• Format: XBLA (version reviewed), PSN
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Konami
• Developer: Backbone Entertainment
• Players: 1-4 (offline), 2-4 (online)
• Site: http://www.konami.com/simpsonsarcade

If you’re cowering in your late twenties to mid thirties and you’ve been gaming since you were a wee lad or lass, you’ll almost certainly have fond memories of The Simpsons Arcade Game. It was arguably the jewel in Konami’s crown at one point, further cementing its position as one of the major players in arcades during the early nineties. Over twenty years later, a perfect home version is finally available; but with the rose tinted specs removed and crushed underfoot, what do we see?

For those that don’t know, this is a scrolling beat ‘em up for up to four people. Players take control of one of the four older Simpsons – Homer (who punches people in the face), Marge (who, being a woman, carries a vacuum cleaner at all times), Lisa (who hits people with her skipping rope), or Bart (who rides and – yes, hits people with – his skateboard) – and fight their way through eight brief stages. Why? Because an entirely out of character Smithers steals a diamond (what?), kidnaps Maggie when she accidentally takes said diamond (whatwhat?) and, when you finally catch up to him, he tries to kill you with explosives (whatwhatwhat??!?).

Whether you go for ‘sharp’ or ‘smooth’, the heavily pixelated graphics are undeniably dated – yet still manage to hold up surprisingly well in 2012. This is thanks to the Groening flavoured graphic design which, in turn, has changed very little in the Simpsons cartoon series over the years. Take note publishers, this is how to get your developers to create graphics that age well. Not lens flare, cleavage and muddy browns – smart and original art direction.

Mr Burns looks on as Marge and Homer... um... er...

The sound hasn’t aged too badly either, though the music and sound effects are supremely forgettable. Unfortunately, the rather more important element of gameplay has suffered the most bumps and crashes on the journey through the decades. You move from left to right beating up everyone and everything that gets in your way till the next stage – and that’s it. There’s the occasional health pickup, and it can be fun taking the opportunity to pick up and throw Snowball II or Santa’s Little Helper at an enemy – but, apart from two super-brief minigames you only play once each, that really is your lot.

Combat, such as it is, is achingly simple. There is a button to attack and a button to jump. Yes, you can jump attack – woohoo! Of slightly more interest are the combination attacks possible when two players team up, but they add little to the experience. You’ll still be doing little more than button-bashing your way through the same handful of enemy designs across eight stages, and it’s even possible (depending on difficulty chosen and number of players present) to finish the whole game in less than half an hour; indeed, there is an achievement/trophy for doing so.

The value of this package, therefore, hinges on replay value. There are no secrets to speak of, and no alternative routes, so the game itself contains very little. The Simpsons license has been squandered quite badly, too. Although the voices of the original actors are present, they only speak the same few words throughout. There is no original, fully-featured script; no easter eggs to hunt down. That said, it can be fun (the first time through, at least) to see how many characters and references you recognise in both the foreground and background – especially as the game was made so early in the cartoon’s life. People old enough to remember the original release will probably wistfully think “mode 7” when they come up against the giant Krusty ball boss…

This vacuum cleaner picks up dust from tiny nooks, cleans carpets, and easily kills human beings!

This release is a little more than a simple ROM dump. Local multiplayer is still present but online multiplayer has been added too, if you don’t have £120 worth of joypads to play with but want to try it as a four player game (which is easier and a little more enjoyable). There are online leaderboards too, with an admirably large selection of filters. Finishing the USA ROM grants access to the Japanese ROM; which is almost entirely the same game, the largest difference being the presence of smartbomb-style pickups now and again. Also, finishing the game as each of the four characters gives access to extras from the main menu – none of which, sadly, are very interesting. A sound test does have a certain retro appeal, though.

Finally, there is the issue of price. PlayStation Plus subscribers get the game for free, and they should rush to download it immediately if they haven’t already. It may crush fond memories of just how good it was, but it’s still far from being a terrible game, and is sprinkled with an important pinch of Simpsons magic. The XBLA release costs 800MP – which, to be frank, is far too much. Almost everybody who grabs this game will have exhausted its supply of fun in less than a week, and it’s easy to imagine many getting all they can out of it in a single day.

So who is this for? If you have young kids yourself who love The Simpsons then they’ll doubtless have a blast with this, though it’s difficult to say for how long. If you’re determined to revisit the game for yourself then go ahead – but don’t say we didn’t warn you. If you never played the game the first time round and find yourself playing this home re-release, well… you may find yourself wondering what all the fuss was about.

• Format:3DS
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Nintendo
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.nintendo.co.uk

Wii based Galaxy titles have introduced a new level of inventiveness to the Mario formula; so how have Nintendo kept a balance between traditional 2D Mario gameplay, Galaxy style gameplay, and the 3DS’ form factor? Well, they have gone back to their roots for the core DNA. There are no open 3D areas to explore here. Instead think streamlined experiences with the gameplay of traditional 2D games, yet in full 3D with a degree of flexibility to experiment with route and method. Indeed the best comparison is the often overlooked ‘pure platforming’ type levels which were a minor part (but the best sections) of Super Mario Sunshine back on the Gamecube.

