myxbox.co.uk / Console & PC Chat / Xbox Games

Formula 1 for 360?

lizzarian — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:52:05 GMT

How do,

Anyone know if there's an F1 game in the works for the 360? Love Forza but it's time it stepped up a notch ...

Cheers

Lizz

GTA 4

Smi1ar — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:06:32 GMT

first details on the online multiplayer mode of Grand Theft Auto IV. The publication has revealed that there will be 15 multiplayer game types in GTA IV, ranging from co-op to deathmatch. I just translated some of the facts mentioned in the article:

Death Match will feature rocket launchers.
The host of the match sets the rules for each game type. In “Race” and “GTA Race,” the host chooses the vehicles and number of laps. In “Deathmatch” and “Team Death Match,” the host chooses the weapons, the number of pedestrians, the amount of traffic, even if the police will sneak in or not.
You can customize your character in multiplayer, from sex and race to hair and clothes.
PlayStation Revista Oficial played a death match game where all players had rocket launchers and half the city was blown away.
In “Mafiya Work” and “Team Mafiya Work,” each player becomes a Kenny Petrovic's assassin that competes against the other users. The goal is to complete Petrovic's orders (issued via a mobile phone) before the other players.
In “Race” and “GTA Race,” you can use fire weapons to neutralize your rivals and steal a car in case yours gets busted.
In “Cops N Crooks,” you’ll be able to play cops and robbers, but in a wild way. One team plays as criminals on the run while the other team plays as the cops, whose mission is to kill the head of the criminal band. To make things even more interesting, cops can see the location of the criminals on their GPS, so criminals never know where or when police will sneak in. Of all the game types played by PlayStation Revista Oficial, “Cops N Crooks” was the most entertaining one.
In “Hangman’s NOOSE,” you’ll play co-op and this game type is similar to the VIP escort game mode found in Counter-Strike.
The game modes are:
1. Deathmatch
2. Team Deathmatch
3. Hangman's NOOSE
4. Mafiya Work
5. Team Mafiya Work
6. Cops N Crooks
7. Race
8. GTA Race
9. Car Jack City
10. Bomb da Base
11. Bomb da Base II
12. Turf War
13. Deal Breaker
14. Free Mode
15. ????

Gears Of War

PitifulDuke — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:19:33 GMT

Played this last night and had forgotten how brilliant a game it is, how good is it when you can stamp on your oponents head and crush their skull spraying out blood & brains everywhere or cut them in 2 with the chainsaw attachment spraying their blood and guts everywhere. It was also 1st time Id played it on my HD TV so it really did look gruesome too lol, mind you I was playing Pitch so didnt get to do it too often but I tried if anyone fancies playing this game for a refreshing change send me an invite!

Most Wanted Games 2008

SJ — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:11:19 GMT

Interested in what games people are getting for 2008? Heres my current list (release dates from game):

Rock Band - 23/5/2008
Race Driver - 30/5/2008
Indiana Jones - 6/6/2008
Alone in the dark - 20/6/2008
Battlefield Bad company - 27/6/2008
Bourne Conspiracy - 27/6/2008
Star Wars Unleashed - 19/9/2008
Fable 2 - 1/10/2008
Tom Clancy's end war - 1/10/2008
Gears of War 2 - 1/11/2008

Condemned 2: Bloodshot

OddSmitty — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:56:39 GMT

The original Condemned was the first game I bought at launch and spent a couple of nights in the dark alternating between man screams and excessive violence. So, I rushed off to the shops this morning and picked up the sequel...

Feck me - it's good! Really good! The combat is greatly improved, and you'll find yourself kicking seven shades of shit out of the next messed-up tramp that comes for you. And as for the creepy scares, you'll be shaking after the first level's 'ceiling sacks'...

Anyone else picked this up? Maybe it's because I've spent the past few months flirting with the Wii I bought, and the days of Zelda's calm and Mario's charm have turned me into Dale Winton's feminine bed buddy...

gta 4 reviews

longy — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:15:17 GMT

10/10 from oxm followed by another perfect score from ign , cant wait for multiplayer. looks great

Prototype on Gamespot

steamRobot — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:41:17 GMT

I read about Prototype last year and it sounded pretty cool, a bit like crackdown but with more depth. After watching Gamespots 'On the Spot' feature i'm not sure. Looks a bit manic with the main character running around like a headless chicken avoiding the military and the infected masses. A bit like The Hulk Ultimate Destruction which I think was made by the same development team.

Anyone heard anything else about it.

Vegas 2 update

steamRobot — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:38:05 GMT

Just put vegas 2 on and there is an update that gives you the private class achievement.

Top Spin 2 - Crashes

Scouseknight — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:38:11 GMT

After the LAN I re-purchased Top Spin 2 and have been spending some time with it again creating new players seeing as I removed all my content when I traded it in.

To help relieve the boredom I kitted my player out with the downloadable content tops and shorts and I believe this has been responsible for several game crashes.

Sometimes the game will simply freeze when loading an event - be it training or an actual tournament.

I re-start my 360 and try again - same thing.

I cleaned the disk a few times at first thinking it was a bad disk I got (not everyone takes the same level of care with their disks and this was a pre-owned copy I bought).

No scratches or greasy fingerprints on this disk though it's pristine and in as good a condition as it could be.

So this latest crash I decided to change my gear and use the basic sponsor stuff in my bag - it didn't crash this time.

Just a heads-up for those who still play it or are playing it to get back into things before Top Spin 3.

Burnout Paradise review

Chas — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:21:21 GMT

Ok apologies for being a little late with this one...

I'm sure we all know the Burnout franchise by now, race around, take out the opposition, do spectacular crashes and underneath it all nothing's really changed, but as you're probably aware by now they've taken the game in a new, much more open direction. Gone is the win this race/series to unlock the next one and repeat until you complete the game syndrome that many racing games, in fact many games of any genre follow. Instead when you start the game you are plonked right in the city - the full city at that, you can go anywhere right from the off. No need to complete the next event/series/level etc to unlock the next bit.

The city itself is vast and there's literaly hundreds of secrets to unlock, whether they be jumps, shortcuts, hidden areas and billboards. You can spend hours just driving around exploring, seeing what you can do and where you can go without even touching the events.

You're probably getting the picture by now, this game is about freedom. Freedom to do go wherever you want, whenever you want, compete in whatever events you want, whenever you want. This even extends down to completing events. No tracks or courses to stick to. Just, when necessary, a finish point that you can get to by whatever route you choose to.

As for the events themselves, they're located at most of the road intersections with a coloured marker on the map to indicate what type of event it is and a little tick to denote when you've completed it and consist of standard Races, Stunt Runs, Road Rage (takedown a specified number of cars), Marked Man (avoid being taken down) and Burning Routes (car specific time trials).

One type of event you may notice that's missing from the list if you've played Burnout before, is the Crash mode. It's still in there but has been completely revamped and works in quite a different way. Unsurprisingly, Showtime mode, as it's now called, has become very freeform too. Now you don't have specific Crash events, but every road on the map is a Showtime opportunity.

