Luckily I was one of the gamers that managed to get a beta key and I must say I’m so glad I was. The beta launched on 19th April and was originally scheduled to run until 2nd May, however due to the input from the community and Ubisofts will to get the gameplay just right, this was extended from the 2nd for a further week to end on 9th May. This is the first beta I have participated in where you can see that the Developers are actively ironing out the bugs and listening to what the community wants before the beta has ended.

At first the servers were a bit frustrating as Ubisoft were doing regular reboots and refreshes to ensure the optimal Future Soldier experience, Once they had settled and I got into the game I was completely hooked!

The beta included two playable game modes: Conflict and Saboteur each with up to six players a side on two maps Mill and Pipeline.

Conflict:

In Conflict mode each team battles to complete random spawning objectives where a real team spirit is needed. You need to work well as a team to cover and protect each objective as it is aquired and until it has expired, for each objective taken and successfully protected your team earns points as well as you earning personal XP for each kill. The team with the most points at the end of the 15 minute round wins.

Saboteur:

Saboteur mode wasdue to be added to the beta on 26th of April however the Ghost Recon team implemented this mode early due to the amount of community input. It works kind of like Demolition on Call of Duty whereas at the start of each round a bomb spawns in the centre of the map and your objective is to be the first team to capture the package and detonate it at the opposing teams base to win. These rounds are shorter at 10 minutes each.

During the beta you have the choice of three classes. Rifleman,Engineer and Scout all with customisable loadouts which includes the usual Frag, Smoke or Flash grenades but also Class speciifc options suc as the Engineers UAV or the Scouts thermal scopes.

The customisation of your weapons nicknamed Gunsmith takes customisation to an extreme new level. Gone are the days of a red dot and n00b tube, Gunsmith offers areas of customisation such as laser sights, faster triggers, uprated gas systems and tripods all can be customised in game and tested in the range before battle or thanks to another unique first via the ubisoft gunsmith web portal or mobile phone and iPad apps. These allow you to customise your weapon on the move and sync it to the game ready for your return home!!

Being focused as an objective multiplayer is a great twist that Ubisoft have pulled off brilliantly, Having each match decided on a score from objectives and not kill death ratio really freshens up the gameplay. Its such a refreshing feeling that getting your squad together and working properly for each objective will win rather than one lone wolf with a huge kill death ratio and a bunch of randoms tearing you to shreds like other warfare based titles.

The game play itself is also a little disorientating at first but when you have had a few minutes with it…… guess what? Ubisoft only nailed it again. Its kind of a third/ first person perspective where you are looking over the shoulder (switchable from left to right shoulder) but with a click of the right stick you aim down the sight as in a normal FPS. The way the camera angle is reminds of Gears of War and the cover system has some gears-esque mechanics to it but with improvements. Dont take that the wrong way I love Gears but when you are the size of the Hulk and bounce from cover to cover with your head down and slam into the nearest wall it just feels wrong after playing GRFS. The cover system, rather than bouncing into cover at certain points in each map, once in cover you can select an option of covers all around you using the left stick and then hold down A to sprint there and take up instant cover.

I have a lot of admiration for the way Ubisoft and the Ghost Recon team have handled the beta and the feedback received from the community as seen on there twitter feed, where they have actively answered beta questions and we as testers have seen reccomendations made by players that have then been implemented into the beta whilst still active.

Examples of this were also shown in an update posted by @aemond to the Ghost Recon site detailing some of the changes on 25th April as shown below:

• [Xbox 360 only] Grenades are over-powered: we are reducing the grenade blast radius according to your feedback and the analysis of your matches.
• [Xbox 360 only] You were confused by the 4-man party and 6-man team matchmaking: we are increasing the maximum party size to 6 in order to align with the team size.
• [Xbox 360 & PS3] We are universally increasing the speed of XP acquisition in order to gain additional feedback on the weapons and equipment unlocked later in the character progression system.

The full game will not only have the obvious features of more Maps and game modes but the lobbies will be upgraded to handle 16 players on an 8 vs 8 basis and the main game will feature up to 4 player co -op.

I know that there’s a lot of Tom Clancy game fans out there that have been waiting a long time for a new Ghost Recon title and from the time I have spent with the beta I can be confident that they, like me will not be disappointed.

