I fancy a cheap hoe, care to join me?

The concept of adding game play elements of farming into a video game maybe a hard fact to stomach for some gamers, but with the success of Astragon’s Farming Simulator 2009 and more storyline centric titles such as Harvest Moon the popularity for it is most certainly there. One look on Facebook right now Farmville seems to be the most played game on the social network right now. So without delving any further, may I suggest you stop reading now if this idea totally defies your logic! For the rest of us wanting to slip away into serenity, keep reading.

Firstly, no animals get killed in this game. Whenever you defeat one with your weapon or farming implement they go back to the forest where they live happily ever after. If you don’t want to return them you can keep them on your farm instead to produce milk, wool, eggs etc.

Flirting is actually a gameplay feature mentioned on the back of the box

Despite the addition of combat, plenty of the traditional Harvest Moon elements survive: seasons rotate, crops need feeding, animals need to be looked after and you have to find yourself a woman. Those familiar with the series will fit right into Rune Factory: Frontier but there’s enough new elements to rejuvenate what has become a series that has seen better days.

The script is better it’s certainly has more punch than, say, Tree of Tranquillity, though that’s not exactly hard. Don’t expect a plotline that will bedazzle you in any shape or form. It’s also worth nothing that Rune Factory is one of the more visually serene games on Wii, with a great colour palette and intricate design, not to mention the animated cut scenes. There’s a lot of the traditional Harvest Moon character to the game’s actual design, but it also feels authentic because of its combat system. The audio is of good quality, some good voice acting, relaxing yet catchy tunes accompanying you wherever you go.

Although they may seem basic gameplay types, the farming and combat work together really well. Growing crops not only earns you money to spend on new weapons, harvesting them lets you restore your stamina, letting you explore further in the dungeons. Defeating enemies also earns you materials you can use to improve your tools and weapons. Stack onto that plenty of skills to improve, from cooking to chemistry, special attacks and magic weapons and you’ve got a battle system that’s surprisingly enjoyable and with the ability to learn new skills, there’s always an excuse to kill the same returning enemies.

Water those crops!

There’s no combat above ground, meaning you always have the option to remain on your farm and chill out, but due to the clever map design you’re always close by a slice of the action. Discovery in the game is also a nice touch, I remember specifically randomly ploughing what looked like a weed only to discover it was the route up to the stone whale, a nice touch.

It’s not all songs and praise: though. Within the first couple of seasons you’re introduced to Runeys, one of the game’s major new introductions, and it’s likely you’ll be completely thrown off by them. Essentially, Runeys are magical floating spirits that influence the prosperity of your land: the more of them you have, generally the quicker your crops will grow and the more productive your animals will be. So far, so good, but the problem lies in the amount of time it takes to organise them properly. It isn’t absolutely essential to the games progression to understand what Runeys do, but their addition is off-putting and does detract from what is otherwise an exceptionally accomplished title.

Tranquil landscapes

As stated at the beginning of the review, this title is not for everyone and to be fair it wasn’t until I started to accept it for what it was that I truly started to understand the endearment that many people have towards it. For new players I’d say that this game doesn’t really transcend in a game that will introduce you to the world, whilst controls and chores are easy to understand you never get the true feeling that the games plotline has ever incorporated first time players to the series. As such we’d recommend this only for those that are familiar with the series already. Everything may feel slightly foreign otherwise. When standing this up to the Harvest Moon universe and failing titles such as the Tree of Tranquillity you’d have to say that Rune Factory: Frontier is a much welcomed return to form and Marvellous Interactive should certainly be commended for that. Would have been nice to have seen some online multiplayer extension for this title though, Animal Crossing anyone?

Ghostbusters were my first fad as a kid. I’m glad I grew up in the 80′s, the era of fantastic action cartoons and formed the minds and hearts of geeks today. We are the first generation tailored for in entertainment in any serious way. Children’s stuff was and is big bucks. I had almost every bit of Ghostbusters merchandise going and my mum even made me a film accurate beige boiler suit with my name emblazoned in red type with correct font on the front. Thanks mum.

So when I learnt of a next gen Ghostbusters game in development I may have punched the air in nostalgic joy. In preparation of reviewing this game I have taken the correct steps and watched both films and I’m sat here with my boiler suit, Proton pack and ghost trap and now I’m ready to review.

With the opening movie and fantastic original music I was instantly put in the mood and it is fantastic to see all members of the Ghostbusters cast back, apart from Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis but the big 4 is all we care about. Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson are the original Ghostbusters we all love and you get to play alongside them as the new Rookie (called Rookie because they don’t want to get too attached to you). Its 1991 and it’s your job to test the new, experimental weapons. Joy.

Jumping straight in, you start at the Firehouse and are surrounded by the environments we are all familiar with from the films. You get your standard third person movement tutorial here and some back ground info. You get to practise using the Proton pack and catch Slimer which melds nicely as a tutorial section. The effect of letting the Proton pack roar into life for the first time is monumental. The sound effect and look is flawless. Before too long you get a call and you’re out on a job as a wave of psycho-kinetic energy sweeps the city causing massive spikes in undead activity.

The story is very well developed and has even been remarked upon as the “3^rd movie” and it really shows. I would have been happy to see this in a 2 hour film at my local cinema then a game. I’m a real patron of games and movies but side with games more and let’s face it, I can’t think of a game made from a film that was good. Ghostbusters sort of breaks that stigma.

The mechanics of catching a ghost are using your Proton pack to weaken it, slam it against the wall and floor and coerce it into your ghost trap. Bigger, stronger ghosts provide more of a challenge to trap and that varies the difficulty so it doesn’t become stagnant. The satisfaction you get from using the Proton pack wears off after about an hour and becomes more of a chore to use then a pleasure. It tends to overheat and you have to release the pressure to avoid “reloads” and keep the stream of energy going. The Proton pack also shows your health and limits the HUD for full picture action.

It’s not a solo mission being a Ghostbuster.  Most of the game you go through with your fellow ‘Busters, sometimes with only a few of them and once in a while, on your lonesome. I don’t want to say I jumped a few times on a PG rated game…but I did. If you do lose all your health a team mate can revive you and you can revive them which is always in your best interest so you don’t go back a check point.

A nice addition is the PKE metre which is used in first person and is your handy gadget to track ghosts and solve mysteries. It is also used as a scanner for clues and details about ghosts earning you money for upgrades later in the game. The PKE view does grate on the nerves after a while as it is “framed-in” and in a constant green wash of static. Frustratingly you have to wear them almost all the time outside of combat to follow a ghosts trail and track them. It’s inventive and sticks well to the films so it can be forgiven.

