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Halo Reach, Street Fighter X Tekken & Exclusive Announcement

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:24:28 +0000

Halo Reach, Street Fighter X Tekken & Exclusive Announcement - XBLA #15

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Review: Hydro Thunder Hurricane

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:22:36 +0000

Round two of the Summer of Arcade and a powerboat racer splashes onto our marketplace. Hydro Thunder Hurricane, the sequel to Hydro Thunder way back on the PSX/N64, is the only racer of the summer of arcade which aims to bring all the fun back into old school arcade racers.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a mixture of game types. With traditional races there’s also time trial events involving checkpoint rings, and another time trial but with explosive barrels hindering your fastest path. There are also championships combining all three of these into league like formats.

Almost the entirety of the game is unlocked via completing events. Coming in the top three which in some modes can be pretty tricky, will unlock credits which will then unlock boats, race tracks and events as you slowly accumulate a huge amount of credits. These credits work both in single player and multiplayer.

The game supports online and local multiplayer. Something games lack these days is a 4 way split screen multiplayer which Hydro manages greatly along with A.I. racers to give the players quite a challenge.

The boats are all unique and great looking, not to mention sounding. Each boat has their own attributes like handling and speed, and new skins for each boat are unlock able by winning races with them, or finding hidden tokens.

Another age old game classic featured in Hydro Thunder is the use of hidden tokens around the race tracks, there are 10 tokens in each track and they are available to collect over ALL game modes including multiplayer. Some are quite easy to find, whereas some will require cunning and a sharp eye to find. Using jumps, the boats nitro jump, or sometimes even strong waves to collect them.

Because there is no free roam, it means you may need to throw a race to find some of the harder tokens, but it makes for good fun with a group of you scouring the entire map, finding and learning new routes and shortcuts to find all of them.

The tracks are all well varied and imaginative. Most of them are point to point races with some being traditional lap races. The settings vary from dams and sewers to more exotic areas like glacier and tropical islands. The levels are filled with shortcuts and entertaining set pieces to make sure the race isn’t all smooth waters.

The games has a good fair amount of races, with plenty to participate in, and all the tokens to find, not including multiplayer Hydro Thunder Hurricane has plenty to keep you going. With both online and offline multiplayer the game can be played as a party game with mates or as something more serious on Xbox Live.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane is that of a good fun arcade racer which caters for gamers in more ways than some full triple A retail racers do. For those looking for some fun, or those who miss the games of the likes of N64’s Wave Race or the PS2’s Splashdown. Hydro does well for bringing water sports back, and who knows if we’ll see anymore?

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Review: Rocket Knight

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:30:36 +0000

In the Kingdom of Zephyrus there is only one true hero, Rocket Knight, with his rocket pack and power sword among his powerful yet small arsenal he strives to keep Zephyrus safe!

Rocket Knight is a side scroller and its story is very cliché with the likes of Mario, Sonic and Zelda, being that you take place of the hero and chase after a heroine captured by your main foe.

The game presents you with a colourful and bright world which we highly lack in gaming these days, with its quirky 3D animations that will make you chuckle from time to time, its sure is a fun game.

Not for long though as you realise there isn’t much variety in the way of areas or level types, sticking you in the same scenery that’s been changed around a little. It gets boring after a few levels, then up pops a flying level, fun the first time but tedious after a few goes.

Air combat hasn’t really been thought of in this game, with enemies that move in large groups, as you whittle the group numbers down you always manage to miss a few, leaving that 100% killed almost impossible, the boss battles are a pain too, as you sit there with your basic attacks the boss has many flourish attacks, to make matters worse they don’t stop using them and at no point do you get extra health.

The story is there but it is rather lacking, it pops up in the load screens of each level and its about 3 lines long, not giving you much information at all you seem to find yourself playing the game not to complete it but just because you bought it, with its high price point you need to be a huge fan of side scrollers like this to find the motivation to complete the entire game, but for others it can be fun for around 10-20 minutes and then you get bored, I found after that first 20 minutes you just cannot find yourself enjoying it.

Rocket Knight looked incredibly fun because of the bright colours and comedic characters in it but when it comes down to playing it, the fun factor just isn’t there at most times, boss levels are ridiculously hard with no indication of how to damage them and the game just does not have a well told story to it.

In the end Rocket Knight gave me a few minutes of fun and then none again, the pricing would put many people off without even knowing about the game itself, but it just helps put one more nail in the coffin.

I give Rocket Knight a score of 4.6

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Review: Limbo

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:59:19 +0000

This week saw the return of the Summer of Arcade. Last year the Summer of Arcade brought to us some fantastic titles and kick started with the beautiful independent developed game Braid, and this year, to kick things off, the stops have been pulled and the bar is to be raised again, with Limbo.

Limbo, to its core, is a side scrolling puzzle game with a physics engine. Yet it’s a full collective effort of the visuals, sound and general game play which will really prove itself as an incredible piece of work.

With a similar play style of that of the PSX title Heart of Darkness, the games seemingly fun and interesting take in the first few areas are shortly stunted, you’ll soon learn of a more sinister and darker game play is actually afoot. Your character can actually be killed, in a number of violent ways, the gore is minimalist but the sounds and visuals of the boy even being decapitated present us with a game underlying with darker and more meaningful tones. With world set out to hurt you, Limbo soon becomes a deeper more mysterious game to traverse through, with traps and other creatures out to get you, the world of Limbo becomes alive.

Even the story of Limbo adds a shroud of mystery to it. Within the game, nothing is said of the quest. Under the game information on the Xbox Live Marketplace, it says a boy goes into Limbo to search for his sister. The unknown around this drives our curiosity further, what happened to this boys sister, why is she there? Is this ‘limbo’ the edge of hell?

The game is presented in a black and white style. The back and fore grounds works beautifully to really create an eerie feeling and a sense of depth even being just a 2D game. The darkness and atmosphere created within the game really add a deep and involving game.

The music within the game is of a minimalist style. The samples only appear in certain areas of the game, but when they are included in the experience the harrowing pieces add yet another layer of atmosphere within the game, sometimes driving a chilling feeling as you play.

To not break immersion, the game is played as one single level. The game can be completed in one single sitting, or due to the use of checkpoints at each puzzle, you can jump back in from where you left. For those of you who are quite cunning with puzzle games, Limbo can take around 3 hours to finish, and a few more to clean up for all the achievements, or longer, if your not that familiar with puzzle games of this style.

The innovative use of the puzzles with the physic engine mean that later on in the game, the puzzles will see quite a high difficulty spike, which means fine combing your surroundings is necessary and with surroundings as great looking at Limbos, that’s never a problem!