This style of gameplay suits the screen size of the 3DS perfectly. With the 3D effect turned up, it’s like looking into a little box of Mario (hence making the Mario land in the title quite apt). The fact that the levels are clearly linear and constrained means it’s like having a little Mario play-set to run around in, there in the palm of your hand. It is rather beautiful in our opinion with bright hues and well rendered characters, platforms and backgrounds.

The gameplay and level variety do not disappoint. As with other franchises, such as Mario Kart, Nintendo seems to know how to add just enough to move the series on, without alienating seasoned veterans. You would have thought that when it comes to platforms we would have seen them all, from all angles; but Nintendo keeps finding new ways of making the old seem new. As with Galaxy, the levels are abstract, with settings such as underwater or firepits, with moving platforms with forward and backward triggers which Mario can control. There is a superb level which is based on old 8 bit, pixelated graphics which uses cannons to propel Mario between different faces and designs made out of these 8 bit blocks. You kinda have to see them to believe them.

Clearly inspired by its 2D bretheren but with added depth....

Some levels are very 2D in design, but rendered in 3D. However they are true 3D and you can move Mario to the foreground or background of the levels, often finding alternative horizontals paths, in a fashion similar to how story levels are constructed in LittleBigPlanet. Mario, though, controls much better than Sackboy and the addition of real 3D allows you to judge the depth much easier. However some levels are clearly influenced by games such as Galaxy, with different areas to progress to, free standing and floating in the air. Whichever level you are on though it is a linear playthrough from one end to another as there are no ‘get the star’ targets here. You start at one end and have to reach the flag at the other, just like with the 2D games we love so dearly.

Throughout the game, Mario will be able to slip on various suits which give the type of superpowers we have become accustomed to over the years such as fireballs, boomerangs – and for 3D Land we see the comeback of the Tanooki suit! The Tanooki suit allows the player to hover in the air for a bit (very useful for all this platforming) and kill enemies with a flick of Mario’s Tanooki tail. Beware, though, as this time the enemies get their own Tanooki suit to use against you! Two suits can be carried at once, and by touching an icon on the bottom screen you can easily switch between them.

The first eight worlds are great and they are super accessible. If you keep failing you’ll get given a super suit that essentially means you can’t be killed. Great for beginners and the experienced alike, to wean them onto the difficulty which kicks in once the main quest is over.

That’s right, the game keeps giving. Once the main quest is complete, another eight worlds appear, with a remix of levels made harder and not coming with any special ‘I can’t be killed’ suits to help you out. Each level comes with three gold coins which need collecting to unlock new levels (and also act as a reason to replay levels for the completists amongst us), whilst the spotpass feature means you end up competing on best times against other 3DS users you might have bumped into via other games such as Mario Kart 7. It’s a great shame Nintendo didn’t go the whole way and offer public leaderboards.

It’s also a shame the game doesn’t offer any multiplayer mode whatsoever. New Super Mario Bros on the DS had a quite compelling coin collecting competition going, and so did the DS remake of Mario 64. However 3D Land has nothing, when an online mode would have added even more replay value.

With the 3D turned up, this looks lovely.

Whilst we feel content to make suggestions regarding what is missing in this review, please don’t confuse that with our actual view on the title. It is excellent. It is better than New Super Mario Brothers on the DS, in that it offers a real difficulty curve for experienced players, and way more replay value. It looks lovely, and the levels delight in their ingenuity whilst the 3D makes a tangible difference to how you experience the game, with some simple puzzle elements being easier to solve with the 3D on rather than off. There is also a nice variety of special suits, as you would expect in a Mario game, which add a degree of strategy and gameplay variation to how you might approach different levels.

Nintendo has shown once again that a proper Mario title is not just a cynical way of printing money, but is a franchise that justifies its greatness time and time again with each release.

Get it now.

• 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.

• Format: XBLA
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: UTV Ignition
• Developer: Denki
• Players: 1 (offline), 2-4 (online)
• Site: http://www.denki.co.uk/games/quarrel/

This game sees pirates fighting ninjas, and cavemen fighting robots. Oh, still here? Most people rushed off to buy the game before the end of the first sentence. Well for the rest of you, here’s a review of the actual game – a turn-based strategy word ‘em up. Where innocent people are killed.

In effect, it’s an electronic board game for 2-4 players. Each themed ‘board’ is split up into several parts, with each player allocated an equal number of sections at the beginning of the match. Each section houses a number of little people (or robots. Or Scotsmen), and each of these little people represents a space for a letter (up to a maximum of eight). If you ‘quarrel’ with another player whilst using a piece of land containing four little people, you can make a word up to a maximum of four letters. With us so far?

Two players at a time ‘quarrel’, both using the same eight letters. Each set of letters is always an anagram. Each letter carries a number, as in Scrabble; the highest scoring word, which isn’t necessarily the longest, wins. If both players produce a word of equal value, victory is awarded to whoever submitted their word first. The little chaps on the winning team throw letters at the losing team until they burn and die; and the losers have always led pure, innocent, blameless lives. We know this because, without fail, we see their souls ascending to heaven.

Let’s back up a bit. While it’s clear you can still win if you pit three mini murderers against five, facing an opponent with seven when you have just two doesn’t bode well for victory. This is where tic tacs come in. No, sorry, tactics. During your turn, you can select one of your pieces of land to attack an opponent’s section and initiate a quarrel; or you can bolster your defences by transferring little people from one of your adjoining sections to the other. Two pieces of land with four little people may well be a better choice than one with seven and the other with just one.