Speaking of money, you earn of the trapping of ghosts and limiting collateral destruction. That wild stream of protons does some hefty damage though and you will be expected to pay for it out of the money you earn. Oh, and the guy who in enforces this rule is none other than Walter Peck (dick-head environmental protection agent from the first film). You earn the money, get the new weapon upgrades including that positively charged slime cannon from the second film and some new ones like the Boston dart and the Meson collider.

Graphics are a bit standard and only really look great in darkness or at night. Environments look washed out but the ghosts appear as transparent, neon blurs. All the ghosts have character but it sometimes take a team member to call it out to you. I didn’t notice a coven of themed hotel bellhop ghosts until someone said so, I just thought they were just…well…ghosts. Credit has to be given for not making the ghosts to “extreme” and abandoning the fun aspect in favour for terrifying undead representations of tormented souls.

The PS3 and Xbox versions have an online multiplayer for coop game play which is great fun if you get a team of friends to play along with. It’s unfortunately not a story mode but more “challenge rooms” to get through which is all about team work and high scores, so perfect for this game. Just don’t cross the streams….

This game really does make you feel a part of the team, a real Ghostbuster and that’s where this games attraction lies. The game visits places seen in the films including the museum and the hotel which you start your first mission in. You also get visits from certain ghosts you may recognise and the big man himself, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. This game’s writing oozes style and class. All the jokes and personas are there and enhance this game above its middle of the road game play just by stint of the licences status.

Just from a nostalgic point of view this game gets its hooks into you. Ghostbusters are so lame, there cool. The cast play out the story with fantastic skill. By clear and far the voice acting and the music make this game. This game plays more on your feelings of nostalgia towards the films and toys you grew up with but that is no bad thing.

The game promises more than it can deliver in some aspects. I was expecting a fantastic next gen game mechanics, artful story tell and hilarious jokes and situations. Two out of three isn’t bad I guess. Maybe a sequel will have a revised system and make it less clunky and dynamic. By no stretch of the imagination is Ghostbusters: The video game a bad game it just needed some polish. If you’re a fan buy it, you will enjoy it for the most part. Just some bits will become tedious but stick to it and rise above them. It’s a dynamite story to play. Reviewed on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. All together now: So who ya gonna’ call?..

Some of you already have the Xbox 360 Facebook “app” already in your Xbox’s menu, for the rest of us its today, the 17th of November.

So, good for those with Xbox’s, huh? What’s that on the horizon? Is it a bandwagon? Why, yes! I think it is! Come on Sony, jump on and deliver us Facebook/XMB integration.

So yeah, Sony will implement a Firmware update “soon” that will have sharing of certain games data, trophies, store purchases and supported in-game events on your Facebook account. Neat. It’s up to you if you lock your Facebook with your Playstation so it’s not mandatory and won’t reveal any info if you don’t want it too. Phew!

So it is different to Microsoft’s Xbox app. It’s less about a full Facebook system on your console and more a “Share-Centre” for little achievements.

Also, is this the same update that has the mythical cross-game voice chat system? I hope so, because I would like to get my hands on it soon.

Oh, and it allows you to change that horrible Friends lists with colours etc so thats good.

One thing about the “Facebook Share-Centre” I hope it’s not to invasive…

Sam has loaded the God of War 3 disk…

Sam has started to install God of War 3 data on his Hard Drive….

Sam has started to play God of War 3…

Sam’s girlfriend has murdered him because he’s clogging her Facebook up…

Im just gonna leave this right here….

Morals mean dick all if you don’t stick to them. I’m hard core and at no time did i say that I would boycott the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I’m not that person, i wanted to play it and i knew i did. Still not happy about the base price for it though. I’m glad i got it and said i wouldn’t boycott it or I would feel very stupid right about now if I had and played it on a console or PC based distribution system that showed the community that you are playing said game. That would be embarrassing.

Even worse would be if you belong to a special community that wants to boycott this game. See where I am going with this? No? How about opening the picture above!

I can’t help but think that James, the editor from www.wedotech.net said that he wasn’t going to get it and didn’t. Now that’s a man of principal.

Either this game is the greatest game of all time (great, but not the best) or we gamers really are a bunch of say and not do. My hat is off to those in the photo who have not folded and gotten it (who knows, they could have and they are just not playing it now) but I just have to share this with the gamers out there. Smug feeling right now or guilt, or has MW2 crushed your guilt in a waves of terrorist blood?

Food for thought.

Enough talk of the dark vortex that comprises and circles my brain and the thoughts within. I have Shattered Horizons to play on my PC and its promising buckets and frankly, if I have to upgrade my precious XP system to Windows 7 (something I don’t do lightly) then it better cough up some juice. Thank god for Windows 7 having Direct-X 10 support because Vista fills me with white-hot dread.

So, Shattered Horizons is a FPS made for the PC by Developer Futuremark and if you know the name but can’t place where from, Futuremark make that benchmarking program that shames you and your PC build and forces you to make another trip to Novatech and spend more money. So, you and I are expecting a lot from the people who cost me some much money a year.

Basically Shattered Horizons is set in space orbiting earth fighting over the remains of the moon which has been broken to bits by a faulty mining detonation. It’s the Moon Mining Cooperative vs. The International Space Agency for control of the rich mineral resources (you can see why i made the Moonraker connection as soon as it started up with murderous cosmonauts in space). So this means zero gravity FPS combat and that’s the crux of this game. It’s fully online, no campaign or single player with teams of people killing in various scattered rock environments.

Game play is the biggest lure to this game and the zero gravity game play takes some time to get use to. You will find yourself moving your head trying to orientate your character in the game something I haven’t done since playing Descent on the PS1. Having opponents come at you from ALL angles is a massive brain fart and will have you trying to match them. After awhile, you will realise that bullets piece armour and flesh no matter their position on the 3D axis.

Controls are your standard FPS affair and uses WASD. The biggest difference is the movement plain is orientated to your viewing plain, look down go, down, look up, and you go up. Simple. You get a helpful button that snaps you to surface moving you and your magnetic boots into position and make the environments easier to navigate and will give you many less headaches.

The playing field is predictably in space around rocks of all sizes and broken down mining operations and man-made structures. All are arranged in multiple angles and from different POV’s and game the gaming area much larger and more diverse. The only drawback is that the colour pallet suffers from realism. It’s a single light source (the sun, duh) on grey rock with the only colour being the mining equipment or the space suits themselves.

Graphics. I was expecting so much and with Direct-X 10 and my SLI graphics cards and Quad core processor I could push the settings to Ultra. As before the environments are basic due to its “nature” but they are rendered to the peak of perfection and the game wants to push your system harder and harder and the mono light source throws some amazing shadows and contrasts.

