James Ireland brings us the latest simulator creation from Condo Media and Astragon. Is it much fun at the port putting containers on ships? Well probably not but does the game actually work and keep enough variation to continue the interest after the initial hour or two of play? Find out.

It’s been over ten years since the release of the original Deus Ex game launched for the PC and ever since then its fans have been craving a sequel deserving of carrying the brand name. A piss poor attempt was made with the follow up game titled Invisible War. Now here we are and its 2011 with a new developer taking on its very first project with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The boys at Eidos Montreal had a lot to live up to as far as fan expectations go and making a transition to consoles has proven to hinder some pc developers in the past. Let’s find out if they can deliver on the hype leading up to the games release and come full circle with an engaging multi-platform sequel to the epic Deus Ex franchise.

For those that aren’t familiar with the franchise, Deus Ex is a cyber punk RPG/FPS set in a future where technology has taken over and perhaps gone too far. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is set 20 year prior to the events of the original game in the year 2027. The player controls Adam Jensen, head of security at Sarif Industries. After an attack on the labs of Sarif, Jensen’s tale begins as he investigates the reasons behind the attacks. We quickly learn that there is a division between those that believe augmentations are a crime against man and those like Sarif Industries who make there billions on selling augmentations to the masses.

Deus Ex: HR takes place in a large open world. Interacting with different people and exploring is what makes Human Revolutions worth your time. Chiming in at around 25-40 hours for a single play through, this game definitely offers a large variety of missions and side quests to keep you busy. The games story and the way it forces you to make decisions has the game practically begging for multiple play throughs. The player can also chose to not only affect the story but also how the game is played. You can go at it stealthy, guns blazing, and even use your ability to speak to negotiate your way through certain situations. Upgrades and augmentations help to aid you in what ever play style you choose. So if you want to play the game stealthy you can choose to do so and apply your upgrade points to the different stealth augmentations like an invisibility cloak to aid in sneaking past bad guys.

As far as the games overall presentation goes, I have to say that I was impressed. The games art style is impressive and despite being almost exclusively set at night time, the game manages to deliver a colorful and vibrant world. The voice acting for Deus is also top notch and the soundtrack provides a nice background for the game.

Overall I am completely enjoying my experience so far with Human Revolution. I am looking forward to a second and possibly third play through. With its stunning graphics, addictive gameplay, and fantastic RPG elements I have no problem giving this game a near perfect score. Everyone at Eidos Montreal deserves some kudos for a job well done on their first game. You can pick up Deus Ex: Human Revolution today in North America and on Friday, the 26^th in Europe and Japan.

Ever wanted to play god with the planetary system? Now you have the chance to do that with Solar 2. Solar 2 is the latest development from Murudai software and the game is not only weird, wacky but also pretty good to play too. Will it grab your attention, not massively but it’s a great time killer and finds a nice place between filling short spaces of time. A mobile version would be very worthwhile!

Another simulator review for you on the PC, but this time you will be cleaning the streets. Question is, is the game actually playable, will it be fun to play, is the games physics engine broken? Find out in the video review.

UPDATE: There is an option to reset your vehicle pressing the backspace button but even with this revelation, it is not enough to save this game from the pit of oblivion

James is back with the latest simulator release, but is it any good? Coming from the highest scoring simulator creators SCS Software comes their latest release, Trucks & Trailers. Can it cut the mustard or will it be lacklustre, find out in the video review below for the full lowdown and score.

Ever since the dawn of man there have been nerds. And since the dawn of these nerds known typically in its Latin name Nerdus Maximus, required some sort of outlet to allow them to live out their fantasies of trolling around dungeons so as they could slay Goblins, Undead Skeletons, and of course dragons. It was a long hard road for the nerd as it waited year after year until finally on a cool misty morning way back in the year of our lord 1974 the call was answered. Dungeons & Dragons was its name! And while John Travolta was busy looking like a fruit cup on the dance floor, nerds were silently rejoicing in basements and YMCA leisure rooms everywhere.

Now here we are in 2011, D&D is alive and well as ever. In the near four decades since its original conception it has since spawned several revisions in the form of comic books, action figures, cartoons, full length featured films, and last but certainly not least Video Games. Some of the most early renditions landed on some ancient platforms like PLATO, Intellivision, and some very old home computers. Since then it has moved on bringing us games like “Pool of Radiance” for the NES, countless renditions for PC & Mac and now finally D&D receives and HD coat of paint in Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale. Developed by our mates over at Bedlam Game Studios out of Atari, promises to be a dungeon crawling good time.

