SONIC GENERATIONS REVIEW

Sonic isn't back.  Contrary to what all the other review sites tell you, we won't pity your knowledge of the blue blur by 'welcoming' him back.  To those with a keen eye on everything Sega he never really went away.

Last year was the start of the Sonic comeback with the brilliant Sonic 4 and excellent Wii exclusive Sonic Colours.  This year though Sega have gone one better by giving the world Sonic's best game since Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast back in 2002.

Generations sees the inclusion of not one but two Sonics.  Some crazy time eater monster has decided to mess with time and space in Sonic's world and this mad plot twist has seen both the rounder and cuter classic Sonic and the more modern slimline Sonic appear in the same game.

All nine levels are split up into two acts, the first one is for Classic Sonic and features 2D gameplay that all fans of the Genesis/Mega Drive era will love and remember fondly.  While Act 2 see's Modern Sonic take the lead roll in all his homing attack, break neck pace loving self.

Both versions play brilliantly and could so easily have made two separate games.  At first switching between the two Sonic's is kind of awkward, I initially kept attempting homing attacks and boosts with Classic Sonic but after a while of adjustment it seamlessly fits together.

But it's not the notion of having two Sonic's that steals the show here but the level design themselves.  Every stage is based off one from a previous Sonic game.  All main Sonic titles are represented by one level except Sonic 3.  This gives us nine stages but it does feel a little short.  I'm well aware that one Sonic level takes an age to create due to the speed you go through it but it only took me just over four hours to complete the story.  I would have liked at least another three stages.  We might see some extra as DLC but I am a bit miffed at the lack of Lava Reef and Ice Cap from Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

All the levels are fantastic, the only bad one of the bunch would have to be Planet Wisp but even that level looks wonderful and has some interesting all be it frustrating ideas at times.  One of my personal favourites would have to be the 2D Crisis City.  To run to the goal post and actually see it fly away from me was a real eye opener.

Apart from the usual nine stages Sonic Generations gives so much more, it really is a Sonic fans wet dream.  After collecting hidden red rings in the normal stages and completing some of the 100 challenges on offer you'll unlock a whole treasure trove of stuff.  Artwork, music, videos and even character trophies it's a wonderful nod to Sonic's worldwide fan base.

Is this the greatest Sonic game of all time?  No it's not, that title still belongs to Sonic 3 in my opinion and I don't think it's even the best of modern times with both Dreamcast iterations fighting for that title.  But it is the best Sonic game since 2002, not that there's been too much competition.

Even if you have a passing interest in Sonic it's well worth picking up and if you look hard enough you can easily find 20 plus hours of gameplay trying to better your own times over and over again.  Now to get my Green Hill Act 1 time to under a minute for that damn trophy.

8.5/10

UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE'S DECEPTION REVIEW

Let's get this out the way first.  Uncharted 3 isn't perfect, in fact it's far from perfect.  But there is nothing in the history of mankind that has ever been or will ever be perfect.  I would have loved nothing more than to come onto this review and tell you Uncharted 3 has no negatives.  But it does, so let's get them out the way then.

The shooting in Uncharted 3 is slightly different to 2 and takes a little bit to get used to.  The aiming feels more heavy and the way bullets fly has changed since its predecessor.  But after a few hours play it becomes second nature.  One of the Uncharted series big flaws has been the slightly iffy controls when it comes to climbing.  Initially it's slightly awkward when trying to get Drake to jump in a specific direction, depending on where and what your hanging off.  But like the issues with the shooting, a few hours of gameplay remedies this and its not long before your flinging Drake from one death defying situation to the next.  And lastly, the pace of the game lulls just before the last few chapters but I can forgive it for knowing what came before.

That's the negatives out the way, time to wax lyrical.  Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is dangerously close to being the greatest game I've ever played.  The game follows our budding hero Nathan Drake on a voyage to beat token bad guy Kathrine Marlowe and her henchmen to discovering the Pillars of Ubar.  An ancient lost city in the heart of the Rub'Al Khali desert.  The story seems familiar for veterans of the first two games but it takes a completely different path.