You can pre order this gem from our good friends over at www.thatgameshop.com

Related posts:

1. Ghost Recon Future Soldier multiplayer beta detailed
2. Ghost Recon Future Soldier Multiplayer reveal trailer
3. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier multiplayer sneak peek trailer

His co-worker, Lead Artist and Project Director for Game of Thrones Thomas Veauclin, possesses some of the same qualities. But where Sechi is free with his expressiveness, with his hands, his eyes, his enthusiastic manner of speech, Veauclin is furtive and thoughtful over every sentence he allows to spill from between his lips.

You get the distinct impression that they work extremely well together.

I begin by introducing myself as, “That Guy Who Asked about the Writing Team”. I questioned Sechi as to whether the Game of Thrones script writers were under a lot of pressure to create something that was on par with George R. R. Martin’s work.

“We put a lot of pressure on our team of writers,” Sechi told me and the others gathered during the presentation, “We were all under pressure to do the series justice.”

I decide to begin this more direct interview with another easy question, asking Sechi and Veauclin if they decided from the outset that their character models would be photo-realistic renditions of the TV series actors and actresses. Was this the idea from the beginning? Did they wish they could have done something that was completely new in terms of visual style?

“At the beginning the most important thing was that we are in a mediaeval universe,” Veauclin asserts, “So in the beginning we made lots of [concept] artworks very realistic. We also read lots of books, mediaeval history books. But on the characters, we decided to have a style at the beginning – just to have a style. Not to be so realistic; realism is not absolute. We wanted to have more details, more than big hands, faces that were more than just angry faces. After many, many characters we found the style we wanted. We wanted broken faces instead of a young guy with long blond hair.”

“Yeah,” Sechi adds gleefully, “lots of characters are lacking teeth! That doesn’t happen in video games.”

Was there a specific gameplay element that they wanted to embed throughout the game to begin with? I point out to Veauclin and Sechi that I noticed the gameplay of Game of Thrones was strongly reminiscent of Dragon Age: Origins, especially with regards to power cool downs, talents, skills, specialisations – all of that. Did the fantasy setting dictate that they follow a specific form of RPG gameplay, or did they feel that it could have gone in any direction and that they could just throw ideas together?

“On a very global scale, Game of Thrones is a lot about reflection,” Sechi suggests, “Actually, some of us probably wanted an action combat game because it’s mainstream and players buy it. But we didn’t feel that it had the look and feel of Game of Thrones, which is more about reflection and using your brain. Players should have to think in this game’s combat. So, it looks like action, people die, and you’ve got a lot of animation and motion capture and all that stuff, but you really need to plug in your brain, to make good strategic decisions in combat.

“Actually,” Sechi confides with a grin, “one of our big references was the Knights of the Old Republic, which was a game [BioWare] did before Dragon Age. We really loved it, but you ended up doing the same thing all the time. So starting from there we tried to add some elements which really felt mediaeval. Like putting types of weapons against types of armour… like when you use a crossbow or a bow you can pierce chainmail very easily, but you don’t even damage plate armour. And it’s this type of stuff we managed to put into the gameplay to give more strategic choices. At every single moment in combat we wanted the player to make choices.”

The logical jump from what Sechi describes about the way Game of Thrones plays is to assume that when the difficulty is pushed up those choices, every moment, become more complex and critical. “Yes, yes! That’s exactly the point, the easiest mode is super easy; you play for the story, you don’t play for the gameplay.

“But on harder modes, yes, the harder you go the more time you have to spend on reflection. Something we created that was important for us was the ‘slow-motion pause’, which is not a full pause like you’ll see in Baldur’s Gate or in Dragon Age or Knights of the Old Republic where you can take all the time you like to line up things. Even though it’s very slow the time still goes, so you can’t take one minute to think – three moves will have gone! Enemies have attacked, they’ve used abilities. We didn’t want to create stress, but we did want players to get involved and make decisions quickly.”

My last line of questioning brings us back to the basic appeal of George R. R. Martin’s work. Is Cyanide trying to bring new fans in or appeal to the steady fan base that already exists, thanks to the books and TV show? Will this game endure the scrutiny from the fan base as a whole?

