This review will focus on Transformers War for Cybertron. It was a brand new adventure which focused on the origins of the war between the Decepticons and the Autobots on their planet Cybertron and actually had the blessing of Hasbro, the original creators. It was being handled by High Moon Studios who had previously worked on 'The Bourne Conspiracy' game which was lukewarmly received. However at the recent VGA's a trailer for the sequel, 'Fall of Cybertron' was released and left everyone very excited. Excited at the prospect of a brand new title to fulfill all their Transformers needs but what better time to go back and check out the previous title to see if it was worth all the fuss.

The story as mentioned earlier depicts the origins of the war that lead to the Transformers leaving their homeworld and blasting off into space. It is told from two perspectives that tie together to create one whole campaign. The beginning follows the Decepticons and quest for an all powerful substance which will no doubt win them the war and enslave all living beings (but said substance will no doubt end up being unstable and dangerous, because these things always are). The second half of the story is told from the view of the Autobots (you've probably worked that out already) and follows their adventures into a desperate attempt to fight off the every growing threat of the Decepticons.

I have to say as someone who really enjoys his story in games above all else I would like to praise the way the story is set out. It has 10 missions split equally and they take place chronologically. This means that they are all laid out and show the progression of the story/war as it unfolds. You can start right at the beginning with the Decepticons or start half way through with the Autobots and it raises and interesting point which I shall dive into with the help of Halo: Reach.

Remember how everyone and their dog knew how Reach was going to end even before the game had shipped. This was obviously because the history of the battle you were about to partake in was already written and Bungie couldn't change history (or risk the wrath of a million fanboys fire bombing their HQ). The point I'm trying to make is that for Reach to work it had to create a tale that was interesting enough to hold the gamers attention even with the threat of unavoidable demise for the character and allies.

War for Cybertron is the same because we all know that the Transformers were forced to leave their homeworld for some unspecified reason and so whatever happens it cannot be smiles and hugs all around. Similarly if you play the Autobot campaign first you are basically told everything that happened in the Decepticon campaign. Therefore the story or rather the events that create the story needed to be interesting enough to hold the players attention even though they knew what was inevitably coming. War for Cybertron I admit does manage to hold the attention of the player just enough to see the campaign through.

However a story also needs gameplay and characters to help it along the way because only the best games (Enslaved as an example) can hold up solely on story. To put it simply the characters and gameplay in this game are dull and tedious.

The gameplay is standard TPS without a cover system. You can equip two weapons at a time, some grenades and you have a melee attack. Fairly basic stuff with a few original weapons at your disposal. However just mindlessly blasting foes without any sort of, how can we say this, 'umph' doesn't cut it any more. TPS's nowadays need something else to for the player to work with and thankfully War for Cybertron does this with the ability to transform into your vehicle mode at any opportunity. Now this mode at first might seem really interesting but it just doesn't really add anything to the game. You just drive/fly around shooting enemies with a slightly different control scheme to what you have on foot. This means that instead of experiencing battles from two very different perspectives you just end up playing in slightly different skins. Never is the ability to transform really explored. There is never a moment in the game where the combat is a necessary mix of both driving and on foot sections. Never are you needed to drive say over a ramp, transform mid air and blast enemies with your newly emerging shotgun. Never are you given multiple routes through the level which can only be accessed through your vehicle mode in order to get a better position of view of the battlefield. It would've been great if the developers had in some way managed to make both modes of your character essential to combat and platforming but they just haven't.

So the final point that I wanted to make about this game is the characters you play as. In a nice touch each mission present you with multiple characters that you are allowed to play as in this mission. The transformers on display all appear different especially when you realise that all the characters fit into classes depending on what their role in combat will be. However they all 'appear' to be different but really, really aren't. Here's the thing. Although each class apparently has unique abilities and weapons and transformations they all just end up feeling the same. You all run around the same. You all sound the same. You all take about the same damage. Your transformations are all useless and the list goes on.

Over the course of the game this dawns on you. The idea that the developers have presented you with a vivid and diverse cast of what at first seemed about 12+ but ends up being about 3. The leader, the grunt and the flying one. Autobots and Decepticons all subscribe to this 'class system' and it's really annoying. After I realised this I had the same feeling that I had when I realised that Super Smash Brothers Brawl had Fox, Falco and Wolf as basically the same character. That is the level on which characters in War for Cybertron are working on and it doesn't feel good.

