We have teamed up with the good people at Lovefilm.com to bring you a fantastic offer which will help you keep up to date with the latest games, dvds and blu-rays. Simply sign up for a free 30 day trial through one of our dedicated links and you will recieve a £10 voucher for Argos. Not bad huh?

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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

To say that Earthworm Jim has a rabid fanbase would be an understatement. Despite only featuring in a handful of games, Earthworm Jim managed to capture the imagination of a generation over 15 years ago when it was first released on the Sega Megadrive. The original game was ported over to every console under the sun at the time, and was eventually remade for the Sega CD with better graphics and a new sound track.

So you could say that Earthworm Jim has a history with remakes. Now Gameloft have taken the beloved classic and brought it over in shiny smooth, crystal clear HD for the current generations of consoles. But in doing so, has the game lost that initial magic?

The most striking thing about Earthworm Jim is the graphical overhaul. Gameloft have put in a lot of work in making the game look as good as possible. It has a very charismatic cartoon look, with wonderfully crisp and clear graphics. The music has also been reworked, using actual instruments rather than the old tiny synthesiser tunes of the past. As someone that still owns Earthworm Jim on the Sega Megadrive, I was incredibly impressed with how good the game looks and sounds.

The new graphics are stunning

In terms of gameplay, this HD remake of Earthworm Jim is exactly the same as the original version of the game. Armed with a machine gun, Jim has to navigate his way through a series of sizeable levels, fending off crows, dogs, demons, and steroid enhanced Cats, to name but a few enemies. There is something gloriously ridiculous about the character designs that constantly bombards you with 90s chic (if such a thing exists).

In order to navigate gaps Jim can use his worm body to latch on to hooks, allowing him to swing. Alternatively Jim can spin his head like a helicopter propeller, allowing him to glide over gaps. As well as being used for navigation, Jim uses his worm body as a whip, which proves useful in fending off enemies and turning cranks.

Between levels Jim races against his arch enemy, Psy-Crow (a crow in a yellow space suit) through a wormhole in outer space on a rocket. You must avoid asteroids and defeat your rival  using speed boosts and a shield pick-ups in the process. Losing the race means you must face against Psy-Crow in an impromptu boss fight, which can potentially use up precious extra lives.

The new levels may feature some fairly bland backgrounds, but they still feel authentic

It is in these races that you earn extra continues by collecting at least 50 blue orbs. At first the game is easy enough that you will not feel that you really need the continues. However, around the fourth level the difficulty ratchets up, making every extra life and continue count.

Anyone that played the original game will remember that it was incredibly hard. Fortunately, Gameloft have offered two new difficulties; easy and normal, as well as the game’s original difficulty. As previously mentioned, the opening levels are easy enough and it’s not until you reach about the halfway mark in the game that it suddenly becomes incredibly challenging. I actually find myself really enjoying the first few levels, and becoming incredibly frustrated with the latter half of the game, despite the new easier difficulties.

This is my own personal hell

Of particular note are the underwater levels, in which Jim must navigate an incredibly fragile glass submarine through a series of tight rocky path ways. If the fragility of the submarines didn’t make it challenging enough, you only have a limited air supply, which means you will have to balance speed and efficiency with care and accuracy. I personally hate the underwater levels and really wished that Gameloft had cut them out altogether, but that is just my own personal preference.

Gameloft have also included 3 unlockable entirely new levels, which feature new enemies including robot wasps and a jet pack wearing granny. While the backgrounds for these levels come across as being fairly uninspired, they feel genuinely authentic thanks to the character designs and music.

Also included is a new 4 player co-op mode that can be played both online and locally with four different coloured Jims for the players to control. These levels are based on the levels of the main game, but with a multiplayer twist. I was reminded of the 4 player co-op in last year’s ’Splosion Man, which has proven to be a bit of a mixed bag. While it is a welcome addition, it can prove to be a little frustrating if you are playing with someone that does not know what they are doing, or enjoys winding up other players.

The final Gameloft addition to this pack is Avatar rewards. As well as offering a fairly generic Earthworm Jim T-shirt, after completing one of the new single player levels you are rewarded with your own version of Jim’s Spacesuit. As far as novelties go, this is a pretty good one that should offer at least some amusement.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 – Gameloft have done a spectacular job in cleaning up the original graphics. The character designs and animations are smooth and clear, making the game look better than ever.

Sound: 4/5 – The music has been rerecorded, replacing the original tinny sounding synthesiser music completely. There is no real voice acting per say, apart from the odd “groovy!” and “woah Nelly!” that Jim will yell out at specific points.

Story: 1/5 – Those looking for an epic story need to look elsewhere. The only real story in this game comes at the introduction: Psy-Crow is after the space suit, it crash lands on earth (landing on top of Jim) and then the game begins. There is no real explanation for why Jim does what he does. But does that really matter?

Gameplay: 4/5 – There is a nice variety ranging from your standard run-and-gun platforming, to the dreaded underwater submarine levels, to a bungee jump battle against a man made of snot. Multiplayer adds depth to the whole package, but can be frustrating at times.

Longevity: 3/5 – The single player game can be completed in under one hour if you are particularly good at it. However, there are three new levels that will add on some extra time, as well as the reasonably lengthy multiplayer mode.

Overall: 4 Roided out Cats out of 5. Gameloft have done a spectacular job in bringing this 16 bit classic to modern audiences. The only real downside is the harsh difficulty spikes. Earthworm Jim is a must have remake for fans of the series and should definitely be tried by those that never had the chance to play the original.

Earthworm Jim HD is currently available to download on Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft points (about £6.80) and will be available on Playstation Network and the Wii virtual Console soon.

- Luke Mears

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

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

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“The Wii is for babies.”
“There aren’t any hardcore games on the Wii.”
“I never play my Wii because there aren’t any games.”

Are these the kind of things you find yourself saying to your friends and on forums as you consider how much money you might get if you trade in your Wii? Then Joefeesh and Mightyles have just the list for you!

Here you’ll find some of the best games to play on your Wii and they even come on cute, tiny little discs that your Wii will happily munch up and play. In fact, Nintendo make the only current generation console that has 100% working back compatibility with their previous console!

Upon writing this article we learnt something. There are so many unique experiences that we had on the GameCube that haven’t been carried forward (or at least successfully) to the Wii by any developer. But, by the magic of backwards compatibility, we are able to recommend that you quickly rush over to our Amazon Store and pick up this entire list of games, a GameCube controller and memory card.

Kick your Mum and little Sister off your Wii, pack up the balance board, move the sofa closer to your system (wired controllers) and get ready to give your Wii some quality time.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction

I take every opportunity I can to say how much I love this game. Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is the strongest experience there is on the Cube. It smashes any other Hulk game out of the park. Most Wii games are green with envy at the combat variation.

That’s enough bad puns. What I really want to talk about is how good the combat is. With dozens of attacks, combos and special moves, this game is infinitely better than the much later 360/PS3 game, Prototype, from the same developer. There’s almost nothing as satisfying as the moment you unleash a super elbow drop from a skyscraper onto a giant Hulk Buster robot. Or the devastating and aptly named Critical Pain attack (which is a flying head-butt).

This isn’t even fair. Don’t you know he’s the World Breaker?

There are so many ways to crush your foes that you could almost forget about the storyline. Thankfully, the story line is not obstructive to the experience, like in the Hulk comics; it merely provides circumstances for the Hulk to plough through, ignorantly destroying everything in his path.

The city isn’t exactly varied in appearance compared to the likes of GTA, but at least there are other areas you can visit, including the desert town and military bases. The environments are partially destructible and jumping off the highest skyscrapers is a great rush.

P.N 03

Back in 2003, mega Japanese developer Capcom made a pledge to release five permanent exclusive titles for the Gamecube. Of those five (Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, Killer7, Dead Phoenix, and P.N 03) three of them made their way to the Playstation 2 within a few years, and one was never released. The only true Gamecube exclusive title is P.N 03, created by Shinji Mikami, the creator of Resident Evil. Playing as super athletic mercenary Vanessa Schneider, you are given a powerful mechanical suit that allows you to fire laser beams from your palms. Played from the third person perspective, you are hired to destroy a legion of robots by a mysterious client, and must shoot, duck, dodge, and bound your way through an arcadey score-based shooting game.

Vanessa Schneider may be the only woman on earth that is not able to multitask

In a way, the real beauty in this game comes from the limitations set on the player; you are unable to move when attacking, but can perform acrobatic dodge manoeuvres to avoid enemy fire. Enemies themselves follow fairly predictable patterns and as such the game is as much about recognising patterns and perfecting your timing as it is about shooting and dodging. Depending on how well you do (i.e. how big a combo you are able to earn and how little damage you take) you are awarded points that you can spend on upgrades, and new moves or outfits. Having said that, the game is brutally difficult in places, and has a rather old fashioned continue system; if you use all of your continues then you have to start the level again. Much like Killer7, P.N 03 is a bit of a curates egg, and as such will not appeal to everyone. Having said that, it’s definitely worth giving a spin if you can find a copy for the right price.

Beyond Good and Evil

How many games have you got emotionally attached to? There aren’t many for me these days, and two of them are on this list. It takes a special kind of game to actually get people to invest their feelings in the experience.

The protagonist, Jade, is a reporter and photographer as well as a caring foster parent to orphaned children. Her generosity is completely understated; with no self righteous speeches. Although she’s a pretty lady, there’s no gratuitous sexualisation or gender exploitation. She’s one of the best female characters in games and even the legendary Alyx Vance of Half-Life 2 looks like she’s been designed using a Jade mould in more than just appearance! Coincidence?

Jade kicks alien ass from the start. She’s so cool.

Beyond Good and Evil has a big following, but it generally went under the mainstream radar, producing quite poor sales for Ubisoft. It’s a damned shame because it’s not even a niche or hardcore experience. This game gives you beat’em’up action with adventuring, vehicle racing, and photography. All this is tied together with a very strong story and believable characters.

Beyond Good and Evil (2003). Half Life 2 (2004). Sisters separated by a console generation?

With hints of a sequel in development, there’s no better time to jump in and get on the “we want Beyond Good and Evil 2” bandwagon.

Donkey Konga

There are hundreds of music games out there; 90% of them from Activision. But back in the good old days they weren’t so common and Donkey Konga was something special.

Donkey Konga came with a cool set of bongos that also included a little microphone in the middle to hear you clapping. There are 4 inputs – hit left, hit right, hit both and clap. It’s that simple, but extremely fun and didn’t cost £100. At release it was only £5 more than a regular priced game and you can pick it up now for about £15. In fact, I recently went over to our Amazon store and ordered a copy.

Can you feel that DK beat!?

With 31 tracks including the mammoth challenge Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor, the music is a great mix of pop, rock, classical and game themes. The Hungarian Dance is one of the hardest songs, when played on hard mode (Gorrilla) it is one of the funniest things you’ll do in games.

My friends and I used to take it in turns to try to complete the songs on hard mode. You couldn’t get any closer to a Wii TV advert; it was sickeningly fun. There will never be a Nintendo music game as good as this on the Wii, because you can guarantee it would use the Wiimote, like Samba De Amigo, and all the fun would be instantly lost with the lack of any contact. The bongos make all the difference. They feel great to hit and they’re very responsive.

This is one for everyone. Every kind of gamer will appreciate the fun here, once they get their hands on the bongos!

Luigi’s Mansion

The premise is simple: Luigi, Mario’s green-clad, effeminate brother, receives a letter in the mail one day informing him he has won a fantastic Mansion in a competition. The thing is, Luigi does not remember entering the contest. Couple that with the fact that his brother Mario is missing, and you have the start of one of the Gamecube’s launch titles; Luigi’s Mansion. Upon arriving at his new mansion, and discovering it to be of the spooky variety, Luigi is ambushed by Ghosts, and promptly wets himself. Cue Professor E. Gadd, a decrepit, bespectacled ghost hunter, who comes to Luigi’s rescue.

