• Format: 3DS
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Capcom
• Developer: Capcom
• Players: 1-2
• Site: http://www.residentevil.com/revelations/

Resident Evil: Revelations can probably be considered one of the more mature games to be released on the 3DS to date (though it only manages a 16 rating from PEGI) and from the outset was a refreshing change from Mario, Mario, some remake, and that other Mario game.

Jumping into the newest Resident Evil title is a little daunting at first because it feels like being forced to start at episode ten of a twenty episode season. Despite having no direct ties to the plot of previous titles with the exception of Chris, Jill and the BSAA group they work for, the player is fed a lot of information about significant previously unknown events of a global scale.

We’re told that in 2004 a city was created out at sea which ran on 100% solar power. This city, called Terragrigia, was for some reason the prime target of a terrorist group named Veltro which chose to attack it using bio organic weapons to zombify the population of the city with a new virus variant called T-Abyss. Pulling another Raccoon City, the government decided that the only way to contain the virus was to blow up the city. Skip ahead one year and Chris has gone missing chasing rumours that Veltro has resurfaced; so Jill and new partner Parker go searching for him on orders of the BSAA boss – who looks so much like the late Peter Falk that it’s distracting.

The story is ridiculous even if you do manage to swallow everything that’s happened before the events which play out in the game, but that is not to say it’s bad. Most people probably go into a Resident Evil game expecting nothing more than a cheesy action horror plot with monsters and zombies thrown in, so as long as that doesn’t change here you’ll be fine. That said you do also have to cope with it jumping around timeline wise a lot; sometimes by a year, sometimes by an hour, sometimes by mere minutes to tell events from another perspective.

Controls are tight and responsive and players of Resident Evil 4 or 5 will feel instantly at home, though using the new dodge ability takes some getting used to. The circle pad attachment is utterly unnecessary for playing the game to the required standard of reaction times and aiming prowess.

Presentation is to a very high standard. We don’t just mean graphically either (though it’s one of the best looking 3DS games we’ve played to date), more that Capcom has tried very hard to make the 3D worth having on. Now, 3D always has and always will be an unnecessary gimmick and a lot of developers are using it just as that – something to tack on to justify being on this handheld. Revelations feels like it’s better with the 3D on, even if it technically isn’t. Each cutscene, each camera angle, each panning shot feels like it was choreographed so that with the 3D slider up full it looks better. It isn’t too ‘deep’ either, so much like The Mercenaries 3D eye strain from prolonged play isn’t really an issue either, yet you still get enough visual depth that it adds an important effect.

Either by design or format limitations, Revelations returns to a more enclosed experience. You spend a vast majority of it on the ship traversing tight corridors never sure what’s around the next corner. The 3D effect helps amplify this feeling of heightened caution as you awkwardly edge around the corner (or cheat using the finger dexterity requiring first person strafe returning from The Mercenaries 3D). That’s not to say there aren’t large rooms or other areas because there are, and they help break up the experience. The first time you see the hall of the promenade deck you’ll be impressed by both the visuals and the scale.

As with previous games the gameplay boils down to finding weapons, upgrading weapons, shooting enemies and solving relatively simple puzzles. There is both forced and optional backtracking across twelve episodes which will take you around nine hours to get through, which is a very healthy length.

If we were to nitpick at things it would be that the game goes on for about another hour after it feels like it’s reached a satisfying conclusion, bosses take about five minutes longer to kill than they should, the ‘previously on Resident Evil: Revelations’ sections at the beginning of each episode are truly painful, and if you watch the after credits cutscene all it does is confound you and bring up all sorts of nasty plot holes.

So, what else is there besides a nine hour or so campaign mode that you’ll play through once or twice? Thankfully the game has that covered in the form of Raid Mode. This is where the game’s excellent local or internet co-op comes into action (though it can also be played alone if need be).

Raid Mode lets you pick a character from the main story and then you play through enclosed levels with different enemy and item layouts, levelling up as you go and finding better gear too. You can run into special versions of enemies which are super quick, super tough, or a mixture of the two and players can even fight bosses together. There are also achievement-like missions which can be traded with people you co-op with or via StreetPass.

It’s a great shame the co-op couldn’t also apply to the main campaign, but Raid Mode is a clever addition to an already full feeling game which will create longevity it wouldn’t have otherwise had. For those still in two minds about trying Revelations a demo is available on the eStore; but few people would be disappointed after playing this game.

Rumoured to be the most expensive videogame ever developed, Bioware’s MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic finally saw a full launch at the tail end of December – presumably aimed at those not satisfied with the weight gain already associated with the season and still seeking a method to put on a few more pounds in a short space of time.

I picked the game up having already tried the beta and had been quite impressed – despite having been frustrated by staggered early access rules sprung at the last second, shockingly inflated retail prices, and the general stench of publisher influence surrounding the whole affair. What follows is a collection of first impressions having spent a couple of weeks with the game across numerous classes.

Each time a new MMO hits the market it is, inevitably, overly and tediously compared to World of Warcraft, the apparent all-powerful benchmark for the genre. Were the reason purely based on long term financial success this would make more sense to me, but rarely are these the things used for a comparison. I have a long history with MMO games as my waist line will attest to, yet only briefly does WoW appear in that history and beyond this paragraph it will not be levied towards The Old Republic again for any reasons other than financial ones.

