Being of a certain age, I can remember when video games didn’t have a story line to rival a Hollywood movie or visuals that make looking out the window boring, but they were engaging in a completely different way. They were difficult. In today’s gaming market, each title ups the ante in terms of graphics or a plot line that has more twists than a John Terry love triangle but is it really necessary? Enter Limbo, a game that has its roots firmly in the titles of yester year (The Lemmings are even more depressed!) The game is a puzzle/platformer hybrid that doesn’t rely on a complicated plot line to keep you hooked. The opening sequence of the game is that of a little boy with bright shining eyes, waking up in a desolate and not so welcoming forest. Everything in the world of Limbo, including our miniature hero, is painted in shades of black and grey and the white shining eyes are sometimes the only distinguishable feature. The back rounds or lack thereof, add to the sense of foreboding and loss that the game is expertly crafting and the effect is to keep you hooked in the gloomy world and focus your ...

Its been along time since I've sat down with a side scrolling beat’em up , maybe i’m just nostalgic or possibly getting older but i have to say i miss them. So it came as a nice surprise when the guys over at EA dropped Shank on my door step. (get your filthy minds out of the gutter!) The world has gotten used to the 3D age of Ninja Gaiden and God of War, but Klei Interactive aims to roll back the years. What Shank has done is shown us what we’ve been missing all these years from the genre. It brings back the enjoyment of pumping an arcade machine full of 20P’s all those years ago. At the core of it.. Shank is nothing new in terms of gameplay and innovation, we’ve seen the type before but you have not played such an enjoyable shooter/beat’em up in a long time. Its bloody, violent and down right sick in parts, but this only adds to the fun on offer. When you play it you will find yourself thinking of different games of years gone by that it reminds you of. Its like Earthworm Jim HD, that type of game but for a ...

Lara Croft is back and this time she is dropping the Tomb Raider name and setting out on a new adventure with the Guardian of Light.  In recent years the Tomb Raider games have waived a bit and entered into a by the numbers formula, I’ve been a big fan of the series since the beginning and I thought the last few games where a bit sub par.  Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is back to basics and it’s a welcome return as far as I'm concerned. This time out Lara has accidentally resurrected the big bad ancient god Xolotl and has to do what any hero worth her salt would and send the demon back from whence he came.  So off she goes to put things right through an enjoyable mix of shooting, jumping and puzzle solving.  The Graphics are great for an Arcade game, gone is the over the shoulder view we have become accustomed to in recent years.  This time the game employs a top down isometric view of the extremely detailed levels.  The view works great and gives you a satisfying overview of your surroundings when solving puzzles and shooting up the oncoming waves of ...

It’s always hard to review games based on sports you don’t know much about.  I’ve always had this problem with American Football games.  I’ve watched it on TV a few times over the years and always enjoyed it, I can’t claim to know all the rules of the game inside out, but I know the basics and that’s enough for me.  If I'm being honest I would probably say most of the rules I have picked up are from playing American Football games in the past.  I may not be the biggest fan of the sport, but I love the games and they are great fun to play with a few friends. Madden NFL 11 is one of these games that is pretty easy to pick up and start throwing the pigskin around.  If your new to the series you can fire up the game and start playing straight away.  The interface is quick to understand and easy for new players to see what’s the what, players have bright easy to see buttons over their heads, they run and you press that button to throw the ball to them.  Simple.  On the other side of the coin you stop those guys ...

Backbreaker is Natural Motion’s first foray into the world of sports and its hoped that their application of the Euphoria engine would provide gamers with a more realistic take on the game. Is Backbreaker hard enough to tackle Madden in the American football stakes or has the physics engine left them limp and crushed on the field? Seeing as this is the developer’s first attempt at a major sports game, and lacking the official NFL license, kudos has to be given to them for trying to take a realistic approach to the physics of the sport. The Euphoria engine has been used to great effect in games such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and GTA IV, and adds a level of realism to the way in which character models react to the player’s actions. It has to be said that this experiment with Backbreaker has been very successful. Tackles hit hard and each hit affects the characters differently every time. There’s no repetition here and combined with the Phys-X engine, it is an altogether impressive feat. The one problem with the physics engine is that at times it seems as though the players are drunk, tripping up over each other and ...