Uncharted 2 was a great game, but at times I felt like I had done it in the first game.  The character that turned?  Saw it coming.  The supernatural end game, expected it.  But Uncharted 3 takes everything you know about the series, flips it upside down, puts it in a mixer and spews it all over the floor.  Throughout the whole game I was questioning the relationship between more than a few characters.  I was curious about new additions Cutter and Talbot, just what exactly was their end game in all of this?  The game takes a massive twist as I was left gob smacked when I realised just what was happening in Chapter 2.  Without spoiling it, I can say I was not disappointed in the story.

But Uncharted 3 isn't only great for its story telling, its also a technical marvel.  I've played the famous boat and plane scenes from all the trailers.  They play ten times better than they look, my jaw fell to the floor on more than one occasion as the tanker was swept from side to side as I struggled to help Nate escape the sinking ship.  But to be honest, I enjoyed some of the smaller scale set pieces the most.  The frustrating thing is that I can't tell you for fear of spoilers but rest assured you will not be disappointed.

It's not just the hollywood moments that appeal, something as simple as Drake brushing his hand past a wall looks fantastic and just adds to the realism.  The way Drake acts in cover as well is brilliant.  If there isn't any guards around Drake acts relaxed but as soon as he senses something you can just see Nate react accordingly by moving his hands or just tensing his body up.  Its this sort of attention to detail that really sets Naughty Dog apart from the crowd.

The main gameplay mechanic that has had a real overhaul from Uncharted 2 though is the melee combat.  Naughty Dog have given an obvious nod to the folks over at Rocksteady and the combat is now very similar to Batman: Arkham Asylum/City.  Drake can take on multiple opponents and in some ways it exceeds the Batman games but the countering system unfortunately isn't perfect but it does make for some good brawls throughout the game starting right at Chapter 1.

So is Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception the best game this generation?  Obviously everyones opinion is different but right now I would have to say yes it is.  This is the benchmark that is now set for everyone and I can't possibly see how Naughty Dog can top this.  But I'm sure there already well on their way to proving me wrong.

10/10

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY REVIEW

After the surprise hit that was Arkham Asylum back in 2009 we knew that Arkham City wouldn't catch us off guard again.  I'm very happy to report that if you loved Arkham Asylum, Arkham City will not disappoint you.

Arkham City's story revolves mainly around the mad scientist Hugo Strange and the Joker.  Both are in Batman's face for most of the story and are without a doubt the main villains along with one other antagonist that I won't reveal for spoiler reasons.  I enjoyed the story but felt that way too many characters were shoe-horned in just for the sake of it.  A few like Mr Freeze really came out well in the overall arc but a few others were made to look like bit part players.  I would of preferred if some characters were merely referenced and not just made to look like they aren't even a real threat to Batman which is what happened here.

Rocksteady tread quite closely to Arkham Asylum's plot line, revisiting many parts of the original including the Scarecrow sequences.  While the Scarecrow doesn't make it in this game, Rocksteady tried to replicate the wonderful hallucination sequences but unfortunately missed the mark here.  While they are good in their own right nothing had me close to a 'wow' moment like the original did time and time again.

The combat system has been slightly refined and still remains the best hand to hand combat in gaming.  The counter and melee combo's still work well but thrown into the mix are different counter actions for knifes, riot shields and even different enemy types.  It really keeps you on guard at all times and makes getting a higher combo tougher than in the original.  But once you get the hang of things there really is nothing quite like the satisfaction of taking out ten guys with a 40 hit combo.

While we were told that Batman would have a sprawling world to cover it's not quite 100% true.  Yes it is free roam but it's the same type of free roam we had in the first game.  The world is open to you from the start but unless you have certain abilities you won't be able to explore very far.  I"m perfectly fine with this, the pacing in visiting new areas was good and it shouldn't upset unless you wanted GTA Batman.  Arkham City is bigger than Arkham Asylum but in some places it's more difficult to navigate and the map doesn't really help in some situations, especially when searching for Riddler trophies (of which there are 440).  Batman's main way of moving quickly is via his grappling gun and of course his cape.  Both work well and you can easily make your way from one end of the map to the other in about two minutes.  It doesn't sound long but it's really down to how quick your able to move.

