Closing up for the day.

If you’re like me, and you’re a fan of the great Mafia 2, you’ll be happy to know that the first DLC for the title, Jimmy’s Vendetta, is coming next Tuesday, September 7. It will be available for the PS3, 360 and PC for $9.99 or 800 Microsoft points.

Here’s the part that is particularly interesting: The DLC adds leaderboards, and contains more than 30 quests… there’s barely more than 30 quests in the entire boxed version of the game! Anyway, here’s the description from 2K:

“Jimmy’s Vendetta” takes players into an alternate perspective of the mob through the eyes of Jimmy, the guy the other guys call when they need to finish the job. Players will get their hands dirty helping Jimmy clean up other people’s messes as they deal with the Italian and Irish mobsters that reside in Empire Bay. As players progress, a slew of new quests are unlocked, including assassination and timed vehicle pursuits ending in dramatic shootouts and explosive car chases. Execute with deadly head shots or charged explosives, and rack up points for precision-timed vehicular power slides, lofty jumps, and supercharged velocity. Multipliers and combos add bonus points to overall scores that will be immediately posted to the new online leaderboard system, providing extensive re-playability as players work to rise to the top of the ranks.”

I found Mafia 2 to be a complete and satisfying game, well worth its price, but I have to wonder if part of the plan for this title was to sell you the “world” of Mafia 2, and then charge you extra for the gameplay. Essentially, selling you the handle for the razor, and then charging more for the blades. If so, it’s kind of brilliant and welcome. If the story of Jimmy’s Vendetta is as compelling as the story in the boxed copy of the game, I’m totally on board for this DLC, and the next.

See below for a complete list of the Achievements/Trophies you will be able to rack up once “Jimmy’s Vendetta” hits the marketplace Sept 7th.

First Step – Complete your first mission in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” – 10 Gamerpoints

Faster than Light – Achieve a 10x point multiplier in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” – 10 Gamerpoints

Explorer – Drive a total of 1,000 miles in vehicles in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” – 10 Gamerpoints

Armament King – Kill your enemies in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” with every weapon available in the game – 10 Gamerpoints

Firebug – Destroy 100 vehicles in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” – 10 Gamerpoints

Sharpshooter – Kill 100 enemies by headshots in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” – 10 Gamerpoints

Carnappert – Finish all Call Dealer missions in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” – 50 Gamerpoints

Massacre – Kill 1,000 enemies in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” – 20 Gamerpoints

Revenged – Finish “Jimmy’s Vendetta” on any difficulty level – 100 Gamerpoints

Millionaire – Earn 1,000,000 points in “Jimmy’s Vendetta” – 20 Gamerpoints

Forgotten Sands is technically the follow up to 2003′s Sands Of Time being set during the 7 years that bridge the original 2 games and sees the Prince being sent to visit his brother Malik right before the castle is attacked by Maliks enemies. After being initially separated from your kin, you seek to reunite with Malik as Malik himself searches for a hidden weapon in the castle. However in typical Prince Of Persia style, all hell breaks loose and its up to you to sort it all out again

For those that have played the original trilogy, almost everything that you loved about the original series is still in place. The prince can still run over walls, bounce between walls to get higher, slide down curtains and flip over baddies in amazing flourishes. What is new in this series is its ability to allow you to freeze water. This allows you to use it to climb or swing to places you wouldn’t be normally able to however its easy to learn and you will soon learn how to jump from a frozen jet of water, unfreeze a waterfall to pass through before refreezing another jet to carry on your way.

For this iteration, the amount of on screen enemies have been ramped up (not hard as POP2008 gave you 1 at a time) with dozens of enemies all waiting for you to kill them. This allows you to flip, flourish and kill in God Of War style frenzies. Outside of combat, you watch as the camera pans around where you need to go to complete the section and then allows you to attempt it yourself. Once completed, the camera shows you the next section and you do it again. While this is nothing new to the series, it would be nice to be able to attempt it myself without the games cues

Forgotten Sands – like the original trilogy before it – is a very enjoyable romp in familiar territory however doesn’t really bring anything new to the actual mythology of the Sands Of Time and could easily have stood as a standalone product. I do now hope that they leave this storyline alone before they oversaturate it, and take another stab its the 2008 story that they created.

Mafia II takes place in the same location as the original game, Empire Bay. The city itself draws a lot of comparison from New York and San Francisco. Empire Bay has grown significantly since the last game, ten square miles to be exact. And you will have plenty of time to see all of the sites and sounds of the city during the games fairly frequent driving missions. In fact, driving is probably what you will spend most of your time doing. Even doing small things like going to bed can take you on a ten minute cross city journey just to catch some zzz’s.

In Mafia II you play as Vito Scaletta, a young Italian-American immigrant who has just returned home from the Second World War. Vito may have returned home a hero, but joining the Army was anything less than voluntary. After being picked up for a petty crime Vito is thrust into World War 2 Sicily, 1943. Soon after the game starts you are returning home and visiting with old friends and seeing your family again for the first time in years. It’s these interactions between the characters that really set up how you feel about this main character and everything that is to follow during the rise and fall of an American gangster.

The gameplay in Mafia II is extremely tight. With over 50 cars in the game, each one has its own unique feel and style. The big cars feel very heavy and sometimes choosing the right vehicle for a mission is essential. For a timed mission you may want to go with something a bit quicker, while if you expect to be chased by other vehicles and will be getting banged around a bit, a heavier one might be a wiser decision. The combat also feels great too. Ducking in and out of cover in fast paced shootouts and rinsing enemies through light cover with a Tommy gun feels very satisfying.

When it comes to the story, Mafia II is rich with it. Taking queues from such films as The Godfather and Goodfellas, the comparisons are undeniable. But that isn’t to say that this game isn’t original because it is. The story is engrossing and you find yourself going through the missions just wanting to see the next cut scene so you can find out what is happening with this epic character.

Open up and say AHHHHHHH PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME!!

Other than the main story there isn’t that much to do in Empire Bay. This is possibly one of the games only drawbacks. There aren’t any stranger missions or bounty’s that need hunting in this game. The story is extremely linear, and in a way that I haven’t seen before in an open world game. While there may only be a few reasons to return to Empire Bay after the credits roll, like achievement/collectible hunting, this shouldn’t make you question whether or not the game is worth your money.

The visuals in this game are frequently, jaw dropingly good. With era specific vehicles and architecture that looks and feels very authentic, there is no doubt 2K went all out with the games engine. While driving around in snowy weather, you will even begin to notice snow piling up on the car.

