The Sims 3 (PC)

Title: The Sims 3
Platform: PC
Genre: Virtual Life
Release Date: 5 June 2009
Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Rating: PEGI 12+

WHAT IS… The Sims 3?

The Sims 3 is the next strategic life simulation game in the highly addictive Sims franchise (originally created by Maxis). It follows the same road as its predecessors – players create and control Sims through a lifespan where they can do various activities and form relationships (like real life!). There is no defined goal, so gameplay continues until boredom sets in (usually a week or so of solid playing for me).

There are tons of new features in this version of the Sims, including a “living neighbourhood” where all Sims age at once, “Create-a-style” tool where any piece of clothing or furniture can be customised and “Traits” where the player can create more unique personalities for their Sims.

GRAPHICS 9/10

The graphics in the Sims 3 aren’t a huge leap from the Sims 2 but they are still pretty nifty and the interfaces are great (as per usual!). Everything is simple, friendly and smart which makes the game quick and easy to get into.

+ Great graphics and friendly interfaces

– Not a great leap from the Sims 2

STORY 8/10

As in all the Sims games the storyline in the Sims 3 is pretty much non-existent which suits this type of game fine. Anybody who believes the Sims has an actual story needs a boot to the face! An optional story like the console versions (moving out of parent’s house, finding a job while completing tasks etc) would give the game some purpose although this could be set up by the player on the Sims 3 anyway.

+/- Story is non-existent

LONGEVITY 5/10

The Sims games have no definitive goal which means the game is open ended and carries on until you’re bored of it. It’s a real life simulation game so this is fine but after a week or so of solid gameplay it starts to get stale. Some achievements or goals to work towards would be interesting. As mentioned before, an optional side story would bring something more to the table.

+ Open ended which is perfect for a simulation game

– Some features could be added to increase longevity

GAMEPLAY 8/10

There are tons of features that have been added in the Sims 3. The neighbourhood is live which means neighbours will age, have relationships and children etc alongside your own Sims. This is a great addition although I was playing the Sims recently and had created a Braindead Hero Sim next door ready to ‘woo’ him once I had climbed the career ladder. My Sim popped round to his house to find a baby on the lawn! The live neighbourhood can be switched off if you find it interferes with your wooing intentions.

The traits tool allows players to create more unique personalities for their Sims – traits include being a computer whizz, a great kisser and a vegetarian. These traits influence your Sims behaviour and wishes and overall create more diverse gameplay.

Your Sims are free to explore the neighbourhood which means no loading screens! They can pop round to other Sim houses or even go to work. The loading times have greatly improved since the Sims 2 which is a blessing.

My only gripe is the lack of content! When I heard about the Sims 3 I assumed it would be the Sims 2 + more. Although the Sims 3 has added loads more features, the actual items in the catalogue are thin on the ground. There are no hot tubs, no pool tables and limited styles of every other object. The create-a-style tool is great for adding patterns and textures to objects but there aren’t enough objects in the first place!

+ Loads of new features

– Lack of actual content

FUN 10/10

Even though the game is short lived, it is immersive to the point where I forget to eat! Like its predecessors it is 100% pure addictive gaming crack and a nice break to all the games that involve thinking and hard work. It’s easy to get into and everyone will enjoy creating their own little world.

+ Great fun and recommended to all

OVERALL 8/10

Overall this game has brought many new features to the table but has still retained the classic Sims style.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Review (PC)

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a western themed first person shooter, which is something that we don’t get all too often in the gaming world. Sure there are plenty of movies and books based off the wild west but there have only been a couple of video games dedicated to this concept whereas World War II and Sci-fi Aliens have been driven into the ground by developers. You play as two brothers, both bad ass desperadoes as you would expect from the genre, who desert from the confederate army in order to protect their home and get caught up in a quest for Aztec treasure. Throughout the course of the game you go around checking many things off the western checklist, such as; breaking people out of jail, showdowns, fighting Mexican bandits and escorting wagons through Indian territory.

GRAPHICS

Bound in Blood on the whole is a very nice looking game, the developers have spent a lot of time making sure the game has some very nice and interesting effects. For example the heat and smoke effects are some of the best I’ve seen in any game, this sounds like a weird thing to pick up on but seems as they are both so well done and used quite a lot I thought they were worth mentioning. The game takes place in North America around the time of the American Civil War so the environments are made up of lush forests, dusty wooden towns and high up mountains and in the valleys between, all of which are beautifully detailed and just all round gorgeous. Also, in case your wondering the game runs smoothly and consistently so there are no weird graphical problems which detract from your enjoyment of the game, all of the lighting and water and animations are all incredibly realised and all look fantastic. However, the game tries to put over a cinematic feel by flourishes such as blurring and shaking around explosions, and seems as there are a lot of explosions this happens all the time, so if you’re a fan of actually being able to see what you are doing then you may get a bit frustrated at the games eagerness to obscure your view by constant blurring and shaking of the screen, which is also not fun if you are prone to motion sickness from games.