Sechi actually takes a few moments to think about this one. “Something that was very important for us because we’re fans was to create a game that would appeal to fans, and this is something we spent a lot of time working on. We had lots of playtests in Cyanide. People came who were RPG players, who were not RPG players, but they were all fans of the books. We spent a bit of time getting players who had no idea what Game of Thrones is to play the game, which was good, because we saw how they reacted to the Nights Watch, to the Wall, and we found we had to make some adjustments to the story, to add some more context so we could add appeal to people who don’t know anything about the book.”

All that being said, can Cyanide’s Game of Thrones go as far as its written and visual counterparts? Where does Sechi want it to go?

It’s a big question – my last question – that looked better on paper than it sounded coming out of my mouth, and I apologise quickly. “That’s okay, that’s okay!” Sechi shakes his head and chuckles while Veauclin remains thoughtful.

“You have the game, you have the book, and you have the TV show. These, for us, are three separate media that tell us about the same universe, and it was really important for us to create a game that fit within the universe of A Song of Ice and Fire as a spinoff story. So it can definitely go deeper and further, like sequels and that kind of stuff, just like the books go deeper into more stories and so on. So it’s very close in terms of feeling and in terms of narrative, but it’s done differently so that you can enjoy something new.”

Game Of Thrones is due for release in June and can be pre ordered through our preferred retail partners www.thatgameshop.com

Related posts:

1. Game Of Thrones – Hands On Preview
2. EA and 38 Studios announce Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning
3. Interview with Peter Molyneux

No pressure, then.

“We’re all fans of the series,” gushed Sylvain Sechi, Cyanide’s Lead Designer on their Game of Thrones project, in his opening to the presentation, “From the beginning we only wanted people to work on this game if they were fans”.

Indeed, it seems to have paid off. As Sechi talked his colleague, Cyanide Lead Artist Thomas Veauclin, played through sequences of the game on the giant screen before us. From the second the heavy orchestral-mediaeval fusion music kicked in and the title screen appeared, their fan-infused audience relaxed just a little. The three years Cyanide spent trying to sculpt Martin’s world has resulted in a product that looks and, at a cursory glance, feels like it had the same touch of genius as the television series.

“We were able to work very closely with the author on this game, to make sure he liked what we were doing,” Sechi continued, “We were very lucky to be able to work with him.”

While the introductory narrative played out, setting up the story to come, few of us could fail to notice that the actor doing the voice for Varys the Spider is none other than Conleth Hill, the very man who plays him in the HBO television series. Apparently a lot of the cast lend their voices to their video game counterparts – though not all. Still, since Cyanide was going for a design that meshed with HBO’s production it’s a strong endorsement.

So, what about the gameplay? How do you make a series that’s as brainy as A Song of Ice and Fire into something gamers will want to touch with a controller or a keyboard and mouse?

“We thought it was a bad idea to have playable main characters [from the series],” Sechi stated matter-of-factly. Even in the relative dark of this small theatre you could pick out agreeing nods from members of the audience. After all, any well-informed fan of the books would know what was coming for known characters, especially since the game is set during the events of the first book.

Cyanide has opted to run their own story in tandem with Martin’s work rather than draw upon the author’s characters, while remaining as faithful to the source material as possible.

The gameplay we were shown was a mix of action-RPG materials. From the beginning you can play through the stories of two characters, one of whom is a member of the ancient Nights Watch order, the other being the son of a Westerosi Lord who has returned home after spending some time overseas. Both have their tangents to explore pertaining to the story and the way they handle combat.

Veauclin showed off aspects of the character system Cyanide has come up with. There are three classes for each character, with talent trees and associated weapon bonuses to grow as you level-up, and you’re also able to ‘specialise’ after you reach a certain level of experience, resulting in yet more stats and talent trees to focus on. Most of what we saw isn’t new (like strength, intelligence, agility, and so forth, to influence how well things play out in combat scenarios), but it certainly looks appealing.

You also have the option to pick a couple of bonuses such as increased health or accuracy, provided you balance them out with some weaknesses, not unlike the bonus perks from Fallout: New Vegas. It depends how much depth of gameplay you want. The differences between easier and harder difficulties, Sechi assured us, are staggering. “Some players will want to see the story, so they’ll play on the easy setting, which we made very easy,” he grinned, “But we wanted this to be [a game] about choice; choice in story, choice in character, choice in combat. If you play on hard settings, every choice you make second by second will matter.”

