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MadWorld

Despite selling about 2 copies, Madworld remains one of the best Wii exclusive titles. With a distinct black and white, Sin City -style game aesthetic, this remains one of the most stylish games ever. Starring as Jack, you must kill your way through the levels in a brutal homage to the ‘Running Man’. Throw in some hilarious over the top kills, fantastic boss battles and buckets of blood, making MadWorld a Sega classic.

More: Watch our Madworld review or buy Madworld from Amazon.com

The House of The Dead: Overkill

At one time a Wii exclusive, The House of The Dead: Overkill has now been ported to the PS3, and with good reason, the game is awesome. Another adult oriented offering from Sega, the game took the arcade light gun genre and mixed with a clever Tarantino-style plot. The graphics were decent at the time, the music was fantastic and the voice acting was hilarious. Overkill never took itself seriously and that’s what made it brilliant, the first boss for example is a floating wheelchair bound mutant. Great characters, cool bosses, sexy ladies and zombies, what more can a game need? Great stuff.

More: Watch our The House of The Dead: Overkill review or buy House of the Dead Overkill from Amazon.com

Motoheroz

A download only WiiWare game that came out last year, now has been ported to the iPhone. Based on the same physics engine as the awesome Trials Evolution on Xbox 360, Motoheroz is a hybrid of Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country. Essentially a 2D platformer with cars, the races are fun and the level design fantastic. Thrown into the mix are some cool power ups such as rocket packs and giant springs, which propel your car miles into the air. Easy to pick up but fiendishly difficult to master, Motoheroz is well worth the small price tag.

More: Watch our Trials Evolution review to get an idea of the Xbox 360 version and pick up some Nintendo Wii Points from Amazon.com

Silent Hill Shattered Memories

It’s hard to understand why Silent Hill Shattered Memories was overlooked on release. The graphics are fantastic for the Wii, with an atmospheric setting, dynamic weather and an incredible lighting system. Silent Hills main strength this time round, is that you never get your hands on any weapons, simply a torch to guide you. This may sound naff, but running from enemies is far more heart pounding than shooting them. Full of plot twists, genuinely tense moments and a multiple route plot, Silent Hill really deserves some recognition in the survival horror world.

More: Watch our Silent Hill Shattered Memories review or buy Silent Hill Shattered Memories from Amazon.com

No More Heroes 1 & 2

Another franchise with started out as a Wii exclusive was No More Heroes. Playing as the coolest gaming character of all time, Travis Touchdown, you must battle your way through the top assassins in the world to reach the top spot. The game had cool retro visuals mixed with a cel shaded style. The game was one of the only Wii games which didn’t utilise the Wii remote waggle for sword fighting and was the better for it. Cool mini-games were thrown in, as well as the ability to ride a cool motorbike and to save the game, you had to sit on the toilet. Amazing boss fights and great characters make this a underrated gem.

More: Watch our No More Heroes review or buy No More Heroes from Amazon.com

I really enjoyed the first Prototype game even though at the time it was overshadowed by Sony’s InFamous that featured a similar type of gameplay – that being roam around a city in trouble and destroy nearly everything in your path.

It’s not the power of electricity you’re using here, rather the mutations of a virus which has returned to New York Zero after the initial outbreak started by lab scientist Alex Mercer. You play through the game as Sgt. James Heller, and at the start of the game you’re chasing the hooded Mr. Mercer because he’s responsible for the death of your family. Unfortunately you lose the initial battle and end up getting infected yourself. Not only can you no longer give blood, you also have lots of ways of slicing and dicing up other mutated beings and the combined forces of Blackwatch and Gentek who have vested interests in containing but not completely destroying the thing that’s turning New York into a hellhole.

You begin the game with most of Mercer’s powers. You can run up buildings, dash and fly to a limited extent and as you play the game you improve your abilities to run faster, jump higher and kill things in a variety of cool ways. You can use claws, hammer fists, blades and later on the uber-powerful whipfist to grab people and objects from afar and swing them around your head. You can even hijack helicopters and rip a turret off a tank and beat it round the head with it. It’s proper chaos but also a lot of fun!

As well as the main story events to play through there also plenty of side missions to take part in which there are many of but not too many to overwhelm you. The main action usually involves the repetition of hunting somebody down using a new radar you can send out to ‘ping’ your subject, infiltrating bases and underground lairs to destroy things and also being stealthy. You can only absorb people who aren’t being watched by anyone else but still, you’d think someone standing right next to them would still notice as they get eaten. People complain if I try to eat a burger on the train.

The story of a virus outbreak and companies having a vested interest in destroying or keeping it isn’t all that original and the characters also aren’t fleshed out enough to care about them but in this case it doesn’t really matter as it’s just a lot of fun smashing everything up, morphing into another form and hightailing it out of trouble. Think of it like a Jason Statham movie. It’s not going to win an Oscar but it’s still a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Prototype 2 is definitely an improvement on the first game but it would have been nice to see something extra to do after the campaign is finished – maybe a multiplayer where everyone can go nuts on each other would have been a nice addition? It gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

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Episode 189
On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel we review Trials Evolution and UEFA EURO 2012 FIFA 12, take a look at the news about Mortal Kombat, Project Zero 2 and Silent Hunter, plus you get the chance to win 3 copies of Back to the Future for the PS3. We’ve also got some extra Godaddy renewal coupons over on our offers page to help you save money on web domains and hosting renewals.

• Mortal Kombat for the PlayStation Vita
• Project Zero 2 Wii Edition release date
• Play Silent Hunter Online online
• Trials Evolution review
• Win Back to the Future for the PS3
• UEFA EURO 2012 FIFA 12 review
• Hitman Absolution review

Buy
To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Trials Evolution and UEFA EURO 2012 FIFA 12 pages on Amazon.com. To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Trials Evolution and UEFA EURO 2012 FIFA 12 pages on Amazon.co.uk.