STORY

It has a typical western story, so much so that I expect that the writers for this game went down to the local HMV and picked up several box-sets of western DVDs as well as a few notepads and by the end of the weekend Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood was written. By this is mean it is quite a generic story, this can kind of be excused when compared to other games which are also retreading heavily used storyline and in it’s defense the western storyline, whilst relying heavily upon cliches, have not been seen a great deal in video games westerns are usually the realm of movies. So you play as one of two brothers (there is also a 3rd brother named William, however the characters insist on calling him Wee’um for some unknown reason, but he’s not playable presumably because he’s useless) and whilst been western angry bad asses they learn of some hidden Aztec treasure so being the tough action types that they are decide they want a piece of that. On the way they meet up with some Mexican bandits, a lady who is rubbish at not being kidnapped and a group of Native Americans who have knowledge of the ancient mystical ways. I don’t want to give away any spoilers however if you’ve ever watched a western movie you can kind of see where the game is going, also if you’ve ever enjoyed the western storyline then you will most likely find this an enjoyable experience. It may be a bit generic and derivative but it is well held together and fairly well written.

GAMEPLAY

So Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a first person shooter so that leaves some key questions as to how well it fares as a first person shooter. First of all how good and fun is the actual shooting in the game. So as already mentioned the game is set in the wild west and one thing to note is that old guns are not very good which can make the game really frustrating when you’ve used the six shots you get in just about every revolver and then have to spend an absolute age reloading as the enemies are happily filling you full of holes. At the beginning at each level the game gives you the choice of which character you wish to play as and this does have an effect on the gameplay, Thomas takes slightly less damage but his health regenerates incredibly fast so that doesn’t really matter, he also is a crack shot with a rifle and uses a lasso to reach areas Ray cannot. Ray, on the other hand, can dual wield hand guns so you have twice the ammo (and twice the reload time) and can take a bit more damage than Thomas and seems to move a bit slower as well as having the option to use dynamite as grenades. There is pretty much no real reason to ever use Ray if you have the option of Thomas open to you, the rifles are easily the best weapon in the game and as Ray is really inaccurate due to heavy reliance on dual handguns and the health regeneration of Thomas is so ridiculously fast you do not need the health boost of Ray. This reeks of poor game design when you find that the best way to play a game is with only one particular character using one particular gun then something has gone wrong somewhere along the line. One last thing I’m going to throw out there is the fact that movement feels really slow, compared to games such as Call of Duty where movement is nice and quick whereas in comparison Call of Juarez feels like all the characters are moving through treacle.

OVERALL

There are good things and bad things with Call of Juarez, like many games. The graphics are gorgeous and so are the many effects that help suck you into the game, the story whilst a bit cliched holds together well and conveys a coherent and entertaining story. On the other hand as a first person shooter there are some serious problems, movement is too slow the guns are terrible and take ages to reload and one of the two characters feels a bit redundant. Also, for a game which has two main characters who are almost always together throughout the game to not have co-operative play is criminal. The game is fun but has it’s issues, worth playing and worth finishing I would recommend it to people who live westerns and are looking for a really good western game, but I would not really recommend it to people who want a good first person shooter. Oh, and as a last note NEVER play the first game simply called Call of Juarez as that game is terrible.

COD 5 Review (DS)

Title: Call Of Duty: World At War
Platform: DS
Genre: FPS
Release Date: 14 November 2008
Developer: n-Space
Publisher: Activision
Rating: PEGI 16+

WHAT IS… Call Of Duty: World At War?

Call Of Duty: World At War is a sequel to the line of Call Of Duty first person shooters. These games have been released on most platforms such as x-box 360, PS2, PS3, Wii and DS. Call Of Duty 5 sticks to the classic war scene and doesn’t deviate from this concept.

GRAPHICS 8/10

For a DS game, COD 5’s graphics are extremely good. It has made improvements since COD 4 which is what sequels should be doing. Due to the high graphic levels the game can get a bit choppy though. Also, the characters’ mouths don’t move which I found to be really creepy (see Tomb Raider 3 for more examples on lack of mouth movement!). At the end of the day though, this is just down to the limitations of the DS and for a DS game I thought COD 5 looked really good.

