Who will admit that back in 2007 when we bought the Halo 3 beta that had a game called Crackdown bundled with it thought that Microsoft had found an easy way to shift units of a game that didn’t look that good?

I thought so, me included.   But when you played a couple of hours of Crackdown waiting for the delayed Halo 3 beta to surface, who then found out that this was not some cheap stunt at all but Crackdown provided more entertainment than you thought the game would deliver?

Crackdown, developed by Realtime Worlds, made such a statement in the sandbox action genre that not only did it deliver a great experience but also single handedly create its own sub genre.  Fusing classic sandbox over the top action with a vertical as well as horizontal urban playground, Crackdown provided, fun, frolics, exuberant gunplay, crazy explosions plus a new gaming drug called hunt the orb which has had people hooked on searching for them for the past couple of years.

Cue, 2010 and the sequel, Crackdown 2, which has left the Realtime Worlds creators to be developed by Ruffian Games.  The game takes place in Pacific City 10 years later where chaos has broken loose with infected “Freaks” rampaging through the city, tearing up and destroying anything in their paths and the Cell who are a group that want to protect what the Freaks are doing and want to stop the Agency from cleaning them up.

Think of them as a Save The Whale type hippy foundation with a ridiculous arsenal of weaponry and you’ll know where I am going.  Your task as an advanced Agent is to activate absorption beams that will highlight a Freaks lair.  You are then tasked with dropping into the lairs, calling in support to drop in a UV mega weapon, defend the weapon from attacking Freaks until fully charged that will take out the offending lair.

If you remember the original Crackdown then you will also release that the narrative was never its strong point.  It was there merely to service the requirements that drive the game forward before you become addicted to the many side quests that were on offer.  Crackdown 2 will play out exactly the same way and although the story is a basic foundation for the game, you will get sidetracked very quickly with the many side quests in the game.  There is a lot more to do this time so it will suck many more hours from you.  From taking over tactical locations that are Cell strongholds, closing down Freak breaches, rooftop and driving races to the ultimate gaming addiction of finding those orbs that are dotted around the city, you will soon find that there are more things to check off that will make this games pick up and play value far more superior to a lot of other games in it’s genre.

One of Crackdown 2′s main draws is your character’s power up system and how it operates.  Broken down into several skills that include weapons, strength, explosives, driving and, of course, agility you will find yourself constantly trying to build these up to unlock new items.  Driving will unlock new cars, weapons and explosives speak for themselves with strength and agility allowing you to open up more of the city as you climb and jump higher and longer to reach those places that were not possible in the early part of the game.

There is a real addictiveness here which will lead to the searching and collection of 500 agility and 300 hidden as well as some special co-op only orbs that are to be found in the game.  If that wasn’t enough, you can also attempt to grab the rogue agility and driving orbs that are also liberally scattered around.  This becomes the real addiction as you try to figure out how you can reach some of them.

The action itself is fierce and heavy from exciting set pieces triggered off by your Agent trying to capture a tactical location, taking out a Freak breach and trying to set off the absorption beams to just going out at night when the Freaks start to appear in droves and going on an absolute orgy of gunplay and the thrill of the kill in as many ways as you can imagine.  From setting off a chain of explosions to ripping off a lamp post and battering a few enemies with it, there is always something creative for you to do to eliminate Cell and Freaks in the bloodiest way possible.

The control system does a good job here and in the main works smoothly to get the desired action.  One problem for me was that the system did feel a little clunky as I reached the latter lairs in the main story.  I found that the pace of the attacks by the Freaks in the final 2 lairs of the main story left me feeling frustrated as I wanted my Agent to do something but was too slow to react to it.  Now, I know i’m getting old but my reactions are not that bad.  For those mistakes I spent a good part of an hour tearing my hair out trying to hold off the waves of Freaks whilst trying to protect the UV weapon only for the weapon to get too damaged due to a slow weapon swap and having to restart the mission.

Another frustration I found in the game was the way your character got knocked of of his feet.  I appreciate the fact that this has to happen but the time it takes to get up coupled with the rag doll physics that will have you bouncing around can sometimes make you lose a mission that you really should have completed.  These are very small grumbles and ultimately, Ruffian have provided a game where the positives far outweigh the minor negatives that I have explained.

Getting back on a positive track, Ruffian have now given Crackdown fans their biggest request and that is to deliver 4 player co-op to the party.  Sometimes, the game can become a trawl on your own but Crackdown 2 really comes alive when you have a mate or two to jump around with.

Whether it is tracking down the xbox live orbs, helping out in the main story or one of the many side quests or even seeing what is possible in the game for laughs then co-op will have you hooked for days on end and is a perfect accompaniment to losing a few hours after a serious night of gaming.

There is also a multiplayer element to it where up to 16 players can go head to head in Rocket tag and a couple of deathmatch options.  Although a lot of fun, it does feel as though it has been bolted on rather than had some serious attention given to it that will give the modes some longevity.  More of an afterthought rather than being a necessity and you will head back to co-op very quickly, I feel.

