo-goodness that we all know and love is back. With a new, both visually and emotionally stunning campaign, 343 Industries has brought back some of the best in previous Halo games – the small firefights  the glorious tank missions, and the “who can throw the most grenades in a small room” warfare.

In Halo 4 the campaign is focused not on the player (Master Chief) being a bad ass while burning through hordes of enemies – although that does happen – but rather onCortana, your AI companion who’s slowly but surely ‘thinking herself to death’. Ironically enough, Halo 4’s campaign is about Cortana’s humanity; as she falls into madness while you –the badass Master Chief – can’t do anything but watch.

As you’d expect, there’s still the UNSC’s classic weapons – the BR, sniper and (of course) the rocket launcher. This time around though, 343 has made some kickass additions to the Halo 4 arsenal, with the introduction of a whole new race’s worth or laser-firing-explosive-incinerating fun. The new Forerunner tech is heavily featured in Halo 4, with its users being the Prometheans; robotic AI that pretty much hate you.Looking back, it turns out that the Prometheans are the hardest faction we’ve come across yet in the Halo universe, as you face off against the wickedly intelligent Knights, all the while dodging fire from the speedy, wall-running crawlers, and having every attempt at defeating them thwarted by the Watcher units; if you manage to get around their shields or return-to-sender grenade tosses, they can even revive their Knights, giving you just that much harder of a time.

The Halo AI have always been known for their intelligence, and with the addition of the Prometheans, Halo 4 live up to the reputation. After playing the Halo 4 campaign on legendary (for four solid hours), I can tell you that nothing gets more annoying than the Knights teleporting where they please when you get close to killing them. They bring some ridiculous tactics into Halo 4, and made us bring a strategy into every firefight; or else we’d regret it.

One of Halo 4’s biggest successes is the array of weaponry it provides, and the complementary in which they work. In the campaign – and even the multiplayer – there is literally a gun for every situation. Almost every single gun has a useful application in Halo 4, and a complementary enemy which you’ll destroy if you choose your weapons right. Halo 4 emphasizes more than ever the need to conserve ammo, as unlike previous Halos, you’re practically fighting by yourself the entire time. So, favorite weapon you ask? Well it just has to be the Scattershot. I mean, it’s a glowing, floating shotgun that bounces off walls. What more could you want?

Now, the segment I know you all want to hear about: WHAT’S THE MULTIPLAYER LIKE?!? Well, let me tell you this; if you liked Halo, and you liked CoD, you’ll almost definitely be hooked to the Halo 4 multiplayer. With additions such as customisable load-outs, with revamped Amour Abilities and even a perk or two, 343 aims to create a more player-chosen play style, as you can choose not only your weapon, but your grenades, armor abilities and a fair few other sections that I haven’t unlocked yet. Yet this isn’t all that’s changed in the multiplayer scheme that many of us used to love. They’ve added in ‘Ordinance Drops’ which are a mix between a kill-streak and a care package, and made the action in general faster-paced and more attractive in general.

As you progress through the ranks of the Halo 4 multiplayer masses, you unlock new armor for your particular Spartan, changing both your in and out of game appearances. Although this is modeled from Halo: Reach, which was a bit of a let-down in our eyes, it seems 343 has got it right this time around. There’s some kickass armor to unlock, as well as certain weapons that we all want to use (*cough Promethean cough*).

So, why not give it a 10/10 you ask? Well, there are a few minor points that prevent this beast of a game from achieving perfection. Firstly, there’s the campaign. Although it’s awesome, stunning and emotionally gripping, I found the campaign was rather short for a Halo game and left me feeling a little bit left out. Also, I tend to find the co-op experience isn’t quite as good as Halo 3, because although it’s so perfectly designed, it just lacks that epicness that Halo 3 had, for instance in one of the many Scarab battles that blew up like all-hell-breaking-loose when you finally managed to beat it.

The only other thing I’d have to complain about – which is rather minor – is the ‘Spartan Ops’ add-. Although a super-interesting idea, the missions provided so far lack the richness that I was looking for as an avid Halo fan boy. They also just seemed to lack the replay-ability that Firefight (the previous equivalent of this) had, as there seems to be no method of scoring, and hence no reason to replay. Overall though, I think it’s an awesome idea that may very well surprise me in future once all the episodes are released.

On the brighter side, the in-game graphics are absolutely stunning. It’s safe to say that 343 Industries was literally given the ‘blank check’ on this one, because in my opinion, Halo 4’s graphics are the best on an FPS to date. The CG found in cut scenes is unreal – equal to that of box-office movies – and 343 has really nailed any and all lighting and shading, with some unforgettable scenery.

Overall, Halo 4 is not only a complete success, but a bar-raising triumph for the entire FPS genre, which is in dire need of some new, non-CoD material. An absolutely must-buy for any Halo fan, and should be bought by any FPS gamer alike. With stunning graphics, a twisting and challenging campaign, new weapons and a brilliantly balanced multiplayer, Halo 4 may just become the be the best game of 2012.

“Hardy is currently one of the biggest talents in the film industry, and he has a phenomenal ability to take on complex and varied roles with his broad range of acting skill,” Ubisoft said of the signing.

“His involvement in the Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell movie is exciting news for movie and video game fans alike.”

The publisher also confirmed the involvement of scriptwriter Eric Warren Singer, best known for The International, but also responsible for upcoming David O. Russell  effort American Bullshit.

“Singer is one of the most talented writers of the moment, and we’re confident he’ll bring a fresh approach and create a thrilling story while still respecting all the codes and traditions of the franchise that are so important to fans,” Ubisoft said.

The project was last heard about in  June, when Paramount was said to be in talks with Ubisoft; Warner is also on the cards, and Variety reports  Ubisoft is yet to seal the deal.

According to a line of code included with Mojang’s post on Monday, 1,000 codes for 0x10c would be handed out, and all it took to decipher the code was the Reddit collective.

The line of code, “69I960EHE0A4A0IVG0EHE02500R4R0G1T30PLJ00V6V0EHE0V1U01V10U5U0VGV0V4R” translated into binary, pointed to a URL on 0x10c’s website where users could download a .7Z zip file.

Using the password “MONTAUK” which is the codename for 0x10c, users were able to extract a text file with 1,000 codes for 0x10c.

Here’s what the file read, exactly:

“HELLO; 1000 CODES FOR 0×10^C WHICH WILL EVETUALLY BE RELEASED; PLEASE SHARE THESE WITH THE COMMUNITY; TO REDEEM A CODE GO TO ACCOUNT.MOJANG.COM; WE LOVE YOU”

All codes have been claimed.

However, the issues aren’t limited to the just the PS3 version, as Xbox 360 and PC users are also reporting freezing.

“We are aware of connectivity issues that some players are facing in Black Ops II on PlayStation 3. We are working on resolution, thank you,” Activision tweeted, per CVG.

The firm suggests any PC users experiencing freezing issues should make sure their drivers are updated.

Publisher: EA  Games

Release Date: October 25, 2012

Score: 3.0

Platform: Xbox 360,Ps3,PC

The short: While the multiplayer is particularly fun to play  with a friend, the single player really lacks creativity and originality.

Medal of Honor is a franchise most often associated with WW2 shooters, as of 2010 EA aimed to change that by giving the series a modern reboot. Across the board Medal of Honor didn’t fare that well in the market but it showed real promise and some set-pieces were done very well, so does War fighter build upon its predecessor’s foundations? No it doesn’t after all the marketing put into this game I expected a real horrors of war type story line similar to Spec Ops: the line or even in some cases it’s earlier title. Yet within the first 5 minutes you’ve caused countless “Hollywood” explosions and had a crane fall on your head, having a crane fall on you seems pretty shocking but once you realise you can freely walk through what appears to be solid steel it loses its wow factor. Instead of showing some really twisted realities of war, War fighter attempts to inject realism into itself with cheap shock value set pieces like seeing a man be burnt alive in front of you.

One of the big changes made to this year’s game is the switch to DICE’s beloved Frostbite 2 engine. While there are some visually impressive set pieces, it’s odd that most of the game manages to look worse than its predecessor. For all its faults, at least Battlefield 3 offered a visual spectacle – something Danger Close cannot offer with their game.

Falling short of the standards set by Call of Duty, Battlefield, and the previous Medal of Honor game give little reason to recommend War fighter. But even judged in a vacuum, War fighter is still a flawed experience. While many games in the genre are linear, War fighter forces you to play in such a specific way that it might as well be considered on-rails. For example, one level based on a real-world scenario forces you to play in such a precise manner that it might have been better served as a QTE. Other levels have infinite enemy spawns should you not kill specific enemies first. Frustratingly, you will get randomly killed should you try to deviate from the path you’re supposed to take.

While many of the levels devolve into simple shooting galleries, there are times where War fighter surprises, showing off the game are potential. An early sniping mission is rather satisfying, as you have to account for the drag on the bullet. It’s one of the few moments in the game where Medal of Honor’s supposed realism actually comes across.

Similarly gimmicky are road chases which were apparently coded by members of the Need For Speed team but which never deliver the same verve and punch that their racer did, indeed, so scripted are these sequences that they might as well be on rails as you trail or sneak (yes, really) your truck through village streets. If you dare be logical about the mission because as soon as you lose sight of the enemy going down a one way street with only one turn off the game assumes you’ve lost him and drains your timer down rapidly. What can be said for the driving missions as well as the game as a whole is that it really could’ve been great but it wasn’t really thought out properly and attempted to please all the market when clearly realistic shooters serve a completely demographic to the Michael Bay-esque Call of Duty Games.

War fighter also brings along a surprisingly innovative multiplayer feature very different to any other shooter. Something that games like Call of Duty and Battlefield fail to achieve is proper teamwork in its multiplayer components, even in a game mode like team death match it really is just free-for-all with half the amount of enemies. War fighter aims to change that by splitting you into fire-teams, similar to Battlefield’s squads, which reward you for proper teamwork. I was in a Death match when I was paired with a rather good sniper, for majority of the match I was guarding the stares and picking off anyone that came close to our lookout post which did make me feel like I was freeloading his experience but after a post-game chat we decided that it was a great combo. A great example of something that war-fighter really excels at, it understands that it’s impossible to have teamwork in such large groups so it splits you into smaller ones were you can communicate and actually plan out a strategy, something rarely found in modern shooters.

As such, there’s hardly anything good to be said for Medal of Honor: Warfighter bar its somewhat innovative multiplayer mechanics. It’s derivative, bland and utterly insipid, and even when it’s trying not to be those things, the results are uniformly poor. From a technical and mechanical perspective, Medal of Honor: Warfighter is damp, familiar squib; in terms of its fiction, it’s rather boring.

Borderlands 2

The card ran Borderlands 2 ; the killer NVidia physics option somewhat slaughtered the frame rate down to around 10-15 FPS but looked amazing although apart from that and some slow to load texture it did a fantastic job at displaying the many beautiful landscapes Borderlands 2 offers.

Just Cause 2

Even though Just Cause 2 is a rather old game being released in 2010 but it can be rather taxing on even the best of systems. Once again it provided consistent gameplay with fairly solid frames. Like with some higher end cards there was some drops during cut-scenes.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Well known for its beautiful landscapes, Skyrim is best viewed on a fancy and expensive graphics card. Yet for the 550′s cheap price it did a stellar job running Skyrim even with enhanced textures installed and some increased graphical mods which really brought out the magic of the game.

FIFA 13

The favorite of many among us, thankfully the game runs smoothly with no frame drops effecting your skills to beat the keeper. It looks as crisp as ever and outshines the console version. There was no noticeable framedrop at any time which is a good thing.

Now comes the important part the cooling and I am glad to say that the Aluminum Extrusion modules (Triangle Cool) heatsink does a fantastic job.  For each game the temperature was as follows:

Borderlands 2: 35-37

Just Cause 2: 28-31

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: 29-32

FIFA 13: 33-37

Overall the Gigabyte GTX650 is a great budget card that will fit in great with any system. While it may not be as powerful as others cards its superior cooling makes it much better then anything else in its class.

The Asus card supports a Direct CU II thermal design which utilizes direct contact with copper heat pipes so heat is dissipated efficiently, 2 gigabytes of GDDR5 on-board memory and Digi+ VRM has been applied via a design that uses voltage regulators to minimize noise and enhance efficiency. A 1137MHz core for smoother game play and a GPU Tweak to modify and tune clock speeds, voltages and fans.

MSI aims to match the reference product released by NVidia by automatically adjusting the voltage of the GPU, memory and PLL to utilize the full potential of the graphics card. It’s “Twin Frozr IV fan design” creating an environment 14°C and 17 db quieter than the reference. Quality assured parts are tested to Class 3 requirements and the utility system supports advanced fan speed control, real-time video capturing and OC test function to test the card. The card clocks in at 1019 MHz core (Boost clock: 1097MHz)

All the tests were conducted at 1920×1080, 4x Anti-Aliasing, Default ‘Ultra’ settings.₁

Borderlands 2

Both cards ran Borderlands very well; the infamous NVidia physics option somewhat killed the frame rate down to around 20-30 FPS but apart from that and some slow to load textures both cards did a fantastic job at displaying the many beautiful landscapes Borderlands offers.

Just Cause 2

Even though Just Cause 2 is a rather old game being released in 2010 but it can be rather taxing on even the best of systems. Once again both cards ran the game well with only a few frame rate drops on the Asus card, some graphical errors occurred during the games cut scenes but that may be a fault of the game and not the cards.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Well known for its beautiful landscapes, Skyrim is best viewed on a fancy and expensive graphics card. Yet for the 660ti’s cheap price both cards did a stellar job running Skyrim even with enhanced textures installed and some increased graphical mods which really brought out the magic of the game.

So even after our 3 test games splitting a hair would be easier than seeing a distinctive winner, although after we did some temperature tests it showed the MSI has done a great job implementing the Frozr fan design and increasing the efficiency of the card. This made the MSI card run quieter and cooler than ASUS due to the raw fact that it was doing less work.

So after quite a close race I would definitely choose the MSI just because of its more efficient way of processing. Even though ASUS has a higher clock speed which means it will play new and upcoming games for longer than the MSI will, the MSI cooling system is something I really appreciate. Plus with the ASUS coming in at $370 compared to MSI coming in at a nice $350 it is a really nice extra incentive to pick up the MSI card, beware though this may not last as long as the ASUS card will.

₁ All three games where tested on an Intel i5 3570k processor, 8gb of RAM, 2tb WD caviar green hard-drive on 64-bit windows 7, powered by a Corsair AX650 power supply.

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: August 18, 2012

Score: 5.0

Platform: 3DS

The short: While New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a great game, and gets the 2D gameplay spot-on, the game isn’t really anything new for Mario fans.

To be honest, it was only a matter of time before Nintendo churned out another New Super Mario Bros. game. New Super Mario Bros. 2 is the series’ first appearance on Nintendo’s latest and greatest handheld, and Mario’s second title on the 3DS overall (if you don’t count Mario Kart, of course). Does this newcomer offer anything different to previous entries in the series? Or is it just more of the same?

Pretty nice, right?

Let’s start with the packaging. In traditional Nintendo style, the box itself has been nicely designed to show off the fact that THIS IS A NEW MARIO GAME. Like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the box itself has been recoloured, going from the standard grey-white to a bright, eye-catching colour that’s clearly designed to stand out on shelves. It’s a clever idea, and this year we’ve got a bright yellow-orange hue that actually looks surprisingly nice. Open it up and you’ll see some coins peeking out at you from the squares cut out of the packaging. If you’re like me and you like to keep the cases for every one of your games, this definitely won’t disappoint.

That brings me to one final thing. This is one of the first games on the 3DS to sport the new Nintendo Network branding, which is basically an exciting way of saying that you can do stuff on the internet… just like every 0ther 3DS game. As a Nintendo fanboy, I’m excited about the possibilities of Nintendo’s new online system, but unfortunately we haven’t seen anything exciting on the handheld just yet. Maybe with the Wii U things could change, but right now, don’t go in expecting anything exciting.

On the topic of THE INTERNET, when you first boot up the game you’ll be greeted with a loading screen (a first for a handheld Mario game?) and an update on the global coin total. Yes, if you haven’t heard, this year’s gimmick is COINS. The aim of the game – apart from beating every single level – is to collect 1 million coins. According to the back of the box: “Every single coin counts!” And yes, Nintendo are feeling super generous this year. They’ve scattered levels with an abundance of coins, fountains of them appear out of nowhere with the push of a switch, hidden rooms are full of them and new power-ups allow you to generate cash just by doing simple actions (like running). The powerups in particular are a fun addition, but don’t feel incredibly innovative.

Coins? For me?

As a gimmick, it’s not the most inspired. Even the Amish know that coins have been a hallmark of Mario games since 1985. In fact, I’m surprised they haven’t done something like this earlier. And sure, it’s pretty fun to run through levels collecting coins like a madman. With coins spewing from every possible orifice, it’s hard not to try and grab them all. But after a while, it gets a little… old. Like any gimmick, it wears off. And while I haven’t collected a million coins just yet, I’ve googled and let me tell you – the reward isn’t exactly worth it.

YAY MORE COINS

That’s not to say it’s not a great Mario game. Because it is. The controls are perfect, and as usual, the levels are superb. But why wouldn’t it be? Nintendo have some of the best level designers in the world, and they’re not going to fix what isn’t broken. The soundtrack is classic Mario, and while I know that’s the point, it would have been cool to see a bit of creative flair in the soundtrack. I’m not complaining. The tracks are still insanely catchy and you WILL find yourself humming along.

Similarly, the graphics are really nice, but nothing overly special. They’re just a notch below the visuals of New Super Mario Bros. Wii – partly due to the lack of anti-aliasing on the 3DS – but they certainly don’t have the beauty or wow-factor of Super Mario 3D Land. On the topic of 3D, the game makes use of it. Not for anything really beneficial though. The extra dimension in 3D Land helped to judge the distance of jumps and objects in 3D space, but here it simply adds a bit of visual flair. Overall, the game looks pretty great, no complaints. They don’t match Mario’s previous outing on the 3DS, but that set the bar pretty damn high.

The graphics do look pretty great. The jaggedy edges aren’t so bad on the 3DS

Co-op play is pretty great, but unlike the masterful Wii edition, you can only play with one friend – who ALSO has to own the game. No Download Play here folks. Also, there’s a pretty major flaw – the camera centers on the player in control. Unlike the Wii version, which zooms out to accomodate everyone, New Super Mario Bros. 2 requires the second player to keep up at all times, resulting in a LOT of frustration if you accidentally move too far forward. There’s no reason for this. Both players have a screen. Just put two icons on the course map to represent each player and let them go at their own pace. Co-op is a cool addition but it doesn’t add a whole lot of fun to the game. It’s just a nice side-show. I will say that New Super Mario Bros. Wii is one of the best co-op experiences I’ve had on any platform, but the 3DS’s version can’t match the fun and insanity of 4 people in the same room vying for a single fire flower.

Of course, player 2 gets to play as Luigi

This title also makes use of the 3DS’s unique StreetPass abilites, allowing you to unwittingly challenge friends and strangers through the sharing of high-scores. Along with the global coin count, the game does a pretty cool job of establishing a community between players. But the lack of online play (except for DLC) is a bit disappointing. While I didn’t consider this a drawback for 3D Land, including co-op in here without the ability to play online is a bit saddening.

Overall, if you’re looking for a solid platformer and a great, traditional 2D Mario game, you won’t be disappointed. New Super Mario Bros. 2 gets the classic gameplay right, and those looking for a challenge won’t be disappointed. But it’s not flawless. The coin gimmick is just that – a gimmick. Honestly, the game doesn’t offer anything different to previous entries in the series. There’s no innovation or excitement like many have come to expect from Mario games. In in my personal opinion, Super Mario 3D Land was a much stronger game. If you’re looking for the best Mario experience on the 3DS, that’s it. But if you’re looking for a challenge, prefer 2D platformers or you’ve never played the original New Super Mario Bros. or the Wii edition, go for it. This is a great game with a LOT of replay value. But it’s certainly not perfect.

Publisher: Codemasters

Release Date: 20 September ,2012

Score: 8.0

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

It’s back, in its third annual rendition Codemasters F1 2012 improves on the solid foundation left by its predecessors. This year’s game boasts new handling model, weather engine and game modes. While it build on the previous games, unlike other annual sports franchises F1 2012 tries to do things differently and evolve on the gameplay and features available to the player. This is headed by the fact that F1 as a sport itself is constantly evolving, compared to soccer which only has roster changes.

The first big change that people will notice is the new menu screen and hub page for the game, gone is the old trailer and paddock view and in is the sleek and sexy formula one car’s that we all love. The new menu screen shows these cars in all their shiny glory upon a podium where they rightly belong. The menu system has also been refined into: Quick Race, Career (Young Driver Test, Season Challenge, Career) Proving Grounds (Time Attack, Time Trial) and Multiplayer . The menu system is very slick and easy to navigate and there are a good set of options available to the player , with fully customisable  controls and in-game display. Along with the revamped menu screen F1 2012 also boasts a new and improved graphics style. The car look a lot crisper this year and the tracks look significantly better with the detail of the environments being greatly improved. The animation quality has had a little tweak. However now when you go for a pit stop you come get presented with a montage of different angles before being released back into the pIt lane, unfortunately the cut between the last action scene and the release is quite poor and makes the whole sequence seem quite disjointed and out-of-place, you also experience a behind the car vision when you are wheeled back into the garage during practice or qualifying.

A significant factor to any racing game is the AI. I am pleased to say that F1 2012 does a lot right in this area. There are a wide range of different difficulties available and they do a good job of challenging you but also overlap a bit so you don’t find yourself completely out of water when you up the intensity. To complement these difficulty settings codemasters also offer a wide range of assists, from braking assist to racing line the game covers it all. This years game also adds a manual sequential gearbox with suggested gears for each corner, this is a good way to learn how to use the manual gearbox and provides yet again another solid bridge for newcomers to cross over to gain the full experience. Last years game saw the addition of the safety car although the only way it was ever brought out was when the player made it happen. Unfortunately it is the same again, AI seem not to want to make contact and cause some memorable moments and bring out that fabled car. This is a real disappointment and makes races quite mundane as little can just become about getting around the track and not about utilizing race events to your advantage. Just like last year Parc Ferme cut scenes at the end of qualifying and the race have been kept from last year and are a nice feature. With rules and regulations set on realistic you need to be very careful not to go wide at any corner or risk being slammed with a penalty, this goes for collision penalty to. This becomes an issue as when a car may clip the back of you there is no feedback on the controller making it very difficult to know when you have crossed across the front of another car.

The most important improvement in this years game is the handling, which sees a major overhaul this year. Car’s feel like they have a lot less grip down the straights but more when you corner, this take a while to get used to if you have sunk hours in to the previous games. When you do master this new model the game just feels great. Even when you have think you have mastered you will still find yourself spinning if you take too much curb into a corner of get on the accelerator to quickly. Along with the handling updates tire simulation has been improved greatly, each tyre now wears independently and also gain temperature independently. This means that locking up is more likely into corners but also that you need to be more careful as you don’t want to waste a whole set of tyres because you ruined only one tyre. To combat this year you can change your break bias, to either front, neutral or rear. This allows you to obviously focus your breaking momentum into either end of the car allowing for better tyre preservation. It also effects how the car handles into and out of the corner, forward means you will grip more into the corner but there is a greater chance you will lose the back of the car accelerating out of the corner. Overall the game feels a lot tighter and looks to have made the handling more realistic, but it is a bit hard to know since I have never driven a F1 car before.

The majority of the time you will spend in the career mode. This year sees the introduction of the Young Drivers Test, this is a tutorial that breaks down all the systems and control of the game into little parts. Across two sessions drivers will learn all the systems within the game from KERS to how to corner properly. The first day comprises of basic and at the end of it you are able to join the lower echelon teams such as Caterham or HRT. The second day focus on more complex systems such as the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) and the Drag Reduction System (DRS) and at the end of it you head onto the Abu Dubai circuit, at the end of the second day you unlock teams such as Torro Rosso. This is a great addition to the game, as one of my criticism of the previous games was the entry barrier this lessens this significantly which is always a good thing. When you get into the actual career  you will see a menu in style with the general game. Much like last year you have your emails from various people. You also have the ability to look at different track guides for the season ahead and see when key events such as new parts and ‘diamond’ races’ are. These track guides are narrated video’s by Sky Sports commentator Ant Davidson showing you the best way to conquer each of the circuits, these are great for veterans and rookies alike. Unfortunately this year press conferences have been dropped from the game, while they played no key role in the previous ones they were a nice feature none the less. During the race weekend you have three options for the length, full, short (three sessions), short (one session). These equate to a practise session and a full qualifying session, a full qualifying session, or just one qualifying session and of course the race. People who are familiar with the series will notice that there is no option for three practise sessions, there has been significant backlash from the community about this but personally I love it. Three sessions was always a little too much for me and you always ran out of things to do, so this is a brilliant move for me. Once in the garage you will notice that the monitor has been redesigned with a sleek new interface, the track diagram sows you cars currently out on track as well as their track position but sadly not an option to ride on board. Just like previous versions there is the ability for customs setups. A significant change this year is that you are not able to change your car setup between qualifying and the race which means you need to get it right as you are stuck with it.

