Episode 122
This week on Gamesweasel we review Uncharted 2 Among Thieves and Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, take a look at the news about Modern Warfare 2, Black Wii and , plus you get the chance to win 4 t-shirts from Dark Bunny Tees. On Gamesweasel.com this week we have a review of Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4, a rundown of the top 10 Wii hardcore games, a second opinion of Uncharted 2 Among Thieves and a look at the best Wii games for girls.

• Uncharted 2 Among Thieves review
• Win T-shirts from Dark Bunny Tees
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 review
• Splinter Cell Conviction review

Buy
To play any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Amazon and Uncharted 2 Among Thieves 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 November 2009 GoDaddy discount codes to save you money – ‘WEASEL7′ gets you 10% off domain name purchases, ‘WEASEL8′ gets you 20% off orders over $57 or £35 and ‘WEASEL9′ gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only ‘WEASEL20H’ gets you 20% off web hosting and ‘WEASELSSL’ gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply, watch the GoDaddy coupon codes video and read the GoDaddy web site for more details.

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We are also brought to you in association with CCS.com, using the November 2009 CCS discount code ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ for 15% off orders over $75.

Win
We have 4 T-shirts from Dark Bunny Tees to give away by 23 November 2009, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

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Screenshots

Last year’s Pro Evo was a big disappointment, so much so that I didn’t play it once after I finished reviewing it. FIFA was my footy game of choice last year so what can Pro Evo do this time to win my affections once again?

The first thing you’ll notice before you get into the actual game is the way the stats are displayed. Gone is the graphical representation and numbers up to 100 are back. So far, at least for me, so good. Presentation, at least in terms of player looks has taken a big leap too. Liverpool’s my team and players such as Gerrard, Torres and even Kuyt and Carragher look great. They look less ‘waxy’ than the FIFA games and far more photo-realistic. Player animations are a bit hit and miss though. Standard running and walking still looks a bit awkward but some of the animations when players poke out a toe to score a goal or fall over to get a cross in are sublime.

Like FIFA, Pro Evo also has full 360’ movement but the game still feels a lot more like an arcade game and therefore it’s easier to try to follow a set strategy for getting balls into the penalty area and score. It’s also worth upping the difficulty because I’ve been banging goals in against the AI left right and centre.

The Champions League is back and this time it’s a lot slicker and you can also take part in that, and the new Europa League in the Master League mode. You also have the ability to play as an individual but to be honest this feels like a blatant copy of what FIFA introduced a couple of years back (and since then of course, EA have expanded on it with Game Face and the like).

Commentary’s still a sore point and not much better than last year, and some of the chants from the fans are once again non-authentic and off-putting.

If you’re a fan of one of the licensed teams it won’t really bother you that the game’s not fully licensed, however, if you support a team that’s not in there you can always edit your own teams if you’ve got enough time in the edit mode.

Sorry Konami but despite a good effort, FIFA 10 is still very much in the lead. If you want a footy game where it’s easier to score that feels more immediate, I would definitely recommend this over last year’s effort. PES 2010 gets a very good 7 out of 10.

Get Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 now
New: Buy Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our Gamesweasel Godaddy coupon code to save money on web domains and hosting – watch our GoDaddy discount code video for more details, use the CSS free shipping coupon code ‘AFGAMEFS’ for orders over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75, using the November 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: FIFA 10, Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 lineup, Youtube Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 review

Tags: Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, PES 2010, PES 10, FIFA 10

The original Uncharted took me by surprise as I’d never heard of it when I put it in my PS3 and absolutely loved it from the moment I started playing. It goes without saying I’ve been looking forward to this sequel and a couple of years on it’s bigger and better than the last game.

This time, Nathan Drake’s on the search for Marco Polo’s treasure. Of course this leads him on a journey around the world with a few twists and turns in the storyline and of course some very different locales to visit. There are jungles, underground caverns, cities and snowy mountains to explore and the gameplay’s very much a mix of platforming and third-person shooting.

Climbing and jumping is somewhere in between Tomb Raider and InFamous. Nathan won’t usually jump into oblivion even if you try to tell him to and he can now hang and shoot at the same time and use riot shields to walk towards enemies and stay in cover. There’s also a new stealthy way to play which you’re shown how to use when you break into a museum. You can choose to take people out from behind without alerting anyone and can even get into fisticuffs and have a good face to face scrap.

There are also some fantastic set-pieces in the game too. Fighting a gunship, battling on top of a train and jumping from jeep to jeep during a car chase all spring to mind and the set-pieces and action blend seamlessly into each other to create something akin to taking part in your very own action movie. The story’s also well told and the voice acting and camera direction isn’t quite up to the standards of the Metal Gear games but they’re pretty close.

And once you complete the game you can go back into the chapters and try to find all the hidden treasure and play the game with tweaks you can buy including infinite ammo, one shot kills etc. There’s also multiplayer in there for good measure so the game should keep on giving for a bit even after you’ve finished the 10 hour story mode.

The game’s not perfect – there was a moment during the final boss fight when it glitched on me and there are some frustrating ‘instant death’ moments and difficulty spikes. Still, if you want to be taken on adventure that’s far more fun than any Indiana Jones movie, you need this game. Uncharted 2 gets 9 out of 10.

Get Uncharted 2 Among Thieves now
New: Buy Uncharted 2 Among Thieves from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Uncharted 2 Among Thieves – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our November 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains – watch the GoDaddy discounts video for more details, use the CSS free shipping coupon code ‘AFGAMEFS’ for orders over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.

Related: Uncharted Drakes Fortune review, Uncharted 2 wins best of E3, Youtube Uncharted 2 Among Thieves review

Tags: Uncharted 2 Among Thieves, Uncharted 2, Among Thieves, Playstation 3, Uncharted, Uncharted 2 Among Thieves review

Related: Games Media Awards finalists, Nominate Gamesweasel for the Games Media Awards

Tags: Games Media awards, results, GMA

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Buy a Black Wii now
New: Buy a Black Wii from Amazon.com
Offers: Use our Godaddy coupon codes for December 2009 to save money on hosting and web domains – watch the GoDaddy coupon video for more details, use the CCS coupon code ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ to get free shipping on orders over $30, using the November 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Best Wii games for hardcore gamers, Christmas Wii buyers guide

Tags: Nintendo Wii, Black, Wii Remote, Wii Motion Plus, Wii Nunchuck, Wii Sports games

Buy Modern Warfare 2 now
New: Buy Modern Warfare 2 from Amazon.com
Offers: Use our November 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains – watch our GoDaddy coupons video for more details, use the CCS coupon ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ to get free shipping on orders over $30, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.

Related: Modern Warfare 2 release date, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare review

Tags: Modern Warfare 2, single player, petition, Infinity Ward

Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4; The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood sees the Marquis De Sade finally get his hands back on Guybrush only to be robbed of his prize specimen by a baying mob. They want Guybrush to answer for crimes he’s supposedly committed and simply drag him off to the local courthouse to face trial and punishment. To say much more could easily spoil what is probably the most intriguing episode in this Pentology so far.

What I can say is that this adventure felt a little shorter this time around lasting about four hours, compared to the five to six of the previous episodes. I believe this is because the fifth episode will likely be a longer and more complex affair. I did get seriously stuck at one time and nearly had to resort to searching Google for the answer but as usual; after walking around and trying everything I managed to solve that one really tricky puzzle. Nevertheless Episode 4 features plenty of stomping around the Flotsam Island previously visited in Episode 1; many of the characters that you met before are still there as well as some new ones including the infamous Salesman, Stan from the original Lucas Arts games.

Because it uses the same engine as all of the other episodes, Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4 looks and sounds just as good as the rest; the quality of the dialogue is once again great with many laugh out loud moments. Die-hard fans may spot some more classic references and smile, sweet.

I award yet Another 8 out of 10 for Monkey Island here folks.

Get Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4 now
New: Buy Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4 from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4 – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our November 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains – watch our godaddy discount coupon video for more details, using the November 2009 CCS coupon code valid for November 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ gets you 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30, use the Squarespace coupon ‘WEASEL’ for 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3 review, The Secret Of Monkey Island Special Edition video review

Tags: Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4, Tales of Monkey Island, PC, Wii

I have to confess that I missed out on the original game, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, owing to taking a short career break, so the character of Nathan Drake, a charismatic fortune hunter, was new to me, and I didn’t know quite what to expect from the title. What I found was a game which is so immersive, so polished, so addictive and so beautifully programmed that it is very possibly that most sought after of all things: the perfect videogame.