Overall, Crackdown 2 delivers a whole lot of fun and is definitely worth a purchase.  Some people may think that Ruffian are very brave to revisit Pacific City but the destruction within the environment gives the city a completely different look and feel.  It just goes to show that with a lot of effort something that could have turned out to be a clone of the original and would lose its edge can be turned into an enthralling playground that has advanced itself in a positive way, added more depth and challenges to deliver a game that will both satisfy and keep you coming back for months on end.

Crackdown 2 will be released in the U.K on Friday 9th July and is exclusive to the Xbox 360.

I remember as a kid hanging out in the arcades with my friends pumping many 10 pence coins into the machines, usually all of my pocket money gone in a brief afternoon.

APB was one game that took a fair few of those pennies. Pulling over bad guys, collecting doughnuts and beating up baddies to get confessions.  Eventually though I would move on to another game, there’s only so much crime fighting that you can do in one day. I think this is true with Realtime Worlds version of APB.  Good in short bursts, but lacks a certain something that keeps me pumping in those 10 pence’s.

After downloading the game which is about 7.5 GB in its current state, hurrah for my new speedy broadband, you are treated to a very brief intro. Crime is over running the city of San Paro; the police are unable to cope, so the law has been handed over to mercenaries to combat it how they choose.  Your first choice is whether you want to be a criminal or an enforcer.

The character creator is immense, a mix between what I have seen in Tiger Woods with the ability to mould the whole body and face to your desire and as I’ll discuss later, City of Heroes with its wonderful costume creator.  With time and effort you will be able to create a likeness to yourself if you so desire.

So with my character all set up I had to give him a name. As I had chose to fight crime the first name to pop into my head was Reg Hollis. To my dismay, no spaces are allowed in the name. I think this is quite an important thing to over look, a character is not just how they look, but a big part is also in the name.

So, as I confirmed my character the screen darkened. Tosh set foot into the tutorial. The game plays in third person. I had an uneasy feeling after 10 minutes when the tutorial finished and it set me off into the big wide world.  All that was explained were the basic keys, methods of travel (On foot or Car) and a few “Missions”, which were fetch this from here and take it to there and a raid on a warehouse door which a package appeared from after I had battered it enough.

The tutorial pretty much sums up the non PvP (Player VS Player) aspect of the game. You run missions for contacts, disarming bombs, raids, planting listening devices etc. This gains reputation with the contacts, which in turn allows you access to the better gear for use in PvP.

The game is split into two types of district. A social one and the PvP instances.  In the Social district you can customise your character, clothes and car, buy weapons and equip your character.  Customising your car and clothes very much reminds me of the garage in Forza.  You combine shapes and layers to create pretty much whatever you want; your imagination is the limit.

Now to the “meat” of the game, the PvP.  On entering a PvP district I spawned inside a police station and took my fist steps outside. The instances can hold around 100 players and the maps aren’t too big so you’re never far from action.  One thing I noticed pretty quickly is that there are no NPC’s (Non Player Characters); it’s all human controlled opponents.  I think that this was a wrong decision.  There is no underlying story to progress through, there are missions similar to the tutorial, go fetch this etc, but they are just a filler until an APB goes up and you basically put into a death match with another group of 4.  There may be 100 players on the server, you see the running or driving around in their own little matches but you only ever get to interact with them when the APB goes off and its only 4 Vs 4.

Your character is controlled over the shoulder 3^rd person as is the driving.  I found it easier to run around the city, as soon as you get in a car it seems as though the roads get coated in a sheet of ice.  They are unresponsive and just a nightmare to control, you lose experience for knocking over pedestrians and I could not keep the car off the pavement, so ditched it for a good old pair of boots.  The combat is ok but has a few annoyances.  Your enemy has a handy red triangle above them which can be seen from hundreds of feet away, even when they are in buildings. It tends to turn into a camping game or being a jack in the box as you dart in and out of corners trying to get a hit on someone.

I was impressed however with the stability of the game on release, it hasn’t crashed once, no bugs that I have seen apart from an odd graphical glitch. It visually looks good, lots of details in characters and scenery.

The price for a monthly sub is your standard MMO amount, but I like how you have the option to buy hours rather than a whole month’s recurring sub. Your hours only run down when you are fighting in the action districts, so you can spend as much time as you want in the social, designing stuff and chatting, even with only an hour remaining.  Being able to design your own logos to sell is a big draw and also a handy way of making coins that can be transferred into time if you sell enough of your product.

For me, in the end it’s really a glorified GTA IV multiplayer.  Fun, fast action with little to no content at all to keep people interested in the long run. I can’t see people subscribing to this for years, maybe six months or buying hours and playing a few hours a week or so for a bit of shooting fun.  I believe it needs a good story for people to play through and some way to increase the PvP action; even 8 V 8 would be a big improvement.

Overall, APB is a good fun action game in short bursts, very light on content at the moment and I really do hope that they add some single player content.  But as with all MMO’s they are never really finished, they just keep evolving.  I will be keeping my eye on the game over the coming months and hope things improve.  It is a solid foundation that just needs that little bit more content to make it stand out from the MMO crowd.