Starting the Summer of Arcade with yet another fantastic ‘must have’ title. Limbo, in fair argument, is of along the running to snatch at Braids crown and steal the title for its own, and quite rightly so. If you own an Xbox 360. You must own Limbo.

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Review: Iron Man 2

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:52:44 +0000

There is one game cross over that critics fear most in the gaming industry. That is, the movie to video game cross over. This is mainly due to the fact that 90% of the film to game titles, are shocking. With exceptions of games like Spider-Man 2 and the newly released Toy Story 3, the majority of movie/game adaptations are no more enjoyable than taking a stapler to your privates. So why is this?

Mainly, its due to time, money and constraints. Developers are given a rather small amount of time usually to create and launch a game to co-inside with the film. Along with this, often, the developers are rather new to making a large production with that of something like a block buster film and to top it off, there’s not always a community that they can bounce feedback with to ensure the title is a sure hit with gamers and movie fans a like. So with this in mind, does Iron Man 2 hit the few exceptions?

Set shortly after the events of the film Iron Man 2, the game starts with the loveable rock star behaving superhero in a spot of trouble. Jarvis, the computer which runs Iron Mans suit is being attacked at his mainframe on a small island by an unknown company. Iron Man then learns that this company have their own series of mech-like creations and are quite keen on gunning down the corporate opposition.

To sum up Iron Man 2 in a word, messy, could be a suitable one at times. The controls are relatively all over the place and combat can get a little etchy, sometimes a lot of things can be going on, and you cant really make much out of it, especially when it comes to being hit. Not all projectiles show up and unless your knocked to the floor by it, you cant actually tell when your losing health, unless you get a friend to sit and watch nothing but your health bar. Its an idea at least.

When not actually in the missions, you can use points earned by completing levels to upgrade your weapons and suit enhancements. Early on in the game, its quite hard to actually get the idea of how all of it works, later on however, when you have loads more cash to spend the enhancements actually have a notable impact. However, getting to understand how it all works takes a little longer than expected, because, just like most of the combat, the menus are also messy as hell. With one selection going left to right, to the next being up and down, but neither showing what you can move to on screen, its a bit of a labyrinth down there.

What does make this game good however is the fact you can (and in some levels have to) play as War Machine, personally my preferred of the duo, this can mix things up a little more and adds some extra playability, however this is a perfect position for co-op to get involved yet we see nothing? Massive disappointment.

Lets face it, seeing Iron Man and War Machine in some full on HD graphics would make any grown man shed a tear yet unfortunately we're not treated to the visuals they so rightly deserve, not even a all stops FMV to get us all hooked. The game suffers from moments of looking great as shown in some of the screenshots, but at other times also looking a little rough on the edges.

The game sadly supports no Xbox live leader boards or more importantly no online or offline co-op. This, is a rather large draw back in the game, considering the main point between the two characters, are not only both fully playable, but also supposed to be working together. Makes an incredible shame as this could definitely have boosted the replay ability of the game, on all the difficulties.

Iron Man 2 is sadly rushed. Lots of missed out opportunities especially with the lack of co-op. Cluttered and hard to understand menus and rather sporadic difficulty spikes make this game tolerable to the Iron Man fan, but not much else for any other gamers.

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Review: Doom II

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:47:26 +0000

As figurehead titles of the retro gaming era's emerge out on the Xbox Live Arcade, so do their just as successful sequels, Doom II, brings the all original first person style shooter back and adds a little more 'den some'

Notable improvements from the original Doom still stick with the sequel and obviously, being ported to the Xbox 360, more improvements are made on the visual side of things to help the transition into our HD worlds.

With smoother graphics also come the smoother game play and well mapped controls. One niggle with the improved graphics you could say is the screen is still pretty small, and sits inside your television screen. This, in sense is for the best, as even with HD makeovers, games back in those days (1994 for you date buffs) were pretty pixel ridden. So stretching it over a full 32 inches or more, will only do sores for the eyes.

Other improvements are the addition of 9 whole new levels in the name of 'No Rest For The Living'. These maps are considerably larger than the original 'Hell on Earth' levels, and pack twice as much of a punch in the sense of amount of enemies and hidden areas.

Something else which is a slight advance from the original Doom is the aiming. Back with Doom I, as long as you were in the same room as an enemy, firing anywhere pretty much got a hit on it. Now, with Doom II, there’s a little more finesse to it, and the gun has to actually be right on target for a hit, baby steps now.

It must be said, but the music in Doom has always been a little interesting, whilst still singing all those midi sounds loud and proud, sometimes I have found myself fighting through the hell bound hordes to music only describable as lift music. Unsettling, to the core.

With being apart of Xbox Live now, like Doom on the XBLA, it comes with both online and split/screen death match multiplayer. Doom II also comes with again, both on and offline co-op, which will make it a little easier on getting through the harder difficulties to say the least.

Whist Doom II is still fun to play, the nostalgia of playing on one of the, back then, industry leaders of first person shooters may infinitely be lost on those who never played it before when it was still really popular. To really boost the franchise back however, we can always hope for more information to come out shortly on iD Softwares next venture, Doom 4. And hell, why doesn’t someone get back in the studio and release Doom 3 on the Xbox Live Arcade?

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Review: LEGO Harry potter years 1-4

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:31:48 +0000

The magic is building!

What do you get if you mix LEGO with Harry Potter? Magic that’s what! LEGO Harry potter years 1-4 takes you through the first four movies and books, Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets; Prisoner of Azkaban; and Goblet of Fire but of course in LEGO form.

Now I’m sure most people by now would have at least seen one of these movies, Harry Potter is a popular series they tell the tale of a teenager and his friends who are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry discovered he was a wizard at the age of eleven, but to improve on his wizard skills he must attend a boarding school. Each book or movie covers one year of his life and LEGO Harry potter stays true to these throughout. In this sense if you have seen the movies you will recognise and even know the stories, however being a game and based on LEGO there are always twists and turns which make this not only a fun game to play but extremely addictive.

Traveller’s tales LEGO games are basically all very similar in gameplay, you control LEGO men (or women) in a LEGO world, and in fact almost everything is made out of LEGO. Traveller’s Tales also do a good job with theming their games, be it Indiana Jones, Star Wars or Harry Potter, you know when you pick the game up you are getting a quality game and you also know what to expect.

Harry Potter does have some differences, for example the hub which they all have is now a Leaky Cauldron and nearby Diagon Alley which is used for purchasing unlocked items using your caps which you acquire throughout the game including the hundreds of characters, visiting the bonus stages, Free Play mode, Level Builder and also to continue the story. Diagon Alley is very atmospheric with plenty of shops to spend your well earned caps in return for some additional content.