I don’t mean that it’s going to be the best videogame that you EVER play, for if that were the case, well… you’d never ever need to play another game, and there are so many different categories and genres of videogames these days, and such a diverse gaming audience, that there are bound to be those who would prefer to play, for example, a flight sim, or perhaps a racing game. But what Uncharted 2 does, is to promise its audience a specific gaming experience, and then deliver on everything that it promises, with literally ZERO flaws – hence: it’s perfect.

For those who, like me, didn’t play the first Uncharted, this game has a lot in common with Tomb Raider, in that you’re touring the world, exploring ancient civilisations to hunt for clues to ancient priceless artefacts – in this case the ultimate quest is for a mystical gem which promises its possessor no less than world domination. Now I’ve always been a massive (some might say obsessive) fan of Tomb Raider, ever since the first game in the series back on the original PlayStation. I tell you that so that when I say that Uncharted 2 is, for me, the game that Tomb Raider could only ever hope to be, you’ll hopefully realise that I’m not just spitting out empty hyperbole, I’m speaking as someone that quite literally worships the escapades of Miss Croft.

From the moment that Uncharted 2 begins, with you in the role of the rugged hero Nathan Drake, finding yourself hanging from a derailed train which is itself hanging off a cliff on a snowy mountainside, you’re drawn inextricably into an incredibly immersive adventure that I personally found almost impossible to stop playing. In fact if it hadn’t been for the fact of having to feed my recently arrived baby daughter, plus the occasional need to sleep and eat, then I very probably wouldn’t have stopped playing this game till I finished it.

Everything about the game screams obsessive attention to detail – the lavish environments rival anything I’ve ever seen in a videogame title, up to and including the awesome sprawling cityscapes of Grand Theft Auto IV, in fact the GTA IV backdrops looking like a child’s drawings compared to the beautifully created environments in this game. The script – unusually – appears to have actually been written by professional script writers who feel that the narrative (consisting of both seamless cut-sequences and ‘in game’ dialogue) should be entertaining for its own sake, rather than used simply to string the various game sequences together, and the ‘acting’ of the characters, both in terms of voice-acting and physical animation, is of a standard which would put most ‘live’ big-screen Hollywood movie actors to shame. The extremely cinematic feel of the whole thing is further enhanced by genuinely brilliant camerawork which serves the dual purpose of creating appropriate drama and atmosphere, whilst also giving you clues as to what you should be thinking about doing next.

On the subject of what you should be doing next – I remember that I used to complain a long time ago in reviews about games being too ‘linear’. These days though I think I’ve just spent too long wandering the massive digital worlds that videogames can now offer us because when it comes to ‘massive sandbox’-type games, I almost shudder at the thought of trekking for hours through mammoth environments trying to figure out what I need to be doing. Thinking back, I guess I just got too excited about the expanding videogame horizons back then, because now, for me, videogames aren’t necessarily about being ‘free to roam’, they’re about being able to experience a particular adventure, be it driving a race car, fighting off marauding aliens or – as in this case – exploring ancient tombs. So for me, the linearity of Uncharted 2 is set just about right, and I actually like the fact that the action, the puzzles and storyline combine to push me along a specific path. Don’t get me wrong – you still have freedom to roam to a point, and you still need to figure out how to get through the game yourself, but you don’t ever seem to find yourself wandering around aimlessly searching for that one particular hidden switch which gets you to the next stage, the way you do in some lesser action-adventures. This is despite that fact that here, unlike in most other games of this type, the way you climb things, or solve puzzles, doesn’t rely solely on clearly labelled ledges and paths – instead the almost photo-realistic environment is just ‘there’ all around you, and clever lighting and use of the camera gives you hints as to what path to take. And should you get really stuck, the game seems to realise this, and offers you hints, each of which is slightly more pointed than the last to ensure you eventually get where you’re going.

Of course, in a game like this the hero is important, and our hero Nathan Drake has the athleticism of Lara Croft (if not the ‘assets’!) and the wit of James Bond, along with a lot of Bond’s marksmanship skills too. As a result, the levels offer a heady mixture of exploration, puzzle solving and gun battling in more-or-less equal measure, each aspect of which, surprisingly, works extremely well. I was surprised at this, because although I was expecting the adventure side of things to work well, I’ve found in the past that gunplay in third-person games of this type doesn’t always work so well, usually because the control system has been designed around the platform-adventure aspect of the game which doesn’t always lend itself that well to gunfights. In Uncharted 2 however, it all flows together exactly right – one minute you’re clambering around in an ancient temple trying to find the hidden puzzles, the next you’re battling heavily-armed soldiers in all-out warfare, and it all plays… just perfectly.

For those who live their lives online, Uncharted 2 also offers an online multiplayer option, or rather: multiple options. Several different game types exist, including a variety of team deathmatch modes, and also some cooperative adventure modes that allow three players at a time to tackle various levels from the main game. Refreshingly though, the developers don’t have you just playing through exactly the same levels as in story mode, instead they’ve been tweaked and changed with different puzzles inserted and small differences made to the layout which mean that while they might initially look similar, in reality your multiplayer experiences will be completely different to your solo ones.

All the multiplayer modes that I’ve sampled worked extremely well – the team deathmatch modes (limited to five players on five) reminded me a lot of Gears Of War, only actually more fun as you don’t have to rely quite so much on taking cover as you do in that Xbox 360 game. For me though, the three-player online cooperative puzzle maps were far and away the most fun, and – thanks to the variety of ways that you can complete each level and the fact that playing with different teams of people means that everyone tackles them differently – for me these offer endless replay value.

So it’s fair to say that I liked this game, yes? Now sometimes, when you review a game and you want to give it a REALLY good score, you worry that other people who read your review are going to disagree with you, and might feel that the reviewer is being overgenerous. In this case though, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is, for me, THE best game I have played so far this year on any console. I’d even go so far as to say that I think it’s actually the best game I have EVER played on any gaming format… ever, and I’ve played a lot of games over the years! I’ve finished the story mode once, and I’m playing through it all over again already, and I fully expect to be playing through it many more times over the coming months. That’s when I’m not teaming up online for some cooperative adventuring, obviously. Quite simply: this game is perfect. Everything about it is done exactly right, and if developer Naughty Dog isn’t already working on a sequel to it then I will be moving heaven and earth to see that they do. Not because I’ll ever get tired of playing this one you understand, but at some point I’m worried that I might actually wear the game disc out. And as for the score – do you really need to ask? I’m giving it the almost unheard of, once in a blue moon, absolutely spot on ‘Perfect’ 10 out of 10. If you play this game and you fail to find it absolutely, earth-shatteringly, ground-breakingly awesome, then I would say you should sell your PS3 and give up on videogames forever, because in the opinion of this reviewer… there’s something wrong with you. If you don’t have a PS3 on the other hand – this is your reason to buy one.

Get Uncharted 2 Among Thieves now
New: Buy Uncharted 2 Among Thieves from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Uncharted 2 Among Thieves – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for 2010 Godaddy discount codes – watch the GoDaddy promo codes video for more details, using the November 2009 CCS coupon code valid for November 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ gets you 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30, using the November 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Uncharted Drakes Fortune review, Uncharted 2 release date

Tags: Uncharted 2 Among Thieves, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Playstation 3, Uncharted II, Uncharted, Among Thieves, PS3

Top 10 best Wii games for adults

Here are some of the favourite hardcore games for the Wii available from Amazon.com right now. With other core titles such as Metroid Other M, Red Steel 2 and The Grinder coming out in 2010 at the same time Sony and Microsoft are releasing their own casual motion sensing devices. As it’s looking the Wii could be the system of choice for hardcore gamers in 2010, here are a rundown of some of the top 10 best wii games for adults:

• Madworld is one of the most over the top and gory Wii adults only games of all time.  You just know that the Wii boys will love slicing people up with chainsaws and watching blood splatter everywhere – you can find out what we thought of the ultimate Wii hardcore game in our Madworld review where we gave it an excellent 8 out of 10.
• House of the Dead Overkill is an adult wii game from Sega which recently broke the world record for the amount of cuss words in a video game. Combine this with zombies, blood, gore and sexual references and this is a Wii title to make any hardcore Wii gamer take note. We played this back in February 09 and gave it an almost perfect 9 out of 10 – watch our House of the Dead Overkill review and see why.