The game takes place in the Forgotten Realms on the fictional continent of Faerûn in Daggerdale, a region in the Dalelands. Players will enter areas such as the Tower of Void and the Mines of Tethyamar. Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale centers on the desperate struggle to defeat the evil Rezlus and his Zhentarim in their attempt to invade and conquer the Dalelands. Players are charged with the task of restoring order to the Dalelands by unlocking the secrets of the Mines of Tethyamar, defeating the evil within the treacherous Tower of the Void, leading to the final confrontation with Rezlus himself.

The first thing we are going to want to do before setting out on our epic quest is to create a character. All the classic types are here; as you can choose from being a Dwarven Cleric, Human Fighter, Elven Rogue, or the Halfling Wizard. No matter which character you choose you will be able to kit him or her out with a wide assortment of weapons, armors, and clothing to make the character really feel like your own. Starting off I am choosing the Elven Rogue since that is the character I typically play in RPG’s like Dragon Age: Origins which on a side note has many similarities to the gameplay aspect of Daggerdale. But more on that later.

Once you’re done selecting your race/class and abilities, weak though they may be, that will change very soon once you begin leveling up. The actual gameplay is like a perfect marriage of Origins and Diablo. Combat is fluid and fast-paced without being over the top. Lesser enemies can be dispatched with ease and great cunning. As a Rogue I was easily able to switch from melee combat to the use of my short bow so as to keep distance from much more alarmingly sized foes. Overall I would have to say the combat is great. It’s engaging and most importantly fun. There is an noticeable pick up and play quality present here that you don’t see too often in role-playing games.

While this is definitely a hardcore dungeon crawler it didn’t skimp on the RPG elements. Upgrading your character is done via earning xp, which you receive for killing enemies, completing side objectives and handing in quests. With leveling up comes unlockable weapons, armor, and abilities to make your character stronger for the much more difficult enemies that lie ahead. The games flawless inventory system works very well and it is easy to manage. If you are new to these types of games I don’t think you will feel over whelmed with the amount of customizing that takes place.

On the presentation side of things Daggerdale is surprisingly pretty damn good. The environments are beautifully done, however repetitive they may come. But that is expected in a dungeon crawler. The game takes place in a dark place similar to that of the Deep Roads. And while some areas are re used for different missions, I never got tired of going back to loot and pillage more coin and upgrades for my character. The audio is good as well. It creates an atmospheric feeling that reinforces the simple fact that you are in a gigantic fucking cave where voices tend to echo and the constant sound of dripping water is ever present.

If you are feeling lonely and don’t want to tackle this game on your own don’t worry because you are in luck. Daggerdale not only has a split screen option to play with a friend or spouse, but you can also jump online with up to three additional players. You aren’t aloud to repeat any classes in the online though. The game has 4 specific classes/races and you may only select one of each. So if your with a group of dicks fighting over who get to be what, than find a new group of friends mate. The cooperative drop in/out mode is completely seamless. A mate can drop in to assist with a few quests and then pop back over to their game and bring along any goodies they picked up while playing with you.

All in all D&D: Daggerdale is a complete RPG experience with all the dungeon crawling elements the series is known for. The best way to describe this game is if Bioware’s Dragon Age got together with Diablo and had some sort of super baby that retained both parents best qualities, you would wind up with D&D: Daggerdale. And with a campaign that covers four chapters it should take around 12-15 hours to complete the main story, but the life of the game is easily extended if you choose to play through again with different characters. This game really does offer an uncanny amount of gameplay for an Arcade release. I would have been happy paying for a full version of this, so 1200 msp or $15 is great deal. You can pick up Daggerdale now on the PC and Xbox 360. Presumably if Sony ever gets their shit together you could get it on the PS3 too. Cheers and Happy Dungeon Crawling!

Also on a quick side note, Atari has announced that Daggerdale is the first game in a planned trilogy, which is amazing news. I can’t wait to see where the franchise goes next. As of now there hasn’t been a release window given as to when we can expect to see the Daggerdale sequels, but stay tuned to wedogames.net regularly and we will be sure to let you know anything that comes along. J

Forget the Eurovision song contest, because there is a triple AAA game you should be playing right now. Ok, enough of the sarcasm. However there is a latest simulator out there for you geeks and freaks! Ever wanted to smell piles of hot rubbish? Well now you can thanks to Garbage Truck Simulator. Watch our video review!

Battle Slots is a strategy RPG reminiscent of Puzzle Quest. If you’re familiar with that, stick with what you know, it plays much better.

The battle system in this game is incredibly simple and requires little to no learning curve what-so-ever. It’s just enough for you to enjoy though, and I promise you will if you’re a fan of these types of RPGs.
Once you enter combat, the screen literally opens up like a slot machine, pressing spin will randomize the 15 block slot into random images that all contribute to your XP, Gold, MP, & AP gain.
These are represented by colors, Green, Yellow, Blue, and Red respectively. You’ll gradually fill your MP & AP but can only perform one attack per turn. It doesn’t matter if you have enough to use a physical and magical attack, you can only use one so try to be a bit cautious about which you use.