So basically the previous 1000 words plus have let's be honest, been completely negative. However if you take one thing, just one thing away from this review then take this. The game as an original IP does exactly what it needs to do! Huh? Think about it? War for Cybertron came out of nowhere, created a huge buzz surrounding Transformers in gaming and managed to get a sequel off the ground. That is all you can ask for from an original IP. Look at Dead Space, Mass Effect 1 and Darksiders. All fairly well received in their own rights but now look at what they've spawned. Dead Space 2 was widely preferred to the original and did many things better. Mass Effect has created a timeless trilogy and the third game is just about to hit store shelves (at time of writing). Darksiders 2 also looks to completely blow the original out of the water with a bigger world, side missions, RPG elements and more. An original IP doesn't need to be a killer game really, all it needs to do is set a solid foundation for future titles to build and expand on. This is what War for Cybertron has done and no doubt Fall for Cybertron will be a bigger and better game (it certainly looks to be anyway).

So with all of this in mind, does this game still deserve your time and money? No, no, no, because simply put it's just not very good but who cares really? We can close the chapter on War for Cybertron knowing in our hearts that it did what it set out to do. It got us interested.

Thanks for reading and remember that comments and suggestions are of course welcome.

See you next time!

Is it still worth it one year on?

So Bulletstorm was released around a year ago in February 2011 and was widely praised by the press and web at the time. The game, from figures released, has failed to break a million copies sold and apparently didn't make a profit for the developers. Sombre affair indeed but seeing as the game was pretty 'original' gameplay wise maybe it didn't appeal to the majority of gamers enough? Well did it fail to sell for a reason or was it unfairly ignored? Let's find out shall we.

What's interesting about Bulletstorm is that the game was sold as some sort of 'nostalgia' trip for FPS fans who harken back to the days of games like Goldeneye or Doom, with their fast flowing combat, colourful locations and ridiculous weaponry. That is what People Can Fly (the developers) set out to do and what they advertised their product as. Sadly plans can always go wrong and it seems that for every nostalgia filled gameplay mechanic they put in the game People Can Fly added something very modern and so the final product ends up looking and playing like some sort of Frankenstein of past and present FPS's and I can't say it works all too well.

Let's start with the story as always. Bulletstorm is set in the future and follows a small group of space pirates who have dark secrets but are trying to move on in life, or aren't, or are, its not very clear. Needless to say that their past catches up with them and they end up crash landing on a planet with their mortal enemy. You play as Grayson Hunt the leader of the merry men - but not really - since only two of you survive the initial stranding on the planet. The story is to kill your arch enemy General Sarrano who is also stranded on the planet (the mortal enemy mentioned earlier). Cue beautiful vistas, thrilling shoot-outs and ridiculous amounts of swearing. As interesting as the previous sentences may have sounded this is not a game for those who enjoy their story. The game is obviously trying to come across as some epic Shakespearean drama but at the same time it tries to win the frat boy demographic with crude jokes and as mentioned, ridiculous amounts of swearing. All this comes together as a bit schizo.

See during the cutscenes the cast play it all straight while discussing the mission, fallen comrades, impending doom etc but in gameplay all of that is forgotten and the inner frat boy emerges. Grayson Hunt could be getting emotional about his dark past and contemplating all the bad deeds he's committed but then he cracks one liners while slaughtering the local population of mutants and bandits. A little consistency would be nice.

The combat is also a bit inconsistent. Bulletstorm obviously wants to be like the FPS's of old but then manages to mess everything up by deploying you in a modern day shooter. See the big selling point of Bulletstorm was the 'skillshot' system where you were awarded points depending on how you kill your enemies. Headshot? Meh. Impaling an enemy in the butt with a drill and then vaporising them? Now we're talking. However as with modern day shooters the enemies make use of cover and tactics which is fine just not in this kind of game. In Bulletstorm you need the enemies out in the open so you can set up the skillshots but as I mentioned the enemies spread out and flee at the sight of you so say goodbye to a huge chunk of skillshots. The game also only let's you have two weapons. This also limits the range of skillshots you're allowed to achieve at any one moment. The weapons also have a secondary fire mode which can also be used to unlock a whole new selection of skillshots. However to use the secondary fire you have to switch firing modes (about 2-3 vital seconds) by pressing a button and then fire as normal. This is awful! It adds vital seconds to the clock and in a game where timing is vital it has no place! (Why you couldn't just press a button and fire the secondary fire is beyond me since you use a button simply to switch!). The game also gives you two extra 'weapons' to help in the fight and they take the form of a leash that can throw enemies around and a boot to kick them away. These work well and flow nicely into combat along with your guns and are used in combos where you may leash, kick, and fire away at your helpless enemies. Great fun all round.