Written by: Adam Carter

Well, July seems to start the EA Sports franchises rearing their heads.  The problem with it is that it is hard to judge how far advanced the game has become from last year’s version.

So with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 in our hands we need to look past what we already know.  That is that the Tiger Woods franchise has stood head and shoulders above any golf game (are there any other golf games out there now?) for quite some time now.  With complete domination over the sport a game like this could become very stale indeed with nothing to challenge it but somehow, EA Sports seem to wring the neck out of this title every year to produce something that can always be considered the definitive version of the game.

The big question will always be, when reviewing a title like this, is whether to write for the newcomer to the series and go through the gameplay as a whole or to concentrate on the finer points of the title and what new features that have been implemented that make this the next great version of the game.

Well, I can safely say that the core mechanics of the game have remained the same and overall plays the same as last year’s version.  With that in mind, we had better concentrate on the new features, how they fit in to the new Tiger Woods game and if you can justify spending the money to upgrade from last year, the year before that or even further back.

One of the most dynamic changes this year has to be the Focus meter.  In previous titles you were able to spin, power the ball at will as well as use your Tiger vision once for every hole.  This made for very easy gameplay and in no time you were shooting 20 under par rounds which is kind of ridiculous, but also gave you a buzz that you could achieve on this game what no other golfer could in real life.  The Focus meter has somewhat changed the boundaries now with every extra spin of the ball or harnessing that extra little bit of power costing you some of your focus from the meter.  A bit of focus will be built up if you do not use any on a shot so it now becomes a little more strategic with when to use it as you actually start to appreciate the build and design of the courses rather than bash the ball almost robotically for your next eagle.  It’s a great little innovation and something that brings the game back to a purer version of Tiger Woods than we have seen for a while.

The skills system has also been changed as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 has now opted to streamline the system to an RPG stat based system rather than adding skill points to your power, accuracy etc.  XP is awarded for greens in regulation, birdies etc and can now be applied as you wish to your skills or spend them in the shop for extra equipment.  The beauty of this is that you now have more control on where to apply your points and there was nothing more frustrating before than shooting a good round only to have skill points knocked off of your short game because you were driving 400 + yards.

True Aim is also a new system that has been brought in for this version.  A lot of the hardcore golf players have probably been up in arms before at how arcade like Tiger Woods has become in some elements of the game so this one is definitely for them and practice does make perfect as you will see if you decide to purchase it.  In basic terms, True Aim gets rid of all the assists that Tiger normally provides and you will now have to rely on judgement and repetition, a knowledge of distances with clubs etc and the GPS overhead view to gauge your shots.  This is something that improves with time so don’t think for a moment that you can step up immediately and shoot an under par round.  This has been designed to be as close to simulation that a golf game can offer as you bed yourself in for a lot of pain initially but putting in the work will get your rewards in the long run.  Although this option may be off putting to many, the introduction of the Playstation Move system into the PS3 version of the game when Move is launched may add the extra authenticity that some may want and after all is said and done with the guts of the career, adding that extra challenge once you have maxed out your golfer.

Talking of career, the last big feature of the game is to add the Ryder Cup into career and multiplayer modes.  It is the typical American vs European challenge that a lot of us from both sides of the pond crave and can be played out in both modes.  Up to 24 players online can team up in head to head matches that is played in matchplay style to declare which team is the winner.  In career mode you will be able to enter one of the teams as your career golfer to play your matches but will also be able to jump into another match to help out one of your team that may be struggling.  This means that you may be playing a few of the same holes during the matches but to achieve the end goal it will need to be done.

So there you have it, the new features in full.  Overall the mechanics are solid and have been for a while.  The multiplayer is also solid and provides hours of entertainment with the same gamernet challenge system put back into this year’s version of the game.  The big decision will come with the people that may consider purchasing it.  It is a lot of money to spend for a yearly update and people that are either entering into the Tiger World for the first time or have an old version of the game they have been playing should really buy it.  The problem lies with the big Tiger fans out there and with any yearly version of a game feel they can justify spending the money for the updates that I have just explained.  Personally, I cannot fault it and does make for the best Tiger Woods ever.  I am hoping that what you have read makes you feel the same way.

Finally, we have a game that is something different to the Modern Warfare franchise in the form of Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

The differences between Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield are vast with Battlefield opting for a more strategic approach to your shooter, providing glorious destructable playgrounds that are balanced in design.  The one problem with the game was that there were no co-op missions, something that Modern Warfare 2 has and something, I feel, that needed to be addressed.

So with the introduction of Onslaught, DICE has finally given the Battlefield officienado something a little extra to sink their teeth into.  Something that will help new players to the game become a little more familiar with the multiplayer layout before they go hurtling in to the world of highly skilled players that are willing to take your head off if you don’t work as a team.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is all about team play, in multiplayer and of course Onslaught.  The DLC is created from 4 maps from the multiplayer element and set over four different difficulties.  Best described as a cross between the Rush and Conquest gametypes with a hoarde model thrown into the mix, players are asked to choose their most effective class, work as a team to clear the area of enemy and take the flag base whilst holding off waves of enemies before moving onto the next base.  If one of your team dies then there is a certain period before a respawn and if your whole team dies then you have to start again.