HAVE AT THEE VILE BARRACUDA

In the main town, Hearthstone, you can shop around, pick up side quests at the tavern, add attacks to your list, equip runes to aid in battle, etc. etc. You can always view all your current items in your battle slot, or capture certain creatures throughout the game that will give you special abilities. To view those creatures, just visit the Zoo! How convenient.

You'll come back here a lot

As you progress through its easily forgettable story, you’ll gain more images for your battle slot which will contribute to more matches and more gains. Using the gold you can upgrade your attacks, buy weapon and armor to help you withstand and persevere combat which is the strongest point of this game. I often found myself just skipping dialogue just to get to the combat.
It’s not that the story sucks; it just didn’t grasp my attention enough to sit through every NPC dialogue wondering what will happen next. Who cares? Just let me kill some faeries.

This is your world.

The lack of first availability purchase options will leave you feeling weak and underpowered in the beginning of the game and the first items to buy are just a bit too expensive to start off with. Some enemies have incredibly strong attacks and make you feel like the battle is lost before you’ve even started. I’ve encountered a bear that would lock my slot and attack for at least 5 spins whilst he decimated me resulting in a rather embarrassing defeat.

Whilst the character art is..lacking..the visuals make up for it. Each action seems to have its own detailed animation that blends in well with the combat, which is where this games strongest point lies. Musically the game reminds me heavily of Fishdom 2 with a bit of Royal Envoy in the sense the music is great at first, but becomes very old very fast.

This thing wants to bite off your toes, seriously, that's one of it's combat dialogues.

I’d hate to slag on a game that people have put so much work into but there’s just nothing here that Puzzle Quest doesn’t do better but as always I do very much enjoy the indie titles and can appreciate the hard work involved. If you enjoyed Puzzle Quest but love supporting the lesser known developers, I’d say this game is right for you, otherwise just stick with what you already have.

Its been over 20 years since the last Back To The Future film, but its legacy remains still. I doubt there is anyone out there that hasn’t seen them so it would take a lot of balls to try release something based on the franchise. Telltale Games definitely have the kahonies as they have released an episodic series to follow on from where the trilogy left off but is it worth the wait (Speaking of waits.. Sorry everyone for the delay getting this review out there)

6 months has past since Doc Brown vanished off with Clara & the kids in the time traveling train leaving Marty behind in 1985 with no sign of the eccentric scientist. The Hill Valley council has begun proceedings to sell off Docs possessions with Marty’s dad George McFly leading the way and against Marty’s wishes. Whilst making a farewell visit to 1646 Riverside Drive, Marty is confronted by the arrival of a driver less Deloren. Its then upto you, as Marty McFly himself to find out whats happen to Doc Brown (I just wish you could find out how the demolished Deloren somehow returned or even where Clara & the kids are… Little points that niggled me)

The game plays as a 3rd person adventure using either the mouse or WASD to move around highlighting objects with the mouse to use. Like most traditional adventure games, you spend the majority of your time going back and forth until you solve the puzzle and can move onto the next. Whilst wandering around you get to enjoy all of Hill Valley’s scenery. Right from the start of the game, you can tell that Telltale Games have spent a lot of time and effort getting the atmosphere just right. Even with the cartooney style of the game, everything looks just like the film; be it Doc Browns lab or Hill Valley town square. Telltale have managed to persuade Christopher Lloyd to reprise his role as the voice of Emmett Brown and just hearing his voice during the intro sent goosebumps all over. Michael J Fox doesn’t return as Marty McFly (probably for obvious reasons) but if you dont look at the credits, you wouldn’t even know. AJ LoCascio provides Marty’s voice and its practically spot on. It has to be heard to be believed.

Now there are some flaws with BTTF:TG. First up is the difficulty. The game feels like its been aimed at the younger end of the demographic (who probably weren’t even alive when the last film came out) as the puzzles are fairly simplistic but on the odd occasion when you might get stuck, Telltale have implemented a hint system in-game. It starts with a slight hint at what you need to do, but you can coax out of it exactly what you need to do to carry on. Secondly, the background music can get pretty boring. Even though the background music sounds like it could have some straight from the films, its all very similar and mixes into what feels like one track. Finally the biggest flaw. Its episodic… Having finished Episode 1, i immediately wanted to play Episode 2. Im still working on Episode 2, but i get the feeling that i will want to play Episode 3 right away. Its annoying.. I want it NOW!! However saying that upon purchasing the first game, you then get the entire series as they are released instead of having to pay per episode which is a great idea.