Given the popularity of the Star Wars brand it may seem a given that (at least initially) Old Republic was going to have an easy ride, though it’s worth pointing out that DC Universe and Star Trek Online could also be considered to have strong brands backing them, and we all know where they ended up – the Free-To-Play dungeon where MMOs go to die. That said it does seem like this MMO is off to a strong start yet doesn’t feel overly populated, thanks to instanced planets and numerous servers for both the EU and US regions. I went in also expecting 90% of people to be playing as some kind of Jedi or Sith yet this doesn’t seem to be the case and – with the exception of people not willing to be a healer or a tank which plagues every game like this – classes seem reasonably balanced.

There is of course another draw here for fans of the Knights of the Old Republic games. This game, while set some time after those original games, still follows the events in them and in particular on the Imperial side Revan is often spoke of. There are cameos from characters that appeared in those games too and you can also visit planets from them to see the fallout of previous events, most noticeably Taris.

Another thing which sets Old Republic aside from other games in the MMO category is the inclusion of companions for every class, light/dark alignment and the thing which takes up most of the required 20 GB install – voice acting.

While this is not the first RPG based MMO to include voice acting within quests (I believe it may have been Age of Conan that did it first) it is the first which not only fully voices everything but also has recorded lines for male and female variants of the four starting classes on the Republic and Imperial sides for all possible choices (which can usually be categorised as good, neutral and evil). This is not voice acting on the cheap either, and is almost exclusively to an extremely high standard of delivery.

This is certainly an impressive undertaking and can at times create the impression that you are immersed in a single player game – Knights of the Old Republic 3 – yet then you will see another player running by and remember. The illusion is furthered by having an NPC companion with you to facilitate those who want to play alone that even incorporates a like/dislike system for your choices leading to romance options or companion quests. While there are open air quests across the numerous expansive planets you can visit, there are also instanced areas for your chosen class’s plot line, Flashpoints and group quests.

Play enough of a few different classes or do enough quests and you will start to pick up on things which were cut and pasted to help cover the staggering task of constructing so many fleshed out activities. Given any individual quest dialogue you can be sure that there will either be a standing animation, a hand motioning angrily either at you or to the side, or an animation where the person you are speaking to walks forward a couple of steps then steps back. Rarely will there be a cutscene in which things become any more animated, especially outside of class quests.

Dialogue is often recycled too. For example a Jedi Consular’s ‘evil’ option when undertaking a quest (paraphrased slightly) is “Sounds interesting, but what’s in it for me?” and this will be said a lot regardless of the wording of the option you chose. This is a frequent thing across all classes for generic responses to the process of learning about and accepting a quest. I mention these things not as faults, purely that the longer you play the more obvious they become and it does take some of the sparkle away from the initially impressive façade.

The quest-giving NPCs of the world are also insanely forgiving to rudeness, abruptness and the generally evil manner you can choose to react in if you are after Dark Side points. You can constantly pick the (often amusing) blunt option which insults the person you are speaking with and they will still carry on offering you the quest with a comparatively lax response to what was just said about them. There are also moments where you can actually flat out refuse to be told more only for the NPC to force the information on you anyway.

The reason for this though is clear – you can team up for any and all quests, and outside of class based ones (in which party members can only take up spectator roles in cutscenes) everyone can have input via number rolls with the highest being the course of action you see play out. This means that in order to be fair the rude “I don’t care about the details” option could win the roll on a dialogue choice but those who wanted to know more are still also satisfied.

Long term, Old Republic does have a distinct advantage over something like DC Universe in that even if the current maximum level of fifty can be reached fairly quickly, the unique storyline to each class and the engaging manner in which they are presented compels you to try them out just to see another interesting plot. This is not to mention having the Republic side and Imperial side, each giving access to different planets (some are shared eventually though).

In the long, long term we do wonder though how additional content could be produced that matches the same standard currently present. Adding new quests isn’t as simple as putting in a few screens of text – they would have to record all options for all classes on each side. It isn’t much of a surprise then that thus far it is only expanding how PVP currently operates that is being discussed and an additional Flashpoint or two. I do worry though that rather than add fully fleshed out quests as part of the MMO tradition, that it evolves and grows over time to keep justifying your subscription, they may release micro-transaction additional content citing the voice work and so on as the reasons why.

With solid gameplay that offers traditional MMORPG style interaction mixed with different concepts not usually seen in the genre (such as a cover system for Smugglers and Imperial Agents) and excellent parts borrowed from single player RPG mechanics, Old Republic is off to a very strong start. Of course, quite a few MMOs have had strong starts and what really matters will be how strong it remains a few months down the line as people run out of things to do and look to the developers for more content. It does also fall into some typical trappings of the genre such as repetition by design, a lack of quest variety and some areas being needlessly large.

Star Wars: The Old Republic has a good chance of being financially successful for a moderately long time depending on the quality of continued patching and additional content and is a very interesting experience for experienced MMO players and new alike. Fans of the Star Wars brand will already probably be playing, so that leaves fence-sitters and those already subscribed to a different MMO and to them I would suggest waiting for the inevitable release of a free trial which, unlike some trials, will give a taste of what the whole experience is like as this is a game less about getting max level as fast as humanly possible and more about the enjoyable plot driven journey to get there.

