Game:

Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade rolls on and the second title in the annual game series is upon us. Hydro Thunder Hurricane is the sequel to the popular arcade title released in 1999. This powerboat racer seems to emit fun from its every pore and really evokes a feeling of nostalgia for anyone familiar with the arcades of old.

Arguably the most important aspect of a racing title is the gameplay. Thankfully Hurricane is both instantly accessible and eminently challenging in equal measure. It’s clear that the developers have taken note of the game’s arcade routes, because within thirty seconds of first powering up the game you can be in a race.

Tutorials take the form of a few screens telling you exactly what you need to know; right trigger accelerates, you can gather boost power that is used by pressing ‘A’ and ‘X’ causes your vehicle to jump.

Boost canisters are littered throughout each track

However the simplicity of the controls belies the complexity of mastering this game. Using higher level vehicles in the form of powerboats that sacrifice handling for speed and acceleration, it becomes a real challenge to beat each track and gain the gold trophy. If that’s not enough to keep you busy, the inclusion of online leaderboards might; the time of your next closest rival is displayed in the top right of the screen so that you always have a new challenge to overcome long after you’ve bested the game.

Even when racing the lower level vehicles, the sense of speed is tangible and provides a really immersive experience. There are three difficulty settings, each marked by the quality of the powerboat rather than a menu setting. This helps the game feel more dynamic in that primary gameplay mechanics are drawn into the game itself, rather than placed within a menu.

Each vehicle handles in a vastly different way, with a totally different aesthetic to boot.

To compliment Hurricane’s three difficulty levels, there are four racing modes to choose from. Race sees you compete in a traditional flat-out event against fifteen computer controlled opponents. Ring Master sees you competing against the clock to race through hoops all the way to the finish line, with a miss on any ring resulting in a time penalty and a loss of boost power. Gauntlet sees you race through a solo run through tracks littered with explosive barrels. Finally, Championship provides a mixture of the other events, with points awarded for each win.

Whilst the racing is perhaps traditional at times, the level design is anything but. Somewhat reminiscent of Wave Race on the N64, after each lap of there is a high chance that something will change. A thing to note is that realism was really thrown out of the window with Hurricane; one track in particular sees a giant Norse god reaching over the level and smashing ice cliffs with his axe to create additional obstacles. There are also power-ups dotted around the tracks that will augment things for you; invariably drawing up a ramp that leads to an extra power up or shortcut.

Yes, that's a giant Norse god and he's here to cause a big wave.

Graphically the game is competent without ever blowing you away. When boost is earned, the ships transform to reveal booster engines, providing a nice little aesthetic touch. Water effects are probably the most impressive, with water hitting and running down the screen as you race. There are a few instances of scenery glitches to be found, but these only really occur if you veer way off the track.

Perhaps the weakest aspect of the game is the soundtrack. The music is pretty indiscernible from any other sound in the game. In isolation, the in-game music is also pretty uninspiring. Engine noises are also fairly wonky; at times being a little grating.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 3/5 Competent, but not impressive. The graphics do the job amicably and there are nice little touches like the splashes on the screen as you race.

Sound: 1/5 The music is generic and completely drowned out by the engine sounds. The engines are also hit or miss at times. Commentary during the race is humourous and is probably amongst the best audio in the game.

Story: 0/5 There is no story, this is a pure arcade racer.

Gameplay: 4/5 Each vehicle has distinctive handling and speed. The physics of the game also affects different shaped vehicles in different ways. Level design is outlandish and fun. A Viking Longboat chases you past a giant Norse god as he tries to batter you with his hammer, if that sounds like fun then this is for you.

Longevity: 3/5 There are a lot of events to complete, and once you’ve bested every track with a gold trophy there’s the leaderboards to contend with. There’s definitely enough here to keep you busy. Perhaps a few more tracks would have resulted in a higher score.

Overall: 3 Special boosts out of 5 – This game isn’t for everyone, but if jumping powerboats whilst a giant crocodile leaps out of the water next to you sounds like your thing, I’d urge you to download the trial and give it a go.

At 1200 MSP, perhaps Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a little on the expensive side; if it were priced at 800 MSP then it definitely would be a must buy.

- Tom Wallis

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To paraphrase a recent conversation with our video editor Alan Parrish ‘When you look out your window and see a topless fat man you know that it is summer time’. As well as topless fat men, there is one other event that lets you know that summer is here; Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade.

Last year we brought you coverage of the Summer of Arcade 2009 by reviewing ‘Splosion Man, Marvel VS Capcom 2, Trials HD, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, and Shadow Complex. This year will be no different.

Microsoft’s annual digital gaming Bonanza, which highlights five of the best downloadable games of the season, kicked off this week with possibly the least summery game ever made, PlayDead’s Limbo. Featuring a unique dark black and white visual style, Limbo is a side scrolling platforming game that would probably best be described by mentioning all of the things that are not in the game.

At this point I would normally say something like ‘to set the scene…’, but that really is not possible in Limbo. Technically there is no actual story, so no cut scenes or dialogue. The description for the game says “Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters Limbo” and that is it. However, the game’s narrative and back story is played out more subtly as you work your way to potential freedom.

Upon starting the game the boy wakes up lying on the ground of a mysterious dark forest. Immediately you are hit in the face by the game’s art design; the world and the characters within it are beautifully expressionistic, like something from classic German silent cinema. There’s a nice depth of field focal disparity between the distant backgrounds and the foreground, which always makes it clear which parts of the level you are able to interact with.

The game is an expressionistic masterpiece.

The design of the boy is bold and striking as he is nothing more than a dark silhouette; the only things you’re able to clearly see are his pure white eyes. It is fantastically creepy, and it only gets more creepy from there on out.

The environments are fantastic looking, even in black and white. You will spend the majority of your time in more natural environments, such as the woods or caves, but as you progress further through the game you start to see more signs of society, including a run down old warehouse.

In terms of controls, you use the left analogue stick to move, press A or Y to jump, and press B or X to interact with objects. Interaction with objects mostly involves pulling or pushing boxes and flipping the odd switch. The game has a decent physics engine, which means items like crates, ropes, and dead bodies behave realistically.

The game quickly turns from Tim Burton-esque fairy tale charm to something more dark and sinister. Upon walking through the woods you soon come across the corpses of other little boys that, presumably, had been trying to work their way through Limbo too. Before too long you come to realise that this creepy forest is in fact a gigantic death trap, complete with Lord of the Flies style savage boys that go out of their way to kill you.

Every other living thing in the environment is hostile

If you fail to make any given jump, the chances are you will fall in to a deep pool of water and drown, or land in a gigantic bush and be impaled on the thorns, which features a truly gruesome death animation.  While you cannot make out any graphic details – seeing as the boy is effectively just a silhouette – they provide just enough detail, leaving your imagination to fill in the blanks.  In some ways you could make the argument that a big part of the game is discovering and witnessing all the horrible ways for the boy to die. I challenge anyone playing not to wince or gasp when they accidentally get the boy caught in a bear trap.

Another thing that may not be obvious from the outset is the game’s audio design; Limbo rarely features any music, instead it focuses on using the sound – or lack there of – to aid you in solving puzzles. One particularly good example of this is during an encounter early on with a gigantic spider; the spider will attempt to hit you, but if you successfully dodge, the spider will stamp on the ground and make a clanking sound, which should give you a hint as to how to defeat it.

The rest of the puzzles are a mix of reaction based jumping sections and pushing/pulling boxes in order to access higher areas. They are all relatively straight forward, without being too obvious. You know the sort I am sure; the kind of puzzles that will have you scratching your head for a few minutes before realising the solution was right in front of you the whole time.

The Puzzles tend to be a mix of reaction based jumps and simple tests of logic

While some may complain about the short length of the game – I completed it in about 4 hours – I am thankful that the team at PlayDead did not artificially lengthen the game by adding in some superfluous multiplayer mode. The real strength of this game is the powerful sense of isolation and of being hounded at every step.

The only real criticism I have is that toward the latter parts of the game you swap the frightening natural world for an industrial, and less charismatic, locale filled with buzz saws and turret guns; but that is only a minor complaint.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 There is nothing else out there that looks like Limbo. It has a really dark and grim fairytale look to it.

Sound: 5/5 While there is no music to speak of, the game uses what little sound effects there are in such a clever and unique way, aiding you in some of the less obvious puzzles.

Story: 2/5 There is no traditional story, but the back story is alluded to by the debris you come across as you progress further through the game. I personally have grown to like this less traditional take on story telling, but others that have less imagination may disagree.

Gameplay: 5/5 Despite having very simple controls, there are a wide variety of different puzzles present in the game. The basic premise is always the same – push/pull box, jump over gap, flip switch, etc. – but it never feels samey.

Longevity: 3/5 Your first play through will probably take about 5 hours depending on your skill level. However, Limbo is a game that has been designed to be replayed over and over, again and again. The game features online leaderboards, meaning particularly competitive types can compete against friends and strangers by beating the game as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Overall: 5 Floating Corpses out of 5 – Limbo is an extraordinary artistic achievement; what it lacks in story telling it makes up for in beautiful art design, challenging puzzles, and some of the best sound design in a videogame since Dead Space.

Limbo is currently available to download on Xbox Live for 1200 Microsoft Points (about £10).

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for more coverage of this year’s Xbox Live Summer of Arcade.

Four years or so have gone by since the launch of the Wii and yet the console still doesn’t have even one good FPS. Sure, Nintendo have made attempts with the aforementioned Conduit, but nothing that’s ever been good enough. Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 have their own flagship FPSs in form of their Halos and their Killzones, but what does Nintendo have?

Where is Nintendo's answer to Master Chief?

Needless to say, in terms of first person shooters, Nintendo have been left behind. But all of this could change. If there was any first person shooter that needed a sequel it would be XIII. Not only was the original brilliant, it also ended with a cliffhanger, leaving room for a sequel anyway. In an age where FPSs all look and play the same, the comic book stylings of XIII would set it apart from the crowd, a true alternative, one that was on the Wii for a change.

Alas, this will likely never happen. After all, Ubisoft owns the XIII license (or at least did) so if a sequel were to ever be made it would probably be available on all formats, just like the original was. For the moment at least, lets forget about such misery and instead allow me take you back in time and talk to you about the original XIII; a game that was made for a sequel it will never get.

The opening to XIII was, and is still, one of the best opening scenes to any game I’ve ever played. The president is dead and you are the number one suspect. Problem is… you can’t even clear your name as you are suffering from amnesia; you cannot remember a thing. You awake on a beach, badly injured; you don’t know who you are, where you are or why you’ve got a mysterious tattoo of the Roman numerals for the number 13 on your shoulder. Sounds like your average night out to me.

The plot to XIII is like your average Friday night out... minus the assassinations, shoot outs, spies and corrupt government organisations

Immediately you’re thrown straight into the deep end, which despite its age is still somewhat refreshing alongside contemporary FPSs. Modern entries into the genre take far too long to get going, making you sit through drab tutorial after drab tutorial. XIII kicks off the action right away with gang members out to get you from the off. It draws you straight into to an intense, exciting world full off espionage and betrayal, giving you the necessary tutorials as you progress, thus ensuring the controls are fresh in your mind and that you are properly equipped to take on any challenge at any time.

Speaking of controls, the GameCube controller itself is somewhat of a strange beast (I’ll assume you’re playing XIII with the GameCube controller on the GameCube itself or the Wii, like I did). It’s not really designed to play any game, let alone a first person shooter, with its odd shape and its many, many buttons. However, the way XIII uses such a strange controller is brilliant. Every button, every flick of the joystick, feels extremely intuitive and accessible.

The GameCube controller is somewhat of an alien entity in itself

What makes XIII really shine is its unique graphical style. I’ll admit, at the time the game looked stunning on the GameCube; I can’t think of any game that looked better, but after recently firing XIII back up in my Wii, I can safety say it hasn’t aged well graphically. This is something you will have to look past in order to get maximum enjoyment out of the game. But whilst time has not been kind, the uniqueness of XIII’s graphics is still unparalleled.

In today’s gaming environment, graphics are at the forefront of game design (Crysis anyone?). It’s a true testament to XIII that, whilst cell shaded, comic book style games have been done to death. The game’s edgy, gritty, comic book visuals continue to set it apart from games of a similar style, let alone your generic, copy and paste shooters we have to live with today. Everything from the beautiful looking cutscenes to the actual gameplay itself is highly stylized (taking huge influence from the comic book series XIII is originally from), and utterly unique.

XIII is such a multifaceted shooter, not only does it have a brilliant story, “pick up and play” controls and a unique graphical style, but it boasts a variety of gameplay elements that help set XII apart from other shooters. Whether it be a skill/cheat system you unlock throughout the game, brilliant cover and hostage systems or gruesome skill shots that display head shots and the like in gory detail with the clever use of some comic-book-esque panels.

The game rewards players for skillful shots with some brutal, comic book panel inspired effects

A standout moment from the game is the awesome (and my personal favourite) second level in which you must escape from a bank after being framed for yet another crime: this time, setting off a bomb in one of the vaults. Of course you are innocent, so you want to escape as quickly and as quietly as possible without seriously hurting anyone.

Rather than running around shooting the place up, the game forces you to think more carefully; by using chairs and other objects you can knock out the armed police and security guards (as opposed to killing them and/or taking them hostage) which will enable you to escape without injuring anyone. The way the game effortlessly shifts between a shooter and some sort of a stealth game gives you the sense that you are in the starring role of a James Bond film… or something.

This level of variety is something which runs through the game as a whole. Whether it be the 34 singleplayer levels, the 6 multiplayer modes, playable on 14 different multiplayer maps (including up to 4 player local, en or over the internet via Xbox Live 1.0 and PS2 Online, on the Xbox and PS2 versions), or simply the huge range of weaponry at your disposal ranging from melee weapons such as ash trays, and glass bottles to AK47′s, Sniper rifles and Magnums, each with their own comic book inspired “POW!”, “BOOM!” and “”BANG!” imagery. XIII is chock full of content and variety.

There's no better way than to kill an enemy with a rocket that goes.. BAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

And that’s not all! XIII also sports brilliant use of sound, coupling a cheesy, 80′s inspired soundtrack with an awesome voice cast including Adam West (insert Family Guy reference here), and David Duchovny aka Mulder from The X-Files.

Unfortunately, whilst XIII is a brilliant example of game that has all bases covered, it’s another game that time seems to have forgotten and a sequel is about as likely as pigs flying… with wings and all that. However, if you do find yourself getting bored with the same old, generic FPSs, why not give XIII a shot? (no pun intended). Once you look past its age, you get to experience its real beauty.