I enjoyed Arkham City but I have to admit I didn't enjoy it as much as the first game.  When you make a game that comes from left field and is amazing it's even more difficult to follow it up.  I love the way Arkham City is a love letter to the Batman universe and I have learned so much more about it all by playing but it just didn't grab me all the way through like Arkham Asylum did.

The story was so-so and it didn't really give me the urgency I needed to want to carry on, the ending was slightly flat although it does finish with a controversial moment.  The side missions were well done and felt just as important as some of the main missions but there just weren't as many as I'd hoped for.

All in all Batman: Arkham City is a well polished game that is certainly one of my gaming highlights this year so far.  It should be on all of your playlists but just don't expect an Arkham Asylum beater, it came close, but not close enough.

8.5

inFamous: Festival Of Blood Review

Commonly mistakened for DLC, inFamous: Festival of Blood is actually a standalone PSN game exclusive to Sony's console just like the first two games.  Developed by Sucker Punch to take advantage of the lucrative Halloween market, this game see's Cole McGrath turn his electric powers on the creatures of the night and vampires.

The game starts off with Cole's best friend and one of the highlight characters of the franchise Zeke impressing a big boomed chick in a far by telling her a tale of vampires in inFamous 2's setting of New Marais.  That's where you as Cole McGrath come in.  As Zeke tells the tale you act out his story, it's quite a nice idea and does come together quite nicely at the end.  The story see's Cole turn into a vampire, he must kill the head of the vampire's 'Bloody Mary' before the night's out or forever be a creature of the night.

One thing I must point out is that this is unmistakenly inFamous 2 with vampires.  The slick controls and all Cole's moves are there for the most part.  Some of the moves are dressed up a bit to match the tone of the story, like Cole's melee weapon the Amp being replaced by a cross but all in all this is inFamous in all it's glory.

The major criticism that I have about the game is length.  I beat the game in a bit an hour and a half and had received every single trophy within three hours.  While it was short, I must say I really digged getting back into inFamous, even if it was for a short while.  It gave me a taste of playing the sequel this summer and reminded me just how fun the world of inFamous is.

If you love inFamous downloading this is a no brainer.  But even if you haven't entered the world of Cole and Zeke perhaps this small download will give you a decent amount of time to decide if you want to go back and sample the main games.

7.5

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVELOUTION REVIEW

In a lot of ways Deus Ex: Human Revolution snuck up on me, many of us were looking far ahead at the gaming delights that await us this winter (Batman and Uncharted to name just two). But as summer tailed away and autumn decided to rear it's ugly head along came DE:HR's Adam Jensen to take us into it's wonderful world and cyberpunk charm.

A prequel of the first two that were major hits on PC early on last decade, Deus EX: HR it a lovingly crafted first person RPG that borrows heavily from a lot of games. Fallout, Metal Gear and even elements from Mass Effect are all used here and fit lovingly well.

The game predominately takes place in Detroit and Hengsha but a few other locations do come into it further into the plot. The atmosphere is loving crafted and is clearly inspired by cyberpunk flicks of the 80s combined with a hint of culture form the Italian Renaissance mixed with a yellow tinge to create a really unique and most importantly, believable world that you'll want to explore.

One of my big complaints about RPGs and even Mass Effect to a certain extent is that you can clearly see the difference between side missions and the main story. Of course the main plot missions should take precedence but I have to tip my hat off to some of the brilliant side story missions contained in DE:HR that could so easily have fooled any player they were part of the main missions.

The main draw for the third in the series is the way you can approach any obstacle from a number of angles. You have the obvious options of going in head first guns blazing to take everyone out. Or perhaps sneaking through the area using distraction tactics and stealth camoflauge to out manouveur your enemies appeal. Air vents? You'll be seeing a lot of these as they provide Adam Jensen unique routes that sometimes take you in the other direction of your enemies.

But don't get ahead of yourself, this isn't a first person shooter, if you go in guns blazing you are likely to die, a lot. The emphasis is heavily on stealth as shown by Adam's augmentations. 'Augs' allow you to mold Jensen into the character you want him to be, by earning 'Praxis Points' through the game you can buy certain moves to aid you through the game. All Augs are mainly helpful for stealth players, there is really only one that helps with a full on assualt. Unlike other RPG's that follow a similar level-up system, each time you spend a Praxis Point you really do think about how will upgrade. The upgrade system works so well and is so brilliantly balanced that every single augment will aid you, but not enough to make any of them game breaking.