Scotsmen vs robots vs cavemen! Sadly, you don't get to pick your characters (we'd all go for ninjas, right?).

If you fight an opponent using a larger team than yours and win, you take ‘prisoners’ equal to the number of extra letter spaces your foe had. More generally speaking, lose while attacking and you lose all but one of your current team; lose while defending, you lose everybody on that section and the land itself. ‘Reinforcements’ are scattered for you at the end of your turn (which lasts until you end it or until you’ve done all you can do), and you can call in one extra wordperson at the start of one quarrel if you’ve accrued enough points (though you can hoard them). Finally, bonus points are awarded for taking the same little team through multiple enemy territories (and winning).

Whew. Got all that?

So: it’s a word game that makes you think in more ways than one and, for a little extra pressure, you’re working against the clock while composing a word when playing online. It’s much simpler and easier to learn than we’ve probably made it appear – and it’s also very, very addictive. Offline game modes aren’t huge but, countering that, AI opponents get agonisingly clever very quickly. Even when you’ve finally conquered the smarmy avatars of your computerised nemeses, there’s always the option of a Quick Match to just jump in and play to scratch that violent word game itch.

Of course, the real pleasure to be had in any word game comes from human opponents; and this is where Quarrel features its most baffling, daftest omissions. There is, for example, no offline multiplayer. Go back and read that as many times as you like, we’re afraid the ‘no’ really is supposed to be there. Okay, so splitscreen Quarrel would be open to cheating but come on; not even some kind of mode incorporating taking turns?

There currently aren’t many people playing online, and virtually all those who are only seem to want to play two player matches; neither of which is the game’s fault. However, why oh why is it only unranked matches (which make it easy to find members of a Party) that offer a lobby list? There isn’t even a rematch option for ranked matches (either that, or every opponent we played was so terrified of our brainpower that they quit the second the match ended). Brownie points are won, however, for anticipating the infamous Rage Quit. When this happened to us in a ranked match, we were automatically handed the victory; during an unranked match, an AI opponent jumped in.

The anagram here is clearly, er, foseflus.

As for the words themselves, well… almost anything goes. Swearing is forbidden (one we tried was rejected as “undesirable!”), though plurals and slang (and letters of the Greek alphabet, and even a type of Armenian folk music – yes, really) are acceptable. The slang seems to be American-centric however, with “ho” and “crappers” being two delightful examples we came across. The potato/potato situation is unclear as, though we never saw any British English used, we saw American English wielded successfully a few times. Also Denki, please note; it’s commendable that you don’t allow hyphenated or apostrophised words but bearing that in mind, costar is not a word!!! That cost us a game. Bitter, us?

The 400MP price is surprisingly low, until you discover that the game started out on iTunes last year – where there’s a free version, and even the ‘Deluxe’ release is only £1.99. Nonetheless, this still represents great value for money, as it does have multiplayer options – unlike the iTunes release. If you can encourage a few online friends to buy it, it becomes an essential purchase. Either way, this is a great way to spend those Microsoft Points burning a hole in your avatar’s pocket.

• Format: 3DS
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Nintendo/Retro Studios
• Players: 1-8 (local & online)
• Site: http://mariokart7.nintendo.com/

Double Dash (which irked some fans) aside, the Mario Kart games haven’t changed an awful lot since the original was released on the SNES almost twenty years ago. The series remains massively popular nonetheless, as evidenced by Mario Kart 7 outselling every other videogame in Japan last year – despite not being released until December. Are these sales due largely to a sense of duty amongst Nintendo fans, or is the magic still there?

So, yes indeed, Mario Kart 7 will be instantly familiar to anybody who’s played any previous game in the series. Lifelong fans will notice a mix of the old and the new here, however. As with Mario Kart Wii, you can unlock your Mii as a playable character, and motion controls are an option for steering (though only, oddly, if you use the new driver’s seat view). The recent introduction of karts with differing stats in regards to handling, acceleration etc. is taken one step further here, allowing you to mix & match a frame, wheel set, and parachute attachment.

The introduction of said parachute could so easily have ruined the whole experience. It’s arguably the biggest change the game introduces – but it works so well because it is, ultimately, hardly a change at all. You’ll rarely be in the air for more than a few seconds at a time, and some opportunities for gliding are entirely optional; meaning that, basically, the new attachment is mainly used for super-long jumps. There’s still a tactical element mind you, as you choose whether to try swooping under or over certain obstacles; and judge whether prolonging your flight as long as possible or diving groundwards at the first opportunity will give you that crucial half-second lead over the kart behind you.

Thankfully, this impractical perspective is not used.

The other change of note is the introduction of brief underwater sections in certain tracks. It must be said that, with no propeller-style attachment available, these sections do seem somewhat pointless. Driving underwater does seem to slow your kart slightly but apart from that, there are no noticeable benefits or drawbacks. They do nothing to improve the experience but, thankfully, nothing to detract from it either.

Coins, which are dotted around each track and here respawn after a slight delay, make a return. Collecting them (up to a maximum of ten) slightly increases your max speed, and you lose some as a penalty each time you fall off the track, hit certain obstacles, or are hit by an item used by an enemy. They also act as currency for unlocking new parts for your vehicle, as the game keeps track of your cumulative total in the background.