- Kieran Roycroft

We at The Newb Review, are committed to bringing you the latest and greatest game related content possible. So look out for that, in the meantime though, why not continue reading the third installment in our “Adam Thinks…” series? We found this one washed ashore in a bottle, and it sees our friendly neighborhood idiot tackle the subject of achievements, trophies and the like.

What do you want? A medal or summat?

Humans are heinous, despite all of our blessings and accomplishments in life, we are never truly happy unless our achievement score is higher than the bothersome little mortals on the other end of the microphone. If you don’t get the last 10G or the only platinum trophy, your possessions, your house and even your love wont be deserved. Today fellow bipeds, I am going to talk about gamerscore, trophies and achievements, something that has been stewing in my wonderful mind for too long, and I don’t like stew, stew is horrible, it smells bad and takes too long to cook.

Stew....I don't like it.

Another meal I don’t digest easily is gamescore, it’s a steadily increasing plight, which has been laying waste to the ego’s of many a gamer for too long. In spite of previous efforts to loosen its grasp on our minds, the evil gamerscore’s grip is stronger than ever, and it’s easy to understand why.

People can become obsessed with getting every achievement a game has to offer, after all there are bragging rights at stake. When you’re talking to people from every continent around the world over the internet, that’s invaluable ammunition. You’re not just proving that you are better at shooting aliens or collecting flowers, you’re proving that the country you live in is better than the country they live in.

It’s Microsoft’s fault; Bill Gates is to blame. I can’t say I ever recall wanting to get achievements before the Xbox started its world amalgamation. Now it’s impossible to go anywhere without achieving something, forums, signatures, Facebook and most video game related websites too, it’s a conspiracy! But why has this taken off so well? After all, it’s not like we’re going to benefit from this in real life are we? NO!

Pretty much sums it up really...

In fact some achievements are so hard to get that you actually have to rearrange your life in order to have a day when you can do nothing but kill zombies for eight hours straight. Take Wipeout HD on PS3 for example, it’s one of the most beautiful looking racing games you can buy on PSN. It has a great soundtrack and solid online multiplayer, but boy is it hard, incredibly hard; it’s harder than a grave diggers…heart. I personally logged many hours on that game trying over and over again to get one trophy, so much so in fact that I actually got a little depressed and angry because I just couldn’t do it. I even lashed out at the people brave enough to enter my padded cell, the only emotions I want videos games to promote in me are happy ones, not bad ones.

A more recent racing game known as Blur is a prime example. For starters, Blur rewards you with new cars, challenges and achievements almost constantly. This makes you feel like you are always doing better, always succeeding and generally purveying that you are better than everyone else right from the start. All of this promotes a false sense of opulence; a feeling that is short lived, especially after you take it online and get your ass handed to you.

Don't play Blur, it lies to you! Just like the nurses do when they say my medication is jelly beans

However, if you’re a hardcore Nintendo fan, this isn’t a problem. In fact I want you to cast your mind back to when gamerscore didn’t exist, when Nintendo was king and Sonic was actually cool (OK, maybe that was going a bit too far but you know what I mean), remember how wonderful that time was?

Nintendo don’t have to introduce an achievement/trophy system into their games because the games they squeeze out of their magical money making machine are not exactly of a competitive nature. Their games require you to work together with friends rather than best your friends (with some exceptions). I like to think this induces a better gaming experience.

Nintendo do however reward their loyal fans in different ways. Rather than giving you points or trophies for completing in game achievements, every time you buy a Nintendo product you get “Star Points” instead. These points can be exchanged in the “Star Catalogue” for everything from desktop wallpaper, music and ringtones, to items like key-rings, calendars and t-shirts.

Nintendo Star Catalogue? I'm surprised Argos haven't sued already!

That’s what life should be like; we do well at work so we deserve a free t-shirt. Personally I would like a new thermos, but I’ll settle for stationary. Crayons are especially pleasing.

The real horror of it all though is that the day will come when achievements eventually make their way into our so-called reality. Everything you do, from changing your medication, to GBH, will earn you points. Our rep on the streets will become available to all of our enemies and Kinect will be systematically introduced into our CCTV systems.

When that day comes my friends, the world…will finally be in pieces.

Game:

In the wild days of 2007, a little game named Crackdown was released on Xbox 360. This open world third person action game cast you in the role of a genetically enhanced super cop, out to clean the mean streets of Pacific City. Developed by Realtime Worlds, founded by the creator of Grand Theft Auto; Dave Jones, the game was padded up with exclusive access to the downloadable Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta, which boosted sales considerably.

Unfortunately some people only bought the game for the aforementioned Beta access and didn’t even bother playing the game itself. I say that it’s unfortunate because the original Crackdown was a real gem that deserved more respect than it got. At E3 2009 Microsoft made the surprise announcement that a Crackdown sequel was coming, made by a different team and without any Halo Beta to prop it up.

First, to set the scene. As part of an elite police force, The Agency, you take the role of a genetically enhanced super cop out to clean up the streets once more. Ten years have passed since the events of the first Crackdown; after clearing out the three major gangs, the Agency accidentally exposed the city to a virus that mutates the majority of the population into monsters known as The Freaks.

A number of the more rebellious citizens have banded together to form an anti-government gang called The Cell. The Cell, armed with military weapons, defend the streets during the day while the Freaks swarm the streets at night, attacking both The Agency and The Cell. Your mission is to defeat The Cell, destroy The Freaks, and bring the city back under Agency control.

In order to retake control of the city you must achieve two objectives; firstly you must take down Cell’s strongholds, which is achieved by storming in and killing everyone in the surrounding area then summoning a helicopter to secure the area; secondly you must activate generators, which are usually near Cell strongholds, in order to power Ultra violet light bombs that need to be detonated inside of Freak nests below the city. In both instances you generally have to stand your ground against increasingly stronger waves of enemies.

To complete the main campaign you need to detonate 9 UV Bombs that are spread out over the three main islands that make up Pacific City. While clearing out all 27 Cell strongholds is not required, it does make activating the generators that power the bombs a whole lot easier. Some may criticise the game for being too repetitive, but I genuinely feel that they are missing the point. The story and the missions are not important in this game – the whole point of Crackdown 2 is to become a super powered bully and trample those that get in your way.

While you have a licence to kill criminals, the Agency frowns on the murder of innocent civilians. If you should kill an excessive amount of civilians then the Agency will turn on you for a short while, or at least until they kill you. Accidentally killing civilians is an issue that existed with the first game, particularly when you became more powerful and unlocked more abilities.

Each agent has five key skills that will upgrade as you progress through the game; Agility, Strength, Shooting, Explosive, and Driving. As you level up your appearance changes; more powered up characters become larger and more muscular, with more threatening looking armour. All of these skills, apart from agility, can be increased simply by performing their corresponding action – so for instance, killing an enemy by shooting them will boost your shooting experience, while punching them to death will boost your strength. In order to boost your agility skill, which determines how high you jump and how fast you can run, you need to collect glowing green orbs that are located all around the city.

Orb collection was a key gameplay component in the original Crackdown, and it returns bigger and better than before. As well as the 500 green agility orbs, and 300 blue hidden orbs, there are 15 purple driving orbs that you have to chase down in your car, and 30 renegade agility orbs that run away from you. The 500 green orbs are pretty much all in plain sight, but most of them are out of your reach and can only be collected periodically once you level up.

Each skill technically has six levels to fill up, although you stop unlocking new abilities once you reach the fifth level. When you level up you unlock new abilities and weapons, each more deadlier than the last. Of special note is the glide suit, which is unlocked at reaching level 5 agility, that allows you to glide when jumping from great heights. Although the controls are poorly explained, after some practice it is easy enough to pick up.

As someone that spent a lot of time playing the first Crackdown, the sequel feels very familiar. On the most superficial level the game takes place in the same city with only a few minor aesthetic changes, such as demolished buildings that had once been gang strongholds. Obviously this makes complete sense when you consider the story, but it may give some people the feeling that this is little more than Crackdown 1.5 rather than a full blown sequel.

This feeling of familiarity is compounded by the fact that the way in which you progress through the game, namely the collection of orbs and killing wave after wave of nameless foes, is exactly the same. Not that there is anything wrong with that, because the orb hunting in Crackdown was brilliant fun; it was genuinely rewarding to level up and increase the outlandish stunts you would be able to perform, and the prospect of getting bigger, faster, and stronger was all the incentive I ever needed.

In terms of story, the sequel has a more detailed story than the original, although that really is not saying much. Events are fleshed out in 52 collectible audio diaries that are located around the city, and the game actually features an opening cut scene, and ending cut scene. The original Crackdown actually had no story whatsoever beyond ‘the streets are in control of the gangs, go take them out agent!’; rather than having a set in stone story, the gameplay experience was more fluid; after being given a list of targets, it was up to you to decide who to take out first.

Each gang lieutenant was responsible for certain aspects of their own gang, be it recruitment, combat training, or vehicles. By killing a lieutenant you would remove that ability from the gang, thusly weakening the gang as well as boosting your own skills, until you were in a position to take out the head of the gang. It was a great feature in the original, a real innovation, but unfortunately it does not return in the sequel.

While you can choose to take our your targets, and detonate your bombs, in any order you please, the enemies you face in the locations furthest from your starting point are so difficult – often armed with homing missile launchers that obliterate you in seconds – that you will need to level up a great deal before even thinking about taking them on.

As well as the orbs, audio diaries, Cell strongholds, and UV bombs, there are a number of side missions to occupy your time. Road races and rooftop races (the former taking place on the streets in cars while the latter takes place on foot) return along with Freak Breaches and sky diving missions. Freak Breaches, as the name suggests, has an army of Freaks breaking through the surface for you to fight off until back up turns up to bomb the hell out of them. Sky diving missions can be a little frustrating, if only because the controls are very sensitive, but offer up huge agility experience as a reward for completing them.

As fun as playing the game solo is, the best bit about Crackdown 2 is the drop in/drop out 4 player online mutliplayer. Players can choose to work together to take out The Cell and The Freaks, collect orbs (including mutliplayer orbs that are only available online), race, or simply raise hell around the city. In a slightly disappointing move, if you join another player’s game and capture a stronghold, that stronghold will only be marked as captured in the host’s game.

As with every new 360 game these days, Crackdown 2 has a host of unlockable Avatar items, including an Agent Uniform, as well as generic things like a baseball cap. Several avatar items on the list tease two future packs of downloadable content, so you know that the game is going to get some new content after awhile.

Where the first Crackdown excelled was its creative use of achievements, frequently dishing them out for tasks that took a lot of grinding, as well as simpler tasks. Crackdown 2 continues this trend, with some genuinely creative achievements that task you with doing things that you would not normally do, such as driving an agency vehicle off a ramp and in to the path of an agency helicopter, which is exactly what an achievement should be.

Amusingly the Agency handler will announce that you have unlocked your achievement, commenting on how great a feat it was. At least, it is amusing the first few times you hear him say it. After the 10^th time of hearing him say “that was an excellent achievement” I kind of wished that he would stop just shut up and leave me alone.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 Crackdown’s signature cell shaded visual style returns, and while some of the characters lack appear to detail, the game features one of the most impressive looking and far reaching skylines in any game I have ever played. When standing on top of the Agency Tower you can literally see every part of the three islands.

Sound: 3/5 There is really only one voice actor in this game – the Agency Handler who is constantly giving you tips for success. The citizens only scream, while the Freaks roar, and the Cell yell incoherently whenever they see you. While the game features licensed tracks to listen to on your car radio none of them are particularly memorable.

Story: 2/5 In comparison to the original Crackdown this game has an epic storyline. However, when compared to other games the story could be called minimal at best. Beyond a short opening and closing cut scene, the only other story elements are relayed through 52 collectible audio diaries that fill in some of the back story.

Gameplay: 4/5 There is a wealth of gameplay types in this game, from racing,to running and gunning, to sky diving. However, the best part of the game is the orb collection, which is more like a platforming puzzle game than anything else. While some orbs are very easy to reach, some are incredibly difficult to reach but offer up big rewards. Chuck in 4 player online multiplayer and this game has pretty much everything you could want in terms of gameplay.

Longevity: 4/5 If you rush through the story missions, avoiding orb collection, stronghold capturing, multiplayer, and side missions then it will probably take you about 8 or so hours to complete the game. However, if you plan on doing that then you are a mental that hates fun. Getting online with 3 other friends is a blast (literally) and could keep the game in your disk tray for a long time to come.

Overall: 4 Renegade Agility Orbs out of 5

Crackdown 2 is a worthy successor to one of the most original and interesting games on the Xbox 360. While some could criticise it for sticking to the formula too much, it offers up several new gameplay modes and an addictive bombastic multiplayer mode. If you loved the first Crackdown then there is really no reason not to pick up the sequel.

- Luke Mears

These days, playing all the way through a game and being completely let down by a half- hearted end boss and ending is becoming more and more common. What with developers being pressured into producing milkable cash cows rather than good games, what do you expect? Sequels, prequels, downloadable add-ons and expansions; you name it, they are in development and they are all being made at the expense of a damn good ending!

But things weren’t always like this…

Back in the late 80′s – early 90′s (or as I like to call it…”The Golden Age” of computer games) the main emphasis was solely on the end boss. This lead to some truly epic encounters. There wasn’t a need for silly achievements, points or trophies; we had all the motivation we needed. We just had to beat the game. That was enough for gamers because back then games were much harder.

Games felt like an epic journey as you battled your way through, offing tough end-of-level bosses that crossed your path until finally reaching the absolute pinnacle: the end of game boss. Auto-saving checkpoints? Pahaha! Don’t make me laugh! Helpful in-game tutorials? Not a chance: read the f*cking manual! That was the kind of time we lived in and that’s what made games so special. It’s such a shame that this “retro aesthetic” is lacking from games of new. However as long as franchises like the Mega Man franchise continue to exist, it will live on.

No other series personifies the “retro aesthetic” more than the Mega Man franchise. Not only is every Mega Man game extremely tough (FACT!) but they also serve as the perfect reminder of how awesome retro game bosses could be. Take Mega Man 2 for example. The game itself follows the traditional Mega Man formula: Mega Man must defeat an array of robots created by an evil scientist, collecting some of their various traits along the way, before the final showdown with the anonymous scientist himself.

The whole journey you must take as Mega Man is one of epic proportions. Battling your way through the various themed levels (which is no mean feat itself considering how tough some of them can be) and defeating the end of level bosses (such as Bubble Man and Heat Man), builds for a truly epic final battle with Dr Wily. This is just something you don’t see in games anymore.

Haha...his name is Wily....that looks like Willy...which is another word for penis...teehee!

And Dr Wily, whilst anonymous until you actually get the chance to fight him, is utterly memorable. Again, this is something you don’t really see in modern gaming anymore. I mean, when was the last time you fought someone as memorable and as iconic as Bowser, Dr Robotnik or even Mecha Hitler from Wolfenstein 3D? That’s right, it was a while ago. Well, that’s if you can even remember any at all. They just don’t make end of game bosses like they used to.