Characters also have different strengths and abilities, Harry has an invisible cloak, whilst Ron has a pet rat called Scabblers who can access smaller areas, Hermione is the best character at casting spells and ringotts goblin Griphook can open locks. Changing between them is simple by pressing the Y button.

As this is a Harry potter the game requires you to use different kinds of magic which are gradually unlocked by Harry and his friends attending classes. Magic is selected by pressing the left bumper and cycling through, as each enemy and item requires you to use a different type of magic for example to defeat evil plants there is a special plant spell which shines a bright light and to lift objects you use the Wingardium Leviosa spell which levitates objects and is also used to build structures. The game lets you know which spell you need to use through same coloured dots around the object. As in the beginning you do not have all of these magic spells the game gives even more length through going back when you do to get to new areas and open boxes you couldn’t before.

There are quite a few fairly easy, sometimes complex and bizarre puzzles to solve, a fair bit of platforming and some rather strange bosses some of which will have you scratching your head for a while and trying out the different spells you have, they are enjoyable though and varied. Parts of the game also require you gather hidden items for a potion to place in a cauldron, which then gives you super strength which is needed to pull levers.

What this game does well is keep you from getting lost by a trail of almost invisible caps and a huge arrow marking the way you need to go and a ghost also shows you the way. To each story there are six parts or chapters each taking you to a different part of Hogwarts and its surroundings, through the Forbidden Forest and the village of Hogsmeade allowing plenty of space to explore and all with very amusing cut scenes, these do not talk they kind of grunt but you understand what they are trying to say and the actual story.

Each chapter of the story also has a Student in Peril mission, who you need to locate and rescue they may be caught in a spider’s web or locked in a cabinet, but this adds something more to the game as you know one is within the chapter along with the True Wizard, where you fill the bar with caps, the Red and Gold collectable bricks, crests and of course completing that particular level, which means you have many things to try to complete.

There are also broomsticks to fly, Harry doing this best and other objects to use as ‘vehicles’ however the broomsticks are tricky to use even with Harry and almost feel they have a mind of their own.

LEGO Harry potter years 1-4 is fun to play on your own but even more fun as co-op.

If I had to say which LEGO game I have enjoyed playing the most it would most probably be this one, it’s jammed packed with things to collect, explore and interact with, it has a great atmosphere and amusing cut scenes, but most of all it is extremely addictive. A must for Harry Potter and/or LEGO fans.

9.0

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Review: Puzzle Quest 2

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:20:31 +0000

Puzzle Quest 2 sends you deep into the world of fantasy and fighting, with a world full of dangers and one hero, your destiny is to help the people of this world by battling the most fearsome creatures in existence with your puzzling skills!

Puzzle Quest 2 puts the familiar puzzle used in games like bejeweled into a world of magic and creatures, giving a nice change to many arcade games it brings much more than just a puzzle to your Xbox it brings an entire game!

With an deeply rooted story you can play this game for a few hours and not even find it being repetitive, your one aim is to defeat all those who threaten to hurt the good people of the world, from goblins to ogres each one fights differently.

With more than one variation of the main puzzle layout, this game is full of collectibles, enemies and more, each one bringing something new to the game! You have a huge selection of variations from the normal battle where you have to match up skull gems to hurt the foe and then match coloured ones to unleash your special attack. To a variation where in you open a chest and match up the normal or highly rare jewels to give you just plain gold or tradable items, with limited moves before the chest is gone! This certainly contains variety in its simplest form of variations.

With some very good vocals and some rather funny ones at that this helps keep the game interesting and helps progress the story greatly, while not much is said from other characters around you hearing “alright lad” unexpectedly certainly causes you to chuckle at it.

Not only does this game bring you an in depth single player story littered with loot and countless items, it also contains a multiplayer mode with a full ranking system and more, but when I tried I could not find a game.

Along with both the single player and multiplayer there is one last goodie in Puzzle Quest 2 and that is the nice quick play mode where you can just play a few puzzle games without any sort of aim, good for relaxing and unwinding at the end of long day! Including all of the mini games this can also help you practice for the single player mode! Again most of them are just variations of the main battle puzzle but all seem fun in a different way.

Overall Puzzle Quest 2 is well worth the money, huge single player story makes up most of it but when you can get into a multiplayer game it would certainly be fun aswell!

Puzzle Quest 2 fully deserves its rating of: 7.2

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Review: Medal of Honor Beta

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:20:15 +0000

It’s been a long time since Medal of Honor has been in the video games limelight, its last outing 'Airborne' didn’t make a massive impact but perhaps it was the last straw to spark off the change in EA's newest MoH.

So, what’s so special about this one? Another FPS stuck in the World War era depicting yet another battle from a different perspective? Well. No. Hooray! Following suit on the success of Call of Duty's venture to a more present era. MoH is set around the Iraq war era, however little else is known on the story.

So what am I writing about exactly? What’s the purpose of you reading this?

E3 saw the rise of some pretty large titles. Unfortunately, they were all crushed underneath all the Kinect/Move/3DS chit chat, that hardly any of the real gaming titles got much time on the show floor to show themselves off. However, EA announced the beta for Medal of Honor and for some (including those who preorder the game on PC and PS3) will get exclusive access to play the beta, and tell EA what they like and what they don’t like. So what have I found so far?

Surprisingly, I like it. And I immediately know why. EA had Battlefield developers Dice to create the multiplayer for MoH, which immediately brings a great crowd into the game, the beta sadly only contains one map, but it’s more than enough for players to have a quick few goes on.

There are levels to go up and reward medals and customizable load outs to make yourself you’re more preferred game types. The play style is almost very fluid and graphics on explosives and dust clouds are great to watch.

The controls are a little gritty to begin with, but I think that’s purely because I’m more familiar with Killzone 2 and Resistance First person shooters on the Playstation 3. There are some great 'perk' like additions which I’m glad to be able to say only really advance on what COD brought in.

My first impressions on the new MoH were, like most. 'Looks just like a COD rip off' However playing it, the game really does take the best from the modern fps and builds on it, as before mentioned with the kill streak rewards

So far, things are looking great for Medal of Honor. With a few bugs which are obviously acceptable with it being a beta. Medal of Honor seems to combine Call of Duty and Battlefield 2 and takes the best of each into giving us a great experience. Something to definitely look forward to in the future.

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PS3 Review: Heavy Rain Chronicles 'The Taxidermist'

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:17:30 +0000

With a game as successful as Heavy Rain, being one of the 'must haves' on the Playstation 3, the news of a 'Chronicles' based DLC was greatly received and was eagerly awaited. And at the time of launch, Episode 1 'The Taxidermist' was snapped up off the network. So let’s take a look at episode 1, spoiler free.

