Megabits of Gaming

Next Gen Consoles All About The Power

2012-01-27T13:25:00.004Z

Power seems to be the common denominator for the next generation of consoles if all the rumours, speculation and articles of the past week are to be believed. Frankly, the prospect of uber-powerful machines capable of overshadowing the performance of the current crop of consoles is enough to get me positively salivating... and make me think that I need to get saving!

Nintendo's Wii U - apparently due to make its debut later this year - is said to be twice the power of the Xbox 360.

Not to be outdone, there are also murmurings that the next version of the Xbox - dubbed the 720 for now - will have six times the processing power of Nintendo's shiny new machine!

(Photo credit: Image by ze_bear via Flickr)

Megabits Of News: Weekly Roundup

2012-01-27T12:45:00.000Z

Megabits of Gaming trawls the web for the tastiest morsels of news, so you don't have to...

Wii U to be in our hands by Christmas 2012
The president of Nintendo has confirmed the much-awaited Wii U will be available in the second half of the year in Japan, Europe and the US. So now you can get your Christmas list in early.

Next Assassin's Creed to be biggest so far
If it’s possible to imagine, Ubisoft has said its next Assassin’s Creed title will be bigger than any of its predecessors in the series. The next instalment is expected to be released around Christmas so another one for the list I guess.

Nintendo expects to make a loss
Bad news for Nintendo. The gaming giant expects to make a loss the year ending 31 March, despite previously predicting that it would report a small profit.

No need to "Resist" further, its over
According to VG247, game developer Insomniac has said it will not be making any more titles for the Resistance franchise. The company will now focus on different projects. How will I protect the world from an alien invasion now, Resistance 3 was brilliant - I say Boooo!!

FIFA 12 takes top spot in sports game sales
“Take a bow, son.” FIFA 12 really made whipping boys out of the competition after becoming the highest grossing sports game in UK history. It has already made more cash than any other FIFA title, without breaking a sweat.

Megabits' Ten Greatest Ship Levels

2012-01-27T12:19:00.000Z

After our Top Ten Train Levels article, I figured I'd return to the gaming world to list my favourite wet and wild game levels. So, here's our Top Ten Ship Levels. For clarity's sake, I'm using 'ship' as a catch-all term for nautical vessels of any kind, be it on the sea or in space, and 'level' for games not entirely built around being on a ship. Enjoy!

AVAST YE MATEYS! Here be spoilers!

10) USS Nautilus, Crysis 2
Cruising through the waters off New York, the Nautilus makes a good impression of the might of the US armed forces - until it's sunk in the opening moments of Crysis 2, leaving the US Marine strike force trapped belowdecks, scrambling to get out before the mighty sub is left at bottom of the Hudson.

It may have only been a fleeting moment, but this opening set the tone for the rest of the game - brutal, intense, and with the odds stacked firmly against you. Plus, the fact that it looks great graphically - and the music is perfectly pitched - adds to the experience.

9) The cargo ship, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Although the plot of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was the kind of techno-drek that rattles around in Tom Clancy's mind and is occasionally vomited onto a page and turned into a best-seller , the game itself turned out to be pretty good.

About half-way through the title, agent Sam Fisher finds himself infiltrating a cargo ship filled with terrorists, in order to have a nice chat with a bad guy up on the mess deck. Starting you off on the poop deck (no jokes, please, we're British), the canny agent has to sneak his way through the superstructure of the aged lady.

Taking you through the noisy, hot engine room (which makes your thermal goggles useless) and along rainswept decks alike, sneaking around a ship at sea was never more fun - or more deadly.

8) U-4901, Medal of Honor
Although looking at it now you'd think you were fighting boxes of pixels in Nazi uniforms, at the time, Medal of Honor's 'Scuttle Das Boot U-4901' mission was a thrilling battle.

Starting with the infiltration of the mighty, oversized Nazi U-boat, the mission saw OSS agent Jimmy Patterson storming through the metal guts of the boat, killing off its crew, stealing codebooks and finally forcing the ship to the surface.

Sure, the level was linear as hell, but the close-range firefights left an impression on my 13-year-old mind, as did the angry Captain yelling "You're Jimmy Patterson!" at me. Exactly how he knew that remains a mystery... I had a hat on and everything!

7) The cargo ship, Final Fantasy 7
Another game which looks woefully awful when compared to today's graphics, FF7 is nevertheless the best RPG of all time - and it has a pretty kickass level set on a ship as well.

Having snuck onto a Shin-Ra cargo ship, spiky-haired, psychologically deranged, cross-dressing hero Cloud Strife and his band of weirdos are on their way to Costa Del Sol for a much-needed break. Donning stolen uniforms, which don't fit very well - leaving gun-armed Barret looking like a terrifying nightmare of a sailor, and talking wolf/lion/tiger Red XIII on his hind legs - with a tail sticking out - the team try to keep a low profile.

That is, until the calamity from the skies bursts in, and needs to be put back in her box in the cargo hold before she rips the ship to shreds.

Combining comedy with utter terror as Jenova makes an appearance, this ship-based level was both tricky and fun in equal measure.

6) Pirate ships, The Curse of Monkey Island
Everybody loves pirates - and Guybrush Threepwood wants to be one. A shame he can't get the hang of the insult sword-fighting...

Yes, The Curse of Monkey Island takes a break from it's nautical point-and-clickery to indulge in a little piracy two thirds through the game, as Threepwood and his crew of singing barber/sailors taking on other pirates for their booty, cannons and kudos.

Once the crew have subdued an enemy vessel (or the tourist boat that is also cruising the Caribbean – "Oooh! Pirates!"), Threepwood must board and beat the enemy captain in insult sword-fighting, which is a hell of a lot less bloody than the Master and Commander approach...

Hilarious and fun, this challenging section of a great game has stayed with me for a long time.

5) The Katariah, Skyrim
As one of the later missions in the Dark Brotherhood story arc, the mission to the Katariah sees the Dragonborn infiltrating the stately vessel, which is anchored just off the citadel of Solitude - your mission? Kill the Emperor of Tamriel.

That's no easy task...

Sneaking aboard from the lower decks, the gamer has to battle a legion of bodyguards, mages and lowly deckhands as you close on your quarry, forcing back the furious soldiers with magic and sword, while no doubt robbing every bit of shiny loot you can find (of which there is a lot...).

A while later, after breaking into the cabin occupied by the prey, the assassin comes to face-to-face with the Emperor himself - who's been waiting for you. Instead of a huge, brutal fight, you instead find yourself standing in front of an old man who's come to terms with his death and meets you as an equal, turning his back and allowing you to finish your mission.

A hell of a moment, which certainly stopped me in my tracks, even though it didn't stop me killing him and looting his corpse.

4) The Normandy, Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect was a brilliant game. It captured my attention right from the start, and I played through it ferociously, almost obsessively. Bioware did such a good job creating believable, understandable characters and a galaxy with such depth of intrigue that I just kept coming back for more, especially with my trusty starship, the Normandy.

So, for the developers to open Mass Effect 2 with the total and utter destruction of the Normandy, and the apparent death of lead character Commander Shepherd, was a massive shock to me, and a moment that seared itself on my memory.

Characters I’d come to enjoy listening to died in an instant, and the ship I’d come to think of as my own personal passport to the galaxy was gutted and left to crash.

A chilling level to play through, after all the battles the Normandy fought and survived, as well as a kick-ass opening sequence.

3) The Sulon Star, Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight
Quite possibly the best Star Wars game ever made, Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight also featured one of the most atmospheric, intense levels of the 1990s.

Wannabe Jedi Kyle Katarn has tracked his foe, Imperial Inquisitor Jerec, to the Valley of the Jedi, confronting him on the refueling dock of Jerec's huge cargo ship, the Sulon Star. Pretty quickly Kyle finds himself Force-pushed on to the ship - which is hanging over a huge drop - trapped on board, and left to die as the vessel plunges towards the ground.

What follows is as crazy a level as I've every played, as the Star falls into the canyon, rolling over, turning the floor into the ceiling, seeing the artificial gravity failing - and leaving panicking Stormtroopers desperately trying to escape.

A breakneck sprint through the creaking, cracking ship follows, until Katarn manages to make it to his ship, the Mouldy Crow, and gets the hell off the Star before it's consumed in a pillar of fire. Of course, that's only the start off his problems... (incidentally, check out the live-action cutscenes - they don't make 'em like this anymore!).

2) The Long Night of Solace, Halo Reach
Something of a nod to the first Halo's 'Truth and Reconciliation ', the Halo: Reach mission involving the Covenant corvette Long Night of Solace was a bold step for the series, introducing enjoyable, colourful space combat in a pretty nippy little fighter, as well as battleships blowing the crap out of each other - and a zero-G boarding action.

Follow this with an intense, close-range firefight against a legion of pissed off Covenant creatures, a bomb strapped to a gunship and a sad (but not unexpected) sacrifice, and you've got a lengthy game level that leaves a strong impression on you. Naturally, having some friends along for the ride - from launchpad to interstellar combat to boarding action to HALO-jump escape (yes, we get the pun, Bungie) - makes it all the better.

For graphical beauty, brilliant sound effects and capturing the beauty of space warfare, this one is well worth a look. I especially enjoyed the low-gravity scrap in the corvette before Noble Five makes his arrival - the eerie lack of sound makes the battle all the more intense.

1) Discovery/Arsenal Gear, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
If, like me when I thought up the title of this quote, you immediately thought of this game being number one for levels set on ships, you'd be right - it's not just got one, but two whole suites of levels devoted to battling on the high seas.

Starting off, we have Solid Snake's infiltration of the tanker Discovery, which is slowly moving up the Hudson river with a very unusual cargo - Metal Gear Ray , a bipedal, amphibious mech with some terrifying offensive powers.

Cue the stealth action, contrasted with the tension of an invading group of Russian special forces soldiers, driving rain, helicopters strafing you, creaking metal - and cardboard boxes.

Later, the action moves to the form-fitting 'skull suit' of Raiden, a pretty boy-cum badass who finds himself trapped aboard a massive, submersible battleship called Arsenal Gear. The huge ship is full to the brim with supersoldiers, crazed artificial intelligences who keep insisting "It's all a game! Turn off your computer!" and no less than 30 mass-produced Metal Gear Rays defending it.

Add in the fact that the ship's innards have names like 'rectum' and 'ascending colon', and you get the feeling that you're into something special.

I mean, who can honestly say they spent a good 20 minutes fighting off waves of enemies with a ninja's katana... in a giant rectum.

Yep, for variety, great level design and sheer fun, MGS2's ship-based levels deserve the top spot.

As for Raiden... yeah - he got awesome.

You really don't wanna mess with him.

Preview: UFC Undisputed 3

2012-01-25T12:19:00.000Z

UFC Undisputed 3 is poised to take players inside the virtual Octagon with extensive focus on intense toe-to-toe combat, impressive visual presentation and significantly increased accessibility, including the introduction of PRIDE Mode, two new weight classes and an impressive playable roster of more than 150 UFC fighters.

The long-awaited addition of Featherweights and Bantamweights opens up the game’s roster of fighters by a large scale, letting you play as world class fighters like Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz for the first time in a UFC game.

“UFC Undisputed 3 is on track to deliver an incredible virtual MMA experience unlike any other,” said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ. “This product is intense, engaging and highly competitive while still being extremely accessible, making it a must-have for millions of UFC fans, traditional fighting game enthusiasts and more casual sports fans around the world.

UFC Undisputed 3 brings significant advancements to the franchise, including the opportunity to fight in Japan’s PRIDE tournament for the first time ever and more casual sports fans around the world.

UFC Undisputed 3 will mark the debut of PRIDE Mode, enabling players to fight for the first time in the renowned Japanese MMA organisation. The mode will include official commentators Bas Rutten and Stephen Quadros, authentic environments and notorious MMA rules, including the ability to execute soccer-style kicks, head stomps and ground knees to the head. Finishing an opponent will be more important than ever through devastating new moves, responsive striking controls, refined visual presentation and the introduction of a brand new submission system. In addition, players will now enter the Octagon with a choice between traditional and simplified gameplay control options, enabling them, regardless of skill level, to experience the intensity of UFC and nuances of MMA combat while executing simple standing strikes or more complex ground and transition mechanics.

Players will also experience the excitement of a live UFC event through significant visual improvements, including the introduction of much-anticipated fighter entrances, new camera positions, improved facial animations and a gritty, high contrast appearance. They will enter into battle with an unparalleled choice of more than 150 playable UFC fighters, including talent from the newly added featherweight and bantamweight divisions.

Rounding out the virtual UFC experience with a significantly revamped online experience, as well as a variety of new and returning gameplay modes, UFC Undisputed 3 lets players have their fights – their way – to deliver the most intense, competitive and engaging experience to date for the franchise.

We took to the Octagon with the game developer, Neven Dravinski, to learn how to tackle this latest challenge in the ultimate fighting franchise.

What is the PRIDE Mode?
We are introducing PRIDE Mode to offer players even more new gameplay experiences. PRIDE is a former Japanese MMA organisation that was purchased by the UFC; in fact, several UFC stars today had some of their most iconic fights in PRIDE. PRIDE rules allow for more brutal attacks, like kicking an opponent in the head when he is on the ground with face stomps and soccer kicks. PRIDE fights occurred in a ring, opposed to an Octagon, and it really allowed us to offer a new look and new gameplay experience in UFC Undisputed 3. What’s really cool is players can take any UFC fighter and fight using PRIDE rules and vice versa. Hardcore fans are going to love our attention to detail, while those not familiar with PRIDE will get a real treat in terms of both gameplay and presentation.

How big is the roster of players - any new weight classes?
The UFC Undisputed 3 roster includes more than 150 fighters. This year, we added the former WEC weight classes of Featherweight and Bantamweight, giving players a great opportunity to see the speed and pace of these lighter weight fighters.

Have you improved upon the finishing moves?
We have been able to put a lot of new animations in the game, and once people get their hands on it, they’re going to love what they see. The biggest compliment comes from those guys who have played all the UFC Undisputed games; it’s great when they tell us how far we’ve come.

What visual improvements have been made?
We’ve worked a lot on improving and tuning our shaders for both the UFC and PRIDE modes. PRIDE offers a lot of opportunity to play with our lighting to mimic the different look of PRIDE fights. We’ve improved our dynamic lighting, our character models, and as mentioned, have added a ton of new animations to the game!

How do you ensure the player is drawn into the Octagon experience?
I think once someone plays UFC Undisputed 3, he or she will be really drawn into the experience because it’s just so real. The visual fidelity and visceral impact experienced by players is one of the hallmarks of the UFC Undisputed franchise. Combined with both pro and amateur controls for players of all types, a more fluid striking system and a graphics-based submission system, these features will all help in making this the best MMA game yet.

How did you research the PRIDE element?
We have a lot of hardcore fight fans on the team, and most of us have been watching PRIDE fights since the early days. Our development team at Yuke’s Osaka is Japanese as well, and some of those guys had the special opportunity to see PRIDE fights in Japan. I would say when one has a team as passionate about MMA as ours; the “research” for PRIDE was actually really fun to do.

How much difference is there between PRIDE and our traditional tournaments?
PRIDE tournaments were the ultimate test of skill for an MMA fighter. Fighters had to survive multiple fights in one night to survive. Imagine facing Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and after a brutal war, your reward is to face Wanderlei Silva? In UFC Undisputed 3, players will carry damage and stamina and energy loss into the next fight. It’s a tough journey – believe me.

Is there the ability to bridge the PRIDE and UFC tournaments?
At any time in UFC Undisputed 3, the player can pick between PRIDE or UFC rules in Exhibition matches. He or she will be able to compete with any UFC fighter using PRIDE rules and any historical PRIDE fighter in UFC rules. This makes for a lot of really cool fantasy matchups. Going through a career in the game will also provide opportunities to compete in one-off PRIDE fights and PRIDE Grand Prix tournaments.

Did you work with any real life fighters to increase the reality of this title?
Absolutely. We have a great relationship with the UFC and its fighters. We have brought in fighters like Frank Mir, Nate Diaz, Matt Hughes and Sean Sherk to do motion capture, and in addition, all the fighters are welcome to stop by the office any time they’re in the area, which many of them do. For the developers, that is a pretty nice perk of the job.

Has the game been endorsed by any recognised fighters?
Diego Sanchez often talks about how he uses the game as mental preparation before fights to imagine himself winning. There are many UFC fighters who play games, and it’s cool to get a chance to play with these guys and to be surprised at how good they are at UFC Undisputed.

Why did you choose to exclude motion control – is this feasible in the future?
UFC Undisputed 3 is really focused on delivering a fighting game experience running at 60 frames per second with responsive, rapid controls. While we are always looking at ways to expand our technology, motion controls didn’t make sense at this time. However, if you check out UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System, you’ll be surprised at how good a job it does at utilising the motion controls for an MMA game!

How long did the title take to develop?
UFC Undisputed 3 spent roughly 18 months in development.

What were the biggest challenges?
Our biggest challenge is always how to get everything finished. These games get bigger and bigger each year. PRIDE Mode is essentially a game within a game, including new announcers, new fighters and new animations. Add that to a new control scheme, a new submission system and two new weight classes, plus all the combat improvements, and let’s just say it was a huge undertaking.

How big was the development team, where was it based and what experiences (previous titles) were brought together?
Our team at Yuke’s Osaka averages around 60 people, depending on the point of development. On top of that, we have a team of folks at our headquarters in Agoura that focus on art, animation, design, production and more.

Was this game designed for your core fighter game fans or designed to entice newbies to the genre?
We designed UFC Undisputed 3 to be played by anyone – and in the ways they want to play. New “Amateur Controls” were specifically designed with new users in mind, but then things like our new Simulation Energy setting were designed with only the hardcore in mind.

How has the online functionality been improved?
In previous UFC titles, we used a lot of middleware; this is no longer the case with UFC Undisputed 3. This year, we also ran an Online Alpha Server test to stress test our servers before launch. From a feature perspective, we are offering a lot of content sharing this year, from highlight reels to logos to fighters, as well as the return of Fight Camps, which have been improved this year.

What can we expect from future editions?
I think the thing our team has always shown is that we are able to have a strong connection with our fans and our community. We’re just as big of MMA fans as anyone else, and I think our record has shown that every year we’re putting in features synonymous with the UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts. PRIDE and former WEC weight classes are great examples. What the future holds for the UFC Undisputed franchise is really dependent on what the people want!

Michael Gordon is editor of Charged Middle East magazine, a leading Dubai-based gadgets and games title that provides news, reviews and features on the latest home and consumer electronics. For more about the magazine, visit its Facebook page after the jump. Check out this article and many more in the February issue.

Megabits Of News: Weekly Roundup

2012-01-20T20:47:00.014Z

Megabits of Gaming trawls the web for the tastiest morsels of news, so you don't have to...

SEGA Sonic store sale now online
Good news for all Sonic merchandise hunters as SEGA officially launches its full online Sonic the Hedgehog store. For those who love a bargain, customers can get 15% off any order until the end of January by entering the following code – JANSALE15. See www.sonicmerchandise.com for details.

Ubisoft shuts studio in Vancouver
Publisher Ubisoft has shut its studio in Vancouver, Canada. Employees at the studio - apparently previously known as Action Pants - will have chance to consider jobs at some of Ubisoft's other studios, says Joystiq.

Official Video Game for London 2012 announced
Limber up your thumbs and forefingers - or even arms and legs if you have motion control support with an Xbox Kinect or PlayStation Move - as SEGA has confirmed an official tie-in for the London 2012 Olympic Games, featuring over 30 events.

Rockstar’s GTA V could be out by March 2013 - analysts
According to VG24/7, analysts believe Rockstar will have Grand Theft Auto V released before March 2013. Little has been revealed about the game to date.

Katy Perry collaborating with EA’s The Sims franchise
CVG says gaming giant EA has brought in pop star Katy Perry to advertise its new advertising and marketing campaigns for the Sims brand. Perry will also collaborate with EA to develop special Katy Perry themed in-game content.

Top Ten With a Twist 2012. Part Two

2012-01-20T10:55:00.002Z

I haven't even paid Bojeeva his winnings from the 2011 competition, yet here we are doing it all over again: picking the ten games we're most excited about for the coming year and gambling on who's list will get the highest aggregated review scores (here's Bojeeva's list).

It's a risky list-there are a lot of sequels, and a lot of them are to games that weren't that great in the first place. Where 2011 was a bumper year for great games, 2012 isn't looking so rosy. For every Bioshock or Grand Theft Auto carrying on a tradition of brilliance, there's a Prototype or Transformers, games that have shown bags of potential but thus far fulfilled none of it. We're hoping that 2012 is the year that good ideas are matched with good execution.

(10) Bioshock Infinite

A flying city named after the personificationof America violently imposes it’s will with death from above? You have to say,the setting for the third Bioshock game doesn’t exactly scream subtle.Furthermore, another exceptional city that stumbles across “vigours andnostrums” rather undermines the unique qualities that made Rapture and it’splasmids and adam feel so special. You’d be forgiven for feeling underwhelmedat the prospect of Bioshock Infinite. I’m choosing to be optimistic, however.After all, we weren’t expecting much from Bioshock 2 either, and it turned outto be marvellous, action-packed fun. Add to that the fact that Bioshock’soriginator, Ken Levine, is part of the Infinite team, and you have a recipe foryet another beautiful, bombastic outing.

(9) Mass Effect 3

The non-arrival of MassEffect last year may well have cost me a win in 2011, but with a bit of luck itwill show up in 2012 and bag me plenty of points. After all, if there is asimilarly enormous improvement between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 as therewas between ME 1 and 2, then Mass Effect 3 should be one of the best games ofall time. Bioware have already replaced the convoluted menus with a streamlinedinterface, the bland planets with worthwhile exploration, and the mediocre bossfights with genuinely absorbing battles. Minor tweaks are all it will take tomake the 3rd instalment a GOTY contender.

(8) Grand Theft Auto V

Familiar faces in a familiar setting meanthat the GTA series’ return to San Andreas for its fifth full instalment hasgot fans feeling at home long before the game shows up. What’s more exciting,however, is the appearance of jets, biplanes and jetskis within the trailer. InGTA IV the games gonzo vehicles were kept largely in the background, but thereturn the beautiful and varied environments of San Andreas seem to bring withthem the resumption of the series’ traditional full on vehicular indulgence.

(7) Half Life 2 Episode 3

Humorous haiku from Valve boss Gabe Newell,and a leaked coded containing references to Ep3 has got the whole internethoping that the long, long wait might soon be over. Ok, I’ll believe it onlywhen I finally have Half Life Episode 3 in my hands, but still, I’m optimisticenough to put it in this list. The cold light, unscripted construction andexcellent shooting are oft talked about, but for me the best thing about theHalf Life series is the locations-decaying European cities, vertiginous bridgesand towering alien strongholds. Ep3 promises to add ice locked freighters tothat list, and I can’t wait.

(6) Syndicate
Ok, all the early hints make this look like theisometric, upgrade-happy tactical adventure we remember has been chucked out ofthe window in favour of an FPS with a tech tree. So, that’s Deus Ex all overagain. But have a little faith, this is Peter Molyneux we’re talking about. Theman has one of the most consistent hit lists in gaming, and if he’s turning hishand to an FPS, then we’re sure it will be worth playing.

(5) Prototype 2

The original Prototype combined dozens ofgreat ideas into a strangely uninspiring package. Perhaps it was the genericenemies, or the sprawling, unfocussed nature of the upgrade paths, or perhapsjust the dull, unconvincing city in which the game took place. But there’s atrend in recent years for weak first games to fix their flaws in the sequels,and we reckon Prototype 2 will live up to its predecessors potential.