Quite possibly the boss of all end bosses, Mecha Hitler!

It seems modern day gaming is all about style over substance. So much effort is poured into graphical trickery and what a boss looks like rather than actually making the final fight enjoyable. After all, the perfect end boss should not only look incredible, but also have character, instill emotion, be fun and unique to fight, be difficult but not too difficult and provide perfect closure (I don’t ask for much do I?).

This point is possibly best demonstrated by Epic’s Gears of War 2. Don’t get me wrong, Gears of War 2 is a brilliant and incredible looking game. However it has quite possibly one of the worst end of game bosses I’ve ever had the misfortune of encountering. The Mutated Brumak boss sure does look splendidly grotesque (all in 1080p, HD awesomeness), but it’s also extremely boring, weak and disappointing: a bitter end to a brilliant game. Epic got it so right in Gears of War 1 with General RAMM, it’s just a shame that they couldn’t deliver “the goods” in it’s otherwise improved sequel.

Another trend that I’ve noticed, and this really bugs me, is that quite often than not developers will just ramp up the difficulty right at the end in order to make the end boss seem far more powerful (Killzone f*cking 2). Again, this harks back to retro games, because old games are renowned for being notoriously hard. The difference is that they were extremely tough to play all the way through. They didn’t have a huge difficulty spike right at the end like a lot of modern games do.

Killzone 2's Radec is one hard motherfudger!

A game should have a finely balanced difficulty curve. Because retro games were consistently hard it meant that whilst the games were tough, they were consistently tough. This created a finely balanced, progressive difficulty. It seems developers these days neglect all of this. By just making the last boss extremely hard, all difficulty balance goes out of the window. What you’re left with is a player who gets frustrated, having to try and try again until eventually they just give up.

This all culminates in the player wasting countless hours playing and never sees the end. Where is the logic in that?! At this rate developers won’t even bother with endings. They’ll all start making end bosses that no one could ever beat, that way they wouldn’t have to waste time thinking up a proper ending because no one would ever see it. This may sound crazy but I guarantee in a few years I’ll be proven right.

In fact, creating even a passable end boss is such a fine art that some of the gaming worlds most influential, famous and highly regarded pieces of work are guilty of muffing it all up. Case in point, widely accredited as being one of the best games of all time; Final Fantasy 7. Whilst gamers are more often than not recalling all their favourite moments that made the game so memorable, they often forget how truly awful the last boss actually was. Final Fantasy 7 did the exact polar opposite of what I have just been talking about. Rather than making their last boss crushingly hard, beating Sephiroth was far too easy. Rewarding players with Cloud’s final limit break, even if they hadn’t previously unlocked it, made the battle essentially a one hit kill. Not very clever considering you’ve built up to this epic battle over three bloody discs!

And that’s not all, what about the dedicated players? What about people like me that played the game for hours… and hours… and hours… and hours… and… well, you get the picture. We unlocked every limit break, found every summon, maxed-out levels, collected all the materia and beat every enemy. And for what? I’ll tell you; absolutely nothing.

Even the mightiest fall...

But I’m sad to say that Final Fantasy 7 is only the start. What about gaming’s most iconic character? What about Mario? That’s right, even the Super Mario Bros. franchise is guilty of dropping a stinker from time to time. Proof that retro games also suffered from the curse of rubbish end of game bosses is Super Mario Bros 1.

Whilst Bowser may be memorable, your first encounter with him in Super Mario Bros 1 is extremely brief. Much like Final Fantasy 7, an epic battle is built up as you go from castle to castle in search of Princess Peach, who is being held by Bowser. However, once you come face to face with the monster it becomes far too easy, quite literally a hop, skip and a jump actually. You simply wait for him to walk onto the bridge, jump over him and walk into the axe to chop the bridge down and send Bowser to a fiery death. Talk about underwhelming.

It’s not all doom and gloom though folks. Thankfully there are developers out there who still care about what matters the most; the final encounters. The Zelda series has always had great end bosses. However, at the end of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, we’re shown that modern games can get end of game bosses right sometimes. Ganon represents a truly epic battle built over the entire course of the game that requires some skill to prevail. The difficulty is just right and ends fittingly with a beautiful stab to the head. This is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Wind Waker's showdown with Ganon is nothing short of brilliant.

It’s just unfortunate that quite often, these are nothing more than dreams. What we actually have to play is more like a nightmare.

- Kieran Roycroft

Along with the regular features of Top 5, What we’ve been playing, our Earth Worm Jim HD competition results and we give away a Medal of Honour beta code.

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[H:MM:SS] – Show Notes
——————–
Opening Song (Track 3 – Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia OST)

[0:00:41] – Introductions + Special Guest

[0:05:28] – Microsoft Press Conference

[0:40:11] – EA Press Conference

[0:55:13] – UbiSoft Press Conference

[1:06:44] – Nintendo Press Conference

[1:27:20] – Sony Press Conference

[1:57:30] – Top 5 Most Anticipated Games From E3 2010
-The Trailer for Dust: An Elysian Tail

[2:37:52] – Wrap Up
-The Wiki Link for Parasite Eve

[2:41:13] – End

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How do the Newbs react to government budget cuts affecting the games industry?

How does Microsoft manage to make them all smiley and giggley inside?

How can you win Medal of Honour Beta Codes?

Listen to the show to find out…

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Medal of Honour Beta code treasure hunt (part 1 b) BWG8 Have you been to our forum recently?

New Xbox redesign!

More than you ever wanted to know about Kinetic

and apparently there are games at E3?

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Rise Of The Resistance

People are lazy… Very lazy. But this laziness isn’t written into our genetic code or as a result of our upbringing; it is the consequence of our ever-growing intelligence and the utilization of that intellect to create more and more gadgets and gizmos. The sole purpose of these are to make our lives a whole lot lazier.

Take the iPod for example, or in fact anything that Apple has ever ejaculated from the “enlightened” mind of Steve Jobs. If I were a little more wealthy I could, and probably would, buy everything with an Apple on it… I’d buy some pink ladies as well; that’s my favorite variety of apple. Then I would hire some ladies wearing matching pink uniforms to eat them while I observe from a balcony.

It would however be hard to keep my attention focused on these “pink ladies” because I would be more interested in the tweets on my iPad and the download speed of the new Biffy Clyro album from iTunes.

Were these Steve Jobs' idea!? I'm not sure of anything anymore...

However, as a man I am skilled in the art of multitasking; a skill the opposite sex has yet to master, and with this skill I would be able to play my Xbox while maintaining Skype calls to the fellow members of the future resistance around the globe.

What I am trying to say is; society is constantly forming ways to keep us locked inside our houses. This will be the cradle of our destruction. For you see, while you sit at your chair sifting through the loose filaments of my mind, robotic engineers and scientists are constantly developing new technologies to advance our civilization, albeit with very little funding from the government.

I believe that eventually we will construct sentient robots, and if the all knowing teacher that is Hollywood has taught me anything, it’s that our greatest creation, upon realizing their superiority, will turn on us.

That, fellow humans, is the dawn of our downfall. Only the strong, the brave and the good will survive. Staying in groups of four won’t work this time though folks; this isn’t going to be a walk in a zombie filled park.

Molotov’s and vials of puke will most likely prove to be an ineffective weapon against the adamantium infused bodies of our synthetic adversaries. They will most certainly be equipped with more than two arms, and more armaments than you as well. In fact, it’s safe to say we’re pretty much fertilizer.

A vision of the future. But I'm pretty sure it'll be robots instead of zombies.

But don’t worry! Carry on with your life as you normally would. Just keep in mind that the games industry is producing a mass of educational source material secretly designed to subconsciously train the gamer to survive the war between man and machine.

Case in point: Mass Effect. This is Survival 101 people because it contains essential man-versus-machine training modules. It contains everything you’ll need to know, ranging from how to hack a robot sentient to how to use the biotic powers that we will inevitably gain as a result of future scientific research.

Ever seen Terminator 2? apart from being the greatest film ever made (FACT) it’s actually a premonition. It is going to happen people! I have seen it in my dreams and my dreams never lie.

Terminator 2 is the greatest movie of all time. Anyone who says otherwise will be the first to go.

I wouldn’t be surprised if my gospel compels you to go jump out of a window… the truth is harsh I know. But there are equally positive forces dedicated to making us more like J.C. Denton (25 gamer score if you know who J.C. Denton is) than ever before.

Soon we will be more metal than matter and we may even have a fighting chance, just make sure that when you go to the club this weekend you practice the robot dance. The droids made by Microsoft won’t be as smart or as deadly as the ones from Japan or Europe so you may even be able to trick them provided you can pop and or lock to a fairly decent standard.

But have you heard of a little arcade game called Darwinia+ by Introversion? This stylishly retro RTS’esque game is just another example of how games are doing their best to train you up for the inevitable robot uprising set to occur in 2012. It serves as great way to teach your children some basic warfare strategy. Get your kids practicing in the playground and gather up your sprites, because we will be fighting a lot of viruses… Viruses in our computers… Viruses in our bodies… Even viruses in our freaking kitchen appliances.

Throw away those Nintendo Wii's and buy your kids Darwinia+. The future depends on it!

Oh, and you know those quick time events that seem to be freakin’ everywhere since Sega made Shenmue? Well, the little improvements QTEs make to your reaction time are an essential part of your five a day: caffeine, sugar, alcohol, QTE and weapons training. Fruit and Vegetables will be in short supply after the Cybernetic Organisms carpet bomb every farm in England, so get used to life without them.

I am telling you this so that when the robot revolution begins nobody can say I was wrong. Crazy I may be, but wrong I be not. I implore you to go out into the streets and tell as many as you can, “play more games! Or you might soon be subject to severe stab wounds, laser burns and anal probing”.

Tell them ItsActuallyAdam sent you… then tell them to plug their anus.

We’ve had some gigantic titles already released in 2010, Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, God of War 3 and Bioshock 2 to name but a few. However, it’s probably safe to say that the 1^st quarter of this year has only truly belonged to one game, Square Enix’s latest offering of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy 13.

Everywhere you went, from the sides of buses to billboards, from full page adverts in magazines to advertisements on that little (or big) box we call a television, Final Fantasy 13 was there. In fact, I heard that Square Enix had pumped so much money into the marketing campaign of Final Fantasy 13, they actually tried to make it an international law that every person over the age of 16 had to buy at least 10 copies. One copy to play, nine just to sit on your shelf or something like that.

Despite it's age, Lost Odyssey still looks incredible

The wait for Final Fantasy 13 was a long one, and between Final Fantasy 12 and 13 Microsoft Game Studios released the great, and often forgotten about, Lost Odyssey. This game is much in the same vein as the Final Fantasy series, not surprising considering it was even produced by the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise, Hironobu Sakaguchi (pronounced He-Row-Know-Boo Sack-A-Gooch-Ee, I do believe).

Forgotten about? Well yes, because it seems only 0.1% of the gaming population actually know this game exists. It’s a crying shame considering it boasts some of the key elements of what makes a truly brilliant RPG.

Despite it’s age, Lost Odyssey still looks beautiful (the cutscenes in particular are nothing short of breathtaking), it also has fully realised and interesting characters (although the character of Jansen does grate on you at times, the annoying f*ck!). Most importantly, it has an engaging and emotive story. Story really is the element that means an RPG either lives or dies.

On a more personal note, the story of Lost Odyssey has reignited my love for RPG’s. Well, that and the Mass Effect franchise.

Lost Odyssey’s tale centres around the exploits of Kaim Argonar; quite possibly one of the sulkiest characters to ever grace a game. Kaim is entitled to be a bit sulky as he is immortal and is suffering from a spot of amnesia.

Mr Moody Pants..

Of course, with this being an RPG there is a whole cast of characters to join Kaim on his quest. They range from mortals and children such as Jansen and Cooke, to other immortals such as Gongora and Queen Ming. Each character is supported with some superbly believable voice acting, which helps immerse the player within the Lost Odyssey story.

With smatterings of war, sorrow, betrayal and rebellion, it all sounds very much like your average Japanese RPG. You’re right, Lost Odyssey plays out like your average JRPG, which some people may find, well…quite frankly boring. It’s fairly outdated, turn based combat system, in randomly generated battles and the games insanely long load times being the biggest offenders of boredom, and at times it all feels perhaps a bit too old school, if also frustrating.

Lining up and taking turns to attack feels far too old fashioned these days

Whilst Lost Odyssey may lack originality in some areas it is incredibly innovative in others. Case in point, the “Thousand Years of Dreams” mini stories/dreams allow the player to read some of the tales accrued through Kaim’s thousand year life time. Anything from the hugely significant to the littlest of detail can spark a memory within Kaim. The player is then able to read the relating tale any time they want.

This system allows for a real connection between the player and the character. Kaim at first seems to be very cold and soulless, but these stories mean he warms on you and slowly comes to life.

These stories are especially interesting and moving because they are beautifully written. Although they were written by award-winning Japanese short story writer, Kiyoshi Shigeematsu (pronounced Key-Yosh-Eee She-Jee-Mat-Soo, I hope), so they were destined to be well written.

The soundtrack to the game is of equal beauty. The emotively written score really adds to an already engaging story to create a truly thrilling experience. The music heightens the emotional climaxes of the story, whether it be through making the intense moments far more tense or the sad moments positively tearful. All in all, the score is the perfect companion to a heart wrenching story.

All credit to Microsoft, in an attempt to try and win over the Asian market they really went to town on Lost Odyssey. Not only did they draft in incredible talent to ensure the game was well written, they also allowed players to extend the experience of Lost Odyssey beyond the four discs with the addition of DLC. New items, dungeons, bosses, dreams, skills and achievements are all there to download and earn; further expanding what already was a complete experience.

In fact, the phrase “complete experience” is probably the best way to summarise Lost Odyssey. This is a game far from flawless or perfect, however if you are willing to forgive and look passed the many flaws, there is still a very engaging, enjoyable experience to be had. It’s just such a shame that this is an experience that seems to have been forgotten.

It’s a phenomenon that has existed for years, but is becoming more and more common as the games market expands. I am of course talking about expensive Collector’s Edition copies of the latest new release.

It seems every developer these days is releasing a high priced “limited edition” complete with in-game bonus items, books, soundtracks, short making of DVDs, and little action figures.

Until recently I loved them; my home is littered with all sorts of crap that I have picked up over the years through purchasing limited editions. In my Bedroom you could find Bayonetta’s Gun, a plastic Batarang, and a pewter Big Daddy statue (to name a few examples) cluttering up the place.