Arming Luigi with a super powered vacuum cleaner, the best tool known to man for capturing ghosts, and a hand-held computer that looks suspiciously like a Game Boy Colour, Luigi must clear the mansion of ghosts and discover what happened to his brother.

Bustin' makes Luigi feel good!

With wonderfully characteristic graphics, Luigi’s Mansion was essentially the best Ghost Busters game ever made. The key to capturing ghosts was to let them sneak up behind you, and then turn around and shine your torch in their face, temporarily stunning them. All that’s left to do then is let rip with the vacuum cleaner. Each ghost has an energy bar that is depleted by dragging the ghost in the opposite direction to where it is trying to go.

As well as generic ghosts, there are a number of unique ghosts that have certain criteria to be met before you can capture them. Clues to solving these fun little puzzles can be found by using your Game Boy’s camera to scan them for their weakness. Once every ghost is cleared from a room, the lights come back on and order is returned. Clearing every room in the Mansion allows Luigi to find Mario.

Killer7

Killer7 may very well be one of the most insane games ever made. Effectively, Killer7 is an on-the-rails first person shooter, a la House of the Dead, except you have a bit more control over where you are going. Pressing the A button allows you to go forwards, the B button has you moving backwards, and upon reaching intersections you can choose which direction to go, but that’s it in terms of navigation.

I personally found the narrative to be utterly impenetrable, but at the same time compelling. You control one of the world’s greatest assassins, who just so happens to be suffering from multiple personality disorder. Rather than just thinking that he is multiple people, he physically transforms his entire body depending on what personality comes to the fore at any given point. Each of the 7 personalities (hence the name Killer7) has their own unique abilities, such as Mask De Smith, the Mexican Luchador personality.

Killer 7 is brain blisteringly mental

The game features a truly unique graphical style that is both low tech and high art at the same time. Written by Suda 51, maker of No More Heroes on the Wii, and made by Shinji Mikami, the creator of Resident Evil, Killer7 is pure Japanese madness. I can honestly say that, as good as this game is, it gave me a headache every minute I spent playing it. Others will have a higher tolerance for the barmey ideas and kooky gameplay, particularly those that love all things Japan. Despite saying how much the game made my mind hurt, it is definitely one of those titles that I would recommend everyone try, simply because it is so unique.

Eternal Darkness

In another Gamecube title that revolves around a character inheriting a spooky mansion, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is a third person survival horror game from Silicone Knights, makers of the Soul Reaver series and… err… Too Human. Playing as Alexandra Roivas, you explore your dead Grandfather’s mansion in search of chapters of an unholy book known as The Tome of Eternal Darkness, made out of human skin and bone.

The Tome details the history of an ancient Roman, Centurion Pious Augustus, who becomes the undead servant of an ancient evil god. As you discover each new chapter you take control of a different character, each in various different time periods.

Getting love bites from Zombies does little for one's sanity metre

One of the best features of the game is the sanity metre. This is lowered by seeing the horrible monsters you are supposed to fight. As the metre gets lower and lower, your character’s grip on reality begins to break down. Various on-screen effects add to this experience, such as a distorted camera angle, fake “glitches”, bleeding walls, distant screams, and enemies that are not really there. The sanity effects (or should they be called insanity effects?) are wonderfully atmospheric, and add a great deal of tension to the game. In order to fill the sanity metre back up, you need to defeat enemies with finishing moves. Eternal Darkness is, without question, a must have game for fans of old school survival horror games.

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean

There were quite a few good RPGs on the GameCube, but what really set Baten Kaitos apart was the card battling system, collectables and gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds.

This game is still well worth playing now and I wish I had never sold my own copy, especially considering I wasn’t able to finish the 40hr+ game. It’s also very rare to get hold of, with copies still selling for £25 and up. That price is the only thing that makes me a little hesitant to recommend for everyone because it’s quite a niche title.

Card battling games seem to have died a bit of a death, aside from crappy kids games. I find it a real pity and I’d love to design a card battling game myself, just to revive the genre. Baten Kaitos allows you to collect over a thousand cards and use them to unleash massive attacks unique to each character.

The turn based battles are a bit like Final Fantasy with teams of characters but also with cards and hundreds of attacks

Along with attacking cards there are also food and magic type cards that have different effects. The food stored in your bag in the game is also affected by the amount of time you have had it. Food has different expiry times and if you don’t use it in time, it could harm you. You can also combine food to get better cards.

When the game first came out, the visuals were absolutely stunning to me. I’m sure they’ll be a little less impressive now but the art style still holds up with detailed hand painted environments and colourful special moves.

If you want a hardcore and lengthy RPG on the Wii, then Baten Kaitos is probably still one of your best bets.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

It’s the year 2000 and the GameCube has just been announced. A pre-rendered video shows off the power of the new system with all its franchise favourites. The video includes a fight scene depicting a “realistic” Link fighting Ganondorf in a display, which whipped fans into a frenzy of anticipation for the next Zelda game.

Fast forward one year and the “realistic” Zelda game is nowhere to be seen, but instead is replaced with a colourful, cell-shaded, kid friendly Zelda, which is announced as the next in the series. A massive backlash leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many gamers and the press alike.

If you like the art style, you are in for a treat

The most ironic thing I find, looking back at the video, is that it’s quite clear Wind Waker was a far better looking game than the demo released a year before. It was, however, the polar opposite of the gritty, dark world that was promised, which was later delivered in Twilight Princess.

But if you can look past the colourful and cute exterior, Wind Waker is Zelda at its best. If you like the series (or even if you don’t) and you haven’t played this game, you should definitely give it a try at least. Aside from the, sometimes, tedious boating between islands on the massive map, there’s a tonne of content and depth. All of the usual Zelda mechanics, including dungeon crawling and sword/bow/boomerang fighting are there and the open sea provides an extra element of exploration.

Don’t let the colour put you off, this game is as hardcore as any of the other Zelda games, it’s just cuter.

Playing GameCube Games on your Wii

You’ll need:

• A GameCube controller, which you should be able to pick up online or at your local games shop for about £5
• A GameCube memory card. I recommend getting larger than the basic size memory as last generation memory costs and it’s tiny
• A GameCube or Wii! (Gamecube memory card and controller fit into the top of the Wii underneath the flaps)
• One of the above games

Enjoy!

All of the games above can be found at Amazon. If you buy through our own Amazon Store, you will be supporting this site!

Back in 1999 Konami released the first Silent Hill on the Sony Playstation. Casting you as Harry Mason you explored the foggy town in search of your missing adopted daughter. With the sound of an air raid siren filling the air, the small town transformed into a blood soaked, rusty, nightmare world, populated with deformed monsters. As the story progressed you discovered that your daughter had a dark past revolving around a cult that aimed to bring to life a demonic god to judge all mankind. It was nonsensical, but fantastic at the same time.

Since then there have been several other Silent Hill games: Silent Hill 2, 3, The Room, Origins, and Homecoming. Late last year the latest Silent Hill game, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, was released in the USA on Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, and PSP. Instead of the traditional Silent Hill gameplay, blending combat with puzzle solving, the developers instead decided to take a more psychological, non-combative take with this latest game.

Silent Hill Shattered Memories is something of a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill. Once again you play as Harry Mason, a devoted father who wakes up after a car crash to discover that his daughter Cheryl, is missing. Wandering out into the snowy surroundings, Harry stumbles on the deserted town of Silent Hill, which is in the midst of a severe snow storm. With no one on the streets, and Harry’s memory severely lacking, you are left to wander the streets following clues to find out where your daughter is.

The town of Silent Hill is experiencing an extreme snow storm

All of this takes place after the opening of the game, just to confuse matters slightly. To start the game your character is sitting in a psychiatrist’s office starting their first session with the latest in a long line of therapists. To begin with, your therapist asks you to fill out a simple personality test, with questions ranging from the simple “do you make friends easily?” to the somewhat more perturbed “do you enjoy role play in sex?”. The way you answer the questions will have a radical effect on the way the game plays out. For instance, the way I answered the questionnaire in my first play through meant the first level was in a video store, whereas altering my answers lead to the very same level becoming a clothes store on a later play through, complete with different puzzles.

Much of the game's outcome is determined by the way you answer the Psychiatrist's questions

Speaking of puzzles, gone are the days of old where you would come across a locked door and have to traipse across town in search of the required key. Now the solution to the locked doors is more realistic, with the set of keys for each locked door being in a logical place near the actual door. The only challenge in solving these simple puzzles lies in the manipulation of the Wii remote. By pressing the A button you can interact with set parts of the environment and use the Wii remote to grab interactive objects, such as tin cans, or latches on doors. Sometimes the solution to the puzzles seem a little arbitrary, such as the locked door whose key is hidden inside of a nearby tin can, but overall the puzzles make sense, which is refreshing for a series that was well known for it’s lengthy and bizarre puzzles.

The phone is key to discovering segments of the back story.

The use of the Wii remote in this game is particularly good. Using the nunchuck to walk forward, backwards, and to strafe left and right, the Wii remote is used to point your torch, which allows you to turn as well as illuminate the dark surroundings. Other brilliant uses for the Wii remote include using the remote’s built in speaker as the speaker of your mobile phone, which acts as a key implement in solving a number of side puzzles, as well as receiving valuable information.

Spread out around the town are a number of hidden memories; static figures that can only been seen clearly through the lens of your phone’s camera. Taking their picture unlocks a voice mail message that fills in some of the background of the game’s story. The phone also contains a map of the town that allows you to draw your desired route to your objective, although this drawn path is only visible on the phone. Annoyingly your speed of walking is dramatically reduced when you have the phone in hand.

As you progress further through the story and unearth key details, the world around you becomes encased in ice, and the game shifts from methodical exploration to frantic escape. Along with the ice, a number of skinless creatures begin to chase you through the darkness. You are unable to physically harm your pursuers, and instead must simply run away from them, attempting to block their path by knocking down objects, or hold them off by setting off flares. At this point in the game it becomes more about escaping from the labyrinthine nightmare mazes. While the exit is always marked on the phone map, there is rarely a chance to stop and check the phone, so escaping from these mazes can often be more trial and error than anything else. Fortunately, any path you have already taken is marked on the phone’s map, which does help in staving off a lot of the back tracking.

Your enemies cannot be hurt, only held back by flares

If you are unfortunate enough to be caught by one of your shrieking pursuers then you must shove the nunchuck and Wii remote in the direction of your attacker to throw them off. You can sustain a number of blows from your foe before they knock you down, but the more beatings you take, the more you stumble when you manage to escape. Fortunately there is no death in this game. If your enemies overwhelm you then you are merely dumped back at the start of the maze and must try and evade the enemies again.

The shrieking skinless monsters are incredibly clingy in this game.

The chase sequences are usually preceded by another flash-forward to the psychiatrist’s office, where you will undertake other simple tests such as colouring in a picture of your dream family or separating pictures of dead people from pictures of sleeping people. How you perform in these tests, in which there is no “right” answer, is reflected in the following level. For instance, with the colouring test, I merely scribbled over the picture with a purple pen. In the following level my home was coloured a vibrant purple, and the people inside were wearing purple clothes. While that test had only a minor effect on the environment, later tests have a more drastic effect, and to discuss them further would perhaps spoil the outcome of the game itself.

Upon completing the game, which only lasts about six hours, you are treated to a psychological profile of yourself based on the decisions you made in-game. I was genuinely surprised how accurate the profile was in describing me personally, faults and all. Of course you will only get a similar reaction if you take the tests seriously and answer truthfully.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 The developers have clearly gone to great lengths to make this game take full advantage of the Wii’s limited hardware. Of particular note are the character’s faces and facial animation, which look stylised, but believable at the same time. The game has a film grain filter placed on the graphics that adds significantly to the dark and mysterious atmosphere.