There are a total of 32 tracks here. 16 retro ones – tinkered with slightly to accommodate the new parachutes and underwater fetish – and 16 brand new ones. If you’re feeling generous enough to count those in the Mirror Cup as separate tracks, that’s… um… 64. The new ones are just as deviously designed as the old ones, full of turns ready to catch out those who time their powerslides wrong and shortcuts that will actually slow down those who come in at the wrong angle and/or don’t have the right item.

The item list includes series staples such as shells, banana skins, the star and so on, as well as more recent additions such as the bullet, which automatically whizzes you along the course (knocking over anybody who gets in the way) for a limited time – and the infamous blue shell. While the blue shell still homes in on whoever is in first place and is completely unavoidable, it now travels along the ground rather than through the air. This means it now hits anybody in its path on the way to first place, making it (slightly) less unfair to whoever ends up on the receiving end of the explosion at the end. The new kids in the item list are a tanooki tail (knock over anyone and anything that gets too close with a tap of the button, for a limited time) and ’7′, which awards you with seven items all at once. This isn’t the gamebreaker it may appear to be, as you’ll never be awarded with a blue shell or bullet (though you will get an invincibility star). As the items constantly rotate, choosing exactly what you use when in the middle of a race can be tricky to say the least.

There's even rain now. Rain!

As ever, what the question mark blocks award you with after you drive through one is almost completely random. Now more than ever though it adds to the challenge, rather than rendering final results entirely down to chance. Recovering from spinning out, or even suffering an explosion, seems to be a little quicker than before; and not knowing what those behind you are armed with when you’re in the lead just makes you very aware of the mini-map (which now helpfully shows what item each racer is carrying/using).

Local multiplayer is possible both with and – kudos to Nintendo, without – multiple copies of the game. Online multiplayer is also present; but is the game’s Achilles heel.

You still can’t change your character or kart between races; you’ll have to quit and start a new online race for that. The races themselves are superb however, with no noticeable loss of graphical quality and absolutely no lag. The problem is that, for some players, the words ‘communication error’ come up far too often. Just before a race, just after a race has started… exactly when you don’t want it. At CG, some of us were forced to try this (which helped, but didn’t fix the problem entirely).

In theory, Mario Kart 7 is the best of the series so far. With an online mode that’s crippled for an indeterminate number of players however, we can’t justify scoring the game quite as high as we’d like. Once everybody can enjoy an uninterrupted online session, add one more point to the number below.

• Format: PC (version reviewed), Mac, PSN, XBLA
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Lace Mamba Global/Focus Home Interactive, Atlus
• Developer: Frozenbyte
• Players: 1 – 3
• Site: www.trine2.com

Having a knight, a wizard and a thief simultaneously adventuring together seems like a fairly reasonable Halloween costume line-up or an unspecialised MMO raid party. It also sounds like the most obvious cast for a side-scrolling adventure game. In 2009, Frozenbyte struck the hearts of many with their game Trine that perfected this seemingly obvious formula. Two years on and they have made a sequel, but does it live up to the original game’s charm? If you just want this review in its simplest form, the answer is an absolutely corking “Yes and more.”

If you missed the first game then we’ll recap. It all started when a wizard, thief and knight touched an artefact called the Trine. It bound their souls together and sent them on an adventure. Part of being Trine-bound meant that players could instantly switch between characters to overcome certain puzzles and obstacles. The wizard conjures physical objects into existence and levitates them, the thief is highly mobile with her grappling hook and the knight is proficient at bludgeoning nasties to death. This aspect has not changed at all in Trine 2.

The knight makes short work of goblins but can't solve puzzles unless they involve a good bashing.

What has changed are a number of features from the original game that have been chopped to make the experience flow more smoothly. The inventory and special items have completely disappeared. You can no longer give specific characters benefits like unlimited air underwater or extra health with random trinkets. The only collectible items are experience orbs, poems and pieces of concept art. Characters no longer have an energy reserve either, meaning there is no penalty to constantly using fire arrows or spamming an area with summoned cubes and planks. This streamlining makes the game a lot easier to pick up and encourages experimentation and using abilities, instead of punishing overzealous use. It makes the game a lot more fun.

Puzzles are usually a case of navigating tricky terrain to get from the left side of the screen to the right, with the occasional door mechanism or gaping pit thrown in for good will. Whilst this might sound quite samey, each situation feels unique and can require some real brain power to solve. The one downside we found was the overreliance on the wizard and his block conjuring abilities. Summoning physical stepping stones into the world was always the most obvious (and in many cases only) way to get through most tricky areas. The thief can get herself through some situations with her grapple; but the knight seems fairly useless outside of combat or tasks that involve breaking things. That is of course the knight’s function, but we found ourselves puzzling and platforming a lot more than we were fighting.

Joining the improved mechanics are the gloriously designed environments. Level design remains as fiendish as ever, with several puzzles making you um and ah for minutes before the necessary element snaps in your brain and you discover the solution. Couple this with beautiful scenery and animated 3D backgrounds that are genuinely awe inspiring and you get a visual treat that even the fussiest of graphic grinches can’t grumble about.

