Episode 105
On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel we review Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings and Damnation, take a look at the news about Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, Final Fantasy VII and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, plus we are giving away an Xbox 360 gaming bundle just for becoming a fan on the official Gamesweasel Facebook page. On the blog this week we’ve got SUDOKU 150 For Challengers, Lux Pain review, Microsoft E3 roundup and how to get free Xbox Live points codes.

• Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 lineup
• Final Fantasy VII sales figures
• Uncharted 2 wins best of E3
• Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings review
• Win Xbox 360 gaming bundle
• Damnation review
• Darksiders interview with developer Joe Madureira from Vigil Games review

Buy
To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Damnation Amazon and Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings Amazon pages.

Offers
This weeks episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you in association with GoDaddy and offers you discounts on hosting and domain names. Use one of the following Gamesweasel July 2009 GoDaddy codes to save you money – WEASEL1 gets you 10% off domain name purchases and WEASEL2 gets you 20% off orders over $50 or £25. Some restrictions may apply, please see the GoDaddy web site for more details.

Win
We have an Xbox 360 gaming bundle to give away by 13 July 2009, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

Contact us
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Screenshots

YouTube Damnation review

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Look at the box or the screenshots for Damnation and it appears pretty cool. It looks like a sort of steam-punk Western complete with alternative technology and weapons that should mix things up a bit. Unfortunately when you play it, it’s plain to see it’s borrowed a few aspects from other games and, unlike, say, Uncharted, doesn’t implement it into the gameplay particularly well at any point.

You play as a guy called Rourke who’s looking for his fiancée. Of course, there’s a bigger picture here and you’re also part of a team who’s trying to stop a military contractor from succeeding in his violent takeover.

The majority of the time you’ll be having shootouts in open areas and also climbing up buildings to access new areas. You’d think if these were the main points of the game they’d be done well, but they’re not. Aiming is really tricky and over-responsive, enemies just stand there anyway waiting to be shot and to reload you have to click in the left stick! Who’s idea was that in the development meeting? And after successful climbing in games such as Prince of Persia and InFamous comes some of the clunkiest climbing since playing Hunchback on the Spectrum. For some strange reason you have to press a shoulder button to jump away from a wall when in other games, simply moving the direction away from the wall is enough to make the character jump where you want him to!

Your team-mates also aren’t much help either. Sometimes they scale buildings to show you the way, then you can’t find them above you and thus don’t know where to go, other times they’ll teleport onto your vehicle if you leave them during a driving stage.

Thanks to your Native American friend you also get a special vision which lets you see enemies through walls and downed team-mates. Again, it’s pretty pointless and only shows you their rough position while you’re using the limited cover system to hide behind a wall.

There are plenty of better action adventure games out there. If you’re looking for something with a Western vibe, wait for Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, it’s bound to be better.

Damnation gets a damning 4 out of 10.

Get Damnation now
New: Buy Damnation from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Damnation – free rental trial from Gamefly.com

Related: InFamous, Prince of Persia, Youtube Damnation review

Tags: Damnation, Steampunk, Westen, Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Red Dead Redemption

YouTube Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings review

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3 years ago I saw a rather good looking Indiana Jones game which had some dynamic fighting using their new Euphoria engine. So far, that game hasn’t surfaced and what we get instead is this latest adventure on the Wii, Staff of Kings. This time Indy is looking for the Staff of Moses and once again has to fight thugs, Nazis and mystical forces along the way.

Being on the Wii, LucasArts have decided to eek out every last bit of motion control. You use the remote and nunchuck to punch with your left and right fist, and by holding down the B button and swinging the remote, you can unleash your whip to disarm enemies, pull them closer for a handy headbutt or swing around the environment. You even get to use it as a joystick as you fly a plane and as a light gun during shooting sections.

Although it’s quite novel using the controls in this way to fight at first, it soon gets a bit frustrating. You can’t always pull off the moves you mean to do, not that that matters because your enemies mostly wait around for you to hit them or dodge their attacks. The fighting is fun though as you pick up objects and smash them into tables, fish tanks etc and does feel quite meaty as Indy’s punch-ups often look in the movies.

Unfortunately the game’s also very glitchy and feels rushed and unfinished. Tutorial sections and cut-scenes can’t be skipped so if you happen to die during them ,you have to sit through long sequences before you can try again. Although the Indy sound-alike is very good, audio skips and jumps as the game loads new areas, and even animations jump and skip as you fight and move around.

There’s also a co-op multiplayer mode in there if you fancy it as Indy and his Sean Connery Dad run about together but to be honest, this is pretty throw away too.

It’s a shame I enjoyed the old graphic adventure Fate of Atlantis and the PS2 game Emperor’s Tomb more than this one. It may be better on the PSP and PS2 thanks to a less convoluted control system but if you want a tomb-raiding action adventure, get the recent Tomb Raider instead. Staff of Kings gets an average 5 out of 10.

Get Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings now
New: Buy Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings – free rental trial from Gamefly.com

Related: Lego Indiana Jones review, Tomb Raider Underworld, Youtube Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings review

Tags: Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, Indiana Jones, LucasArts, Wii, PS2, PSP, Tomb Raider, Youtube Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings review

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Like a good dog, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has won E3 best of show. The game sees Nathan Drake back in action and has won best action/adventure game and best console game.

Buy Uncharted 2: Among Thieves now
New: Buy Uncharted 2: Among Thieves from Amazon.com

Related: Uncharted: Drakes Fortune review, E3

Tags: Uncharted 2, E3, Uncharted 2, Among Thieves, Nathan Drake, Sony exclusive

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YouTube Final Fantasy VII review

Final Fantasy VII is proving pretty popular on the PS Network. It’s become the fastest selling PSOne title and in just two weeks has been downloaded over 100,000 times. I wonder how many people have gone “it doesn’t look like how I remember it“.

Buy Final Fantasy VII now
New: Buy Final Fantasy VII from Amazon.com

Related: Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core review, Final Fantasy Xbox 360 version

Tags: Final Fantasy VII, sales figures

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YouTube Review of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has been lined up as the other cover star of Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 along with Lionel Messi. The new game features advanced tactical switching, better realism and player characteristics but unfortunately Mark Lawrenson’s still commentating.

Buy Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 now
New: Buy Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 from Amazon.com

Related: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 review, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 Wii Version review

Tags: Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres, Liverpool, sport, football, soccer