+ Definite improvements on the last version

– However could do with some further improvements

STORY 4/10

COD 5’s story is generic and isn’t really well presented. Most of the storyline is text based in between missions and it’s not very deep and engaging. Some cut scenes would have been nice and I’m sure they could fit it into the game, even if it is on DS. They do let you skip the story sections though; which for this game I thought was a good thing!

– Very generic

– Needs heavy improvements such as cut scenes

LONGEVITY 6/10

The campaign is about an average length for a fps on DS and it will keep players amused for about 6 hours. The game does offer achievements which lengthens the campaign mode. However these achievements are loosely jammed into the game and since there’s no way to show them off (i.e. online on your profile) they’re pretty much pointless. I’d like to see achievements in all DS games and the ability to create an online profile that tracks your achievements sometime in the future. The game does promise a lot of multi-player action and I tried out the local connection with Braindead Hero and Shaun. We were surprised about the amount of maps on offer and that we didn’t have to unlock maps in the campaign. The maps were varied and were small enough to not lose players and big enough to explore. There was some problems with respawning in the same area as other players but I think the maps were just right. There was also a few different multi-player modes which were fun and kept us amused for a good hour or so. Overall the local multi-player is fantastic. There is also the option to go online – I’ve tried this a few times and my DS can never find any games to join. So online play is pretty much dead at the moment (probably due to the poor sales figures) but it still has time to liven up.

– Campaign mode is about average but can get quite tedious after a while

– The achievements are pointless. It’s like “I can but why would I want to”.

+ However the local multi-player is fantastic and it’s worth getting the game just to play with your mates

– Online mode is dead at the moment

GAMEPLAY 7/10

The controls are simple – touchscreen to aim, L button to shoot. Most DS shooters use this control system and COD 5 doesn’t try anything new – which in my books is a good thing. It’s a basic shoot the baddies win the game kind of thing which isn’t anything special but isn’t bad either. The training section at the start is quite short so you can get into the actual game pretty quickly which I think is good. There are also mini-games in COD 5. Now the idea is good because it’s making good use of the touch screen and disarming a mine is quite fun. However there’s one mini-game where you have to tap on the screen in time to the DS (it’s basically Guitar Hero in Morse code). I thought the addition of this was pointless and it wasn’t fun at all. Some of the levels are down to luck, especially the one where you shoot planes down from a boat. I found this frustrating and boring since I just held down the fire button and hoped for the best. To me the guns sound like toys and the artillery strikes sound like an old man calling his dog – which I found to be more amusing than crap. The explosions sound really cool though.

+ Simple controls

+ Good idea about using the touchscreen for mini-games

– Mini-games are a mixed bag at best

– Some levels are down to luck

(The level down to luck!)

FUN 5/10

COD 5 is ok – I wouldn’t say it’s great fun but it’s an alright game. Shooting the hell out of enemies has always been a good stress relief so it’s quite therapeutic. The multi-player is definitely the most fun and it’s worth picking it up just for that.

+ Multi-player is great fun

– Campaign mode is average

OVERALL 6/10

It’s generic but trying new things isn’t always good. The graphics are good, gameplay is fairly good and multi-player is fantastic but story and fun are a bit lacking. Obviously the DS version of COD can never compare to the console versions but for a game that costs around £25 I’d either wait for the price to drop/ pick it up second hand/ give this one a miss.

BETTER THAN: COD 4 (DS)

WORSE THAN: Metroid Prime Hunters (DS)

Loco Roco 2 Review (PSP)

Title: Loco Roco 2
Platform: PSP
Genre: Platformer
Release Date: 21 November 2008
Developer: SCEJ
Publisher: SCEE
Rating: PEGI 7+

WHAT IS… Loco Roco 2?

Loco Roco 2 is unsurprisingly the sequel to Loco Roco, arguably one of the best titles to grace the PSP within recent years. Created by Sony’s japan studios, Loco Roco was a simple and imaginative platformer which gave a new twist to the 2D platforming genre. Sony simplified the game and made it more accessible by reducing the control system to three buttons. This simplicity combined with its cute and charming artistic style made it a must have PSP game. With this to build upon can Loco Roco 2 live up to expectations?

