It’s as though one night in the games cupboard Risk and Scrabble got a bit friendly whilst watching endless Countdown conundrums and 9 months later out popped Quarrel as the game combines elements from all 3.

• Likes

  • Educational
  • Very addictive
  • Inexpensive

• Dislikes

  • Sound Crackles
  • Can use swear words (is that a bad thing?)
  • Obtuse anagrams

The aim of this game is to capture territories from your opponents but instead of rolling a die you have to create words that score higher than your opponent.  The best thing to do once you have paid the mere amount of 400 points is to head to the Tutorial. This gives you a precise and very informative overview of the game ( as you would expect).

Once armed with this ammunition of knowledge all that is left to do is to decide whether to play multiplayer online mode or one of the single player modes . Well if you are like me and your spelling is a bit carp and your ability to solve anagrams is near on non existent do what i did and break yourself in easily with the single player mode!

The first mode i tried was the quick match. This gives you the chance to either play against 1 AI or if you are feeling brave try against 3. My choice, like me, was simple… just the one.

On hitting the the play button you are transported to a multi colourered island for which you have an equal share. The game then decides how many characters, which range from Ninjas through to army men and more, you have on each section and who will start.

On my first attempt i am battling Malik on Orca reef, who has a Quarrel IQ of 170, but am i scared , a little but someone once said ” with great age comes great intelligence”, so i should be ok (ish)

It has been deemed that i am the red player and i go first.  Looking around the island i see i have 4 sections, 2 with 4 ninja’s, 1 with 5 ninja’s and 1 with 6. My adversary has the same amount of characters on each section but he has US army soldiers.  So for my 1st turn, i decide to attach his 4 soldiers with my 4 ninja’s and let battle commence!!!

The letters we have are DDDRAELE . What is the best i can do with the 4 letter to beat him (the amount of letter you can play is the amount of characters on the section), I play ” deed ” for 8 points and he plays “dead” for 8 points, so now it comes down to who was fastest and the winner was…..Me!  Hahaha in your face Malik, there is life in the Olderthangodsdog yet. This means my ninjas assult his soldiers and capture his segment. As there has to be a minimum of 1 character on each sector and a maximum of 8, 3 move forward and 1 stays behind.

What you find out after each go as it scrolls along the bottom of the screen is that the letters are not just 8 random letter but that they are infact an anagram that you could use if you have 8 characters on a segent. In this case it was “laddered”. It then goes on to give you definitions for the word. The even cleverer bit is that it recognises what the word you last played was and tells you if it was a verb, noun or adjective. It also gives you a definition and does the same for your oponent.

Back to the game, do i reinforce my 1ninja or do i go on the attack. Well attack is the best form of defence, so let the war continue…
5 Vs 5 and the letters are…ALTAONLY , i have a mind blank and play “only” and he plays “tally”, only one loser here and its me. This leaves me with 1 ninja on that square. It is still my go, do i attack another or lick my wounds, i attack another sector.  Too cut a long story very short, it was a massacre ,my ninjas didn’t stand a chance, well not with me doing the spelling.

This didnt matter to me. I loved the way my opponents battered my Ninja’s with there tiles and the way the blackened out and floated skyward with there halo’s glowing as they went.  In summary i learnt the hard way.  It just goes to prove i wouldn’t have made a great general.

If you attack and are successful you will reap the rewards, you take there tile, there is money and even a prisoner ( who can be used to add extra letters). If you collect enough of there land , during the game, you wil be given reinforcements that you can add just as the next word begins, so what could be a losing scenario could be turned around. which is a great idea.

The game is finished when 1 player has all of the land and as it says “to the victor goes the spoils”. It then shows your the stats for your game.  Once you think you have mastered beating just one AI , why not up the stakes by taking on 2-3. This is when the game comes into its own.

Now is a chance to really hone your skills. It will make you think more tactically. There is no real point in attacking and not reinforcing as it will only end in tears.  To keep you involved whilst the other opponents are fighting it out, quarrel shows you what 8 letters they have and allows you to try and solve the anagram or to just make the longest word possible. I only got a couple of the anagrams in full but it keeps you thinking.  I must admit, some of the 8 letter words it uses are quite obscure and even when it defines them , it sheds no more light which does lead to a bit of frustration.  I also found out , quite by accident, that you could use the word W*nk ( no it isnt wink, or wonk). It even defines it which for the more adult of us can be a giggle but may lead to a bit of embarrassment for kids asking questions a little earlier in their life than they should!!

Once you have had a few goes on quick match, why not try one of the other single player modes. There are make match, dominaton, showdown and challanges.

In ” make match”, you get the choice of basically casual or clocked quarrel. The difference being one uses a timer and the other has no no no no no no no no no no limits.  Domination is the name of the game and that is exactly what you have to do. Its a series of 12 matches ranging form 1 on 1, to four player. You have to progress through increasingly challanging number of opponents who’s vocabulary wil increase untill you dominate the whole island. Each round is scored giving you gold , silver or my favourite bronze, which will make you try and do better making the game longer.

Showdown takes you through a raft of AI opponents from the very simple Dwayne to the cream de le cream Kali in a series of 1 vs 1 battles. The further up the scale you get the more intence your concentration will need to be .  Last but not least is the challanges. This is split into 4 sections that offer focused challanges. These are fightback, where you have to get from a heavy losing position to that of victory. Another is 8 vs 8 megaword challanges. The final 2 are stealing an exact amount of prisoners and blazing a trail of successive victories.

Once you have exhausted these you can even go online and challenge the world. You can play ranked or friendly games. With these games you may meet worthy opponents or just more Dwaynes !!! There is an option to use your camera to see your online opponets but it doesnt seem to be Kinect compatable which seems strange.

My overal view of this game is that it is an addictive game well worth the 400 ms point you have to pay for it. I am not a great person for word games but this one had me hooked . I had to win, i had to get a better word that my opponent.

It is also a great teaching game, i am sure if you play it enough, your vocabulary will increase. You will learn words that you would have normally never heard of.  Quarrel is a nice break form shooter or driving games and is a great game to test your grasp of the English Language.

Insta buy?  At 400 points I think so.  Quarrel provides a rare combination of fun, strategy and grey cell bashing mayhem that offers something a little different at a ridiculously low price.

Related posts:

1. Quarrel releases today
2. Joe Danger Special Edition – Review (XBLA)
3. Swarm – Review (XBLA, PSN)

• Likes

  • Fluid control system
  • Well designed tracks
  • The Lab is a great addition
  • Sandbox provides endless possibilities

• Dislikes

  • A little confusing at first

With the news that Joe Danger was coming to the 360 a few months back, as a Special Edition a lot of people were shocked.  Hello Games had decided to unleash game design nirvana on both major formats for all to enjoy.  Little did we know at the time that Hello Games had actually ran out of money last year, releasing a somewhat incomplete game onto the PS3, but Xbox 360 owners were about to see Hello Games’ full vision of Joe Danger come to life for a price point of 1200 MSP.