At £16.99 for all 5 parts, Back To The Future is a must for all fans of the series.. I dare you to not get giddy with excitement at least once through the game or hum the tune during the chases. You all know how it goes… Do do doo do do, do do dooo do do!!! and Der der derrrrrr d-d-der der der derrrrr!!!

Another stab at creating a decent simulator, but can the guys at Astragon push something out that’s actually worthwhile playing? James takes a look at Driving Simulator 2011 in the latest of the simulators to review. Please note this video does contain mild profanity.

In 2060, the Sun began emitting incredible volumes of energy from the coronal layer, pummeling Earth with solar flares and inundating the planet with radiation – Earth’s magnetic field was a miserly defense against such an onslaught.

Arable land quickly diminished; wastelands became more common and vast; major cities were either evacuated or received an unsustainable influx of refugees; quickly it became apparent that the only chance for human survival is the wholehearted concentration into space technologies, and an eventual colonization of extra-terrestrial lands.

So did we band together gallantly to save our common species?

Did we put aside our differences in search of a common resolve for this immediate threat of extinction?

No. We’re human beings and we did what comes naturally: we fought for resources and scrapped over the husks, and when we managed to create sustainable ecosystems in space, we began fighting for resources all over again…

 

The Mining Wars happened.

 

Miner Wars is in development by Keen Software House using the gorgeous VRage Engine. The game takes place in space around the year 2081 and is a 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) space shooter with destructible environments, a single player and co-op mode and a Miner Wars MMO in development. You can build bases, fully customize your ship, battle other players and loot their equipment, set up ambushes, undergo missions, explore asteroids for rare materials that can be sold or turned into ship upgrades; the universe is yours to do as you please.
The game boasts to having many different elements including:

 
• Unique mining ships: (from smallest to largest, fast and slow, large cargo, huge shields…)
• Weapons: 20 (volcano cannon, guided missiles, mines, gravity bombs, tunnel buster…)
• Ammo: 20 (armor piercing, explosive, high velocity…)
• Drilling devices: 5 (pressure drilling, thermal drilling, saw, nuclear drilling device…)
• Equipment types: 50 (various radars, jammer, X-ray, engines, enhancing drugs, armor, med kit, auto targeting…)
• Factions: About 10 main factions with 25+ playable factions in the MMO.
• Ore types: 50 (iron, uraninite , helium 3, gold, diamonds, …)
• Asteroids: Who has the time to count them?
• World size: Unlimited in every direction.

 

With the destructible environments, nothing stands in your way. It’s quite possible to blast a tunnel in an asteroid, using it as a hiding spot for your loot, or lay in wait for some unsuspecting poor bastard. Whilst playing this game, one thing came to mind; EVE Online without the skill structure, more fast paced, fully controlled and first person view. In this game there are no levels to grind out, no skills or talent trees to plan out; just you, your ships weapons, and your own luck.

Mining seems like it will play a heavy role in this game, I don’t know why it’s just a hunch.

With over 50 different types of ore, each with a value whether it’s economic based or valued as an important ship upgrade, mining will be essential and probably the blood flowing through the veins of this game. You can mine in the alpha now but it appears it’s just there for show and to get a feel of how it’ll work.

I am not raping this asteroid.. okay I am raping it ..of it's natural resources. BOOSH!

There’s a lot of focus on the customization aspect; heavy customization. You can open the menu to check out the different ship classes (Miner Ship 1-10, Talon, and RIGJ), weapons, tools, ammo, even engine. Now since this isn’t full release, none of this serves any use whatsoever as it isn’t available but it is a nice tickle to your sack at things to come.

Roll the die and choose one, it doesn't matter anyway.

 

As I’ve stated, this game is currently in pre-alpha so as far as the story mode goes; it doesn’t. Upon starting the story mode you’re left inside a rather large asteroid and maneuvering around will lead you into ambushes from drone NPCs. You can either navigate your way through or just blow the piss out of the whole damn thing and fly out.

Reminds me of prom night, which hole should I enter?

Either way, the choice is yours and its unscripted things like this which make the game very promising. There is an ally bot you can pick up and I recommend in doing so because the enemies are rather relentless, if you can find them. Some of them are so holed up into an asteroid it took me tens of rockets and at least an hour of weaving in and out of the spider-holes before one would appear on my dick randomly like a herpes outbreak. Luckily my ointment..err..ally bot was there to help me out.

FRIEND BOT 2 COMIN' TO SAVE THE DAY! ROCK YOUR WORLD! KILL SOME BITCHES!

Maybe I’m just a moron and missing something important but I have yet to find the purpose in story mode. I’ve killed all the enemies in game, flown around until I’ve shoved my mouse up my ass just out of sheer boredom, even reset the solar-wind a few times just because; nothing. The real fun to be had in this alpha is the Sandbox mode.