If one imagines the pause menus we’ve seen in some games, like Dragon Age: Origins, they won’t be far off the style carried into Game of Thrones. Combat isn’t so much paused, but slowed to a crawl in which you have windows of opportunity to select talents, items, and character movements. Enemies are still attacking, so you don’t have eternity to act, and it’s easy to picture how battle micromanagement addicts could pick up this system and have a good time.

There are further differences to the characters you play as. Our Nights Watchman, Mors, can make use of his dog to track down quest objectives via ‘scent’, while the Westerosi Lord’s son, Alestar, has learned how to harness the fiery powers of R’hllor as a ‘Red Priest’.

As the presentation continued we were promised complexity and replay value. Overhearing a conversation between two NPCs is enough to open up new dialogue options, as is completing non-essential secondary quests. It is all supposed to tie into the main story, so the more the gamer does the broader the experience becomes.

There are, naturally, the choices to be a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ character, but Sechi tells us it’s not so much about making good or bad decisions. Like Martin’s world, things have been built towards making a very grey story with grey characters, but the point is that it should hold gamers’ interests.

“We wanted to live up to the series…We put lots of pressure on ourselves to create something special.” Sechi said, shortly before things drew to a close. If the gameplay and dialogue can reach standards set by other popular RPG brands, it looks likely that Game of Thrones will become a quick favourite across the PC, Xbox360, and PS3 platforms. It certainly has a big enough fan base to work with.

Game of Thrones is due for release in June and can be pre ordered from our preferred partners at www.thatgameshop.com

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1. Risen 2: Dark Waters hands on preview
2. Armored Core V – Hands on preview
3. DiRT Showdown – Hands On Preview

This immediately put my mind at rest as we explored what the inaugural game from newly created label Codemasters Racing had to offer.  Here was, in essence, a game that that was born from the intense fun of games like Destruction Derby on Playstation and shying away from the precision timed events of the DiRT series and delivering a whole new experience involving knocking ten barrels of poo out of each other in car on car combat.

This may seem a turn off for some but it will surely appeal to most.  After all, there are many racing titles on the market that offer the clinical and precise experience for the hardcore fan but not many that can offer the satisfaction and downright crazy fun that I experienced when playing the game for the first time at a hands on session at Codemasters HQ.

DiRT Showdown is definitely taking a different direction but the experience itself and presentation will be familiar to all DiRT fans.  Licensed cars compete for your driving pleasure in enhanced Gymkhana modes alongside fantasy vehicles that have made their home in the hustle and bustle of the demolition and banger racing events, each customisable in terms of liveries, parts that enhance a car’s performance.

It’s also interesting to note that DiRT Showdown is running a tweaked version of DiRT’s EGO 2.0 engine and perhaps offers the best visual experience yet along with much more damage on show, at least that’s how it appeared, as well as a slightly easier to control handling system that will draw in the new petrolheads making it a great attraction for newer audiences.  We were also told that although the handling may seem easier and that drifting and donuts are easier to perform the driving aids start to drop off further into the game which is where the more discerning racer will start to feel at home.

Although we were only allowed to play the first tier of the campaign the layout and styling mimicked DiRT 3 in that you choose an event, choose your car and then your livery in exactly the same way as its predecessor did.  After that comes an a completely different affair in which we were treated to various events like 8 Ball in which you raced around tracks with intersections to induce some head jolting crashes where a first place can easily become seventh in a blink of an eye.

With the focus on three key areas, speed, style and destruction, DiRT Showdown also offers a variety of way to experience all three with a very wide range of events including variations of destruction derby arenas where you score extra points for knocking cars off of a platform as well as elimination events and the much advertised Hoonigan events which plays like Gymkhana 2.0 and keeps the ethos of Ken Block’s Gymkhana events from DiRT 3 utilising speed, timing and style all in the same gametype with courses and layouts that extend far beyond the tight and tricky Battersea courses to open up into huge areas to hoon your craft and get very creative indeed.

Although there are a mountain of events available, the premise is the same.  Score as many points as you can by bumping, shoving t-boning your opposition until yours or their health runs out for extra bonus points.  Extra point are awarded for the severity of the collision but watching your health gauge is as important as getting stuck into the side of a car limping against a wall.