Turned out, that this episode isn’t as brand new as we first expected as it’s taken from the E3 demo back when Heavy Rain first saw public eyes. This isn’t really so much of a problem, unless you played it at that years E3.

The episode is based around Madison Paige, Ethan’s savior practically throughout Heavy Rain. Madison goes to speak to a man known as the 'Taxidermist', when she pays him a visit she finds the house empty, and decides to have a look around in hopes to find out some truths only to uncover a shocking secret.

One thing that can be said is the level is incredibly short. At about 30-40 minutes max. Possibly because it was originally just an E3 demo, but there’s other things that could have been changed now that it was to be an add on to the retail title. Things like the voice acting, since the voice of Madison hadn’t been signed on for the full game at the time; our character has a different voice, as well as different clothing. The add on also has a few small bugs including moving between the upstairs rooms can be incredibly annoying.

Saying the game was short, the level does have 5 possible endings, which means, yes, it is possible for Madison to die in this episode, however, its hard to tell when this comes in the timeline as there is no mention of the Origami Killer, OR Ethan throughout.

However, the episode is still full of ways of getting you involved and really getting you attached to the characters, something that really drove the tension in the entire game. This level also features something of quite a bit of gore. Something you don’t really see in the normal story.

Heavy Rain Chronicles was originally supposed to be an episodic content fleshing out the full story and characters of Heavy Rain. Episode one has given us all a lot of hope for future episodes. It’s an incredible shame however that Quantic Dreams, the developers recently announced they were discontinuing the production of the Chronicles series, why? For production of the Move compatible version of Heavy Rain.

Altogether now... 'Sigh'.

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Review: DarkStar One -Broken Alliance

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:15:03 +0000

Darkstar One: Broken Alliance

Published by: Kalypso
Developed by: Gaming Minds
Release Date: 18th June 2010
Genre: Space Flight/Combat Sim

Welcome to the universe of DarkStar One. In what would seem a rather unexplored genre of late, will DarkStar One thrive in the unexplored or will it fade into a black hole?

A hundred years since the Great Galactic War, a war in which a small misunderstanding caused so much grief between the races of the universe. The Terran and the Mortoks fought, with help from other races for forty years. Once the war was over a Galactic Union was formed to promote good will among all races. However, a race known as the Thul refused to sign any sort of agreement leaving themselves shut off for more than thirty years.

So, now that’s covered lets move onto whats actually going on now. You play as Kayron Jarvis, a young combat pilot who recently passed out of the training programme and is given his fathers ship, the DarkStar One. Your father was killed in a routine mission not long before the beginning of this game and you soon find out that it would appear to have been due to sabotage….and that’s where you come in. You must find the person responsible and bring them to justice.

After the introductory cutscene you are thrown into the DarkStar One. This ship is the epitome of space combat fighters. It is also a living organism where the player will need to locate one hundred different artefacts in order to upgrade the ships main components, each upgrade changes the look of the ship, giving a sense of progression. The DarkStar One can also be upgraded via buying new technology from various outlets. As you progress, the level of components that you can upgrade to will greaten. You can upgrade various components such as the afterburner, the field drive and various other components to improve the flying capabilities. There are also many different weapons that can be bought to strengthen your ship.

DarkStar One could be split into story mode and a freeplay mode which interlink quite nicely. In order to progress in the story you need to complete various free missions in order to upgrade your ship to be strong enough to face the next bit of story. In freeplay there are various things you can take part in. Missions can be given by the local trade station in order to win big sums of cash which can include killing pirates, transporting goods and escorting freight. You can gain bounty by killing pirates and wanted criminals, you can even become a pirate. Your status with each title can be found in the menu.

Now, you can also trade and smuggle goods between systems. DarkStar One has an economy system similar to what would be found in an RPG. There are common goods which are not worth much, there are rare goods which will get higher prices and there are also banned goods where each system has items which would be marked contraband which will fetch high prices. Get these through the somewhat lenient police and you will get a big payout. Everything helps toward improving your ship.

The Universe is known to be a fairly big place and this is no different within DarkStar One. There are over three hundred systems in over twenty clusters spread around. Travelling around each system is easy. You can use the time lapse feature in order to speed up time to get to distant places a lot quicker. You can also jump into hyperspace in order to cover distances in light years. This game will not be a quick affair by a long shot, you will be travelling around for hours and hours before this game is done. A 30 hour game at least.

Each system is ruled by one of three factions. Systems run under the GU (Galactic Union) formed after the great war, independent systems which run completely away from the GU and rebel systems which where once run by the GU and now do not. Most systems have a police force and if you are naughty you will gain a criminal record.

The actual in game flying mechanics are fantastic. This game is definitely not an arcade flyer, although we don’t really know what space flight would be like, we do have star wars to go by and I’d say that this was a fair attempt. The little things like switching off your engines and drifting for a while before coming to a stop, although physics would say you would carry on drifting until you hit something that would stop you, but we wont get into that. Also the feel of added weight as your cargo increases is cool. Dog fighting is great and having to use both full power and backwards thrust in order to gain an advantage is smart.

One thing though, if you pick this game up you will almost definitely find the controls difficult to master. There are a lot of buttons to use as well as using the trigger for second functioning some of the buttons certainly adds to the challenge. They are easy to learn once you’ve had a good half hour. Just to avoid any confusion DarkStar One is only played in the ship, there is no walking around planets and no shooting aliens with handguns, maybe next time, yeah?

Graphically DarkStar One is a beautiful game when it comes to looking at all the planets and systems. Each planet has various details on it to show what type of planet it is and space debris and asteroids are very clean. But, the textures on some of the stations involved are very weak and could look a lot better. There is only the cockpit view which is disappointing although there is an outside view but you can’t fly from it. Each system does look very similar to the last one however, colours may have changed and debris may have been taken away or added but there is a clear template used.

This can also be said for the voice acting, shocking it isn’t but it seems that there must have been about five or six different people voicing these NPC’s as you begin to hear the same voices over and over again. In game sounds however all sound very futuristic and lasery with lots of bleeps and sounds of gadgetry. There is music but most of the time it’s very quite, unless you’re near enemies, which is when music finally kicks in.

DarkStar One is a great introduction to the space simulator for Xbox 360 players. With plenty of hour’s gameplay possible it is more likely that you will tire of it before you finish it. Graphically stunning from a distance but anything close seems to let it down and hearing the same voices over and over grates quickly but that being said, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing DarkStar One. Maybe if a sequel was to be made a Live multiplayer option would go down a treat. A great core game with plenty of room to build.