But then again, what do you expect from Futuremark? If you are benchmarking my system I expect a lot from a game made by the same people.

The zero gravity aspect adds massive depth to the game and eliminates levels in the rational sense. Remember how good the zero-g aspect of Dead Space was? It’s very much like that apart from the free floating that takes the bulk of your actions. I found the online lag free and smooth sailing all the way. Futuremark must have implemented some crazy rendering skills in keeping it from straining or some city sized servers!

All in all, Shattered Horizon is one of the better multiplayer FPS games available for download. I can see the fickle groups who move from PC FPS to FPS grabbing hold of this for a while as it really offers something never implemented well in a computer game before. I         hope new content and maps are released in time to keep its audience happy and playing for sometime to come.

If this is any indication of Futuremarks future producing games I am hopeful and welcome them to the games market with open arms. I would love to see a single player mode maybe in the future and general release in shops as opposed to sole release on the Steam platform if such a mode was added. I have hope for the future of gaming with a developer such as this. Reviewed on the PC. “Oh James, take me around the world one more time…”

Once again we are treated to another DLC for Fallout 3. Bethesda really is a developer who likes to spoil its audience as they just keep coming up with theses beauties. Notice to all other developers, THIS is after game support not raising your prices so people would be reluctant to sell them on the pre-owned market. That’s just dumb. Ok, rant over.

The Pitt is set away from the Capital Wasteland and is a story of slaves, pit fighting and revolution. It’s up to you if you help or hinder the slaves in The Pitt or if money is more important than human lives. The Pitt is set in the lovely city of Pittsburgh which has now become a wasted city of pollution and forced industry. And you’re going there because someone as asked for you to help them (again!) and let’s face it, help them or don’t play the DLC.

After hopping on a hand cart (you know those strange carts on train tracks that appear in every cartoon, ever) you arrive in Pittsburgh train yard and you and your guide are immediately attacked. It’s your job to get in the city and find a slave for further help, so let’s get started. It’s a short trip to enter the city over a bridge and the city vista is impressive. The environment gives you a real atmosphere of repression with the city covered in a half light of soot and pollution coloured skies.

What The Pitt brings, is a moral story line that looks very black and white until it becomes very grey and is one of the first times that I have changed my moral stance when playing Fallout 3. Other quests feel cut and dry with good and bad karma and this was refreshing to have to really think about your actions and the consequences.

Repeated in another Fallout 3 DLC review, you are stripped of all your weapons and gear (which you do get back later) and forced to “start again” as it were. You do get to play with some new toys including some tasty industrial tools fashioned into weapons and the normal selection of unique weapon types and armour bundled with this DLC.

Enemies in The Pitt are few and far between, its more exploration and playing out your part in this story of slaves and oppressors. You can go bat-shit crazy if you want and kill everyone and everything but its counter productive and you won’t get the most out of the DLC. One new enemy worth of mention is the Troggs. Troggs appear to be humans taken over by the strain of the environment and the plague making its rounds in The Pitt, pollution has robbed them of their skin and made them very cranky.

One great thing about The Pitt is the steel yard. Its a massive area that hardly anyone goes to unless they must to collect solid metal ingots for the forges. In game terms, there are 100 ingots to collect with a reward at every 10 collected. Easier said than done, right? Of course, the area is infested with Troggs (which I find the most satisfying of enemies to kill) and some areas are not easy to get to and you have to use the old noggin’.

The Pitt fighting section could have been flushed out more and could have provided a fantastic resource of bottle caps and a reason to visit The Pitt more than to just do the main quest and the ingots. I can’t help but feel that it was a missed opportunity and would have been great even if it was randomly generated enemies with limited weapons to fight with would have me going back for more.

As far as all the DLC’s go, this is the weakest. It’s forgettable and provides little in new exciting stuff to play with. I can see what Bethesda was trying to do with this game but it feels hollow and with just the addition of an upgraded gladiatorial section could have made this a winner. All in all, it took me 3 hours to complete (well, 5 with all the tech issues) and I moved straight on to another DLC. Good DLC but mediocre by Bethesda’s standards. Reviewed on the PS3. P.S, Asher’s wife is a babe.

44/100

The latest DLC released for Fallout 3 and the finale to the Fallout 3 game. Mothership Zeta is all based around the tantalizing aspect of little green men from Mars populated by the space race in the 1950’s-60’s. How can this not be a winner?

If you found it, there is a crashed alien spaceship in the main fallout game and grants you a smart, little alien blaster that makes puddles out of Deathclaws. With the DLC, a radio signal is broadcast across the Wasteland originating from the downed alien craft.

I had been to the craft before and pillaged it’s out of this world weapon but a new radio signal is too tempting to take up (that and I know what’s going to happen if I already downloaded the DLC). So you get to the alien crash site and then you are bathed in a strange green light and the ground is suddenly getting further away from you. If you hadn’t guess you’ve gone all Fox Mulder and been abducted by little green men.

Once again, I won’t talk of the tech issues I had with this DLC here but you can read it on this site. Suffice to say I have dropped the score by 30 points just for these awful issues. If this wasn’t (and all the Fallout 3 DLC’s) a DLC so well thought out and for such a fantastic game, they would be near zero. But because they are so good they need to be reviewed fairly but still the issues cannot be ignored.

Anyway. After a nice probing, you are trapped away in an alien holding cell with another Wastelander who is only slightly more clued up then yourself. Of course you get out otherwise it would be a short game. You soon get introduced to the main enemy of the game, little GREY men (green is politically incorrect these days) and they are nasty little buggers, too.

The enemies don’t divert much from the normal aliens. Some you come up against are wearing mirror shields or something and are a tougher sort to deal with. The aliens have several robotic drone types at their disposal and turrets too.

Mothership Zeta is full of new guns and items and had me rubbing my hands with devious excitement. After a while they do all feel the same and I mostly defaulted towards my own earth based guns to get the job done. Not so tough now with a Super Sledge smashing your face in, are ya?

Generally, this game is the most linear of all the DLC’s even up against Operation: Anchorage and felt like a story rather than an open adventure like the other DLC’s (Even Anchorage had a little room to manoeuvre in the beginning). I can see what Bethesda where trying to do, tell a story and have a defined end to the Fallout 3 game. For that, it’s forgivable as its more like a large quest then say, what Point Lookout did with an expansive area and loose mission structure.

The environment does feel somewhat the same after a while. Corridors merge into one; rooms are decorated in all the same ways. Lighting helps change effect and mood but what do you expect? After all if you buy into the illusion, an alien ship would be made in the same pattern all over the ship, that and there is only so much Bethesda can do for one DLC, give them a break.