While there are no glaring glitches or faults like similar titles released at a similar time (Dead Island I'm looking at you!). Deus Ex: Human Revolution does suffer from a tiny bit of blandness. That sounds a lot harsher than it is in reality for lack of a better word but it feels like I've done all this before. Hiding round corners ala Metal Gear, using a multi-choice conversation system ala Mass Effect and an FPS RPG in a similar style to Fallout.

That's not to say you shouldn't pick up Deus Ex: HR it is a wonderful game and should be on most peoples to buy list. It's certainly a contender for Game of the Year and that is reason enough to get involved in the shady world of Deus Ex.

9/10

RESISTANCE 3 REVIEW

War is tough, especially when its against an alien civilisation that have flattened you and surviving is all that matters. This is where Resistance steps in, 90% of the Earth's population have been flattened by the Chimera and survival is your only hope. You take the role of Joseph Capelli, a dishonoured service man who killed R1 and R2's protagonist Nathan Hale as he failed to win his battle against the Chimerean virus.

Despite being with his family in hiding, Resistance stalwart Dr Malikov comes for Capelli's help to take down the Chimera once and for all. He wants the two to travel from Oklamhoma to the Alien tower in New York to save humanity in what will be humanities final attempt at salvation before the planet is terra-formed into a cold and chilly world not fit for human survival. Despite initially wanting to stay with his wife and son, Capelli's wife convinces him to go and thus the journey to New York begins.

Resistance is Sony's second first-person shooter this year following Killzone 3 and while there is Resistance: Falling Skies for Vita next year, this game ends the trilogy on home consoles.

Resistance 3's focus is on single player, it's clear as the sky at night is dark that Insomniac really honed in on a brilliant single player campaign bringing with it set-pieces galore and a variety of gameplay elements that keep the game flowing. The strongest point of which, is a variety in weapons. I really had a lot of fun with the choice it gave you, the Auger being a particular standout. It allows you to see enemies through walls and shoot them without ever having to come out of cover. Luckily bullets are limited so it must be used tactically and its a theme that runs for all weapons. There were times when the Atomizer (which sucks numerous enemies to a specific spot and finishes them) was the perfect weapon and allowed me to gain an advantage but other times it was pointless. The 12 weapons are so varied that none feel tacked on or useless and all have their advantages. I guarantee you will use every weapon during your playthrough for a considerable amount of time.

The other change to the gameplay is the health system. Remember in a time before Halo where your health didn't recharge? Well it's back in Resistance 3 and it's a welcome change. No longer is it a case of hiding for a few seconds before going head first into combat again, you are now taking cover at every opportunity and towards the end of a battle scavenging for health in every corner of the map. It really adds a new (or old) variant to the standard first person shooter and it's a move I'd love to see more developers take.

Resistance isn't everyones cup of tea however, it's graphically appealing but has no where near the graphical fidelity of Killzone or Uncharted which stand head and shoulders above everything else this generation. It's multiplayer is also lacking with just your standard run of the mill situations but it's not really meant for the multiplayer gamer.

Resistance succeeds in being a brilliant single player campaign but fails on keeping the appeal after the initial playthrough although the alur of trophies will no doubt encourage others for three or four single player run throughs.

8/10

inFamous 2 Review

Almost a year to the day I travelled to my local game store to purchase a game to take my time up. I wanted something that was good, I needed something that would take my mind off real life for a while, something I could get lost in. It was a difficult time in my personal life, my girlfriend and newborn son having both been admitted to hospital a few hundred miles away, I was moving house and of course had full-time work getting in the way of everything. Eventually I settled on inFamous at £9.99 which after playing the first in the series to death was a bargain. I think due to my emotional attachment at the time thanks to my personal circumstances and the fact that any free time I did have was devoted to infamous 1, had I of reviewed it it certainly would have got a higher score than it deserved. That's not to say this review of the sequel, cunningly named inFamous 2 will be reviewed incorrectly. It perhaps means that I expect more than I usually would from a sequel, infamous one captivated it's audience and turned Sucker Punch Productions from Sly creators and Banjo-Kazooie wannabe's into a real player in the industry, behind Uncharted, inFamous is now arguably the second biggest Playstation brand, overtaking, Resistance, Ratchet and perhaps even Killzone and they've cemented their position within the Playstation family here.