GRAPHICS 10/10

It uses the same game engine as the original Loco Roco so the graphics are not improved overall since the first game, but how much improvement could be done from the original. It is still as charming and sharp as before. Okay there may not be anything new in terms of graphics but there was never really any need for graphical improvement the levels are varied and rich with colour and dripping in charm and almost every part of the game just looks very very nice on the PSP’s screen. The artistic style of Loco Roco is lovable and I can’t think of anyone who will not be seduced by its looks.

+ Sharp visuals
+ Adorable artistic style

STORY 7/10

Loco Roco has never been hugely about story, seems as no one actually speaks (the Mui Mui’s will give advice on the levels but all the Rocos and Mojas speak gibberish) it is quite hard to put across a deep and engaging story. There is a story, which I won’t give away, and it is easy to understand and generally nothing amazingly groundbreaking. Just about all of the background information is conveyed in cut scenes with absolutely no dialogue. It could be argued that the lack of dialogue keeps in the idea of simplicity the game continues to bring. Just about all parts have been made very accessible without being especially ‘dumbed down’ and the simplistic story fits in with the simple art style and simple gameplay.

+ Simple, easy to understand storyline
+ Compliments the games accessible and simple feel
– Absolutely no dialogue
– No ground being broken

LONGEVITY 6/10

The actual storyline consists of around 25 levels and a few boss fights but seems as it is fairly hard to get yourself killed you can probably get through the game in under 6 hours and be pretty satisfied that you have pretty much seen all levels and played all the mini-games you’d want to. I guess there are quite a few collectibles to get if you’re the kind of person who likes to get every single collectible possible in a game (Keep in mind the PSP does not have any kind of trophy/achievement system). At least the game doesn’t arbitrarily lengthen  itself by forcing you to go through every single level at least twice (looking at you SSBB and DMC4) and it doesn’t overstay its welcome and at the price of £19.99 (PSN Price) it’s not too bad of a deal but all this still doesn’t distract you from the fact that it is very short.

+ Doesn’t overstay its welcome
– Short, really short

GAMEPLAY 9/10

If you haven’t already noticed the whole Loco Roco ethos is centered around the idea of simplicity and this is shown a great deal through the gameplay mechanics. All of the action can be controlled by only three buttons which makes it very easy to pick up and get stuck in and doesn’t pull the trick which other games do of arbitrarily throwing needless gameplay mechanics which are only used about two or three times throughout the game. There have been some additions from the original Loco Roco, for example whenever you go to sing at something (it will make sense if you’ve played the first) then you get into a mini-game where you have to press O button in time with the song, a simple addition it may be but it is a nice one nonetheless. Apart from a few new mini games the gameplay is in very familiar territory, but if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

+ Same simple gameplay as the first one

FUN 10/10

I guess there is only one way to put this, this is quite possibly the most fun you will ever have with your PSP. The graphics and gameplay and just the general charm of the game all come together to make it an experience you will enjoy for a long time to come. It’s simplicity translates to pure, simple, fun.

++ Pure fun

OVERALL 8.4/10

It is easy to recommend this game to just about anybody, it’s cute and charming and some of the very best fun you could ever have. If you can ignore how short it is (I’m sure it’s budget price will help that) and can make sense of its storyline conveyed entirely without dialogue then you will completely fall in love with this game.

BETTER THAN: Loco Roco (PSP)

WORSE THAN: Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)

Submitted by Braindead Hero

Saints Row 2 Review (PS3)

Title: Saints Row 2
Platform: PS3 (Also on 360 and PC)
Genre: Action
Release Date: 17 October 2008 (PS3 and 360), 7 November 2008 (PC)
Developer: Volition
Publisher: THQ
Rating: BBFC 18+

WHAT IS… Saints Row 2?

There are plenty of game developers trying to get in on Rockstar’s success with their multi-award winning Grand Theft Auto series and so, we have seen many open world, sandbox games. Usually, and I’m trying not to generaise too much to be honest, these have not been too great. When GTA4 was released earlier this year many gamers were unsatisfied with the new direction the series took towards a more realistic game style, abandoning the over the top ‘cartoony’ style the series has been known for. With Saints Row 2, volition saw this and took a decision to try and capture and build upon this style that has made Grand Theft Auto so popular for so long.

GRAPHICS 7/10

Within this generation of consoles we have seen graphics converge greatly, with many new games looking very similar, and by that I mean shiny brown. There have been some notable exceptions such as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (shiny green) and No More Heroes (which may not be as technically proficient as many games but was very very stylish). Sadly Saints Row 2 does not do anything particularly stylish and seems pretty content to have the same level of graphics found in many other titles, which it should be pointed out aren’t exactly bad. The gameplay area is a large area with many places to see however it does not seem to be as large or as detailed as the map in Grand Theft Auto 4. Also throughout the game I have encountered numerous graphical bugs and glitches as there are regular clipping issues as well quite a bit of popup in more populated areas. These problems, whilst annoying, are not game breaking.

