Now you can play with your circles... or something...

Google has continued to expand the repertoire of it’s Facebook threatening social network with the addition of games as a significant feature, with a number of the more successful Facebook games available now within Google +, including; Angry Birds, Dragon Age Legends, Bejeweled Blitzone & Zynga Poker, one can only imagine that far more will be on their way in next to no time.

Will Google + be to Facebook what Microsoft was to Sony? There’s a big chance it will be, and let’s hope it is. Some competition in the social network sphere won’t do anyone any harm..; well except maybe Facebook… but then they could definitely do with being kept honest…

- Richard “Rax” Burley

How much do you want second hand multiplayer?

Ubisoft today announced the launch of it’s “pay-to-multiplayer” system for second-hand games, coming August 30th, joining the likes of Sony, THQ & EA.

It seems the day of the second-hand game may be entering it’s twilight as more and more publishers shut down equal access for second hand owners.

We’ll certainly miss rooting around in second hand games bins for killer bargains when the last game goes pay-to-play… and with more and more games featuring online multiplayer as a key mechanic this seems almost inevitable now… *sniffle*…

- Rax

The most fun you can have online? Erm... yes indeedy!

If you have a PC, and enjoy any of the following, you NEED to download this and get stuck in, we promise it’s 100% awesome;

- Shooting people
- Tactical gameplay
- Gaining achievements
- Working collectively
- Unique classes
- Ambushing others
- Building things
- Healing buddies
- Wearing hats
- Making stuff
- Collecting drops
- Oddball humour
- Sound effects
- Backstabbing snipers
- Sniping enemies
- Cloaked sneaking
- Big guns
- Melee combat
- Ranged warfare
- Fish slapping
- Flame throwers
- Rocket launchers
- Strategic thinking
- Laughing alot
- Seasonal events
- Fantastic communities
- Excellent developers
- Mods galore

Thank us later… why not buy us a hat?

Further details here: http://www.teamfortress.com/freetoplay

- Rax

Entitled “PSN” (PlayStation Network), it will provide gamers using the previously local play only PlayStation 3 & PSP with online features a plenty.

Rumors that Sony were planning to launch such a service have been circulating for weeks but today gamers get their first chance to try out the exciting new system!

Along with adding multi-player support to many of it’s leading single-player titles this new “network” will feature achievements (called “Trophies” on PSN), an online game & video shop and a number of social media type applications.

More soon on these exciting developments…

Raptr? Wha? Erm... only the biggest thing to happen to gaming since a short chap with a moustache and a monkey wrench!

Raptr is a lot of things, but at it’s core it is a gaming community & achievement aggregator. “What does that mean, exactly?” I hear you say, well let me put it to you like this;

Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could somehow collect up all your gameplay information, from all your different games, on all their different platforms, and centralise them in one place, a kind of uber gamer’s profile for yourself, including your; Games list, Achievement / Trophy list & Gameplay statistics, oh and have them all gathered & maintained automatically 24/7? Add to that a personal profile, ability to compare your own game library and achievements / trophies to those of your friends, see live status updates on what your friends are playing, chat live & in-game across platforms, have your gameplay and achievements posted to Facebook / Twitter, and lots more?

Well you are not alone! Along with many other, like-minded, gamers there is also a company setup to deliver exactly that! Ratpr.

It’s worth immediately pointing out that Raptr is free, it’s also worth pointing out that it’s not alone, it shares it’s space, (to some degree anyway) with a product called XFire, which you again may or may not have heard of. So, the burning question would be “Why Raptr?”, well, quite frankly it’s better!

Allow me to quantify that.

Whilst XFire deals primarily with PC gaming, and has a few nice touches around supporting it, Raptr supports PC games (including full support for Steam) but also; XBox 360, PS3 and increasingly, going forward, mobile gaming (it even assists you in recording Wii games & activities should you desire to do so!). Whilst they have a similar pitch, Raptr is simply covering all the bases whilst XFire does a really good job on 1st base. If recording gameplay footage & screenshots from your PC is your only need then you may well want to consider using XFire (or, better still, one of the dedicated gameplay recording tools out there like FRAPS). If you want a system which covers ALL platforms and really helps you connect with other gamers and fully explore your gaming life then Raptr is definitely the way to go.

So let me encourage all gamers out there to get stuck into Raptr. If you don’t like it I will personally give you a full refund… of it’s no cost… erm… well… you know what I mean…

Check Raptr out, now, by clicking here!

- Richard “Rax” Burley

Bethesda have told us that Splash Damage’s latest effort has had it’s release moved forward the 10th of May in North America, and 13th May in Europe, this will cover all platforms it is releasing for (PS3, PC & XBox 360) and has occurred due to the over efficiency of the dev team! Yay!

If only certain other games could learn from Brink and release a weak early, as opposed to 13 years late…

Game:

Initially I was a little apprehensive about the new Medal of Honour multiplayer experience, what I had seen from trailers and screenshots did not impress me at all. I considered it to be derivative, a little dull and lacked variation in its online game modes; to be honest I thought I had grown tired of FPS games altogether, but oh how surprised I was to hear myself saying “wow!”. Truth be told the multiplayer is really freaking awesome!

After the critical and commercial success of Battlefield Bad Company 2, Electronic Arts handed the Medal of Honour Multiplayer reigns over to the delightful people of the DICE development team, with hopes that they might invigorate the series and develop a multiplayer game that may shoot a few bullet holes in the two online juggernauts known as Call of Duty and Halo.

In MOH multiplayer you play as a soldier in either the Coalition Forces or the recently renamed Taliban as OPFOR (opposing force) in eight fantastically detailed maps, all lifted and modified from the single player campaign. All the maps provide ample cover for you and your team as well as enough distance for you to rack up a sniper spree should you so wish.

The levels constantly differ in altitude and environment, letting you battle your way through derelict buildings, muddy airfields and ammunition filled warehouses; the maps will consistently surprise you with cubby holes and ideal camping spots, letting you adjust your play style easily. DICE have put a lot of effort into the maps and demonstrated fantastically what the frostbite engine can do.

The level of variety between maps really pushes DICE's Frostbite engine to it's limits.

Unlike the Battlefield Bad Company games complete environmental destructibility has been left out, but the game is better off for it. The limited map selection is easily overlooked by the many ways you can play them and with the recent announcement of DLC, two new maps and an entirely new game mode, you certainly won’t be disappointed.

The core multiplayer gameplay is solid and feels altogether very polished, with fast loading times, a rapid game play style, and all in all has a very old school FPS feel. When you die (and it will happen frequently) the game will present you with the option of respawning either on the front line, which more often than not just gets you killed again, or in you base which can sometimes be a little too far away from your objective.