Offers
To save money the next time you purchase sports gear over at Eastbay.com use our EastBay coupons, also try our promo codes for Footlocker useful when shopping for sports style shoes at FootLocker.com. You can also save money on customized mens tshirts at Zazzle.com just by trying our Zazzle coupons at the check-out. 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
We have 3 copies of Back to the Future for the PS3 to give away by 7 May 2012, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

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Related: Steel Diver review

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Electronic Arts usually come under fire every other year when they release a boxed game that lets you play through the Euros or the World Cup. This time around they’ve sensibly gone for a DLC option you can plug into FIFA 12 which lets you play through the scenarios of the qualifiers and compete online and offline through the actual finals as well.

It’s all very well themed – it has the floral designs in the menus, new music and all the 8 official stadiums in there and you can play as any of the teams in the tournament. The big game mode this time though is Expedition mode which has you select a star player as a captain along with a load of random reserves. As you play different countries you unlock roads to other nations and as you play through you collect new players and build a fantasy team. If you’re into collecting stuff you can also add items to a mosaic as well which you earn as you win. Lose and roads that link countries get destroyed and you have to try again. It’s actually a very fun offline experience. You can also play through challenges based on actual games in the build-up to this summers’ competition. These challenges expire so you have to strike within the time limit. For example on March 25th Spain were 1-0 down against the Czech Republic with only 30 minutes left on the clock. You have to beat them 2-1 in an awesome comeback. The strange thing is that if you do too well you don’t actually complete the challenge. I put 4 goals past them and had to try again. I then had to just play keep ball at 2-1 which was no fun at all.

The general pace of the game seems to have been tweaked a little faster which isn’t a bad thing and the default camera has also been tweaked for the better. Negatives are some strange player impact engine animations which seem to have been ironed out in the native FIFA 12, some occasional crashes and odd commentary where different phrases sound like they’ve been recorded at different times in different rooms. They probably were in actual fact but it does eject you from the overall experience somewhat.

Despite its flaws it’s still a very fun game both offline and online and when the tournaments are on the team at EA Canada promise to add new challenges to reflect what’s just happened in the day’s games. UEFA EURO 2012 gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

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I must admit that the original Trials HD game passed me by, however I do remember a simple flash game on the PC which did a similar thing. It’s a simple concept – race your dirt bike from one end of the track to the other and try to cope with the crazy physics involved as your biker tips forwards and backwards and your suspension bends under the impact of a forceful landing.

RedLynx’s game has actually set the record for the fastest downloaded XBLA title and it’s easy to see why – it’s incredibly addictive. Every landing and take-off is effected by the smallest amount of tilt or acceleration and if you muck up you can instantly reset back to the start of the race or the last checkpoint. Race alone and you may just restart at the checkpoint, however if you’re online you can see the data of all your friends and as they zoom off into the distance when you crash you’ll feel compelled to hit the back button to start things afresh.

The game’s got a great sense of humour too. You can hit the Y button to bail where your rider ragdolls into the air and when you finish a race you die in one of many amusing ways. It’s a joy just to get to the end to see what will happen next. As well as straight races there are also licenses to earn as you navigate round complicated scenery and extra challenges using the physics engine where you end up on skis, flying through the air with planks on your arms or tilting a ball around a level Marble Madness style. You can even have a go at making your own tracks and download ones other people have made, making the fun truly endless.

Multiplayer is either local or online where up to four players can compete at once. It’s great fun if you get a group together in the same place but the checkpoint system can be slightly unfair as opponents who have crashed sometimes get restarted at an advantageous position where they can race to the finish before you.

I’ll also confess that I’m not very good at Trials Evolution. Sure practice makes perfect but most of my friends seem to be ahead of me in most races even though I’ve unlocked a faster bike and later on the levels can get frustratingly difficult. Still, there’s plenty more to do if you can’t actually complete the later levels and it’s still a great buy. Did I also mention that the backgrounds are sometimes beautiful to look as well? Trials Evolution gets 9 out of 10.

Related: Arcade Racing, Xbox Live, Trials Evolution review on Youtube
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Raphael isn’t just your normal man about Paris – he’s also a thief with the alter-ego of Phantom R. Strangely he also has a dog called Fondue who also barks in French – an oddity indeed! You begin the game stealing paintings and artefacts from the Louvre and other iconic locations but soon take on a far greater deed as you try to put a stop to a recently resurrected Napoleon!

The clue to how this game is played is in the title – you play through the story and enjoy a myriad of games and puzzles that involve you tapping, swiping and matching notes in order to progress. What’s nice about the game is that there is some variety in there. One minute you might be tapping on coloured squares in time in order to hide behind statues to avoid guards, the next you’ll be pressing the A button and the d-pad in time to fight off enemies trying to stop you. There are also chase scenes where you must tap the screen or buttons to the beat or risk falling. More conventional puzzles find their way into the game too as well that, although won’t tax your brain too much, may challenge your twitch reflexes and toe-tapping sense of rhythm and make you try again. If you’ve played a Layton game you’ll also recognise a similar gameplay where you wander the streets, talk to characters and tap furiously around locations in order to find medals instead of the usual hint coins. You must also record sounds as you go about the town as well which you can then use to help others.

There is some replayability in there too. As well as all the items to find and collect, you’re also graded on how well you perform during each game. You can then go back into these sections in the rhythm list in the menu and try to get a higher score. My only real gripes with the game are that the meter that rates you goes up and down in increments that are too large so you can easily fail a task with just one little wobble as it crashes down to zero. You’ll also spend a lot of time backtracking around Paris on the top screen to get where you want to go as you’re sent on fetch quests.

It would also have been great to have some contemporary licensed music trakcs in there but the tracks that do play out are still fun during the very nicely animated action sequences. It’s also nice the developers have seen sense and switched off the 3D during games where you have to use motion controls.

