Manic Miner was an excellent platform/arcade game for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. To play this game you had to be fast, accurate and sometimes patient. You couldn’t just kill them all and move on to the next room. I liked this game a lot. It had a good sense of humour – on one level you had to escape running toilets, on another, there’s a Donkey Kong spoof. It was ported to many other computers such as the C64 (Commodore 64), Acorn and BBC computers. It was followed by the eagerly anticipated Jet Set Willy and other sequels. Today, it’s considered a classic platform/arcade game.

Basically, Manic Miner is brilliant. Only one problem; who wants to buy a Zx Spectrum just to play this?! That is why some nice people have made an online version, which you can download now. For FREE!

This new, downloadable version is just the same as the original version but completely remastered! Yep, the music’s better, the graphics are better… Everything is better! Here’s a link to the site to help get you going:

http://www.xmixdrix.com/manicminer/

RATING: 84%

Manic Miner is possibly the greatest platform game of all time and the remastered version is brilliant!

Today is Princess peaches wedding day – which raises all sorts of questions. Is the groom wearing red or green? And will Princess Peach be tempted out of her usual pink attire in the name of tradition?

But hang on, something’s not right – the groom is… Bowser! Bad guy Count Bleck has kidnapped peach and marched her up the aisle with Bowser as part of his evil sheming. It’s time for Mario to warp to where she is – an alternate land sandwiched between dimensions.

Flipside is where you begin you’re adventure – a 2D town full of helpful shopkeepers and doors to other worlds. It all looks very basic – but there is more going on than meets the eye. Mario’s new ability to flip into 3D allows him to view the world from a unique viewpoint. Giant spiky balls impossible to leap over in 2D suddenly become millimeter-thin and easy to side-step around. Impossible puzzles are solved as hidden pipes are and paths are revealed. Perspectives and angles are played with in every way imaginable, allowing you to hop along distant painted mountains and turn your 2D self sideways to become invisible and invulnerable to enemies. This unique twist makes Paper Mario’s eight worlds a lot bigger than they would be otherwise, and gives the game some ingenious puzzles.

Eventually unlocking three extra characters (Peach, Bowser and Luigi, each with special abilities) and being able to quickly swap between them adds more layers to gameplay, as do the collectable Pixls. These fairy-like flyers give you special powers and work like the items in a zelda game. Boomber the Pixl can plant bombs, Dottie shrinks you to the size of a gnat and Thudly gives you the power of stomping! Having a new Pixl suddenly opens up new areas in flipside – holes can be blown in cracks and walls knocked down. With all the item collecting, fetch quests and levelling up, Paper Mario feels partly like an RPG. But the 2D platform jumping, boss fights and enemy stomping are very reminiscent of old school Mario. Some of the old bad guys are back too – Here come the Boos and Piranha Plants! Even some of the power ups are very retro-looking. Zelda crossed with Mario – it’s a dream come true!

The visuals aren’t always lovely to look at, and are a bit sparse in 3D – perhaps partly because this game was originally made fro the GameCube. But this is still going to be a joy to play for any Nintendo fan. It’s packed with clever puzzles and cheeky humour that pokes fun at Mario’s universe. And despite the inclusion of one annoyingly long fetch quest and levels where it’s possible to undo ten minutes of gaming with one slip, most of the game is a glorious journey that combines a refreshingly original, twisty-flippy design with everything we have all ever loved about Mario games.

Yes, the graphics are very inventive, but they could have tried harder in some places, the gameplay is imaginative and fun, with bright and varied characters to play as and the puzzles are very different to anything I’ve seen before. Paper Mario takes a couple of days to complete, but then there is lots to unlock afterwards, making this a very long-lasting game.

 

RATING: 91%

If you liked this, try New Super Mario Bros on Ds, or Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters on Psp.

 

I have played and loved the majority of Crash Bandicoot games, but Crash Team Racing is still my number 1!

Yes, I know it is old, but even 9 years after it’s release, it still has so much energy! The graphics in this game are striking. Absolutely no fog was used in this game, and a constant frame rate is maintained. The characters are well designed and all have a high polygon count. Advanced techniques, such as full reflections, were used to make this game even more aesthetically pleasing.

People have said to me that CTR is just a Mario Kart wannabe, but I disagree. Yes, the battle mode may be very similiar to Mario Kart’s version, but the tracks and actual gameplay are very different. In my mind, CTR is no remake, but a milestone in racing games, and something Nitro Kart and Tag Team Racing failed to live up to.

There are five main racing modes – Adventure, Time Trial, Arcade, Battle and Vs. In Adventure, you must try to stop the world being destroyed by alien Nitros Oxide by racing on 16 different tracks. Arcade mode lets you freely race on any of the courses with any of the characters you’ve obtained so far (some characters must be unlocked in Adventure mode, or obtained via Cheat Code). If you want to race against your friends, try Vs mode. Battle, my personal favourite mode lets you mutilate your friends in 1 of four arenas. And then there is Time Trial mode, which is… Er, Time Trials!