The pacing of each round never slows down and its almost impossible to find a spot where you are entirely impervious to harm, which goes a long way towards keeping you on edge the whole time. Shooting feels tactile and responsive with a great deal of satisfaction being granted after killing your enemies. If you can keep your kill streak going you will be rewarded with increasing attack bonus’s, like Airstrikes, UAV support and an odd cruise missile here or there.

In other online FPS games dying is a mere inconvenience, however in MOH its a serious issue, if you can’t stay alive you wont get the essential support bonus your team vitally needs to win. DICE have created a multiplayer experience which, despite being built with an older game engine, is original and fun once you push past the frustration caused by constantly reoccurring death.

Dying has even bigger repercussions.

In Medal of Honor you will have the choice of three different class types to play as: Assault Class, the all rounder who deals persistent mid range damage with assault rifles, carries smoke grenades to provide cover, handy noobtubes and are pretty much able to deal with all anti-infantry situations you may be presented with.

Spec Ops Class: stealthier based players who specialize in infiltrating enemy bases, planting bombs and eliminating heavy cavalry with their trusty RPG’s or AT4 rockets and generally camping while the assault class leads the way.

Sniper Class: cowards who, as you would expect, use sniper rifles to pick of enemies from afar, disrupt organization and cause as much mayhem as they can with mortar strikes and other such ordinance.

Its a low number of classes when you look at other FPS games on the market, but its not a negative point, its just simplified and streamlined while still providing tactical flexibility, which goes a long way towards making the MOH multiplayer a lot more accessible and reducing the learning curve.

While we are on the subject of snipers I think its worth mentioning that the online game is pretty much infested with them, which can be really fucking annoying. Sometimes a match can end within twenty-seconds of it starting, just because everyone on your team picked sniper and nobody rushed to secure or disarm the bomb location.

Unfortunately Medal of Honor suffers from the age old FPS curse of too many snipers.

Each class has a different unlock tree with weapons that are realistic representations of the real world’s armed forces. As you play through the multiplayer you are rewarded with experience points for kills and every important action you do that contributes towards your team’s success. You progress up the leader boards by staying alive for longer, racking up more kill chains, supporting your team with bonus items and generally being more accurate with you shots. You will level up each class independently, which means it is possible to be a level 15 spec ops but a level 1 sniper. This provides some replayability and all the classes fuse well in battle, providing everyone is willing to cooperate.

What about the game modes you and your pals will be competing in? Well they are what you would expect from a modern day military shooter:

Medal of Honor sports all the standard games modes you've come to expect from modern day shooters... but there's lots of them!

Team Assault is a fairly standard deathmatch with up to 24 players over all maps.

Sector Control, which is a King of the Hill variant, revolves around three different locations in relatively small maps that must be captured and defended throughout the match. As the teams fight it out to maintain control, a point meter ticks down faster or slower depending on how much ground you have, your team wins when the opposition has lost all its points.

Objective Raid which is a variant of rush mode from Battlefield Bad Company 2; one team attacks and the opposing team defends two bomb sites for as long as possible. When both sites have been destroyed by the attacking teams the match is over. Its particularly frustrating because team work is the only way to win, failing to work together can lead to some Raid matches ending in less than a minute.

Hardcore Mode: in Hardcore mode you will rotate between Objective Raid, Sector Control and Team Assault, friendly fire is enabled and bullets do substantially more damage.

Finally the most interesting of the multiplayer modes, Combat Mission: the map will start small with the attacking team been given different objectives. After completion of the objectives the next area of the map is opened up giving people a lot more room to move around. Its the most rewarding of all the game modes with the most variation.

It is obvious that MOH’s multiplayer has not broken new ground, nor does it boast anything you couldn’t find in any previous FPS titles either. Having said that what the multiplayer lacks in variety it makes up for in gameplay and it appeals to a completely different demographic of shooter fans.

Review Round-Up

Gameplay 3/5: Medal of Honor has a completely different feel to any other shooter that we have seen in recent years, with the way it plays feeling particularly old school. Bursting with detail and lovable (if somewhat robotic) characters, MOH has delivered a unique gameplay experience which, despite its stunning realism, unfortunately isn’t memorable. The multiplayer is the game’s saving grace, giving the game a good balance, providing equal amounts of frustration and fun.

Sound 5/5: The audio design in MOH is second to none. The development team went to great lengths to make sure everything in the game sounded as realistic it possibly can, visiting army bases to record all weapon and vehicle sound effects on site. All the extra effort they put into the game has proven to be a key supporting pillar throughout a story which really only appeals to a small number of military porn enthusiasts; your ears will tremble with delight.

Graphics 3/5: MOH performs well visually with detailed and enjoyable environments, it is not mind blowing that’s for sure, but with the tools they were given DICE have managed to produce an atmospheric, engrossing and impressive looking game which will surprise your eyes every time you play it.

Longevity 2/5: As for replayability, this is the one area where MOH really falls short, you will get a good 8 to 10 hours out of the single player campaign and the multiplayer has enough content and upcoming downloadable content to keep you playing for months on end… that is until you get bored of repeatedly and consistently being taken out by the abundance of snipers or simply max out your character with unlockables.

Overall: 3.5 manly, blood soaked beards out of 5

[starreview tpl=16]

- Adam Radcliffe

I personally have a love/hate relationship with the The Assassin’s Creed franchise. Whilst I thought the first instalment of the series was an over hyped exercise in style over substance, when Assassin’s Creed 2 came out, we here at The Newb Review fell in love with it. However, whilst my history with the series has had its ups and downs, at no point when playing the two games did the thought of a multiplayer element ever cross my mind. In fact such an idea would’ve been passed off as plain idiocy. So you can imagine my mixed feelings when it was announced that a direct sequel to Assassin’s Creed 2 was in the works, complete with multiplayer mode.

On the one hand I was brimming with joy - a sequel to my own personal game of the year (ooooo controversial!) - I was more than ready to dust off Ezio’s robes and bring the fight to the Templars once again, but, when it was announced that Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was incorporating multiplayer for the first time, I was extremely sceptical.

Since it’s announcement there’s been so much promotion for the game, even before it’s November UK release, it’s been practically inescapable. Everything from character reveals to pre-order bonuses and trailers, the game seems to be here, there and everywhere. But my own, personal relationship with the Assassin’s Creed franchise has already had it’s day of reckoning because at this year’s Eurogamer Expo I was lucky enough to get some hands-on time with the very thing that I had been incredibly dubious about; I sat down and played some of the game’s multiplayer, in particular the game’s “Wanted” mode.