In 2009 Greg Keyes released his first book based in the Elder Scrolls universe named The Infernal City. Now this year – no doubt to coincide with the release of Skyrim – the sequel has been released, entitled Lord of Souls.

Set in the same time period as The Infernal City, Lord of Souls begins some forty years after the events players will have seen in Oblivion and around one hundred and forty before the setting of Skyrim. The story concerns the same characters as the first book also, so jumping in with this book first proved a little difficult; as minor assumptions about previous knowledge at points led to confusion for a while.

The book opens with a huge floating mass holding a city christened Umbriel making its way slowly over Tamriel towards the Imperial City. A huge undead army spawns from beneath the shadow of the floating city, and anyone killed while under it also joins the ranks of the undead. These points will all be familiar to readers of The Infernal City since it dealt with Umbriel’s first appearance, and the first attempts to stop it by the various main characters.

Broken into three parts of around a dozen or so fairly short chapters each (totalling three hundred and forty eight pages), the first part of Lord of Souls deals mainly with Annaig Hoinart and her Argonian lover Glim. They remain trapped on Umbriel with Glim working with the enslaved Skraws which keep the city running, and Annaig working for a sadistic chef named Toel in his kitchen as one of the cooks.

Perhaps it was for lack of anything else for these two to do for the first part of the story, but the book focuses far too much on a cooking contest between the main chefs of Umbriel and the pressure Annaig is under to ensure Toel wins. Eventually it becomes interesting as she does increasingly drastic things for the greater good, but prior to that reading through the demonic equivalent of Master Chef was dull and tedious. It was a dangerous way to open a book that’s meant to excite and keep your attention. She and Glim do act as the sole way to gain more knowledge about how Umbriel works and the villain behind it all, so we are not saying there is no purpose to these sections; but there could have been more interesting ways to impart that knowledge.

Inspector Colin Vineben returns and crops up here and there during the first part of the book, but the middle part is where he features most. While originally working on trying to find the Emperor’s missing son he is taken off that case to try and instead find out more about Umbriel and who was responsible for summoning the floating city in the first place. His sections are far more interesting, especially given how they begin – as intrigue, mystery and conspiracies are always fun to get your head around. We could have done without the impromptu sex scene following an assassination attempt though, still; nothing says arousal like a gutted corpse on the other side of the room.

Speaking of the missing son, Prince Attrebus and his Dark Elf companion Sul have equal page time through all three parts. Having failed to stop Umbriel in The Infernal City and nearly dying in a battle with Vuhon they awaken in the play area of a Deadric Prince saved from the brink of death. They learn that the only thing which can wound Umbriel is a legendary sword named Umbra (which players will be familiar with) which they must find before trying to get into the floating city again. From there nothing ever seems to go right for them and this makes their sections the most entertaining. It helps that Attrebus’ ignorant innocence is counterweighted by Sul’s bitter and sarcastic misanthropic attitude.

A new point of view given to the plot this time around is via Mazgar gra Yagash, an Orc whose grandfather helped close an Oblivion gate, and Brennus the Imperial mage she is assigned to bodyguard as he tries to find ways to stop Umbriel. These sections are mostly there to provide fight scenes to break up the plot as more often than not, Mazgar is fighting the undead army created by Umbriel as it spreads across Tamriel (or just running away from it with Brennus).

Lord of Souls is never hard to read and after a slow start does a smooth job of building up tension as Umbriel gets ever closer to the Imperial City. Things keep going wrong for each character trying to stop it, eventually reaching a largely satisfying conclusion as long as you aren’t expecting happy endings all around. Reading The Infernal City first is highly recommended to avoid early confusion you would get here otherwise, but even if you haven’t you can jump in at this point and eventually enjoy the ride. Fans of the level of fantasy found in any Elder Scrolls game will feel at home here though those without knowledge from any of the games may find it just a little too simplistic in comparison to the behemoths of the genre.

A sample of The Infernal City and Lord of Souls can be found at online booksellers and both have an RRP of £6.99.

• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3, PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
• Players: 1 (4-8 online multiplayer)
• Site: http://www.assassinscreed.ubi.com/

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has remained consistently decent since the original game back in 2007, but once again rather than release a numbered sequel it has gone down the subtitle route with Revelations, following on from Brotherhood which in turn followed on from Assassin’s Creed 2.

Once again players take on the role of Desmond Miles, who himself takes on the role of ancestors who were prominent assassins during significant moments in history via the who-needs-laws-of-science Animus machine. Without going into too much detail regarding the ending to Brotherhood, Desmond was exposed to the machine too much and his mind began fragmenting, causing him to confuse himself with his ancestors; and this, coupled with some emotional events, resulted in him being stuck in a coma within the Animus. Revelations picks up with Desmond still trapped in the machine, his mind scheduled for deletion, with his only chance of escape being to sort through the last of his ancestors’ memories.

Where the first game only centred on Altair ibn La-Ahad during the Crusades, and the sequel and Brotherhood on Ezio Auditore de Firenze during the Renaissance, Revelations actually jumps between both ancestors to round off both stories (as well as interlocking plot points between them). Given the title of the game it might also be obvious that this tries to tie everything up, though actually all it really does is confirm logical conclusions reached after seeing Brotherhood’s ending.