The game’s soundtrack also does not disappoint, with music tailored to the environments (lively tunes for bright tracks, etc.). The voices, are also impressive, and I love how Pura meows when you crash into a barrier!

The only real complaints I have about this game are the bosses (they have an unlimited supply of one kind of weapon) and the tracks which, albeit well designed, are too short. Overall, this game is a worthy purchase for anyone looking for a GOOD mascot racing game, a light spirited racing simulation or loves Mario Kart and wants something new!

UNLOCKABLE CHARACTERS:

There are 15 playable characters in total. Here is how to unlock the hidden ones without winning them on Adventure Mode:

Komodo Joe
Hold L1 + R1 and press Down, Circle, Left (x2), Triangle, Right, Down at the main menu.

N. Trophy
Hold L1 + R1 and press Down, Left, Right, Up, Down, Right (x2) at the main menu.

Papu Papu
Hold L1 + R1 and press Left, Triangle, Right, Down, Right, Circle, Left (x2), Down at the main menu.

Pinstripe
Hold L1 + R1 and press Left, Right, Triangle, Down, Right, Down at the main menu.

Ripper Roo
Hold L1 + R1 and press Right, Circle (x2), Down, Up, Down, Right at the main menu.

CHEATS: Bonus Character:

There is another hidden character that can only be found via cheat code. Yep, it’s Penta Penguin!

Penta Penguin:

Hold L1 and R1 and press Down, Right, Triangle, Down, Left, Triangle, Up at the main menu.

CHEATS: Spyro The Dragon 2 Demo!

Believe it or not, there is a Spyro The Dragon 2 demo hidden inside CTR! Just do this Cheat Code:

Hold L1 + R1 and press Down, Circle, Triangle, Right at the main menu.

The game would succeed even without the Crash license, with its realistic physics and tight controls. Every character has a unique quality which greatly enhances the replay value. CTR is what Nitro Kart failed to be. It is brilliant.

RATING: 90%

If you liked this, try the Mario Kart series on Ds, Gamecube, gameboy, Wii, N64.

 Get the ball rolling, shall we? Or not…

Puzzlesphere might look like potentially the most fun out of the RealPlay range, but that impression couldn’t be more wrong. How come? Essentially, you navigate your ‘Xorb’ through a series of increasingly diabolical levels, a bit like classic puzzler Marble Madness back on the NES, only this is in 3D. You do so by tilting your peripheral in your chosen direction, liberally tapping the green button to apply the breaks. And therein lies the problem…

Yup, you guessed it – it’s the peripheral, in this case the Puzzlesphere, whose botched motion sensitivity will see you plummeting to your death quicker than you can say ‘lemming party.’ Astonishingly, your power-up button is mapped onto the D-pad, so you actually need to tilt your Puzzlesphere back to reach it.Thanks to the peripheral, Puzzlesphere requires the patience of an immortal and the hand-eye coordination of an Olympic gymnast. As tests of mental fortitude go, it’s up there with Chinese water torture – hardly the kind of family entertainment it claims to be.If anything, it’s the gaming equivalent of that buzzing wire loop game you find at village fetes. Only there’s no bag of malnourished goldfish waiting for you at the end, just another level. And then another. Until you wish the earth would open its terrible maw and swallow you whole…There’s no point pretending otherwise. Puzzlesphere is a shameless and ugly homage to the likes of Super Monkey Ball and Mercury, and despite its potential, it is the worst of the Realplay games on offer. The small button that acts to slow down your ball’s movement makes the normal speed feel far too fast and the lower speed painfully time-consuming. The levels are repetitive and designed with an utter lack of innovation or craftsmanship, and visually Puzzlesphere is a mess. Definitely one to avoid.

RATING: 25%

If you liked this game, try Super Monkey Ball.

Crash is back! Hello? Anybody? Hello?

There are enough Mario Paries in the world (nine including Mario Party Ds). So Crash Boom Bang gets off  to a very bad start, seeing as it’s a very similar game…

Crash Boom Bang is the sequel to Crash Bash and basically made up of minigames – played against friends or CPU opponents. These are average at best. It is all very repetitive – Collect boxes, blow up balloons, and so on. The multiplayer aspect is made a bit more intresting with the inclusion of being able to send messages to distract rival players. You can also bet on games you are not involved in, giving you an incentive to put off other players. Neat, but not good enough to drag a poor game out of the Bandicoot knacker’s yard.

Overall, Crash Boom Bang passes the time of day in multi-player, but single player is very dull and slow.

RATING: 48%

Long live pinantas and their choccie insides!

With the right branding, anything can sell. If Alan Titchmarsh lent is name and happy mug to an Xbox 360 gardening game, it’d sink like a lead ornamental gnome. But put a gardening game into the hands of Banjo-Kazooie daddies Rare, and you’ve got something to sit up and take notice of.

