Mind Zero PS Vita Game Review

Very few games become a series, and very few series become fan favorite, instant sellers. So it is always tough for every new IP to live up to games in the genre before them, especially when you look like a Persona clone. Welcome to the world of Mind Zero on the PlayStation Vita. A walking, talking clone of Persona, but does it hold the same swagger and greatness as its inspiration?

This is a game I saw last year when I was living in Nagoya, Japan, and immediately I knew this was a Persona type of game. From the artwork on the cover, to the screenshots on the back of the box, and the cool looking display advertising it, there was no doubt where the inspiration came from. Flash forward ten months and now I’m starting up the game, only to be bombarded by one of the most psychedelic and unique intros of any video game. Sadly, this is the high point of the comparison to Persona.

Once in the game you’re given a narrative involving your “Persona’s”, called MINDs. Each person gets one and that is it. Each character also gets one weapon and that is it. What you get instead is a focus on your skills, which can be given to anyone. After battles you will sometimes get skill cards as rewards, and once you make it to a certain point in the game you can spend skill points to enhance their level or use other cards to upgrade them into something completely different. The drawback is when enhancing them you won’t know how much more powerful they will get. You have to memorize the damage from battle and compare it to a new battle to figure out if the spell or ability is worth it.

Even on easy the game is a grind, and up there with old NES-style games. Skills require a mixture of tech points and/or health, with health coming in short supply later on during boss fights and new dungeons. Your MIND is unique for an RPG mechanic as their first function is to act as a shield. When they are activated, at no cost, they take the damage for you and you lose MIND points. Once they are defeated you’re stunned for a turn or two, but then you and the MIND recover, and it can be called again to battle. When a MIND is defeated it becomes quite evident how weak the characters are without their shield, which is nice intertwining symbolism between story and game mechanic.

The story takes the form of a mystery, with a group of high school kids and other random people like a private detective and police detectives, trying to figure out the mystery behind MINDs. While the main story by itself is fine, there is not much else going on in the rest of the game. The side quests are simple fetch and carry, if there is any fetching and carrying at all as some are just reading text and that's it. There is also a distinct lack of a world to explore. The idea of the overhead map made it feel like a page out of the Persona 2 playbook but there is nothing to populate it but the main characters of the game. No random people speaking random stuff to give the world purpose.

Mind Zero is a bit of a conundrum in the music department because of how backwards the music is. The opening theme is awesome and energetic, fitting the theme of the game perfectly. The overview map and inside shops has that Persona 4 feel. Inside battle, though, the tunes take a nose dive of sad proportions, as I immediately was reaching for my MP3 player. The musical director did a great job with everything non-combat, but the battle music was so shrill and grating on the nerves that it was a massive disappointment. In boss battles this was alleviated to a degree, but when you have to do a lot of grinding in normal battles, a good tune is key for longevity and replayability.

What makes up for the music is the triple-A quality voice acting. The game comes with the original Japanese voices and with an English cast. It quickly became apparent that the cast gelled together and had a great working chemistry, as there was a flow to the humorous and awkward scenes. Sometimes those moments fall a bit dead because of how they are synced together in-game. The characters also felt like they had unique personalities, even though some of the girls did sound the same vocally. One odd problem in the sound department was the doors. Sometimes during conversations there would be a ‘door’ sound, which is linked to the story. The first time I heard it, it sounded like a cat. To say the least, for the first chapter I was confused trying to figure out why they were talking about a door, when I heard a cat. I've never had that experience before, thus why it stood out enough to warn about.

This is a dungeon crawler so graphics are not on the top of the list. The character models in combat look from the PS2-era, while in the outside world they are represented by slick anime models. NIS sets the standard for anime characters but Mind Zero put in an A+ effort to make a varied cast, and to show off their personalities with their looks. The dungeons do their best to look varied and original. They won’t push the Vita’s power in the slightest, but at least an effort was made to make them weird to fit the theme of the game. Whether or not you like that weirdness will determine how much you care about the dungeons.

Mind Zero has an interesting narrative, taking the Persona model and going in a different direction. RPG gamers and Persona fans will enjoy the game, but those wanting an experience laden with side quests and little grinding are going to be disappointed. The foundation is there for another great RPG franchise, as long as the flaws like the battle music, side quests, and overworld are ironed out in a potential sequel.

Resogun Heroes Ps Game Review

Resogun’s Heroes DLC only adds two game modes, but each adds something meaningful to the game’s addictive arcade action. Even better, both modes cater especially well to a different kind of player.

The first, Survival, throws down the gauntlet for veteran players seasoned by leaderboard success with Arcade mode’s levels and extra lives. You get neither in Survival: one life against a never-ending onslaught that starts fairly intense and gets positively overwhelming, very quickly. The kind of precision, awareness, and technique required to survive for more than ten minutes against these formations aren’t in my possession, but there are cool ideas on display that even novice players can appreciate. For example, there’s no need to pick up humans and carry them to evacuation platforms for extra points. Merely flying through them will do, but there are way more on-screen at a given time, and a lot more ways for them to die, thanks to the destruction of ground sections over time. Heavily armored enemies house screen-clearing explosions, and an overdrive attack could break them in seconds, but it could also clear dozens of enemies and give a scant few seconds of breathing room. Tactical choices abound and must be made faster than ever.

In other words, Survival mode is hardcore Resogun: lots of enemies, tricky formations, for skilled players who’ve long since mastered the five story levels. Neat touches, like Monuments representing player scores your best run is close to beating, keep the competitive spirit alive where balance falters. Absolutely any ship can be used in Survival mode, even custom creations borne from the recent addition of a ship editor. The leaderboards don’t pay attention to stat distribution (across Agility, Boost, and Overdrive) or weapon types, so direct comparison of two high scores is devalued somewhat. At the same time, there’s no easy way to tell what combination is most “winning” without experimenting for yourself, so replay value is kept intact. Being able to change the music in Survival, from its default tracks to level-specific tracks or a random combination, is also a nice touch.

Ultimately, Survival doesn’t seem like enough to rope back in folks who enjoyed some time with Resogun near PS4’s launch but have since moved on. For me, that hook is Demolition, the second of Heroes’ additions and one that toys with the formula enough to feel completely unfamiliar. For starters, Demolition strips you of all your weapons and your boost ability. All you’re left with is a controlled radial blast that can be charged to different power levels--but use it at all, and you’ll be defenseless until it recharges.

The blast also functions as a pushback for Wrecking Balls, which fly through the cylindrical stage with destructive aplomb. Demolition fills the stage with stationary targets to test your Wrecking Ball aim and enemies to dodge in the meantime, so while it behooves you to take time perfectly setting up each “shot,” the game will test just how quickly you can do so. Enemies will harass your attempts to carefully maneuver through tight pathways formed by stationary targets. Finesse is rewarded in that the very best Wrecking Ball pushes can rack up obscene points and swiftly clear a stage. But knowing when to forget about the balls and use your radial blast to clear a path is also imperative.