So what is so special about Joe Danger you ask?  Well, this comes down to two things really.  One is that well designed games that plays to the great influences of games past will always find their way to the top and two, Joe Danger, underneath that gloriously addictive gameplay, is a story of David vs Goliath, quality over substance and a delightful narrative of how a small studio, through passion, love and dedication can produce what could be the digital game of the year, proving what we already know.  It’s not about how much money you have to throw at a game, it is how you utilise the money you have to make the game you envisioned.

So, I am going to assume that you have never played the game on PS3 before and let you know that the game is all about the most determined stuntman ever.  After being at the top of his game many years ago Joe Danger had an accident that threatened to stop him from walking again.  Cue, the dramatic comeback and spending the next few hours navigating Joe over well designed side scrolling tracks to collect a variety of stars that enable you to advance through the tracks.  Ramps, barrels, ledges amongst other items are all there to provide enough obstacles for you to either trick off of or to slow you down on those all important combo runs, tricking your heart out using the left and right bumpers, that will put you on global leaderboards so you can see where you stand amongst the rest of the community.

When you first start out the game can seem a little confusing.  Your initial reaction is to speed run and collect as many stars as possible along the way, completely forgetting the finer points of Joe Danger SE as they are not explained clearly enough.  The plus side, however, is that the control system and the very essence of the easy learning curve will make you forget about such minor foibles and open up the joy that was found in titles from the 90′s and earlier, like Excitebike, Kickstart etc.

It’s only when you complete the first few courses and find out that you need to spend stars on unlocking new courses that you realise you need replay each course to gather the major star collections in order to progress.  It is this point, when you return to each course and start to hone in Joe Danger’s finer points of it’s well crafted gameplay and understand how deep, but yet thoroughly enjoyable each level is.

The collection is stars is very necessary to progress and sometimes can become an obsession due to the way that these stars are gained.  Whether is be searching for hidden yellow stars, collecting all of the purple stars on the course, collecting the DANGER letters, beating the track in a certain time or collecting all of the bonus coins there is a lot of variety that will keep you coming back to attempt each track time and time again.  To add to the variety too each course is laid out on various tracks which you can move onto in various intersections by a quick press of the D-pad.

To add to an already stellar single player experience is The Lab, a section of the game for purists rather than a casual run.  As with each course on the single player, difficulty levels start to build up throughout the game and timing starts to become essential towards the latter part of the game.  The Lab, takes this ethic to the max from stage 1 in a series of well presented short runs that require the right button presses at the right time to be able to complete the tracks in as quickest time as possible, whilst learning new skills and techniques to take into the single player experience.

Pro medals are also dotted throughout the game which will unlock various items and characters along the way, introducing a new way to play the game which also encourages you to explore various routes to find that perfect run.  Split screen multiplayer is also available for you and a friend to compete head to head in and mimic some of the competitions against Team Nasty from the single player events.  Last but not least, when you think that you’ve exhausted all of the possibilities within the game itself you will find in the menus the Sandbox, where you can design and share a course you’ve created with your friends, a feature that although seems a staple part of games like this nowadays but provides longevity beyond the games’ asking price.

Overall, Joe Danger SE is a testament to what I have always believed for years.  That David can take on Goliath and win on a limited budget.  All that it takes is some people with passion, design flare and an understanding of what makes games great.  From the happy and vibrant colour palette to the big grin on Joe Danger’s face, even when he gets hurt, to the design of the courses and the wanton need to go and revisit each track time and time again to combo the whole track and rack a ludicrous score for the leaderboard, Joe Danger just sucks you right in and never lets you go.

Admittedly, Joe Danger has turned up late to the 2011 party but is has proved in a very short space of time how a game can be designed to incorporate the fun factors of the golden era whilst engaging the consumer in something very rare in today’s society of rebranding franchises.  Joe Danger appears on the surface to be a racer at heart but peel away a few layers and understand the title more you will find a platformer amongst other genres in there too.  Joe Danger will see the year out in style and provides the perfect title to steal our Digital Title of the year award.

Related posts:

1. Free Christmas DLC coming to Joe Danger SE on XBLA
2. Joe Danger coming to 360
3. Swarm – Review (XBLA, PSN)

The 5th in the line of games from Bethesda, produced over a period of time spanning more than 20 years, has immediately convinced me that  they’ve more than done it again with a rip-roaring, dragon slaying, finger cramping, social life destroying monster.

• Likes

  • Reworked engine works like a charm
  • Ambitious, deep and immersive experience
  • Skills trees
  • Unique character development

• Dislikes

  • The amount of hours lost playing it!

It saddens me to admit that I only joined the saga at The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, however I do state as my defence that my laptop is so old and knackered that the chances of it running Elder Scrolls: Arena without it crashing are minimal and quite frankly there’s only 2 kinds of hope of me making it through this review without it crashing at least once; they’re Bob and No and Bob just left town.

So ploughing on while the going’s good let me lead you into the glorious world that is Skyrim.

Just to warn you in advance that being a girl there are going to be a few girly outbursts and here comes the 1st 1………

IT’S SOOOOOOO PURDY!!!!!!!

Graphically this game looks stunning, not just the distance backdrops but the surrounding landscape and characters all bear up to close scrutiny and pass with flying colours. The flow of water, movement of garments, the wind passing through the branches and flowers are smooth as silk. The grass is green, the snow is white and all is good in the world………but then if that were true there’d be no game.

With regards to the characters it’s the usual suspects: High Elves, Argonian, Wood Elves, Breton, Dark Elves, Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orc and Redguard. Although throughout the game you will encounter all of these races Skyrim itself is the home of the Nords and if you play as a Nord you will find that the NPC’s are more friendly and positive towards you.

When choosing your character there are less toggles to play with on your appearance which in a way is a big relief if you’re a bit OCD like me and have to tweak every single knob (STOP thinking that you BAD reader) just to see what effect it will have and therefore can spend a good half hour trying to get your characters chin juuuuust right.

The 1st development that you’ll notice in the game is that the class system has been removed, so instead of certain attributes being assigned to your race and more easy to level up throughout the game you can level up straight across the board allowing a more natural feeling to your characters development. It also helps to produce a much more unique feel to your character than previous incarnations have done. Quite literally what you do defines who you become. You no longer pick a birth sign, these have been evolved into guardian stones that you activate as you encounter them during the game, the first 3, The Mage, The Thief and The Warrior you are taken to during the tutorial and will increase certain attributes in your character until you activate another stone.

‘But what about the story behind the game??’ I hear you cry (Oh go on……please???? It is Panto season after all) Well, the High King’s been killed and there’s a civil war going on between the forces loyal to the old regime and those that want to split away from what remains of the Empire (sounds a bit like a cross between what’s going on in the Middle East at the moment and Star Wars but hey, on with the story). So it’s all looking a bit Even Stevens in the war when what should come along to liven up the party…… Dragons and sodding big ones at that.