If there was anything wrong with the way this game looked, it would have been saved by the amazingly atmospheric sounds. Especially the music. From the moment Vito steps out of Joe Barbaro’s car, and begins walking through the snow to his mothers house with Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow” playing I was hooked. I could have ran, but I didn’t. I wanted to walk like a real person would and soak in every bit the ambient sites and sounds Empire Bay had to offer.

In the end Mafia II is such an impressive package and an act of such effective mood that it never impeded my desire to see what happens next. Audacious in its design and story choices, Mafia II shows new possibilities in the medium and merits interest by anyone wanting an adult change of pace.

The few bits of gameplay I have seen for Vanquish since E3 look very promising. But as SEGA has a spotty record, to say the least, I am eager to check out the demo to help make a decision as to whether this game is worth my money.

The first and most obvious thing you are going to notice that is different about this game is the new Gameflow system. This basically allows you to play through an entire game without ever having to look at a playbook. It makes the game fast paced and gives it a more authentic feel. In the NFL, quarterbacks have speakers in their helmets so that they can get the plays directly from the coach. And with the new Gameflow system you get the same feeling as if you yourself were down there on the field receiving orders from the sidelines. If you are wearing an Xbox Live headset, the coach’s voice will come through and let you know the present situation and what you are looking to do on the next play. This really does seem to shine a little bit more if you have a proper gaming headset, like my Turtle Beach X41’s.

Coach Tom Cable Calling the Plays

With the addition of the new Gameflow system, you are also allowed to create a game plan before you head out with your troops on Sunday. You can let the game know what types of plays you would call in certain situations and then in the game the coach will call plays based on what you have worked out in the game plan.

The in game controls are all basically the same with a few slight changes. Pre snap you no longer have to press y and search though a bunch of options to move players around the field. EA has streamlined the process by putting all of the pre snap adjustment controls on the D-pad. You can now press linebackers, change receiver routes, and adjust defensive coverage with the quick touch of a button. You also no long have to hold down the right trigger when running with the ball. You only need to be concerned with dodging all of your would be tacklers.

All of your favorite game modes are here in Madden NFL 11. Franchise mode, allowing you to play as your favorite team, and take them through thirty seasons of games and try to win the coveted Superbowl. You can also create your very own superstar and get drafted into the NFL. You can then play until you retire and attempt to get in the Hall of Fame, marking your place as a true legend of the grid iron. Ultimate Team, which was introduced last year, also makes a comeback, allowing you to create your very own team, including uniforms and stadium.

Raiders Rookie Rolando McClain Ready to Make the Big Hit!!!

The multiplayer in Madden is as good as ever, and shows off the fact that they are the bar that every football game should aspire to be like. You can play ranked matches, player matches, and even online franchise. This year also grows on last year’s introduction of co-op, and increases the number of players from two, to three a side. This adds a whole new depth to the mode and makes it much easier to coordinate with your teammates. Basically you can have one guy controlling the linemen, one on the linebackers, and finally the third man can take care of things in the defensive backfield. And same thing basically goes for offense as well.

The visuals of the game are top notch. Player likenesses get better every year, and this time around it is no different. You can count every blade of grass of the field, lighting is super-realistic, and before each game starts up, you are treated to a bit of ambience as you get to see players arriving at the stadium, crowd shots, and even your team getting pumped up in the tunnel right before they explode through fireworks onto the field.

The sound for the game could be described as nothing less than bone-crunching. You can almost feel every hit as you try to pound your way up the middle. The soundtrack, as in every Madden game is fucking epic. You could start the game up and just let the menu run if you have friends over. Featuring songs by such rock legends as Ozzy Ozbourne, AC/DC, and KISS, plus some newer tracks as well, the music is just as good as ever, if not better. The soundtrack also plays an important part during games, as it blares over the stadiums sound system between plays.

The achievements for this game honestly couldn’t be any simpler, for the most part. You can easily get theng by setting the game to rookie difficulty or rig up another controller and force them to happen. Most difficult achievement goes to Madden Moments. This requires you to clear all of the Madden Moments challenges. These moments have you placed in a real life game situation that has actually occurred, and you are either forced to repeat the moments or sometimes make it so these moments don’t happen, changing the course of sports history.

Superbowl MVP Drew Brees Dons the Cover This Year

At its core, Madden NFL 11 is the same game I have grown up with. Every year the graphics and game play get better, and this year it’s no different. The Gameflow system isn’t really my cup of tea. I am a bit more of a hardcore fan, and I prefer to call all of my own plays in the traditional style. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad, all the new additions to the game make it a better overall experience. And if you don’t like the new features, for the most part you can change everything to the more traditional style of playing you might be used to. If you are a fan of football get this game. If your sports fan, but have felt intimidated by madden games of previous years, this is the year to get in on the action and start playing yourself some Madden, because this is the best one to date.

There haven’t been any other confirmed details at this time, with the exception of two villains that will be in the game. The villains are Mr. Freeze, a personal favorite and Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, who was so very well portrayed in the film Batman Begins by none other than Liam Neeson.

One can only speculate as to what this title suggests. I am hoping this means we all get to explore Gotham City via and open world platform. If that is the case and it is done the right way this could be one of the biggest comic book turned video game releases of all time. On a personal note, please bring back the Joker. Mark Hamill is amazing as the Joker and I really would like to see him make a comeback. I know he was in the teaser trailers for the game, but that doesn’t mean he is confirmed. Also no boy wonder. Let Robin stay home and iron his tights. This may seem like a good chance for co-op by adding Robin into the game but don’t do it Rocksteady. It would ruin the overall feel of this dark and gritty action game.

Transformers: War for Cybertron is a third person shooter that takes place on planet Cybertron. The story is set before the events in the original cartoon as well as the films. The campaigns lasts about 10-12 hours combined depending on which difficulty you select. When you start the campaign you get to choose whether you would like to play as the Decepticons, lead by the all-powering Megatron or as the Autobots with Optimus Prime at the helm. You can also select to play as Brawl or Barricade on the Decepticon side as well as Bumblebee or Ratchet with Optimus. Each campaign is a separate entity with the Decepticon campaign acting as a prelude to the Autobots storyline. I personally chose the Decepticons first because it was chronologically correct to do so. If I was going to watch all the Star Wars films I wouldn’t start with episodes IV, V, and VI, even though they are way better.

This Transformers game also features cooperative as well as a competitive co-op campaign option. You can very easily drop in and out of co-op and single player without missing a step. When not playing co-op however it should be pointed out that AI will take control of whichever two transformers you aren’t controlling.

If you are a fan of the always popular and addictive horde mode that seems to be in almost every single game that comes out now days then you are in luck because War for Cybertron doesn’t disappoint with its own take, Escalation mode. It’s exactly what you would expect, the enemy’s start off few and weak, and then grows to massive numbers and increasing not only in difficulty but size as well. Luckily there’s only one Escalation specific achievement, and it only requires you to survive until round 15, which isn’t that difficult as long as you got a few friends or talented strangers to play with.