Sound: 5/5 Akira Yamaoka provides his trademark excellent score, as he has for every Silent Hill game to date. The voice acting is particularly believable, with the actor that plays Harry exhibiting all the necessary emotions to make this game seem like a genuine nightmare.

Gameplay: 5/5 The way the developer has worked with the Wii Remote should set the standard for any developer working on a Wii title. Using the the Wii Remote to control your torch, and having it act as your mobile phone works spectacularly.

Longevity: 3/5 The main story will take about six or so hours to complete, and there is no multiplayer to speak of. However, the compelling nature of the story and the sheer variety in puzzle answers will probably have you reaching for your remote to start a new game as soon as the first one finishes.

Overall 4.5 Skinless Monkey attacks out of 5 Climax have managed to take Silent Hill in an exciting new direction while at the same time maintaining some of the key atmosphere of the series. In a lot of ways this game is the anti-Resident Evil 4 – where Resident Evil 4 took the lumbering Resident Evil franchise and transformed it into a fast-paced action game, Silent Hill has instead travelled down the opposite path, into a non combative psychological thriller. Really, any self respecting Wii owner that laments the lack of “proper games” on the Wii should buy this.

If you were not aware, we have a little Amazon store here at Newbreview.com (link at the top of the page) which we use to try and raise a little cash that we can put toward prize giveaways and so on.  Good old Mightyles has been scouring the store to find some real bargains that you might be interested in.  Check out these prices and if you want to help support the site, click the links below and spend a few quid in the store. 

Halo ODST (360) £17.73
  
Batman Arkham Asylum (360) £17.99
 
DeadSpace £8.15 (PS3)
 
Lego Batman (wii) £10.98
 
Little Big Planet (PS3) £14.73
 
Brutal Legend (ps3) £14.99
 
Sega Megadrive Collection (ps3) £12.84
 
Super Smash Brothers Brawl (wii) £16.95 
 
Gears of War 2 Game of the Year edition (360) £14.95 
 
DeadSpace extraction (wii) £11.65
 
Viva Pinata Trouble In paradise (360) £5.95!!!!!!!
 
Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box (PS3) £14.99
 
The Orange Box (360) £12.99
 
House of the Dead: Overkill (wii) £11.29
 
Mirror’s Edge (360) £8.24
 
Madworld (wii) £3.91
 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash Up (wii) £7.99
 
Resident Evil 0 (wii) £12.73

BE HONEST, YOU DID NOT SEE THAT COMING

We are generally a casual gamer friendly site over here at The Newb Review. However, one thing that really perturbs us is vexatious ‘non-gamers’ or ‘game-muggles’ assaulting us with their narrow minded, uneducated comments!

But fret not fellow gaming enthusiasts, for we have compiled a library of witty and wholly appropriate come-backs or ‘truth-bombs’ to give you an advantage over your foe. Take them to school Joefeesh…line

Non-Gamer Assualt

Ooo, how many points have you got?

Correct Gamer Response

It’s irrelevant, since you have no point of reference.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Non-Gamer Assault

Why is that girl fighting dragons in a bikini

Correct Gamer Response

I don’t understand the question.

BLING-3PO FLY KICKS YOUR ASS FOR 8.782 BILLION DAMAGE. SHINY.

Non-Gamer Assault

You play games? That’s so sad

Correct Gamer Response

No, what’s sad is that my hobby is shared with millions of intelligent, proffessional adults in this country and is one of the largest entertainment industries in the world and still you fail to acknowledge it as a valid medium. If I’m sad, it’s only for your ignorance.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Non-Gamer Assault

Are you winning?

Correct Gamer Response

Yes. Always yes.

BACKBREAKER FOR 5.789 BILLION DAMAGE! THE TRUTH HURTS.

Non-Gamer Assault

Games are for kids

Correct Gamer Response

Is that why I look so young and you look more like yoda’s grandmother every day?

_________________________________________________________________________________

Non-Gamer Assault

Daddy, please make me some dinner. I haven’t eaten in 2 days

Correct Gamer Response

Sshh! One more match…. (2 hours later) .. Wait… One more match…

WOW THAT GIRL IS DOUSING YOUR CROTCH WITH WATER. THAT'S EMBARRASSING FOR YOU.

Non-Gamer Assault

Ooo is that Mario?

Correct Gamer Response

No. It’s War, one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse sent to punish the wicked and restore balance to the world….. Ok, yes it’s Mario.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Non-Gamer Assault

Games are so violent

Correct Gamer Response

So is your face.

GIANT TOY ROBOT DOG BREATHES FIRE. 2.997 BILLION DAMAGE. SIT UBU SIT. GOOD DOG.

Non-Gamer Assault

Games made my son a murderer

Correct Gamer Response

No, you did.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Non-Gamer Assault

I started taking drugs because I’m addicted to games. I want to sue Activision

Correct Gamer Response

Please go ahead. Activision are the root of all evil, but don’t fool yourself, you are an idiot.

10.129 BILLION DAMAGE WITH JUST A YO YO AND A PINK DRESS.

Non-Gamer Assault

Games rot kids minds

Correct Gamer Response

Actually they are proven to make kids smarter. SO SUCK ON THAT WITH YOUR STUPID FACE AND DUMB THINGS THAT YOU BE SAYING AND STUFF!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Non-Gamer Assault

It’s not realistic

Correct Gamer Response

Really? Well my special attack will convince you otherwise! ‘HADOUKEN!!!!’….. Wow, that was embarrasing. I was sure that was going to work.

_________________________________________________________________________________

BOOM!! How does that feel, huh? Does it itch? Sting a little? Take it and go. Take it and go.

RYU BLAST FROM THE OLD SHOOL FOR 20.180 BILLION DAMAGE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A prime example of timed exclusive DLC not worth the wait

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

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

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

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

Borderlands and Assassin’s Creed DLC,

Tony Hawk prepping to ride again

and Nintendo renewing it’s licence to print money thanks to New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

As usual we also have the new releases, site updates and (sadly) some amazing voice acting as well as your e-mails. And details on how you can win a fabulous prize.

[podcast]http://realmworx.hipcast.com/deluge/abd32cc8-9ab6-6209-804d-909fb6676011.mp3[/podcast]

If you want to leave us any questions, comments and suggestions as well as enter our competition please e-mail; podcast@newbreview.com

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

[podcast]http://realmworx.hipcast.com/deluge/04a5b115-21d8-e1b1-56fa-04cfcd29af16.mp3[/podcast]

Lavalampbamboo takes a look forward in time and has a crack at predicting the big headlines of this year.

DISCLAIMER: Any resemblance to actual headlines are entirely coincidental, but would also be entirely awesome.

Half Life 2: Episode 3 is finally released in July, and the reason for the delay is made clear: the game is exactly as long as the production time, with around 23,880 hours worth of gameplay. Notable sequences include constructing a supercollider using the gravity gun and waiting for an INCREDIBLY long lift. Critics are upset with the conclusion of the game… it turns out Gordon had dreamt the whole thing on the train ride into Black Mesa.

3D Realms reveals their 13 year long joke; DNF is released and is actually fantastic. Almost all games critics award it Game of the Year, even though it’s released in March. They state that there really isn’t any point in any more computer games being made. At this point, most other games studios are merged into 3D Realms.

Coming to a household near you!

Nintendo announces their latest add-on for the Wii, the WiiBux. The peripheral attaches to the side of the Wii Remote and allows consumers to swipe their credit card. This means they can now just give their money directly to Nintendo, thereby removing the need to go out and buy poor quality games. Satoru Iwata calls it “a new level of interface between customer and us”, whereas Reggie Fils-Aime simply got on a plane for Hawaii.

Project Natal is released in August, and receives fair to good reviews. The real problems arise when the red ring of death makes a return. However, it’s not in the tech itself, it’s in the people. It turns out an unstable element in the camera causes people’s eyes to change colour and overheat. Microsoft lose billions due to the cost of having to send packing crates to have the people affected fixed (or replaced with a similar model).

At E3 2010, lots of shock announcements are made, but the most shocking is Left 4 Dead 3… which is then released a month later. Left 4 Dead 4 is then announced shortly after… and released the following day. The sequel, surprising titled “Five Alive”, is released before even being announced. Finally, Left 4 Dead 6 is quantum released, because it hasn’t even been developed yet.

Followed by Seventh Heaven perhaps?

As opposed to making a zombie WW2 game (which would make sense) Treyarch make YET ANOTHER straightforward Second World War first person shooter, titled Call of Duty: The War Was Really Bad. As expected, it features a city level, a beach level, a parachuting level, a bit where you get captured by the Nazis and have to sneak away, and, surprisingly, a historically inaccurate bit where you fight Cyborg Hitler.

Zombies? Of course not?

Toward the end of the year, Activision announces a new instalment into its “Hero” franchise, the long awaited “X Factor Hero”. The game only comes with a microphone, and actually rewards the player in earlier rounds for singing like an idiot, just to look “hilarious” on television. In later rounds, the choice of songs is taken away, with the player being forced to perform songs they really don’t like. Rumours of a rival “Rage Against The Machine: Rock Band” are unconfirmed.

It’s our first (released) podcast of 2010 with Braindead_Hero, Crofterz and Tom01255 as we talk about all things gaming… including;

Things not looking so great for EA

Modern Warfare 3 not being developed by Infinity Ward

Natal confirmed for Holiday 2010

All this as well as all the site updates, new releases and terrible terrible Pokemon impressions.

[podcast]http://realmworx.hipcast.com/deluge/200ce2bf-a08c-1990-7df8-6fa9c43cc367.mp3[/podcast]

If you want to throw down a challenge, send us a question or even some hate mail, e-mail: podcast@newbreview.com

One of the strongest aspects of the Rock Band series is that the developer, Harmonix, have been very careful not to over do things by releasing a new game each year; unlike another high profile rhythm game franchise. Until recently there were only two Rock Band games, and the series has been supported with hundreds of downloadable songs that work on both Rock Band and Rock Band 2. Arguably, it is this level of support that has allowed Rock Band to win the support of the hard core gamer.

This year saw the release of two new Rock Band titles: Beatles Rock Band and Lego Rock Band. Clearly the aim is that of winning over other areas of the market – the former is aimed towards the older casual gamer. Lego Rock Band, on the other hand, is aimed at getting a foothold in the tween market; with a set list made up of dozens of recognisable inoffensive tracks.

As soon as you start the game up you are greeted by Super Grass’ song “Grace”, with the lyrics; “Save the money for the Children”, blaring out at you multiple times, letting you know what the focus of this game really is from the get-go.

Everything about this game is very familiar to any one that has ever played a Rock Band game before.

Anyone that has ever played a Rock Band game will know what to expect from this game. Armed with the plastic instrument of your choosing: guitar, drum, or microphone, you do your best to match the on screen button prompts. There is a new Super Easy Difficulty that seems perfect for even the youngest of players. Essentially you can press any button you like and it will be recognised as a correct hit. The main meat of the game is the Story Mode, which follows the adventures of your Lego Band as they tour through the Lego universe. Levels are based on recognisable Lego sets such as the Pirate set and the Race Track set.

The characters are very charasmatic, and there is lots of room for customisation.

As you play through the set lists you earn Stars and Fans based on your performance as well as and Lego studs to spend on new characters, clothes, and instruments. There are dozens of characters to unlock from pirates, to ghosts, to aliens; so there are always plenty of items to purchase.

There are 9 Rock Challenges in the game which must be beaten in order to progress to the next area. This serves as a fun distraction, with amusing animations in the background such as demolishing a sky scraper or fending off a robot T-Rex. As amusing as they are however, they really are of little concern to the player as all of their attention tends to be on the notes they are supposed to be hitting, rather than the flashing lights in the background.

Lego Freddy Mercury in all his glory. Just don't expect him to sing any Nirvana songs though.

Like Guitar Hero 5 this game features some real life musicians such as Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and the band Queen; although all in Lego Form. These characters can only be used to play their own respective songs. So for instance you will not be able to have Lego David Bowie performing The Ghostbusters Theme.