This has all been foretold by the Tamriel’s equivalent of Nostradamus who has written the Elder Scrolls and it’s your mission, should you choose to accept it of course, to stop the dragons, unite the Empire and all this before tea time.

Now usually i’m quite happy to jump from the main quest to side missions and back again as I please interspersed with days of running around picking flowers, watching the sun set, the stars wheeling overhead followed by the sun rise all the while singing The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Muesli (yes that was girly moment number 2) however I have tried to be good and stick to the main quest but I have been finding this difficult. Mainly for 2 reasons; 1. There’s so much to explore and 2. Everyone wants to talk to you.

It’s not quite to the extreme of Fable 3 where you end up being surrounded by a mob if you’re popular but it does mean that your quest list fills up quickly and you will find that you some of these side missions cross over into the main quest, this happened to me and I inadvertently completed a side quest without even knowing it was a quest till it told me to return the stolen item to its owner.

The great thing about this is if you play, like I do, you won’t have a problem with this however if you do like to put your head down and get on with it then you may find these interruptions irritating and you can find the babble of voices a bit overwhelming when you’re trying to focus on someone talking to you about something relevant to the quest you’re on and there’s some scrawny kid wanting to tell you about working on mum’s fruit stall. Go to skool kid and get an edumication like what I did!

The realm of Skyrim itself is Mahoosive!!! A land of harsh, stormy mountains and lush green valleys it’s nearly as high and deep as it is wide and there’s places of interest hidden in every nook and cranny. Hazardous mountain passes take you deep into the heart of the mountains my precious or you can always go on top if you want.  There’s caves and ruins bursting with various enemies just waiting to annihilate you and of course just walking up the road holds it’s own dangers with wolves, crabs, bears, giants, trolls not to mention bandits all just waiting to rip your head off/tear out your intestines/club you to death; I just Love the warm reception you get in this place!

Of course I haven’t mentioned much yet the main thing that the game is based around……Dragons!!!! Having been nearly hunted to extinction they haven’t been seen for many ages but now they’re back and they’re miffed. You’ll encounter your first dragon quite quickly if you stick to the main quest, however, you will see them at random times throughout the game and they won’t always attack you as some need to be provoked. Now it turns out that you have a slight advantage over the majority of residents of Skyrim. When doing the quest you help assist the killing of a dragon and when it dies you absorb it’s soul. Turns out that people who have the ability to do this are called ‘Dragonborn’ and the absorption of dragons souls gives you a unique power. When combined with the words of power they allow you to perform ‘shouts’. This means you can do things from force push, to teleportation, to using fire spells with power almost on a par of that of the dragons.

Now that all sounds fine and dandy but just because you’re a special one doesn’t mean you’re going to have it easy. To unlock a shouts full potential you need 3 words of power so you’ve got to find them. However the only way you can activate each word once you’ve learnt it is with a dragons soul so 3 words + 3 souls = 1 shout and with 20 different shouts to learn you’re going to be making a serious dent in an already endangered species population.

With regards to how the game combat compares to Oblivion there have been many changes, for instance you can now dual weald weapons. This is great although you do have to take into account a couple of things; that you’re going to wear out your weapons quicker and it also means you can’t block. You can also dual weald magic so you can either use different spells to see how they work as a combo or double up the same spell for a bit more va va voom. Of course, you can always go a bit more traditional and have magic in 1 hand and a weapon in the other so you can hit ‘em with magic and then beat the crap out of them while you’re waiting for your magicka to charge up again.

The enemy levelling system of the game has been changed, the locations are either set to match your skill level at the time of entry so that places and enemies will be challenging, but not impossible or they’ll be at a set level so if you stumble across them too early in the game they’ll be nigh on impossible until you’ve levelled up more.

A huge, great change is the menu system. You press the B button (360) and a simple 4 point compass appears; Up takes you to skills, Right to inventory, Down is maps and Left is magic. There’s no more trigger button, shoulder button malarky, it’s all clear cut precise detail. All your weapons information is right there for you and everything you’re carrying can be examined in much closer detail (remember this dear reader, you’re going to need it). Instead of just having 8 favourites that you can attribute to your hot keys of the D pad you can now favourite as much as you like. Simply press up and the game pause while you select whatever spell, weapon anything that you require from the favourites list.

One thing that comes across quite clearly is that not only do Bethesda want to make everyone more unique, they also want to make you more self sufficient. You no longer have to rely on a blacksmith to repair your weapons for you, you can train to smithy and to make your own weapons and armour. You can learn how to enchant weapons so you can try out different enchantments on your favourite weapon and see what works for you, potion making has been made easier, the game remembers potions that you’ve made although you no longer carry the equipment with you to do this, you have to find a location with an alchemy table and you can even cook your own dinner! (Sadly they’re set recipes coz I make a mean macaroni cheese which is great in the Fallout series but doesn’t wash in ye olden days).

When it comes to skills and levelling up again huge changes have been made. For a start you don’t have to find a bed when it’s time for your character to level up……YAY!!!!!! When you level up you have to choose whether to level up your health, your magicka or your stamina. This then unlocks a skill perk. Now this is where Bethesda show what clever bunnies they are. Whatever you do during the game levels you up in some way, you fight you level up, you sneak you level up, alchemy, smithing and enchanting all level you up and this is reflected in the skills perks.

To select your skills you simply look to the stars, the constellations are your perks menu. Depending on what you’ve been doing you will get a choice of which perk you can pick from. There are 18 skill sets to select from equally split between The Mage, The Thief and The Warriors constellations and the perks branch out from each skill. There are a total of 251 perks to choose from but plan carefully as once you’ve selected a perk you can’t deselect it so if you choose a perk and it’s not working for you I’m afraid you’re stuck with it till you level up again and earn another perk. You don’t have to use your perks straight away, you can store them for use at a later date if you want.

But what I REALLY love is that when you select a perk the star lights up and when you’re playing the game and look up at the sky it’s your stars that are shining back at you, so your sky is as unique as you. How bloody clever is that?!?!?!?!?!?!?

There are a few bugs and glitches to be ironed out but considering the magnitude of the game that’s no great surprise. The funniest one i’ve found so far is when i’m on my horse (which has the stature of a Thelwell pony) at certain camera angles it vanishes leaving me looking like i’m sitting legs akimbo in mid air which is certainly not becoming of a Lady! Horses in the game seem to be 1 speed only so you no longer have to wait for the graphics to catch up with you like you used to get in Oblivion. You get the occasional floating body or a hovering sword; I’m all up for a funniest photo competition where you have to send in you pics of the funniest glitches but we’ll have to chat up the editor about that 1!

