Tag Archives: games

Yoostar 2 – The Review

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Fancy treading the boards and appearing in some of the greatest scenes in Hollywood movie history?

Fancy using reciting immortal lines like ‘I’ll be back!’ and ‘who is your daddy and what do?’

Well Yoostar 2 offers the opportunity to do just that.

Utilising technology very similar to the likes seen in Kung-fu Live; Yoostar 2 promises so much, can it really transport you into the word of a movie, where you recite lines from iconic movies such as Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop, and The Blues Brothers as well as many others? Can it really be a family game where you can share downright embarrassing recorded clips on Facebook?

Well the answer is yes and no. In theory the premise of it all is fantastic, but in reality the game falls short on so many different levels. I am torn between thinking that this is perhaps because the technology is not fully up to scratch, and there not being enough thought gaming options put into play. Either way it never fully comes together, and the player is never truly given imperative reasons for repeat play.

With all fairness, Yoostar 2 can be fun…for a while. Loading it up you are greeted with immaculate presentation that just reeks of the extravagance of Hollywood. The decision by programmers to have optional use of the Playstation Move is something that I will never truly understand, because it is never needed and selecting options with it is more of a hindrance and actually increases the likelihood that your acting days will be over early due to repetitive strain injury.

That said, once you do get round to selecting your movie clip and positioning yourself so the camera can pick you up there is some fun to be had. Yoostar 2 is essentially no more than a movie Karaoke and to a certain degree it works. My girlfriend did this clip on ‘Bubba Gump shrimp’ from Forrest Gump that nearly made me wet myself with laughter and if you go online too you will find a healthy community that have had tons of fun dressing up and adding funny, embarrassing and sometimes bizarre ad-lib performances.
You get rated on your ‘acting ability’ for every scene you do and these ratings open up more clips and more challenges.

One thing that has to be said is that the room must be well lit. Green screen technology this isn’t. In fact it suffers from the same graphical limitations as Kung Fu Live, in the sense that the camera has difficulties picking up the player from the background. This is even worse if there is movement in the background. On the Playstation this led to instances where my friend’s heads became eerily visible on the screen because they had moved them…erm…to drink beer obviously. On the Kinect though, it was even worse with the camera shifting position and identifying a non playing player…if that makes sense.

I think this is going to be a re-occurring issue with the Kinect, and one can only pray that programmers take a serious look at its player detection. As it stands across both platforms I think the social element is hugely lost as for each scene, everyone has to get out of the way…and worse still don’t move…

Finally although there is a fair bit of content on the disc, there are only a few real gems, at least to start with. There is downloadable content online but lets face it; Rock Band or Guitar Hero this is not. Considering that what you are paying for is a clip as opposed to a complete track I doubt that many players will reason that it is money well spent.

Critically the real question that my friends and I kept asking was if anyone actually got anything out of the game besides just a quick laugh. To which the answer was no. this doesn’t bode well for continued play, and there will always be the question of just how many times can you play a scene before it gets boring?

My Final Verdict –
Yoostar 2 is a great idea in principle but a crap idea in practice. There just needs to be more in this title for it to warrant the £38 price tag. My advice is to wait until it plummets…erm…I mean drops in price.

5.0/10

Yoostar 2 is out on PS3 and XBOX 360 now.

Killzone 3 – The Review {Gaming}

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Shoot from behind cover? Check. Enter a battlefield laden with enemies whilst your captain screams orders at you? Check. Shoot from an armoured vehicle? Check. Spectacular set pieces? Check. Guns that look like middle-age cannons? Check.

Must be another First Person Shooter…

 

You can always tell when a fantastic game is about to hit the shelves because all the other games of that genre suddenly drop their prices to entice those players who might have missed on their game playing pleasures the first time round. In the case of Killzone 3, even the mighty Black Ops has reduced its hefty price tag and that has to be saying something.