(4) I Am Alive

I love a good apocalypse/post-apocalypsestory, and the long delayed I Am Alive puts a particularly nice twist on thegenre: instead of being a heavily armed and armoured warrior in a world that’sstarted anew, I Am Alive has you as an underpowered everyman in a world stillreeling from the disasters that have befallen it.

(3) Borderlands 2
The appeal of the original Borderlands as so simple and appealing that I'd be perfectly happy to just play it all over again with different missions but no real changes to the gameplay. Borderlands is all about loot. That addiction to crate-smashing and chest-searching that affect every RPG player are brought to the fore here-every time you think you should turn it off, you decide to just have another rummage in the next box, under the next rock, or in the next crate. Pretty much all you find is money or special guns, and pretty much all you'll spend the money on is more special guns. Get together with your mates, tool up with lightning shotguns and acid assault rifles, and go get yourself some money. It's a simple idea that bears plenty of repetition.

(2) Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
There's an alarming trend in this list-it's almost entirely composed of sequels, and many of them are sequels to games that needed some serious polishing. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is the perfect example. It's predecessor was a perfectly passable third person cover shooter, but it should have been so much more. It could have been reskinned to feature space marines, gangsters or just about any standard gaming protagonist-amongst those towering metal environments, with all those distinctive character designs, you never felt like you were actually controlling a giant steel robot. Tweak the animations and sound effects, add a dash of melee combat, and beef up the floaty handling and you'll have fixed the flaws that held back the original.

(1) Resident Evil 6
Floppy fringed emo-cop Leon and grunting man-tank Chris, together at last. Amazingly, that's not a gay porn synopsis but a selling point for Resident Evil 6. The question is, will they be two separate playable characters with discrete missions, or will we be subjected to another ill-advised co-op adventure? This could be the difference between the heights of RE2 and 4, or the depths of RE5.

Review: Crush3D

2012-01-20T00:05:00.000Z

By 'eck, when I was a lad viewing a screen in 3D meant donning one sexy pair of specs. One lens red the other blue and suddenly you'd be ducking and dodging like the action on TV was taking place in your living room.....sort of. In reality it was never that good.

Roll on to 2012 and 3D is becoming ever more commonplace in gaming and pleasingly Zoe Mode's updated version of Crush - originally released on Sony's PSP. Crush3D, has landed on the Nintendo 3DS at just the right time.

The story places you into the rather fetching dressing gown of Danny, a troubled young man who agrees, perhaps foolishly, to become Dr. Doccerson's guinea pig in testing the Doc's new invention, C.R.U.S.H. This latest wacky creation allows the user to explore their dreams and fears, but when the machine takes a shine to Danny it traps him in his own mind. Thus begins the sprawling, puzzletastic adventure as Danny tries to escape the machine.

The game takes the form of a classic platform/puzzler but of course being on 3DS means it has a new trick up its sleeve. At the opening of each level Danny has to collect a certain number of marbles which are dotted about the place, this then opens the exit and the chance to proceed, sounds simple enough. Unfortunately it's not quite that straight forward. You see young Danny doesn't possess any particularly astounding powers, so at first glance it appears that the way forward is an impossibility, time to pull that trick from the sleeve.

Utilising the new capabilities of this modern age players can now switch between the traditional 2D perspective into an all new 3D one to solve puzzles and progress through the levels.

This jump from 3D to 2D is known as 'crushing' and works a treat. For example, that platform that is happily floating in the background comfortably out of reach of our young hero can, with the use of 'crushing', be brought to the 2D foreground and easily hopped upon. It quite literally opens up a whole new dimension for the platforming genre and works superbly well.

The trick is working out the necessary perspective to be able to continue. As the game progresses it becomes increasingly difficult and occasionally frustrating as moving platforms, enemies that need to be crushed, special blocks that break and a whole host of other irritations make themselves known. It can be a daunting proposition and certainly slows progress but perseverance and the occasional smile from lady luck will see you through.

The concept of switching between dimensions works really well, the game still works even with the 3D slider right down and the whole package has a charm and logic to it that should keep you coming back for more even when the frustration begins to kick in, plus if you get truly baffled there is a very handy hint option to point you back in the right direction.

The game looks crisp and colourful and this helps with solving the puzzles, the story ticks along nicely in the background via the odd cut-scene and as I said it holds a certain charm throughout. Of course it isn't without fault, there are most definitely times when it can all become just a bit too much and times when it becomes repetitive but thankfully it never over-rides the fun of playing and satisfaction of completing a level.

Overall I've enjoyed my time with Crush3D even if my grey cells have at times begged for mercy. If you're looking for a game that will tax the brain while remaining enjoyable and you can accept that this isn't going to be a quick stroll in the park to the end credits, then you could do a lot worse than enter the troubled mind of Danny and the wonderfully imaginative world of Crush3D.

Too close for comfort... Marvel vs Capcom 3

2012-01-19T20:11:00.007Z

The year of 2011 is over and what a year it was. We had spectacular games and incredible progress in the video game community. Franchises were lining up as players were treated with phenomenal debuts. Gamers certainly have a lot to talk about, as a result of both ground breaking or lackluster news. Needless to say, 2011 was a great year in gaming.

But that doesn't mean that there weren't a few bumps along the way. Granted there was a lot to praise in 2011, but there was quite a bit to complain about as well. One particular issue that gamers are still talking about now we’re in the new year is the short nine-month gap between Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.

One of the main reasons I'm raising this subject is that this year marks the 25th Anniversary of Mega Man. Fans are wondering whether Capcom will actually do anything for Mega Man this year. Their scepticism branches from the fact that Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe were both cancelled. Plus, Mega Man was not a featured character in either Marvel vs Capcom 3 or Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Fans have been becoming increasingly agitated with Capcom's cold shoulder to Mega Man. Most argue that he’s one factor that helped build them into the company they are now. However, it isn't only the neglect of a popular character that is ruffling up the feathers of Capcom's audience...

Marvel vs Capcom 3 was released on February 15, 2011. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 was announced on July 20 and was released on November 15. Fans already had a feeling that Capcom was going to release an expanded game or DLC in the future, they just didn't realize that it was going to be the near future. Hence, many people were upset by the announcement of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 coming out soon just four months after the first one was released.

The fans wanted answers and the one they got was from Capcom's Seth Killian who stated that scheduling conflicts and time contraints between Marvel and Capcom's games only gave them a small window of opportunity to release Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. There was the answer and fans still had plenty to say about it. I interviewed a few gamers who have their own opinions... (their initials differentiate their answers).

1. Is a nine month gap acceptable between the games?

GP - "No. The first game cost enough to get. I can barely get enough trade-in credit for the first one. If they waited longer, they could have had more stuff."

VB - "I'm pissed. It should have been an update. I already paid enough for the special edition."

PG - "It's a slap in the face. It's like a repeat of Street Fighter IV."

2. Is the new price reasonable?

GP - "Yeah, but the game came out too early for me to be interested in buying the same game."

VB - "The price is not fair. Those of us who bought the special edition should at least get compensation when getting the new game with a discount."

PG - "Yeah, it's okay. It beats having to pay for a full price game."

3. Should the new characters and stages have been downloadable?

GP - "The game would be more expensive like that. Wouldn't it be like five dollars per character? You'd end up paying more for characters than the actual game."

VB - "Yes, it would have been good to have DLC. Then I could choose who and what I want at my own convenience."

PG - "It should all have been DLC. If they have two characters for DLC, why not the others?"

4. Which three Marvel and Capcom characters should have been included?

GP - "For Capcom, Mega Man, Regina from Dino Crisis, and Samonoske from Onimusha. I would have liked to have seen Ms Marvel, Spider-Woman, and Venom, too."

VB - "My choices are Mega Man, Nero, and Masamune Date. Would have been nice if Marvel had Venom, Gambit, and Black Panther."

PG - "Jin, Samonoske, and Alex for sure. They would have been cool. Gambit, Nightcrawler, and Venom are awesome for Marvel's side."

5. Do you think "time constraints" is a good reason for the gap?

GP - "No, they could have waited. Again, they could have added so much more than what was put in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3."

VB - "No. Time constraints shouldn't have been an issue. They could've taken their time."

PG - "In a way, but it would have been better if they took their time. More time leads to more content."

I acknowledge that everyone has their own opinion about the nine month gap; I have my own opinions. This was especially done for those who played the original Marvel vs Capcom 3 and possibly got the special edition. The general consensus that I got from gamers who bought the special edition is that they feel screwed over. They paid twenty dollars more than anyone else who got the standard edition. They then told me about how they will end up getting Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 for its new features, but that they basically paid over one hundred dollars for the same game.

I don't condemn anything about what happened with the nine month gap, but I will say that I understand from both ends how this looks. The developers felt rushed and wanted to get the game out soon or else they wouldn't be able to for awhile. The gamers felt that this was too soon and that they are getting ripped off by spending their money on an update. Gamers may feel even more resentment toward Capcom if they find out that nothing is actually being done with Mega Man's 25th Anniversary. Only time will tell what happens.

Review: All Zombies Must Die

2012-01-11T13:27:00.006Z

It’s a lazy trope of journalism but in the case of All Zombies Must Die it’s hard to resist the urge to sum it up simply by combining two existing games, ie: It’s like Gauntlet meets Dead Rising 2. In fact, we won’t resist the urge. Its isometric (almost top down) four-player food-dependent twin-stick mob-twatting combined with the ability to harvest and craft numerous implements into a single zombie-slaying weapon do call to mind both Gauntlet and Dead Rising 2.

We’re not even going to be ashamed of using the “meets” trope, we’re just going to point out the fact that we’ve done it in a knowing way, in much the same way that All Zombies Must Die knowingly points out the weakness of its dialogue and use of old school game mechanics.

Up to four cartoon characters can fight their way round a zombie filled town, battling squads of comparatively feeble ordinary zombies mixed with slightly tougher mutants and the occasional ‘enraged’ horde of tougher red zombies. Set light to them before you kill them and you’ll increase the likelihood of one type of loot drop, make their ears ring with a siren before you send them back to hell and you’ll get a different loot. By collecting and combining the right types of loot you can craft fiery sticks, radioactive shotguns and the like. Along the way you’ll earn XP for kills and quests, which can be spent on upgrading your characters attack, defence, health and speed. You can also spend XP to reassign your favourite weapon, and gain a buff from using it.

The capsule summary tells you everything you need to know the mechanics, but not the experience of playing the game, which is not dissimilar to a Lego title. It’s too much fun to ever abandon in its entirety, but just about repetitive enough to stop you from being engrossed enough to play for ours. It's a game that rewards short bursts of play, an hour here, half an hour there, and as long as you keep it short you’ll keep coming back to it. Give it too long, however, and you might start to find it a little tiresome.

The combat is largely superficial, but the opportunity to chase upgrade points and tweak your weapons and character provides enough motivation to overcome the slightly shallow bash and blast action, as do the enjoyable sound effects. We’ve often thought that novelty sound effects are the holy grail of casual, indie and XBLA games; find the right sound effect and you could sell a million copies of a single-button button-basher off the back of it. AZMD doesn’t quite uncover that holy grail, but it comes close enough to keep you grinning.

That smile will fall from your face as you come to realise quite how limited the game environments are, and how often you’ll trek across them on the games endless list of fetchquests. Once again, the longer you play the game, the less you’ll like it. Treat it like a casual game for short, beery bursts with your mates, however, and it will keep you entertained. If we could, we’d give it a ‘rent it’ but as that’s not possible for an XBLA title we’ll latch on to the affirmatives and say ‘Buy It’.

Reviewed on Xbox 360

Site Offers Team 17 Classics For Retro Treat

2012-01-11T12:52:00.000Z

I owe a lot to Team 17. Afterall, Superfrog and Alien Breed got me into this whole journalism game. Founded in 1990, Team 17 is one of my favourite developers of the past few decades and was responsible for some absolutely corking titles. It was my addiction to them - fuelled by all night gaming sessions and copious quantities of Coca Cola - that saw me scribble down my gameplay tips and send them to Future Publishing's now defunct (obviously) Commodore Amiga magazine, Amiga Power. My witty writing style and indepth knowledge (!) of the aforementioned titles got me published and I was subsequently showered with free games.

Anyway, I digress. If, like me, you can't muster the enthusiasm to wander about your dimly-lit loft to try and track down these classic Team 17 discs for a nostalgic playthrough, then why not take a trip to GOG.com? The fantastic site - crammed full of DRM-free PC games - has just made some of Team 17's library available for download for only a few dollars.

Among them, Worms United – a special edition of the original Worms with the expansion Worms Reinforcements, Alien Breed and Alien Breed: Tower Assault, Superfrog and World Rally Fever: Born on the Road.

I'm suddenly craving Lucozade!!!

Review: Kirby's Return to Dream Land

2012-01-09T19:11:00.000Z

I don’t consider it a homecoming when I leave my apartment to go downstairs and pick up the mail. I get no cause for celebration from returning to my humble abode after a grueling affair at the corner store (despite risking my life saying no to the kids asking me to buy them smokes). Even traversing as far away as the distant land of downtown Toronto doesn’t quite warrant the fanfare Kirby seems to be getting with “Kirby’s Return to Dreamland.” I mean, Kirby didn’t really leave Dreamland in the first place. He took a jaunt to a land of strings and clothing patches, and even that trip led to Dreamland in the end anyways. Writing this review is reaaaaaaaally making me want to play Kirby’s Epic Yarn again.

That game unintentionally challenged the notion of games being tests of wit and skill. You couldn’t die. There were no puzzles for which to test your intelligence and falling off a cliff merely penalized you with a frowny-faced Kirby (of which is a more guilt-ridden punishment than death itself). No, that game’s success was in being so gosh-darned cute, and melodically-paced as to dispel all of life’s worries and put the player in a state of wholesome, drug-free bliss. If Kirby’s Epic Yarn was played in Arkham Asylum, crime in Gotham City would go down and the Riddler would be dispensing tongue twisters for all the kids. Instead of killing them with tongue twisters, I guess.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland forgoes most of what made that former string-based lifeform of a game special and brings the puff-man back to his roots as a giant vacuum carnivore. We’re back to eating other life forms and snuffing their souls from existence in the name of absorbing their powers. But at least lessons were learned from Kirby’s… er… epic yarn of a tale. Namely that there is power in catharsis over difficulty. Sometimes, I don’t want a game where I get cornered by 20 armed guards speaking in Eastern European accents, sometimes I just want to look at very cute things stab each other with spikes coming out of their adorable pores.

The main gameplay conceit of a typical Kirby game (one with carbon-based organisms instead of arts-and-crafts-based organisms) is that Kirby can suck up and spit out most enemy flesh, or swallow and steal the potent superpowers from his adversaries. Part of the fun of those old-fashioned Kirby cannibalism games is discovering and experimenting with the various superpowers. All that is old is new again in Return to Dreamland, as each of the old powers have been given a handful of new tricks and toys for which to administer adorable assault.

Suddenly, every power becomes interesting. Old Kirby games had their share of duds. You know the ones I’m talking about: Electric Power, Spiky Power. The powers that involved you standing perfectly still and hoping Waddle Dee was Waddle Dumb enough to walk into you bioelectric field (he usually was). Well, here you can shake the remote to charge up and fire your electric field of doom, or draw your spikes while dashing to transform into a rolling tire of spiky carnage, puncturing all in your path. This game is rated E for Everyone.

And then you climb the ladder from “Electric Kirby” and “Fire Kirby” to “Martial Arts Kirby” and “Indiana Kirby And the Temple of the Crystal Puff”, constantly getting new powers, waylaying all that gets in your path, and being wooed by the cheerful background music. All the things Kirby does right, just now you can do it right with up to four people; up to four co-habitants can hop in at any time and relieve themselves at the expense of poor Whispy Woods (of course you fight that mopey giant tree again. Though you may be relieved to know he is the one major returning boss character. Sorry Kracko. Sorry…err…painter guy).

Player one controls Kirby, and is the one for whom the screen and all in-level progress is centered around. So as long as player one is not a fool, the game will flow regardless of other players’ maturity/skill/grievance levels. The other players can control either different coloured Kirbys, (Kirbi?) Meta-Knight, King DeDeDe or a spear-toting Waddle Dee of Waddle Death. The latter three play like variations of Kirby with a spear, Kirby with a hammer and Kirby with a sword. Since they can’t absorb powers, I feel like playing as them is missing the point (unless the point is that you think a penguin in a king costume wielding an MF’in mallet is adorable, then by all means, rock that mallet). So four players rocking four Kirbi seems to be to way to go. Also, worry not, this doesn’t have the horrible-human-being physics of New Super Mario Bros Wii. Characters don’t flubberishly bounce off each other and into bottomless pits, nor do they take every excuse to pick up and throw each other as if Mario and Luigi were magnetically attracted to spikes. No, here, four players can co-exist and co-operate peacefully. In fact, players can share health by way of embracing in hugs. It’s that kind of game.

And really, a Kirby game is all about the loving. In spite of all of my murderous wordplay, Kirby only wants to do is lend a hand. The plot of the game, or what little plot there is, involves Kirby helping a shipwrecked extra-terrestrial rebuild his ship because dagnabbit, Kirby is all about doing the right thing. Along the way, he’s going to dig up collectable items to unlock mini games and challenge rooms, including a surprise Super Scope reference, because Super Scope references are also the right thing to do.

Maybe the right thing to do is also to play Kirby’s Return to Dreamland. This is a game that figures out how to make that classic style of Kirbying fun to do. Then it gives you a chance to get three other people around to join you as a way of apologizing for making them play New Super Mario Bros Wii as a group. It has a certain charming aesthetic and vibe that encourages you to kick back and turn puffy enemies into dust clouds. This is an ideal game to relax to, play in quick bursts between trips to the corner store and dramatic returns to your real life Dreamland. And maybe get your younger siblings or drug-addled friends to join in with you. We’re all kind of sick of Wii Sports anyways.

Reviewed on Wii

Top Ten With A Twist - 2012

2012-01-05T22:00:00.009Z

Long term readers will know that myself and Ibwib have an ongoing bet each year where we each predict some of the top games that are scheduled and then use score aggregator Metacritic to see who has come out on top. Well, no sooner have the results for our top 2011 games been announced, than we have to rub our respective crystal balls and decide what our top tips are for the year ahead. Just for the record, I'd like to remind everyone (including Ibwib) that I was the victor in 2011 - thanks to the fact Mass Effect 3 didn't emerge! Anyways, it still counts as a victory and as reigning champion I'm going to kick the New Year off with my next selection.

The added "twist" this year is that the list will be extended from five to ten... just to give Ibwib a sporting chance if another of his titles is delayed (he can't use that as an excuse then, eh?).

There are so many great-looking games to choose from: the aforementioned Mass Effect 3, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Bioshock Infinite to name but a few. But they don't even make my list of the most wanted... So without further delay - and in no particular order - here are my most anticipated games for 2012.

(10) Syndicate
The return of one of my favourite games of all time has to head this list - and while I'm hugely disappointed it departs from its traditional isometric viewpoint, it looks like it's going to resemble Deus Ex: Human Revolution - and that can only be a good thing!

(9) Dishonored
Bethesda is set to publish the intriguing-sounding Dishonored and it's certainly on my wanted list this year. This first person action game looks awesome from its early screenshots - thanks to the talents of Half-Life 2 art director Viktor Antonov. You take the role of a bodyguard of an Empress, framed for her murder and hellbent on revenge. You must become an assassin and traverse a gameworld where every choice you make has an effect.

(8) Minecraft
Already a massive hit on the PC, I'm intrigued by how this will play on the humble console. A construction game where anything is possible, this should get your creative juices flowing and bring some real open-ending gameplay. The upcoming 360 version is said to support Kinect. This could be phenomenal!

(7) Borderlands 2
Cel-shading goodness makes a welcome return in 2012. The original was immense with a huge gameworld, loads of shooting and driving missions, great powerups and character classes - and some of the best co-op action ever. The imminent sequel promises to better it in every way.

(6) Hitman Absolution
The Hitman games have always been tricky and I've rarely completed them... but the one thing that keeps making me want to come back is the sheer number of ways in which a mission can be completed. Sure, you can go in all guns blazing but more often than not you'll be shot down in no time. Anyway, it's nowhere near as satisfying as sneaking about, finding an entrance point, avoiding guards and pulling off a sublime assassination with no one even knowing anything was amiss. Can't wait.

(5) Max Payne 3
It may have seen its fair share of delays but it seems absolutely certain that the third installment of Max's escapades will be released very soon indeed. He's looking a little rough around the edges since his last outing in 2003, with a few more pounds around the waist and a little less hair. The original was the first game to use Bullet Time - so who would bet against Max Payne 3 introducing something equally innovative?

(4) Grand Theft Auto V
We at Megabits have been waxing lyrical about the GTA IV for ages. Some hated its slightly more serious tone and a lack of customisation options but we thought that Liberty City was a great world to get lost in. If the teaser trailer is anything to go by, the next in the series looks like it will fly off the shelves and certainly be a contender for Game Of The Year.

(3) Inversion
This third-person co-op shooter sounds both amazing and refreshing. To fully understand the gravity of this game (see what I did there?!), you'll have to get to grips with your unique Grappler weapon to manipulate objects and enemies as you take on the evil Lutadore. Gravity-controlling weapons? Yes please.

(2) Prototype 2
Absolutely loved the first game and I quickly forgave all its flaws. Darting about the city - both horizontally and vertically - was great fun and the free running element was well worked and effective. Gaining powerful abilities that allowed you to morph into people and turn your body into the ultimate killing machine was a great idea - and one that I'm looking forward to revisiting with the sequel.

(1) Anarchy Reigns
SEGA and Platinum Games are set to launch Anarchy Reigns - and I cannot wait. Having adored Vanquish, this promises to be equally over the top. This is an online beat em up featuring varied characters, weapons and powers, with devastating moves that leave the screen awash with colour... just as we've come to expect from this studio!

Review: Rayman Origins

2012-01-04T21:04:00.004Z

When Rayman Origins was first announced at E3 2010 at the Ubisoft games conference I didn't have high expectations. The original Rayman, released on the PlayStation back in 1995, was still firmly etched into my memory as one of my favorite games from my childhood. I thought there was no way this game could capture the same sense of fun of the first game. However, after finally getting my hands on it, I can gladly say it brought back what made Rayman great and then made it better, which shouldn't have been much of a surprise as Ubisoft had got the creator of Rayman (Michel Ancel) back on board.

You don't need me to tell you how great it looks... The completely hand drawn animations are extremely smooth and the environments are stunning. The lush green forests, sandy deserts and icy tundra all have their own individual look and personality. Unfortunately you will probably miss the amazing scenery the first time round as you will be so focused on getting to the end of the level and smashing open one more cage.

The platforming is exactly what you would expect from a Rayman game; you have your basic controls such as run, jump and attack. As you progress through the game and save more scantily-clad pixies, you unlock new abilities such as the ability to fly and run on walls, which will help you pass the later levels. The controls will never leave you frustrated as they are extremely accurate and at times quite forgiving. Other parts of the game have you mounting a giant mosquito as you fly through the level shooting enemies out of the sky.

The gameplay is quirky and fun, with interesting enemy types from the simple angry bird to glowing sea monsters. The game doesn't provide too much of a challenge and you will likely find your self repeating only a few sections of the game to get to the end. The difficulty comes in collecting everything in the game. And if, like me, you want to collect and see everything that the game has to offer, chances are you will not do this on the first play through. You will keep coming back to levels again and again to try to collect a few more electoons for that gold medal, or trying to sprint an entire level to get the time trial trophies. This adds a lot of hours to the game's length and is really only limited by how many hours you are willing to put in, as it can be quite difficult to acquire everything.

This game is definitely a blast to play on your own but if you can get a couple buddies over and experience the local co-op then hilarity is likely to ensue; you will be raging at each other for messing up a section of the level and creating challenges for each other while trying to collect as many electoons as possible.