There’s a couple of things that I think might enhance the game just a tiny tad. There’s animals galore in this game all waiting for you to slaughter them, cook them and turn their skins into leather but considering how much of the maps snowbound nothing leaves tracks. I’ve lost many an elk in the mountains full of arrows but if he legs it and I lose him then it’s bye bye arrows, dinner and leather. And I wanna be able to make snow angels!!!! I’d also love to be able to name my horse ( go on please Bethesda…..just for ‘lil ol’ me) because if you seriously expect me to believe that you, dear readers, aren’t calling your horse STORM or THUNDER or in my case DOBBIN then you’re a liar, liar, pants on fire!!! And while there’s some good voice acting going on by some Academy Award winnning actors on the main characters there’s no serious thespian action going on ( I said THESPIAN…….you’re going straight to hell with that dirty mind of yours!) with the NPC’s.  To be honest, the male npc’s all sound like Arnie crossed with the Swedish Chef out of The Muppet show and the ladies like The Cheeky Girls (only not so Cheeky Cheeky) and with something as ambitious as Skyrim I felt that it could have been paid attention to.

Before we say goodbye, if I haven’t sold this game to you already then ponder on this. If for no other reason you should buy this game because it’s been thought up by, designed by, programmed by people who love what they do and who love this game. It’s a game for gamers that’s been made by gamers with a serious passion for RPG’s, narrative and a world that is alive and ambitious in its size.  You can see it in every face, every blade of grass, every flake of snow the care, time, love and attention that’s been put into it and feel that it may take some time to see a project that has been so cared for come to fruition anytime soon. So buy it for them as a thank you, they love it and so will you (coz if you don’t me and Dobbin’ll be after you!)

Related posts:

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim making of trailer
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim midnight launch details
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim draws near as avatar items come to Xbox Live

• Likes

  • Characterful graphics with subtle animation
  • Very useful tutorials
  • Online play for up to 5 players

• Dislikes

  • Single play against A.I. feels weak in a game that is about bluffing

Bang! at its heart is a game all about bluffing, misdirection and sneakiness. Set in the Wild West, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly engage in shootouts and duels to the death. The players all take on different roles, each with its own objective. Someone is the sheriff, whose objective is to kill all the outlaws. Other players are the outlaws who, guess what, want to win the game by killing the sheriff. The sheriff is helped by a deputy role. The last role you can be is the renegade (my personal favourite) who wins the game if he can engineer it so that the Sheriff is the last man standing, before killing him himself. Only the identity of the Sheriff is known, so the secret roles of all the other players have to be deduced, and this is the heart of the game – trying to work out which side people are on and then dealing with them as friend or foe.

All the players have a character assigned to them, to add further variety from game to game, giving the player a different amount of life points and a special ability. The turns then proceed round with players playing cards from their hand to thwart their enemies and aid their friends. Bang cards cause damage to other players, but can be avoided if the person being shot can play a Missed card from their hand. There are weapon/equipment cards to beef up your character and instant affect cards that cause a whole range of amusing situations to unfold (sent to jail, blown up by dynamite etc.)

So how does this excellent card game fair on the ios platform? The first thing that really struck me was the quality of the graphic design. All the artwork that has been used is extremely characterful and quirky. Along with the music, the artistic elements of the game really help to create that Wild West Spaghetti-western feel. All the animated elements can have their speeds adjusted which is a great bonus, as it can feel like a long time for your turn to come around if you are watching lots of heavily animated turns from the other players. There is a very useful tutorial for the game, as well as a text based rule book to help you with quick reference questions.

As for the game play, I had mixed feelings. Bang! is all about reading people (image – a group of Wild West poker players sat round a table in the saloon, letter box eyes trying to read everything while giving nothing away to the other players). With this in mind, the single player option with this game just does not make the grade for me. Yes, you can try and work out the roles of the different players by their cardplay, but this game is all about table-talk and bluffing, and an AI is just not up to the challenge. This is not the fault of the game designers, it’s just not possible on the medium (yet!). The pass and play option for the game fairs much better, as now we have the heart of the game back again. I still would prefer a deck of cards if I was sat around a table, but this mode for the game would be very fun to play in situations where cards would not work, such as on a car journey/outside in the garden etc. What has really added to this app is the addition of online play through an update in mid-October this year. You have to sign in with an additional login to your Game Centre account, but once you register you can play against live opponents across a range of different platforms.

So, in conclusion, this is a game with a lot of personality and beautifully adapted for the iOS. Now it supports online play, I think that it is well worth the money for the app. Do I still prefer the card game? Most definitely yes – if friends are coming over for an evening of games. But for all the times that this isn’t a possibility, playing Bang! on my ipad provides a very amusing tactical high-noon-shoot-em-up in the Wild West.

Related posts:

1. NHL 11 – Review (360, PS3)
2. Madden 12 – Review (PS3, 360)
3. Worms Ultimate Mayhem – Review (XBLA, PSN, Steam)

I know having spoken to a few people that the original game put split screen mutliplayer games on the map. I was hoping that this 2011 remake would show me what i missed all those years ago when.

• Likes

  • Voice characterisation
  • Split screen multiplayer goodness
  • Good level of multiplayer options

• Dislikes

  • Health regneration
  • A.I. Inconsistencies
  • Auto aim is annoying

This incarnation of the game is brought to you by Activision, who have been around since 1979 and have such games as Pitfall (1982) Tony hawks, Transformers and Blur under their large belt as well as the almighty Call Of Duty series and Eurocom who were founded in 1988 have the james Bond series, Beijing 2008, Ice age and Disney Universe which is a little hit and miss in terms of quality gaming fare.

In 2010 Goldeneye was released on the Wii and was a big hit, so this version is technically a re-release of a re-release, so nothing like cashing in on a good thing eh!!!

The first thing I noticed is that James bond was Daniel Craig , now correct me if i am wrong but was the film Pierce Brosnen, i mean i am not complaining but continuity??? I suppose it is a licensing thing as Mr Craig is the current Bond and would fit to the present day theming.

The game starts you in a training centre being told how to use the various . You then have to work you way through the office assassinating people before the game fully starts. What a start it is too, its like being in a multiplex watching the real thing. The MGM lion roars and then you have the semi clad women gliding across the screen and the music plays out!!

The single player game itself is a great mix of combat and stealth throughout. On the stealth levels you have to creep around avoiding cameras that set of alarms informing everybody in the area where you are. You also have to kill the guard that litter the area and this highlights a couple of the AI inconsistencies. You can murder one about 6 feet away from his patrol partner and on numerous occasions the living one fails to react but seconds later will wise up to your presence and track you down like fox!

The other strange thing that goes along with this is the disappearing bodies . What i mean by this is that you can kill numerous people and their corpses disappear , leaving there guns where they were, so another guard for instance with be standing where in theory there should be a bloody mound of bodies but will not even bat an eye!

The guards etc are mobile and will duck and dive for cover but with the pistol having auto aim that i have never encountered before , it is quite easy to kill them at distance if required. This does take out some of the skill of having to aim yourself.