The single player is a hell of a lot of fun but any game nowadays will only have legs if the multiplayer performs to the public’s expectations and DiRT Showdown certainly does not miss a beat.  Not one.  Giving you the option to setup any gametype under a number of conditions and up to 8 players racing all wrapped up around Codemasters’ new announcement, Racenet this game just screams community.  Combined community tasks, your friends best scores on certain tracks as well as their times and various unlockables will keep you amused for a long, long time.

Various gametypes were played on the day and although I found it hard to lose my racing line mentality and we, as the MG team, found that 5 was our favourite number, we just couldn’t get enough of playing it and having such a giggle at the same time, something that is sometimes lost in today’s online affairs.  That’s not all, split screen gameplay has also been introduced and not a lot of quality has been lost in providing this feature in game and bringing back the joys of yesteryear where a beer with your mates and some healthy competition provided some of the best moments in my gaming history.

Overall, DiRT Showdown is Codemasters Racing’s “what if” project fully realised on screen with a great array of events that shout originality, fun as well as being imaginative. DiRT Showdown looks better than ever and with a handling model that will appeal to newcomers of the franchise as well as appease the hardcore fan further into the game, DiRT Showdown looks set to splinter into its own separate entity and from what I’ve seen so far will easily stand on its own two feet.  For all of you that felt a little nervous about what DiRT Showdown would be like I can honestly say now that you have nothing to fear, your money will be well spent here.

DiRT Showdown is due for release for 360, PS3 and PC on May 25th with a demo and Racenet going live on May 1st in perfect time for the May day bank holiday weekend.

You can pre order a copy from our friends at www.thatgameshop.com

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The Armored Core franchise, developed by From Software, has a history of delivering fast paced, third person mech action that also includes a deep and immersive experience in mech design as well as gameplay options. Armored Core V, already released in Japan, follows the fast paced action of the Armored Core series whilst taking the core elements on multiplayer from other mech games before.

We only had a chance to play with this game for around half an hour but that time was more than enough to allow us to look at the possibilities and how this will stack up against its competitors.  After creating your team name, adding your profile you begin your campaign in story mode.  This mode comprises of 10 story missions and 83 “order missions” that can be played on your own or co-operatively with a friends.  A lot of games are now starting to see that some people would like to not get involved all the time in competitive play and Armored Core V plays beautifully to this request.

The initial missions that I played were mainly training missions to get used to the mechanics and shooting systems of the mechs and played very smoothly with the controls having an intuitive feel.  The ease of being able to pick up, play and understand the game and how it plays is second to none and the ability to just drop into the game and get a feel for it is translated well through the tutorials.

With your targeting system being able to auto lock to enemies when in range leaves you to adjust your weaponry and firing systems to take mechs down with accuracy whilst still retaining the ability to strafe and manoeuvre with ease.

As we only had a brief time with the game I unfortunately didn’t have enough time to delve into the customisation options that Armored Core V presents but can tell you that anyone that has a buzz for schematics and mech building will really feel at home here.  With over 500 unique parts at their disposal, gamers will be able to build and cutomise and build mechs to their hearts content, adapting different weapon systems and parts for different classes and being to save up to 50 different schemes.  There is also the ability to expand your workshop as your team rank rises and trade parts, emblems, in game currency as well as their AC configurations.  This definitely shows off the geeky side to Armored Core V and has a sense of depth to it that will keep you occupied for days.  I can’t wait to explore it fully when my copy comes through.

Last but not least is the multiplayer side of things and how this will effect the longevity of the game.  As I said before, it was sad when Sega switched off the Chromehounds servers, even though over 100,000 games were played daily which I find astounding.  Luckily for everyone that is about to receive Armored Core V, this game plays in a similar sort of way and looks actually a lot bigger.  World Conquest Mode supports up to 10 players per team with over 10,000 territories for your team to start taking over in this MMO game.  Teaming up in co-op play for territories as well as head to head gameplay and leaderboards for everything will have you playing again and again and again and again.  It is absolutely gargantuan in size with enough diversity to keep entertained for a long, long time,

Overall, Armored Core V looks set to start out where Chromehounds finished off.  The level of customisation, intensity in battle, presentation and depth of multiplayer as well as delivering a slightly faster pace of mech combat looks set to cure the mech hangover that Sega left us with a couple of years ago.  The future of mech combat is bright, the future IS AC V.