But in all fairness, in this modern day of gaming First Person Shooters (FPS) are almost two a penny. Arguably, we are sitting in a saturated market full of big guns protruding into the screens facing even bigger enemies. On the very same day that Killzone 3 was released, the equally excellent Bulletstorm also arrived – and these are just two contenders to Halo and Call of Duty’s crowns. But does it have what it takes to last until the third round?

Killzone 3 has a lot going for it. Firstly, it is exclusive to the Playstation 3 and hence, has given game players a reason to cackle in retaliation at Xbox owners. Secondly, it has a strong pedigree, Developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, it is the fourth installment of the much enjoyed Killzone series. Finally, it is technically advanced. It is the first game in the series to be presented in 3D and the first to include motion controls using the PlayStation Move. All of this means that in the ring Killzone 3 is no underdog, and the blows that it will rain down upon any opponent are going to hurt like hell.

For those of you uninitiated to the world of Killzone, it is all about a war between two factions of humans. Enter stage left, the IS. All round good guys that will do whatever it takes and destroy whatever it takes to get the job done, and bring the war to an end. Enter stage right, the Helghast. A fascist, humanoid, army race with a passion for vengeance and hardship. They were hell-bent on overpowering the rest of the universe. That is, until the ISA decided to take them down way back in the original Killzone.

Killzone 3 picks up right where the sequel left off, with you continuing in your role as Sev, an ISA soldier with a chequered past, struggling to survive after being effectively cut off and left on the hostile Helghan home world after taking out Emperor Scolar Visari. It’s a predictable storyline you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy – or your worst movie – because like Black Ops, the spectacular set pieces and epic explosions ring ripples of movie blockbuster fantasy. And whilst you fight for survival as the protagonist, the game’s two antagonists, Orlock and Johann – played excellently by Ray Winstone and Malcolm McDowell – fight to step into the vacuum left by the deceased dictator.

As a single-player game I found Killzone 3 to be a largely exciting experience. The moral of modern day FPS is ‘don’t you dare rush in guns blazing thinking you are Rambo, if you do you will die’. This leads to understanding various cover techniques, and moving, outflanking and surprising your enemies in order to subdue them. Like Killzone and Killzone 2, your comrades scream orders at you, can revive you if you’re down and equally shout at you if they are about to die, need help or are pinned down enemy fire. This gives a sense of camaraderie which is nice to see. I also really liked the feeling of momentum in this game, that sense that you have to keep moving. And another key area which I think they got right was in the close up melee and hand to hand combat which is very satisfying.

On a technical level, this title is hugely impressive. The new environments look better and are a lot more colorful than its predecessor. The graphics are on par with the best titles of the genre, the guns, explosions and bosses just get bigger and bigger, and the levels are a lot more diverse than before. Most of the scenes, although linear, are well designed and so is the structure, breaking up standard missions with Call of Duty type breathtaking escapes and huge action set-pieces. There is always a lot happening on screen and a lot to keep your heart racing.

One thing I did like about this game is the fact you are not presented with wave after wave of enemies, and players of the previous two titles will immediately notice that the enemies are now smarter, able to cover more and react better to what you do. However, we all know the name of the game with this genre and that is basically shoot, shoot, shoot, duck and take orders – and that is it unfortunately. Like it or not, it does get repetitive after a while. I hoped that this title would have improved on Black Ops’ short completion time, however, I was wrong, it took me just over seven hours to complete which is abysmal. As for the last boss, well let’s just say it was over before it started.

I was quite concerned too by the number of cut-scenes in this game. Whilst not on the same soap opera level as say Metal Gear Solid, there is an awful lot of talking, and a fair amount of the game where action is taking place and you are left to just watch. Considering how short the game is, it would have been good to have had the hour or so movie part as actual game content.

Online play is what drives the lifespan forward after completion. Here the three modes on offer are all fun to play yet standard fare. You have the standard Death matches and more objective-driven options such as the new Operations Mode, where the highest-rated players get to see themselves in cut scenes between objectives which is all very good. I did notice though, occasional moments of slowdown in larger matches, which ruined my gaming pleasure, but will no doubt be resolved in future patches.