And you thought the dragons in Skyrim were big...

The excellent presentation doesn’t stop at the amazing graphics; just about everything you experience serves as an immersive influence that compels you to play. Trine 2 feels like an interactive fairy tale that caters to everyone. The narrator tells the story as you go along and each character occasionally chirps in with their own bits of quirky dialogue. These serve to advance the story, but also provide the player with hints should you find yourself staring at the same chasm or sealed door for long enough.

The major new feature in Trine 2 is online multiplayer. The original game only allowed local co-op play, but the sequel has now opened the floodgates to the scary wide world of the Internet. Use the server browser or jump into a quick match though matchmaking to drop into the main adventure with up to two other players. Having three people tackle the puzzles and goblin ambush attempts is a fantastic experience and unlike the majority of current online games out there.

Multiplayer can also make it much easier in places, and it almost feels like cheating. There are so many occasions in singleplayer that will leave you thinking “This would be much easier with another person helping.” If you can trust yourself not to simply levitate your teammates on a wizard plank to the other side of the problem and then wait for the game to respawn you with them then online is a real laugh. Even if you do decide to cheat the game a little bit, it is very fun and a joy to play. You will giggle every time someone accidently summons a cube above you that thwarts your heroic jump attempt.

Stand on the knight's shield in multiplayer for a cheeky leg up.

Local multiplayer is also very well implemented. Good support like this is to be expected on consoles, but even the PC has brilliant local play capabilities. You don’t even need a set of spare USB gamepads to play on the same PC. The game supports multiple mice and keyboards which works brilliantly, if you can find the space to use them. It took us a slight fiddle in the game options to get it all working, but it wasn’t a huge feat and definitely worth the effort.

Trine 2 is an incredible game and easily tops the brilliant original. It is a charming adventure that can appeal to a very wide audience, but at the same time does not compromise on the challenge with several brilliant physics and platform based puzzles in the mixture. The boxed collector’s edition even comes with an artbook, original soundtrack and a copy of Trine 1. If you like your swords and spells applied to side scrolling adventures then it doesn’t get much better than this. Likewise, if you’re looking for an adventure game that is easy to get into and great fun to play, Trine 2 will not disappoint.

• Format:PC, Mac (version reviewed)
• Unleashed:Out Now
• Publisher:Lace Mamba Global
• Developer:Parallax Studio
• Players:1
• Site:http://www.darkstar.gs/

Darkstar has been a labour of love for creator J. Allen Williams, who wrote, directed, produced and was lead animator on the production of the game over the course of ten years. The game fuses real actors performances into animated scenes created by renowned comic book artist Richard Corben, and is the latest attempt to create an interactive movie. So have the ten years in development been well spent, or is J. Allen Williams ten years too late with this sci-fi adventure?

Nice and simple puzzles are the name of the game

The story follows our character, Captain John O’Neil, as he finds himself waking up onboard his spaceship the Westwick after 312 lost years spent asleep in a cryo-chamber. He’s been in his slumber so long that he has amnesia, and can’t even recall his own name. He finds that his ship has been damaged and is set adrift around the orbit of an alien world. His partner is missing, the ship’s pilot is asleep in her cryo-chamber and the navigator has been murdered in his sleep and had his hand removed. We also find out that the Earth has been destroyed by an alien race from Mars, and the Captain and his friends are the last surviving members of the human race. It sounds like a waking nightmare and the same can be said of the game itself.

You navigate the ship with your mouse, looking around to try to find spots of interest, much like Myst. After you find something to interact with, like say levers or computer terminals, the story progresses with a short FMV sequence. The trouble is the ship is very cluttered and is extremely dark and muddy, which makes looking and moving around a nightmare. The design of the ship is very bad and it’s hard to see what’s what. The FMV sequences are blurry and poor quality, and the actors are poorly pasted into the computer generated backgrounds, with a bit too much of a feathering effect around them, making them look like ghostly Star Trek rejects. The acting is very patchy to say the least, which would have been fine if it was acted in a tongue in cheek manner, which would at least give the game some charm. Instead it just feels like a cheap TV series that was cancelled before the pilot show was even aired.

Bring back Kirk and Spock, all is forgiven!

Over forty actors have been used in the game, but none are what you could describe as household names. The game stars Clive Robertson as Captain John O’Neill. Robertson is best known for his role in the soap opera Sunset Beach. This game was also the last performance from the late great Peter Graves, who narrates the game, and who you may remember as the pilot in comedy Airplane!, as well as Men in Black II and the original TV series of Mission: Impossible. The other characters are made up of the whole cast of cult American TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, and other bit part actors, who on this performance, you will probably never hear about again.

The gameplay involves clicking on places of interest, flicking switches or pushing buttons. The thing is you can click on a computer terminal and what you think is a button, but if you don’t get it spot on your character ends up stepping away from the panel, leaving you to try again. There is nothing to highlight that the button can be pushed, which is extremely frustrating, as you end up frantically clicking like a hyperactive eBayer making a desperate last bid. There were also times when you click on where you want the Captain to go, but he ends up going in completely the wrong direction. Sometimes you click on a place of interest, which you would think would describe the thing you’re looking at, but it ends up with O’Neill in mortal danger as he leaps to his doom. It’s these points which frustrate the most, as the control is taken totally away from the player, with no choice on your interactivity with the point of interest. You also have an inventory that you can look at to see what items you have, but the game automatically uses any items that you have in your possession when they are needed, which almost renders puzzles obsolete. This was obviously to push the plot forward and to ease any frustrations that players may encounter, as they are pushing the game as an interactive movie more than a game. There are a few simple puzzles that need solving like some anagrams for instance, but nothing that Dr Kawashima would consider as Brain Training.