It is clear that publishers and developers have realised there is a very strong demand for Collector’s Editions, especially if they come with “exclusive” content. I don’t think it would be too unfair to say that the average hardcore gamer, the sort of person that jumps at the chance of buying the latest games on release day, has some geeky tendencies in him/her.

Average game. Below average Collector's Edition.

The words “limited” and “exclusive” are banded about when describing these products, and are probably enough to get any fanboy’s pulse racing, fearing that this rare treasure may soon disappear. Deep down that’s exactly how I feel when I read the details of the latest Collector’s Edition version of a game I’ve had my eyes on.

However, more often than not, these collector’s editions are released at a premium price, but come in exceptionally poor quality packaging with mediocre additional content at best.

Of course, every now and then a collector’s edition comes along and makes everything better again; take for instance the recent Alan Wake Collector’s Edition. The package included the game, a 100 odd page book that filled in some of the back story behind the events of the game (including samples of Alan Wake’s own writing), a making of DVD that also unlocks developer commentary mode in the game, two premium themes for your dashboard, Avatar awards, and the soundtrack, all wrapped in a hollowed out book. For the price I paid, a mere £40, it was completely worth it.

A Fantastic Bargain at £40

And yet, for every Alan Wake Collector’s Edition there are about half a dozen Red Dead Redemption Collector’s Editions. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the game as much as anyone else out there, but the Collector’s Edition, which I foolishly purchased, was the text book definition of a waste of money.

For £50, it shipped with a download code that entitled you to three pieces of downloadable content: Golden Guns, which increase your fame slightly, the War Horse, a steed that has better stamina regeneration, and the Deadly Assassin outfit, which refills your Dead Eye Metre a little bit faster.

Also included is a download code for the game’s Soundtrack. Let me reiterate; a download code. They couldn’t even be bothered to put it on a CD and slip it in the case. And yet it cost £10 more than the plain old regular version of the game.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I discovered that half of my downloadable content is not available right from the get go; in fact, in order to unlock the Deadly Assassin outfit you have to meet a number of in-game goals, and progress through the story beyond a certain point. It’s not the end of the world, but it is an irritation.

I don’t mean to single Red Dead Redemption out, they are not the only ones releasing crappy Collector’s Editions that fools such as myself keep buying; who can forget the “special edition” Dead Rising, with the only special feature being that it came in a tin case at a £10 premium, or the infamous Batman Arkham Asylum special edition that came with a bonus challenge map, a 10 minute DVD, a short book with character designs in it, and a cheap plastic Batarang on a stand.

To make matters worse, the copy of the game itself was packaged in a flimsy cardboard box, with a faux wooden finish, almost as if they wanted to emphasise how cheap it looked.

A Fantastic Game, But An AWFUL Collector's Edition

Of course no one is forcing people to buy these Collector’s Editions – it’s not like burley men in black kicked down my door and dragged me to my local retailer, forcing me to hand over my hard earned cash for some rubbish downloadable content. But at the same time I have to wonder, how long can this last? How long can Publishers, Developers and Retailers expect to rip people off before they start getting wise to what constitutes a good deal?

To play devil’s advocate for just a brief moment, it cannot be easy for Publishers and Developers trying to find good content for their Collector’s Editions. I would imagine that most game developers are too busy working hard to get the game out on time to spend time sitting in front of a camera talking about how wonderful their game is going to be.

When you take in to account things like Electronic Arts’ Project $10, which offers everybody that buys a new copy of one of their games about $10 worth of free downloadable content, what else do they have the time to make and cram in to the special editions? These DVDs and books don’t just magically turn up out of nowhere, they cost money, and people have put in time and effort in order to craft these bonus items.

A Very Good Collector's Edition For A Not So Great Game

Calling for a blanket boycott of all Collector’s Editions will do little else but deprive Publishers of much needed extra income. Having said that, however, there are a number of ways in which things could go in the future if we stopped buying the bad Collector’s Editions. The best case scenario is that the involved parties take a good hard look at their product and strive to put out better Collector’s Editions.

On the other hand, the involved parties may decide that Collector’s Editions are not profitable and they stop producing them all together. It’s not going to happen overnight, but one day maybe we won’t even have the option of buying expensive variants of our games that come with a load of old tosh. And that would be a real shame.

–Luke Mears–

If this were the practice in any other industry, there would be a number of lawsuits flying about the place, but not in our industry. As such, The Newb Review thought it was time to honour five titles that have contributed the most to the realm of videogames over the past decade.

So, in no particular order, let’s get this party started.

Halo: Combat Evolved

Game: Halo: Combat Evolved
Format: Xbox, PC
Developer: Bungie Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studios

When Microsoft’s first foray in to console gaming; The Xbox, was released, there was only one title that made the machine worth getting at launch. That game was Halo: Combat Evolved (or just plain Halo to the kids). But what exactly was so revolutionary about this first person shooter?

Those of us that are old enough can cast our minds back to the early days of console first person shooters, with titles such as Goldeneye, Medal of Honour, or the various ports of Doom or Duke Nukem. As great as they were, they do not exactly stand the test of time.

Halo, however is still infinitely replayable, as it has effectively defined the console first person shooting experience.

A revolution... Vehicle Combat that is actually fun!

Major innovations:

 Gigantic open levels: While the opening act of the game featured typical corridor based shooting, the game completely changed once the ship crashed on the Halo world. Remember the exhilaration of venturing out of the escape pod and finding a massive world for you to explore? It was mind blowing.

 Vehicle combat: Sure, plenty of games had vehicle sections in them, but more often than not these seemed like an afterthought. Where Halo differed is that the vehicular combat actually felt like an integral part of the game. The smooth controls you associate with first person shooters were successfully transferred over to the vehicles, which made coming across an abandoned Warthog something to look forward to, rather than dread.

 Recharging health: Before Halo if you were unfortunate enough to get shot then the only way you could recover was by using health packs. Not only did Halo introduce the recharging shield, but they also introduced the idea of recharging health. You know the drill. Shot up? Crouch behind cover and wait for your health to come back. It was, and still is, an empowering thing of beauty.

 Intelligent enemies: Gone were the days of enemies simply charging at you down a corridor. No, the artificial intelligence was astounding; enemies would regroup together, hide behind cover and even discuss tactics with each other.

 Incidental character dialogue: Every character that you came across, be they friend or foe, had their own voice and dialogue. Sure a lot of the time it would just be generic military jargon related to the mission, but compare that to the dialogue in previous first person shooters. Perfect Dark’s infamous “why… me?” springs to mind.

Game: Grand Theft Auto 3
Format: Playstation 2, PC, Xbox
Developer: DMA Design (Now Rockstar North)
Publisher: Rockstar Games

It is hard to believe that the Grand Theft Auto series was anything but a 3D open world game. Yet it wasn’t until the fifth game in the series, GTA: 3, that we saw the arrival of the ultimate 3D open world game. A sprawling environment full of people in which you could do anything you wanted. Is it any wonder so many other titles took inspiration from it?

The epitomy of freedom.

Without GTA:3 it is likely that we would never have seen games such as Saints Row, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, The Godfather, Spiderman 2, or Crackdown.

Major Innovations:

 Absolute Freedom: Playing as the nameless and voiceless thug who escapes from Prison after being set up by his girlfriend on a bank job, you could do almost whatever you wanted. You did not have to do the missions, you could just wander the streets taking in the atmosphere. Or, you know, you could just fire off a ton of rockets at passing traffic.

 Celebrity Voice Acting: While subsequent games have had big names such as Sam Jackson and Dennis Hopper lending their vocal talent, GTA 3 started the trend by hiring actual actors, such as Michael Madsen, to bring the characters to life. What a difference it made.

 Unmatched Atmosphere: Liberty City actually felt like a real breathing city. The streets were populated with people, and there were always cars on the streets, even late at night. Every street in town had its own feel, and after a few hours driving around it became easy to navigate your way around town.

 Licensed Music: GTA:3 featured an unprecedented number of real world songs on the in-game radio station, which was pretty much unheard of at the time. I’ll never forget getting in to my first car and being treated to Paul Engemann’s “Push it to the limit” from the movie Scarface. Pure. Genius.

Game: Shenmue
Format: Dreamcast
Developer: Sega AM2
Publisher: Sega

Technically, Shenmue was originally released in Japan in 1999, so it is slightly outside our time frame. However, the European version of the game did not appear until December 2000, so we’ll let it slide.

Playing as Ryo Hazuki, you were on a quest to discover the identity of your father’s murderer, and to get revenge. The game itself revolved around walking through town and asking the residents questions. If GTA:3 is the representation of western inner city life, then Shenmue is the embodiment of a quiet sleepy Japanese town; slow and dreary for some, but a real gem to others.

Press A to jump, or alternatively you can just watch Ryo stymble over the boxes.

Major Innovations:

 Quick Time Events: Love them or hate them, without Shenmue we would not have the quick time event. A symbol flashes on screen, giving you a few moments to press the corresponding button or face disaster.

 A real working town: The town of Yokosuka was populated with dozens of characters, each with their own voices. Sure, some would brush you off if you tried talking to them, but they all felt like real people. They even had their own schedule that they stuck to, so you wouldn’t come across kids playing baseball in the streets at 2am for instance.

 Life as we know it: Ryo felt like a real living person. He had to eat, sleep, and even get a job. To some, this was a headache that got in the way of the quest, but to me it really made me believe that Ryo was an actual person.

Game: Gears of War
Format: Xbox 360, PC
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studios

Another flagship Xbox title, although this time a flagship title for the second Xbox, the Xbox 360. Taking on the role of Marcus Fenix, a grizzled rectangular pile of man meat, you must fight against the underground menace of the Locust; an equally burley, pale race of beasties that are trying to wipe out humanity. So far so generic, but what Gears of War lacks in terms of narrative it makes up for with some truly influential gameplay.

Meet generic space grunt 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Major Innovations:

 Cover: Do I need to say anything more than duck and cover? Sure, Gears of War did not invent the idea of a cover system, whereby the character you control ducks behind an object and uses it to shield from enemy fire, but it certainly popularised it.

 Burly Space Marines: It seems every game these days has burley space marines covered from head to toe in generic looking armour. Thanks Gears. Thank you very much.

 Co-op: As our consoles have become more and more complicated it seems developers have favoured leaving out a once mandatory feature: split-screen and local co-operative play. Not Gears of War; as well has having two player split-screen co-op throughout the entire game, you could also team up with a friend over Xbox live. Before Gears it was rare, now it is an industry standard.

Game: Resident Evil 4
Format: Gamecube, Wii, PC
Developer: Capcom Studio 4
Publisher: Capcom

Capcom’s fifth console Resident Evil game (The Resident Evil Survivor series don’t count, thank you very much) Resident Evil 4 saw the franchise getting a major overhaul in terms of gameplay. Gone were the static camera angles, rigid controls, and ammunition conservation and in came a new over the shoulder camera angle, and a plethora of amply supplied weapons.

This was a good thing too because we no longer had the shambling zombies of days gone by. In their stead we were given Los Ganados; frantic, deadly and all too human. Not only did Resident Evil 4 breathe new life in to the flagging series, it also reinvented the third person shooter.

Shooting the heads off of the Spanish has never been so easy

Major Innovations:

 Over the Shoulder: Before Resident Evil 4, the camera angle in third person games tended to be squarely behind the protagonist’s head, which often made fast paced combat situations difficult to say the least. Now, with this shifted camera angle, combat could become more manageable.

 Wii Motion Controls: When Resident Evil 4 was re-released on the Nintendo Wii and came with all new motion controls. Before this point the Wii did not have a decent third person shooter, and some speculated that it was impossible. Resident Evil 4 not only demonstrated that motion controls worked perfectly well in an action game, but may very well make the gameplay even better.

And there we have it, our pick for the Five Most Influential Games of the Past Decade. Of course, with any such subject there are bound to be a few titles that we felt were incredibly influential but just did not quite manage to make it past the finish line in time.

Let us present our Runners Up:

Game: Jet Set Radio
Format: Dreamcast
Developer: SmileBit
Publisher: Sega

This game inspired the likes of XIII, Borderlands… Wacky Races. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly revolutionary, but the first cel-shaded game certainly caused quite a stir and goes down as one of the greatest Dreamcast titles of all time.

The game follows a gang of “rudies”; young people who skate around town spraying graffiti as a form of self-expression. Along the way, you can bolster the ranks of your gang with new members by completing skating challenges against them and ultimately uncover a plot involving a mystical vinyl record with the power to summon demons.

The life of a street punk is a glamourous one

I know it sounds crazy; kids on roller skates graffiti-ing up the place whilst being chased by cops and gangsters, but that’s exactly the point. This is charming, Japanese fantasy, superbly implemented and incredibly fun.

Rumours of an XBLA release have caused quite a storm on the forums and especially amongst the staff here at The Newb Review. If this doesn’t get the re-release we all want it to, I strongly recommend you pick up a second hand Dreamcast and a copy. You can thank me later.

- Tom “tom01255″ Wallis

Game: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Format: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision

Modern Warfare presented the culmination of a growing relationship between the once loved publisher and Infinity Ward. Seemingly grasping the Holy Grail of simultaneous critical acclaim and astronomic sales, it was clear that this game was something special.

Infinity Ward’s legacy seems to be entwined with this title; whenever anyone mentions the COD series, it’s inevitably the Modern Warfare franchise they talk about over any of the World War II based outings.

One of the most successful (and imitated) games of all time.

The story was short, but epic; placing you in the shoes of several different operatives involved in a war against Russian terrorists. The narrative also managed to shock on an emotional level; invoking a strange feeling of grief when a playable character witnesses a nuclear explosion and kicks the bucket.

However, it was the multiplayer where the game really shined. Still a fantastically popular title online, Modern Warfare tapped into a need for all gamers to feel as though they were bettering themselves; by having unlockable guns and attachments, the game enticed gamers to spend hour upon hour improving their account and reaching that 10th prestige level.

With Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward built an empire. It’s just a shame Modern Warfare 2 couldn’t amaze us in the same way.

- Tom “tom01255″ Wallis

Game: God of War
Format: Playstation 2
Developer: SCE Studios Santa Monica
Publisher: Sony

It’s hard to believe that there have only been four God of War games over the past decade. I say that because there has been a seemingly endless number of games that have taken inspiration from this brilliant series of games.

Just take a look at EA’s recent release Dante’s Inferno; would that even exist without God of War? It could be argued that God of War almost singlehandedly revitalised the hack and slash genre (although some credit must be given to Capcom’s Devil May Cry series too).

The format is simple: A burley man (in this case Kratos) runs around fairly large yet linear levels, armed with a plethora of bladed weapons, and cuts a sea of mythical enemies into mince meat.

Chuck in some light logic-based puzzles, usually involving cranks and pullies, and have the player search off the beaten path for collectables that upgrade your abilities and there we have it, the epitome of the hack and slash genre.