Rhythm Thief is a fun adventure but do make sure you wear headphones if taking it on the move – others won’t want to hear what you’re up to. It gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

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Related: Elite Beat Agents, Professor Layton

I can’t really tell you the plot as there isn’t one – although you will probably read your own metaphors into the game as you walk around the sand battling wind, finding glowing glyphs that make your scarf grow longer and let pieces of ticker tape latch onto you that allow you to jump and eventually fly. What I read into the game is that you are ascending to your final destination and if you accept the terms and agreements of Sony’s online play you will occasionally also be joined by a fellow traveller from somewhere in the world who is also embarking on the same journey as you.

As you move through the land it’s not just sand that you have to trudge through. You will float through seemingly underwater worlds, fly across vast valleys and persevere through snowy valleys. There’s little exploration here and no enemies as such in the true form of the word but there’s something about it that’s compelling – mainly due to the art direction and music. Play this on a big HDTV and you’ll really benefit as it’s a visual treat. Sand moves underfoot, wind howls around you and your little adventurer has a personality all of his own that’s an air of calm. The orchestral soundtrack is also so beautiful that you could just be moved to tears as you get near to the uplifting ending.

You won’t be playing this for long but it’s an experience you won’t forget. For what it does it gets 9 out of 10.

Related: Rez HD review

Episode 188
On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel we review The Witcher 2 and Ridge Racer Unbounded, plus you get the chance to win 5 copies of Skullgirls XBLA codes. We’ve also put together reviews of Kid Icarus Uprising and Mario and Sonic at the 2012 London Olympic Games, plus we’ve got the latest Grand Theft Auto IV cheat codes and a list of Godaddy renewal coupons.

• The Witcher 2 review
• Win Skullgirls XBLA codes
• Ridge Racer Unbounded review
• Battleship review

Buy
If you like any of the games reviewed on this show you can buy from the The Witcher 2 and Ridge Racer Unbounded pages on Amazon.com. If you like any of the games reviewed on this show you can buy from the The Witcher 2 and Ridge Racer Unbounded pages on Amazon.co.uk.

Win
We have 5 copies of Skullgirls XBLA codes to give away by 9 April 2012, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

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The Witcher 2 caused a bit of a stir when it came out on PC because it was a bloody good fantasy RPG romp. Now it’s come to Xbox 360 and it’s not so much of a port of the game but an enhanced version with lots of new gameplay and other stuff including an upgraded interface specifically for the Xbox 360, new animations, cut-scenes and four extra hours of things to do in this already massive game.

If you don’t know what it’s about let me enlighten you. You play as Geralt of Rivia who is a witcher – a mutated bloke who possesses all kinds of powers of the monster slaying kind. Because of that he’s feared by the ignorant and so begins the game in jail telling stories of how he got there. Luckily you soon escape (otherwise things would get very boring) and set about trying to find the guy who’s going around killing kings and blaming it all on you.

You’ll spend a lot of your time exploring the land and townships where you can find items to upgrade your equipment and potions you can drink to help your quest and you also get to fight a variety of people and monsters. Thankfully the combat system is actually pretty sturdy with the ability to block, parry and roll out of the way and assign spells, bombs, daggers and traps to your arsenal as you put pay to all around you. As you upgrade you can level up and add mutagens to make you even more powerful.

The characters you meet and work alongside all have their own distinct personalities which certainly adds to the playability factor and there are many side quests to take part in as you work through the main plotline. Be warned though, things don’t open up fully until you’re at least a couple of hours in. You’ll also make choices in conversations that can directly affect what happens next or have farther reaching consequences further down the road. There’s no Mass Effect style Paragon or Renegade style choices here so you’re free to just do what feels right for you and watch your choices play out in front of you.

There are also mini games to take part in which involve quicktime punch up sequences, arm wrestling and gambling in your local inn which to be honest aren’t that much fun to play but fighting aside you don’t have to take part in them if you don’t want to. Visually the game looks gorgeous, especially during some of the pre-rendered cut-scenes. There are minor glitches here and there such as texture pop-up during gameplay but nothing as game breaking as Skyrim.

If you’re into your fantasy role-playing and want a game with well fleshed out characters and hours of gameplay that’s a bit more structured than the afore-mentioned Elder Scrolls game and not as silly as Fable, then I highly recommend The Witcher 2. 9 out of 10.

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Story Mode is where you’ll most likely head first so let’s discuss that now. I don’t know about you but I’m a pessimist, for me everything that can go wrong usually does. That’s why I was not in the least bit surprised that just a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games; things take a turn for the worst. A strange fog has descended over London and it is so thick that it appears the games will have to be cancelled.

Of course this is no ordinary fog, for one thing it is multi-coloured and I’ve been to London several times and let me tell you the fog has always grey. But that pales in significance to the fact that there are several naked doppelgangers walking around inside the fog. On the outset they look a little like Mario, Sonic and some of the other well-known stars – except they’re made of fog…and they’re naked! It appears that these intruders will not budge nor shed any info on the circumstances until they’ve been beaten in an Olympic event by a real Nintendo or Sega mascot. So begins the journey of Mario, Sonic and a whole host of other familiar characters in adventure that will take them to iconic London locations such as Hyde Park, Wimbledon, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and Stone Henge(?).

To cut a terrible story short, the evil Bowser and Dr Eggman are behind the mysterious fog. No surprise there then – truth be told, this is a glorified training mode that spans 21 episodes which will give you some good practice at a selection of the sporting events. The difficulty is a bit too easy for the most part and you’ll complete the story in just a few hours. You’ll now be good enough to head into the Single Player mode where you can start playing the events for real and get those; Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. AI difficulty can be chosen from Easy, Medium and Hard and your goal is to earn Gold on all three (of course).

In total there are 40 events and whilst some really capture the individual sport concerned, most are fanciful recreations of the real thing. Let’s be honest, many Olympic events aren’t that suited for a kids game so Sega have wisely taken a few liberties and simplified things a little.