• Resident Evil comes to Wii once more in the Darkside Chronicles.  Another light gun esque game which uses the Wii Remote’s infra-red capabilities to brind the arcade feel to your home TV.  Play though scenes you know and scenes you don’t from previous Resident Evil games and find out what happened between the parts of the story you already know.
• The Conduit is the Wii’s most popular first person shooter.  It’s full of Aliens, Science Fiction and guns.  It also features some of the best graphics on Wii and a brilliant online battle mode – head to our review of The Conduit to see exactly why we gave it an impressive 7 out of 10.

• Madden NFL 10 is just the ticket for Football fans who want to score touchdowns without having to join a college team.  A perfect game for boys who want to be men, and men who want to be real men – read our full review of Madden NFL 10 where we gave it a very good 7 out of 10.
• Dead Space Extraction was a hit on PS3 and Xbox 360 and this exclusive prequel brings the horror to Wii in this classy on rails arcade style shooter. We recently got our hands on the game and couldn’t put it down, see our Dead Space Extraction review for the Wii where we awarded it an outstanding 8 out of 10.

• Excitebots comes with a free Wii Wheel (just like Mario Kart) and is a more serious stunt filled affair.  It looks like it’s for kids but to actually do well you’ll need to be great at pulling of stunts and big air.
• Muramasa the Demon Blade is a real 1980’s Metroid style old school hack em up featuring sword swishing in abundance and enough collection to keep an OCD sufferer happy.  Oh and and its rock hard too.
• Star Wars The Clone Wars features all of the stuff a Star Wars geek could want, Lightsabers , Star Wars and excellent cell shaded animation.
• New Super Mario Bros for the Wii – the hotly anticipated follow up the the best selling Nintendo DS game of the last few years.  Go back to the original days of Mario before 3D took over the world.  Any half decent gamer should play this game if they want any credibility in 2010 – cutesy but impossibly addictive.

We also recommend the Wii Sports Resort Special Edition – the fantastic sequel to the original Wii Sports title which comes with a new twist.  This time you can become even more immersed in the experience because it comes bundled free with two Wii Motion Plus units which provide a more lifelike motion control experience and can be used on other compatible titles. It may seem casual at first but dedicated players will find many secrets and appreciate many core mechanics to be found.

Hardcore Wii gaming accessories

Hardcore Wii gamers will also love some of the accessories on the market that don’t try to emulate tennis rackets and golf clubs but instead enhance their gaming experience.

• The Quad Remote Charge Station takes away all the hassle of battery changing because it comes with 4 battery packs that will give hours of playtime.  Save money on batteries with this useful and cool looking base station that will charge your Wii Remotes with no hassle, built in LED indicators show when charging is taking place.

• The Wii Classic Controller is compatible for certain games that aren’t quite suited to motion sensing and those purchased via the Wii’s Virtual Console online download service. Also Wii hardcore games such as Super Smash Bros Brawl support the classic controller for the best gameplay.

• A Wii Zapper is a great way to emulate that crossbow / shotgun feel on Wii and it comes with a free Zelda themed Links Crossbow training game. It’s perfect for titles such as Resident Evil, House of the Dead and Dead Space on Wii.

• Owners of Guitar Hero and Rock Band will appreciate the Dual Guitar Holder which keeps those guitar accessories stored neatly in the living room or bedroom. See our recent run-down of Wii guitar accessories for more ideas of what to get fans of Rock Band and Guitar Hero for Christmas.

• We found the official Wii lens cleaner is the best option to fix problem Wii discs when we did a recent rundown of Wii lens cleaning kits – the Wii hardcore game Super Smash Bros Brawl was known to cause problems when playing with certain Wii consoles due to it’s intense disc activity.

• A Wii HD Link Component Cable will allow up to full 480p visuals to those with an HD television set, great for LCD and Plasma screen gamers who want to get the very best visuals the Nintendo Wii can display.

Special offers: Use our Gamesweasel Godaddy coupon to save money on web domains and hosting – watch the GoDaddy coupon codes video for more details, use our CCS coupons to get money off orders and free shipping on orders over at CCS.com, use our Squarespace coupon code to get money off the lifetime of your account.

Episode 121
On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel we review Dead Space Extraction for the Wii and Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, plus you get the chance to win 2 copies of The Halo Encyclopaedia. On the blogs this week we have a Bomberman Ultra review for the Playstation 3, a review of Ninja Captains for the Wii, a guide to the best PS3 party games and a Nintendo DS Christmas buyers guide.

• Dead Space Extraction review
• Win The Halo Encyclopaedia
• Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising review
• Tim Curry interview

Buy
To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising Amazon and Dead Space Extraction Amazon pages.

Offers
This episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you with GoDaddy and offers you fantastic discounts on hosting and domain names. Use one of the following November 2009 GoDaddy codes to save you money – ‘WEASEL7′ gets you 10% off domain name purchases ‘WEASEL8′ gets you 20% off orders over $57 or £35 and ‘WEASEL9′ gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only ‘WEASEL20H’ gets you 20% off web hosting and ‘WEASELSSL’ gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply, watch the GoDaddy coupon codes video and read the GoDaddy website for more details.

Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace, use our November 2009 Square Space coupon code ‘WEASEL’ at the checkout to get 12% off the lifetime of your account.

We are also brought to you with CCS.com, you can use the CCS coupon code ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ to get free shipping on orders over $30.

Win
There are 2 copies of The Halo Encyclopaedia up for grabs, if you’d like to win then see our competitions page by 16 November 2009.

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Screenshots

Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising was a revelation back in the day. Sure it was for hardcore gamers on the PC and it didn’t let you off lightly. You’d spend ages crawling on your belly through a wood then get shot in the head. Luckily you had quick save so you could take some of that frustration away. On the consoles of course you get checkpoints which I’ll come to in a second.

In this game the fictional island of Skira is being contested by the Russians and Chinese and you, as an American Fire Team leader, are helping out the Russians. Similar to the last game this is no Call of Duty. Enemy and friendly movement isn’t scripted but left to AI which makes gameplay very different every time you play it but can also lead to frustration when your team mates stand in the open to get fired at or enemies don’t seem to respond when shot at.

There are 12 long campaign missions to fight through and you can also play them co-op with up to three friends for a more realistic experience. There are also some shorter missions to play through in co-op which should extend gameplay further.

Play the game on normal mode and the HUD tells you where enemies roughly are in relation to you and waypoints suggest the best way to go. Of course you can play in hardcore mode where everything is turned off and you’re left to fend for yourself and make your own tactical decisions.

Checkpoints aren’t very well spread out though. You’d expect one after each objective but that’s sometimes not the case and you get sent back a long way if you die from a sudden shot to the head.

Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising isn’t to everyone’s taste, especially not console gamers. The game would probably get a higher score if I was reviewing it on the PC but I think console gamers may get frustrated too soon. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising gets a very good 7 out of 10.

Get Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising now
New: Buy Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for November 2009 Godaddy discount codes – watch our godaddy discount coupon video for more details, use the CCS coupon for November 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ for 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ for free shipping on orders over $30, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.

Related: Call of Duty , Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising developer interview, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising review

Tags: Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Codemasters, first person shooter

Dead Space was one of my surprise favourite games last year so I’ve been looking forward to Dead Space Extraction on the Wii – a prequel which charts where all the horror on the cracked planet and in the mining vessel the Ishimura began.

It’s an on-rails FPS but before you think this is just like Time Crisis or House of the Dead, let me explain to you why it’s very much not. Extraction has a much more considered approach in that there are times where you don’t shoot anything whilst the atmosphere builds as you’re taken for a ride through the eyes of a number of survivors in different chapters. You crawl up ladders, shuffle across service hatches and even make leaps of faith through zero gravity. The mining equipment from the first game is in use again as you hack limbs off the monsters and you’ve also got access to pistols and pulse rifles. You can also slow down enemies and the world around you at times using stasis and fetch weapons, ammo and items using a sort of sci-fi tractor beam type thing.