The Rock Band standard is to have all downloadable songs working in every game. To a certain extent that is true here, but it only applies to family friendly songs. Any song that is rated higher than PG will not work in Lego Rock Band. This is a little disappointing to anyone that has spent a lot of money on songs for previous Rock Band games. It is understandable, as this is the family friendly version of Rock Band – most reasonable parents would probably not want their little Johnny 5 year old singing his heart out to Gay Bar by Electric Six for example.

Every song in the game is capable of being exported to your hard drive and used in Rock Band 1 and 2, as each new copy of the game comes with an export code that can only be used once. However this costs a further 800 Microsoft Points to authorise. The fee is part of the licensing agreement between Harmonix and the record labels, allowing us to transfer the songs between games, but this extra charge for something you have already paid for seems a little steep.

REVIEW ROUND UP:

GRAPHICS: 4/5 Any one that has ever played a Lego game or a Rock Band game before will find this game very familiar looking. The background animations that take place during the rock challenges are very charming, but a little pointless to anyone playing the game, as your attention should focused on the notes you are required to hit.

SOUND: 3/5 A decent mix of tracks that are all family friendly. Some tracks seem a little out of place in a Rock Band game (Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves for instance), but overall it is a decent selection of mainstream tunes.

GAMEPLAY: 3/5 This game plays exactly the same as any other Rock Band game, with an added SUPER EASY difficulty for those that have difficulty playing the game on easy. The Rock Challenges at the end of each segment of the Story Mode are, on the surface, a welcome distraction. Although all they really ask of you is that you perform the song to the best of your abilities, which is exactly the same objective as any other part of the game.

LONGEVITY: 3/5 The real fun in this game comes from playing with all four players at parties. There’s plenty of fun to be had with the songs on the disk, and a reasonable selection of downloadable tracks to choose from. It is a shame that the higher rated songs you have already downloaded for other Rock Band games will not work in the game, but it is entirely understandable why that is the case.

OVERALL: 3 Guitar Solos out of 5 For anyone that has small children, and worries that some of the content of other music games may not be entirely appropriate for them, then this is the music game for you. For everyone else, you can probably skip this game and not miss out on anything too monumental. Although, having said that, some may find the urge to import Ray Parker Jr’s “Ghostbusters” to their other Rock Band game too great to resist.

Buy this game from Amazon and support this site.

Current price: £17.95 game only

No-one

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

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

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

- Crofterz

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

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

- Mightyles

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

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

- tom01255

Honourable mentions…

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

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

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

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

- Joefeesh

Red Faction: Guerrilla

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

- tom01255

Forza Motorsport 3

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

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

- braindead_hero

FIFA 10

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

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

- Crofterz

Left 4 Dead 2

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

- Braindead_Hero

Shadow Complex

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

- Mightyles

Halo 3: ODST

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

- Crofterz

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

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

1. What’s the best gaming related Christmas gift you’ve ever had? Was it because the game was awesome-tastic or did it cement the love you had for a certain lady? Tell us why it meant so much to you.

Tom01255

Christmas of 1998 was a great one for me; as I eagerly unwrapped my brand spanking new Nintendo 64. This marked my first foray into console gaming and has left a lasting impression. I was immediately hooked to gaming, whilst I had played on the Snes and Megadrive of various friends; I had never had one of my own. But with my new N64 I became king of the playground. The one game I had, the massively underrated Mischief Makers (an eccentric 2D platformer) was more than enough to keep me entertained until Smash Brothers and Zelda really monopolised my playtime.

Joefeesh

Mario Galaxy. From the start, walking down the dark streets of the mushroom kingdom towards the castle, starbits falling from the sky like an upside down fireworks display. I was taken in by the lush world that Nintendo had recreated for Mario Galaxy. The amazing gravity based platforming is like nothing else and the sheer quantity of new ideas transformed into levels still astounds me. With the starry skies and smooth, shiny textures, it was the perfect gift to get me through the holidays during one of the roughest times in my life.

Crofterz

Kung Fu. OK, so my favourite games related Christmas gift takes us way back to when I got my first ever games console (the NES). However, the console itself is not my favourite gift, it was the slew of games that came bundled with it. Duck Hunt (with the light gun), Super Mario Bros., and in particular, Kung Fu. Kung Fu is, to this day, my favourite game. Although it could now be considered extremely primitive, I still love it because I spent so many hours playing it as a child and have many fond memories.

vVv Diesel

As a kid growing up with a father who loved cars, I naturally followed suit, finding myself outside with grease under my fingernails (well, it was more fun than mud!) and watching all manner of car racing. The British Touring Car Championship was by far my favorite, and after playing the original ToCA, I was hooked. Never mind the silly cheats that allowed you to unlock, of all things, a tank; it was all about pure racing. I would play with my best friend or my dad for hours at a time. Then they announced ToCA 2. Well, obviously I drove my mum insane with my constant whines of, ”I really want that game”, and endless questions as to why I couldn’t just buy it with my pocket money.

Come Christmas, I had enough pocket money saved to buy the game five times over, but there it was in my Santa’s sack. The rest of Christmas day was consumed by my new game (and a new TV too). To this day, I still adore the original ToCA games.

Braindead Hero

This one is a fairly simple answer: my SNES. This is the first console that was truly mine, and really got me into gaming. Before, I had played my dad’s Commodore VIC-20, and had plenty of fun with that. But this SNES was mine. It came with a couple of games that have stayed with me ever since, namely the classics: Doom, Donkey Kong Country, and of course, Super Mario World. Three top notch games which made an indelible impression on me and possibly influenced my future gaming tastes. The SNES early on placed me firmly in the Nintendo camp in the then ongoing Nintendo vs Sega war.

Mightyles

I would say that my favourite gaming related present would have to have been getting a Nintendo Wii in 2007… Actually, no. I am lying. In all honesty the greatest gaming related Christmas present I can think of was not even given to me, but given to my elder brother: the Sony Playstation. The reason it was the greatest present is the simple fact that, while I had always been an active gamer, it was not until the advent of the Playstation that I really dived into gaming with any conviction. That year, he got Tekken 2 and I loved it. However, it was not until he brought Resident Evil 2 that I became hooked. Couple that with games like Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Soul Blade, Tenchu, and Bushido Blade, and you can see why I say that was the greatest gaming gift in my household.

Kamiza

Without a doubt, my favourite gaming related present was many years ago when I received a Commodore 64.  Although I’d had a fair bit of video game exposure through the likes of an old Binatone machine, the C64 was the first time I owned a piece of gaming machinery that would score me cool points in school.  I had so many years of enjoyment with some of my favourite games of all time, including IK+, Commando, Ghostbusters (its better than the current gen version) and Uridium +.  Most importantly though, it meant I could stop pretending to be friends with a kid in my class just so I could play on his C64.

2. What is your biggest gaming Christmas wish?

Crofterz

Dante’s Inferno. Yes it looks like a complete God of War clone but why have games got to be “ground breaking” all of a sudden? Surely they just need to be fun? And Dante’s Inferno looks like it delivers fun by the bucket load. What could be more enjoyable than fighting an endless amount of demons as you make your way through hell, literally! The graphics looks stunning and this game is the one I’m most excited about (and have been all year). I’m just a bit gutted that I have to wait until next year

Braindead Hero

Okay, so I’ve kind of cheated as this isn’t one game, but one product. This Christmas I would love to receive an ‘ultimate collection’, spanning 9 DVDs (or 1 blu-ray) and containing the best games from the Saturn and Dreamcast. It would have full achievements/trophies and be up-scaled to 1080p HD, with full translations for those never released in English. It would also cost the same as any other game… and I’d never have to go outside again. Alternatively, if anyone wants to donate a Sega Saturn and Dreamcast to me, you will make me a very happy man.

Mightyles

This year I am going to be wicked and ask for two Christmas wishes – one based in reality, and one that seems almost impossible. First the easy one: I want Mass Effect 2. Now. The more videos Bioware release about that game, the more I want it. Despite being incredibly flawed, the original Mass Effect is one of my favourite games of all time thanks to it’s thoroughly engaging storyline and characters. For my second nigh on impossible wish? I’d like a decent Sonic The Hedgehog game.

Tom01255

I’m going to be greedy and wish for two things. Firstly, I want Final Fantasy XIII… Now… And I want it to be a proper return to the old-school Final Fantasy. I want a turn-based fighting system, massive summons to help you fight, a narrative full of twists and turns and a world map to run around á la Final Fantasy 7/8/9. Is that too much to ask!?

Secondly, my biggest wish is for a fully 3D remake of the original Gameboy Pokémon titles (preferably yellow) for the Wii. If done right, this would almost certainly be the killer app for the Wii, at least in my eyes, and I would even consider buying one!

Joefeesh

I’m just going to put this one out there and whichever developer picks it up, please get in contact so I can let you know where to send the royalty cheques. Ninja, superhero, robot, dinosaur zombies. Yeah, I thought of that. Go make it!

I would love to see a Zelda game that had a truly epic story and heart. I had this idea for the story: Link kills Ganon, but his spirit form then slowly starts to take over Link‘s mind, without him realising. He becomes the royal bodyguard, but then one day fights against hordes of enemies only to later find that it was innocents that he’d gone and slaughtered. Link then goes on the run from the Hyrulian army and Nintendo can take it from there. But any real big Zelda reboot would be nice. How about ninja, superhero, robot, Zelda zombie!?

vVv Diesel

My biggest gaming wish is to get hold of a full band kit (mic, guitar, bass and drums). Those bloody plastic peripherals annoy the hell out of me. I’m stuck with 2 guitars and 2 ‘Lips’ microphones, and all I want is a drum kit to let out all of my inner metal-head rage. Plus there’s the fact that the only instrument I can play for real is the drums. Yes, I know that these stupid rhythm games are totally overrated, very annoying and complete trash, but give me a plastic drum kit and I’ll be amused for at least 2hrs; you can keep it after that. Until then, I’ll keep on playing Forza 3.

Kamiza

My biggest gaming wish is for my family to finally relent and get me somthing / anything gaming related for Christmas.  My wife and dad both refuse to buy me anything that will encourage me to sit in front of the Playstation 3 any more than I already do. I always try to ask for vouchers for shops that I know stock games, as there’s no chance they’ll get me vouchers for anywhere as obvious as GAME. If I could pick something specific for them to get me though, it would be a PSP or PSP Go.  I’d love to be able to fill my lunchbreaks with a bit of mid-day gaming.

Make sure you leave a mushroom out for Yoshi!

3. What was your biggest dissappointment of the year? Explanation optional.

Mightyles

The PS3 exclusive Joker maps on Batman Arkham Asylum. I didn’t really know why they neglected their larger fanbase, 360 owners, by exclusively providing this content to PS3 owners, and I had doubts about the perpetuity of that exclusive. However, some 6 months later, and with the announcement of the sequel, it seems less and less likely that the Joker maps will ever come to the 360. As such, I have broken down and ordered a cheap copy of the PS3 version of Arkham Asylum (thanks to zavvi.co.uk!) as it appears to be the only way to play these bonus maps… Perhaps that was their intention all along.

Joefeesh

Honorable mention to Prototype which was a pile of balls, even with the framework of the outstanding Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction. My biggest disappointment was Fight Night Round 4. Round 3 is one of my favourite multiplayer games. So intuitive, it took me only 2 turns to really get the hang of it and start kicking some ass. The total punch control was amazing to me. In Round 4 they took what worked and broke it completely. I have no idea why they decided to turn the total punch control with the right stick into half punch control by having to press an extra button to do haymakers… It just doesn’t make sense; it’s a backwards step. Also, the counter attack was made almost unusable. Along with these built in faults, the game was released with massive bugs. At one point my mate battered somebody silly, but when the bell rang the game switched their places, putting him on the floor! Utter rubbish.