As previously mentioned, Killzone 3 was the first game to be completely made with both 3D and Playstation Move in mind. With regards to the Move, I am pleased report that it works beautifully well. Indeed, some would argue that this is precisely the type of game for which the Move was created for and in this aspect it is true. In play, it is very similar to the aiming mechanism seen in Resident Evil 5 and Time Crisis, manoeuvering with the controller, and aiming and firing using the trigger of the Move. You can also perform some neat actions such as twisting to reload and a stabbing motion to do the melee attack. Very nice indeed.

However, the 3D issue is another matter. Yes, stereoscopic 3D. Yes, it looks great and provides that extra level of immersion. For me, the thing I could not get tired of was using a sniper rifle. It just looks incredible. But on the other hand, I am very aware of this 3D fad and that some people sold their kidney for a decent HDTV, just so they could enjoy high definition gaming. In some ways it is just a tad too ambitious and outrageous to expect some players to go out and buy a 3D TV to experience the gaming delights here. So far for me, there has been insufficient 3D content out there to warrant buying one, but I am quite sure that for some gamers this will be the tipping factor where they will no doubt dash out and fork out over a grand to get one. But my honest advice with this is to just wait. Whilst it is good, it is really not ‘that good’.

So, the final verdict –

Killzone 3 is a contender that enters the ring punching way above its weight. The gameplay is solid, the action is intense and the Move functionality gives this game an extra edge. Though it can be repetitive for those tired of shoot-em-ups, those who enjoyed Killzone 2, Halo Reach and Call of Duty franchises will have a lot to look forward to with this title.

 

9.2/10

 

Killzone 3 is out on PS3 now

 

Marvel Vs Capcom 3

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The mother of all fighting games has arrived. No, seriously…

Street Fighter has been around for almost 30 years and in nearly every incarnation of game console and personal computer going back to the rubber-keyed Spectrum 48k. Yes, there have been clones, lookalikes and contenders for the fighting game crown – King of Fighters, World Heroes, Art of Fighting, even Virtua Fighter, but many gamers all over the world would agree that when it comes to finely tuned perfection, when it comes to vibrant, lovable characters and when it comes to balanced game play, while many may have come close, none have managed to take the crown away from Capcom.

There is just something about the furious technical finesse required to pull off the moves, I remember coming back from school and watching games players pour their money into the machine just so they could gain enough practice to get the characters on the screen to pull off special moves at will. With so much time needed to be invested, one wonders whether they would have been better learning the moves in real life.

After the ‘never-ending story’ of sequels that followed, and just when players started to get bored with the ‘just how many characters can you fit into a game mentality’ up popped X-Men and then Marvel vs Capcom – true indulgences of fighting pleasure.

Now you had an insane mix of the comic book world and the manga type Capcom world with key fighters of each staring each other down, and letting rip with ever more exaggerated moves. Forget fireballs the size of a football, now they were six foot high. Sparks would fly as you pummelled your opponent into submission and the rush was as effervescent as a hypochondriac’s vitamin cocktail. But then came Marvel vs Capcom 2 and many felt that it was a rushed, diluted effort with bland backgrounds, ho-hum special moves and…well, crap music.

And now, after nearly 10 years of waiting for chickens to come home to roost, Capcom have brought back the franchise, but is it worth getting into the ring for?

All that waiting has meant improvements both in a technical sense and in a developmental sense for Capcom. The past number of years has seen an renewed interest in the appeal of Marvel characters – think about the Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men films of late, coupled with the likes of Devil May Cry, Resident Evil and recent Street Fighter games and you realise that not only have there been technical improvements, but a restylization across the genre. Hence the timing of this game could not have been better. But it is more than that. In many ways this game is a ‘love letter’ to the many fans of both worlds.

First thing’s first. And the first thing that grabs your attention is the presentation. We all know that Capcom has a proven track record of high production values in fighting titles and this game is no exception. Graphically there is no denying that it is impressive, based around the pages of a comic book but including the kind of intros and cut scenes we have become accustomed to since the recent Super Street Fighter games. The game is, like Street Fighter, 2D, but has had a 3D visual makeover.