James bond also has the inability to jump. Now i have seen a few of Bonds films and believe me he can!! He only seems to be able to clamber over pre determined items during the game. This does make the action a little bit unrealistic as you can only climb over what the designers want you too.

The on screen radar is good as it shows you the amount of enemies and from what direction the will be approaching. It does come into its own on the stealth levels as you will clearly see who is moving towards or away from you.

During the game the game you are equipped with a mobile phone ( down on pad). This can be used throughout the game to hack alarms, find plans, unlock doors, identifying contacts etc. This is signalled during the game by “i” appearing just above the radar. It is not always obvious although where you have to be looking as it is triggered if you are in the vicinity of the object or task.

The range of guns is good as you can hold 3 at anytime. Some have silencers attached, some have grenades attached and all of these are initiated by the pressing left on the d pad.

At times there are also night visions goggles to use ( up on d pad). You know when these will be as the appear on you screen on the gadget wheel.  Also, to add a little variety to gameplay tank and helicopters can be accosted and driven to break up the mix of stealth and shooting levels.

Hardened players of single player shooters may not the like the regenerative health but it does play into the strengths of older styles shooters like Halo and at least give the player half a chance when confronted by a hoard of guards.

After each mission you given a time and side quests are added in ie collecting photo’s. There are also what i can only describe as orange and black tokens with a face on to collect in each mission to complete it perfectly. There are to be honest not the easiest things to locate .

Overall, the single player is well worth a play even though the cinematics between levels can be more exciting than the levels you are playing.  This is not to say that the whole single player experience is like this but I felt that some of the level designs were lacking that little spark to keep you engaged.

After the single player why not try the MI6 ops Missions of which there are 11 starting at jungle which is an elimination round and ending in solar that is an assault game . In all of the 11 games within the ops there are 3 different types.

Elimination is to basically kill a specified amount of enemies. Defence is a game where you activate a computer and have to defend it for a set period against wave of enemies and finally stealth where you have to kill without be spotted. If spotted once the game ends. Only once you have collected enough stars do further levels open.

The online game has 13 different game modes. These start with conflict ( death match ), team conflict, Golden Gun, Black Box, Golden eye all the way to Classic conflict. These are all the standard games on most “shooter” game but given Bond themes.

Sticking too its roots , it still has local split screen. You can have four people on one consul with an impressive amount of playable character from old bond movies and the current game. I counted at least 30+ including : Jaws, Baron Samedi, Dr no, Scaramanga, Blofeld and Oddjob to name but a few. There is also an impressive 14 maps and although so there is plenty of variety and is great fun with friends.

Overall, Goldeneye 007: Reloaded left me ” shaken but not stirred”. It isn’t anything that is particularly wrong with the game as a whole but is something that we haven’t already seen in other shooters which raise the bar a lot higher than this title.  If you’re a Bond fan then this is a gimme but from what I was told, the original had a special kind of magic that brought people together in a way that is hard to recreate today and although a lot of fun falls short of my expectations.

Related posts:

1. PS3 to get Goldeneye: Reloaded exclusive DLC
2. Activision unveil Goldeneye exclusively for the Wii
3. Goldeneye: Classic map pack trailer

Yup, the Saints are back, bigger, badder and more famous than before but unfortunately their fame has pissed off a few gangs but more importantly The Syndicate, a group that has more fingers in more pies than Ron Jeremy in a gang bang!  After the Third Street Saint’s escapades in Stilwater has brought them more fame and fortune, the Syndicate are looking for a tickle of the profits and a little respect, something that the Saints in their new found fame are not prepared to give.  Cue some crazy opening sequences which end with you landing in Steelport, trying to get a foothold in the city and fighting back by any means necessary.

• Likes

  • Fluid control system
  • Outlandish gameplay
  • Enhanced customisation
  • Oh, the comedy!

• Dislikes

  • What’s not to like!

You see, the concept of Saints Row as a franchise is pretty much unchanged.  Winning territory over your rivals is as big a part of the game as ever and progressing through the storyline is as hilarious as it is immersive.  You start out by getting your car, grabbing some weapons from the local armoury as well as recruiting your Saints gang all over again breaking people out of trouble and stamping your authority all over the city.

As with any sandbox action game, after the initial tutorial missions are over you are pretty much free to explore wherever you want, within reason, and take on the multitude of side missions and crazy mini tasks that are available as well as proceed through the story itself.  Saints Row The Third is huge and almost every aspect of the title with the go anywhere, do anything moniker being taken to the next level.  The ability to now fly aeroplanes as well as helicopters and even base jump from buildings provides not only a horizontal playground to get your kicks in but also a vertical one now with plenty of rooftops and building to explore.

One thing that has always stood out in Saints games is the level of customisation in them and going on the theme of huge, Saints Row The Third again stands head and shoulder above the rest.  From costumes, to weapons, individual items, skin colour, tan lines, cars, characters even to the sex appeal slider that is new to the game, Saints Row The Third is never backwards in coming forwards and with the Initiation Station on the Saints Row website coupled with a whole suite of options in the game you can easily spend hours on end uploading and downloading outrageous characters.

Of course, a lot of the customisation options are unlockable and this comes in the form of earning respect points to level up your character and pay to unlock stuff along the way.  Everything you do in Steelport will earn you points and as you grow your character through the main missions as well as side missions like the new Professor Genki’s Super Ethical Reality Climax game show which runs like a cross between madcap Japanese game shows and Arnie’s 80′s, um, “classic” The Running Man.

Combat has always been a bit of a bugbear in sandbox games with it always feeling  little woolly and weapon selection not quite hitting the mark when you need it most.  Saints Row’s attempts in the past have been good but not great but Saints Row The Third shines with a responsive set of controls that will have you locking on, shooting, kicking, punching and cock slapping your way through the city, always in the knowledge that a flick of the thumbstick will give you the desired weapon selection to scroll through.  The button mapping has also been well designed, although you can change them, and helps you to deliver that knock out blow via combos more efficiently than before.  This aids in the game not feeling like a slog and allows you to feel comfortable in how your character will attack at any point.

A nice new addition to the control setup is the now nicknamed “Awesome” button.  This button, whilst being the run button as default will transform other moves into stunning set pieces that make you go “awesome!”.  Being able to jack a car is now made faster and simpler by utilising the awesome button, allowing your character to jump straight through the windscreen and kick the driver out rather than the standard opening the door, throwing the driver out, getting into said car, blah, blah, blah.  The “Awesome” button has a wealth of funny and wow moments and should be encouraged to be pressed wherever possible.

In typical sandbox fashion the playground is huge with plenty to do and plenty to see as well as having the freedom to do whatever you want wherever you want but Saints Row The Third has also added a handy co-op mode where you and a buddy can roam around the city of Steelport together creating carnage.  This is not limited to free play though as you can also follow your storylines and sub missions at will with a drop in, drop out mechanic that adds a little something, something to an already enjoyable game.