There are 10 chapters to play through and as you go, you unlock new challenge mode levels and comic books to watch complete with sound effects and voice acting. It may be short but it really is a new gaming experience for me and something I couldn’t put down until I finished the story mode. There are also choices of paths to take from time to time which may encourage playing through the story again and you can play the game in co-op mode and shoot the Xenomorphs with a friend.

The game’s got the best graphics I’ve seen on the Wii and although the action slows down occasionally when there’s lots on screen, it certainly doesn’t wreck the game. Another small complaint is the crosshair. Info about your guns and a Gears of War-style quick reload system are incorporated into it and as a result it’s rather large, sometimes obscuring what you’re actually trying to shoot. Still, it means there’s no HUD on the screen which all adds to the atmosphere.

If you want a game that really sucks you into the action and gives you the creeps at times, give this a go. You’ll definitely enjoy it.

Dead Space Extraction gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

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Related: House of the Dead, Time Crisis, Youtube Dead Space Extraction review

Tags: Dead Space Extraction, Dead Space, Extraction, Wii, on rails, shooter, Dead Space: Extraction, horror, EA

I will just mention that the majority of the Bomberman games have featured a single player story campaign as well as the full on battle mode mentioned above; the thing is that most people weren’t really too impressed with these story campaigns and so the last few games have seen it removed completely. Bomberman Ultra for PS3 is no different; there is only battle mode for either offline or online play. Similarly like Bomberman Live on 360 and Bomberman Blast on WiiWare; Bomberman Ultra is a download only title available on the PSN for just a few dollars. So nearly 20 years later there must be something a little bit different to make this version of Bomberman stand out from the crowd of its hefty back catalogue. Indeed one cool new feature is the ability to unlock costumes and create your own cool looking Bomberman avatar; it’s not quite as cool as using Mii’s like Wii game but it’s a nice touch.

Gameplay is pretty much as you’d expect from a Bomberman title; this is a fun and frantic bomb blasting battle with a whole host of pickups which can help or hinder your game. As you destroy the arena blocks, special items such as; Extra bombs to drop and Flame Boosters will appear. These have obvious and useful uses but why stop there when you can travel faster with roller skates and throw bombs with a power glove. With stacks of other items you can develop your own strategy which makes playing random people online even more interesting because their game style might be radically different to yours. One addition I am not too keen on are the Bomb Shelters; these huge view obstructing towers will protect anyone from a bomb blast; my problem is that they obscure too much of the battlefield and attract campers. Depending on the game settings chosen at the start; things like sudden death and the ability to take part after your death via the sidelines can spice things up when the timer is running close to the end and a number of people are still battling away.

Of course there is much more I could mention including the different game modes and different arena’s but the most important thing for me was the online multiplayer for up to 8 people. Sadly the part of the game I was most looking forward to is also the most disappointing. Now offline multiplayer is always a hoot for 4 mates and you’d think online with 8 players should double the fun right? Well yes in theory it should. The problem I found was that hardly anyone else seems to be playing online; if you’re lucky enough to find someone hosting a match it tends to never actually get enough players to start and the host gets bored of waiting and kicks everyone off. You could try hosting your own game but don’t be surprised if you only get a handful of random people to actually play with you, instead you’ll need to convince people on your friends list to buy the game if you really want to have fun with online play.

Bomberman Ultra is an extensive battle experience which delivers solid gameplay but doesn’t really push the boat out. Even though it runs in a super smooth 720p you could be mistaken for thinking this was a 32bit era title; it doesn’t feel like Hudson have really pushed themselves to make a next gen Bomberman quite yet.

Overall then a typical Bomberman game which should fit happily on most PS3 owners game library; if you don’t go expecting anything other than a fun retro Bomberman battle experience you probably won’t be disappointed. A well-deserved but must try harder next time score of; 6 out of 10.

Get Bomberman Ultra now
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Related: Boom Blox Bash Party Review, Bomberman Blast

Tags: Bomberman Ultra, Bomberman, PS3, PSN

Episode 120
This week on Gamesweasel we play Halo 3 ODST and FIFA 10, tell you the news about Assassins Creed 2, InFamous 2 and The Wii Cyberbike, plus you get the chance to win 3 copies of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the Wii and DS. This week we look at a new Wii puzzle game in our Magnetis review, find out more about an educational game for the Wii called Learning with the PooYoos Episode One, we solve the problem of using a Wii Guitar Hero controller with Rock Band and a look at some digimon online games for the Nintendo DS.

• Assassins Creed 3 rumour
• InFamous 2
• Wii bike
• Halo 3 ODST review
• Win Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the Wii and DS
• FIFA 10 review
• Red Steel 2 review

Buy
To buy any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the FIFA 10 Amazon and Halo 3 ODST Amazon pages.

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This episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you with GoDaddy and offers you great discounts on hosting and domain names. Use the following November 2009 GoDaddy coupons to save you money – WEASEL7 gets you 10% off domain name purchases, WEASEL8 gets you 20% off orders over $57 or £35 and WEASEL9 gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only WEASEL20H gets you 20% off web hosting and WEASELSSL gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply, watch the GoDaddy coupon video and read the GoDaddy web site for more details.

Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace, use our November 2009 Square Space coupon code ‘WEASEL’ at the checkout to get 12% off the lifetime of your account.

We are also brought to you in association with CCS.com, use the CCS coupon ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ to get free shipping on orders over $30.

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For your chance of winning one of 3 copies of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the Wii and DS head over to our competitions page by 9 November 2009.

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Once again it’s time for another EA Sports game with a new number on the end. This time it’s the turn of FIFA. When you first look at the game it doesn’t look much different but you’ll soon realise that they’ve ironed out all the things that made 09 great to make this version excellent.

First of all there’s the 360’ movement, meaning you’re no longer running at 45 degree angles. This makes for a more realistic movement of the players and coupled with the improved ball physics, some truly interesting and freakish goals that are sure to make you shout out or hold your head in your hands.

Manager Mode is the main season mode where you play through a number of seasons and make transfer and squad decisions. Be a Pro mode is back where you play as an individual and now you can make your own Virtual Pro. Using EA’s Game Face technology which is currently broken as I review the game due to high demand, you can put your face right into the game and level them up RPG style in custom games and even in the arena.

Following on from the Adidas Live Season comes Live Season 2.0 where you can download the latest games your club’s played and try to replicate or re-write history. It’s a shame you have to pay for this after a 5 game demo but hardcore fans will find it worth the extra spend. There’s also a set piece creator where you can modify and save set pieces for use in games. Again, only the hardcore will probably go this deep into the game but it’s a nice touch.

As ever, presentation is slick with some great player likenesses and some good ad-libbing from Martin Tyler and Andy Gray. I usually say not to bother getting the new version of an EA Sports game if you’re enjoying last year’s, but once again, FIFA’s come up trumps. Over to you Pro Evo. FIFA 10 gets 9 out of 10, if you know what I mean.

Get FIFA 10 now
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Offers: Use our November 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains – watch our godaddy discount coupon video for more details, using the November 2009 CCS coupon code valid for November 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ gets you 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30, use the Squarespace coupon ‘WEASEL’ for 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Fifa 09 review, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 review, FIFA 10 review

Tags: FIFA 10, FIFA, football, soccer, FIFA Soccer 10, EA Sports, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, DS, PC

I must have something wrong with me because I’ve never rated the Halo games as some of the best FPSs. I think the weapons don’t pack a punch, the aliens can’t be taken seriously and the whole thing leaves me feeling pretty unmoved. However, ODST provides a different proposition as you don’t play Master Chief and in this spin off you play as some of the Troopers who drop down to New Mombasa to try and stop the Covenant.

What I like about this new game is the atmosphere. Dropping out of the ship at the start in one of your pods and landing in an empty rain-soaked city is a memorable gaming moment and as always, the soundtrack to the game is very strong and one of the best things about it. Because you’re a mere mortal you have to collect health packs at stations around the place and you can’t jump as high which makes you feel more vulnerable. You will have to take cover and wait like before though when your stamina drops or you’ll die pretty quickly. Your Trooper’s also equipped with an alternative display which, like in the Batman game, makes objectives, enemies and allies clearer to see and identify.

The campaign should last you only six hours and the game does feel almost like a bonus extension to Halo 3, however it does have a co-op Firefight mode which should keep you busy as you try to survive as long as possible as wave after wave of aliens attack. There’s also a bonus disc containing all 24 Halo 3 multiplayer maps and three brand new maps you haven’t played before so there’s more bang for your buck.