My Rating: 7.5

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Review: Crackdown 2

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:21:00 +0000

Justice, by any means necessary.

It is time to crackdown on Pacific City and rid it of The Cell and mutants which have interrupted the peace after the events of Crackdown 1. Yes that’s right Crackdown returns and it packs more of an explosive punch.

Crackdown left Pacific City in a time of peace and Crackdown 2 returns ten years later to find that the mutants from the research facility have escaped and run riot throughout Pacific City, particularly in the area of Shai-Gen at night. Not only this, but The Cell who are terrorist groups have also re-formed gang areas and need to be brought back under control. Your job is to assist The Agency, the peacekeepers and bring Pacific City back into some kind of order for the civilians.

Crackdown 2 doesn’t change too much from Crackdown 1, the gameplay and the graphics are almost the same although the graphics have been given an overhaul and do look smoother, you still have the ability orbs and can still jump as high as buildings in fact even higher than in Crackdown 1 once your ability statistics are built up. Crackdown was however a great fun game, in fact one of the best for Xbox 360, a revolution in its time at a time which was dominated by first person shooters, Crackdown allowed you to roam an open-world full of destruction and exploring and such there was no need to change too much it already had it all.

Crackdown 2 allows you to choose four different styles of heads and body armour (eight if you pre-ordered) whereas before you were stuck with presets. Crackdown 2 also enhances the Agent’s powers, allowing you to become stronger and more agile than before. It also doubles from Crackdown 1 to a four player co-op mode without interrupting the single player game and very cleverly allows you to all do different parts of the game at once or work together to complete the missions. It’s this co-op mode which really makes the game shine; it is great fun to play with a bunch of friends.

There are several different types of missions to complete, in Crackdown 2 the landmarks have become damaged which are supposed to reflect sun light to the mutants lairs in order to destroy them and it is your job to re-activate these by finding and standing on absorption pads which then send out beams of light, once these are done you then go down into the lairs to complete the procedure, protecting the beacon from mindless swarms of mutants attacking it until it has finished its powering up, along the way to completing this gang areas need to be cleared which are marked by a red C on the mini map and if at night hordes of mutants are also on the attack, all of this must be done without harming the remaining civilians and peacekeepers or face the consequences of the Agency launching an attack on you. Not only this but you also have driving and rooftop races which build up your abilities.

The Agent’s five abilities and strengths are increased the more you do certain activities agility is increased as you jump, collect ability orbs, Renegade Agility Orbs and rooftop races, driving skills are increased by running enemies over, completing Road Races, jumping through Stunt Rings and collecting Renegade Driving Orbs, explosive skills by using grenades and grenade launchers, strength by melee attacks, throwing objects and using the moves you unlock and finally firearms, which is obviously using hand held and turret weapons. As you do any of these things coloured orbs are extracted and absorbed which then build up your statistics and increased your skills and power, eventually becoming an extremely fast, strong and agile super hero who can do almost anything. Perhaps the most important of these is agility this allows you to jump higher, reach places and so gather more ability orbs. Occasionally whilst driving or walking around Pacific City a Renegade orb will appear, these moving orbs increase your powers a lot faster, but first you much catch them. There are also hidden orbs, special Xbox Live orbs and radio broadcasts to collect.

Crackdown 2’s mutants are cloned Agents who have become mindless and zombie-fied and we know from Crackdown’s story which in Crackdown 2 is told from hidden radio broadcasts (apart from these the actual story is non-existent), these at night are everywhere and come in different types, some will just launch at you whilst others spray out a poisonous gas, but there’s a similarity when you encounter them... There’s just tons of them! They are all over the place and do get in your way when you are trying to complete missions however, there’s something satisfying of squishing them with your vehicle, shooting them and watching them explode or meleeing them.

Weaponry has also been enhanced with new weapons, such as the UV shotgun and even a Wingsuit so you can glide.

The somewhat bossy narrator returns, your boss lets you know at every given moment if what you are doing is out of line or you have strayed from the mission’s area, he’s there to keep you in check, but problem is when all you want to do is cause havoc and create as many explosions as possible he does become rather annoying. That’s the fun of a game like this do what you want, where you want driving down the road as fast as you can into a horde of mutants and then causing a explosion which rips through gang land territory and send them burning into the skies.. Right?

Along with co-op mode Crackdown 2 also offers multiplayer modes for up to 16 players in the form of a VS mode and Rocket tag.

Crackdown 2 is like one huge dangerous play ground, an open-world, go anywhere, choose which missions you want to do, invite friends in, find the orbs, see how high you can jump, how fast you can run or drive, how many explosions you can create, fun filled action-packed, addictive game.

8.9

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Review: SanDisk Xbox 360 USB flash drive

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:20:18 +0000

Recently Microsoft allowed the use of USB flash drives to supplement Xbox 360 hard drives, this update allows any flash drive which is compatible and up to 16GB.

The Officially licensed SanDisk Xbox 360 USB flash drive is small, comes already configured with Xbox 360 updated software and includes one month Xbox Live Gold. Very convenient to carry or store your Xbox Live account, save games, videos or map packs when you are dropping round a friend’s house, moving data from one hard drive to another or just need a bit more storage.

This drive really is tiny, it’s no bigger than the width of my finger and once in the Xbox 360’s USB slot doesn’t stick out any more than the USB part of an Xbox 360 wired controller. It also comes in a shiny black case to match the new Xbox 360 slim console with the Xbox 360 logo. The case can also attach to a lanyard or key ring, as it is so tiny this probably is best if you are taking it out as to not lose it.

It is very easy to use, just slot it in a spare USB slot and it’s ready to use as the software is already configured. You can begin to move data across using the transfer option from hard drive to flash drive or just save your data on to it. The lanyard/key ring attachment also glows and fades on and off green when your Xbox 360 is on, the same colour as the ring of light.

The Xbox 360 USB flash drive comes in 8GB or 16GB, my review one was an 8GB one and with the system data it was left with 6.9GB free. The prices are a bit on the hefty size with the 16GB one retailing at £51.99 and the 8GB one at £29.99, but this does give the user an easy solution for portability without the hassle of configuring the flash drive before use and of course being an official Xbox 360 licensed product you also get one month’s free Xbox Live Gold to use for a new account or to add onto an existing one.

The Xbox 360 USB flash drive is a great looking flash drive which is extremely small and very easy to use, the only quibble I have is with the price.

“Xbox LIVE contains a world of content for gamers to explore and download, including full-length games, movies and music,” said Shuki Nir, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Retail, SanDisk. “The Xbox 360 USB Flash Drive by SanDisk is specifically engineered to deliver a great user experience and maximum compatibility with the console, offering gamers greater freedom and flexibility in how they store, manage and enjoy their favourite files.”