The feeling of ‘been there, done that’ is hard to avoid this many games down the line when so little has changed. This doesn’t just apply to the plot (which, while decent enough, will leave you wishing that the bigger picture would be dealt with) but also to the most essential gameplay mechanics and even the returning multiplayer.

Ezio’s journey takes him to Constantinople in search of keys to unlock Altair’s library, as well as to assist the assassins there against Templars seeding descent in the Ottoman rule. Like previous games Ubisoft have taken just enough real historical events and twisted them ever so slightly to fit in their plot in an entirely believable way. While the change of setting from around Europe is nice, the game plays out exactly like the previous two, with Ezio’s missions rarely being anything you haven’t seen before. That isn’t to say they are bad, just not to be expecting anything as different as using Leonardo’s flying machine.

New to Ezio’s arsenal is the hook blade which lets him glide down convenient zip lines and also get a few more inches of reach for those especially long jumps. Also new is bomb crafting which promises dozens of different combinations – though we just stuck to the basic kinds and only used them when the mission dictated. This was down to a problem which has existed since the latter half of the second game – Ezio is just too powerful.

The chain-kill mechanic from Brotherhood returns where upon killing one guard, you can then continue to link instant kill attacks to any others around you as long as you take no damage. Even if you do take damage you can carry far too many medicines and they are far too easily replenished for free by searching dead guards. Couple this with the returning meta-game of finding and training new assassin recruits who you can call to aid you, and it removes a lot of the challenge. The only time we failed a mission was due to slightly vague instructions and boundaries, save perhaps restarting if you want to go for the optional 100% sync objective.

The final addition to singleplayer combat is another new meta-game which can be described as tower defence mixed with RTS elements. If you claim an area of the city and establish an assassin den it may be attacked by Templars. During these events you spend points which regenerate over time to place units of various classes to fight off waves of enemies. Generally these are also pretty easy, until the final enemy which will nearly always be a huge siege machine which takes about twice as long to die as it should.

Multiplayer returns and this time with a plot showing what the modern day Templars are up to while Desmond finishes his journey; playing as one while quickly climbing the ranks by using Animus collected data, to train to become just as potent a killer as an assassin. There are a handful of new maps but most are just borrowed from Brotherhood and most changes made to the abilities and mechanics by and large have made things worse. The biggest problem is an unfair advantage granted to people of a higher level than you and matchmaking is still painfully slow if you are part of a group. The only thing that will keep people playing is the story cutscenes unlocked at various levels.

The strongest feeling we had after finishing Revelations was that the series really needed to start doing something different. It’s a good game, but it’s the same thing for the third time in a row and it’s now showing its age and lack of creativity. The disappointment will only grow if, when Assassin’s Creed 3 is inevitably revealed, yet another excuse is found to go into the past of yet another ancestor when really the only thing that matters is the bigger picture in the modern day. If you are a long standing fan of the games by all means see how Altair and Ezio’s story ends; just don’t be expecting a fresh experience.

• Format: 3DS (version reviewed), PS3, Wii, 360
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: SEGA
• Developer: SEGA
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.sega.com/captainamerica/us/index.html

Captain America: Super Soldier has spread itself across nearly every platform (and in fact would have been on them all had the PC and PSP versions not been cancelled) and ties into the plot of the recent Captain America: The First Avenger movie, chronicling one of the clashes between the all-American hero and his Invader allies against the Red Skull’s Hydra Army.

The basic plot and the events that unfold in this 3DS outing and the bigger brothers on console are very similar. Captain America leads the charge on a Hydra base that was once an ancient castle belonging to Baron Zola, who isn’t too happy about the occupation of his home and actually sides with the allied forces as a result. From disabling AA guns to taking down Hydra officers, anyone who has played a console version of Super Soldier will feel significant deja vu early on.

Across nine levels broken into different areas of the castle you’ll explore, fight, platform and have the opportunity to take part in a number of side quests to unlock concept art, character dossiers and more. These optional distractions include taking out hidden bombs, rescuing prisons of war, finding hidden artefacts belonging to Baron Zola, and also challenges.

For a 3DS game the visuals are fairly good, and the 3D effect is well used in terms of visual appeal without being significant in any way to gameplay; for example watching as Captain America corkscrews through an explosion in slow motion as the camera circles around him. Each area is usually broken into a twenty minute chunk of gameplay (more if you do all optional objectives) with regular checkpoint saves which is handy for those who, like us, tend to suffer headaches rather quickly if exposed to the 3DS’ full effect for too long.

While there are intermittent platforming sections (made all too easy by the captain almost auto-locking from one to the next as long as you see a directional arrow where you want to go) and also a fair chunk of shield deflecting or throwing related puzzles (which never really test the brain too much), like the console versions you will spend most of your time fighting Hydra forces.

As in other versions of the game, this one features a hand-to-hand combat system that can only be described as one which is heavily influenced by that created by Rocksteady for Batman: Arkham Asylum/City. Captain America will glide around the battlefield locking from one soldier to the next, unleashing combos and countering attacks from any direction if a button is pressed when prompted, complete with slow motion finishers on the last enemy to be brought down and using his shield like Batman uses batarangs.