Because I’ve never been a Halo fan this game failed to excite me but if you can’t get enough of the game universe, it’s a worthy addition – it’s a shame it’s a full price title as it really does feel like extra content that should in some way be a bit cheaper. Halo 3: ODST gets 7 out of 10.

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Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for November 2009 Godaddy discount codes – watch the GoDaddy promo codes video for more details, using the November 2009 CCS coupon code valid for 2009 ‘AFGAME15′ gets you 15% off orders over $75 and ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30, using the November 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Halo 3 review, Halo Wars review, Youtube Halo 3 ODST review

Tags: Halo 3 ODST, Halo 3, ODST, Halo, Xbox 360, Microsoft, FPS, Halo 3 ODST review

A new bike peripheral is set to come out for the Nintendo Wii. The Cyberbike will encourage people to get fit using 18 circuits and an array of ‘impossible’ machines. It’s out in January and is sure to end up in the spare room to hang washing on.

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Related: Wii Fit review, The Cyberbike

Tags: Wii, Cyberbike, Nintendo Wii, exercise bike

Buy InFamous 2 now
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Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for November 2009 Godaddy discount codes – watch the GoDaddy discounts video for more details, use the November 2009 CCS discount code ‘AFGAMEFS’ to get free shipping on orders over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ for 15% off orders over $75, use the Squarespace coupon ‘WEASEL’ for 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: InFamous, David Sullivan Twitter page

Tags: InFamous, David Sullivan, Primer, In Famous, InFamous II, PS3

Buy Assassins Creed 2 now
New: Preorder Assassins Creed 2 from Amazon.com
Offers: Use our Godaddy coupon codes for November 2009 to save money on hosting and web domains – watch our GoDaddy promo code video for more details, use the CSS free shipping coupon code ‘AFGAMEFS’ for orders over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ to get 15% off orders over $75, using the November 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Assassins Creed review, Assassins Creed 2 release date

Tags: Assassins Creed 3, Assassins Creed 2, World War II

Episode 119
On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel we review The Beatles Rock Band and Raven Squad, plus you get the chance to win 3 copies of Ninja Captains for the Wii. We’ve also got 4 extra reviews this week including a look at Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3, a review of Heavy Weapon for the PS3, an Animal Crossing City Folk for the Wii review and a Rygar The Battle of Argus review.

• The Beatles Rock Band review
• Win Ninja Captains for the Wii
• Godaddy coupon codes
• Raven Squad review
• Kyran Bracken interview review

Buy
If you like any of the games reviewed on this show you can buy from the Raven Squad Amazon and The Beatles Rock Band Amazon pages.

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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 November 2009 GoDaddy codes to save you money – WEASEL7 gets you 10% off domain name purchases, WEASEL8 gets you 20% off orders over $57 or £35 and WEASEL9 gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only WEASEL20H gets you 20% off web hosting and WEASELSSL gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply, please see the GoDaddy web site for more details.

Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace, use our November 2009 Square Space coupon code ‘WEASEL‘ at the checkout to get 12% off the lifetime of your account.

We are also brought to you in association with CCS, use our CSS free shipping coupon code ‘AFGAMEFS‘ for orders over $30 and ‘AFGAME15‘ for 15% off orders over $75.

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We have 3 copies of Ninja Captains for the Wii to give away by 2 November 2009, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

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In Raven Squad you play as two groups of mercs who land behind enemy lines to retrieve some data. Quite what that data is I can’t remember as this game bored me so much I almost fell into a coma. What they’ve tried to do is marry a first-person shooter with an RTS and the result is either a very poor FPS that’s sub-standard to nearly any other FPS I have ever played or an RTS so simple that you may as well be playing Cannon Fodder on the Amiga – actually go and play that because it’s better.

In FPS mode you can switch between your soldiers to use their special weapons and struggle with the dreadful AI that seems to just stand there whilst you try and fight the good fight alone. I quickly gave up on this idea and decided to play the whole game from above, but this too was a rather dull affair as I pointed around the map and watched my little fellas run about the same drab looking levels over and over again.

Oh, actually, one thing I did find very entertaining about this game. The voice acting (if you can call it that) is hilarious. If you know the UK comedy show ‘Allo ‘Allo then you’ll find the accents in this game just as bad as the awful French and German accents in that.

And just for good measure, if you want to get rid of your housemate, get them to play the game in co-op with you. They’re sure to leave the house and never come back.

Don’t waste your money on this, you’ll have far more fun hiding in your back garden with a spud gun. Raven Squad gets 2 out of 10.

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Related: Wolfenstein review, Quantum of Solace review, Raven Squad review

Tags: Raven Squad, SouthPeak Games, Xbox 360, PC

If you don’t like The Beatles you won’t enjoy this latest iteration of Rock Band. However, if you’re a massive fan or even know a little about them and think they’re pretty cool, you’re going to have a blast playing this.

Chronicling their rise to fame from playing in Liverpool’s Cavern Club right through to playing on the rooftop of Apple Corps, this game provides a magical mystery tour of the Fab Four’s career with some beautifully crafted visuals and of course most of the classics you know and love.

Playing the game is standard Rock Band apart from the 3-part vocal harmonies you can attempt with two other friends. You also don’t have to repeat playing songs to move onto the next chapter in the story mode. Between each chapter you’re also treated to some fantastic visuals as the scene is set for your next batch of songs to play through.

My favourite songs to play were the Abbey Road recordings, not necessarily for the songs but for the dreamy music videos that accompany them. Play through I Am The Walrus and Yellow Submarine and John, Paul, George and Ringo are transported from the studio into their Sgt Pepper uniforms and into some rather trippy sequences. They’re so good they actually distract you from looking at the fret board which can result in mistakes in the song.

And as a reward for getting five stars for each song you get bonus photos you can look at and little video extras. You can unlock more by then completing the challenge modes.

I play Rock Band on hard mode and usually fail the later songs as they’re quite a challenge. I never failed once with The Beatles Rock Band and that’s partially down to the fact that they never really hammered their instruments enough to make their fingers bleed. If you’re looking for a challenge, look elsewhere. If you want a lovingly created game that creates nostalgia in you, even if you weren’t around at the time, get this. You won’t be disappointed. It gets 9 out of 10.

Get The Beatles Rock Band now
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Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for November 2009 Godaddy discount codes, using the CCS discount code valid for November 2009 ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping with any order over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ will get you 15% off any order over $75, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.

Related: Rock Band 2 review, Using a Wii Guitar Hero controller with Rock Band, Youtube The Beatles Rock Band review

Tags: The Beatles Rock Band, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Rock Band, The Beatles, Rock Band, The Beatles Rock Band review

As you may remember, Episode Two ended with Guybrush on the trail of the Sea Manatee and the Giant Voodoo Sucking Sponge. As usual Guybrush didn’t exactly know what was in store for him because soon enough; his crew, his ship as well as himself are all swallowed and therefore trapped inside the belly of said Sea Manatee. Without wishing to spoil the four or five hours of playtime to be had here I can say that in this adventure you’ll bump into the Voodoo lady’s old flame Coronado De Cava who was previously on the trail of La Esponja Grande. After years stuck inside a Manatee you’ll understand that he’s not quite as sane as he once was.
If you’ve enjoyed the first two episodes then of course you’ll love to see how the story is progressing.

Just as with the first two episodes both the graphics and voice acting are a treat and as crazy and imaginative as usual. The whole series so far is a treat for point and click fans everywhere and I’m really engrossed in this series and can’t wait until Episode 4 is ready. Another 8 out of 10.

Get Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3 now
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Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for November 2009 Godaddy discount codes, using the CCS discount code valid for November 2009 ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping with any order over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ will get you 15% off any order over $75, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.

Related: Tales of Monkey Island Episode One, Tales of Monkey Island Episode Two

Tags: Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3, Lair of the Leviathan, Chapter 3, Tales of Monkey Island, Episode 3, Telltale, Wii, PC, Monkey Island, Guybrush, Point and Click

Heavy Weapon, downloadable for the PS3 on the PlayStation Network, harks back to an era when gameplay was king. That’s not to say that it doesn’t look good – in fact it most resembles a deluxe-model late 90s arcade machine for visuals and sound – it’s just that the focus is very definitely on the gameplay.