A few examples:

• The 110m hurdles now become a memory game. At the start of the event each hurdle is shown as a button and you need to memorize as many of them as you can in order. Each one you guess correctly will result in your character jumping. Hit the wrong button and they’ll trip up.
• Marathon hardly features any actual running. Instead you need to time your button press so that you successfully collect a drinking water bottle as you pass a table.
• Weightlifting requires you to shout at your 3DS microphone as loud as you can when the power meter is at the desired point.
• Football is reduced to corner kicks. As the ball kicked from the corner flag you need to time your button release to strike the ball whilst at the same time trying to curl it around the keeper with your circle pad.

Things have been made simple but it really does make sense when you think about it. A 90 minute football game doesn’t lend itself to a mini game collection and nor does a two hour long marathon. By reducing things down to their key elements, Sega have been able to keep the spirit of the events whilst keeping them fun at the same time. I can’t go into all 40 events here but most of them are quite good. To be honest my least favourite are those that require the use of Motion Controls to play. I don’t really feel comfortable swinging my 3DS around like mad and that is exactly what the Hammer Throwing event wants. It feels very dangerous without a wrist strap and I can easily envisage the console being thrown to the other side of the room. Luckily only a few mini games use the gyroscope and as long as you hold on tight, it’ll be okay.

Sadly I wasn’t able to test the multiplayer but I can reasonably assume that it will be even more fun with humans as opposed to the CPU bots. Sega have kindly allowed single card download play which means that only one person has to own the game and your other 3DS friends can still play. Multicard owners will no doubt have a bigger selection of multiplayer scenarios to use though. There is no online play but there are online leaderboards, so at least you can compare your skills and best times with your friends and the rest of the world. A nice feature for the competitive sorts but real online play would have been better.

All this is pointless unless the game looks and sounds good right? Well you can stop your worrying now because the game looks great, lovely character models and realistic looking locations. Not forgetting the real 3D to be had, well let’s just say that the depth to the 3D visuals is superb. Now the sound on the other hand can get a bit annoying, each character has three or four spoken phrases (or noises) and they’ll soon get very repetitive, you could turn the sound off if it really bothers you but I just learned to accept it.

If you’re serious about your Olympic Games events being faithful then you might want to save your cash for Segas Official London 2012 game coming in June 2012, but for the kiddies I really think they’ll love Mario and Sonic at the London Olympic Games which scores 7 out of 10

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The big question, is Kid Icarus worth the 25 year wait? The short answer is, oh hell yeah! The game is split up into on-rails flying and shooting sections, think Star Fox with Angels. The other part of the game is on foot, almost fps-like sections. The storyline involves the evil Medusa’s attempts at world domination, what it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in gameplay and content. The flying levels are simply breathtaking, in terms of visuals and the sheer amount of goings on. Enemies swarm the screen, requiring split second dodging of attacks and pin point accurate shots to defeat them. The on foot sections sadly aren’t as fun, mainly due to the control method. That really is the game’s only downside, the controls are awkward after long sessions of play. The flying section utilise the left shoulder button, circle pad and stylus, which can lead to painful hand cramps. The on foot sections are even worse, requiring a swipe of the stylus to turn Pit around, then using the circle pad to dodge attacks. Why oh why couldn’t this game use the Circle Pad Pro attachment?

Kid Icarus features a wealth of unlockables and secrets to discover. Unique to the game is the ability to alter the difficulty level, using Pits heart collection. The harder the game, the more hearts you earn back and better weapons to find. If you get beaten, the difficulty decreases as does your reward. The multiplayer mode is pretty decent too, just a shame it’s limited to on foot battles. Things usually get pretty hectic so the frame rate tends to drop, but it’s a little price to pay.

Kid Icarus is without a doubt the best looking game on the 3DS. Beautiful graphics, brilliantly designed levels and epic boss fights make this a great all round package. Throw in a wealth of unlockables, AR cards and Streepass modes, you have the best game on Nintendo’s handheld so far. Kid Icarus Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS gets 9 out of 10.

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Ridge Racer has always been seen as an arcade franchise and this time around Namco Bandai have taken things a step further along the lines of Burnout and Need for Speed to include taking out other cars and smashing through buildings and scenery around the fictional town of Shatter Bay. You’d be forgiven for thinking you were about to play Battlefield 3 when you see the title screen but from here you can choose to play through the campaign single player, have a go at creating your own challenges and cities in the level editor or explore other people’s creations.

So what’s it like when you get behind the wheel? Well, there are a variety of different races to try. You can try your hand at straight races where you earn boost by drifting, getting air and smashing through objects, you can enter drift events where you score points by keeping your combo going, try to smash up your opponents in Domination races or compete in time attack or frag attack races. For frag, read takedowns if you’re used to Burnout terminology.

Sounds like a lot of fun doesn’t it? The problem comes when you actually try driving. Races just aren’t a lot of fun and that’s down to a number of reasons. Car handling feels very heavy and drifting is very tricky to adjust. You either over steer wildly or, when you try to correct, end up sliding into the opposite wall. You can also smash through buildings but only when you boost using your power meter. If you run out of juice just before the target you just smash into it, either crashing or having to turn tail to try and catch all your opponents that have just whizzed by. Even when you do smash through a target the auto-steer sometimes mucks which means you get punished even for doing something that initially looks cool! The graphics also aren’t anything to write home about and the level design just isn’t to the standard you’d expect already set in this genre by developers such as Criterion and Black Box.

If you’re a budding games designer you can have a go at creating your own levels using the robust level editor but so far, playing other people’s, you can see why developers are paid to make games as they don’t make frustrating, nonsensical levels where you crash continuously every time you respawn!

I can’t get over the feeling the Ridge Racer series should have stuck to straight up arcade racing. It’s as if it’s tried to copy the big boys of the genre and failed so it gets an average 5 out of 10.

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Related: Burnout, Need for Speed, Ridge Racer Unbounded review on Youtube

Episode 187
On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel we review Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City and Silent Hill Downpour, take a look at the headlines behind Assassins Creed 3, Max Payne 3 and the Sony Playstation Orbis. We’ve also got a Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater review, a We Sing POP review, some new Godaddy coupon codes and an updated list of Wii hardcore games.