Nice set pieces and scripted events break up the levels and real thought has gone into what areas the player can access. One of my favourite was the cryogenic stasis areas and had some real flavour to it and played nicely to the alien abductees myth. Oh, and the Samurai is talking about his sword by the way for those who can’t speak Japanese. You can find it and get it back to him in reward for a nice feeling.

The ending (which I won’t ruin) doesn’t do the game justice. You would have expected more of a epic , cinematic ending to it all but then I guess it has to remain open ended. I have always hoped that Fallout 3 wouldn’t end, but it has to some time and I do have a life to go back to (I think my girlfriend is still around here, somewhere). As a finale to Fallout 3 it is paltry, but it won’t get the hardened Wastelander down and there is always something else to do in the game.

Final words go to Bethesda. Thank you for everything you gave us with Fallout 3 even if sometimes I wanted to throw the game out of the window due to technical issues. I do await Fallout: New Vegas and hope that it’s anywhere as good as Fallout 3 is. Hats off. Reviewed on the PS3. It wouldn’t be an alien space ship without a Death Ray…About that… Sorry Canada….

53/100

Yippee! Another DLC for Fallout 3 and its illustrious name is Operation: Anchorage. This one is set in the battle of Anchorage, Alaska almost 100 years earlier before the governments of the world thought the best solution to their problems would be to drop atomic weapons on each other.

Now, considering the events of Fallout 3 are set 100 years after this battle, my first question is how? Well, instead of something lame like time travel, it’s all a simulation all very much like Tranquillity Lane is in the main quest. It’s all at the behest of the Brotherhood of Steel outcasts that call you bad names all the time. You know the ones, the dicks in the black and red outfits.

So why agree to help these people (apart from furthering the story and getting your monies worth) in the first place? Well the reason why the simulation exists is to train those heading off to the battle of Anchorage (presumably to scare them shitless?) but for some reason it also unlocks an armoury in the same building if you come out of the sim alive.

Ok, I’m not sure why the armoury lock is tied into the simulations completion, maybe the person who locked it in the first place only wanted the most bad-ass person to obtain the stuff inside. Oh yeah, and you are the only one who can go into the machine because of your Pip-Boy. So, loose plot line mechanics aside, let’s see what’s going on in Anchorage.

It’s weird playing a game within a game and you find yourself stripped of all your personal gear and in the shoes of an American soldier behind enemy lines. I found it quite thrilling having the playing field levelled again and having only the basic weapons and gear of an infantry man. The environment is a million miles from the blasted remains of the Capital Wasteland and is snow covered and mountainous. It’s almost quite beautiful.

Firstly, it’s up to you to destroy several giant gun emplacements high upon a mountain range much like the Guns of Navarone. You get a wingman with you who joins you along the way at certain points helping out against the enemies. Speaking of which, you’re up against the Chinese communist invaders and there of standard affair. Guys in uniform who speak Chinese (no, really) and don’t agree with your way of life. Later on as the missions progress you come up against Chinese special forces the Dragoons, who are a mix of snipers and close combat specialist. Oh, and they are invisible too.

After the main mission you get to invade several other enemy strong points and even select a squad for yourself. You get to choose whose coming and have a selection of weapons and specialities giving you a small control and sense of strategy game. You can request new weapons from the quartermaster yourself before charging off to the front lines.

Mission (quest) wise it’s all very the same. Snowy trenches and Chinese soldiers in the same sort of setting gets boring quickly and Operation: Anchorage is only a few hours long to begin with, 4-5 at the most. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s nice to get out of the Wasteland and this DLC provides a great change of pace. Equally it’s the DLC that sits between the essential Broken Steel and what is the weakest DLC, The Pitt. Very middle of the road.

Operation: Anchorage contains a selection of new stuff including unique armour and weapons. The best new thing that this DLC brings in is the Gauss Rifle. It’s a one shot reload weapon that runs on Microfussion cells and is awesome. It has a scope and is great for sneaky headshot and has a hilarious knock-back ability that stuns the enemy for a short time.

The biggest bonus for this DLC is the ending of the simulation and getting your hands on the contents of the armoury. You get the Gauss rifle and some other bits and bobs but another thing which is sweet is the Chinese stealth suit. Crouch and it turns your invisible and you can use it to carve your enemies down.

When the DLC climaxes you’re not sure if it has ended or not and leaves you with a feeling of “Oh, that’s it?” The only thing to keep you content is the weapons you garner from the armoury. Not the strongest DLC and again, the freezing issues are prevalent as they are through all the DLC’s. The article can be read on this website if you’re interested and i have dipped the score by about 30 points because of it. Wait for the patch and get it. Reviewed on the PS3. “Anyway. One day we decide, those Chinese sons of bitches are going down…”

46/100

Right, to business. I’m not happy. Very unhappy actually and it’s because of the Fallout 3 DLC released for the PS3.

When I found out the Fallout 3 DLC was being released for the PS3 I was ecstatic. The Xbox 360 and PC versions have had the DLC for a while and I watched on with sullen, wanting eyes. I could have gotten it for the PC or even the Xbox but I had played Fallout 3 on the PS3 and was not about to play the game again on another console. 80 hours+…sod that for a bag of beans.

In my 80 hours of play with Fallout 3 I have had a few freezing issue and once in awhile a drop in frame rate. That’s not ideal but it’s forgivable in such a complex and epic game.

So, got my hands on Broken Steel, the first DLC to be release and had a whale of a time. Oh yeah, extended Campaign, awesome. I only had issues with it until it went off the main map. As soon as I was in Adams Air force base, it begun to twitch and freeze. In total it froze and needed to be hard reset 7 times.

Next up was The Pitt. The entire DLC is located off the Capital Wasteland in its own map set in the City of Pittsburgh. As soon as I entered the City the game froze. Ok, I waited a few minutes see if it would start again. Nothing. Ok, so I hard reset the console by holding the ON/OFF button down for a few seconds. It blanks the screen, the PS3 gives out several angry beeps and resets to the XMB.

I restart, load my last save and get to the same point on entering the City and… bam! Happens again. Hard reset. I get to a place called Midea’s house and the game crashes at the loading screen. I wait for a few minutes knowing how resetting the console in a load screen can be dangerous but nothing, so hard reset. Restart, load and crash on exiting Midea’s house after a minute of watching the frame rate at about 2 frames a second.

I managed to get through The Pitt with 2 more crashes and several drops in frame rate in entering new areas. I was thankful that The Pitt lasted about 4 hours but I can’t help but think that it would have been more if I was brave enough to explorer without the threat of crashing hanging over my head.

Next was Operation: Anchorage. Set away from the Capital Wasteland (sort of) in Anchorage, Alaska. You can see my video on this site and in it you can see several crashes and frames rate drops. In total it crashed 11 times and had dozens of drops in frame rate. Not happy. It took me an entire day to complete because of the crashes.