I love that Demolition effectively takes the pace and intensity of your standard Resogun match back to the drawing board. From there, it uses the same controls and mechanics to fuel an entirely different experience. Foresight and planning are more important than split-second arcade reflexes. An eye for detail and stage-wide awareness helps too--time slows to a crawl as you’re charging a radial blast, and shot alignment is a multi-faceted affair. I noticed that folks on my PSN friends list with astronomical Survival scores weren’t having as much success with Demolition, but I found its emphasis on strategy and positioning to be more accessible and a ton of fun. The power-up spirit is alive and well, too. Extra balls will drop onto the stage from time to time, and you can exploit creative moves--like shooting a ball into an Extra Ball power-up to spawn three--that really reward being in the right place at the right time. It takes a different skillset than twitch reflexes to consistently find yourself there.

The music and visuals are still pitch-perfect, and eight months later, Resogun is still one of PS4’s most aesthetically pleasing games. The question, then, is which of Resogun Heroes’ new modes appeals to you more. Both are fun, polished, and thoughtfully designed, and with the recent (free) addition of online and offline co-op, plus the aforementioned ship editor, there’s never been a better time to return. However, I had way more fun with Demolition than Survival, which, barring a few new power-ups and mechanics, is more of the same, just way more intense. Demolition, on the other hand, challenged me in new ways and reveals surprising depth for experimentation with Resogun’s core elements. By my money, that’s worth the price of admission; bonus points if you’re a Resogun fanatic who can’t wait to try both.

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Valiant Hearts: The Great War Ps Game review

War is not pretty. It’s full of death, sadness, emotion, and it corrupts the most noble and sincere of men. Valiant Hearts: The Great War depicts the horrors of war not by putting a gun in your hand but through an emotional story and an artistic style that highlights the gritty darkness that overshadowed the world between 1914-1918.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War puts players in the shoes of four brave souls and their canine companion. Although each character has their own story to tell their paths quickly intersect and unite them to a common goal; namely, to reunite a young German soldier with his wife and new born baby.

The game begins when a young man named Karl, who is working on his father-in-law’s farm in France, is soon drafted to serve in the German army and must leave his family to serve his country. Soon after, Emile, Karl's father-in-law, is signed up as well to serve in the French army. During his first battle, Emile is shot, wounded, and taken as a prisoner of war. Emile then discovers that Karl was part of the squad that Emile had engaged in. After their heartwarming reunion the French army attacks and the two become separated.

Throughout the game Emile exchanges letters between his daughter and discovers that his grandson has fallen ill and his home town had been taken over by the German army. Emile sets out to find his son-in-law and return him to his family. On his journey Emile encounters Freddie, an American soldier after the general that attacked Paris and killed his wife, and Ana, a Belgian nurse searching for her scientist father kidnapped by the same general that killed Freddie's wife.

The game’s story is presented through a narrator who details each character's’ plight throughout the game as if he was narrating a documentary on the History Channel. Of the four characters, Emile's voice is the only one that the player will hear when he reads the letters he receives and writes to his daughter. This carries great weight throughout the story as the game itself is inspired by the real letters written by soldiers during the war.

Throughout the game characters communicate through their animations and picture bubbles that appear over their head showing players what they need to do. I commend Ubisoft Montpellier for deviating from traditional character dialog and telling their story through the characters’ animations, and not once did I feel as if I never knew what any of them were trying to communicate. I would also like to point out that although characters scream and talk in the background, they do so in their native tongue and it's no more than a few words. As most of the game is presented this way I was never bothered with the narration as he only came in before the start and end of each mission.

The game’s incredible art design once again takes advantage of the great UbiART engine used in Ubisofts reimagining of Rayman and the fantastic Child of Light. Unlike the cartoony look of Rayman and the fantasy style of Child of Light, Valiant Hearts goes with a more hand-drawn, comic book style. Characters have an exaggerated look to them but it is done so to contrast the environments that players enter.

Throughout the game players see lush landscapes and cities torn apart by bombers. The Great War’s environments become more dark, gritty, and barren as the years go by, depicting the destruction that sees lush landscapes tuned to dark muddy trenches. But it is also a shame that at points the game’s art style clashes with the dark theme that it begins to shape into. Some characters including the German general that the players are after, felt to comical and was depicted in a way that people would see in a propaganda cartoon and I just couldn't take him seriously.

Being a game based on the first World War, I was expecting to pick up a rifle and start shooting. However, I was surprised to find out that the game was not about killing but finding solutions to help your cause. Although I never felt like I wanted to pick up a gun and shoot I did find that some of the tasks become tiresome and boring. First and foremost Valiant Hearts is a cerebral-based adventure, and as such players will spend most of their time solving puzzles to get through various obstacles. Some of these worked just fine while others fell flat from repetition. For example, when controlling Ana, players will have to heal wounded soldiers by performing quick-time events on a heart beat monitor (which appears on a long bandage) that became annoying as I was doing it up to five times in a five minute span.

Other puzzles felt more satisfying. Emile found himself digging tunnels rescuing trapped soldiers as bombs fall over head, and avoiding mines while continuing to push on the front lines with Freddie and giving him support throughout the game. The companion dog also finds its uses throughout the adventure, such as hitting switches to distracting German soldiers as players sneak by during stealth missions.

Freddie on the other has some of the more fun missions, which are primarily based around action elements. Planting TNT behind enemy lines destroying anti-air guns and driving a tank on the front lines while shooting down German bombers and destroying bunkers were as close to any actual combat I experienced. Some of the more entertaining moments are called the "Taxi" missions. Here, players hop into a vehicle where they will have to avoid obstacles and gunfire. These missions reminded a lot of older arcade games, and are also wonderfully presented with licensed classical tracks that almost everyone will recognize.

Gamers will also find a plethora of collectables in the game, which represent items that people used during the war. Each item that players pick up give an interesting fact about the item and how it was used during the war, which I found extremely informative and sadly gave me a better history lesson then I got in high school. At the start of each mission players can read up on actual facts about the situation that the characters find themselves in, that actual soldiers experienced in the war. Although these facts were a great read some of them turned my stomach especially those about the Mustard Gas used during the war. The only issue I found with these historical facts were their use of actual photos taken during the war. I found these to clash with the game’s art-style, and although I didn't mind that they were actual photos, I would have preferred them use a hand drawn representation in order to maintain visual parity with the rest of the game.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War left a very strong impression on me. When it was all said and done I couldn't help but let the tears flow from the powerful ending, not because of the ending itself but the way it was presented and executed. This can be said for most of the game, and although shooter fans will wonder why in a war game there isn't any shooting, Valiant Hearts decides to take a road less traveled. Telling an emotional story that took me from sadness, to happiness, back to sadness, to anger, and then eventually tears. Valiant Hearts: The Great War depicts the horrors of war not though statistics, or what battles were won, but through the human emotion.