Rayman Origins was undoubtedly a lost gem in the sea of last year's end-of-season games. It's nice to see something so unique come out in a time where only certain types of games ever make it into production *cough* First person shooters *cough*. In my opinion, this is the best platforming game to grace consoles this generation, and for those who haven't played it I recommend you go out and get a copy as soon as possible so you can experience this beautiful, quirky game.

Megabits' Review Of The Year

2012-01-01T00:01:00.003Z

Happy 2012 Megabits readers! But as we look wistfully to the months ahead, let's spare a moment or two to consider how great the past year has been. While it's had its ups and downs, by and large I'd argue that 2011 was pretty good for gamers... if you put aside the spate of hacking and the downtime suffered, notably by Sony at the start of the year.

Otherwise, 2011 started pretty well, with Isaac making a comeback in Dead Space 2 and Grayson Hunt making his debut in Bulletstorm. It wasn't long before a torrent of top games starting hitting the shelves, most of them sequels to much loved classics. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Killzone 3, Resistance 3, Portal 2, Infamous 2... the list goes on. Sony's PS3 seems to have won the Exclusives battle this year, with many big hitters being released. Microsoft were, however, able to churn out plenty of (very mixed) Kinect titles as well as the sublime Forza 4 and Gears of War 3. Predictably, Modern Warfare 3 became the biggest selling launch ever, breaking copious records along the way. A big surprise was Skyrim's success in wrestling the coveted Christmas Number One spot in the gaming charts from the vicelike grip of Infinity Ward's mammoth shooter and EA's FIFA 12. Besides these big hitters, there have been countless hidden gems released too (see our Top Ten here)

Hardware-wise, 2011 may be remembered for the launch of Nintendo's 3DS and Sony's Vita. OnLive and Cloud Gaming also made more of a splash, and promises an entirely new way of gaming in the future. We also saw some teasers about the upcoming Wii U and plenty of speculation about the next generation of the Xbox and PlayStation...

But although there's been lots of anticipation about the future, we must not forget the past - Xbox celebrated it's 10th anniversary while the PS3 reached the five year marker.

Looking ahead, we've got cyberpunk favourite Syndicate being rebooted this year and the epic GTA V to make an appearance too. Then there's a new Halo, Metal Gear and Bioshock coming out! So 2012 is certainly looking promising. Question is, will there be enough time to wring out all the gaming goodness from the likes of Skyrim, Saints Row 3 and Modern Warfare 3 before we're queuing up in the stores for the next big release? I'm going to give it a damn good try!

Thanks to all our loyal readers this year for your support and regular visits. Megabits is growing and evolving, and we hope for bigger and better things in the year ahead. We've got some new editors joining us and plenty of articles in the pipeline (all suggestions welcome!). Our thanks also to all the publishers, developers and PR firms who have helped us this year - we hope you have an awesome New Year.

So, without further ado... to conclude Megabits' Review Of The Year, we present our Awards to mark the highs and lows. Bring on 2012!!!

Megabits' Most Read Articles Of 2011
The 10 best GTA IV mods ever
Character skills you wish you had
Megabits' Ten Greatest Train Levels
Life Swap:10 Characters We'd Like To Swap

PS3 Exclusive Of The Year
(Nominations)
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Infamous 2
LittleBigPlanet 2
Killzone 3
Resistance 3
WINNER: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Xbox 360 Exclusive Of The Year
Gears of War 3
Forza 4
Halo Combat Evolved - Anniversary
WINNER: Gears of War 3

Wii Exclusive Of The Year
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Kirby's Return To Dreamland
WINNER: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Best co-op/multiplayer
Portal 2
Gears of War 3
Modern Warfare 3
Battlefield 3
Dead Island
WINNER: Battlefield 3

Best Sequel
Uncharted 3
Portal 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Assassin's Creed Revelations
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Crysis 2
Battlefield 3
FIFA 12
Batman: Arkham City
WINNER: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Best New IP
Bodycount
RAGE
Mindjack
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Dead Island
WINNER: RAGE

Most Overrated Game
L.A Noire
Modern Warfare 3
Battlefield 3
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
WINNER: L.A Noire

Most Underrated Game
RAGE
Saints Row 3
Space Marine
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
WINNER: Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon

Most Disappointing Game
Duke Nukem Forever
Bodycount
Brink
Homefront
Fight Night Champion
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
WINNER: Brink

"WOW" Moment
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (dragon sighting)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (throwbacks to the original Deus Ex)
Battlefield 3 (multiplayer)
Modern Warfare 3 (family video in London)
Space Marine (punching a demonic Chaos Space Marine Lord to death while falling from a space elevator elevator)
Uncharted 3 (sinking ship level)
WINNER:Uncharted 3 (check video from 3:15!)

Toughest Game
No nominations necessary... without doubt it's Dark Souls!
WINNER: Dark Souls

Best Looking Game
RAGE
Crysis 2
Uncharted 3
Battlefield 3
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
WINNER: Crysis 2

Best Achievement
Crysis 2 - ‘Will it run Crysis’ (Throwback to the power needed to run the original on PC)
Gears of War 3 - ‘Seriously’ (Reach level 100 -kill lots of everything!)
Bulletstorm - 'Golden Idol' (Perform all Skillshots - great fun and inventive!)
Portal 2 - Still Alive (Complete Course 4 - tough anyway - without dying)
Duke Nukem - Turd Burglar (Find and steal a piece of poo - tasteful)
WINNER: Bulletstorm

WTF moment of 2011
PS Network being hacked
Dead Island trailer
Wii U announcement
3DS launch
Sony reveals PS Vita
WINNER: PS Network being hacked

Worst treatment of AI
Purple dildo beatings (Saints Row The Third)
Bunny hunting (Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) - pointless maiming of small animals
Skillshots (Bulletstorm)
Zombies slipping on vomit (Dead Rising 2: Of The Record)
WINNER: Skillshots (Bulletstorm)

Game Of The Year
Portal 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Battlefield 3
Crysis 2
Batman Arkham City
WINNER: Portal 2

(Photo credit: Ludie Cochrane)

Ten Games You (Probably) Didn't Play in 2011

2011-12-31T09:50:00.010Z

With the number of "monumental" can't miss titles that often come out in a year, it's entirely understandable that you'll pass up on some of the games you're not sure about, and miss a few of those pesky lesser known titles. That's why it's handy after the holidays, when you have a bit of extra cash, to have a list of the games you (probably) didn't play.

Here, Megabits suggests 10 of the best gaming gems of 2011.

(10) Outland
Developer: Housemarque
Platforms: PSN, XBLA
Genre: Sidescroller, Platformer, Action-Adventure

Outland has three major driving forces, platforming, boss battles & color shifting. The platforming is pretty standard stuff. It's solid and it animates nicely. But what sets it apart from the similarly competent platformers out there, is the color shifting mechanic. Platforms of blue can only be used when your character is blue, red only when you're red. It's a simple idea, used to surprising results. Running and jumping at top speed, timing your shifts perfectly can be an exhilarating feeling. Combat utilizes this shifting to great effect as well. Enemy projectiles phase through you if your color matches, but you won't be able to inflict any damage unless your colors conflict. But perhaps the most amazing aspects of Outland are its bosses. Partly because each one is a spectacle of awe, but more importantly, because they always incorporate all of the game's best mechanics. You never know quite what to expect when the colossal door to your next boss encounter opens... and I'm not about to spoil anything here. So go buy it and see for yourself. With online co-op modes and single-player arcade challenges along with the Castlevania-esque adventure, it's a surprisingly reasonable price for what you get. Check our review after the jump.

(9) Bloodrayne: Betrayal
Developer: WayForward
Platforms: PSN, XBLA
Genre: Sidescroller, Platformer, Hack & Slash, Action

The first thought that came to my mind when playing the Bloodrayne: Betrayal demo was, "Well, these are some nice graphics". Immediately following was my second thought, "Meh, this is kind of dull". However, I played through the demo a few more times to experiment with the controls, & discovered that the move set was more varied than my initial playthrough had led me to believe. Suddenly I was making blood bombs out of vampires, juggling my foes to bloody bits, and dancing on faces with dagger heels. Realizing I was having fun, I decided to buy the full game. Further advancement into Betrayal had me continuously appreciating the "retro-lution" style, a lovely melding of new & old. With ever-increasing challenge as the levels progress and a healthy checkpoint system, this is the kind of game that forces you to become a better gamer, while keeping you from pulling your hair out. The combination of simultaneous platforming and combat in later levels are a particularly interesting set of challenges that should create some of those enjoyable palpitating moments we all hope for. And top it all off, Betrayal's boss battles can be a very "Castlevania" cool experience. A good combination of interesting character design, epic scale and pattern memorization, so we'll just ignore the two times we have to fight mecha-crab. Old school platforming challenge, smooth analog stick controls, sharp anime sprites and an unlockable 8-Bit soundtrack. All of this in one attractive, quaint and entertainingly hyper-violent title that truly stands out... if you actually play it.

(8) Hard Corps: Uprising
Developer: Arc System Works
Platforms: PSN, XBLA
Genre: Sidescroller, Arcade, Shooter

Hard Corps: Uprising (my personal favorite downloadable title this year) is one of the most action packed games I've played all year. It truly never lets up and as a prequel to Contra Hard Corps, I should hope that would be the case. Arcade mode holds eight stages of chaotic projectile dodging, frantic high speed chases, intimidating multi stage boss battles and bastard hard difficulty. Arcade difficulty aside, (seriously though, if you're easily enraged, your neighbors may call the police), Rising mode provides a more manageable experience for novice players, allowing you to spend your hard earned points on a hefty number of interesting and powerful upgrades. All of what is listed above, plus online/offline co-op, leads me to believe Uprising is a nearly perfect action title. The only significant complaint I could have, I can't really hold against it... The sound design is god awful, I mean really damn bad, but it's hard to care when you're laughing at just about every sound clip. I actually found myself looking forward to the next bit of bad. Perhaps the best of these moments was when a giant mech erupted from the earth, opened its serrated jaws and (instead of the expected tyrannical roar) let out what sounded like a homeless man screaming into a trash bin by the alley outside. For those that want to test it out first, there isn't really a bad level to try, no matter what part you play through you'll get a good idea of what to expect. Though the difficulty will probably be a bit much for some, if you can be patient, you'll find a very fun and rewarding experience with Hard Corps: Uprising.

(7) Rayman Origins
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Platforms: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
Genre: Sidescroller, Platformer, Action-Adventure

With all the games on this list so far, it's starting to feel a bit like the year side-scrollers returned. And while it may feel that way (to the old schoolers playing them), these games are sadly overlooked by many console gamers. But with Ubiart (it's a developer platform, look it up), there may just be hope yet. Rayman Origins is an incredibly fresh and nostalgic adventure, with a big name designer behind it - creator and director Michel Ancel. And let's not forget the game's brilliantly talented composer Christophe Héral, both men of Beyond Good & Evil fame. As always, their works complement each other perfectly. Almost everything you do in the game is instantly met with a musical piece of the just the right fit, just play the demo and you'll see. Although Origins is clearly old school, it doesn't feel old. It feels like the cartoon side-scroller never died out on the home console, a natural evolution of the genre and one of the best games of the year.

(6) El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Developer: Ignition Tokyo
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
Genre: Action-Adventure, Platformer

Definitely not for everyone, I can't even certainly say if it's for me. What I can say though, without hesitation, is that El Shaddai is the most visually striking game I've played since Okami. Nearly every moment your eyes gaze at the screen, you'll be struck with some form of beauty. But with beauty comes the beast, and with El Shaddai, that beast is the gameplay. It's too simplistic for its own good, and because this game is mainly a hack and slash platformer, that simplicity isn't helping to avoid repetition. I'm not saying this isn't a good game, I'm only saddened that the game's visual beauty isn't matched by it's interactive fidelity. If you enjoy art and can ignore the game's faults, you owe it to yourself to experience this retinal feast. Check our El Shaddai review.

(5) Catherine
Developer: Atlus Persona Team
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
Genre: ???Puzzle, Platformer, Survival-Horror, Dating Sim???

I can't really say much about Catherine, I think it's because I don't have the full game yet. I've only played the demo... but the demo of of this game is so remarkably different, it certainly seems enough to warrant a purchase. I am now patiently waiting for my order to arrive. If you want to gain a deeper insight on the madness that is Catherine, check out the full review.

(4) Shadows of the Damned
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
Genre: Action-Horror, Third Person Shooter

Goichi Suda, Shinji Mikami, Akira Yamaoka. If you don't know who any of these people are, you are most likely one person out of about 6,980,999,002 others that don't pay attention to the important men and women of the gaming industry, for shame! Shinji Mikami was the director and co-writer of Resident Evil 4. That little piece of info alone should have been enough to get you to buy this, but just in case it wasn't, we still have two other guys you don't know. Goichi Suda is (a bit eccentric) the creator of Killer7 and No More Heroes... okay, not many of you know about those... moving on. Akira Yamaoka is the incredible sound designer and composer of the Silent Hill series. All of these great minds come together to create a title that is... almost nothing like any of the games any of them have worked on before. I'm not disappointed though, this is a great game. I don't know what I was expecting, but whatever that dream may have been, the actual outcome was far more obvious. A proper stack of their talents, rather than a perfect mixture. They all have their respective works shine through at different times, but it can feel like the game is competing with itself for attention... Though, that may have actually be intentional, it does add to it's whacked out acid trip charm. Shadows is a bit of a demonic filth-fest, but if you can handle the offensive and immature dialogue, along with a few overtly sexual situations... Oh, who are we kidding? Of course you can! Good times are sure to be had with Shadows of the Damned.

(3) Yakuza 4
Developer: Team CS1
Platforms: PS3
Genre: Action-Adventure, Brawler, RPG

Let me make something clear, I want you to play the Yakuza series. Not just this entry, but the whole series... Good now that we've gotten that out of the way I can talk about Yakuza 4 specifically. Don't play the demo, it doesn't even kind of show what the game truly is. Don't try it for an hour and say it's not your thing, just buy it. Buy it, play it, and give it time. You won't regret it. It's got fantastic brawler gameplay that continuously improves for each character through an RPG style upgrade system, as well as a campaign (spanning 15 hours or more) with a story full of action, emotion, intrigue, maturity, immaturity and humor. And a massive number of completely optional side missions (many with impressive stories themselves) and mini games, that can easily last an additional 30 hours at least. All in all, a unique and authentically Japanese game. You get a lot with Yakuza 4, and (if only to a core group) it's one of those "monumental" can't miss titles mentioned in the intro of this very list. And now that you can get it on the cheap, there's no reason not to try this remarkable addition to the gaming world.

(2 & 1) The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection
Developer: Team Ico
Platforms: PS3
Genre: Action-Adventure, Platformer, Art

Okay, I'm cheating a bit here by adding this to the list, obviously these games didn't originally release in 2011, and I'm making it count for two. But I feel that it's important to remind the many people who passed on this years HD/3D collection, just how significant and incredible these two titles are. Actually, it's a damn fine set of games and there isn't much I can say that hasn't already been said, so...

Conclusion... Buy it. No seriously, go buy it people, it's good.

Well, that concludes this particular list of games you probably didn't play. But unless you're some kind of gaming wizard, I'm sure there are plenty of other games out there you missed, I know I haven't played them all. So go explore, keep your eyes & mind open to new opportunities in all aspects of life & gaming. Enjoy your New Year, & all it has to offer.

Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

2011-12-30T11:01:00.008Z

It’s surprisingly difficult to review a game the size of Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. With a map so big that can take hours to walk from one side to the other, where does one begin? The incredible vistas? Meaty combat? Great story? I don’t know – so I’ll keep it simple. If you don’t already own this game, you should go and buy it. Skyrim is the best fantasy role-playing game I’ve ever had the pleasure to be absorbed by. While the previous title, Oblivion, was good, Skyrim is so much better in every way.

Set some 200 years after the events of Oblivion, in the chilly highlands of the province of Skyrim – home of the hardy, dangerous Nords (think Vikings and you’re almost there) - the game sets you in the fur-lined boots of a prisoner on his way to the chopping block. A few minutes later a dragon – one of the reptilian sky monsters long thought dead – turns up and rips the town a new one, and you’re cut loose in the world, with limitless freedom to explore and forge your legend.
After that, what happens is basically up to the gamer. You could become arch-mage or an honoured warrior, you could craft powerful poisons or just go sit in a bar and drink – the choice is yours. I personally favoured becoming a dragon-slaying mercenary prepared to do whatever the job – provided the coin was good. Oh, and save the world along the way.

A game of massive scope, Skyrim is rollercoaster adventure from start to finish. Literally everywhere you go in the snowy, frost-bound world there are quests awaiting you, be them simple go fetch one-liners or much deeper adventures. While the main plotline is lengthy and detailed (much more so than Oblivion’s rushed rubbish), the real meat of the game is found out in the wastes. Pretty soon you’ll find yourself doing everything from assassinations to clearing mines of giant spiders. At one point I even helped a mystical talking dog find his master. It’s that varied.

To keep you alive in the frozen beauty of Skyrim, the developers have provided a dizzying array of weapons, armour, magic powers and enchantments, keeping you hunting for the next big thing constantly.

The game also makes use of an entirely new branch of magic abilities, ‘shouts’. These powerful spells are learned as the game goes on, as your character isn’t just some border-hopping peasant but is in fact of the ‘Dohvakhin’ – the Dragonborn. How convenient... As one of these mystical people, imbued with the power to speak in the tongue of the dragon - and use their powers, the player can learn a variety of magical attacks and stat boosters from scraps of the ancient dragon language left in the world. Of course, in order to use these powers, you need a very special type of battery – dragons’ souls, and slaying these monsters is much more difficult than you would expect, with each encounter, both intended and random, proving a difficult fight.

The delightful part of exploring Skyrim’s frozen wastes is the sheer variety of both quests and random events, which instill the game with a wonderful variety. You could be making your way to a castle only to discover a cave full of necromancers summoning a demon, or get randomly attacked by a dragon while swimming across a lake – the game keeps you on your toes.
With a huge variety of scenery, from the high tips of ice-laced mountains to the deep green of meadows to the stygian darkness of the game’s many and varied caves (all of which have their own distinct feel – no copy-a-caves here), Skyrim looks amazing – from a distance.

While the sweeping vistas are brilliant to look at as you slide down a mountainside, get up close and the graphics can appear blocky and ugly, which is a little offputting. Gameplay bugs are also in attendance, featuring randomly spawning creatures, being talked to through walls and a werewolf armed with a battleaxe in its flesh-rending claws. My personal favourite was the housewife who yanked a broom out of her robes and charged a dragon with it – it morphed into a dagger after two swipes, then she got bitten in half...

The companions you meet on your path are also problematic at times, and while they can take a lot of aggro for the gamer, they’re often standing in the way, get lost easily or step into your arrows as you fire them. That said, it’s useful to have a pack horse along to carry all your loot, of which Skyrim is packed full.

But if you overlook these faults – which is very easy to do – Skyrim has a hell of a lot on offer for RPG fans old and new. Longtime Elder Scrolls devotees may be put off by some of the time-saving steps Bethesda took with Skyrim, such as keeping enchanting and alchemy to designated stations (found in all good wizards’ workshops). Learning new skills is also easier than before, and it’s possible to be a gifted archer, mage and two-handed axe-master at the same time (as well as a werewolf, which is really cool...).

Thankfully, Oblivion’s clunky menu interface has also had a tune-up. Gone are the complicated lists and in are constellation-based skill trees which have you looking to the skies when you level up. Similarly, equipping weapons, armour and magical abilities are also neater, and the addition of a ‘favourites’ list makes selecting that spell you really need while fending off frost trolls far easier.

There are some odd faults with the menu selection, however, which see the D-pad controls not responding when you enter the menus, leading to you having to go back to the game and back into the menu. This is infuriating in the middle of a fight and desperately needs a patch.
The combat on a whole, however, is by far the best yet in any Elder Scrolls game. The controls are sharp, the action intense and swinging a sword at an enemy actually feels right. The developers have also introduced Fallout-style slow motion kills, both for enemies and for players (I got eaten by a dragon - not pretty), which are rare enough to enjoy when they trigger.

All in all, Skyrim - despite its minor flaws - is as enchanting an adventure as I’ve ever had the pleasure to play. Its depth and breadth are second to none, and set in a beautifully realised, varied world which manages to inspire with every hour played (of which there are bound to be many). From the moment the game begins, you know you’re in for something special.

*Reviewed on Xbox 360

Gaming in the cloud. Is it here to stay?

2011-12-24T10:00:00.000Z

Cloud gaming, to some, is not a new concept. People have been playing games on the cloud via the OnLive service for over a year now. The service opened up to Americans in the June of 2010, beginning life with a subscription model that gave customers access to all the games on the service for a monthly fee.

At launch, the service offered very little in terms of content with only a few big name titles such as Assassins Creed 2 and Batman Arkham Asylum. In August of 2010 OnLive removed its subscription fee and the games became individually priced.

Jump forward around one and a half years and you can see that OnLive has made a lot of progress since it's launch. There are now 189 titles available and the range is constantly expanding with AAA blockbuster titles and long-lost classics. OnLive also tends to have regular sales, encouraging people to use the service.

Now to the topic at hand, is Cloud gaming here to stay?

The biggest plus of cloud gaming to most people is the fact that you don't need a top-end gaming rig to play the newer more graphically intense games as the game is rendered on the OnLive servers and the resulting image is sent to your PC. Also, as of the release of the OnLive application on Apple and Android systems the games can now also be played on device such as the iPad. This clearly offers a huge advantage to the people who don't want to continually update their hardware to keep up with the demands of modern gaming. It also means that you can game on the move, providing you have a sufficient internet connection. However, this does mean you never own a physical copy of the game or even have access to any of the files as you would if you purchased the same game on Steam. You pay for the right to stream the game to your chosen device.

On one hand this means valuable hard drive space is conserved and also makes mobile play on Tablet PC's possible. Unfortunately some people do not like the idea of never actually receiving anything other than the experience of playing the game.

As far as pricing for the games is concerned they are competitive to say the least, prices are often lower than their hard copy counterparts and on a par with Steam (excluding promotions and offers).

Cloud gaming is a simple idea and has made a lot of progress since its launch. The biggest challenge services such as OnLive face is having to compete with competitors such as Steam and finding ways to capture some of the audience still buying retail copies. Cloud gaming is, in my personal opinion, the future of gaming. Sony or Microsoft will eventually incorporate similar services into their consoles, most likely next generation, introducing this to a much wider audience. This isn't to say that traditional gaming we have come to know and love will be completely wiped out, just that in the near or distant future we could see many more gamers playing in the cloud.

SECOND OPINION (Bojeeva):

Flying in the face of Microsoft and Sony's efforts to embed the console in the living room and make it our entertainment system of choice, new service Onlive has finally arrived in the UK - and will do its level best to convert us to cloud-based gaming.

Those attending this year's Eurogamer Expo and making it to the OnLive developer session apparently had a nice surprise in store... delegates who fought their way through the onlookers apparently got their hands on a free console. Sadly, Megabits wasn't one of the lucky few to grab one - but that's not to say we aren't tempted by the new service...

It's been available in the US for about a year now but for those of you who've never heard of this new gadget, you can basically stream the latest games via your broadband connection without physical discs. Users can play demos for free, pay for a rental (spanning three or five days) or buy unlimited access to a game for as long as it stays on OnLive - which it promises will be at least three years. And then there are the bundle packages to access all the games.

It all sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Question is, will most of us be able to access it lag free with our lacklustre broadband services. It's no secret that broadband speeds aren't all they're cracked up to be here in the UK. Many of us can only dream of attaining the speeds necessary to stream movies without them pausing every few minutes. Playing a game and seeing a delay onscreen before my button press is recognised or having my playthrough stop for buffering would be hugely irritating and make it almost unplayable - but I'll hold judgement until I see the service first hand.

