Anyone who is a fan if first person shooters has probable seen, if now picked up “Crackdown”. A great FPS that combines an incredibly open environment with super human abilities to make a very fun and interesting take on a fairly standard experience.

Realtime Worlds the creators of that have been very quiet since its release working on their next game. Having handed over the follow up to “Crackdown” to Ruffian. Due to be released later this year “Crackdown 2″ will be pretty much more of the same. I am sure they will have added some new twists, and improved the engine. But to be honest I have done that now, and I don’t really play “Crackdown” other than to have 10 minute blasts of crazy jumping around the city, and driving the great cars.

What looks much more interesting is APB. A game Realtime have had in development for a long time now.

Initially it looks very much like a standard open FPS (think Grand Theft Auto) but as the video shows it is something a lot more interesting than that. The on-line aspects of the game make for a much more immersive and fun looking game. We have all played where the computer AI is just no good at all, APB looks like it can solve that problem.

Being able to call for backup is a clever idea and one that I have wished for in a lot of games. How well it plays out depends a lot on the muppets who are in the world with you, but it has the potential to be a lot of fun.
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It’s funny how some things work out. I was battered into buying Dragon Age Origins by multiple friends telling me I’d love it. Turns out my friends know me too well. I’ve spent longer playing it than most of them and only Disgaea 3 has cost me more of my life (well apart from when I was young and games didn’t track how long you played them).

Anyway, the first thing about Dragon age: Origins is the choices available. You have the usual choice between 3 races, humans, elves and Dwarves and 3 classes, Warriors, Rogues and Mages (unless you’re a Dwarf) and there’s plenty of customization to be done once you pick.

Initially you play through one of 6 different origins stories depending on your race and class.  From here on the real choices that affect the whole Dragon Age world begin.

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Up until two weeks ago my favourite game of 2009 was definitely, and without doubt Batman: Arkham Asylum. This is the Batman game I have been waiting twenty years to play. It has absolutely everything you can want in a Batman game and the best production of a game you can hope for. All of the artistic elements are there that make Batman a thoughtful super hero, as well as some of the best voice acting I have ever heard in a game. All that before we even get onto the game play and story.

All of these things should make this the best games? Until two weeks ago you were right and I was ready to fight to preserve it as the best game I played all year. But all that has changed. While it is still the high point for me in terms of stealth/action/super hero games there is now one game that does all of that, but only much better. Read more

Tried out Modern Warfare 2 on the XBox

I entirely missed the first installment of this series. I have never been a great fan of the “Call of Duty” games, I always preferred the “Battlefield” series. I have always preferred the more open aspect of that series over the tightly scripted world of COD. I have also never been a huge fan of WWII games, they are interesting but I get the feeling they are unnecessarily limited (hence my enjoyment of jumping into a tank in Battlefield).

But I was in a supermarket, there was the last copy of the game in the shop and it was cheap, so I picked it up. Nikobe is always telling me what a great game it is. I liked the idea of the various perks in the game, not only the ones like the gunship but the ones that beef-up the useless players in the game seeing as that is the area I live in.

I know this is not going to win me any friends (and maybe the ire of the fan boys) but I can’t say I am impressed. Read more

Street Fighter: The Legend of Fail, I mean Chun Li

The second official live action film based on the Street Fighter video games is possibly the most mediocre action film  I have ever seen.

That said, I will buy it on blu-ray just for the awesomeness of Balrog.

There’s an awful lot wrong with this film from a Street Fighter fan’s point of view but as a stand alone film it’s not bad, just average, from the competant but not great fights to the glory of Balrog and an RPG which really sums up a lot about this film, it shouldn’t really have been called Street Fighter at all really.

Of course there’s also the question, how does it compare to the original live action film?

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Does a shrinking economy mean less game time?

The grim reality is upon us. The economy is shrinking and that means we all have to think about tightening our belts a little. With any luck we will all be able to keep our jobs, but we feel the pressure to cut back on what we are spending. Spend on more important things, or save some money (I’m no good at that). But what does that mean for our gaming habits?

I know for one I am seriously reconsidering my game purchases. The most recent game I got was “Street Fighter IV” (can’t believe one of the others guys have not put up a review.. I might have to stick up my own twisted view on it if they don’t soon!).