Sourcehttp://www.psu.com/a023877/Valiant-Hearts--The-Great-War-review--a-powerful-story-told-through-the-horrors-of-war

Ultra Street Fighter IV Review Play Station Reviews

Capcom’s Street Fighter IV is often noted for reinvigorating the hardcore beat-’em-up video game scene in the many years following the release of its predecessor. Originally released in 2009, the seminal brawler wowed critics with its lush visuals, diverse character roster, and comprehensive moves set; unsurprising, then, that it’s gone down as the greatest fighting game of the PS3 era. Keen to exploit its potential, Capcom set about improving the celebrated title with a series of incremental updates, starting withSuper Street Fighter IV in 2010, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition in 2011, and finally,Ultra Street Fighter IV. 

While cynics have lambasted the Japanese giant for milking the Street Fighter IV experience, series aficionados have welcomed the extra tweaks, characters, stages, and other bits and bobs these subsequent updates have offered. Indeed, Ultra is a perpetuation of Capcom’s attempts at offering its hardcore fanbase the most complete SFIV experience possible, which long-time players will no doubt lap up. Make no mistake, this isn’t for the casual audience; Ultra’s additions are subtle, but for the hardcore player, this latest iteration of the popular brawler offers all the nuance that SFIV fanatics that been craving for -- it’s been shaped by the community, after all.

Chief among Ultra’s additions is of course the addition of five new combatants: Poison, Hugo, Decapre, Elena and Rolento. Pleasingly, there’s something here for everyone, with this eclectic line-up covering a wide variety of play styles, as is the case with pretty much the rest of the cast. Hugo is a hulking, beast of a man that compensates for his slow speed with some massively-damaging attacks, and a great go-to guy for newcomers (yes, myself included). He’s so chunky it’s almost comical. Conversely, the slim and nimble Decapre - a clone of Cammy - is faster and definitely aimed at the more accomplished player, with more complex moves and combos. In fact, you’ll need some pretty dexterous button work to exploit her Super/Ultra maneuvers, and I spent ages faffing around in Training Mode trying to get them to work, much to my frustration. Then there’s Poison, the scantily-clad, whip-wielding officer from hell, who is an absolutely joy to play as, with more streamlined moves coupled with some great Ultra combos that are both aesthetically pleasing and lethal to boot.

Elena is a flashy capoeira master and essentially Ultra’s answer to Tekken’s Eddie Gordo, possessing some conspicuously long limbs able to strike out at foes from quite some distance. Rounding things off is Rolento, a hardened military type who comes equipped with a few nasty surprises, such as grenades, which are used to devastating effect for his Ultra combo. He’s not the fastest character out of the new players, although his ability to quickly roll backwards or quickly leap off of walls gives him great evasive properties. All in all, there’s something for everyone, and each combatant boasts distinct strengths and weakness, providing a diverse package for fans and casual gamers alike. Even if you’re coming into Ultra relatively fresh-faced, you can still pick up most of the newcomers and feel comfortable getting to grips with them in training. Still, a few might prove intimidating for those unfamiliar with the series.

Elsewhere, Ultra offers up five more stages, all of which are plucked straight out of Street Fighter x Tekken (as is the case with four of the five new fighters). Yes, it’s a bit of a cop out, as for 11 quid it would have been nice to see some arenas built from the ground up; however, the levels themselves are pretty dazzling, so it’s hard to complain. More prominent however, are the array of tweaks to the combat system itself. Chief among the additions include the ability to select two Ultra Combos instead of one or the other, which opens up a wealth of new tactical options. However, there’s a catch; doing so will tone down the amount of damage they do compared to if you select just one of the cinematic showstoppers. Still, this option accentuates the game’s diversity in terms of playing style, and switches things up nicely so you have more tactics to employ in battle.

The Focus Attack has also benefited from an overhaul. Now, holding down the Medium Punch, Light Punch, and Medium Kick buttons buffs the maneuver to become the Red Focus Attack, allowing you to absorb more punishment from your opponent. However, the window of opportunity here is decidedly thin, and therefore meticulous timing on the player’s part is required, not to mention some half-decent knowledge of your opponents moves to boot. As such, there’s a gamble as to whether or not you’ll be successful; if it connects, the payoff is well worth it, but concurrently, there’s also the risk of missing it or your opponent landing a throw. Experts will likely take full advantage of this and mix and match with the regular Focus Attack, further supplementing SFIV’s comprehensive defensive capabilities. The fact it’s there and ripe for the strategic picking is a great little extra.

Meanwhile, there’s also the fact your character’s recovery has now been tweaked so you can delay the period of time it takes you to get back up after being knocked on your arse. This is pretty significant, as a lot of crafty buggers can time their attacks to capitalize on their opponents weakness as they rise off the floor, so this delay allows you to fool or outright punish their attempts at pummelling you as you get up again. Like most advanced moves, it requires judicious use of timing and understanding of SFIV’s nuanced gameplay mechanics, but it proves immensely useful if you can use it right. 

Also up for grabs are two new game modes. First up is the ability to enter the Training mode online with another player, allowing you to duke it out with a fellow gamer, rather than sit twiddling your thumbs in a lobby or smashing your way through Arcade Mode. Then there’s the Team Battle for those of you who like to put a bit of teamwork into the mix, and makes for a break from the usual one-on-one fighting that makes up the bulk of online fighters. SFIV’s online component was already strong to begin with, and these extras only further complement an already-fantastic line-up.

At the end of the day, Ultra Street Fighter IV is a pretty substantial add-on, and while it’s easy to palm it off as another chance for Capcom to relieve of us our hard-earned cash, there’s actually plenty of stuff here worth the asking price. Sure, the fact much of it is tied directly to the intricate nature of the series means hardcore fans will likely benefit from it the most, and the reused SFxTekken assets might leave a bad taste with some gamers. Overall however, the extra fighters, modes, move tweaks, additions and balances make this the definitive version of Capcom’s seminal brawler and a must-have for any Street Fighter fanatic.

source:
http://www.psu.com/a023704/Ultra-Street-Fighter-IV-Review--the-definitive-version-of-Capcoms-seminal-beat-em-up

Ace Combat Infinity Play Station Game Review

It takes a special kind of mentality to want to travel at mach speed, risking death at every turn like a new-age, technological form of dueling. It also takes a special kind of creative team to put the intensity and adrenaline of being a fighter pilot into a game for the home console. Bandai Namco have been doing just that since the PlayStation One era, but will a switch to a free-to-play model ruin all they’ve achieved with the Ace Combat series?