My second concern is that my broadband provider, like many others, imposes a cap on my downloads each month. Considering the amount of time I like to spend gaming a month and contributing to this very site, I wonder whether my provider will be sending me either some very strongly-worded emails insisting I restrict my usage, or a hefty bill because I've exceeded my quota.

Either way, Cloud gaming is looking promising and it's certainly something Megabits will be monitoring in 2012!

For more details, check out the official OnLive web site. Alternatively, take a look at a pretty decent article from The Guardian.

(Photo credit: Extra Medium)

Review: Catherine

2011-12-23T00:12:00.000Z

So I had recently been approached with the opportunity to write video game reviews for a website targeting teenage girls. Two thoughts popped into my head; one is that I can continue to procrastinate on editing that Spiderman Edge of Crap review I typed up weeks ago. Secondly, this would be a good chance to go reflect on my experience with this summer’s romance conspiracy puzzler, Catherine. After all, if there’s one thing teenage girls despise, its unfaithful men. Likewise, they may also like block puzzles, sake and baritone narrators. So should your very specific and unlikely combination of tastes match up, Catherine may also be for you.

Catherine was procreated by Atlus’ Persona team, the guys that made such hits as Persona 4 and I guess Persona 3. Many of the same sensibilities (or lack thereof) carry over into this demon child of a game. There is the best attempts of Japanese artists imitating American music since Bayonetta’s J-Pop version of Fly Me To The Moon. There is the litany of innuendos and hidden (often not well hidden) perverse imagery. There is an even bigger pile of exposition. There’s a divine supernatural force causing bad things to happen. There are many, many endings (including a very demented one that will go down amongst the annals of great game endings.) There is plenty of alcohol and sushi. I feel that for better of for worse, the legion of Persona 4 fans (and we are indeed legion, a loving legion at that) have already been sold on Catherine on virtue of really wanting more Persona 4.

This is not, in fact, more Persona 4. Though it would not surprise me to find out the protagonist of Catherine is also the silent hero of Persona 4, paying the price for all the simultaneous girlfriends he had within the Investigation Team. If that’s not the case, than your character is Vincent Brooks. He’s scared of the long-term commitment his girlfriend Katherine desires, whom also happens to be preggers with his kid. He also might be having an affair with a free-spirited ditz of a woman named Catherine. Also, people in his town are dying in their sleep of unknown causes. Also, he has dreams of being forced to climb a giant tower alongside many other sheep-like figures in the name of not croaking himself. Also, he has the unhealthy compulsion of going to the local bar Every. Single. Day. Nah, maybe teenage girls don’t want to relate to this game, nevermind.

Atlus’ intent for Catherine has an unlikely kind of ambition that I can’t recall ever seeing before on any game. Players are asked to choose between responsible commitment and unhinged freedom. I know this because I figured it out while playing. I unequivocally know this because the game felt obligated to explain its own themes to me point-blank. Subtlety has never been the strength of most Japanese game developers.

At the same time, the narrative doesn’t begin to get interesting until near the end of the game. That is largely on account of the game’s morality meter, and how it keeps Vincent from acting the way players want him to. Based on your choices, players fill a meter that swings between responsibility and freedom, and the side of the meter determines Vincent’s responses to certain scenarios. Well, in theory it does. In practice, he seems to respond to every conflict with tattered panic, indifference, stuttering, sweating and an inability to do anything but let the situation escalate.

At the least, I kept myself intrigued in the game’s murder mystery, and found the satisfying payoff within what the game deems the “True” endings. Now, the only way to get the true endings is to max out one side of the meter, which completely kills off the whole moral choice aspect. It means I’m no longer answering the game’s assorted dilemmas and moral issues based on my beliefs but rather for gameplay conceits. Call it the inFamous Syndrome.

Also, block puzzles. The actual game part of the game asks for players to manipulate cubes on a giant tower in a manner that allows Vincent to reach the top and mature as a person I guess. The blocks have their own unique ruleset that allows for many possible approaches to the top (multiple roads to walk before one becomes a man?). There are other variables, like power-ups strewn across the fields, or different block types like the block with a giant tongue as to make Catherine envious. There’s a surprisingly decent variety to what is otherwise the same form of tile manipulation to each of the game’s levels.

But I can’t claim to have enjoyed those block puzzles. I feel like it takes a certain kind of person to be able to navigate these geometric solutions. Someone with strong spatial skills, the kind that allows them to assemble the International Space Station with their mind. Even on the Easy difficulty setting, I found myself having to resort to move-for-move imitation of Youtube videos in order to climb these beasts and make Vincent’s parents proud.

Between puzzles, the game asks players to answer assorted random relationship questions. These should probably be approached with a more lighthearted flair than the game wants players to, with such issues as “would you change your wardrobe for your lover?” or “your girl wants to see a Twilight movie, what do you do?" (not really a question in the game). After, the game gives you a pie chart explaining how other gamers answered, with most of the responses leaning towards the responsibility side. This tells me that either there is hope for mankind’s future, that most players went for the perceived “good” ending on their first playthrough, or that most gamers were playing while their girlfriends were in the room.

When Vincent is not dreaming of electric sheep, he’s probably at the local bar, talking to whomever is willing to share their woes with him. While at the bar, he can respond to texts from the various K/Catherines in his life, which affect that ever finicky morality meter. He can talk to the locals. He can drink beverages and get random trivia notes from the mysterious narrator. He can play an arcade game based some hybrid of Rapunzel and his nightmares. And he can change the songs on the jukebox to assorted unlockable tracks from past Shin Megami Tensei games, because Atlus knows its strongest suit. Naturally, the Persona 4 songs are the hardest to unlock, because Atlus hates me.

That really is the game portion of the game. You are either interacting with NPCs in a bar or climbing assorted block puzzles. Catherine becomes a weird game to recommend in that respect.

What the game does well is so unique and specific that it takes a specific person to actually appreciate it. And yet, because its intentions are so different from every game on the market, I feel as though many young men and women kind of need to play it, if just to know. Men should look at Catherine to learn of the quandaries that come with coming of age. Women should look at it just to know what realities face the opposite sex. And I should play it as my holdover until that Persona 4 fighting game finally comes out here. Please hurry up.

Review: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

2011-12-21T13:50:00.000Z

It comes as no surprise that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the biggest entertainment launch of all time. Fans once again camped out on the streets to grab a copy, and first day sales in the US and UK alone amounted to a staggering 6.5 million units – racking up a respectable $400 million. Within just 16 days, sales had surpassed $1bn! What’s more, other records were being smashed, with more Xbox Live gamers playing concurrently on Modern Warfare 3 than ever before - 1.4 million simultaneous users!

But underneath all those stats and the bravado, the latest edition is hardly genre defining; if you’ve played any of the previous games from the past few years you’ll know exactly what to expect. But the fact it’s more evolution than revolution is no bad thing. Everything feels very familiar – the controls, gameplay and looks.

There is still lots of testosterone oozing from the screen, plenty of oo-rahing and chest beating, as well as copious expletives being flung about as you and your compadres fight your way through various wartorn environments. There are stacks of weapons to find and fire, as well as scopes, riot shields, frags and flashbangs to help you progress. It all feels very comfortable and accessible.

The traditionally-short campaign is full of the usual set pieces; huge explosions, helicopters smashing into the ground, buildings being destroyed, grenades raining down upon you… all of which keeps you on the very edge of your seat for every second of your fun-filled six hour(!) playthrough. It’s nice that the action moves into recognizable cities too with Paris, London and New York among those given a virtual makeover.

Aesthetically, it's perhaps starting to look a little dated what with the release of the likes of Battlefield 3, RAGE and more recently The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – but it’s still great fun to play. As ever, the plot makes little real sense and you could easily be forgiven for thinking you were playing some DLC for Modern Warfare 2. While the Easy difficulty setting is painfully simple, Veteran is just as frustrating as before but hugely satisfying when you struggle on to each checkpoint. When all is said an done there is still plenty of reason to replay, fuelled by the nicely conceived achievements such as shooting terrorists before they hit the ground during some severe turbulence on a plane to taking out all the helicopters with only grenades from remote-controlled tank in another mission. Then there’s the usual intel that you need to hunt down if you’re after that illusive 1000G or Platinum trophy.

Of course, we all know that the solo campaign is not what die hard fans are yearning for. It’s playing with friends that will keep us all occupied long after the escapades of Soap and Price are forgotten. While many of us will have no problems firing off a few headshots, newbies will benefit from the inclusion of Deathstreaks as well as Killstreaks, which give less proficient shooters a helping hand and, as a result, makes proceedings far more enjoyable.

The various maps and innovative new game modes besides the usual Team Deathmatch and Free For All options certainly add to the immense longevity of the title and I’ll wager this will dominate your lives until next year’s release. Also the revamped strike packages – Assault, Support and Specialist – as well as the huge array of weapons and challenges make it more worthwhile than ever to spend some time in the Barracks honing the set up for your various classes before a match. There’s absolutely loads to unlock from guns and callsigns to emblems and perks. It’s fantastic, and addictive.

Much to this reviewer’s delight, however, the Special Ops co-op mode makes a very welcome return too, allowing you to take on a series of increasingly tough challenges alone or ith a friend. Completing them in a set timeframe or to certain criteria you’re awarded stars. One word of warning though, I got 1000G on Modern Warfare 2 after completing the Special Ops and they look easy in comparison to these new ones – even with a friend onboard! Smack Town is particularly tricky on Veteran, while another level saw us boarding a submarine but unable to make it out again. And those bloody training courses with their strict time limits have seen me throw many expletives at the screen. Hours have passed but those three little stars remain illusive...

The new Survival mode is akin to the Gears of War Horde matches, where repelling wave after wave of attackers is the objective. What makes this a little more fun is the addition of various stages around each level where money accrued for kills and completing each stage can be spent on various upgrades, ammunition or special weapons such as Predator missiles, claymores or sentry guns. It adds a really nice tactical feel to the mode, with the added pressure of having to make purchases or get into position before the short timer ticks down and the next wave appears. You’re immediately lulled into a false sense of security as you painlessly take out footsoldiers who stupidly run into your line of fire like lemmings, but things get tough very quickly and before long you’ll have attack helicopters, floods of soldiers and those almost immortal juggernauts lumbering towards you. It’s hellishly difficult with a friend and almost impossible on your own. Nevertheless, it will makes a refreshing change in six month’s time to just booting up the disc to play the online multiplayer maps.

The script and missions in the campaign won’t really throw up many major surprises beyond some nice set pieces for those accustomed to the series, but it remains an enjoyable way to spend a few hours – and it’s good to see Soap and the moustachioed Price again. Multiplayer remains great fun and as the first few days have shown, the lobbies are absolutely heaving with players ready to take up the fight. With Special Ops and Survival mode thrown in for good measure, this is a fantastic package and the hype is entirely justified. Definitely worth adding to your playlist.

Review: Super Mario 3D Land

2011-12-21T00:12:00.001Z

Oh, PETA. I ironically love you guys so much. Not because I agree wholeheartedly with your beliefs. I can only do so much to defend animal rights with a Slim Jim in one hand and a fly-swatter in the other. But your oft-irrational attacks against unknowing targets serve more to assist your victims than harm. The “Tofu Boy” debacle from last year wound up giving the independently produced Super Meat Boy some much-wanted extra sales and an ingenious parody for Steam players. Now you’re accusing innocent little Mario of skinning tanookis and wearing their fur for fashion and superpowers. While Mario has spent some less-than-kosher time jumping on turtles and chasing a tie-spouting gorilla with a hammer, wearing a cute animal costume feels less like animal cruelty than belated Trick-or-Treat material. But alas, they made the Flash game “Mario Kills Tanooki”, which both makes Mario come across as a merciless badass and serves as free publicity for the pretty darn great Super Mario 3D Land.

So the Tanooki suit has come out of retirement in this game, and has weirdly become a driving force of the experience. In this game, Bowser has kidnapped the Princess because his DNA commands him too, but he also stole a lot of Raccoon leaves from Super Mario Bros 3 to help him. So, brace yourself for this… Bowser’s minions have raccoons tails! Goombas have tails. Bullet Bills have tails. Bowser has a tail. How can Mario deflect these weapons of mass destruction?

With leaves and tanooki suits of his own, of course! As well as picking flowers off the ground for fire attacks. You don’t see Poison Ivy getting her panties in a bunch over Mario’s treatment of shrubbery, do you PETA? (Sorry, still on the Arkham City kick.) I appreciate Mario 3D Land’s returning emphasis on power-ups that exist until someone hits you with a boomerang. All this in spite of how desecrating it is that a leaf gives you full blown tanooki outfit and not just the raccoon tail, or how you don’t get a tanooki suit that can transform into a statue until you finish the game, or how this tanooki suit has no flight capabilities, but that’s just me wanting to re-play Mario 3 again.

Mario 3D Land’s gameplay seems to be positioned somewhere between several different Mario games. Your controlled Mario moves around a three-dimensional area with about the same grace as Mario 64 Mario, and the stages have elements taken from the Galaxy games, but the progression of each stage is as linear and pro-jumping as old Mario sidescrollers, and now I’m sounding like I’m too into this shit. The camera angle is generally fixed in an isometric position designed largely to make three dimensions pop in as pompous a way as possible.

And pop they do. The 3D is often very clear and defined, and not exclusively used to make things exploitatively fly in your face. (Though expect an incoming Bullet Bill or two, because why not?) The 3D effects are actually given the tactical use of providing depth to the environment, and subconsciously helping you gauge jump distance in your platforming exploits. The game will even occasionally toss in a puzzle that demands you flex those eye-muscles to judge where certain parts exist in the environment. These are rare but novel, and a quick camera-angle change is all it takes to help players whom can’t use/despise all of this three-dimensional malarkey.

This is also a game of surprising length and content. There are 8 worlds, several stages in between them and a heaping dose of Mario series nostalgia spread throughout. The classic Mario series callbacks are all over the place, both in the level design and in the music. Also, finishing the game yields an entire second sect of levels that remixes all of the earlier stages in more difficult manners. The caveat is that your progression in the game as a whole depends on collecting the hidden “star coins” in each level. I rarely ever ran into a situation where I didn’t have enough star coins to advance to the next stage, but it’s still a buzz-kill when you do get stunted. I couldn’t give you an actual hour count as to the game’s length, but it did take me several full 3DS battery charges, which is more of an indictment of the damn system’s battery.

If this review feels decidedly less winded than my usual lengthy rants, it’s because this game doesn’t stray that far from the Mario MasterMold.

Don’t expect any surprises or groundbreaking innovations. You don’t even get to see Mario skin a tanooki and wear its skin Cruella De Vil-style. But you get a reliable, entertaining Mario handheld game, one whose levels are succinct enough to suit quick playthroughs on a portable device. Also, the game ranks up there with A Harold and Kumar Christmas and Jackass 3D as the most respectable, dignified use of 3D to date. Finally, it makes me yearn for the sequel, where Bowser kidnaps the Princess and powers all of his troops with frog suits.

Top Trailers Told In LEGO

2011-12-19T00:30:00.003Z

We at Megabits have played and reviewed our fair share of LEGO games over the past few years and doff our caps to their accurate block-based re-enactions of popular movies. But we've also stumbled across many renditons of game trailers, lovingly crafted by fans from the humble LEGO block... Here are two of our favourites, which coincidentally are frontrunners for top-selling title this Christmas.

(Hit Play on both videos at the same time!)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

Megabits Column: Batman Arkham City

2011-12-18T13:22:00.000Z

Megabits of Gaming contributes a monthly column in Charged Middle East – a leading Dubai-based gadgets and games magazine that provides news, reviews and features on the latest home and consumer electronics.

Each month, Megabits takes a look at a new release in a gaming franchise and considers how its evolved over the years and what makes it great!

Here’s the latest of the articles from the December 2011 issue. For more about the magazine, check out its Facebook page after the jump.

There are many truisms in the world of gaming. One is that comic-based games are invariably poor and tend to pale in significance alongside their traditional paper-based representations. At least, that used to be the case...

Until Rocksteady Studios wheeled out one of the hits of 2009, Batman: Arkham Asylum, superhero games had somewhat of a poor reputation and seemed most popular among fans rather than diehard gamers. Arkham Asylum dispelled that myth and it was the worthy recipient of numerous Game of the Year awards. It also held the honour of holding a Guinness World Record for Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever.

Fortunately, the bat signal has been reactivated and the Dark Knight has swooped back onto our screens. And what’s more, its review scores are already surpassing those of its predecessor. Combining elements of action, stealth and puzzle solving, Batman: Arkham City basically offers more of the same but is bigger and better in every way.

Everyone’s favourite billionaire, Bruce Wayne, once again dons his cape and cowl and steps into the dark and seedy parts of Gotham that few dare to talk about. Sections of the city have been transformed into a maximum security prison that houses all the most dastardly and despicable hoods and hoodlums.

The game opens with none other than Mr Wayne being grabbed by the cronies (oo-er) and manacled before finding himself in that very prison. Fortunately, after a quick punch up – and the help of his trusty butler Alfred – he’s back where he belongs, hanging off tall buildings and dressed as his alter ego, Batman.

It’s a veritable feast for fans of the caped crusader and you’ll come face with his most-loved arch rivals including The Joker, Penguin, Harley Quinn, Hugo Strange, Mr Freeze and Two-Face to name a few.

On paper, at least, it seems so simple to replicate this winning formula: an expansive play area, plot that stays true to the comics and loads of our favourite villains would surely equal a surefire hit... But the path to comic-based greatness has not been smooth and there have been plenty of disappointments over the years. Iron Man, X-Men, Spiderman are all guilty of failing to live up to their super status.

Superman was the first superhero to make an appearance on the Atari 2600 back in 1979, coinciding with the original Christopher Reeve movie. Batman didn’t make his first appearance until a few years later – but his 8-bit debut in 1986 in Ocean’s isometric adventure proved popular among fans and promised great things. Sadly, besides the 1989 rendition of the Tim Burton movie, Batman Return of The Joker (1991) and more recently, LEGO Batman (2008), Bats has appeared in more than his fair share of turkeys over the past 25 years.

Rocksteady’s rendition of the Caped Crusader is certainly a long way from his less than auspicious escapades in Batman: Dark Tomorrow (2003) on the GameCube and Xbox. There are many parallels with Rocksteady’s efforts, with him trying to stop a gang war that’s raging in the city and infiltrating Arkham Asylum. Eerily familiar, he? However, this was arguably his worst ever outing and critics rounded on the dodgy camera angles, poor AI and the linear nature of the game.

Catwoman also failed to break the Batman curse when she made an appearance in a self-titled game in 2004 and struggled to make an impact on the gaming world. That was despite Halle Berry lending her voice talent to the game and curvy form to the character model. In fact, it’s sad to say that the game is probably best remembered for its fantastic idle animation, which sees the sultry Miss Kyle preening herself after a few motionless minutes!

After years of disappointment, comic book fans certainly owe a lot to Rocksteady. Finally, gamers can rest assured that puzzles, gadgets, arch villains, and combat combined with our favourite superheroes is now more likely to mean the game earns a place in our hearts rather than the bargain bin.

Review: Legend of Zelda-Skyward Sword

2011-12-18T10:15:00.006Z

Yup. Thrust upon us once again is another Zelda game, released at naturally the worst time of the year for people who wish to do things like accomplish work, see loved ones or even play other video games. How long has it been since a non-Bioware, non-Bethesda game was released that was over 30 hours long? I mean a game where all 30 of those hours were dedicated to the main story. I feel like Nintendo dedicated Skyward Sword to my 12-year old self, the person who was only getting one game a year and was going to play that one game after school every day for the next three grades (the life of a Nintendo 64 owner was a simple one). There is enough content in this game to last many missed English assignments. How many games can get away with claiming that without riddling themselves with sidequests about rescuing and escorting hookers? (Oh Saint’s Row the Third, I masochistically love you).

So I chose to put off Skyrim until I finished Skyward Sword, which is the equivalent of putting off a CN Tower stair climb to do the Terry Fox Run. This is a lengthy game. Link will traverse dungeons. He will explore far away lands. He will pick up small keys. He will engage in a fetch quest. I may have had small complaints about the sailing fetch quest in Wind Waker, and I have thrown many violent, hysterical fits over the many annoying fetch quests in Twilight Princess. Skyward Sword is the kind of game that isn’t afraid to make you revisit some old areas in the name of buying the game some time before it’s finished and left to die on the used shelf at Gamestop. But except for one repeated-too-often boss fight and one brief but extremely annoying fetch quest (which is more annoying because it involves swimming, the bane of most every game), Zelda at least earns the right to be redundant by spicing up its treaded ground. An area that you forced to revisit may suddenly have vicious archer goblins that require some tactical elven sniper skills from your bow to proceed.

The next obstacle you’ll have to cope with is your own sense of pacing. Years of playing non-Zelda-styled games may have gotten you adept at a certain pacing structure. You know, the “doing things will progress the game” style of pacing that kind of defines, well, storytelling. Here’s an example of how a normal video game would progress.

You need to be at Burger King because you want an Angry Whopper. You run across your street. You may have to fight off some hoodlums in a test of your combat abilities, but your path to the Angry Whopper is clear. When you reach the Burger King, there is a cutscene of you buying the Angry Whopper.

Now, in Skyward Sword, the scenario plays out differently.

You need to be at Burger King because you want an Angry Whopper. You run across your street. You may have to fight some hoodlums and run over some quicksand because running is the best way to avoid quicksand. When you get there, you learn that the store manager locked himself out and you need to travel to three different dark, hoodlum-filled alleyways to collect the three parts of the key. Once you’ve gone out of your way to collect the key, you enter the Burger King, where the manager asks you to travel across three different, perilous dungeons to obtain the bun, ground beef and fried onion rings needed to create the burger that vanquishes evil.

What I’m trying to get at is that Skyward Sword has no qualms about leading you on, for as long as it thinks it can get away with it. This isn’t to be mistaken with the game having drawn-out fetch quests, but rather that you will not make as much progress in a single play session as you think you will. I learned quickly not to set time goals; you can’t say to yourself “I’m going to reach and finish the water temple by the time the turkey’s done” without risking a burnt bird and a very ungrateful Thanksgiving. Play the game at your available time, and don’t set goals.

But I found that I rarely minded that. Past Zelda games felt like they were checking marks off a checklist on a tourist guide. You knew Link was going to visit Death Mountain, hang with his Goron homedawgs and throw a few bombs in a Dodongo’s mouth. Been there, done that, played that nostalgia card so much the edges are worn down. So I was pleasantly surprised to see Skyward Sword grant players some new sights and smells. There are new tribes of wildlife that need aiding, new items to create, new gameplay mechanics, creative new dungeon ideas and puzzles, and some of the best boss design since, oh, I don’t know, the pro wrestling match in Saints Row the Third. Even Ganon has been replaced by a new and appropriately creepy surrogate force of darkness that wants to destroy the world because that’s what forces of darkness do.

Though Zelda fans will still find plenty of ties to their beloved series… Of course there’s a Link and a Zelda here. Of course there’s a recurring character here and there. You know, story-vital characters like Beedle the shopkeep with no self-esteem. Of course you’ll keep fairies in bottles the way PETA hates you for. Actually, Zelda fans will appreciate this game the most on account of how there are a handle of reveals explaining the nature of things. There is still enough of a standalone story as for new players to not be left in the dark, but one can assume Skyward Sword precedes the entire story, offering little bits of insight into the land and lore.