OK, so if two excellent campaigns and an incredibly addictive co-op mode wasn’t enough, how about a deep and robust multiplayer mode as well. Well you got it my friend because Activision as always delivers the goodies. You can create your very own Transformer by selecting from different unlockable chassis’s and color schemes. You also get to select from four different classes, each with its own set of distinctive weapons, abilities and vehicle type. Scouts are cars, Leaders are trucks, Scientists are jets and Soldiers are tanks. The multiplayer also has a leveling up system, unlockable perks and upgrades as well.

The graphics in War for Cybertron are extremely sharp. Everything looks crisp, textures are nice, and it is without a doubt the best looking Transformers game to ever be produced and has officially set the bar for any other Transformer games to come out in the future.

The sound in the game is great too. Weapons sound authentic to what you would hear in one of the films, and the soundtrack is unbelievable too. During really big action scenes in both campaigns there is usually an equally awesome heavy metal track playing in the background. My Turtle Beach X41’s really shined during these moments and I couldn’t help but get pumped up by the kicking metal tracks.

There are presently 50 achievements for this game totaling 1000 gamerscore. There are achievements for beating both campaigns on the hard difficulty, which isn’t too troubling. There are also a lot of level specific achievements such as reviving five downed soldiers in first Autobot campaign mission. The hardest achievement requires you to reach a combined class rating of 100 in multiplayer. Basically you need to get to level 25 with all four classes. This achievement is worth 75 G and is titled, “Top of the Scrap Heap”.

I had a great time playing both campaigns, the horde mode, and the surprisingly deep multiplayer. I was skeptical about this game when I purchased it, but what I found out was you can’t judge games before you play them. You may think this game is just another silly Transformers spin off but you would be dead wrong. I would recommend this game to anybody who enjoyed Transformers as a child the way I did or to any gamer for that matter just enjoys shooting the hell out of something and having a kick ass time while he or she does it.

The game is very simple, you fire birds out of a catapult and you need to destroy the structure protecting the green pigs. If all the pigs die you’ll progress to the next level. What’s so fun about the game is that different coloured birds have different properties, whether it’s birds with boost or birds that split into sub-atomic bird like bombs it’s entertaining on every scale and the strategy element cannot be denied.

Either way, it’ll be an instant purchase for us at the office, especially for myself and Kiffar who rated it very highly!

Mini golf games are few and far between but they’ve been around since the beginning of the gaming lifecycle. In terms of this generation the only efforts have been 3D Ultra Mini-Golf by Wanako Games. Until now, Wanako were the bastions of everything short putt related but now Zen Studios have pissed over the XBLA effort leaving the studio dripping in its own golden shower puddle. What I am trying to say here is that Zen Studio’s Planet Mini Golf is fucking awesome!

It's all Aztec looking this course

Planet Mini-Golf is a PSN exclusive and will leave aspiring putters green with envy if they are without Sony’s system. Not only are there 155 holes to putt your ball into the course design is simply exceptional. From playing on idyllic beaches and caves then being transported out into a polar waste zone, Zen have let their imagination run riot. It’s a little surprise this game is interesting to play, after all Zen Studios made Zen Pinball which is, quite frankly the best pinball game available on the DLC platform. Not only is planet mini-golf a visual treat, it also packs more punch than butter bean on steroids. Not only do you get 155 holes to stick your balls into (mmm!) but you can also create your own courses with a fantastic editor that makes it stupidly easy to make courses that are a riot to play. It doesn’t end there, like Billy May’s offering you something free if you order today, you can also play other courses created and add them to your favourites list, endless game play at your fingertips.

The game is so well received that getting a match online is a total breeze, the lobbies aren’t dead and the matches are plenty of fun to play, especially when you get a few players on the go. Single player isn’t a bore either, you can progress through difficulty stages for each zone and unlock keys which you can spend on buying new avatar outfits, balls and putters, great for creating that unique identity online. Now, just playing mini-golf would get a bit stale after a while wouldn’t it? No, Zen has included some on field power-ups which can be collected. These can be used to either aid your way to a better par average or used to cause problems for your opponents. Power-ups included are a shock, magnetism and a sticky ball to just name a few. This creates for a mega-fun multiplayer session, especially ganging up on the leader and sending his form off course.

Beach course. Can i go cruising?

Many games are jumping on the Youtube replay bandwagon and Zen Studios have possibly unlocked the best effort to date. You can actually upload 720p quality video replays. HD Heaven! There are three putting methods available to you. The most realistic method is to pull back the analogue stick similar to the Tiger Woods games. You are rewarded more skill points for the harder method you use and you can also gamble an extra shot if you flag your putt for a skill shot. If it pays off you’ll be rewarded with extra skill points, if you fail you’ll be rewarded with nothing.

Planet Mini-Golf isn’t all perfect, in some ways it is a little bit like Tiger Woods. Externally it shines as a spokesperson for the game, but playing the game more you’ll soon realise a few flaws. Firstly, whom-ever did the voice-over commentary for the game would be better off on the dole, it was simply terrible. Secondly, you’ll spend the first hour getting used to power sensitivity. You often have to pull back the analogue stick with so much care, you could be forgiven for thinking your career lies in finely tuning a random frequency with your finger tips. With that disturbing imagery aside, Planet Mini-Golf is an absolute gem and well worth it with the price being just shy of £7.00. I enjoyed this game so much I’d probably pay £15.00 for it at least, so the price is an absolute bargain.

Take this game for a spin, but disable the commentary first.

Joe Danger focuses on the worlds most determined stuntman who is trying to rise to fame once more after a horrific crash which could have, and should have ended his career a long time ago. It’s your job to help Joe Danger make a name for himself once more as you entertain the crowds and take down the evil Team Nasty at the same time. You compete in events and earn stars, with a certain amount of stars needed to unlock future events and progress through the game.

Each level of Joe Danger sets you a variety of objectives which when met reward you with a gold star. The objectives in the game dictate how you approach in level and therefore a single level can be replayed many different times and feel fresh with each play. Objectives include tasks such as completing the level under a certain time limit, collecting all of the stars scattered throughout the level, collecting all of the letters to spell out the word DANGER and landing jumps on all of the required targets in a level. I’m finding it extremely hard to place Joe Danger in a certain genre of game due to the huge variety of gameplay and the way the levels are set out. I want to make sure you realise Joe Danger is not simply a racing game. If you want to successfully complete all of the objectives and earn all of the stars in the game, each level will need to be explored to find hidden objectives and carefully manoeuvred to ensure you pick up all of the stars and land on all of the targets. And of course, you can earn high-scores in each event via performing death-defying stunts and linking together combos, with your scores being compared to your friends instantly after each event which will give you further motivation to perform at your best.