The concept is extremely simple: you’re the commander of a meaty modern tank, with devastating firepower and one clear mission: to obliterate the enemy. You do this by driving through each horizontally-scrolling 2D level, taking on wave after wave of enemy aircraft (and, in later levels, the odd ground vehicle) and blasting them to smithereens. To simplify things further, the landscape of each level is constantly moving and your tank automatically keeps up with it, so you basically only have to worry about moving the vehicle left and right within confines of the screen via the left analogue stick, while you fire in any direction you like by pushing the appropriate way on the right stick.

At first this might take a little getting used to, as those whose coordination isn’t too good may well need to get used to moving the tank in one direction while directing fire in another, but as – aside from one other button which we’ll come to in a minute – the two sticks are the only controls you really have to worry about, movement and shooting should eventually be mastered by all but the most ham-fisted of gamers.

From the off, aircraft of all shapes and sizes fly across the screen above you and lob bombs, bullets, missiles and a variety of more exotic ordnance your way, and your task is simple: avoid all the enemy fire and blow them all out of the sky. It sounds straightforward, and it is. Every so often a friendly supply chopper motors into the field of battle and (if you can manage to avoid shooting it down in the chaos of battle) drops you some kind of handy power-up, like a speed boost, or a shield increase, or – most dramatically – a nuke.

The nuke is where the only other control button comes in – once you’ve got a nuke onboard, tapping R2 triggers an almighty (and very satisfying) explosion which wipes out any enemy aircraft or vehicles on the screen – for those old-school gamers out there, it’s basically a ‘smart bomb’ – which then provides you with a second or so of respite if everything is getting a little too hectic.

At the end of each level, you’re faced with a massive end-of-level boss, who, in the tradition of all 2D shoot-’em-ups, is packing seriously scary firepower and takes repeated hammering with your weapons to destroy. These bosses range from massive tanks through awesome airships to a slightly bizarre massive wrecking-ball-type contraption and a decidedly unusual robotic gorilla.

Successfully beat the boss, and before the next level begins you get the chance to upgrade your tank with various weapon enhancements, including homing missiles, rotating ‘shield’ orbs, lasers and a device that fires massive bolts of electricity at the bad guys.

And that, quite simply, is the game. It’s one of the easiest games to just pick up and play that I’ve encountered in a long time, but also one of the most addictive. Its real attraction lies in its simplicity; no complicated plotlines, no massive control combinations to learn, just level after level of ever-more-insanely-manic action, as new and ever-more-dangerous enemy aircraft appear thick and fast.

If you only like your games cerebrally-challenging and the kind of thing that you have to devote entire afternoons to because the gameplay is so complex, then this might not be your cup of tea. But if, however, you like the idea of a game that tests your reflexes to breaking point on the first level, and then proceeds to make each successive level more adrenaline-packed than the last, to the point that a lot of the time there’s often so much going on onscreen that you’ll have trouble taking it all in, then this is the game for you. It’s not a game you’re likely to be devoting months and months of solid gaming to, but at the bargain price of just six quid to download, it IS a game that you will go back to, time and time again, for a couple of hours of cathartic, madcap, no-complex-thought-required, highly enjoyable shoot-’em-up action.

If, like me, you’ve been into videogames from the very start, back before TV stars talked about them and long before it was actually considered ‘cool’ to like videogames, then the gameplay here will be familiar to you. If you’re a younger gamer, and hence missed out on what many nostalgically refer to as ‘the good old days of gaming’, then have a go at this and you’ll get some idea of the sort of games your mum or dad grew up with, and perhaps understand what the older generation are on about when they talk about how ‘once upon a time it was the gameplay that really mattered’. For me, Heavy Weapon will be a firm fixture on my PS3’s hard-drive for a long time to come, and that’s why I’m giving it an Almost Perfect 9 out of 10. Quite simply: miss this one, and you’re missing out.

Get Heavy Weapon now
New: Buy a PSN card from Amazon.com
Offers: Use our Godaddy promo code for November 2009 to save money on web hosting and domains, using the CCS discount code valid for November 2009 ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping with any order over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ will get you 15% off any order over $75, use the Squarespace coupon ‘WEASEL’ for 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: R-Type Command review, Rez HD review

Tags: Heavy Weapon, PS3, Playstation 3, sideways shooter, PSN

Episode 118
This week on Gamesweasel we review Guitar Hero 5 and Order of War, plus you get the chance to win 5 copies of Order of War and bonus goodies for the PC. On the blog this week we have a Halo 3 ODST review, a look at the new Final Fantasy 13 trailer, a review of The King Of Fighters XII and a Rygar The Battle of Argus review.

• Guitar Hero 5 review
• Win Order of War and bonus goodies for the PC
• Order of War review
• Interview with Shirley Manson about Guitar Hero 5 review

Buy
To play any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Order of War Amazon and Guitar Hero 5 Amazon pages.

Offers
Gamesweasel is brought to you with GoDaddy.com and offers you some great discounts on domain names and hosting. Use our October 2009 GoDaddy discount codes to save money – WEASEL7 gets you 10% off domain name purchases, WEASEL8 gets you 20% off orders over £35 or $57 and WEASEL9 gets you 30% off .COM domains. For a limited time only WEASEL20H gets you 20% off web hosting and WEASELSSL gets you 12.99 SSL certificates. Some restrictions may apply so see the GoDaddy web site for details.

Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace, use our October 2009 Square Space coupon code ‘WEASEL’ at the checkout to get 12% off the lifetime of your account.

We are also brought to you in association with CCS.com, using the October 2009 CCS discount code ‘AFGAMEFS’ will get you free shipping on orders over $30 and ‘AFGAME15′ for 15% off orders over $75.

Win
If you’d like to win Order of War and bonus goodies for the PC then check out our competitions page before 26 October 2009.

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Screenshots

Here’s something you don’t see every day, Square Enix making a World War II strategy game which covers real historical events and not a role playing game which involves pointy eared characters in some fantasy land. Order of War focuses on the end of World War II and is set in the 40s as you push back the German Axis from France or play as the German army trying to repel the Red Army from the East.

A couple of years back Company of Heroes did a good job of telling this story so how does this RTS shape up? Well it turns out that Square Enix seem to have made a rather good game.

In typical RTS style you point and click your way around the map, swooping round the objectives as you command your soldiers, tanks and artillery to push forward and hold ground. You can also call in air strikes and bombing runs when the situation allows it and of course have to play to the strengths of the resources you’ve been given. For example, foot soldiers can launch surprise attacks on artillery by moving through the trees or can entrench themselves for better protection.

I’m not very good at RTS games but it’s good to see the game also caters for players like me. In the early stages each level is divided up into smaller objectives and you’re shown exactly what to do. Your commander even sends in more troops if you’re running low. And if you need some thinking time you can pause the game and still give orders to your troops to get the upper hand.

You can watch the action from above or zoom right in, and at the touch of a button the game goes into cinematic mode where you can see the fight in great detail. A nice touch indeed.

The music is also excellent although the accents of your commanders can be a little over-the-top at times. With the single player campaigns and online and skirmish modes, there’s plenty to keep you occupied. If you’re a World War II boffin and you like your strategy games, then this one’s definitely worth a look.

Order of War gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

Get Order of War now
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Related: Call of Duty World at War review, Frontlines Fuel of War review, Order of War review

Tags: Order of War, PC, Square Enix, Company of Heroes

So Guitar Hero 5 is available in the shops and the good news is this doesn’t feel like just some more songs to jam along to slightly repackaged. It is in fact quite a leap forward for the game both in terms of graphical style and the way the game plays.

First of all let’s cover the track list. There are 85 songs on this and as usual, some you’ll know, some you won’t, depending on your musical taste. Queen, Muse, Nirvana and Garbage all appear amongst others and you can even unlock guest characters such as Shirley Manson, Santana and Kurt Kobain and then add them to your customised band line-up.

It’s also never been easier to get into a game. Party Play mode lets anyone just drop in or out of a song at any difficulty without interrupting the song which really adds to the accessibility of the game.

The on-screen graphics have also been streamlined. Gone are the big meters which crowd the screen. They are now incorporated into the fret display and the whole look of the band and venues looks a lot more authentic. They’ve copied the grainy look of Rock Band and the character animation and lip synching is really a sight to behold. Another great touch is the ability to play Guitar Hero 5 as your Xbox 360 avatar. You look a little out of place as you’re a lot shorter than everyone else but you can also customise a completely new character to look like you in the character creation mode.