Despite all my dobts I picked the controller up and found that my initial fears were proven to be totally and utterly off the mark. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not to everyone’s tastes, you’ll either “get it” or you wont, but rather than being an awkward, tacked on addition to the game Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood’s multiplayer is fully fleshed out and strangely addictive.

Surprising... like a blade to the throat.

Whilst the idea of multiplayer in Assassin’s Creed seemed alien at first, it’s actual premise is not unlike something we’ve played in any of the previous games. It’s concept is simple, you pick a class, you pick a loadout and then you run around a thriving, stunningly rendered city, assassinating other players in the game world, pretty standard stuff. However it is the care and the attention that Ubisoft have put in that really elevates the games multiplayer to dizzier heights.

Climbing up buildings, running along rooftops, assassinating enemies, you know... just your standard practice.

Class and loadout systems have become somewhat of the norm these days for online multiplayer modes, but what impressed me was not only the variety between different classes and loadouts, but the way in which they have an effect on how the gamer plays. Each class comes with a variety of different loadouts (some needing to be unlocked before you can use them), each with their own different gadgets, abilities and weapons at your disposal, and it is these different options that really dictate the way you play. For example if you are someone who is drawn to perhaps a more stealthier approach, you may pick The Priest class over the more “guns blazing” Soldier class because he comes equipped with hidden guns and a unique disguise ability, allowing you to blend into the background seamlessly and assassinate your targets before they even see you coming.

With such a diverse range of gameplay styles catered for, the game enters a more tactical realm with gamers selecting different classes and loadouts, and then using the tools at their disposal intelligently in order to bring home the kills. However, this tactical approach is something that has been woven through the very concept of the “Wanted” mode, with players not simply seeing a dot on a map and travelling over to that location in order to assassinate another player. Instead players are assigned contracts and then it’s up to the player to use his or her eyes and ears in order to locate their target and carry out the kill. Of course, the idea to let gamers wonder around blindly looking for their targets is perhaps a little harsh, so to counter balance that the game will offer you some help. When your target is in the same area as you, the game will alert you, giving you some sort of indication as to where the target is, making for an intense, frenzied affair as you frantically look for any sign of your target. But beware because whilst you’re attempting to track down your target, the fact remains that you are the target for someone else too.

A game to get your senses going.

In an attempt to put the hunter and the hunted on a level playing field, the game will also alert you when your pursuer is in the same area as you too, allowing you to make a break for it, just as it would for the very target you too are hunting down. The real sense of tension and paranoia that the alert system creates is definitely what sets it apart from other multiplayer experiences and is definitely the most impressive thing about the multiplayer. The challenge is compounded by the fact that the maps are populated by dozens of the same character models, meaning you have to carefully watch the crowds looking for that one tell tale sign that will identify your target while at the same time try not to bring too much attention to yourself, or face being assassinated.

“Wanted” shifts you between motions of paranoia, frenzy and fear, as you go about tracking down targets and running away into hiding from your pursuers, and whilst this is still very much Assassin’s Creed it’s aesthetics and it’s familiar, clunky controls, this is an unlikely, but brilliant addition to the series.

- Kieran Roycroft

Reprising her role from Batman the Animated Series, Arleen Sorkin returns as the Joker’s deranged love interest Harley Quinn.

It is hard to imagine anyone but Arleen Sorkin lending their voice to Harley Quinn

Fans of the DC animated universe will also rejoice to hear that Corey Burton will reprise his role as Braniac from Superman the animated series, and Justice League. Will Wheaton, most famous for playing Wesley Crusher in Star Trek The Next Generation, will voice Robin and other famous TV face Dwight Schultz – Howling Mad Murdock from The A-Team – will play The Flash.

“The addition of these actors to our existing cast reaffirms our commitment to gamers to deliver the most fun and authentic DC Universe experience possible,” said Sony Online Entertainment executive producer John Blakely.  “They’re all experienced and talented performers and we’re excited for players to hear their work when they encounter them in the game.”

DC Universe Online is due for release early in 2011 for PC and Playstation 3. Stay tuned to The Newb Review for more coverage on this game as and when we get our hands on it!

The full press release goes on to say:

“Planet Michael will offer fans around the globe an innovative interactive gaming and social experience that celebrates Michael Jackson’s life as an artist and humanitarian. This is just the first of a virtual reality universe of connected planets tied to licensed franchises produced by SEE Virtual Worlds.”

“The new planet, currently slated for launch next year, will be an immersive virtual space themed after iconic visuals drawn from Michael’s music, his life, and the global issues that concerned him. At its core, Planet Michael is a massive social gaming experience that will allow everyone, from the hardcore fan to the novice, to connect and engage in collaborative in-game activities with people worldwide. Entire continents will be created that will celebrate Michael’s unique genius in a way that underscores his place as the greatest artist of all time. Michael’s long-time fans will feel at home, as they find themselves in places that seem familiar and yet unknown at the same time, and new generations will discover and experience Michael’s life in a way never before imagined.”

“Planet Michael is one of the first themed planets that SEE Virtual Worlds will publish for the Entropia Universe, a vast dynamic 3D environment created and provided to end users by MindArk PE AB.  The Entropia Universe features several existing planets and combines a revolutionary cash economy with cutting-edge graphics. Although Planet Michael is a free-to-download world without monthly subscription fees, the real world in-game economy features gameplay monetization that allows players to take on dozens of different occupations and, in certain instances, contribute to a charitable cause at the same time.”

“When we first approached the Estate and talked about creating Planet Michael, one of our primary goals was to build an interactive environment where fans from all over the world come together to affirm Michael’s life-long dedication to fostering global friendships,” said Martin Biallas, CEO of SEE Virtual Worlds. “In building a space worthy of those global connections, we envisioned a magical, enjoyable place that will capture that zest for fun and life that was at Michael’s very core. Throughout his extensive career, the King of Pop was well-known for his visionary contributions to music, dance, fashion, entertainment and philanthropy, and it was critical that we somehow incorporate all of those elements into the game.”

“No artist unified the world like Michael Jackson, so it is fitting that in Planet Michael his fans will be able to join together in such a unique way online to celebrate his music, his artistry and his devotion to helping those in need,” said John Branca, co-executor for The Estate of Michael Jackson. “Michael was always exploring creative new ways technology could enhance the experiences of his fans, and for that reason we are thrilled to be working with SEE Virtual Worlds to build a global interactive experience that befits an artist as innovative as Michael Jackson” added John McClain, co-executor of the Estate.

For game updates and to register to become a part of Planet Michael, please visit: www.planetmichael.com

What is the size of the play area?
Matt: Put simply it’s around 4 x Bigger than Burnout Paradise, for cars to be able to usefully reach 260 miles an hour. So well over 100 miles of tarmac road & 30-40% more off-road & shortcut areas, we’ve opened a lot of that space up for race & chase as you are playing online versus human cops, at night time you can just turn your lights off and hide behind a bush, something that isn’t really achievable with AI, when you include elevation changes its a chunk of room so for anyone familiar with Burnout it’s about 4 times larger.