Joe Danger is very much a trial and error game and this is possibly due to the often short and intuitive level design, but most importantly the fact you can restart an event instantly by simply pressing the select button on your controller. With no loading times whatsoever during events, the game lets you jump straight back into the action for another attempt at that tricky jump or had to beat time target. Joe Danger’s brilliant control system also helps to make the game easy to pick up and play. The R2 and L2 buttons accelerate and brake your bike along with allowing you to control movement whilst you’re in the air, with the R1 and L1 buttons being pressed to perform your stunts.

There are a reasonable number of stunts available to woo the crowd with in the game, and the longer you hold the stunt or the harder to stunt is to pull off, the more score and nitrous boost you are awarded. Boosting is performed by pressing the X button and a tricky stipulation has been implemented; you can only use boost when the bar is full. This will change your tactics throughout the level by making you think when the best time to use boost is if you need extra oomph to reach an out of range star or courageously fly over a shark infested pool, whilst also encouraging you to perform more stunts in order to fill your boost meter. Holding the Square button on your controller allows you to duck under obstacles and increase the height of your jumps if you time the release perfectly with your take-offs as you leave ramps. All of these controls mould together extremely well and help to make Joe Danger a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Joe Danger brings a ton of much needed charm to a gaming world which is generally full of dull environments and gameplay geared towards the destruction of others. Instead of decapitating your enemies and smearing walls with blood, you will be struggling to controller your laughter as you see Joe’s plump body ragdoll across the screen and you fail to land an audacious super-man seatgrab mixed with a triple backflip. Seeing Joe land in a pool of sharks and climbing to the edge of the tank, performing a cocky victory dance and then loosing his footing and painfully crunching his family jewels and giving the hungry sharks another visit will never fail to bring a smile to my face. The quirky soundtrack and sound effects add a fun and appropriate environment to and compliment the games colourful and detailed graphics perfectly. The game is full of humour and excitement which mixed with its addictive gameplay keeps you coming back for more. A lack of variety in the game environments is the only visual issue with the game and could do with perhaps some additional locations and possibly weather effects, but this shouldn’t put you off playing the game and doesn’t make the game any less addictive.

After you’ve restored the legendary name of Joe Danger back where it belongs in the single player portion of the game, you can battle a friend in split-screen racing or unleash your creative spark and design your own tricky tracks in the sandbox area. I found making a fun and enjoyable track an easy task to accomplish and I often veer from creative side of funs, and this states just how good the tools on offer here are. There is a strong variety of jumps and hazards to play around with and you can pause the game at any time to add in extra features to your level. This can lead to some hilarious moments such as adding in multiple bombs in the landing zone as Joe Danger is in mid-air and watching the helpless chap make a painful landing as soon as you recommence the game. The levels you create can be uploaded and shared with your friends and therefore you can battle spend countless hours trying to beat each others times on created levels or out-do each other and see who can build the best playground for Joe to break some bones in.

Overall, Joe Danger is a breath of fresh air and I can confidently say that the game is the best currently available of the Playstation Network. Fluid controls, addictive, varied gameplay, tons of humour and great graphics make Joe Danger a fantastic experience which every Playstation 3 owner should have. At a bargain price of £10/$15, you’d be a fool not to give the game a go and support a highly talented up and coming Developing studio in Hello Games.

4.8/5 Stars

The Mod in the games title is an abbreviation for modify, and that is certainly what you can do in ModNation Racers. Starting from a blank canvas, you have a ton of customise options to create a racer or kart to your particular liking. When creating a racer, you firstly choose 1 of 47 skins as a base and then proceed to add further detail such as eyes, noses, hair, facial hair, clothes, stickers, props and even choose what voice your racer will have. As you can imagine, there is a wide variety of options in each of these categories. For example, in the clothes category you can choose from 40 different bottoms from your character ranging from different styled trousers, shorts and race trousers, and then you have the option to further alter the colour of the clothing you’ve selected. After you’ve eventually chosen what lower garments you want, you can then mess around with choosing masks, eyewear, handwear, headgear and shoes. For the extremely creative among you, there are hundreds of stickers you can apply to your racer, and you can of course modify the sticker t your hearts content, whether that be altering the size, shape or colour of the sticker to find the look you’re aiming for.

The same applies for when creating a kart. You start with a blank design and can choose from 49 different bodies for a base layer, and then continue to paint your kart, add parts such as different engines, seats, suspension and steering wheels and then add random accessories which range from bizarre objects such as apples, magnets, and even ninja throwing stars if you wish. You can literally waste hours designing different racers and karts due to the deep customisation options United Front Games have provided. The menus are extremely easy to navigate and each category is clearly labelled and this makes creating in ModNation Racers a breeze and a surprisingly fun alternative to the actual game.

I found creating a level in LittleBigPlanet a chore rather than an enjoyment due to the complicated controls, but thankfully United Front Games have made creating your own track childs play.  Laying the track couldn’t be easier; you simply drive a bulldozer and the track automatically lays for you. You can switch to a birds-eye view which allows you to easily design some dangerous drift corners and link the track back up to the finish line without worrying abut running out of space, and you can change the elevation of the track at any point and therefore you can include some treacherous hill-climbs and tons of jumps if you wish. After you’ve linked up to the start of the track and finished your design, you are asked if you want the game to auto populate the track which will add all the necessary details such as trees, buildings, direction indicators, boost pads and item pick-ups. This is incredibly handy if you’re short of time, can’t be bothered or lack the creative prowess to add such details. You can always edit the track further yourself, adding the finishing touches by deleting any props you don’t like and adding any you desire.

United Front Games have done a fantastic job of making the creative tools accessible to everyone, whether you want to just play around and see what you can come up with or want to try and create a famous gaming/real life character or dedicate hours of your life to creating a fun course to race around. You can take your creations online and share them with the world, and other gamers can comment on your creations and give them a 5-star rating. Getting feedback on your hard work can be very rewarding and also useful so you know what can be improved. The fact you can upload your work for everyone else to download means the game is constantly being updated with user-generated content and therefore ModNation Racers has infinite replayability value. Some brilliant designs have already been uploaded aswell such as The Stig from the television programme Top Gear, classic characters Mario, Luigi and Sonic and even Iron Man. On the kart side of things, the classic A-team van is available to download along with a Ferrari Formula 1 car and the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo! The Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix track has been expertly re-created by some clever-gamer along with hundreds of other fun and challenging tracks to download and play with friends or take online.