Marvel and Capcom characters have rarely ever needed to have a reason to have a scrap so there is no back story worth mentioning, except that that ‘big bad mother of a bad boy’ Galactus is once again eyeing up Earth as his appetiser, and only the combined might of the two worlds’ finest can hope to stop him from destroying us all. What this means for us is full on three-on-three battles with more add-ons and combos than a bargain bucket meal from KFC.

Gameplay is very similar to its predecessor. Basically, you choose a team of three characters and embark on a tour of destruction. During each bout you can instantly call in one of your two allies to either assist you and attack your enemy, swap places with you or – if you have accumulated enough of one of the many combo bars – join in with you for a super attack. This may sound complicated and that’s because it is meant to be. Fights can change direction and players can change at any second – the action is very frantic and intense. But the game is amazing. The transition smoother than a baby’s bum, fluid to play and thanks to the game’s new ‘simple mode’, newcomers who might never have played the game before can now initiate combos with single button presses.

Unlike Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which featured four attack buttons separated as two pairs of low and high-strength punches and kicks, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 uses a simplified, three-button control scheme of undefined light, medium, and hard attacks showcased in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. Capcom have said that they made this change because they wanted to make fighting games open to everyone. However, my friends and I have had some heated debates over this and whether the older system worked better in comparison. This is something you will have to decide for yourself, because in all fairness, if you are used to the older style, it does take some getting used to.

In a game full of enormous, flashy firework-like attacks and loads of characters, things could easily get boring and repetitive. But for me, it was the little details that consistently gave me the feeling that it was money well spent. A lot of attention has been put into character details. You would not be able to separate Chris Redfield from his likeness in this game and the likeness in Resident Evil 5 for example, and, typical of Capcom fighting games, they have that trash talk, stare-down before the fight which is very hard not to enjoy.

The backgrounds too are worth a mention with little touches to previous games such as Final Fight and X-Men realities with really nice details and this is so much better than its predecessor.

While the game isn’t quite as finely balanced as, say, Street Fighter VI, and not all characters are equal, it’s always enjoyable. Even if some fighters are blatantly overpowered, there is something about having a three-character tag team that just adds a dynamic to gameplay that is rare to see. There are so many intricacies of various combinations and it is rare to see them all. It will be interesting to see what online players come up with in the months ahead.

Talking of online play, I found this to be a little lacking. There’s ranked matches, player matches and, unfortunately that’s it. No tournament mode, no online play with a tag team consisting of different players, so individual fights are all you get and that is a real shame. Mind you, fights go on for a fair bit of time and I am sure there will be no shortage of people vying to get their hands on this game. Capcom have also said that they will be bringing out loads of downloadable content for this game which means that it might have an increased lifespan.

So my final verdict?

This is an incredible game to play, enjoy and return to. It’s only real fault lies in the fact that it might not be for everyone. While not perfect, it certainly provides some light-hearted relief, if not a button mashing one and for me it will certainly bide the time until the ‘father of all fighting games’ Streetfighter vs.Tekken comes out next year.

9/10

Marvel vs Capcom 3 is out now for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360

Nail’d Review by Junior Smart

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A jack of all trades but a master of none?

Racing games have come a long way haven’t they? I mean, does anyone out there remember Pole Position? The classic of its time, where all you needed to do was come first and avoid other cars on the road. I remember Super Hang On where the scenery changed for the first time.  I even remember Out Run which was the first game to change the flat landscape into an environment of hills, valleys and introduce multiple racing routes into the genre  – and where the sit down cabinet would try and give some kind of feeling of inertia to the whole sentiment of racing. Heck, you could even pick your favourite track off the radio and drive to it. Then there was Lotus Esprit Challenge which encouraged the actual need for braking and changing lanes and on completion of the game you could send off for a licence style certificate.