Should SEGA should be applauded for using a free-flowing brawling style of gameplay which is addictive and translates surprisingly well onto a hand-held, or criticised for so shamelessly stealing someone else’s good idea? It’s a contentious issue. In time it may well be that free-flow combat becomes to brawlers what regenerating shields in Halo did to shooters, and that may not be a bad thing.

The game steadily introduces new enemy types beyond the basic Hydra troopers who either engage in fisticuffs or shoot at range, such as officers which encourage peons into doing an unblockable attack, or evasive sword-wielding female Hydra who must be stunned first. Later in the game large brutes are introduced, which take altogether far too long to take down in comparison to what is supposed to be the toughest enemy (a grenade firing large robot type) which only needs one grenade flung back at it to expose a one-hit kill chance.

There is a levelling system in place, but we honestly couldn’t really tell much difference in any of the upgrades we picked other than one which points out the location of collectables. There aren’t any to increase your damage or health for example, just to lock onto more targets when throwing your shield or to add some combat moves.

You will be using your shield a lot to stun or to solve puzzles as previously mentioned, and it gets a little annoying that there is no button to instantly reset the camera behind Cap’s back. This would make things much less frustrating at times. With the way the shoulder buttons are placed on the 3DS it can also be cumbersome to sometimes defend with the right shoulder button and then ready your throw with left shoulder, and then aim using a finger on the touch screen.

Rounding off the experience are a few boss battles. These usually boil down to learning the attack routine, exposing a weakness which leads to a Quick Time Event, then repeating for three times total. That said some of the larger fights and the final boss were actually quite impressive for a handheld. Strangely, though there are quite a few bosses, not one of them is Captain America’s nemesis the Red Skull. Though Red Skull does appear for the final quarter of the game there isn’t much to his presence, and this is especially confusing given that the game box promises that you will ‘Battle the infamous Hydra Army and the evil Red Skull.”

The 3DS outing for Captain America isn’t a bad game, thanks largely to the borrowed fighting style and fair enough graphics and puzzle solving. It just isn’t a huge game or exceptionally memorable, or one with much replay value once finished; but it’s worth a look by new and old fans of the super soldier that haven’t already tried a version available on the consoles.

• Format: PS3
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Sega
• Developer: Headstrong Games
• Players: 1-2 (1-4 minigames)
• Site: http://www.sega.com/games/the-house-of-the-dead-overkill-extended-cut/

The House of the Dead: Overkill began life as a fairly well received Wii game, with the system being perfect for the precise aiming an on-rails arcade style shooter requires. Now the game has been remixed into an ‘extended cut’ and repackaged for the PS3 with full Move support.

House of the Dead games can never really be judged based on plot since it’s far more about the gameplay akin to what you would be looking for in a busy arcade; that said, Overkill does feature one of the worst. Playing as either Agent G on his first mission to track down Papa Caesar and put an end to his mutant experiments or Detective Issac Washington who wants to kill Caesar for revenge, you play through levels with a linked plot but with each pitched as an individual ‘movie’.

As we said: the plot in the game is beyond bad. The thing is though – it’s on purpose. The game is presented in a terrible old B-movie-come-horror-flick style complete with an over the top narrator, stupendously bad acting, writing, plot and music. It will no doubt be a polarising choice as while others might find it amusing, we were in the camp that found the lack of polish and ludicrously bad plot irritating, along with Issac’s constant swearing being a pointless distraction. The game does also border on bad taste at times with jokes about cripples, rednecks, carnival folk and more, all being fair game.

Still, plot is never the main thing here. It’s about the gun gameplay, which does translate as well to Move as it did to the Wii. In this extended cut you can resort to using a normal pad; however even with the sensitivity bumped right up, it will still feel slow in comparison and becomes obvious when at times you have literally only a second or two to fire at one of the many collectables littered around each level.

Besides two levels exclusive to this extended cut bringing the total to nine (Naked Terror and Creeping Flesh which let players take control of Varla Gunns and a new character imaginatively called Candi Stryper), the game is also 3DTV compatible. This adds another little gimmick to help warrant a purchase even for those that had the Wii version, and that applies to those without the necessary 3D compatible television too. Included with the game are two classic red and blue tint 3D glasses. This can then be switched on in-game to give you the 3D effect we put up with as kids, though to be honest it will just hurt your eyes far more than conventional, modern 3D.

Rounding off the new additions are the Director’s Cut mode which opens slightly new routes through levels as well as tougher enemies and limited continues, new weapons, and the four player minigames (which you’d play once or twice at most and like the main campaign is local only).

Graphically the game is far below the standards expected of a PS3 game, though naturally this is because of where it began life. The 3D makes up for this slightly but it is worth remembering going in that this will not be a visual feast for the eyes. There are about four or five basic enemy types excluding the bosses, stages are bland, and enemies don’t react well enough to being shot except randomly losing a limb sometimes.

Getting through all the levels won’t take long either regardless of whether you play alone or with a friend, but the game does try to include ways to encourage replays. Among the various modes you can earn and activate are: a hardcore mode (headshots only), more mutants mode (increased enemy amounts), and a mode where you duel wield two independent weapons. The most unique additional mode is definitely ‘Shoot the sh-t’ in which every cutscene is given subtitles and if a player hits the bad word before it is said then it gets bleeped.