Moving away from the creation side of things, ModNation Racers is a brilliant kart racing game in its own right and brings some interesting new ideas to the genre. The tracks are littered with Item Pods which when picked up give you access to weapons and items to give you an advantage in the race. The innovative idea here is the levelling up system with the item pods. If you are patient enough, you are rewarded with more powerful weapons and items. The first pod you pick up will be a level 1 item, with the second being level 2 and third pod upgrading to a level 3 item. An example of this is the missiles. Level 1 and the first pod is a basic straight forward shot, with the level 2 and the second pod providing you with homing missiles and finally level 3 allowing you to take out multiple opponents at the same time. This levelling up system adds strategic play to the game and encourages you to think about your weapons/items instead of using them as soon as you pick them up.

Drifting is a huge part of ModNation Racers and has been implemented with perfection due to a simplistic control system. Tapping the X button will make your kart start drifting and all you have to do is control the direction of the kart with the left stick. I’ve never been a fan of drifting in racing games before but United Front Games have managed to make it fun, and this is fortunate due to some of the tracks requiring you to drift around tons of tight, tricky bends. Like most other kart racing games these days, drifting and drafting behind other cars fills up a boost meter which you can use for a burst of extra speed when needed. ModNation Racers has gone one further by allowing you to shield yourself by pressing the Circle button when an incoming attack is about to hit you. Using the shield drains a substantial amount of your boost meter but can come in very useful. This feature adds further tactics to the game and makes you think if you should boost when out in front to gain distance on the field or save your boost meter for a shield incase you get attacked. I found instances where I still got hit and span out even when I used the shield and this can become infuriating, but fortunately the shield works the majority of the time.

The Career mode in ModNation Racers has you making a name for yourself and trying to win the ModNation Racers Championship; hardly an original idea there then. You’re guided throughout by an ex-racer who teaches you the ropes and tries to stop rival companies from gaining your signature. The story is told between races in a cut-scene television format, presented by the comical characters Biff Tradwell and Gary Reasons who are constantly having a go at each other. This is done extremely well and provides many laugh out loud moments throughout the career mode; I actually found myself wanting to play more of the Career, just so I could see what the next insult Biff Tradwell would use! The Career mode is made up 5 different Tours you must win, with the first 3 tours consisting of 5 races with the final 2 tours consisting of 8 races each. There is a good variety of tracks throughout the career mode which keeps the game from becoming sour, and the difficulty of the tracks certainly increases, with more bends and tougher competition being present as you progress towards the latter stages.

Each race in the Career mode has 3 objects you can complete to unlock new customisation options to use on your racers, karts and tracks. Every race has the objective of finishing 3^rd or better in order to advance and rewards you with 3 new customisation options, with the two other objectives differing each time. The 2^nd objective is generally a skill based objective such as finish 1^st and achieve 100,000 drift points or 15,000 spin points, with the 3^rd objective focusing on taking down a certain opponent in the race; one who normally mocks you in the races opening cut-scene, and therefore revenge will be sweet. Objectives are a great addition to the game as they give you something to think about and aim for throughout the race and provide an incentive to re-try the race at a later date to unlock more customisation options if you failed to do so the first time. There is also 3 tokens hidden throughout each track which you can use to unlock new random customisation options from the shop.

Quick Play mode is available where you can play any of the pre-made tracks along with the tracks you have created yourself or downloaded from other users. 4 player split-screen is available for those lucky enough to have huge displays and real-life friends to play with! Unfortunately there is a slight frame-rate drop when the action gets intense in split-screen mode but not enough to put you off playing with your friends. Online play is of course available and is a highlight of the game with up to 12 player races providing some frantic and exciting gameplay. If you’re in a chilled out mood and want some stressful gameplay, you can join or host a casual race, whereas XP races and series will be the choice for more competitive gamers who want to rank up their racer and unlock customisable options along the way. The lure of 12 player races in multiplayer sound fantastic but I found that the reality was the host starting the race as soon as the required 4 players had joined. While still fun, the races were no-way near as intense as 12 races which have the ability to provide some epic moment and loads of great memories.

The HUB and starting point of the game is called the ModSpot and this is where you can access all of the games features, aswell as meet and chat to other gamers who are driving around. The area is a good idea and presented well, allowing you a short drive to each of the features such as Career and Online modes, aswell as showing big statues of the highest rated Mods created. There is also a section which will allow you to test drive future download content United Front Games releases, and this is a brilliant feature more games should implement. Whilst the ModSpot is a great idea, it seriously suffers from frame-rate drops when there is other users driving about at the same time and this will often make you take a shortcut by pressing the start button which brings up a wheel, allowing you to quickly skip to your desired location instead of driving there and interacting with other gamers.

The frame-rate drops in split-screen mode and the ModSpot aren’t the issues with ModNation Racers however. The game suffers badly from painful loading times which can often take up to 2 or 3 minutes at a time. This is a real shame when you’ve just watched a fantastic cut-scene which puts you in the mood to burn some rubber and destroy your competitors, only to have to sit there and stare at the screen for 2 minutes and lose all motivation you once had. Strangely enough, you have to wait a few minutes at a loading screen before you even have the honour of seeing the starting menu, which then makes you wait while you connect to the online portion of the game, and therefore it takes approximately 5 minutes before you can even start driving around what appears to be a laggy ModSpot. Apart from the horribly long loading times which might put a few people off the game, my other issue with the game is how brutal the A.I suddenly appear in the latter stages of the Career mode. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about tough competition and challenging races, but when you’re in 1^st place and get hit by 3 consecutive missiles and haven’t got enough shield to see off all 3 attacks, falling back to a pitiful 9^th place on the final lap and having to restart the race can become extremely tedious; especially after your 15^th attempt.

ModNation Racers isn’t full of incredible textures or jaw-dropping lighting effects but the game makes up for this with colourful graphics and fun personality. You’ll rarely look at the screen and be amazed at the graphics, nor will you think to yourself “what a terrible looking game”; well, apart from when your racers hair sticks out through their headgear which is a strange glitch I find hard to believe United Front Games missed. There are 48 Trophies to unlock throughout your time with ModNation Racers. You will easily earn bronze Trophies for carrying out simple tasks such as winning races, playing online, creating a mod/kart/track and there are plenty of Trophies which will keep you playing the game for a lengthy period of time, and these include earning at least 5,000 XP in online races, achieving rank 30 and completing all of the Career challenges/objectives.

ModNation Racers is a brilliant kart racing game in its own right, bundled with a fantastic and extremely deep customisation system which lets amateurs and pros alike build their own racers, karts and tracks, however detailed you want them to be. Unfortunately the game suffers with long and tedious loading times, brutal A.I in the latter stages of the Career mode and the odd frame-rate drop in split-screen racing and the ModSpot, but these issues still shouldn’t be enough to keep you from playing what is a extremely fun and addictive kart racing game.