Point Lookout started better. I got a full hour of play before it crashed. Hard reset. Travel anywhere for over a few minutes and frame rate drops, sometimes it lead to a crash and more hard resets. With Point Lookout I had 21, yes 21, Hard Resets and uncounted frame rate drops.

Mid way through I deleted the game install data on the PS3 (not my save data, not a chance!) and reinstalled it. No luck and it crash again and again. I did not finish Point Lookout I only did the main quests and one side quest. I had no time for it as my patience had worn very thin.

Last but not least, Mothership Zeta. I get abducted and the game crashes in the frigging beginning cut scene! Hard reset and it happens again!!! Arrrghh! I did manage to play it, reinstalled the game data once again and I managed to play it. I got almost the entire way through before it crashes in the Death Ray room. Twice.

Some have questioned why I continued to play after all the problems. Because, Fallout 3 is my favourite game of this generation so far, hands down that’s why. But these technical issues are completely unacceptable. This from a developer as skilled as Bethesda? I find it hard to believe that they would even release a DLC so completely flawed. Was there no beta testing? There had to be. I almost think all the issues came up, Bethesda ignored it and released them anyway with time to release a patch later.

I have a feeling these DLC were rushed out before the Game of the Year Edition so to maximise profit. I don’t want to believe that but with so many issues, I can find no other answer. So far Bethesda has said nothing on the issue and their silence damns them. What was Bethesda doing in the 8 months between the launch of the Xbox DLC and PS3 DLC? Judge for yourself but these are just words of warning. Don’t miss these DLC’s but I would wait for a patch first.

*Sigh*Roll on Fallout: New Vegas.

If you read my Fallout 3 review you know I’m a massive fan. So when DLC was announced I was over the moon with glee that one of the best games is getting better. Now, when I learnt that the DLC for the PS3 was delayed I was a sad panda having my primary game save on the PS3. I could have gotten it for the PC or the Xbox but it never felt right to review them without everyone having access to them.

So summer came and went and I awaited the release of Broken Steel (not the first DLC ever released but the first for the PS3). Broken Steel changes the game ending entirely or adds to it depending on your view. Now, here be spoilers so read no more if you want to keep the ending of Fallout 3 a virgin ideal and you should if you haven’t yet played it. In fact, what the hell? Why haven’t you played it yet? Get your arse to the shops…NOW!

Now that’s behind us, let’s review. Broken Steel opens with the Lone Wanderer (official name of the main character of Fallout 3 as you can call him/her anything) waking from the traumatic events of project purity. If you had one, your partner waits for you by your bed side (dear, faithful Charon, how you have served me well) and you find yourself in the Citadel with the Brotherhood of Steel to thank for your recovery.

This DLC revolves around the Enclave and taking down pockets of resistance in the Capital Wasteland with the aid of Liberty Prime (the giant walking robot thing) but its short lived and soon you’re off doing other things. The best part of this DLC is the exploration because it added new locations to go to and sniff around in. Broken Steel furthers the story mainly through the success of project purity and those who are affected by it

The level cap has been raised to 30 with all new perks to be had which is a massive bonus and enough reason to get this DLC. There are some nice side missions to get including one investigating the disappearance of convoys loaded with clean water made by Project Purity.

Going off map allowed for some nice new environments and a chance for the developer to branch out a bit, instead of cramming new stuff in the Capital Wasteland. Adams Air force base was a great atmospheric edition and even getting there is a challenge with a new ghoul reaver class harassing you underground.

Broken Steel comes with some new bit and bobs but nothing to rave about. Oh yeah, apart from some awesome new guns. The Tesla cannon is a one-shot-reload cannon which blasts Enclave Veribirds from the sky in a satisfying display of fire and metal. New flamer models are available including one with a nice range to it. Hellfire armour is a new edition to the Enclaves armoury and is tough to boot. Loot one today!

Now I’m not sure if I’m the only one but all the DLC’s I played has gone crazy with tech issues like freezing, etc. But with Broken Steel I only had a few and those issues didn’t happen until I went off map to Adams Air force base. There is a separate article on this site which you can read to find out more. I did mark the scored with this in mind.

I took a month hiatus between the end of Fallout 3 and playing Broken Steel but it drew me right in and didn’t feel tacked on. I call that a great success and Bethesda have managed to improve upon the original game rather than just trucking in more guns or just moving the level cap higher.

I wouldn’t call this a stand along DLC per se, but a necessary edition to Fallout 3. In fact I call it a small sequel like the episodic content released by Valve for the Half Life 2 game. If you buy one DLC for Fallout 3 it’s this one you want. Reviewed on the PS3. Steal the Aqua Cura salesman’s wigs then put one on and confront him….hilarious!

56/100

Another add-on to one of most loved gamesever made, Fallout 3. I can’t lie, I am excited because this is the largest downloadable content released for the game and the idea of gunning down inbred hicks is just fantastic.

One thing I am not going to talk about here is the appalling technical issues with the Fallout 3 DLC. I have given that an article of its own and can be read elsewhere on this site. I have taken into account the tech issues with my finial score though.

So, Point Lookout is set away from the Capital Wasteland in a swampy area reminiscent of the Florida Everglades. You get there with a paddle boat ride from the every south of the map (near Rivet City) and like most of the off map adventures you have to leave any followers behind.

It’s nice to have a new area to explore and pillage and new enemies to face your wraith and they will know that you are the Lone Wanderer and you take no shit. Point Lookout is splashed with a green palette but isn’t too dissimilar to the Capital Wasteland just with a bit more water, a few more trees and a new sky. It retains its own close atmosphere though and viewing distance is shorter and you don’t get the wide expansive views the Capital Wasteland gives.

Point Lookout has an expansive map to explore, about a fifth the size of the Capital Wastes which, in its self, is huge (Have you tried walking from one side to the other? Took me ages!) There are about 20 locations to discover and some even contain those magical things, side quests.

Point Lookout contains the most quests in any of the Fallout 3 DLC’s. What it has over others is a nice story spread over several main quest and a handful of side quests that proved fun and tapped into the vein of what makes Fallout 3 so great, exploration, combat and detective work.

The main quest is helping a very rude ghoul called Desmond who possibly has the foulest mouth of any character in Fallout 3. Help him by defending his large plantation era house from raiding tribal humans who will give you a run for your money in such tight hallways.

There is also a host of new items and guns to be had but as weapons go, no level 30 will concern himself with a level action rifle. Its all stuff better suited too mid to low level players. Oh, and there is some strange stuff laying around including yeast and plenty of fission batteries (though you find out later, why)

One thing that sometimes I missed with the lack of radio to listen to. I confess I got sick of all the stations repeating (over an 80 hour campaign you’re gonna get sick of the same music) but when travelling it sometime filled the gaps. Minor gripe but nothing that spoils the game.