Kratos is pretty tasty.

The God of War series is also known for its epic boss battles, which always culminate in the Quick Time Event finale, complete with suitably gory conclusion. And don’t forget the health dosage of quick time sex mini games and an ample showing of breasts.

Actually when put that way, you can completely see why so many game developers have reacted the way they have to God of War. It is the ultimate teenage boy fantasy game. And God (of war) bless it.

Game:

It’s safe to say many have been waiting for Alan Wake… for a long time. With a hefty five year development, it promised to bring us a ‘riveting plot’ with ‘multilayered character interactions’. But have Remedy Entertainment, creators of Max Payne managed to pull their half a decade promises out of the bag? Enki from The Newb Review managed to step into the footsteps of Alan Wake, following him into Bright Falls to see what this game was all about…

It’s immediately apparent that this game has had multiple influences, all culminating in the feel of this title. Silent Hill, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and multiple references to various literary authors; Stephen King most frequently, gives you an idea of what to expect.

The concept of the game is certainly of interest. The idea of a small town in which darkness is given life, in which every shadow exudes danger, is one that a player immediately feels uneasy in. The opening of the Nightmare sequence that Wake describes is an immersive tutorial, feeling more like an interactive nightmare than getting to grips with the games mechanics.

Light and Dark contrast brilliantly giving the game great aesthetics

You soon learn that there is more to fear than the darkness itself. From the shadows, creatures called “The Taken” regularly stalk the author. These are townsfolk fallen foul of the evil in the town, shrouded in a swirling darkness that one must evaporate with the use of Wake’s flashlight before more conventional weapons can be used to rid them entirely.

Of course, the light aspect of the game draws comparisons to Alone in the Dark, yet this game makes the mechanic its own. Not only is the light used to take care of enemies, it is a literal haven, a save point and a welcome sight after running through seemingly endless dark forests. The feeling of seeing a working streetlamp in the distance has never evoked more relief in a survival horror before.

The use of both light and conventional weapons brings about an interesting duality to your conservation of items. Not only are you keeping an eye on ammunition, but the batteries and strength of the flashlight you carry. Later in the game these weapons merge in the form of the indispensable flare gun; in many ways the rocket launcher of this series, as well as flares and flash-bangs; life-savers in more than one situation.

The flashlight will be both a comfort and weapon in the darkness

This game is genuinely frightening at times, with even the most hardened of survival horror fans likely to get caught by at least one of the moments throughout the game. Darkness is a fear inherent in all humans at one stage in life at least, and this game certainly plays on that.

This is a game that begs you to play in the dark and the scares are interesting in that they come when you least expect it. The joy comes in that scares come when you least expect them. No matter how on guard you are, at one point or another, Alan Wake will catch you by surprise.

Alan Wake comes in six bite-sized episodes, typically lasting around 1-2 hours each depending on the level of exploration. This also works within the game itself. Similar to Left 4 Dead, each episode has its own goals, over-arching story and purpose. The regular checkpoints also make this game a joy to play in even ten minute segments; giving you the feeling of progress with even the shortest of sessions.

The moments in light are far and few between, but the beautiful scenery offer a brief respite

The story of Alan Wake is gripping. Sure, it isn’t the most original, especially for a huge horror film fan such as myself. But this is exactly what’s so endearing about the plot. The pages you find throughout the game do a brilliant job of foreshadowing what will occur next and the building anticipation of what you’ve just read works wonders.

The only problem in terms of story comes with the ending, that may be a little too ambiguous for some, a little too much food for thought for some.

This game played brilliantly, but moreover, I felt the same kind of emotional attachment usually reserved for a good movie or book. When found in a game this is something wonderful. As each episode came to a close I couldn’t wait to progress to the next section to find out what happens after each inevitable cliff-hanger.

This game is also a veritable treasure trove of references to those in the know. The first being the obvious A.Wake, more Stephen King references than you could shake a stick at, not to mention the FBI agent that revels in calling Wake every other author name under the sun.

Alan Wake is full of imagery to be interpreted, much like the episodes of Twin Peaks it so lovingly re-appropriates elements from. It offers a new level of replayability, not one based solely on trying to gain those missed achievements, but on understanding the game on a new level. Five minutes into replaying the opening, I was already inwardly cheering as I spotted Night Springs on a sign. Speaking of which…

The darkness can seem deserted and quiet... that all soon disappears

Night Springs is a reason to buy this game on its own. Alan Wake is littered with radios and TV’s with which Wake can interact, also offering a welcome respite to the terror of the night. The most interesting of these asides by far is the episodes of Night Springs. Sure, listening to the town’s night radio station is great, but the pseudo-Twilight Zone black and white shorts are stunning. Each mini-tale is not only brilliant viewing in the heat of the moment, but increasingly relates to Wake’s story.

All this without mentioning the music. Ah, the music. Each piece of music is used with great aplomb in the course of the story, especially the song intrinsically tied to the story of Wake himself. Also, Poets of the Fall’s track “War” is especially moving when it appears, a real-life song placed in the games world with such skill, I was nearly speechless. Not to mention the Rock stage showdown… I’ll say no more.

Flares are not only a life-saver, but look stunning against the darkness

Of course, there are always downsides, and I feel I am nit-picking a little with this since I did enjoy the game so immensely. One has to be the facial animations. You would have thought that after half a decade’s development it would be a little smoother. Still, there seems to be a patch in the works for this so it might not be an issue for too much longer.

Another issue might be the feeling that, throughout the course of the story you actually feel more in touch with all the other characters in the story than Wake and his Wife. Barry, his agent, steals the lime-light, almost making you want him to be a constant companion for his hilarious asides.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 3/5 The graphics of Alan Wake are stylish if a little outdated. The difference between the lighter gameplay and the more Film Noir-esque cutscenes can be a little jarring at first, but they each work in their own respect. The character animations are slightly off, too. That said, as previously noted, the facial animations might be getting a patch overhaul, rendering that a null point.

Sound: 5/5 I cannot stress how much I personally fell in love with the soundtrack to this game. Each track is so brilliantly slotted into the story that it becomes a part of the experience. I understand that it might not be to everyone’s cup of tea, but I honestly feel it adds to the aesthetics of the game.

Story: 4/5 A huge crux of the title. One that, especially from a horror fan, works really well. Again, it might not be world-shatteringly original, but I genuinely think the story is gripping enough to warrant many a replay.

Gameplay: 4/5 The gameplay for me is as uncomplicated as you could wish it to be. Despite the various weapons on offer, the duality of weapons and flashlight, flow very well. The dodge mechanic might take a while to master, but once you understand the timing the cinematic angles you are rewarded with are well worth it.

Longevity: 3.5/5 I’ve never been one for replayability but even I can understand this game has quite a bit. Of course, the main story will be the same, with the only thing changeable being the difficulty. Yet, for some, the references they missed the first time will be more than enough for at least another play through or two.

Overall: 4.5 batteries out of 5. I’ve nailed the reason for me liking this title so much down to one of two reasons. One, as stated, I’m a huge horror fan and as such am a little more forgiving of generic tropes. Two, I didn’t follow this for five years like a lot of people. Whether it is one of these reasons or I’m completely off the mark, I can safely say without reservation that this game, to me, is stunning. It is more than worth the purchase and I’ll be playing it through again just to see all the extra references I missed. One thing’s for sure, after playing Alan Wake, I’m not sure I’ll look at the darkness the same again for a very long time…

Why would I spend my hard earned money on virtual clothes?

When I can go out and buy REAL attire, which would make me more attractive to the ladies and even a little bit more like a normal human being. Well I don’t know why, but I have been buying Nike, Diesel, Adidas, burton and even GAP clothes in video games for various doppelgänger’s regardless.

I often wonder what the point is, when for starters nobody else in the world of my xbox live friends list would think twice about weather my avatar is wearing this seasons underpants.

And nobody in the cold empty and utterly boring Playstation Home’s virtual mall cares for the furniture in my virtual house on a Caribbean island. I should be out in my real shopping mall, meeting real people and possibly real women, to take back to my real house and show off real furniture from ikea.

But reality or not, retail therapy feels good, and that’s probably why its a good business, I think my generation of games has more or less made character customization and essential part of any new releases; something which, if left out, can even land the developers in a steaming pile of complaints from fans who expected better. And I agree with the fans wholeheartedly as I do enjoy changing the hues of my power armor and super suits.

Annoyingly, just like in real life, it’s impossible to put together an outfit which is entirely unique, because there is always some other pretender out there who has bought the same outfit or the same pet, same house, same everything. Essentially meaning that when you’re by yourself, you are captain cool, the freaking fonz man, yeah when I’m in my pad with all the items I have earned or unlocked though games, I’m the freaking don. But as soon as I step out into the lobby or go browsing everyone else’s avatars so i can judge them, I am just another schmuck like the 15 other schmucks with the same pink t-shirt and top hat.

That might sound bitter but the fact is, I like to think of myself as a man apart, and that’s the way I like it inside my television. You could say that’s big headed, but that’s because my head is bigger than yours, no hat ever made has been able to comfortably sit over the circumference of my cranium, FACT. So I buy artificial hats, I can live out the feeling of a warm crown or a shaded brow though my avatars.

“What about avatar games” I hear you say? Surely games like Ages of Booty, Avatar Golf and even Baby Maker Extreme justify spending your Microsoft points on all manner of costumes, because with these games I can actually see my avatars doing stuff. Not just procrastinating in my friends list, but actually in a game where I can interact with them. WELL YOU’RE WRONG!

So far the XBox live market place has yet to fabricate a half decent avatar game, and by half decent I mean it should have minimum 20 hours gameplay; lots of unlockable avatar rewards, plenty of achievements which are not easy to get but not too hard and a story would be nice as well.

I have always thought that the best way to get the general public to buy clothes, pets or props for your Sony or Microsoft double is to make the online shopping experience more exciting than real life; something which no console or PC has yet to master.

And that’s why Sony and Microsoft have failed to make any money.

Its not a waste of money, what you’re really wasting is time, lots and lots of time.

The guys tackle all the usual stuff with news of Bungie joining the Darkside (Activision) and Call of Duty: Black ops. Question: How does a gaming podcast get to talk about The Incredible Hulk’s penis? I don’t know either but the guys manage it somehow. Download the show and listen to find out more.

Also, leave us an iTunes review and you’ll be in with a chance of getting a game of your choice as one lucky reviewer will be picked at random once we reach 50 reviews.

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Left 4 Dead 2 was a very popular game among critics, particularly among us here at The Newb Review. This year Left 4 Dead 2 won the prestigious BAFTA (the UK’s equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Multiplayer Game of 2009. So you can imagine out excitement when Valve confirmed that they would be releasing a number of add-ons for this fantastic title. The first piece of downloadable content is The Passing, which has our band of survivors coming across the survivors from the original Left 4 Dead. The tag line for this new act is “no one survives forever” which teases the death of one of the beloved characters… But who?!

Fear not, we will not spoil it for you here.

The Passing features one new act, made up of three new chapters that take place after the survivors escape from the shopping mall in the supped up race car, and before they are forced to abandon it outside the Dark Carnival. Having followed the road straight out of town, our tenacious survivors (Coach, Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle) find themselves at a raised bridge, which is being protected by the original survivors. After a brief cut scene (which on occasion failed to actually load up for me) we are told that the generator that controls the bridge is out of fuel, and that you will have to refuel the generator if you want to get across. Of course, in typical Left 4 Dead Fashion, there are about 1 Billion zombies between you and your objective. By the time you reach your objective you will probably be drenched in Zombie blood, bile, vomit, and an array of nasty bodily fluids. Why are things never easy in the Zombie Apocalypse?

'I think there might be some zombies out there...'

The three chapters feature everything you have come to expect from Left 4 Dead 2: dimly lit streets, a raging storm, and Zombies… Lots and lots of Zombies. All of the Special Infected return, including the veteran Boomers, Smokers, Hunters, the dreaded Tank and Witch (who has had something of a makeover for this act) as well as the new kids on the block, Spitters, Chargers, and Jockeys.

On your quest to restart the generator, you will come across lock boxes filled to the brim with supplies, as well as two new weapons; a golf club, and an M60 Machine Gun as well as a new type of uncommon infected, the Fallen Survivor. Basically, the Fallen Survivor is a survivor that was not as immune to the virus as he might first have thought. This new zombie takes an awful lot of shooting, but also carries a lot of items, such as health packs, Molotovs, pipe bombs, etc, so coming across him does have its rewards, as well as risks.

The Action is as fast paced and frantic as ever

Also returning are the Survivor messages written on the walls of the safe houses, with one note in particular that will bring a smile to the faces of fans of Capcom’s Dead Rising series.

As well as new achievements, there are some new Avatar costume pieces to unlock, including your very own Gnome Chompski, which will doubtlessly capture the imagination, and trouser contents, of Valve’s more hardcore fans.

All three Maps can be played in the story mode (on your own, in 2 player split screen, or 4 player online), Versus mode (which features a team of survivors VS a team of special infected zombies), Survivor mode (a time attempt to survive as long as possible against the zombie hordes) and Scavenger Mode (in which you must collect as many canisters of gasoline as you can within a set time limit). Arguably the biggest new feature added in this DLC is the Mutations Mode.

The Zombies are clearly big fans of Jazz

A short blog post that is attached to the main menu explains Mutations Mode thusly: Mutations mode takes already established game types, such as Versus, and adds special conditions to them, like a chainsaws only mode. Think of it as being like Golden Gun mode in Goldeneye, or Riot Shields only Modern Warfare 2 matches. Each mutation will last for one week exactly, and once every type of mutation has cycled through, players will be asked to vote for their favourite one. The top user voted Mutations will be made playable again. The first Mutation is Realistic Versus Mode, in which there are no respawns, and no outlines on players or items. In short, Realistic Versus Mode takes away all of the advantages on the Human’s side, making it a very Zombie friendly game mode. With at least six types of mutations confirmed, it is clear that Valve is dedicated towards breathing more life in to Left 4 Dead 2’s multiplayer.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 While the Source Engine that powers Left 4 Dead 2 is showing it’s age, a lot of effort has gone in to making the game look at good as possible, particularly with the design of the levels and characters. Faces look particularly gruesome, and the streets are dauntingly atmospheric.

Sound: 3/5 The music, sound effects, and voice acting are on par with the main game, as you would expect. However, on occasion, I have had a few problems with the noise produced by the raging storm being far too loud, drowning out all of the other sounds in the game. I do not know if it is intentional, but I found it very irritating.

Story: 2/5 Anyone that is playing Left 4 Dead because they are looking for a fantastic in depth story should probably look elsewhere. The story is very basic, and on occasion, a key cut scene at the beginning of the expansion failed to actually let me know what was going on. It’s a good thing that Valve have announced an expansion for the original Left 4 Dead to fill in the gaps in this add-on.