inFamous 2 see's the return of Cole McGrath, just an average courier boy who get's caught up in an explosion and gains electrical super powers, the premise is simple but the execution is superb. This time Cole has travelled south to New Marais as he's being chased by 'the beast' an almighty being revealed at the end of the original, Cole's goal is to grow strong enough to defeat him by finding blast cores in New Marais and continues the excellent story building blocks from the first game. Thankfully inFamous 2 doesn't pull a 'God of War' and take all your powers away from the first game, you keep all you earned and learn new more powerful moves, imagine summoning an electrical hurricane, you can do that here.

A new gameplay addition is 'the amp' a metal electrical rod that Cole wields for melee combat. A few quick taps of the Square button hits the opponent and a hit of the Triangle is the cue for one of the sweet finishers that end your opponent. The melee naturally fits into the game and changes the gameplay enough from the first one where it could be accused that holding L1 and mashing R1 to fire lightning bolts was enough to get through most troubles, but not here, the combat is varied enough from powers to melee where you'll want to switch it up, plus there's nothing more satisfying than jumping off a 4 storey building and slamming to the ground causing an electrical shockwave that kills four guys at once.

If you've never played inFamous one don't fear, you can jump right into the sequel without playing the first (although I highly recommend you to try it). The first game's story is beautifully told the minute you hit start with a loving crafted comic strip style cut scene, these comic strips were littered throughout the original but unfortunately take a bit of a back seat in the sequel. There is no doubt the biggest difference between the original and the sequel is the set-pieces. Dramatic helicopter fights and large explosion's really deliver a Hollywood feel and I've not even told you half the story (and I won't for fear of spoilers). Uncharted 2's train and building set-pieces have gone down as folk-lore at Sony and have set a new industry standard in the video games. The boys and gals at Sucker Punch have taken note and have 'Unchartedised' inFamous 2. Copying off Uncharted 2 isn't a bad thing as the core comic-book super hero gameplay style still reigns supreme but taking tips off Naughty Dog has definitely upped their game. The in-game explosions, even when your just walking around New Marais can be spectacular, needless to say the set-pieces included in the story can be breath-taking, unfortunately nothing to match Uncharted 2, but very few can.

Missions in inFamous 2 are varied enough, more so than the original which tended to repeat some situations over and over but there's enough variety and more importantly fun missions to keep you going through the campaign and onto the side missions which can be completed at any time. The addition of user-generated content was a slightly left-field decision for a game that isn't LittleBigPlanet but it's certainly a welcome one. Some of the early UGC missions I've played were interesting enough without being amazing, but this is down to the lack of time after launch rather than the tools. The UGC interface is quite awkward to create with no real manual but as a starting point for future releases it's certainly a solid platform to build upon.

However it's not all plain sailing for the sequel, during amp and explosion sequences the camera can somewhat go awol. There was a situation with an early boss I encountered who grabbed me by the tongue and tried to pull me in, the idea to get out of this is to shoot inside his mouth to get him to let go, but because I was running away at the time he grabbed me, the camera showed the view behind me and away from the monster so there was no way to save myself. This can be annoying especially when trying to combo melee moves from one guy to another but it's a small annoyance and really shouldn't spoil your enjoyment of this game too much.

Sequel's are supposed to be bigger and better in everyway, inFamous 2 ticks both these boxes with flying colours and stands out in an industry with a lot of wannabe's. It falls short of being on a par with an Uncharted or Mass Effect but it's certainly worthy of it's place as a big gaming franchise, Sucker Punch, welcome to the big time, I'm sure you'll be here to stay.

9/10

E3 PREDICTIONS: SONY

After a year of waiting the games industries biggest and loudest event, e3 will finally be with us on June 7th. Until that date we here at DC Reviews will bring you our predictions for the three big companies starting today with Sony.