To be fair, there is more to Viva Pinata than just growing a garden, although that is a big part of it. Cultivating soil, planting seeds, watering crops abd harvesting vegetables; to start with, all of this farming is complete tedium. Starting off with a patch of land that looks like something from Scrapheap Challenge you go about getting rid of junk lying around. Then you dig and plant, all while being observed by some highly annoying human characters with comedy accents.

Things do start to look up when a passing worm decides to move in. Very exiting. And then a cute little rabbit-thing catches sight of your plump carrots and decides to come in for a nibble. The next thing you know, it’s set up a home! These animals are your reason for doing everything in the game, exept they’re not strictly animals. Instead, they’re animal-shaped, living pinatas – paper toys stuffed with sweets. This fact makes what follows easier to swallow – like a marshmallow – and a bit more kid-friendly…

While attracting some pinatas takes nothing more than a couple of vegetables or some long grass, bigger pinatas higher up the food chain are attracted to your garden by these little pinatas. Beacause they want to eat them. Cue a garden that gets less harmonious and peaceful the more you play. One minute you’ll be admiring your Baggesicles as they forage around for food, the next you’ll be bashing a pinata round the head with a spade for trying to attack your prized Fudgehog! And don’t get me started on those sour pinatas – evil visitors who sneak across your boundary every now and then to feast on your poor little friends.

Like most games of this sort, things start off easy – although not as easily as they should thanks to the overly-complicated and confusing tutorial and clunky interface. Things are gradually introduced until you’re highlighting things at the speed of a frenzied Gordon Ramsay! It’s all too easy to go from flourishing farmer to bankrupt gardner with a bit of neglect. However, the hook of finding new and rare pinatas then inticing them to your garden is enough to keep you playing. Remember: Non-resident pinatas sometimes wander past just outside your perimeter; it’s good to keep an eye on what’s going on.

It’s almost certainly a game that not everyone will appreciate. It lacks the quick-to-use interface and detailed stats of a good management game and you are forced to watch cute cut-scenes of every pinata turning up and ‘romance dancing’. It’s a slow builder though, which gets under your skin and the Sims-esque gameplay is something the Xbox 360 has been lacking up till now. I’d never have believed there’d be a gardening game on Xbox console. Now manhunt just has to come out on Wii, and I’ll have seen it all!

PINATAS:

Every type of pinata has it’s own personality. Some are aggressive, others passive, some ultra fussy and others only venture out for a few hours at night. Here’s just a few of them…

Sparrowmint:

These are good natured bird pinatas who are easy to breed. They live in a giant nest and spend lots of time there.

Sweetooth:

No need to worry for your fences and trees, as Piñata Island Sweetooths aren’t really into property damage. However, they are voracious herbivores and waddle just a bit too slowly to evade those gnashing Sours.

Whirlm:

Probably the dullest pinatas you’ll ever have in your garden, but they are vital to breed at the start of the game in order to attract they’re predators.

Lickitoad:

The Lickitoad will venture into your garden as soon as you build a pond.

Sour Shellybean:

Arggh! It’s a sour pinata! Be careful, he’ll try to steal your seeds! Don’t worry though – as soon as you tame him, he’ll help rewmove weeds!

Mousemallow:

Much is made of the Mousemallow’s hearing and the edge it provides against predators. Then again, it has no escape plan beyond ‘run’ – and for Syrupent and Kittyfloss families to thrive, sacrifices must be made!

Roario:

The King of Animals is a firm believer in the class system. Potential homes must be of sufficient worth and contain Doenut and Zumbug subjects (i.e. meals). As the ultimate big cat, it also has some dog issues.

Badgesicle:

The dusk-loving Badgesicle always looks for gardens where other night-dwellers will keep it company. By all means welcome it in, but don’t be surprised if it tucks into some of your smaller (and cuter) species

Barkbark:

You’re unlikely to find a more visibly, unreasoningly happy Piñata than the Barkbark. To get best results, take everything you know about canine likes and dislikes and put that knowledge into practice here.

Goobaa:

 Famous for being easily led and not the most dynamic species, the Goobaa is still a useful addition to any garden. Its requirements are straightforward, its wool valuable, and it’s far too neurotic to start any trouble

Pigxie:

The tragic figure of the Pigxie, a magical product of Piñata crossbreeding shunned by its parent species. Give it a new home a safe distance away, and work on raising your garden value to make it feel special.

Viva Pinata is an inventive new game, with super cute graphics and a very long lifespan. My favourite part is dressing up your pinatas in false teeth and comedy hats! Yes, the gameplay is slow and can be repetitive, but it’s just so addictive!

RATING: 70%

If you likd this game, try Pokemon: Diamond/ Pearl

Alien Syndrome. This game could have been brilliant, with graphics that show off every aliens unique looks. It could also of had an amazing amount of missions along with a brilliant storyline.