Whereas before Cash mode was set on predetermined road layouts and traffic patterns, now you just head for a road, find a suitable well populated stretch, enable Showtime mode and go for it. The mechanics of this mode is quite different as well, now you have to press A to roll towards vehicles a bit like the Crash Breaker of old, when you crash into vehicles you get points and more importantly, your Boost meter goes up, which allows you to roll again. This way you can continue crashing until your Boost meter runs out. On the face of it I really thought they'd spoilt this mode, but when I started playing it I soon realised how much more fun it was, especially when you can keep on rolling for miles with a bit of luck and a steady flow of traffic.

The game also makes use of the Vision camera, as you progress through the game and gain licenses you can take your picture to go on the license. Ok not that impressive really but any use of the largely forgotten peripheral is a bonus. What's more when you play online you get the opportunity to take a snap for the benefit of the person that performs a takedown on you, rude gestures are of course completely obligatory.

Then of course there's the online modes. Again no whisking you off to a lobby, just invite some friends in while you're driving around the city, then you can setup a series of races to compete in, work through some of the challenges or just explore together in Freeburn mode. While you're in Freeburn mode you can try to outdo each other on certain specific challenges that appear on screen, such as longest drift, most airtime etc.

The races are a straightforward, first past the finish post race from point A to B using either predetermined points or ones you can edit yourself. The challenges are a bit different and will set you a task you either have to complete individually or by working together. They may range from the simple, meet at a certain point marked on a map or, complete a certain jump at a specific location, or just complete a specified objective by any means you can, wherever you are or want to go on the map.

I have to say initially though I wasn't drawn to this game at all. It's a problem with games that give you a lot of freedom, initially things can seem a bit overwhelming and you do miss having a structured format. But gradually I found myself getting sucked in and it wasn't long before you were enjoying the freedom the game gives you.

The city itself looks fantastic, very detailed and with an 'out of town' area and various other places like airfields, quarries, dams and railroad you can drive along, all help to add a bit of variety. Talking of variety there's a lot of different cars you can race, in all shapes and sizes and suitable for different types of events, depending on their speed boost and strength. Again they are very detailed and have a fantastic damage model the way the cars crumple and bits hang off or break, it's a joy to watch.

I've played this online now quite a bit and it works seamlessly, I'm impressed. It's borrowed certain ideas from the likes of Test Drive Unlimited, but in this game they actually work.

There's one thing a game of this much freedom could do with though and that's the ability to navigate across the map a bit more easily, they could have accomplished this in a couple of straightforward ways. One would have been the ability to jump to any event you have already unlocked. Yes it's nice to be able to drive anywhere if you want to, but as you complete the game and events you need to do are spread further afield, sometimes it would just be nice to be able to go straight to them rather than drive halfway across the map. This is especially true as there is no option to restart an event, which again, early on it doesn't matter so much as there's usually plenty of events available wherever you end up after trying an event but as you work your way through the game, your opportunities become less frequent so being able to go straight to an event could have been pretty useful.

The other way they could have done it is by allowing you to set a waypoint. Again when you want to get to a specific event, the minimap is useless and bringing up the full map takes you to a completely different screen rather than an overlay so it feels a bit clunky and disjointed, when all you want to do is a quick check of the map to be sure you're heading in the right direction.

This is quite simply a lovely game though, a joy to play whether offline or online. Yes initially it does take a bit of getting used to the new format, but once you're over that you realise how much this game has to offer.

Vegas 2

telboy58 — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:08:47 GMT

Hi all,

Just received my copy of RB6 -Vegas 2, pre ordered from Play.com.

It comes with a bonus CD but I don't know what's on it yet.

Anyone else getting this game? Glad to give COD4 a rest for a while, hopefully I'll be a bit better playing this game.

Kingdom Under Fire

PitifulDuke — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:12:01 GMT

Kingdom Under Fire Circle Of Doom : Action RPG

Long Overdue: My 1st attempt at a game review:

If games are as good as they look on the box then this game would be great!

It says: "Answer the call to battle where the Lords Of Light wage war for ultimate dominion. To save the world from eternal darkness, you must overcome hordes of demented monsters, journey through twisted surreal environments and face unspeakable nightmares. Use your strength to end the Circle of Doom and bring back the light."

Innitially the game looks great. Theres a choice of 6 characters, all with different strengths & capabilities. The graphics are spellbinding and I was quite excited to be playing it at 1st. It says "explore worlds featuring randomly generated maps and destructable environments" - now the worlds do look amazing with some fantastic scenery, explore? I wouldn't call it that by any means. You have to stick to the path which in comparison to the environment is very small. Its really annoying, some of the scenery looks great and makes you want to "explore" but go away from the path and you hit the invisible walls. So you set off thru the world ( down the path ) and within a few seconds are greeted by some gruesome lookin monsters and several of them, who automatically begin their assualt, coming for you more or less as soon as you spot them. Battling them altho they are relatively easy to defeat is a press all the buttons on the remote frenzy just to get you charcater to fight, the problem here is there are far too many weapon choices, spells and attacking options/combinations. As you defeat the monsters you get to pick up different potions/weapons just to add to the confusion. And if thats not enough, every so often you can mix weapons together with weapons or potions which creates new weapons or potions, confused ? I was!! The other problem is that the "demented monsters" appear several times down the path, you fight them, kill them, fight them , kill them and thats it, the game is so repetetive its unreal, finish 1 world, goto next, same monsters with 1 or 2 extra. Admittedly they do get a bit harder to defeat, and do get bigger and more gruesome looking as you go thru the worlds ( down the paths! ) but you always know whats coming, more of the same! Its a shame, if you could explore the environments more and maybe sneak past or upto the monsters and vary the fighting it could be an excellent game. Every so often you come to some hovering over a well type of goddess creature where you can save game, mix potions or "sleep" - now Im not being funny but why would a game want to send you to sleep?

"Seamless XBOX Live Multiplayer"
Turn the tide and crush the relentless onslaught of frenzied monsters by seanlessly rallying your friends to battle.
Unfortunately for me I tried for about 40mins to enter a "quick match" and it kept telling me "no games found", when I did eventually join a game I found it to be exactly the same altho you get to have a conversation about it with another game player at the same time.

In my opinion, the graphics and worlds you go through do look stunning altho a bit same'y and repetetive. Yes you can pick up and play it but to get the most out of it you would definitely have to study the the instructions over a couple of weeks just to understand all the possible weapon / attack combinations and the potions. If you could roam the worlds and be randomly attacked it would be for me a hit, but you cant so unfortunately its an "avoid at all cost". Sorry

Bully review

dante666 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:48:41 GMT

Rockstars unquie gamestyle of GTA has been used to good effect instead of your ganster hommie, you now how to deal with snotty school kids and you get catapults and stinkbombs!!!! While the school setting is some what different from the likes of San Andreas, you get to roam the halls of the school and the neighboring town of Bullworth.

Playing as Jimmy Hopkins, a 15-year-old troublemaker given one last chance at Bullworth Academy, you start off racing between mini-game lessons, probing the school boundaries between classes, before heading back to the dorm every night for bed. Like GTA, you're directed to various icons on a mini-map, with stars denoting missions, and through these and Rockstar's traditional, well-written in-game cut-scenes, you're introduced to the world and the people in it, each a measured stereotype or caricature: you will find over 100 characters to interact with, ranging from nerds, jocks, townies, teachers, preppies, carnies and, yes, girls!!! whose respect you'll be winning and losing; and characters like Petey, the bashful weakling; Russell the thuggish idiot; Galloway the drunken English teacher; Miss Danvers, the headmaster's fawning secretary; Tad the inbred rich kid; and Gary the manipulative bully.