How does  the new “autolog” work & will it allow friends to drop in and out of games?
Matt: It’s kind of more important than just drop in and outs, that’s pretty straight forward, we all know it’s hard enough to get a few people down the pub togetherlet alone get online at the same time, so autolog’s main purpose is to facilitate “a-synchronous play”, so I can play against you even if I we’re not online at the same time because both our performances are being sent to the server, crossing in the post, if you like, it’s really important because direct online play can be a really scary place.

The online world is a scary place, you heard it here first!

I’m a seasoned online gamer and it’s not always a welcoming or pleasant place in many games, we know we can do that, so you get to play online 8 player races, but it’s the other part we think is more important because friends can compete against each other even when they’re not online at the same time, and what facilitates that is that the system is always listening for things that are going on the network and when it gets new info it’s doing hundreds of thousands of comparisons, and then sending you personalised info back, so if I beat your time it will tell you “Matt just beat your time on this event” and “your now 3 seconds behind”, “he used this car”,etc,  and if I’ve caused a change to what we call a “Speed Wall”, a friends leader board, by going up the ranking in that event, pushing friends down, it will send them all personalised recommendations based on my performance and similarly when they play it will effect everyone else in their network, so it really is joining up this comparison play and doing it so players don’t have to think about it.

Computers are really good at automatically comparing numbers so it’s very smart system and it’s all there to encourage social competition amongst friends. So for example my ranking on a particular FPS is something like 11,807,000 which is totally meaningless, but knowing I’m second in a speed war and knowing I’ve got you two seconds ahead of me, there’s nothing stronger, nothing better than beating a mate, so rather than a meaningless number, knowing how close your friends are to you and how many times they’ve done something, or how far you are from them is really, really powerful.

How many heat levels are there and what does the highest heat level have to offer?
Matt: Ok, that’s from a bit earlier in development, we’re not really calling that “heat” anymore, we might use it to describe how difficult an event is, but in  terms of the gameplay progression there’s a number of different ranks on both the Cop & Racer sides, I can play as a Cop or Racer, it’s not an either or choice, and I earn bounty for everything I do, whether I play online or offline it’s the same progression system, bounty fills my bounty bar, as it were, and drives my ranking and as I rank up I unlock more cars & capabilities, we’re not really talking about specific numbers of ranks, but as we get closer to launch we’ll start unveiling what some of them might be so people can start getting used to it.

Higher Bounties = more attention

How many players can join for multiplayer racing?
Matt: 8, so we can have 8 player races or if you’re in cop vs. racer type events you can have 4 v 4, 7 v 1, 1 v 7, or any other variation of that number, we found that anything more than 8 is perhaps too chaotic, but 8 is a really good number, it’s great for close racing, and we always have really cool close races but for the other events that involve cars vs. cars it can all get a bit too chaotic, so 8 is a great number for us.

When we saw the lighting in the car and the weather systems our jaws were on the floor! We thought it was just amazing, how much work has gone into creating that system and is it going to define the new standard for racing games from now on?
Matt: That’s always our aim, part of our trade is to be perfectionists, and some people see that as quite insular, but we really strive to be the absolute best that we can be, Burnout Paradise was good, and we learnt a lot from it, especially after launch when we started adding things to it, but this time we’re dealing with real cars, we learnt a lot from Burnout Paradise, actually that world was not particularly well designed for fast driving, it was quite impressive technically, but this is a brand new graphical engine for us, and we had to do that for particular reasons, firstly we wanted incredible looking exotic cars, so we had to spend an enormous amount of processing power to make those cars look good, it’s an image base lighting system, so the cars had an environment map which allowed them to look like they’re reflecting the world around them, but our cars are actually being lit by the environment as well, so in the desert when you see the blue sky coming across a black car it just looks amazing or if the dirt or sand reflects against a white car it just looks perfect.

The cars look stylish yet authentic

So the cars had to look right, but for the environment itself we wanted to evoke the sort of visual cues that you see when manufactures shoot these cars, when they’re in a beautiful place, whether it’s a mountain or a salt flat, or wherever, let’s take all the kinds of places that they film car commercials at and create the greatest road network you’ve ever seen in your life built for cars that do between 150 & 260 mph, and compress it all into this space to give a ton of variety and make it look amazing, so it’s a brand new engine for that Secondly we wanted to do wet weather and night time because there’s nothing like police lights strobing off a cliff face at night and those are the things we wanted so it had to be brand new. Luckily we’ve got a bunch of very smart guys. Also, our art director is Henry LaBounta, the academy award nominated art director for ILM, for Minority Report, he’s lit the world and he’s also a total perfectionist, and then we’ve got the guys at DICE, so, we created the world, the road ribbons, how the network works together and then the guys at DICE created these incredible environments to map round that based on Henry’s direction.

In terms of research, did you get to test any exotic cars out?
Matt: Well we’ve got a Lamborghini coming down next week after I badgered & badgered & badgered them to bring a car down! Alex was out for a while he took a Gallardo out in Vegas. Burnout’s know as being very pick up and play, anyone should be able to have fun with the car and that’s in Criterions DNA, but in this game we’ve got real cars for the first time so it was great fun to get to play with those, what a lot of people don’t realise is that you need a really, really good physical simulation engine to put arcade handling on top of, so we got to plug in all these values we got from manufacturers, and we have a great physics simulation going on, we have over 40 values just for each tyre, there’s actually a really fun story about the setup of the handling; For the McLaren SLR 722, which is supposed to do 227 miles per hour, when we put the numbers into the simulation it was always coming out at 204, and we were checking the numbers, double checking the numbers, but couldn’t figure out what was going on, so we were looking for bugs in the system, which is obviously very complicated, and then we realised that the diameter of the wheels was 2mm out, so we increased that by 2mm and then 227mph! The reason that’s important, is that we want people to have fun, to be able to slide a car at 155mph round a corner, with a big smile on their face, because that’s how you think you should be able to drive a car, whereas in reality, if I took a Murcielago out, I’d probably stall it and then dink into something and then it would overheat, you know what I mean, so to enable that fantasy you have to do all the complicated stuff to make something simple and then weave your magic on top of it which is the fun part of dealing with real cars.