This year also sees the addition of the Season Challenge, this allows you to play out 10 five lap races where you select a rival and if you beat them over the season you take their seat, this gives you something a little different if you don’t feel like running out the full career mode. We also see the introduction of the Champions Mode, this provides you with a set challenge against one of the six current world champions racing (Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettle and of course the legendary Michael Schumacher). These both come in three difficulties easy, medium and hard. In Champions Mode the objectives play at the strength’s of the respective champions such as Jenson’s wet weather skills or Michael’s passing and speed. This mode is a great addition as it highlights the strength of this years field and provides some great challenges for all drivers.

Yet again this year’s game has 16 person online multiplayer and co-op championship, unfortunately no one was online yet so we have not been able to test this, however it is important to note that on PC Codemasters have ditched Gamers For Windows Live in order for the more reliable and trusted Steam system. Codemasters have also implemented RaceNet into this year game, this provides time comparisons to your friends and  outlines your career, although it does not break it down into full telemetry it is a nice addition which is finished well.

Overall Codemasters have done a great job in moving forward the series. However I would still like to see more aggressive AI which in turn causes more safety car releases. But this years remodelling of the handling and graphics system make it a must own for any fan of the series and with the entry barrier also reduced due to the young drivers test anyone interested in motor racing should pick it up.

Publisher: EA

Release Date: August 30 ,2012

Score: 9.0

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3

Now I will admit I don’t know the technical details of NFL, however I do know sports games. I am pleased to say that Madden 13 is one of the best going around, from the inspirational intro video to the detail on the field this is one great all round game. This year has the standard updates of rosters and graphical improvements but also a host of new features.

As most years, gameplay mainly remains the same. Those who’ve played Madden’s past can gloss over this section. Although there have been some minor updates.  You choose on of  32 NFL teams, players control both the team’s offense and defense. As it’d be impossible to manage all eleven players at once, control shifts to whoever has the ball. Beginning as a quarterback, the ball can be handed off for a run or passed to a receiver. Receivers are marked with one of four face buttons. Simply hold down the corresponding button to throw the ball. If the pass is caught, control shifts to the receiver who must avoid defenders while running towards the goal line. There’s many variations at play such as pump fakes, audibles, spins and hurdles that also must be taken into account. It’s an easy to grasp, enjoyable formula that continues to serve the series well.

While the gameplay may be the similar, the engine that it runs in is certainly isn’t. Making its debut is “The Infinity Engine”, accounting for player attributes such as mass, speed and body type in every play. Therefore player interactions feel more realistic, such as a Quarterback throwing a wobbly ball after getting his arm grazed or receivers crashing harder to the ground. One of most impressive features of the Infinity Engine is its ability to run calculations during impacts to determine how the player will react. With this balance system, players can now regain their footing to continue plays. Body types even factor into the equation; a large player may have a better chance avoiding falling versus a smaller player in the same play. This heightens the reality of the game and brings it significantly  closer to reality.

A new and very cool feature is receiver awareness. In previous entries, receivers could unrealistically catch balls as they were looking forward. The new system actually ghosts player icons until the receiver is ready for the catch. While the ball can be thrown to ill-prepaired players, the chance of completing a pass is significantly reduced. It’s a nice touch that adds another level of realism. One of the most impressive aspects of the engine is “Read and React Defensive AI”. In previous games, receivers who weren’t looking for the ball could blindly break up plays. Now, players can only respond to balls they have line of sight on. While this may not seem important, imagine the frustration that will be spared from seemingly impossible interceptions.

This year CBS’ commentators have been modelled within the game (to a scary resemblance) besides being just they eye candy they provide great commentary, offering relevant observations throughout snaps. While the commentary can never perfectly reflect in-game action, the 9,000 unique lines certainly don’t hurt. Recorded with 24 tracks, the crowd sounds booms and fills surround speakers. The biggest downside audio-wise is the omission of EA Trax. For many years, Madden games offered a slew of tracks from licensed artists. Madden 13 nixes the feature in favor of an original score. Unfortunately, the score is boring and often times derivative, with one track sounding way too close to the Jurassic Park theme. Granted, Madden 12 didn’t have the best song selection, but losing EA Trax sees Madden 13 losing some of its relevance. The game just doesn’t feel as current without them.

Publisher: NCsoft

Release Date: August 28 ,2012

Score: 8.5

Platforms: PC

Guild Wars 2 -a highly anticipated game amongst the MMORPG community- was released just recently, and my god does it rock! Packed with innovative content such as Dynamic Events, a new-and-improved crafting system, an awesome World Vs World multilayer format, and some of the greatest MMORPG graphics to date, it immediately distinguishes itself from the entire MMO genre, which is in dire need of innovation. Although new to the genre myself, I must say I was completely encapsulated within the enormous world of Tyria.

Regardless of the player’s skill level -complete beginner (myself) or even seasoned MMO veterans – ArenaNet has something special to offer in its latest creation. Guild Wars 2 offers a distinct experience by providing an active, constantly difficult gaming experience, due to its immerse combat and gargantuous size. ArenaNet moves away from the ‘mainstream’ combat system of auto-attacking and occasionally using skills, by becoming entirely skill reliant – using the numbers 1 to 5 as ‘Weapon Skills’, and 6-0 as ‘Slot Skills’, which are completely customizable to your play style. Fighting your way through hordes of mobs is an incredible experience in GW2, relying on well timed evades, dodges, skills and perhaps most importantly team work, in order to survive. Being an MMO, there are always other player out there looking to team up, and team work becomes an important mechanic throughout one of the largest factors that makes this new beast-of-a-game shine: Dynamic Events.

The concept of the Dynamic event system that ArenaNet has introduced has been one of the largest reasons for GW2′s ridiculous amount of anticipation, and works such that random ‘events’ (sort of like mini-quests) appear in specific areas, depending on the amount of players that are around the area. The greatest part of this is the sheer difficulty these Dynamic Events impose, which forces you to work through these events as a team in order to complete them. What I found to be the most rewarding part of this Dynamic Events system was that not only did it give you a community experience, it was simply fun! What better way to grind and power level is there? Apart from these dynamic instances, the main objectives of the game, at least in the first 30 levels (as far as I’ve gotten), is to complete the ‘storyline’ of the game.

Speaking of storyline, ArenaNet introduces a new spin on story lines in the MMORPG spectrum, taking a leaf from offline RPGs – such as the Mass Effect trilogy, Fallout 3, Skyrim, etc – and letting the player make in-game decisions that influence the storyline to come. Even from the very beginning in character creation, there are choices to be made that dramatically change your personal storyline. While I and a couple of friends have experienced minor glitches and screw ups in the storyline quests specifically, you can rest assured that these are only minor issues that will be resolved after patching, as after all the game has just been released, and problems are still being found in games like WoW even to this day.

Of course, as GW2 is a form of RPG, there just HAS to be customizable skills and stats, and so ArenaNet provides these necessities in the form of ‘Skill Slots’ which are interchangeable skills that are occasionally race-reliant, and through ‘Traits’ which are a mix of raw stats and passives.Not only this, but the GW2 combat system is made even more customizable, with each class being able to wield multiple different types of weapons, and -except for the Elementalist class- all of th skills change depending on what weapon your a currently wielding. Not only this, but there is dual wielding, which allows further customization of which skills you want from which weapons, and you can also swap weapons during a fight, essentially giving you 2 skill bars and a whole bunch of possible play styles. What more could you ask for?

I must admit, there is one thing that really surprised me in GW2 – probably because of my n00biness – and that was underwater combat. One interesting night of Guild Wars 2 brought me to a section where I had to cross and ocean for a quest, and to my dismay I believed I would just have to swim across, having not discovered any way points on the other side. However, I was so very wrong about only swimming! After jumping in, I quickly realized that not only was I underwater, but I had a new weapon, new skills, new movement mechanics, and most importantly: new enemies! Going underwater in GW2 is like moving into a whole other realm: although your character and class are the same (and the themes of your class are also the same, i.e mesmers still use clones), you enter a whole new form of combat, collection and questing. Even though this may seem like a minor change to those more experienced in the MMO field, I found it incredibly enjoyable, to the point where I rather water-combat, as it’s easier to crowd-control your opponent with the three dimensional space the marine environment provides.

As a beginner myself, one small thing I found difficult that anyone interested in purchasing GW2 should be aware of is that it isn’t just a game that you can jump into and be great at it, and because of this can seem a little frustrating and boring in the beginning. It takes time to work your way into the world of Tyria, however rest assured it gets madly addictive once you have.

Finally, the PvP system. GW2 has integrated multiple forms of PvP combat, however by far the most stand-out PvP is the World Vs World system, which essentially allows a 3-way war between different servers, regardless of race. Just think about it: hundreds of players laying siege to each others worlds, destroying each other and running wild within the game. Sounds pretty awesome, right?

Regardless, AranaNet have really outdone themselves with Guid Wars 2, there really isn’t anything I would have rather review than this for my first review. It’s simply brilliant. From the challenging combat and Dynamic events, even to the range of innovative PvP systems and personalized story lines, there is hardly room for improvement in what I would call the funnest (and maybe first…) MMORPG I’ve played to date. The only thing I would complain about is the sheer size of the game, and how overwhelming it can be to new players such as myself, however once you get over the ‘noob’ barrier, this turns into a positive, as there is a never-ending supply of fun to be had in this game.

First off the various features introduced on Sandy Bridge CPUs, such as the Core i7-2600K and Core i5-2500K, a year ago are still in force this time around. These include three proprietary “Smart” technologies: Smart Response, which ups performance by caching frequently used data to an SSD; Smart Connect, which automatically updates email, apps, and social networking data even when the computer is asleep; and Rapid Start, which decreases boot times. (The last two of these will be particularly useful for owners of Ivy Bridge–based Ultrabooks.) 

Let’s have a closer look at what makes the Intel Core i7 3770K tick. As it happens, it very much is a Tick rather than a Tock in Intel’s Tick-Tock chip development regime. That means it’s a die shrink rather than an all-new architecture. In other words, it’s the opposite of the existing Sandy Bridge chips such as the Core i7 2700K. The 2700K remained a 32nm chip but got an all new design. The new Intel Core i7 3770K, at least in terms of the CPU side of things, is largely the same design, but based on 22nm technology. If we’re honest, we’re pretty bummed out that the use of 22nm technology hasn’t allowed for more cores or a higher clockspeed. After all, Intel’s first desktop quad-core processor appeared six years ago. And here we are in 2012, stuck on four cores for mainstream PCs. So much for Intel’s promises of a massively multi-core future. That said, there’s grounds for hoping the Intel Core i7 3770K could be a bit of an overclocking beast. For starts, you’d have thought lower power leakage from the 22nm 3D Tri-gate transistors would help this chip hit higher clocks than ever before. What’s more, this is a K Series chip, so the multiplier is unlocked and now goes as high as 63. in theory, that allows for clockspeeds up to 6.3GHz. Intel has also added support for dynamic frequency adjustment from the Windows desktop. That’s handy, both for making overclocking easier and for allowing you to set clockspeeds based on application type. As for the graphics side, even with a third more execution units and a few other tweaks, real gamers will still want to plug in a proper graphics card. In truth, the new HD Graphics 4000 core is more of interest for laptop PCs that rely on integrated graphics.

Although the Intel Core i7 3770K uses less power, some would consider that the 3770K has an issue with temperatures. Since the launch of the third generation Intel Core i7 ‘Ivy Bridge’ processors, it has been discovered that Intel opted to use a thermal paste to transfer heat to the integrated heat spreader. The previous generation Intel Core i7 ‘Sandy Bridge’ processors used a little bit different technique to transfer the heat. The ‘Sandy Bridge’ core and the heat spreader were soldered together which is a much more effective means to transfer the heat. Which is an interesting change but we’ll see how it compares later on, We are going to take a look at how far we can push our Intel Core i7 3770K processor on air cooling today. We will be using a Noctua NH-D14 , which is no slouch when it comes to cooling to try and keep this beast cool under a heavy load!

It run’s at an average temperature of 28 C but under heavy processing can peak up around 60+ C. This is all before you begin overclocking when my system began overclocking it began running at around 38-40 C and temperatures of in excess of 70 C when under extreme process. However it has never caused my system to blue screen and those temperatures are never really sustained for an extended period of time. If you want to overclock this processor, you do need need a decent cooler to prevent any damage.

It’s hard to imagine any desktop PC user ever needing more performance than the new Intel Core i7 3770K serves up. On a per-core level, there isn’t a faster processor available. And with four cores and eight threads, there’s multi-threaded performance to burn. The new HD Graphics 4000 core is a big step forward, too. Although As far as CPU performance, Ivy Bridge represents something of a stalling. This is still a very fast CPU. It’s just not much quicker than the processor it replaces. It’s also not dramatically more power efficient and doesn’t overclock any better. Graphics aside, it’s not a significant step forward. The Intel Core i7 3770K ‘Ivy Bridge’ processor may require a bit more cooling than we previously needed on the Intel ‘Sandy Bridge’ product stack. Though the 3770K is still a great processor that easily pushes past 4.5Ghz and with a little tweaking 4.7GHz-4.8GHz is quite achievable!

“Five years ago we set out to develop a game that finally fulfilled the promise of online worlds,” said Mike O’Brien, president and co-founder of ArenaNet. “We questioned everything that had previously been taken for granted and we never settled for ‘good enough.’ Now, we’re finally ready to introduce Guild Wars 2 to gamers who are looking for the next evolution in online gaming.”

Guild Wars 2 offers players

• Dynamic Events: Guild Wars 2 is a living, breathing world where events occur naturally and in response to players’ actions. This system fosters cooperation between players—everyone who participates is rewarded, and players begin to naturally cooperate instead of compete.
• Personal Stories: Your deeply customized personal story begins when you first create your character, then twists and turns with each fateful decision you make.
• Action-Oriented Combat: Guild Wars 2 is an action game at heart. Survival in combat is based on timing, skill, and movement. Well-timed dodges or combo attacks are integral to any battle.Guild Wars 2 rethinks the outdated class restrictions of other games, giving players the tools and skills they need to play with friends regardless of their class.
• Player vs. Player and World vs. World: Competitive multiplayer in Guild Wars 2 consists of two exciting modes. PvP serves up intense small-unit combat that focuses on skill and strategy, not gear. WvW pits entire servers of players against each other in a two-week-long war on a series of huge maps.

“Guild Wars 2 is launching at a time when players are looking for something different in an MMO: a game that offers them an innovative and unique experience without a monthly subscription,” said O’Brien. “Guild Wars 2 is that game, and we believe it will fundamentally change the way people think about online RPGs.” Check back for the review soon,

I Am Alive follows an everyman’s journey to find his wife and daughter, who were lost during the “Event.” A year later, he finds Haventon, his hometown, in shambles. Buildings are destroyed, toxic ash fills the streets and society has been torn, causing inhabitants to take all necessary actions to survive.

In I Am Alive, players will be challenged by both the environment and the enemies. Stamina and resource management are key when being exposed to deadly atmospheres and scaling enormous buildings in search of supplies. The unique combat system requires players to utilise intimidation – cowards are easily swayed with an empty gun, while other enemies will put players to the test.

Also available on the XBLA and the PSN the game has been enhanced for PC, players will appreciate playing in higher resolutions and graphics sharper than ever, furthermore two new modes have been added. The “Easy” mode which will allow infinite retries and a smoother introduction to I Am Alive, and the “Replay” mode which as the name suggests will permit players to start any level again to uncover more secrets and hidden objects.

I Am Alive will be available for $17.95 on Ubishop, Steam and other digital retailers.

Players can already pre-order the game, by doing so they will get the Ubisoft game Bloody Good Time for free. For more information on this offer please visit:http://shop.ubi.com/IAmAlive

Uplay, Ubisoft’s online services and distribution platform, now has more than 35 million members and is available across Ubisoft games and across platforms. Uplay PC replaces individual game launchers and lets gamers access all their Uplay-enabled PC games and Uplay services in the same place. Uplay PC also includes new features, including an integrated shop, the direct purchase and download of games, a friends list and chat system that add value to PC players’ experience.

To encourage players to download and try Uplay PC, Ubisoft is making PC versions of Driver: San Francisco, From Dust, Silent Hunte 5 and Tom Clancy’sH.A.W.X. 2 available for AUD$1 for a limited time. Other popular titles — including Anno 2070, Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Might & Magic: Heroes VI,  Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction – are discounted up to 75%, also for a limited time.

“Uplay PC is a great way for customers to discover Ubisoft’s games, connect with their friends and gaming communities, and win achievements and content that’s not available anywhere else.” said Stephanie Perotti, Worldwide Director for Online Games, Ubisoft. “For PC gamers that are already fans of Ubisoft’s titles or have been considering trying some of our classics, this promotion is a great deal, and our way of saying thank you for their support.”

You can find out more information here: http://uplay.ubi.com/en-GB/about/pc

Uplay PC and more information on the promotion can be found at www.ubishop.com.

The card main attraction is the HDMI support, the card as two HDMI ports in and out. It also boasts a 3.5mm connection to allow you to connect any external audio devices that you may have. In the box it also includes a DVI adaptor if you wish to use something like a Wii. Setting up capturing is extremely easy you just run from the HDMI port of your console to the HDMI in on the card, then HDMI out to your monitor. In the box also comes the Hot Button which eliminates any need to click anything to record, just make sure you have the recording software open to start with. The software has to be one of the most important thing in all capture cards on the market to make it successful. After going into this with an open mind, AverMedia’s RECentral is hands down one of the best software bundled in for game capture. The RECentral was designed for game capture with ease ensuring that it has all types of gamers covered from beginner to experienced. If you’re that person who does not have a clue about video rendering, types and settings – RECentral has a beginners option for one click capture without the hassles. Experienced? Well in the advance mode, you can tinker with bitrate/audio settings to get your optimal choice of capture. It is a program fully dedicated to recording and streaming, not playing media, which is exactly what we wanted. Another option in the RECentral software is the ability to live stream directly to a Twitch TV account. This is done from the software by entering your Twitch TV login details. With the integrated Twitch TV support, AverMedia again bypasses the annoyance of setting up a live stream – for someone impatient like me, this was a great feature. However when we did start streaming we found it to be extremely laggy and jump around, however this could be due to our internet connection. With the looming release of XSplit 1.1 which features hardware streaming support, we hope that this will be removed. Even if it is not it gives the opportunity to create transition screens.

For testing, we had the Live Gamer HD setup to record at 1080p running at 30fps – which is the maximum setting the card can handle. With the in-built H.264 encoder on the card, capturing at Full HD used barely any extra resources from the computer – great if you’re running a budget or older machine. In our first impressions video we have some footage captured  with the Live Gamer HD – for optimal viewing press 1080p quality or 720p if your internet is not awesome.

Overall the card is almost flawless and it is now replaced any other solutions that may have previously existed. While it may be a bit pricey at $249 retail it is significantly cheaper then upgrading your computer to be able to run FRAPS or any other software recording options.

Now the Mass Effect 3 branded Chimaera 5.1 wireless headset is available and does not fail to disappoint. It offers a sleek and streamlined design which matches the BlackWidow we reviewed earlier this month perfectly, solid audio performance, works great on both PC and Xbox and very reasonable battery life. It follows the same design pattern as all of Razer ME3 line which really looks sublime.

The sound quality alone is reason enough to purchase this headset. With the Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound, it allows gamers to differentiate which direction your opponents are approaching, as well as allows the users to hear true game sound in full detail.

This headset also has several other benefits for the ease of use and adjustability. Both microphone and volume controllers are conveniently place on the opposite sides of the headsets allow the user complete control of their settings. Along with this, the Chimaera has two different mute functions; one is simply lifting the microphone up and the other is button on the right side of the headset. Another feature is the inclusion of a mode channel feature to switch between an X-box 360 and PC, making this headset universal at the touch of a button.

I’m totally impressed with the Razer Chimaera 5.1 as it does not have many speakers in each cup, yet can still produce highly accurate 5.1 surround sound. This goes to the wonderful Dolby Surround Sound technology used in the Chimaera 5.1. I was a bit sceptical at first as I treated it as a “virtual surround sound”. However, after using the headset for around two weeks straight (few hours gaming each night), I’m totally sold.

You can also set the equalizer to Standard, more Bass, or more Treble (through the base station). In “Bass mode”, the sound of action is heavier and as a result, the sound of gunfire and explosions are more powerful than ever. I did find that people’s voice tend to get a bit muffled so I switched between the Standard and Bass every now and then. You can also link up to four base stations so you can talk with your team mates on a local communication channel, lag-free.

Note: We were unable to test this feature but it has been used in several major gaming tournaments and all results have been positive.

The microphone boom is on the left side of the headset and unfortunately, non-retractable. To use it, simple pull it down and the microphone automatically turns itself on. Pull it up and the microphone mutes itself. It’s a pretty cool design as you don’t have to mute/un-mute your microphone manually (though you can, by pressing the mute button if you want to).

Overall, I’m totally impressed with Razer Chimaera 5.1. The sound is amazing and of high quality. The headset is also comfortable, thanks to the padding on the headband, lightweight design, and comfy over-sized ear cups. It weighs a little less than one pound has comfort foam under the headband and surrounding the earpieces which all help cancel external sounds. The Chimaera frame is very flexible, but still allows the headset to press firmly against the side of your head. The wireless features permits for the gamer to move around quiet freely for a range close to 10 meters from the tower and still be in range of quality game sound.

The Behringer X1222USB mixing console takes the 1222FX up a notch, providing all the same great features, plus Behringer’s 24-bit, dual-engine FX processor, with 16 editable, studio-grade presets including reverb, chorus, flanger, delay, pitch shifter and multi-effects. It can be used in either 4-mono XLR/4-stereo 1/4″, or 6-mono/2-stereo operation. User-definable parameters include reverb time and brilliance, delay room size and repetitions, modulation depth and speed, and much more. The audio mixer’s time-based functions can be addressed via a handy Tap button. The most recent parameter settings are always stored in memory. The Behringer USB mixer also features 4 studio-grade compressors with super-easy one-knob functionality and a control LED, so you can take your vocals and instruments to a professional level.

This mixer is great to use, I am able to record on my laptop with no latency using the inbuilt sound card. I now use the desk as the main recording source for any instrument with ease and combined with the inbuilt effects some very professional sounds can be easily achieved. Effectively your pc can be used without a sound card with this mixer as the sound can be redirected back via the USB return. I’ve had no experience using this in a live environment but there would be no problem especially with the built in graphic equalizer. The mixer is very well constructed and attractive with good quality connectors, knobs and faders. The main mix send has gold tipped male XLR connectors.

Overall this mixer is great for any new comer whether it is for recording instruments or just for voice recording this desk manages both with excellence. Most of our readers may not have thought about the importance of a desk like this but if you are at all interested about starting podcasting or other form of group recording this mixer can start you off on a great pedestal and will last you a very long time and continue to produce some great sounding recordings.

Valve said there are some “surprises and details,” in store later, but for now it “just wanted to confirm an often requested feature.”

“With the update going out at the same time, all of the mutations will be available at all times,” said the blog post. “This will allow players to choose to match into games playing Taannkk!, Gib Fest, or even a user created mutation like Confogl.”

More information will be released closer to launch.

watch video below.

Developer: Workbench Studios

Publisher: Sony Entertainment

Release Date: May 22, 2012

Score: 7.0

Platforms: PS3

The Short: Sorcery is a fun, but short Move game that is lacking the polish to make it truly great.

Sorcery was first shown at E3 2010, everyone was amazed at its potential, a visual update and 2 years later it has finally been released, but does it love up to the hype?

The game follows a mischievous young teenage apprentice named Finn who is eager to learn and use magic. Dash, a magician and his master, leaves to run some errands while leaving Finn to get up to his own devices. After stealing a wand and excelling his magical abilities beyond anything he’s used to, he and his feline friend Erline end up an adventure to stop the Nightmare Queen.

The story, while captivating enough to pull you through to the end, isn’t anything special. It is told in a way that is aimed at children. Which is fine, but there a quite a few corny lines and jokes, which anyone above the age of ten won’t find especially funny. Although with that said, not all the writing is bad, and the banter between Finn and Erline can be amusing, at times.

Finn and Erline are likeable enough, but Finn is stubborn, and besides relentless attempts by Erline to get him to turn around, he keeps pushing forward and getting into trouble, any reasonable person would see the awaiting danger and thus making you not really care about Finn or the outcome of his journey.

Sorcery’s environments, while can look good in certain sections, are mostly uninspired and bland. So are all of the enemies, even the main antagonist, aren’t impressive or original either, but look like they have been directly ripped out of a children’s fantasy picture book.