At first you learn how to play the game and once they let off the leash your able to run around and cause as much mayhem as you like. You attend classes and for doing so and passing you unlock clothing and other bonus items such as bikes. You also interact with people in the school doing odd jobs for them and becoming friends with different factions in the game.if You help the bully’s, the bully’s respect you. If you beat them up you lose the respect. This game has around 70 missions in total so it’s got a lot of stuff to do and a ton of side quests to get you caught up with and little distractions such as the arcade games and the go-cart track. This game also has a major issue with locking up it locked up 8 times always during a mission or going outside (Rockstar is to fix this sometime this week) This edition also has extra bonus levels that we’re not in the PS2 version.

I thought it was going to be possibly a great game, but after 7 to 8 lockups while reviewing it and having issues with some of the achievements not unlocking right. The Game is very buggy I had problems with missions not completing right because of other factions coming in and making trouble. I didn’t think I was going to give this game such a harsh review but after 3 days of dealing with it crashing and locking up so much it drove me nuts. The game when it does, plays well. Looks like an good Xbox game maybe a bit better. And with the patch coming sometime soon it might fix the frames per second issue. and maybe fix some of the major bugs and locks. but all joking apart i think Rockstar have come up with a good idea but from a personal note don't condone bullying in any way.

I couldn’t recommend this to anyone except those people who are really in to the grand theft auto style games and that in itself is a shame as this game promised so much but truely failed to deliver and to be honest when you the likes of GTA and Saints Row in the same league, you needed to be different and this was but not for the right reason. I would wait for them to fix the issues and drop the price before buying it right now it sales for cheaper than the regular 360 games but still way to high i think as this is really just a port from PS2. My personal rating for this was 5.5/10

GRID

FLAN uk — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:31:06 GMT

shopto.com are selling this on pre-order for £32.00, plus they have a free prize draw for pr-orders, you could win some GRID merchandise...

shopto.com GRID pre-order

Rock Band

FLAN uk — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:06:57 GMT

ok, my apetites been whetted by Guitar Hero3, and i fancy myself as a rock god. so who's getting Rock Band next month? i've been on Shopto.net and they say it's £149.99! who wants to be vocals/lead/bass/drums? also what about suggestions for names of bands.

i can see a forth coming world tour of plastic guitars/drum kits filling stadiums, hell, i've even started to grow my hair, MG's got an unfair advantage. sorry Blibby, it's all over for you. you know it's going to happen once Simon Cowell realises there's money to be made, after all they have a world Air Guitar competition...

Sega Superstar Tennis

FLAN uk — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:08:23 GMT

Sega Superstar Tennis is a tennis game with charachters from the Sega world like Sonic The Hedgehog and...err...thats all i know because it's all i've seen on the advert, and from playing the three minute demo on Live and i also saw a bloke playing it in Asda.

hope this was helpful and i look forward to bringing you more informative reviews in the future...

Universe at War - Earth Assault - Review

Scouseknight — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:10:26 GMT

Petroglyph are the latest to try and solve the problem of the Real Time Strategy game on the console and given they are "veterans of Westwood Studios" their credentials are impressive - Westwood Studios, afterall, gave us arguably the best RTS games of them all on the PC.

RTS games suffer more than any other genre on their translation from mouse and keyboard to controller as the speed and precision you need to select units and move around the map is lacking compared to the PC counterparts. The precision is compensated by a snapping reticle technique (also used in First Person Shooters) but moving the camera around the battlefield is always a poor relation.

So what have Petroglyph brought to the table with Universe at War?

The game takes place on Planet Earth which has been invaded by aliens known as the Hierarchy. Hot on their heels is another alien race known as the Novus who as the story unfolds form an unlikely allience with the native species of Earth (i.e. us) to help fend off the Hierarchy.

Things didn't start out well as the game crashed during the training campaign - a quick restart and it worked this time and has done ever since.

The training campaign takes place on the Novus mothership as you begin to assemble your forces ready to jump through the portal and down onto Earth.

You learn how to move the camera, select units, move units, build and all the basic RTS commands.

Remember in my second paragraph I referred to the camera movement around the battlefield? Well UAW (as Universe at War will be referred to henceforth) uses an interesting techinque by magnifying the mini map when you pull the right trigger enabling the viewport window to be rapidly moved around the map using the right thumbstick.

It works well too - it's easily the best solution I've seen in a console RTS for the battlefield camera movement.

The whole interface is based around the triggers and bumper buttons to explode popup menus - the menu options are often on rotating strips with tooltips explaining what the option does.

Naturally, this isn't practical in the heat of battle so some time learning the icons that represent the actions and commands is quite a high priority if you're going to take UAW online.

The tidy way Petroglyph have assembled the user interface leads to less clutter and less complication.

Units are selected with the A button (a double-tap of A selects all units of the type you're hovering over on the screen) and you can select just mililitary units via the X button.

The left trigger pops up the available commands for the selected unit or building. If you have a group of units selected, the command list contains commands for all the units in your selection - a nice touch.

One thing I didn't find was the ability to add and subtract from a selection of units - I didn't have a manual with my review copy so I tracked one down on the Internet and could see anything in it about this.

Building takes place using builder units and is fairly standard stuff - you get a footprint for the building, place it, and that's it.

The single player campaign guides you through the user interface and commands and thanks to the prologue mission which takes place shortly before the Novus land, you get to see some some of the new elements UAW brings to the RTS genre as you square off against the massive Walker units the Hierarchy have.

The Walkers are like huge mechanical spiders but there are hotspots at various parts of the body known as Hardpoints. These are capable of having upgrades and weapons attached to them and they are also the places you, as their enemy, have to concentrate your firepower on to bring them down.

This requires a certain amount of precision which the controls aren't really up to - the Walkers, as their name suggests, walk - so if you're aiming for hardpoints on the legs, it's tricky to get the reticle in place as the legs are constantly in motion.

During the prologue the Novus arrive to save the day. The war for Earth has now begun.

As well we the nice zoom minimap, UAW also innovates with power system (if you're playing as Novus) as the power conduits also act as transportation rails. Novus forces can enter the power grid and quickly fly to another locations even if it's the opposite side of the battlefield providing there is a connection there.

In other games you position your power plants or equivalent and make sure you have enough to sustain your base but in UAW you must expand your conduit network to increase the size of your base - each conduit has an area of coverage and only buildings within one of these area will have power.

The battles take place on Earth but the units are all alien and come in all shapes and sizes. They are nicely drawn for the most part but the smaller ones can look too similar if you're zoomed out. Selecting them with the controller is frustrating but it does get easier once you're used to the snapping.

Graphically the game boasts great pyrotechnics and decent enough scenery but the units are a bit of a let down - some of them look okay but some look as though they're floating rather than walking (some units do float legitimately but I refer to the ground-based units here). There is actually a high percentage of air-based units and this leads to another problem in that they're so similarly coloured to the structures that they are accidentally camouflaged should the units be in front and above a structure at the current camera angle. Not game breaking by any means but annoying.