In terms of the Cops vs. Racers, do you have a particular side you go for?
Matt: It flips and changes, there’s certain people you don’t expect but they’re stone straight for the cops, it’s the same as asking are you dark side or light side of the force? Are you going to be the cop of the racer? Some people get a kick out of being a cop, must be the authoritarian side coming out! Essentially they’re two side of the same coin, a pursuit is just like a moving race, its just that the person in front is choosing the end point. As a cop you can call in road blocks, spikes, helicopters, blast them with EMPs, but as a racer you can use the spike strips against the cops too, so this very simple premise of race & chase, because of its simplicity, is very compelling, I think people will just decide; “Hey I’m in a cop kind of mood, it’s a Thursday, it’s cop Thursday”.

You may not be able to answer this question, as its multiplayer, but have you considered a co-op mode where cops can use tactics to stop the racers?
Matt: Well, you can do that, players can choose to co-ordinate, it’s something we’d encourage, so currently the game knows that if we’re both cops and you hit a racer, but I then make an arrest, that you were involved, so you’ll get an assist.

Ok, so what you’re favourite car?

Matt: Well in the game, it changes, the Zonda F a $2million car, or the Lamborghini Reventon, of which there were only 20 made, it’s designed after the stealth bomber, it even looks like a cross between a stealth bomber and a UFO, another one we’re showing here is the Pagani Zonda Cinque, there’s only 5 of those in the world, and they were made because 5 millionaires badgered Horatio Zonda to make the Zonda R, the race only version, into a road legal car, and so that’s also $2million!

Great, thank you, it’s been great talking to you!
Matt: And you! Keep a look out for more info soon and enjoy the game!

Unlike most Final Fantasy games Final Fantasy XIV is an online only multiplayer game due for realease on Playstation 3 in March of next year, with a PC version arriving some time before that.  Square Enix has not revealed how much a subscription to the game will cost, but rest assured we’ll inform you as soon as we find out!

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for our continuing coverage of this years Tokyo Game Show!

For obvious Tier 1 type reasons, there is much I’m not allowed to tell you. Not that that is going to stop me!

The evening kicked off with a rendezvous in the dilapidated basement of an anonymous central London location. After descending the stairs into the dark, cavernous, empty andrun-down underground bunker and huddling round some rusty oil barrels for a few minutes, we were ushered into long, bare room, supported by interspersed girders, and gathered round a particularly large flat screen featuring the awesome, all be it blurred, image of … wait for it… a large goat.

We did not have to wait long for things to get started, as the musty air permeated our outwardly calm exteriors. Before we could grow agitated Peter O’Reilly, of EA’s sports division (Yes it’s official, war is now a sport…), appeared out of the gloom before us and proceeded to explain what we would see. We immediately leapt into the first part of a “Sledgehammer vs Scalpel” demo, with Peter ably leading his 3 AI squad mates (the Scalpel) up a cold and winding mountain pass, dealing with any foes they encountered swiftly, brutally and satisfyingly, whilst being treated to excellent graphics, sound and atmosphere, with a few excellent set pieces along the way to lend weight to the immersion.

The franchise's reboot is visually stunning

Having literally raced up the mountain over around 20 minutes he immediately transitioned to the Sledgehammer part of the demo and we found ourselves in an Apache gunship for the next 25 minutes as he moved from one strategic target to another, dispatching each with equally satisfying and impressive rocket and gun attacks. “Shock and Awe” indeed! One of the most impressive aspects of this part of the demo was the superb quality of both foreground textures and lighting effects, both pulled off beautifully by the engine without the merest hint of a flicker or judder.

How could they top that demo, as we waited eagerly to gain access to the 16 PS3s which awaited in an adjacent room? Well, we didn’t have to wait long as Peter explained that we were party to an exciting franchise announcement. Without further ado he turned to a far corner of the room from whence came striding the instantly recognisable figure of none other than… Chris Ryan! Yes, not some lightweight pop star or Z-list celebrity, no, only the best was good enough for MoH, and we got it!

After the initial, very respectful,  murmur of excitement died down most expected a few words from the great man about how the game was great and very accurate but two things very quickly made us all sit up and pay attention.

First Mr Ryan (as as shall call him, for my own safety! ) said that having been walked through the game by developers not only did he believe it was very clear that Tier 1 operators had been consulted during development, but that at a number of points he was reminded… wait for it… of exactly how it felt to be in the field with his SAS squad mates!  Crikey. An audible shiver spread through the room. What higher endorsement could a military FPS ask for!

Medal of Honour will undoubtedly one of the more authentic FPS experiences

No sooner had we drawn collective breath again he hit us with the second salvo of news. He Chris Ryan, ex-SAS and global best seller has written a book, about the characters in the single player MoH entitled, you guessed it, “Medal of Honor”! Wow, we all thought, this could be the end of sub-par video game novel tie ins!

Before we could recover the ability to speak Mr Ryan was gone, back into the darkness from whence he had emerged, and none in the room were brave enough to follow him through it.

So it was left to us to dive into the experience Mr Ryan had praised so highly, and dive we did. With both the single player Apache mission “Gunfighters” and the mountain top based multi-player map “Shahikot” available, we all got stuck in immediately.

I managed to get my hands on an Apache helicopter based singleplayer mission as well as some multiplayer

Having played for around one and a half hours, I am very happy to report that everything is very much shipshape and ready for duty. All the major concerns I had with the beta are resolved and many new improvements were evident.

1. Grenades are back, in a big way, no more ignoring them and that’s for sure!
2. Hit detections are considerably more natural and feel spot-on in terms of both accuracy and delay.
3. Snipers are more playable, but still certainly not overpowered.
4. The area defence / attack game mode played more fluidly and viscerally, with spawns being adjusted well as the game progressed.
5. Spawn camping appeared greatly reduced.
6. Graphics were vastly improved as were atmospheric effects (Snow blowing across the mountain before you and sun blinding you)
7. Sound was improved considerably with some excellent, authentic sounding radio chatter. A real winner.
8. Sniping for non-sniping classes is now much harder. Weapon accuracy seems to scale logically with distance.

So, improvements across the board, and no steps back that I could see. All signs are that this is shaping up to be an excellent single and multi-player experience for all MFPS fans!

Medal of Honour's latest reboot looks set to "blow" gamers away

- Richard Burley

The Medal of Honor reboot has been a hot topic of late. Whilst you’re not going to get a comment on the Taliban controversy in this article, stay tuned to The Newb Review for an exclusive interview with Greg Goodrich, Executive Producer for Medal of Honor, in the coming weeks. in the meantime Tom Wallis took a behind closed doors look at and early mission from the Medal of Honor single player campaign. Let’s see how he got on…

“It’s not about the metal, it’s about the man”, Greg Goodrich, Executive Producer on Medal of Honor. It’s clear that Danger Close (EA LA), single player developer for the game, are heading for a more realistic experience with their upcoming reboot to a much loved franchise.