All of that changed. In no time at all we had Ridge Racer, Road Rash, Destruction Derby, the grand daddy of racing – Gran Turismo – and a whole host of other racing games which changed forever the nature of the genre. Unless you were driving round in the largest rims, customising your ride, maxing out your turbo, driving to the most bangin’ tracks, having the most spectacular crashes or catching the most amount of air in the biggest leaps – even if you were in a tank – you weren’t nothing but Pee-wee Herman in the racing stakes.

Nail’d hails from the ‘more you have is the more you need’ variety of extreme racing. The sort of experience where you can never get enough of a dangerous thing, and the type of game play which is akin to a funfair ride where you scream if you want to go faster and the little kid next to you either cries for mummy or throws up.

In Nail’d you get to race either an ATV or a motorbike and travel all over the world competing in extreme racing events. It takes great joy in providing hills, leaps, jumps, an insane rollercoaster type track and, oh yeah – obstacles – and throws these at you as fast as your retinas can possibly take it. In the background, unhinged verbaholic rock music is barely audible above the crackly and poorly sampled sound of your engine while you hit the boost button as much as you can and do all you can to stay on your vehicle long enough to come first. From the start you learn to forget about the common definition of a jump – this game provides some Evel Knievel thousand-foot leaps over chasms that will literally leave your heart in your mouth.

On the surface of it, this all sounds fun, and to start with Nail’d is exactly that – a thrilling, vivid experience. In truth, I have to commend software developers Techland for cramming in so many jaw-dropping leaps and incredible speed into this game. The action is incredibly fast, and the track design is ambitious, and at times excellent. Racing through valleys and leaping onto dams is impressively executed, utterly thrilling and disorientating, and like an amusement park ride of your wildest hallucination.

The biggest problem with this game though is that after a short time, cracks start to show in its presentation and in the game mechanics. It tries to be too much of everything without ever allowing itself to be committed to any real type of game play. As a result, it tragically falls flat and lacks any motivating factors to even play more than a couple of stages let alone a full tournament.

Most gamers know that motion blur – while being an effective way to emphasise speed – can also hide a multitude of sins. Once you see past it, the first thing you notice is the graphics. They are poorly rendered, dressed up with motion blur – ‘mutton dressed as lamb’.  Just like the colleague you regret snogging at that Christmas party. At a distance and with so much going on, it actually looked quite good, but up close and personal – and in this case after a crash – you can see it instantly for what it is.

Another area where this game comes short is with the physics engine. For some reason, gravity doesn’t exist here. Not only can you change direction in mid-air but you can also extend your jump by a few miles. I reckon that in the world of Nail’d you could literally take a jump in England and glide over to France and not break a sweat, just by pulling back on the analogue stick. The first couple of times you feel like it is actually a nice touch, but if I am honest, it isn’t actually the hardest thing to do. When every corner brings a new jump, repetitiveness sets in remarkably quickly and that’s when you feel that there isn’t enough of a challenge and you are just going through the motions.

Although there is a ‘boost’ function typical of racing games of this genre, it was appalling to find that it isn’t actually linked to anything. Unlike Pure for example you have no abilities to do stunts in mid-air, there is no drift, no oncoming traffic, no punch or kick buttons to knock other riders off their vehicles, so there are no redeemable ways to reward your racing skills other than when you land correctly after a jump. Boost increments are painfully limited to driving or flying through gates at key positions on the tracks. I kept thinking: “Is this all?’ Are you serious?” It is mind-boggling just how much of a wasted opportunity this is, and the simple inclusion of something, anything extra would have boosted this game’s playability no end.

My final gripe comes with the collision detection. It leaves so much to be desired. For example, it is possible to keep driving after a head-on collision with a train, only to clip the top of a branch on the next landing. It is incidents like these that make coming first more a matter of luck than of actual skill, and in some places, to my horror, I found it was more than adequate to race around the track without ever taking my finger off the gas at all – relegating the brake to no more than reverse. I ended up wondering whether the game was play tested at all.