Sandbox basically puts you into the middle of space with a horde of enemies in front of you. They don’t engage you until you fly closer to them so this will give you some time to plan out your slaughter. You do have some friendly bots to fly alongside and will help with the destruction but they’re not really needed, the enemies are pretty easy.

This mode is great to get a feel of the combat and hone your skills until the game comes out in late 2011 on the PC and XBOXLive Arcade. You can currently pre-order the game for PC now over at the Miner Wars website

Does the name Jane Jensen mean anything to you? It didn’t to me and upon receiving my review copy of Grey Matter, I actually had to research who she was as her name was plastered on the cover. I was however pleasantly surprised to find out that she was the writer of Police Quest 3 and King’s Quest 6 as well as the Gabriel Knight series.

The game begins with Sam Everett, an young aspiring stage magician who is on the way to London to try make it big. Via a little trick by nature, Sam ends up heading towards Oxford instead and then breaks down outside the house of Dr Styles; a reclusive scientist left scarred by an accident and looking quite like The Phantom Of The Opera. Looking for a place to stay the night, she lucks into a job as his research assistant. With the help of Sam, Dr Styles begins a series of cognitive experiments while Sam herself deals with a series of mysterious events that occur just afterwards.

Throughout the games 8 chapters you alternate between playing as Sam and Dr Styles. As Sam you head around Oxford impressing/conning recruits with magic and seeking the approval of the Daedalus Club; a secret society of magicians ala the Magic Circle. As Styles, you continue your research and work towards unraveling the events surrounding your wifes death. The story is slow to unravel so patience is required.

The graphics can be broken down into 3 sections. Firstly the cut-scenes. These are displayed as almost hand painted images that change one by one to show events as they unfold. Given the nature of the storyline and the atmosphere created, these fit in well. Next up is in-game graphics. Backgrounds are static however they all look lovingly created and absolutely gorgeous to look at. Look at the picture below for an example.

Characters and NPC’s all look good too but are too stiff. Most walk around like their joints have seized up and the speed at which they walk just feels slow. You can double click to run though, and eventually had Sam & Styles running everywhere. Finally you get the conversation graphics and to be honest im not really sure how these ever passed Quality Control. Characters that appear look bug-eyed and twitchy and can be very offputting especially when contrasted by the beautiful backgrounds on display.

Grey Matter is all about walking around, examining things and solving puzzles. Thankfully, the Space Bar allows click-able objects to be highlighted meaning that you don’t have to scour the screen looking for things to use, however even if the object is click-able, it doesn’t mean you can use it then and there. You can find that even if you know for sure that you need to pick up an item, you cant unless you have spoken to a specific person about a specific subject first. Throughout the game, you get opportunities to use magic tricks to persuade/swindle others. Whilst this is fun to begin with, later on it just becomes a case of checking your magic book, finding a trick involving what you want to do and then adding the required steps to a list before just clicking ok and watching the result.

Finally, there’s stability and glitches. When i first installed Grey Matter, i was greeted by crash after crash. I headed to the support forum and then found post after post of other people with similar issues. It took several reinstalls and disabling of other programs to finally get Grey Matter working; one program was used to take in-game screenshots. Another common issue was triggering the end of chapters. You could find that you had done everything required to end the chapter (and you can check chapter progress in-game and it showed 100% in all areas) but it wouldn’t trigger. The only option is then to reload a previous save (or go online and download one in my case as i wasn’t using multiple saves) and repeat the chapter again. Once this had happened to me twice, my time was then split between working through puzzles and checking progress/saving which just slowed my progress through the game massively.

So in closing, Grey Matter is an enjoyable adventure but slow to reward you. Graphically beautiful with an unusual story that does finally pay off if you can get through it; be it either being too slow for you or being annoyed by having to repeat everything due to a glitch.

After what I would call a dismal winter for games with barely any huge titles coming out, Dead Space 2 being the only notable title I can think of. Spring has finally arrived and with it has come a flood of big name titles. Kicking things off we had Dragon Age 2, Homefront, and this week Crysis 2, the follow up to the 2007 pc exclusive that was not only known for its fantastic gameplay but the visually stunning graphics that to this day is considered a benchmark for pc gamers to see if there computers could actually run the damn thing.

If you were fortunate enough to play the original you will remember playing as Prophet. I’m sorry to dissapoint the Crysis fan boys but in the sequel you will instead be playing as his predecessor, Alcatraz. What a fucking name! The story of Crysis 2 starts off with you obtaining the Nanosuit, I won’t explain how because I don’t want to ruin it for you. But needless to say Alcatraz is now the boy. The events of this game take place three years after the finale of the original in beautiful New York City.