Armored Core V looks set for release on Friday 23rd March on PS3 and Xbox 360.

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From its early arcade showing in 1993 with a version being released as part of Playstation’s rise to global domination in 1994 to the PS Vita version that has just hit the stores, arcade drifting with a Japanese twang has never been so much fun.

All the little recurring elements that gave you a familiarity with the title over the years have been played around with and although its been a worry for quite a few people that are faithful to the franchise, our experience with the game at a preview event in Namco Towers was received with positivity and surprise.

First and foremost is the change in location to Shatter Bay and all that it creates.  Gone are the static tracks of old and in comes a more versatile and interactive set of locations that open up further as you race through them, providing short cuts and areas that can potentially knock a few seconds off of your lap times. The explosive nature of these short cuts provide for bursts of hair raising action that plays well into the features that have been defined by games like Burnout and Split Second.

Comparing Ridge Racer Unbounded to these games is not a bad thing at all as it seems that Ridge Racer plays to the strengths of a game like Burnout whilst keeping the handling and drifting elements that appeal to the Ridge Racer fans firmly in its grasp.  Powering around the corners of this next gen metropolis will have you thinking about your every move, whether it is worth taking a smoother line for greater exit speed or power sliding around the  and all the while being nudged and harassed by A.I. and getting intoxicated by a thumping soundtrack that intensifies the experience.

Using a tier system in the single player mode will allow you to race over several events in each area including racing events as well as drifting and events that allow you to blow a lot of stuff up.  Each event has a 3 star goal system that rewards the driver more, the better they place or score.  This in turn unlocks various areas, tracks, cars, etc and even pieces of track and although quite a simple scheme to use can become highly addictive as I kept on going in a drift attempt in order to get a 3 star score before I moved on.

The cars themselves have a traditional Ridge Racer feel to them and are based on speed, acceleration, strength etc so picking the right model for the track and event is key, especially in multiplayer, as I found out to my horror in the first LAN race that we played.  The experience here was fast, furious and smooth and I completely forgot that there is always a little nudging, well heavy nudging actually.  Being used to smooth driving in Forza didn’t get me prepared for what was to come as although I pulled out a nice lead into the first I got side swiped and my race was over, for the first one anyway!  It was still a hell of a lot of fun and something that will go down well in the Ridge Racer community.

Wait!  A couple of paragraphs ago I mentioned unlocking pieces of track …. Time to rewind and explain I feel.  Ridge Racer Unbounded will come with a track editor built in providing endless possibilities in creating a perfect track to share with the rest of the community.  different types of track length and shapes can be unlocked whilst playing the campaign as well as the locations you have raced in.  Tight bends, long straights, single road, dual carriageways, bridges, ramps can all be won and put into your own creation, something that will provide endless hours of fun and also keep the game fresh.

Overall, my experience of Ridge Racer Unbounded has brought a fast and furious arcade title back with a bang and has injected a new life into it that most drivers will enjoy for some instant pick up and play fun.  Ridge Racer: Unbounded comes with an MG recommendation and is released on March 30th, just in time for our bi-yearly LAN!

Related posts:

1. Ridge Racer Unbounded coming to 360 and PS3
2. Namco announce Ridge Racer 3D for Nintendo 3DS
3. Ridge Racer Soundtrack to include Skrillexand The Crystal Method

Although the PC version was well received, however, there was some criticism about the combat mechanics and the 360 port got a pretty horrendous time being called out as being technically inept and lacking in key areas.  I have to add that the console port was outsourced to another studio and quality control assurances have now been put into place by Piranha Bytes to stop this from happening again.

It was, thank goodness, very pleasing to hear that upon listening to the initial presentation for our hands on preview of follow up title Risen 2, Dark Waters that the developer is taking each format very seriously and producing a game that works with each piece of hardware as effectively as it can.