Anyone got a torch?

The game feels like we have been transported back in time 10 years, rather than 300 years into the future, such is the archaic nature of the game. This is certainly no Mass Effect, with very limited puzzles, lots of aimless wandering as you look for bits of scenery to click, and a sense of bewilderment at what you need to do next as nothing is signposted to help you. Darkstar does have a decent atmosphere, and the creator has to be applauded for taking the time to see his vision through to completion, but if you fancy a sci-fi game we recommend you stick to Mass Effect or Deus Ex, or if you want to watch a sci-fi movie try Blade Runner or Star Wars. Unfortunately for J. Allen Williams, gaming has moved on a lot since this game was conceived, and what is on offer here is a poor interactive experience that is ten years too late for the majority of gamers.

• Format: PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Lace Mamba Global, 1C Company
  
• Developer: 1C Avalon
• Players: 1 – 4
• Site: http://www.offroad-game.com/

We’ve all been there; the random strips of land that border the race track in every driving game. Whether it’s gravel, mud, grass or a water hazard, each is designed to slow your car to a crawl because you had the audacity to go off-road. These areas are punishing slogs that tell you to follow the tarmac. The unique spin in Off-Road Drive is that that every track is made up of these hard to drive through areas. It is a greatest hits compilation of awkward driving surfaces.

1C Avalon has tried to do something different from other race titles and made track navigation more than just the challenge of remembering particularly nasty corners. Almost every inch of each track is waterlogged, covered in mud, peppered with loose gravel, sprinkled with rocks or on an ungodly angle that would be difficult to climb, let alone drag a couple of tonnes of car up. Those expecting paved straights are obviously going to be disappointed by Off-Road Drive, as it certainly lives up to its name. At times it will feel like you are driving through hard butter.

Wheels carve channels in mud. This helps you get stuck but looks nice.

Thankfully the game equips you with the tools necessary to conquer such obstructions. Every car can be switched into 4×4 mode at the touch of a button. The difficult nature of every road surface makes us wonder why you would want to switch out of four wheeled drive, but you can go back to eco-friendly 2×4 should you care about a fictional atmosphere more than pretend medals. You can also use locking differentials on your wheels to gain greater traction and power through obstacles, and even auto-deflate your tires to get through boggy areas. Should these options fail to dig you out of trouble, each car is also equipped with a winch to pull you through the worst hazards.

Unfortunately these don’t always save the day when you are battling up the muddiest, rockiest, steepest creek with a grunting, 4×4 super paddle. It is very possible to completely beach your car and be unable to escape some hazards. The lack of a player controlled respawn option means you have to restart the entire race should this happen. It’s a game design crime to have such random, game halting obstacles every so often.

However, the peculiar nature of the beast means that it’s not always possible to spot such hazards. You sometimes get stuck in the deep mud pit the game forces you to drive through. If there isn’t a tree nearby to winch yourself out of such a beaching you can be entirely screwed. Other times you can optimistically rock the car back and forth for two minutes and eventually break free. There is no science to bypassing obstacles, which is hyper frustrating. Half of the time you just need to gun the engine with the correct off-road options active as you pray to the motoring gods.

This vertical wall really is part of the designated track. Good luck.

You can spend two-thirds of each race attempting to free your car from awkward scenery. This is particularly difficult if you like your view from the cockpit or use the chase camera that is positioned far too low. It’s necessary to view the car from multiple angles to find out what it has caught on. You may think that you’re rubbish at the game for getting into situations like this, but it turns out it’s to be expected when you finally cross the line in a respectable position. You can make ten metres progress in two minutes and still have a foot on the winner’s podium. This is just the nature of off-road driving. Unfortunately it makes the game more frustrating than playing chess against a cat.

Races feel like an unpleasant slog to finish made more unsatisfying when you finally cross the line and find out you have dropped two places due to penalties you have picked up along the way. It’s made worse by the lack of opposing racers. Each race is a time trial against times set by off-screen opponents, making each event desolate. You can see an opponent’s time trial ghost appear occasionally, but it doesn’t spur you to keep up with the competition. It just adds to your annoyance as you see this car shaped apparition glide through the mud sodden pit you appear to have parked in.

Multiplayer mode goes some way to address this, as it allows up to four people to battle against the track hazards simultaneously. Turn collisions on to allow your cars to bash into each other and you can have a fun few minutes. That is, you will have a fun few minutes if you can find anyone to play against. The server browser’s default search looks for local network games, which seems like a nudge towards the best way to find opponents.

Drive like this and you can turn your car into a seesaw too.

To the game’s credit, there is a wide selection of cars to unlock which vary in performance. Each one is beautifully detailed, with operational fans and other moving exposed car bits. They can also be customised with different suspension and wheels that alter stats. There are lots of tracks too which differ in scenery, but all tend to share similar hazards. If you like the very staggered gameplay then the variety and attention to detail might hold your attention.