Crofterz

Now Tom (tom01255) is going to absolutely hate me for this, but I was so excited for Dragon Age: Origins this year (almost as excited as I currently am for Dante’s Inferno), but for me it just didn’t deliver. I didn’t know much about the game before it was released (I assumed there would be 4 player online Co-Op for example, as it seemed perfect for it) but I found the combat system was far more suited to an MMORPG than a stand alone RPG. Also, I felt no real connection to any of my characters (due to the sheer size and complicated-ness of it all; yes it’s an achievement but personally I just don’t like hugely massive games that will  take hundreds of hours to complete). Not only did this game massively let me down, but it also found itself in the traded-in section of my local games store within a few weeks.

Braindead Hero

My personal biggest disappointment of the year comes from bad hardware. You may be surprised to find out that my Xbox 360 has never even had a sniff of a technical problem, yet earlier this year my beloved PlayStation 3 broke. Anyone who has had hardware failure knows how bad this can be, but it was made worse by the fact that Sony no longer make the 60GB Backwards Compatible model. I might as well throw away my sizeable collection of PS2 games. Oh and by the way, £100 is way too much to repair anything that stopped working after around 1 year 5 months.

vVv Diesel

Aliens vs. Predator: Colonial Marines is THE biggest disappointment of the year for the sheer fact that at the start of the year we heard so much about it & then……

Nothing! Not a squeak or even a screenshot. Now we hear the game has been delayed. Oh dear, where have we heard this before? (Duke Nukem: Forever, I’m looking at you on this one!) Sure, it takes time to develop a good game, but with so many delays already, they have set the bar much, much higher and soon it’ll become over-hyped  just like GTA 4, Halo 3 & Modern Warfare 2. So much talk but so little to interest.

Kamiza

Without doubt, my biggest dissapointment of the year is the online element of UFC Undisputed 2009. I truly love the offline elements of the game, but when you go online it becomes a real nightmare.  At times the game is hampered by so much lag that you have a 3 second delay between pressing the button and getting a reaction on screen.  Also, it’s incredibly hard if you want to compete with your own created fighter, as most people online have maxed out the stats on their pugilists, giving them a massive advantage.  This could have been fixed with a simple patch to make sure you only get paired with people of a similar level.  Having completed the excellent career mode several times, I find that there is now very little for the game to offer me other than the occassional punch up when I have a friend round for a beer.  The online has really knocked the game down a few notches for me, and that’s a shame. Otherwise it would have been very close to my game of the year.

Tom01255

One of the older boys told me that Santa wasn’t real today… I’m getting increasingly concerned that I won’t get any presents…

MERRY CHRISTMAS

FROM NEWB REVIEW!

Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Format: Wii
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher:Nintendo

It’s been 3 years now since New Super Mario Bros was released on the DS. Finally it has a sequel, but this time it’s returned on the Wii. And it’s returned with vengeance, horrible, horrible vengeance. Mario has never been so damn cruel and Joefeesh will tell you why…

I’m no expert when it comes to first person shooters, I’m not a massive fighting game fan and I couldn’t control a simulation racer to save my life, they just feel like I’m driving a milk float with my Nana looking over my shoulder, scowling (I love you Nan). I do, however, pride myself on being pretty damn good at platformers. Mario platformers especially. I loved the DS New Super Mario Bros and got through that without a problem. It was beautiful on the little DS screen, the controls were precise and it was addictive as hell. I played that thing through multiple times and my son still plays it. The newest installment on Wii seems to lack in most of the areas the DS game excelled in. Which is strange, considering that it’s pretty much a straight copy. It’s not an impressive looking title, to say the least, the controls aren’t as accurate using the suddenly, seemingly, stupidly shaped Wii remote and the difficulty level makes me want to tear my Wii apart to get to the disc so I can jump on it’s head! Don’t get me wrong, I got through the game, but I didn’t enjoy it. OK, maybe I did. My little boy on the other hand hasn’t got a chance in hell of getting through this game unassisted. By what I’ve read about the game elsewhere, opinion is a 90:10 split saying it’s too hard. The 10% are most likely the people who can beat a Mario game in 7 minutes.

Not every level is hard and actually most can be completed a lot easier if you forget collecting anything and simply run blindly, jumping on reaction to every freaky, little, brown mushroom and happy turtle you come across. What is it with those turtles anyway? They freak me out. They look at you with a blankly smiling face as they kill you with the tips of their fingers.

Making it look easy. Too Easy.

Before I get jumped on and bitch-slapped by every Nintendo fanboy, I’ll say that there is a lot to like about the game. Some will like the simple retro look and some will love the return to 2D Mario on the console. Many people including the very casual gaming crowd in general didn’t really ever warm to 3D Mario games. A lot of people will love the classic Mario gameplay of jumping on heads, collecting coins and getting around using the old style Mario overworld with the addition of mini levels every now and then, when you run into an enemy on the map. It is still a 2D Mario game and we all know what that means. There’s no denying there’s a great formula that remains in tact. The classic gameplay is there, although I do feel that the Wii remote d-pad isn’t as nice as the Nintendo DS d-pad. Also shaking the wii remote to do a spin jump seems utterly pointless and ice is a tad too slippy, making Winter levels very challenging. Other than that, Mario is still the king of platforming when it comes to control and fun gameplay. New powers available include a helicopter suit and penguin suit. The helicopter suit allows you to shake the Wii remote to be propelled up into the air and then float slowly down. This makes things a lot easier because when you fall down a gap, shaking the Wii remote propels you back up into the air and if you find yourself flying up into blocks, don’t worry because you’ll smash straight through them and continue upward instead of being rebounded downwards. The flying concept has been done before in Mario games but this feels different and is a good safety net. The penguin suit allows you to shoot ice just like the ice flower but as a penguin you can also slide along the ground to smash blocks and enemies and it’s pretty much a necessity on ice levels as you can walk on ice without slipping.

New item: The helicopter hat

The look of the game is going to play a major factor in game sales. My wife took one look and squealed with excitement. That is the reaction that many more casual gamers and lovers of the old series will have. Kids will see the game and straight away see their favourite game on the Nintendo DS. There’s an attachment people seem to make (including me) to the charming simple design of Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom in which he resides. Nintendo didn’t seem to feel the need to update the design far from the DS game. I would have preferred more detailed characters and backgrounds to test the Wii’s capabilities but I respect that a lot of the audience for this game don’t really care as long as it runs smoothly, carries the Mario style and has some little touches to make them smile. These boxes are all ticked. One of the things I love most is that the flowers and enemies react to the music. At certain points in the song the little turtles stop and do a little dance for two beats and the flowers bop along too. It’s totally insignificant, yet it makes me smile every time I notice. The backgrounds are very simple renders of mushroom kingdom peaks and dreary walls. Not really what I’d expect for a game that’s not doing much graphically in the foreground and after the super rich world of Mario Galaxy this doesn’t excite me one bit.

There’s not many people who wouldn’t recognize the main Mario tunes. New Super Mario Bros Wii goes the old school/new school route with all new mixes of the classic tunes along with new music in the same new age 8-bit style. It works really well for the game. There was no need for the full orchestra of Galaxy. Characters, collecting coins and bouncing off mushrooms heads all make exactly the kinds of noises you’d expect and they are as satisfying as always. The one sound I hate is the shrill ringing of the box that appears at the start of a level you’ve died on too many times.

When you die x number of times (when I tried it was 7), on the same level a green exclamation mark box will appear. Upon hitting it the game will ask if you would like to enter Super Guide Mode, where Luigi will play the level through until you ask to exit the mode. At this point you take over Luigi and carry on the level. This is there for those frustrating times when you just can’t do a level. For me it was a spit in my face when I was doing badly and I shouted abuse at the box before running swiftly away from it and straight into an oncoming missile only to be tormented by the box again. For some this is a great way to be able to progress through a game that gets too hard in certain levels. Some people, especially kids want to be allowed to experience a full game and why shouldn’t they be allowed too. Not everyone is as gifted or have as much time as the gamers who think the press button to win method is stupid. If you don’t like the box, don’t use it, it’s not there for you. The achievement of completing the game without using the box is something only those who don’t do it will experience.

Yoshi kicks ass. I wish you could keep him between levels though

This edition of Mario has a multiplayer mode where up to 4 people can play together cooperatively to try to finish the game or in a competitive mode where they compete to try to get the most coins and mess with each other. This is a great addition in theory and is undoubtedly a lot of fun. Playing alongside others makes the whole thing seem a lot funnier when you die falling down a hole because you were concentrating on shouting at the wife for wanting to pick up every last coin. You might think that cooperative multiplayer would make the game easier. In some situations it does help. For example one person can help the rest of the party get past a difficult part. As long as there is one person left playing, everyone else can press the A button to pop inside a bubble and float around completely safe until they decide to come out or the remaining player touches the bubble. This is great for getting the kids past sections where highly precise acrobatics are necessary. Sadly, though, playing alongside others in the new multiplayer mode, seems to punish for having more than one character on screen as the action becomes more hard to follow and bouncing off each others heads causes more horrible deaths in the depths of the mushroom kingdoms bottomless pits than it does good. I do however like that the option is there and, as I said, it is unmistakebly fun. Also, it’s jump in/jump out play so there’s a lot of flexibility to just sit down and start playing even if someone is in the middle of a level. There is no online multiplayer which is sorely missed as this is a game that so many people will have that it surely would have been used. Nintendo again fail to properly support online play.

I like the fact that Nintendo have brought a 2D Mario back to the home console. I think there is still a place for it, but the place for it could have been WiiWare as with a little scaling down this could have been WiiWare’s crowning piece. Of course it’s just not good business, and I fully accept that it was always going to be a disc based game as WiiWare just isn’t a big enough platform for this title to sell from. In all the game is well worth getting for Mario fans and families but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed that Nintendo didn’t try to be innovative or fresh to justify that “New” in the title.

Review Round Up

GRAPHICS – 3/5 Just like the Mario you remember on the DS, up scaled and with new levels. Some nice effects and charming, as Mario always is but I expected much better artwork for the backgrounds.

SOUND – 4/5 No new tunes really grabbed me but the mixes of classic music really sound great and fit the game perfectly. Sound effects are satisfyingly true to the franchise.

GAMEPLAY – 3/5 Nintendo sets the bar for platforming. Sadly they’ve not surpassed their own bar on this one. Difficulty will hurt the kids and suck some of the fun out but the classic structure and gameplay are still there and compared with other Wii titles this is still in the big leagues in gameplay terms.

LONGEVITY – 3/5 It shouldn’t take more than 5-6 hours to get to the end but those missing golden coins on each level will call you back for more and you might want to have a separate playthrough with the kids or friends. There’s replay value there too.

OVERALL – 3/5 I do recommend the game as I have no doubt you will have fun and kids will have to play it under the playground law. I just didn’t find it as fun and balanced as I had hoped and we should expect more on the Wii, post Mario Galaxy.

Game:

A little while ago we featured an interview with developer Frontier regarding LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias. Frontier, founded by David Braben, co-creator of the classic Elite, is based in Cambridge, UK. They are the proud developer of the now highest selling WiiWare** title, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias. Now a successful franchise on WiiWare, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias is the second part of the story of a brave little boy, Toku and Enril, the Wind Spirit and their quest to save the world of Mistralis from the evil spirit Balasar. As most people haven’t played the first instalment, I’ve took both games in the series into account in this review.
**If you’re unsure about what WiiWare is or how to get it, skip to the bottom of the page for a little guide.