“SanDisk has a proven track record of creating high-quality storage solutions,” said Ilan Spillinger, Vice President, Xbox Hardware and Technology, Microsoft. “The Xbox 360 USB Flash Drive by SanDisk provides a great solution for gamers who need portable storage for their Xbox 360 content. Its plug and play simple.”

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Review: Battlefield Bad Company 2 Onslaught

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:47:22 +0000

With all of its bugs and its lack of new maps, DICE have decided to add a new mode to the main menu of Battlefield Bad Company 2.

Onslaught mode puts you in 4 of the multiplayer maps and instead of people you don’t know it shoves an unlimited number of AI enemies in your face, you and up to three of your friends have to capture 3 points on each map by ridding the area of enemies and keeping them out of the objectives radius.

Whilst this is fun for the first few games it can get old rather quickly, especially as the constant spawning of troops never ceases, leave an area alone to long and it will be near impossible to complete the level.

Onslaught adds nothing new to the game, just the fact you don’t have to always play against real people, but instead stupid AI’s who don’t know how to change from their RPG to their guns, leaving you a exploded mess on the floor in no time.

With magically spawning enemy tanks and helicopters, hundreds of enemies and you and three friends, it feels as if DICE really didn’t think this one out to hard, it feels like they began by trying to make a horde mode and failed, so they added a few objectives to the four maps and left it at that.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 has already gotten bad reputation on the amount of bugs and I feel Onslaught is going to slaughter that even more.

There is one more problem with Onslaught; it gives DICE the chance to create more of these so called “Map Packs” without new maps in as it allows them to convert the same old multiplayer maps into Onslaught maps.

Overall I feel that this is just DICE trying to keep the withering fan base quiet while they get on with Medal Of Honor.

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Review: Raystorm HD

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:12:45 +0000

Raystorm HD is a port of one of those old classic vertical scrolling shooters, set in the future you are tasked with saving the earth from invading enemies, using your Ray planes using an assortment of weapons, you must once again fight, dodge and fly to save the world!

Raystorm HD is an extremely short game with only 8 levels in each of its four modes all the same with just a few things changed, there is no diversity. The added modes for the 360 version are just modifications on the original Arcade Mode, no new levels no new planes. This leaves the price tag of 1200 Microsoft Points to questioning.

When it says HD on arcade classic it is normally just slightly improved graphics, which is the same case here with wide-screen capabilities and slightly tuned up graphics.

The story is non-existent in the game unless you press pause and go into the help menu, the story is explained in the menu with a lengthy bit of text even then you can still be left unsure, as Raystorm HD is part of a series.

When I load up and play I remember why I hated this type of game so much when I was younger, and Raystorm is the worst case yet, repetitive cannot even explain the gameplay, it is just endlessly the same lock on a press the A button hope to survive, even worse is the fact that they adopt the arcade live style die three times and its game over. You have to start from missions 1 all over again, this makes it terribly frustrating as you become dazzled by the colours of the projectiles flying towards you.

Overall I give Raystorm HD a low score of:

3.0

Review: Things On Wheels

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:58:59 +0000

Everyone enjoys ripping around in RC cars, so when it comes to RC Car racing games, surely they'd do quite well? Load Inc have had a fair bit of experience in creating RC racing games, and bring their second title to the Xbox Live Arcade.

The race tracks are, a little sporadic at best. A lot of them feel like they've been designed by making an area off the Sims and then just putting a track in and out a couple of the rooms, they lack in a bit of imagination or any real structure to make the racing in this game anything from total arcade.

The power-ups available vary from attacks to slow opponents down or to boost you with speed. However, the power ups have very little effect on the race since usually, once you’re in first, unless you make a colossal balls up like, sneeze so hard you head butt your television knocking yourself unconscious. That will probably see you lose 1st place. Otherwise, you haven’t to worry. Ever.

The vehicles are in your typical sections, of Sports, Muscle and Vintage, and whilst they look all nice and interesting, sadly, they all have the handing of a shopping trolley. So picking one is mainly on preference rather than ‘stats’.

The game is graphically a step up from their first venture into the Xbox Like Arcade, Mad Tracks, whilst the majority of their creative juices were put into Mad Tracks, TOW, definitely looks nice, or at least the cars do. The tracks mainly have a house hold style setting to them, though I found the first majority of races I felt like I was racing in the depths of a Bioshock level designers dream, as everything had a 1960's feel. So it was just like driving through Rapture, only less Atmosphere, and no fear of a Big Daddy.

The game has five ‘episodes’ which consist of a handful of races, the length of this will be rather short. With the length mainly being the time between you come back to playing the game as it really doesn’t offer that much of a challenge. Nor does it give you a sense of wanting to come back every time. The multiplayer is now a co-op championship mode, which would be nice if it wasn’t so short. And what happened to all the fun multiplayer modes from Mad Tracks, like the football races and such, where did they go? And why aren’t they in here?

Really, we should be expecting a lot more from games on the Xbox Live Arcade now, especially as the competition around the titles on the Arcade is respectively fierce. With more time and more of a broader consideration for what could be achieved with an RC racing style game these days, Things On Wheels doesn’t really fly through with merits. Mad Tracks was certainly more entertaining. If only by a little.

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Review: Skate 3

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:30:07 +0000

Skate 3

Published by: EA Games
Developed by: Blackbox
Release Date: 14th May 2010
Genre: Extreme Sports – Skateboarding

Welcome to Port Carverton, a new haven of skateboarding pleasure. You have beaten everything, been crowned skate king and its now time to become the ultimate businessman. Can Skate 3 hit the front cover or do poor board sales make it a victim of the ‘recession’.

Skate 3 continues on from where Skate 2 left off. You won everything and got on every magazine and are considered a legend, now you have moved to a new town where you start your very own business and skate team. You need to skate well in order to sell more boards and get more team members.

Skate’s career mode is now a well established block in the foundations of the series and Skate 3 offers up more of the same. The character customisation tool is once again an extremely strong area for the series with the capabilities to modify just about anything. The clothing is extremely diverse with the ability to choose shirts, t-shirts, various hats and trousers with a lot of shoes each making your skater look different from the rest. Once again, Skate offers up merchandise and boards from well known brands across the skating world, from Girl and Zero to Vans and Nike. Your skater is customisable at any time from the pause menu

Once again, just like in previous games, you begin with an entertaining intro movie unlike any other game. Every pro skater found in the game, from the likes of Rob Dyrdek, Jason Dill and Chris Haslam, is introduced in this sequence and once it’s finished the game begins. You are thrown into Port Carverton, a town made up of three districts. First is the Downtown District, an area with a lot of ledges and grinding opportunities, built up of stairs and buildings. Second is the Industrial Area with a lot of vert opportunities with a healthy amount of danger in the quarry area and thirdly is the University District, an area with lots of open spaces and plenty of ledges and bankings suitable for any street session.