So my final verdict? As if you really need to hear this. Well, Nail’d is one of those games that sounds great in principle, but falls on its face because it tries to do too much while failing to get the basics right. At its heart, there is a fun arcade racer in there somewhere, waiting to be let out, but it is a delusion of grandeur. Against the likes of other well known titles such as Pure, Motorstorm, and Split Second, this doesn’t even stand a chance of coming third across the line. There is so much more that they could have done with this. It is such a real shame that at the end of the day, it deserves to be left on the grid.

3/10

Join the Craze on Facebook with Me to You My Place, THE Place to be

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Me to You My Place game to launch on Facebook

Experience Me to You and My Blue Nose Friends like never before with the latest, free to play, must-play social game on Facebook, Me to You My Place.

Launching on Monday 20 December, the free to play Me to You My Place social game, featuring the hugely popular Tatty Teddy and adorable My Blue Nose Friends, is set to become the next big game craze on Facebook for people of all ages.

Become Tatty Teddy and embark on a massive adventure to find, nurture and love your favourite My Blue Nose Friends (currently selling 17 per min in store) just like you do in real life. Shower them with enough love and they’ll become your Friends for Keeps! You can then add them to your virtual collection of friends and give them a fun nickname to truly make them your own. You can even customise your Tatty Teddy with bow ties, hats and bags to create your very own unique, stylish Tatty Teddy.

Share your Me to You My Place with those that you love on Facebook and at the click of a mouse your friends will be able to see how many My Blue Nose Friends you have and help you decorate your garden with big items that will earn you bonuses. And don’t forget to return the favour!

Become part of the latest Facebook game craze by simply searching for ‘Me to You My Place’ on Facebook and downloading the application. The perfect way to keep teens quiet and even while away a few hours in the office in the holidays.

For more information on Me to You and My Blue Nose Friends visit www.metoyou.com and www.mybluenosefriends.com

Playstation Phone – Truth or Fiction? {Technology}

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I always get a bit worried when too much hype surrounds forthcoming products. However the rumour mill has been churning for some months now around a Playstation Phone and I have to admit it’s getting hard to sit still, especially when, over the past few days, a couple of videos have hit YouTube showing off the gaming phone and its Android interface.

Check out the videos below, and decide for yourself whether they are the real deal ‘happy meal’ or nothing but ‘fan made’ fantasia.

According to sources it will have 512 MB of RAM, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and a touchpad designed for gaming. Its biggest feature though is that will run Google’s Android OS, as well as Playstation games.
With all fairness though, as many techno heads know, most phones can run PSP type games albeit at lower resolution through things like emulators etc. Another thing that concerns me is the amount of RAM. Being in mind it will have to run your entire phone’s apps and games, is 512 MB really going to be enough? Sony are going to do something about the size as it looks like a brick and let hope they do something about that control pad too – it looks nasty! One thing is for sure – Sony are keeping it on a ‘real down low’ for now and saying nothing on whether it actually exists. However if it does, a Playstation phone could be one of the most innovative pieces of hardware of 2011 and a real contender to other touch screen phone rivals on the market – you all know who you are!

Need for Speed – Hot Pursuit {Gaming Review}

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Yes indeed this is fast love…

Playing the original on the Playstation one was a thrilling affair for me years ago, taking me back to a lost youth spending many days on the legendary coin-op machine Chase HQ. It was fun and invigorating but much more so with my friends huddled around my bedroom on the weekend – it was more than a hook up it was ‘an event’. Hearing that Hot Pursuit was to have a makeover by none other than race masters Criterion got me all worked up, it was a bit like hearing Red Rum was going to race at the Grand National.

From the get go when it comes to presentation Hot Pursuit is one hot looking piece of totty. Game developers Criterion pulled out all the stops creating this game. Visually the game stops just short of astounding. Driving the vehicles is every young boy’s dirty dream and delivers a dramatic rush of adrenaline; the environments are just so outstandingly realised, drenched in detailed vistas ranging from mountainous slopes to bridges, towns and waterfalls. Race in the daytime and akin to ‘Burnout’ the lens flare will singe your retinas. Race through the night and you will squint to pick up the road ahead through the illumination of your headlights. Race in the midst of a thundering rainstorm and you will have a hard time keeping your eyes on the road because you want to gaze upon the next crackle of lightning. In case you aren’t getting my point Hot pursuit features some of the most highly detailed graphics I have seen in an age bar the game legend that is Grand Tourismo. So good is the game engine that it not only delivers impeccable detail but it does so with the smoothness of a well whipped ice cream. No matter how fast you go or how many people are on the screen it doesn’t blur or slow down.