Speaking of, the land here consists of a civilized floating land mass called “Skyloft”, and an unexplored plane of wild land called “the rest of the f#@king world.” The sky is the main hub, and Link’s equivalent to a horse or talking sailboat is a giant-assed red bird that responds to motion-controlled orders. The game does well to tap into the Wind Waker mentality of giving a wide-open expanse to encourage the player to explore, while trumpeting a powerful orchestral soundtrack. You’ll find sidequests on the other lands and treasure chests that you unlock via smashing blocks on the ground, and feel kind of awesome for nose-diving across the sky on your sweet ride of a PETA-Flash game waiting to happen. Also, the game taps into Wind Waker’s light visual style by presenting the world in colourful, painterly colours as to give the world some personality. It doesn’t go all the way silly like Wind Waker, and doesn’t get as straight-laced and boring as Twilight Princess. Skyward Sword finds the best of both worlds.

I guess I should talk about the motion controls at some point, being that they kind of are the centre of this game’s marketing. You will need a Motionplus adaptor or Wiimote Plus to play this game. I feel less like an idiot now for buying the Motionplus to play Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii (hey, if you haven’t played Tiger Woods on the Wii, you are missing out on the system’s best implementation of motion controls. I’m not even joking). Now, the second best implementation of motion controls is Skyward Sword. You will need to move your remote around to fly your bird, aim your arrows, whip bombs around, turn strange-keys that locksmiths must’ve spent centuries designing, and so forth.

I was partially at odds with the game, largely because I’m a sloth trying to play a motion-controlled game lying down. There were moments where I had to position my arm off my bed so I could tilt the remote down. There were times where I froze on a tightrope because the mechanism for balancing requires you to hold the remote horizontally and my arm was too busy holding up the weight of my upper body. First world problems, I know. You learn to be deliberate with your actions, as the game is smart enough to discern the difference between throwing a bomb and holding a bomb in the air as to say, “hey look I have this bomb it goes BOOM, BOOM, POW check out my hyrule swagger.”

And then there’s the swordplay. You swing your remote in different directions and Link will respond accordingly. Like with other control mechanisms, you have to be deliberate and precise with your motions, or else Link will think you’re doing cartwheels and respond with a goofy backflip sword attack. A goofy backflip sword attack that the final boss outright mocked me for doing over and over out of my adrenaline-soaked intensity. Enemies are designed to respond to different sword attacks; the guy who just happens to be holding his sword up in the air leaves his belly open for a horizontal c-section from the Skyward Sword. A very early boss is designed to lick his lips at the thought of players who “waggle” the controller and can only be thwarted via skillful wristmanship.

Like every combat action game, the challenge becomes in learning enemy behaviours and responding with the according sword swipes. This is not to be mistaken with, say, every Kinect game, which gives players insane amount of leeway to commit to a complex motion. Enemy plants will only leave their maws open for short periods of time before mocking your slow wrist and taking a chunk off Link’s face. So I feel comfortable in saying Skyward Sword is the first plausible case of a motion-controlled game designed for the “core” group of gamers who think motion controls have dumbed down the industry in a swarm of mini-games and Rabbids.

Actually, I feel comfortable recommending Skyward Sword to anyone short of the most abject Zelda franchise haters. You could think about playing it because the motion controls are the closest we’ve gotten to realizing that dream of “holding a lightsaber for a Wiimote”. You could think about playing it because the world it creates is an exciting place to go adventuring in. You could play it because it has no shortage of content. You could play it because you like collecting bugs and there’s an entire mechanic dedicated to catching bugs with your one-to-one controlled bug net. I can at least confirm that it is the first, second or third-best “Sky” related game to ever come out (can’t speak to Skyrim’s quality, but I can say Crimson Skies on the Xbox was pretty sweet). You should probably play this.

Top Five With A Twist: The Winner Is...

2011-12-15T22:45:00.002Z

For many years Bojeeva and I had a rolling wager on which of our respective football teams would finish highest in the league each season. In the late 90s/early 2000s it was a fairly open bet, but in recent years the bet has merely facilitated a regular drip feed of money from my bank account to his. So at the start of this year we decided to shake things up a bit. The wager changed from sports to video games and we bet £20 on the combined Metacritic scores of our five most anticipated games of 2011. You can find Bojeeva’s list here and mine here.

Ibwib: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
What we said: To be honest, we thought this one would slip until next year. We got really worried when reviews seemed to be embargoed until the release date, and had visions of a New Vegas style decision to release rubbish rather than miss the release date. Amazingly, despite all the ill omens, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim turned out to be a winner. The same breadth and depth as Oblivion, the scale and complexity of Morrowind, but now with added trolls and dragons. What’s not to love?
Metacritic Score: 96

Bojeeva: L.A Noire
What we said: An impressive display of motion technology and new gameplay mechanics that initially blows you away, L A Noire loses a lot of its initial shine when you realise how irrelevant much of the game is. There’s a giant open city, but there’s nothing to do in it but play through the story. There’s an evidence and investigation mechanic, but it has an individual and inflexible logic that reduces it to a high-tech version of hunt-the-verb, and it soon becomes apparent that the plot has overridden the gameplay - it will chug along no matter how badly you play, and deliberately force you down dead ends where both you and it know that the conclusions it will ask you to reach are inaccurate. Keep playing through these weaknesses, however, and you’ll get one of gaming’s most compelling stories and some unexpectedly good shootouts.
Metacritic Score: 89

Ibwib/Bojeeva: Batman: Arkham City
What we said: Our only shared pick, Batman: Arkham City continues its predecessor’s tradition of looking like a surefire Game Of The Year, only to be almost instantly eclipsed by a flurry of top releases. It just isn’t fair. The strengths of Batman: Arkham Asylum were found in its beautifully animated, smoothly flowing combat, detailed designs and the depth of its detailed, nerdbait packed environments. The sequel transfers those strengths to an open-world setting that will reward free spirited players, and also pulls back slightly on the only real drawback of the original, its intrusive ‘detective mode’. A lot of people bitch about sequels, but as far as we’re concerned, as long as you’re taking a good game and making it better, you keep right on with it.
Metacritic Score: 94

Ibwib: Portal 2
What we said: And here’s Portal 2 to prove our point about sequels. The original was an inventive puzzle game with a great comedic performance. The sequel was an inventive puzzle game with several new gameplay mechanics, three great comedic performances, a clever story and an enormous co-op section so good it could have been released as a game in its own right.
Metacritic Score: 95

Bojeeva: Uncharted 3 Drake’s Deception
What we said: Nate returns for the third instalment of the PS3's hit series. From a scuffle in a dingy London pub to plane crashes, vast deserts and ancient ruins, there's barely time to catch a breath. The story is perfectly paced, the voice acting, humour and graphics are all top notch. The only downside is that there's little new on offer - not entirely a bad thing - but it just doesn't surprise as much as the second game. Was it just me or was the ending much the same as Among Thieves too???
Metacritic Score: 92

Ibwib: Mass Effect 3
What we said: Booo! In last year’s Top 5 with a twist, two of Bojeeva’s games were delayed, giving him a score hurdle that was almost impossible to overcome. This year, it’s my turn. Mass Effect 3 has been pushed back to next year, so that’s no score for me. Interestingly, we hated the tedious conversations, clumsy controls, gormless companions and indecipherable inventories of Mass Effect. On the other hand, we loved the simplified interface and action-oriented story of Mass Effect 2. Time will tell if Mass Effect 3 continues the improvement.
Metacritic Score: n/a

Bojeeva: InFamous 2
What we said: The original was a firm favourite of Megabits but Sucker Punch brought Cole back bigger and better than ever for the sequel. Anybody that can shoot electricity from their fingertips is a worthy protagonist in our book. It looked great, boasted some insane superpowers and had plenty to see and do. Turned out though, that it wasn't quite as well received as we'd expected.
Metacritic Score: 83

Ibwib: Fight Night Champion
What we said: The simplified controls of Fight Night Champion were a massive disappointment after Fight Night Round 4, as was the Champion mode’s cliché riddled story and the lame, contrived challenges it built into the fights. These failings were compensated for by the addition of an XP and Stamina management aspect to the game’s Legacy mode that made it much more challenging and absorbing. On balance, Fight Night Champion wasn’t a bad game, but it did fall short of its predecessor.
Metacritic Score: 86

Bojeeva: Gears of War 3
What we said: Testosterone oozes from every pore of Gears 3, Marcus and his chums making a welcome return against the Locust horde. We expected lots of explosions, guns, ducking and diving for cover, game modes and huge set pieces - and that's exactly what we got. As expected, it hit the target and scores of fans lined up into the night to get their grubby hands on a copy. It was a worthy conclusion perhaps, but again, was it a little too similar to its predecessors?
Metacritic Score: 91

And the winner is...Bojeeva, with a combined score of 449, compared with my much less impressive 371. So, that’s me £20 out of pocket, but what’s been really impressive about this year’s selection is how few disappointments there were.

Last year’s picks contained games full of disappointment and unmet potential. This year, however we had very few let downs, and several games that exceeded even the high expectations we’d burdened them with. The great thing about Top 5 with a twist is that it puts the entire gaming year into perspective, and lets you see what a cracker 2011 has been.

Bring on 2012!

30 Minute Playtest: Saints Row The Third

2011-12-15T12:11:00.000Z

Crazy. That's the best way to describe the first 30 minutes with THQ's new sandbox epic. Before I'd even had time to catch a breath, I'd been involved in a bank heist - on a scale similar to that brilliant moment in GTA IV - evaded the cops, been captured by a rival gang, flung myself from an aircraft, and bought a giant pink dildo to give passers by a sound beating. Oh yeah, and there was the little incident at the heavily defended army base where I stole an armoured vehicle and shot Predator missles into incoming tanks. And a helicopter flight. And a few car thefts. Shoot outs. And a bit of character customization! Phew.

Put aside the craziness, however, and those first 30 ludicrous minutes of gameplay left me craving more and suggested that this is certainly bigger, better and even more outrageous than the fantastic second instalment and its jailbreak intro.

Since those first few scenes of mayhem, it's clear that the Third Street Saints have their work cut on by taking on the new kids on the block, The Syndicate - a well-funded gang that wants its share of the spoils in Steelport. Your assets have been frozen so you're starting with no money and no hideout, and it's not long before you're mugging pedestrians and completing insane missions to earn some cash. More money means more weapons and upgrades - including the adorementioned giant floppy dildo!

If you were a fan of the previous games in the series or other sandbox epics like GTA IV, the format will be instantly accessible. Accessing your phone brings up a map and allows you to set the GPS for the best route between locations. From this handy menu you can also call for help from gangmembers, as well as checking out upgrades and mission information. A scrollwheel also gives access to those all important weapons.

There are loads of missions to enjoy and the dialogue is funny as hell - but there's also plenty of enjoyment to be had from straying off the beaten path, stealing a car and exploring the vast map. You'll be hooked from the start. It looks and feels better than the second game - but one thing hasn't changed... the fun factor!

Review: Ratchet & Clank - All 4 One

2011-12-05T14:23:00.007Z

As a fan of the Ratchet & Clank franchise, I was excited to get my hands on All 4 One but there’s an old saying - if ain’t broke, don’t fix it – and sadly in gaming, change isn’t always for the best. Unlike the previous action/adventure Ratchet & Clank platformer titles, which were mostly single-player-only games, All 4 One, the tenth instalment in the series, focuses on a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode, which offers online as well as offline multiplayer.

Players can each take the role of one of four main characters - Ratchet, the game’s bobcat-looking hero; Clank, Ratchet’s loyal robot sidekick; Qwark, the galactic’s cowardly president; and Doctor Nefarious, who usually is the game's antagonist looking to take over the galaxy rather than save it.

The game takes place after the events of A Crack in Time, when one of Nefarious’ plans to destroy Ratchet, Clank and Captain Qwark backfires, and all four of them are captured and kidnapped by a machine known as the Creature Collector. All playable characters are then forced to cooperate and work together to escape back home, which in the case of the always-evil Nefarious, is a little farfetched.

What I found instantly disappointing is that the game focuses on the multi-player co-op and less imagination is placed on the storyline. Although the game does allow up to four players to go online and play through two sections of the game: which fans will be happy to know still entertain with vibrant, colourful landscapes and the explosive action that you would expect from a Ratchet & Clank game; much of the magic seems to have been lost and it feels like All 4 One is a step backwards in the series.

One big annoyance is the new fixed-camera angle in the game which makes you feel less in control when in combat. Also when playing with others, the camera can be so restricted that you cannot see enemies shooting you.

The automatic aiming system also means you do not have direct control over where you shoot in battles making it at times very easy to defeat enemies and less satisfying than in the previous adventures.

The puzzles meanwhile, although well designed, are too simplistic and offer no real concentration or test. Unlike the other games in the series, the levels in All 4 One are also linear and you are restricted to play through the game in a set way.

The good news is that there is still an amazing array of fun and imaginative weaponry to collect throughout the game, including new weapons like the Plasma Bomb Launcher, Frost Cannon and Warmonger, along with older favourites like the Combuster and Mr Zurkon. There is also a handy vacuum that can suck up and shoot out both objects and enemies, which can help save ammo, while a jet pack you’re given in the game does offer a lot of entertainment.

The disappointing part of the weaponry is the new upgrade system. Players now pay for upgrades with the bolts collected throughout the game rather than weapons powering-up automatically with the more you fire a gun, which means you tend to use only a selected number of the weapons on offer.

I wouldn’t say the game does a disservice to the Ratchet & Clank series and if you are a hardcore fan and enjoy co-op platforming then All 4 One is definitely worth a try as there is fun to be had, especially if you get some mates involved.

All 4 One also keeps the good sense of humour represented in the rest of the series, which is good to see.

However, with its easy puzzles and more child-friendly tone, I cannot see much longevity in the game and it just acts as a short-term fix until Insomniac Games’ next instalment.

Gaming's 10 Greatest Santa Lookalikes

2011-12-03T21:26:00.005Z

Christmas is nearly upon us. The decorations are being dusted off, the shop shelves stripped of gift ideas and televisions primed for the annual showing of Elf. So what better way to celebrate the start of Advent than a Top 10 list that pays homage to none other than Santa? Here, the Megabits team picks the gaming characters that most look like the great man, albeit with slightly different traits...

10) Zeus – God Of War
More likely to be residing in Mount Olympus than a suburban shopping mall, God of War’s Zeus has a domineering personality and likes to be centre of attention. Strip away that big red coat and I’m sure Santa sports a six pack too.

9) Dusty - Medal of Honor
Just like everyone’s favourite gift-giving trespasser come Christmas Eve, Dusty is a man on a mission. He also travels around the world, carrying out time sensitive missions in the hope that no one spots him. How he treats you also depends on whether you’ve been naughty or nice…

8) Gouken - Street Fighter IV
Not only does Gouken look the part, but he shares a common trait with good old Father Christmas – his compassion towards children. Whereas Santa gives toys to the little ones, Gouken gave the gift of life – rescuing abandoned orphan baby Ryu and training him to become one of the greatest fighters in the world. Such a beautiful story, it almost makes you weep, doesn’t it? Now THAT is truly the spirit of Christmas.

7) The End - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Sure, The End may have been a crack shot assassin but he and Santa have several things in common besides a bushy white chin warmer… Not only are they both ageing and portly, but they share the ability to sneak about the place undetected. This comparison falls down somewhat given that The End would rather fill you full of lead than fill your stocking.

6) Al Mualim - Assassins Creed
He may have a flowing robe, hood and beard but you certainly wouldn’t want to sit on Al Mualim’s knee for fear of him stabbing you in the back. He befriended Altair in the first Assassin’s Creed game only for things to turn nasty. He’s not a man who’s blessed with Christmas cheer!

5) MacGruder - Gun
Greed, corruption, sadism and a missing eyeball aren't the things that spring to mind when you think of Father Christmas, but perhaps more than anyone else on the list, MacGruder looks the part. There's no bigger belly or bushier beard even among these portly bewhiskered rogues, and monstrous though he is, his leading role in Gun, a long standing favourite of Megabits, ensures that we think fondly of him despite his many sins.

4) Sheriff Johnson - Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption's Sherriff Johnson might be more jaded than jolly, but he's one of the few characters in Red Dead Redemption who can't be marked down as sick,twisted or cynical at first glance. He's stout and bearded, which is the obvious reason to call him a Santa stand-in, but there's also the fact that he trusts John Marston enough to send him after a selection of local bad guys. It's almost as if he's got a list of who has been naughty and who has been nice.

3) Bill - Left 4 Dead
Okay, he's not exactly fat and jolly, but let's see you pile on the pounds and the good cheer when the world has been served up as an all-you-can-eat buffet for the undead. Bill's grubby camos might not be as eyecatching as Santa's big red robe, but he's got the bush white beard and the "Sacrifice" DLC proves that he thinks of others, and isn't that the true meaning of Christmas?

2) Wizard - Gauntlet
With his flowing robes and lengthy beard, Gauntlet's Wizard could be an old school Santa from the days of myth, before he was cola-fied for modern consumption. Children around the world leave cookies and milk out on Christams Eve, and do you know why? Because "Wizard needs food, badly."

1) Dr Thomas Light – Mega Man
Doctor Thomas Light is perhaps the best lookalike on this list – big hair, full beard, rounded belly and a man of cheery disposition. He’s the creator of Capcom favourite Mega Man – effectively a maker of toys, just like the great red-clad bearded man himself.

So there we have it... 10 of gaming's greatest Santa lookalikes! You know the drill - if you know of any others, leave us a message below. Happy Christmas from all at Megabits - and may all your gaming wishes come true!

Megabits Column: Deus Ex Human Revolution

2011-11-30T01:00:00.000Z

Megabits of Gaming contributes a monthly column in Charged Middle East – a leading Dubai-based gadgets and games magazine that provides news, reviews and features on the latest home and consumer electronics.

Each month, Megabits takes a look at a new release in a gaming franchise and considers how its evolved over the years and what makes it great!

Here’s the latest of the articles from the November 2011 issue. For more about the magazine, check out its Facebook page after the jump.

After a summer lull of epic proportions, it’s somewhat appropriate that one of the newly-released titles to inject some much-needed enthusiasm into subdued gamers is rightly being tipped as a Game Of The Year contender.

After a whopping 10-year hiatus, the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is being heralded as a classic and has accrued a healthy 89% rating from score aggregating site Metacritic.

As a hybrid of different genres there’s truly something for everyone. Depending on how you approach Human Revolution, it’s a stealth game or action shooter with RPG elements thrown in for good measure. Decisions you make have a bearing on your game… whether you agree to track down a crazed terrorist, save a downed pilot or help a mother mourning the death of her daughter, they all have consequences and affect future missions. Not only that, but how you choose to upgrade your powers and abilities as the game progresses will completely change the way you play.

Taking place some 25 years before the original Deus Ex, you step into the shoes of Adam Jensen, security chief for Sarif Industries, a biotech company that manufactures augmentations that improve the body’s performance, transforming people into superhumans. A terrorist attack on your employer’s headquarters leaves many dead, with Jensen only surviving after extensive surgery using the very augmentations he’s assigned to protect. With his shiny new cybernetic body he must track down the perpetrators, travel across the globe and negotiate a plot full of twists and turns along the way.

Sure Human Revolution looks great but it’s the living, breathing world that really deserves the plaudits. The gameworld is full of life with NPCs passing you by in the corridors or streets chatting away and going about their business. Police and security guards can be perfectly civil one moment, but if you draw a weapon or try to gain access to a restricted area then all hell breaks loose.

Earning these super powerful upgrades means you can take an all-guns-blazing approach and enhance Jensen with awesome add-ons like the ability to punch through walls or lift immense weight. Alternatively, you can take the stealthy option and buy augmentations for invisibility and silent footsteps. Hacking computers and completing side quests will earn XP and the vital Praxis kits – the currency used to improve your skills.

Human Revolution’s influences are clear. The soon-to-be rebooted fan favourite Syndicate - from Peter Molyneux’s Bullfrog back in 1993 - was a landmark title that arrived to critical acclaim, engraining the cyberpunk world deep into gamers’ psyche a full seven years before the original Deus Ex. Negotiating a dystopia of the not-too-distant future, upgrading your characters with super-powered limbs and abilities, and using some high-tech weaponry has again been captured in Human Revolution’s 30 plus hours of gameplay.

Stealth also plays a huge part in the game – and features elements perhaps best captured in two games dating back to 1998, Thief: The Dark Project from Looking Glass Studios and Konami’s Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear was arguably the game that took the stealth genre to a whole new level. Although hiding in a cardboard box is not in Jensen’s repertoire, hugging walls and scurrying through ventilation shafts is common practice in the new iteration of Deus Ex.

Perhaps though, the strongest and most impressive aspect of Eidos’ game is choice, and the many paths that open depending on your reaction and interaction with characters and objects. As a result, Human Revolution achieves what many developers have strived for over the years – immersion into the gaming world.

Choice is becoming an increasingly important facet of modern gaming, encouraging players to come back and take different paths and explore more. Molyneux attempted it with his Fable series (2004-2010), as have the two Bioshock games (2007-2010), with varying degrees of success. With Deus Ex, there’s so much to see and do, there’s huge incentive to replay the game as soon as the credits start rolling. The developers should be proud.

Review - LEGO Harry Potter:Years 5-7

2011-11-28T23:04:00.006Z

Before you even put the disc in the tray, anyone who has ever played one of the many LEGO games of recent years will know exactly what to expect. With LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5 – 7, TT Games and Warner Bros have sprinkled a little Hogwarts magic and once again replicated the winning formula that has seen those little yellow block-headed characters slip seamlessly into the recognizable environments of our most-loved movie moments.

As the title suggests, Harry and his pals return in the follow-up to LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, replacing the likes of Jack Sparrow, Indiana Jones and Luke Skywalker from all those other LEGO movie tie-ins. On this occasion the bespectacled one must negotiate many of the scenes and settings from the last four Harry Potter films and the three final books of the series, with loads of exploration, puzzles and the usual comedic cut scenes these titles are so good at.

From Privet Drive and Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade and new locales such as the Ministry of Magic and Godric’s Hollow, it’s up to you to rid the world of Harry’s old foe Lord Voldemort.

Numbers-wise, it’s all fairly impressive: 24 story events, 16 lessons to attend and 200 characters including Fenrir Greyback, Bellatrix Lestrange and Professor Slughorn await the eager gamer. Suffice to say, you’ll need perseverance to discover everything as there’s so much to see.

Solo player is fun enough but it’s the co-operative mode that really shines. The drop in/out mechanic once again works perfectly, the screen splitting when players stray too far from one another. Some puzzles or paths can only be accessed with certain characters and teamwork so it really is enjoyable with a partner.

This game is all about the puzzles, the building of LEGO contraptions and collecting those multi-coloured studs. Of course, you’ll also have to get to grips with your wand and become the ultimate wizard, flinging magic about like there’s no tomorrow and manipulating objects to continue along your path. Spells, potions, charms and wand waving become second nature in no time as you explore the vast gaming world and unlock loads of characters from the films. Attaining that 100% completion status remains an achievement for the committed. Although some accolades are a fair old slog, others are suitably silly (“Stand still with no controller input for 5 minutes” is an easy 20G, for example).

With each and every LEGO movie rendition, the graphics and effects seem to get better and better. Some of the locations are absolutely lovely to look at – crisp and colourful and crammed full of detail, while retaining the cartoony charm of the franchise. The camera also works really well, shifting about the play area so your view is never really obscured whether you’re playing the side scrolling sections or running towards the screen.

The sound effects and background music are also great, subtly matching the situation without being distracting – it’s really cinematic, with the tunes either calming when your characters are safe or increasing in tempo and urgency as the drama unfolds.

Although this game is almost identical to what we’ve seen before, there are some new additions, notably the changes to the combat with the new dueling skills that sees you draw your trusty wand and have a spell-casting fight with your opponent. Each showdown sees you face off against a baddie surrounded by a coloured ring. It’s up to you to cast the appropriately coloured spell and emerge victorious.