The sound is unexpectedly weak and the main robotic voice in the game is grating. The music is dull and the sound effects in the game are average.

Overall the presentation is functional but lacks the finesse of it's main rival Command and Conquer 3.

UAW does boast online play but I was unable to find a match to join when I tried so I was unable to test this out - I wasn't really too disappointed though - overall the game lacks any real charm.

I'll be up front here and admit I struggled to get motivated to play this game and write this review - the game lacks the character it's rivals have to begin with and I could myself not really caring less about the plight of the Earth and the destruction of the Hierarchy but I perservered with it being a fan of RTS games in general.

I think part of the problem for it is everything moves a little too fast - against the AI I felt as I was always reacting rather than planning.

As I get more used to the interface I am sure the game will get better and even in the few days I've been playing it, it did begin to improve as my understanding and prowess did.

However there are too many issues with the unit selection and at times, the framerate, to make this a candidate for the best RTS game on the 360

User Interface

Clean and tidy - nice use of pop-up menus and innovative zoom minimap for battlefield camera movement.

Graphics

Functional is the fairest way to decscribe them. The scenery and pyrotechnics are nice but the units are hit and miss.

Story

Ubiquitous alien invasion and liberation sci-fi storyline which was utterly ruined by the grating robot narrative and charisma-vacuum characters.

Gameplay

Fiddly selection mechanism mar an otherwise decent translation from mouse/keyboard to controller.

Multiplayer

Decent enough game modes and cross-platform gaming (pending a patch) enabling your dodgy controller setup to be utterly spanked by PC owners with their mouse and keyboards. I was unable to find a match online to try it out.

Online play enabled you to play one of three alien races (Hierarchy, Novus and Masari).

Vikings: Battle for Asgard - Review

Scouseknight — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:47:54 GMT

Vikings have a well deserved reputation for being bloodthirsty warriors and it is this facet of the Viking legend that Vikings : Battle of Asgard utilises to bring you a game carrying an 18 certificate.

You assume the role of Skarin who is seriously wounded in a battle against the forces of the demon queen Hel.

In a vision, a sorceress bestows upon you the mantle of hero and you are blessed with augmented abilities and of course are restored to full combat readiness. From this moment on, you embark on a quest to rid Midgard of the demon queen's forces.

The sorceress who gave you these powers invokes a spell which kills all the forces attacking your village and promises to do this each time you're successful on a stage of the game.

Your quest begins in you in your village and you must speak to various key personnel (and fittingly, one of them is the village landlord) to obtain sub-quests.

Skarin is controlled in third-person with the camera usually following him. You can take control of the camera yourself using the right thumbstick and click it to reset it.

You are armed with a map and quest tracker too (called the Brisigamen amusingly) which is activated via the Back button on your controller. This is useful when you begin to create your Leystone network (more on this later) although it isn't a scrollable map as such - it jumps between points of interest.

If there is a special encounter in an area selecting the area will invoke the encounter without you having to run there e.t.c. which is a nice touch.

You can use these points of interest to create waypoints which appear on your radar.

Skarin can jump and climb as well as perform the various attacks he has at his disposal.

As you make your away around the beautifully drawn setting you pick up gold and mead - the mead is to be taken back to the landlord I mentioned earlier - more on this in a moment.

The gold is used to purchase upgrades to your weapons and also to learn new moves - this is achieved by visiting the village blacksmith for the upgrades and by visiting the battle arenas for the training. These upgrades vary in price and give you more moves in your reportoire.

To make it easier to locate gold, you can purchase maps showing the locations of the bags, urns and chests - these appear on your radar as yellow dots.

From time to time you rescue captured vikings who join your cause to fight - the growing army needs the mead you find to sustain itself so constant trips back to your village are in order.

As you can imagine there is a lot of travelling to endure but thankfully the game has Leystones which act as transporters - once you discover more than one the network begins to be established and you need only to visit the nearest Leystone to invoke transportation.

Combat is introduced almost immediately and is pretty straightforward. Left trigger is your block, A is your fast attack and X is your damaging attack.

If you hold down the X button the damaging attack 'charges up' and you will perform three attacks in quick succession - this can be against one enemy or up to three if they're in close proximity. It takes a few seconds to charge and it is interruptable so you have to plan when it's safe to begin charging it up - you can charge it in advance (for example if you see a patrol approaching and you're hiding beind a rock or other piece of scenery - you can have it charged and ready to unleash the meléé as the enemies get in range.

When you have an opponent on his last legs, pressing the X button will perform a fatality attack - this usually involves a lot of blood and the separation of the body from the various limbs - and of course the ubiquitous beheading maneouvre no hack and slash game can be without.

Because basically that's what this game is - a hack and slash game.

The enemies will die anyhow but the orbs they won't release as many orbs (these are for topping up your health and power). Failure to capture the orbs within a short abount of time will mean they disappear and you lose out.

Some of the finishing moves are hilarious if you've got that sort of sense of humour. An example of this is when you sever the torso at the waist the lower half of the body (the legs and hips) will continue to move as if drunk for a few seconds and then fall down.

I am paricularly fond of the double-arm chop where both the enemies arms are lopped off at the shoulder as Skarin brings his sword and axe down vertically.

Comparisons to Conan are inevitable so I'll get those out of the way now. It's very similar - but Vikings looks better and is more polished in almost every area. I say almost because I feel Conan has the better combat model - but Viking's combat is fluid and straightforward to get into also. There are more similarities which I will mention as and when.

Aside from the fighting, you spend some time climbing walls, jumping gaps and performing context-sensitive actions such as opening chests and untying bonds that hold enslaved allies. These actions involve tapping the highlighted button at critical times - this same technique is also used in Conan, incidentally.

If you free some allies whilst there are enemies in the vicinity they will fight with you - the ones bound to the posts are in small groups so no point wading into a village full of enemies with so few but the imprisoned groups are much larger.

The climbing and jumping is more seamlessly intergrated than it is in Conan and as such doesn't feel like it's been tacked on as an afterthought. The all-important camera seems to be more well behaved too in Vikings although it isn't without it's problems - but let's face it, what 3D third person game isn't?

The following clip demonstrates the game engine's climbing and jumping handling:

Skarin also has to manipulate levers, turn cogs and open doors - it's all done the same way - bash the B button when you're within range. A handy flashing B graphic appears when you're in range and when you're not in range the area you need to be close to is highlighted for you.

You need to move the camera yourself in fighting and often you find yourself standing there facing the camera with the enemies in front of you out of sight with your block held with enemies surrounding you - this would be okay except some of the enemy attacks are block-breakers.

The trick here is to plan your assaults - in each of the skirmish points you'll find trapped allies and rather than go in like Schwarzenegger you must pick off the patrols on the outside and then focus on freeing the allies who will join in the fight.

This seems to be the general theme throughout the game but there are many sub-quests to do also - but essesntially it's the same thing - you go in, kill some enemies, satisfy the sub-quest criteria and rinse and repeat.

Boss fights begin to liven things up and are often trial and error - it takes a few grisly deaths before you figure out how to handle the encounter - once you have done sufficient damage to the boss you are given the opportunity to finish the fight with a fatality - this is different from the normal ones in that you have to press the buttons that appear on the screen and quickly too. This is a feature shared by Conan.