Whisper it quietly but at the time of writing this the PSN is still down, by the time e3 rolls around next month it will be back up in some capacity I'm sure which leads me onto my first prediciton

AN APOLOGY

Yep, I have a feeling at some part during the conference the PSN outage will come up and Sony will humbly apologise, there won't be any Kevin Butler jokes because the whole debacle is serious, I mean, your personal data has been stolen and now 70 million people are in danger of being hit by fraud. This isn't the most shocking of prediction's but it does lead onto the fact that the rewards programme for consumers will be discussed. Europe is already confirmed to be getting an Identity Theft Protection scheme, 30 days of Playstation Plus and two free PS3 games and two free PSP games if you own that system, but what about everyone else?

GOD OF WAR IV

God of War III came out in March 2010 to some fantastic reviews and is currently a 91 on meteoritic. Kratos' story arc is supposedly over but the franchise is certainly not. Will we see another Kratos prequel for the PS3 like the PSP outings of the history's angriest man or will we be thrown a curve ball and be angry in someone's else's Greek boots? Who knows, but I will be pretty shocked if the series doesn't make some sort of appearance at E3.

NGP Full Reveal

Sony's new baby the NGP will be there of course and after it's early reveal in February expect Sony to really blow the lid open this time. We expect a release date for all territories, a semi-reveal of launch line-up but I don't think price will be announced. Revealing the price this early could harm sales and put consumers off unless the price is super low, even then it would probably have more impact on the lead-up to Christmas. A completed demonstration of the OS will be shown live and perhaps announce a revamp of the PS3 XMB to follow in it's new baby brothers' footsteps. Uncharted NGP will get a full showing and will be confirmed to launch with the system. The actual name of the NGP will be announced and I expect Sony to steer clear of the Playstation Portable name, it seem's that name conjures up a lot of stigma much like the Wii, no games etc etc

Warhawk Sequel Announced

2007 game Warhawk, which has a rather large loyal following will finally get a sequel, probably called Starhawk if you believe all the rumours. The multi-player only game will see a release at the end of 2012 and possibly join God of War IV as PS3's big hitters for next holiday.

And The Rest...

And that'll be about it for major news from Sony. A quiet E3 for the Playstation machine yes, but you could argue they have bigger things to worry about right now. All their major franchises are coming to the system, Uncharted 3, InFamous 2, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance 3 etc so barring a totally unexpected Killzone 4 announcement I can't see anything other than God of War or Warhawk sequel in terms of games as mentioned above. The only other thing that could happen that's not NGP related is a totally re-vamped PSN which has been rumoured for months now, even before the hack. Cross game chat will happen and this may very well be the year where Sony finally gets their house in order with the PSN. Sony may jump into bed with EA again and get some exclusive Battlefield 3 deal in terms of maps or something else like they did with Medal of Honour to try and combat the Call of Duty/360 partnership.

A solid E3 from Sony without being a spectacular one in my opinion. They won't win E3, it'll be either Microsoft or Nintendo. One without any games and the other with Zelda. Look out for Nintendo's E3 chatter next on the site!

You can follow Craig Shields on twitter @craigshields9

PORTAL 2 REVIEW

*due to the PSN being down the following review is solely based on single player*

When I sit down and finish a game I usually take in all of what's happened in the final scene and my whole journey through the game, watch the credits then move onto the next game vying for my attention on my shelf. Not with Portal 2. Don't get me wrong I would love nothing more than to blurt out what happens in the end, it really is something special and in a way the surprise you get really awards the player for playing the game without actually giving you anything other than a lasting impression that set's Portal 2 out from the crowd.

For those not familiar with Portal, it was a mini-game of sorts released in Valve's Orange Box which included Half-Life 2. Seen as an indie game of sorts the 3 hour 'extra' soon become a cult classic. You play as a female character stuck in a factory of science, where the centre is being run by an evil machine called GLaDOS, one of gaming's great villains. The idea is to move from room to room solving puzzle's by using a portal gun, fire one portal on the wall next to you and another across the room and walk through one portal and come out of the other simple!

