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’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.

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.

Hello and welcome to the very first installment of “Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play”, a series of articles in which I (Crofterz) act as some kind of know it all, deity and tell you about some truly brilliant games which may have flown under your gaming radars. In this edition I’m going to be telling you all about “Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure” for the DS which is a brilliant little platformer, puzzler crossover brought to you by the guys and girls at EA.

These days the DS gaming catalogue is massive, from great games like “Professor Layton and the Curious Village” (a fantastical and beautiful looking puzzling solving game) to the absolutely absurd such as “Jam Sessions” (a game which tries to teach you how to play guitar by strumming the touch pad with your stylus…yes I know..and it is as terrible as it sounds) so the chances are that there’s many “gems” out there that you’ve missed and “Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure” is probably one of them.

The game places you in the shoes of a true English gent who goes by the name of “Henry Hatsworth” who also happens to be a very famous explorer and together with his sidekick “Cole” are in search of “The Golden Suit”, a golden gentlemen’s suit which allows the wearer to control “The Puzzle Realm” which enables hidden treasure to be discovered. However after finding part of the suit (“The Golden Bowler”) and putting it on his head, Henry causes an unbalance between the real world and “The Puzzle Realm,” opening the gates for many monsters to come from “The Puzzle Realm” into the real world. However, by tracking down the rest of “The Golden Suit”, Henry can restore order and send the monsters back. Yhat won’t be easy though because Henry isn’t the only one searching for “The Golden Suit”, his arch rival “Leopold Charles Anthony Weasleby the Third” (my vote for the best game character name ever!) is also searching for “The Golden Suit” and with the help of hired guns (the game’s bosses) such as “Lance Banson” (the dashing and daring captain of a fleet of airships), tries to stop Henry in his quest to find the suit. Now if that doesn’t sound awesome then…well…you have no soul.

The gameplay is nothing short of brilliant and it sees you take control of Henry, guiding him through various platforming levels, disposing “Puzzle Realm” baddies and collecting treasure which you can then use to buy upgrades such as extra health, your pretty standard platforming stuff. However the inclusion of a puzzle element is what sets it apart from being just another platformer and adds an extra, strategic layer to the game. You see just by killing enemies with your cane and collecting the treasure they give you, doesn’t mean that they are gone forever. Oh no, you see the touch screen of the DS is actually a puzzle screen which you can swap in and out of (which isn’t as seamless as it could be) and enemies which you kill then form blocks within the puzzle screen. By using simple tetris mechanics you then put coloured blocks or enemy blocks together to get rid of the little buggers. Doing this also charges up a metre which is charged once turns you into super Henry, clad in a gold suit, armed with extra health and armed with a sword rather than a cane. A second of the metre enables you to initiate the rather bizarre “Tea Time” (oddly enough I usually hate the use of typical “English” clichés however because the game is utterly charming and very funny, they avoid from becoming both annoying and insulting) which for a short amount of time sees Henry climb into some kind of robot, mecha suit and go romping around, virtually indestructible (yes it really is as fun as it sounds).

Definitive List of “English” clichés: Bowler hat? Check. Gentlemen's mustache? Check. Monocle? Check. Cup of Tea? Check. Oh no someone go an email EA quick, they've left out horrible, yellowy teeth!

If for some reason you don’t get rid of the enemy blocks and they reach the top, the enemy then re-enters the real world for a short period of time, still in block form, flying at Henry’s head and if connecting, doing quite a lot of damage.

The real strategy comes into play when you add in that you have another meter which actually goes down the longer your in the puzzle screen, meaning that you only get a certain amount of to break some blocks before being kicked out of puzzle mode and have to wait for the meter to fill back up. By forcing you into some time management, it means really have to spend your time down there very carefully, becoming vitally important in the case of boss fights, losing your super Henry status quickly means you have to fight as normal Henry until your meter charges, meaning less health and more likeliness of death. It not all bad though as various power-ups are also available for collection such as the ability to freeze all enemies on the screen for a certain amount of time or the ability to hurt every enemy on the screen and kill them off. There is another catch that like the baddies in the game, the power-ups are collected in the real world and then take the form of blocks in the puzzle screen, breaking the power-up blocks grants you that power, but once they are gone…they are lost forever much like my childhood…ahhhh the good ole days.

Anyway I’ve been rambling on and have probably all bored you to tears so I’m gonna sign off, however before I do I’d just like to point out a few things. First of all this game can be mercilessly hard, especially in the later levels which may leave you scratching your head and thinking “WTF is going on?!” however with a little bit of perseverance these can be tackled and doesn’t detract too much from the game. Also can I just say the look and the sound of the game is just perfect. The art style is utterly charming and the soundtrack is great and all in all these are probably my two favourite things about the game. So go and pick it up because god knows why games like “Scibblenauts” are getting all the hype when a beautiful looking, fun game like this one just aren’t getting the push it deserves. Anyway I best be off…see you with episode two…soon I guess.