Graphically the game is very easy on the eye with richly-coloured scenery, awesome looking waves in the water and well-drawn characters - it's a little dark in places but in it's defence it's part of the atmosphere to be so.

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the best looking game I've seen - far from it in fact - but it's certainly not the worse and given the amount of non-player characters and environmental effects going on one can forgive it for not looking quite as good as Assassin's Creed. At times there are twenty or more enemies trying to hack you to pieces.

The sound is meaty (pardon the pun) and features some stirring incidental music which befits the game very well - this may sound strange but it does sound Viking - the music is heavy with drums and horns that dominate the rest of the soundtrack.

Limb separation and disenbowlment sound as you would imagine they would my only complaint with the sound was it was sometimes hard to hear what the NPCs were saying - there are accompanying subtitles for these sequences however so it's not the end of the world by any means.

This does bring me onto a quirk - the subtitles don't scroll or paginate automatically with the spoken dialogue - it is up to you to press the A button to advance it - I am undecided as to whether this is a good or a bad thing.

There are some problems (aside from those already mentioned).

Archers are a pain in the backside to put it mildly - their arrows will sometimes pass through scenery - those who used to play World of Warcraft (and those that still do) will remember this being a rather annoying "feature" of contoured scenery when fireballs e.t.c. would simply pass through the ground or walls - it's not quite that bad here but when you consider Oblivion got this rigtht a few years ago it's surprising to see it here - but this isn't game breaking by any means - just an annoyance.

The radar is quite misleading at times - the orientation doesn't change correctly so you can think you're going north for example because the arrow to indicate the direction you're facing is pointing up but in fact you're heading south! It's just something to think about and get used to.

Another annoyance is when you are fighting close to the edge of a cliff - if you power up your damaging action Skarin will perform a multiple attack and more often than I'd forgive I've fallen off the edge of a cliff as one of the attack follow-throughs take me over the edge. Whilst Skarin can survive some drops if it's into water it's instant death.

User Interface

For the most part the user interface is clear and user-friendly.

Bearing in mind my review copy didn't come with any manual e.t.c. I managed to pick it up and play without any difficulty - the game eases you in and if you don't skip over sequences you won't even need to go near the manual.

Combat

As this is the game's bread and butter the combat engine must be good and it doesn't disappoint. Whereas I think it isn't as slick as the one Conan uses, it's not far behind and is intuitive. New moves are introduced to you through the arena and the game helps you out from time to time with prompts too - it doesn't babysit you however.

Story

The story is absorbing and actually does enhance the game. For the most part you're alone but when you rescue people and in the special encounters you sometimes have a large number of NPCs fighting with you. The scene in the Monstery for example you can free three sets of allies to help you if you wish or you can try solo'ing the encounter - the story doesn't force you to do it either way but of course it's easier with a little help.

Gameplay

The game boasts a solid game engine and basing it on the Vikings gives it a familiar feel - the problem with this is it's very repetitive - fans of deeper more involved games will be disappointed. What we have is a game with simple controls a child could play carrying an 18 certificate because of the blood and guts. The fighting does get more involved as you get into it and how you spend your hard-earned develops your player.

On the plus side it's pick up and play gameplay - you don't need to follow the story so you can put it down for a few days even weeks and pick it up again without losing too much momentum.

With quality titles fighting for space in your game collection and this being a single-player experience only one has to question the longevity of Vikings. But it's good while it lasts.

Lost Odyssey Review

madmiddle — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:48:26 GMT

From the creator of the legendary Final Fantasy comes the next generation of Role Playing Games: the epic Lost Odyssey™.

Spanning 4 discs Lost Odyssey is the second Role Playing Game that Mistwalker has developed for Microsoft. The Whole game is centred on a 1000 year old immortal called Kaim. He can’t remember any of his past, doesn’t no what his purpose in life is and doesn’t know where he is going to end up. The world of Uhra is now on the verge of a mystical industrial revolution where the mortals have gained dark and terrifying powers.

The game begins with massive battle scene between Gohtza and Uhra, the kind that would make Lord of the Rings end fight seem very small in comparison. With it going straight into this battle it is not clear who is who, but when you enter the first battle mode it all becomes clear. In the first couple of videos you get to see Kaim in action showing the different attacks he can do.

The battle mode is how you fight with the enemies that you encounter. Now if this was just a fighting game you would try and hit as many buttons as possible in a certain sequence, this on the other hand throws you into a turn based battle system that I believe is the same as the Final Fantasy Games. At this early stage of the game I didn’t really know what I was doing and was just pressing and hoping that it hit one of the offending soldiers.

Completing these early battles shows you a cut scene that explains what happened next. The planet is struck with a meteor shower and manages to wipe out most living things apart from Kaim.

The next scene is where you take full control of Kaim. On the left hand side of the screen you will notice there is a small map showing the route that you must follow, the map also shows save points and objects of interest.

On following the paths you will notice that the ‘A’ button flashes up in the bottom right hand corner this tells you that you can perform an action with the object near to you. This could be opening a chest to retrieve an item, kicking a large pot to see what is inside, or even pushing things out of the way. You can also use this function to talk to the people that are near to you, this is helpful to find out information about the large areas that you visit. These hidden extras seem pointless at first but further on in the game they will become useful in the many battle scenes that you will encounter and also in the features that you can use.

The features are best explained in the many tutorials that pop up when you collect an object for the first time. They explain everything in fine detail from creating spell, to the construction of the many rings you can make. These of course can only be constructed if you have collected the right ingredients. There are several rings that you can construct each one having their own unique ability. The bruiser ring (one of the first objects that you will pick up), increases the power of your characters attack.

Several more cut scenes and battles later you reach the end of the trail. Here you meet some Uhra soldiers all packing up and ready to leave the area. You are asked to join them on their journey to the magical city of Uhra.

You are dropped off at the great gate to the city and take the mono-rail to the centre during which a video is played explaining the history of magic and the magical revolution

Once you reach the city you have to watch several cut scenes that try to explain the plot of the game. It is all centred on a magical but in complete building called the Grand Staff. The council of the City of Uhra have blamed the building for the meteor shower earlier in the game. The communications with the project site have stopped and the general in charge of construction has now been placed under house arrest.
The council find out that you are an immortal they then decide to send you to the construction site to find out what has happened.

When that is all finished you are then left to roam around the city. Like most of these types of games you have to visit certain parts of the city in a certain order. Visiting the inn revealed the first of many flashbacks that Kaim has. Not really knowing what to do next I found myself trying to find objects in the most bizarre places. Kicking pots again, opening chests and even finding coins behind posters (why?), all added to the weird places to hide things.

I wandered around the city for what seemed like ages and then in one of the many CGI videos, you are ordered to begin your quest, but you have to take 2 companions with you. The first one is a woman called Seth, now you find out that she survived the same meteor shower as you did and is immortal as well. The second is a person is called Jansen, Jansen is a mortal and has the ability to cast spell in battles.

Starting this quest a huge map appears and you have to select which way you would like to go. I chose to go to the mountains of Ipsilon. Having selected this path the 3 of us appeared on yet another video, but when this finished there was only the one character left, Kaim. The only time you get to see the others is when the battles appear. I found this very odd.