+ Well it is a current-gen game so it is pretty
– Doesn’t do anything particularly special
– Clipping Issues and other graphical glitches

STORY 8/10

The story is a pretty standard gang land rags-to-riches story which we have all seen many times before but in this game it is both well written and well acted. Many parts of the story will make you laugh and there is some really good character development as well as some really profound moments. All this said it lacks some of the subtle social commentary seen in other games (yes I am going to mention it yet again) such as GTA4.

+ Well acted and well written
– Lacks the amount of depth and social commentary found in GTA

LONGEVITY 9/10

It is a very long game with a huge array of activities to do. You can have plenty of fun doing some absolutely crazy things such as stealing a septic truck and spraying the neighborhood with sh…. , erm brown goo. Or you can get a helicopter and cover your allies as they deliver ‘packages’ around the map. Or even partake in underground boxing events. I guess what I am trying to convey (and pad out as much as possible) that there is lots of things to do on the side along with the fairly lengthy story missions (took me around 20hrs). One thing that should be mentioned is that whilst there are a lot of things to do you generally find yourself gravitating more to the things you know you can do and simply repeat them an awful lot which of course can get a bit boring.

+ Long story mode
+ Huge array of side missions
– A little big of repetition can get a little stale

GAMEPLAY 8/10

Most of the gameplay mechanics have been lifted from Grand Theft Auto, if you have been playing GTA4 on PS3 and were annoyed by the controls (mostly due to the sixaxis’ rubbish triggers) then you will be pleased to know it uses the ‘old-school’ PS2 GTA control setup which has worked well in the past and continues to work well now. In between missions you have to earn respect in order to play more missions, in order to get the respect you have to take part in one of the many side missions, which to me kind of negates the point in OPTIONAL side missions, and kind of feels like arbitrary lengthening but seems as many of these side missions are really fun and absolutely crazy in their own right you feel tempted to let it off.

+ Solid and familiar controls
+ Many different gameplay mechanics in play
– Pointless repetition involved

FUN 9/10

This is a very fun game, many of the things you do throughout the game are inventive fun and at times downright crazy, there is pretty much something just about anyone will find fun in this game (so long as you are over 18 and so old enough to play it). This fun craziness is prevelant throughout the game so if you played GTA4 and were disappointed at the serious turn it took and wished to return back to the days of vice city insanity then Saint’s Row 2 is your answer.

+ So much to do, just about anyone will find something they like
+ Fun for the same reasons GTA: Vice City was

OVERALL 8.2/10 

If you can’t tell by now this game is very much like Grand Theft Auto, whilst most game developers simply look at GTA and say ‘hey lets copy those guys’, however when making Saint’s Row 2 volition actually seemed to think that this wasn’t good enough to just copy so have actually made an attempt to put some fun and original things in. This is probably because as we have seen many many times before whenever someone simply tries to copy GTA it never ends up anywhere near as good so some originality thrown into the wholly unoriginal mixture is a welcome addition. I also like the ability to take down the Ultor Corporation 200 years before they start pissing people off on mars (And if anyone else understands that game reference I will send them some cake).

BETTER THAN: True Crime: Streets of LA

WORSE THAN: GTA 4

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Review (PSP)

Title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Platform: PSP (Also on 360, PS3, PS2, Wii and DS)
Genre: Action
Release Date: 19 September 2008
Developer: Krome Studios (PSP, PS2 and Wii versions only)
Publisher: LucasArts
Rating: PEGI 16+

WHAT IS… Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The Force Unleashed is a new game in the Star Wars saga that fit in between Episode III and IV in the series. It is part of a wider multimedia project which includes games, novels and comics among other forms of media. Star wars games in general have been a mixed bag, some have been especially good such as Knights of the Old Republic (PC, Xbox) or Super Star Wars (SNES) whereas others haven’t been so great, such as Episode I (PS, PC) or Battle for Naboo (PC, N64). With such a prestigious name and a lot of hype to live up to can The Force Unleashed deliver an experience fitting of the Star Wars name?