The gameplay itself is frantic as enemies armed with rpg’s, assault rifles, sniper rifles and military hardware try to stop your progress.  To say that the whole thing is chaotic is an understatement.  You and your team mates will be pinned down more times than a MMA fighter as you work together to diffuse the situation giving you some breathing space to start getting their flag down and putting yours up, before the next wave of back ups come in to stop you achieving your goal.  The DLC also allows you to bring in your unlocked weapons from the multiplayer side of things but if you think that you are going to get ranked up by killing loads of AI then think again.  Although XP scores come up for kills etc, this will not be added to your overall stats.

There is no room for the merc here.  Any run and gun types will get stopped in their tracks pretty soon, putting more pressure on your team mates before you can join the action again.  Ammo boxes will need to be in constant supply as well as some RPG’s for taking out armoured vehicles, unless, of course, you have a vehicle yourself then it makes things a little easier.

Onslaught, I feel, is a big step in the right direction but there are a few concerns and these will unfortunately drop my score down somewhat.  The biggest concern for me was the fact that all the spawns points seem to be static.   There is no deviation from the first time you play it to the last.  The Left 4 Dead series encourages replay value by not having anything the same each time you play.  The beautiful AI director in this changes the environment, makes you walk different paths, spawns zombies in different places to make the game feel different every time you play.  Onslaught has the same spawns over and over again, so the more familiar you get with a particular map the more you know where everything will spawn.  This was a concern that I voiced to DICE and I feel that because of the timed run element to the DLC, they have kept it all static for a reason.  This is something that may go against it in time unless they start adding new maps to the gametype very quickly.

We have also had some bugs on the Isla Innocentes map where we got a constant respawn of enemies between two flags and half of our team could not register a bullet hit.  I am sure this will be addressed pretty soon but was a little annoying all the same.

Overall, Onslaught is forward thinking in its approach and great fun to play with a team.  It also makes for great competitions between friends and gets you thinking how you need to approach the multiplayer part of the game.  800 points is not a lot of money for what this is.  Some may feel cheated that it is four maps they have run 1,000 times before and no deviations to make it fresh.  For me, it is a seedling that will grow.  You are paying for the gametype and remember that DICE has already said that maps are free so any additions to this will not cost you.

If you own Bad Company 2 then you will need to make the purchase.  It is a must and I am sure that in time we will see this grow into something beautiful.

With everything beginning to become more realistic, more real life and getting a little removed from what gaming is all about, it is nice for a company to take the realism out and put the fun back in.

Blur, developed by Bizarre Creations of PGR fame and published by Activision sees this hybrid racer hit the market at a time when the racing genre is getting a little too stale for my liking.

Best described as a mix of Wipeout and Mario Kart, Blur concentrates on balls out, eyeballs on stalks arcade racing with power up twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat as you go head to head with up to 20 competitors in a heady mix of racing gametypes that include standard racing, point to point, one on one, demolition amongst others.

The game itself has a sturdy single player campaign that has more than enough to eat hours out of your day.  To say this is all about finding the perfect lines and getting the braking correct couldn’t be further from the truth.  This is all about getting those power ups, watching your front back and sides and being strategical in taking out your opponents without taking too much damage yourself.  Add the demands of fans into the mix with little mini tasks during the race and you have a racing game that makes your brain race faster than what the car you’re racing is.

The campaign is broken up into 9 different levels with a number of gametypes in each.  To be able to move on you will need to place first, second or third to gain lights with bonuses for gaining enough fans during the race which we will talk about in a minute.  Also whilst in a certain level you have certain tasks that you need to achieve in order to unlock the last race which is a one on one that can be challenging but will unlock their car and also a mod which can be taken into races and applied to a certain power up.  Power ups come in three basic forms, attack, defence and maintenance with each car allowing for 3 slots.  It is here where most of your work is done whilst racing against 20 competitors with attacks coming in thick and fast, metal flying everywhere and you having to think on the fly.  It is fast, it is chaotic and it is simply breath taking to play.

We mentioned fans a moment ago and they create a whole new dimension to the game.  Whilst racing you will gain fans for taking people out and scoring in certain areas.  At the beginning of the race you are assigned a fan target to beat which will give you an extra light at the end and help to unlock further areas.  During events in later levels there will also be a number of fan demands to complete which can range from shunting another car with a nitrous boost to achieving a great drift.  All of these little mini events and scores add to your total fan score (basically levelling) and will unlock new cars at the completion of each stage.  I hope you’re still with me because Blur goes above and beyond the call of duty here to provide enough variety to stop Blur from going stale too quick, unlike other racers out there.

The cars and tracks are real world and look absolutely stunning in every area.  From the good ol south coast hot spot of Brighton Beach (I wish there was sand like that but at least we didn’t see the Big Issue sellers every 100 metres!) to a trip around the coastal roads just outside the Golden Gate Bridge there are more than enough challenging tracks here to keep you on your toes.  My one and only complaint here is that the tracks themselves could have done with better short cuts to really mix things up some more.