The path to the great staff seems to be full of various cut scenes that tells you a little bit more about what is happening to the world around your character. The flashbacks he gets also helps him remember his past.

To aid you along the way you can learn the ability to cast spells with a feature called skill link. This feature is used to learn the different spells of the mortal Jansen. When the skill link is complete you can then cast the same spells. These come into their own when you reach your first big boss. Grilgan is the first big boss of the game and using the various spells I found out that the flare spell worked better. Using Jansen to cast the spell and Kaim and Seth to heal the injured party, I soon overcome the boss and continued the mission.

Following the path through the mountains you seem to be involved with a lot of random battles and some cut scenes that just appear and slow the game play down. A video followed by a small movement through the map, then a battle followed by another video. It all seems to be slowing it down too much for it to be enjoyable.

This is by far the biggest game that I have ever played; the scenery alone looks as though it has had all the money in the gaming industry thrown at it. The flowing movement of all the characters to detail that has gone into the surrounds on every level makes the game look good, even if it’s only on my 19” monitor.

Yes there is a lot to be explained in this massive game, but the stop-start feeling of it is getting frustrating. The battle scenes are more enjoyable when you understand the way to deal with the different enemies. You could be wasting a water spell on a boss that could only be defeated with the flare spell.

This is the first RPG that I have played and some people might think this would be an unfair review, but I went into it with an open mind. Where the graphics stunned me, the game was let down by the huge amount of information that you need in order to progress through the game.

Of the years people have been screaming that the Final Fantasy games were brilliant this is certain not my choice of game.

Value for money this game is going to keep you entertained for months but i would hate to think how many videos that involves watching...

Good replacement for Final Fantasy ?? i'll let you decide

Bully patch - any ETA?

Scouseknight — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:57:45 GMT

Although Bully hasn't crashed on me since the first chapter (I am now in chapter 3) I have still been reluctant to sit down and play it for any length of time in case it hangs and I lose hours of playing time (easy to get carried away and forget to save especially when you need to sometimes go out of your way to get to a save location).

Anyone got a heads-up on the patch release?

timesplitters 4?

ssperring — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:54:42 GMT

wen is it coming out and is it coming out on xbox

saints row 2

ssperring — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:47:41 GMT

i know with Gta4 coming but what about saints row 2 (perfer gta but still) post some intresting stuff plz

Mx vs Atv Untammed

Smi1ar — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:55:55 GMT

i ordered this from playasia today as its not available in UK till march anyhoo it came today and after afew blasts its top quality game if you like motocross that is plenty of game modes and 12 player online.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-dw-49-en-70-2g14.html

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 'clan' pre-order deal

Chas — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:12:33 GMT

HMV are doing a special pre-order deal designed for clans where you get 4 copies of the game for the price of 3, so it works out at 30 quid a piece (or 31.38 if you use special delivery option) plus you get two 'exclusive' downloadable guns thrown in as well.

I'm doing this with Dante, FatPhilU and Spenn as we all live near each other and thought it might be of interest to those of you who live in the same vacinity (Fezza, Flan, Pa1n + 1 other maybe?) or even if you don't you could pay an extra couple of quid for one of you to post it on once they've received the copies. Ok you'd have to wait an extra day but you'd save some pennies and should still get it by the Friday.

Bully

ooberj — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:04:54 GMT

Never played it before out tomoza itching to play something a bit new

Any good ?

COD4 Glitch on youtube

Spenn — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:47:21 GMT

Anyone seen this one in a game?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG-Rx_lKoMA&feature=related

If I played them doing this I would have a chance of being on a winning team!

Pc World Price Match

Burtoner — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:52:34 GMT

Pc World for a while have been doing price matching with other competitors, lately i brought Lost for 29.99 instead of 39.99 and GRAW 2 was 17.99

This is the information on PC World website about Price Promise:-

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/editorial/price-match-promise

Websites: items sold by Amazon.co.uk*, Argos, Asda, B&Q, Comet, Dabs*, Dell, Evesham Technology*, Game, Gamestation, Halfords, HMV, Jessops, John Lewis, Maplin, Misco*, Play, Staples, Tesco, Toys r Us, Virgin, Woolworths

(* Excludes Televisions)

Here are 2 games I got other night.

GRAW 2 £17.99 Free Delivery - play.com

GRAW 2 £29.99 Free Delivery - pcworld.co.uk (Collect@Store Price)

Lost: The Video Game £29.99 - play.com

Lost: The Video Game £39.99 - pcworld.co.uk (Collect@Store Price)

So i saved myself £22 and got them straight away.

Chance to compete in GHIII

Artamess — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:05:53 GMT

As the band leader of GHIII myxbox.co.uk I just received this mail.

I have replied and said we set the page up for fun and to follow each others progress, however if anyone, or the majority want to help...not sure if it means merging bands then please post here.

If you want to leave it as it is then that is also fine, but thought you guys should have the chance to compete if you want to

Art

From: apettitt
Subject: Hi matey

Dude, I just came accross your tour group and thought damn we could do with your help!

I'm Alistair and the co-leader of the Tour Group Metal England. The group is ranked 8th in the world and is really active with excellent forums. We are currnetly invovled in a tournament with the number 1 tour group the XBOX 360 heros. I see all your guys are on the xbox. Do you fancy joining us at Metal England and help us in with the competition we have?

Let me know what you think matey.

Cheers

Alistair

The CoD4 thread

Chas — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:36:56 GMT

Been playing this today and my initial impressions are that this game won't disappoint. Mind you I initially thought that about CoD3 so don't hold me to that .

Although there's a change in era, the single player still has a very Call of Duty feel about it, even the Rainbow Six-esque introductory mission has the same fast paced intensity and relentlesness about it that befits a game in the CoD series. This introductory mission also gives you one of the weirdest sensations I've experienced in a game towards the end when you're 'escaping', I won't spoil it for you but I think you'll see what I mean.

When you get on to the more traditional missions again the game has recaptured the feel of previous games. You very much feel you're part of a large ongoing battle and there's a lot of stuff always going on around you, but you have your part to play.

A few times though I've found myself getting caught up shooting at endless streams of enemies not realising I needed to be somewhere else to 'move the story on'. Not really a problem, although it could have been if ammo was more limited. But it's probably down to having to get more used to the less conspicuous objective and distance indicator.

Online, well a lot of us already had a taster with the beta, there's 16 maps in total and no less than 13 game modes ranging from the standard Team Deathmatch, Free For All, Headquarters, Search and Destroy through to the likes of Old School, Cage Match and Old Core whatever they may be. Unfortunately only a few modes are unlocked at the start, you have to unlock others as you progress through the ranks alng with the extra weapons, equipment and perks as in the beta.

I'm not so sure that it was a good idea that you have to unlock the game modes, although the 6 I think it is that you have at the start is more than enough to be getting on with, especially wit hhte amount of maps, and in some ways it will keep the game fresher if you don't have everything available straight away, but if you're not so good it's gonna take you ages to unlock them. I suppose it won't be so bad if only the host needs to unlock them then anyone can play, but if you all need to have the mode unlocked in order to play it then it could be a nightmare trying to get games going with your friends.