But it has none of that. What it does have is breath-takingly atrocious camera views, very poor graphics and really bad controls…

Alien Syndrome is played as a top-down shooter, with players turning their characters the direction they would like to shoot. The title is set in the far future, where interplanetary space travel is possible. Communication is lost with one of the stations on a distant planet, and Aileen Harding is sent to investigate. She quickly discovers that ‘Alien Syndrome’ is behind the disappearance and decides to fight the enemy.

Ok, this game has bad graphics and poor physics, but will last quite a while – with a total of 40 levels, with 5 bosses and 15 mini-bosses. Players are accompanied by a robotic drone that serves as a storage space for items as well as a backup for the main character. Players will also be able to completely customize their character to expand in-game strategy options. Alien Syndrome will allow you to use 80 different weapons and hundreds of armor types and bonus items. Rely on your loyal droid assistant to fight alongside you and exchange or improve your weapons and armor at any time. Players have both a life meter and a constantly refilling energy meter, with the latter being related to shield power.

The game also features co-op multiplayer for up to 4 people simultaneously on one TV screen for the Wii version. On the PSP version, the game features co-op multiplayer via ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection.

I think Alien Syndrome is ok. It does have a long lifespan, and a lot of unlockables, extra armor and Extra weapons means you’ll be glued to you’re Wii/Psp for a while. On the other hand, the poor camera views and bad graphics could put you off straight away…

RATING: 51%

If you liked this, try Spectrobes…

There is a brief moment, on your second day of colour-matching puzzling and stat growing that you’re covinced that Puzzle Quest is the greatest game ever. This is more than just addictive – it’s ‘staying up all night whilst you’re eyes melt’ addictive.

But, of course, it’s not the best game ever made – the presentation is a it rank in places for that. But it does marry two of the most addictive things in the world – ‘match three clour puzzlers’ along the lines of Zoo Keeper and Bejeweled and RPG style stat building.

Yes, it works brilliantly. There’s an RPG overworld to explore – chat to people, buy from shops and take on quests. And then the battles themselves take the form of puzzle matches. Rather than just scoring points though,  matching different icons deals damage and hoards EXP, money or mana with which to unleash special attacks and cruel spells.

Puzzle Quest has all the properties of a solid puzzler. But beyond that, being inside a story and a character-building framework gives it a sense of purpose – something that Zoo Keeper maybe lacks a bit.

The graphics of Puzzle Quest are a bit of a let down. But you don’t notice this flaw much thanks to the addictive gameplay and the enormous lifespan! Yes, this is a brilliant game and a must for any Ds or Psp owner. I just wonder why this has not had more publicity…

RATING: 89%

If you liked this, try Lumines 2 or Zoo Keeper.

Kill my prettys, KILL!!!! Mwah,ha ha ha ha!!!!

                                                                                                

The Darkness is a great first person shooter for the Ps3 and Xbox 360. It is based on a comic book series of the same name, though some changes to the story have been made. The game takes place in modern-day New York City, with the player controlling mob hitman Jackie Estacado, who has been possessed by a strange spirit that calls itself “The Darkness”. This spirit gives Estacado supernatural powers that feed off the dark, which he uses to survive assassinations attempted by his “Uncle” Paulie.

This very gory game includes a range of modern weapons that become available over the course of the game. However, due to Estacado turning 21 at the very start of the game, the powers of The Darkness become available to the player to kill foes, with some powers not being unlocked until later in the game. The Darkness powers include summoning different types of imp-like “Darklings” that can attack foes, using “Dark Tentacles” to impale foes and suck out their hearts or break downs walls, using “Creeping Dark” tendrils that sneak along floors, walls, and ceilings to take out foes from a distance, and creating a “Black Hole” that sucks anything nearby into it. Nice. Estacado also will come into possession of the “Darkness Guns” that are more powerful than the conventional weapons but consume the Darkness power to fire. These Darkness powers cannot be used when Estacado is in a well-lit area, but do become more powerful in darker conditions; the player is able to shoot out lights to help increase the amount of dark energy available for their attacks. Additionally, by ordering the Darkness to consume the hearts of the victims of the attacks, the player can further increase the effects of the Darkness powers.

The game has several levels based on New York City locales that the player will visit multiple times. A significantly-reduced subway system allows the player to move between levels. While the main plot is primarily linear, requiring the player to visit each level in a certain order, the player can gain side missions from talking with non-player characters that wander the subway stations. For example, one such mission is to win a rigged ‘shell game’ being run in the subway after getting a tip from another character. Completing sub-missions earns the player a “Collectible” phone number which can then be used at any phone to unlock additional game media; Collectibles can also be found scattered throughout the level. The Otherworld levels feature Collectibles in the form of unposted postal mail that the player can deliver when back in New York City to unlock the content.

There are a few lows to this game: the multiplayer to this game is not up to standard at all. Also, the game is way too short and the side missions are way too easy. Despite all this, the main story is still very fun and enjoyable – I mean, who wouldn’t wan’t to impale a bad guy with an enormous arm?!