Off-Road Drive is a slow game. You are likely to be driven mad by race tracks that seem unfair and a real effort to complete. Conquering a particularly bad mud pit or climbing to the top of a steep slope isn’t fun; it’s just hard work. Most of the time you’ll be holding the accelerator button down with all 4×4 traction aids on, hoping your winch line won’t snap as you attempt to reach dry, flat land. The game is a navigation lottery that might appeal to Land Rover enthusiasts who like traversing difficult ground. Normal driving fans will just get frustrated by the slow pace and awkward terrain that makes races seem more like Total Wipeout than Need For Speed.

• Format:  360 (version reviewed), 3DS, PC, PS3,
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Sega
• Developer: Sonic Team
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.sega.com/sonicgenerations/

How long and twisting the road for Sonic the Hedgehog has been these twenty-odd years since he burst into the gaming scene. Not to get excessively allegorical here, but the path has been much like the stages he blazes through: plenty of ups, some noticeable downs, and a few loops that may nauseate you. Sonic Generations is a game that joyfully celebrates every step of the journey with reckless abandon, and that optimistic attitude alone makes it easy to like. But keep in mind that we are, after all, celebrating everything Sonic, and that means putting up with a bundle of nagging problems. This is a shame, because Generations’ splendid combination of both the old and the new could have meant the greatest Sonic game this world has ever seen.

In a time-warping tale that makes little to no sense, Modern Sonic (the current hedgehog you know and possibly might love) and Classic Sonic (the portly dude from the Genesis days) must work together and save the world or their dimension or something. Regardless, it’s a flimsy setup that serves as a nice excuse to travel through Sonic’s colourful past. At first the stark white hub world is devoid of said colour, but that all changes as both hedgehogs explore a timeline that stretches from the early ’90s to 2010.

What's this? Classic Sonic in a stage from 2004? That's completely bananas!

We’re sure you remember how to play Classic Sonic: hop and spindash your way through a wild rollercoaster of badniks while you you try to nab (and desperately keep) shiny, life-giving rings. For all the eye-popping pizazz and polygonal shenanigans, the gameplay remains remarkably close to the source material; Sonic Team clearly spent time on getting it right. Ducking is no longer required to spindash (tapping a dedicated button is an option now), which is the only relevant change – and it’s a good one. Creative stages are layered with fun routes to take, but the controls can be touchy, bordering on frustration now and then. The levels don’t quite rival the best of the Genesis/Mega Drive days, but they fit in as fresh additions of their own. Of course, Classic Sonic is only half the story, and probably the less interesting side.

Sonic has been tearing around the third dimension like a loon for years, loyal Sega always trailing behind and trying to steer him in the right direction with erratic results. The formula has been improving recently, and Sonic Generations is the best result yet. Among other stunts, Sonic can squeal around turns in a spindash, gain boost to rocket through loops, and cross huge chasms with the physically impossible homing attack. The blinding speed might throw you off at first, breaking the stages into stop-and-go stumbles; but practice will reveal tight stage design that rewards level memorisation and quick wits. Such intensely rad action makes it all the more disappointing when a glitch rears its ugly head or the controls fail you entirely. Nobody else does what Sonic Team does, but that doesn’t mean they always do it well.

And Modern Sonic in a stage from 1992? That's totally nuts!

Something they deliver in ridiculous abundance, however, is nostalgia; gallons of the stuff. Every level is ripped straight from a past Sonic title and positively packed with accurate details, whether it’s a familiar floating platform from the reimagined Chemical Plant or Seaside Hill’s faithful go-kart section. Anyone who’s played a Sonic game or two will get something out of it, but for those select fans who can pick out samples of Sega Saturn commercials mixed into a Sonic R remix, a true delight is in store.

Although the music can’t always rise to that level of jaw-dropping wonder, Sonic Generations’ rhapsodic smorgasbord of pumped up remixes is akin to stuffing your ears with gummi bears. These songs accompany stages brought to life with a delightful vibrancy that can differ radically from zone to zone. The sense of speed is genuinely thrilling, and grabbing a screenshot of the action would reveal textures of unexpected detail. It’s almost painful to admit that the beautiful environments and great animations are marred with a so-so frame rate that can dip into nearly unplayable slideshows during the more hardware-intensive moments. For a game focused so specifically on speed, this is 100% uncool.

And a remake of City Escape, complete with a new rendition of its jaunty theme song? That's entirely bonkers!

But for better or worse, there’s more to do in Sonic Generations than run fast. A hodgepodge of bite-sized challenges (often used to shoehorn in the non-playable extended cast) helps out with variety, but there are plenty of misses among the hits. Battles against Dr. Eggman and Sonic’s past rivals are similarly iffy, concluding with an abysmal final boss. Although a stupidly easy stage ranking system and a shop that sells passable special abilities also fall short of their potential, collectathon enthusiasts (you know who you are) will have a field day finding hidden red rings and unlocking oodles of prizes, including a fully functional Genesis that plays the original Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic Generations is a truly great game weighed down with sloppy troubles. Racing against the excellent system of leaderboards shows just how well put together the core gameplay is, and if not for the low frame rate and overall splapdash production, it wouldn’t have much holding it back. In short, imagine a shiny car of the coolest variety. Now imagine bashing it with a crowbar three or four times. Do you still like the car? Of course; it’s of the coolest variety! But seeing what it could have been makes the dents even more cringe-worthy. Sonic Generations is a gleeful tribute to the best of Sonic, but like our unfortunate hotrod, it takes a beating along the way.