Last September during the Tokyo Game Show I had the opportunity to play the demo of Ace Combat: Infinity for the PlayStation 3 at Sony’s booth, as they were showcasing lots of non-Sony made games. Immediately playing it I could feel it was an Ace Combat game, with controls, manoeuvring, music, and even the story. I gave it our TGS award for best action game but my main concern was will it hold up on release? Will it live up to the hype of TGS? The answer to that question is mostly yes, but not perfectly.

Due to it going free-to-play there had to be some basic design differences needed for the game. Out goes the infinite amount of replaying stages to your heart’s content, and in comes buying fuel at no maximum limit or waiting four hours per fuel tank, up to a max of three. What this does is give a more realistic feel as in the real world it takes time to fuel up a jet, but in the realm of fantasy it becomes a bit of a killjoy when on a good run of form, or when you just want to spend the afternoon being a top gun.

Although the fuel buying is an annoyance, there are opportunities to win free fuel, as well as mercenary contracts, research perks, decals and cash from either completing challenges or through random drops at the end of a mission. All the gear and planes in the game need to be unlocked through research, with a few special ones for time-specific challenges. Essentially, paying for stuff in the game is more for speeding up progress rather than locking a person out of a super sweet plane or gear. The elite mercenary contracts, for example, simply double your cash at the end of a mission. You can buy them, win them, or not use them, and it doesn’t affect anything other than speeding up your cash flow.

Combat is the jewel of the game. I’ve never been a big online FPS kind of guy cause I’ve always sucked at aiming, and well, when you suck at aiming then they are no fun. Add to it when you always see your name at the bottom of the rankings it is disheartening. Infinity is built differently than typical online games. As of this review, the only online mode is two-team co-op. Two teams of four work together to complete the mission by getting as many points as possible from kills. The team who scores the most is the winning team, and both scores are combined to give you a mission ranking. This idea of cooperative competition allows those gamers who feel like they are of a lower quality on a competitive level to still have fun and contribute to the success of the mission, even when other players are getting higher scores all the time.

Although there are a limited number of stages currently, they are still fun and varied for a person’s play style. Some focus on air-to-air, air-to-ground, and other are well balanced, thus allowing people to get the most out of their planes. Switching targets on the fly can be a bit frustrating at times, but that is nothing new to the series as with so many units flying around the chaos of it all gives a more authentic feel for real-life battle. But with that said, the game is by no means hard. Except for me taking too long to use the machine gun on a ground target, I never died. When I did die, most of the damage was essentially self-inflicted due to the previous reason. The challenge of the game comes from getting the highest score within the time limit, rather than playing on insanity mode and coming out alive.

There is a campaign mode with a story in the game, and sadly that is where the hype from TGS fell short. Unless you buy a $20 pass, you must use your daily fuel to play campaign mode. They don’t offer the same amount of rewards as online co-op, so the only reason is to play for the story and a few story-based challenges. Not only is your limited fuel needed, but also your limited cash flow. It takes 200K or more to unlock future story missions, and currently with only getting 20K at best with a mercenary contract doubling your cash, it is a long grind when finances are needed for planes and parts.

Most games I’ve reviewed tend to have music at the extremes, meaning love it or hate it. Infinity doesn’t have that one song that will stand out a la Duel of Fates, but instead strikes a balance of complimenting each other. Never did I want to turn off the music to play something else. Nothing had me wanting to sign-up for flight school either, like Ace Combat 5 did, but neither did I turn the volume down.

Graphically the game makes use of the PS3 hardware and looks like a PS3 game. The planes look slick, and the backgrounds from afar look realistic. The clouds really do look like clouds, and the billows of smoke cut a stunning scene before a bomber is about to explode and drop out of the sky. Getting paint scrappingly close to the ground or buildings will disappoint those who hold graphics in the highest regard as there is some pixilation but to be fair this is a game where your eyes should be more focused on the target than the scenery.

The transition from a standard game to free-to-play was a risky move for the series but it paid off. It is a fun, challenging game that veterans of the series and rookies can enjoy. The fact that it is free means the consumer has nothing to lose for trying it out, especially if never having played an Ace Combat game before. It is a sequel that does the franchise proud.

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Lemmings Touch Play Station Game Review

One of the most beloved puzzlers of the PSOne era, Lemmings has now been reborn as Lemmings Touch, a touch-screen friendly iteration of the game newly inspired by aspects of contemporary mobile gaming. It’s a new beginning for the dormant franchise which, while encapsulating the charm and challenge of the original, is also mildly hamstrung by occasionally frustrating and clumsy controls. With the titular rodents marching listlessly in one direction, Lemmings puzzle-solving conundrums have always been about knowing which job to assign to which Lemming and where in order to ensure they all reach the end of the level safe and sound.

Lemmings Touch is certainly no different in this regard and from the outset, developer d3t has supplied a set of tutorial levels which do a decent job of familiarising the player with all the various Lemming functions. And what functions the Lemmings have. The little green-haired suicide artists are able to dig a diagonal path through anything, act as a barrier to change the direction of the march, build staircases, climb any obstacle, use an umbrella to float down to safety and much more besides. With such a varied skill-set at the player's disposal, each level has been designed in such a way that it either requires a subset of these skills to be employed or all of them in tandem. Pleasingly, there is often more than one way to complete each level, since the varied number of Lemmings and their jobs provided often allow for multiple paths to the exit.

Where this touchscreen edition of the game differs from its 32-bit ancestor, however, is in the inclusion of obstacles such as platforms and blocks which sometimes appear in a given level.  Here, players have to concern themselves with not only the self-murderous activities of the Lemmings themselves, but also the manipulation of these obstacles to create bridges and so forth to ensure their survival. Elsewhere, an additional wrinkle to the classic Lemmings formula emerges in the form of the red-haired, doppelganger Lemmings. These cheeky scarlet coloured fiends act just like their regular brethren with one major difference: if just one of them reaches the exit, the jig is up and the level has to be restarted. Their presence effectively turns the whole core of Lemmings on its head; though the game typically educates you to preserve life, here you are required to extinguish it instead. It’s a welcome addition to the proceedings for sure, and, when combined with the traditional Lemmings formula, helps to make Lemmings Touch feel fresher than it otherwise would have.

Ultimately, success in Lemmings Touch all comes down to how many of the little critters you can get to the exit and how quickly you're able to do it.  Depending on your performance against the two aforementioned metrics, you'll be granted up to three stars and it is here that developer d3t has visibly embraced the tenets of mobile game design. In a similar fashion to the progression systems seen in mobile titles such as Angry Birds, the next level can be unlocked by just scoring a single star on the current one.  Additionally, players can revisit earlier levels and replay them in the hopes of scoring that elusive and perfect three-star rating.  It's a well-judged and effective system as it allows less-skilled players to see more of the game’s over 100 levels while enabling higher skilled Lemming generals the opportunity to perfect their performances and obtain the trophies for doing so. 