Set in the ‘Wild West’, Lead & Gold is a third person, multiplayer only shooter published by Paradox Interactive available for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. (For the PC review check http://bit.ly/b947yg ) You play on either the red or blue team, choosing from 4 different classes, each having their own special abilities and synergies which reward your team mates for staying together in battle. The classes offer a good variety and you can choose classes tactically to suit the map choice and the type of game being played. Classes such as the Blaster will perform better in maps that are smaller in which their Double barrelled shotgun will be more effective, or the Gunslinger whose fast rate of fire and reload times make them ideal for close encounters. Larger maps will be suited to the deputy, whose repeater carbine is accurate for mid-range and long attacks or the trapper, whose sniper is deadly accurate over the larger distances. The classes also have a signature move;  the Blaster’ has dynamite which can be used to devastating effect on a group of close packed enemies, the Deputy can tag enemies for team mates to spot  and the Trapper can lay a bear trap to snare enemies and grab an easy headshot. However, I have found that the traditionally shorter ranged weapons such as the shotgun can be used to hit targets over a larger distance which you would expect them to be ineffective.

There are 6 game types available; shootout – a basic team death match affair, Conquest is a capture the waypoints game and  Powderkeg will have you running back and forth across the map trying to carry powder kegs to locations and blowing up objectives whilst trying to avoid being shot. Gold fever is a one or two player co-operative mode where you try to obtain as many gold bags as possible whilst defending against the waves of attacking AI enemies and Greed pits the two teams against each other fighting for the randomly spawning gold bags which they need to bring back to their base.

There are only small number of maps available, some are excellent such as ‘Deadwater Ranch’, whilst others do not offer the same balance and overall fun feeling. All maps however allow let the game flow- and the fast, frenetic gameplay is allowed to take to the fore and shine. The online set-up is good with quick and simple access to a game and throughout my time playing L&G my only niggles with the online play is the annoyance of  getting kicked from a game as the ‘host has been lost’ – although this only occurs very rarely- and the other being the hit detection can sometimes be a bit sporradic with shots not registering on the enemies.From my experience no lag was witnessed and the controls are sharp and responsive and again which adds to the cohesive gameplay. Players are allotted XP for certain kills and achieving objectives; this levels up the character and adds to the ranking board at the end of the game leading to competition between team members to attain the best ranking. The respawn system is a double-edged sword; a member of the team takes a portable respawn point with them in the form of a flag, this again allows the gameplay to flow as the player can be dropped back into the action immediately. The player has the choice of being spawned at this portable respawn point (if available) or back at the base, if they choose to return to the base there is a good chance an enemy will be camping near this point and the player will be killed as soon as they have spawned.

Aesthetically the game is brilliant. It never sets itself out to be too realistic and this only adds to the overall experience – it reflects the fun and quirky nature of a game that benefits from not taking itself too seriously. The character design is cartoonesque and plays on the stereotypes of the time such as the trapper wearing a ‘Coon skin hat and the level design is fairly detailed with additions such as the gallows that take residence in the town square.

Lead & Gold is a fantastic multiplayer experience; it offers a very enjoyable experience at a very low price that satisfies my insatiable lust for the west. It does have its bugs, but these are few and can be easily overlooked and are outweighed by the many positives that the game gives. For any Western fans or even online shooter fanatics this is a must buy, although its longevity may hinge upon future updates and content.

Split/Second is described by Disney as an “intense action driving game” and is set in the form of a reality television show. You are a participant in the show and must survive all of the episodes whilst aiming to achieve the ultimate goal of becoming the Split/Second Season Champion by earning the most cumulative points throughout the season.

The feature that sets Split/Second apart from all of the other arcade racers out there and guarantees the intense racing experience described by Disney is the ability to unleash what are known as “Power Plays” on you fellow racers. Power Plays are where you trigger the environment to unleash a trap or blow up in order to block the path of your competitors and wreck their cars, allowing you to overtake with ease. Implementing drifting into your driving is essential in Split/Second due to drifting being the main source which charges the Power Play bar that is displayed around your car. Drafting, where you stay in the slip-stream of another car in order to gain speed due to no wind resistance, along with catching air in big jumps, also charge the Power Play bar.

Once a certain blue segment of the Power Play bar is full, a blue hexagonal symbol will appear by the cars ahead of you when you are able to unleash your Power Play and hopefully hinder the progress of your unfortunate competitors. Power Plays can range from anything between exploding barrels being dropped out of the sky from a helicopter filming the race for the television programme to metal poles falling off a production truck and dangerously rolling into the road and the path of an oncoming vehicle. Black Rock Studios have really been imaginative in designing these Power Plays and there are a few which will make you shout “AWESOME” at your television.

The correct timing is vital to the success of your Power Plays. Pressing the X button and using the Power Play as soon as you receive it will likely result in the obstacle being released too soon and giving your opponent enough time to react and move out of the way. In contrast, waiting too long after receiving the Power Play often results in your opponents zooming past the upcoming obstruction before it has even arrived. You can store up to two blue standard Power Plays, with your bar then progressing into the red area which is known as a level 2 Power Play, and when full will allow you to unleash a far more devastating attack which is certain to give you an advantage in the race. These level 2, fully charged Power Plays include dramatic events such as a water tower crumbling down and landing on the truck, a construction crane swinging out of control and my personal favourite, a gigantic Jumbo Jet falling from the sky and crashing in your path. Unfortunately these red Power Plays can only be used at one specific part of the track and therefore you will have to bide your time before you can let loose the havoc.

If you have the patience to wait till your Power Play bar is fully charged and in the level 2 zone, you will be rewarded with some stunning visual effects to drool over; let alone multiple enemies being wrecked and demoted a few places in the race. While Power Plays are your best friend when you’re trailing the pack and fighting for first place, they turn into your worst enemy when you eventually reach your goal and lead the way. Just knowing that at any second a nearby barrel could explode or a construction crane fall from the sky and take you out really gets the adrenaline flowing and keeps you on edge throughout the race. If you’re lucky enough to experience a near-miss, your car will start to lose control and you’ll need to battle to keep it on the road; the loss of control will result in a loss of a few vital seconds. Opening up shortcuts is another useful feature of your Power Play bar. The tracks in Split/Second are littered with cleverly placed shortcuts which allow you shave seconds off your lap time and are key to winning the harder races. The best thing about the shortcuts is the fact they quickly close up again after you have used them, and therefore anyone following close by with the hope of taking advantage of a shortcut you triggered could be in for a nasty surprise and a car-crushing crash.