It’s also great that you can play any song from the off in quick play mode and in career, you unlock new venues and songs even though you haven’t played all the songs in the previous category. You can also get more stars by fulfilling criteria mid-song like finger tapping all the tap sections of whammying the sustain notes.

Apart from there not being enough modern tracks for my liking, Guitar Hero 5 really is the ultimate band experience so far. Neversoft have really pushed things forward this time around and it’s tricky to say how they’d better this.

Guitar Hero 5 gets and almost perfect 9 out of 10.

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Related: play Guitar Hero 5 as your Xbox 360 avatar, Using a Wii Guitar Hero controller with Rock Band, Youtube Guitar Hero 5 review

Tags: Guitar Hero 5, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5 review

But to be honest, since then, each episode of Halo has left me feeling just a little less moved. Maybe it’s because each of them is hyped as the biggest event in gaming since… well, since the first Halo, but – for me at least – each then fails to quite live up to its promise. Oh don’t get me wrong, they all looked great and offered more deathmatch maps, new options, etc, but nothing quite matched the thrill of the first game, up to and including the recent Halo 3, which for me just couldn’t compare in either single-player campaign mode or the online deathmatch options to something like Call Of Duty 4.

All that aside though, I was still extremely keen to get my hands on the latest in the Halo series, Halo 3: ODST. Not so much a sequel as a spin-off, this game takes the focus away from the super-human, super-cool Master Chief, and revolves instead around the soldiers of the elite division of the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers – basically the USNC’s futuristic equivalent of the British SAS or the US Navy SEAL teams. If there’s a situation that’s too tough for the cannon-fodder UNSC grunts (who you’ll have seen massacred by the dropship-load in Halo 1, 2 & 3) to handle, then the ODST, or ‘Helljumpers’, are the guys you call.

Our story starts with the Helljumpers deploying from orbit aboard their USNC transport on a hush-hush mission via their signature single-person drop pods. Unfortunately, everything doesn’t quite go according to plan, and things get a little ‘lopsided’ just as the ODST deploy into action, when a massive energy burst close to the planet’s orbit sends their pods tumbling off course and out of control, with the result that the team winds up getting separated and crash-landing at a variety of locations. This means that you, the rookie of the squad (called, rather imaginatively, ‘Rookie’) have to spend a fair part of the game tracking down and locating the scattered squad members before the mission can continue.

What this basically amounts to, at least to begin with, is wandering through a very dark urban cityscape, battling hordes of the alien Covenant troops and trying to locate waypoints which trigger new instructions and various ‘cutaway-missions’ that let you play the landing from the perspective of each of the different squad members. Did I say ‘very dark urban cityscape’? Make that: very, very, very, VERY dark urban cityscape! Because in a lot of these urban levels, you really can’t see your hand in front of your face – it’s THAT dark. In fact the only way you can see anything at all is by making use of your helmet’s VISR, which is basically a low-light vision system coupled with a targeting aid that marks enemy targets in red and the ‘home team’ in green.

Now to begin with, these dark levels are quite atmospheric and eerie, as I’m sure they’re meant to be. As you wander through the shadowy world, with suitably tense incidental music to match the mood, it’s quite nerve-wracking… at least for the first 10 minutes or so. After that though, it starts to get annoying. You find yourself wishing for some decent lighting, as yet another shadowy Covenant soldier shoots at you from behind a shadowy obstacle in the shadow of a big shadowy building… you start thinking that it’d be nice if you could just have a gun with a big flashlight fitted on the end instead of the VISR, which gives about the level of illumination you get when you first turn on an energy-saving light bulb, before it warms up (ie: not much). This is particularly bad inside of buildings, where you often find yourself bouncing off the walls trying to find your way out, and the darkness gets to be so oppressive that when you eventually do get to a cutaway mission which is set outside in broad daylight, it’s such a relief that you almost don’t want to finish it for fear of then getting dumped back in the Rookie’s twilight world.

It’s not just the darkness of much of the game that left me feeling a little cold either, it’s the sense that everything in this game I’ve done before. I’m shooting the same aliens, using the same weapons, driving the same vehicles… to put it simply: it’s basically Halo, as I remember it, but nothing’s really new. Yes, it looks shinier (when it’s not pitch black that is) and yes there are new levels and new characters, but frankly, for me it’s just more of the same, and personally I’m starting to get a little bored with it.

So… am I gonna recommend giving this one a miss? Well… no, actually. And that’s for two reasons. For one, I know that while I might have reached my fill of samey Halo storylines and repetitive Covenant-blasting combat, there’s a massive section of the Xbox-owning public out there that hasn’t. They’re the ones who are buying the Halo books and toys, logging onto the fansites, even making their own Halo-themed TV shows, and for them, they’ll probably love every minute of this game. A game being very similar to something you’ve played previously isn’t a bad thing in everyone’s book – just look at the oodles of gamers who year on year buy each new EA Sports update, each of which is almost always essentially the same as last year’s instalment, just with slightly more polished graphics and some updated stats.

The second reason that Halo 3: ODST doesn’t get a negative review is that when it comes to Halo, the single-player (and indeed, two-player co-op) Campaign mode is only a small part of what everyone loves about the series. The other thing is the online multiplayer, and this is where Halo 3: ODST really delivers. A whole second disc comes in the box, and is packed with online features including 24 different multiplayer maps which takes in all the ones from Halo 3, the DIY Sandbox option and three brand new maps. In addition, up to four friends can play either online or via system link in a new co-op mode called Firefight, which is basically a cooperative ‘survival’ mode, similar to Call Of Duty: World At War’s zombie level which faces players with wave after wave of ever-more-demented Covenant troops.

And no matter how bored I might think I am with the single-player action and storyline of Halo, I simply can’t keep away from the online deathmatch mode, which is the reason that, while this game would probably get just an average 5 out of 10 on the single-player mode alone, it actually gets a deserving ‘very good’ 7 out of 10 rating for the overall package.

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Related: Halo 3 review, Halo Wars review

Tags: Halo 3 ODST, Halo, Halo O.D.S.T., Xbox 360

Buy Final Fantasy 13 now
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Related: official Final Fantasy XIII web site, Final Fantasy XIII PS3 and Xbox 360 versions compared

Tags: Final Fantasy, trailer, Xbox 360, PS3

Where once you could pretty-much categorise any videogame under one of a handful of different types (such as the eight or so featured on Gameswipe), these days as the power of the machines, and the imagination of the game developer grows exponentially, we see game genres mix and meld, and whole new genres seemingly emerge on an almost weekly basis. One genre which has been around since almost the inception of the games console though, and which doesn’t seem to have changed a whole heck of a lot since it began, is the beat-’em-up.

The first beat-’em-up I can remember playing on a console (or ‘home computer’, as they used to be called) was ‘WOTEF’, or ‘Way Of The Exploding Fist’, which featured two small chaps in simplistic martial arts gear who could use but a handful of martial arts moves on one another. It was basic, and not much to look at, but still I was hooked. Of course, if you really wanted to play a PROPER beat-’em-up, then the place to be was the arcades, where a few big names were just starting out and the power of the dedicated graphics boards made for better graphics, sound and animation.

Now though, you’ve got to wonder why anyone ever goes to arcades (if indeed anyone still does) because we can have arcade-quality games in our own home, and that’s exactly what King Of Fighters XII is: an arcade-quality 2D beat-’em-up on your home console. Yes, if your every waking moment is taken up with thoughts of which button combination you need to master in order to perform that flying roundhouse kick, or overhead fireball attack, then this is the game for you. In terms of visuals, it proffers graphics exactly like you might expect a late-90s arcade cabinet to offer, with all the action taking place in one two-dimensional playing area, while the tried and tested ‘parallax scrolling’ technique is used on the backgrounds to give an illusion of depth.

There are 22 colourful characters on offer, each with their own range of different attacks, throws, special moves and ‘super special’ moves to master, and they get to duke it out across six different backdrops.