I have to hand it to the guy at “Game Station”. He was pleasant (not the normal grumpy guy who seems to hate working in these shops.. how and why do they fill those jobs?) and he was knowledgeable. A real fan, and it was nice to see. He also pulled an excellent piece of “up selling” on me. I am usually immune, but this was “Street Fighter”. Read more

This is an interesting game, every magazine online and off gives it huge scores and yet apparently it hasn’t sold well at all outside of Japan. I have to admit, I played the demo and wasn’t that impressed.  I can tell Sega exactly what went wrong though, the demo was not focused on what should have been the main selling point – the phenomenal story. I haven’t got to sleep before 3am since getting this… Read more

Tis the Grizz - "Rock Band, it's just better"

While Sideswipe happily sits between Rock Band and Guitar Hero. I am committed to Rock Band. Why have I switched to Rock Band when I have played Guitar Hero for much longer? Not only do I prefer the look and feel of Rock Band, but because I am sick of being ripped off. While both try to tempt you to spend all your money the best they can, Rock Band doesn’t try to punish you for supporting their series.

Look at the two latest versions of the series (Rock Band 2 & Guitar Hero World Tour) and they are almost the same game. Guitar Hero are now blatantly copying what Rock Band have done and just repackaged it in there own look and feel. Both are now full band games (2 Guitars, Drums, Mic). What more can be said? for all intents and purposes they are the same game. The only thing that is different is how they behave and how they respond to you.

This is where Rock Band takes the lead.

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DSi, the replacement for the DS Lite, a replacement for the original DS

I have been a fan of Nintendo for a long time. Ever since I was lucky enough to get an original two screen Donkey Kong pocket LCD game. I missed the NES because I was busy cutting my teeth on the ZX Spectrum and Atari ST.

But I can still clearly remember Christmas day 1992. Came down stairs, and there waiting under the tree was a large box. I already knew.. or at least hoped I knew what it was. But I diligently opened my other presents first. That box would be saved for last. Went through the usual, socks, some clothes, the new Beano and Dandy annuals.

Then it was time… I had waited long enough and I could not take it any longer. I started in the corner, peeling the paper away and seeing on the black background of the box, the bold Nintendo logo in red. I had it! I rushed to pull the paper off. There is was in all its glory. The Super Nintendo, Street Fighter II bundle. 16-Bits of pure goodness. Read more

Left 4 Dead was not as much fun as I had hoped for.

Last night I finally got to play “Left 4 Dead”, a game that I have been waiting almost a year to play. The premise is simple. You and a group of three others are stranded in a city over run with zombies. But not just zombies all manner of other evil incarnations built around the theme. You have to get out of the city, and the only way you are going to be able to do that is by working as a team. You must stick together, help each other, or there is no way out. With emphasis on team work, you are supposed to play the game online with three friends, and make a real team effort. Having waited so long for it, and coming from a developer like Valve, I though this would finally marry my love of First Person Shooters and Zombies in a glorious whole of a game that could not be beaten. Unfortunately I was very wrong. Read more

Yoshi’s island is probably one of my favorate games of all time, a bouncy platform game spin-off from the Mario World series with a lovely hand drawn visual effect for every single 2D sprite and backdrop in the game.

LittleBigPlanet feels very much like a modern equivilent the game uses a hand crafted style with hand stiched characters and backgrounds along with cardboard cutout monsters. The whole game has been designed to look like children have built it out of whatever is laying around, such as toys, blocks and even skateboards.

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I’ve always been a fan of the Mario Kart series and owned all of them (I think) on various formats. I joined the party late when I bought a SNES just as it was dieing and people were thinking the Mega CD was the good idea. I picked up a cheap copy in Electronics Boutique (now GAME) for about 15 pounds (strange keyboard doesn’t have pound sign..) and rushed home to see what all the fuss was about. I had a minor obsession back then (and still do a bit) with any kind of spite scaling or 2D warping tricks like the SNES’s “Mode 7″ effects so Mario Kart was a dream come true after the basic effects of the Megadrive (Genesis in the states).

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