Overall though I think the game is going to be very popular and I think it's a definite improvement on CoD 3, some of the maps have a very CoD 2 feel about them which is a good thing in my book.

Following on from my initial impressions here's my thoughts now I've been playing this solidly for a week.

The single player game provides a very varied experience taking your squad into combat from urban environments to rolling countryside and even There's also a few surprises along the way and some nice set pieces. Graphically the game looks superb, all the environments are beautifully rendered and the presentation throughout is very slick. The sound too does an excellent job of making you feel part of the action. The single player is a little on the short side, so if you were only buying it for that you might want to take that into consideration, then get your head tested for missing out on a large and arguably the best part of the game, playing online.

Some of us already had a taster on what was to come with the beta and the full game continues where that left off with more of everything.. more maps, more game modes, more challenges, more promotions, more... well everything.

As mentioned before there's 16 maps and 13 game modes to keep you occupied. The maps are very varied and set in locations you come across in the single player game.

Ok strictly speaking not all the game modes are modes as such there's a few filters that will limit you to only certain game types, but there's still a healthy range of modes to keep you occupied.

The matchmaking though is where I seem to be spending most of my time. Form a party with your friends and go out and do battle with the world. There's a few issues with getting dropped, the game ending when the host leaves (even though nobody actually knows who the host is as it's all dealt with behind the scenes) which should be addressed with the recently announced patch, but overall it works very well.

One limitation though is that as soon as you have more than six people in your party is that you can only play in Ground War which is larger games of up to 18 people which on the generally smaller maps I'm not finding as enjoyable, it ends up being a lot faster and intense than Halo 3 and half the time you never really get a chance to get your bearings and work out what's going on before you get killed again.

The one thing that keeps me playing the matchmaking over and above private games though is the challenges. Completing challenges gives you bonus points that help you rank up faster, which of course in turn unlock different weapons, equipment and perks. They do encourage you to try different weapons and do things you might not ordinarily do. I sometimes find myself doing totally inappropriate things in some games just to try and complete a challenge, like running around on an open map with a shotgun, or just lying down in the middle of a map in the open, just to get a few extra points.

The whole achievement thing was a surprise success with the Xbox and the challenges add another level to CoD4. Also, they're all very achievable and even if, like me, you're a bit crap (no I don't need to keep being reminded on how bad my hit ratio is guys, thanks) you can still get them in time.

On paper I really shouldn't be enjoying this as much as I am, it's generally pretty fast paced, unless you're playing the likes of Search and Destroy which has no respawns (you can also limit or remove lives in private games for other game modes) and it does infuriate me at times, but I just can't stop playing this game. Some maps are definitely more suited to some modes more than others and the larger Ground War games tend to be far too run and gun, not just for my liking but it would seem quite a few of you too from comments that have been made. But overall this is an absolute classic. Just one thing left to say, Halo what?

Conflict Denied Ops review

SJ — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:36:24 GMT

Conflict Denied Ops is the latest release of a series that initially appeared on previous generation consoles. Having played and enjoyed the previous instalments, I was interested to see how this latest version would shape-up.

The game is primarily a team based FPS, taking place over a variety of locations including South America, Africa and Siberia.

There are a range of missions consisting primarily of going to A, destroying B and moving on etc. There are some variations to this basic formula, such as rescuing hostages and escorting VIPs, but generally there is nothing here that hasn't been done hundreds of times before.

During the game you control two characters which can be switched between at any point. These characters each have specialist skills, "Lang" uses a machine gun and "Graves" uses a sniper rifle. Switching between the characters to utilise their specialist skills is easy, however in practice it just doesn't work very well. The non-controlled character is useless, needing to be directed everywhere and very rarely shooting accurately at enemies. Sometimes your other character can be left half a map away, which can lead to a very stop start game experience. This is especially true when you die and need to be resuscitated by the other character.

The graphics are a very mixed bag, some textures look effective whereas others are flat and uninteresting. The animation is not always smooth, but the explosions do sometimes look very realistic. This mix of quality leaves the game looking unpolished and only occasionally worthy of being considered a next generation title.

All of the above could be easily overlooked if the simple "aim, pull trigger, kill" mechanic, essential to any good FPS, was well implemented. However, in this game the default weapons used by each of the characters through-out the campaign are just not very satisfying to fire, the sound is weak, the aiming imprecise and the hit detection is terrible. The whole experience soon becomes tiresome, with only the desire to see the next level as an incentive to play through.

As you progress in the campaign mode, additional weapons are unlocked, however you cannot change the character's primary weapons, so you always have a machine gun and a sniper rifle, with the same aiming and hit detection problems.

The co-operative mode is one of the few positives of an otherwise very average game. It can played through in campaign mode or selective missions, and works via split screen, system link or Xbox live. In this mode the stop, start nature of the single player mode is removed and the whole experience is more fluid and much improved for it. There is some enjoyment to be had working through the missions with someone else, planning and executing co-operative tactics.

The multiplayer mode offers the usual online modes, but at the time of writing I haven't had a chance to try them.

After a year of exceptional AAA titles, there are many other games that are more deserving of your valuable gaming time. However, if you are desperate for a new war themed FPS, especially if you like cooperative play, then this would be worth a rent.

Turok review

dante666 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:12:50 GMT

When developers Touchstone and Propaganda Games decided to make another first-person shooter inspired by the comic book character Turok, they also decided it was best not to tie it into any of the previous games (and there was quite a lot of them too - Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, Turok: Rage Wars, Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion, Turok: Evolution and so on). Oddly enough, it doesn't follow the comic books either, but appears to offer a separate plot altogether. The game has lot to offer from a single player mode and online mutiplayer from 2-16 player but boasts a 4 player coop too, so there is something here hopefully for everyone to enjoy.

The game starts you 200 years into the future and follows the account of a tough ex-black-ops soldier named Joseph Turok. Turok is sent on a mission with "Whiskey Company" to hunt down Ronald Kane, once Turok's mentor and ally. Kane went rogue and now it's your job to bring him back. The whole operation goes pear-shaped, as your team's spaceship crash-lands on a planet where Kane and his followers prefer spending their free time. It just so happens that the same planet is inhabited by bloodthirsty dinosaurs, some of which are seriously bent on hunting down any unwelcome human prey.

Firstly - one thing, related to the plot, arises very quickly. Things start off fine at first, with flashbacks showing off the history between Turok and Kane. As soon as you start fighting for survival, your purpose changes from finding Kane to locating crash sites, finding com-link boxes and going on other mundane tasks. This is where the story quickly loses its thread from then on, making the player less interested in the universe as well as its characters. So, bearing this in mind I did my best to try to get myself into this game.

If there's one thing about Turok that does shine for me, it would have to be its choice of cool weapons. The developers divided your arsenal into equipment used for silent kills and those suited for plain-old guns-blazing FPS-style action. They've successfully balanced the game, so players will find themselves resorting to both of these styles of play. The bow and arrows provide an excellent ranged method of killing your opponents. Whereas the knife (evidently Turok's favorite weapon) allows your character to sneak up on unwary foes and execute them swiftly and without drawing the attention of other guards in the area. To be honest its more fun using the knife on your favourate dino because you get the cool FMVs with you sticking your knife in the eye or slashing the poor animals throat - and be warned its quite strong violence for your younger viewers.