As well as sheer satisfaction proving to be its own reward, completing each level also brings with it the more superficial prize of gold coins.  Once accrued, these coins can then be used to purchase new outfits and new colours for the marching rodents.  The amount of coins that you receive varies too, since there is a wide range of challenges which award different amounts.  These include such things as building a bridge over the exit, using a Lemming to self-explode to stop a red-haired Lemming and more.

Where Lemmings Touch stumbles a tad is in the controls.  The touch controls can sometimes feel unresponsive and it’s an issue which is most notable when the skill wheel is open and you’re trying to assign a skill to designated Lemming. The sluggishness also rears its ugly head from time to time if you’re trying to cancel the skill wheel altogether. It is an issue which is made worse in the later levels where every Lemming counts and multiple skills need to be assigned to multiple Lemmings in a short space of time.  Thankfully though, such clumsiness is partially mitigated by the pause function, permitting players to stop time in order to plan their next move.  While it isn’t the ideal solution to the problem, its presence is welcome nonetheless.

In terms of audiovisual presentation, Lemmings Touch duly impresses. With its sharp, colourful visuals and upbeat remixes of classical music, Lemmings Touch for the PlayStation Vita does justice to the charming aesthetics of the Psygnosis-developed original. The background visuals look especially eye-popping on Vita too, with a great deal of backdrops liberally drenched in a variety of hues and vivid styles. In truth, Lemmings Touch’s design DNA is such that it would find a comfortable home on just about any touchscreen-based mobile platform.  With such razor-sharp visuals and a larger interface though, it’s clear that the Vita version of the touchscreen based edition is the definitive one. Lemmings Touch is a solid puzzler and a worthy homage to a classic puzzler franchise. It just finds itself stuck sometimes due to occasional control-based frustrations which threaten to dampen the proceedings.

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Street Fighter IV Review

Street Fighter IV:
Shoryuken!!! Few videogame series have made such a strong impact on their respective genres in the way that Street Fighter has over its 20 year lifespan. My memories take me back to the early-Nineties and Street Fighter II, which was heralded as being the catalyst that ignited the fighting game boom of that decade. I remember sneaking out of the schoolyard at lunch times to play mini-tournaments on the arcade machine in our local chip shop. The machine was used so often by school kids that the punch and kick buttons had been worn down from teenage sweat and frantic button-mashing.

It was Street Fighter II that spawned the iconic roster of virtual fighters which are now firmly etched into the memories of fans, and remembered with great fondness by all who were lucky enough to have spent time in its company. Blanka, Chun-Li, Ryu, Ken and Guile are just a few of the names that immediately trigger nostalgic flashbacks to epic SNES battles that would keep my brother and I locked away happily for hours in our bedroom without any need for food, drink or conversation.It was with Street Fighter II that the series’ six-button configuration was born, giving us a deep fighting experience that required skill to master, but could still be enjoyed by anyone. From Blanka’s Lighting Cannonball to E.Honda’s Killer Head Ram to Ken’s Hadoken, the character-specific special moves were all impressive to watch, yet tricky to pull off in the heat of the flurrying battles, which were brilliantly orchestrated through a range of carefully traded blows, head butts, slaps, throws, fireballs and dragon punches.
Street Fighter IV has brought these memories flooding back to me with a tidal wave of affection, but more importantly, it has given us, fans of the series, a chance to re-live them all over again. Furthermore, a new legion of gamers now has the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about, and I have no doubt that they’ll absolutely love it. Street Fighter IV encapsulates the glory days of Street Fighter II by bringing back the iconic list of fighters and their familiar move sets, but it also flings some new fighters into the arena, most of whom fit seamlessly into the roster and feel like they’ve always been part of the furniture. Street Fighter is back, looking better than ever, with some superb enhancements that make it just as much fun, if not more, than I remember. This is virtual sparring at its very best and a glorious return to the quintessential fighter of this generation.
The character roster in Street Fighter IV boasts all of the recognizable figures from Street Fighter II. The mystical Indian Yogi, Dhalsim, returns, who fights well from long range thanks to his elasticized arms and legs, alongside “chunky-thighs” Chun-Li with her face-slapping Spinning Bird Kick, and the Russian Wrestler, Zangief, with his hugely powerful frame and devastating Spinning Piledriver move. The four bosses also reappear -– Vega, Sagat, M Bison and Balrog bring their blend of hard-hitting moves into the arena and all look suitably 'next-gen', rendered impressively in stylized 3D computer graphics. The characters look like they’ve always done, but have now blossomed into crisper, sharper and more vivid figures on screen and represent a true evolution of the series.
Backdrops have also been given a much needed lick of virtual paint. Some of them are still familiar. Guile’s home base of The United States Air Force airbase with an F-16 fighter jet in the background, for example, makes a return, but has been given a shot of next-gen sheen and now has so much more depth and detail to it. Similarly, other locations, including the likes of the Rundown Back Alley, Volcanic Rim, Beautiful Bay, and Cruise Ship Storm boast impressive animations and weather affects that breath life into them.

If you’ve played Street Fighter before then the majority of the moves will be instantly and reassuringly familiar. Quarter circle and punch still executes Ken’s Hadoken, whereas Guile still uses the same ‘charge style’ gameplay of old, where you need to hold the thumbstick to the left for a couple of seconds to charge it up before shifting it to the right and pressing punch to pull off a Sonic Boom. To veterans it means that you can instantly, and probably very quickly, battle through arcade mode on the lower to medium difficulty settings, but if you're new to the series, it’s going to take some effort to master the timing and skill needed to pull off the likes of a Ryu's Metsu Hadoken or Chun-Li's Hokyokusen.
The fighting system in Street Fighter IV has depth and a number of layers to it, new and old, that will offer a challenge to new and veteran players alike who hope to master the techniques and rise to the top of online leaderboards. Light, medium, and hard punches and kicks used in combination with thumbstick movement give you access the brilliant range of special moves and super and ultra combos, which when mastered will really sort the men out from the boys. Luckily, Capcom has thought of everything and has included a brilliant Training mode, which takes you by the hand and guides you through each character’s move set and then teaches you how to string attacks together. Training mode is a great new addition to the series. It allows you to get to grips with some of the new game mechanics and gives everyone a fighting chance.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Review

F.E.A.R. 2:
A great American president once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Now let’s

amend FDR’s famous quote for the 21st century.

“The only thing we have to fear is F.E.A.R. itself.”Monolith Productions’ F.E.A.R., or First Encounter Assault Recon, burst onto the gaming scene in 2005 and made waves with its intense gameplay and groundbreaking visuals. After numerous expansions, ports, and spin-offs, the true sequel is finally here. Let’s get right to it: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin plays better than its predecessor, but standards have changed drastically in the last four years. Since the original F.E.A.R. launched, we’ve played gems like Resistance: Fall of Man and Call of Duty 4. What does F.E.A.R. 2 offer that those games don’t?Horror. Pure, unadulterated horror. F.E.A.R. 2 picks up 30 minutes before the conclusion of the first game. You’re Michael Becket, a member of a Delta Force team tasked with taking Armacham president Genevieve Aristide into protective custody. As it turns out, the mission doesn’t go according to plan (what a surprise, right?).