What game would be complete nowadays without a traditional helping of some kind of horde mode in the game.  Yup, Gears Of War 2 has a lot to answer for in that department and with zombies in Call Of Duty and a lot of games copying a very successful formula of fending off waves of enemies on a particular map.  Saints Row The Third has its very own take on this gametype called, wait for it! Whored Mode.  Yup, you’ve read that right and as comical as it sounds and also a superb play on words, Whored Mode delivers exactly what you would expect from a Saints take on the mode.  Fending off waves of enemies with singular weapons in either solo or co-op makes for some laugh a minute experiences and is a joyous experience that adds gravy to an already meaty package.

Visually, Volition have cranked up the volume to 11 with Saints Row The Third in terms of previous developments.  Steelport seems to have a lot more going on this time around and the city feels more alive for it.  Random acts of violence and the hustle and bustle of city life do not slow the engine down one bit here as they may have done in SR2 giving you a more fluid experience than before.  Add to that a stellar soundtrack with the right beats pumping at the right time makes for some real memorable moments.

Overall, Saints Row The Third is a welcome return to a sandbox franchise that has consistently tried to stand out from its competitors in the genre providing an outlandish storyline and over the top gameplay that is fun, never takes itself too seriously and to be quite honest, is probably the slickest title in its genre out there to date.  Refinement rather than massive moves forward are the order of the day but with some excellent additions in terms of content, a slick control scheme and an engine running a smoother game, Saints Row The Third IS the only sandbox action game you’ll require this year and probably the next!

Related posts:

1. Saints Row The Third hands on impressions
2. Saints Row The Third’s Initiation Station already hits 1 million unique characters
3. Saints Row The Third Initiation Station beta begins

Tension mounts as the camera shot draws away to his real predicament, one that sees the car being lifted into a compactor, whilst his enemy looks on discussing briefly the reason why our character is in this situation.  The base of the story laid out, the tension hanging and the initial key presses to start your escape ala Battlefield.  You manage to get out, run to a car with your foes just about to follow you.  The conversion from game into pure film form is right there and then ………. loading ……… loading …….loading.  The tension is broken, the feeling of what proper film form gave you is gone, washed away in the bleakness of a loading screen and tries hard to claw you back throughout the game but not with much success.

• Likes

  • Great Concept
  • Autolog included
  • Frostbite 2 engine

• Dislikes

  • Handling
  • Blockbuster film form doesn’t work

You see, this is a problem that has the gaming industry on its knees as they try to find a way to convey the structure and narrative of film into our gaming worlds and unfortunately, the intervention of a loading screen at key points seems to be the main reason that games just don’t work when played or viewed in such a cinematic way.  That’s not to say that narrative doesn’t work, it does and very successfully but when you try to merge two art forms together, it tends to lack somewhere and Need For Speed: The Run has this as its downfall.

The game itself is good and Black Box, through Criterion’s stellar approach to critically acclaimed Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, have learnt all over again what a Need For Speed game should be about providing break neck gameplay with responsive controls, over a series of roads all running through the incredible Frostbite 2 engine.  The now bread and butter overlay of Autolog has also been included to allow for a challenge or two between friends logging speed runs on certain roads and sending them straight to your mates for them to beat.

The game itself can require precision driving at times and is evident very early on in the game as you are being chased down by people that you owe money too.  Being able to apply the right amount of power and braking to negotiate the corners to get the required speed out of them takes a little time as you get used to the weight of the car and its distribution through the corners.  Beating the train to the crossing, for example, provides for some frustrating moments but once you are out on the open, things start to become more like the Need For Speed we know.

Based on a race across the country from San Francisco to New York, Need For Speed, takes us on an adventure of break neck racing taking in many locations and weather conditions.  Some roads are more open and straight whilst others have a lot of bends where your car choice can make a difference between overtaking the required amount of cars to proceed to the next section and having to rack your brain to select the right specs on any of the cars available to tackle the conditions.  As well as the standard racing the roads are jam packed with vehicles for you to negotiate but all the while concentrates also on the short cuts that you have come to know and love to reduce those times down and overtake more opponents too.

It may seem simple enough but when you have to negotiate landslides and other tricky conditions that the game throws at you, Need For Speed – The Run delivers enough variety in the gameplay and sometimes the most unexpected times to reward the gamer with a thrill that only the newer Need For Speed titles can deliver and with the focus on big blockbuster action sequences some WTF moments too.

The handling dynamics of the cars themselves seem to have had a personality problem as they cannot decide what they really should be.  It feels as though they are firmly in bed between Shift’s more sim handling but has had a bit of a conflict with itself and also tried to add a little of the handling of Undercover too which is not the best relationship.  It is a far cry from Need For Speed Pursuit’s excellent handling and suffers a little because of it.

The star of the show, however, has to be the Frostbite 2 engine and everything it creates.  The lighting particles and textures in the landscape are as jaw dropping as you expect, creating environments that play well to Frostbite 2′s strengths and doesn’t let up, no matter how busy the screens get.

It is, however, unfortunate that Need For Speed: The Run suffers from these foibles as this is what really upsets the apple cart and makes the game a do i, don’t i proposition.  I have to applaud Black Box in trying something different to build onto the rebirth of the franchise, something I do not do a lot, I admit.  The cinematics and the attempt to create a blockbuster film like game are sincere BUT games just don’t behave like they should to build up tension within the storyline and this unfortunately is one major flaw in the game.

I had problems trying to find friends that have populated the leaderboards and inevitably is what the games longevity lives and dies on.  The ability to try and beat other people’s times.  If people aren’t taking up the challenge like they did in Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit then the game will fail despite the great things the title also has to offer.

Related posts:

1. EA and Blackbox announce Need For Speed: The Run
2. Need For Speed: The Run to use Frostbite 2 engine
3. Need For Speed: The Run demo coming this month

• Likes

  • Challenges are fun
  • Good animation and voice characterisation
  • Simple but fun

• Dislikes

  • Repetitive missions
  • Puzzles are too easy
  • Enemies are not challenging to kill

The last one i played, and so far the only game that i nearly destroyed property over, involved a genetically modified primate, some prehistoric animals, a screaming women and an island that looked like a head !! Need i go into any more detail.  The problem that always seems to appear is the lack of development time that studios have with a title.  We all know that a good game needs roughly two years but when films can get turned around in months the pressure is there for a game to follow suit, normally with bad results.

Therefore, i was a bit wary of playing a game linked to a film, albeit an animated one.  This game is based one of late Belgium “Herges” ( George Remi ) ‘s books. The late writer who penned and animated over 24 books and has had he works translated into over 30 languages and has now been given gaming life by Ubisoft.

Ubisoft, the French based publishing team with 23 studios in 16 countries that have brought to the public’s attention many great games, including the Tom Clancy games amongst others and as such are always willing to take a risk with fresh IP, some with success, others not but with the “European Connection” between Publisher, Author and novels it seems a marriage made in heaven.