The first and second LostWinds games are both chapters of a larger adventure, neither concluding with the defeat of Balasar. I really like the way the story’s broken up into these glorified chapters (1 game = 1 chapter), as it makes the player feel like they’re on a long journey and that there’s a long way to go to defeating Balasar. The story here is really rich but not too complicated. There are no ambiguous gendered characters, no half baked love story, no inevitable best friends betrayal. There’s no voice acting but fantastic expression using the sounds and animation along with good dialogue is better than gambling on voice actors. Like in Zelda, you don’t always need voice acting to convey emotion. The relatable characters really help make a connection with the player. Whenever I see little Toku pottering along, stumbling up tiny steps and struggling to open chests I always think of my own little boy and I never get over how the cute he is. When Toku’s Mum turns up in the second game you can really feel the love. So sweet! And by that I mean it’s totally action packed and manly, of course.

Mistralis just got a little colder

One criticism of LostWinds (both instalments) is that the chapters are very short in length, neither games taking longer than 5 hours to complete. Although for a great game costing 1000 Wii points (£9) each, you are still getting a lot of value, as far as I’m concerned. If they get to 4 chapters, you’ll have spent £36 on 20hrs of game that’s extremely replayable. I’m ok with that considering I played the first instalment 3 times through while waiting for Winter of Melodias to arrive. So if I play each chapter that many times, that’ll be… 3 times… £9 per… carry the 1… erm… a lot of quality time and a lot of value.

In the game, you control Toku with the nunchuk, running back and forward and using the Z button on the nunchuk to interact with objects. With the Wii remote you control Enril, the Wind Spirit, pressing A and drawing a line across the screen using the pointer to produce a gust of wind that sends Toku flying up into the air. This is the basics of movement and there are other powers and power ups that you gain along the way, all of which are used to progress the game. For example you learn how to make a vortex that can spin objects in the air and then fire them into things to cause “massive damage!”. This can be used to break through barriers and access new areas. The gameplay is a unique experience and the puzzles that come out of the gameplay ideas are clever and fun. There are so many games out there that like to think they have “puzzle elements”. Most of these, however are completely pointless because you are told how to solve each type of puzzle then just do the same thing every time you come to that kind of puzzle. These kinds of games have no place claiming that they have puzzling sections to them. There is no use of logic or thought past remembering what you’ve been told to do. This is luckily not a problem we have to suffer in LostWinds. There are some puzzles that you have to do to progress in the game that you are never guided through. They aren’t extremely hard, but you do have to think logically and more importantly; you have to think for yourself! Unless you use a game guide of course. The puzzles are all about manipulating the environment and this is even more prominent in the second game when you gain the ability to change the world between Summer and Winter. One of the effects this has is changing water to ice or vice versa, which is a really nice development giving 2 worlds for the price of 1. You will need to use both seasons and your brain to make your way through the game.

Winter adds new gameplay and it looks awesome

Considering that Wii game discs can hold about 40 times the amount of data as a WiiWare game, it’s very impressive to me that LostWinds (both in the series) look better than most disc based Wii games out there. It’s largely due to the simple 2D, cell shaded (block colours/cartoony) design but there’s some nice effects too. I really love that when you hold down the A button to use Enril’s gust power, the game switches into slow motion while you gesture. Completely insignificant, of course, but just I like it. The second game improves on the first in terms of animations, character models and environments in almost every aspect. From the start of the first game it is extremely satisfying to wave the pointer around and watch as the bushes and trees rustle in the wind that you are producing. There are also 3-4 new types of enemies as well as a new boss to fight, all of which make the game more challenging. The difficulty level is still not very high and people who click with the game won’t find themselves losing any lives from start to finish. I hope that the future games continue to build on the difficulty level as I’d be sooo disappointed if I finally got to the almighty Balasar and he went down with the traditional 3 hits.

LostWinds isn’t about ‘tearing your hair out’ difficulty. It’s about an experience. For me, the sounds in the game are a big part of this. Inspired by ‘high altitude’ cultures such as the Tibetan and Andean people, the music of the game has an amazingly relaxing tone. Wind instruments were an appropriate choice but there is a mix of instruments from all over the world as well as midi sounds all put together with a naturally changing pace as your situation changes. I could, in fact I have, fell asleep with the game running because the music is so soothing that it gives your eardrums a musical massage. I think everyone has one of those games that they love so much that they ache for that feeling of playing it for the first time to come back. Great music can really aid to create that attachment and Frontier definitely did a good job to create it in LostWinds. It’s not just the music either. From the opening menu you will notice that moving the pointer around produces an extremely satisfying sound of wind through grass and leaves.

This looks totally safe for a small child.

You could say it’s a pity that LostWinds is on WiiWare only. Does it have the sales potential of disc based Wii game? I don’t know. But on the bright side, this allows the game to be the top in it’s field. It’s the highest selling game on WiiWare and Nintendo knows that it’s a quality title. That’s why Frontier have the pleasure of having one of the only WiiWare games that has seen any kind of a marketing boost from Nintendo. I WANT YOU to buy this game. Partly to support a great UK developer, partly because I care about you and partly because I want need the next chapter as soon as possible and you money might help make that happen!

REVIEW ROUND UP:

GRAPHICS: 5/5 A downloadable game that makes most disc based Wii games look like amateur hour. Environments and characters react to the wind as you wave around the Wii pointer. The cell shaded goodness looks even more lush in Winter of the Melodias.
SOUND: 5/5 At treat for when your ears have been really good. If you really need to relax, just leave the game running on the opening screen. And swish the Wii remote pointer around for some satisfying wind sounds.
GAMEPLAY: 4/5 The controls are great, but fine wind control could still improve slightly. The map in Winter of the Melodias is a welcome addition for the 2D platform adventuring – it’s absence in the first game can lead to confusion. I look forward to more powers in chapters to come.
LONGETEVITY: 3/5 4-5 hours first time around each game. Not long enough. I want more!
OVERALL: 5/5 It’s telling that the biggest criticism I have of the games is that I want more. Great story, style, sound and unique gameplay. One of my favourite games.

**Here’s a little explanation of what WiiWare is all about. I’m not trying to patronize so if you already know all about it, just keep walking (surfing) because this isn’t here for you.

WiiWare is a service that you can get through your Wii that allows you to download games straight to your console. All you need is your Wii, an internet connection and some money. Some don’t realise that the Wii can connect to the internet wirelessly the same way as a laptop does, so go through the options on your Wii and get it setup using your SSID (what you named your wireless) and your password (you should have written these things down!). If you don’t have wireless then just connect to the internet using your Ethernet cable to your wireless hub or internet box (virgin box etc). If you are connecting straight to an internet box, you may need to unplug the internet box, after setting up, for 20 seconds and plug it back in (leaving your Wii on the whole time). When you’ve got that setup you may need to update which you can do from your options on the Wii or the shop channel may ask you to update when you go to it.

When that’s done, go to the Wii Shop and buy (“add”) some Wii Points using your credit/debit card. There’s a button to do this from the Shop main page after you’ve started shopping. Once you have your Wii Points go into the WiiWare section of the Wii Shop. Search for your game and press “Download”.

Once you download your game it will appear on the main channel menu on you Wii. There’s loads of WiiWare games available but I’d recommend LostWinds (1&2), World of Goo and Bonsai Barber, Excite Bike and NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits.

Joefeesh Plays Mario Galaxy

After going all 3D in Mario 64 there was no way te next game was going to be in 2D, but where could Mario go next? Sunshine put the hearty Italian on a tropical island with a water jetpack. Strange move and, although it reviewed extremely high, it did not do anything groundbreaking and many disliked the basic water squirting gameplay.

But where Sunshine didn’t shine Galaxy beamed. The setting is a strange galaxy where star systems are made up of a mixture of small planets, tiny planetoids and asteroid fields. The real innovation is in the gravity based gameplay. Run and jump on a small enough planet and you may orbit it several times or even fly off. Sometimes head spinning and always fun. The 3D platforming is totally refined, you won’t find better.

Space, the final frontier for Mario?

Even on an HDTV the amazing visuals hold up here. There’s a certain softness and sheen that makes you want to pick up and eat everything in the game. Level design is absolute genius, surprising me even down to the last few levels.

As far as I’m concerned this is one of the greatest games ever made.

Mightyles Plays No More Heroes

Meet Travis Touchdown, Pro Wrestling enthusiast and professional Hitman. Armed with a light sabre like sword, Travis sets out to become the number one Hitman in town. In order to achieve his goal he must take down all of the higher ranking assassins in Santa Destroy, California. Of course you cannot just walk up to these people and demand a duel, it is far more complicated than that. With your trusty motorcycle you ride around town performing jobs in order to earn money and enough experience to proceed. Missions involve collecting coconuts, cleaning up garbage around Santa Destroy, and killing a certain number of opponents as quickly as possible. To say that this game is bizarre is an understatement.

Travis Touchdown, a legend already

For a game that is so narratively focused, the story is peculiar and in some parts baffling. Fortunately it is a great deal of fun to play. Between missions you can drive around the city of Santa Destroy looking for missions, and visit shops to buy upgrades. The only real downside to this is that the city itself is mostly barren, so exploring the city offers little reward. The missions themselves are fairly linear and usually only require you to kill all of the enemies and progress through the level, before you must face the boss characters. The fighting controls are mainly controlled through swiping with the remote, although you can perform wrestling moves on enemies by pressing button combinations. It is a quirky and charismatic game, full of memorable characters, and fun game play elements, creating a well rounded package of peculiarity.

Joefeesh Plays Okami

There is a debate out there that’s been going on for a long time; are games a form of art? Okami is a working argument that they are. The visual style is beautiful and although not much has changed in terms of graphics from the PS2 to the Wii (there is now widescreen) the art style is what makes the game so pretty, not the technical prowess. It’s hard to understand until you see the game in motion, and see for yourself how the world moves and feels like a living painting.

Beautiful

The game is set in a world with Gods, mythical creatures and spirits. The monster Orochi is out to turn the world into a wasteland filled with monsters. You take control of Amaterasu, the Sun God, embodied as a white wolf, using the 13 celestial brush techniques to save the world. The brush techniques are a series of symbols that can be drawn on screen using the wii-mote pointer, with varied results in combat and interacting with the environment to solve puzzles or get over obstacles.

One thing to note about Okami is the length. If you like to complete games then you have a marathon on your hands here with over 40hrs of gameplay, easily.

Mightyles Plays House of the Dead: Overkill

It seems that the Nintendo Wii is the new home for light gun games with this generation of consoles. Sega in particular have released a selection of their old arcade light gun games on the Wii, including The House of the Dead 2 and 3 Collection. Their follow up game, House Of The Dead Overkill, is a game that has been made specifically for the the Wii. The style of the game has been dramatically overhauled, moving to a graphical style similar to a 70s exploitation movie, and a world populated with quirky over the top characters. There is a film grain filter over the graphics, and the script is pure trashy B movie material, with numerous hilarious moments. In short, it is fantastic.

EAT BULLETS VILE UNDEAD BEAST!!

In the tradition of House of the Dead games you can play through the whole game either in single player or in two player co-op. As well as the story mode there are a number of zombie killing mini games, as well as a director’s cut mode that is unlocked upon completion of the game. There are a number of bonus materials to unlock, including character designs, music, videos. You can also purchase and upgrade weapons to use in the single player modes, with the amount of cash that you earn being linked to your performance on each level. While the single player can take roughly five hours to complete, all of these collectables can provide incentive for replaying the single player, as you strive to unlock more bonus content.

Joefeesh Plays Metroid Prime Trilogy

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was released on the Wii in 2007 and is the finale to one of the most renowned and critically acclaimed series in games. The first 2 games appeared on the Gamecube rebooting the Metroid franchise in 3D with great success. In this pack is all 3 games in the series, presenting a great value package for the price of a normal full game release. The first two games are also upgraded with the finely controlled pointer shooting from the most recent in the series.

Set phazors to kick ass

A first person shooter at first glance, Metroid Prime’s gameplay is heavily rooted in exploration. The story is not the typical space marine fest. In the ruins of a dead alien species, you must use phazon, a substance that is poisoning your body to enter a hyper mode and become powerful enough to stop Dark Samus before the poison takes your life. This game is not for the action junkie but for those looking to experience an adventure.

