It’s easy to have already been turned off reading this review simply by the fact that it’s a game based off a franchise that has been in every format already. Movies, cartoons, manga, animated cartoons, toys, collectibles and videogames, and apart from Batman: Arkham Asylum when did a popular movie/toy/cartoon franchise successfully translate into a videogame? Well, this time……. there’s MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE! :D
There’s just something about Lego that appeals to our inner child. Objects, worlds, and even people made out of tiny little plastic bricks. The Lego themed videogame is now a standard. It was something that didn’t exist five years ago, until Traveller’s Tales secured the rights to Lego Star Wars.
Since then we’ve had Indiana Jones, Batman, and even Rock Band turn to Lego. Sure we’ve had Lego games before, but nothing like this. The Lego games are family friendly – popular with adults and kids alike. So it wasn’t much of a stretch to tie in Harry Potter, and bring some of those Lego wizards to life. I’m still waiting on Lego Lord of the Rings by the way.
Reminding me of a game from an older generation ‘Severance Blades of Darkness’ this is a game I was sadly unaware of, yes it may have been doing the rounds outside of our territory for some time now, but sometimes ignorance can be bliss especially once the hype train has come and gone. With a learning curve steeper than the North face of The Eiger, does Demon’s Souls deliver a fresh and invigorating take on the Action RPG or has it gone a touch too far?
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is of course the sequel to one of the best games available on the Wii, Super Mario Galaxy. After a perceived drought of quality titles for Wii, owners of the console have been looking forward to at last having something worthwhile playing arrive to the dust-collecting paperweights.
You may not have heard of Black Rock Studios before but they’ve been around a while, had a name change or two and have created a handful of racing games including 2008’s quad bike blast of fun, Pure. If you still don’t recognise the name and merely know of Split/Second from the demo that released earlier in the year, you will be excused for thinking they were the guys behind the Burnout series. In fact, it’s hard to ignore the similarities. Is that a bad thing or have Black Rock Studios stumbled upon their best idea yet?
Blur is an interesting game. It is a Bizarre (see what I did there) mix of Project Gotham Racing and Mario Kart. That is to say it is an arcade racer that has you driving real cars in real locations while firing some very fantastical weapons at anything else that moves.
Metal Slug XX is the second title from the Metal Slug franchise to come to the XBLA, Metal Slug 3 being the first. The same standard ‘run & gun’ gameplay is still there with you shooting baddies while rescuing POW’s. The only differences are the addition of a new weapon and 3 new vehicles. Originally made for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, I guess Microsoft felt left out so here we are with a XBLA version. Worth it or just more of the same?
Rocket Knight tells the tale of a hero possum called Sparkster (related by 2 degrees of separation to local ButtonMasher resident Sparky) who returns to TVs after a 16 year absence following platforming adventures on the Mega Drive and Super NES. Following in the tradition of super hero sequels, Sparkster has hung up the tools of the trade with the intention of living happily ever after, but the Pigs (no, not the police), have other ideas.
The latest in the Samurai Warriors franchise makes an appearance, an appearance only on the Wii. For Samurai Warriors 3 has been secured as a Wii exclusive by Nintendo. Must be a special game then. Well that’s what I thought having never played a Samurai Warriors title before. And when the intro started to roll, I was very impressed. Beautifully drawn, if some what stereo-typical, Japanese characters engaging in epic battles with all manner of weapons and special powers. Awesome, I thought and prepared to unleash my inner ninja!
Cowboys and Indians doesn’t really make sense in relation to Red Dead Redemption, yes there are native Americans (kind of), but those of us in the know affectionately refer to the NPC’s of that programmed ethnicity as savages. Red Dead is more like Cowboys and Mexicans, or Cowboys and the Federal Law man. Plenty of promise, but do random encounters with damsels in distress and packs of roving wolves make for fun times in the old west or something less compelling?