Story aside, the real selling point of Sorcery is its Move controls, how it feels like you’re more or less using an actual wand; if the Move controls weren’t any good, the game would be a total flop. Thankfully, they work well, for the most part, and it is just as easy to play the game standing up, looking like a professional magician, or just sitting down, and relaxing. By using a navigation controller in one hand, and the Move in the other, players can cast spells easily.  The Move controller acts as the wand, by literally flicking your wrist at the screen, like a real wand, Finn will send a bolt of magic flying at his enemies.

The Move controls are responsive and will accurately detect your actions, but it does have a margin of error. Early on in the game, I would have spent two minutes trying to curve my bolt to solve a puzzle, I don’t know what was wrong, but it just wouldn’t curve. And while the auto aim is good it can again, mis-register your moves, the game needed a better way to target enemies, for during the more hectic parts, no matter how hard you tried to aim and hit one enemy, it would constantly hit others. To add to this problem, the camera would swerve around trying to get a good view of the enemies.

The game aims to be immersive, for example, before taking each potion, you have to first shake the Move controller, then turn it upside down, to act as if you’re drinking it. Details like this, while doing this can be cumbersome in the midst of battle, are awesome and bring you into the game.

While the controls can be ‘iffy’ at times, it doesn’t ruin or break the game, and more importantly doesn’t leave you wishing you could approach the game using a standard Dualshock controller. A game like this can only be achieved through motion controlled gaming.

Finns basic spell is the Arkane bolt, you can either shoot it directly at enemies, or with a curve of the wrist, you can curve the bolt to hit enemies behind obstacles. It’s just too bad this curving mechanic isn’t needed too much throughout the game, as hardly any of your enemies will bother to take cover, instead a horde of them will pour onto the screen, and especially at the start, all that will be required of you is to button mash (flail the wand around) at the general directions of your enemies until they are dead. Among the basic spell you also have access to elemental spells and potions.

Once you get past the first couple of almost gruelling hours, Sorcery starts to really pick up, too bad the game ends way too quickly (an overall time of approximately 6 or so hours).

Once you acquire the games full set of spells -ground, fire, ice, wind- you can create amazing combinations with them all to take on your enemies in more creative ways, and keeps the combat from getting stale and keeps it fresh and fun throughout. E.g. By placing a line of fire on the ground, then casting a spell of wind, you can create a fire-tornado, combinations like these make the game a treat to play. Even though each enemy has a weakness/defence against certain types of spells, (a certain RPG aspect) there is an undeniable issue with balance with certain spells. For instance, I didn’t use the ground spell throughout pretty much the whole game, compared to other spells its utterly useless, and once you unlock Finns powerful lightning spell you likely won’t use much else.

Another RPG-like feature to the game is the Alchemy system, this is basically how you create potions. By collecting coins and treasures you can trade them into the alchemist for ingredients to make potions. By randomly mixing ingredients, using the Move controller, you can create potions. This whole system works sort of like a skill tree, whether you want more health, more mana, more powerful spells or many other abilities, theres likely to be a potion that can help. This is a great system, and while brewing these potions can become monotonous, the end result is well worth it.

The last aspect of the game is the puzzles, but sadly there isn’t much to say about them. The puzzles that are to be found throughout the game aren’t exactly hard or very engaging, at all. How you solve them is usually very clear and they feel more like a small bump in the road than a puzzle that will really get your brain working.

Sorcery is one of the best Playstation Move games out there, and makes proper use of the motion controller’s capabilities. It’s a short fun time that doesn’t push the boundaries in a technical aspect, but it also has quite a few problems and is lacking a certain amount of polish that could have truly made it shine. Considering how long the game has been in development it’s a shame the game only goes for about 6-8 hours, has virtually no replay value, is mostly very linear (besides from a few obviously placed treasures) and has problems to do with the combat. None-the-less this may be the game that gets a lot of owners to brush off their PS Move and finally be able to use it towards a good game since the peripherals initial release.

 Developer: LightBox Interactive & SantaMonica Studios

Publisher: Sony Entertainment

Release Date: May 10, 2012

Score: 8.0

Platforms: PS3

The Short: Starhawk has a forgettable campaign, but includes a robust Build-and-Battle mechanic which makes the multiplayer truly shine, and will keep you coming back for more.

Starhawk is a new Sci-fi Western third-person shooter PlayStation 3 exclusive, with a unique build-and-battle system.

Starhawk is set in the future, in the far reaches of space known as the New Frontier, where factions of humanity battle over the most valuable, yet very dangerous, resource known as Rift Energy. Colonies of Rift miners, called Rifters, have been harvesting the Rift Energy for profit. Threatening the Rifters are the Outcast, humans who have been mutated from excessive exposure to the Rift Energy. The Outcast now believe the Rift Energy is sacred and are devoted to protecting it at all costs.

As you acquire this energy, you can summon structures from space, including supply bunkers, sniper towers, land and vehicles, repair arms and much more, creating a dynamic battleground. This build-and-battle system is what sets Starhawk apart from its competitors.

The campaign, expectantly acts like a tutorial for the mechanics, slowly introducing new structures to summon and different strategies. However, don’t assume these mechanics make the game is horribly complicated, it is actually fairly simple, and relies on good action just as much as strategy.

The story in Starhawk, while having a concrete premise, is the game’s biggest let-down and never really takes off. The game’s story is told in between missions and switch between past and present slowly revealing more about the main protagonist. The cut-scenes are shown in a cartoon like style and are good enough for what they are trying to achieve.

Emmett Graves, a former rifter, is infected from the Rift Energy, but not to the point where it has fully taken over him, it gives him super-human strength to take on the jobs that no one else would be able to. He has been ostracized from society and therefore has returned to the world of Rift Energy as a hired gunslinger. The game quickly reveals that his brother is the leader of an Outcast group, devoted to stopping the humans from mining the Rift Energy. Due to the whole premise, I feel the game could have created an interesting dynamic between all the characters and factions, but instead it falls flat and portrays Emmett as the typical angry guy who doesn’t care about anyone.

There are ten missions to play over the 5-6 hour campaign, these missions aren’t that long, and require you to play through the whole mission at once, as leaving the game halfway through will result in losing all your progress for that mission- which can be annoying having to restart the whole mission, but due to the length of them, it’s forgivable.

Over the course of these missions you are taken to various places in the universe, focusing on various aspects of the game, allowing you to get to grips with everything. At the start it certainly does feel like a tutorial showing off the games mechanics, but the campaign truly shines as it progresses and you are given more structures to call down, and freedom to tackle the situation. This makes for some interesting fights, as you can’t just run into battle shooting everywhere, you need some sort of strategy, and more often than not you’ll have to change that strategy on the fly to see what works best against your enemies.

The down-side to this Build-and-Battle system, is that it makes all the environments very bare, don’t get me wrong, the environments are good-looking and detailed, it’s just there aren’t many structures, you have to place them, it makes it all feel quite bare. In fact when you are placing near structures, most of the time it’s obvious whether you’ll be able to place a structure, as there simply isn’t enough space, but other times it isn’t quite as obvious as to why you can’t place something somewhere. This problem isn’t a game breaker, but can still lead to losing precious time in a battle against your enemies.

Undoubtedly, Starhawk truly shines when you are playing online. Unfortunately the transition between campaign, multiplayer and co-op can be a little bit jarring. The campaign focuses a lot on the basic structures, and this gets the job done pretty easily in the campaign, but in the multiplayer it’s another story. Of course you need to tweak things to balance out the multiplayer and of course the multiplayer’s action is going to be faster, and the enemies are going to be tougher. Starhawk’s real disjoint is that common structures, like walls, turrets aren’t anywhere near as effective in multiplayer as they are in the campaign.

But once you get to grips with the differences between modes, Starhawk’s multiplayer can be a very fun, rewarding experience, especially when playing as a team. When 32 players all have the ability to call down structures, it creates an awesome organised sort of chaos, where each team is constantly changing their strategy.

Depending on the Rift Energy you have, you can tackle the battle in any way you see fit, want to drive a jeep and grab the flag? Want to bomb the enemies’ defences from the sky? You can do all this in the click of a button, it’s all very accessible.

Starhawk offers the standard multiplayer modes, but the fact that you can change the battlefield on the go adds an incredibly unique flair to how you play all these modes. Especially Capture the Flag, which becomes an intense tug-of-war with little pockets of people getting through you defences, and back and forth.

The multiplayer is an absolute thrill, and you feel a strong sense of triumph when your strategy works. Whether it’s implementing a deep strategy, or driving in to capture the flag and win the match, capturing a zone all by yourself, or smashing your pod into an enemy on your way down, it all feels incredibly rewarding.

And while Starhawk isn’t as customizable compared to other games, you can still unlock new paint jobs for vehicles, new clothes for your online character, and other singular in game multiplayer perks, like a decreased respawn time for example. However this isn’t a bad thing, Starhawk doesn’t require any fancy perks, its depth relies on the Build-and-Battle system and how you use it.

Besides the multiplayer Starhawk also boasts a co-op horde-esque mode. This is especially fun, because it truly turns into a defence game as your changing your strategy to cope against the waves of relentless enemies.

While Starhawk has a forgettable campaign, which basically feels like little more than an extended tutorial for the games mechanics. However, the underlying strategy of the game will keep you coming back to the multiplayer and co-op time and time again.

Luminous is planned as a next-gen tech to close the gap between real-time gameplay graphics and pre-rendered cinematics, but Square Enix also expects it to be scalable, capable of running on low-powered mobile devices as well as high-end consoles and PCs.

The Last of Us is expected exclusively on PlayStation 3 in early 2013. Watch the gameplay trailer below.

Beyond: Two Souls will tell the story of a life over 15 years, with a heavy focus on the afterlife. “Death is the biggest mystery of mankind. What happens next, no one knows,” Cage stated.

Beyond will be unlike anything you have ever experienced before,” according to Cage. “If you make the right decisions, maybe you will discover what lies beyond.”

Cage also confirmed that the game’s protagonist, Jodie Holmes, will be played by Ellen Page.

New gameplay footage below.

Nathan Drake and Big Daddy from bioshock will be joining the roster of playable characters.

Watch the new video below.

Watch the demo below.

No details on the story or timeline was given for its release as of yet, but Deep Silver’s promised more information on the sequel sometime this summer.

It takes place in the summer of 2003, where during a blackout in New York a disgusted employee unleashed a virus on the city.

Players can control an entire surveillance system in the game, and use the computer system as a weapon hack.

Watch the gamplay video  below.

Watch the video below.

The game takes place 15 years before the events of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad.

Watch the trailer video below.

The video showed the first new glimpse of gameplay since its VGAs unveil in December last year, with mentions of life post-Patriots and how cyborg technology has ramped up since the end of MGS4.

An extended version of the trailer ran after GTTV during the Konami pre-E3 presser. The extended version is below.

The game is a collaboration between Kojima Productions and Platinum Games. It’s coming to PS3 and Xbox 360.

The video gives a look at what the first DLC will add to the RPG, including new features teased at a DICE talk given by game director Todd Howard in February.

Dawnguard launches this summer as a 30-day exclusive first on Xbox Live for 1600 MS points. It’ll come to PS3 and PC soon after.

Watch trailer below.

In Europe, it’ll be known as Ratchet & Clank: QForce. It’ll release here on Blu-ray and on PSN, the game will heading back to its classic 3D perspective instead of the fresh take it took with last year’s All 4 One.

“We’ve returned to the series’ classic feel, camera, controls and weapons, while innovating and giving you a whole new way to play,” said Insomniac CEO Ted Price.

“Even better, the addition of online features means you can experience Full Frontal Assault with your friends, so stay tuned! We’re really excited about this game, and we hope even these small tidbits about it get you excited too.”

The game launches this autumn.

Bohemia’s also released a Q&A on the tech, noting as an example that it was “working on fine-tuning the multiplayer situation, where, for example, one side might be considerably affected by attacking/defending against the Sun.”

Arma III is expected to launch later this year. Watch the video below.

Developed by Eurocom Interactive, the team behind Goldeneye, 007: Legends and Dead Space: Extraction, the kinect title will span across all eight Harry Potter movies.

There’s a number of Kinect features mentioned in the announcement Press Release including the ability to scan your face into the game to create a unique witch or wizard to accompany the gang and spell-slinging using hand gestures and voice commands.

“Harry Potter for Kinect will engage Harry Potter fans old and new by bringing them into the wizarding world as truly active participants,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President of Production and Development at Warner Interactive. “Kids and parents will enjoy recreating their favourite Harry Potter adventures, from flying a broomstick in a Quidditch match, to battling pixies and duelling other wizards.”

The game promises to let players experience some of the most memorable moments from the films playing as both as the core Harry Potter cast and as their own custom designed characters. That includes getting a wand from Ollivanders, getting put into a house by the sorting hat and, obviously, battling Lord Voldermort. Check out the video below.

video below of  mounted combat in action below.

An 8-megapixel camera and flash are encased in a brushed chrome oval on the back, while the 2-megapixel front-facing camera resides in the top left corner on the front side. Up top is the headphone jack. Along the left side is the volume control and along the right, the power button. We wish the volume buttons and power buttons weren’t directly across from each other. We frequently found ourselves accidentally adjusting the volume when we went to turn off the screen.

The screen is the Galaxy’ s greatest asset, the resolution comes it at 800×480. Games look crisp and vivid, moves flow beautifully and youtube videos when, youtube work look great. The speakers have a nice kick to them but when you get some deep bass the distort easily. e Galaxy S II includes Samsung’s keyboard and Swype. While Samsung’s was serviceable, we preferred Swype’s prediction options. Samsung’s keyboard options also include a handwriting box in portrait mode. Though we tried, the software couldn’t accurately decipher more than three letters of our finger-tracing at a time.

The Galaxy S II comes with Android 2.3.6, the latest version of the slightly stale Gingerbread, with Samsung’s TouchWiz overlay. TouchWiz gives you seven home screens that seamlessly cycle, meaning you’ll never reach a point where you can’t scroll any further to the left or right. This is nice feature that means no more pesky back and forths.

There are widgets for quick information, including weather forecasts and frequently used settings, but what we really like is the instant availability of toggle settings in the notification menu for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, silent mode and auto rotation. The latest updates for apps and emails present instantly on this dropdown menu. When in a call it integrates beautifully, with the option to hang up calls or even place them on hold.

The Google Play store, has a wide variety of apps mirroring that of apple’s App Store. The SII comes with a micro SD for expandable memory a nice feature that is not present,on other competitor  devices. The apps run smoothly and are easily updated and easily downloaded. It has various  categories ranging form finance to fitness. Like always there is a good range of free apps, but also some rubbish ones.

The battery life is a little worse then we would have like but it provides adequate power to get through the day, just make sure you charge it at night. We got it to last around 5hours for web browsing and a little bit shorter around 4 for application use. If you charge it at night however I suggest you leave it on the carpet floor as it vibrates quite loudly when you reach 100% battery. It’s standby time is around 48hours from our measurements.

The camera is amazing, the quality is unprecedented. Just like everything else the colours look vivid and the outside shorts are sharp .Capable of recording as high as 1080p, videos shot with the phone were also sharp with deep color saturation. We noticed that the tapered edges of the phone caused us to tighten our grip slightly, which resulted in a touch of shakiness in the video.

Overall the Samsung Galaxy SII is one of the best phones on the market. Its crisp and vivid display shines, along with the slim design. The variety of apps provides great flexibility, for all your needs. The battery could last a bit longer but that applies to all mobile phones. If your fortunate enough to get one, its a definite keeper.

Publisher:  Microsoft  Studios

Release Date: April 18, 2012

Score: 9.5

Platforms: Xbox 360

The Short: Trials is back again, with the core formula remaining

 Evolution is well worth the points

As someone who has had no prior experience with the Trials franchise, I didn’t expect anything huge since it was only an XBLA title and most have failed to meet what the hype set up. Yet I was completely taken back by Trials Evolution, it had more content than several retail releases and was definitely more enjoyable. From what I’ve seen of Trails HD, evolution has similar aesthetics but brings a massive setting change to the franchise. Trials HD was mostly set in abandoned warehouses but within the first 3 levels you’ve gone from a D-Day landing track to a baseball field. The track editor only adds the possibility for even more ridiculous maps. The Skill Games by themselves are really enough to warrant the 1200 MS Points, they bring an arcade aspect to the rarely monotonous single player campaign.

The fundamental core that was established in Trials HD appears to have been untouched. Your two trigger buttons are still gas and brake. The left analog stick handles the leans. The trick is to always feather the intentionally over-sensitive controls, gradually manipulating the bike into doing what you want it to. Push too hard in either direction, and you’ll crash. Apply too much gas or brake too quickly, and you’ll crash. Land at anything other than the correct angle… and yes, you will indeed crash. In truth there’s very little in the game that you can do to avoid crashing which is why you can also press the B button at any time to instantly zap yourself back to the most recent checkpoint, a feature used quite often.

Fortunately, there are more tracks to choose from in Evolution and they’re all well-designed, and they’re also set in a range of completely unexpected locations. There’s no small number of standard MX-looking environments, but there are many others mixed in that nod to different facets of our culture. One early track sends you wheeling across the beaches of Normandy. In another, you’ll leap out into open air and see your bike silhouetted against a blood-red sky as wolves howl in the distance. In yet another, you’ll swear that you’re looking at the XBLA game Limbo. And that’s because the track is, in fact, modeled after that platformer. For a game with such a simple hook, it’s pretty amazing to see the level of spectacle that RedLynx has managed to cram in and even more amazing to see what the community has produced.

The track creator also returns, which allows players to upload their designs to RedLynx’s servers, and download other player’s tracks. As is often the case, we needed to wade through a lot of ‘spam’ to find the few excellent tracks. It doesn’t help, unfortunately, that it will take heaps of patience and experience to endure Evolution’s incredibly complicated track creation controls. It took us an hour to create a basic track with a start point, finish line, and a few simple ramps in between which can leave you quite frustrated at the few spoils for your hours of work. If you enjoy investing time in user-generated content, there’s no shortage of options, but don’t expect the accessibility found in other titles such as something like Little Big Planet.

Split-screen Co op is another new addition to Evolution. A refreshing change from the stock standard online match making that most games decide to go with. A whole set of modified maps can be played with anywhere from 2-4 players, RedLynx have done a great job making sure the screen doesn’t become cluttered and impossible to tell where your racer is. As well as balancing the Split-screen so that even if you make a few mistakes you have the opportunity to take the lead. Another hilarious activity in Co-op is to enable the bailout finish, meaning even if you’re dead in last you can launch your rider soaring through the air and to seize a come back victory.

Trials Evolution’s boldest achievement is that it manages to be a racing game, a platformer, and a puzzle game depending on which track we’re playing. In the beginning, the game taught us the basics of riding by introducing fast courses in which speed takes priority. This allowed us to master the basics without much difficulty, but with plenty of excitement. Before long, the courses shift and become more about leaping difficult gaps and keeping the right amount of momentum at the right times, much like a platformer. By the end of the game, we were studiously examining a sheer cliff face, trying to figure out how in the hell they expected us to get up there on a motorcycle.

The ultimate thrill of Trials has always been in shaving seconds from your times and climbing your way up the leaderboard, but at times this has made it a game that appeals to a hardcore fanbase while excluding the masses. The greatest effect of this new stage in Trials’s evolution is that it provides a more accessible and satisfying structure without diluting what has always worked. Trials HD was a game we could recommend, but with a warning that it might not be for you. With Trials Evolution, that verdict applies with no reservations.

Trials Evolution retains the core Trials DNA, but puts it at the centre of a bigger, better-looking and more accessible game. It’s still brutally difficult and demanding of real player skill, yet nothing is impossible if you’re prepared to learn and keep trying. Whether you’re hardcore or casual, a Trials fan or a mewcomer, this is another Xbox Live Arcade essential.

The box consolidates everything required to capture brilliant HD quality  footage. The ridiculously simple to operate remote makes capturing footage a snap, one button recording on the box and wide variety of features on the remote makes life very easy. The choice of using either an external hard drive or an internal 2.5 inch hard drive. Provides a nice flexibility to the station, and provides plenty of ability for the capacity to be expanded.

The 3 way component cable is a unique but extremely useful, it combines all the 3 major console connectors: PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii into one component cable that runs into the box. However we did run into issues with the Xbox connection having to get the cable replaced due to audio issues. However when it works with no issues its a quality tool. HDMI will provide a noticeable increase in visual quality for playing, but for recoding component still looks great. It would be nice to have seen a HDMI display to run into the TV but we will survive without it.

Our Review Reel Using The Game Capture HD

It recording in AVI with MP3 for the audio, it records up to 1080i. One of the greatest concerns with this type on unit is the input lag caused by the recording. I am please to report that no such lag exists, the team at AVerMedia have done a great job. There is a little lag however it is barley noticeable.

AVerMedia have done a splendid job in creating a affordable and versatile unit. While it would be great to have a HDMI port the component cable does a great job. The quality of video is great and the internal hard drive is great. This is well worth picking up if you have any interest in video capture.

If you want to watch the first developer diary, click here.

If you want to watch the second developer diary, click here.

If you want to watch the third developer diary, click here.

The game is due for release exclusively on the PS3, using the PlayStation Move, on May 23.

You can watch it below.

You should expect The Last of Us to be in stores either at the end of this year, or either earlier next year. Hopefully we’ll see more of this stunning looking game at E3.

If you missed the teaser for the DLC yestarday here it is.

You can download the DLC on Xbox Live, Ps3 and PC on  May 29.

If you want to watch the first developer diary, click here.

If you want to watch the second developer diary, click here.

The game is due for release exclusively on the PS3, using the PlayStation Move, on May 23.

A video showing gameplay of the new maps is below.

The two free maps will be released on May 16 and the full collection on May 22 for Xbox Live.

If you want to see exactly what trophies the game entails click here. Otherwise the game is due for release on June 1.

Check the trailer out below it looks awesome.

Assassins Creed III launches at the end of October this year.

Kevin Levine  posted on the official Bioshock Infinite website explaining why they have delayed the game.

Lenin stated when they announced the release date that they:

felt pretty good about the timing.

He went onto say that:

Since then, we’ve come to realize that some specific tweaks and improvements will make Infinite into something even more extraordinary.

He feels that allowing his talented team this time that they will be able to make the best possible Bishock Infinite. It may mean a bit more waiting for you guys, but in the end you will be getting a better game.

A while back the team posted videos of some of the more unique enemies in their game. Here’s a video detailing one of the heavy hitter enemies – Motorized Patriot.

In addition to the Motorized Patriot there is also the Handyman, Boys of Silence and Siren.

Leave us a comment below on how you feel about the delay.

View the video below.

‘

If you want to watch the first developer diary, click here.

The game is due for release exclusively on the PS3, using the PlayStation Move, on May 23.

View the video below.

The collection hits Vita in June.

The post mention that LightBox Interactive and SantaMonica Studios didn’t like how when the released a map pack for Warhawk (Starhawks spiritual predecessor) that the community would be divided. So they have announced that all map packs are going to be free. While the map packs will be released for free they did say that they will have paid DLC, though they haven’t announced what that DLC will be yet .

Not only will the game be recieving free map packs but it will also have its own MLG tournament with over $20,000 worth of prizes, to sign up head over here.

Don’t know what Starhawk is? Watch the release trailer below.

Make sure to pick Starhawk up today to experience its unique blend of shooter and strategy gameplay.

Additionally, Sixense and Valve have now integrated Sixense MotionCreatorTM 2.0 software with Valve’s Steam gaming platform, enabling backward compatibility for motion gaming with the Razer Hydra for over 250 of the most popular titles on Steam. Now, Steam users will receive automatic motion control updates for current and future game titles, and a new in-game overlay allows gamers to view control maps for the Razer Hydra as they play.

Robert ‘RazerGuy’ Krakoff, President, Razer USA said:

“The Razer Hydra’s magnetic motion-sensing technology is the fastest and most precise to deliver a level of gaming immersion other motion-sensing tech in the industry right now can only dream of. Gamers are going to experience Valve’s new and legacy games in an amazing and fun way.”

Amir Rubin, CEO and Co-Founder, Sixense added:

“Sixense is excited to bring the Razer Hydra motion gaming experience to the Steam community. By wrapping Sixense MotionCreator inside Steam, the PC and Mac gaming platform of choice for both gamers and developers, we are able to provide plug-and-play functionality for the Razer Hydra to showcase our innovative motion gaming modes across game genres.”

The Razer Hydra  use an electromagnetic field to track your hand movements as you hold two ultra-precise motion sensing controllers. Because the Razer Hydra tracks the position of your hands down to a millimeter and degree, saving the world in Half-Life 2, cutting down zombies in Left 4 Dead 2, and pushing the cart in Team Fortress 2 will be a highly intuitive and immersive affair.