GRAPHICS 6/10

The graphics are varied and for the most part very nice. There are many different areas with their own unique art style which whilst new and interesting, feels very familiar within the Star Wars universe. A lot of time has obviously gone into creating the environments and models and it shows. It has graphics on par with the PS2 and Wii version, of course with lower texture sizes, which make it one of the best looking games on PSP, on par with God of War: Chains of Olympus. With all these nice looking environments and good models there are some graphical glitches and quite a lot of load times, sometimes even during the middle of a fight, there have been quite a few times where I have been in the middle of a fight where the PSP has slowed down to a halt and displayed the ‘loading’ logo in the corner. This does really break the flow of the game and can detract away from the fun. Also as with many PSP games there are serious camera issues and no way to take manual control of the camera so you will find yourself having to blindly mash buttons until you can move somewhere the camera shifts to a good position, especially in smaller areas.

+ Lots of nice and varied environments
+ Alot of time and care has been taken on the visuals
– Graphical glitches are prevalent
– Long load times, sometimes in the middle of a fight
– Terrible camera, no way of manually changing it

STORY 8/10

The story is both well written and well performed, much better than the story and acting seen in the latest trilogy of films (Episodes I – III) but seems as that is like beating a one legged man in an arse kicking contest so saying that doesn’t really do it justice. You play as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice ‘Starkiller’ who is given the task on hunting down the last remaining Jedi, this story does lead to some very interesting scenes which engage you in a deep emotional way we haven’t experienced in Star Wars since 1983. This story is worth both in writing and performance of the star wars legacy. However, as it seems to have movie style writing the game is not very long and as it is meant to sit between two movies it feels unfinished and too short and so does not make as long lasting an impact as it could have done.

+ One of the best Star Wars stories in years
+ Good writing and acting
– Too short to make a big enough impact

LONGEVITY 6/10

The actual story mode itself is quite short overall a skilled player could probably get through it in around 5 – 10 hours. It is lengthened by the use of unlockable extras, there are 200 collectible holocrons spread throughout the game which unlock artwork as well as new add-ons for your lightsaber and plenty of force powers to unlock. Also once you have finished the relatively short story mode you can replay the game with all your powerups and everything you have unlocked in tact. In the PSP version there is exclusive extra content in the form of historic battle mode, which allows you to play through battles from within the star wars saga using the characters and powers you have unlocked in the story mode. This can add some more play time to a relatively short game.

+ Plenty of unlockables
+ PSP exclusive extra modes
– Short story mode

GAMEPLAY 7/10

The Force Unleashed suffers from the same issues that many other 3D action games on the PSP suffer from. The biggest problem is with the controls, the game is trying to do far too many things and such the PSP quickly runs out of buttons so the shoulder buttons are used as a ‘shift’ button so pressing square will do one thing, and holding L and pressing square will do something completely different. This means that the control system is very inaccurate and in the heat of battle you will probably just end up relying on the couple of basic moves learned at the beginning of the game. There is a good physics engine in the game, possibly the best found in a PSP game, you can happily throw boxes and enemies around using your force powers and if you can work the control system then you can get some really good and interesting moves using your various force powers.

+ Excellent physics engine
+ Lots of different moves and plenty of opportunity for combos
– Clunky control system

FUN 7/10

There are quite a lot of things you have to forgive the game for in order to really enjoy the game. The camera and controls are not so great and cause you to die at places you wouldn’t normally, this is very frustrating, however the difficulty is a brilliant mix of challenge and simplicity. For example, there are several fights which may get you killed, but when you do you will come back to life with all the damage you have done to the enemy in tact but at the loss of points which would have gone towards more force powers. So this not only punishes you for dying but does so in such a way that doesn’t frustrate you by forcing you to constantly repeat the same fight over and over again.

+ Perfect difficulty, not too frustrating, not too easy
– Controls and camera enjoy killing you for no good reason

OVERALL 6.8/10 

A good but buggy experience that will keep you engaged and playing for a decent amount of time. There are many good reasons to get this game but many of them are undermined by glitched and bugs. For example, there are a variety of good moves and powers at your disposal which are really fun to use, held back by a sub-par control scheme. Or a brilliant physics engine rendered almost useless by a terrible camera. If you are a fan of the brand or just looking for a solid action game and can overlook some glitches and bugs then definately get this. I should point out if you are not enticed by the idea of portable games then there are home console versions of the game that do eliminate many of the issues apparent in this version, as long as you are willing to sacrifice some of those exclusive modes.

BETTER THAN: Warriors Orochi (PSP)

WORSE THAN: God Of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

Quest for Free Games – Perfect World International (PC)

In a start to my Quest for Free Games I review Perfect World International, a free MMORPG much in the style of World of Warcraft.