There are some nice places to visit in Point Lookout but some of it is very much the same, seen one broken down shack, you’ve seen them all. It breaks it up with some interesting stuff but nothing to write home about (or in a review). In total your going to get about 8 hours out of Point Lookout if you do everything, maybe longer if you don’t fast travel everywhere and is so far the meatiest DLC.

Out of all the DLC’s this is one of my favourites. It adds to the game without compromising its spirit or flavour. Reviewed on the PS3. “How cute, you brought a flint lock rifle to a plasma weapon fight….”

49/100

Fallout 3. Thee Fallout 3. I have never played a previous edition of Fallout and the E3 teaser was enough to intrigue me. I later learnt that Fallout 3 was an RPG. That dropped it a lot for me as I have had a bad time with RPG’s before (raped my mother, killed my father). Let me explain before you all stone me to death.

I never liked any of the final fantasy games or any Japanese RPG’s, I gave Oblivion a bash and didn’t enjoy myself, this later turned out to be an aversion to anything “fantasy based”. I can watch a fantasy movie (Lord of the Rings, Willow etc) but for the life of me can’t play a fantasy themed game. Don’t get me wrong I have tried time and time again. I think I’m too routed into modern day or the future. Technology is the stuff of my dreams. Why use an Enchanted Flaming Sword when I can shoot you in the face with my Heavy Bolter or Plasma Cannon?

But I digress. I did get Fallout 3 after the promise of a post–nuclear 1950ish American wasteland. And it delivered. Oh, did it deliver. The game starts with your birth and your dad uses a gene machine to see what you will be like in the future. It’s a nice way of camouflaging a character creation section. All basic tutorials are in the form of growing up in the underground home you call Vault 101(think like a social air-raid bunker). It’s done with a storytelling master stroke of flash forwards, taking you to the important parts of your childhood. Even with your basic set of skills you start out with are taken like a high school test.

The RPG element to the game is all in the wrist device you wear called a Pip-boy 3000. It holds the maps, inventory, weapons, medical, radiation and quest notes as well as a horde of other items and notes. This is what put me off to begin with. All those confusing tabs and sections! Ah! But with a little time to think and look it over it’s actually very simple and easy to understand (even someone who has little time for these things).

The story unfolds and you have to leave the Vault and find your dad (who has buggered off for various reasons). I got a chill when I had to leave Vault 101. This game makes you feel like you are sealed in this place and permanently. The wasteland above is a murmured story between Vault resistances. When the Vault unseals and you are stood in the harsh daylight of the wasteland all I could mutter was “Holy crap”.

When the game truly starts you feel very alone and very small. The expanse of the wasteland is epic. The game revolves around finding your dad and that isn’t as easy as you think. The wasteland itself has a character of its own. It feels like it wants you to die and it’s going to do it through the use of robots, giant scorpions, raiders and mercenaries. Character interaction is excellent and in the form of dialog boxes with multiple choice options. You really can be good, neutral or a bastard and everything in-between.

You never feel like your playing a story, more of a life, each “quest” you do (depending on which way you do it) can last as long as any normal game and for that reason this game is worth your cash. You will get side tracked. I know you will. You will set off to do one mission and ending up doing “Oh! Wonder what that is!” and changing direction that leads to another mission or quest or objective or it will inspire you to do something else or find that thing that someone mentioned earlier in the game. It’s never a straight deal in Fallout 3 and that’s what makes it great.

There are dozens of guns to use and create from scrap if you have the caps (currency of the wasteland) for the plans, from the 10mm pistol to the railway rifle to the laser minigun. You can also pick up unique weapons that have there own special abilities, usually higher fire rate, ammo capacity or killing power. Being able to specialize with perks and skills you can be great at a few weapons or good at all of them. Equally you can throw out the guns and carve you enemy down in close combat with a baseball bat, power fist or a chain-bladed dagger.

A cast of hundreds mixed with the wonderfully created locations of the Capital Wasteland and the freedom to do what ever the hell you like makes this game epic. And there is always something new to do or things to find. On the console version there is some freezing once in a while (3 times over the course of an 80 hour play through) but if this is the worst thing that it has to worry about then there really isn’t anything to worry about.

Truly a monument game that is worth EVERY penny you spend on it. Fallout 3 is dozens of games rolled into one radiation infested, ghoul shooting, plasma gun wielding and power armour wearing adventure of a life time. Please, please buy this game!

10/10

Sony does love their updates, don’t they? Almost once a month we get one, from small security updates (we see what you did there), out loud and proud updates with several new features etc and sneaky updates which they don’t tell us about but are a nice surprise. In keeping with what the community wants, Sony gave us Trophy’s. Yay we all say! And Yay again! Yeah…not me though….

I couldn’t care less about trophies; I have never cared about them. Up until now they have been a happy pop-up on my screen mildly distracting me from gunning down mutants. I never saw the appeal and blanked out when people talk about them to me, until inFamous. Oh you glorious bastards, Sucker Punch studios.

InFamous is one of the finest games I have played in a long time. Anyone who knows me knows I can play a great game for hours but you’re gonna have to work for my time. Fallout 3 did this (one more hour, please!) and now InFamous did this. To date, it is the only game I have cared enough about to get all the trophies.

You play Cole McGrath, Courier in Empire city (yeah I know, stick with it) and right at the beginning a bomb goes off with our “hero” in the middle. End game right? Wrong. Cole is gifted with the power to harness electricity and electrical energy which rates about an 8 on my “Awesome-super-powers-to-have” scale. You “start” the game a few days after the explosion in which the city has gone to hell. Gangs rule, a plague has broken out and the army is camped outside the city not allowing anyone out (one of the early missions shows the brutality they are willing to perform to keep the quarantine in effect). This is one of the better mechanics to explain the limits of a sandbox game. That and you can’t swim, being that thousands of volts charge through your body and anyone who needs the science lesson; water + electricity = lashing of death.

You start with the standard abilities to zap people and run around the roofs of empire city (Cole being a free runner before the disaster) with more missions under your belt the more your powers expand. You get them by connecting substations in underground missions which are a refreshing break from above ground. The excitement you feel when you get a new power to try is quite fun. You can also improve them with experience points gained from doing missions and cleaning up the gang affected areas. Nothing quite like chucking an electric cluster-bomb into a crowd of hooded bad guys and watching the bodies fly.