Of course, the simple gameplay is clearly aimed at a younger audience, but it still proves fun no matter what your age. There is absolutely loads to explore and interact with, and therefore plenty of reasons to replay even when the main game is completed and all those characters are unlocked. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5 – 7 is a worthy conclusion to the Potter phenomenon and worth buying if you enjoyed the others.

It looks and plays well, and is a great opportunity to share some time with family members or friends. The only real downside is that it really plays just the same as all the other LEGO games out there. There aren’t many surprises or innovations, it’s by no means taxing and even verges on being slightly repetitive. Still, the kids will love it – and they’re the prime audience afterall. Despite this slight criticism, we’d suggest you go ahead and pick up a copy as a rental would be pointless given the sheer size of the game and all the things to unlock. It's a magical game and great entertainment.

*Reviewed on Xbox 360

Dark Souls: We share your pain!

2011-11-28T11:15:00.002Z

Dark Souls is the latest obsession at Megabits, and we're perpetually torn between hating the way we have to grind for hours on end just to make a millimetre of game progress, and loving the sense of tactical and strategic variety the game lets you explore, and the immense satisfaction you get when your latest ploy succeeds.

Still, more often than not, the game makes us feel like this very, very sweary guy. What's really interesting about this video is that this guy is having a fairly normal Dark Souls experience, despite the fact that he's completely confused shield blocking with shield parrying. That's right, Dark Souls is so difficult that even if you get the controls completely wrong, the game just can't kick your ar$e any harder...

Ten ReasonsTo Love Deus Ex: HR

2011-11-27T20:05:00.009Z

You know how much I loved Deus Ex – and how much I was looking forward to playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution (it's an acquired taste though... check our review - Ed)? Well… having played through it again, I felt compelled to answer my previous Wishlist article with a top ten, as writing the word ‘Awesome’ ten times isn’t really very enjoyable for the reader – despite its accuracy.

With that in mind, here’s another Top Ten... the things I love about Deus Ex: Human Revolution!

SPOILER ALERT!

10: Sunglasses/HUD
JC Denton looked cool, with his augmented blue eyes hidden behind dark shades (even though he looked a berk wandering around at night with them on), and Adam Jensen – Human Revolution’s protagonist – follows this trend – but while Denton can slip off his specs, Jensen has them bonded to his pointy-bearded face…

As well as looking damn cool, the glasses also allow Jensen’s augmented body to display health and armament information, a funky map and other assorted trivia. I’d quite like one in my day-to-day life… although it would need a ‘tea’ bar, rather than a ‘hit points’ bar…

9: Arm blades
Though impractical for opening a can of tuna, Jensen’s retractable arm blades looks cool – and are as deadly as you’d expect. Capable of extending forwards or backwards from his mid-forearm, the oddly square lengths of the blades can slice through enemies or doorways with ease, as well as looking pretty damn cool to boot. Shame it takes up one whole energy cell to use them!

8: Icarus Landing System
Icarus being a central theme of this game – flying too close to the sun and getting burned – the inclusion of the Icarus Landing System is rightfully sitting in my top ten. As both a useful life-saving device and aggressive method of stunning your enemies, the Icarus augment is a fantastically cool way to get around, sheathing Jensen in a ball of electricity as he plummets to the ground, before bringing him to a safe landing – and making him look badass at the same time. I find combining Icarus with the ‘Typhoon’ explosive system to be a great way to make an entrance…

7: Side missions
Aside from the main storyline, Human Revolution includes a huge number of side missions, which vary from criminal investigations to breaking-and-entering, assassinations and ‘gopher’ tasks. Of course, this being Deus Ex, each of the tasks can be tackled any number of ways – do you charm your way through the security gate, sneak in round the back, or kill everyone in the room? The choice is yours. My personal favourite was a murder investigation carried out in the bowels of Hengsha – a megacity off the coast of China. Atmospheric and exciting in equal measure…

6: ‘GlassShield’ cloaking system
Who wouldn’t want to be able to turn invisible at the drop of an augmented hat? Yes, Jensen’s ‘GlassShield’ cloaking device is the infiltrating agent’s best tool, combining complete invisibility with the ability to pass through the game’s many laser grids, dodge probing robots and – of course – look awesome as you punch enemies to the floor, their shocked expressions a sure sign of their fear.

5: Malik/The HeliJet
Deus Ex had the Black Helicopter and it’s New Yoiker pilot, Jock, Human Revolution has the Helijet, and it’s wisecracking, soulful pilot Farida Malik. Damn, I want one of those. Just to tootle around in. Imagine showing up at your friend’s house in a helijet, crushing the flowerbeds as you set down. Of course, provided it had as interesting a character as Farida Malik in the flight deck, I’d probably never land. It also reminds me of Thunderbirds’ helijets as well...

4: Soundtrack/Nods to Deus Ex
Deus Ex was known for its atmospheric music, which added character and depth to the myriad locations JC Denton travelled to, from bars in New York to chateaus in France. Human Revolution continues this trend, offering a wide selection of musical themes for Jensen’s travels, most of which match the mood of the map perfectly. For me, though – as a long-time Deus Ex fan – I was overjoyed at Square-Enix’s stellar fan-service, after I discovered than in-game radios occasionally play tracks from the original Deus Ex, and NPCs sometimes whistle the Deus Ex theme – and at one point, right at the start, the game’s soundtrack jumps back to the opening of the previous game, just for a moment. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up….

3: Plot
Human Revolution’s plot, which covers the nature of humanity, evolution and civil unrest alike, was a well-written exciting affair, which kept me hooked for hours. Although too little was made of the ‘hand behind the throne’ which underpins the story, and the twist was let down by pretty poor characterisation, I still loved the game’s cyberpunk, murder-mystery chase through the underbelly of a world on the brink of a new age.

2: Locations
As the plot is so fantastic, it’s no surprise that the locations the game takes you to are also brilliant. Starting out in the former motor-city of Detroit, Human Revolution’s sweeping story takes you to China, Canada and several other places I’ll keep secret for now. Each location has its own feel, be it the dirty, decrepit city of Detroit – where beggars search the bins in the shadow of industry skyscrapers – or the vertical city of Hengsha. Hengsha is by far my favourite location – a sprawling city atop a city, where the rich and powerful sit amid an endless sky – and the downtrodden poor are conveniently forgotten in the warrens of the lower city.

1: Characters
As with any good story, the heart of Human Revolution revolves – first and foremost – around its characters. In a world of grey, where right and wrong are blended into one whole, these people offer Adam Jensen (who is himself something of a mysterious character, being as dark as the world around him) advice and guidance – or misdirection and misuse, if you prefer. From David Sarif, the brilliant – if misguided – visionary of augmented evolution, to the strident voices of the terrorists (or ‘freedom fighters’) fighting for or against the evolution of humanity, each of Human Revolutions’ characters is dripping in personality, and a fantastic addition to the world of 2027.

Of course, Jensen is also a fine dancer… (the action really hots up one minute in to the video!)

Review - Deus Ex: Human Revolution

2011-11-27T17:11:00.000Z

Hey, check it, transhumanism! I think Deus Ex: Human Revolution is trying to be an ominous prophecy of the dangerous melding of flesh and machine. The thing is that I don’t know if that’s so much a future thing than a present thing. We’re already being augmented with laser eye surgery, replacement limbs, Taylor Lautner’s hair and other things that cannot be considered natural in any way, shape or form. Are mechanical 2-foot arms concealing 6-foot blades that much more unethical than Tiger Woods’ enhanced eyesight? We’re already uploading our music collections to the Cloud, so is uploading our consciousness to Amazon that far removed? Bring on the mothatrucking singularity, folks!

I have much adoration for Human Revolution in attempting to let players pick sides in the maybe-edgy issue of man and machine becoming one. But the problem with the game’s approach is that the main character is a half-man-half-machine-all-cop who stabs sentries with his humerus knives and conceals sunglasses behind his orbital bone. So the game is already innately inching players towards “augmentations are f#@king badass!” The only rebuttal the game offers to that argument is that your character can only stab as many people as he has charged batteries in…wherever it is he places batteries. Also, he replenishes his battery power with chocolate bars. So if you’re anti-obesity, I guess you’re also anti-transhumanism.

Deus Ex stars Adam Jensen, a security guy for whom emergency augmentation surgery transforms him from generic brooding soldier to generic brooding soldier with Blades of Steel and a giant arrow above his head screaming “I have a shocking secret.” Until he figures out that secret secret, he’s going to help the augmentation company he works for figure out whom was behind the terrorist attack that cost him his boring human arms. I don’t think I’d call the plot itself especially interesting, and anyone that heard a thing or two about a thing or two about Deus Ex 1 already knows what the Big Reveal is.

But it’s the world itself that makes Human Revolution intriguing. This game’s version of the post-machine future is as weird as you’d think it is. Implants are fetishized, machine-based drugs are causing an addiction pandemic, augmented people are hated by the general population due to sheer envy of their awesomeness, corporations are more evil and sinister than ever, and I don’t think the sun exists anymore. It’s fascinating to explore the various settings, see the curious augmentation advertisements, hack into computers and learn the culture of each company. (Hint: people are either angry, scared, or pulling porn spam pranks that were comical in 1999.) You do learn very quickly, that no one in the future is capable of remembering passwords, and must rely on sending themselves and their coworkers e-mails and hoping that their rivals don’t have a Level 4 Hacking skill.

Very critical disclaimer: the Deus Ex franchise has never been kind to me. Deus Ex 1 is such a pure combination of action and RPG elements the likes of which I can never be made to comprehend. When I aim my handgun pointblank at someone’s temple, I feel cheated when a dice roll based on my firearms rating sides with temple. I’m so inept at bizarre stat-based action RPGs, I couldn’t even get into the dumbed down, baby’s first conspiracy thriller in that Deus Ex sequel. Human Revolution’s hardest difficulty setting is labeled as “Give Me Deus Ex”, and I shrieked! No! Please! Don’t give me too much Deus Ex. I’m Deus Ex Intolerant. I could cramp up real bad.

So I set the difficulty to the easiest given choice, “Give Me A Story.” I assumed that the game would dumb itself down enough that I could just breeze through the Deus Exey parts and admire Adam Jensen’s vicious arm blades. However, I quickly learned that I was misled. Cybernetic implants do little to keep my vitals free of enemy lead, it seems, and death is swift and frequent. Really, the one aspect of the game that was noticeably dumbed down was how the number of hack attempts given to break into any given machine would never diminish. So at the least, I felt comfortable that I could take all the time in the world breaking into a laptop and find all the penis augmentation spam ads I desired.

I also noticed that the game presented a more seamless and intelligent combination of those action and RPG elements that made me previously dread receiving more Deus Ex. When I aimed at someone’s head, I was kiiiiiiind of certain that one of those bullets would stay within my aiming reticle, in spite of any and all imaginary dice rolls. Your character isn’t leveling up a series of numbers that loosely resemble one’s ability to swim faster. You are making upgrade choices that have a practical and immediate impact on how you play.

For example, when you decide to purchase an upgrade that lets you punch through walls, suddenly all of these walls begin to glow, and new paths appear. Actually, I was so impressed with the might of my steel knuckles that I would smash through every wall smashable, regardless of relevance to my quest or guards with working eardrums. Most upgrade choices have a very real, practical impact on how the game is played. Suddenly, new paths open, stealth and/or gunplay become more plausible, and there are walls that have no business being left unpunched.

The game’s first few hours are among the most frustrating, if only because so many paths and options are blocked off on account of your lack of iron fists and poor stats. Every Praxis Point spent counts. A Praxis Point spent practically makes you feel like a genius for running into a enemy gun turret that can be hacked or a wall that can be haymakered. (And I was giving many self-high-fives for that wall punch upgrade.) A Praxis Point spent impractically is aggravating. Avoid the “cone of vision” upgrade. Despite what you want to think, this game is not Metal Gear Solid; enemies have a field of vision wider than three feet ahead of them, and stealth requires a bit of thought and luck. Many of my early Praxis Point decisions were spent on trying to make my personal Adam Jenson not suck, in such areas as more inventory space or better hacking skills or such. By the end of the game, almost every area you want upgraded will be covered and you’ll have a mechanical jack of all trades.

Actually, the real worst moments are the boss fights, where you have to deal with superhumans with much more health and munitions than you unloading all of those health and munitions unto your iron pancreas. I had specced my character to be more firearms-friendly, on the easiest difficulty no less, and I was still finding myself cybermurdered repeatedly. I still had to do an awful lot of loading and saving every time I escaped 5 seconds of the boss fight with my head and sexy knuckles intact.

Endings are kind of dull, too.

Still, the biggest shock about Deus Ex: Human Revolution is that I actually found myself kind of half-liking it. There was a great deal of growing pains as I struggled to wrap my mind around the benefits of hacking computers or not murdering guards. But the game did manage to make all of its ideas click, by hook or by cybernetic crook. Not every person should play Human Revolution, but the person who wants nothing handed to them but the opportunity to make several unpleasant gameplay choices perhaps should.

Megabits Column: Dead Island

2011-11-26T08:55:00.003Z

Megabits of Gaming contributes a monthly column in Charged Middle East – a leading Dubai-based gadgets and games magazine that provides news, reviews and features on the latest home and consumer electronics.

Each month, Megabits takes a look at a new release in a gaming franchise and considers how its evolved over the years and what makes it great!

Here’s the latest of the articles from the October 2011 issue. For more about the magazine, check out its Facebook page after the jump.

Sun cream? Check. Swimming shorts? Check. Currency? Absolutely. Shotgun ammo? Eyes in the back of your head? Survival instinct? You’d better hope you’ve not forgotten these... otherwise, Dead Island is one holiday destination you may not need a return ticket from!

What better way to get away from all the stresses and strains of everyday life than to retreat to an island paradise, knowing that your only worry is working out how best to while away the hours enjoying the sun, sea and surf? Oh, and how best to fend off the hundreds of marauding zombies that have taken over the once idyllic resort.

Dead Island from Deep Silver and Techland transports us to the luxury Royal Palms resort on the picturesque isle of Banoi in the South Pacific when calm quickly descends into chaos. After a night of heavy drinking you awake to find the place in turmoil; the hotel has been ransacked, suitcases looted and bodies are strewn about the place. Somehow you’ve survived a zombie outbreak – now you just have to ensure it stays that way!

As one of four playable characters, this is all about survival of the fittest as you negotiate the vast island and its varied terrain, looking for answers and wielding as many makeshift weapons as possible.

What appears at first glance appears to be a shooter actually has RPG elements, and requires you to scour the resort for weapons, collect money and complete missions for XP to upgrade your character’s skills and abilities. Completing set tasks or helping stranded holidaymakers unlocks more missions. Imagine a combination of Borderlands, Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead and you’ll get the idea.

Zombie games have been spreading almost as rapidly as the very pandemic that features in them. The past few years have been positively full of them, the successful combination of action, puzzle solving and seat-of-your-pants gameplay.

From Dead Rising 2 and Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare to the zombie maps of Call of Duty Black Ops, gamers have shown their appreciation with their wallets over the past year and continued to hand over their hard-earned cash for some zombie-slaying carnage. There’s something profoundly appealing about blowing the heads off the undead or lopping off the odd limb; maybe it’s the fact it’s guilt free... it’s them or you, and they’re dead anyway.

The shuffling hordes have been synonymous with computers and consoles for decades, with prime examples dating back to 1984 with the 8-bit classics Zombie Zombie and The Evil Dead on the C64 and ZX Spectrum. One of the greatest zombie cameos was the titular pirate in the seminal 1991 point and click classic Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck’s Revenge – a lovable rogue dead set on getting the better of Guybrush Threepwood.

But it was arguably Capcom’s Resident Evil that breathed life into the survival horror genre and set the benchmark in 1996. In the original game, the zombies were little more than the slow, shuffling type and posed little real threat.

By 2008 and they had evolved somewhat with Left 4 Dead and its sequel a year later stacking the odds very much in their favour. Valve’s epic was all about volume and speed – loads of the undead, many of which would actually run at you. Not only did this add tension and shock value to the proceedings but it also set up some fantastic opportunities for melee combat and co-op play.

Dead Island has clearly taken inspiration from many of its predecessors. Within moments of walking outside, you’ll find yourself reaching for an oar, bottle, knife or bat to fend off your attackers just like in Left 4 Dead. Then there’s a hint of Dead Rising 2 thrown into the mix too... every so often you’ll come across a workshop where you can splice together objects to make more powerful weapons.

Zombie games are nothing new but they’ve adapted and changed as the years have passed. With Dead Island, some of the best bits have been pulled together, feeding even the most bloodthirsty of appetites.

Review - Need for Speed: The Run

2011-11-25T14:53:00.008Z

Jack Rourke is in a spot of bother. He’s upset some powerful people and needs to come up with some cash fast. Just as luck would have it, he’s able to line up for a race across the US from San Francisco to New York. The prize? A cool $25m! Imagine an interactive Fast and Furious movie and you kind of get the kind of idea of EA's Need for Speed: The Run. The story is never going to win any awards but it sets up a mad dash through the various US states and throws up all kinds of varied environments and challenges. It's cheesy but good, clean fun.

Before playing this, a 3000 mile race across the continent conjured up the notion of a hardcore driver's dream; it would take you or I several days to traverse the US so, in these days when realism plays such a vital role in gaming, you'd expect a decent challenge - perhaps a WEC Le Mans style race requiring a couple of days of constant playtime. You'd at least expect to dedicate some 30+ hours to crossing that finishing line. Not so. In fact, after all the stages are complete, you're informed that your total race time - excluding cut scenes - amounts to a total of just over two hours!

Still, The Run is an entertaining game and, unlike some of those more realistic hardcore racers, it kept me glued to the screen throughout thanks to its fast cars, police chases and mobsters...

After a pretty feeble attempt at QTE in the opening few minutes, when our hero's plight is explained and we have to mash the controller's buttons to escape a car crusher, you hit the road in an attempt to thwart 200 other drivers who are also eyeing that incredibly lucrative prize.

You start by picking from a handful of vehicles – each with different styling and handling – and before long will be zooming along the highways, taking in some spectacular vistas. Stop off at a nearby gas station and there’s the option to switch your car for something that may be more suited to the current race and the road conditions. There are plenty to choose from: sports cars, muscle cars and exotic cars can be accessed, with more available as you overtake rivals later in the game. From Lotus and Porsche to Audi and Nissan, there are loads of lovely looking vehicles packed in there. Their handling varies greatly and they all look suitably shiny and authentic. Light shines off their bonnets, the engines emit a reassuring roar and damage is shown - albeit temporarily - as you pass each stage's finish line.

They can be tricky to drive too. Run over leaves in the autumnal stages, or linger on your handbrake a little too long in the snowier settings and your car will slide about as you try to regain control. Shoot off the road or hit an obstacle and you're confronted by a short replay of your crash and encouraged to try again from the last checkpoint.

But although collisions, crashes, roadblocks and mobsters' gunfire result in damage to your vehicle, it's all a little pointless as the car undergoes some rapid maintenance between stages so that you're driving a shiny new model seconds later. It all seems like a bit of a missed opportunity, as driving with a fender hanging off or a wonky bonnet would have discouraged me from using walls or passing drivers to slow down and corner rather than my brakes.

Each stage is split into challenges, some requiring you to gain position, pass certain opponents before the clock ticks down or reach checkpoints within a time limit. If you fall too far behind or screw up in some way, there's always the option to restart that section - although replay attempts are finite. This sometimes makes stages tricky, especially when the game is overly fussy about how much you can stray off track. Be warned, lengthy loading times can be frustrating and the regular restarts do prove a slightly irritating.

QTE raises its ugly head occasionally to explain some of the plot, requiring a button press when prompted. It’s tedious and little fun but does break up the unavoidable repetitiveness of driving. It certainly didn't grate as much as some critics have suggested - it's only employed on a few occasions afterall.

XP is awarded when you complete each section of the race, as well as for jumps, near misses and overtaking rivals in a dirty, clean or rapid fashion. The points total sees you regularly rank up, earning you new vehicles, speed boosts and so on. It also helps you climb the leaderboard, with EA again using its fantastic Autolog feature so you can compare your performance with that of your friends.

On this occasion Black Box (of Need for speed: Undercover fame) replaces Criterion (responsible for Hot Pursuit) and does a fairly decent job. The Run makes good use of DICE's Frostbite 2 engine for the car physics and damage, and it all looks really great as you swerve about at high speed. Problem is, there's very little to keep you coming back once the core campaign is complete.

Online multiplayer offers some replayability, and then there are harder difficulty settings and plenty of separate Challenge modes, with medals awarded depending on your performance. But I wonder how much time you'll spend on this when you've finished your first playthrough.

The latest addition to the Need for Speed lineup is a fun but brief experience, and one that this reviewer certainly enjoyed. But although it pretty much ticks all the boxes, it comes up a little short seeing as you're paying full price for only a few hours' play.

Reviewed on the Xbox 360

Review: X-Men: Destiny

2011-11-23T13:08:00.000Z

One looks back at the lineage of X-Men games over the years, and sees that it’s a flimsy one. There have been great games, there have been less than great games. One can make the argument that the future for all mutantkind progressed as a species once LJN got their mitts off the franchise. But the one consistent fact about all of those titles is that they only have a skin-deep understanding of X-Men’s themes. You are with the good mutants, Magneto is with the bad mutants, you let the optic blasts sort out the rest. That Konami arcade game might fit into this group, I dunno, I remember Magneto welcoming me to die and maybe falling in a trap or two but that’s about it. There’s never any kind of attempt to explore the themes of racism that the (good) bits of X-Men fiction are so known for addressing.

So kudos to X-Men: Destiny for at least trying to take a gander at the ideas of segregation within the franchise. The game opens with a rally of some kind to unite all the people of different skin colours under one person that will obviously turn out to be the villain. Bad things happen, Race A blames the problems on Race B, and tensions fly. The player controls one of three plebian mutants that gets involved in the conflict, and can (in theory) choose to side with the X-Men’s Martin Luther King Jr. approach to racial conflict or Malcolm X-it-up with the brotherhood, serving the Honorable Elijah Magneto...

…or that’s how things appear at the onset. There’s a meter at the pause menu that fills up in favour of the X-Men or Brotherhood based on whose missions you choose to do. However, the mission structure never changes much. Good or evil, you are still beating up legions of the same bad guys. I guess they affect which muties fights alongside you. They probably affect which bosses you fight, but I went with the pro-X-Men path and I still spent more time fighting fellow X-Men than I did the Brotherhood threat.

See, the game does that Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 trick of teasing a moral choice based on thought-provoking themes, but then pairing both sides of the conflict against a common generic force of evil trying to destroy the world. So the “pick a side on this touchy issue” business means nothing in the end and serves to make me feel stupid for writing those first two paragraphs in this review. The loot drops and rewards for quests seem to be randomly generated too and have no basis in your moral choices. Maybe the Brotherhood ending is different from the X-Men ending, I have no way of finding out since I can’t seem to find that ending on Youtube. I sure as shit ain’t beating this game twice. So really, the difference between choosing between one side over the other is a matter of whether you find polygonal Emma Frost sexier than polygonal Mystique.

So you either choose to play as a hokey football jock, a hokey Asian stereotype or a guy that looks like a hokey football jock. You then choose whether you want your drone to have energy blast powers, shadow blade powers or rock hand powers. The three choices lead to different ability unlocks later in the game, but all amount to the exact same type of God of War-derivative style of action combat that dominates the entire game.

The combat itself is competent, if a tad imprecise and clunky. Rare is the confrontation that your mutant can’t keep his or her archtypical ass up and thrive. There’s one boss fight that comes in three stages, with no checkpoints or health power-ups, that stood out as one obscenely difficult challenge in a series of otherwise breezy and repetitive fights. I’m at least willing to karmatically forgive that specific part of the game thanks to a more interesting boss battle with a very giant, very nimble, very fly Sentinel. I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that you will indeed fight a giant Sentinel. That one boss fight is really the game’s one other strong point, besides how the game’s script and voice acting can sometimes be so hilariously, unintentionally bad.