Now we get to the part that you are holding out for:

We have SOME Razer Hydra to give away, if you want to win this great addition to your hardware arsenal tell us in 25 words or less what PC game you would like to see motion controls integrated into and why;  top creative responces will be annocnced and recive one Hydra. The email you need to send it to is competitions[at]astirgaming.com, the competition ends on 25th of May 2012 at 23:59 GMT. If you have any questions you can shoot us a tweet at @astirgaming

Find out what you’re in for in the trailer below.

The game releases on May 25 on PS3 and Xbox 360, with a PC version coming later in June.

Insomniac Games has tweeted that the games has now been pushed back to early June, with retailers setting it to a June 8 release date.

Watch the video’s below for gameplay and in-depth explanations of the modes and how everything works in the multiplayer.

Max Payne 3 will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 on May 15, with the PC version launching on May 29.

You can view the trailer right below

The game will be release next year for PC and Mac.

The video is below.

The game is due for release exclusively on the PS3, using the PlayStation Move, on May 23.

The game is being released on Xbox Live Arcade next week.

The interview is right below.

In other news for LBP Karting, United Front Games has confirmed that they are currently not working on a PS Vita version of the game.

“We are concentrating 100% on making the PS3 version LittleBigPlanet Karting the very best it can be,” said Ho.

“We are not working on a Vita version at this time.”

The game is due for release in October later this year exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

Crysis 3 is due for release on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 in 2013.

The game is set for November 13 for PS3, 360 and PC.

Journey was released a month or so ago and was a critical success. In Journey you were a masked, humanoid like being in the middle of a desert with a giant mountain in the background. The game had no clear objective, your aim was to wonder around and discover the mysteries of the world,  who are you? what is this place? why are you here? and so on.

Like Journey, The Unfinished Swan has no specific genre, the games sole aim is provoke emotion and a sense of wonder. So far all we know is that you are a lone boy that has followed a swan into an unfinished surreal kingdom. The world is completely white when you begin, to find you’re way around you must project balls of paint to create your surroundings and move throughout the world.

The game looks to be a beatuful and artistically unique game, hopefully demonstrating just what downloadable games are capable of.

Make sure to check out the trailer below.

The game should be release on the PlayStation Store later this year.

Have you played Journey? Do you enjoy these types of games? Does The Unfinished Swan intrigue you? What do you make of the world that is presented in the trailer? Let us know in the comments.

Check out the trailer below.

Black Ops II is due for release on November 11 this year for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The trailer’s releases suggests we’ll shortly see the Wizard fully detailed on the Heroes Rise mini-site.

Diablo III is due on May 15, check out the trailer below.

Video streaming by Ustream

How do you think the multiplayer looks? Let us know below.

Macros have always been a major appeal of Razer products and the BlackWidow continues to deliver that promise, it comes with 5 designated macro keys as well as the ability to macro any other of your keys. There are 2 ways you can set up your macros; you can use the Razer supplied program which also allows you to set different profiles, or you can use the on-the-fly macro recorder. The on-the-fly Macro Recorder is a little complicated at first but I can really see the benefits of it. The hot-key is automatically set to function+alt which lights up a big M just above your keypad, then you record whatever function you want for a macro hit fn+alt again and press the key you want the macro to apply to. Even though it can sometimes be buggy it’s incredibly easy to do it this way rather than tabbing out and opening the BlackWidow program.

As a mechanical keyboard the BlackWidow prides itself on premium quality keys, which it definitely has. All keys have a red-backlight with 5 modes (dim, medium, bright, pulsate and off all controlled by your F12 button) really the only problem with this keyboard is that the keys are incredibly loud, which is almost expected for a mechanical keyboard but it can definitely get annoying if you are doing anything other than gaming. I’m using it to write this review right this moment and even though the keys are comfortable they can get rather tedious. I haven’t used it so I can’t quite comment but I would definitely swing towards the Ultimate Stealth edition which boasts a significantly quieter mechanical system. Although there is no Ultimate stealth or normal Mass Effect 3 branded BlackWidow which is quite a shame because it truly is an amazing looking keyboard. Also a feature that is becoming more popular but always nice to see is the gaming mode, which disables the functions of the windows key and right click button. Something that I haven’t seen before though is a sleep mode, with a click of a button your PC will instantly go into sleep mode which I am surprised to say I use a hell of allot.

The BlackWidow Ultimate doesn’t bring all that much innovation into the world of gaming keyboards but really it’s kind of hard once you get past sticking all the keys in. The keys have a great tactile feel and the backlight works great for late night gaming sessions as well as creating an awesome lighting effect. The gaming mode is always nice to see as well as the sleep mode, as I said before I found myself using this quite often since it was just so easy. Really the only new thing the Mass Effect 3 BlackWidow Ultimate brings to the table of ideas is elegance and boy did the nail it. I can’t stress enough how much I love the aesthetic of this keyboard just something about its simple design I really love. So if even if you’re not a Mass Effect fan I would still take a look at this keyboard since it’s one of the nicest looking ones I’ve seen.

The Perpetual Testing Initiative Trailer for the DLC is below.

There also seems to be a hint at a “Meet the Pyro” video in the bottom right hand corner at 1:14. Be sure to keep an eye out for that.

The game  boasts many of the beloved PlayStation Mascots. Sweet Tooth, Sly Cooper, Kratos, Fat Princess, General Radec and more having been confirmed. The levels in which you fight have are also all from the characters universes with dynamic set-pieces going on in the background.

Watch the video below for an interview with the game director.

The game is due for release exlusively for the PS3 later this year.

How do you think PlayStation All-stars Battle Royal looks? are you looking forward to it? What other PS3 brand characters do you want to see in it?

Crysis 3 is due for release in 2013 on PC, PS3, Xbox 360.

Watch the trailer below.

List below:

• Operating System: Windows 7 32/64 Service Pack 1, Windows Vista 32/64 Service Pack 2, Windows XP 32/64 Service Pack 3
• Processor: Intel Dual Core 2.4 GHZ – i7 3930K 6 Core x 3.06 GHZ / AMD Dual Core 2.6 GHZ – FX8150 8 Core x 3.6 GHZ
• RAM: 2GB – 16GB
• Video Card: NVIDIA 8600 GT 512MB VRAM – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB VRAM / Radeon HD 3400 512MB VRAM – Radeon HD 7970 3GB VRAM
• Sound Card: 100% Direct X 9.0 compatible – Direct X 9.0 compatible supporting Dolby Digital Live
• HDD Space: 35 GB DVD
• Drive: Please refer to your hardware manufacturer and www.rockstargames.com/support for current compatibility information. Some system components such as mobile chipsets, integrated, and AGP graphics cards may be incompatible. Unlisted specifications may not be supported by publisher.

Max Payne 3 is out May 15 on PS3 and Xbox 360 and May 29 for PC.

Minecraft launches on Xbox Live Arcade on May 9 for 1600 MS points.

The original trailer is right below.

All you have to do is submit a design for a treasure to be featured in  the game here and you could win a PlayStation Vita. One person from each country will be chosen to win a PS Vita, and from those people eight designs will be chosen to feature in the Sly Cooper: Thieves of Time video game.Details on how a treasure that you have designed can be found in the video below, or over on the Playstation Blog.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is due for release later this year exclusively for PlayStation 3. Get drawing!

“A time when in spite of the madness that plagued him, Kratos would break his blood oath to an unjust God. A time when he will no longer be bound in blood.”

Unofficial boxart has also been leaked, right below.

From what she says we can gather that this game will be set before the five God of War games that have been released. Make sure to watch the bloody trailer below.

Are you excited for the new God of War game? What do you think the game will be about? Will it even follow the same formula as the previous game? Leave a comment bellow.

Dishonored is due for release on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC later this year. To pre-order the game visit their website or your local game-store.

The trailer is below.

The game will feature online multiplayer via Wi-Fi.

The game features 8 player multiplayer, 2v2, or 4v4. The game offers the option to find a quick match or party up with friends. The game has 3 modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and a unique mode that the team will be revealing next week. All of this spanning over 6 maps.

You will be able to rank up in the multiplayer, which is pretty much the norm these days. With the XP you earn you will be able to unlock all the weapons from the campaign as well as modify and customize them to your liking- Both visual and tactical upgrades for on the field.

The trailer for the multiplayer is below…..

…… Or watch an interview with the producer for Resistance: Bruning Skies talking about the multiplayer below.

The game releases on the PlayStation Vita on May 30 2012. For more information on the multiplayer of the game head over to the PlayStation Blog.

How do you think Resistance: Burning Skies’ multiplayer is shaping up? Or a you more looking froward to playing campaign? Leave a comment below.

Medal of Honor Warfighter is due to be released on October 23 this year for PS3, XBOX 360 and PC.

Check out the trailer below.

Developer: Electronic Arts

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Release Date: March 29, 2012

Score: 9.0

Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360

The Short: Arguably one of the most refined and detailed ,golfing simulators on the market, Tiger Woods PGA Tour games have made an amazing impact on the sport gaming scene.

With the start of the Masters golf tournament this week, gamers will be able to relive and share in the joy as they take to the greens with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13. A number of changes have been made in this iteration, and while not all are for the best, it’s still a well-rounded effort.

Probably the biggest change comes in the form of the new swing control system. Over the last couple of games, EA has slowly been phasing out the three-click swing method, which most gamers saw as a bit of a cheat.

For the latest game, the system has totally been omitted, leaving players with only the flick-stick swing – which is a good thing. Instead of having a percentage bar at the side indicating the strength required for making a shot, players now see a swing plane.

The plane is representative of the swing the golf club would make, and the strength of a particular shot is indicated by a notch in the plane. It’s a lot easier to make the correct shot in Amateur difficulty, as Pro and higher require a bit more self-control and concentration. Putting is done through a similar system, but tends to be a bit trickier.

An addition to Tiger Woods 12 was the Caddie system, where players had an on-course help to assist with shot selection, clubs and judging distance. Many players felt that the caddie had too much control over how to play, and voice their opinion to EA.

The Caddie system in Tiger Woods 13 can now however be turned off, allowing for complete control by the player. The systems actually comes in a variety of setting, where players can turn it off completely, activate it manually, or select to have it turn on permanently for automatic shot and club selection.

Before getting into the main game, gamers have the opportunity to relive Tiger Woods’ life – from his early golfing days as a toddler, right through to modern day tournaments and beyond. It’s rather fun to take to golf swings as a five-year-old Tiger, but some challenges are pretty difficult.

It’s also great to see where Tiger started his career and what inspired him to continue, and it does make the franchise is bit more personal. Beside his private troubles a couple of years ago, his story is still very inspiring for young and aspirant players.

One aspect that players of Tiger Woods 13 isn’t too happy about, is the game’s blatant use of in-game currency and penalising gamers who don’t have a constant internet connection. Course Mastery, coins and pins can only be accumulated when connected to the internet, while Course Mastery was available offline in Tiger 12.

Coins and pins were added to Tiger 13 as the game’s default in-game currency. When playing a round of golf (online), player can earn coins by having great scores, which in return can be used to buy rounds at downloadable courses, pin packs and other items. Boast pins can also only be used when connected to the net, and give players the ability to add strength, accuracy, overall stats improvement or earn five-times more XP than normal, when equipped. Only three pins can be used at a time, and players are only awarded five of each. If those run out, players will have to buy more, with the coins.

It is a bit of a shameless way to get players to spend Microsoft points or buy PlayStation vouchers, which Electronic Arts obviously benefit from. The fact that players need to be online to contribute to Course Mastery is also a bit of a left-down, but is understandable to a degree, as completing a course will allow the player unlimited rounds at that course (provided that it’s a downloadable course).

The graphics have been given a visible boost, and Tiger himself looks a lot better than what he did in Tiger 12. While some graphical issue remain, the general feeling is of a well-rounded product with great attention to detail.

Where the graphics do falter, is in the use of EA’s Game Face. Players can upload photos of themselves, and the title will generate them into the game for use with their own golfer. The result is more often than not a face with blotches and discolouration, with some facial elements out of place.

As far as golfing games go, there isn’t really a plot, except that gamers will have to battle their way through all the stages of becoming a professional golfer and eventually taking on Tiger himself for the top spot on the leaderboards.

But the career campaign will take players to some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world, and allow them to play a round at a course where they might never go. The entire career is a rather lengthy one, as gamers will have to commit to winning, or it will be a waste of time. If players have the Collector’s Edition, it will include the Masters Tournament, as well as some extra courses not found on the base edition.

The better shots players make, the more XP they will receive – which is used to level up the character’s attributes such as power, accuracy, putting and recovery. Importing a character from Tiger 12 will reward players with 75 000 XP, which comes in rather handy at the start of the title.

While Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 isn’t perfect, it is definitely the best Tiger Woods game that Electronic Arts have produced in a very long time. The graphics are superb, the mechanics and physics work well and the new swing system is fantastic. It’s a definite must-buy for any Tiger Woods fan. The number of small and subtle changes, such as the ability to change the camera angle before a swing, makes it even more worthwhile.

Trailer’s below.

This map pack is going to be the last piece of DLC for the Fortune Hunters Club and is being released on April 17 on the PlayStation Store.

Even though this is the last piece of DLC for the Fortune Hunters Club, Naughty Dog has said that it will continue to support Uncharted 3′s multiplayer in various ways. The first one being that they will the LAB will make a return as a place to try out experimental modes. Naughty dog will also  continue to get feedback from the community and possibly provide more DLC throughout the year.

To see the maps in action watch the trailer below, or for more information on Uncharted 3′s multiplayer and DLC click here.

Developer: BioWare

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Release Date: March 8, 2012

Score: 9.5

Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360

The Short: An extremely engrossing game with great gameplay, a deeply-woven plot where decisions made in the game effect the outcome dramatically, and  memorable characters. A must play, I just recommend you play the first two first.

In 2005 BioWare announced Mass Effect, they said that all your decisions would carry over the three games, but did they live up to that promise? Understandably, Mass Effect 3 has a lot of hype built around it as the last installment of the epic sci-fi RPG trilogy. Mass Effect and especially Mass Effect 2 have been rated very highly and set the bar for games of the genre. Mass Effect 3 isn’t a perfect game but that doesn’t stop it from being a superb game and a major accomplishment for the guys over at BioWare.

I’m going to try and restrain from talking about the story and revealing any spoilers, but from what I can tell you, Mass Effect 3’s story is absolutely fantastic. It picks up shortly after the events of Mass Effect 2, the reapers have hit Earth, and in no way are you fully prepared. After you leave Earth you’ll be traveling to places all over the galaxy, some places you went to in the first two games and new places as well. You’re trying to build an army, get as many allies as you can to even have a chance of defeating the reapers. Not much has changed from Mass Effect 2, you’ll still be interacting with other characters, choosing dialogue options, making decisions, taking cover, shooting enemies and using your biotic/tech abilities to advance forward. Ultimately you’ll be doing everything you did in Mass Effect 2, just with some new adjustments.

As I said before, and as Bioware promised 6 years ago, your save file and decisions from the last two games can be directly ported over to Mass Effect 3. Even though you’ll still get a great experience out of Mass Effect 3 even if you don’t play the first two games first, I urge you to as you won’t be getting the most definitive Mass Effect experience. Playing your Shepard over three games (or two for PS3) just makes the game so much more personal and you truly get attached to your Shepard and the people around him. Jumping straight into Mass Effect 3 without playing the first two makes the game a less-fulfilling experience and you won’t get all the references, which there are many, to the previous two games. Nor will you get the gleeful satisfaction of running into an old friend and helping him/her out.

The whole fiction of the universe is brilliant and hearing and seeing about each race’s background is just a sheer treat. It’s truly remarkable seeing all of your decisions finally come together and all the consequences they bestow on everyone around you.

Defeating the reapers isn’t going to be easy; Shepard’s going to need every species in the Universe to help him fight the reapers. But there are age old tensions between races, like how the Krogans hate the Salarians because of the genophage and how the Quarians are in war against their rogue machines, the Geth. Conflicts like this are everywhere and the problem lies in how/if Shepard can resolve them.

Sometimes Shepard can’t have everything, and by allying someone Shepard may make an enemy out of another. Everyone he helps becomes a war asset, and all these assets tally up to form a greater galactic readiness against the reapers. Who you ally will affect the success or failure of Mass Effect 3’s end game, this is just one of the many decisions that affect your play-through of the game.

On a smaller scale, the loyalty missions from Mass Effect 2 aren’t in this game, but there are still heaps of optional conversations and mission you can complete which are very personal. The more you interact with others the more you will get out of the game and the bigger the reputation you’ll have with the many enemies and allies you form.

As an individual, the game still relies on the paragon and renegade levels to form your reputation as a good/bad Shepard. All this makes the playing the game at least twice to see the different outcomes of the game and trilogy’s finale.

Mass Effect 3 hasn’t changed much over Mass Effect 2. Scanning planets has been almost entirely moved, but been replaced with scanning the whole systems, which is almost just as boring. All planets in known systems can be studied as well, but only a handful have something to add to the fiction of the story. Speaking of the fiction, check out the games codex, it gives you a fully-fledged out explanation of all the races, planets, etc. It’s absolutely amazing how much detail has gone into this.

Mass Effect 2 was blamed for dumbing down the RPG aspects of the game. Mass Effect 3 doesn’t do anything to change this. You can still play the game by just running and gunning, but on the harder difficulties you’ll need to use all your abilities to your advantage and really think about who your enemy is and which squad mates will be best to have fighting against them.

You can control where your squad mates go and attack, but they can handle themselves fine without your help most of the time. Each class will be better against a certain type of enemy than another and this will be key in getting through the fire fights on harder difficulties.

It is immediately evident that the overall movement in Mass Effect 3 has been improved upon. The cover system works a lot better, whenever you’re near the edge of cover a blue arrow will point you in the direction of where you are going to roll out. In Mass Effect 3 everything just feels a lot less clunky, you can now roll from cover to cover, evade, jump over obstacles much quicker, climb ladders, etc. The whole of Mass Effect 3 feels a lot more vertical with a lot more stairs and ladders than ever. Overall Shepard just has a lot of movement, and even though 4 different actions are mapped to one button I didn’t find it problematic.

Shepard still has the same biotic/tech abilities but now they have a different line of progression. In Mass Effect 2 you levelled up the ability 3 times then had to choose between two different upgrades for level four. In Mass Effect 3 it’s the same except now you can level up your ability a 5^th and 6^th time. The 4^th, 5^th and 6^th level has two options you can choose from when upgrading it.

BioWare may have dumbed down the PRG aspects in the game, but they have made the weapons way more customisable with a slew of upgrades and mods. Your weapons now have two slots where you can attach mods. The overall gun can be upgraded as well these mods can be upgraded by finding parts on the battlefield.

Mass Effect 3 looks gorgeous, but only slightly better than Mass Effect 2. The art design for each different planet is notably good. Again the voice acting is brilliant for almost all the characters. The soundtrack supplements the game wonderfully throughout dialogue sessions and intense battles. Of course the game isn’t without its problems, there are a few glitches, frame rate hitches and off lip-syncing from time to time but this in no way takes away from the experience.

Mass Effect has multiplayer this time around, it’s basically a four-player co-op horde mode with various objectives mixed into it. It’s nothing too special, there are three difficulties, six maps and three different types of enemies (Ceberus, Geth, Reapers). You face off enemies of increasing difficulty throughout 11 rounds, while every few rounds involve activating databases. You can choose from any of the classes. As you level up you get points to spend on upgrading powers and credits to buy packs which unlock various weapons, mods, characters, etc. However the game doesn’t have multiplayer just for the sake of having multiplayer, whenever you play multiplayer it contributes to how Shepard is doing in the war of your singleplayer game. When you fight in a certain area in the multiplayer that area becomes a little clearer of reaper forces in the singleplayer campaign. The Mass Effect 3 multiplayer is great when you want to play with your friends and while it doesn’t offer anything new it complements the singleplayer nicely and increases the longevity of the game.

Mass Effect 3 is an absolutely amazing game and a huge accomplishment for BioWare. It looks and plays great, but Mass Effect’s deeply thought out story is what makes it truly great. The decisions you made in the first 2 games finally come together in a wonderful, unexpected and spectacular fashion. Mass Effect is one of the best sci-fi trilogies ever made, this game is a must buy for everyone; just make sure to play the first two first.

Bioshock Infinite is due for release on October 16 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. For more information on Bioshock Infinite head over to their website.

To see the first instalment for the Heavy Hitters series click here.

To see the second instalment for the Heavy Hitters series click here.

To see the third instalment for the Heavy Hitters series click here.

Assassin’s Creed III is getting released with a bang, including three special editions to choose from.

Join or Die Edition:

• Retail version of the game.
• The medallion of the Assassins with its high quality curd ladle.
• George Washington’s notebook revealing all the truth & secrets about the Assassins and the Templars during the American Revolution.

In-game bonus content:

• Single Player Mission: Ghost of War
  The tide of the Revolution turns into the Templars favor. Defeat your enemies and unlock The Pontiac’s War Club, a powerful Native American weapon.
• The Sharpshooter Multiplayer Package
  Unleash the Sharpshooter fury in multiplayer with 1 new character, the Sharpshooter, 1 Relic, 1 Emblem, 1 special Picture and the Title of “The Jester”.

Freedom edition:

• Retail version of the game.
• A 24cm high quality figurine of Connor.
• A steelbook case art drawn by awards-winning comic artist Alex Ross.
• George Washington’s notebook revealing all the truth & secrets about the Assassins and the Templars during the American Revolution.
• One exclusive Lithograph.

In-game bonus content:

• Single Player Mission: Lost Mayan Ruins
  Connor’s mission leads him in an old Mayan pyramid, full of mysteries and revelations. Unlock Captain Kidd’s fabled cutlass, a deadly, brutal and beautiful piece of steel.
• Single Player Mission: Ghost of War
  The tide of the Revolution turns into the Templars favor. Defeat your enemies and unlock The Pontiac’s War Club, a powerful Native American weapon.
• The Sharpshooter Multiplayer Package
  Unleash the Sharpshooter fury in multiplayer with 1 new character, the Sharpshooter, 1 Relic, 1 Emblem, 1 special Picture and the Title of “The Jester”.

• Retail version of the game with an exclusive package.

• Single Players Mission: A Dangerous Secret
  Fight against a secret that could jeopardize the funding of the revolution. In case of success, you’ll be rewarded with an exclusive weapon: a Flintlock Musket.

Assassin’s Creed III is due for release on October 31 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, a Wii U version has also been confirmed. To pre-order the game or find out more information head over to the Assassin’s Creed III website. In game screenshots were leaked a few days ago, to check them out click here.

The DLC is scheduled to come out sometime in April in the PS Store and is the last piece of DLC for the Fortune Hunters Club.

The game releases later this year exclusively on the PS3. For more information on Dust 514 visit their website here.

Far Cry 3 is due to release September 4 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. For more information visit their website here.

Assassin’s Creed III is due for release in October on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

For more information on Resistance: Burning Skies visit the PlayStation Blog.

Bioshock Infinite is due for release on October 16 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. For more information on Bioshock Infinite head over to their website.

“LBP Karting is set in an entirely 3D world allowing players to create rich and varied gameplay experiences. Along with fan favorite racing and battle modes, players will be able to modify the rules of the game itself to create completely new modes and challenges.” – EU PS Blog.

Little Big Planet Karting will be coming out later this year. For more information watch the trailer below or head over to the PlayStation Blog.

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Release Date: March 13, 2012

Score: 7.5

Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360

The Short: While FIFA Street doesn’t have the depth of its annually-updated bigger brother, the latest release is a much more rounded product than past iterations.

FIFA Street has been on a hiding since 2008′s forgettable third instalment. But like a mid-table club benefiting from the investment of a wealthy sheik, the latest street footballing release has been handed over to EA Canada, the team behind the amazing FIFA 12. With a solid foundation to build on, FIFA Street has the potential to shoot up the table, and thankfully, while not as deep as its annually-updated bigger brother, FIFA Street is far more Messi than messy.

Forget tactical defending, managing the finer aspects of your team and dealing with the media, FIFA Street takes the action away from the stadiums and into the parking lots, five-a-side pitches, beaches and playgrounds. It’s not quite jumpers for goalposts stuff, but it’s still a far cry from anything you’d expect to see from the main series. The emphasis is on short, fast-paced games, where flashy goals and fancy tricks replace patient play and slow build-up.

Generally speaking, players will face off in three-minute five-a-side matches on concrete and indoor pitches. Most concrete and indoor pitches are surrounded by walls, which can be used to play spectacular rebound passes to teammates, regardless of which way you’re facing. The bumper buttons and analogue sticks, meanwhile, are used to perform a wide variety of tricks, which are rewarded with style points, helping players to level up and unlock new items.

As you can imagine, the increased emphasis on tricks leads to some pretty spectacular individual goals. One of the easier moves to perform sees players chip the ball over an opponent’s head, spin and volley in the corner of the net. It looks great. The gameplay engine feels very similar to the main FIFA series, albeit with less focus on defending. FIFA 12‘s excellent physics engine remains in place, however, ensuring that the action feels solid and players move and interact more realistically.