You really can’t talk about Crysis 2 without mentioning the graphics. I would say to date this is the best looking game on consoles. Not just the Xbox 360 which I am playing it on, but on any console. Killzone 3 looked like a massively dark gritty pile of dog excrement when compared to this fucking masterpiece. The lighting effects alone are enough to cause a nerdgasm of astronomical proportions. If the visuals of this game doesn’t make your pussy moist than put down the controller my son and get to the hospital and have the doc check for a fucking pulse. During the intros and my first emergence from darkness into the light I literally had to scrape my jaw off the floor. I actually had a tear stream down my cheek because of how beautiful it was.

If graphics aren’t your thing than the gameplay will do you in as well. In an age of watered down shooters that are super linear… cough… call of duty… cough! Crysis 2 comes across as a breath of fresh air. Now while you won’t get to completely explore New York you will be given quite a bit of room to stretch your legs. When encountering an objective you are met with multiple options as to how you can plan your attack. So if you want to run hay diddle diddle right up the middle, go for it. If you prefer a more stealthy approach than the option is there. With the different abilities of the Nanosuit at your disposal the options for attack are well varied.

Now while the gameplay is great, I will say the story is slightly lacking early on. For the first third of the game you are basically met with one objective, which is to find Nathan Gould, a scientist who worked with Prophet and is awaiting his arrival with a sample of the Alien tissue. Once you do make it to Gould in chapter 6 the story does pick up. Towards the end I think most people will be satisfied with the way it plays out as the story does come together nicely.

Another point I would like to make about the campaign is that it is rather beefy. As we have seen in recent history it has become a trend and almost acceptable to put out the inexcusably short campaigns lasting six hours or sometimes even less. It’s as though the developers feel that this is OK as long as they tack on some bullshit multiplayer mode. Crytek avoided this and chose to put out a 12+ hour campaign. I say twelve plus because it really depends on the difficulty and if you are going for all the collectibles. You can expect the game to take around 12 hours on the normal difficulty, while if you step up your game to Super Soldier you are in for around 20 hours including deaths. This is how I have chosen to do my first play through and I am telling you right now that Super Soldier is no fucking joke. Even with abilities of the Nanosuit you will have a very tough time navigating certain areas of the game.

Let’s talk multiplayer. I would have gladly shelled out my $60 or 40 quid, depending on location, for just the single player experience. Thankfully Crytek has included a robust multiplayer experience that is extremely fun. The basic leveling system is there, and you can unlock different weapons and abilities just like any other modern shooter. Crysis 2’s multiplayer doesn’t really bring anything new to the table but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t good. I can easily see myself putting in 100+ hours into the multiplayer so I can get to level 50. All the standard game modes are included as well. You got your TDM, Free for All, a capture the flag variant, another game type similar to COD’s domination mode, and another one which is kind of like King of the Hill.

The Audio in this game is really good too. It especially serves well in the multiplayer for hearing footsteps. The guns all sound great. From far away you can hear people’s guns popping off, bullets whizzing past your head, and some really gruesome sound effects when you dig your blade into your opponent’s neck for stealth kill. In the campaign you will find some very atmospheric sound effects as you navigate New York. Abandoned vehicles car alarms going off and the birds chirping in Central Park all add a creepy feeling to the now run down city.

In closing I would have to say Crysis 2 is an absolute must own for shooter fans. Even if you weren’t fortunate enough to play the original part 2 is a great point to enter the franchise as the games kicks off with a brand new protagonist. I have played the game on both consoles and I have to say the clear winner here is Xbox 360 from a visual stand point. The PS3 version is muddy at times, lighting doesn’t look as good and plus you will be forced to use that piece of shit controller that makes playing any shooter extremely painful. So get your ass down to the game shop pronto for Crysis 2, it is not to be missed.

Road Construction Simulator is out! But is it any good? The Gamer Geezer gives us the low down on this release from Excalibur Publishing. The game retails at £17.99 but is it worth the money? Find out in our video below. The Gamer Geezer will be making exclusive videos for wedogames.net. Check out his dedicated page on the website.

Re-read it if you want but the title wont change. It really says Toasted Sandwich Of Time.. Doc Clock: TTSOT is Stickmen Studios latest release available now on Steam and on the Wii via Wiiware. You play the aforementioned Doc Clock, a inventor who’s experiments don’t really have a tendency to turn out well and who bares an uncanny resemblance to Joss Whedons Dr Horrible. Messing around in his lab one day, the good doctor winds up turning his cat Franklin into a cactus plant and hatches a plan to reverse the process by going back in time and stopping himself. With his abusive talking bag called Sack in tow, Doc Clock pulls the switch and… well lets say it goes wrong and you have to sort out getting yourself back home, but you could probably have guessed that already.