Portal 2 takes the simplicity and complexity of some of the puzzle's of the first one and ramps the little 3 hour title into a fully fledged and fully realised 6 to 8 hour retail game without making it feel tired and used. It really is a great achievement by Valve to keep Portal 2's puzzle elements feel fresh every chapter. You start off going from chamber to chamber and jumping through GLaDOS' (yes she's back) hoops like in the first game but not too far in the landscape of Aperture Science drastically changes and the chamber to chamber formula shifts to really keep you on your toes. The companion cube also makes a comeback to help you solve puzzles, move box from point A to point B to progress but new additions are light tunnel's and two types of gel. One that makes you bounce and one that makes you run really fast. All the new elements fit right in and don't feel at all out of place. The main concern I had coming into Portal 2 was difficulty, I'm not the best at solving puzzle's and thought I would struggle with a few but the game does a great job of coaching you through some of the puzzle's and giving subtle hints to help you along. I wasn't stuck at a puzzle for any longer than twenty minutes and there's no better feeling than when everything *clicks* into place and you continue on.

Like any sequel some new characters have been introduced with Stephen Merchant taking the voice acting role of new robot Wheatley in a role he performs fantastically in and is easily the best voice acting I've heard in a long long time. His constant quips back and forth with GLaDOS are memorable throughout and gave me more than a few truly laugh out loud moment's. Portal's humour really sets it apart as it doesn't need to resort to your stereotypical jokes that often cloud video games, it doesn't have anything relating to sex, drugs, drink or anything seedy like that, apart from one fat joke but we can accept it.

Portal 2 truly is a wonderfully crafted piece of work rather than just a lot of the mindless games we get nowadays, don't get me wrong I love a bit of Mortal Kombat but Portal 2 is something we haven't had in a long time and just adds to the argument that games truly are pieces of art, we're lucky in the fact that Portal 2 is a masterpiece.

9/10

Crysis 2 Review

First person shooter's these days are a dime a dozen, mostly generic war shooters that occasionally may or may not involve space nazi alien's that are planning to take over the country/world/universe (delete as applicable). Crysis 2 is no different, story wise it's about alien's coming up from the ground trying to take over the planet while a government conspiracy is happening and you, the man with 'the' suit, is the only one who can stop it.

So the plot of Crysis 2 is very much well trodden and doesn't really set it apart from other shooters. So what does make this a worthy addition to your game collection? Unlike most first person shooters, it won't be the gun that saves you the most, it'll be the suit. It allows for varying gaming mechanics to aid you in your fight against evil, there's armour mode which allows you an additional few ounces of armour to help you stay alive just that little bit longer or run through fire and pretty much feel untouchable. Stealth camouflage gives you the Predator's very own invisibility, in fact any self respecting Predator fan can see the little nod's to the 1987 classic film throughout Crysis 2. The suit also gives you increased athleticism so jumping higher and running faster is a given, you can also slide on the floor, use thermal vision and of course, grab ledges. While many other shooters can offer some of these things, Crysis make's everything seem very fluid, spiriting, sliding, jumping, grabbing and camouflage can be done one after the other within seconds. To stop you using all these abilities all the time however is a suit meter which counts down from 100 to 0. Depending on what ability you use decides how quickly it depletes, running while being in camouflage drains the meter massively, crawling while camouflage drains the meter much more slowly making stealth kills easier.

As you would expect from a FPS there is a decent amount of variety in weapons but unfortunately not much variety in weapons. Expect to take on the same looking private army and then only three different types of Ceph (the alien species in the game). While the Ceph are interesting enough I can't help but feel like there just rehash's of Elite's and Hunter's from the Halo series with added tentacles. Even right down to shooting in the gaps of their armour to take them down easy, it just feels like not much effort was put into the Ceph at all.

The levels are varied enough and despite the whole game being set in New York the developers have given us plenty of changes in scenery to not make the game feel the same throughout. One of Crysis 2's major plus points are the graphics, make no mistake, this is a beautiful looking game. I personally would still put Killzone 3 ahead but this takes a very close second. Some of the set pieces in the level's are outstanding though, seeing building's collapse, helicopter's crashing three feet in front of you and walking along a collapsing bridge are just some of the set piece highlight's that will give you a wow factor every time you play it. The length of single player mode is lengthy and will take you a decent 12 to 15 hours to complete depending on your skill level. It's a nice change from the 6 or 7 hour campaign now go play multiplayer feel that most shooters tend to have. Speaking of multiplayer, it is here in Crysis 2 of course and like my complaint with Killzone 3's multiplayer, it's good without being anything special, there is nothing that set's it apart from the rest and I have my doubts as to the long term community that will evolve from Crysis 2.