As I said in the last paragraph, the cars are all based on real world cars and for the sake of the game have all been categorised based on their speed, acceleration, grip and difficulty to drive.  Some cars are more grippy,others are great for drifting and some balance between the two.  It is here where you must decide what type of car will be right for what track and again can play a part in the race if you get it wrong.

The handling of the cars themselves are pretty bang on to what you would expect Bizarre Creations to provide and you feel as though you have good control at high speed until you get attacked with one of those pesky power ups.   There is a real fun factor to the game that you rarely see nowadays so you have to give some serious credit to the developer for providing something that is engaging as well as challenging at the same time.

With the good comes a little bit of bad but thankfully not too much.  The game comes with three difficulty options but the difference between them all is pretty vast.  I have played a lot of racers and consider myself pretty good, not as good as some I know but I always feel that I can handle myself.  For the purpose of the review I played it on the easy level which, to be honest, was way too easy.  I cranked it up a notch and the difference was huge.  Replaying the first level again I was having slight trouble with the one on one at the end and some of the races had that Mario Kart feel of you getting hit with a power up with seconds to go only for that car to come careering past.  It is a small niggle in the general scheme of things but I have to make it known.

Unfortunately, each time I have tried the multiplayer the servers have been down.  I am not sure if this is a problem to the PS3 only or not so for the moment I cannot tell you about this part of the game.  It is something I will revisit but I have to say that I mananged to get a couple of private games in with a friend and it was a great giggle, lots of close racing and a lot of skullduggery too.  Add another 19 people into the mix as Blur promises and you can bet your bottom dollar that it would be nothing short of absolute bedlam and chaos with you walking away from the lobby with a massive smile on your face.

Overall, Blur is one of the funnest non sim racers I have played in a long time.  It brings me back to my PGR days with a big dollop of cream on top.  Best described as Mario Kart on steroids it left me more excited than the first time I accidentally copped a feel when I was younger and for that it needs to be applauded.

From what I have read so far, Blur has not sold as well as it should so with the discounting that is sure to come in the shops I highly recommend a lethal dose of Bizarre Creations latest product.

Everyone who is worth their salt will remember the birth of the modern day fps that was popularised in 1993 by ID Software’s gorefest, Doom.

One of the first games to provide on the PC, 3d spacial awareness with a heady mix of gore, Doom revolutionised the genre and office dogs worldwide linked up their work PC’s for a lunch time session of multiplayer too.  So popular was the game that the media soon jumped on the “games need banning” bandwagon and the attention it brought not only helped sell millions of extra copies but cemented Doom’s place in the history of games as one of the defining moments in the genre ever.

Flash forward 17 years and ID Software has ported Doom’s sequel, Doom II to xbox live so that you can relive countless memories of yesteryear on your xbox 360 hard drive.  The game itself downloads at just over 36mb and with so many other DLC titles using a lot
more memory you would initially think that not too much attention has been paid to the port itself.

Well, not so.  Doom II has been transferred into the marketplace with perfection to the asthetics of the original.  All the pixallated graphics are there and the classic look, feel, sound and movement do not seem to be tampered with from what I can remember of the original. For those of you who are too young to remember the original franchise or that their parents wouldn’t allow you to play it, then Doom and Doom II are the original archetypal FPS’s. Simply put, all hell (literally) has broken loose and you must find your way to the exit of each level whilst keeping yourself alive, finding bigger and better weapons to take on the enemy, keeping your ammo well stocked and defeat some meaty bosses to progress and finish the game.

The movement and control system work very well here indeed and many of you will remember cutting your teeth with the simplicity of move, strafe and fire for survival that have grown up with you to this very day. All the controls have been mapped ideally for the xbox 360 control system and geared for today’s traditional FPS layout. That pretty good seeing as there is no way of mapping the buttons yourself.

All the weapons and enemies that were in the original Doom make a welcome return here with some additions to the family to keep you on your toes. There’s nothing like getting down to a small amount of ammo only for one of the dastardly elementals to come around the corner wanting a ruck. Cue the strafing and running to try and protect yourself whilst you hunt around trying to find something to take them down with in what can only be called some of the most well designed fps maps that you will ever come across. Well, you wouldn’t expect anything else from ID Software to be honest as they have spent years getting it bang on in every single game they release. By the way, if you are looking for a beastly weapon then the Super Shottie for the win!

The campaign itself has had an addition of an extra chapter to it. No Rest For The Living is its name so you can expect a few new levels to blast through which adds a little something to it. For those of you who like hunting for secrets then you will get more than your monies worth here for a lot of searching around a level. Big guns can be found ahead of time if you know where to look or are lucky enough to stumble upon it.

As with Doom on XBL, Doom II also has its multiplayer options deeply rooted in within the game. After all, that is partly what it is famed for! Online deathmatches a plenty can be held as well as going local for some friend on friend action. Online, like its predecessor, it does falter a little with lag. It is not that off putting and doesn’t make you feel as though you want to put the game down but it is apparent and something that needs mentioning. But all in all a good blast with plenty of bodies getting mauled and enough to put a smile on your face whilst slaying some random victim has never been so satisfying.