To get home Doc needs to traverse the hostile environments and you do that with a combination of Doc’s extendible robotic arm and Sack’s storage space. As you wander, you can pick up and store various items strewn around and combine them to get past hazards. For instance, early on in the game you can pull a switch that opens a door which you can then pick up. Combining the wooden door with various others you have collected gives you a beam long enough to place over a pitfall and allow you to cross safely. Later on you can build vehicles that allow you to progress easier. Its a genuine joy to make yourself a car made out of an old bike tyre, a wooden wheel, a grandfather clock, and an umbrella. Combining is usually a case of just pushing objects together and watching them stick however it can be tricky as you cannot lift combined creations and trying to will cause it to select one piece and everything else will fall apart.

The banter between Doc Clock and Sack is a big thing in this game, to the point where you cannot progress until they stop talking to each other. This will either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your sense of humour.  The screenshot below is a typical back and forth.

Jokes seem to follow a set pattern. For instance, in one loading Screen Doc mentions that it feels like they are being watched. Sack says ‘You should be watched’. Another time Doc says on a loading screen that it looks like the artists took a holiday. Sack says ‘Your brain took a holiday’. It could be that the jokes are aimed at a younger demographic than i’m in, but I just didn’t found it amusing and to be honest it began to grate on me and I found myself clicking through all the dialogue not really caring any more about what they had to say to each other.

In closing, Doc Clock: TTSOT does have a lot of things going for it, primarily its combining and inventing and no other game I know of will allow you to attach a propeller to a bathtub with wheels to create a flying racer hybrid. You do get a sense that you have solved the puzzle yourself instead of just following a set solution. It is however a little glitchy and you can get annoyed when your design suddenly falls apart but as long as you take time building you should be alright. You also experience some animation issues every now and again with Doc seeming to climb on a hill but these seem to have been few and far between. The humour really wasn’t to my liking and I felt actually took away from my experience of the game (and if I had been Doc, I would have ripped Sacks voice unit out long ago), but for £5.99 (or 1000 Wii Points) you could do a lot worse than picking this up.

Indie games seem to be the current vogue. With the rise of online content such as Xbox Live Arcade and Facebook applications it’s not hard to understand why new developers are dipping their toes in the water. Some indie titles have even been put up against their multi-million dollar contemporaries in recent award shows.  And in that respect it’s just as easy to understand why the competition is feral.

Enter Astroslugs. Created by Munich-based developers Bit Barons and released on January 27^th 2011 Astroslugs is a puzzle game in its purest incarnation that takes simplicity to an art form. This is a first release for Bit Barons which is evidenced in the titles modest budget, but the main focus of a game such as this is to not only allow the developers to get their name out into the community by having something cheap and simple, but to also instil that age-old philosophy of games being instinctively fun.

It's no 'Halo 3'...but look on the bright side...it's no 'Halo 3'!

Astroslugs does have a story, though. Maybe developers are frightened that people will be put off purchasing their digital offspring unless there is some plot or incentive. This works for just about every current generation game but the prospect of a good old-fashioned puzzler in the vain of something PopCaps-esque doesn’t seem to warrant a story arc.

However, that’s not to say the story is out of place. It ties in nicely with the theme and in some respects gives the impression of some design integrity. And if it does serve as an incentive for people to purchase the game then who am I to argue? (An unemployed alcoholic is the answer to that folks!)

The story goes thusly: Rather incompetent, yet apparently evil, alien slugs make haste to try and leave their home planet in order to conquer the universe (oh, those precocious alien types!).  But in order to leave in their ship it must be re-fuelled. You play as a young slug archaeologist set with the task of solving the enigma of the slugballs and to also ponder why there isn’t a Texaco garage anywhere on the planet.

The game is split into different worlds which must be unlocked, each with a certain number of levels. Levels consist of a series of slugballs arranged in a particular pattern on-screen. The object is to then draw the required shapes into the grey slugballs to colour and light them up. Left-clicking and dragging will form the shape. So for example, dragging down four slugballs will make a straight line four slugballs in length and drawing an L-shape will create that particular shape.

The level is complete when all the slugballs are coloured with each shape that needs to be drawn, leaving no grey slugballs in place. Completion of each round counts towards the goal of filling up the ship with fuel.

From a distance you could almost fool your boss into thinking this was a spreadsheet...

It’s quite a challenging little game but without the usual pitfalls of seething frustration that a lot of other puzzlers tend to come with. And I think that’s because of Astroslugs’ innocence factor. Simplicity works best in this instance and it doesn’t seem to boast any hidden agendas or themes. It might not be as slick or as innovative as something like 2D Boy’s 2008 title World of Goo but what it lacks in pretentiousness it more than makes up for in terms of fun and quick entertainment.