Another year, another Summer of Arcade on Xbox LIVE and 4 weeks in it seems we have the best Arcade game since Battlefield 1943, I am of course talking about Uber Entertainments first game Monday Night Combat It takes place in a distant future when clones fighting clones fighting robots has become somewhat of a TV game show. The game feels like Team Fortress 2, but is a hell of a lot easier to play. You have the choice of 2 game modes, Blitz and Crossfire. Blitz is a Horde type game mode, which consists of a number of players defending their MoneyBall from waves of robots using Turrets that can be upgraded or using the players skills and weapons. Crossfire is a 6v6 game mode which has two teams of players trying to destroy the opposing teams Moneyball. Skills can be upgraded by using money from killing robots. There are 6 different classes a player can choose from - Assault, Sniper, Assassin, Gunner, Support, and Tank with each class having their own different skills and weapons. The Assault is a general all-rounder who is equipped with a machine gun and grenade launcher. He can hover which can be very useful as he ...

Hydro Thunder Hurricane is the long awaited sequel to the classic Midway hit Hydro Thunder. The First game was Launched over 10 years ago in the arcades, and then ported over to Dreamcast, N64 and the Playstation. Vector Unit developed a brand new game engine for the sequel and i have to say its very impressive indeed.The water effects are some of the best I’ve seen in any game. Hydro Thunder is a speedboat racer that offers something a little different than the usual affair. For starters the tracks are not your typical racecourses, they have more in common with all action theme park where the environment is your soul enemy. Your powerboat morphs into a mean machine at intervals, which makes your boat reach crazy speeds. Surprisingly I really enjoyed this game.. I wasn’t expecting too much from it mainly because I’m not too pushed on water sport games. It has that fun factor that so many games try for but fail miserably. My first thoughts when I played it was it reminded me of the fun I had with Trials HD, uncomplicated fun!. The game controls are just about right, they are forgiving but just enough so its still a ...

The Tiger Woods PGA Tour series has been the number one Golf Sim for many a year and surprisingly enough this one has surpassed any of its predecessors in so many ways. I don’t think I am overstating the mark to say that this is about as close as you’re going to get to a round of golf with your analogue controller. One of the most striking things about the game is that although there is this feel of realism, the controls aren’t fussy and with the tutorial the game is very easy to pick up. Ok first things first, to play a round of golf you need to have a golfer so the obvious first port of call is the character set up. As you would imagine Tiger Woods has no competitors in terms of power and accuracy and would be the obvious choice but given that the game comes with digital camera support I decided to give the Tiger a run for his money! Besides Mr Woods there are more than 25 top professionals including Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington to choose from giving you plenty of options. Another good reason to set up your own character is that ...

Football Genius is the brainchild of RTL Sports and I-Imagine Interactive. The game, as the name suggests is the "ULTIMATE QUIZ" (voice over by the X-Factor guy) featuring thousands of trivia questions. As you would have come to expect from this type of game it is in the party play genre and there isn't a lot of action to speak of but the interface is very sleek and works well. The addition of your avatar also adds a little more to the experience but as I said this is what we have come to expect from this genre of game but it does work well. Given the topic and the line of questions, its probably fair to say this one is aimed primarily at men and more specifically those who think they know all there is to know about the greatest game on earth (no bias here!) but the rounds are designed well and sometimes a guess will get you across the line even when your not entirely sure of the answer. I did notice though that once a line of questions is taken it seems to stick to that line throughout the rounds, what I mean, is that if you ...

I loved the first Crackdown.  The original was like Marmite, you either loved it or hated it.  It split people right up the middle.  For me, the thoughts of jumping from the top of one building to another making your way across the city just appealed, I enjoyed the hell out of collecting all the agility orbs scattered throughout the landscape and who didn’t love the satisfying “Bing” when you picked one up.  The game sold bucket loads, a lot of people say this was down to the inclusion of the Halo 3 Beta code contained in new copies of the game but to be honest I would have bought it anyways. I enjoyed the sequel as much as the first.  Everything I loved about the original is back here again but with some added extras. Pacific City has been over run by freaks, zombie looking dudes of various size and flavour running around the place by night intent on reeking havoc wherever they wander.  As an Agent it’s up to you to activate the various generators located around the city which will send a wave of sunburst out and destroy the mutant freak menace.  Taking place about 10 years after the ...