The authentic player physics are complimented by a grittier, more realistic visual style. Gone are the strange (and slightly creepy), uber-skinny character models from the previous release, replaced with generally well-realised and recognisable footballers from the world’s top leagues. The game’s locations, meanwhile, are hugely varied and impressive to look at. Whether playing in a car park in London, or against the backdrop of the Venetian waterways, there’s always something new and unique to look at.

While Futsal moves towards more authentic soccer rules, Panna goes in the complete opposite direction. This mode is all about tricks. Performing tricks adds bonus points to the bank, while scoring goals cashes them in or resets the opposition’s total to zero. Played in two-on-two environments, the goal is often unguarded, which adds a constant sense of danger, especially if the opposing team has 12 points in the bank and is threatening to score and cash in. It’s not a mode that you’ll want to play too often, but it’s exciting when you do, especially as one trick-heavy passage of play is the difference between winning and losing.

Other modes see opposing players eliminated with every goal scored, or matches played indefinitely until a specific score is reached. The main way to get your kicks, however, is coming up with the most elaborate way of putting the ball in the back of the net. In terms of depth, FIFA Street features a World Tour mode, which while a little shallow, integrates online play seamlessly into the action.

Starting with a customised character – which can be imported from FIFA 12 – players meet up with in-game friends to take on local rivals, before branching out into regional, national and ultimately, global tournaments. The presentation is typically “street”, with text messaging and emails the preferred way to organise games. There is a deep customisation element, complimented by a vast array of unlockable footballing gear, such as tracksuits, boots and hoodies.

Players also unlock more moves as they progress, which makes World Tour a good place to learn your trade and perfect the techniques unique to the game. The sense of accomplishment is slightly diminished by the constant levelling up, while higher difficulties turn your teammates into vegetables, which feels like a slightly cheap way of increasing the challenge. There is little tactical or strategic depth, other than picking the team and deciding what kind of formation to use.

In fact, after a relatively short period of time, FIFA Street fails to pose much of a challenge. This is why World Tour’s online integration is most welcome. After qualifying for tournaments, players can choose to play against the computer or online opponents. Playing online adds a greater level of unpredictability, and, much like the real thing, elevates tournaments above your run-of-the-mill matches. Granted, you can always try again if you fail, but defeat is always a very real possibility against human opponents, which makes it more exciting.

While FIFA Street doesn’t have the depth of its annually-updated bigger brother, the latest release is a much more rounded product than past iterations. For the most part, the developers have succeeded in combining the sparkle of street football with the fundamentals that make the beautiful game so appealing. FIFA Street is an enjoyable spinoff with more than enough tricks up its sleeve to warrant a purchase.

Publisher: EA Sports

Release Date: March 1, 2012

Score: 8.5

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360

The Short: Very engrossing and  a more realistic feeling  snowboarding experience.

SSX is back, edging slightly closer to a realistic feel of where snowboarding is hopefully and may well be heading, while still maintaining the huge and impossible tricks we’ve come to love from previous SSX releases. The aim is to help your team gain ownership of the globe by racing other players, getting the best trick score on a run and conquering the several deadly descents. You can do this three ways, with World Tour, Explore and Global Event modes, all offering different challenges, progression and of course, bragging rights in each area. World Tour gives you the story and sees you starting as a member of Team SSX (now meaning Snow, Surf and MotoX), a group of extreme sports lovers made up of some favourite faces from previous SSX games with a few new faces dropped in, who are out to conquer mountain ranges around the globe.

With nine ranges built from exaggerated NASA topographical data, each mountain range offers a variety of terrain at each drop-in for you to conquer in a race, trick score and finally survive its deadly descent, which varies in terrain and riding style with each location. One of the SSX team-members has decided to go rogue (with all funding going with him) and prove that he can take the globe by himself, leaving you constantly pushed in your riding skills against the rest of your team and the ghost data from this rogue member, who always seems to be one step ahead of Team SSX. Control options for air tricks are available for right stick feel, button taps or you can even switch back to classic SSX for an old-school feel. You’ve also got a few chances to rewind where mistakes are made which can be extremely helpful when it comes to descending perilous mountains with giant crevasse down the center of them, but these are limited, so you’ll need use them wisely. Unlocking new ranges on completion of one or a group of ranges is the way forward, with each terrain supplying a race challenge to unlock a new playable character from the team, followed by the speedy comic book style intro for said character.

There’s also a chance to unlock the only real-life character, and probably the only person who would come close to landing any of the feats of SSX, Travis Rice. Explore mode gives you open access to all the regions with every player to really see what you can put down on each run and to pick your favourites. The aim here is to lock down your best point scoring run. As you trick, air, slide and descend your way through each, you earn XP currency to be used for upgrading boards, armour, wing suits and ice picks and other handy pieces of equipment. You’ll also need this to buy into Global Events, for the possibility to win more of this currency if you can qualify in one of the five brackets that divvy up the pot, as well as a Leaderboard standing, that may see you slide up or down even when you’re not playing. The unique thing with this is it’s all real-time, so your friends and other players from around the world may be dropping in next to you on any run, this is all available through the easy to use RiderNet system which is very similar to Criterion’s AutoLog from the Need For Speed series. You can also create your own Global Event where you tweak the rules, time-limits, allowable equipment as well as what a win earns you.

In every mode a key is to combo together some moves and get tricky, giving you boost were needed in races or approaching a jump. From there any tricks become uber and you aim to get Super Tricky, varying the tricks even more making them super uber and providing you unlimited boost while you’ve got it. Super Tricky is also the time you can do each player’s signature move. With vast amounts of fun terrain to explore in whatever mode pushes your SSX riding, strap in, drop in and shred it out.

The trilogy will be  remastered in 1080p, or 720 with stereoscopic 3D, to celebrate the franchise’s tenth anniversary.

The EU PS Blog has the game down for a May 16 release.

“I know it’s a little bit later than the Spring European release, but it’s because we have something very special planned for our North American fans to celebrate the 10th anniversary, and we’ll share all the details very soon,” Insomniac CEO Ted Price wrote.

Ratchet and Clank 3′s competitive multiplayer has also been confirmed to be part of the bundle and also full trophy support.

Insomniac has promised more information soon, so stayed tuned.

The game will be compatible with the Playstation Move it will also contain a multiplayer mode, multiple paths, ranking and a bonus unlockable Home item, an interview with the original creator.

Watch the video below.

Expect Bioshock Infinite out on October 16 in the UK for PS3, 360 and PC.

Publisher: Electronic Arts,

LucasArts

Release Date: March 1, 2012

Score: 8.5

Platforms: PC

The Short: A new alternative to the old formula, while still keeping that familiarity that we all seek.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (TOR) is a change to the standard MMO mould. It’s got a great and unique story presentation, brilliant presentation, solid action combat and deep systems that pay tribute to the DNA of successful MMOs without becoming mired in tradition.

BioWare chose to adopt a DNA close to World of Warcraft. It makes sense; you’re trying to steal away players from the most successful MMO on the planet, so you’re going to try to make things feel familiar and comfortable. I appreciated the key bindings and other nods to WoW because I was able to ease into the game quickly and without much pain. That said, particularly early on, it felt like I had just swapped The Horde and The Alliance for The Empire and The Alliance and that I was just doing the same things as I had done in WoW for years. That is, however, unfair. It’s not true, and even though there are a lot of similarities, TORis its own game. It has its own unique properties and it adheres to familiar territory to make you feel at ease before it veers off into new territory. Most notably BioWare has improved over the quest structure solidified by Blizzard. Instead of going to kill ten enemies, returning to turn the mission in and get a new mission to return to the same area to kill a boss, TOR gives you the mission to kill the boss and provides optional missions where you kill random enemies or accomplish other smaller tasks along the way. It might seem like a small or insignificant change, but it speeds up the game and makes you feel like you’re doing more and important things than basic errands. It would be nice to get a bit more variety in future patches – quests are typically of the kill and collect variety and it can wear thin at moments.
I’ve always been a solo MMO player, which is a bit contrary to the genre, but it just suits my play schedule better. If someone’s online, we’ll quest and level together, but I’m more than content to just level and experience a story on my own. TOR allows you to play completely solo, or, if you crave that party environment, you can find and group with players to blow through quests.

BioWare has really kicked story presentation up a notch with TOR. The approach of using fully-voiced dialogue and the fact that each class has their own unique storyline that develops and carries over multiple acts in the game really sets it apart from the MMO field. The fact that I had a specific story, with specific characters is what hooked me early on. You’ll share some quests with every other player in the game, but the depth of class-specific missions made me feel like I was playing a game all of my own.

Full voice acting goes a long way to making the TOR feel more modern, and it really demonstrates how this is the next generation of MMOs. Unfortunately, among the actors, there are a few dud performances, and those actors show up time and time again in multiple roles. Once you key in on a voice you can’t stand, you’ll seem to notice it everywhere and it will drive you nuts.

Technically speaking, aging PCs will probably feel a frame rate pinch with this game. My multiple-year old system did well enough on the starter, low-population planets, but as soon as I hit the core worlds and large-player areas, my system had a near meltdown. This revelation that I wasn’t exactly equipped to review this game led me to invest a fair amount of cash and build an all-new core i7 system to handle every graphic setting at max. When you do that, this game is pretty damn stunning. If your system is struggling to keep up with modern games and you can’t make a few easy upgrades, you might want to sit this one out until you have something that can handle it.

Combat in TOR is fun and exciting. As my main bounty hunter, I found that I had a plethora of abilities and combat options to handle foes. You don’t rinse and repeat the same tactics over and over again (or at least I didn’t) and, as you progress levels and add new abilities to your repertoire, you’ll change how you approach combat. The system is deep and evolved over and over as I played for review. I have big hopes for the combat going forward as BioWare continues to add to it and balance and tweak. Whether you’re into ranged, melee or support roles, you’ll be happy with how TOR handles everything.

The only thing you probably won’t care for is the ship combat. Grabbing a ship and hitting space turns TOR into a shooting gallery game, akin to something like Panzer Dragoon, and that’s not a good thing. It’s boring, bland and doesn’t add much to the game. I know they needed some type of space combat in the game, but this is a poor showing.

TOR has enough content to keep you busy for a while if you’re a casual MMO player (casual being 10 or so hours a week). If you’re going to put in 30 or more hours a week in the level and instance game, you’re probably going to run dry on content soon, but BioWare is already planning and releasing new high level content to keep things running smoothly. If you run out of things to do, you could always take another character class through their unique story. If you take all the character classes into account, there’s plenty to do and experience in TOR.

I thought I was done with MMOs when WoW burned me out; my subscription was canceled and I wasn’t eager to play another WoW clone anytime soon. While TOR shares plenty of its DNA with WoW, it streamlines some of its rougher points, improves upon them and takes a few bold steps. TOR has me energized about the future of MMOs and, when my free press time ends, I’m going to be ponying up the cash to continue my subscription. That’s the highest compliment I can pay.

Publisher: Sony Entertainment

Release Date: March 8, 2012

Score: 8.5

Platforms: PS3

The Short: Extremely fun archaic car combat, average campaign, engrossing and chaotic online/offline multiplayer.

Twisted metal is the longest running franchise on PlayStation. The last Twisted Metal was released 15 years ago and gaming has changed a lot since then, the market is now flooded by first-person military shooters, car combat games are a rarity. Fortunately, Twisted Metal isn’t just a game for nostalgic fans, but can also hold its own ground as being a great game.

Calypso runs a game called twisted metal, in which the sick and the demented compete in a match to the death. Calypso will grant the winner one wish. Twisted Metal’s has three campaigns following three characters: Sweet Tooth, Mr. Grimm and Doll Face. Each are demented psychopaths in their own way and each want/need that one wish from Calypso. Each campaign shows the perspective of each character as they enter the contest. It’s interesting watching how these characters became so demented, but with that said the three story’s don’t have much depth. The real treat to each story is when their wishes are granted, cause nothing is as it ever seems with Calypso. The story is told through live-action cut scenes, which aren’t bad, but they could’ve easily have done with the in-game engine as well. The cut-scenes are well executed but some of the voice-acting is just bland, the characters don’t sound like they have any emotion sometimes. While the cut-scenes are okay, the pre-cut-scene before each match showing off the arena makes the place seem very bland and desolate compared to when you’re actually in the arena causing chaos and carnage.

There are 16 different vehicles, including a helicopter, a decimating semi-truck, a transforming ice-cream truck and many more. Each vehicle is differentiated by speed, armour and how damaging its special weapon is. Each vehicle has 2 different special weapons which offer a great range of different and creative ways to kill your enemy. Each vehicle is balanced out, for example, if it has weak armour its special weapon is likely going to do a lot of damage, if it has a lot of armour the vehicle will be slow and harder to drive. Along with every vehicle there are also freezing blasts, shields and landmines you can use, but using each of these depletes a meter, and depending on which car you are using the meter will deplete faster or slower with each use. There are also different sidearms you can use, but these don’t have much of an effect to your overall playstyle.

It’s important to note that the cars in twisted metal in no way have realistic handling like actual car racing games and feel more like they glide along the ground, but this is fine as the controls are perfectly suited to a game like this. The control scheme is tricky, but players who give it some time and master it will find it perfect. The key to playing the game is choosing which vehicle suits you best and mastering its specialties and differences to each other vehicle. Do you like getting around with speed and ease? Or do you prefer having lots of armour or damaging weapons?

Each campaign involves five deathmatches and one boss battle. The car combat has a lovely archaic feeling to it, you’ll be driving around the map finding various pick-ups and health shooting other opponents. But each match has a unique spin on them, like having to stay in in a certain area that changes every 40 seconds, or having a juggernaut vehicle spawn more vehicles every couple of minutes until you take it out. But even though there are different spins on each deathmatch it still doesn’t feel like there is whole lot of variety in these matches. The best thing about the campaign are the memorable end boss battles. Twisted Metal isn’t afraid to give you a real challenge and it can be downright frustrating as it feels like every other opponent is just out to get you sometimes. Overall the campaign just feels like a dry-run for the multiplayer, a place where you can test out each vehicle and get accustomed to the controls.

The multiplayer is where it’s at and where you will have the most fun. There are 8 maps, which are the same maps you will play in the campaign, but they can be split up into 30 different sub-maps depending on how many people are. All of the maps are huge in scope and look great when everyone is playing on them with missiles and other explosives flying around. They are all well designed (except for maybe L.A Skyline where you die half the time by just falling off the buildings) and have a lot of verticality and distinct sections to each map. All the maps have destructible parts to them which adds to the chaos and thrill, but it’s sometimes difficult to tell which parts are destructible or not and can lead to slamming into a wall which you thought was destructible.

There are the typical modes like deathmatch, last-man-standing and team-deathmatch, but there are also more objective based modes like Nuke. Nuke is basically capture-the-flag, but instead of a flag you have to capture the opposing teams’ leader, drag him behind your car, sacrifice him to the nuke launcher, and hit the enemy’s statue with the nuke. But no matter what mode you play you’ll be having a lot of fun. The games core gameplay is just too much fun. At a glance everything may seem like mindless chaos, but there’s a lot of skill and strategy behind the game if you take the time to find out each vehicles strengths and weaknesses along with all the weapons as well. There’s a lot of depth. Though with all this chaos sometimes the lock-on system can be a bit fidgety and may not lock-on to the player you want, which can be a little annoying in the heat of a battle but certainly not a game breaker. And while every vehicle has its strengths and weaknesses, the weaker vehicles seem to drop a little too quick compared to the other cars and their speed and strong special attacks don’t seem enough to compensate for the poor armour. But even you choose not to learn anything about the vehicles you’ll still be able to have a lot of mindless fun.

There were complaints about connection issues a few weeks back when the game launched in the U.S, fortunately finding and joining games have been greatly improved, but there are still a few minor issues. But once you have found a game everything runs incredibly smoothly with little lag or slowdown. Finding a multiplayer game is simple, you can either quickly find a match, which will dump you into any random match. Or you can search through a list of a bunch of games that people are hosting, which will make sure the games multiplayer survives for as long as possible (matchmaking isn’t always reliable several months down the line after a games launch).

Competing and levelling up in ranked matches unlocks special rewards, such as new cars, sidearms, and even skin packs to customize your car- your car is surprisingly customisable. Everyone also has a skill rank and each team is balanced out based on each individual’s skill level, which is very good, because you won’t be going up against people leagues better than you. There is also an option to create a clan, which is also good, I don’t know whether they will host clan matches though.

My only complaint about the online multiplayer is if you quick-join a ranked match in progress it won’t let you join, you will have to sit in the lobby until the game is over, which can take forever and lead to having to exit and re-join over and over again. This can happen to you frequently, or you can join many games and not have problem, anyway it’s extremely frustrating when it happens to you over and over again. Fortunately, you can join suggested games, which all have games that are in the pre-game lobby.  Anyway, I’m not sure why the developers would do this, but maybe they can change this with a patch.

There is also four-player split-screen, which is a great addition because so many games lack this these days. On the week-end I invited three of my friends over, we all played Twisted Metal, and it was a blast! I haven’t had that much fun playing split-screen with a game since ratchet and clank or Crash Team Racing. Trust me, playing this game with a bunch of friends on the couch is a lot of fun.

While Twisted Metal does have a few problems it is still a great buy for its existing fans, but also a worthy enough buy for new-comers. The campaigns are enjoyable enough and challenging with highlights like its memorable boss battles and its twist endings. It boasts incredible chaotic online and offline multiplayer, that has something that a lot of other games lack, just down right pure fun. If you liked the old Twisted Metals, there’s no doubt you’re going to like this, but even if you’ve never played Twisted Metal, I can guarantee you are going to have a fun time with this game, whether its playing online, or on the couch with a bunch of your mates.

First off I would like to talk about the client for DotA 2 which is a much needed upgrade to that of DotA. No longer do players have to flip through lists upon endless lists of WC3 mod games to find a DotA game that suits them. Players now have access to a match making system that will select a game comprising of players with a similar skill level. Additionally you can set what game mode, and region you would like to search for which is now a must for any MOBA title.

Aside from just playing the game, the client allows the player to browse and spectate current games, ranging from high-end competitive games to games your friends are playing. In spectator you can set the camera to a variety of modes, such as an AI camera that will follow action or the direct view of another player including their mouse movements, plus many more. The player may also browse all the characters learning information about them such as their role, abilities, statistics and lore. One feature that cannot be used at the moment is the soon to be coming “Socialize” feature which will most likely be in the form of an in game forum where players can share strategies, ideas and all things relating to DotA 2. There is also a nifty news screen that displays relevant information that is happening in the world of DotA 2, such as news feeds, patch notes, new characters and plenty more.

Additionally to all of this the client has an inbuilt steam friends list, which displays all of your friends in which you can see the usual information that is found on the normal steam list, but with a DotA 2-esq look. This is accompanied with a chat lobby system, which enables you to browse and enter different lobbies to talk to players, and your standard profile info which displays game statistics, experience, recent games and also gives you the option to look into it with greater depth. All of this is presented in a very stylish and smooth design that is easy on the eyes.

Moving onto the gameplay, players will enjoy the ability to bind pretty much anything they can think of. From items, self-casts, smart-casts, control groups and simple functions such as attacking and pinging. Voice chat will also be in DotA 2, an incredibly useful feature that will enhance your ability to communicate with your team and thus play a much more enjoyable game. However you might run into one of the odd few players that will use it to annoy your team, but that’s where muting comes in.

Aside from bindings the game engine has been greatly improved, boasting some very neat looking stylised graphics. Characters look smooth and stylish, with some retaining a nearly identical appearance, and some having a bit of a makeover (for better or for worse). One of these model changes is Anti-mage, discarding his elven appearance; he is now a dark skinned human. My hunch is for copyright reasons, being that his previous character model, Illidan, is owned by Blizzard.

Not only have the character models been greatly improved, but creeps and neutral monsters have been given a nice touch up, and yet again some have a few changes while others are relatively untouched. The terrain layout is exactly the same, but the environment has a nice makeover giving it the new stylised look. Overall I will have to say they have done an incredible job on the art style, and have given it a look that will hold strong.

DotA 2 has retained the same hero list as DotA, however some of them have not been implemented yet. You will find all your old favourites such as Tiny, Juggernaut, Mirana, Axe and Lich, just to name a few. The same is to be said about items as all of the original items will be making an appearance in DotA 2. On the subject of items and heroes, Valve has thrown in some very enjoyable dialogue features associating the two. Heroes now say short phrases relating to their interactions with other heroes, and as they acquire some of their core items. These little features really add a great sense of immersion and simply augments the already fantastic game.

However possibly the most important factor of DotA 2 is the dedicated engine created for its game style, unlike DotA where the game was built upon the engine of WC3. This dedicated engine sports a completely revamped UI, that grants focus to the important features of the game such as character abilities, items, health, mana and team status. The ability to view a detailed and in depth combat log that can increase your knowledge of the game, and better your skills. Easy to read name plates above heroes, and creeps that let you clearly see the enemy’s status. Now that the game is no longer restricted by the limitations of the WC3 engine all skill shots are much more smooth, and accurate. This is in regards to abilities such as Mirana’s Arrow and Pudge’s hook missing due to WC3 terrain issues. This engine is terrific and certainly provides many more improvements than just the ones that I have listed.

Albeit a very difficult game, and at times incredibly frustrating, DotA 2 is one of the most enjoyable games I have ever played. It can make you cry, laugh and even make you want to inflict harm on your teammates, but what keeps you coming is the enjoyment of playing a game that has such clean controls, ingenious tactics, and extreme competitiveness. I can safely say that Dota 2 is shaping up to be one hell of game.

- DAN

Assassin’s Creed^® III will hit store shelves on October 31, 2012, encouraging gamers to experience the American Revolutionary War not written about in history books.  The largest project in Ubisoft’s history also introduces a new hero for the ages.

With a development cycle of over three years and twice the production capacity of any previous Ubisoft game, Assassin’s Creed III is set to release on the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation^®3 computer entertainment system, Windows PC and is also in development for Wii U™ from Nintendo.Assassin’s Creed III is developed by Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with six other Ubisoft studios.

Set against the backdrop of the American Revolution in the late 18th century, Assassin’s Creed III introduces a new hero, Ratohnhaké:ton, of Native American and English heritage. Adopting the name Connor, he becomes the new voice for justice in the ancient war between the Assassins and Templars. Players become an Assassin in the war for liberty against ruthless tyranny in the most stylised and fluid combat experiences in the franchise to date. Assassin’s Creed III spans the Revolutionary War, taking gamers from the vibrant, untamed frontier to bustling colonial towns and the intense, chaotic battlefields where George Washington’s Continental Army clashed with the imposing British Army.

Assassin’s Creed III is powered by Ubisoft-AnvilNext, a revolutionary new game engine that delivers breakthroughs in visual quality, character models and artificial intelligence. Assassin’s Creed III will feature a ground-breaking level of stunning graphics that bring Colonial America to life.

“Assassin’s Creed III features the franchise’s most expansive setting so far, along with an exciting new hero and exponentially more gameplay,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “Whether you’re a longtime fan of Assassin’s Creed or if you’re new to the franchise, you’re going to be blown away by the scale and marvel of Assassin’s Creed III.”

Assassin’s Creed III also can be pre-ordered at UBIShop^® by visiting: http://shop.ubi.com/assassinscreed3

Collector’s Editions of Assassin’s Creed III will be available in Australia. More details will be unveiled by the end of March.

New artwork from Assassin’s Creed III also will be featured in Assassin’s Creed Recollection, the real-time board game for the iPad.

The Onza is Razer’s first endeavour into the world of console controllers, and a project that was in the works for over a year. While the design is based largely on Microsoft’s first-party controller, it tweaks some elements of the original and adds a number of new features of its own, specifically a set of bumpers which can be digitally mapped to perform the function of any other button, manually adjustable tension mechanisms on the thumb sticks to fine tune sensitivity to your liking             , low-profile hyper-responsive action buttons, and a d-pad that blends the form of the Xbox 360 controller’s with the four-button configuration of the PlayStation 3′s.

There are two different Onza models, the base version, which forgoes the adjustable thumb stick tension mechanisms and LED backlighting in exchange for a $10 discount off of the full-featured Tournament Edition, which retails for $49.99.

I was given the Battlefield 3 Tournament Edition Onza to check out, and although I can’t attest to the performance of the standard version’s thumb sticks, I can speak to the quality of just about everything else.

In terms of ergonomics, the design is largely similar to the first-party solution from Microsoft, though it is a lot lighter and the build feels a little cheaper. Still the handles feel great, and the textured finish gives players a solid grip during lengthy game sessions with very little irritation. The low-profile buttons are easier to access, and through their use of mechanical switches instead of standard membrane require less force to register activation. The mechanical design makes quick, lightning actions more effective and multiple taps register faster.

The same can be said for the Onza’s unique d-pad, which although uses a traditional membrane mechanism, is leaps and bounds over mushy Microsoft design, great for the Xbox’s retro games. With one button per each of the four core directions, quick taps are registered instantaneously, and since the buttons are wide and positioned closely together, it is also simple to depress two at once and achieve a diagonal command, making it versatile enough for both fighting games and retro platformers.