And for that reason I feel that the game verges more on – what I like to call – a ‘tea break’ game. The kind of puzzle adventure one can load up and play a few rounds of whilst the (evidently rather slow) kettle boils. It is to quick-gaming that crosswords and Sudoku puzzles are to coffee breaks at work.

This is, unfortunately, where the game falls down slightly. With the budget as minimal as it appears and its design toned down to meet the requirements of a simplistic game it does raise a red flag at all the loading screens that dominate in-between levels. There are no cut scenes and the game runs directly from my HDD and given the low hardware spec that is required it’s hard to envisage what is actually loading during these down times.

Also, if you’re like me (pray that you’re not!) beware of running the game in windowed (rather than full-screen) mode. Clicking off the window to check on background progress (don’t ask, don’t tell) will pause the game automatically for you. This is a neat feature but it’s worth mentioning that it also pauses during the loading screens. Something which says to me that nothing is actually being loaded in the background if it can be paused like that.

That aside, for a meagre price of £8.99 (EUR 9.99 and $13.99), Bit Barons have still got some potential for future products and Astroslugs is something that can easily stack alongside already available titles such as PopCap’s Bookworm or Bejewelled series. Give them a greater budget and some faith and they will scale grand horizons to find their own feet.

Astroslugs is available for download at http://www.astroslugs.com

Find more info about Bit Barons at http://www.bitbarons.com

While being something of a niche concept these days, there was a time back in the early 90′s where Point & Click adventures were all the rage. On the Amiga 500 alone, I had both the Monkey Islands, Zak MacKrackren, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Beneath A Steel Sky and Maniac Mansion and can happily boast completing all of them. Yes, I know. I had a pretty sad childhood. Point & Clicks pretty much vanished towards the mid nineties with the advent of First Person Shooters (Probably off playing Doom i bet) and you could be hard pressed to find someone under 25 that even remembers them.

That is until now. The German based Daedalic Entertainment and Lace Mamba have deemed fit for a revival with the release of Edna & Harvey: The Breakout.

The premise is this; You play as Edna who wakes up in a padded cell with no memory of how she got there in the first place. She feels like she has been falsely imprisoned and her talking stuffed rabbit (Harvey) agrees. The two of them begin to hatch a plan to restore her memories and escape the asylum. All with the cunning use of the tools such as ‘Look At..’, ‘ Pick Up..’, ‘Talk To..’, and ‘Use..’. Classic Point & Click ingredients however still somewhat limiting. I remember playing Universe and came across a bit where you had to take a car to the next section. Tried the open, use, look at, and pick up commands but nothing happened.. Turns out you needed to ‘Jump’ into the car to progress. I was literally banging my head on the floor. Edna & Harvey has some similar issues with its interface and can on occasion require you to click again and again on the option you want to use, only to find out that its the wrong one.

Graphically, im sort of impressed with the game. The game has a twisted cartoon style which fits the feel of the lunatic asylum you find yourself in, however with the characters being hand drawn, there isn’t a lot of variation and conversations usually consist of the characters moving between 2 images but it works in a 70′s cartoon kind of way. The characters you meet in the game all look unique (although some do walk like they shit themselves) and it appears that a lot of care went into the artwork.

It’s a shame that the same care didn’t go into the voiceovers. It could be the fact that it was originally German and then translated into English or perhaps the voice over artists themselves but the voices just don’t seem to fit most of the characters. Edna’s voice is just short of annoying most of the time and there were times when I just wound the sound down and read the subtitles instead. Other characters are slightly better but I have wondered sometimes if there was some translation issues as sometimes there is a random word in there that doesn’t quite fit.  The soundtrack (which was also bundled with the game) is mainly plinky plonky jazz or orchestral overtures and while initially nice, soon just fades into the background and I forgot sometimes it was even there.

My biggest concern with the game though isn’t in the graphics or the sound, but more the way the game feels to play. For a game that features a static background and not much else, the saving and loading takes an age to complete. One of my biggest peeves is once you have selected something, your locked into it until you get there. There are times when I’ve clicked a door to go through and then seen something else i wanted to look at. Clicking it quickly does nothing as you watch Edna just open the door and walk through anyway. Another peeve is the fact that you have sometimes have to select a specific line of dialogue before it will allow you to perform a certain action with a character. Its little things that just make the game feel unpolished.

That’s not to say that Edna & Harvey is a bad game. Far from it. The game features some classic moments as well as some ‘eww’ moments (toenails spring to mind) but the game feels unpolished in a lot of places. Puzzles range from being mildly entertaining and logical to damn right infuriating, illogical and will force you to try practically everything in your inventory in the hope that it will get you past that one obstacle. It is however a unique title that while not quite resurrecting the Point & Click genre, does at least remind you of what it was once capable of.  Just beware your second playthrough.. It will make big furry rabbit ears start growing out of your head….. honest…