The Adventures of Tintin sees you playing as the young Belgium reporter in the hunt for a good story no matter what problems this may cause or trouble you may end up in. The story starts with you buying a model boat called “the unicorn ” and your dog snowy discovers it on a market store. After a chat with another stall holder and the purchase of a book you soon find there is more to this boat than meets the eye!! It is then your job , as a reporter, to uncover the mystery of the boat whilst stopping the “bad guys” from getting there hands on the secrets.

Most of the game is played as a side on 2D platformer interlaced with cut scenes and different vehicle to master and the odd piece of 3rd person running sections.

The majority of the action takes place either in a mansion, in caves, on a boat. Tintin has to climb, crawl, run, jump, swim and avoid all means of obstacles which stand in his way.  Apart from hitting the buttons as promoted on screen most of this does not take too much skill. Some of the movement is partly automated which will make it very easy for kids to play ( which i think is the market this is aimed at). There are also various enemies that are encountered en route throughout the platform sections and come in a number of various guises. Some are unarmed, some have mines others have guns. The ones with umbrella’s you have to use the tunnels to sneak up behind. The armour wearing ones you have to throw banana skins at so when they fall, the armour is off and makes them venerable. Where there are multiple enemies you have to use the items provide to reek havoc. These range from the afore mentioned banana skins to bombs, footballs and flaming torches to name a few. It is the case of generally a couple of hits of one button will dispatch them simply!.

The game also incorporates puzzles but again these are on the simple side. It could be a lever to open a door, using weights on see-saw platforms to gain a height advantages, pushing blocks to operate switches or throwing nuts into cogs to stop wheels and gears spinning. Igniting sticks to throw at rope to burn them to unlock platforms also comes into play. You do carry a torch on darker levels to light your way which also doubles up as a bug zapper. At one point use hold onto a parrot to help you fly ( not sure if the RSPCA will be happy with that!).

You get to use snowy the dog at various points during the game to dig for treasure or to access areas so that Tintin can progress further. He has a great bark which doubles up as a rat killer and is controlled in the same way as Tintin. He does also have the ability , when required to, to use his nose to follow footprints which will appear on he ground in front of him.

Capt Haddock, once met, will also help in fight sections and will give Tintin a boost to get to higher platforms but the majority of the time he has litle use apart from insulting people in his own inevitable way. Saying that there are section where you sword fight as haddock ( in his dream sequences) using the controller as the sword blocking as appropriate. He uses his sword to dispatch bombs thrown at him.

The other aspect to this game involve vehicles which seem to break up the platforming section of the game. One of hem has you piloting a plane through clouds avoiding lightning and tornado by using the planes boost. You also have to fly the plane and shoot down zeppelins and other planes that attack you. There is one point where you fly the plane in a predetermined route of hoops with the outcome being you take pictures.

The driving pieces are in a motor bike and side car combination where you drive and Capt haddock fires his catapult at motor bikes, vans and helicopters. he will then decide to drive and you fire. The bike it self is easy to control and i think i didn’t use the break at all!!!

Usually after each driving/flying section there is the obligatory cut scene follow by you controlling a character on a overhead view across the map to get to the next location.  The end of level guardians are easy to dispatch as well. You avoid what is being thrown at you, stand a predetermined place and it will fire back at them.

After playing it for a while you have the feeling of deja vu, the platform section and then the driving section make you feel like Bill Murray in ground hog day!!

After playing it for a while you have the feeling of deja vu, the platform section and then the driving section make you feel like Bill Murray in ground hog day!!

You get the idea!!

There are gold collectable crabs to find on each section and these are for the most in quite obvious places.

Another aspect of this game is the Co-op mode ( Tintin and haddock) which can also be played as a single player mode. This takes place within the dreams of Capt Haddock after he has been knocked unconscious but the Thompson Twins ( the bumbling detectives and not the 80′s band ).

These are 21 individual little platform games which allow you to hone your skills as hopefully mastered in the main game. This has different aspect that the main story. You have to use Tintins harpoon to access hidden areas Haddocks strength to break down walls to access different routes. Luckily on this the characters are interchangeable on the d pad.With these levels you have to collect coins ( which come from fallen enemies’, and which can be spent to buy new outfits for them both. As well as the coins there are 3 cog, 2 suit icons and 6 specific items to complete all levels perfectly.

These levels are great as a mate can pick up a controller and together you can work through them all.

There is a challenge area, which helps to hone your Sword fighting, piloting and side car driving skills.  The sword fighting is getting rid of as many pirates as you can before the time runs out on 4 skill levels.  The plane challenges are broken into 3 sections all having 4 levels of difficulty from easy to advanced and there are photography, collecting flags and shooting down planes all within a set time.
The sidecars again has the 4 levels of difficulty but the challenges are:- Timed laps, catching and knocking out and enemy and shooting and knocking out enemies.

The other aspect is the bonus screen which list and shows all you have won. They are either character description, maps and pictures of areas visited or little video clips showing bits of action .

Overall, i think this game has been targeted more towards the younger market who is looking for something new and exiting to get your teeth into. If you do have kids this is a great game for them. The puzzles are quite simple and at times the game play is linear enough to not let them throw the odd tantrum, you just hold the stick forward and the game does the rest.   For the limited time that I am sure the production has had it has done well for another movie tie in but i feel it doesn’t do Herges much loved character as much justice as it should.

Related posts:

1. Borderlands: The Secret Armoury Of General Knoxx: Reviewed (360, PS3)
2. Driver San Francisco – Review (360, PS3)
3. Popcap Hits! Vol 2 – Review (360)

Their military simulator games are fantastic and I own Operation Flashpoint plus add-ons and both ARMA games. They are very in-depth with an amazing amount of customisation. The vehicles were always fun to drive, especially the helicopters, so I was very excited as the download for Take on Helicopters finished and I began to install.

Upon loading the game I instantly got a familiar feel. The look and sounds are very much like their previous games. The menu has six main options, each of which I will go through later.

The main setting for the game is Seattle, the city looks very impressive and you have a very large area to fly around in. There is quite an array of helicopters to choose from. There are three classes, small, medium and large of various types from civilian to military which are fully kitted out with weapons. The instrument panels on the helicopters are fully working as you move your view around the cockpit you can see the dials move as you gain height, speed and bank the helicopter etc. Another nice touch I liked was the need to inspect you helicopter regularly to repair any damage and wear occurred while flying. This involves walking around and clicking on various parts of the helicopter to perform the checks.

There are three modes of difficulty to choose from when starting a game, Trainee, Beginner and Expert. Each ramps up the difficulty and realism sufficiently to give a good challenge.

No I’ll give an overview of the menu selections:

Free flight

As the name suggests it enable you to pick a helicopter of your choice and just cruise around the gorgeous scenery at your leisure. If you land the helicopter it also gives you the ability to get out and go for a wander around the city and surrounding scenery.