As you approach Aristide, the psychotic and powerful Alma unleashes her wrath upon the city of Auburn, which culminates in a massive explosion that the Manhattan Project scientists could have never imagined. After waking up in an underground “hospital,” you’re left to pick up the pieces.
Be warned: F.E.A.R. 2’s tale isn’t very accessible to newcomers. Even with various Intel documents scattered liberally throughout each of the game’s 14 levels, you’ll be left in the dark most of the time – and not in the frightening way. That’s not to say you can’t still appreciate the horror aspect of the title. Although only a few of the horror “episodes” are genuinely frightening, they’re all fairly unsettling. When you’re walking along a corridor and the action drops off, you’re either walking into an ambush or it’s time for a supernatural ride. Through clever visual techniques and eerie audio effects, Monolith skillfully displays an Alma-altered reality where chaos and death reign. The issue with these events is that, as expertly crafted as they are, they inevitably become predictable. When events are foreseeable, they are significantly less frightening. And honestly, the name of the game is F.E.A.R. – it doesn’t get any clearer than that. As you saunter down an empty hallway, it becomes routine to expect some sort of paranormal occurrence. Still, if you play with the lights low and the sound high, F.E.A.R. 2 can be quite the thrill.What’s not thrilling is how ordinary the rest of the game is. Not bad, but merely ordinary. In the end, all that matters is a game’s fun factor. If you can deal with some of F.E.A.R. 2’s outdated design decisions, you’ll undoubtedly have a blast. Here’s why you might not, however.Some of today’s widely accepted first person shooter mechanics aren’t present in F.E.A.R. 2. Now, we don’t dislike that is it’s different – in fact, we encourage change and new ideas. But that’s just it: F.E.A.R. 2 doesn’t innovate; it falls back on last-generation play styles. Health, for example, is not rechargeable or regenerative. Instead, you can carry up to three Medpacks that you can use to recharge your health at any point. It’s not broken or overly unwieldy, it’s just unnecessary. Also, aiming and shooting are mapped to L2 and R2 respectively (rather than the generally preferred L1 and R1 combination), and controls are not customizable whatsoever. Still, the biggest problem with F.E.A.R. 2 is in the game’s actual environmental layout.

Shellshock 2: Blood Trails Review

Shellshock 2:

From this point forth I need to remind myself not to review another first person shooter straight after playing Killzone 2. Following a four hour stint immersed in Guerrilla Game’s epic first person shooter, Rebellion’s Shellshock 2: Blood Trails is probably the worst game I could have picked up. The lack of a multiplayer mode, the omission of Trophy support, the dumb A.I. and ugly visuals are the first indications that publisher, Eidos, probably didn’t have its heart and soul in the project from the outset.Perhaps it had its mind on other thingWhatever the case, there’s no excuse for releasing a game that doesn’t even attempt to hold its own against other PS3 first person shooters.While it’s slightly unfair of me to compare Shellshock 2 to Killzone 2, as they’re worlds apart in terms of development budgets, you’d expect most developers to at least try to implement some of the features that the current generation of gamers demand from a modern day shooter, or failing that, to concentrate on making the gameplay exciting and technically acceptable.
Shellshock 2, however, gets a lot of things wrong and doesn't even try to attempt to stand out from the crowd, or take any risks. This is a FPS-by-numbers approach to the genre, complete with uninspiring visuals and bland design that would have looked out of place five years ago.

Where do I start? The lack of a cover system means that you just run around like a headless chicken picking off lifeless (in both senses of the word) zombie-fied soldiers. The closest you get to employing strategic tactics is being able to crouch, but as you can't lean around or over objects it's worthless, unless you get a cheap thrill from 'tea-bagging' the undead. You can also vault over should-be cover spots to evade the enemy, but you'll soon get bored of watching the same short animation that kicks in every time you do so and you'll curse at the way it clumsily interrupts the flow of the game. It wouldn’t be too bad just running around shooting zombies if it was actually exciting, but it's not. The shooting feels sloppy and the weapons and grenades lack weight and potency. At times, the A.I. is all over the place and proves to be a frustration rather than a challenge, shooting at you from blind spots or sneaking up behind you at inappropriate times, normally when you're trying to deal with those enemies in front of you. Zombies also have the uncanny knack of being able to spot your position the moment you walk into an area, even though the locations are covered in a dark veil. It's annoying trying to work out where the gun-fire is actually coming from, before battling with the loose targeting mechanic to try and get an accurate shot on your target.Depressingly bland locations and the lack of destructible environments are further indications that the power of the PS3 hasn't been harnessed. While the latter isn't always needed to craft a great first person shooter, it certainly helps to create realism. Shellshock 2 lacks realism in abundance, and at no point captures the feeling that you're involved in something significant. It's a limp experience that feels like you've stepped back in time to where the technology that makes things crumble and look war-worn wasn't available. With the power of the PS3 at its fingertips, you'd expect a lot more in terms of visual and audio impact. Overall, aside from some nicely rendered cut-scenes, and some decent voice-acting, it looks and sounds like an average PS2 game.

All of this could be forgiven if the gameplay were any good, but it’s not. There are no memorable moments (apart from the one where I turned it off,) there are no intense firefights, and there’s little to experience in terms of excitement. There's actually no real need for me to go on because Shellshock 2 is an instantly forgettable title that will end up in the bargain-bin graveyard of video game stores across the country.

Prince of Persia Review

Prince of Persia Review:

History is a key word when discussing a franchise like Prince of Persia. The series, which made its debut way back in 1989, had a profound impact on the videogames industry, influencing much in the way games are both made and looked at to this very day. While the Sands of Time is worthy of the praise and merit it’s received over time, a lot of gamers have expressed doubt in regards to the new direction the series has taken with this latest instalment. Luckily, Ubisoft Montreal did not drop the ball with this title and the developers have created a winning formula with great voice acting in order to deliver a truly entertaining experience. Prince of Persia starts off like you’d expect any action-adventure, platformer to begin. The noble, yet selfish hero meets up, or in the Prince’s case, gets landed on by the girl before aiding her in achieving her goals while realizing his own self-worth. Upon first meeting, our two main characters go back and forth in dialog in regards to moralities while fleeing from the princess’s pursuers. Once they arrive at the Temple, which keeps the world in a state of light, the Prince quickly realizes what exactly he’s gotten himself into. Apparently, Elika’s father feels the need to unleash the Dark God Ahriman unto the world once more covering it in darkness and corruption. As expected, it’s up to you and Elika to return the world into its proper state by visiting fertile grounds and releasing the light back into the world. Elika seems to be the focal point to every gamer’s quandary when discussing Prince of Persia. This is in large part due to the abilities she possesses and lends to your character. A couple examples of these abilities include the inability to truly die or lose a fight. While both of these ‘issues’ are true to the fullest extent, they don’t completely overlap the frustration one experiences when continually missing a jump due to poor timing or misdirection. Sure, Elika picks you up and returns you safely to a platform, but the frustration of needing to be saved is on par with the same frustration that comes with dieing. As for the battlegrounds, Elika steps in front of you in order to prevent the final blow that sends the Prince to his resting place. Fortunately for your opponent, if Elika needs to get involved, his entire life bar is rejuvenated and you must essentially restart the fight.