 The story is very intresting, the graphics are some of the best I have seen on the Ps3 AND the Xbox so far! This is a really gory game (but not as gory as manhunt) with lots of unlockables and side missions to keep you hooked for a long time!

RATING: 87%

E.T; phone home – no, don’t shoot me, AAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Blacksite: Area 51 is at its core a squad based, first person shooter. Pierce (your character) takes an active role in battles while dishing out some basic orders to his support. The squad commands are nothing too deep, generally just a “move here, use this” sort of mechanic. While this basic command element doesn’t add a whole lot of depth, it does a good enough job for managing Echo Squad. The bigger element for you squad though lies in the game’s Squad Moral feature. Based on how the player functions in battle, his squad’s morale will peak and ebb.

When morale is high, Echo Squad functions like a well-oiled machine. The squad members will pick off targets with ease and charge the enemy with all sorts of piss and vinegar. On the flip side of that, when the team’s morale is low, you’ll want to shoot the teammates yourself and save the aliens the hassle. When morale is low, your squad members suddenly lose the ability to hit the broad side of a barn, and sometimes not only will they not break cover, but they’ll try to turn tail and run away. It would be a lot more humorous if it wasn’t such an irritating pain.

The battle to retake Rachel and Area 51 isn’t just a foot race. Blacksite also lets players jump behind the wheel of drivable vehicles. Players can opt to take the wheel, man the artillery, or just rid shotgun, much like riding the warthog in the Halo games. Much like the squad commands, there’s not a lot of depth here, but it’s good enough to get the job done. If there’s one thing that can be said about Blacksite: Area 51, it’s that the game follows the KISS credo: “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” Whether you’re driving across the desert or marching deep into the base, the controls are basic, simple, and easy to handle.

There is two parts to the storyline – the first bit being the prolouge in which you see your character – Aeran Pierce. After the prolouge, you appear in the present day in the Nevada Desert were you’re told to retake area 51 (nearly every alien game is set in area 51 – typical – it’s not very original) from these mutated freaks called the reborn, who are bent on vengence for the gruesome experiments that the american government did on them, then leaving them for dead.

The gameplay for Blacksite is fairly bulky but does not feel like a fast paced, team based game it has boasted about. The graphics on the Xbox are ok, but do not live up to the standard of the famously amazing Xbox 360 graphics (which it should do), and the Ps3 and Pc versions are both the same! The weapons do not feel varied (only a few weapons in the whole game) and so, this is really a bit of a disapointment.

RATING: 61%

 

Ok, so those nice developers dumped the indian rubbish (hoorah!!!) and now he’s a badass american indian (no, not the indian indian, it’s difficult to understand, ahem)!! let me explain:

Despite being titled “Turok”, the plot bears no relation to the previous games in the series or even the comic books that spawned it, instead it is a reference to the protagonist’s name; Joseph Turok. You play as Joseph Turok, the newest member of Whiskey Company; a team that has been assembled to apprehend the rogue soldier Roland Kane and bring him back to Earth. At first, the crew shuns him, thinking that he is an inexperienced fighter, un-trustable, and a liability. One particular member, Slade, has a grudge against Turok because his brother was killed in the same battle from which Turok fled. Unbeknownst to the team, Kane is in command of a secret paramilitary force funded by the Mendel-Gruman (M-G) Corporation.

The military spaceship that Turok presides in is shot down over a desolate planet, where mutant dinosaurs still roam free. The team later learns that the planet was terraformed, and the creatures were created with accelerated evolution. A platoon of soldiers from Whiskey Company meet at the crash site and make plans to survive. Turok and Slade begin completing missions for Whiskey Company in an attempt to stay alive and stop Kane, with one being to find a locator to call for evac. After multiple excursions with the members of Kane’s military regime, the “Wolf Pack,” Turok manages to lead the survivors to an abandoned spaceship, only to discover that the ship is in ruins.

After exploring a base where the ship is located, they discover that Kane has created a Soldier bug-based bio-toxin capable of killing millions of people. Whiskey Company comes up with a plan to finally stop Kane and escape the planet. A battle ensues, where most of the crew is killed. However, Whiskey Company manages to break into Kane’s headquarters to confront Kane himself. Only 3 of the people in the crew (including Turok) manage to escape in a spaceship, leaving Turok behind at his request to take down Kane. After an ensuing knife battle, Kane is beaten and killed by Turok.

Just as Turok kills Kane, an attacking T-Rex charges at Turok. With only a knife, bow, and a few leftover weapons Turok barely manages to kill the T-Rex. The ship that Whiskey Company has overtaken picks up Turok and leaves the hostile world. Turok and the remaining two crew members – Slade and Shepard, chart a course back to Earth.