Risen 2: Dark Waters, for people not in the know, is a traditional RPG that immerses itself in the world of piracy and all that it entails and plays in a way where you need to be paying attention to what’s going on, nodding its head to the RPG of old and slightly removing itself from the lazy prompt and waypoint system that we have today.  Is this a bad thing?  Certainly not.  Being of a certain age, I like to be challenged, I want to feel a sense of achievement when I complete a quest and I want to feel as though a game hasn’t been dumbed down for the MTV generation.  In this sense, my hands on time with Risen 2: Dark Waters left me satisfied and that the game, although requires you to think about your actions and the quest you are taking, also gives you enough leeway to refer back to the clues given to you by talking to various NPC’s.

Our hands on took place on the 360 console  in two different pre defined areas and although we had a limited time to play, you could get a feel of how Risen 2: Dark Waters is starting to take shape.  First of all, graphically, Risen 2: Dark Waters is not looking its best at this stage of the development but I am sure it will be smoothed out a little.  For me, graphics have never been the be all and end all of a game but the gameplay and experience themselves are put firmly to the top of tree and Risen 2: Dark Waters holds up very well.

Particular attention was paid to the combat systems and how they have been tweaked.  A more fluid directional system has now replaced the ageing lock and attack system of before which allows for multi foe combat without fear that you’re going to come up short in battle which would lead to frustrating encounters.  Enemies also have weaknesses and ways to distract them which can be learnt in game by talking to NPC’s.  A giant crab, we learnt, has to be kicked onto it’s back before you can deal serious damage to it.

The character development also seems to be a deep experience allowing you to customise your character in a variety of way as well as crafting his persona and how he will play out in terms of skills.  Whether it be taking a more direct route, using weaponry as you main point of attack or using magic by learning voodoo along the way, there seem to be plenty of skills to learn along the way using your XP gained from fighting and completing quests.

Additional tools, help in terms of characters and items are also available to aid you in times of trouble, the monkey and parrot being stand out help from our initial gameplay.  Utilising them in different ways will ultimately come down to you but sending a monkey in to disrupt something, steal something a little more sneakily or even just scouting out an area before go charging in are a couple of ways of using the help you have available depending on your way of thinking.

One of the biggest draws for me though was the game’s character.  The dialogue and NPC’s themselves all have depth and a little bit of comedy thrown in.  Mixed with vital information to your quests’ progression, one liners and quips the speech reminded me of some of the Two Ronnies sketches such was their professionalism in delivery and although rude in a few places, always left me with a smile on my face, yet very engaged in what they had to say.  After all, this game does rely on a lot of talking and speech for you to complete quests and if this part of the game fell apart then it would lose all sense of ambition and become very boring, very quickly.

The rest of my time with the game was mainly spent looking around the expansive environment, playing mini games (the drinking game produced a few challenges but I prevailed in the end!), talking to NPC’s and figuring out a few puzzles to complete quests.  There is a lot going on in the game and I felt that I had only scratched the surface of something pretty epic in my brief time with Risen 2: Dark Waters.   It is hard to really pick holes in anything Risen 2 has offered up so far and has to be applauded for how it has overcome obstacles that plagued the original whilst being crafted into a deeper, immersive and more refined game.

I think the thing that best describes the game was when fellow peer, Stephen Butler, described the game as being The Secret Of Monkey Island in 3D.  If I could have come out with that soundbyte I would but rest assured, he couldn’t have got it more spot on.  Risen 2: Dark Waters looks exciting, brings RPG back to its origins and is definitely one to watch in the coming few weeks before release.

Risen 2: Dark Waters will release on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3  on April 24th in North America and on April 27th in the U.K.

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What we’ve never had though, in games as a media format as well the musical talent that graces our pastime, is recognition of the talent involved in creating an atmosphere that stands up to the best of the best in other media formats, including film and music.  There is, however,  a group who wants to change that very thing and as some music in games can be considered classical, this ever growing group have endeavoured to try and get video games music into the Classic FM hall of fame and with your help they may well achieve it.

Voting for the Classic FM 2012 Hall of Fame is now open – every year this run down of the 300 greatest pieces of classical music features amazing compositions from the greatest composers in history along with fantastic movie scores, BUT, to anybody’s knowledge it’s never featured any orchestral tracks from video games.

This MUST change!!

From now until voting closes on Feb 29th I’m asking all fans of video games and video games music to visit the voting site at http://www.classicfmhalloffame.co.uk/ and vote for classical interpretations of their favourite bits of video game music.