Title: Perfect World International
Platform: PC
Genre: MMORPG
Release Date: 2 September 2008 (Open Beta)
Developer: Beijing Perfect World
Publisher: Perfect World International Entertainment
Rating: N/A

WHAT IS… PERFECT WORLD INTERNATIONAL?

Perfect World International is the international release of Perfect World, a free to play MMORPG originating in China where is has been quite a big success. Beijing Perfect World hopes to try and capture this success and export it overseas and with that they have stuck to their promise of free and accessible gaming and simply translated their game for a western release. It is heavily based and influenced from Chinese culture and is set in a region known as Pangu.

GRAPHICS 5/10

The game is presented in pretty much the same way as any other MMORPG and has similar graphics to those found in World of Warcraft or EverQuest, however I will say that whilst it looks very similar the lack of really talented environment designers who, when designing the vast open areas managed to create huge barren areas with no defining features, which makes it really easy to get lost whilst wandering the wastelands. It’s not meant to be built up by wasteland, this is not a fallout-esque post apocalyptic MMORPG, just many of the areas are so featureless you can be forgiven for mistaking them for wasteland. Whilst you are in a town the game does look quite good there a plenty of nice looking areas, it’s just a shame there are miles of wasteland in between. Given the technology that it runs on technically it pulls some good things off it’s just ruined by completely uninspired environments.

+ SOME interesting areas in towns or cities
– LOTS of bland and uninspired, repetitive areas

STORY 2/10

I’m pretty sure there is meant to be a story line somewhere in this game. It tries to present itself as having a storyline and they claim the games is based upon Chinese Mythology. I however, must have completely missed where the story is supposed to start, maybe you have to play for around 100 hours and get to about level 30 before they let get even the slightest glimse of the story. Usually with a game like N+ where there is no story and they don’t pretend it has a story I will simply leave this section alone as there are many games, like puzzle games, that simply do not need a story. MMORPGs do not fall into the section of games that do not need a story line as any RPG with no story or no direction is simply a waste of time. It could be argued that the story comes through the quests but having played a million different variations of the same damn quest which simply involves walking through wastelands, killing x amounts of creature y and walking back through the wasteland gives you no more insight, or more fun, than watching paint dry or an episode of hollyoaks. Suffice to say the quests are really repetive and really really really boring.

– Overall storyline is absent
– Really repetitive and dull quests
– Fantastically boring

LONGEVITY 7/10

With this, and indeed many MMORPGs, if you’re into this kind of thing you can easily get well over 100 hours of gameplay. Whilst the quests are very similar to each other and very repetitive there are literally thousands within the game and also as there are diffent races and classes which give you a different playing style and so potentially you could, if you were incredibly dedicated, to get get around 300 – 600 hours depending on how patient you are, and it’s not often you can get that from something that is completely free. Whilst you can say many things against MMORPGs in general one thing you cannot say is that they don’t have very much content, there is so very much to do, if you don’t mind a bit of repetition.

+ Well over 100 hours of gameplay for many people
– Some repetition in quests
– Only for MMORPG fans

GAMEPLAY 5/10

This shares many of the gameplay flaws that plague many other MMORPGs, namely clunky control systems and one click combat. If you’ve ever played any MMORPGs then you will know how combat works, you click an enemy and your character runs up to them and waves a stick until one of you falls over, if you’re an advanced player you might press f1 or f3 every now and then (or whatever you link skills to). Whilst this isn’t very advanced or particulaly fun, it works and whilst there are many better control systems but many of these have been shown not to work in a MMORPG. So whilst it isn’t a great system it’s tried and true and is probably the best fit for a MMORPG.

-/+ Uses the standard MMORPG controls

FUN 4/10

This basically comes down to whether you find MMORPGs fun. It is a completely standard MMORPG yes it’s fun to play with other people, but then some people are annoying b******* which can detract from the fun. On my first night playing I was constantly annoyed by one player spamming the world chat system which just makes the game not very fun for anyone. Also there is the balance of longevity and tedium, if you are happy to play the game despite it’s repetition then you are very likely to play it for a very long time and probably enjoy it for a very long time. On the other hand, if constantly replaying the same quest over and over again sounds as boring to you as it does for me then you might want to go for a game with a little variation.

+ Lots of people to play with help make game fun
+ Could end up playing far more than 100 hours
– Some people are annoying and should be locked up
– Playing the same 5 quests over and over for 100 hours is NOT fun

OVERALL 4.6/10 

This game could really go both ways depend on how you feel about MMORPGs. This is pretty much a standard MMORPG and such is plagued with all the same problems but also can easily be played at great length and loved fanatically. As a free game it does seem like a fairly decent idea, personally given the choice between this and World of Warcraft I would probably go for this one as they’re very similar, WoW has more direction but given that Perfect World is free the price of WoW does not cover the very minor improvements compared to this.