The developers seemed to have missed the point with the skillshots. The game should be testing us to try and amass a high score by throwing us loads of little goodies (weapons and alike) and making us work on managing all the little bastards well. Instead the developers have just made it harder to achieve your goals by putting stupid little obstacles in your way at any opportunity. This leads to another problem with the skillshots which is that the system lacks a sense of progression. You never get better at doing skillshots and they never get easier. Instead luck plays a huge role in gameplay and leaning on luck is just silly because it'll always leave you disappointed.

Onto an aspect of the game which isn't as inconsistent, the graphics. Now this game runs on the Unreal Engine 3 (see Gears of War 3 for recent impression of the engine at work) and it looks really good. The best bit are the views the game shows off. Thankfully Bulletstorm does one thing right in the graphics department which is to not copy the colour palette of modern day shooters. In Bulletstorm every colour is represented and the locations vary from inside caves to abandoned cities to deserts to tropical jungles to beaches and more. The game is amazing visually and a treat for your eyes.

One thing that has to be said before finishing the review is that the game is an 18 for a reason. Seriously if swearing and gore are a problem for you then walk away now cos it ain't going nowhere. The game is about as rude as they get but isn't necessarily the best written. So you find yourself listening in on excessive amounts of dialogue which attempts to be funny by just swearing constantly and using the word 'dick' a lot. This is not comedy People Can Fly just people with filthy mouths. Gore is also aplenty with bits flying all over the place and an emphasis on impaling enemies on multiple sharp objects for skillshots, which is great fun.

Overall it seems that the developers People Can Fly had all the ingredients to make a truly kick ass game but decided that it obviously was too different from the norm and therefore wouldn't sell. With this in mind People Can Fly set about altering their creation in order to appeal to the masses and ends up delivering an experience that never manages to excel or truly deliver to its intended audience. In one corner you had the nostalgia blinded golden oldies who wanted a fast, action packed, multiple weapon wielding, colourful and totally non serious adventure. In the other corner you had the modern day gamers with their two weapon system, regenerating health, cover systems, lust for multiplayer, dull space marine protagonists and 'realism'. Standing in the middle of both groups is Bulletstorm which manages to just about reach each group but with the stench of compromise hanging around it and therefore disappointing both groups overall.

But at the end of the day, about a year later and with no 'complete' or 'game of the year' edition announced does Bulletstorm still deserve your time and money? I would say yes but with a big 'but'. The 'but' in question is that you should not take this game seriously in anyway. If you just go along with the game you'll be fine and you'll enjoy yourself. For all the hate I've written about the game in the previous paragraphs the game is actually quite good. The game is at the end of the day a silly little adventure with good set pieces, occasionally funny dialogue, enjoyable combat and very replayable. Think of it as an enjoyable little side dish that you can experience between the big games of 2012 and at an average of £10 (damn cheap) it'll be worth it.

Thanks for reading and remember that comments and suggestions are of course welcome.

See you next time!

Disclaimer: Already posted on N4G for those who think this is familiar.



This review will look at the multiplatform game brought to us by Ninja Theory, most notably known for the PS3 exclusive Heavenly Sword. After that the Ninjas escaped into the wild to do a modern or futuristic or post apocalyptic take on the ancient Chinese story 'Journey to the West'. It sold nearly 1 million copies since it's release back in October 2010 which isn't bad for a brand new IP but does it deserve a few more? Let's find out.

So this modern/futuristic/apocalyptic take on ancient Chinese literature revolves around an adventure of two people: Monkey (played by the legend Andy Serkis) and Trip (Lindsey....Shaw?). Anyway the world that we find ourselves being sucked into is a post apocalyptic world where the robots have taken over (this has now happen so much in fictional media that if it does happen I'm pretty sure none of us will be shocked by it). Yes it would appear that robots have once again taken over the world but wait....

What's all the green stuff? Grass? Tress? Flowers? Yes Enslaved does something new and original in its setting and that is a post apocalyptic world where mother nature hasn't been banished. Take something like the latest Fallout games and all their brown, brown and grey scenery and then compare it with Enslaved and already the game looks like a must buy. However to earn it's 'must buy' status Enslaved must do more then just look pretty, which it does in spades. Thankfully Ninja Theory is on the case. As with Heavenly Sword those Ninjas are actually interested in doing games where the story isn't just a thinly disguised attempt to put the characters through interesting locations but actually uses the story as the main selling point for the game. This is what Ninja Theory does best and it does it very well.