On top of these two potential complaints, Elika is everything a gamer could want out of an AI-based partner within this setting. She never gets lost, obstructs your view or causes you to backtrack to find her. Like a lost puppy, Elika follows you to the ends of each fertile ground with the same determination that flows within you. Not only does the young princess prevent you from pushing up daisies, but also she enables you to clear large distances that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach, as well as supplementing battles with various magical abilities against troublesome enemies. This only helps further the solid combat design recreated inside the walls of Ubisoft.In order for Prince of Persia to be successful at engaging the player through its fighting mechanics, the developers and designers needed to take a second and realize what they were trying to achieve. Even though titles of the past have included an open fighting style similar to that of God of War, Ben Mattes and his team decided to step back one pace and then take three steps forward in creating a unique combat template found only in the Prince’s latest adventure. What you end up with is a one-on-one system in which each battle feels a tad more significant than your standard one-on-30 duel.
The system is also very user-accessible and any casual gamer can sit down and benefit from its simplicity even though there is an underlying combo system to be discovered. While fighting, there are five buttons that you utilize in order to be successful and chain together some impressive combos. Square allows you to slash with your sword, circle gives you the ability to use your gauntlet, X performs aerial assaults, R2 allows you to block and triangle gets Elika involved in some high-flying magical attacks.Combining any of these buttons into a combo is a simple process and results in the game displaying impressive sequences of combat. Stringing together a simple button score can end up with your sword sliding straight through your opponent, which has the ability to end a battle much quicker than usual. On top of this, if you have solid momentum while platforming, you can get to enemies before they materialize in order to strike them before they even exist. Of course, this is easier said than done.

Godfather II Game Review

The Godfather II

We weren’t surprised in the slightest to learn that EA’s Redwood Studios houses the development teams for both ‘The Sims’ and ‘The Godfather II,’ because there’s something very “Sim-like” about EA’s latest game in the Godfather franchise. The foundations laid down by ‘The Godfather’ are still here, with the main objective being to swell your power in the criminal underworld by gaining control of local businesses and illegal rackets through violence and extortion. The pace of the game has softened, however. Things have taken a step back somewhat, and now your ability to succeed is dictated by how well you manage your resources just as much as your use of sheer brutality and firepower.

A significant proportion of time is now spent flicking through the menus, organizing your crime family, upgrading their skills and using the new 3D map to plot your next move – a host of new features that advance the series from the repetitive gun-play of the original.There are also some visual clues that 'The Sims' influence has rubbed off on the design of the character models, who saunter around the city streets, chins out straight and arms by their sides, while others dance in the night-spots with the same robotic grace of their Sims brethren. The new style of the Godfather II has taken us a little bit by surprise and as a visual spectacle it rarely impresses, whereas the newfangled gameplay has also taken us a little time to get used to. But, despite being seriously underwhelmed by some of the animation, A.I., and a few technical aspects of the game, the new multi-layered gameplay does manage to draw you right into its murky world of violence and corruption and, for the most part, we’ve had a fairly good time building our criminal empire.



If you can forgive the fact that The Godfather II isn't a patch in terms of open-world map design and presentation of the Grand Theft Auto series (a benchmark for judging this type of game), and you can get past the initial frustration of using the convoluted 'Don’s View' 3D map (you’ll spend a lot of time staring at this planning your strategy), Godfather II does have an addictive element that undoubtedly comes from our inherent greed for earning money and power. Seeing your daily income rise to astronomical proportions and your crime family and stature in the city grow as you make your mark on the city can be extremely satisfying – there's a sense of achievement gleaned from knowing that its your hard work that has paid you significant dividends.The big difference in terms of storyline, which in this case affects the game as a whole, is that in Godfather II you're no longer a rookie looking to make it big in the criminal underworld. You play a guy named Dominic who is asked by Michael Corleone to take control of New York’s crime organization. It’s a familiar tale of crime, corruption, contract killings and families fighting for their share of the American dream, told in a dark and moody style that mimics the Francis Ford Coppola trilogy, with highly polished cut-scenes and some excellent voice acting that complements the well-penned script. Being in charge is a big responsibility which begins when you start out at the Corleone stronghold where you recruit your first “made man.” The recruitment mechanic works well, allowing you to hire men off the street or from your own businesses and throughout the game you can have them by your side throughout missions or send them off to do your dirty work.


You can control up to three “made-men” at any point in the game. Deciding who joins your family is one of the first tasks that occupies your time on the streets of New York, Miami and Havana. Each potential recruit has a specific skill, be it as a safe-cracker, medic, arsonist or a bruiser, and each has a set of attributes that you can upgrade for a price, such as improving their handgun accuracy or the time it takes for them to recover from injury. You also have to manage their movements by choosing whether you want them hanging around with you, or perhaps sending themoff to bomb a business or defend one of your existing rackets. It’s a decent feature that frees up your time so you can get on with other tasks, especially if you’ve had your fill of gun-play, and it adds a degree of strategy to the gameplay as you pick and choose the right mix of characters for the job at hand. If you do decide to have your crew by your side when things kick off you can order them to move to a particular area by pointing in the appropriate direction and clicking a face button. Occasionally, they run around like headless chickens and don’t understand why they should take cover, as do some of the enemies, but the majority of the time the squad mechanic works well and they follow your orders and react to the action around them.The main bulk of the gameplay involves racketeering and taking out the other crime families in the city. Crime families own a number of rackets that are part of a crime ring and by commanding your family to do the dirty work or heading down there to get your hands dirty it’s your job to take over all of the rackets in that particular ring. Generally, taking over a racket constitutes three stages: make your way to the property, kill the bosses goons by gunning them down or using your fists, and then intimidate the boss until he hands over his business by slapping him around, torturing him or smashing up his business. The combat scheme will be instantly familiar if you played the first game and it has been refined here to ensure that gunplay feels smoother. Disappointingly though, like the first game, there’s some poor examples of enemy behavior and even some instances of where citizens get in your way – one lady decided it was a good idea to do the "running man" in the entrance doorway of a building we were trying to takeover. Furthermore, gun-fights can be fairly chaotic and rarely require good marksmanship. We found ourselves on most occasions throwing Molotovs in the general area of enemies and erratically spraying anyone in a 360 degree radius with a sub-machine gun. Still, that's fun as well.