It’s hard to say much more about House of the Dead: Overkill Extended Cut. The bad taste B-movie style will appeal to certain people but irritate others. There isn’t exactly a huge array of Movecentric titles to choose from as of yet so perhaps now is the best time for something like this to be released. That said, you would need to be really desperate for an on the rails shooter to get any kind of extreme enjoyment out of a game as crass as this, in which characters have sex with their mothers and more often than not the weak point of the boss is the breast.

• Format: iPhone (version reviewed), iPad, Android
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: DNA-interactive
• Developer: DNA-interactive
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.dnadpk.com/dna-interactive/legacy/

Ever since the humble beginnings of the likes of Tetris, it has been proven that a certain type of person will find immeasurable pleasure in lining up shapes for points. Slightly more recently this same simple notion carried over to what is referred to as the ‘match-three’ genre, the most well known of which probably being Popcap’s Bejeweled games. In the same vein as the aforementioned game, DNA-interactive’s Legacy Mystery Mansion is a match-three title available for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and also on Android phones.

The setting is pitched thus: you have inherited an ancient mansion from a distant relative (which may or may not be haunted to no discernible end either way) and must restore the building to its former glory by piecing together shattered antiquities. The entirety of this plot is given to you in the form of a letter when you begin the game, which admittedly isn’t exactly clear on what or how you are supposed to do much of anything. That isn’t to say that the match-three game type is complicated, just that it is not put forward in a conventional way.

When you are greeted with a grid based game board filled with four or five different types of object (which you can shift one space in any direction to try and create a row of three) you might instantly be inclined to aim for as high a score as possible like Bejeweled or others. However this is actually not the goal here. Scattered amongst all these shapes are unique parts of an antique, and the real goal is to funnel these pieces down to the very bottom of the board so that they are collected.

There isn’t clarity to explain this goal, nor is there any regarding the dice in the lower right (which mix up every panel on the board) or the brooms (which you can collect and use to erase a whole line in the grid). It feels like a couple of extra bits of text just mentioning these things would have gone a long way.

The mansion is broken into five areas, each having a different theme to the objects that appear in the game board and each of these areas have five total puzzles for a total of twenty five. These boards are varied well enough and colourful to a point, but the music feels like it drones on a bit and isn’t varied enough. Assuming only liberal use of the dice and brooms it can be quite challenging to get the antique pieces where they need to be – though it’s also safe to say that without using either you can frequently get stuck in a situation which you cannot win.

The game is clearly aware how important using the brooms can be, as you can buy them – as well as time boosters – from the in-game store for real money if you are so inclined; though we couldn’t possibly fathom why you would be. As an example: three brooms cost the same as buying the game.

Where fault can also be found is in the overall presentation of the game – it just comes across as boring. You might presume that if you are not a huge fan of the match-three genre this could be said for all of them, but it is obvious when an effort has been made and when it has not. Bejeweled is a colourful, loud, effect-laden match-three game with obvious goals, special gems and more to keep the player addicted. Even going further off the beaten track, effort can be found in a match-three game like Puzzle Quest which offered more by building an RPG structure on top. Legacy Mystery Mansion is as basic as it comes, isn’t fun enough, and perhaps worst of all misses the goal of creating the need to keep playing on.

Sadly, we struggled with some technical issues also. On iPhone (3GS model) the game would constantly slow to a crawl, stutter, and movements of the finger would struggle to be tracked – forcing a restart to fix it for a little while. The cause of this could not be pinned down, but we should point out that it did not seem to be present in the iPad version which we also tested.

Legacy Mystery Mansion is available for only £0.69 which is a reasonable price for a game which will not keep you coming back over a long period of time. However, compared to other superior match-three games also available at that same price it falls utterly short and should be avoided unless you are looking for a far more relaxed game within this genre.

• Format: PS3 (version reviewed), 360
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Namco Bandai
• Developer: Spike
• Players: 1-2
• Site: http://www.namcobandaigames.com/console/dragon-ball-z-ultimate-tenkaichi

Originally given the mysterious mouthful of a title Dragon Ball Game Project Age 2011, it eventually transpired that the spiritual successor to the Raging Blast, Budokai and Tenkaichi games based in the Dragonball universe was given the slightly more reasonable title of Ultimate Tenkaichi.

Long term fans of the original manga or animé will be more than familiar with the plot, and even newer fans brought in by the Kai release will know enough. Dragonball Z is about two shirtless men spending about five minutes powering up and then another five minutes punching each other, which sounds like the perfect thing to translate into a fighting game – and it has been for many years now.

There are the basic modes you would expect in any beat ‘em up; with a versus mode for battles against a friend in the room or AI opponents (with tag variants also available for battles including three or more characters), an online mode for matches, tournaments and a tutorial/training mode which is far clearer than recent games.

The game before this (Raging Blast 2) caused consternation by excluding a story mode from the game and instead introduced Galaxy Mode. Ultimate Tenkaichi has taken a few steps back and once again includes the classic Dragonball Z story from start to end, with fleeting encounters against enemies only seen in the movies and also the final enemy from the subsequent Dragonball GT. However, huge chunks of the plot are explored only via walls of text split between brief exploration sections and battles.

What is probably most infuriating about the story mode is that it actively mixes the old dubbing cast from Dragonball Z with the new cast brought in for Dragonball Kai. Characters literally change voice from one sentence to the next on occasion. It is unacceptably cheap, lazy and pathetic to think it was passable to do this. This is not an argument for or against the cast of either dub or even if the original Japanese is the better choice (which is also included); it’s purely about an incredibly stupid decision that ruins multiple cutscenes and battles.