The triggers have also been designed to protrude further outward and upward, in theory to make them easier to hold onto. Although this feels rather uncomfortable to begin with they start to feel very natural after a short period, they also react significantly faster than its first party equivalent. During testing, my fingers more naturally gravitated toward the ends of the triggers, extending my index further than usual but this helped with rapid fire activation.

Then, of course, there is the adjustment system itself, which works pretty well. Just below each concave thumb stick pad is a twistable wheel with roughly 30 increments of tension, identified with a distinct click. Though one click to the left or right will not result in an immediately recognizable decrease or increase in tension, five or more can have a noticeable difference. The sticks start with a similar level of fluidity to the original 360 controller, but with the tension maxed out it can be pretty rigid.

Most importantly, though the utility of the physical tension adjustment system may clear for competitive players, it isn’t immediately apparent to the average gamer. In-game sensitivity settings are pretty much a standard feature for games at this point but in most cases they only provide a general option rather than individual sticks and don’t provide any actual physical difference.

As for the two additional remappable shoulder buttons, Razer has done a great job of positioning them in a way that preserves the accessibility of the two standard buttons, but making them near enough for speedy taps. Both sets of shoulder buttons have a distinct click, much like the action buttons, albeit a bit taller and more rounded. Though it does feel a little crowded at first much like most things on the Onza players will get used to it very quickly

The mapping system itself is also extremely easy to use. Underneath the controller there are two buttons along with an array of LED-illuminated indicators, which identify the function assigned to the mappable shoulder buttons. By default, the secondary buttons are assigned the same function as the regular bumpers, but they can also be programmed to function as A, B, X, Y, left or right stick buttons, either trigger, start, and back.

The remapping system also benefits one technical shortcoming of the tension adjustment system its impact on the left and right stick buttons. While the thumb sticks have a distinct inward click when centred, depressions are harder to identify when either stick is tilted in any direction, which can have an impact on your ability to melee while moving. Since chasing your prey is inherently tied to the subsequent stabbing or punching that follows, not being able to quickly push inwards can drastically impact your combat effectiveness.

Though the reduced responsiveness of the thumb stick buttons is certainly worrisome, the remapping system does compensate to a degree.

Some players may also find issue with the fact that the Onza is a wired controller, but it has been an official statement by Microsoft that they will not allow any third-party manufacturer to produce wireless controllers for the Xbox 360. Fortunately, however, Razer was kind enough to give players roughly 15 feet of USB cabling for plenty of room to roam.

Through it all, the Onza controller is easily one of my favourite Xbox 360 controller alternatives, but there are definitely some issues preventing it from being truly great. Competitive players will certainly gravitate to its high-performance, adjustable design, and there’s plenty to offer casual players as well, but most will likely prefer the comfort and familiarity of the first-party solution.

This week, 2K Games and Gearbox Software announced exciting news for gamers: that Borderlands2, the sequel to the multi-million unit selling breakout hit, would become available for Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and Windows-based PC September 18.

“Currently in development by Gearbox Software, Borderlands 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed four-player cooperative shooter-looter that combined intense first-person mayhem with role-playing game play,” reads Borderlands2.com.

The new game is great for both solo and group play. Borderlands 2 will allow friends to play with the split-screen feature and also features online drop-in abilities.

Even more exciting for gamers is that Borderlands 2 will reportedly feature new characters, skills, new environments as well as new missions and enemies. Additionally, new weapons will be featured in the sequel as well as new equipment and loot.

“All of these features come together in a story that takes players to the world of Pandora to take down the notorious Handsome Jack and his corrupt Hyperion Corporation as a solo campaign or with up to four cooperative players,” reads the website.

Gamers can pre-order Borderlands 2 from certain retailers. As a reward, gamers will gain access to the Borderlands 2 Premiere Club, allowing them to download the Gearbox Gun Pack, a Golden Key and the Vault Hunter’s Relic.

Publisher: EA

Release Date: February 7, 2012

Score: 7.5

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360,pC

The Short: Truly amazing gameplay, but other elements run short.

Unlike most RPG’s that boast amazing worlds with lush environments and characters that make the world feel so real, Amalur stands its self apart from other RPGs by provide the player with a fantastic gameplay experience that so little RPGs offer.

You start off my creating your character, in the way of customization; don’t get too excited, it’s no Skyrim. The story starts you of as a dead warrior who is brought back to life via a contraption known as the Well of Souls. This event has messed with the threads of fate in Amalur’s events, and of such you no longer have fate and because of this the laws of fate no longer apply to you in other words you are a blank slate with the freedom to progress in the game as you like. The main story arch will take you up to around 25 hours to complete, not including the side quests that will easy add up to 100 hours plus of solid combat it’s just a shame that the story is not as well executed as the gameplay.

If you could sum up reckoning gameplay in one word, it would be “extraordinary”. Reckonings combat is where the game really shines, as you are not tied to fate you are able to customize your character’s strengths and load out on the fly, so depending on how you equip your character and how you spend your skill points, you may find yourself wielding a long sword in addition a bow and arrow along with some daggers.  You have two weapon slots on which you and can equip anything. As you level up, you earn moves that make you even more powerful, letting you string your moves into combos. You occasionally while you’re in combat you will get the chance to enter the games reckoning mode and activate an extremely awesome finishing kill on the many well designed enemies you encounter.  You will also be picking up loot (amour, swords health potions) along your journey.

Bashing skulls in and killing things isn’t the only thing you will be doing along your travels you will also be conversing with many characters in reckoning, voice acting is top notch with lots of well scripted dialogue which can’t be said for the lip syncing which are shockingly bad, they look like something from an old Japanese film . Reckoning visuals boast a cartoony look but not in same charm as games like fable. Environments look lush and beautiful, the game won’t win any awards any time soon but it does the job. One thing that should be noted is that the Amalur world isn’t exactly open like Skyrim, you can go anywhere you like but as non-linearly as other games.

To sum up reckoning you get superb gameplay, a story that you in all likely hood forget about and about 100 hours plus of side quests. If you’re looking for a game to fill your time and that has strong gameplay that very few RPGs offer, than by all means add reckoning to your list of games to buy.

The date was given in a financial call to investors today. Details regarding the game are minute at this point, but it will star a new protagonist. Various locations have been rumored over recent months, with Egypt, China, and America during the Revolutionary period the running favorites. The French Revolution has also been mentioned.

Ubisoft also announced during its call to investors today that 7 million copies of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations shopped during the company’s Q3 ending December 31.

The announcement of the title’s launch was supposed to arrive tomorrow afternoon, Europe time. Ubisoft responded to the leak by moving the official release of the cinematic footage forward to today.

The Assassin’s Creed game follows last year’s Revelations, which rounded off Ezio Auditore’s plot arc.

Retailer Future Shop had tweeted earlier this week Sony unveiled the game as DSPS, which was then followed up of a banner showing the game’s logo and Sackboy underneath it.

No developer has been confirmed for the project as yet.

Developer: EA

Publisher: EA

Release Date: February 10, 2012

Score: 7.5

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360

The Short: Everything is in place for a truly epic tennis title.  It just needs refining a little more.

The textures are a little lacking, the lighting way to bright and washed out and the crowds are somewhat generic.  Not to mention that the crowds rarely exhibit the enthusiasm being portrayed by the games crowd noise audio track.The final niggle on the graphics front for me is the seemingly stiff nature of each characters sternum.  The entire torso just seems rigid and it makes the fluid arm and legs animations seem a little out of place.  This is not such an issue when you’re in play but when you get replays and close-ups it just jars.Whilst I talk of replay this game is crying out for an “upload a replay / match” type feature.  Many times I had an epic rally to pound a winner from some incredible angle and win a point.  It would have been great to have shared that with the world for bragging rights.The inclusion of actual running commentary during the match is a bonus and a bugbear.  The vocal talents of legendary players and real-life commentators Pat Cash and John McEnroe works incredibly well.  The riffing off each other and interaction between them is natural and great to hear.  Unfortunately you soon start hearing the same lines over and over.  Especially if you are playing a certain way – for instance charging the net a lot.  It’s a nice addition and the guys are superb but you’ll be sick of it in a couple of hours at the most.  I also feel, having played a lady for a large amount of the game, some of the comment might be a little on the non-PC side at times – depends on your sensibilities if that’s something that bothers you.Multiplayer is included as you’d expect and works well.  The ability to take part in global tournaments is great fun and the tickers on the game inform you of how matches have been going.  Online play is smooth for the most part but playing people from further away with patchy Internet speeds sometimes means balls freezing for a few moments and other lag issues that can hamper play.  for the most part though this does not severely hamper the game and online is great fun.  You are free to use your own creation in the multiplayer but, unless you’ve invested significant time upgrading them, you’re at a disadvantage.  Most are using the licensed pros on the courts.

Final Thoughts

As it stands Grand Slam Tennis 2 offers the definitive control scheme of any tennis title.  Utilising some smart design choices means that from the point of view of recreating the game of tennis, this title probably nudges up the bar.  The game is unfortunately saddled with a shallow career mode and a difficulty curve that appears to be a little more lenient than perhaps it should be.  The missed opportunity of uploading games, rallies and replays is a glaring omission.

Offering an immediacy missing in most tennis coupled with the licensing and showmanship you’ve come to expect from EA.  Grand Slam Tennis 2 is solid recommendation for all tennis fans and sports enthusiasts alike.

Grand Slam Tennis 2 is a superb example of why there should be a Grand Slam Tennis 3.  Everything is in place for a truly epic tennis title.  It just needs refining a little more.  Luckily sequels and refining sports titles are two areas that EA excel in so I have very high hopes for the next title.

Activision Blizzard did not disclose exact sales numbers for the ever prevalent Modern Warfare 3, but it did tout the game’s social platform, Call of Duty: Elite. As of January 31, the service now has 7 million registered users, with more than 1.5 million of those gamers signing up for the $50 premium tier.

Low and behold, the company confirmed that a new installment in the Call of Duty franchise will be released in 2012, to the shock of investors and gamers alike. The company also said that it is working on Elite 2.0, with details coming in the next few months.

It also appears as if Activision Blizzard’s gamble on the toy market is paying off. The company called Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure the No. 1 kid’s game in 2011, and it also said that it sold more than 20 million toys based on the franchise with them selling out completely over the Christmas period. The company expects to release a new installment in the series, Skylanders Giants, in 2012.

Blizzard Entertainment offered a bit of disappointing news. The company no longer expects to launch its anticipated action role-playing game Diablo III during the first quarter of the year. Blizzard’s Michael Morhaime said that the company is now targeting an April-June release window for the game. It will be accompanied by at least one other game–likely Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm or World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (Yes thats the crazy ninja panda one).

The company also said that World of Warcraft continues to shed subscribers. The genre-leading massively multiplayer online role-playing game finished the year with 10.2 million subscribers, down from 10.3 million at the end of September. Most likely due to the release of Bioware giant Star Wars: The Old Republic

But this story started prior to the NASDAQ drama and last week’s uninspiring holiday quarter earnings report. We recently received an anonymous letter purporting to represent “current and ex-employees, shareholders, and the public,” and signed by “The Formerly Mismanaged.” It’s lengthy–and unsubstantiated–so I’m not going to repost it here. If you’re interested, though, I’ve posted it here. (THQ had not responded to a request for comment on this letter as of press time.)

Disgruntled is the tone, and the grievances are damning. To briefly recount the author’s points, THQ is being, and has been for years, mismanaged into oblivion. The author is particularly incensed about the uDraw tablet, which found a measure of success on the Wii in 2010 but was DOA for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2011. Nearly three dozen–or what the author calls an entire business unit–were sacked as a result.

Humorously, in a gallows sense of the term, The Formerly Mismanaged painted a rosier picture than the actual circumstances of the matter. THQ said last week that, combined with its exit from the kids’ games business and backing off of licensed properties, 10 percent of the company had been laid off, or about 240 people.

Do I have confidence that THQ can pull this turnaround off? Well, an exchange from THQ’s post-earnings conference call last week was telling. When asked by Arcadia Investments analyst John Taylor what the company’s contingency plan is, should the core games shift not pan out, president and CEO Brian Farrell responded:

“In terms of readjusting our strategy, the word we’ve used is adjusted. The whole ‘building the core games strategy with a digital ecosystem around it’ is something we’ve been talking about for a while. As I said in my prepared remarks, we were looking at uDraw as a bridge to this core and digital future, and that bridge turned out to be a plank that we walked off of. That said, it accelerated the need to go in this direction. We’re very comfortable based on what’s happened with Saints Row and WWE–if we continue to do that type of game going forward on the much lower cost structure and build the higher margin digital revenues around that, we’re confident in the future.”

As Taylor astutely pointed out, “The implication of that is fewer, bigger, which means the risk of failure is amplified as well.” But all I heard was, “Plan B? What do you mean? This is Plan B.”

Enjoy!

[11:06 AM] Stream has just started up, Today they’ll be showing off 3 new titles: FIFA street, Grand Slam Tennis 2 aswell as SSX.

[11:10 AM] Sid Misra (Line Producer) and Gary Paterson (Creative Director) have been introduced and are just talking a little bit about the game (FIFA Street) and how the fundamentals work.

[11:12 AM] Gary Paterson has revealed that this will be running on the FIFA gameplay engine.

[11:13 AM] They are just showing how you can use the new trick system to draw the defender out. The trick system is shown as a very simple but responsive flick of the left stick whilst holding the left trigger. They also show how they have incorporated the ‘Nutmeg’ as well as the walls into the game. That can be played in 37 different locations.

[11:16 AM] There is 5 game modes : 5 – A side , 6- A side, Futsal aswell as Last Man standing they also have a custom gameplay mode.

[11:18 AM] They have just passed over to Sid Misra who is going to explain the main game mode : World Tour.

[11:23 AM] They are now showing off their Lionel Messi trailer. (Mainly consists of showing off the varied locations with a heavy dose of tricks aswell.)

[11:25 AM] Gary Paterson is now booting up the demo and is going to walk us through the basic controls.

[11:28 AM] There is an obvious focus on the Trick System, this looks like it will work very well with the game which is mainly focused on 1v1, one defender versus one attacker.

[11:31 AM] The definitely seem to have definitely focused on in-depth research, going to many of the main capitals of street football : Brazil,Amsterdam as-well as London

[11:34 AM] There is quite alot of variation between different game modes such as a first to 5 or just who is the most stylish on the field.

[11:39 AM] They’re now showing off the World Tour mode. This is a mode where you create your own player and own team and take on the world.

[11:42 AM] In usual FIFA style you can put points into different skills such as diving headers and more elaborate tricks.

[11:46 AM] They’re now announcing that if you pre-order you’ll receive the Adidas all star team as-well as an exclusive location, a Brazilian plaza personally chosen by Lionel Messi (Also announced as the cover player.)

[11:50 AM] This is the end of the FIFA Street section of the stream, next up is Grand Slam Tennis 2. Also FIFA street is set for a March release this year.

[12:01 PM] Ok so now we’ve just started up the Grand Slam Tennis 2 section. They are just running through the main points of the game : Total Racket Control, PS Move support aswell as the Pro A.I.

[12:07 PM] February 9th is the release date for Grand Slam Tennis 2 for Australia and New Zealand, They are just running through the menus very similar to FIFA 12.

[12:11 PM] Running through the simple control system in the new Practice Court Mode.

[12:13 PM] Now showing off the PS Move, they’ve definitely tried to get the most accurate representation of Tennis with the Move control system.

[12:15 PM] They’ve loaded up a singles game Andy Murray vs Tsonga at Rod Laver Arena. They have tried extremely hard to get the most accurate representation even with the locations with up to date clothing and uniforms they’ve definitely gone all out with this to try and create the most realistic tennis game

[12:28 PM] Just about to wrap up the Grand Slam Tennis 2 part of the stream out in Stores February 9th

[12:38 PM] SSX is just being brought up and is set to be released March 1st in Australia and New Zealand.

[12:40 PM] 3 different modes Race It, Trick It, Survive It in 9 different mountain ranges

[12:43 PM] They have definitely focused on multiplayer by taking several aspects of Criterion’s Need For Speed multiplayer aswell as a Google Earth style interface for navigating the Main Menus

[12:48 PM] They really captured that feel of speed when rushing down a gigantic mountain and the deadliness of some of the survival areas with giant crevices. They also have a very simple rewind mode to keep that speed you have if you crash. Just a correction it’s March 2nd for New Zealand

[12:54 PM] Now they’re showing off the wingsuit deadly decent which is a different mode where you actually control the player from a top down view looking at their face in a reverse camera style. It seems a little awkward but they promise that there is many tutorials and easy runs that introduce
the reverse camera.

[12:58 PM] Now showing off the wingsuit, an interesting feature that is incorporated into many of the maps. Definitely looks like alot of fun.

[1:02 PM] They’ve also introduced an interesting thing called a GeoTag. A little collectible you can place down in rewind mode. Once placed it gains you points until another racer picks it up again. Now showing off the RiderNet similar to the Autolog from criterion this manages all your friends high scores as-well as your own.

[1:16 PM] Just about to wrap up thanks for reading hope you enjoyed the coverage.

Publisher: EA

Release Date: December 6 2011

Score: 9.0

Platforms:XBox 360, PS3, PC

The Short: An absolutely amazing experience that everyone should try.

There has been a steady flow of downloadable content lately be it car packs in Forza 4, or campaign and multi-player map packs for Gears of War 3, or DLC for Resistance 3 to name a few. We can now add Battlefield 3 to that growing list of games with its Back to Karkand multiplayer DLC.

What you’re getting here really isn’t new. If you’ve played Battlefield 2, then you’ll be pretty familiar with the offerings of this dlc. Included in the package are old friends and fan favorites alike. The package includes:

• 4 fan favorite maps revisited: Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island, and Sharqi Peninsula
• 10 weapons: Two per class with the remainder being available for all classes.
• 4 vehicles: F-35B, BTR-90, DPV buggy, Skip Loader
• 1 game mode: Conquest Assault

If you have the Limited Edition of the game, all of this wonderful DLC will be yours for the low, low price of nada. On XBL you’re going to be paying 1200 points.

The biggest difference to the maps by far are the upgraded visuals and destruction effects. The maps are just as they ever were – save for some little tweaks here and there. If you’ve played them before, you will know what to expect. As I stated above, the destruction has been upped dramatically as well as the overall visuals showing once again just how good an engine Frostbite 2 is.

The real question is should you get it. If you have a redeem code from your original purchase then I don’t know why you’re reading this. It’s free, go get it. For those of you who are on the fence about a purchase, I think you should ask yourself whether the cost is worth it versus the amount of time you play. If you play a significant amount, then by all means get it. If you only play every so often, I’d hold off and see if a price drop comes along. If that changes and you find yourself playing more, then don’t hesitate.

There’s a lot of content in this package (a lot more and of better quality than other dlc offerings) and while it isn’t exactly new, what’s there is good. Tried and true can be just as good an option as brand new. In the case of Back to Karkand, the familiar is brought to life with a fresh new look but packs the same thrills.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading back in.

lead Neil Druckmann tweeted last night the roles of both main character in the game, Ellie would be played by Ashley Johnson and Joel by Troy Baker.

Troy Baker is know for his voice work as Snow in Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2, Vincent in Catherine, Two-Face in Arkham City and Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite.

Its also been revealed that former lead designer on Enslaved, Mark Richard Davies, is working on the project.

The Last of Us has no release date yet and is an exclusive for PS3.

Previously confirmed to be a prequel to MGS4 , it’ll now actually take place after the events in Guns of the Patriots, with Raiden returning to his ninja form.

Quinton Flynn, Raiden’s voice actor also makes an appearance, despite his concerns earlier this year that he may not be involved with the title.

Metal Gear Rising launches on PS3, 360 and PC in 2012.

Trailer below.

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Release Date: November 11 2011

Score: 9.5

Platforms:XBox 360, PS3, PC

The Short: An absoloutely amazing experience that everyone should try.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is much like a road trip across a country, extremely long but extremely enjoyable. Skyrim is possibly one of the greatest games you will ever play; with so much to do and feel like you need and want to do them. Unlike the previous games you actually feel compelled to complete the main story line, not only has the main story been upgraded so has many other things such as dungeons which used to be such a drag with very low rewards but now they are suspenseful story driven treasure troves just screaming out to be plundered. But overall possibly the best improvement to the Elder Scrolls series is the combat and how versatile it is the fact that you can instantly change from being a straight up mage to a great sword wielding knight is absolutely amazing combined with the excellent perks system which gives you the ability to select perks that are actually helpful and interesting. Skyrim is definitely the game to beat in this year’s game of the year competition.

One thing the Elder Scrolls has been absolutely great it in each game made is fantastic storytelling providing you with in-depth and interesting characters but they weren’t really that interesting of stories and you did feel like you were repeating yourself quite often. None of that happens in Skyrim your opportunities are endless as in the other games you can skip the main quest and build your own story but unlike the other games you feel compelled to complete the story to gain access to better shouts and stronger equipment. The game throws you into the world shrouded by chaos; you learn the High King of Skyrim was killed by a rebel leader who happens to be on the same prisoner transport as you. After you finally get to take in and ponder what is happening in the world you get sent to your death at the chopping blocks. From there the thrill ride begins and doesn’t seem to end until you set your controller down or you turn of that PC, this seems like it would just leave you drained and tired after the whole ordeal but it doesn’t, it keeps the magic until you’ve completed the very last quest and then leaves you wanting to do it all over again.

Possibly the best thing in Skyrim is the brand new combat system and how versatile it is, giving you the ability to switch combat personas almost instantaneously. This is mainly due to the new skill/perk system giving you the option to place points into magic instantly even though you are a warrior and if you don’t like being a mage then you can switch to being an archer just like that, and these perks are desirable as well such as daggers do 15x damage when sneaking (Particularly helpful for you assassin’s out there.) Not only do the perks work well the combat itself feels good especially when the camera zooms out to get a full view of you delivering the final blow, the combat suits all types of players with different advantages and disadvantages, wearing heavy armor and wielding a great sword deals tremendous amounts of damage and keeps you safe but when dealing with smaller faster enemies or with ones that deal tremendous amount of damage movement is seriously impaired on the flip side duel wielding daggers works great giving you high damage in quick succession but taking on a dragon whilst wearing leather is not the best idea.

Another thing that has changed from the previous games is the voice acting now instead of the same 4 voices spread over the thousands of NPCs you have a variety of personalities from the 70 different actors. As in usual Elder Scroll form Skyrim has an absolutely fantastic sound track that makes wandering through the pristine forests or snowy tundra’s a more enjoyable choice than just fast travelling around the world. There are many new activities to do around the world such as smith your own armor or brew your own potions maybe even enchant that old hunk of steel you call a helm, each of these activities have their own skill trees, level progressions and many have their own quests.

One of the many fantastic things about Skyrim is just how amazingly beautiful the world is, staring out into the distant mountains and seeing a dragon swooping around at sunset almost makes you forget that the fact that the dragon will probably eat you now you let it get so close. Not only does the world look great everything looks great the character models look fantastic the animals and dragons look majestic even the minor things like fruit and other guff lying around ones house looks absolutely sublime. One of the major points Bethesda were boasting about was if you saw a mountain far out in the distance you could climb it and there’d be something great on top whether it be gear or just a fantastic view, a hard concept to wrap your head around but it’s true if you see a ruined temple out in the distance you can go explore it and find out the stories hidden within its walls and the game makes you actually want to go and do so.

But not all is well and good with Skyrim as most Bethesda games do Skyrim is plagued by what seems to be coined as “The Bethesda Bugs.” Things like falling down into a gap which seems to have an exit but is blocked by invisible rocks, Mammoths spawning in midair and falling to their doom, coming home to find all your furniture has despawned leaving a massive mess just lying on the ground. Weirdly enough these bugs don’t actually detract from the game, whether you see it happening to your friend or you see it on the internet it makes you want to go play the game so you can laugh at it yourself. Never the less even though these bugs can sometimes add to the game by giving you a laugh during a suspenseful game they are still bugs which can get frustrating.

Skyrim is definitely Game of the year material and is a savior to the dying breed of old school RPG’s. Fantastic and in-depth storyline, great characters, epic looking monsters beautiful landscapes, serene towns, humorous bugs, fantastic combat and a humongous amount of things to do all join together to make possibly the best game this year and definitely the best RPG this year.

Trailer below.

Watch the trailer below.

Publisher: Ubisoft

Release Date: Nov 15 2011

Score: 7.5

Platforms:PC,Xbox 360, PS3

The Short: The latest edition to the Assassin’s Creed Series is the same formula and a disappointing installment

In a time where so many brilliant games are being released, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations proves to be a mildly entertaining game, but fails to really add anything new to the formula and bring itself to the level of some of the other great games that have been released recently. As you play Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, a question might come to your head. That question will most likely be “Hey, didn’t I do this exact same thing in Rome last year?”However, the game does manage to add a few new things into the mix, such as the addition of a hook-blade, which provides a new way to get around or face your enemies,and the Tower Defence game play is somewhat enjoyable the first time around but ends up becoming quite tedious and annoying . The multiplayer has been refined with new modes added, although it still feels very similar to the previous game.