There was also a huge number of available combinations in terms of dual-wielding -rifle/shotgun, dual pistols, etc. One of the cooler combos is a shotgun in one hand and a special mini grenade launcher. You can use the grenade launcher to fire sticky bombs that attach to foes (or to quickly create an improvised minefield), while brandishing the shotgun for close encounters. More weapons are included: snipers, rocket launchers, plasma rifles, etc. Take your pick.

If you're expecting topnotch visuals, Turok is a letdown for me and this is such a big shame when there is so much colour that was there, most of the outdoor areas look okay and are filled with a decent amount of objects and foliage. Looking a bit closely though, one tends to notice a range of poorly textured surfaces and general lack of detail that could've brought the game closer to modern-day visual standards. It just seems a bit bland and to be honest i like most gamers now expect more.

Having played on the multiplayer a little bit there was a small glimmer of hope, but that soon evaporated. Although it was fun it didn't hold up to much when people started hopping around everywhere to dodge the bow. But on the plus side the game was lag free and there was the usual amount of stats to keep everyone happy.

As for the game modes they where the usual CTF, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch etc. I only got a few goes with the Co-op, but there are only four maps to play, which wasn't rally enough.

So to sum up for me, I was dissapointed by the whole game which is so sad as it could have offered so much more, but its not a game I'd normally buy. Although a lot of work has gone into the game, I feel that that the Co-op was really lacking and it would have been more fun with more maps. If I had to rate the game it would be a 6.5/10 which still isnt a bad score but when you look at the games it has to go up against, then this is where you notice the big gap.

Devil May Cry

dante666 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:46:21 GMT

Devil May Cry 4 is the second sequel (Devil May Cry 3 being a prequel) to the Capcom action game Devil May Cry.A demo for Devil May Cry 4 was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on January 24, 2008 to give us a small insight to the Devil May Cry world.

Also new to the cast is new female character, Kyrie, the games female lead. Capcom has also brought to us three new characters, Credo, Gloria and Agnus, along with returning characters Lady, and yes lads you ask, it's worth getting this just for them .

There is also a Collector's Edition that features a bonus disc containing the making of Devil May Cry 4, and an additional disc of the first four episodes of Devil May Cry: The Animated Series. A very small number of Collector's Edition packages were signed by the game's producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, on the back of the metal tin on Dante's left shoulder. So if ya find one cheap keep it or give it to me

I'm a huge fan of the series and glad that it has finally come to the Xbox, hence my Gamertag. Well that the boring bit over, what's in the box?

The fist opening scene is a spectacular FMV of movie statues, but I do have to say it was on the long side, but you get a screen filled with such rich colours as if fireworks are exploding right in front of you ,and the level of sharpness and detail in all the FMVs that i have seen are out of this world and they give you enough info on what might or might not becoming up.

The game is set in missions and you could earn yourself one of 47 achievements as you follow the story. You play a character by the name of Nero, a Dante lookalike which is ok but a little confusing. The game is nothing but a good old cut and slash with the added bonus of a few puzzles to keep you amused and all the usual button bashing and full of combos to try and pull off, which some are quite hard but then I wouldn't expect anything else.

As you progress through the game you collect orbs which you can trade in at the shop for power ups such as health for one and you can also buy skills to enhance your character. As you slash through various demons and monster you get a style rating and at the end of each level you get to one on one with the great one! The level end boss!! These to are tricky to defeat, but once you have there is that sense of "Yes I've done it"!!!

Then for your trouble you get a mission rating which is not to disimilar to the one they use in Ninja Gaiden, the better you do the more money you get - it's as simple as that.

There are a couple of thing that I didn't like about the game and the first was the map, I think it could have been done a little better. But, the main thing that I didn't like was the fact that you spent alot of the game running back to where you have been, only to run all the way back again to progress further. Mental note to devs - cant the game go in a straight line? One final comment, - yes, the usual button bashing is a bit repetitive and may not be for everyone.

Well to sum up, I've played this game for two days im on mission 10 and loving it. For me it's been a cinematic treat to watch and play and this is enough for me. But if you aren't a fan of this type of game, then I guess you wouldn't buy it anyway. If ya not sure and might want to swap a gun for a sword, then give it a go - it's a game worthy of some shelf space.

My overall rating is a honest 9/10

PGR4 for £14.99

Badz360 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:49:12 GMT

Argos are currently selling it for £14.99. I know most people on here may have it already but if not - certainly wirth a look at that price as the Xbox live aspect of the game should provide longevity.

Some less auspicious bargains at comet:

Perfect Dark Zero and NFS:Carbon both for £2.99 each

What game to get

ooberj — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 13:43:23 GMT

Missus is determined to get me a 360 game for xmas. Not moaning but have no idea what to get.

I have COD4 so thats out any recomendations open to all ideas!

Guitar hero

jest0r — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:58:06 GMT

Its out on the 6th of april this is what we all will be doing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVUgd8ot6BE

sad gits

The Club

MalevolentGod — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:24:33 GMT

I picked this up on Friday, after readin about it months and months ago, getting excited about a game that rewards kills like PGR rewards powersliding, and although after the demo and playing the full game it wasnt quite how I imagined it would be (thought there would be some plot orientated play), its still quite good.

Its basically an arcade game, in your home. A pick up and play 20 minute blast while youre waiting for something else to do or just fancy a mindless shootem up.

The graphics are silky smooth, with some good effects on it, most noticeable the going indoors after being out....that everything is dark and it takes a few seconds to adjust. Something that most realistic FPS games seem to bypass.

It wont be for everyone, but the mentality of "i need to beat my mates score" is pretty much the thought behind this game.

Only downside is that at the moment its easy to get a high place on leader boards, which is luring yourself into a false sense of security, seeing as at the moment im 55th in the world on one of the levels.

Must not have had a US release date yet lol

Splinter Cell Pandorra Tomorrow

PitifulDuke — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:39:40 GMT

Has anyone still got Splinter Cell Pandorra Tomorrow ? (from original xbox) if so an ya fancy giving it a try 1 night next wk let us know, I came across a copy today, purely by mistake and wunt mind a few games of it.....???

Burnout Paradise Demo

Pa1N — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:58:48 GMT

Alright Lads,

Downloaded the Burnout paradise demo today. And Personally I'm not that impressed. It feels like a updated version of Need For Speed Most Wanted ( Which I did enjoy ). Okay the graphics were very nice. But I wasnt that keen on the free roaming map style, I think NFS MW / TDU actually did it alot better ( GPS Instead of having to drive to every race/garage ). Cruising around is all well and good if you're in the mood for it. But personally Id rather be able to be wisked away to each race without having to fanney around driving to each one?.

Dont think I'll be getting this one. And if old Burnouts are anything to go by the LIVE section of the game will be cack?.

What you all reakon to it?.

Burnout paradise, online challenges.

Trash Man — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:45:53 GMT

Anyone else out there have Burnout Paradise yet? And if so would you be up for doing the online challenges? Maybe if enough of us have it we could sort out a couple of nights and try and get them beat?

TF2

MalevolentGod — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:08:33 GMT

Really enjoyed last nights games, so would anyone be up for more of the same tonight?