Perhaps it would be possible to forgive such a lazy story mode if there was more to the game. You may have noticed that the graphics are top notch, which they are (though every single playable stage is recycled from Raging Blast 2 more or less) and battles are suitably over the top with destructive scenery and impressively large special attacks. There are also large boss battles that lift heavily from those found in Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. However, there are more problems.

The game is cinematic to the point where it stops being a game and is an example of something which is probably more fun to watch than play. In either an effort to make the game more dramatic and reminiscent of the animé or to remove complaints players had in previous games (certain irritating tactics in online play) most of the fighting has been boiled down to a game of heads or tails.

When trying to gain distance from an opponent, or get in close, or attack with the one combo all characters have, or try to counter, a button press will be required which has two options. If your opponent presses the same as you then you lose (so if you had started a combo they counter it). Fights quickly boil down to the same 50/50 chance of attacking or being attacked over and over – at least until you realize that the CPU will always have a particular preference and once you know what it is that makes any battle ridiculously easy. Repetition soon sets in as every battle plays out in exactly the same way over and over and kills any perceived belief that skill matters for anything in Ultimate Tenkaichi because it doesn’t – it’s just luck.

The innovations brought in aren’t all bad though. Reaction commands based on varying amounts of stored Ki which allow you to block, evade or counter an incoming special attack help balance things out, and special attacks themselves are no longer connected to stored Ki and instead are based on a separate spirit bar which builds from landing combos. This helps remove special move spamming which plagued previous Dragonball games. Finally, the hardest hitting ultimate attackers are totally locked out until either you or your opponent are near death.

Hero Mode is another good new addition where you can make your own unique character based on three builds, which you can then equip and take through a fairly short what-if story set alongside established characters. You can customise the look of your character (though the selection when you start is very limited) and level up various statistics by taking part in battles and training under different masters to learn their techniques.

As with most games based so heavily inside the universe of an animé it already has an established niche market, and will be ignored by everyone else. But even for fans – even for the most dedicated ones – Ultimate Tenkaichi has strayed too far from what a proper fighting game is into experimental territory that unfortunately just turned out bad. The game is worth renting for Hero Mode and to try out the cinematic battles for a little while, but beyond that fans would be better off returning to previous games rather than Ultimate Tenkiachi.

• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3, PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Rocksteady Studios
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.community.batmanarkhamcity.com

In 2009 the gaming world was surprised by Rocksteady Studio’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, quite possibly the first game themed around the dark knight’s exploits to be loved on a mass scale; and for many, it was the best thing released that year. It’s a big ask to try and not only recreate that level of success but surpass it, but Rocksteady are back with the direct sequel to try. Set a year after the events of Arkham Asylum, things are still not going well for Gotham City. The slums of the city have been walled off and turned into one large prison in which former asylum inmates and criminals are left to bicker amongst themselves under the watchful eye of Hugo Strange and his Tyger security force.

The game begins with Bruce Wayne attempting to seek the closure of Arkham City through political means, which results in his unlawful incarceration within its walls. Becoming Batman, he then sets about righting all the wrongs of the prison in a large free-roaming area dealing with past villains (and plenty of new ones along the way) while the Joker plots in his funhouse and Strange levies the fact he knows Batman’s true identity.

While it certainly pays off to have played Arkham Asylum, it is not a necessity to get into or enjoy the game. Interest or vague knowledge of the source material certainly helps though as Rocksteady constantly dangle references or nods or even direct links to plots from some of the best known comic book storylines that fans will greatly appreciate.

The free flowing combat system returns which balances counters, evades and strikes with brutal take-downs for when stealth is not an option. While it can be a little tricky to get to grips with for beginners, a few brawls down the line you will be raking up combos with deadly proficiency and shrugging when the game throws you up against a room with fifteen or more opponents. It can be strangely addictive to find brawls to get into around the city, simply because of how free it feels for what is essentially at its core a more complicated button mashing system.

Equally addictive is the returning stealth element. The game balances out areas where you are fighting off dozens of unarmed opponents with areas where going loud will just get you quickly gunned down. In a move which far more sequels should follow, Rocksteady also grants the player most of the gadgets Batman ended the first game with giving you variety to tackle each situation with from the get go. There is still a levelling system to unlock the more complex take-downs or upgraded armour and new gadgets, with most actions rewarding the player as they progress.

It can be a little daunting grappling and gliding around the city as along with the reasonably lengthy main storyline, there are numerous multi-part side quests and literally hundreds of Riddler puzzles and riddles to solve. You aren’t forced to do any of the side content, it’s all just there to distract you as you go. It’s very hard to ignore, but at the same time seeing where the story will go next remains a powerful draw and culminates in perhaps the first example of a conclusion that will elicit sympathy for someone with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

A sticking point in Arkham Asylum was the Detective Vision mode which let the player see through walls, and also identified threats and points of interest. It was simply too good and resulted in having it on nearly all the time which meant the impressive scenery was a constant flushed pale blue. For some the same may be said for Arkham City and some players will find themselves rarely turning it off except for brawls.