Oh, yeah your powers are limited in one respect. You charge your powers by sucking the energy from lamp posts, outlets, cars and even (if you really are a bastard) people. This would seam tedious at first but becomes second nature and your “internal battery” improves making these charging point top-ups less frequent. But you still get your basic lightning strike power that never needs a recharge so you’re never defenceless.

The scaling of buildings and running around the roof of Empire City feels very natural and never forced. Some times I had issues with jumping on a thin pillar, Cole not grabbing it etc. but this is more to do with me than the game. It never feels forced or breaks you from the immersion of the game and with the ability to get charged by grinding the over-ground train system, “glide” using electrical-magnetic repulsion and grind electrical wires from roof to roof travel is fast and not a problem. In fact it feels like a natural evolution of Cole’s powers. Sucker punch could have wimped out and given Cole the ability to fly or teleport but they went the more character way and it works out better in my opinion.

Empire City itself is divided into 3 districts which become un-lockable in the progression of missions (thank you GTA). You start out in the trendy part of the city then the slums and then the historic district where the game climaxes. Each district has about 15-20 side missions and are very good and have real variety over the usual “go here, do that” or the “escort this” ”protect that”. The side missions feel important and every time you complete one you clear the area of bad guys and sometimes get perks like a hospital check point in that location, should you die you will re-spawn there instead of the other side of the map. Very helpful!

The city itself is a character. It gets cleaner if you are good (people come up to you and are nice, take photos of you etc) and becomes a hellhole if you are bad (people form mobs and come after you, putting up posters of you etc). You never really question the nature of the city and it does feel alive.

Ah, yes, the Karma system. No grey area here. Good or bad and variations of good and bad e.g. guardian, champion hero for the good side. Either side gets you unique powers so you can swing between good and evil or like me do a “good” play through and then a “bad” play through. In the “bad” play through I did feel guilty at first but after using the lightning storm to cook a street of people I unashamedly did my evil, tyrannical laugh (usually only heard from my workshop after I have overclocked my PC or I have invented another bacon recipe).

The only flaws I could gather are that one type of side mission gets very annoying. You have to scale a building and destroy several listening devices scattered around it. It can be a challenge but I always just found it boring. You only have to do this a few times in the game and this is offset by all the other excellent other side missions. Play through the pain.

I

nFamous delivers in shovel loads. Giant mechs made of trash, psychically charged enemies, hordes of weapon welding, gasmask wearing bad guys, a twisting story line, romance, consequences and a great ending. There are some moments in the game that made me jump out of my seat doing a Darth Vader “NOOOOO!!!” at the screen, but I won’t spoil it for you. Coupled with a great desire to do good and stand posing in front of waving American flags (damn you Spiderman 3) or to burn down entire crowds of innocent people in a hell-storm of electric death, InFamous I love you. Sucker Punch, get on with the sequel. I cannot wait.

9/10

Whooohoo! Brutal Legend! I have been waiting to give this a go since the trailer was released a few months back. What a premise. A hell-like world inspired by the world of ROCK! Based around every Heavy Metal, Rock and Death Metal album covers and lyrics from the golden age of rock and roll (70’s and 80’s maybe some early 90’s before it got all wimpy). Who ever pitched that idea needs a freaking medal.

Ok, ok…calm…so you play Eddie a roadie voiced by Jack Black and the last of a dying breed of rockers who are forced to work in a world populated by wimpy, alternate modern rock music where every third word is “baby” or “love” *shudder*.

Eddie is the best at what he does and is losing hope in music and the youth of today. After one of the girly “rock” band members does something stupid on stage it gets Eddie killed and that’s where the story takes off. The game is like a God of War clone combat wise and uses swirling melees with loads of freaky enemies. The promises of visiting fantasy lands of ice and fire and with the voices of several of Rocks greatest legends (Ozzy! Whohoo!) this game is gonna have to try hard to fail.

Let’s just hope that combat is smooth because this would be the only thing that could cripple a game such as this. In the demo I played, the combat felt a little stiff and if you can’t tell, I really want this game to be awesome. Jack Black was the perfect voice for this role, in many ways he’s playing out a fantasy roll (hell, he even went to an award ceremony dressed as Eddie) but lets hope its all in moderation. I like Jack Black but don’t milk it and have him vocalise everything.

If you can’t tell, I’m excited about this one and from what I have played and what I have seen, visually, it’s impressive. Once EA was a byword for shoddy development or stale games but in recent years, they have gambled and released some excellent and original titles. I hope that Brutal Legend can keep up to all the hype (I’m not helping, I know) and that this lives as a testament to good music, rock and roll and classic gaming. Until release I will dream sweet dreams of barbarians, skimpy maidens and fantasy landscapes born fruit from the art of the 80’s album cover. ROCK ON!!!

All my friends keep going on about Batman: Arkham Asylum and after an entire summer of waiting for it I have contemplated murdering at least one of them to give me some peace. I did get a bit excited about it when I watched the villain videos (oh, Poison Ivy your growing on me…that’s the last pun today, sorry) but after that I really didn’t think about it much. The demo came and I was impressed but it didn’t blow me away.

Finally it got released and bang my friends shut up….for about a day. Calls in the middle of the night about how awesome it is and that I should be on it. Ok, I cracked, I got a copy and I was blown away.

This game oozes style from every pore like a greasy teenager covered in oil. From the excellent cut scene at the beginning you’re instantly captivated by the story. You have missed a great fight between the Joker and the Batman and looks like the end of every Batman story, but this is just the beginning and the Joker (voiced by Luke Skywalker) has plans for you and Gotham cities favourite mental institute. Before too long Joker breaks free with the help of Harley Quinn (super hot) and it’s up to you to get him back. It becomes much more complex and I was surprised in the course of the game how well the story has been conceived. I honestly didn’t think the Joker scary at first looking more like an extreme version of the cartoon form back in the 90’s, but through the game you get smatterings of personality, veiled threat and impressions of this Joker and its pretty scary stuff.

On to the game play. Batman dominates the screen and at first that bothered me. In fact every time I go back to the game it bothers me for about five minutes before I forget about it and carry on. The camera itself is very well thought out and never really suffers from leaping through walls or crashing around the environment and accents the fluid motion of the character. In combat you have an isometric shot giving you a better view and I didn’t notice this until I sat down and started typing about it. That’s good integration of a camera mode.

Combat is tight and fluid. Taking on several enemies at once takes concentration but not so much that you try and skip it. Managing you opponents with measured skill and timing is for higher combos one of the most satisfying experiences in a game yet. Never does the combat feel unnatural and even the counter attack wields different moves keeping it fresh and most importantly making it look like a real fight.