This game is actually very clever – you fight Kane’s soldiers while trying not to get your faced mauled off by an angry dino – sounds fun to me! But wait – there’s a twist! You can lead dinos towards an enemy and hide in the shadows as they fight it out (my bet is that the dino wins). When their both dead or dying, you can come out and mop up any resistance that’s left (if there is any)!! This nice little tip will save you time and hassle!

The gameplay is brilliant, everything is very detailed, fast-paced and you`ll never get bored. My favourite bit is when you get a dino with the knife and there’s a gory cutscene(COOL!!!)

Turok is brilliant; the only bad point is that I would want just a little more weaponry to use and mutilate those bad guys!! 

RATING: 95%

-great game, I would just like to see more weapons…

 A while ago I posted a claim that a Bioshock review was coming soon. Well, here it is! Sorry for the wait…

I hope you’re not afraid of needles – self injections are frequent in Bioshock!

Well, I must admit,this game is scary!!! Bioshock is a first person shooter created by 2k Boston.

The story is very clever and twists all the way – you start off in a plane crash and swim onto a lighthouse. It is here that you descend into Rapture, an underwater city made by the rich and clever (their haven, so to speak). Sadly, things went wrong because of a drug which the people of Rapture got addicted to and turned into crazed mutants due to withdrawal.

You can make the best of Rapture’s baddies in many ways to help you out. One is to get a mutant to get too close to a little sister and the hulking big daddy will engage in a bloody fight to the death against it to protect his little sister. this will end in killing the mutant and softening up the big daddy for you to kick his barnicle-studded butt!!! The reason for this is so you can get to the guarded Little Sister and get adam,which is the drug that messed Rapure up. This strange drug will improve the powers you get early on in the game, but there’s those big daddys and they are hard to kill….

BIOSHOCK is a great game with great graphics (you can see the water gushing from the tubes, and you can feel that the sea’s trying to take back the city!!!) and there’s a TWIST which will leave you completely amazed!!! The only, small problem is that you’ll  often see an object that you need early on, but annoyingly can’t reach till later!!

This is a great game and is only slightly marred by very small problems.

RATING: 84%

BIG DADDYS ARE AS HARD AS NAILS!!!!!

 

 We have all heard of Super Mario Galaxy that has apparently re-defined what ‘platforming’ means, but does it meet the standard previously set?

Over a decade ago Super Mario 64 defined the template for 3D platform games, and set a standard that surprisingly few of the games that followed would even get near to. Sadly for Nintendo, that included its own Gamecube sequel. It seems harsh and sad to label a game as so enjoyable as Super Mario Sunshine a disappointment, but it’s hard to deny that it failed to match its predecessor for invention, and where it did innovate – the F.L.U.D.D. water-cannon – it added complications that changed the feel of the game for the worse…

But at last, however, Nintendo has knuckled down to create a truly worthy follow-up to Super Mario 64. Curiously it seems to have found its greatness not in Super Mario Sunshine’s wider worlds or coherent settings, but in it’s weird, shorter puzzle levels. These broke out from the main game in a riot of brightly coloured blocks, traps and odd mechanisms, where the player’s expectations and the rules of gravity could be tweaked and pulled like Mario’s face in the legendary Super Mario 64 start screen. These sections had a straighter, more arcade feel, as if Nintendo had decided to bring the more open 3D worlds of SM64 in with the more linear levels of the old 2D Mario games. They were hard – occasionally draconian – but they also had an energy that other parts of Super Mario Sunshine were clearly missing.

With Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo has taken this energy and run with it. Mario no longer races and leaps around flat worlds of flat floating platforms. It’s goodbye to the sunshine towns, haunted hotels, industrial facilities and golden beaches of Super Mario Sunshine, and hello to the strange realms of outer space – or at least what passes for space in the universe of the Mushroom Kingdom. We’re no longer interested in worlds but in galaxies: clusters of planetoids, linked by trails or odd stellar pathways, some of them small enough to run around within a couple of seconds, and many navigable on both the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of the surface. The basic objective remains collecting stars, usually through the completion of particular oddball tasks or boss-battling missions, but that’s all that’s really familiar here, and thank god they kept it that way! Up is no longer always up as you see it on your screen, and your brain will be battling to make sense of new angles and directions. At first, playing Super Mario Galaxy can be a confusing, somewhat disorienting experience.

Super Mario Galaxy also has a multiplayer option called “Co-Star Mode”, in which one player controls Mario and a Star Pointer whilst the other controls another pointer on-screen to gather Star Bits and shoot them at enemies. While the first player can normally do this except during certain events, the second player can shoot star bits without restriction. The second player is also more efficient in manipulating the environment, such as halting objects and enemy movement. Additionally, the second player can make Mario jump by simply pressing the A button on him, or the height of Mario’s jump can be increased if the first and second player press the A button at the same moment. Because of these added abilities, Co-Star Mode is less difficult than single-player mode.

The grapics of Super Mario Galaxy is amazing – from the bewildering expanses of space to the furry underside of a giant queen bee, this game has everything looking beutiful – even bowser is looking amazing!