50 CENT: Blood on the Sand PS Game Review

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand’s surreal and far-fetched storyline, which sees the foul-mouthed rapper and his G-Unit buddies tackling a bunch of heavily-armed thugs in the Middle-East in the search of a diamond-embedded skull, doesn’t bode well for the rest the game. The underwhelming graphics and colorless environments don’t fill you with confidence either; aside from the finely rendered character models and the accurate representation of 50 Cent himself, Blood on the Sand sadly doesn’t look worlds apart from Bulletproof on the PS2.We expected, therefore, that the gameplay would follow the same lazy pattern, and also assumed that 50 Cent fans would be the only people interested in tackling foes to the beat of the rapper’s own soundtrack and crude ‘gangsta talk.’ Surprisingly though, there’s much more to Blood on the Sand than first meets the eye. At the core of Swordfish Studio’s third person shooter are some solid gameplay mechanics that do an excellent job at making this farcical romp through the mean streets of a fictional Middle-Eastern city a highly enjoyable experience – something that we certainly didn’t expect, but are happily surprised about.On the surface, Blood on the Sand seems to employ simple run-and-gun mechanics where you mindlessly blast through hordes of enemies with little or no tactics necessary. A few stages into it, however, it becomes obvious that a lot more has gone into the game's creation than initially apparent. Though you can try and run-and-gun your way through the short story mode, which incidentally is the most entertaining way to play Blood on the Sand, there's plenty of opportunity to use intelligent tactics. Clever level design allows for this, with trickily positioned mounted gunners making it difficult for you to tackle them head-on, snipers perched on roof-tops who take accurate pot-shots, and multi-tiered levels where enemies can gain the upper hand if you're not on your toes. Thankfully, the lean and peak cover system, which has been implemented superbly, helps to counteract the enemy threat. You can stick yourself behind cover instantly and swap from one piece of cover to the next extremely smoothly, and then effortlessly peak over the object to focus in on the enemy. The smooth cover system and the polished combat control scheme make for a fluent and well-paced game that feels almost arcade-like.

Co-op play makes an appearance, allowing you to jump into someone else’s game or host your own, and battle through the story mode together. It works seamlessly, too. You can dive into a game instantly with no signs of slowdown to interrupt the action or dodgy camera angles to make things difficult. With two players working together side-by-side to grind down the enemy threat and carry out tasks specifically designed for two people, such as giving each other a leg-up onto a roof or lifting up some heavy shutters to reach a new area, it can be a great deal of fun as you rack up multipliers and dash around picking up loot from dead bodies.Alternatively, if you don’t want human company fighting alongside you, you can choose from one of three A.I. controlled sidekicks, who do a great job at backing you up and providing cover as you attempt to clear the enemy threat and catch up with the “bitch” who stole your skull. Blood on the Sand is all about racking up points, picking up hard cash, and massacring those who stand in your way. Multipliers are awarded for kills, which adds a bit of excitement to proceedings and encourages you to chain together kills, while cash can be collected from dead bodies and caskets and used to purchase new weapons, counter-kills, and taunt packs that add weight -- and a whole load of "mutha f**kers" and ill-bred jibes -- to your vocabulary. There are also masses of timed side objectives, which add intensity and drama to each of the stages.

X-Blades PS Game Review

X-Blade Review:

X-Blades almost snuck under our review radar, and we really wish it had. On the surface, what appears to be a exciting fantasy hack ‘n’ slash adventure, complete with busty heroine and hugely varied bestiary, is nothing more than a dull, flawed and unexceptional journey of relentless button-mashing against some of the most irritating monsters that we’ve ever come across.

The story of X-Blades follows the anime-style character of Ayumi, a stunning-looking treasure hunter who discovers a long-lost map of some ancient ruins. Listed on the map are the locations of two powerful artifacts that wield mysterious powers. It’s up to you to discover the secrets of the artifacts by traveling across a wide variety of locations, from temples to abandoned coastlines, slaying monsters with your acrobatic melee attacks and light and dark magical abilities. Armed with two swords that also double up as a pistol, the action is confined to battle arenas, where masses of monsters spawn out of thin air and descend on you from all angles until you've cleared the threat. Rinse and repeat about 40 times and you should get the gist of the X-Blades experience. To say that combat is the main theme of the game would be a huge understatement.

With 30 enemy types to fight against, there’s certainly plenty of visual variety in terms of monster design. The creatures range from the tiny Tyrannosaurs Rex-like Pangos, who arrive in their hordes and bite and stab at you with their sharp fangs, to the six-winged dragonflies that spurt projectile attacks from their solitary eye. Many of the monsters, however, have the same behavioral patterns, more often than not choosing to surround you so you can't see what's going on, and then clumsily unleashing their relentless attacks. The fact that monsters, even the smaller ones, take far too long to kill means that combat gets very repetitive and monotonous, whereas the poor targeting system, which makes it difficult to hone in on a particular enemy, makes for a frustrating experience. Throw in the fact that the camera is far too intrusive during close-quarter battles and you've got a game that, for the most part, relies on you beating away at your face buttons with little thought or skill required.

It’s not all bad news, however. As you kill monsters you gain EXP, which can then be spent up upgrading magical powers, or improving your melee or shooting skills. You can map up to four spells to your face buttons and switch between them effortlessly. Among those on offer is the "Earthquake," which sees Ayumi rise up in the air and pound down on the ground to send her enemies falling backwards. There are also fire and ice spells, which come in handy against certain enemies, and even a "Transportation" spell, which allows you to warp to a safe area if the going gets too enough. Sadly, it doesn't allow you to warp to another game, but the PS3's 'Off' button comes in handy for that. Visually, the spells are probably one of the best things about X-Blades, but their use is practically ruined by dumb A.I. monsters, who despite being high in numbers are low on intelligence. Watch out for beasts running into cave walls as they try and work out where you are. It's a big shame. There are some decent spell upgrades, but because the combat feels such a chore for the majority of the game you probably won't care less and, like us, will wonder why you're still playing.

With the beautiful, agile and lovingly designed figure of X-Blades main character, Ayumi, emblazoned across the box, you may well be tempted to pick up a copy. Don't be fooled by looks though, because behind Ayumi's sparkling blue 'come-to-bed' eyes, long blond hair, skimpy briefs, ironing-board stomach, and huge pair of swords lays the personality of a cardboard cut-out. Sadly, Ayumi's appeal isn’t helped at all by the game's weak script, but even more so by the decision to cast a voice actor who has one of those annoyingly superficial High School cheerleader accents. It does irreparable damage to what could have been a memorable heroine, who may have even managed to slip her way into future ‘Top Ten Videogame Babes’ lists if she'd been handled with more care. We wouldn't mind seeing more of Ayumi, but definitely not in an X-Blades sequel.