It starts with Mr – muscle - Monkey (the hell is up with his neck) escaping from a robot slave ship and accidentally causing the whole thing to crash. In his attempts to escape he ends up at the mercy of Trip who ignores his pleas for help and shoots them into the sky, typical women. Anyway Trip is better with technology then the average women and manages to put a slave collar onto Monkey seeing as she needs someone big and strong to protect her fragile frame from the robots that inhabit this world. However that collar will blow your head sky high if either Trip wants it to or she dies so Monkey must begrudgingly help Trip. Monkey must get her home and then they can go their separate ways and so sets the stage for this adventure.

So Monkey escorts Trip to her parents village in what I can only describe as a brilliantly crafted gaming experience and some of the most fun I've had with games in the last few years. Just the two of you adventuring between the overgrown skyscrapers of New York occasionally getting into fisticuffs with the local gang of mechs and running from their Dog (one of the highlights of the game). Monkey and Trip leave the city and make their way to her home town. This makes up about the first half of the game. However during the second half of the game the new characters, locations and general developments all bring the experience down, a lot.

See Enslaved was sold and advertised on the basis of this lovely escort mission (but not as terrible as what escort missions normally are like in games) between Monkey and Trip. It was supposed to be a low key and simple adventure. You were never a baddass, superhero hybrid who can take on entire armies by himself you were just a normal guy with some training and because of the fragile nature of your character even the most basic grunt posed a threat. Running away from the Dog was terrifying and left you short of breath because it was built up as something that could easily destroy you. The scale was small but intense and it worked. As I said traversing through the overgrown city of light with the sun shinning and the buildings overgrown was thrilling and a joy to play through. Soon however the game ends up with you fighting giant scorpions on a giant robotic Rhino. Throughout the game the scale of your adventure constantly increases but the scale was best and advertised as a low key and delicate operation not an all out war!

So the story gets progressively worse but it is still engaging. The characters are deep and expressive thanks to the motion capture they used and the cutscenes in particular and nice to watch to see the work Ninja Theory put in to make the characters as real as possible. However a problem that I had with the story is that the game leaves too much to the imagination. No background on the robot/human war is given and the enemies you fight are faceless and their actions appear meaningless. Without any proper justification or context for the actions of those you fight the enemy feels, characterless, soulless even. It doesn't help that the final justification of the enemies is weak and cheap, but let's not go their.

The combat is a mixture of what I'm now going to call 'sight seeing' platforming and melee action sequences. The 'sight seeing' is exactly that, where instead of jumping from platform to platform and maybe avoiding some obstacles you just jump or climb along a predetermined route which has been placed to give you the best view of the surroundings (see also the Uncharted series). It's good fun but not challenging at all. You just push the stick in the direction of the next handhold and jump. The only challenge is if you don't have hands or have recently died.

The melee holds up a little better but is mostly button bashing. The game has a skill tree, combos, multiple ways to attack but its all very compressed and in the middle of a fight when many bladed mechs descend upon you you are going to do either one of two things. Either you're going to mash the attack button or hold the block button. As a whole it is fun and usable but don't expect the levels of God of War or even the previous Ninja Theory title Heavenly Sword (which is just the female version of the game).

But its interesting because playing this so shortly after Uncharted 1 it was easy to see the similarities between the two. Its obvious that both studios went for the 'cinematic' approach with 'sight seeing' platforming showing off lovely scenery instead of challenging the player. The games also starts to loose their shine as the characters dig themselves in deeper and deeper into their dire situations. When the games gives you full control and dumps you into combat the game looses its shine even more and now perfection for them seems out of reach, but then the games bring back the pretty scenery and vistas and all is forgiven.

Anyway that's all there is to the game. The story is deep and emotional. The characters are likeable and with actual arks and developments in their attitudes towards each other and the world they inhabit. The combat is functioning and enjoyable when you get into the flow even though it doesn't have the complexity or depth that it seems to be aiming for. The platforming sections means a nice view of the scenery but no challenge. Overall the game is enjoyable even if the second half quickly descends into more and more combat leaving behind the 'sight seeing' platforming (just like Uncharted 1?!).

These reviews however, will come down to this: is this game still worth your time and money? I would say yes. For three reasons. Firstly the game is quite enjoyable (as stated a lot) and is a nice experience to play. Secondly the game is pretty cheap going for about £12 a time of writing which is definitely worth it's length. Thirdly and most importantly because by buying this game you will help show the industry (even in a little way) that you as a consumer are open to games that aren't just about military 'badasses' with some multiplayer slapped onto it and a short crap single player. Buying this game would help develop the industry as a whole and help get new and interesting IPs off the ground in the future. In the long run it might genuinely help and it wouldn't hurt to take a look. (There is of course a demo still available on the online stores for PS3 and 360).