Given the age of Doom II, it stands up very well to the modern day FPS’s. Great level design with rewarding gameplay that is unforgiving and can prove hard as nails will have you spending many an hour trying to complete it. I love the way ID Software has stayed faithful to the original game and not felt the need to cater to the COD generation and adapt the game with modern graphics and some other overhauls. It is definitely worthy of the money to buy it and the reminiscence value itself should be enough for you to want to make the purchase.

Our review of UFC Undisputed 2009 was a very positive affair.  Not only did we get hooked on a game that married traditional fighting games with more depth and strategy but I personally got hooked on the sport itself.

Sports sims have a tendency to add a couple of features and update rosters, add a bit of spit of polish and get released as a full price title when in fact the level of advancement can sometimes be only justified as DLC.  It is refreshing to know that some developers out there like to push the envelope further and Yukes has certainly done that with UFC Undisputed 2010.

The press and fans were happy with the original result but Yukes have surpassed themselves by stripping away the original mechanics to bring more depth and realism to the gameplay this time around.  New features to the control system like posturing, an enhanced and easier to control ground game, a simplified but smoother grapple system and a more dynamic combo system has definitely ironed out all the little kinks, makes the fighting a lot smoother and easier to control and with the implementation of the new sway system which helps counter punching makes UFC Undisputed 2010 a more strategic, dynamic and versatile game that easily smacks down any other game of the fighting genre in this generation of consoles.  It has to be said that the amount of moves on offer can be overwhelming to begin with but with a comprehensive tutorial mode which can be revisited it doesn’t take you long to start dialling in the basics.

Anyone that has played UFC Undisputed 2009 will be aware of the usual modes within the game.  Tournaments, events (that can also be downloaded or created), title shots and defences can all be found on the main menu and with 100 fighters now present there is plenty here to keep your quick fixes going for a long time.  The real meat, gravy and the most rewarding and the most satisfactory option comes from the career mode that is so deep you could be lost in there for months.

You start out creating your fighter in the comprehensive creator mode.  So deep is this mode that to select your height, name age, base fighting style, add equipment, clothing and assign their base attributes can take 10 minutes or more.  You are then ready for the amateur ranks where you can hone a few skills before moving into the professional ranks, backed by your camp and trainer, in the search for the call from UFC President, Dana White and that all important UFC contract.  As you get closer to that contract call, you will  unlock various sponsor kit that can be worn for bonus points.  There is also a reaction system in place too where you can either respect or disrespect your opponent inside the ring and at interviews to start rivalries and friendships.

As you progress through your career, your trainer will line up balanced fights on paper for you to choose with a training period in between.  From there you can manage your training regime from Strength, Speed and conditioning coaching through to sparring and working on game plans.  You also have the ability to rest and manage your fatigue against condition leading up to the fight.  The biggest draw is with the training is the ability to visit other camps to work on your skills and develop your fighter further into the style you want him to adopt.  There are countless camps, each based on real life camps, and each have their own specialist skill sets and moves that you can learn.  You choose the move you want to work on and are put into the training ring to fight one of the trainers or fighters.  Each time you land the specific move you are learning you are awarded points and when maximum points are achieved you will gain that technique which will replace the default skill for your original move.  The depth here is astounding and really adds to the creative aspect of developing your character the way YOU want rather than being dictated by the game.

With all the fights you have, management of your stamina is key to success and UFC Undisputed 2010 works very hard to make you play the game the way it is meant to be played rather than trying to mash buttons in rapid succession to get the quick knockout.  Strategy is key here and the ability to utilise your skills defined by yourself for that particular character will determine your success within the octagon.  If you go in too hard and gas yourself out then you are opening yourself up for a flash KO by your opponent.  If you utilise your strengths and focus on your opponents weaknesses then over time you will get the success that your time spent with the game will rightly give you.

Overall, UFC Undisputed 2010 is without a shadow of a doubt the most comprehensive, complete and rewarding experiences you will get in the fighting genre.  Yuke’s have excelled themselves by stripping away what they considered weak aspects of the control system of the game and give the gamer a more rounded, smoother and deep experience.  The addition of cage control, along with major improvements to all areas of the ground, grappling and striking game coupled with a submission system that is easier to use and has more control and a posturing system that compliments risk with reward makes the user controlled experience second to none.

The addition of fight camps, online and offline, more immersion in your career gives UFC Undisputed 2010 more additions than any other sports franchise on the market.  For any UFC fan the game can be best described as George St Pierre.  Virtually impossible to beat, a true master of its craft and all aspects of their games finely tuned to deliver the knockout blow.  UFC Undisputed 2010 really does live up to its name – the undisputed king of the fighting genre and the most comprehensive fighting game on the market today by a mile.

UFC Undisputed 2010 will be available to buy on Friday 28th May on the 360 and PS3 for around £39.99

The Skate franchise is now in a league of its own.  The original Skate title burst onto the scene and brought a freshness to proceedings which eventually toppled the tired Tony Hawk franchise.