The preview I was shown at Gamescom comprised of a kind of scouting mission; two Apache gunships are surveying the Afghani mountains for hostiles, and predictably, it isn’t long before they find some. Having played FPSs in the past, there are a number of features present in MoH that have become standard. The ability to call up your objectives by pressing up on the D-pad, zooming in down the gun sights slightly by using L1 and having your guns overheat if fired for lengthy periods of time are all features that purvey realism, even if we are familiar with them.

The brand new reboot sees you take to the skies

However, this endeavour for realism carries through into the very nature of the gameplay; the Apache gunners have to wait to confirm with HQ that there are indeed hostiles present before engaging. Whilst this is a small aspect of the narrative, it is something that hasn’t really been seen in FPSs of late.

Another impressive way in which they’ve brought this realism into the game is by having actual army pilots script the dialogue in this mission. Whilst not everyone will notice this, it’s the attention to detail that is most impressive about the part of the game I was shown.

The Apache gunships have three different weapons in their arsenal. The 30mm gun is a particularly devastating, if a little inaccurate gattling gun that tears through enemies with ease. Aiming is made even more difficult by the frequent banking the helicopter does to avoid return fire.

Shooting from a helicopter whilst it dodges rockets fired from one of these bad boys is quite tricky

Hellfire missiles are also at your disposal. These small missiles have a larger impact than the 30mm, so I found them a lot easier to use as the helicopter shifted at speed. The final weapon on the Apaches is the Hydra rockets. These missiles can be locked onto targets to devastating effect; strategically blowing up installations such as mortar pits.

One thing I only noticed after playing for some time was the use of the soundtrack throughout the mission. The fact that it wasn’t immediately apparent shows the immersion of the gameplay as well as the unobtrusive use of additional music. Whilst this music wasn’t the Linkin Park track from the trailer, it certainly sounded similar to their style, which is another nice touch.

No music from Linkin Park in the in-game soundtrack i'm afraid..

One thing that was peculiar about this preview was that there was a notable absence of any ground missions. Whilst I’m sure these will be shown pre-release, I for one left the MoH booth wanting more. With the release set for October 15^th, it looks like I won’t have to wait too long.

- Tom Wallis

Maybe ‘addiction’ is an exaggeration, but Audiosurf is certainly a compelling game. Once I figured out the system of scoring and bonuses, I started climbing my way up the leaderboards of certain songs (each song has a leaderboard for each of the three difficulties: Casual, Pro, and Elite). As a fan of much obscure music, I found myself competing at times with only a few other people.

Showing the persistence of someone who has gone through the stage of repeatedly dying, and displaying terrible KDRs in Counter-Strike, I was able to pull myself to the tops of some leaderboards. I was gripped by the sort of high score fever rarely seen since the demise of the arcade. Casual became easy. Pro was a bit more challenging, but I thirsted for more. I turned to Elite.

I should point out that I have mostly been playing the ‘mono’ game modes. There are a range of modes in the game, which basically boil down to hitting coloured blocks as they scroll down the screen, using your little spaceship and moving it left and right. In mono, you hit the colourful blocks and avoid the grey blocks. This is the simplest of the many many; but is not to be underestimated. As you raise the difficulty level, the track flies by at an ever increasing speed, and the concentration of blocks is hugely increased. To stand any chance of a high score in mono you need the ‘Stealth’ bonus. This is gained by gaining at least 30% of your score without hitting any grey blocks. This becomes harder as the song you play becomes longer as it’s far easier to focus on dodging grey squares for a minute than it is for three. This is where the relationship between Audiosurf and Counter-Strike comes in.

Good reflexes are absolutely vital to stand any chance at getting the Stealth bonus. In a fraction of a second you need to spot the opening between grey blocks and move your mouse the right amount at the right time (or you might overshoot and hit a grey in another lane). This employs the same reflexes as those needed in Counter-Strike. If someone jumps out from behind a corner; you need to realise what’s going on, aim at their head and shoot before they do the same to you. As you play a song multiple times, you become familiar with its track. This is similar to getting used to a map in Counter-Strike (or any online FPS for that matter). With the combination of a growing familiarity and the development instinctive reflexes, you’ve got a good start for doing well at either game.

And that’s how Audiosurf made me better at Counter-Strike. For those less masochistic than myself, Audiosurf can be a highly relaxing experience. I recommend Blue Ȍyster Cult’s ‘Screams’ on Casual mono for a relaxing, smooth ride. After that, see if you can take me off the top spot of Optimus Rhyme’s ‘Reboot’ for a bit more of a challenge. Then launch Counter-Strike: Source and amaze your friends as you top your team!

- Jimi Cullen

First, I can’t help but put a personal note apologising for my absence recently. Crunch times in real life sure do take their toll on writing. Especially when those deadlines involve writing.  Not to mention, this is a little old now, but it’s still good right?… Right?… Ehem.

Anywho, onto Super Street Fighter IV. For those who have been locked in a cupboard for a while, the original game, Street Fighter IV was released last year to critical acclaim; winning multiple awards for its graphics and gameplay. It was generally thought to have revived the series by combining old and new with aplomb. A year later and Capcom has revised this title,throwing a a few little tweaks into the mix.

Street Fighter IV was undoubtedly a reinvention for the series. Combining 2D and 3D into a stylistic package, it brought back many an ‘old school’ fighting fans back into the ring. Whilst Super Street Fighter IV certainly doesn’t revolutionise in the same way, it does bring around quite a few welcome changes.

On the face of it, ten new additional characters have been added, most from previous games with the exception of two entirely new faces. It also adds a few new modes to the original along with a couple of tweaks to the online mode. However, at the price tag for a completely new title, is it really worth splashing out?

Juri is the Tai Kwon Do artist with the funky eyeball

Certainly, the addition of ten new characters, bringing the roster up to 35, is a plus, especially for fans of the franchise. Juri and Hakan are stunning brand new characters to mess around with. Juri is a Tai Kwon Do expert with the interesting ability to unleash a charged fireball at any point upon the unsuspecting enemy. Hakan couldn’t be more different, a Turkish wrestler who must oil himself up in order to perform his jaw-dropping Ultras and Supers.

Both provide a welcome change to the usual suspects of Ryu and Ken users online for those willing enough to give them a shot.  Classic characters such as T Hawk and Dee Jay also show their ugly faces, along with some Final Fight guys… like Guy, and Cody. Another potential boon for those with little time for unlocking is the fact that all 35 characters are playable right from the start, unlike Street Fighter IV. No need to grind a little in order to unlock your fave fighter.