To make a real splash though, I’m hoping that everybody who does vote chooses Nobuo Uematsu’s “Aerith’s Theme” from Final Fantasy VII for at least one of their choices so we can really push it up the chart – and for anybody who wants a reminder of what that sounds like, here’s a link http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TXO5CO/ref=dm_dp_trk3

This is a UK radio station, but voting appears to be open worldwide so please let everybody you know who loves video game music to come “like” this page and vote. Let’s get video game music the recognition it deserves.

For more information, please head across to their official Facebook page or follow @ClassicVGMusic and keep up to date with what’s going on.

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We will produce a little gaming quiz for you to add a little spice to your week.  There are no prizes unfortunately and it is just for fun but will create something a little challenging and if you feel as though you would like to share your scores then please feel free to post them up onto our Facebook page.  We will also reveal the answers on Fridays so that gives you a few days to get the quiz completed.

So without further ado, let’s introduce you to 20 sumptuous questions to whet the appetite.

Who distributes Turtle Beach headsets and Gunnar Eyewear in the U.K.? Lygo International

Max Payne 3 has been held back to which date? May 18th 2012

Dead Island’s soon to be released DLC will feature which character? Ryder White

The original version of Syndicate was released in which year? 1993

What position did the GT Academy drivers place in their class at the Dubai 24hr race? 3rd

Soul Calibur V releases on what date? February 3rd 2012

The cover athlete for UFC Undisputed 3 will be? Anderson “The Spider” Silva

Prototype 2 is getting the comic book treatment from which company? Dark Horse Comics

PS Vita will be released in the U.K. on which date? 22nd February 2012

Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy were created by who? Matthew Smith

What is the name of the main protagonist in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood? Ezio Auditore de Firenze

Ratchet’s sidekick is called what? Clank

In the Medal Of Honour series name the characters’ surname that has appeared in every game in the franchise? Patterson

The Dead Space franchise sees you experience space horror through the eyes of which character? Isaac Clarke

Name the company who created the Angry Birds games? Rovio

What Atari 2600 game did the company famously “bury” in the deserts of New Mexico? E.T.

Mario first appeared in which game? Donkey Kong

What ZX81 game is considered the “first 3D game”? 3D Monster Maze

Name the Gears Of War 3 map pack released this week? Fenix Rising

The Forza Motorsport franchise is created by which studio? Turn 10

As usual we will add the answers on Friday.  Good luck!

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So with this in mind we will produce a little gaming quiz for you to add a little spice to your week.  There are no prizes unfortunately and it is just for fun but will create something a little challenging and if you feel as though you would like to share your scores then please feel free to post them up onto our Facebook page.  We will also reveal the answers on Fridays so that gives you a few days to get the quiz completed.

So, without further ado let’s get started and see how well you know your gaming.

Name the character that “sold a million megadrives”? Sonic The Hedgehog

Which American company officially records all gaming world records? Twin Galaxies

Halo was originally developed by which studio? Bungie

Space Invaders was officially released in which year? 1978

What is the highest score obtainable in Pacman? 3,333,360

What was the first Sinclair computer called? Sinclair ZX80

Operation Flashpoint was originally developed by which studio? Bohemia Interactive Studios

Who is the current CEO of Activision Publishing? Bobby Kotick

Which well know retro egg celebrated its 25th anniversary last year with a mobile gaming release? Dizzy

Which twins created this character and went on to create the Blitz studio? Oliver Twins

What was the last console released by Sega called? Dreamcast

Metal Gear Solid 2′s full title is called? Metal Gear Solid: Sons Of Liberty

Solid Snake’s surname is? Pliskin

In which year was the original Playstation released? 1994

Dante’s Inferno was based on which epic poem? Divine Comedy

Who PUBLISHED All Zombies Must Die for DoubleSix Studios? Square Enix

Modern Warfare’s Captain John Price was loosely based on which real life ex SAS soldier? John McAleese

Playstation 3′s online community area is called what? Home

The Gran Turismo series was created by which famous Japanese producer? Kazunori Yamauchi

What does the acronym MLG stand for? Major League Gaming

We will add the answers to this quiz on Friday and also transfer the answers onto our Facebook page too so you can check your answers.  Good luck all and have fun!

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