Gameplay: 5/5 While you can play it in single player, Left 4 Dead 2 is best played with other people. A welcome addition included in the 360 version brings an update, which has been available to PC players for some time, that allows any empty spaces in your multiplayer Versus or Scavenge games will be filled with computer controlled bots.

Longevity: 4/5 Your first play through of the Passing will probably last between half an hour and one hour, depending on your skill level. Achievements and Avatar Awards incentivise multiple play throughs of the DLC, while the Mutations mode breathes new life in to the multiplayer modes, both locally and online.

Overall 4 Exploding Boomers out of 5. While there are a few niggling issues: unclear narrative, and the odd sound problem, The Passing brings with it a lot of new features that are fun, engaging, and downright addictive. PC players can install this update for free, while Xbox 360 Owners will have to pay 560 Microsoft Points (about £4.80) for the privilege.

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* No silliness like Guitar hero bundles, limited edition

With the advent of this generation of consoles we have seen the rise in prominence of digital downloads thanks to Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, and the Wii Store. Not only are we seeing the release of really great original titles like Shadow Complex but we are also treated to classic titles from older consoles that, until now, have been unavailable without delving into the depths of your local used games store, or taking a chance on ebay. Arguably one of the most demanded titles would be the N64 classic Goldeneye, a game that is renowned for popularising first person shooters on home consoles thanks to it’s spectacular four player deathmatch mode.

Unfortunately the legal wranglings to get Goldeneye on current consoles are too gargantuan, not only would Microsoft have to broker a deal with Activision, the current Bond licence owners, but they would have to deal with Nintendo too. Thus, Microsoft offer us the next best thing: Perfect Dark. When Perfect Dark was released on the N64 it was considered to be the spiritual sequel to Goldeneye, with the same fantastic multiplayer mode including a number of Goldeneye’s best levels and fantastically imaginative new weapons, such as an alien riffle that can shoot enemies through walls.

This re-release of Perfect Dark has been given an HD make over. Although the graphics are recognisably of the N64 era, they do look very smooth and polished. When Perfect Dark was originally released, a big feature of the game was that every character in the game had a real person’s face. With this being an HD remake, the character faces have been reworked to look clearer than ever. Joanna Dark in particular has had a lot of attention paid to her face.

Joanna Dark has had a HD makeover

In terms of controls, the game has three pre-set schemes. These are the original controls transferred across to the 360 controller, Call of Duty style controls, and Halo style controls. The ability to adjust the controls according to your shooting game of preference is a good feature, and it would be nice if more shooters took this approach.

As a way of compensating the gamers for their inability to broker a deal that would see Goldeneye being released on Xbox Live Arcade, this version of Perfect Dark has all of the weapons from Goldeneye available to be used in multiplayer. In essence, the multiplayer is exactly the same as Goldeneye’s, but with new weapons and levels. While the original Perfect Dark only had split screen multiplayer, this version has online multiplayer as well. Offering games with up to 8 players, as well as 4 player split screen, the multiplayer is as great now as it was back when it was on the N64. The game features a generous auto-aim feature, thanks mostly to particularly sensitive aiming and the extreme speed that the characters move at.

The guns themselves have two modes of fire. Some guns’ secondary fire mode makes the gun in to a melee weapon, while others can be turned in to proximity mines, or sentry turrets. Even now Perfect Dark has some of the most imaginative guns of any game; the only contender in my eyes is the Ratchet and Clank series. The Alien guns in particular have some very innovative features, such as the ability to see and shoot through walls.

Every weapon has a secondary fire mode, including this gun which can see through walls

Whilst arguably the multiplayer is the biggest selling point of this game, there are a ton of other features. As well as a shooting range, in which you can try out every weapon in the game, there are combat simulation challenges; essentially multiplayer games against computer controlled opponents with specific goals, and the story mode. Story mode can be played in single player and two player co-op, as well as the innovative Counter Operative mode. The Counter Ops mode has the second player take on the role of the nameless enemies in the story mode. Your objective is simple, kill Joanna Dark and stop her from achieving her goals. While the guards have a very small health bar, if you are killed you can respawn without being penalised indefinitely. Joanna, however, only has one life, and if you are successful in killing her then you win.

There are a ton of game modes to choose from

The story mode itself is a bit uneven by today’s standards. In particular the levels, while being fairly small, are designed in such a way that it is rarely clear where exactly you need to be going. There are no radars, map markers, or guidelines of any sort in the story mode, which only really highlights how much modern games hold our hands and guide us. There are over a dozen levels in the Story mode, but for the most part they can be completed in less than five minutes on the default difficulty. Playing each mission on the higher difficulties not only makes you more vulnerable to bullets, but adds new mission objectives, which serves to increase the length of each mission.

Despite the HD make over, the game maintains it's original look.

As good as the game looks and as fun as the multiplayer is, the game still has a very old fashioned feel to it. The free aiming is too sensitive, which makes sniper sections of the game more challenging. Having said that, the same could be said of Perfect Dark when it first came out, and you can always adjust the sensitivity in the menu.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 The HD makeover gives a very clear, smooth look. They still manage to maintain that typical N64 look that the original had.

Sound: 3/5 Voice acting is, for the most part, fairly generic. The music has a very recognisable Sci-fi sound to it that is reminiscent of John Carpenter movies.

Gameplay: 5/5 The addition of online multiplayer is fantastic. Anyone that spent hours and hours playing Goldeneye on the sofa with their friends will love it. The inclusion of Co-Op in the story mode is a welcome feature, and the Counter-Operative feature, where the second player must try and stop the first player from finishing their objectives, is inspired.

Longevity: 5/5 The Story mode is about a dozen levels long, and can be played through on three separate difficulties, each with their own unique objectives. The real meat of the game comes in the form of the multiplayer, both online and splitscreen.

Overall: 4 Proximity Mines out 5. While Perfect Dark does feel like an old game, with archaic level design and slightly wonky controls, the inclusion of all the multiplayer modes, including the co-op/counter-operative modes, makes Perfect Dark a wonderfully nostalgic experience for anyone that sat up all night shooting their friends on Goldeneye. Younger players may well be less impressed with this game thanks to it being so old fashioned, but considering the low price of 800 Microsoft Points (about £6.50) it is hard not to recommend Perfect Dark to all 360 owners, both young and old.

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EA’s 2010/11 lineup,

Sonic 4 and

Microsoft dropping Original Xbox Live support.

All this as well as all the new releases, site updates and e-mails as well as the stunning conclusion to the Bayonetta competition.

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Game

Army of Two: The 40th Day is the sequel to the flawed-but-fun third person shooter released at the beginning of 2008. Salem and Rios, the titular heroes from the original, return to wreak havoc as they attempt to escape Shanghai whilst terrorists attack the city in droves. The over-arching story is less than clear however, as it is unclear why Salem and Rios are in Shanghai or why the city is being attacked at all.

This could all be a clever nod to the fact that in a real terrorist attack, information would be sketchy and you would be unsure as to what exactly was going on. However, I wouldn’t give the writers so much credit, this game neither attempts nor pretends to show any kind of intelligence in terms of narrative or character motivation. If you’re looking for narrative clarity, pick up Bayonetta over this; you might have more of a clue as to the story.

So whilst the narrative is wafer thin at best and character motivations are almost entirely absent, your motivation as a gamer is clear: if it moves, kill it. Weapon customisations have been ramped up to help deal out death in various different ways. Guns can be upgraded to change attributes such as the amount of attention a gun draws, damage, bullet spread and accuracy, which brings a tactical element to an otherwise typically primitive shooter experience.

The aforementioned attention your gun draws, or aggro, is the chief tactic to be employed during play. Basically, the bigger and louder the gun, the more the enemy will focus on the man holding it. Thus, your partner is free to run around, laying down enemies with almost no interference.

With enough aggro your partner will be all but invisible to the enemy

With an AI partner in tow, you have some control over actions; sending him up to be aggressive or hold back in a defensive stance. But the real fun here is the surprisingly in depth tactics of advance and retreat when playing with a human partner. The more intense sections of the game become even more so when you’re relying on the guy sitting next to you or a friend over the internet. This translates into a real sense of teamwork and achievement after you’ve cleared a particularly challenging room.

Further weapon enhancements come with the ability to increase the aggro your gun pulls by painting the gun in a variety of patterns, or going the whole hog and decking it out in gold and silver for maximum effect. Affixing a bayonet to the end is also particularly satisfying; be sure to unleash a close-up mêlée attack for the full effect.

Running in brainlessly is the fastest way to catch bullets in your torso

Added silliness is found in the interactions between your two main characters. Fans of the first game might be perturbed to hear that new actors voice Rios and Salem. However this has only raised the quality as they berate and chide each other from scene to scene. The ability to congratulate or abuse your team mate is also back, and will have an impact on the ending of the game, as the trophy/achievement list shows you can either end as best buds or fractured friends.

Another addition is the opportunity for a quick game of rock – paper – scissors, which seems a little inappropriate when you’re standing over the bloodied corpses of your enemies. This serves no real purpose other than a spot of frivolity, in case you thought the narrative was getting a little heavy.

You're treated to frequent spurts of humour, whether you want them or not

This game is geared towards co-op play; either online or using local split-screen. Playing on your lonesome you certainly lose a lot of what makes this game fun to play; the tactics and camaraderie on screen. Split screen is also a little problematic. The game default is a vertical split that can impede your view at times, especially if playing on a smaller television set. Not letting players choose between vertical or horizontal split is practically criminal in modern gaming. However this problem does ease with time and a little patience. Also, with the press of a button you can make the camera shift across to your other shoulder, which is a vital addition in some of the tighter set pieces and goes some way to rectify the hindered peripheral vision.

Visually the game isn’t fantastic, but it is functional and fun. Buildings will explode in the distance and crumble to the ground and whilst these effects look a little blocky and basic, it only adds to the humour and allows you to detach yourself from any thoughts of the horrific deaths of innocent bystanders. There’s not even a hint of the gravitas you might find in the heavier scenes of Modern Warfare 2, but this is a game that by its very nature knows what it is and exploits it to the max.

And you thought the riot shield from Modern Warfare 2 was fun!

In terms of sound, the game arguably impresses more than with its visuals. Explosions will dazzle your ears more than your eyes and gun fights really immerse you into each battle, if only until Salem or Rios utter something inappropriate to drag you right back out again. The voice acting, especially for the two main characters, is far stronger than in the original title. Using established actors (surprise, surprise Nolan North is in this) who clearly have fun playing these characters has increased the quality substantially.

The multiplayer was seriously lacking in the first Army of Two, and you’ll be happy to hear that EA have gone to great lengths to address this with the sequel. There are now up to ten people per map and several game modes to play with. Co-op death match is present, as you would expect, where teams of two battle it out for supremacy. Control and extraction are also fairly standard, which are essentially ‘hold the base’ and ‘survival’ respectively. The final mode, Warzone, is a breath of fresh air, as teams fight it out with various objectives flashing up during the match. Whilst this final mode is more inventive than the other three, there isn’t really anything here that isn’t done better in other games.

Overall, The 40th day presents an enjoyable package that isn’t revolutionary or even particularly inventive, but impresses with its balls out mentality and shameless superficiality. If you and a friend have been looking for a fun co-op experience, look no further. Army of Two: The 40th Day is available on the PS3 and XBox 360 (and PSP, but we haven’t reviewed that yet). You can pick it up through our amazon shop to help support the site.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 2/5 – They serve a purpose but not particularly well. The game looks a lot better up-close, as with the character design, than further away. Some of the collapsing buildings in the distance look almost comical.

Sound: 3/5 – The characters are voiced well and the relationship between the protagonists is particularly strong. Explosions and gunfire are convincing. Overall the sound is good, but there isn’t anything here that is outstanding.

Gameplay: 3/5 – The lack of options with local split screen is criminal. Movement and aiming takes a little getting used to, especially if you’re familiar with mainstream FPS titles. There are occasional camera issues, as with most games using the third person perspective.

Longevity: 3/5 – The main campaign will take around 10 hours to complete; less if you rush through on the easiest difficulty. The morality choices add little to the overall experience and won’t have you clambering to play through again as a title such as inFamous would. Multiplayer is a fine distraction but won’t hold your attention for long.

Overall: 3/5 – This is a fun little co-op shooter that I recommend if you want something more than a standard head-to-head experience with a friend.

The epic war of the consoles between Sony and Microsoft (the Wii isn’t made for gamers; see ‘iRate: Wii never play it really’) seems to have descended into a tit-for-tat squabble; each company sinking to new lows by securing the exclusivity of relatively minute amounts of individual titles. Sure, the Joker maps from Batman: Arkham Asylum are only available to PS3 customers, but does Sony really think that this pathetic half-step is going to incense XBox owners into purchasing the rival console?

The PS3 exclusive Joker Maps are no laughing matter for XBox owners

Don’t get me wrong, I use Sony only as an example here; Microsoft is by far the worst offender. Since launch there have been a number of DLC exclusivity deals struck by Microsoft, but here are perhaps the two biggest: Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3.

What makes this worse is the overall quality of this exclusive content. The DLC for Fallout 3 in particular has been met with some mixed reactions. It’s difficult to argue that Mothership Zeta and Operation: Anchorage achieve anything other than detracting from the overall quality of the Fallout experience. Also, our very own Luke ‘Mightyles’ Mears didn’t think much of The Ballad of Gay Tony.

The Ballad of Gay Tony? More like the Ballad of Gypped PS3 Owners!

The word “exclusive” is also something of a misnomer in this context. With the exception of the Joker maps for Batman: Arkham Asylum (although time will tell on that one), almost every piece of exclusive DLC has been a timed exclusive. So after a period of time the DLC is launched on the rival console anyway, usually to the complete disinterest of gamers everywhere. Only the most hardcore fans of Fallout 3, for example, are going to shell out an extra £30 to get their hands on the five packs of new content. The majority will leave it on the shop shelf where it belongs.

Bad DLC in itself isn’t a massive issue, but when the companies we rely on to produce quality products that are worth our time and money begin to shell out large amounts to secure bad content, you know that something is awry. The global gaming industry has become so concerned with rivalry and getting one up (intentional cheeky Mario reference) on each other that it has completely forgotten the people in the middle, the people that really matter, us bloody gamers! And exclusive DLC is living proof of this.

A prime example of timed exclusive DLC not worth the wait

Games developers should be committed to producing titles that deliver the complete experience for anyone that digs into their wallets to purchase a game. It doesn’t matter what format, gamers should be afforded the courtesy of this complete experience.