Other tweaks are a little smaller. Bonus stages are dotted between matches, each one might be recognised by those more familiar with previous entries into the series. Both offer an enjoyable time out between fights in Arcade mode. A lot of damage balancing for moves has also gone on; this is perhaps of no interest to the regular joe who might enjoy a game or two with friends, but to die-hard fans it means a lot.

The game also offers a little more longevity as each character, including those from the original, now has at least two Ultras to chose from. Some time set aside to re-master your choice fighter is a must before heading online.

Speaking of online, a lot of changes are staged here. A new spectator mode is available, making waiting for some matches online infinitely more fulfilling. Or terrifying, if the person you’re waiting to match up against is a beast. A step on from this is the new replay mode, in which you, well… replay previous matches. The Replay Channel offers a variety of different replays put forward from players across the globe, all for your viewing pleasure. Some of the extras involve being able to save your favourites for later viewing and even being able to invite friends to watch them with you.

Once successfully oiled up, Hakan is ready to unleash pain

One of the best additions to the online play is the potential to create and host Team Battles of between four to eight players. Once you have everyone together, the game automatically shuffles you into two teams  to battle it out in a straight elimination contest until one team is no more. This mixes with the aforementioned spectator mode so you can watch how each team mate is faring, discussing, cussing or praising all the while over chat.

Whilst it isn’t exactly the authentic Street Fighter arcade experience, as someone who has sat at those cabinets, I can say it comes very close. New updates are also on the way on June 15^th to add a tournament manager, allowing the creation of online tournaments in the same style as the current Team Battles. Good times.

Of course, there are always downsides, and with any game which is predominantly sold for online play, there is one problem that will vex many gamers. Lag. Lag is inescapable is seems, even if you are fairly certain you have the best internet connection in your county (which I don’t).  On the whole, despite my internet connection being far from stellar, the lag wasn’t too bad. That said, when it did lag it was debilitating to the point of ruining the match for both competitors. Since this was fairly soon after release, however, as with any online game it may balance out after a while.

Cammy and Chunners. For some the ONLY match up allowed.

Finally we come to the issue of cost. As noted, this game certainly isn’t a budget title; as it’s still being priced at full new release cost in most stockists. Is it worth the extra money? The answer for me, personally is a resounding yes… if you don’t own the original.

If you do happen to have a copy of Street Fighter IV on your shelf, the answer becomes a little more difficult. If this is the case, you have to weigh up all the previously noted pros and cons. Should you be a fan of the various other Street Fighter titles, it might also be a yes. This is all up to personal preference, I’m afraid. What it does well, it does very well. If you’re satisfied with the original however, is £40 really worth it?

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 - It would be hard to give it anything different. The original game looked gorgeous and this one doesn’t disappoint either. If anything, this mark goes to the new character models, each of which looking like an amazing representation of the 2D originals. Juri and Hakan are a bit of alright, too.

Sound: 2/5 – This game seems predominantly sound effects for me. Whilst this is good, there isn’t much of a soundtrack to mark. The title song of ‘Indestructible’ which provoked a love/hate reaction from most (I loved it, personally) is missing. Boo.

Story: 3/5 - Obviously this is a fighting game and so there isn’t much story floating around. The openings and endings in Arcade mode are brilliantly animated and fun for fans who know the canon surrounding the series. Newcomers might be a little puzzled, however.

Gameplay: 4/5 - What Super Street Fighter IV does well, it does very well. The original brought around a new fighting style for newcomers and veterans alike and this instalment only tightens this up further. There is a fighter to suit everyone and each can be picked up easily.

Longevity: 4/5 - This is one of those games that might sit around on the shelf for a while, but will always be guaranteed a replay intermittently. Each fighter can take an age to master if you really want to complete all the tutorials and learn every single combo down pat. Online battles make this game even more of a keeper.

Overall: 4 Shoryukens out of 5. Super Street Fighter IV might cost a hefty sum if you already own the original, but it has more than enough for fans to drool over. The cost is really the main issue when it comes to this title; so for those with enough patience to wait for the price to drop, this will become a must own for a lot of people. Make a place on your shelf already, you know you want to.

[starreview tpl=16]

“Well, MMOs like WoW fill this idiom, don’t they?” You may well ask. My dear friends, I would argue that they do not. I agree, they present a level of escapism: who can claim they aren’t escaping when they run around the lush fields of Azeroth as their chosen muscular Night Elf or ludicrously buxom human mage? However, escapism is a misnomer when the developers insist on emphasising human interaction within their game world.

In order to truly succeed in MMOs like WoW, you have to organise yourselves into groups to wade through dungeons and especially to defeat the larger enemies. However, the game world is plagued with exactly the same cretins and morons as the real world. In fact, games such as WoW seem to be havens for the feckless; a concentration of brainless knock-holes that ruin the experience for everyone with either petty squabbling, or moronic behaviour.

Despite their shortfalls, MMOs have become spectacularly popular. The financial viability of releasing your very own massively multiplayer game seems to have seduced almost every developer out there. MMOs are essentially a licence to print money. I mean, who wouldn’t love to have a game where players wilfully hand over wads of cash to continue playing?

The added benefit of the monthly fee is that players become more invested in the game world than they would otherwise. Players will think not only of their enjoyment when they think of moving on to other games, they will also consider how much time and money they have ploughed into the game. This is the primary reason for WoWs continued success: why would you leave when you’ve already spent so much time and money developing your ‘level capped’ creation?

I count 20 people on screen - that makes £160 a month just from these guys...

Perhaps the most harrowing fact about MMOs is the extent to which they are seeping across genres. Whilst RPGs have been traditionally the only successful MMOs to date, faster broadband has meant that other genres could soon be equally as aflicted. Anyone sharing my fear of having to pay for a game several times over with monthly subscription payments will feel the same chill down their spine when they hear a Call of Duty MMO has not only been planned, but is currently in the making.

I implore you, gamers of the world: don’t be seduced by the enticement of continually added content. Don’t ignore the fact that you will be paying many times more than the box price to play the game within it. And most of all, don’t ignore the fact that the game world will be littered with the same idiots you avoid in the real world. Say no to MMOs.

MMO = Massively Multiplayer Online – a video game capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players interacting simultaneously.

We here at The Newb Review recently got our hands on an early access code for the soon to be released demo of Valve’s latest game Left 4 Dead 2 on the Xbox 360. The demo allows you to play through the first two chapters of the Parish campaign mission with three other players online, two player split screen co-op, or just by yourself with A.I team mates. From the get go this game is very familiar to players of the original, but at the same time quite different. For instance, all of the recognisable music from the original returns, but this time played through a jazz filter to reflect the new setting of New Orleans. There also seems to be a more developed narrative in the game, as when the level starts your team gets off of a boat, and it is implied that the captain of the boat rescued you at an earlier date – perhaps at the end of another campaign mission. It seemed strange to be playing as anyone other than the characters from the original game, but the banter soon started to flow and my feelings of uncertainty began to subside.