• Assassins Creed 3 release date
• Max Payne 3 multiplayer video
• Sony Orbis specs
• Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City review
• Win Ridge Racer Unbounded signed artwork
• Silent Hill Downpour review
• Ghost Recon Future Soldier review

Buy
To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City and Silent Hill Downpour pages on Amazon.com. To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City and Silent Hill Downpour pages on Amazon.co.uk.

Offers
To save money the next time you purchase basketball shoes at the retailer Eastbay use our coupons for Eastbay, and we’ve also got our coupon code for Foot Locker useful when shopping for sports apparel at Footlocker.com. Plus you can also save yourself money when you buy custom embroidered polo shirts over at Zazzle.com when you use our coupon codes for Zazzle at the check-out. 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.

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We have Ridge Racer Unbounded signed artwork to give away by 9 April 2012, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

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Related: Assassin’s Creed III, Assassins Creed

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Related: Max Payne 3 video game, Max Payne 3 release date

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Screenshot from Sony developer site with the address orbis.scedev.net, a possible hint at the name of the new Playstation 4.

Silent Hill Downpour takes a new direction in the grim horror series. They’ve turned to a new developer and this one promises to explore some new areas of the misty ghost town never seen before. You begin the game as convict Murphy Pendleton being transferred between prisons. You never would have guessed what happens next – the bus crashes near Silent Hill and you wander into the strange nightmarish town where you’re pursued by hellish beasts that all want to kill you. And it’s raining – just your luck eh!

If you’ve played a previous Silent Hill games, and I’ve played them all, things will feel very familiar. You hunt around areas for objects, use or combine them with other items to progress, solve rudimentary puzzles and ones where you must consult clues found in your journal and check your map for where to go next. There’s also melee combat and the odd gun to find here and there which may just help you despatch the creatures from a distance.

So what’s it like? Well….slow. You will spend a lot of the time wandering around looking for items you’ve missed so definitely turn on item highlights in the options menu if you don’t want to run back and forth all over the place until you find that rusty brown key on the brown table you failed to spot. Combat also isn’t much fun as some of these beasts seem to have ninja reactions and all you can do is flail wildly at them and block. If you’re hit you mostly get staggered which further makes combat frustrating. Most of the time it’s best to just run away which then just makes the monsters an annoyance as you make your way through the story. Murphy will meet others in the town and you can make decisions at set points. Do you talk a man down from jumping off a cliff or goad him to take the plunge? Either way it seems your choices have little effect on the outcome which is a big shame. It’s an illusion of choice that may change the ending but not that precise moment in time.

There are also moments when Murphy will enter the Otherworld and be chased by a big red light. At least during these scenes the action hots up a bit as you run for your life to avoid it turning you into mush.

Side quests are also an addition. These range from rescuing abandoned birds from cages or halting ghostly police cards. They’re not necessary to furthering the game’s main plot but do promote a bit more exploration and non-linear gameplay.

Technically the game’s not great either. There are many moments when the camera freezes and glitches and textures and items pop into view – things which shouldn’t really happen in games nowadays, especially ones which don’t seem to be pushing any technical boundaries in the first place! The game’s also not all that scary to begin with. Fortunately things do get a bit creepier once you’re actually in the town of Silent Hill – here’s a tip. Turn up your speakers if you want things to go BANG and make you jump.

It’s unfortunate that Silent Hill Downpour just left me feeling bored at first. It was a trudge to play to begin with and the game only goes up a gear about 2 hours in. Previous games have had me thinking about them long after I’d switched off the console but this one’s more easily forgotten. Silent Hill Downpour is more of a drizzle but does have some charm so it gets 6 out of 10.

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So what’s it all about? Well, as you may already know the game is set during the American Civil War in the late 18th Century but although there is a lot of in-fighting between the British Empire and the North American colonies the story is still very much about a long-running feud between the Assassins and the Templars. You play as Connor inside the Animus, a character who grows up in the Mohawk village with the natives and then eventually dons the Assassin’s robe, learning all the deadly skills that go along with it. Early footage from the game shows him scalping targets to prove he killed them, however when looking into the history this was deemed inaccurate by the development team and so this element has been removed in the final game. Other weapons include muskets for mid-range combat, arrows for long-range attacks, a tomahawk with a rather cool blade shaped likes the Assassin’s logo and of course the hidden blade we’ve come to know and love when Connor decides to get up close and very personal. One other addition is the Rope Dart which can be used to snare victims and do lovely things to them such as hang them from the nearest tree branch. Robin Hood would turn in his grave if he were in fact real.

One interesting thing we got to see was some pre-rendered ‘target footage’ which the team made when the concept was first realised. Set to a Bat for Lashes track, this showed a beauitful and exciting scene where Connor is sent on a mission to intercept a carriage and assassinate a poor unfortunate. Although more stunning than the actual game will look like, it does set a target for the development team to reach and it’s interesting to see how close they will get to realising this when the final game comes out. Another video we saw was a ten minute demo showing where they are at the moment with the game and to be honest it still looks impressive even though they’re not at the stage of tweaking and polishing the game yet. What follows is a description of the events that followed in the demo.

The demo begins with Connor in a wooded area in the Frontier during winter. As he walks through the deep snow his progress is slow as his feet sink into the snow, making him stumble as he wades through it waist high. As he reaches stonier ground the snow becomes more shallow and suddenyl hes set upon by a massive bear. Out comes the hidden blade and the bear is stabbed right through the neck as it lunges towards him. Animals in the game can be hunted and killed in order to get their pelts – presumably to add to Connor’s outfit or to sell. Perform a clean kill with a knife and the pelt will be worth more than one filled with shot from a gun.