With gorgeous art design the worlds are rich and full of culture and everything runs at a super slick framerate so the action is smooth and the chugs.

Joefeesh Plays De Blob

One of the most fun games on the Wii, De Blob is a unique game that mixes painting with platforming. I use the phrase art style again because this is what games on the Wii, have to do well to look good most of the time. The Wii doesn’t do HD graphics and hasn’t got much processing power but games like De Blob look great because of their style.

Colour the world

De Blob is a living ball of paint that has taken up arms in the Resistance against the evil I.N.K.T corporation, who have drained all the colour out of Chroma City. Throwing yourself at buildings instantly paints them whatever colour you are currently. Smash pots of paint to change your colour and find all the patterns to give the city even more style as you paint it back into a vibrant, fun loving metropolis.

The things I love most about De Blob are the music that reacts dynamically to how colourful you’ve made the city and the funny video skits that you unlock as you progress and do well in the game. My 5yr old son loved to flick through the videos, and artwork which he found hilarious (so do I).

Mightyles Plays Super Smash Bros Brawl

To describe Super Smash Brothers Brawl in one word is challenging. If I were forced to do so, I would likely choose the word Hectic. Make no mistake, despite the bright colourful graphics and loveable cast of Nintendo characters, this is not a game for children. Not down to any concerns over content, but simply because this game is hard. This is the third game in the series now, and for the most part the specifics of gameplay have remained unchanged since the Nintendo 64 original. Four players stand on a level and hit each other until their damage reaches such a high level that each subsequent blow sends them flying further in to the air. The aim in this game is not to remove any arbitrary health metre, it is simply to knock your opponents off of the level, and try not to get knocked off yourself. The action is frantic and fast paced, with numerous Nintendo specific weapons, such as Pokeballs and fire flowers, falling out of the sky ready to be used by the players.

You touched Kirby's cake? DIE!!

While the core gameplay is much the same, new additions to this game include the single player Subspace Emissary mode, which mainly resembles more of a platform game than a combat game. You are tasked with leading specific characters through levels, avoiding hazards and enemies, and making it to safety. You can also collect character trophies, and pieces of music. A level creation mode has been added, which features a ton of customisation. You can share your creations online, and download the creations of others. New characters include Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid. Did I also mention that there is an online multiplayer mode? Unfortunately you need to exchange friend codes with someone in order to play them online, which can make the online mode a little bit too much of a chore to actually enjoy at first. While it is not a game for everyone – many may be put off by the sheer craziness of the game – it is difficult not to recommend.

Joefeesh Plays Excite Truck

As one of the launch titles on Wii Excite Truck remains the best racing game on the console. Massively underrated at release, Excite Truck is undoubtedly one of the most exciting arcade racers there is.

The controls take some time to get used to, partly because they are very sensitive and partly because the trucks you are driving are going so mind blisteringly fast that onlookers to the game tend to become totally disorientated, wondering how the player is managing to follow what’s going on.

Fly you fools!

The feeling of speed however is one of the games strongest points and is something that is lacking in a lot of today’s racers. I just can’t play a racing game after Excite Truck that makes me feel like I’m going 30mph when the clock is showing 90mph. It’s just so boring. Which is something nobody can call this game. Flying off massive jumps, sometimes even mountains is commonplace, smashing into other trucks is expected and driving through special markers will make the whole land deform and all of this will gain you extra points in your attempt to “S-grade” every course.

Also Excite Truck is about the only game on Wii that integrates music from your SD card into the game. And it does it well, fading out so you can just hear the wind as you fly off a massive jump to add a great feeling of height. Try listening to the Israel Kamakawiwo’ole version of Over the Rainbow while racing in Fiji in the rain and you’ll see why your own music is a must.

Mightyles Plays Madworld

Ultra stylish Sin City like graphics in which the only colour you can see comes when you brutalise one of your enemies, filling the screen with their crimson life blood. And the blood, oh the oodles of blood, and excessive violence are all in the name of sport. Madworld is a blood sport simulator that is entirely slapstick in tone. There’s something utterly hilarious about taking a stop sign from the side of a road and ramming it in to the head of an enemy you had previous trapped by sticking him in a dumpster. Did I mention that this dumpster was also on fire?

He should have read the sign

To get down to the specifics, Madworld is an arena based combat game in which you must score a certain number of points to progress to the end of the level. Each level has a unique boss who you must defeat to rise up in the ranks of the competition. Sure you can murder everyone you see with your massive chainsaw arm, but the real way to get points is to be more imaginative in your killing. The ideal combo usually involves trapping your enemy by sticking a tyre on him, impaling him with some sort of sharp implement, and then dragging him over to some environmental hazard, usually involving spikes, and waving the remote around like crazy as you splatter him in to a fine pulp. It sounds easy, but the later levels become increasingly difficult, with enemies that can kill you with one hit, and more complicated motion controls. While it is not a very long game, and can get a little tedious if you play it for prolonged periods of time, Madworld is a fun, arcadey, gory, yet humorous game that will satisfy your inner child no ends.

Joefeesh Plays Scarface: The World is Yours

If you want something along the lines of GTA on your Wii then you want either The Godfather or Scarface. Leading on straight from the film, you get to play out what would happen if Tony Montana had survived. You will act out his revenge and rise back to power.

You filthy cock-a-roach!

There’s a lot of fun to have here, with great pointer controls to aim, that feel really great. The guns are varied enough and satisfying and the violence is bloody. If you think there is no violence and swearing on the Wii, you are wrong. Although the gameplay is fun the missions and drug runs can get pretty repetitive but this doesn’t spoil the game.

The voice acting is great, Tony Montana just is Tony Montana. I couldn’t get enough of him calling people filthy cockroaches while blowing their heads off. Classic Tony. Great game.

Mightyles Plays Resident Evil 4

Surely taking one of the best games from the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation, porting it over to the Nintendo Wii, and tacking on motion controls sounds like an exercise in futility, never mind the fact that it sounds like a rubbish gaming experience. Colour us surprised then when we discovered that the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 may very well be the best version of this game to date. The aforementioned motion controls are intuitive and make perfect sense; moving your character with the Wii nunchuck, and using the remote itself to aim your reticule feels perfectly natural, in fact it feels more than natural, it feels like the way the game was supposed to have been played from the start. You take control of Leon S Kennedy, the protagonist from Resident Evil 2, on a mission in some vague part of Europe to rescue the President’s daughter Ashley from a weirdo druid cult. What starts out as a simple search and rescue mission soon descends in to a frantic fight for your own life against a sea of monsters and hideously deformed cult members.

Just a little closer...

Sure the game still suffers from some of the criticism levied at the game when it was originally released, namely that it is a little too long (there is a whole section of the game that takes place inside of a castle that the game could have probably done without) but that does not change the fact that Resident Evil 4 is one of the greatest action games in recent years. Perhaps it is a little damning of the Wii to say that one of their greatest games is in fact a Gamecube game, but that would be doing Resident Evil 4 a disservice. It really is that good.

And There’s More…

The above games are just a selection of the games out there. Here’s some of the other games that we didn’t write about but are definitely worth playing:

• World of Goo
• Wii Sports Resort
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Boom Blox 1 & 2
• Lost Winds 1 & 2
• Super Paper Mario
• The Legen of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
• Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars
• Murumasa: The Demon Blade (not out in UK YET)

Joefeesh: Can you briefly explain what LostWinds is about for the readers who haven‘t played the first game?

Frontier: LostWinds is a game that was designed specifically to take advantage of the Wii’s controller and offer fresh new gameplay ideas.

With the Nunchuck you control Toku, a young buy who is relatively powerless. With the Wii Remote you play Enril, a once powerful Wind Spirit who needs Toku’s help to gather back her amazing powers in order to save the magical land of Mistralis Balasar, one of Enril’s fellow Spirits who has decided he wants to rule the whole lot for himself.

It feels very natural to play as two characters – as Enril you have to power Toku’s jumps and glides through Mistralis, and bash enemies. Although the Wind Spirit has all the power, she needs the physical presence of the young boy Toku in order to be carried around and interact with the physical world. So the symbiosis works very well for them both.

Joefeesh: At Newbreview we aim to cater for every audience, assuming nothing about the readers inside gaming knowledge. How does LostWinds appeal to the expanding and more varied games market?

Frontier: At Frontier we don’t see there is any difference between a good casual game and a good ‘hardcore’ game – they are both good games, and that is what people really want – a good game. We’ve had a ton of experience with very high selling games aimed at a family audience (RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and Thrillville to name two) and in our opinion the trick is to make sure the game is *accessible*, so it can be enjoyed by all.

So we hope LostWinds is regarded as a very high quality game, which has some innovative ideas and looks beautiful, has enchanting characters, a magical game world and is able to be enjoyed by a wide range of people.

Joefeesh: Are there any particular stories or mythology that inspired the world of Mistralis and it’s spirits?

Frontier: The game idea came from Steven Burgess, one of Frontier’s designers, who was watching the trees and leaves from the window on a windy day. He remembers thinking about how many ways the wind shapes and manipulates different things within the world, and if only there was some way to become the wind in game. He then applied this train of thought to the Wii controller.

Joefeesh: Enril is the spirit of the wind. In the story of LostWinds Enril says “we” tried to seal Balasar in a stone and there is artwork of other elements in the battle. Can we expect to see more spirits in Lost Winds 2?

Frontier: Yes! In Winter of the Melodias Toku and Enril meet Sonte, Spirit of Seasons. She gives them the power to change betweens Summer and Winter at will, in order to help them in their quest to save Toku’s mother, Magdi.

Joefeesh: The environments in LostWinds are beautiful. From the media released it looks like you are expanding to a snowy landscape for the second game. Will this weather change be built into the gameplay at all?

Frontier: Absolutely. We have tried with Winter of the Melodias to have just as many gameplay innovations as we had in the the first LostWinds game rather than just churn out more levels – the ability to switch between Summer and Winter is a key new feature, and it is completely integrated into the gameplay (ie you won’t be able to solve some puzzles without using it) . Whether it’s summer or winter also alters how some powers work, too – for example in Winter if you draw a vortex in the air you can form a snowball to throw at enemies, and in summer all the ice turns to pools of water in which you can swim. You can change seasons as many times as you like, to experiment with puzzle solutions.

Joefeesh: As Enril, the wind spirit, you could use your power to help Toku solve puzzles in the environment by floating, moving and throwing rocks, spreading fire etc. Will there be more powers and ways of solving puzzles in part 2?

Frontier: Definitely. One of the major new wind powers is cyclone, which can be used in a number of different ways in both Summer and Winter. You can transport Toku to otherwise inaccessible areas, battle enemies, move water around the landscape in the form of clouds, make it rain, and even drill through the rock around you!

As well as that you can freeze enemies in Winter by gusting wind at them (like wind chill!), and there are many other new things to enjoy. Plus you still have all the powers from the first game, so the game is bursting with great ways to put the power of the wind in the palm of your hand!

Joefeesh: The sound in LostWinds play a massive part in making the player (me) fall in love with the game and really empathize. Was it planned to make the sounds of the game a real focus?

Frontier: Thank you! We have a talented audio team at Frontier and we like them to push and excel just as much as the artists, animators, programmers and designers. I suspect that in common with the rest of the team they find the world of Mistralis inspires them to be creative.

Joefeesh: Wind instruments were an obvious choice but what were the inspirations for the music of LostWinds?

Frontier: In common with the rest of the art direction, we took our themes from ‘high altitude’ cultures who live with the wind as fact of their lives on a day to day basis, so Tibetan, Andean and even some Greek influences are in there.

The music is constructed using a combination of midi instruments and recordings of real musicians playing a variety of ethnic instruments.