Although it is a part of the Need for Speed franchise Hot Pursuit is mercifully without a tedious storyline. Thank heavens too it is also without a free-roaming world. All that nonsense removed means that the entire game is based around providing the finest race and chase experience.

Choose from an incredible array of predefined events spread over Hot Pursuit’s aerial view of ‘Californ-i-a’ alike Seacrest County. Much in the same way you did in Burnout before all the free-roam lunacy took hold, you choose your events – we all know the drill; forge a career, time trials, straight forward races, cop chases, concept and exotic duels, the staple diet of most racing games are all here for the taking. Progress is achieved by finishing in the required place or by gaining the required points via take downs or arrests and as you do so more tracks open and new vehicles and equipment become available. It’s a tried and tested formula, but this time with a twist – in career mode and online Hot Pursuit splits the game play experience between both ‘Cop’ and ‘Racer’ components, meaning that you’ll play on one side or the other depending on the event you chose and build up independent driver profiles for either side of the law. This brings a refreshing variation to the game as you require different skills and tactics dependent on what side of the law you are on. For example cops must work together to shut down racers, while the racers themselves are competing for first place in a ‘dog eat dog world mentality’.

The power-up system is well judged as is the learning curve which is both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. The equipment that you receive for achieving levels of success range from spike strips that can be dropped to pop the tires of pursuers, as well as ‘fast and furious-esque’ EMPs that target vehicles just ahead of you with a system-crashing boost of energy. The power-ups that you gain in this game were never going to be able to compete with the neon fantasy of other racing titles such as ‘Blur’ or the extraordinary explosions of ‘Split-Second’ but lets face it – they weren’t supposed to. For all the fantasy that Hot Pursuit offers it is grounded in reality, and that reality is at its best when cops and weapons are involved.

Here lies my first area of criticism I found the ‘Racer’ side of the career just a little bit…erm redundant. Besides the chase modes, the head to head duels and races were just too stripped to my liking. All you get are racers, nitrous boosts and…well…that’s it, no cops no nothing. I found myself wondering if the cops were at the doughnut shop and whether I should join them because to be honest these type of races are boring compared to the rest of the game and lack any real thrill, worse still they happen far too often and go on for just a tad too long. It would have been so good to have elimination rounds, nitrous boost rounds, something, basically anything to spice these tracks up because to be frank, besides the scenery, after a while they are…well…dull.

Online modes are what takes the game to the next level and at the heart of Hot Pursuit lies a gem in the form of a superbly integrated ‘Autolog’ hub. A very ‘facebook’ like addition to a racing game and built obviously with the aim of reimbursing the social aspect of the original title. Here you can add friends, post images on your wall and set fast times that will show up on your friends logs when they play the game. You can even post news about scores that you’ve just beaten and this adds a huge competitive element to the title. Racing just got a lot more compelling.

Another serious area of criticism to be made is regarding the Artificial Intelligence level especially in the offline modes. Sometimes it goes soooo beyond the call of duty to ensure that every race is nail-bitingly close that it bends conventional rules and even laws of gravity. For example I can recall a number of races where I took competitors out of the competition by slamming them over a cliff or hitting them with a spike strip yet within seconds they were in my rear-view mirror. How does that happen? Are they driving cars designed by ‘Q’ out of James Bond? No it is not good and not possible.