Connor then climbs up a rock face using new mo-capped footage of real rock climbers and stands at the top, looking over a snowy vista that’s bigger than Rome in the previous games. He then spies a group of soldiers marching through the pass and leaps form tree to tree to get a vantage point above a moving cart. Connor can now jump across and dive into moving objects and so dives head first in classic style to hide in the cart and be transported stealthily to his next location.

The demo now moves to Boston in the summer – one of the locations alongside the Frontier and New York. Here we say NPCs interacting like never before. Birds fly through the crod, children are seen far more than before and a thief runs off with someone’s belongings. Our demo lets hiim run as Connor sidles through the crowd towards a checkpoint. He doesn’t have the correct paperwork so legs it into the town, jumping over stalls and for the first tine through a window of a house and out the other side – another first for the series and a shocking moment for the poor lady inside. The streets were wide in Boston in those days but thankfully there were more trees back in those days so onnor can use those trees to still leap above the heads of everyone and make his way across the city higher than most.

The next area we are faced with is the Battle at Bunker Hill in the summer of 1775. Connor runs up towards the staging area where we hear the famous “don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes speech” and then we see our first cut scene with dialogue. The team used full performance capture for a more genuine performance and facial animations have been enhanced further with more ‘bones’ in the face thanks to the new engine. Connor then runs towards the battlefield using cover for the first time to stay out of the way of gunfire. This section also shows off the fact that they can now have over 2000 characters on screen at once for the first time. As the guns are reloaded Connor dashes from cover to cover to flank the army and take to the trees – ducking under logs and bounding along branches. Eventually Connor finds the camp with his target and lays low in the bushes out of sifght. Again, something new for the series. He darts out, rushes his mark and the Animus bursts into life as in slow motion, his target sees Connor’s tasty tomahawk come into view, knocking him off his horse.

And that was the demo. It’s certainly a different direction for the game but something I am looking forward to. Sure some of the ideas we’ve seen before in games such as Red Dead Redemption but seeing it through the eyes of someone in the Animus give sit a very different flavour.

It seems Ubisoft are sharing things with us at this stage that most publishers keep very close their chests and for that, I thank them. It can only be good for the industry.

Related: Assassins Creed 3 release date, Assassins Creed 3 rumours

But is it actually any good? Well, yes and no. If you’re not a fan of Lady Gaga, Hanson or Village People, you’ll no doubt give this a miss. We Sing is a karaoke game, where a player uses a USB Microphone to sing in time with the song being played. Yes it’s another one of THOSE games. The tracks on offer are essentially a collection of the best (or in some cases worst) pop music hits from the last 60 years. If singing Hero by Enrique Iglesias floats your boat, then hop aboard. There are a decent number of single player modes on offer, including a singing lessons mode, which lets you add effects to your voice. The more hard-core gamer can attempt the hard mode, which essentially removes the karaoke text from the screen, meaning you have no visible guide, thus relying on your sheer talent. The real fun comes when 4 players play head to head.

Singing alone can be a bit of a lonely and sad experience. This game was built for families and parties. Get yourself some willing friends, grab some Dutch courage and give it a go. Those not into pop music can sing along to Coldplay or the Killers, or pass it to mum and dad to duet with Sonny and Cher. The song list totals 30 tracks spanning 6 decades, so there should be something for everyone, although the game is sorely missing Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Fans of the series will no doubt pick this up. Haters of the genre or the music will not be missing anything special. The game is best played with friends, so grab the necessary accessories and start belting out I’m Like a Bird. We Sing POP gets 6 out of 10.

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Related: SingStar 90s review, Music games

If I said to you name a game where a team of four fight against hordes of the undead, you’re likely to say Valve’s Left 4 Dead games. Now it’s time for Capcom to have a go along a similar theme but this time set in the Resident Evil universe. And it makes sense – it’s a franchise that’s been around since the PS One and they know a thing or two about good zombie games right? Well, unfortunately, this is one game that Capcom should really destroy all evidence of which is coincidentally what you’re trying to do in the game when it comes to the T-Virus.

In the campaign mode which can be played with three AI team-mates or co-op with four players, you play as members of the Umbrella Security Service who’ve been sent in to Raccoon City to recover all evidence that links the company with the outbreak. You’ll revisit well-known locations such as the police station and the train yard and fight some familiar monsters including Lickers, Hunters and even the odd Nemesis here and there. He really should go see a plastic surgeon, they can work wonders these days.

As you fight through the missions you earn XP which can be used to buy extra weapons and perks but the main thing you’ll really miss in this game is ammo. Even human Spec-Ops enemies take a tonne of damage before they go down and you’ll spend a lot of your time switching to your pistol and hunting desperately for ammo as you’re attacked from all sides. To my knowledge this is also the first Resident Evil game with controls you’d expect in other 3rd-person combat games. You’d expect this to be a good thing but the controls are flighty and the cover system sucks. Instead of pressing a button to stick to cover your character automatically does it when you go near a wall. Sometimes you stick to things when you don’t want to and other times you won’t take cover when you want to. If you also run towards an item to collect it and don’t stop sprinting first, you’ll dive onto the item instead which isn’t much help when you’re low on energy. It’s also possible to get stuck in an endless loop of death when trying to get up and being constantly pounded by some of the bigger beasties. The whole game’s also set at night which makes everything look muddy and the frame rate can drop considerably at times during combat as well. This coupled with invisible walls and AI opponents that won’t revive each other or you for that matter only compounds things more!

There is some fun to be had with versus mode though. There are four modes to play in spread across a number of iconic locations that play on deathmatch and capture the flag mode themes and a mode called Heroes where you only have one life and must search and destroy the other teams. Leon S. Kennedy and Ada Wong also make appearances and I must say it looks like Ada’s been partaking in some comfort eating. Chunky. There’s also an enjoyable Survivors mode where you must face off against the enemy to get to the last chopper that doesn’t have room for everyone!

This game is incredibly flawed in many ways and it’s difficult to recommend it. If you want some recent Resident Evil co-op action I’d recommend the superb Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS. If you just want to shoot zombies then Left for Dead and its sequel are much more fun and less frustrating to play. Operation Raccoon City just scrapes a 5 out of 10.