One negative is the people you fight; they are all mostly the same apart from some small variations. The way the game flushes out the character of Batman is by making the worlds greats detective into a detective! Simple, but it could have been so easy to make him in to a one dimensional super hero who just kicks arse. One of the best features is the detective mode which allows you to look at the world in the way Batman does, highlighting interesting objects or places to grapple to or escape from. It also is used in tracking people by DNA or even pipe smoke.

The game wants to please you and the geek within you. It gives you character bios to unlock and with nice art work and interview tapes for selected villains. You can see why they set this game on Arkham so they could get as many villains in as possible without a stupid plot to justify it. They tried to get so much into this game and it could have been crowed but it all fits in beautifully and flows like a Hollywood film. At this point it is an insult to say it’s like a film because it’s not, its’ better than that and slowly I want film reviewers to say that a film is as good as a video games story.

There is no multiplayer which is a shame but then it would be interesting to see and let’s face it, everyone would want to be the Batman. Also, if you have to sacrifice multiplayer to get a single player story as good as this, then bollocks to multiplayer. There is a challenge mode in the game which will provide you with hours of frustrated fun and some challenge rooms are only unlocked within the main story so plenty to make you revisit it. Oh and don’t forget the free DLC which is ice cream on the top.

Graphics are great and make fantastic use of the Unreal engine and in my opinion so far the best usage of the Unreal engine. Don’t get me wrong, Batman: Arkham Asylum isn’t the best looking game ever but is certainly better than some out there. The asylum has a life of its own and is enhanced by the environments lighting and colour. Small details add to the totally convincing atmosphere of the entire game world and a lot of love has gone into it, in fact…..

I’m just gonna take a second to talk about the art direction of this game. It echoes of the classic batman comics and 90’s Batman: The Animated Series and for a short while i was expected for the game to be in line with the newer Christopher Nolan Batman films. In truth it’s an amalgamation of all of them and its excellent and will hopefully please all those not obsessed with Batman and those who dress up as the dark knight and constantly say “I am the bat” in the mirror. The boss fights I felt could have been flushed out a bit more. All most all of them are dealing with the main villain while fighting off hordes of generic bad guys and this formula even makes it into the last Boss fight at the end. Perhaps the most unique boss fight is the Scarecrow, his few sections of the game are possibly my favourite moments and draws on inspiration from the likes of the Psycho Mantis encounter in Metal Gear Solid.

Batman: Arkham Asylum has a real endless quality to it. Like when playing Half Life 2 for the first time it seems to stretch on forever and the game take great pleasure in telling you that your only 9% done after 3-4 hours. The game has been expanded internally buy Riddler puzzles and clues to make the game have a certain sense of freedom. I personally sent a good hour searching for one of the Riddlers clues and it makes good use of the Detective mode.

I scoffed roundly at the idea of Batman: Arkham Asylum at first. Until now there has never been a great Batman game that has done Bob Kane justice and I eat my words with a side of humble pie topped with in-my-face cream because this game is great. Fine scripted events, smooth combat and sumptuous environments screams of a development team passionate about their licence. I wait with baited breath until the next one. Reviewed on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Oh yeah, and the main villains should be Harvey Dent and Victor Freeze…original Freeze not the awful Arnold Schwarzenegger version.

93/100

Hummmm, I question all these old 1980’s early 90’s games being updated and re-released. I tend to think they are lazy developers making swift money on old game ideas and not having to come up with their own ideas. The consumer is just as bad because we lap it up, remembering how these games sucked away hours of our youth and playing on our nostalgic feelings.

There are exceptions and to this rule. If it’s just an exceptional remake (Bionic Commando: Rearmed) or If you never got to play the game in the first incarnation and want to know what the fuss is about. In this case it’s the latter for me and a lot of other people.

Digger HD is what I got to review today, an exclusive Playstation Network download re-imagined by Creat Studios who have taken over from Windmill Games, who originally made the game in the early 80’s.

Basically, you play as a little digger and you have to collect the gems scattered around the level by digging through the soil. Easy? Oh no, you get chased by various crazy looking monsters who stalk you through the tunnels you make in pursuit of gems. I found out very quickly that you have little defence against the hordes of monsters that want to put you out of action (presumably it’s because your digging through their natural environment and wreaking their homes).

It’s not as cut and dry as collect gems, avoid monsters, you also get sacks of money with nice high amounts of points in them. Push them over into a tunnel and they smash open and you can collect your dough. Dig under them and they fall through the thin floor and crush you if you’re still stupid to be underneath it. Be clever and you can use them as a weapon to crush the monsters chasing you. Get in a tight position and you can use a one shot weapon to gun one of them down.

Digger HD keeps it fresh by throwing new enemies at you who can speed up or can dig their own tunnels to get you. You get upgrades like firebombs and the ability to freeze those around you. It’s all very fast paced and sets a good tone with tense levels trying to keep your high score intact or your limited lives. Saying that, the developers have been nice enough to be forgiving with the game and not get you to restart every time your lives give out.

Main game is the Arcade mode and has dozens of levels to do. Games are fun and fast and never last over 2 minutes and that’s perfect as small PSN games go. There is also a CO-OP Arcade mode which myself and my girlfriend ended up arguing about “Get off, that’s my gem!”, “You killed me with a falling money sack!” etc, etc. There is also a Survival mode and a CO-OP Survival mode to conquer but I suggest a partner who won’t throw the control at your head.

As a bonus and something that I really loved about this download is the inclusion of the original game Digger. Bravo to Creat Studios for getting this into the game because it makes it so much worthwhile being able to play the original and see what the remade has to lived up to. I almost think it should be mandatory for all game remakes to include the original game. Its apart of game history and our past and I don’t think we should all forget so easily (Unless it’s Psychic Force for the PS1)

They call it Digger “HD” and what made me smile is the almost over the top way they present it. Games great, colourful and fun but the menus are slick and fast they whoosh on the screen like you would find for a high class multimillion dollar game. Even small details have been treated with the “HD” brush and the animations look nice and polished against the high quality backgrounds.

Music is fun and chirpy and is a supped-up version of the monotone sound track from the original game with some new favour thrown in. It’s on the boundary of being annoying but doesn’t leap into the precipice of insanity and I found myself whistling one of the tunes on the way to work. The in-game sounds are great and I found them funny and full of classic retro noises. Top notch.

With loads of game modes and levels to be had it’s not badly priced. This is how a game should be remade with love and really consideration for it audience. No flash and bang is needed and it doesn’t always have to be all about the ground breaking graphics or some new feature that’s the flavour of the month. With this, its solid game play and I have the up most respect for a developer who treats a remake of a classic so well. One of the best remakes and downloads for a PSN that’s finally getting some nice crazy games. Review on the PS3. Dear Creat Studio, as I see it you owe me a new Dualshock after I had it thrown against my head while playing survival CO-OP with the girlfriend…

64/100