Rating: 100%

WOW!!!!!!

If you liked this, try Super Mario 64, or Super Mario Sunshine on Gamecube.

Loco Roco is one of the cutest games I have ever seen! Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute!!!! And completely insane!

In the game, the aim is to gather as many Loco Rocos  as you can from around different and beutifully insane worlds to keep in your Loco house.You do this by eating fruit that can be found in the levels. There are also lots of house parts that can be found in secret areas so you can customise your Loco Roco’s home! This may sound easy, but it is not! The reason is because the only buttons you use are the L and R ones! You heard me – you use the L button to tilt the entire world left, and the R to tilt it right. The Loco Rocos then roll through the worlds!

There are six different types of Loco Roco to collect – Yellow ones (which you start off with), Pink ones, Blue ones, Red ones, Black ones and finally the Green ones! Each of these creatures handle pretty much the same, but look different. Also, each type of Loco Roco has it’s own theme music!

The graphics of this game are very simple and the colours are bright, and that’s what makes Loco Roco great! The music to the game is very catchy and enjoyable too, and just to add to the fun there’s also a few minigames that all end in you winning something great (be it a house part or even a Loco Roco)!

But wait – there’s more! If you know someone that wants to buy Loco Roco, you can let them try it out first by sending them the two demo levels! Hooray, now everyone’s satisfied!!

Okay, the gameplay isn’t that great – some levels look completely the same and it’s just too easy – but here I don’t think it matters because it is just so fun to play those addictive levels over and over again! It is because of this that I think this is one of the best games for the Psp!

But the worst part of this game has got to be that damned owl!!!! WHY HAS IT MADE MADE ME SLUG SHAPED!!!!!!!!!

RATING: 90%

Despite the cute visuals and amazing levels, this game does slowly get repetitive…

If you liked this, try Electroplankton, or New Super Mario Bros (but see my reviews first)!!!!

All games should get a second chance, and nearly a decade after the massive Mario 64 was brought out, Mario 64 Ds is rockin’ handheld consoles…

Ok, this game is just a bigger and better version of the older game (with the same name). This time though, it has more levels and 150 stars to collect (30 more than the origional game)! This is great for gamers that are both Mario finatics or new to the games.

The story starts with princess Peach, who sends a letter to Mario. But when he, Luigi, Wario and Yoshi arrive, she cannot be found! Mario decides to investigate and Luigi and Wario soon follow. Yoshi (who is asleep) is left behind. When yoshi wakes, a Lakitu informs him the his friends have not returned, and that he must he must too investigate…

The graphics for Mario 64 Ds are only as good as a usual Ds game, but this is made up for by amazing gameplay – as well as playing as mario, you can be Wario, Yoshi and Luigi! There are seven missions to complete on each of the fifteen levels as well, each needing a different character to complete it.

To access each level, you need to have found a certain amount of stars. The levels vary greatly – from the barracks of a bob-omb war, to a rainbow and a flying airship. This means it does not get very repetitive.

CHEATS:

How To Get On The Castle Roof With Only Luigi:

To get this right, you’ll need to be playing as Luigi. Go outside and to the the left of the castle. Now do Luigi’s long jump forward (over the waterfall) and land on the bank. Slowly hop your way upwards until you see the roof of the castle. When you finally achieve this truicky move, you’ll be rewarded with a Bunny, some extra lives and a Power Flower!

Overall, this game is great! With graphics we can live with, a couple of stunning stages and brilliant boss fights, I’ll give this game a rating of…

RATING: 89%

If you like this, try The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, or New Super Mario Bros.

Yet another burnout… But does it live up to the expectations left behined by the previous games? I investigate.

When I first started playing Burnout Revenge, I thought this game was very samey. Then I realised I was wrong. For a start, the tracks are very different, with new places like White Mountain, and Motor City. Plus, none of the tracks feel the same, and each track needs a different car to master it. For example, you can’t use an amazingly fast car on White Mountain, as you’ll just fall off the road to a rather ugly death.

But then, the deaths aren’t ugly. In fact, the explosions are completly beyond that of Burnout Legends, and the graphics are all together… Brilliant! Most of the burnout games have had great visuals, and this isn’t different.

Sadly, the gameplay on the previous Burnouts has felt light, and too sensitive. Luckily, this problem has been solved in Burnout Revenge.

All the best events are crammed into this game too – Crash, Traffic Attack, Race and even Eliminator! The multiplayer is also great, and it’s fun to show off your freshly unlocked cars to your mates!

Burnout Revenge is a very good game, with brilliant graphics, an amazing array of tracks and a great selections of songs to listen to whilst you kill yourself in a horrific crash off a  tall bridge.

RATING: 91%

If you have enjoyed this game, you’ll just love Burnout Dominator!