What makes the compositional style so very different from a lot of games’ music is that Quantisation was banned completely. Quantisation is a process by which midi notes that have been played into sequencing software (usually via a midi keyboard) are ‘forced’ to play back in perfect timing. This is actually very unnatural and quite unlike how human beings actually play. Furthermore, the LostWinds music deliberately speeds up and slows down. This gives the compositional style a sense of ‘breathing’ in much the same way that orchestral pieces work.

So by putting all the above together we were able to use recordings of real world musical instrumentalists, around which we then embroidered with midi instrumentation, made sure we did not use any quantisation to keep it ‘human’ ,and allowed the tempo of the music to ebb and flow.

Joefeesh: Have you thought of releasing a LostWinds relaxation album? I would at least love some of the sounds available as a ring tone. Any chance of the music/samples being made available to download?

Frontier: You can download the theme tune from our website in MP3 format.

Joefeesh: There seems to be a large push to market this game, more than most have had on the Nintendo Wii-ware platform. I had a newsletter from Nintendo featuring LostWinds. Do you feel that LostWinds can be a showcase for how good Wii-ware can be?

Frontier: I certainly think that it matches the very best Wii disc games for quality, so it both shows how good the Wii can be and illustrates that the distribution mechanism is just that – a mechanism for getting the game onto your console – and there should be no difference between the quality of a disc or downloaded game.

Joefeesh: I used to have a LostWinds background on my laptop. I think the artwork is great. Will there be more backgrounds and artwork available from your website?

Frontier: Yes, definitely – keep checking http://lostwinds.frontier.co.uk/ !

Joefeesh: Finally, will there be a part 3 to LostWinds. I sincerely hope there will.

Frontier: After the first game, the team went to work on different projects in Frontier and it took us longer than we’d have liked to get them back together again. There is HUGE enthusiasm within Frontier for the game and certainly no shortage of ideas, so when Winter of the Melodias is safely launched, we’ll be keeping the team together and sit down to prioritize the many opportunities we have to continue telling stories from the enchanting world of Mistralis.

Joefeesh: Thanks so much for the answers and I wish you all the success with the release of LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias.

Frontier: Its been a pleasure, thanks for the opportunity to communicate with your readers – we appreciate your kind wishes, and hope people have as much fun playing Winter of the Melodias as we have had making it!

Joefeesh: Thanks again. Hope to hear from you soon.

About LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias had its European Release Set on Friday 9th October 2009 and became the 100th game released for WiiWare by Nintendo of Europe.

Developed by Frontier Developments Ltd. (‘Frontier’) David Braben, Frontier’s Chairman and Founder, said:

“We launched the original LostWinds game on WiiWare with much anticipation, as it was such an exciting and new way to access games. We are now thrilled to be able to mark the 100th game launch on WiiWare with LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias.”

The eagerly awaited follow-up to last year’s best selling, award-winning WiiWare launch title once again puts the power of the wind in the palm of your hand, as you experience Toku and Enril’s new adventure to save Toku’s mother, lift an ancient curse and thwart the evil Balasar. The elemental powers of Enril the Wind Spirit are used to protect and guide the young boy Toku – power his jumps and glides, suspend and smash new enemies, and explore all-new expanses of the stunningly presented, magical land of Mistralis.

Players can instantly transform Mistralis between Summer and Winter, harnessing the brilliance of nature: frozen Winter ponds and waterfalls become deep, teeming Summer pools and chambers in which to dive and unlock secrets, enemies can be frozen or doused, and the very air itself used to form snowballs or moisture-laden clouds. Other amazing new abilities include the cyclone, which can be used to transport Toku, smash powerful enemies and even drill through the rock of Mistralis’ diverse, richly interactive Chilling Peaks and Melodia City areas.

With production values to match the very best Wii disc titles, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias will be available to download directly to the living rooms of millions of families in Europe exclusively via Nintendo’s WiiWare service at a price of 1000 Wii Points. See http://lostwinds.frontier.co.uk for more details including video footage, screenshots and registration for priority information on the game’s launch and exclusive content

Game

There has been something a of a resurgence of light gun games in recent years thanks to the release of the Nintendo Wii. At one time back before the days of flat screen LCD televisions there seemed to be a genuine excitement amongst the masses about the release of the latest Namco TIME CRISIS game, or Sega’s HOUSE OF THE DEAD series. There was little cooler than being able to stand in your bedroom and recreate the arcade experience, holding a plastic gun in your hand, and taking careful aim as you shot people to bits. The latest generation of high definition consoles appears to have moved away from recreating that old school arcade experience, and the representation of light gun shooters have come off particularly worse for wares. Just look at the PS3 TIME CRISIS game to see how far the genre has fallen. However, while the PS3 and 360 have seemingly abandoned the light gun shooter, they have found a new home in the casual arms of the Nintendo Wii.
DEAD SPACE EXTRACTION is the latest light gun game to be released on the Wii, and is a prequel to the excellent DEAD SPACE that was previously released on PS3 and 360. While the original DEAD SPACE was heavily influenced by games such as RESIDENT EVIL 4, and movies like EVENT HORIZON and John Carpenter’s THE THING, this game takes a lot of inspiration from classic light gun games and blends it with the style and sensibilities of it’s high definition predecessor. The story is a prequel, dealing with the events that unfolded on the planet Aegis VII when a large number of the colonists go insane following the unearthing of a stone monument known as The Marker. The colonists begin to kill each other, and the dead bodies are mutated and reanimated in to deformed Necromorphs. You are tasked with escaping the colony and making your way to the spaceship Ishimura that is in orbit of the planet. Impressively the game manages to maintain the high level of dismemberment, despite the Wii’s technological limitations. In order to perform the most damage you need to shoot off the enemy’s limbs. Just shooting their head’s off rarely has the desired effect, and can often make the creatures go in to a blind frenzy. Other features from the original game such as Zero Gravity sections and telekinesis make it through intact, making it feel like an authentic Dead Space experience. All of the weapons from the first game, such as the flame thrower and the force gun, are included as well as an all new pistol. In order to activate the secondary fire mode, you need to twist the remote sideways.

Despite the inferior graphics DEAD SPACE EXTRACTION maintains the same look and style of the original

Extraction is not entirely derivative of the original game and has a few new tricks up it’s sleeve. The game features a series of puzzles that take advantage of the Wii’s motion controls, requiring you to hack in to computer panels. Your task is to guide a laser beam along a set course without veering off of the path, and avoiding obstacles, similar to a Buzz Wire game. You can also create barricades at certain points by firing bolts in to the corners of specific pieces of metal. It is not much, but it serves to break up any monotony you may find in your typical light gun shooter. Having said that, there were a few instances in the earlier levels of the game where I found myself becoming impatient with the numerous scenes in which our characters stop and talk about how scared they are and how they cannot believe that this is happening. I understand that this is done in an effort to control the pace, build an atmosphere, and carry along the narrative, but I have reservations about just how suitable it is to have your character stand still and look at a group of people shitting their pants in a light gun game. Previous light gun games have been very heavy on the action, and less focused on the narrative. However, this only really applies to the first few levels, as the story elements that occur later in the game are far more interesting and surprising, and as such actually held my attention.

There is one new enemy type in this game – a head on the end of a long thin tentacle.

There are 10 levels to work your way through, and about half a dozen characters to play as. However, each character is tied to a specific level, so you will not be able to play as any character you like whenever you like. While it’s a nice touch, it does not really add much to the game, as every character tends to have the same sort of weapons. Speaking of the weapons, they can all be upgraded by finding specific upgrade collectibles in the story mode. At various points you will stop moving and be allowed to look around the room freely. At these points you can usually spot the glowing purple upgrade collectables, which can be picked up using your telekinesis. Other collectables include audio logs and text logs provided by the colonists, or the crew of the Ishimura. A series of challenges can be unlocked by making your way through the game. These usually involve making your way through a specific arena and killing as many Necromorphs as you can as quickly as you can. You also unlock episodes of the animated comic book that was released on Xbox Live and the PSN, which is a nice bonus. There are numerous difficulty settings to choose from with the highest being unlocked once you complete the game. The game will probably take about six hours to complete on the default difficulty, but due to the narrative nature of the game, and it’s linearity, you may find yourself with little motivation to return to the game once you have beaten it. If you are a fan of the original DEAD SPACE, and watched the animated movie, then you may find that this game initially treads a lot of familiar ground. You will be visiting numerous locations from the original game, which can bring with it one of two things; a pleasant nostalgic feeling, or a sense of familiarity which may in turn lead to boredom. For what it is worth, I found myself enjoying the game a lot more once the characters returned to the familiar setting of the Ishimura.

Yes, this is definitely Dead Space.

REVIEW ROUNDUP:

GRAPHICS: 5/5 The character models look very good, with some particularly decent lip syncing. The levels are well designed, and maintain the look at style of the original game. The enemies look suitably disgusting, with an impressive limb dismemberment system.

AUDIO: 5/5 Fantastically eerie music, and some excellent voice acting. The faint sounds in the space sections are particularly impressive. The sound design is of the same quality as the original game, which won numerous awards for it’s sound design.

GAMEPLAY: 3/5 The action can be very fast and frantic at times, and the shooting works particularly well. Each enemy is a puzzle of sorts, as you try to find the best way to dispose of them by shooting off a combination of limbs. The game is full of a number of great twists, particularly at the end of the first and ninth levels. However the game suffers a bit in the first few levels when you spend more time standing around looking at people freaking out, being led around by the nose, than actually playing the game.

LONGEVITY: 3/5 The single player will take a good 5 or 6 hours to complete as each of the 10 levels are fairly long. There are a series of challenges that are unlocked, as well as a series of higher difficulties. Yet, due to the narrative nature of the game, you may find little reason to come back to the story mode once you have completed it.

OVERALL: 4 weeping survivors out of 5. Fans of the Dead Space series will really enjoy this game, while it is still accessible enough for new players. There is a fairly nice variety in the gameplay, and the story is quite compelling, once you get past the first few levels.

PRICE GUIDE (correct as of 12th October 09)

• Amazon: £22.10
• The Hut: £29.73
• Zavvi: £29.95
• Sendit: £29.89
• Play: £29.99
• Game: £29.99

I’m sure it was a great idea to buy it at the time, and I know you had every intention of using it daily “as part of a healthy lifestyle”. But let’s face it: you’d rather crack on the PS3 or 360 for some real gaming, rather than breaking into a sweat in front of your pixelated sprite whilst some obnoxious virtual Wii board berates you about how fat you are.

I must admit, I’m one of the few people in the UK who doesn’t own a Wii. Would I like one? Sure. But, being a lowly student I couldn’t warrant shelling out the money for a piece of kit that would essentially become my second or third console, and the ‘adult’ games currently available, whilst tempting, haven’t moved me to the point where I must have one. Resi 5, Ghostbusters and Call of Duty: World at War all look to be fantastic on the Wii; but I think I’m not alone in thinking that I’d rather play them in Hi-Def… on a proper console.

I can’t argue against the fact that the Wii has expanded the gaming market to include non-gamers. But am I the only one that sees this trend as unsustainable? Everyone and their mother has bought a Wii; usually as a fun little flight of fancy to crack out at Christmas or parties. But I have a box filled with board games in my loft that we only play at Christmas, and they’re just as much fun and cost even less than a Wii.

The Wii motion control was novel, even if it didn’t always work that well, and having played with the Wii motion+ briefly, it seems that the system really works well now. But who has the room to play even a two-player game on the Wii? I appreciate the Redknapp family can do it; but I’m not a millionaire ex-footballer with a multi-platinum selling singer wife, and my sitting room can only fit about four people in it, and only if they don’t flail around trying to hit a virtual tennis ball.

So what exactly is my argument here? Do I think the Wii is rubbish? Hell no! Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, not to mention the Zelda series, are fantastic games that everyone should play. And certainly the Wii does things that other consoles don’t (yet!); but when you look at the number of games being released across all the consoles, Nintendo seem to be lacking the quality titles that would make their console a must have, rather than a nice-to-have-as-well.