DLC exclusivity is a corruption of this. Not only are developers selling off parts of the “experience” to the highest bidder, but by doing so they are segregating their audience, causing increasing disillusionment with the developer. We shouldn’t be punished for choosing one console over another. The only kind of exclusivity The Newb Review can endorse is for a full title. Furthermore, by selling off the rights to portions of games through DLC, developers are not only showing a lack of backbone, they are also telling the world that they are driven solely by profit and that they don’t respect the very people to which their products are aimed.

Developers aren’t the only ones at fault though. The tit-for-tat rivalry between Sony and Microsoft, expressed through DLC, is nothing short of childish, playground bullsh*t. If they weren’t so willing to throw away cash carelessly, just to ensure exclusivity rights on the latest and greatest game ad-ons, the thought of exclusive DLC for consoles wouldn’t be so imprinted on the minds of developers, and perhaps us gamers would be treated a little less like mindless sheep.

This is a call to arms: gamers of the world unite. We need to tell the corporations to cease this petty battle for DLC exclusivity. From now on it’s full exclusivity for a title or nothing at all. No more of these petty half-steps to nudge people towards choosing your console.

Hello! And welcome to the long over due second episode of Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play, a series of articles from The Newb Review where we recommend some bloody good games that have been far over-shadowed, often by games with lower quality, but higher marketing budgets. Episode 1 (an article on the fabulous game Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure, found here: http://rt.nu/9jissu) came out some time ago. However, as something of a new year’s resolution, our very own Crofterz has made it his mission in life to unearth these valuable gems for you, our beloved newbs.

So, it’s 2010… Another few years and it’ll be Back To The Future, but first of all since this is the first T.U.G.Y.P.S.P of the year (even I get tired of typing the full name out sometimes), lets take a quick look back at a few games from last year that might have slipped under your radar. Not only did we have a trillion (scientifically accurate number) great, big budget titles to keep us occupied, but the indie and arcade circuits had a tremendous year too. We were treated to Shadow Complex, Splosion Man, Flower, Flock!, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1 and Johnny Platformer’s Biscuit Romp as well as some fabulous remakes, ports and reboots (Trials HD, and Battlefield 1943 anyone?). That’s without even mentioning Alien Breed Evolution, Wolfenstein 3D and The Secret of Monkey Island too.

So it was a great year for arcade titles. And with so many high quality games, there were bound to be some hidden gems that very much went under the radar. LucasArts’ latest arcade offering, Lucidity, is a prime example of this.

So, why should you all go out in your masses and buy Lucidity?

Well to put it quite simply, Lucidity is as good as all the other must buy arcade juggernauts such as Braid (which you’ll hear me mention a lot in this article), Splosion Man, Flower and Castle Crashers. But it has never reached the dizzying heights of acclaim that these four titles have.

For starters, Lucidity is absolutely mesmerising. As soon as its fired up, the game greets you with an awe inspiring, hand crafted, cut-out paper graphical style which not only helps add more mystery to the game but is just beautiful and unique. This game has an art style reminiscent of the Paper Mario games, but this looks better by a country mile. Lucidity is highly polished and full of personality: everything from the cut scenes to the in-game graphics are lush, vibrant and absolutely gorgeous. Each new level is distinct and different from the last, yet just as magical and beautiful. It’s difficult to stop banging on about how brilliant this game looks… but for the sake of this article we should move on to something else that’s great about the game… the music.

The art style is nothing short of amazing

Rarely do I pay attention to the music within a game unless it’s bad (am I the only person who found the music in Braid absolutely infuriating after a while?). But the music in Lucidity, much like its graphical style, is beautiful and full of personality. The game manages this without neglecting subtlety, thus playing the game is a lot more of an enjoyable experience. It makes a nice change to not have loud noises and music constantly tearing at your face like a pack of wolverines. Not only does the music help to keep an aura of mystery around the game, but it never descends into tedium and annoyance, which is something of a godsend nowadays. It’s all so hypnotising, like when you sit down to play a brand new game and end up losing an entire day playing, you despicable little hermit!

This is all well and good, but music and graphics are usually just the icing on a lovely gaming cake. The meat (a meat cake? Now there’s a lovely thought) of a game is the story and gameplay. Thankfully, Lucidity doesn’t disappoint in these departments either. The story is simple and charming, meaning it is not only a game for adults, but your little offspring wouldn’t find it hard to pick up the game and have fun.

The games revolves around the main character, a little girl named Sofi, whose grandmother reads her stories every bed time. The game starts with Sofi just dropping asleep after another bed time fairytale, when she reawakens within a dream world (the whole game is essentially set within her dream). Sofi stumbles across a red firefly, who is then eaten by a frog; who promptly runs off.

The premise of the game is basically the girl chasing the frog from one end of the level to the other to try and get the red firefly back. It sounds absolutely bonkers and it may sound a little bit rubbish, but apparently it’s all a metaphor for Sofi having to deal with the death of her grandmother. Except I don’t actually remember her grandmother dying.

The story, backed with the great graphical style and sound makes for a game that is both hypnotic and addictive. The mix of simplicity and ambiguity roots in a mysterious tone: who is this girl? Where are we? What’s going on? So many questions, yet there isn’t even a whiff of pretentiousness; something I unfortunately cannot say for Braid. In fact, Braid is in many ways quite a close comparison to Lucidity.

The only thing about Lucidity that isn’t utterly unique is the gameplay itself. It  isn’t as original, refreshing or as clever as the gameplay in something like Braid. But this still isn’t the type of gameplay you have the chance to experience very often in the current gaming climate.

As the girl moves from one end of the level to the other she will encounter obstacles and enemies. The basic aim is to use objects to avoid enemies, overcome the obstacles and collecting fireflies, scattered around everywhere, to unlock the next level. It’s all so reminiscent of the good old Lemmings days. Whilst Lucidity is slightly less engaging than Lemmings, it makes for a far more relaxed and casual play experience. Again, this is something of a godsend in a climate where games are desperate to hold your attention at all times.

Gameplay isn't as refreshing or different as the graphics or sound, but this is a hark back to older days; a type of gameplay forgotten in the modern gaming climate.

Lucidity is the perfect example of a game you can pick up and play for as long as you so please. You can play as much or as little as you want. You really feel in control and can play at your leisure. This all makes for an incredibly enjoyable gaming experience.

So there you have it, the first Thoroughly Underrated Game You Probably Should Play of the year. Some people are bound to disagree, but then again some people are bound to be idiots so… I guess that’s life. Yes it may seem a bit a childish game and it is, but isn’t there still a place for a bit of innocent fun nowadays?

Lucidity is available both on PC, through Steam, and Xbox 360, through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Finally reaching us some two years after the original, Mass Effect 2 has more than a little anticipation and hype. Any gaming fan has been left drooling over teaser footage as this sequel brings back the primary protagonist, Shepard, to once again kick ass and take names throughout the universe. Searching through even the least hardcore of gaming forums shows a lot of speculation as to the new gameplay style and, perhaps most importantly, where the developers are going to take the narrative of this lucrative franchise. So, does the game live up to the hype? Read on and you’ll find out…

Mass Effect 2 is the second in the trilogy (Mass Effect 3 is looking likely to be a late 2011 release), and the story follows on directly from Shepard’s first outing. Don’t let this put you off; the story is accessible even to those with absolutely no knowledge of the franchise. The beginning of the game briefly explains what went down when Sarren (a space cop turned rogue) tried to use the Geth (a race of hi-tech robots) to destroy the universe. We begin with Shepard’s ship, the Normandy, searching for Geth activity, when it is attacked by an unidentified ship and blown to smithereens.

Shepard is back and he looks a bit miffed...

It’s clear from the very beginning that Shepard’s second outing is a lot more focussed on action. The cinematic opening fills in any back story issues you may have, whilst simultaneously moving the narrative on at a blistering pace: all in all, a fantastic re-introduction to the franchise. Even the brief tutorial-style beginning to the actual gameplay is great for entry level gamers and veterans alike; the basic actions are introduced quickly and effectively to allow a good grip of the gameplay without the chance for boredom if you’ve seen this all before.

Once the opening scenes are completed, the narrative shoots forward two years (to tell you much more would ruin the initial surprises the opening has in store), and you’re introduced to a universe that is familiar, but oh so different from before. If you’ve played the first one, locales such as the Citadel will certainly feel familiar, but the ending of Mass Effect has left the developers plenty of opportunity for a redesign to keep things fresh and inviting.

It’s clear that Bioware are aiming this at a much larger audience than the first. The primary complaint of Mass Effect was the combat, and they’ve certainly gone to great lengths to rectify that. The first was a blend between FPS and RPG, with the weighting perhaps favouring the RPG elements more than visceral gamers would have liked. The sequel shifts the scales much more towards the FPS genre. Players of any call of duty or battlefield game will feel right at home in the new Mass Effect.

More FPS means big explosions - Yay!

So, whilst the franchise has certainly moved closer to Call of Duty in terms of gameplay, the extent to which the FPS demographic will be captured with this new title remains to be seen. Call of Duty is pure FPS, and whilst the combat of Mass Effect 2 is a lot more visceral and exciting than the previous title, the presence and depth of character development may switch some hardcore FPS gamers off.

The shooting is augmented by tech and biotic abilities, which make a welcome return from the first title. Lifting one enemy into the air whilst you concentrate fire on a second brings a new tactical element to the FPS formula, and it’s fairly straightforward to pull off some spectacular moves. As you move through the game the RPG elements kick in; gaining experience and levels that enable you to further develop your abilities. At the top levels, a choice of ability evolution must be made; essentially you can either affect a wide group of enemies, or opt for sheer power with any given move.

Biotic powers are pretty impressive

For much of the game you control Shepard, choosing two more comrades to take with you on missions. Whilst the squad system is a nice touch, it is a little basic. On the Xbox 360 at least, micromanagement was difficult to achieve effectively. Leaving your sidekicks to get on with their own thing whilst gunning down enemies seems to be the most successful strategy. You’ll quickly find that trying to overcomplicate the gameplay with strategy will lead to a swift death.

Graphically the game is superb. Whilst actual gameplay graphics are not quite as good as the cut scenes, it is difficult to spot the difference at times. At the beginning of the game my Dad was watching over my shoulder and asked, “How did you know when you were supposed to take control?” when the game moved from cut scene to actual gameplay. Bioware know they’ve done well with the graphics, just look at the number of times you’re treated to a landscape shot across the urban sprawl or a sweeping cinematic of a ship landing on a hostile planet.

Dave loved his new glow-in-the-dark tattoos, but they did make his eyes look funny

There are conversational choices to be made within almost any dialogue with another character. As with the first game, these range from extremely friendly and positive to downright callous. These conversation choices earn you points that shape your character as either a Paragon (Good guy) or Renegade (Bad guy).

At first you might think that the difference in narrative is minimal, and you’d be right; the overarching story doesn’t change drastically, until arguably right at the end. But it’s the development of your relationships with your companions and how you are treated by those you meet that really makes this system special. A second play through as a Renegade after adhering strictly to Paragon choices creates an entirely new experience.

In terms of sound, it’s difficult to find a game as diverse or accomplished as Mass Effect 2. There are a whole host of voices to be recognised throughout the narrative for any fan of Science Fiction. Likewise, the few more mainstream stars will have you smiling the moment you hear them; Martin Sheen is a big highlight. The soundtrack has an epic feel that harks back to Space Operas such as the Star Wars saga and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This game almost begs to be experienced in surround sound to be truly immersed.

The action looks and sounds great throughout

The game itself is fairly epic. It will take around 25 hours for a single run through of the story, with minimal attention to side-quests or item collection. Replayability is the name of the game however. Once completed, a kind of New Game + option arises where you can import Shepard from your completed file, choose a special ability to begin the game with (I’d recommend Miranda’s Slam – lifting enemies into the air and slamming them to the ground never gets old), and you’re treated to massive amounts of credits and mineral resources to get you going.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 A real step up from the first game. Graphically this game is stunning, but a few glitches here and there prevent a perfect score.

Sound: 5/5 If you’ve played Mass Effect, you’ll know what to expect here. If you haven’t, you’ll be blown away by the voice acting, and general cinematic feel the suitably epic soundtrack and great audio effects bring to this extremely well-polished product.

Gameplay: 4/5 The shift towards more action oriented FPS gameplay works really well. There were a few instances where it felt the RPG elements had been stripped away a little too much. But Bioware have walked a thin line in fine form.

Longevity: 5/5 There is a tonne of things to do on a first run through. When you factor in the replay value, this game will keep you coming back again and again, right up until Mass Effect 3.

Overall: 5 Mass Effect Relays out of 5. Cinematic certainly is the operative word here. The visuals, writing and voice acting are as good as any blockbuster. This is an instant classic, a true achievement. Now hurry up Bioware and finish Mass Effect 3 so we can play it.

Buy this game here and support this site:

When Mass Effect was first released, BioWare discussed the possibility of releasing numerous additional missions as downloadable content. With a game that has a gigantic open universe to explore, you would think that they would have every opportunity to easily expand the universe with numerous missions well after the original release. Here we are mere moments before the release of Mass Effect 2, and we have had just two downloadable packs for the game: Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station. To cut a long story short, one is good and one is not as good as it should be. Let’s find out why…

Bring Down The Sky

Let’s start with the good. Bring Down the Sky takes place on a gigantic asteroid that is hurtling towards a densely populated planet. Shepard is asked to respond to the distress call placed by a scientific research team based on the asteroid. It transpires that the base has been taken over by anti-human terrorists, and they aim to destroy a booming human colony in retaliation for crimes they perceive the humans to have committed against them. Upon landing on the asteroid you have to drive around in the tank, disable the engines that the terrorists have installed on the asteroid that are pushing it towards the planet and try to save as many people as you can. As well as terrorist hunting and engine sabotage, you can travel around the asteroid looking for traces of a missing team of scientists. This involves simple detective work, such as following a trail of footprints across the asteroid’s surface.

Shepard races across an asteroid to stop the terrorists

This isn’t a particularly lengthy episode; clocking in at about an hour in length, but it does have some replayability with the inclusion of two possible endings. There’s developers have done very little to improve the combat in the game. So if that was a major obstacle for you with the full game, then it will continue to be so. Likewise, the tank controls remain the same. The really interesting thing in this add-on is the moral choice. When capturing the leader of the terrorists you are forced to make a decision, as the terrorists have placed the science team in a death trap, Batman villain style. Do you rescue the humans and give the terrorist leader time to escape or do you punish the terrorist and doom the humans?

Bring Down The Sky introduces some new species, like the Batarians

Pinnacle Station

Pinnacle station is the second and final add on, and is in no way as strong as the first. Shepard summoned to Pinnacle Station in order to try and best a combat simulator for the Alliance Military. Being Commander Shepard, the team on the station are very interested to see if you can best their times in the combat simulator. There are a number of maps, all based loosely on locations found in the single player, such as Sarren’s Krogan Factory, and there are a number of different games, ranging from timed survival, eliminating enemies within a time limit, and a king-of-the-hill-style game where you must capture of check points and attempt to control them all. In essence, it seems as if this add-on has been released as a try out for a Mass Effect multiplayer mode.