BETTER THAN: Runescape (WEB)

WORSE THAN: World Of Warcraft (PC)

Spore Creatures Review (DS)

Title: Spore Creatures
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Life Simulation
Release Date: 5 September 2008
Developer: Foundation 9
Publisher: EA Games
Rating: PEGI 7+

WHAT IS… Spore Creatures?

Spore Creatures is a portable spin off of one of this year’s most eagerly anticipated titles. Spore Creatures works in a very similar way to Spore as you have a creature which you can customize in literally hundreds of ways to make almost anything you can imagine. However this is a spin off from Spore, not a portable version. In Spore you create a creature and evolve it from a single cell and from there make an entire civilization which will span the galaxy – in this version you are locked within the creature stage and following a storyline as opposed to just trying to evolve and progress onto the next evolutionary stage.

GRAPHICS 7/10

The game uses 3D graphics for the world and 2D spites for the creatures. This does fit the game quite well as we all know the Nintendo DS isn’t the most powerful of systems so using Paper Mario style 2D creatures makes perfect sense given the huge amount of customization that the player is allowed. However, some of the environments are a bit bland and simply seem to be a case of this level has a flat green floor, the next level has a flat, brown floor, the one after that has a bit of green and a bit of brown. There doesn’t seem to have been enough time taken on the environments as they were obviously spending all their time creating new parts for your creatures. Also it is worth noting that given the small size of the screen it does get quite hard to see some of the parts and after a little bit of levelling up you end up get a cluttered mass of body parts with no real sense of what exactly the creature is.

+ Nice and inventive variety of creatures and creature parts
– Bland and repetitive environments
– Low resolution means parts are hard to distinguish

STORY 7/10

The story line generally takes you on a linear path through the game in a quest to save your friend from Aliens. Along the way you will meet and interact with lots of different creatures in a number of fun and interesting ways. There’s not really a great deal to say about the story as whilst it is there one there it is quite thin, all you really need to know is you are trying to rescue your friend and in order to do so you must evolve by carrying out various tasks and socialising or fighting other creatures. It is also quite long as there are many events thrown in which almost seem to simply be an arbitrary lengthening device.

+ Very clear and concise and fairly long storyline.
– Seems to have been unnecessary lengthened at various points throughout.
– Story is very thin and revolves around one single event.

LONGEVITY 10/10

This is a very long game and contains an awful lot of content, if you are inventive enough you can play through this game several times in several different ways by selecting different parts for your creature. This of course means that there is quite a fair bit of replay value as you could play through once by fighting your way through with a carnivore then replaying the game with a friendly and loveable herbivore creature meaning you will have to go through entirely being a social animal and gaining other creatures to help you on your quest. Also the game features badges, which are essentially an achievement system which gives you rewards for doing things like completing all the goals on a planet or walking through hundreds of bushes which allow you access to cheats and new parts unlocked with badge points.

+ Everyone loves an achievement system
+ Plenty of replayability
+ Lots of things to unlock
+ Replaying does not get boring

GAMEPLAY 7/10

The game uses the touchscreen to control most of its actions. This does mean that many of the games actions do end up being reduced to frantically rubbing on the touchscreen to do pretty much anything. There are some variations on this such as a social minigame where you have to tap in a rhythm in order to do a dance in an effort to befriend a creature. Fighting works in a very similar way in that in order to attack you draw a line across the creature you are fighting to attack them. Whilst there is good use of the touchscreen it is pretty much always used in a similar way as you are either tapping the screen or rubbing frantically on the screen to do pretty much anything.

+ Good use of the touchscreen
– Many gameplay elements are repeated for many situations

FUN 8/10

There are just so many parts of this game which contribute to the overall fun factor. Creating your own creature is fun as is the social and fighting aspect of the game. There is so much to do, which whilst it can be repetitive it is not tedious and as there are badges to collect as well as literally hundreds of creature parts over plenty of areas this will keep you going for a very long time.

+ Lots of different elements come together to make it fun
+ A lot of different and fun things to do

OVERALL 7.8/10 

This is a fun game with many parts that come together to make it really a good game. The fun and longevity comes together to make sure that you will be playing this title for many months to come.

BETTER THAN: The Sims 2 (DS)

WORSE THAN: Spore (PC)