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Related: Left 4 Dead games, Resident Evil universe, Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City review on Youtube

So how does it play? Well, to be honest it plays exactly like the original, however this time in 3D. Some may argue that this is the best looking 3DS game to date, with the most impressive use of the 3D slider. I on the other hand beg to differ; the frame rate of the game is pretty shoddy throughout, even worse with the 3D on. Tall grass and foliage often obscured my view and was painful to the eye. Controlling Snake is easy enough, with good use of the analogue pad, which in a game all about sneaking about is a good thing! Some moves are rather awkward to pull off and needing multiple buttons to be held. The inventory is now used via the touch screen, which keeps item selecting easy and fast. The camera is controlled using the A,B, X and Y buttons and works better than it sounds. There are some very frustrating gyro controlled sections which seem totally tacked on and unnecessary.

The storyline is brilliant, with some unforgettable characters. The bad guys in particular are a highlight and when you meet them the boss fights are epic to say the least. I’m not a fan of cut scenes in games, to which MGS is fames for, so prepare to spend a lot of time watching and not playing. Sneaking around is fun, with some genuinely tense moments to be had. It’s just a shame that Konami have added useless extras such as the camouflage camera mode and gyro to tick the 3DS features box.

Newcomers to the game will find this game highly engrossing and worth the money. Fans of the series will probably loathe the frame rate issues and pointless additional features. It is a decent game, though the recently released Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is better value for money. 7 out of 10.

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Episode 186
This week on Gamesweasel we play Mass Effect 3 and Twisted Metal, tell you about 2 new HD reboots of Resident Evil Chronicles and Jet Set Radio, plus the chance to win a Mass Effect 3 Special Edition Vault from Calibur 11 for Xbox 360 in our competition.

• Mass Effect 3 review
• Win Mass Effect 3 Special Edition Vault from Calibur 11 for Xbox 360
• Twisted Metal review
• Modern Warfare 3 review

Buy
To buy any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Mass Effect 3 and Twisted Metal pages on Amazon.com. To buy any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Mass Effect 3 and Twisted Metal pages on Amazon.co.uk.

Offers
To save money when you purchase casual shoes at the retailer Eastbay use our East Bay source codes, or use our Foot Locker codes useful when shopping for popular sports apparel at FootLocker.com. There isn’t an Amazon coupon that will get you a discount, however we’ve put together a handy Amazon deal finder to help you save cash next time you buy some games. Plus for money off when you buy custom photo enlargements over at Zazzle using our coupons for Zazzle when shopping. 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.

Win
We have Mass Effect 3 Special Edition Vault from Calibur 11 for Xbox 360 to give away by 26 March 2012, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

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I was a big fan of the original Twisted Metal games on the PS One because at the time there was no other game out there like it. Sure there was Destruction Derby but that didn’t feature crazy cars and big guns! Now it’s back for a reboot on the PS3 but does it still provide the same thrill or has it been left behind since then?

The plot focuses on three characters who’ve assembled to fight in Calypso’s Twisted Metal Tournament. Sweet Tooth is back to get the reward of murdering the one that got away, as well as Mr. Grimm and Dollface. You jump in any number of vehicles with different strengths and speeds and race around a number of arenas to usually end up being the last man standing.

Interestingly, they’ve still gone for treated actors in the cut-scenes which, although a unique style, does jar with the in-game graphics. Then it’s time to get in the ring so to speak. Pick-ups are littered across the ground and at first things can be a little overwhelming. Guns, shields, bombs and other powers can be selected and fired using the d-pad and triggers and you need to work this out whilst being pummelled by your opponents. Get out of the mayhem and you can line yourself up to fire cannons or use the auto lock-on to do some serious damage – get stuck in the carnage and it can feel unfair as you get pounded from behind again and again. Whilst some people may enjoy this activity I found it rather frustrating. When health gets low you can rush off to find health or swap your car for another one you chose at the start in the garage.

Game modes include deathmatch, team deathmatch, a mode where you must stay inside a moving electric grid otherwise you lose health, races and a mode similar to capture the flag where you must grab hold of enemies, drag them to a machine, turn them into a rocket and fire them at a huge effigy! Random but quite fun.

If you stick with the game you will actually find some strategy behind all the mayhem but you do have to forgive quite a few failings to get there. The graphics aren’t great, the game feels very rough around the edges and the default controls are just horrible! Luckily you can change them to something you’re more used to but that still won’t help you if your car gets stuck in some of the scenery and you have to restart the stage! Scenery damage is also inconsistent meaning you can sometimes drive through a building only to be defeated by a waist high wall! Reversing is also counter-intuitive because the steering switches as you reverse. Have the dev team actually driven a car?

As well as the single player mode it’s also good that local multiplayer hasn’t been forgotten – after all that’s where its roots lie so you can play split screen locally as well as against other online. When taking the game online you can join or create servers with up to 16 players in them but at the time of writing this, joining other people is sketchy at the best of times. Hopefully this will improve from today on its UK release.

There is a lot of fun to be had here but for me the game’s a big disappointment and could have done with being delayed a little bit more to refine it. It gets 6 out of 10.

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Related: Twisted Metal PS3 version, Twisted Metal, Twisted Metal review on Youtube

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Related: SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection review, Sega Mega Drive Classics Collection review

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Related: Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles review, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles review

I jumped onto Mass Effect‘s Normandy when Microsoft published the first game and I’ve stayed for the ride ever since with. Recently I’ve met the doctors of BioWare, the producers and even interviewed the voice actors so I was more than keen to play this third instalment which sees the Reapers arrive to conquer the Earth as well as the galaxy. Without giving away any spoilers it’s up to Commander Shepard to recruit various races from across the galaxy to all work together and defeat them.