You start the game directly where you finished off in the last game, but now Desmond is in a coma like state and the only thing keeping you alive is the Animus. For Desmond to escape his imprisonment in the Animus, he must go through three memories and separate each one.The scenes on Animus Island seem extremely out-of-place and unnecessary and leave many confused as to what the place actually is, me being one of them. Throughout the game you play as Ezio following the footsteps of Altair in the attempt to find his personal library which holds the secret to saving the world from the doom that was foretold at the end of Assassin’s Creed 2. You play most of the game in Constantinople and, like in Brotherhood, you try to rebuild the city to its former glory. Sadly, there isn’t enough variety in the activities to  keep you very interested. You just seem to be doing the same thing you did in Rome even to the extent of burning down the Templar towers.

The tower-defence game mode, which leaves Ezio peering over a roof into the street below and commanding your assassins to shoot at the oncoming waves of Templars in a tower defence like fashion is an odd addition to the game which feels extremely out-of-place and seems to ruin the feeling of Ezio being the assassin’s mentor where in other missions you are able to take on almost twice as many opponents just by yourself. People have been waiting for years to see a lid placed on Desmond’s storyline but sadly, they leave it on another cliff-hanger. Overall, the main storyline for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations isn’t nearly interesting enough or diverse enough to keep most players interested over the span of the game, although it does finally cap off Ezio’s storyline.

Much like the rest of the game, the multiplayer component of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations has not really been changed from the previous game. Although the addition of new game modes and the long-awaited demise of the radar pointing towards one’s enemy are very nice. New maps and new characters are also tossed into the mix, but all of this seems like it could have been done with patches and DLC packages. Assassin’s Creed multiplayer was always an interesting subject and it still is, and, unlike most games, they at least attempt to add in some form of storyline into the multiplayer.

It seems to be the kind of thing that you might just try for a couple of hours when bored or with a group of friends. The multiplayer section like most of the game hasn’t changed that much from the previous game and leaves you thinking “Shouldn’t there be something else new here?” Still, as it happened in the last game, you find yourself stalking your prey but also frantically checking over your shoulder in suspense just to check if a citizen suddenly starts to sprint towards you. The multiplayer can be a very entertaining thing.

One thing that has changed from the previous games are the visuals and sound design. Assassin’s Creed has always been a series that did a wonderful job of presenting you with extremely beautiful landscapes and cities which you could wander around and explore whilst being spurred on by fantastic ambience music. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations doesn’t disappoint in this, with even the dingy back corners of the city looking utterly beautiful and with another fantastic soundtrack by Jaspyr Kid playing just at the right moments. The music and visuals really pick up for some of the games weaker points and are often placed in just the right time to add a sense of emotion and feeling to the game.

All in all Assassin’s Creed: Revelations certainly isn’t a bad game as it clearly does the exact same thing that made the first three games fantastic, but it will leave many fans of the series wanting more and wondering why they didn’t release this next year with more content instead. The multiplayer, as in the previous game, won’t keep you busy for long but what it does it does brilliantly, keeping you on your toes and clenching your teeth in suspense, not knowing if your pursuer will jump down from the roof top and put an end to your life. Never the less it puts a tight cap on Ezio’s storyline giving hope to fans that they will eventually get that game which finishes Desmond’s story.

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: Sony

Release Date: November 3 2011

Score: 9.5

Platforms:PS3

The Short: Nathan Drake is back for another cinematic adventure with a great single player campaign with unforgettable characters and a fun multiplayer experience

Nathan Drake is back for another cinematic adventure in his third instalment, Uncharted 3 Drake’s Deception. If you’ve played the previous instalments then you know what to expect from this game, great story and gameplay, thrown together with an improved multiplayer and co-op.

The Story this time round see’s Nathan Drake on another adventure looking for the Atlantis of the sands, a lost city of unimaginable wealth hidden within the desert, but he’s not the only one looking for the city. The campaign has a more father and son feels this time round as you will spending a majority of the time parred with Victor “Sully” Sullivan as you go along a string of noteworthy set pieces, such as getting sucked out of a falling cargo plane, escaping from a burning house or discovering secrets from Drakes past. Voice acting and character performance is once again outstanding with notable remarks towards the heartfelt performance of the relationship between Drake and his mentor Sully.

All these great performances would have gone to waste if not for the amazing visuals. You won’t find the substantial leap in visuals that Uncharted to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was but it’s still one of the most visually impressive looking console games out there. The attention to detail is what really draws you in, the way sand grips to the strands in drake’s hair, to the way fire realistically flickers and bounces from walls in a burning house.

Gameplay hasn’t changed dramatically from the last; you will be hiding in cover, climbing and shooting bad guys down with an array of new and old weapons. Hand-to-hand combat has been greatly improved with more emphasis on countering your enemy’s attacks, you have to hit triangle to dodge attacks and tap circle to get out of the enemy grasp, at the end of a successful takedown you will be complemented with a slow-mo of you finishing your opponent. Stealth has also had an overall it’s much easier to pull off stealth takedown this time round unlike in previous instalments. My only gripe with the singleplayer would that the enemy A.I could be greatly improved; the A.I at times will come out of cover at times for no reason or will just stand around forgetting you’re even there, but this doesn’t mean that for most of you
adventure they won’t test you. Puzzles also make a pleasant return to help take a break from all the shooting, puzzles aren’t too hard or too easy that it feels tedious and you will be given clues from Drake’s journal to help guide you through them.

Uncharted’s offering of multiplayer has been dramatically revamped. There have been A LOT of new features added into the multiplayer this time around.

There are 3 main new features. The first is the buddy system; this allows you to spawn on your buddy, and high-five each other for extra cash. The second is that there are treasures to collect on multiplayer maps, treasure chests will randomly spawn on the map, if you collect these you get 3 medals towards your medal kickback. Also when you kill an enemy some will randomly drop a treasure which you can pick up, collect a certain amount of these and you complete a treasure set, which unlocks items for your character. The third is Power Plays, in team-death match, if your team is losing, for a limited amount of time your team will get a boost to try and get you back in the game, while the other team earns more cash to buy mods, boosters, etc.

Uncharted 2 had a little customisation with two booster selections, (which enhance certain aspects of your character, like faster climbing, extra mods, etc.) but this time around they have expanded on that immensely. You can still select two boosters, but they now level up three times the more you use them. As well as having boosters you can also choose a medal kickback. You achieve medals by killing enemies in certain ways, once you have achieved the required amount of medals you can activate your kickback. Medal Kickbacks can range from spawning a RPG in your hands to vanishing into a puff of smoke and teleporting to another area of the map. The other biggest feature is Mods. Basically you can chose one mod for your primary and secondary  guns, these range from a bigger clip, faster rate of fire, faster reload, etc.

Besides choosing custom loadouts, you can also customise your characters looks, voice, taunt and emblem. The character customisation is pretty good, but the emblem options are basic, coming first in a game means it is displayed all throughout the map.

There are 11 maps, but disappointingly 4 of them are from Uncharted 2, for some reason. For team-death match each map has a unique cinematic feature to them. For example on Underground London, you will be fighting on a moving train before moving onto the main level. Besides team-death match there is also three-team death match, which pits 3 teams of two against each other, Team objective, Plunder, which is like Capture the flag, Free-for-all, and a Hardcore mode for those of you who don’t like the idea of Mods, Medal kickbacks and boosters.

The worst thing plaguing the multiplayer at the moment, is that the punch will lunge at you from absurd distances sometimes, which is quite annoying.

Now for the 3 player co-op. The game still has the co-op adventure maps, including five, which are bite sized levels that have their own story separate from the single-player. There is also co-op arena, which is basically a horde mode, which I feel is a downgrade from Uncharted 2’s as it cycle’s through the co-op modes, not allowing you to play just survival, or just siege, etc.  There also isn’t a score multiplier in this anymore which was a shame. The other co-op mode is called hunter, which is basically co-op arena except there are also 2 real human players on the AI team versing 2 of you. I have mixed opinions on this mode.

In the end what you get for your money is a great single player campaign with unforgettable characters and a fun multiplayer experience. Even though at times it can feel like you’ve have been there and done that, this is one game that is not to be missed.

Publisher: Sony

Release Date: October 20th 2011

Score: 6.5

                                    Platforms: PS3

The Short: DanceStar PARTY is a new game, by the creators of the wildly popular SingStar, for the Play station 3’s Move.

DanceStar PARTY is a new game, by the creators of the wildly popular SingStar, for the Play station 3’s Move. Games like Dance Central 2 have set the bar for when it comes to dancing games, and while DanceStar PARTY is a fun game with a bunch of people it just doesn’t stand up to the likes of Dance Central 2 and others.

DanceStar PARTY comes with over 160 routines and 40 tunes on the disk, that range from old classics like; Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas and Finally by CeCe Peniston to modern-day hits like Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO and OMG by Usher. The song selection feels pretty  good and all have great dancing beats and catchy tunes. The routines are good for most of the songs and feel appropriate with some matching the dance moves from the music video.

The menus are fairly simple to navigate involving 3 main sections; Dance Now, Party and Dance Create. While the menu and UI is simple, when selecting a song if you over move the controller it will send it quickly going through the songs and can be a bit annoying going back through
the songs.

In the Dance Now mode you can dance – and sing – either solo or with a friend. Here you can dance through a routine for the whole song on Beginner, Intermediate or Professional. Or if you’re not feeling up to going through the whole song you can dance a shorter version but
this just abruptly ends the song at the bridge. The way it is presented is quite simple and very easy to just get straight into it. On the left you can
shuffle between the music video, real-time playback of your dancing and photographed highlights. In the middle there is a person dancing the routine and all you have to do is mirror his/her moves. On the right pictures indicating the next move scroll across. When the song finishes you will receive a final score and be given a 5-star rating, from here you can choose to save the video of you dancing to your HDD or upload it to the community gallery or post highlights to facebook/twitter. Playing with a friend is how this game is meant to be played – hence the ‘party’ in the title. With a friend you can perform a dual routine or battle it off to see who the best dancer is. The dual routines especially shine because these actually incorporate both of you and you’ll have to do certain moves together, not just perform the same solo routine next to each other. The problem with DanceStar Party is you don’t have to put in your whole body, to get good results all you have to do is move the hand with the Move controller. As for feedback on your dancing, it’s quite simple and could have been more robust, all you get during the song is ‘ok, awesome, flawless, etc.’ Pop ups telling you how you’re doing. At the end you get a 5-star rating and that’s it, which is fine and all for people who are casual and just want to muck around, but it just won’t cut it for experienced dancers.

In the Party Mode you can sing/dance with up to a whopping 20 friends, this just involves passing the Move controller around. Being surrounded by any amount of friends will push you to do well and so it’s fun you’ll want to complete the moves properly and not slack off and just use the hand with the Move hand.

The last modes Dance Studio lets you record and play your own dance routines, practice the in-game routines and endure exhausting workouts. Don’t like the routine for your favourite song? Well then you’re in luck, here you can record new solo and dual routines for every song and play them to achieve high-scores. This works fine, but I would’ve liked it if the original routine played while recording your new routine. Practicing the
routines works how you would expect it and just breaks down each part in the song. In Dance Workouts you can create a calorie-burning exercise with 3 of your favourite songs. Every time you move the controller a metre fills up counting how many calories you’re losing, I’m not sure how accurate this is though.

Overall DanceStar PARTY is an okay party gamewhen you have a few friends over that want to muck around, but it won’t satisfy dance gaming veterans. Solo players can try to reach high-scores, but as withany party game this is meant to be played with friends. The game has a good
variety of songs and routines for the most part. Overall this game doesn’t doanything new for the dancing genre, it’ll provide a fun time for those casual players, but won’t provide any proper feedback for those who want to learn to actually dance.

Developer: DICE

Publisher: EA

Release Date: October 25th 2011

Score: 8.5

Platforms: PS3,Xbox360,PC

The Short:Battlefield 3 boasts one of the best ever multiplayer tactical experiences and will be the shooter to beat this year.

Battlefield is a series synonymous with creating epic battlegrounds and combining them with immersive gameplay that really makes you feel like you’re in the heat of the battle, Battlefield 3 manages to live up to the series’ reputation with only a few tarnishes .Battlefield 3 has followed in the footsteps of the Bad Company series by having a single player campaign instead of Battlefield’s old style of multiplayer with AI to replace actual players. Sadly Battlefield 3’s campaign fails to show off the charm and wit of Dice’s writers like the past 2 games. On the upside the competitive multiplayer is extremely reminiscent of previous games being extremely addicting and managing to promote cooperation as a squad. As usual the multiplayer experience incorporates both soldier and vehicular combat like no other series has managed to.

The battlefield 3 single player campaign follows the flashbacks of a US marine whilst being interrogated by an unknown US government agency. Sgt Blackburn has to explain himself after he raises an alert about a covert government operative, who goes by the name ‘Solomon’, Sgt Blackburn believes Solomon has stolen 3 nuclear weapons and plans to blow up both Paris and New York. You play as Henry Blackburn through a series of flashbacks of him and his squad trying to quell outbreaks of terrorist activities in Iraq, with the occasional protagonist switch to participate in the only jet sequence in the campaign where you only take control of the gunners seat or take the gunners seat of a Humvee. Granted there is a single mission where you take complete control over a tank passing across a serene desert only to be greeted by several hostile APCs that only seem to move in circles waiting to be destroyed. The campaign attempts to make some form of impact but seams to ‘steal’ its high intensity moments from other shooters of its kind and the one or two emotional moments seem to have been half-heartedly thrown in there to add variety Sadly Battlefield 3 fails to provide a satisfying campaign and only gives out a poor generic on-rails corridor military FPS.

You probably won’t find yourself hanging around in the single player for very long after you get into your first online game. The competitive online multiplayer provides one of the most immersive and exhilarating experiences one could find on the market today, with 9 different modes and 9 different maps to choose from combined with 6 Co-Op missions multiplayer can keep you entertained for hours on end. All the guns sound and feel brilliant and the satisfaction you get from gunning down that pesky sniper is fantastic. In usual battlefield style there are a multitude of vehicles as well ranging from jets to jeeps to helicopters all the vehicles feel like you’re actually driving or flying the real thing, when you hit the ground after some hang-time on a Humvee it really feels like you’re driving a real car. Players are rewarded for working together and even more so if you work as a squad, the class selection and kit customization is extremely detailed meaning that no one soldier is the same as the next one. Not only can you choose from a secondary and a primary weapon you also have the ability to select different perks that boost your sprinting time or increased resistance to explosions, as well as some nifty gadgets like the all-time classic defibrillator or maybe some nice bricks of C4. Whether or not you chose to customize your weapons and gear you can be safe to say that every experience on the battlefield will vary drastically from player to player.

Battlefield 3 is the first game ever to show off the potential of DICE’s new Frostbite 2 engine boasting a new and improved destruction engine as well as hyper-realistic graphics. The graphics and destructible environments aren’t the only thing Battlefield 3 shows off; supreme sound effects and great voice acting provide a little relief from the dry campaign and add even more realism and immersion into the multiplayer experience. Battlefield 3 feels like a good game with the minor glitch here or there it has an easy to master control system and all the guns and vehicles handle like they are the real thing and sound like they’re the real thing coupled with the new graphics engine in Frostbite 2 Battlefield 3 looks like one of the prettiest and realistic games out there on the market today. The game’s sights are best enjoyed on a recently constructed gaming computer, although it still looks and feels sublime on any other console.

Battlefield 3 does well to live up to the family name but is weighed down by a sluggish and generic campaign, you would be doing the best by yourself if you skip the single player campaign and stick to either the co-operative multiplayer or competitive multiplayer.

Publisher: Sony

Release Date: October 18th 2011

Score: 7.5

Platforms:PS3

The Short: Insomniac is back once again with another fine instalment of their best selling Ratchet and Clank series, but things are different this time round.

Insomniac is back once again with another fine instalment of their best selling Ratchet and Clank series, but things are different this time round. You will be teaming up with Captain Qwark and Dr. Nefarious.  The story kicks you off where the events of “Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time” left off , Dr Nefarious is still alive and has set a trap for Ratchet, Clank and captain Qwark, but things go awry as a mysterious machine captures them and leaves them stranded on a world home to some of the rarest and most deadliest creatures in the galaxy. The story is full of humorous moments that will have you in stitches and will want to make you keep playing just to find out what happens to these loveable bunch of misfits and who’s behind it all.

The Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One is primary a multiplayer experience first and foremost and this is where the game really shines.  This is the first time in the Ratchet and Clank series that introduces four player co-operative side by side with a friend, by yourself or online drop in and out gameplay. This system runs smooth and with little show of frame rate drops at all. The down side to this four-player gameplay is that the fixed camera is so restricted that boundaries and enemies are cut off. If you are thinking of playing this by yourself, an AI companion tags along to help you with puzzle solving and combat, your AI companion is usually smart enough not to hinder your process but can kill itself way too many times by falling of ledges or get caught in objects in the environment forcing you to restart the level.

If you were expecting the same sort of gameplay like in previous in instalments you will be sorely disappointed no longer will you be playing in the traditional third-person view depend on the traverse of the environment you will be playing from aerial viewpoint. This means the controls have also changed the right analog stick is now relegates to weapon select, instead of being able to aim at your enemies you have to contend with a lock-on system that doesn’t always pick the enemy you want to shoot at. To make things more complicated by a co operative system that rewards you by shooting the same target which isn’t as easy to pull off with the lock-on system.  When you’re firing in a group at an enemy, your guns will start to fire more rapidly and deals damage faster and causes a mini slow-mo explosion when a meter fills up.

More disappoints arise with the upgrading system unlike previous games, the more you fired, the more powerful the gun became. Now, you use the bolts you collect at special weapon stations to make your weapons more powerful, more ammunition and changes it’s functionally in some way. Depending on which co-op character you are also determines what over the top weapons you can buy, but most of all the weapons are overshadowed by the lock on system. Apart from shooting anything that moves you will also be doing a lot of platforming. Such sequences such as using jetpacks to fly through a dangerous underground vertical shaft and the trademark surfing on rails are a welcome brake to the disappointing shooting.

Puzzles also help make up a portion of this game, and its moments like these that really make the co-operative portions shine it’s just pure fun for you and 3 other buddy to put heads together to figure out how to advance. There are also side quests that require you to manipulate tubes to guide a small creature to the end of the maze, in so completing all of these you unlock the fable RYNO suit and an abundance of gold bolts and little creatures for you to find and collect. It’s these little distractions that help make up for the lack of a combust shooting system. Also to mix up the pacing you will encounter these boss fights from time to time which will forces you to use your wits and skills to survive while others will forces to mindlessly grind away at the enemy’s healthbar.

At the end of the day Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One isn’t exactly a step in the right direction but has the right amount of great multiplayer components and its great humour makes Ratchet and Clanks latest instalment a fun one and one that should be played by any fan of the series or anyone in need of a great game with friends.

Publisher: Microsoft

Release Date: October 13th 2011

Score: 8.5

Platforms:Xbox360

The Short:Forza 4 distils the passion and joy of racing into a wonderful video game.

To some, Forza is racing game and nothing more, but to someone like myself, the modern day car-enthusiast, it is so much more than just that. It certainly may be a racing game, but at the core, the soul, the game is a deeply immersing experience that not only caters to beginners of the franchise, but veteran racers as well.

When I first heard about Forza 4′s planned release sometime ago, right around the beginning of this year, if not earlier, I was interested to see what Turn 10 would pull out of their sleeve next, because when it comes down to it, Forza 3 was the best racing game I had ever played. How would they take this masterpiece of a racing game and make it better? Well, you might be asking yourself the same thing, or thinking of sheer lunacy at building upon the same formula and improving, but it only gets better from there. Forza 4 relies on the same formula as it’s predecessor but adds many new features to liven up gameplay to satisfy any fan of the racing genre.

Not only does it have a plethora of new features to boot, but it also makes gameplay more satisfying. The visuals within Forza 4 are simply stunning and beautifully breathtaking. The cars are so realistic it is unbelievable. The amount of work that went into preparing the visual aspects of the cars is ludicrous, insane even. The madmen at Turn 10 really took it away this time. On the same topic, I cannot forget to mention the new Autovista mode. I literally was sitting in front of my television in awe at how picturesque the vehicles were. When you first begin Autovista mode you are given a handful of cars to begin with and in turn gain more cars by completing challenges with said cars. The Aston Martin One-77, The Hummer H1 Alpha, even the DMC Delorean found its way into Autovista. It keeps you coming back for more, yet only a small percentage of vehicles are allowed to be viewed in this extremely detailed of modes. Dare I forget to mention Jeremy Clarkson’s commentary on the vehicles as well. It is extremely satisfying to see these vehicles up close and personal, well worth the cash, in my opinion.

Moving on, the gameplay. Ah, yes, the racing. Do I describe it, or simply let it explain itself? The AI certainly has improved making racing all that much more satisfying. If you thought that this would be similar to Forza 3 in the sense that you could floor it past your opponents, think again. The cornering maneuvers you were so proud of pulling off will no longer be a sufficient means to that oh so grand podium victory. The only real way to outdo the AI is by out-braking them. Get used to it, because you will need to, and quickly. Not to forget, but the new Rivals mode is something that I have grown quite fond of as well. Don’t have time to sit down and play an online match? Not a problem. With Rivals mode you can play against other players at your own convenience.

The main interface of the game got a radical facelift, making it a breeze to jump from menu to menu with hardly any trouble finding it is that you are seeking out. With the exception of first use, that is. The game has a heavy emphasis on being seamless, haste makes waste, as they do say, and I have to concur on that one. Every menu serves a purpose, and it gets in done in a superb fashion, too.

What about the audio you ask? Again, it could not have been done better. The tight sounds of tires squealing when you come out a tight bend, or perhaps that burnout you pulled after coming out a drift are all alive. The engines sound so lively it is unbelievable, every one different, yet all so similarly alive. Turn the volume up for this, ladies and gentlemen, it’s about to get bumpy.

All in all, this game is a must have for any fan of Forza, or the racing genre in general.

The video features an epic showdown between Dragonborn and a dragon in a small town, as its population runs in fear.

Skyrim comes out on PS3, 360 and PC worldwide on November 11.

Watch video below.

There is not much to go on other than some the image and the URL of the game’s website.

It’s been known since early of this year that a new Medal of Honor game has been in the works since the series rebooted in October last year.

Image down below.

Insomniac has recently gone multiplatform; with its first project Overstrike, being published by EA.

Modern Warfare 3 is released on November 8.

Enjoy the launch trailer below.

Battlefield 3 launches next week on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3

The Diablo III will contain:

• The
  Art of Diablo III
• Collector’s
  Edition Soundtrack
• Two-Disc
  Behind the Scenes DVD/Blu-ray boxset
• Diablo
  Skull and 4Gb USB Soulstone

In-game items will include Aesthetic Artifects, a Fetish Sharman pet for World of Warcraft and StarCraft II Battle.Net
portraits.

In the beta we had access to four chapters all linked together by the quest to purge New Tristam, the town where you start off in, of the undead scourge caused by ‘The Fallen Star.’ As a person not familiar with Diablo’s storyline, the story didn’t really interest me at first but the story telling, combined with excellent voice acting, means picking up Diablo’s story extremely easy. You’re tasked with stopping the undead plague by getting rid of the falling star which crashed into Old Tristam’s chapel and is set to be the beginning of the end of the world. Your first quest after defending the main gate from a few waves of ye’ old zombies is to rescue a woman’s uncle who has been trapped underneath the chapel after it was hit by the falling star. The woman’s uncle, named Deckard Cane, informs you that the way to stop the undead plague is to defeat ‘The Skeleton King.’ That’s all we’ll reveal of the story for now.

Performance wise, Diablo 3 can run on almost any semi-recent machine. I played it on last year’s model of the Sony Vaio S series, with minimal lag only occurring when a lot of enemies are spawned. The graphics are obviously a significant step up from Diablo 2 but it is on par with current gen graphics yet as stated earlier it still manages to run on systems not for gaming. The controls work well and still manage to feel great even though you are really only using your mouse and the hotkeys linked to your keyboard. The enemy models look great and act in very different way varying from your average undead to ‘The Wretched Mothers’ who vomit out fluid which the undead will spawn from and many others.

All in all Diablo 3 seems to live up to all the fans wishes and looks like a complete game so I predict we should be hearing a release date either early Q1 2012 or being released sometime around E3. With a great story and solid controls, Diablo 3 looks like a game that will keep both loyal fans and most gamers entertained for a long time to come.

Publisher: EA

Release Date: September 30th 2011

Score: 9.0

Platforms:PS3, Xbox 360, PC

The Short:Another year another game, and this one is a cracker!