Music and most of the voice acting are exceptionally high standard. Kevin Conroy puts in yet another great performance as Batman and Mark Hamill’s Joker is unmatched. Corey Burton’s Strange is suitably sinister and Troy Baker’s Two-Face decent enough. In an amazing achievement, Nolan North has found a different voice he can make when voicing a game character and lends it to Penguin which is to be applauded – at least until you find he lazily uses his only other voice for most of the random thugs you will be beating up.

The game also allows first hand purchasers (or second-hand if they buy the pass) to play four fairly short sections as Catwoman with her story running into Batman’s at numerous points. These little asides offer yet another story the city has to tell, and give a bit of variety as her gadgets and movements are unique to her and upon finishing the game you can actively switch between them both to collect her own series of Riddler trophies.

The game isn’t without some faults though. Enemies still glide instantly along the floor to strike you if they are upright while you attempt a ground take down, loading checkpoints is overly long even with an install, there appears to be one rather large plot hole, and we experienced very occasional sound hiccups. These are all small criticisms though.

It was never going to be easy following on from such a huge success but, for the most part, Rocksteady have achieved it. Even ignoring all the content in the main campaign there are dozens of challenge maps, predator maps and mini-campaigns to tackle with numerous characters as well as hundreds of unlockables (concept art, figures, back-story, etc.) making it one of the fullest games on offer in recent times that will give fans everything they want, and has enough solid core mechanics and content to appeal to almost everyone else. Arkham City is a credible contender for game of the year.

• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3, PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: dtp entertainment AG
• Developer: Kylotonn Games
• Players: 1-2
• Site: http://www.thecursedcrusade.com/

The Cursed Crusade has no doubt flown under the radar of most people, as it has been released by a reasonably small time French developer which has not got many games under its belt. It can perhaps be forgiven then for some budget related difficulties, but does a hack and slash game boasting “100% uncut” warrant your time?

For those interested in the times of Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Templars and the Crusades (and let’s face it a few years worth of Assassin’s Creed games have helped with that) there might be an immediate draw there. You play as the strangely named Denz de Bayle, a Templar left behind by a father shipped out to fight in the third crusade who loses his estate after an uncle steals it from him. With his father being the only one who can claim the land back, Denz has no choice but to set out and find him somewhere in Jerusalem. Oh, and there’s a curse that makes everything turn a bit demony.

The curse is the bizarre twist in the game that is both baffling and to a certain extent unnecessary. Those who have committed sin or are a direct descendant of someone who has is cursed, but the only downside of this seems to be that those stricken are hunted by a robot-looking Death. The upside is increased physical power, perception and power over fire. So there is also an interwoven plot that Denz and his walking stereotype of a friend Esteban wish to cure the curse. Clichéd though it may be, the plot of a Templar trying to find his father to take back his lands would have worked fine in this setting.

The game never seems to properly decide how the curse works. It’s supposed to be bad, yet in a boss encounter you will be fighting them normally first and then fighting a stronger version of them that has activated the curse. You’re constantly encouraged to use it for increased damage or to break through walls and doors. It’s never clear how this looks to people not affected by it either. At one point you’re surrounded by normal soldiers and the only way through is to use the curse to break down a wall. Rather than be scared or shocked at a man breaking a wall with his hand, the soldiers around you mutter “It’s an act of god,” and carry on as normal.

Sometimes with a free camera and at other times with hard to navigate fixed cameras, the game plays in the third person and for the most part comes across as a very simple hack and slash game with fairly graphic finishing moves. There are a huge variety of weapons which you will be forced to switch between, thanks to them breaking as quickly as if they were made of ice. There’s also a basic upgrade system using points earned not through killing but completing objectives and obtaining collectables. These upgrades increase base attributes and also unlocks larger combos for each weapon or weapon combination (sword + axe or mace + shield as some examples).

There is a bit of depth added with guard breaks and counters; but if you master the latter, the entire game becomes a tedious cake walk of countering an enemy to stun them, hitting them a few times, countering again and repeating. The only challenge is when so many enemies surround you that you get stun-locked into having no hope of escape.

At first the combat was quite fun. Simple, but fun. Then it got boring and it got boring very fast. Each encounter felt the same and by the last quarter of the game we were just sick of room after room of enemies bulked up purely to try and milk a bit more total playtime.

The music is inconsequential and the voice acting below par. This makes a game laden with quite a few lengthy cutscenes breaking up sparse bits of gameplay at times all the worse. There are also quite a few self aware references that people will either love or despise. Things like mentioning achievements/trophies and then there is the worst one of all, which parodies the “This is madness!” scene from 300 in which Denz shouts “No. This. Is. The. Curse!” before kicking a man down a fiery hole that made us cringe for the next hour or so.

The game isn’t without its share of glitches or lack of polish either. There is noticeable input lag, numerous times models would disappear during cutscenes – or animations would play incorrectly – and we also found that whenever we loaded our save file that the sound, music and voice levels in the audio settings all randomly set to zero.

The one saving grace of the game is that you can play through the entire campaign co-operatively online or split-screen. However even this is not enough to save The Cursed Crusade from damnation. It’s just too basic, too boring, has very little that would appeal to anyone and there is nothing to encourage subsequent playthroughs beyond achievement hunting. This is best avoided by all but those wanting a short, simple, co-operative hack and slash experience that will ultimately be very forgettable.