I also got the feeling that this game wasn’t sure what it wanted to be, whether it wanted to be a simulation or an arcade type racer. Certainly with the effort put into the graphics you get the feeling that this was meant to be a world class racer. Compared to ‘Split-Second’ I found the steering to be too overly weighted in comparison and often you need to pull real precision tight racing lines even in the shortcuts to be successful, all this screams ‘Racing Sim’ to me. Yet there is no manual transmission option, there are police on your tail, power drifts, nitrous boosts and spike strips – this seems to say ‘arcade’. In my opinion the game fares worse for not knowing or investing completely in what it is meant to be.

My final verdict? – well don’t get me wrong, for the most part this is a thoroughly enjoyable title, full of adrenaline, action, gorgeous graphics and some show stopping sequences. However is it a 10 out of 10? Hell no, it is more like an 8.7.
In my opinion it just pinches past the post in front of its rivals but not by that much. But it must be said that this title is still a fast love that you will want to spend a lot of time with.

by Junior Smart

Call of Duty – Black Ops {Gaming Review}

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Call of Duty – Black Ops exploded into computer games stores all over the country last night with as much with build up and lengthy queues as would be expected at a premiere release of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Considering the build up to this much eagerly awaited title who could blame people joining in line from as early as 5pm? This was of course for a game being released at midnight. Stapelines such as ‘are you ready’, trailers featuring soundtracks such as “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones got games players all over the world excited.

Do you think it was just a little bit more than by chance that the game was released just days before Remembrance Sunday the day that many war heroes are remembered? What about the infamous release date 9/11/ a date that brings to mind one of the world’s biggest tragedies and the start on ‘the war on terror’? Indeed this is Call of Duty, probably the most eagerly anticipated game of the year. The latest in a multi million pound franchise and they are intent on handling every aspect from publicity to the product with military precision.

From the get go everything about Call of duty – Black Ops just screams attention. This is a call to arms. For the first time in the new call of duty franchise for the majority of the game you play Alex Mason, a man who knows much more than he originally lets on to and the game opens with him strapped to a chair in an interrogation room endlessly grilled about a mysterious series of numbers that only he can apparently decode.

Through Flashback sequences we get to uncover more about the numbers and more about Alex Mason and the roles he played in several missions all over the world during the cold war era. This is all I can say because to reveal too much more about the game is like revealing a storyline to a movie; and a movie is just what you are playing; because at times this game is very reminiscent of those all too well remembered movies such as platoon Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter; topless soldiers with bandanas laying out body bags in the sun to the Good Morning Vietnam type deep south soundtrack

Developer Treyarch has done a terrific job in incorporating a movie experience into a game, which in many ways supersedes Modern Warfare 2.  The game play at times is too tight for it’s own good. For example when you are knee deep in the jungle (and trust me the graphics are gorgeous) often you want to go off and explore within the wider range than the game permits, in a way this highlights the faults as some of the levels are almost too compacted for their own good and way too short lived. They are however well-signposted and highly-scripted. But like a one night stand – wham bam and it is over. I completed a game that I waited almost a year for in just over 6 hours – shame

Black Ops though was never meant to be put in any type of league that offers exploration – It is a high intensity First person shooter and it delivers exactly what it says on the tin. Its slick, polished highly cinematic, and it throws every type of war experience from that era as fast as it can. Online game play is where this game was meant to shine – The multiplayer component is beautifully constructed and breathtaking. 14 maps greeted me, designed to explore and on my first play I was already looking at places I could sniper opponents from. “Jungle”, with its winding paths, tree houses and hanging vines, to the brilliant, “Nuketown”, designed to resemble one of those simulated neighbourhoods constructed by the US to test the effects of nuclear hardware. These are aspects that show a lot of thought has gone into the design.

The frame rate remains fast – 60 frames-per-second and the basic shooting mechanics remain as good and refined as they did in modern warfare 2. which was never going to be a bad thing.

My only gripe with these types of games is that often when you have played one you have played them all, I mean c’mon you know you are just going to be shooting; from cover, from a helicopter, from within a team. The principality of it rarely changes. But this said Black Ops does bring something new to the market in the terms of enough varying challenges and online multiplayer action to keep most games players busy.

Well worth a shot.