During my play through I did notice some quite alarming graphical errors that really shouldn't of happened. On numerous occasions after a cutscene my gun wouldn't be there, in fact one time I could see Alcatraz's (the lead character) hands grip a 'gun' but the actual gun wasn't there. What makes things worse is that I couldn't fire! So I had to let myself die or restart the chapters to be able to shoot. Pop up is also there, while it doesn't affect the actual gameplay it can be annoying and it is such a shame as the rest of Crysis 2 is beautiful but these few graphical errors I encountered really do spoil the experience a little bit.

Crysis 2 is a good game, it falls short on being great because it does feel like I've been here and done it before. It takes the Call of Duty style of gunplay and modern setting with a Halo feel in terms of plot and enemies. On paper it's potentially a great combination but it can just feel like they tried too hard to focus on making the suit spectacular instead of innovating the gameplay to really challenge the suit.

7.5

Yakuza 4 Review

Yakuza is very close to establishing itself as an annual franchise. Similar to your Sports title's and Call of Duty type, one a year formula games. This is the second Yakuza game to hit these shores in as many years following on from the mild success of the first two to hit the Playstation 2. After much fan badgering Sega finally decided to release Yakuza 3 last year, they 'westernised' the game by taking out much of the quirky Japanese tastes (hostess bars, massage parlours etc) that made the first two unique. But thanks to solid sales and an unhappiness at what was left out in Yakuza 3 the sequel arrived fully intact with all Japanese shenanigan's and without the need for a brisk internet campaign from loyal fans.

So now that it's here what makes Yakuza 4 different from previous iterations of the series? Well to be truthful not a lot really. It's still the same Kamurocho town that we've been to in the last three games, still the same random battles in the street's and still the same convoluted plot story with massive twists and murder 24/7. But just because it's the same doesn't mean that goes in the negative column. Yakuza 4 differs itself by taking control away from series protagonist Kiryu Kazuma for most of it.

Instead you control four different characters from different backgrounds. Akiyama, a loan shark, Saejima a convict, Det. Takimura a rookie cop and finally everyone's favourite ex-Yakuza turned orphanage owner Kiryu Kazuma. Each individual story starts at different time periods throughout the games setting of March 2010 while at first I was extremely sceptical as to how all of these individual stories would link up in the end, they eventually came together quite spectacularly. At time's the story in the middle of the game seems to get very complicated with enough threads to knit a wooly jumper. By taking control of the other three characters we see Kazuma as the true legend that he is in Kamourocho. Much like what Kojima did in Metal Gear Solid 2 with Raiden and Snake. By taking control away from the player of Kazuma it really let's his character develop in a way that you couldn't by controlling him.

While of course a good story is Yakuza's main selling point the fighting comes a close second. Now don't get me wrong the fighting in Yakuza is good, it's the exact same as 3 save for a few new moves for the new characters. All the heat mode finishing moves are identical to what we see in 3. The finishers are still as fun and brutal as ever but I feel it was just sheer laziness to leave the exact same mechanics in. Do we really need to see these again, I must have hit someone round the head with a baseball bat about 70 times in Yakuza 3 and it's the exact same now for 4. The fighting system will probably need a bit of refreshing when the inevitable Yakuza 5 comes round (I'm ignoring Yakuza: Of The End) as it's the only bit of the game that feels old. The lock-system doesn't quite work all the time and blocking can be a bit hit or miss but smashing someone's head into the wall never gets old, ever.

In summing up Yakuza 4 it does feel a bit dated at times, especially if you're right up to date with the series. But being dated isn't always a bad things, the thing's Yakuza 4 does well it does fantastically and kept me hooked right up until the finish. There are hundreds of hours you could lose with many many side-quest's including running a hostess bar, training up rookie karate kid's and even playing in a Sega arcade. If you haven't delved into a Yakuza game before I would start with 3 to learn a bit about the back story, if you enjoyed 3 then I see no reason why you shouldn't come back. Look past the ageing fighting system and you'll find yourself a great game and a great world to be in.

8/10