Shortcut Time!

Another feature which separates Split/Second from other racing games is the fact that the games HUD is displayed below your cars bumper instead of in the top right and left hand corners of the screen. This firstly allows a cleaner look to the game and more screen space available which can only benefit the gamer. Secondly, having the Power Play bar, your position and what lap you’re currently on all displayed under your bumper looks great and is all easily accessible without taking your eyes off the road. Finally, there is a lack of a map in Split/Second showing the upcoming corners and therefore unless you’ve played the game multiple times and know the track well, you often won’t know where you’re going and what position on the track to partake until very near the corners. This adds intensity to the racing as you’ll often have to break into huge drifts to make a tight corner.

The handling of the cars took me a while to get used and I regularly over-steered when trying to drift, resulting in my car spinning out and facing the wrong way. The earlier cars in the game also felt quite stiff to handle and this made cornering a chore instead of an enjoyment. I found the drifting problem occurred less when better cars with higher drift ratings where used, and you can get a good angle on the drift and easily fill up the valuable Power Play bar. The stiffness also wriggled away when better cars are unlocked and available, and you can really fling these supercharged beasts around the track at a high velocity and the sense of speed in the game really picks up; again adding to the intensity of the game.

There are a total of 12 episodes to battle through in the television series with each episode consisting of 5 events and a bonus event which is unlocked if you meet certain stipulations, and therefore there are 72 events to test your nerves and driving skills. When you consider the majority of these events take a minimum of 5 minutes to complete, the single player portion of the game will require at least 6 hours of your time to “race” through. Each of the television episodes is presented in sublime style, with an announcer hyping up the event of showing the upcoming events you’ll be participating in and the carnage that could unfold.

Split/Second has a good variety of events throughout the Season which can also be played in a quick play mode after they have been unlocked. The obvious Race has been included along with Elimination where the last placed car is knocked out until there is only one remaining. Detonator challenges you to set the fastest possible time whilst Power Plays are automatically triggered infront of you, and you are ranked position wise depending on how what time your opponents achieved. Survival mode requires you to overtake as many moving rigs as possible, and these rigs are dropping barrels with the aim of taking you out. Getting hit by a blue barrel will slow you down whereas getting hit by a red barrel will wreck you and end the event. Getting an overtake streak adds to your score multiplier, and the driver who gains the most score before getting wrecked will be awarded first place.

The final two modes bring innovative and fun ideas to the racing genre. In Air Strike, you have to drive whilst avoiding missiles fired at your car by the helicopter patrolling the skies. Red symbols indicate where the missiles will hit the floor and you have to weave through and avoid them. The longer the event lasts, the harder it becomes with more missiles being fired and the tighter the gap between the missiles. In contrast, Air Revenge allows you to get sweet pay-back on the evil helicopter by deflecting the missiles back towards it and blowing the helicopter to smithereens.

The 6 modes in Split/Second all provide (exploding) barrels of fun and have enough variety to keep the game fun for many hours. Split-screen fans will be happy to hear that you will be able to obliterate your friends on the same console in Race, Survival and Elimination modes. If you’re selfish and prefer your television to yourself, you can take on your friends and the world from the comfort of your seat via Xbox Live and the Playstation Network where the 8 player online races are even more intense than racing against the A.I. Wrecking your friend with a Power Play and then letting him know about it via the mic is great fun.

Split/Second is a beautiful game to look at with its fantastic lighting, realistic smoke effects, gorgeous cars and most importantly a rock-solid framerate which didn’t drop once for me; even when the huge explosions and over-the-top action was occurring. Unfortunately the environments do become a bit stale after a while due to a lack of variety which is a shame. The cars in Split/Second are well designed and look either sporty or meaty depending on whether they are more speed or strength dominant, but either way, you can be assured they will have some sexy shiny textures. The cars included in the game are unfortunately completely fictional and there are clear Lamborghini and over brand rip-offs, but this didn’t detract from the overall experience for me. Split/Second’s soundtrack fits the game perfectly, with a mixture of drum and bass and heavy rock never failing to pump you up before a race or give you the motivation to push for first place.

Split/Second features a mixed difficulty achievement/trophy list. There are plenty of achievements or trophies you can unlock quickly such as “win your first bonus round” or “win your first online event” and there are plenty of achievements and trophies which will take a fair amount of time and skill to achieve, and these include “Complete every event and Season Championship race in first place” and “get an online form of 1”. The lists should certainly keep you busy and make you get the most out of Split/Second, but this could hinder the completionists among you. If you’re looking for an easy 1000 achievement points or Platinum trophy, you won’t find it here.

Split/Second is a fantastic game which brings intense and high adrenaline racing to the table through well designed Power Play moves and the games HUD being displayed under your cars bumper instead of scattered all over the screen. If you’re looking for an action-packed racer to give you those “OH MY GOD” moments, coupled with gorgeous graphics, a great soundtrack, split-screen and online racing, Split/Second should be number one on your starting grid this May. Highly recommended for racing fans and adrenaline junkies.

From the moment you boot up and start playing 3D Dot Game Heroes, it is painstakingly obvious that the game has been based upon The Legend of Zelda, a game many people class as one of the best ever developed and a game that was launched way back on February 21, 1986; a massive 24 years ago and 2 years before I was born! The Legend of Zelda featured a mixture of puzzles, action, battle and exploration gameplay, all something that you will find in 3D Dot Game Heroes. The similarities between the two games are there for all to witness. Whether it be the dungeon gameplay, crazy sword antics, subtitled text speech, grapple hook exploration, the retro soundtrack and even chasing chickens around with your shield, 3D Dot Game Heroes has all the old-school Zelda goodness that the retro gamer living inside you will be thrilled to see make an appearance in a modern age full of High Definition, groundbreaking graphics and ear-drum bursting explosions. I fear that many people will feel that Atlus have taken the similarities too far and the game will be labelled a “rip-off”, but in-fact Atlus have said the game is a tribute to retro gaming and Zelda; whether that excuses taking literally every single gameplay mechanic of the game or not and shoving High Definition visuals on top, I’m not sure.

3D Dot Game Heroes even features an old-school storyline that you would encounter many a time back in the 80s and early 90s; save the kingdom and defeat the evil. In this case, the kingdom of Dotnia has been invaded by an evil king known as The Dark King Onyx who has stolen six magical orbs, only to have his plans thwarted by a hero with a legendary sword who twisted events and sealed the Dark King Onyx in a magical orb himself. Chaos and terror flowed through the Kingdom of Dotnia once again however when an evil Dark Bishop called Fuelle stole the orb the Dark King resided in and planned to use the orb to take over the world. You must take control of grandchild of the hero who originally slayed the Dark King Onyx, recovering the legendary sword from the depths of the forest and using it to defeat the Dark Bishop Fuelle and bring calm and peace back to the Kingdom of Dotnia.

