The Newb Review
5Mar/100

DLC Review: Borderlands: The Secret Armory Of General Knoxx

Game: Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
Format: Xbox 360
Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games

The Newb Review Game of the Year nominee Borderlands received it's third piece of downloadable content last week, and to cut to the chase, it is brilliant. After the shambolic mess that is Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot which cut out all of the fun aspects of Borderlands: exploration of vibrant open areas, looting, and levelling up, we are treated to a lengthy new campaign, complete with expansive environments, new enemies, new weapons, and a further 11 experience levels to unlock.

Taking place directly after the events of the main game story, your character is contacted by Athena, an assassin who has recently quit working for the Crimson Lance and asks for your help bringing them down. Summoning you to T-Bone Junction, an entirely new town that you can access from any fast travel station, you are tasked with destroying the last stronghold of the Crimson Lance, in particular the titular Armory of General Knoxx.

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User Rating
Rating: 4.0/5 (1 vote cast)
3Mar/103

Review: Aliens Versus Predator

Game: Aliens Versus Predator
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Sega

UK based developer Rebellion are no strangers to the Aliens Versus Predator (AVP) franchise. One of their first games was AVP for the Atari Jaguar, which is widely considered to be one of the console's finest games. They returned to the franchise in 1999 to release Aliens Vs. Predator on the PC, another critically lauded title. Yet in 2007 they released Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem for the PSP, which was generally panned by reviewers. However, no-one can argue that they don't know the source material.

Rebellion's latest offering to the AVP franchise is something of an uneven experience. With a fairly short single player campaign that is broken up into three modes, the Marine game, the Alien game, and the Predator game. The Marine sections are little more than a painfully generic shooter, while the Alien and Predator sections blend melee combat, stealth, and platforming to create a (mostly) interesting game, even if it is a little short.

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User Rating
Rating: 2.0/5 (1 vote cast)
2Feb/101

Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play – 2. Lucidity

T.U.G.Y.P.S.P EP2 LUCIDITY

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.

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User Rating
Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)
28Jan/101

DLC Review: Borderlands: Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot

borderlands 000Game: Borderlands: Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot
Format: Xbox 360
Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2KGames

Any devoted readers of our site will know how popular last year’s Borderlands was amongst the staff. We must have loved it, because it was one of our nominations for Game of the Year.

The real joy we found in Borderlands came from not only the tight controls and the charismatic characters, but from the compelling loot system. The game boasted the fact that there were millions of different types of gun, each with their own individual statistics. Arguably, it was the search for bigger and better guns that made Borderlands so compelling. You can imagine our disappointment when upon loading up this latest piece of downloadable goodness, we discovered that there is essentially no looting to be had at all.

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User Rating
Rating: 4.0/5 (2 votes cast)
23Dec/092

We Heart Achievements

achievement

Everybody loves achievements, right? Be they the achievements on Steam, World of Warcraft, the Xbox 360, or the Achievements covered in tin foil that are known as PS3 Trophies. The concept of the high score is nothing new to gamers, any one that spent their youth hanging around arcades trying to get on the leaderboards of games like House of the Dead, Street Fighter 2, or Crazy Taxi can attest to that.

With the release of the latest generation of consoles, and the introduction of achievements, the entire concept of the high score has changed. Now rather than just showing off how good we are at one game, we get to show how good we are at games in general, and can compare scores with not only our friends, but the entire world. So yeah, achievements are great. But achievement farming can be a real chore, and there is nothing sadder than playing a bad game in order to get those precious easy achievements – trust me I've been there! So, in light of the season, and to follow up on tom01255's "Confessions of a Trophy Whore", we here at Newb review thought we would share with you, our beloved readers, a list of games that have easy achievements/trophies, that are also a lot of fun to play. Because while achievements are great, having fun while playing is more important than anything else.

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User Rating
Rating: 4.5/5 (2 votes cast)
26Nov/0910

Review: Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2Game: Left 4 Dead 2
Format: PC, XBox 360
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Few games this year seem to have been more contentious than Left 4 Dead 2, announced at E3 2009 to what seemed to be a reaction of joy from one section of the crowd, and calls for boycott from another. The key concern from those who were not happy about the announcement was over the short time between the original game, released last year, and this title. The worry was that it would essentially be a full price expansion pack as opposed to a proper sequel (Even though the distinction between the two is hazy at best). So how does Left 4 Dead 2 compare to the original? Is it a full sequel or just an expensive expansion pack?

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User Rating
Rating: 4.3/5 (4 votes cast)
23Nov/093

Preview: Battlefield Bad Company 2

BFBC2

Game: Battlefield Bad Company 2
Format: PS3
Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE (DICE)
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Our good friends over at EA invited tom01255 to jump in on the multiplayer Beta for the upcoming Battlefield Bad Company 2 (affectionately called BFBC2). BFBC2 is the second first person shooter for the next-gen consoles. Whilst its predecessor certainly didn’t redefine the genre, it provided an enjoyable alternative to the genre dominating Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

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User Rating
Rating: 4.9/5 (20 votes cast)
5Nov/090

Review: Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age: OriginsGame: Dragon Age: Origins
Format: PC
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Traditional RPGs seem to have fallen out of favour of late. Whilst turn based games have almost certainly seen their demise on main stream consoles and PCs; replaced with their action-RPG counterparts, there seem to have been even fewer Baldur’s Gate style hardcore RPGs produced over the past few years. It’s somewhat refreshing, then, to have Dragon Age: Origins to bite into for a big slab of role-playing goodness.

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User Rating
Rating: 4.9/5 (18 votes cast)
2Nov/095

THE EVENT – Dragon Age: Origins, The Warden’s Quest

dragon age

Last week tom01255 was lucky enough to have been selected to represent the UK for an epic 24-hour team marathon playing Dragon Age: Origins. Ten teams from around the world flocked to London’s County Hall to battle it out for a prize of $50,000… and a big shiny engraved shield thing. Having just got back from the big event; he’s sat down at the first keyboard he can find to give you the inside scoop from Team UK.

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User Rating
Rating: 4.9/5 (20 votes cast)
23Oct/092

Video: Sacrifice Retro Quick Look

sacrificeName: Sacrifice
Format: PC
Developer: Shiny Entertainment
Publisher: Interplay

Sacrifice is a Real Time Strategy game released for the PC back in 2000. Generally overlooked and forgotten this great title has influence in games even today. With the release of Tim Schafer's Brutal Legend and given how reminiscent that game is of Sacrifice I decided to go back and shine some light on this sorely forgotten game.

Sacrifice is available from Steam for £6.99 and is great for anyone who likes RTS games.

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User Rating
Rating: 4.0/5 (3 votes cast)