Career

The career is the main bulk of the game. It starts off with you taking a ride with your brother who is now running your fathers helicopter business. You are given the controls a couple of times and this helps you get a feel for the helicopters and how they handle. After this a mayday comes in over the radio from a stricken ship and your brother drops you off and head out to help. As he is flying off his helicopter starts to smoke and plunges into the bay. The game progresses to a later date in time and you are back again with your brother but in a car this time, you have reluctantly accepted the start fly again to help keep the family business running.

The game begins properly then and you are sent of various missions and jobs. The missions mainly consist of flying from one point to another carrying various loads. As the game progresses the loads you have to carry and weather conditions get harder which gives you a good test of your skills.

Challenges

These are various tasks that you can try your skills at, usually carrying various loads in different types of weather through different terrain types.

Time Trails

Here it’s a race against the clock to complete a course through challenging scenery and locations. You are awarded Gold, silver and bronze medals depending on your qualifying time. For each trial you must use the given helicopter.

Training

Here you can learn everything that you need to get flying. The lessons are in-depth and are an ideal starting place if you’re new or fancy bumping the difficulty up a level.

Editor

The editor is much like the one seen in Operation Flashpoint and ARMA, a fantastic tool enabling you to create scenarios as light or detailed as you like.

Multiplayer

Here you can join up with some online buddies and have a crack at the scenarios as a team rather than going it alone. I’m sure it will not be long before the Modder’s come up with some new play types or missions especially with the already powerful editor included in the game.

All in all I really enjoyed Take on Helicopters; it made a flight simulator more enjoyable and accessible for me. There are a few niggles that I’m sure will be sorted over time, I’m sure the modding community will keep the game fresh and going for a long time to come. But if your into flight simulators, especially helicopters then I think this is a must buy game.

Related posts:

1. Take On Helicopters gets head tracking support
2. Take On Helicopters dated
3. Driver San Francisco – Review (360, PS3)

In fact, these predictions can be made so confidently by anyone and you know they would be right.  The Call Of Duty franchise is such a powerhouse that it must single handedly bankroll Activision at times and with Modern Warfare 3 now released, the battle between this title and EA’s offering, Battlefield 3 is over, done and dusted.

• Likes

  • Exhillerating Campaign
  • Balanced Multiplayer
  • Smooth online experience
  • Spec Ops Mode

• Dislikes

  • No playable maps with bots

You are all probably aware of my distaste for Modern Warfare 2.  It wasn’t that the game was poor as a whole, it was just that for all of the great elements in the game, the media frenzy over the airport scene and all of the negative attention it bought to the gaming industry, even though there were safeguards in place left a sour taste in my mouth questioning the necessity of it all.  Equally, I felt that the multiplayer was unbalanced and just felt plain wrong compared to an almost perfect Modern Warfare experience, trying too hard to look to better than the original and in doing so failing.

So, with anticipation and excitement and feeling a little bit wary I stepped into the world of Modern Warfare 3.  If you have played one of the earlier Modern Warfare titles before then you will instantly feel at home with the gameplay.  For all of the controversy that has surrounded the second title, one thing that is you can always rely on is jaw dropping set pieces with a great narrative that is woven between the other two Modern Warfare titles and finishes off the trilogy very nicely indeed.

Graphically, the game has also had a facelift with added lighting effects and a silky smooth frame rate, even at its most chaotic.  Several explosions around the world have triggered an invasion by the Russians and you are plunged right into the middle of it all, seeing the war play out from various aspects.  The locations that have been chosen represent some of the most iconic cities in the world, with Big Ben, Parliament, the Eiffel Tower, New York etc represented in their true glory with well know tourist places taking a hit or two which shocks as well as creates a certain awe.

Prague has also been represented within the game, spanning around three levels and since I have lived there and still visit every year can inform you that the beginning of the first level in Prague, coasting through the river of the Vltava river to the right of Charles Bridge heading towards the old town square is incredibly accurate.  Ducking under the pontoon that surrounds Klub Lavka on the right hand side into the tunnels of underground Prague fills me with a joy that Infinity Ward have accurately detailed the locations in which the game is set in.

The amount of action going on at any one time will always feel you with a sense of urgency and provoke various reactions along the way, as well as stun a few people with its twist and turns in the narrative.  Flashbacks into the past two Modern Warfare games help keep the pace of the narrative on track as well as remind the player of what went on the previous versions of the game.

[youutbe]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKgDVruHfo[/youtube]

Again, the campaign stands out on its own and provides the entertainment that Call Of Duty titles seel themselves on as well as provide the typically tough challenge of running through the game on veteran for those with enough skill and patience to see it through.

We all know what multiplayer is about, damn, it has received enough notoriety in the past and is one of the reasons that the game sells so well.  Modern Warfare 3 has not faltered on this part either, providing the same base gamaplay that keeps gamers coming back for more but at the same time eliminating the balance issues from Modern Warfare 2 to put the game firmly back on track. The maps feel a lot more balanced and have a good range of places to hide, choke points and open spaces on each side to head up some fun but tense gameplay.  The kill streaks and weapon unlocks also have been changed a little to enable people to grab points on the fly, rather than just kills and adjust their weapon sets right off of the bat without it being too much of a chore.

The addition of Call Of Duty Elite too has added an extra string to the Modern Warfare bow, allowing gamers to track their stats in a completely new way as well as set up custom classes on the fly, ready to download directly into the game.  The addition of map overviews, training videos, weapon customisation and stat tracking via PC or in game provides a complete new tool set which will allow more immersion into the Call Of Duty world.

My only negative to come from the multiplayer section of the game this time around is the exclusion of being able to play against bots to get used to a map like Black Ops had.  This may put some people off of playing initially due to having to learn on the fly and although people may say that this is the best way to learn, the quality of some of the people out there may make for a negative experience for someone playing for the first time.

There is, however, a way around this and that is to play some co-operative levels.  Since Modern warfare 2, there has been spec ops missions which have brought friends together to play in a more relaxed environment.  Split into mission modes and a kind of horde mode, Spec Ops provides a way of friends coming together and attacking a variety of different styled missions against the clock to try and beat the leaderboards.  It is certainly a lot of fun and has a tonne of variety too.  If you need that little break from the chaos of multiplayer then this will certainly fill your time up nicely.

Overall, Modern Warfare 3 redresses the balance that Modern Warfare 2 failed to.  Reigning the game back into  tighter, explosive and more defined experience rather than trying to go too over the top to please, produces a game that will be very heard to beat for a few years yet.  Sure, it may not be as technically adept as Battlefield 3 is now but the wow factor still remains in its campaign and the multiplayer still leads the way in how a good online experience should be laid out.  Add to that co-op modes and Call Of Duty Elite to track everything in the game and you have a title that not only finishes off the story that is clear and concise but also brings the Call Of Duty franchise right back to where it belongs.

Related posts:

1. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Map Pack on PS3 and PC today
2. Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 launch events to be streamed live via youtube
3. Second Modern Warfare 2 map pack dated for June