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Archive for the ‘sideblog’ Category

Red Dead Redemption Review

Monday, June 14th, 2010

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?

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Dead to Rights: Retribution Review (360)

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

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It isn’t easy to release a relatively unmarketed 3rd person shooter alongside a highly anticipated and over marketed 3rd person shooter like Splinter Cell: Conviction. While getting it onto shelves won’t prove to be much of a struggle, it’s getting it off those very shelves that problems start to arise. Surely, a game these days needs to have top of the line graphics, animation and sound, flawless controls and solid voice acting, right? It can’t thrive on just fun gameplay alone can it?

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God of War 3 Developer Interview

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

For your listening pleasure is the uncut interview with the developers of God of War 3.  Bruno Velazquez and Jonathan Hawkin lead animator and senior designer respectively. The interview does contain spoilers, they aren’t however until late in the interview……. and they aren’t any major plot spoilers.

Centaurs were harmed in the making of this interview. We made sure of it.

 
icon for podpress  God of War 3 Interview [22:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Aliens vs Predator Review (Xbox 360)

Friday, March 12th, 2010

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Back when Rebellion made the first Aliens vs Predator, my friend and I were instantly hooked. I remember it looking pretty good, I remember the brutal savagery of the difficulty (particularly the Directors Cut levels), I remember the paralysing choices that were inflicted by the limited-use save system, but most of all I remember the tense atmosphere generated by the sound of an impending instant game-over, otherwise known as the scuttling noise of a facehugger. It’s been over a decade since that release, and time may not have been especially kind, but it still gave me a happy feeling when I heard the reins were back in Rebellions hands for this title.

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Metro 2033 Preview

Monday, March 1st, 2010

If there is one thing that came across during our walkthrough of Metro 2033, Russia is not a place that I want to visit, before or after the end of the world. The setting is ominous and perhaps a little contrived, I mean, seriously monsters that evolve/emerge after some cataclysmic event with people living a splintered existence. As clichéd as the setting might sound it is rather fitting that a developer located in the former Soviet controlled Ukraine should choose to create such a title.

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Reflex MX vs ATV Review

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

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Reflex isn’t the first motorcross title under the MX vs Atv brand name to make it to the Playstation 3, but a quick look comparing it with the covers of the other game might give you the impression that they tried to create something a little more adventurous in this title. Firing up the game is the true testament of it’s calibre, a pretty cover a great game does not make.

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Forza 3 Review

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Cars going around in circles, it’s generally what I think of car racing, and also racing games for the most part, there are exceptions to this rule but they are few and far between. Forza 2 managed to grab some of my time due to the community that developed around it, and the good times to be had online with friends. Motorstorm for a similar reason along with it’s more arcade action feel, but Forza 3…… where does it stand in the current onslaught of titles in the racing genre?

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FIFA 10 Review (Xbox 360)

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

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It’s that time of year again folks, the sun is starting to warm up the southern hemisphere and Electronic Arts roll out their annual refreshments, but is FIFA10 another must have or just an annual upgrade?

Sports games can divide gamers quite easily, some gamers love them with a passion, others like to play casually and there are others that stay well away. I like to think that I am one of the casual admirers, I do enjoy a well simulated game of soccer – sorry, football, but it will not become an obsession.

There are longer term gains with a game like FIFA10, because the more you play the better you get, even someone like myself that never moves beyond the basic moves and game dynamics. I know there is much more on offer, but I have enough fun passing, lobbing, knocking on through balls and occasionally scoring. So much fun that I don’t need to understand how and when to perform a ‘flip-flap’ or dummy a shot, although I would seek some comfort in the knowledge that one day this century I will be able to score from a free kick. Also, as a gamer that grew up on classic one-button soccer games, even the custom goal celebrations are lost on me.

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Win Scribblenauts

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

It’s a game that people have been raving about since it made a splash at E3, a DS game that uses the strength of your imagination and vocab to solve puzzles. Warner Bros wants to share the love a bit and have provided us a copy to give away, but they also realise that a lot of our readers are a little older than normal and have started thinning out up on top and that it might be getting a little chilly, so they are also throwing in one of the rooster caps to ensure that heads can be maintained at an appropriate warmth.

To win all you need to do is solve the competition like you would a Scribblenauts puzzle, think of an object and explain how you would use it to make you win. Post your answer here in the forum.

Wolfenstein Review

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

With such a wonderful pedigree behind it and being based on one of the darkest moments in human history with a supernatural twist, Wolfenstein is the original Nazi killing sim. Saying that WWII is overdone and that killing Germans is something best left to pre 2007 games is probably in many cases true, a Wolfenstein without these two things would be like ButtonMasher without the reviews, news, podcast, and over bearing colour scheme, all you are left with are some crappy moving pictures.

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