Control is simplicity itself to pick up – use the d-pad or analogue stick for directional control and the triangle, square, circle and X buttons for Heavy Punch, Light Punch, Heavy Kick and Light Kick – but a struggle to master, as each character has different moves and attacks specific to them, some of which require various lengthy sequences of pad and button combinations to pull them off. Combat consists of three-on-three ‘winner stays on’-style matches, where if you beat the first opponent, then your character gets a small energy boost and then stays in the arena to tackle the next guy. You can either compete against the CPU-controlled opponents, or go to head-to-head with a friend. And that, pretty-much, is all you really need to know.

For, unlike something like Resident Evil or Grand Theft Auto, there is not a huge amount to explain about this game – it’s about one thing: arcade-style, gratuitous one-on-one beat-’em-up action. Whereas some games try to draw you in with complex storylines and multiple twists and turns, with King Of Fighters XII, what you see is what you get.

So if you like colourful, detailed, zany characters, each with their own different skills set, bashing the hell out of one another, then you’ll like this. If not, then you won’t, simple as that. Where the longevity comes into it is with the special moves – with this game it’s not just about finishing the single-player (that can be done in about 20 minutes), no, you’ll find that hardcore gamers will spend hours trying to master the special moves. Why? Because they’re there. So like DS owners might find enjoyment in solving every clue in the latest Professor Layton adventure, hardcore KOF fans will get the same satisfaction in pulling off all the special moves for every character in this. Sound a little strange? Well if I tell you that back when I used to work on videogame magazines, I remember one memorable press lunch where the PR guy who’d taken us out, himself a confirmed Street Fighter addict, spent literally two whole hours discussing with two writers from GamesTM magazine the merits of just one particular Street Fighter special move, then maybe then you’ll understand just how seriously some beat-’em-up fans take their games.

For those ‘dedicated’ individuals (I resist the urge to say ‘sad’, because when you really think about it, it’s no more obsessive than your average football fan spending hours in the pub dissecting a particular tackle or goal attempt) this kind of game represents hour upon hour of top entertainment. For more normal… okay, let me rephrase that: for ‘less fanatical’ gamers, what you’ve basically got is a game which will be great fun to pick up and play with a mate for a few hours every so often, but which doesn’t really have the depth to keep you playing it for long periods – it’s more a ‘post pub’ activity that you’ll dust off every so often when you’ve got company. As a result, while it’s well recommended to the legions of King Of Fighters and Street Fighter 2D beat-’em-up fans out there, for your more casual gamer, I’d have to give it a fairly solid ‘good’ 6 out of 10.

Get The King Of Fighters XII now
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Related: Street Fighter, Professor Layton

Tags: The King Of Fighters XII, King Of Fighters, Gameswipe, Charlie Brooker, beat em up, Way Of The Exploding Fist, Xbox 360, Playstation 3

Episode 117
On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel we review Mini Ninjas and WET, tell you the news about English Training for the DS, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver and Halo ODST, plus you get the chance to win 5 copies of DJ Star for the DS. On the blogs this week you can read a review of Build A Lot for the DS, a review of the Wii version of G I Joe Rise of the Cobra, a Rygar The Battle of Argus review and a second opinion of Professor Layton And Pandoras Box.

• English Training for the DS helps Football star
• Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver sales figures
• Halo ODST release date moved
• Mini Ninjas review
• Win DJ Star for the DS
• WET review
• Just Cause 2 review

Buy
To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the WET Amazon and Mini Ninjas Amazon pages.

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This episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you with GoDaddy and offers you great discounts on hosting and domain names. Use the following October 2009 GoDaddy codes to save you money – WEASEL7 gets you 10% off domain name purchases, WEASEL8 gets you 20% off orders over $57 or £35 and WEASEL9 gets you 30% off .COM domains. Some restrictions may apply, see the GoDaddy web site for more details.

Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace.com, using the October 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Win
For your chance of winning one of 5 copies of DJ Star for the DS head over to our competitions page by 19 October 2009.

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Screenshots

As soon as you load up WET you know exactly what you’re getting in terms of style. If you’ve seen Kill Bill, Grindhouse or any other exploitation movie, the style is instantly obvious. The game even has a flashy film grain effect over it throughout which you can thankfully turn off in the menu so it doesn’t give you a headache.

You play as Rubi Malone, a fixer who solves people’s problems. The pre-title action begins with you retrieving a heart in an ice box which is for some London geezer’s father. The afore-mentioned geezer then goes missing so you’re hired by “Mr New Heart” to go and find him. Of course, things aren’t that simple and you’re double-crossed, which leads to lots of shooting and stabbing people with your sword.

Bethesda make a big deal about you being able to shoot doing acrobatics and if you’re jumping, sliding or running up walls when you shoot, the game slows down so you can target more than one bad guy at a time. As you gain XP you can then buy more upgrades that let you shoot whilst hanging off ledges and swinging off poles too.

There are moments where you move through the levels and also arenas where you must destroy ‘spawn doors’ and collect multipliers whilst killing everyone in sight.

And to mix things up a bit there’s even a couple of sections on the highways as you jump from car to car and shoot enemies who are shooting back at you.

My problem is that I’ve just been spoiled by the intensely satisfying combat of the new Batman Arkham Asylum game. In comparison the combat here feels really clunky. It all goes a bit Max Payne as you jump around in slow-motion but for some reason the combat is rarely satisfying. Even slicing and dicing people at close range just doesn’t seem to feel like it ‘connects’. Even the platforming sections don’t seem to go that smoothly when you consider Rubi is a lithe young lady who should be able to string together her moves a bit more seamlessly.

Presentation, however, will please fans of pulp movie genres. There’s a great soundtrack, good voice acting and some genuinely well scripted moments. It’s a pity the gameplay doesn’t live up to more recent 3rd-person action adventures. WET gets an average 5 out of 10.

Get WET now
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Rental: Rent WET – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
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Related: Madworld review, Batman Arkham Asylum, WET review

Tags: WET, Bethesda Softworks, W.E.T., Xbox 360, PS3

Just because a game’s for kids doesn’t mean it has to be hurriedly put together. Luckily, it seems that quite a bit of care and attention has gone into making Mini Ninjas which means kids are going to have a fair amount of fun with it. In the game, the land has been ravaged by violent storms and the leader of the town has sent his best ninjas one by one off to solve the problem. The problem is, they never came back so it’s up to Hiro, the youngest of the ninjas, to find his buddies and stop the terrible storms and the samurais from burning down the villages.

Combat’s a simple case of hitting, blocking and stunning enemies if they choose to block you. You also have Kuju magic available which can be used to find secret shrines or fight enemies with fireballs or tornadoes. You can even possess the little animals around the land to sneak past samurais or even attack them. Hiro also has a big white hat which can be used to guard against arrows or as a boat. It’s all very cute and colourful and running about the land feels very fresh if you know what I mean.

There’s also a fair amount of platform gaming as Hiro shimmies along ledges and balances on beams.

Once you find your fellow ninjas you can then hot-swap them into the battle and use their abilities. There’s a big chap with a hammer called Tofu or something and a little girl with a flute amongst others.

My problem with this game is, even though it’s for kids, it just feels a bit shallow and easy. Combat is rarely difficult unless you’re later in the game and haven’t levelled up enough so there’s no real sense of danger throughout the game. You sort of go through the motions albeit very slick ones with tight controls and smooth graphics.

It would also have been nice to have some extra 2 player game modes in there for more family fun. Still, it’s a good game and even though there’s swordplay, no-one dies. All the enemies you fight turn into frogs, rabbits and foxes etc when defeated. Mini Ninjas gets a good 6 out of 10.

Get Mini Ninjas now
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Offers: Use our October 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains, using the October 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Ninja Blade review, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword review, Youtube Mini Ninjas review

Tags: Mini Ninjas, Mini Ninja, Eidos, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, Mini Ninjas review

Buy Halo ODST now
New: Preorder Halo ODST from Amazon.com in time for Christmas
Offers: Use our Godaddy coupon codes for October 2009 to save money on hosting and web domains, using the October 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Halo 3 review, Halo 3 ODST at E3

Tags: Halo, ODST, release date

Buy Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver now
New: Buy Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver from Amazon.com
Offers: Use our October 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.

Related: Pokemon Diamond Pearl review, Nintendo DS Lite Limited Edition Pokemon Pack

Tags: Pokémon, HeartGold, SoulSilver, sales figures, Pokemon HeartGold, Pokemon SoulSilver