At the start it seemed that there was a real sense of a story within the career but it didn’t take long until it became a long list of challenges in which you need to complete in order to finish the game, this was disappointing but isn’t surprising. The basic idea is to complete a challenge to gain some board sales to reach a milestone before attracting some team mates to skate with you.

Aside from the lack of a story driven campaign, the challenges that need to be completed can be very interesting. The usual game modes have all returned as well as an improved hall of meat challenge system as well as some new challenge types. These are ‘1 up’ a mode where one player must set a score on a particular line and the other must beat the set score. If you fail to beat the previous score you get a strike, three strikes and the game is up. The other new mode is ‘Own the Lot’, a lot similar to ‘Own the Spot’ but you have to beat numerous challenges within a certain area on the map, win them all to own it.

Moving onto other new additions to the Skate series we have the ‘skate.school’ which is an area where you are trained by Coach Frank (whose voice is played by that dude from ‘My Name Is Earl’). Here you will learn every aspect from Skate, this will mean that if you are familiar with the series then you will be repeating yourself a lot. However you will learn some of the new trick additions in skate 3 whilst here. Added to the trick list are ‘darkslides’ (grinding with the board upside down), ‘underflips’ (where you flip the board one way but then back on itself) and finally, the ability to place the board to drop into a ramp.

Skate has always been about trying to simulate realistic skateboarding while still being a game that’s easy to pick up and play and Blackbox have always succeeded in doing this. Now however they have added two more difficulty levels for players to test themselves against. In normal, you will be playing skate 3 the exact same way in which skate and skate 2 were played. Now though, if you are a beginner you can play on easy, allowing you to ollie higher and making it harder to bail which I found to be a little boring as the challenge was removed. Now with the new hardcore mode, skate 3 becomes a different game, ollies don’t pop so high and the tricks become harder to pull off. Grinds are now a lot harder to connect to as you have to be spot on with the placement. Hardcore mode is great from those who have played a lot of the series and need a new challenge and the sense of achievement after pulling off a sick line is great.

Players who are familiar with the Tony Hawks series will be more than happy to see that Blackbox have finally added ‘skate.park’, a skate park editor where players can now create their own skate havens, this includes just about every useful piece of equipment necessary to build a really great park. Place rails and ramps as well as other parts to decorate your park. There are many methods to create just about anything. The camera and controls for placing items can be a little annoying though. Once again, ‘skate.reel’ has been included allowing you to create your own footage to upload and let everyone marvel in your skating abilities.

Skate has always been a game that looked good and Skate 3 is no different. However where skate 2 looked a lot grittier, skate 3 certainly looks a lot more vibrant. Each area has its own style with the university area looking bright and colourful, the downtown area looking very built up and somewhat grey and the industrial area looking very gritty, dirty and run down. There is noticeable slowdown when loading into a new area and during times of autosave but other than that skate 3 runs very smoothly. Blackbox have also added a new camera angle, one for those who preferred the higher Tony Hawks angle as opposed to the low down board view.

Skate has always offered a great soundtrack in previous games however skate 3’s soundtrack seems very weak. I know that there isn’t any song that I particularly like but there are a lot of different genres included. There is a lot of hip hop and rap this time round with only a small handful of songs which would usually be tied to skateboarding. In game sound effects are great especially the sound of crunching bones as you hit a wall extremely hard. The sound of different surfaces and ledges really shine through. There is also a score which gets played at varying levels depending on how well you’re skating and whether or not you are in a good skating area.

The Skate 3 career mode is all playable online and you can complete various challenges online together. There is also a full ranked and unranked playlist, a lot like previous games where you can play in modes such as Own the Spot, Skate, 1UP and Own the Lot, including many others. One thing that’s always plagued skate’s online community is the players who use a lot of exploits with each area which usually results in them winning. Blackbox haven’t found a complete solution as this still happens but it doesn’t seem that it happens as much as before. Online, other than that runs rather smoothly.

Skate 3 is a game which has seen only a few additions to the game play but has definitely grown up from what Skate 2 was. The new hardcore setting really does add a new level of play to what was already a great series. It seems that Skate 3 has a lot more of a lasting appeal than what Skate 2 had, with some really difficult challenges, it feels great to nail it. With really crisp graphics and plenty of fluidity Skate 3 is definitely a game for any fan of skateboarding. Its soundtrack lets it down slightly and the lack of a deep story is disappointing but still entertaining. Following on from both Skate and Skate 2, Skate 3 is a must.

My Rating: 8

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Review: Drum Studio

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:25:19 +0000

Just when you thought that there was an actually half plausible drumming game for your Xbox 360. All your hopes and dreams are crushed and destroyed in a puff of drum stick smoke. Despite this games short comings, it does add some flavourful fun tapping to your xbox experience.

Drum Studio, out of the box, well not quite the box, because it's a indie game. But out of the marketplace, appears to be a drumming game and what I mean by that is the games playing style and the screens and the whole title of 'drum studio'. Suggests very clearly to the player, that you are going to be playing drums Correct? When I first booted up this game, I was met with a choice of using a controller, Rock Band 1 drums, or Guitar Hero drums. So obviously I chucked in my Rock Band 1 drums and got my sticks out. You are soon introduced to a small screen to show you the different pads and the different sounds they make, which is understandable of course. And then you are free to let rip. With the controls for record, playback, etc at the bottom underneath the little crudely drawn drummer avatar guy.

Until you start playing you realise that the game is built up on just simple sound clips, without any actual drum mechanic involved. This is most infuriating. Being a drummer myself, from experience I know from playing drums myself. That drumming is built up on patterns. So to be able to play a pattern, or a beat, or whatever you want to call drums you need to be able to play two different notes at the same time. In simple terms, use two sticks simultaneously in sequence. For example I hit the bass drum and the hi hat, and then snare drum and hi hat. Then repeat. To overall create a simple 4 note pattern.

Just because its simply playing sound clips to the hit of each pad, some drumming involved. However it is possible to make a little drum roll or a bah dum tiss sound out of the game, which gave me quite a nice little chuckle at the end. This is also quite fun for just creating some interesting drum sounds and changing the sounds of the drums around as there are lots of variations you can choose from. And then being able to play that back with the recording feature at the bottom of the screen.