 

Wow… This was where it all began…

To tell you the truth, Burnout’s moved on a lot. What was a game where you had to skillfully dodge traffic to get to the finish line before the time ran out, is now a racing game where you end up costing yourself around $100,000,000 virtual dollars and a head transplant from crashing off a bridge in a homicidal way! The games of old were alot calmer back then, and that’s why this game’s not on my ‘need to get’ list.

Yes, the graphics are good, but what we now call Burnout is not there – only Road Rage, Crash and Face Off – no Maniac, or Traffic Atttack – nothing. The crashes aren’t as exiting as in Burnout Paradise either. Plus, the Time Attack Mode ( where you have to complete a track in a certain amount of time) is just too hard – the checkpoint flags are always just a second out of reach!

There are five main tracks you race upon, all based around a real-life equivelant:

Interstate – This is one of the easiest tracks and has been remade in later Burnout games, including Burnout Legends.

Gridlock USA – This track is fairly difficult, and needs a good bit of skill to win. This track is one of the easiest for Crash Mode.

River City – This tracks looks alot like Paris, and on Time Attack, the checkpoints are very difficult to reach. Remember to cut through the main square!

Harbour Town – This is personally my favourite track and is based around the Mediterranean sea. It’s winding streets are difficult to traverse. This track is also raced through during Burnout Legends.

Hillside Pass – This courrse goes a bit offroad at stages, and is one of the easiest for racing upon.

Burnout is a primitive form of the new games, and the graphics could be better. And the different modes could be a bit wilder!

RATING: 58%

This game could be more fun if the crashes were better.

If you liked this, try Need For Speed Underground.

Yep, we all know that this game is all about the crashes, the graphics and also the  amazing aftertouch explosions! But a new turn of events has changed this previously brilliant game, maybe even for the worst…

Burnout Paradise is all about freeroaming about Paradise City (like Need For Speed Underground). You find and explore tracks as you go about, so now there’s more shortcuts, and more crashes!!! The bad thing is that the shortcuts are sometimes not actually shortcuts, and you can muddle it up and even have to go all the way back to the starting point of the race! Because of this I would explore the main tracks before seeking out these shortcuts.

I think that almost everyone liked the quicker (and easier) ‘click on a race to begin’ sequence. At least there’s still all the main events that burnout is all about – the races, road rage (the best in my opinion), stunt run, and a new ‘Marked Man’ event. Despite what some people say, ‘Crash Mode’ is back! Most of the tracks you race on are new, but there are few that are from previous games and have been remastered, like White Mountain, from Burnout Revenge.

There are loads of unique cars that you unlock as you win some events. Each car handles differently. The driving is different than before too, and the boosting has gone back to the way it was during Point Of Impact – you can’t boost until you have a full bar.

As always, the graphics on this game are amazing – my favourite part is seeing such a realistic-looking door being ripped off as you crash into the side of an oncoming car!! The landscapes are really detailed, but you don’t really notice it as you hurtle at over 200MPH off a bridge! And the whole of Paradise cuty is built around burnouting – there are ramps on top of everything – multi-story car parks and bridges – yep EVERYTHING!  The following clip completely sums up this game;

The graphics are brilliant and I love the crashes because there really funny, but I think the free roaming was a bad idea so the rating is…

RATING: 85%

-The free roaming was a bad idea…BUT THE CRASHES ARE BRILLIANT!!!

If you liked this, try the previous Burnout games!

Could Alatair be hitman’s great, great, great, great grand father? I think so…

Well this really, really weird story is set in the future – you play a man what has to access his descendant’s memory chunks for someone. So technically, your character (named Alatair) is a memory…

Well, you work for this clan to kill people like lords or slave traders (no, this is not london but medieval times) because apparently that way, you’ll free the people of jerusalem and other areas around there of the filth and corruption. So, you go the the clan, get an assasination job and go over to that place (walking, freerunning, riding your horse, ETC), then watch a little memory clip. Then you kill the target (which sometimes is very hard) and scarper.

Now the bad part – being chased – you don’t get a break, you can run miles at a time to escape from guards just to hide in a hayststack (can’t it be simpler – like hiding in shadows?). This can be very, very frustrating.

Well, at graphics are very good at least…

RATING: 80%

AAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHH! This game is an outrage to gamers. Just the thought of someone haing the idea that this game would sell make me almost throw up! Yes, I know it’s to try and educate younger children on how to raise their own babies, but why did they have to ruin the Ds’s credibility to do it?!

Apparently, Baby Pals is based around the theory that you feed a baby and look after it by poking it with your stylus. But what’s the power bar on the left for? Does it die on you!!!!! As well as feeding and poking your creature, you also have to bathe and even entertain it. this just sounds like a rubbish Nintendog remake!

The graphics on this game aren’t good; the baby always looks like it’s FROM YOUR NIGHTMARES!!! Well, Ok, I admit that some parts of Baby Pals were cute and funny. This game is mainly for the younger gamers who may want to buy this stuff…

RATING: 24%

This game is a duller version of those animal games, but with babies!!