See, the game uses that God of War-derivative combat as the answer to every question. Did you just walk into a new room? Stop and beat up these 50 enemies within 3 minutes. Did you decide you’d rather accept a bonus mission from your broski Colossus instead that poser Quicksilver? Here’s a combat arena with two or three of that flamethrower mini-bosses. Did you try to explore the environment looking for hidden secrets? Here’s a combat arena as a reward. Just finished the game? Be treated to the largest combat arena of them all as the end credits roll. Over and over and over again, you will be locked in a room and asked to defeat X number of the same human goons the X-Men are sworn to protect. The only time you aren’t beating up human beings and reinforcing negative mutant stereotypes is spent climbing and speed-shimmying along ledges that are so brief and easy to navigate that they don’t exist for any reason other than to give your knuckles a break from jaw-cracking.

There’s a loot system that seems to randomly generate “X-genes” as rewards for exploring or doing way more combat arenas than the game forces you into. These power-ups are named and based after various characters, so you can give your character Colossus-like steel skin or Iceman-like…err…ice skin, or what have you. It’s nice that the game has SOME kind of character progression, but it feels immoral that your dullard protagonist can casually steal the unique identity traits of iconic characters that are infinitely more interesting than they are. And that leads to the greatest lesson that needs to be learned from this experience.

Call it the DC Universe Online quandary. It’s obvious that Silicon Knights spent a lot of time designing character models for all of the X-Men, as well as moves and effects so they can fight alongside your character. So why are we not controlling the X-Men themselves instead of these three new generic imitators? Once upon a time, Electronic Arts made a spectacular failure called Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. That was a very middling game where Marvel characters battle Electronic Arts-created heroes. All of the EA heroes came across as cheap knockoffs that will never be seen in another video game, comic, movie or Playboy spread again. No superhero I could ever create will ever come across as more intriguing than Nightcrawler, nuanced as Magneto or Canadian as Wolverine, so please give me the real deal.

If I want to make my own dream superhero, City of Heroes just went free to play. Champions Online is free to play. DC Universe Online is free to play. Putting a pencil to a piece of paper and writing my own comic books is free to play.

This is neither an especially noteworthy action adventure, nor the ideal use of the X-Men license you are looking for. It’s also sadly not the comeback I was hoping Silicon Knights would make, though I guess the Silicon Knights that made Blood Omen and Eternal Darkness are too busy raising families and enjoying life to make anymore dark fantasy action titles. Go play X-Men Legends. Go play X-Men Legends 2. Go play the X-Men Origins: Wolverine video game. Go even play that wackyass Konami beat-em-up on XBLA. I promise they’re all much better than this.

Review: Resident Evil 4 HD

2011-11-18T10:27:00.002Z

Un forestara!

Being marginally more mature than the average gamer, we at Megabits are very fond of remakes and rereleases. Long gone are the days when we lived in a sweaty bedsit with five consoles from three generations. We need space for vases and candlesticks and other decorative but not very interactive stuff, and we can’t afford to store 15 year old consoles on the off chance that the urge to replay Shadow of the Collossus might strike.
Consequently, the trend towards remakes has us very pleased. Ocarina of Time, Ico, and Halo have all been dusted off and reworked for modern consoles lately, along with one of our favourite games of all time, Resident Evil 4.

When Resi 4 hit the PS2 and Gamecube in 2005 it had all the good stuff from the Resi series: expansive, detailed and varied environments, numerous weapons, scary villains, and a plot that delivered a constant drip feed of satisfying progress. But it built on them. There was an RPG element to the weapon upgrade system, the clunky controls had been polished, and the old pre-rendered backgrounds had been replaced with a dynamic environment that allowed you to manipulate character and camera within a 3D world, rather than just chugging about, tank-style, in front of the backdrops. It felt like the future of gaming. Which just goes to show how quickly things change.

Resident Evil 4 HD, the game’s Xbox 360 rerelease, feels very dated. It may have been tweaked for modern HD screens, but you won’t notice. Edges are blurry, text is jagged and textures are a mess of embiggened pixels. On top of that, the controls are far from intuitive and the camera is downright resistant, fighting back against your attempts to control it, bucking like a rodeo mustang as you desperately try to find out where the next threat is coming from.

Resident Evil games have traditionally had poor controls, and when Resi 4 became the first to abandon the old tank-style steering it felt like such a leap forward that we didn’t really notice that none of the controls felt quite natural. You can’t miss the fact these days, however. Aim with a right trigger, shoot with a face button? Try it and you’ll see how much your muscle memory has been trained by games built around a more intuitive LT aim, RT fire system.

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to sit and list complaints about a game so easily, but the really impressive thing about Resident Evil 4 HD is that none of these gripes actually matters. We don’t mean that you’ll enjoy the game enough to grudgingly forgive them. We mean you’ll enjoy the game so much that you’ll quickly stop noticing them at all. This is a game so good that no amount of small failings can take the shine off it.

The sense of progression as you move from secluded village to ancient castle, to deserted island and secret lab is enough to make you feel like you’re constantly achieving your goals. The sheer variety of environments you’ll wander through and the desire to collect every scrap of loot will encourage you take an interest in every corner of the game, and the set-piece battles rank among the finest ever programmed.

While Resident Evil 4 marked the series’ first step away from survival horror towards a more action-oriented design, it still manages to muster plenty of tension. The implacable advance of armed and angry villagers is enough to make your stomach flutter, while the nigh invulnerable chainsaw wielders and gibbering hosts will genuinely have you white-knuckled on the controller.

The game’s ability to successfully balance tension and action and place the result within an interesting and puzzle filled environments is what makes it such fun , but in these straitened times, Resi 4 HD also offers value for money-you get the original story, the Seperate Ways and Operation Ada add on campaigns, and the score-attack Mercenaries extra. Even speedy gamers will find that they get a good 25 to 30 hours play out of that lot, and of course, Resi 4 is good enough to be replayed multiple times.

In all honesty, the Wii edition remains the definitive version of RE 4, but RE4 HD runs it a very close second, containing all the same content and compensating for its lesser controls with a slew of achievements. If you haven’t played RE4 before, you owe it to yourself to play it and see what you’re missing. If you have played before and are wondering whether you can justify playing again, trust us, it’s as good as you remember, and it now dishes out 1000GS as well.

Review - Sesame St: Once Upon A Monster

2011-11-17T00:34:00.000Z

Microsoft’s Kinect camera was made for the likes of Once Upon A Monster. Developed by Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions and published by Warner Bros, this is purely aimed at children and gives them the opportunity to leap into a living storybook featuring all their favourite Sesame Street characters. To do this review justice I therefore had to recruit the services of my three year old daughter who was very excited at the prospect of playing with Cookie Monster, Oscar, Grover and of course Elmo.

Now she’s an absolute novice regarding video games and has never so much as grabbed a controller so this game not only had to be easy to play but work effectively with Kinect. Both of these essential requirements were met admirably, with Once Upon A Monster proving instantly accessible to even the smallest of gamers.

Our heroes Elmo and Cookie Monster have come across a magical picture book and as luck would have it, it’s possible to leap into the pages and become part of the story. Cue plenty of opportunities to dance, jump and leap through six fun-filled chapters, interacting with the Sesame Street characters and walking through the many colourful environments. The many mini games see you complete various tasks ranging from dressing up monsters, flying, running along avoiding obstacles and playing musical instruments.

It’s aimed at up to two players (of any age – although probably best if one is under 5!) and the drop in/out co-op gameplay allows regular breaks if needed. Bear in mind, it’s a pretty active game too and bound to get you puffing (and ensure children get tired out too).

Kinect picks up your movements and actions admirably, with the various mini games each having easy to understand instructions and clear voice commands and animations to explain the controls. Kinect’s microphone is used to good effect too and means the game relies on more than just your movement.

As each task is completed, stars are earned; every page can be then revisited as players try to improve and earn more stars. It’s original and fun, and for the most part kept both me and my daughter engrossed.

The whole thing has been designed with help from the Sesame Workshop, an educational organization behind the Sesame Street show. Once Upon A Monster allows children to learn how to make friends, work together and, importantly for a three-year old girl, realise that there are such things as friendly monsters!

Being controller free, the game is obviously entirely reliant on the sensitivity of Kinect and its ability to track your child as they jump about. It all works pretty well although on occasion the tracking was visibly off. Fortunately, the game is quite forgiving. Another issue was the fact that little people rarely stay still for any period of time and getting my daughter to stay in roughly the right spot during some of the activities proved a little tricky; her indifference at flapping her arms to fly was however, outweighed by the fun she had running through the woods and avoiding logs and branches. For her, the fun activities certainly exceeded any slightly less interesting ones.

The games are many and varied, and thankfully last only a few minutes apiece, which helps to maintain the interest levels.

If you don’t have a child, this game is clearly not for you; it’s short and there’s little challenge for anyone much taller than a metre high. The ease with which you can clear the various stages should also be a factor when considering a purchase... at full price, you have to question whether you’d get value for money from the game. I would, however, argue that it offers a fair amount of replayability.

There aren’t many games aimed at this age range and it’s thoroughly refreshing to find one that allows me to play on the 360 with my daughter without worrying about violence or foul language. Another bonus is that there are no complex controls to master. Once Upon A Monster is an interactive version of the popular TV show that many of us grew up with – and it’s great seeing the characters come to life in front of your eyes. It’s heartily recommended.

*Reviewed on Xbox 360

Video: Proof That FIFA 12 Is Realistic

2011-11-16T23:44:00.005Z

We at Megabits are great fans of the FIFA series and loved the latest instalment. With such a packed roster of players and matches that feature realistic movements and skills, we never had any doubt that EA's footy game was an accurate rendition of the beautiful game.

If any of you out there had doubts, however, check out this video... It just goes to show that they've captured the some of the world's top players perfectly. Here's an homage to England international Emile Heskey.

Review: Sonic Generations

2011-11-16T20:17:00.007Z

Few people, myself included, thought that we’d ever see SEGA’s spiky blue hedgehog return to form and give those other gaming mascots a run for their money once again. But just as the old fella reaches his 20th birthday, he dusts off his trademark trainers and marks the event with the release of Sonic Generations. Thankfully, we can all breath a collective sigh of relief as the latest addition to his long list of self-titled outings is a thoroughly enjoyable romp that will leave his fans grinning from ear to ear. Even the 3D segments are fun to play – unlike many of his recent appearances (yeah, we’re looking at you, Sonic Unleashed!)

The opening movie sees Sonic’s cutesy friends springing a surprise birthday party on our hero. But all too quickly, the celebrations turn to chaos when all his animal chums are sucked through strange time portals by some angry-looking demonic creature. It’s then up to the world’s most famous blue mammal to tie up those shoelaces, rev up those legs and race off to find them.

The time holes not only transport our hero back to the past but also see him cross paths with his older self, opening up the opportunity for SEGA to not only to make use of some of the best bits of the series but also to give us the chance to step into the shoes of both classic 2D Sonic, with his trademark spin-dash attack, and his modern self with his Sonic Boost move. This epic journey is a tribute to all those past escapades, taking him back to some old haunts with all those familiar ramps, platforms, springs and loops. The game is heavily influenced by Sonic’s past exploits and features reworked levels from his various games over the past 20 years, from the original 1991 Megadrive classic to the more recent Unleashed and Colours.

Each zone is split into halves, one is classic 2D fare with the side-scrolling levels providing old Sonic a chance to stretch his legs, while the other is largely a 3D affair. Beyond these two-part Acts and boss levels, side missions and challenges can be accessed through the main hub menu.
The landscapes are many and varied, from Seaside Hill and Sky Sanctuary to Rooftop Run and Planet Wisp. Each has numerous routes, hidden Red Star rings, and bonuses to collect – and every single stage is ridiculously fast! Despite his advancing years, the old boy certainly hasn’t slowed down!

Being a Sonic fan since his debut all those years ago, Green Hill Zone remains a firm favourite in Generations, harking back to the days of old but revamped with plenty of twists, turns and tunnels. But for me, it’s the City Escape zone that perhaps deserves the plaudits. The classic Sonic portion is well worked but it’s the modern 3D level that will bring many a fond memory from Dreamcast owners, as we smash through cars and skate down sloping San Francisco-like streets. City Escape sees you chased by a crazed trucker like in the classic Spielberg movie DUEL.

It looks awesome, with the juggernaut zooming between the fore- and background as Sonic sprints to the finish line (the driver has some cool buzz saws at his disposal in the 3D version too, which makes everything a little more hectic!). Grab a skateboard and things seem to get even faster, but it doesn’t matter – the camera zooming in and out to cater for the unrelenting velocity. It’s a really well-worked level, with the two stages offering a really nice blend of old and new.

There are plenty of stages, and improving scores and completing the various sections unlocks upgrades, artwork and and allows access to the original Sonic game – it’s an awesome package for fans.

Beyond the main single player game, there are also two new modes: 30 Second Trial and Ranking Attack. The former is exactly as the name suggests, giving the player just half a minute to see how far they can race through a level. A marker is then set down and you and friends can try to better it. Simple but addictive fun. The Ranking Attack mode challenges players to complete a stage as fast as possible with their score posted to an online leaderboard; compare your times and try to beat everyone else’s.

There’s plenty packed onto this disc to keep you occupied and there’s always the urge to find hidden routes, improve your scores and collect as many rings as possible. The hidden Red Star Rings and challenges certainly add to the replayability factor.

After years of promise, Sonic is back to his best. Sonic Generations captures exactly what SEGA’s iconic character is all about. This is a brilliant game with something for everyone; it’s fast, there’s plenty to do and loads to bring a smile to your face – especially if you were one of those gamers who were with him when he started his journey two decades ago.

*Reviewed on Xbox 360

Review - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

2011-11-12T12:31:00.013Z

The rousing success of 2009’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves left Naughty Dog in a slight predicament. On one hand the studio had created a masterful sequel that improved on its highly capable predecessor in every department; it was a cinematic thrill ride that subsequently set the benchmark for all action adventure games. On the other, our expectations for the inevitable third instalment were now stratospheric.

Naughty Dog has made no secret of the intense pressure it is under to deliver with Drake’s Deception. Much of this is of course self-imposed due to the impeccably high standards the developer has set for itself. But Uncharted now has an allegiant fan base that expects number three to eclipse one of this generation’s finest titles. Nathan Drake’s latest adventure is certainly under intense scrutiny. Among Thieves passed the “difficult second album” test with flying colours and to universal appraisal. However, in all forms of media we’ve witnessed a triumphant sequel later followed by an altogether less inspiring outing. Drake’s Deception doesn’t disappoint because of a lack of effort or care poured in to it, but it’s missing that magic that marked the evolutionary leap from the first to the second incarnations of the series. Perhaps then it’s to its testament - that despite the almost inevitable failure to have a similar impact as its esteemed forbearer – it’s still a very good game.

Much of Uncharted’s appeal lies in the superb characterisation of its protagonists. Nathan Drake may indeed be a cocksure, wise-cracking lead, but he’s fundamentally an affable sort of bloke. Despite the spiralling body count and explosive Hollywood inspired set pieces, he’s far from the generic muscle-bound action heroes we’ve become all too accustomed to. He makes mistakes. His vulnerability is often exposed. And, most tellingly in Drake’s Deception, he starts to question his own motives. Although this sits at complete odds with the relentless gunplay, it’s refreshing to control a character that - at least in part - you can relate to. Gears of War’s testosterone fuelled killing machines do their job peerlessly, but the ill conceived Dom and Maria saga in GOW2 all but proved that storytelling is far from the series’ strongpoint.

This isn’t the case with Drake’s Deception. Although combat is adequate, almost every facet of it has been produced to greater effect elsewhere (more on that later). However, when it comes to scripting, character chemistry and overall charm (as with Among Thieves before it) it’s exemplary. From playing as a young Drake and understanding the basis of his relationship with series stalwart Sully, to the banter between British hard man, Charlie Cutter, and Nathan - Uncharted 3 is a delight. Although its villains have an archetypal pantomime feel to them, the malignant Marlowe and contemptible Talbot play their parts well in a generally involving plot, complete with cunning twists. The game manages to strike a fine balance between typical light hearted humour and the more dramatic moments it inevitably throws your way. Although nothing quite captures the comic brilliance of the “There’s a guy below you, there’s a guy below you!” moment in UC2’s early stages, there’s plenty of memorable dialogue to enjoy.

Drake’s Deception is no doubt a fine spectacle. You’ll soak up everything that’s going on around you and appreciate its undeniable charisma. However, all too often you’ll feel like a passenger being whisked along for the ride. In other words, Uncharted 3’s strengths have very little correlation to the actual gameplay at all. The result is basic, but adequate mechanics wrapped in a blockbuster exterior. You could argue that Among Thieves used the same template, but it was so unexpected, such a massive leap forward in terms of scale and spectacle that it was hard to fault. Although there are many dazzling set pieces in Drake’s Deception, some wonderfully realised environments and a sustained sense of adventure, the gameplay now feels somewhat rudimentary.

Cover based combat falls short of what Gears of War 3 recently perfected (which defines its experience) and the QTE based melee system pales in comparison to Arkham City’s freeflow brilliance. For all of the epic scenarios that Drake finds himself in (scaling a nose-diving cargo plane, escaping from an inferno in an ancient French chateau or engaged in a horseback gunfight through scorching desert) basic shooting and jumping is the extent of true player interaction.

Drake’s Deception will often throw some cruel and inconsistent difficulty spikes your way too. Grenades rain down; heavily armoured goons outflank you as snipers take potshots from concealed vantage points. Challenge is all well and good but sometimes it all feels a little unfair, especially considering that combat is far from UC3’s finest and most versatile trait. BUT, despite these minor annoyances, despite its mechanics feeling a little outdated now, Drake’s Deception is hard not to love. Its affable characters and involving story make up for its gunplay/fistfight related shortcomings. The beautiful visuals and abundance of epic scenarios often mean that you’ll forget that you’re not really doing that much while they’re occurring anyhow. There are still plenty of ‘wow moments’ playing out in front of your eyes regardless of how truly involved the player is. In that respect Drake’s Deception in no way does a disservice to the Uncharted name and is a worthy instalment in the trilogy.

You always get the nagging feeling that Drake’s Deception is competing with Among Thieves as opposed to capitalising and improving upon it. To be fair, there are few small refinements here and there, but these serve to iron out UC2’s minor flaws (the cumbersome and ill conceived boss battles being the most thankful removal) rather than set it head and shoulders above its predecessor. However, fans of the series will no doubt feel that they’re getting their money’s worth. Drake’s Deception is still a white knuckle ride infused with all the wit, character and charm that series has rightly become renowned for.

Amongst Thieves’ omnipresent shadow still looms, a shadow that Nathan Drake will find incredibly tough to step from. But credit to the studio; it will inevitably keep striving to eclipse the gold standard of action/adventure gaming it set in 2009. Even if Drake’s Deception doesn’t quite manage it - in Naughty Dog’s esteemed hands - the future is still very bright for Uncharted.

*Reviewed on PS3

Review - The House of the Dead: Overkill

2011-11-08T22:12:00.008Z

I used to love playing House of the Dead at the bowling alley. The game's plot played second fiddle to the zombie blasting – as you'd expect – and it was hard as nails. However, I managed to miss Overkill at its initial release, so I didn't know what I was in for. So, it was with some surprise (and delight) I discovered that as soon as you turn on House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut, you're treated to a poledance from a buxom brunette with a six-shooter strapped to her hip. I don't remember that from the bowling alley.

Yes, House of the Dead: Overkill is something of a different animal – and it's a whole hell of a lot of fun. Gone is the grungy, Resident Evil-wannabe storyline, gone are the haunted houses (and those little swamp guys who come from nowhere) – instead, Overkill draws you into a lovingly crafted, grindhouse-based, ridiculous adventure which will make you howl with laughter, even as you stare in wonder at the oddly shoddy graphics.

So, story-wise, Overkill places up to two gamers in the shoes of a mysterious man known as Agent G, and a wise-cracking, incredibly foul mouthed detective called Washington, working to track down a mysterious, psychotic scientist known as 'Papa Ceasar', with assistance from a tattooed ex-stripper called 'Varla Guns'.

Yeah, if you haven't got the joke yet, Overkill doesn't take itself seriously – and it's a damn good thing too. The main campaign is built around a number of set-piece missions, taking you from an abandoned plantation house, or “Papa's House of PAIN!” as the grindhouse-style intro movie screams at you, onwards to a nightclub, casino and strip club, all of which have been overrun by the walking dead. Good thing then, that Washington et al come all tooled up with Magnums, grenades, and any number of upgrades and new weapons to buy with the piles of money dotted around the wide, lengthy missions.

Each of the missions is a good 15 minutes long, allowing your characters to banter (usually Agent G being dumb, and Washington cursing time and time over) and blow away thousands of shuffling, 'mutants'. “We. Don't. Use. The 'Z' word”, as Agent G would put it. This, unfortunately, is where the cracks begin to show in the blasting action. Sure, it's funny and fun to play an old-fashioned, on-rails shooter with such a fine pedigree, but beneath the deliberate grimy filter of the grindhouse feel, the game's graphics are pretty damn shoddy, especially for a PS3 – filter or not, there's no excuse for laziness.

Plus, though rose tinted memories live longest, I distinctly remember having to blast chunks out of the House of the Dead zombies in the bowling alley – not put them down with one shot to the chest, Overkill's just too easy, even on harder difficulties – especially with another player along for the ride. The boss battles are also ridiculously easy, involving repeating the same pattern time and time again, as the game moves your character for you on rails. Sure, the character and enemy design is pretty snappy, but when the boss battles are dull, you know something's up.

Thankfully, outside of the main campaign, the Extended Cut also includes a wide variety of minigames, from shooting ranges to room challenges filling your screen with zombies, and also included is a jukebox of the game's fantastic 60s and 70s score, which is filled to the brim with brilliant tracks – I'd buy a CD of Overkill's music alone, in an instant.

The control scheme - emulating the bowling alley's plastic guns with the PS3's Move controllers - works well enough, as does using the controller's joysticks – though this is, of course, more clunky and awkward. Overall, while Overkill is a simple, enjoyable blaster, it's not one I'd want gracing my shelf permanently. If you're having a drunken party and need a fun, exciting, hilarious blaster with some slow-mo zombie killing action, however... look no further.

*Reviewed on PS3

Review - Batman: Arkham City

2011-11-02T21:47:00.006Z

Superman? Coward – afraid to take the punches (it helps that he's almost invulnerable). Iron Man? Wimp – hiding behind technology and armour. The X-Men? Bunch of nutters – relying on their powers and no true ability.

For me, there's only one superhero who really fits the bill – the Dark Knight himself, Batman. Sure, he has no 'powers' as such – aside from a genius-level intellect and brilliant detective skills... and a high-tech suit, and cool gadgets, and a badass voice... but he's still the best of the bunch.

Good thing, then, that Rocksteady – the team behind the excellent Batman: Arkham Asylum - are back with Arkham City. And it kicks ass. Set shortly after the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City sees the titular hero infiltrating what was once a prosperous area of Gotham City – but which has now become a walled-off nightmare of a place, where supercriminals and lowlifes alike are loose and causing havoc – all overseen by Hugo Strange, a brilliant psychotherapist (and utter nutter). And it doesn't help that he knows Batman's true identity. Sound like a fun place to spend 15+ hours? You'd be right.