Of course what you’re guaranteed to get here is a rich story and believable characters you genuinely care about and you’ll be asked to make some really tough decisions along the way that will affect how things play out for you. Import your save from the previous games and you’ll have an even richer experience as you talk and fight alongside great character models and superb voice acting that really sells the epic nature of what’s happening around you. It’s a pity then that around this are graphical glitches now and then where characters jump into position to react to your conversation choice and there are also some laughable movement animations and the same old problem of textures visibly loading into new scenes. The next game in the series certainly needs an engine overhaul.

So what about the actual gameplay? There are the same lengthy conversations which I’m actually a fan of in this series due to the great voice acting and when you’re not on the Citadel or the Normandy you’ll be on a whole host of missions embroiled in some very hefty combat. Combat has been improved yet again with a more refined cover mechanic and melee attacks and you can also order your teammates using your voice via Kinect on Xbox 360. This works to some extent meaning you don’t have to pause things to open the wheel as much but sometimes it doesn’t hear you or unbeknown to you, your companions have already fired off the biotic you ask them to unleash, and it’s tricky to tell in the heat of battle. Kinect can also be used to choose dialogue in conversations and open doors but thankfully you can still press a button which is still far quicker and easier. There’s also loads of different armour, accessories and other things to buy and salvage when scanning planets. This time you can scan when pootling about in your ship. Do this too much in a Reaper infested area and they’ll come looking for you. It makes you jump at first, but when you realise the game just restarts you from your last save if they catch you which is always about 30 seconds ago it loses all its impact.

For the first time, Mass Effect 3 also comes with a multiplayer co-op mode which not only is quite fun to play in its own right (it’s basically a horde mode with waves of enemies you have to destroy), as you level up and earn XP in this mode it also goes towards your ‘galactic readiness’ in the campaign as well. And don’t worry, you don’t have to play co-op to get the best ending, it’s just another way of being more prepared for that final battle.

On another note, someone should have told BioWare that swapping discs on the Xbox 360 version of the game even though you’ve installed both discs to your hard drive isn’t acceptable in this day and age. I’m not playing Monkey Island 2 using floppy drives on the Amiga any more. Along with the superb soundtrack from Clint Mansell, this is one hell of a sci-fi package which will keep you playing for well over 30 hours and more if you get hooked on the co-op mode. It gets an almost perfect 9 out of 10.

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Episode 185
On this weeks episode of Gamesweasel we review SSX and Lumines Electronic Symphony, take a look at the news about Mass Effect 3, PS Vita and Dead Space 2, plus you get the chance to win 10 XBLA codes for Outland on the Xbox 360.

• Mass Effect 3 sales figures higher than expected
• South Park hits the PS Vita
• Dead Space 3 to be powered by Battlefield 3
• SSX review
• Win XBLA codes for Outland on the Xbox 360
• Lumines Electronic Symphony review
• I Am Alive review

Buy
To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the SSX and Lumines Electronic Symphony pages on Amazon.com. To get hold of any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the SSX and Lumines Electronic Symphony pages on Amazon.co.uk.

Offers
To save money the next time you purchase casual shoes over at Eastbay use our EastBay promo code, or you can use our Footlocker discount codes useful when buying athletic style footwear over at Footlocker.com. There isn’t an Amazon gift code available, however we’ve put together a handy guide showing you how to get free shipping with Amazon to help you save money. You can also save money on customized letterheads at Zazzle when you use our Zazzle discount codes at checkout. 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
We have 10 XBLA codes for Outland on the Xbox 360 to give away by 12 March 2012, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

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I never really got into SSX when it was out on previous consoles but since then I’ve actually taken up snowboarding in real life so was keen to try out this reboot of the game which means I can try out all sorts of gravity-defying stunts and not have to be escorted down the mountain in what they call a blood wagon.

The story is pretty straight forward. A dude called Griff who’s part of SSX team has gone rogue, presumably for more money and sponsorship gear, so it’s up to the remaining members to take to the slopes to prove they’re the best and this time they’ve upped the odds considerably because not only must you help them get down the mountains around the globe quickly and stylishly whilst it’s all broadcast live, but you must also simply survive some off them as you’re swallowed up by avalanches, have to deal with deadly drops, extreme cold, thin air and trees!

There are two ways to control your riders – you can either use the buttons to grab different parts of your board or do it using the right analogue stick. You can then tweak your moves using the right trigger and use combinations of buttons or stick swivels to grab with two hands and tweak things even further. Link these moves together as you carve down the mountain and you can build up your TRICKY meter. Once it’s full you hold down both triggers and pull of insane stunts for big points. I tried both methods and once you get the hang of it, the stick system is much more intuitive as you also wind up jumps by pulling back and pushing up at the lip of a jump.

There’s a good selection of favourite and new riders to unlock and each comes with special gear to help them survive such as armour, ice picks, oxygen masks and wing suits which can be deployed to fly you over huge gaps.

World Tour mode has you race, trick and survive 9 deadly descents but there’s also the more free-form Explore mode where you earn medals for racing wherever you like and Global Events where you compete with others online for the best score. The great thing here is that these events are open for a set time limit and you can jump in and race against ghosts whenever you like, set the best score you can and can even win even if you’re not about when the event closes. RiderNet also lets you compare your times and scores with friends and is basically the snowboarding equivalent of Need for Speed’s AutoLog.

The game looks super slick and the soundtrack is cool. Reservations include some strange animations when the riders are waiting in the helicopter, some spelling mistakes in the menus and cut scenes and also the difficulty curve. This game really is almost as tricky as learning to do the real thing. It throws you in at the deep end with some expert AI to deal with right from the get-go but at least does offer you the chance to buy new gear as you earn currency that will make things easier. Like the real thing, practice also helps too and you will find that things suddenly ‘click’ if you put the time and effort in. Still, at least you don’t get the bruises in this game and the rewind button is a god-send when you go plunging into a ravine.

SSX gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

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Related: Snowboard Riot review, Shaun White Snowboarding review, SSX review on Youtube