Dotnia received many visitors from around the world after the Dark King Onyx had been defeated who wanted to take a glimpse at the legendary hero and the Kingdom itself, but eventually the tale got old and the visitors stopped flooding from afar. In order to fix this problem, the King decided to transform the boring 2D sprites and make the land completely 3-dimensional, whilst still keeping the pixelated look. This helped attract visitors from all over the world to Dotnia, and of course give the game a modern day look. Everything from the water to the trees in Dotnia is made up of hundreds of small blocks, giving the game that old-school feel and at the same time bringing a modern day High Definition shine to the game. Interior areas such as houses and some temples look a bit bland, but the majority of the game looks fantastic. Enemies’ breaking into hundreds of small blocks when defeated is an example of one of the many nice touches found in the game.

The game requires you to travel to 6 temples located in Dotnia and receive the 6 magical orbs, which when fused together, will give you the power to defeat the Dark Bishop Fuelle. The story is decent and fits into the retro-style well, giving an incentive to play through and complete the 20+ hour storyline that the game offers. Unfortunately I found the game often lacked direction, leaving me wondering around the land aimlessly and wasting time. An example of this would be the game saying “the Forest temple is located to the North” instead of giving me a real guide to the objective. I would have preferred a more detailed route, but at least this adds exploration to the game and hours to the gameplay, even if the downside is some un-needed frustration. A map is available which lets you quickly travel throughout the Kingdom of Dotnia once you have discovered different places, and this is useful due to the amount of backtracking you will have to do in the game.

There is a fair amount of humour to be found throughout the storyline and you can tell that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. The game will often ask you a question such as “will you be brave and take on the quest to recover the orbs?” leaving you with a yes or no answer. If you are like me and couldn’t resist the temptation of being a douche and choosing no, the game will reply with a comical answer along the lines of “c’mon, you know you have to choose yes in order to progress the story!” There are also plenty of retro game references chucked in for the older gamer to enjoy, and something you may only really appreciate if you grew up in that era of gaming.

A good variety of enemies inhabit the Kingdom of Dotnia and each requires different tactics to defeat. Spiders will spring about the screen trying to land on you, resulting in you having to constantly move about the screen and avoid the nasty nippers whereas other enemies will fire arrows from afar or decide to charge catch you off guard and use a charge attack. You have a shield to protect you from attacks, but the most interesting possession you have is undoubtedly the legendary sword you carry along with a wide range of other swords you can pick-up throughout the story. The legendary sword is swung in humorous fashion and is bound to bring some laughs to the game as its unnatural stabbing effect occurs. The sword takes up a huge amount of the screen and therefore is effective at removing numerous enemies from the screen in one attack. However, the sword will only have this huge and powerful appearance when your health is full, and therefore you will have to be careful of getting hit by enemies or quickly eat apples which are often left after killing enemies in order to give you back an advantage in the battlefield.

The 6 temples you must travel to in order to collect the magical orbs all have a boss you must defeat at the end, and this can be extremely difficult once you take your first damage due to your massive, powerful weapon being changed to a puny sword which only extends a few metres of the screen instead of taking up the whole playing area. Expect to have to reload the game multiple times when this occurs and endure some frustration. All the swords you pick up in the game can be taken to a blacksmith and upgraded via coins you collect by defeating enemies and destroying plants and other objects. The power and girth of the swords can be improved, and this system adds an RPG feel to the game. You will also acquire a boomerang and crossbow which you will need to progress throughout the story, but these can also be used as effective weapons against the right enemies.

The aforementioned 6 temples you will visit provide some fun and challenging puzzle gameplay which will have to solving puzzles, finding keys, defeating enemies and backtracking in order to get past the boss and retrieving the magical orb you desire. I must admit that some of the puzzles took me a fair amount of time to work out and I even had to look up some videos on Youtube to help me through a certain section, and this makes me think that the game might not be suitable for the younger audiences; either that or I’m just an idiot and need to go back to college! Mini-games can be found throughout the Kingdom such as Tower Defence games, and these add some variety to the game-play; just don’t expect the mini-games to hold your attention for too long. There is a good variety of environments in the game such as forests, deserts, temples and even dungeons to battle through and these help keep the game fresh.

When you first start the game, you are able to choose what character you would like to play as instead of having to play through the story as a pre-determined character. You can select between basic male and female characters you would expect to occupy the Kingdom of Dotnia, along with Ninja Assassins and even animals! If none of these take your fancy, there is even a customisation option which lets you build your own character dot-by-dot where you can design the body shape and change the colours to create your own personal character. Seeing your invention bravely stroll throughout the land is a nice touch and a tool you can spend hours playing around with and you can change which character you use everytime you load up the game and this will help you avoid getting bored with the game.

The trophy hunters and completionists among you will be happy to hear there are 51 trophies to unlock. You will obtain many of the bronze trophies by simply carrying out basic events such as defeating an enemy with your sword, blocking an attack with your shield and creating a character. Harder trophies to obtain include maxing out your health bar and acquiring all of the swords. 34 of the trophies are hidden and wil require you to fully explore the Kingdom of Dotnia and experience everything the game has to offer. The list is a solid one which will add hours of gameplay for those looking to obtain the Platinum trophy.

Overall, 3D Dot Heroes Game is a retro lovers dream and should be experienced by anyone who loved the 8-bit genre back in the late 80s and early 90s. The game takes many of Zelda’s ideas and implements them well, adding a classy High Definition coat of paint to proceedings. The old-school gaming certainly won’t appeal to everybody and I must say I’m not the biggest retro fan, but the unique style of the game and addictive gameplay provides something different to what is currently available on the Playstation 3. Highly recommended for retro fans and I recommend a rental for fans of the action/adventure genre.

“Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Onslaught mode can be played with up to four players across four multiplayer maps – Valparaiso, Atacama Desert, Isla Inocentes, and Nelson Bay – redesigned with new lighting, time of day, added vehicles and other effects. Each map has a dedicated gameplay focus, requiring different levels of teamwork in order to complete the objectives against an onslaught of enemy AI. Vehicle warfare comes to the forefront in Atacama Desert while Nelson Bay focuses squarely on infantry assault. Players can compete in squads and check individual progress via the dedicated Onslaught leaderboards.”

Onslaught Teaser Trailer

No release date has been announced yet, and it still remains unconfirmed if this update will be coming to the PC or not.  Full story here http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=468937

Matt Fitzgerald
US Correspondent