Anyone who played Arkham Asylum will feel instantly at home in Arkham City (this is a good thing, as the game drops you right in the action!) and fairly soon gliding between Gotham's huge, imposing architecture on wings shaped like the crime-fighter's namesake will become second nature. And what a city it is. As with the movies, Gotham City itself is the co-star of the action, with huge buildings, underground, scum-filled (figuratively and literally) sewers and soaring vistas aplenty, as well as the mean streets themselves. These are populated by the scum of the city and - as one would expect, with all the series' supervillains in one place – a war has begun. Joker, Penguin and Two-Face are all fighting it out, with each of the trio after one thing or another – and the Dark Knight is in the middle, facing his demons and holding out hope to restore order. Yeah, good luck with that.

And all the while, Batman's irritating, mystery-obsessed foe 'The Riddler' is back on form, and has seeded Arkham City with numerous riddles, puzzles and clues for the Dark Knight to follow and solve, offering just one of any number of side-missions to keep you busy. These can range from answering a phone to a convicted serial killer, using your high-tech gear to solve a murder or simply taking our some video cameras with a perfectly timed batarang, and serve as a nice pace-breaker from the mainstream action.

As one would expect of a crime-fighting legend, Batman comes tooled up with all the best in gadgets, from batclaw to batarangs to smoke pellets to escape wily bad guys - and even more gadgets are up for grabs as the game goes on through a robust experience and upgrade system. The combat's also been ramped up this time around, with each gadget having a spot in 'quickfire' controls for the melee. While it's easy to mess up the combination you were looking for, using these becomes second nature pretty quickly, and Batman's astounding agility will take your breath away as he easily disarms and downs his foes in true showboating style. I still feel, however, that the combat is still a bit too simple in the long-run, but that's only a minor quibble, as taking out 15 thugs without breaking a sweat is still an awesome experience.

The other part of Batman's modus operandi – stalking from the shadows – is also back in style, and Arkham City offers a huge variety of intimidation moves for the wily gamer, allowing Batman to stalk from high above, offing thugs one by one as the panic sets in among them.It's an amazingly cool feeling, and one you'll want to repeat again and again. Handily, there's more than one way to do so, as besides the lengthy and engrossing campaign mode, Arkham City also features the game's signature 'challenge' modes – combat or stealth based challenge rooms which task the Dark Knight with taking down thugs fast or silently, and offers online leaderboards to compare scores. Plus if you buy the special edition of the game (or purchase an activation code if you buy second-hand) you can also play through these challenge modes as Batman's sidekick, Robin, or the sultry Catwoman – a master thief, both of which have their own distinctive movement and combat sets, weapons and gadgets. Catwoman also has her own story missions, which tie into the main campaign and serve as a nice break from the elbow-bashing style of Batman's way. Riddler has also filled Arkham City with trophies and challenges for her to find, which extends the experience still further.

As for the graphics - Arkham City is simply glorious. The huge space the game occupies is beautifully modelled, from moody skies to black waters in the docklands, and looks stunning as you glide through it on wings of fabric and fear. The animation is also excellent, from combat to movement, and there are practically no graphical bugs to be seen. Then there's the sound, which is engrossing in both sound effects and score, featuring crunching beats for combat and eerie moans for Batman's signature brooding atop a gargoyle (of which there are, once again, far too many for one city...).

And don't get me started on the voice acting. Batman (Kevin Conroy) is spot on once again, and the insanity of Mark Hamill (real or just acting, I wonder..?) as the Joker was amazing to listen to - the two of them playing off against each other beautifully. And right beside them was a huge variety of talent, lending a credence to Arkham City's characters, good and bad, that bought it to life.

All in all, Arkham City improves on Arkham Asylum in every way. Everything's bigger and brighter, there's more to see and do, a huge campaign mode, challenges and riddles to solve, two other playable characters - and so much fan service the game's practically a love letter to Batman fans. Buy it now, you won't regret it. "I'm Batman" – and you can be too.

30 Minute Playtest: Uncharted 3

2011-10-31T20:39:00.001Z

Sublime. That's how best to describe our time-limited playtest of arguably one of the most anticipated games of 2011. Nathan Drake is back - a little chubbier and older than before, but still sporting his trademark wit, acrobatic tendencies and puzzle-solving skills. It's testament to the brilliance of the game that we became so engrossed that we forgot all about our self-imposed 30 minute manacles, instead playing into the night.

Nevertheless, for the purposes of this article, the first half an hour was thoroughly memorable so it's no problem relaying our experiences here (mild spoilers ahead).

Importantly, shove the shiny disc into your PS3 and Uncharted 3 instantly feels comfortable - fans of the series will quickly realise that little appears to have changed from Among Thieves... and that comes as somewhat of a relief.

The graphics are typically crisp, with the screen awash with colour and detail. It looks absolutely awesome and draws you in. Naughty Dog combines this striking aesthetic with incidental music to create a thoroughly cinematic experience. Once again, they have perfectly captured that Hollywood feel; cut scenes explain the back story but merge well with the action sequences, the scripting is tight and the story is strong enough to draw comparisons with the plot of a whip-wielding Harrison Ford movie.

The first few levels that fell within this playtest combined fist fighting, gunplay, puzzle solving and lots and lots of climbing, shimmying and ledge leaping. It's all very Uncharted 2 - but you can't have too much of a good thing, can you? Even the QTE - the bugbear of many - is discreet and well worked.

The game starts with Nate and his trusty sidekick Sully propping up the bar in some London pub. What starts as a pleasant meeting with another purveyor of antiquities quickly turns into a brawl - giving players an insight into the hand to hand combat. There's very little time to pause for breath in the opening scenes and before long you'll be throwing people out of windows, slamming heads into toilet seats and getting shot at!

Besides the strong visuals, it strikes you from the start that the voice acting is once again perfectly cast - from Nate's usual banter to the cheeky cockney chappies who fill the bar.

The brief flashback level that followed was a particular favourite of ours, whisking us off to Cartagena, Colombia, where we fill the shoes of a young Nate. It explains his first meeting with Sully after a chance encounter while scoping out a museum. It's all very well done and within no time, you're running along the rooftops trying to escape some gun-toting hoods. It's fast, exciting and great fun. There are even nice little touches with the interactive backgrounds and environments, like when Nate clatters into a box of lemons; it's things like this that really suck you in. Similarly, the character animations are spot on - and you'll take great delight in watching as you dive from ledges or swing to nearby lamp posts.

To question whether Uncharted 3 was worth the wait is ludicrous. It's an awesome game and suffice to say, 30 minutes play time is barely enough to scratch the surface. Should you continue after the first half an hour? Don't be daft... you'd be a fool not to.

Dark Souls: Beginners Tips

2011-10-31T10:57:00.001Z

Part of the brilliance of Dark Souls is that it’s hard to find something new to say about it. It is a game that divides opinion, but provides a unifying experience. Everyone who has played it has felt the same sensations in pretty much the same order: bewilderment, amusement, tension, frustration, despair and triumph. And all that is long before you reach the open world area where the game actually begins.

In many ways, that’s part of the fun. Dark Souls is a great leveller, if you’ll pardon the RPG pun. From the hardened RPG player to the twitchy-thumbed teen who’s been lured away from Call of Duty by all the Dark Souls hype, to the ‘jobbing gamer’ who tries a bit of everything, all of them will have the same experience: Dark Souls will kill them. And they’ll want to talk about how it killed them.

They’ll talk about the how painful it was the first time they lost more than a 1000 souls. They’ll talk about how painful it was the twentieth time they lost more than a 1000 souls. They’ll talk about how they got so despairing that they devoted several hours to level grinding, only to discover that it makes no difference if you haven’t mastered the fundamentals of Dark Soul’s extremely tricky, pattern-and-patience based combat. Gamers often have big, fragile egos, and they bristle easily in defence of their choice of console or favoured game. Dark Souls does away with all of that. The best players in the world will find some common ground with the worst.

I speak as one of the worst. I love games, have done for years, but I’ll admit that my slow, barely dextrous thumbs prevent me from being a power player. I get through games using perseverance and patience rather than panache. Which is fortunate, as that’s exactly what you need for Dark Souls.

I often talk about the sensation of progress being the most important part of gaming. The sense that you’re getting somewhere, that your ability to do things opens up new and interesting things to do. My benchmark for this has always been Resident Evil 2 - a game where you go from streets to cop shop to sewers to waystation to lab. Your efforts are given a constant in-game reward: you’re no longer where you started, you have progressed. It’s funny then, that I have fallen head over heels for Dark Souls, a game that revels in stalling your progress.

I have been playing for nine hours so far. That’s not very long, but think of it this way: I finished the last two Call of Duty’s combined in less time than that. I finished Medal of Honour in less time than that. And Bioshock. And Batman: Arkham Asylum. And the last three Fight Nights. And Split/Second Velocity. Obviously, RPGs always eat up more time than any other genre, but eight hours is long enough that you’d expect to be some distance into the game. I haven’t got past the second boss. My current spawn point is two courtyards and two stairwells away from said boss. In terms of travel time, my character could reach the boss in barely a minute. I’ve been stuck there for about six hours. I’ve tried level grinding. I’ve tried backtracking to explore other areas. I’ve tried half a dozen different weapons, from ranged, to explosive to melees. The end result is that I’ve died dozens of times, and made only modest progress.

With any other game, that would be enough to make you jack it all in, but while Dark Souls pays rough, it also plays fair. Each time you die, you learn something new. You pick up on the timing of an opponent’s thrusts and parries, or you find a shortcut that allows you to strike from afar and behind. Inch by inch, millimetre by millimetre, you win small victories, you master a formerly unbeatable foe and improve your ability to locate the next challenge. The feeling of triumph you get from these moments are what keep you playing. The game is an arduous, frustrating grind, but it never hits you with a cheap shot: when you die, it’s because you got something wrong. Equally, when you win, it’s because you got something right, unlike many games where you progress because the lead developer is a frustrated film director who wants you to lead you by the hand to his next cutscene. In a game that refuses to tell you what various items are for, which hits you with a convoluted menu system, and won’t let you pause, the knowledge that you’re making even incremental progress in the face such obstruction is deeply rewarding.

I’m going back in now. I’ve spent several hours failing to reach a boss. I’ve now learned how to reach him every time. Next I’ll spend hours being defeated by him. Then I’ll learn how to beat him. And my victory over only the second boss of the game will give me greater satisfaction than every FPS I’ve ever finished.

So, if I’ve got you convinced, here are my Dark Souls Tips:

1. The internet is your friend
Researching games before you play them usually leads to spoilers and a lack of satisfaction. Not here. This game is so hard that failing to prepare will mean that you get nowhere. You need to know the basics going in-what character to build, how the levelling works, and what not to do. For example, never, ever attack anyone who isn’t trying to kill you. Other RPGs will let you work around an inadvertently killed quest giver or merchant, but in Dark Souls, if you annoy a merchant that’s it-no arrows or firebombs for the rest of the game.

2. Watch your weight
Your character has an equipment load that dictates the maximum amount of weight you can have equipped. That’s a limit, not a threshold. If you’re using a quarter of your equip load, you’ll slow down. If you use half of it you’ll be sluggish and barely able to dodge. Forget the RPG tradition of wearing the heaviest armour you can find and selling when something better comes along, that extra weight will mean extra deaths. Only equip what you're strong enough to use. Keep the rest in your inventory or the bottomless box, you need to travel light until you've buffed your stats enough to use that Zweihander without paying a speed penalty.

3. Magic early, melee late
Unlike most RPGs, choosing a character type doesn’t restrict you from rebuilding them as the game progresses. You’re not stuck with the old wizard, thief or soldier template. This is handy, as the early stages of Dark Souls are best played using magic, while the later stages suit a more melee oriented character. Start as a Pyromancer, spend a couple of levels buffing your basic skills, then gradually switch to rebuilding yourself into a nimble sword swinger.

4. Restore your humanity early
Your character in Dark Souls is Undead, cursed to constantly return to life after death, while slowly deteriorating into a hollow, inhuman shell. Dotted around the game you’ll find crystals that can restore your humanity, which will allow you to summon other players for help, leave messages and advice for other players and, most importantly, increase the chances that foes will drop items. This can be hugely important. Turning human at the Firelink Shrine allowed us to snaffle a far better shield than we should have had at that early stage of the game. We lost our humanity a few deaths later, but we’re still using the shield.

5. The internet is NOT your friend
When you’re reading messages left by other players, the rating is almost as important as the content. There are places in the game where, for example, you’ll find a message advising you to jump off a precipice. Do so and you’ll find a ledge, some loot and a new route. Great. Half an hour later a different precipice will bear the same advice, only this time it will be a lie, and you’ll plunge to your death, losing souls and humanity in the bargain. I like to think these malicious messages are left by CoDbrats despairing at playing a game that won’t let them be instantly ‘733t’. In any case, the ratings left on messages are vital in helping you decide whether to trust them or not.

Interview: The Adventures of Tintin

2011-10-30T09:00:00.002Z

Tintin has been adored across the world since he was created over a century ago by Belgian artist Georges Rémi (who wrote under the pen name of Hergé). Today the intrepid detective and his pet dog begin a new adventure with a blockbuster movie and game adaptation.

Megabits' Michael Gordon - editor of Charged Middle East magazine - spoke to the men that reanimated the tale...

Hergé’s famed comic book detective Tintin finally gets his ten minutes in the limelight with the launch of Paramount Pictures movie adaptation and Ubisoft’s themed game. Both movie and game are entitled ‘The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn’ and producers Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy ensured that the movie and the game were developed simultaneously and in close collaboration. Both Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson explain why they got involved and how they realised Hergé’s weird and wonderful world.

Spielberg said: “I first became aware of Tintin when I finished filming Raiders of the Lost Ark. Although it was all in French, that didn’t matter as I still understood it.” Whereas, Jackson said: “I was first introduced by a friend of my mothers and over the course of the next 12 years I managed to collect every single Tintin book. “The game has that same exploration quality to it and you literally enter the world of the characters.”

When asked about the game development team Jackson said that working with Ubisoft was terrific. “We thought we would let them show us a thing or two about how to create a great game and how to honour a great artist like Hergé,” added Spielberg. Jackson said that while the world of the game was based around the film it also allows the player to expand the universe further than the movie. “Sometimes games can take you on new adventures that aren’t even part of the film. To me, that makes a really great companion to a movie.

“One of the keys to The Adventures of Tintin the game is the fact that each character has their own abilities and skills and you use those abilities to further the game and to help other characters. So often people think of video games as being a solitary activity but that is not the case and they can be a lot fun for the whole family and that’s how we approached this.” The resulting game will give old and new Tintin fans the opportunity to relive the key moments of the movie as well as to enjoy fun cooperative adventures and multiplayer challenges. It features high-quality graphics, environments, characters and gameplay in line with the movie’s innovative graphics and production.

The game features three different modes: Solo, Cooperative and Challenge, for more than 20 hours of total game time. The Solo Mode of the game follows the events of the movie that blends, in one great adventure, various elements of Hergé’s original Tintin comic books The Crabe with Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure. Players will re-discover the movie’s enchanting environments, such as Captain Haddock’s ship the Karaboudjan, Ben Salaad’s Palace or the exotic city of Bagghar. The solo game is a unique blend of platforming, exploration, puzzle-solving and “exotic gameplays” such as swordfighting, ace combat and side-car driving. Players will embody Tintin, the intrepid reporter, and other main characters, each having its own personality and skills. Other sidekicks will appear when help is needed.

From start to finish, the Cooperative Mode is staged in Captain Haddock’s dream world. In the space of a few days, the captain has been transformed from an ‘old wreck languishing at sea’ to the direct descendant of a famous knight to the king. The captain’s dreams are pretty hectic and he has to try to get his thoughts in order. Players get to play Tintin, Captain Haddock, Snowy, Bianca Castafiore, Thompson and Thomson or Sir Francis Haddock and have to help each other to solve new mysteries. They have to combine their skills and collect treasures to unlock new exciting levels.

The third mode is the Challenge Mode, dedicated to all who are looking for a little extra competition. Leveraging the sword fighting, side-car driving and ace combat gameplays, it allows players to confront themselves to the AI and try to beat each other’s scores.

Last but not least, the Xbox 360 version supports Kinect while the PlayStation 3 version supports Move, and specific features have been developed to take advantage of both accessories’ intuitive controls.

To understand the nuts n’bolts of the game’s development we sat down and had a chat with Drew Quakenbush, Senior Producer. Drew is an avid gamer who pursued his passions by joining EA Canada in 2004 where he has produced titles such as EA Sports Rugby 2006, Fight Night 3 Facebreaker and Fight Night 4. In 2009 Drew became the Senior Producer for The Adventures of Tintin, The Game, and so he was the ideal man to quiz. Quakenbush began by explaining the game follows the style of the movie over the comic books: “We really wanted to give the player the opportunity to relive most of the key moments of the movie, so most of the characters and environments are the same. “The game was developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, and that development team has extensive experience working on quality ‘movie games’. They have worked on the official game of Peter Jackson’s King Kong the movie.

“All the elements of this game have been developed by Ubisoft but as we are the game of the movie, we have had the chance to work in close collaboration with the film makers. They shared with us the elements of the movie we needed to develop our game and we had regular meetings with them to show the early versions of our game. “But our game is of course longer than the movie, so we added inspiration from the comics to enrich the solo game and for many gameplay elements. We introduced new environments, new characters and a fun cooperative mode, based on Captain Haddock’s dreams.”

According to Quakenbush, pretty much all the game developers were fans of the comic books! He added: “Ubisoft Montpellier is a French studio and most of the developers have grown up with Tintin. It was a real pleasure for us to dive into the universe of our childhood hero. It was demanding because in order to work on the game properly we had to do a lot of research to understand precisely Hergé’s universe. It was also full of good surprises because — as grown-ups — we rediscovered Herge’s work, its depth, and how it is universally understandable and appealing for both adults and kids. The game has been designed to appeal to all age groups, as well as fans and newcomers to the Tintin world, according to Quakenbush.

“Our game can appeal to anyone. Those who saw the movie and enjoyed it will be pleased to dive again into its universe, and play as Tintin, the intrepid reporter and hero of the action-packed movie or his quick-witted dog Snowy. If you’re looking for an action/adventure game that is both immersive and interactive to share with friends or family, then this game is made for you. We also believe that fans of the Tintin comic books will enjoy it because we respected Hergé’s work and values.”

Quakenbush stated that it has been a real pleasure to work with the huge talents of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, and that they were very much hands-on in the development of this game. He said: “We had various meetings at the Weta studios and in L.A. with the filmmakers and were given access to the movie script, 3D models and environments. They gave us very constructive feedback on the visuals, animations and script throughout the complete three year development. “We often had ‘expert’ conversations such as: should Haddock’s moustache cover all of his mouth? It was so funny and weird to discuss this with Peter Jackson! Same thing regarding the size of the noses of our characters! These may seem to be small details but our objective was really to find a perfect balance between Herge’s characters and the artistic direction of the movie. We feel we’ve accomplished this and are very happy with how well the video game adheres to the creative direction in movie and in the original comics.”

Quakenbush added: “But, our biggest challenge was to create a fun, interactive and immersive game that would respect both the content of the movie and the spirit of the comics. “But more than a challenge, working on this game has been a great and exciting adventure. It is not that often that developers have the chance to create a game based on an icon of their childhood and on a movie directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy.”

Michael Gordon is editor of Charged Middle East magazine, a leading Dubai-based gadgets and games title that provides news, reviews and features on the latest home and consumer electronics. For more about the magazine, visit its Facebook page after the jump. Check out this article and many more in the November issue.

Games that should be scary...but aren’t.

2011-10-29T22:36:00.005+01:00

The horror genre is a Frankenstein’s monster stitched together from some very disparate parts. For every inventive effort like Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, skin crawler like Limbo or out-and-out pants wetter like Amnesia, there’s a gun-toting mis-step like Resident Evil 5, a horror game that forgets to do anything scary. Now that it’s Halloween the TV is full of scary movies and the internet is full of scary game lists, so we thought we’d buck the trend and bring you our list of horror games that just aren’t scary. Some of them are bad, some of them are brilliant, but all of them could happily be played in the dark without unease...

Dead Space 2
You know how we said that some of these games were brilliant? Well Dead Space 2 certainly qualifies. Isaac Clarke’s second battle with the mutated undead features many improvements over the already impressive original; there’s a greater sense of purpose, new weapons, more variety to the environments and some excellent zero G sections. Despite all that, however, it never musters the fear that Dead Space managed. Both games rely on excellent sound design and the diminishing returns of shock value, but where Dead Space pulled unstoppable bosses, wandering tentacles and claustrophobic stalker sequences from its sleeves every time the old it’s-not-really-dead trick wore thin, Dead Space 2 seemed content to be a little more action-oriented. We actually preferred it to Dead Space, but it didn’t give us the fear.

Condemned 2
First person melee combat is rarely a success, and the Condemned series deserves some recognition for pulling it off effectively. Filling the city first with homicidal hobos, then with homicidal anybodies is a grand idea, one that leaves you feeling constantly threatened, while the visceral thuds and splats of the combat get you right in the gut. Sadly, the other thing that gets you right in the gut is the head-bob effect. We at Megabits have hardy stomachs, we think that curried seafood and espresso is a perfectly acceptable breakfast, our guts can take whatever you want to dish out, but ten minutes into Condemned 2 and we felt like we’d drunk a bottle of engine oil. Between shoddy textures, lifeless environments and the inability to play for more than ten minutes at a stretch, Condemned never had a chance to wrap us up in its grubby, rag draped horror.

Dead Rising
It’s actually to Dead Rising’s credit that it’s not very scary. When your setting is so clearly paying tribute to the end-of-the-world classic Dawn of the Dead then you need to find a tone of your own in order to avoid being a rip-off rather than an homage. Dead Rising has the irresistible odds, the inescapable setting and the unpredictable humans that made Dawn of the Dead so terrifying, but it also has a photographer in a summer dress and sunhat bludgeoning mall zombies with a cash register (how meta). The endless combinations of silly outfits, colourful characters and ridiculous weaponry constantly defuse the tension, and the game is all the better for it.

FEAR 2
Ah, F.E.A.R. An unexpected classic, a game that took that most gung-ho of genres, the FPS, and replaced all its bombast with spooky apparitions, convincingly human and crafty AI, and a general sense of dread. Such a shame that F.E.A.R 2 decided to do away will all the spine tingling dread and replace it with Mech-Suit battles in which your miniguns and rockets mow down entire rifle brigades of enemy cannon fodder. It was fun, but it wasn’t scary. Also, and all developers need to take note of this, there comes a point when blood might as well be red paint. If you want gore to still be bothering me by the end of the game, it’s better not to inure me to it in the first five minutes.

Metro 2033
A rusting, frozen post-apocalyptic world. Dark, half-collapsed tunnels, and howling skinless mutants, radioactively booted off the evolutionary ladder at a point somewhere between animal and human. With humanity already on the brink of extinction, the stakes, setting and monsters of Metro 2033 should have combined into one terrifying whole. Maybe they did, but you’ll never notice, as you’ll spend the entire game working the bicycle pump that powers your insubstantial air gun, rather than using the real bullets that double up as currency and therefore must be saved. This tension adding concept must have looked great on paper, but in practice it knocked the game’s balance just far enough off kilter to become irritating, and that constant annoyance was enough to distract you from any potential scares on offer.

Rise of Nightmares
Our hearts were certainly pounding throughout SEGA's Rise of Nightmares but that was largely due to the frustration of trying to use Kinect to navigate those dungeons. Walking into a wall repeatedly while being chased by a blood splattered nurse, only to turn randomly and walk into her repeatedly had an almost Benny Hill feel to it. What is scary is that some people still believe that FPS games could eventually be controlled using Microsoft's clever camera. We hope it's true but based on our experience with the beasties in Eastern Europe, we have our doubts right now. (Make sure you watch the video below!).

(Photo: Pedro J. Ferreira)

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