Overall this game is on par in achieving what it sets out to do. To any gamers who are looking to expand their interest in drumming from their music games, into something more musically creative. I suggest you purchase a electronic drum kit, like a Roland. And just let your juices flow there, this game is fun but it may not be for you.

5/10

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/en-uk/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550589

Review: Forza Motorsport 3 The Summer Velocity Car Pack

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:25:40 +0000

Forza 3’s Summer Velocity pack adds another ten cars to your collection, from the BMW X6M SUV to the Bertone Mantide and was available from June 8th.

As with all Forza 3 car packs after you have downloaded the pack you must then buy them using Forza 3’s credits.

2010 Lotus Evora Type 124

Class- S 650

With a curb weight of 2,740 IBs, a 6 cylinder engine, 400 horsepower, 0-60 in 4.000 seconds and a top speed of 178.6 MPH, the Lotus Evora Type 124 is a lightweight car having gone through a lot of bodywork to reduce the weight.

2010 Ford Fusion Sport

Class- E 240

The Ford Fusion Sport has a curb weight of 3,803 IBs, a 6 cylinder engine, 263 horsepower, 0-60 in 6.718 seconds and a top speed of 156.7 MPH.

2009 Chrysler Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8

Class- D 293

Only 10,355 of these built and a curb weight of 4,794 IBs, an 8 cylinder engine, 424 horsepower, 0-60 in 4.517 seconds and a top speed of 169 MPH.

2010 Subaru Legacy B4 2.5GT

Class D 339

The 2010 Subaru Legacy B4 2.5GT has a curb weight of 3,263IBs, a 4 cylinder engine, 282 horsepower, 0-60 in 5.657 seconds and a top speed of 171.3 MPH.

2010 Bertone Mantide

Class S 648

The 2010 Bertone Mantide has only 10 production cars made at a price of 2,000,000 dollars, it has a curb weight of 3,149 IBS, an 8 cylinder engine, 638 horsepower, 0-60 in 3.187 seconds and a top speed of 231 MPH.

2010 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3

Class D 313

The 2010 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3 has a turbocharged 2.3L engine, a curb weight of 3,221 LBS, a 4 cylinder engine, 263 horsepower, 0-60 in 5.916 seconds and a top speed of 158 MPH.

2010 Morgan Aero SuperSports

Class A 508

The 2010 Morgan Aero SuperSports is a mix of a classic and a modern car, with a curb weight of 2,601 ILBs, an 8 cylinder engine, 362 horsepower, 0-60 in 4.200 seconds and a top speed of 174.4 MPH.

2010 Peugeot RCZ

Class E 273

The 2010 Peugeot RCZ is the first Peugeot passenger car that does not use a numbering system, has a curb weight of 2,875 LBS, a 4 cylinder engine, 198 horsepower, 0-60 in 7.600 seconds and a top speed of 147.6MPH.

2010 Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG

Class B 455

The 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG brings the first SLK line of Mercedes-Benz to Forza, with a curb weight of 3,472 IBS an 8 cylinder engine, 355 horsepower, 0-60 in 4.917 seconds and a top speed of 187.9 MPH.

2010 BMW Motorsport X6 M

Class C 416

The 2010 BMW Motorsport X6 M has a curb weight of 5,324 IBS, an 8 cylinder engine, 555 horsepower, 0-60 in 4.300 seconds and a top speed of 189 MPH.

Download the pack here http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/games/offers/0ccf0021-0000-4000-8000-00004d53084d?cid=SLink for 400

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Review: Nat Geo Quiz Wild Life

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:22:53 +0000

Experience National Geographic in a completely 3D world

How much do you know about wild life? Nat Geo Quiz Wild Life takes you through stunning HD images, video and sound of wild life and wonders from across the world using a variety of quizzes and puzzles to test your wits against other players.

Quiz Mode allows you to compete against up to three other players or answer alone in a variety of different ways for points. Rounds consist of answering the question correctly before the others to gain more points and even choosing an opponent to steal their points from should you get the answer correct. The game has a good way of making each round slightly different using the points in various ways. Using the Xbox 360 controller’s four coloured buttons as the answers, the object is to click the corresponding colour button to answer the questions before your opponents.

Nat Geo Quiz Wild Life gives you a good variety of subjects to choose from, Amazing Planet, Dangerous Encounters, Aquatic Life, Predators VS Prey or you can choose to answer questions from all of these subjects in the Mega Quiz. Each of these subjects contains a stunning collection of HD images, videos and sound from wild life around the world all wrapped up with an amusing friendly narrator. The quiz is great to go through on your own to test your knowledge, but even more fun when you have someone to compete against.

Quiz Mode allows you to choose how long you wish the quiz to be, 40, 60 or 80 questions and how hard you want the questions, so anyone can join in no matter how much you know or how old you are. In this aspect this game would very much appeal to families perhaps with children learning about nature at school or for those who enjoy the Natural Geographic Channel.

Once you go through the rounds the game does a very good job of making you feel you have achieved something giving out awards by the side of your name for certain criteria such as answering three correct answers in a row or the percentage of questions you got correct and of course it makes the winner feel special. All throughout the quiz you have different coloured frog avatars, which actually look like real frogs they animate when you get a question right or wrong. As mentioned before the narrator is amusing and uses the colours to name you and urge you on to do better should you be falling behind on points.

The game offers so much more than just a quiz mode though, there are other modes which you can play by yourself, Quest Mode is set on a globe of the world and as you travel through the countries and complete the puzzles, sliders and quizzes you unlock more quests. This mode could be classed as the game’s bread and butter in the sense that it is deeper than the other modes. You answer questions based on the video shown before hand with seven or more answers answered correctly opening up the next sector. This mode takes you through more subjects, from how the world was formed to canyons and craters.

Remember Top Trumps? Nat Geo includes a mode which is based on this, where one person starts off with a card and the others have to beat a certain stat and then win the cards.

Perhaps where Nat Geo shines the most are the stunning imagery and videos which look gorgeous in HDMI in 1080P, it’s like having a moving encyclopaedia and would delight those interested in the natural world, there are also facts to learn especially on the harder levels.

Nat Geo also includes leader boards which you can filter between world’s best and your friends, 2-4 Co Op and up to 4 players. You can also add images to your favourites to appear in the gallery for you to view whenever you want. Downloadable content adds more quizzes.

Nat Geo Quiz Wild Life is a game for all ages; it’s a party game you could play with the whole family or alone if you wish. It will teach you facts about the World, Wild Life, the World’s wonders and so much more with stunning images and videos. It’s a Wild Life encyclopaedia in your Xbox 360.

7