• Format: PS3 (version reviewed), PC, Xbox 360
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer: DICE
• Players: 1 + Online Multiplayer
• Site: http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield3

EA have hyped Battlefield 3 up as the Call of Duty killer that will topple Activision from the top of the FPS tree. Early gameplay videos showed the game as something truly special, with astonishingly realistic graphics and impressive destructible environments. However, this footage was taken from PC gameplay, with nothing being seen of the console version of the game. So does the game live up to the early hype or does the hype work against it?

The graphics are very realistic, even on the ageing consoles.

DICE are well known for their superb multiplayer games but haven’t managed to translate this into the single player campaign, with Battlefield Bad Company 2 having a pretty bland single player experience. Battlefield 3′s Campaign takes the tried and tested Call of Duty single player template, which contains a plot involving terrorists, Russians and stolen nuclear warheads. The game sees the protagonist Sergeant Blackburn being interrogated by the CIA, who want to find out why he shot his CO in a mission to capture one of the head PLR terrorists. The story unravels in flashback form, as Blackburn tells his interrogators what happened, with each mission playing out as one of Blackburn’s memories. The campaign features levels set in Iran, Paris and New York as you attempt to stop the PLR blowing up nuclear warheads in Paris and New York. Sadly the campaign lacks the bombastic set pieces the Call of Duty series is known for, and the player is herded from one setting to the next rather than being let loose in the battlefield to achieve the objectives however they see fit. We can’t help but feel that DICE missed a trick in not using the multiplayer game as a basis for the campaign, with larger maps, and more open-ended missions.

Battlefield 3 also contains a co-op mode, with six seperate scenarios to take on with a friend. Unfortunately it is limited to two players and there is no split screen option, which is disappointing. These co-op levels are good fun with a friend, but are a bit of a missed opportunity. With only six missions, we felt the Spec Ops mode in the last two Modern Warfares offered a lot more, and we can’t imagine players spending a lot of time on them.

Hopefully he's wearing his parachute!

Now everyone knows that the Battlefield games are all about the multiplayer, and Battlefield 3 ups the ante considerably from Bad Company 2. The nine levels you initially get with the game are all packed full of destuctible scenery, which the new Frostbite 2 engine does a great job at rendering. The graphics are obviously stunning on a top spec PC, but the PS3 does an admirable job of rendering them on six year old hardware. Scenery can be chipped away with your guns, or blasted to pieces with a tank or RPG. In the Paris levels you can blow huge holes in the sides of buildings, which then throw debris onto the unsuspecting enemies below. The maps are mostly fantastic with Operation Metro being perhaps the weakest addition with a tight linear level, which panders a bit too much to the Call of Duty crowd. The addition of fighter jets adds another dimension to the gameplay, although getting kills with them can be a tough task at first. Again there are lots of weapons, gizmos and perks to unlock for the four classes in the game (Assault, Support, Engineer and Recon), which will keep players occupied for months.

The game has the staple Team Deathmatch and Squad Deathmatch, where you need to reach a set number of kills before the other team. Rush and Squad Rush are returning favourites, where you need to attack or defend M-COM stations. Also returning is Conquest, where key flags need capturing to deplete enemy tickets. These modes require teamwork, which is crucial to achieve victory, and communication is vital. This is where the game hits some problems on the PS3. The voice communication is very patchy at the moment, and sometimes it sounds like your teammates are gargling with Listerine. It can get quite frustrating when for instance, you try to let your squad know about a sniper on the building above, but it all comes over as a garbled mess and your team mates end up being picked off. However DICE are aware of the problem, and are working around the clock to fix it, so hopefully by the time you read this review it will have been fixed. There is also a problem with input lag, on the PS3 at least, which makes aiming a bit imprecise at the moment, but again DICE are apparently working on a fix.

Some of the maps are absolutely massive, and a vehicle is a must if you want to get back quickly into the fray.

There are some new features in Battlefield 3. Battlelog is to Battlefield what Autolog was to Need for Speed, and lets you know what your friends have achieved. Although it is quite limited on console at the moment. If it gave more incentive to beat your friends score then it could be a crucial feature. The ability to go prone is welcome and opens up new tactical options, and suppressive fire can be used to blur an enemy player’s vision and stop their health regenerating, so a team mate can make the kill. This is a good way of racking up extra points. The best thing about the game is that even modest players can reach the top of the leaderboard, with teamplay being encouraged and rewarded. You don’t have to be a Rambo one-man-army to rack up points, and just capturing objectives or dishing out medi packs or ammo, or repairing vehicles can take you to the top of the leaderboard.

Battlefield 3 is game of two halves, the single player is a disappointing diversion, but the multiplayer is quite possibly the best we’ve played. It’s a polished tour-de-force that will keep you entertained for months, if not years, with every game being unique and packed full of the hilarious and ridiculous ‘Battlefield Moments’ that the series is renowned for. Surely that’s worth the admission price alone?