Little could stop this gem of a game and the sequel provided added depth and gameplay to keep the Skate series alive.  Now we are at number three in what seems to be a now yearly franchise, so has it run it course or is there still plenty to give?

The game itself starts with its usual 10 minute intro video giving you a foundation of what’s to come.  In true Skate fashion the video is pretty funny in places and ends up with your character doing a rediculous stunt to look cool, only to end up flat on your face with a few broken bones.  After a bit of reconstructive surgery via the character editor you are on your way to what can only be considered a storyline that is the games weakest link.  Before you stop reading here because you feel the game has failed then think again.  The storyline, to create a brand and sell a million boards, acts as a crux to link all the challenges together.  It is just a pity that it seems merely an afterthought where it could have been more central to the gameplay.

The first feeling about the gameplay is that it is actually easier  now and is catering to the mass market rather than just the hardcore skate players.  The first two titles were renowned for their difficult challenges with regards to specific tricks that needed to be completed across gaps, rails and obstacles for you to get that magic tick and were able to move on.  Now, the challenge system is tiered to allow a smooth ride into challenges before they get trickier.  That is not to say that the hardcore fan has been left out.  Each challenge has two levels  to it.  The first is to achieve a particular task like clearing a gap or grinding a rail but the second level will ask you to perform the side task with a certain trick or achieve a certain score which will give you bonus boards for completing it.  Broken down, the main challenges are for photo and film opportunities that will help brand awareness, the hall of meat challenges that has had a nice little overhaul this year and is great fun and owning spots amongst others.

The control system is everything that you know.  The right stick is used for ollies and flips, the left stick for direction and the triggers and bumpers for various grabs and tweaks.  For anybody that is new to this you can visit the Skate school immediately with Coach Frank, voiced by Jason Lee of My Name Is Earl fame.  This will get you used to the system and how the game works.  My 6 year old daughter learnt a lot from it so there is no excuses here and goes to show how easy everything is to understand.

The biggest addition this year is the community element to the game.  Every publisher is looking for the next big thing online and with Facebook and Twitter going ballistic, EA have incorporated a huge community element into the game.  Everything is based around teams and each team has a community page for you to post messages, grab videos, custom skate parks, photos of your team performing that can be uploaded to the main Skate website for all to see.  Team challenges, freeskate, park building can be used with each of your team being able to seemlessly jump in and out of each others games if required.  Any challenges that are competed also go towards your board count and a problem challenge, if completed, by a fellow team mate can be checked off in your own campaign.  There is so much here and so much to explore that after you have finished the campaign it would be very easy to spend countless hours online, meeting, greeting, downloading skateparks or just shredding with random people in a free skate.

Overall, Skate 3 provides a welcome upgrade to the first 2 and at the same times dumbs down the challenges slightly to cater for all players without pushing away the hardcore.  The online modes will provide the longevity of the game as well as allow you to create your own team and to take on all comers in team challenges, racing, owning spots etc.  The engine itself seems the same as the last 2 and will endanger the game of becoming dated if another Skate is released next year.  It will need a serious overhaul to stop it from becoming as stale as the Tony Hawk franchise has but for this edition of Skate, we get to see the most definitive game in the extreme sports franchise to date.

With one of the biggest sporting events taking place this summer, a game to accompany it, was inevitable but instead of the usual dross 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa actually serves up a playing experience on a par with EA Sports big football series.
Initially the only real obvious difference between the game and FIFA 10 is the vibrancy of its presentation. Menus are much more colorful than that of the some what subdued looks of FIFA 10. However once this initially shock is out of your system then the differences aren’t completely obvious. The same modes are mostly included albeit, World Cup South Africa as you would expect focuses solely on international competition and as such doesn’t feature all the domestic leagues of FIFA 10. With this in mind and the fact the game revolves around this summers football extravaganza means the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa may have slightly limited lasting appeal.

The game allows you to play the full World Cup tournament, including qualifying or just part of it. The game also features the story of qualification mode that we saw in UEFA 2008. If you’re unfamiliar with that game than think of the Virtual Pro mode in FIFA 10, you can even import your pro from FIFA 10 into World Cup South Africa. So far the game doesn’t seem to offer that much more of interest than FIFA 10, in fact it includes less teams, players and competitions however it does offer some tweaks that improve the football action over that of FIFA 10.

Matches have been made more realistic in a number of ways, firstly players jostle with each other a lot more and it’s not uncommon for defenders to try pulling on you to prevent you from making breaking runs. Also players tend to band and bounce off each other a lot more, often resulting in losing control of the ball which can lead to the odd tense moment. All this contributes to making the playing experience on offer in the game quite a bit more realistic than that on offer in FIFA 10. Whilst it does make it harder to score it does make the whole penalty process much more interesting.

These aren’t the only differences between the two games, World Cup South Africa poses much more of a challenge and matches tend to be much closer, especially with equally matched teams. This in all honesty made World Cup South Africa far more interesting than I thought it would be, often serving up some interesting results. Something which also contributes to the challenge on offer in the game is the fact that referees are very strict and the most innocuous looking challenge can and often does result in the referee waving a card at your player, something which we will probably see at this years tournament.