Pinnacle Station is basically a lot of combat challenges

One of the strengths of Mass Effect is its strong narrative and multiple dialogue options, however, none of these can be found with any real substance in Pinnacle Station. This is purely a combat exercise. While it is amusing enough at first, there is little reason to actually play through it, other than to earn some easy achievements. For the most part, it’s repetitive, tedious, and a waste of time. This is a real shame because Bring Down the Sky presented some real value, it was cheap and the story seemed significant to the overall Mass Effect Universe. It introduced a key new race; the human traffickers called Batarians. But Pinnacle Station introduces nothing beyond a simple combat mode in which you face off against bots. However, at the same time, I am not entirely sure that Pinnacle Station would be any better if you could play against other human beings, seeing as Mass Effect is a game that is driven by narrative rather than a focus on controls.

The Station itself is very small

REVIEW ROUND-UP

Graphics: 4/5 The character models and scenery are as beautiful as ever, with the sky line in Bring Down the Sky being particularly impressive.

Sound: 4/5 Once again, excellent voice acting, sound effects, and music. If you have played Mass Effect, you know what to expect.

Gameplay: 3/5 While both pieces of downloadable content play exactly the same way as the retail release of Mass Effect, Pinnacle Station lets the team down because it is purely combat based. I do not think it would be too unfair to say that the combat in Mass Effect is not its strongest feature.

Longevity: 2/5 Bring Down the Sky has two possible endings, and will keep you occupied for about an hour or so, which is pretty good considering the price point. Pinnacle Station has about a dozen or so challenges for you to overcome, but they quickly become tedious and repetitive.

Overall: 3 Hurtling Asteroids out of 5. The DLC is good overall, but Bring Down The Sky is the better of the two. Pinnacle Station is competent, but repetitive, and really does nothing to further the game’s story. On the whole I would recommend Pinnacle Station only to those that are completionists, as it can easily be skipped without missing anything important… Unless it crops up in Mass Effect 2 somewhere.

Check back each week for the run-down of each weeks video gaming news.

[podcast]http://realmworx.hipcast.com/deluge/37adaabc-8d08-a3cf-b26c-4f619ad457f7.mp3[/podcast]

Okay so maybe that was 17 years ago and it wasn’t really the future of gaming. What I’m trying to put across here is that motion sensing controllers are absolutely nothing new. The popularity of the Wii has thrown motion sensing controllers into the limelight once again. Perhaps now it is time to look back at the previous attempts to see where they went wrong. Ultimately, what hope is there for this new crop from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft?

POWER GLOVE… NOW YOU’RE PLAYING WITH POWER!

First of all we have the most well known and popular early motion controller, the power glove. Released in 1989 for the NES, the power glove allowed players to use the movements of their arm and hand to control game movements instead of a gamepad. Players would have to attach sensors to their television which allowed the NES to calculate the location of the power glove along the X, Y and Z axis (not unlike the Wii Remote and its sensor bar, which does pretty much the same thing) as well as sensors in the fingers of the glove to tell when players are flexing their fingers. This can also translate to in game actions (for example to fire simply flex your trigger finger).

You know a glove is awesome when it emits lightning

The problem this had was with accuracy. To play Super Mario, you move your hand to the left or right to move left or right and move your hand up to jump. Sounds easy and intuitive right? OK, so where do you put your hand to make Mario stand still? How do you jump to the right and quickly pull back to stop yourself from jumping right over a platform? These are the questions many (around 100,000) gamers were asking themselves as they slowly realised that general movements are nowhere near as accurate as a button. Anyone who has played Punch-Out!, Mario Kart Wii or Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii will tell you.

U-FORCE? U-LIE

It seems that 1989 was a really good year for motion sensing game controllers (or a really bad year depending upon how you look at it). Not only did the power glove come out, but so did the U-Force. The U-Force was a rather large thing that looked a bit like a futuristic laptop and it used infra-red sensors to track hand movement. Unlike the Power Glove, you didn’t have to wear anything and it could track motions from both hands.

In reality the controller, which claimed to track motion, didn’t track any sort of motion what-so-ever. The marketing guys were either thinking of a different product whilst making the advertisements, or they were heavily manipulating the truth. What the U-Force did was simply map buttons from a standard NES controller to each infra-red sensor, so when you covered the sensor it would press a button. It sensed your motions in the same way a standard controller senses where your thumbs are by which button is being pressed down. So it didn’t… at all.

SEGA ACTIVATOR… YOU ARE THE CONTROLLER

4 Years later it seemed people still hadn’t learned. Sega came out with their admirable attempt, the Sega Activator. This was most certainly the most ambitious of the motion controllers developed thus far. Previous attempts had been limited to hand motion. Now with the Sega Activator, your whole body was involved in the process, or as the promotional material (and the promotional material for Project Natal) have said, YOU ARE THE CONTROLLER.

The Sega Activator employed an octagonal ring for standing, using invisible light beams which could then be broken to send a signal to the MegaDrive. Which beam was broken and how high the beam was broken changed which button was pressed. So why aren’t we still talking about this amazing technology that revolutionised gaming? Well, I’m sure given the previous tech in this article you can see a theme emerging… motion sensing gaming technology has never worked.

Playing a game with the Sega Activator was a cross between a game of twister and interpretive dance. Each one of the eight floor panels was mapped to a button, games with complicated button combinations or simply pressing more than one button at once was very, very difficult. People found rather quickly that you can press a button much quicker than you can move your body, so using the Sega Activator put you at a disadvantage when playing competitive games.

For the first time ever, you are the controller. (Oh wait wrong picture)

CAN MOTION CONTROLLERS BE DONE WELL?

From what we’ve seen in the past there are lessons that can be learned. First of all: don’t be so quick to ditch the button. The only redeeming feature of the power glove was that it had it’s own separate standard NES controller attached which made all motion controls entirely optional.

Take the Wii for example, the biggest selling feature for that game is the motion controller. However, some of the biggest games not only support gamecube/classic controls but are much easier and more accurate with them. There are so many games and movements that can be done quicker and more reliably with a button press than an abstract and inaccurate body motion.

This ties in neatly with my next point: don’t simply map actions to button presses; this just makes the action a whole lot slower. How can swinging your arm in a certain way be a good substitute for an ‘A’ button when you can press that ‘A’ button and get the same on screen reaction at least three times faster than swinging your arm.

Hopefully the advances in technology over the past 17 years will allow this new crop of motion sensing technology to actually work and revolutionize gaming. Failing that they will be good to laugh at on YouTube in a few years and talk about how amazingly dumb they all were. Also, lets look on the bright side, these were all pretty dumb and didn’t work but at least no one ever tried controlling a game using just their eyebrows… Did they Atari?

Batman: Arkham Asylum!

Kamiza hands over the award to Batman

Batman really came out of left-field, leaving many of us breathless as to the level of accomplishment and attention to detail the developers have managed. Almost every aspect of the game has been refined to a tee, with superb sound and voice acting, fantastic gameplay mechanics and often dazzling visuals. This game really has to be seen to be believed.

Arkham Asylum also achieved something many tie-in games in the past have not; the game drew in both Batman fans and relative novices alike. Whilst there was some trepidation from hardcore fans upon release as to why certain villains had been passed over, the general response was extremely positive and we’re sure that anticipation will reach fever pitch as we draw near to the release of the sequel.

Winning The Newb Review Game of the Year really puts a smile on his face

Congratulations once again to the developers, (UK based) Rocksteady Studios. We’ll be watching the progress of the next game with great interest…

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No-one

The suggestions are in and the shortlist has been drawn. The three titles in the running for the coveted prize of The Newb Review Game of the Year 2009, as voted for by The Newb Review staff are:

Warning: Don’t ever watch developer videos. This year I did exactly that and ended up buying a game that, prior to watching these videos, I had no interest in. Luckily, this game turned out to be undeniably one of the best games to have come out this year; Borderlands. Along with Batman: Arkham Asylum, it is truly refreshing to see two brand new Intellectual Properties duking it out for Game of the Year, especially in an endless sea of sequels, prequels and trilogies. This serves as a great testament to the brilliant year the games industry has had this year.

So what is it about Borderlands that makes it so great? Well it’s not really like anything you’ve played before for starters (the closest I could compare it to is probably Fallout 3). The notion of combining true RPG level-up elements with a first person shooter made me a little dubious at first, but Borderlands pulls it off in stunning fashion. The main reason why Borderlands is so great is because it is just fun to play. Yes, the story is minimal at best, but there’s no better experience than partying up with three of your friends to go around the Borderlands universe and just shoot stuff.

- Crofterz

As a general rule, Super Hero games tend to be pretty bad. For every Spiderman 2, there are half a dozen Superman 64s out there. So you can understand why a number of gamers were sceptical about Arkham Asylum’s potential when it was first announced. How wrong they were. This game blends light detective elements together with an intuitive combat system and a powerful stealth mechanic. However, this is unlike other stealth games. If you are caught, it isn’t the end of the world; you are, after all, controlling the God Damned Batman, with the ability to pummel all opponents into a fine paste using nothing but your bare hands.

The story is written by long-time Batman writer, and key architect of the fantastic 90′s Batman Animated Series, Paul Dini. He brings with him the key voice actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill (playing Batman and The Joker respectively), making the game a truly authentic Batman experience. Throw together a reasonably long story mode, a number of collectible objects and upgrades, as well as The Riddler’s riddles and a challenge mode that allows you to compare your combat or stealth skills with the rest of the world and you have one of the best games to come out this year.

- Mightyles

This title is a celebration of the development of a truly original idea. Ubisoft have taken the first Assassin’s Creed and thrown a bucket load of improvements at it in the hope that most of them stick. Thankfully, it seems to have worked! Whilst by no means a perfect game, Assassin’s Creed 2 has proven to be a vast improvement on its generally well-received older sibling, and looked set to be the biggest seller of the year… If only it weren’t for the FPS gargantuan that is Modern Warfare 2.

Little errors and glitches littered here and there are insignificant foibles in comparison to the wealth of gameplay features that Ubisoft have implemented to perfection. The story is compelling and immersive and whilst there is still perhaps an ounce or two of repetitiveness, (the major complaint of the first game) added variety and new RPG elements such as building up the Auditore Villa stave off boredom in fine fashion. The climactic ending presents something of a cliff hanger that will keep the forums buzzing right up to the release of the next in the series. We can only hope they can improve the same amount for Assassin’s Creed 3.

- tom01255

Honourable mentions…

Now, with so many great games coming to every console this year, NewbReview didn’t think it fair to concentrate on only three titles and forsake everything else. Here’s the NewbReview team with their honourable mentions for 2009.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

When it was announced that Grand Theft Auto was coming to the Nintendo DS, not many people could say they weren’t surprised. And, even upon release in March, the DS audience were still not ready for this game, as evidenced in the poor sales following this extremely well reviewed and generally awesome title.

In a welcomed return to the top-down view, Grand Theft Auto seemed to do almost everything right. It was beautiful on the underpowered DS, the gameplay was true to the series: new and old, and the driving actually controlled well! One of the best games on DS.

- Joefeesh

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Released way back at the beginning of June, Red Faction: Guerrilla has been one of the few games that have managed to cling on in the psyche of the Newbs in the office. Upon release it immediately entered the canon of fun-but-flawed games; the kind that gets a lot of things right, but doesn’t quite dazzle as it should. The characterisation is pretty flat and the story in particular is undemanding. However, the ability to destroy almost anything using a variety of imaginative weaponry has resulted in an enjoyable experience that’s worthy of note, if not quite reaching the echelon of a true Game of the Year contender.

- tom01255

Forza Motorsport 3

The sheer volume of content in this title would have made this a great Game of the Year contender. Given the quality of the previous game, I was sure this was going to be good. But I wasn’t prepared for exactly how much they would pack in to make this a worthwhile purchase.

The game comes on 2 discs and has over 400 cars and 100 tracks. And having played for countless hours, reaching level 50 and amassing over 5 million credits, I have not even hit 25% completion yet. I will be playing and enjoying this well into 2010.

- braindead_hero

FIFA 10

So everybody complains that we get one every year and nothing much changes. They say whoever is suckered into buying it each year is an idiot. However, following in the footsteps (pun intended) of Fifa ‘09, Fifa 10 is yet another massive step in the right direction for the franchise.

Fifa ‘09 took the crown back from Pro Evolution Soccer, introducing better controls and better modes; it really felt like EA went to town in ‘09. This game has taken the ‘09 formula and built on it, with even better controls and more polished modes. The best football game ever made, FACT!

- Crofterz

Left 4 Dead 2

I’m the first to admit I have a thing for zombies. It’s nothing sexual I assure you, so wipe that thought from your mind. The follow-up to last years Left 4 Dead, this game adds a bunch of new content, new maps, new survivors and new modes; all of which are incredibly well designed. The reason this is one of my favourite games of this year is how much fun it is. How can anyone get bored of fighting off the zombie horde? It’s also very polished; I had a much better time with this game over any other in 2009 by a fair amount. Valve truly are artists in crafting such a game and I applaud them for it.

- Braindead_Hero

Shadow Complex

As far as downloadable games go, Shadow Complex is impressive. It boasts a lengthy single-player campaign, expansive world to explore, and dozens of collectible items to boost your character’s performance. At the start of the game you play as Jason, a man who goes exploring in the caves outside of Washington DC with his girlfriend, only to discover a conspiracy to overthrow the US government. By the end you are a super-powered killing machine, capable of running on water, flying around the screen and punching enemies 200ft into the air. Shadow Complex is a fantastic blend of old school Castlevania-styled gameplay and modern day production values.

- Mightyles

Halo 3: ODST

Yes everyone complained, “Not another Halo game!” and I understand your frustrations, we have Halo: Reach on its way but please, Bungie, once Halo: Reach is released, no more Halo games, OK? It’s the fifth game based on the Halo universe but for me, ODST has been the most fun. A shorter, more interesting campaign and the brilliant new Firefight mode thrown in with the truly awesome Halo 3 Multiplayer is a recipe for success. Yes, it is yet another Halo game, but it’s the best Halo game for some time.

- Crofterz

So, the scene is set for an epic three-way battle between Borderlands, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed 2. Who will come out on top? Don’t forget, you can let us know what your Game of the Year is in the comment boxes below or argue with us about how we’ve missed of Modern Warfare 2 in the forum.

Make sure you check back on New Years Day to see which title has been awarded the prestigious NewbReview Game of the Year 2009!

If you want to send us any questions, comments or suggestions please email podcast@newbreview.com

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