Upon taking control of the characters, I saw the usual table with health packs, shotguns, and machine guns. This time, however, a new type of weapon greeted me, and was too tempting to resist. This new weapon is one of 10 melee weapons that will be available in the final version of the game. Melee weapons replace the standard unlimited ammo pistol, although if you are taken down then you are able to use the pistol from the ground even if you have a melee weapon equipped. The weapon that greeted me was a machete, which I used to lop off the heads and limbs of the hordes of zombies that await us around the corner. After a few moments of blissfully hacking away at the zombies I was greeted by one of the new uncommon infected, a zombie wearing riot gear. As he was wearing a bullet proof vest, the best way to kill him was to shoot him in the back. While these uncommon zombie types are nothing more than the average zombie that require a specific way to kill them, there are three new special infected zombies in the game. The first special infected I encountered was the Jockey, a little beast that jumps on players backs and takes control of them, steering them away from their friends and in to the arms of death. The Jockey steered me around the corner and in to the path of another new special infected, the Spitter, a lanky, long necked creature that shoots a corrosive projectile that can form pools on the ground. Both were quickly dispatched by my computer controlled team without serious issue. Before long we encountered the final new special infected character, the Charger, a sort of half formed Tank from the original game, whose only aim is to break up the group, charging in to us and taking one poor member of the group and slamming them in the ground repeatedly. Thankfully the charger is fairly easy to kill, unlike the Tanks. Speaking of the Tanks, they return to this game, as well as the original special infected. For those not the know, we have the Hunter, who pounces on humans pinning them to the ground, the boomer who spits zombie attracting bile on the players, the smoker who has a 50ft long tongue that he uses to drag opponents in to his arms, and the witch, the sobbing woman who just wants to be left alone. Disturb her at your peril. It is clear that these new special infected have been designed to break up the group, and separate them, as in order to successfully survive in Left 4 Dead cooperation is key.

One of the main differences in Left 4 Dead 2 is that the game takes place during daylight hours

As we progressed through the level I came across three other types of melee weapon, the guitar, a nightstick, and the frying pan. Also encountered were the adrenaline shot – an alternative to the pain pills that will increase your speed – and the boomer bile – a canister that you can throw on zombies that will cause other zombies to attack whoever is drenched in the foul substance. Like in the original there are multiple types of each of the guns, ranging from the Combat Shotgun to the Silenced SMG. In the second and final chapter of the demo, towards the end of the mission you are tasked with breaching the security walls of a safety zone. By breaching the walls you set off the alarm, which summons dozens of zombies. In the original, such a scenario would require you and your team to buckle down and defend the area until it was clear of enemies. In Left 4 Dead 2, however, you are tasked with running as fast as you can through a winding path of fenced off areas to make it to the guard tower to disable the alarm. The frantic nature of these end of level moments, coupled with the fast paced Jazz drumming, creates a whole new level of tension in this game as you frantically try to run away from dozens of zombies and get to your objective. The longer you take in achieving your goals, the more zombies will attack you and your team. After successfully disabling the alarm, and picking off the last few zombies, we were able to continue through to the bus station and reach the safe house, which ended the demo.

Not a particularly inspired screenshot, but at least you get to see one of the new guns

The real beauty of Left 4 Dead is that no single game will ever be exactly the same thanks to Valve’s sadistic AI Director, which dictates how many zombies there are, what types of zombies you will face, and item locations. On my second play through I was greeted by the previously mentioned Witch soon after leaving the docks. The Witch can now walk around freely, rather than sitting in a stationary spot as she did in the original, so it took me a little time to actually find where she was, as all I had to go on was her distinctive weeping. The Witch sounds less sinister and far more desperate than she did in the previous game, and as such I took pity on her and decided to put her out of her misery by chopping her head off with my machete. Despite sounding helpless, the Witch is a deadly as ever, and she quickly took me down. Thankfully my team were close on hand to revive me and patch me up.

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo will be available to all Xbox Live Gold Members from the 3rd of November. Those who have pre ordered the game from certain retailers, such as GAME, should have a download code emailed to them by the time they see this article. The game itself is out on the 20th of November, and we here at Newbreview cannot wait.

This is indeed my first reason why online play is a bad thing: the little joy garnered from playing online is stifled by the shit-storm of unintelligible language that is, in most cases, unnecessary (how much harder is it to type pwn than kill / beat / maim!?), combined with a heady mix of xenophobic, toothless buffoons and twelve year olds that populate many online communities. It baffles me that so many prepubescent boys litter online worlds; how is it that I get owned by some snotty-nosed kid in an 18 certificate game?

Forgive me for cheating a little here, but my second and third reasons are interrelated and so I’ll rant about them at the same time. One thing that really gets my goat is when developers choose online content over that which should be considered standard within most multiplayer games. You’ll most probably notice this in two ways: firstly, the smoke screen of hours of online content that covers the lack of an offline experience.

This doesn’t necessarily concern games that are online only, like Battlefield 1943 (a great game, even if we won’t be able to play it in a few years – see below), but titles such as Killzone 2 and, perhaps the greatest offender, Call of Duty 4. The enjoyment of the many levels available online and the high production quality in terms of graphics and gameplay don’t help alleviate the feeling of being gypped by having to pay £45 for a fifteen minute single player experience (okay, I’m exaggerating, but only slightly).

Surely it serves games companies to provide the best product they possibly can? Why can’t we link up two consoles and play four against four Call Of Duty 5? You could do it in Call Of Duty 3!? Whatever happened to AI in multiplayer? Remember how fun it was to face off against a computer team in Perfect Dark? All these questions, I fear, will remain unanswered as companies seek to provide the most modern gaming experience, often at the expense of less impressive features.

Online gaming is slowly but surely destroying gamers’ ability to reminisce about the games they played as a child. As a child of the ’80s, I can remember, with fondness, my experiences of loading up my first game of Monkey Island, Lemmings or Soccer Kid. I even, on occasion, venture into the loft, wipe off the dust and load up these antecedents of modern gaming for a trip down memory lane. But the shift to online gaming will make this impossible; as people stop playing games in favour of their newer versions, developers will stop supporting older titles. It’s upsetting that in years to come we won’t be able to fire up the Playstation to compare the newest incarnation of established series like Call of Duty or Battlefield to the games of yesteryear.

So I apologise if I come across as an online gaming hater. I enjoy online gaming as much as the next guy, but I don’t see why us humble gamers should get a raw deal when it comes to the games we so love.