The biggest change however comes with the games penalty taking system, at the bottom of the screen a colour coded meter gauges your players composure. Hit the green and you’re more likely to score anyrthing else and there’s a good chance the ball will go screaming past the post. This new penalty system also allows you to easily perform actions such as stopping during your run up and excecuting chip shots.

Visually the game is largely in seperable from FIFA 10, it does have more of a TV haze about it and I would go as far as to say the stadium lighting effects are much better and realistic but other than that there’s very little to seperate the two games. Sound wise there game follows the style of FIFA 10 as you would expect. However the game does feature an all new commentary team Clive Tyldesly and Andy Townsend who do a very good job and comment on the match progress.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa may not be overly different to FIFA 10 but it does introduce some changes that do enhance the playing expereince, possible serving as a preview to FIFA 11? If you don’t own FIFA than this is a very good football game to test your skills against, but FIFA 10 owners shouldn’t instantly dismiss it as it features just enough tweaks to make it worth a look.

Blazblue: Calamity Trigger is a 2d beat em up direct from the jaws of the Japanese gaming market.

Although it is similar to the Street Fighter franchise, Blazblue: Calamity Trigger distances itself a little from the precise and sometimes geeky approach of its counterpart.  It delivers a fighting system that is more user friendly and attempts to capture some of the casual gaming market with effortless button controls that can be easily picked up and played rather than spending countless hours trying to master every move.

Saying that, Blazblue does cater for the beat em up officianado too with more complex combos and skills to master so there is definitely something for everyone and a smooth learning curve for the first timers to this particular genre makes this a perfect game to ease yourself into without feeling as though you are lacking in required skill.

There are two main modes in the game, arcade and story modes as well as a tutorial that offers an insight into the back story of the 12 characters available and also offering a variety of skills for them too.  Although the tutorial may seem confusing it is an essential tool in understanding the plotlines in the main story as each character is played out in a different way.

Arcade mode focuses on beating the other characters available with a varying degree of difficulty over three rounds, or rebels as they are called in the game.  Why they are called that is beyond me but probably to do with the way it has been converted from its Japanese origins into an English translation.  There is also an option to continue a game if it all goes wrong so there is no need to start from the beginning and again encourages new gamers to this genre to soldier on.

The controls themselves offer a varying amount of leeway within the gameplay.  Normally, with the beat em up genre there seems to be two camps of players.  The ones that mash the buttons uncontrollably to get the desired effect and a stroke of luck (my wife included!) and the gamers that utilise strategy, timing and an intimate knowledge of the various moves and combos to attack at the precise time with deadly effect.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger does cater for both but as the fights progress the game encourages you to try a few more moves in an attempt to at least try some of the moves on the list rather than scaring you off and keep on with the button mashing until it becomes so frustrating that you will not play any more.  The characters themselves also have varying moves and skills and you are not left wanting for variety when playing again.  The bigger fighters have more power but are subject to being a little slower to get a hit in whilst the smaller characters are a lot more nimble but lack the explosive hits and therefore you will need to gauge the effects and how they adapt to your fighting style.  Each character also have special moves and abilities that again vary the game play so you never know what you will get in terms of the attacks coming from other characters.

The story mode in essence is great but has difficulties, I feel, in presenting itself in the right way which could again be down to the conversion from Japanese and also its gaming culture.  Although the meat of the game play is solid, the stories themselves appear weak and confusing with voice overs that I cannot rate that highly.  Again, playing the tutorial first will iron out some of those moments but you are still left a little disoriented as to what is really going on and where the story is heading and you just keep trying to smash the living hell of any fiend that comes across you.  The fights are also based on one round and if you lose then it is game over.  The saving grace for this is that after each fight your game can be saved and therefore you will only need to go back to the fight you have lost rather than trawl through a whole section again.

This element is my only niggle on a game that is built on solid foundations and although you feel detached from the stories to a point will not destroy the core game play and what it has achieved.

The animations to Blazblue: Calamity Trigger are smooth and graphically beautiful adopting a Manga/Anime style in presentation which really shows.  Characters are well defined and a lot of colour on screen makes this a beautiful spectacle to see whilst trying to dodge those special attacks.  The menu system is also very easy to use being able to scroll through the options quickly and efficiently.  Pausing the game also brings up an option for your list of moves where you can gain a little knowledge on what your character can achieve in a fight.

Overall, Blazblue: Calamity Trigger is an excellent 2D beat em up that takes into consideration the novice player as well as a gamer that is well versed in the art of button combos to pull off effective moves.  A three button system for beginners works very well in principal and the smooth learning curve will allow you to become confident in a fighting game without the frustration of constantly getting your bum kicked.  Beautifully designed in its retro game play converted to a next gen format, Blazblue: Calamity Trigger delivers a solid beat em up for all levels of the gaming fraternity.  Poor conversions of story arcs and voiceovers aside, the quality of the gameplay coupled with the price points that stores have the game at will make a worthy purchase for any gamer looking to get into the genre as well as the gamers that are looking to add to their beat em up collection.