Depicting the world’s arguably best sport into video game form is a challenging task. The atmosphere of a game in combination with the skill and precision is so hard to capture, however FIFA manages to obtain this. The game eclipses last year’s version in almost every measurable way. The pitches look better, the crowds sound louder and the game is a much more rounded experience. This year’s game caters for all audiences wether you are looking to be a pro or manage your team to glory! A new tactical defending system, player impact engine, and head-to-head seasons are just some of the excellent new features it offers.

This year also see’s the introduction of the player impact engine and pro player intelligence. These features revolutionize the way the game feels and is played. The angle you come into a tackle now effects how the player’s body will react, as well as how the ball deflects over his tumbling body. The most noticeable change with this though is now the players feel real, they push and pull; flight and tussle over the ball. It’s an amazing feeling when you’re on the edge of loosing the ball but you just manage to fend off your opponent and keep the momentum you desire. However the engine is not without fault, players can often become tangled and start flying all over the place. Penalty’s can be awarded because of a random incident that caused a chain reaction. Even with that the game is much better off for this addition. The pro player intelligence may not be as noticeable of a difference but changes the playing field completely. Players now have different traits based on their ability, so a higher skilled player will be more likely to complete that long pass then someone who is not as skilled. This is of more use in the tactical side of things; AI will now evolve and change their strategy depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the players out on the pitch.

Unfortunately this year’s game does not see many improvements to the singleplayer aspect of the game. You still have three modes; Be A Pro, Manager and Player Manager. The be a pro feature branches down two paths like last year. You can either create an on field player or a goalkeeper. The goalkeeper mode is a neat but not that much fun in all reality, unless you are versing a significantly harder team you will not see much action.  However the Player Mode, provides a much more engaging experience. The ability to live out your childhood dream of playing for your favorite club does not loose its appeal in any hurry.  Even when it does a solid structure will keep you going for hours on end. Manager mode as seen a couple of tweaks this year with trading going by hour not by day and other ascetic changes. The competition if this mode is nice; especially talking a lower team and taking them up through the leagues. The player manager mode plays like a single game; with the ability for you to change the line up at your discretion while still playing as a single player or taking control of the whole team. The Ultimate Team mode is one that has lots of potential but can be hard to break into. This mode sees players create a team out of playing cards collected through winning games or by spending real money. This can provide some interesting teams but trying to create the ultimate and most coherent team is great fun. You can either play single matches or tournaments both in a single player capacity or online. The tournaments have a variety of criteria for entry which endeavor to keep the competition as level as possible.

Like every sports game the online component is essential to complete the package. FIFA 12 is no exception; the new menu structure allows for easy access to a wide variety of online modes. There is the standard friendly match as well as tournaments. These do not offer any new experiences but the online play is lag free and the competition is fast and furious.

This years game sees improvement is a significant number of areas, however it is a real shame that the singleplayer gets no real attention. The addition of some key features such as the impact engine and football club; give real incentive for you to come back match after match. If you are a die hard fan of the series its likely you already have the game; if your still running FIFA 11 its worth really considering upgrading to this years edition.

Steve Jobs, the founder and ex-CEO of Apple. Today has passed away aged 56, Jobs had been diagnosed with a rare but curable form of Pancreatic Cancer. Jobs revolutionised and created the Technology world we live in with creations such as the iPad and Mac. Jobs also creating the genius that is Pixar.

In an email to staff Apple CEO Tim Cook said

“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.”

Support has been coming from all around the world for Jobs, with Mark Zuckerberg saying:

From all of us here as Astir Gaming,

Steve Jobs you were a giant of the Industry, a man that did everything by the books. You will not be forgotten

Jobs provided a memorable speech in 2005 to Stanford. This speech speaks volumes to his character.

Developer: Criterion Games

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Release Date: Sep 20, 2011

Score: 7.0

Platforms: PSN , XBLA

The Short: Burnout CRASH! Is a game that will only keep you entertained for a short amount of time but for that time it does what it sets out to do very well

After being MIA since Burnout Legends Criterion’s famous ‘Crash Mode’ makes a smashing return with their newly released downloadable title Burnout CRASH! Fans of ‘Crash Mode’ from Burnout 3 may be a little disappointed in this new rendition of the classic game mode. As a complete game Burnout CRASH! Can become a little dry and repetitive very quickly unless you’re a diehard fan of the series, ontop of this the voice acting is distracting and annoying when trying to steer your flaming vehicle into head on traffic. But it’s not all a letdown, Burnout CRASH! Is extremely easy to grasp both long-time fans and newcomers can learn the mechanics of the games 3 different modes almost immediately.

The stage specific ‘Super Features’ add a nice feel of accomplishment to the end of each level as you watch what used to be an intersection with a mountain of cars piled on top of it be flattened to a pancake with the aid of your crashbreaker. Sadly the graphics are a bit of a letdown and many may be unhappy with the choice to make the game a top down racer but Burnout CRASH! Still makes it as satisfying as ever to drive headlong into an intersection and watch the 10 car pileup unfold right before you. Only $10 dollars on PSN or XBLA Burnout CRASH! Is a perfect game to keep you entertained until the big triple a games are released this coming fall.

Publisher: Codemasters

Release Date: September 23rd

Score: 8.5

Platforms:PC, PS3, Xbox 360

The Short: F1 2011 is a vast improvement over its predecessor, while there are a few issues its well worth a buy!.

F1 2011 the sequel to the BAFTA winning endeavour by Codemasters improves the game and the genre in every way. The racing is more aggressive, the cars sharper and the tracks more beautiful. The game also boasts a list of impressive new features that will delight fans and cause intrigue within the community. The game sees radical changes in almost all aspects of the game making it significantly different from every other yearly release sports game.

This year’s game sees the implementation of many new features that set it apart from every other game in this illustrious sports history. Firstly and most importantly it sees the implementation of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) and Drag Reduction System (DRS), which are new to the sport this year and radically change the scope of passing and blocking manoeuvres. KERS is a boost buttons essentially that delivers an extra 80hp to 8 seconds per lap, DRS opens up the back wing allowing air to flow past lots quicker without as much drag increasing the straight line speed but reducing the grip significantly.  This year’s game also includes the safety car, which is deployed whenever there is an accident on the racing line; this will delight hardcore fans of the sport but may be irritating to causal players. However it can be switched off and does not appear in races under 20% in length, unfortunately you only have limited control behind it with your speed being restricted by the game only allowing you to move around to keep the heat in your tyres. The final significant addition is the video clips that can be seen at the start and finish of each session, these add a nice touch to the game but are of no real gameplay impact.

F1 2011 also boasts a large improvement in the graphics department with the game looking significantly crisper then last years version. The tracks are now more realistically populated and look extremely believable; the tarmac is grainy and the barriers solid. Each team now also has its own custom wheel which while only a small detail is of great delight to many players myself included. The cars handling has seen a significant overhaul, with the cars feeling a lot more robust under brakes and willing to just give from underneath you down the straights. When you turn off the assists you are able to get a better understanding of what these athletes must deal with every week. The garages have been updated with new paint textures and activity to make them feel that more realistic.  The addition of the ‘Race Director’, which accessed from the start menu, outlines each driver’s best lap as well as race incidence and associated penalties. It’s a nice feature that can explain some of the interesting race developments. David ‘Crofty’ Croft makes an appearance as the interviewer in this years game; these interviews now have a real impact with press clippings at the end of each race weekend gauging the impact of your responses.

However there are some issues with the game. Firstly the new mechanics are not well explained and a lack of any sort of tutorial can leave new comers to the game left dead in the water. One little bug that is really annoying is that if you hit any signage or corner markers the next lap around they magically re appear, this may only seem like a minor detail but it can become extremely annoying. While the safety car is a great feature to have included it is unfortunately you hardly ever see it deployed, as the AI is a lot more robotic then last year making very few mistakes and keeping to the racing line majority of the time. On the PS3 version there seems to be some framerate issues, especially during some of the parc ferme video clips.

This year’s game bouts, a 16 player online mode with the remaining spots filled out by AI. CFBMT-P0P3W Its a shame that a full 24 player grid is not possible at the moment but allowing the remaining slots to be filled by AI is a really nice touch. While this years game also sees the implementation of an Online Co-Op championship, which sees you and a friend on a team taking on the F1 2011 season. It’s a nice feeling when you are able to grab pole from your friend by only a tenth of a second and competing to become the teams number one driver never becomes boring. However the multiplayer is not without fault, the connections with players are often unstable with frequent drop outs. When your connection is stable cars jump around the track and generally lag. On the PC version, we found that whenever we tried to connect or host a race at Singapore our game crashed; another one of our editors crashed whenever they tried to connect to a race at Monaco. If you manage to get a game in which the cars move smoothly and your game isn’t crashing the action is fast and fun, the ability for the safety car to come out is a real race changer; more so then in single player races.

This year’s game is a real improvement over F1 2010, there is not an area that has not seen an improvement. While some issues plague the multiplayer the game remains majorly bug free. The addition of some key features such as the safety car, DRS, KERS and the Parc Ferme video clips and an extra dimension to this superb game. The areas that need to be improved and fixed hopefully will be addressed in a series of patches that codemasters have promised for the game.

It’ll be out this winter for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

You play as father who is trying to find his wife and daughter following “The Event,” before finding his way back to his home town of Haventon, where everything is in ruins.

“We know people have been waiting for this game to arrive, and we believe it’s going to be worth the wait,” “I Am Alive presents a unique take on the postapocalyptic, survival genre by creating more complex and emotional situations for the player. Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network are the perfect platforms to leverage the mature and challenging experiences of the game.” said Ubisoft’s marketing director Adam Novickas.

I Am Alive was first announced back at E3 2008

Watch the video below

Microsoft announced that Gears of War 3 has sold 3 million units during its first week on the market.

Announced by Major Nelson on his blog, the figure “cements Gears 3 as the biggest game of 2011,” and has helped push the franchise beyond $1 billion in lifetime sales, making it the first Xbox 360 exclusive franchise to eclipse the billion dollar milestone.

“Gears of War was the first killer app for Xbox 360, and the series has continued to contribute directly to the overall success of the platform ever since,” said Microsoft CVP Phil Spencer.

The game’s debut topped the UK charts, making it the seventh biggest launch on 360 to date.

“I’d be stoked to work on an Adventure Time video game. I think that might happen eventually if the show stays popular, I vow to make a topnotch game. If it was a small budget I’d work to make a sidescroller, but if we had the largest budget in the world I’d love to make something like Oblivion, but set in the Adventure Time universe where it’s a giant free-roaming world. It might be fun to make it have Monster Hunter style gameplay with Katamari graphics.” Pendleton Ward told gameinformer

Ward is an avid gamer – he even admitted the next season of Adventure Time will probably be heavy on zombies, reflecting his current obsession with the last zombie game on the streets at the moment  Dead Island

“I think games are amazing for telling stories. I don’t think that people do that very often,” he said. “I think story isn’t always the most important thing to game designers, but I wish it were. I think that the best games have stories, and when I eventually make games, story will be front and center.”

Publisher: Sony Entertainment

Release Date: September 6th, 2011

Score: 9.0

Platforms: PS3

The Short: Resistance 3 is a great all round shooter that is a must buy for any fan of the genre!

As soon as you start playing Resistance 3 you will instantly realise that it’s telling a much darker story, in fact this is the darkest and goriest instalment in the Resistance series so far. Insomniac clearly didn’t hold back on this one. The story is, to say the least, brilliant. The game never seems to get boring; as soon as you think it’s going to go downhill it surprises you with an exciting train level or a giant mutant Chimerian boss battle. We have seen this used many times in games before, but it’s the way Resistance pulls it off in a coherent string of events that makes it work so well. You never feel bored while playing; there is always a new weapon around the corner or a new story twist that will keep you on the edge. Unlike previous instalments this time around your health will not regenerate overtime which constantly keeps you own your toes; it’s a refreshing change to see in a First Person Shooter. The knowledge that one more bullet and your dead and that you can’t just go hide behind a bush and come out as strong as a bull certainly enhances the excitement of the game. Resistance story can also be played with a friend via online play or split screen.

90% the world’s population has been wiped out by the chimerian, but not all hope is lost. Across your journey you will use a wide variety of extremely deep and exotic weaponry to assist you in your cause. Resistance 3 weaponry has a secondary fire feature for weapons, which allows you to dispatch of enemies in a variety of creative ways. For example, the Magnum’s secondary fire mode is one of the most exhilarating to use. When you fire at an enemy and tap the R2 button, the bullet explodes, assisting in the death of nearby enemies. Weapons also upgrade the more you use them, but due to the fact that ammo is limited, this pushes you to use all the weapons you have instead of just using the same weapon all through the campaign.

Resistance 3 goes out to create its own graphical art style and it works for the most part; the textures are crisp and believable although they won’t stand up to games like Killzone 3. The lighting is moody and helps set the sombre tones of the game. Characters are modelled with great precision and detail with life like features, although they’re eyes have lost the glossy finish that was there in previous renditions. Resistance isn’t without its problems however, there are some noticeable miss matching with lip syncing in the game and other graphical hiccups such as not being able to detach a certain object resulting in the player having to restart the level twice, and your AI companions aren’t as intelligent as they could be; you will have moments were you will just be waiting around for them to perform a certain task such as opening the next door. These problems don’t alter or harm the experience so much as to make the game unplayable, but they are there and you will notice them on more than the odd occasion.

Multiplayer makes a return here but it no longer boasts the 60 player matches found in Resistance 2. Instead Insomniac has reduced the size to a maximum of 16 players. Players will be able to choose from most of the weapons from the campaign. You’ll also be able to choose two active abilities (that can be used in game and have a cooldown time) and two passive attributes. The two active ability categories are Support and Tactical. In the support column you will find range of abilities such as bubble shields, decoys, health and ammo beacons, etc. In the support column there are abilities such as lightning shield (can’t receive melee damage), doppelganger (a decoy that runs beside you), turret and many more. You can even replace one of your abilities with a taunt, like flipping your enemy off.

The two passive attribute categories are Personal and Combat. In the personal column you can attach attributes like increasing your ammo, having leapers popping out of your dead body, extra health, a tracker (seeing your player’s footsteps), etc. Your combat attributes consist of carrying more weapons, receiving ammo when walking over a dead body, starting with extra grenades, etc. For both categories you can also attach attributes that handicap you for extra xp. Everything can be upgraded, like in the campaign.

Lastly, depending on whether you’re a Chimera or a human, your kill streaks are a bit different. The Chimera’s three-kill streak is a cloak, while the humans have a shield. Both races have the weapon Auger as a six-kill streak. This gun has unlimited ammo and can shoot through walls. The last kill streak is a nine-kill streak and makes you stronger, taller and gives you a devastating chain-grenade launcher. All kill streaks are on a timer. There are 12 maps but only 7-8 of them can be played with the objective based modes. They are all different sizes and seem relatively balanced. Besides your regular Death Match and Team Death Match there are three objective based modes; these are Capture the flag, Chain Reaction (a game of tug-o-war where the first team that activates the last node first, or reaches the set amount of kills wins) and Breach (which has you either attacking or defending two smaller nodes, and one big node, the defender wins if they get enough kills before all three nodes are destroyed). All modes are pretty basic and I was kind of hoping for a bit more. While the multiplayer is fun, fast paced and has a lot of depth, I’ve experienced a few problems. You won’t enter a game, without experiencing a bit of lag and glitches here and there. Hopefully this will be ironed out in a future update.

Overall Resistance 3 is a very well developed game and it just screams to be played by anyone who is a fan of sci-fi first person shooter. Although it may have its hic-ups along the way, that ,by any means, shouldn’t stray you away from picking up this game today and trying it out for yourself.

Publisher: Bohemia Interactive

Release Date: June 29th 2010

Score: 7.5

Platforms:PC

The Short: This massive stand alone expansion to the clasic war simulator ArmA 2. Operation Arrowhead is worth a look for all FPS fans

This massive stand alone expansion to the largest war simulator ever created ArmA 2 does not fail to disappoint. The ultra realistic weapons and scenarios allow you to feel like you are the solider. The game is an improvement in every measurable way compared to its highly competent but buggy predecessor. Operation Arrowhead provides a new an invigorated singplayer campaign with tones of new gadgets and a new environment that will fill ArmA fans with delight but also provide a solid foundation for new players.

The features a wide and expansive arsenal or weapons, side arms, planes and other vehicles such as tanks and other cars with large guns. The vast environments are populated with beautiful towns modeled to perfection. The game starts of with an amazingly deep and robust set of tutorials set to allow players with any level of experience to understand the interequent details of this game, the tutorials cover a wide range of game mechanics from movement to parachuting out the back of a C130 but also include all the standard vehicle tutorials and command tutorials you would expect from such a high caliber game.  The story takes place in a fictional nation in the middle east called “Takistan”. The history of the conflict is detailed by a series of deep and interesting TV news rolls, these allow you to feel invested in the conflict from the beginning with a great understanding of the importance of your mission. You are thrown straight into the brutal action once you exit the chopper, the game is difficult for even the most experienced FPS player but does not play unfairly, sticking to its rules and philosophies of being a war simulator. The voice acting is impeccable, the characters sound authentic and as badass as their real world counterparts. The arsenal available throughout the game is amazing, the models are detailed to a high level and this if reflected by the difference in each one, whether it only be due to a silencer. The music compliments the high intensity action and helps get the blood pumping as you run into battle, its high beat and bold tones make it a vital part of this games appeal and polish. As mentioned above the visuals acurately represent the environment they are set in, the world is truely open. The landscape can change from baron to a small town without as much as a stuttre in the performance of the game.

The game comes with an extensive mission editor allowing new and experienced modders to take their hand at creating multiplayer and singplayer mission for the community. The editor is easy to use and provides a pletora of options for tweaking. The inclusion of a second side campaign set in the same map but with a different team who are British is a nice change to the main storyline and mission but the voice acting in these missions is horrible, the accents do not accuretly portrey the people thaat they aim to represent creating a disjoint in the emersion in the otherwise captivating story. The ability to play the main campaign online with friends is a great assest to this game and can help releave some of the stresses the AI can cause. The game also boasts a hefty Online Multiplayer allowing users to host and particiapte in a wide variety or missions that are preset or that have been created by the always active community. There is somtimes connection and lag issues with multiplayer but these are usually overcome very quickly.

Although this game is very good its not perfect, like with any games there are some issues within the game. The AI while good can be a bit indecisive when giving orders and moving around from objective to objective. The AI while looks good in moment to moment gameplay when you observe them closely some details like the eyes are not detailed correctly and can move in ways eyes are not supposed to move. When healing, carrying or even dragging AI or being carried, draged or healed the animations don’t work, your body or your partners will move spasmatically through your body or hands while you try and render aid. The difficulty can be punishing for even the most experienced players, even though there a through set of tutorials it is brutal due to its ultra realistic style. It does however represent the feeling of being out numbered going into a battle. The AI can make great pilots but will scare the living daylifghts out of you as they buzz the treetops and make bold unrealistic motions, however they make terriable drivers on the road taking obsecure routes to get from one objective to another.

Overall ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead is a well developed game, it fixes many of the bugs and annoyances from the origianal game and does its best to provide a good entry point for new members but also provides a great continuation of the gameplay for ArmA fans. The high paced action and realistic balistic models combined with the bustling map and cracking soundtrack. ArmA 2: Operation arrowhead is a must see for any player who is a fan of first person shooters and wants to experience the real deal.

Publisher: Paradox Interactive

Release Date : January 25, 2011

Score: 7.0

Platforms:PC

 The Short: Magicka suffers from minor bugs which pulls it back from achieving it’s full potential but this is a game that can be played by anyone and will provide many hours of enjoyment.

Magicka Is a great choice for a night of gaming with a few friends but this probably isn’t the right choice if your looking for a game in which you can just pick up and play without much thought. Magicka is multiplayer game that can be played in singleplayer mode. The game is packed full of spectacular and challenging boss battles but fleshes out the game with a solid story and great moment to moment game play.

Magicka is a beautiful game, its vibrant colours and semi-realistic art style allow you to easily become engrossed in the world. The game is packed full of social satire and pop culture references which bring great character to the story. The story itself is interesting and not completely stupid. It allows for the game to feel more a journey with an end goal then just a linear, horde mode game. The main feature of the story though is Vlad the almost vampire but not vampire, vampire. The voice acting for this character is supreme and his narration and subtle pickups can provide a nice chuckle here and there. The major problem with the main campaign is the fact that whether you are playing single player or multi player you are still playing the same game. This means in single player you are playing a game which is designed for 4 people, this challenge might appeal to some players but this can be quite frustrating for others, the learning curve int his game is quite steep which can make it difficult for players new to the game as well as veterans.

Some minor bugs bring down the game just through the fact they appear quite often. Some bugs include floating enemies, un-dead teammates and for some it can be difficult to launch the game. The user interface is slick but in the game your health bar becomes obscured by enemies or gore making it impossible to work out how much health you have remaining. The game also sufferers from framerate drops especially when larger mobs are present as well is PvP which can prove fatal. The auto save system is another area where Magicka fail to produce, the system can be beneficial in some stick situations but it does cause the game to lag. This is a big problem during some of the later boss battles and large mobs of enemies.This isn’t a game really for just a casual gamer to play by their self, Magicka is best enjoyed by all when playing in the co-operative mode this ensures a great time full of griefing and adventure.

This quaint little action rpg is well worth it’s small price, as well as the many DLC packages that are available. The latest edition of PvP breathes new life into the game. Arrowhead and Paradox have put together a little pocket rocket which has been my biggest surprise game of 2011. Its a shame that some bugs refrain it from reaching its full potential, to recomend it without caution regarding the bugs would be illadvised but this game is a must have for those looking for some great fun with friends.

Publisher: Codemasters

Release Date: September 23rd 2010

Score: 8.0

Platforms:PC, PS3, Xbox 360

The Short: For their first attempt, Codemasters’ F1 2010 provides good fun and a solid foundation for future games.

For their first dive into F1 Codemasters have done a splendid job.  The game provides lots for those who seek full simulation and those who are looking for a casual pick up and race.  The visuals are just stunning the Ergo engine depicts the full grid of 24 in beautiful vibrant colours. The tracks are developed with the same attention to detail of those of the cars, although this can provide some frame rate issues at some of the ‘heavier’ street tracks such as Monaco or Singapore’s Marina Bay Circuit. The highly touted weather engine is a spectacle, it does a great job of providing dynamic conditions that adds lots of depth to some otherwise dull races.

The player is introduced to the world of F1 racing through an interview and is forced to decide on their career length, team and other specifics.  After this it is straight into racing without any support from the game, which can be daunting to less experienced users. The fully customisable difficulty setting provides a plethora of options to get to most out of your racing experience. Your manager is the source for all things contracts, each team has a level associated with it and upon passing it you might get an offer depending on your past interactions with the press. This continuity plays into the ‘Live The Life’ side of the game, which aims to put you in the shoes of a real F1 driver. It accomplishes it to varying degrees of success. Your interactions with the press only have three real options selfish, undecided and team-orientated, which is a disappointment. This is the only real element of ‘Live The Life’ which is a real let down.  The menu system is slick and intuitive and provides little barrier between you and racing.

When it comes to race day there are a few problems, firstly even on the most realistic of settings your tyres and breaks warm up after the first corner, which means unfortunately or fortunately that the chance of spinning or locking the brakes are very minimal. Some other features are lacking from the game most notably Safety Cars which play a huge role in real world strategy, mechanical failures also seemed to be left in the pits with the only type of failures being if you smash the car into the wall and the tires become dismounted. Your race engineer does a mediocre job of passing you information. Sometimes he will let you know about the cars ahead and if their looking like diving for the pits other times he will reference cars that are of no relevance to you. But when it comes time to make that dive into the pits there’s lots of fun to be had, how late can you put on the limiter can you jump your rival in the pits. The pit crew is animated brilliantly and makes it a truly joyous task that can make or break your race. One feature that is not usually highlighted is the final lap dash, all cars that are in a close proximity to others seem to lift a little for that final push to the line, which is a really nice feature after all it is so satisfying to win the race at the last corner.

Multiplayer is good fun in F1 2010. Trashing round the track with no rules with your friends is pure and simple fun. The competitive race also provides a good challenge for drivers of all levels to test out their skills. One significant oversight of the game is the lack of a full grid this is a real shame and a dampener on what otherwise is a great multiplayer experience. The Time Trial feature is the last feature of the game and provides a good chance for new users to learn tracks and the controls of the game as well. This mode allows for more experienced users to post their times to a global leaderboard and also download the ‘ghost’ of other drivers laps to help improve your driving skills.

Overall F1 2010 is a great foundation for Codemasters. The game is one that is sure to please both F1 and racing fans. It provides a suit of options for new and old gamers alike to optimize their experience. Although it is missing some key features from its real work counterparts. It is a must have for F1 fans of all ages.