Thanks for reading and remember that comments and suggestions are of course welcome.

See you next time!

So this review will focus on the PS3 exclusive Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. It was the first appearance for the beloved Ratchet and Clank on the PS3 and the first of what came to be known as the 'Future' trilogy. The game was well received and was up against strong opposition when it originally released but still managed to sell over 2 million copies. Another interesting fact about the Ratchet and Clank series is that I genuinely think that this series is the best I have ever played. More so then Portal or Zelda or Mass Effect or Viewtiful Joe etc. I just love this series and by that statement alone you can probably guess how this review is going to end. Is this game still worth your time and money? Hell yes, go forth and buy it.

See you next time folks.

*Editors note – Article is not long enough and it needs to be lengthened to be accepted. Thank you*

Well then where to begin? Let's start with the characters and story. Ratchet and Clank Future tells the tale of Ratchet and Clank (see this is why I'm so good at this job) an pair of adventurers in this fictional universe and their quest to claim an ancient artefact/weapon before the evil Emperor who wishes for nothing less then your head/s. Story wise at first you might think that its quite basic but it soon becomes apparent that there is more to this tale then meets the eye. In fact entire sections of the characters history go on to be explored creating the situation that over the course of the game the characters actually go through development arks and begin to deal with important questions.

Insomniac should be congratulated on their deep and expressive cast that helps you through this tale. Be it from the main two heroes to the feisty heroine or her robot sidekicks and even the villain the developers have managed to flesh everyone out with a humorous and interesting role. Imagine a mixture say of Star Wars, a superhero adventure and buddy cop movie but done by Pixar and as a game. That is how I would describe the Ratchet and Clank series to someone who didn't know anything about it. Now go back and read that sentence again and picture the level of genius at work here. It is a hilarious, compelling and an enjoyable gaming experience.

The game is a mixture of platforming sections, time based puzzles, open world exploration, space combat and heavy action sections. The platforming and time based puzzles aren't the deepest or the most complicated but they still provide a decent challenge. The space combat sections are little side dishes to the main gameplay. Imagine a stripped down Lylat Wars (for those who can remember that far back). You shoot wave upon waves of enemies and the occasional boss battle but with only two forms of attack things quickly become boring and enemies turn into bullet sponges. Thankfully these sections require very little of your time which is good because it would detract from the vastly superior foot combat sections.

Such foot combat I would put up there with the best in the industry. Imagine a Mario game with its multiple worlds to explore, its platforming sections, its many collectables but with lots more firepower. See instead of jumping on enemies or throwing fireballs at them Ratchet and Clank prefer to do things in a manly way, on the other side of a ridiculously sized gun. And it is these ridiculous guns that the game revolves around. As I mentioned in my Resistance review Insomniac is known for including a variety and spicy mix of weaponry for you to enjoy. This game does not fail to deliver. I could do an entire review based on the weapons and gadgets available to you but I'll just give you a little taste of the best ones so you know what to expect. The 'Groovitron' which throws a disco ball into the midst of battle to distract foes by making them dance. 'Mr Zurkon' a little flying droid that follows you around blasting enemies in one hand and cracking hilarious one liners at the same time. A gun that shoots hurricanes. A grenade that turns enemies into penguins. Also the weapons all have upgrades for you to tinker with. Using them on the battlefield will level them up increasing their damage. However for those who would like there is a whole other form of leveling up for your little death dealing toys. Throughout the game you will pick up 'raritanium' which can then be spent on individual weapons to increase just about everything (ammo, damage, firing speed etc). For those who wish for depth the game provides aplenty.

Of course with so many weapons at your disposal (15+) you might be wondering if a game with so much choice in terms of firepower might be a little bit on the easy side. Well the Ratchet and Clank games aren't what I would call easy, but a good challenge. The game spawns loads of enemies and they can easily get the better of you as even the most basic grunt can take a sizeable chunk out of your life bar. The game doesn't have much variety in how enemies are dealt with except for blasting their face with whatever gun your holding but with so much going on battles can quickly become chaotic. In this chaos you are sure to die a lot. Speaking of death...

In this game dying really isn't all that bad. When you die the enemies respawn which in most games would obviously be annoying but here you need enemies to help level up the ludicrous amounts of weapons at your disposal and so dying to the last enemy in the wave really isn't frustrating because hey, more exp for your guns. A game where dying ends up a positive point simply cannot be bad, at all.

So the combat works splendidly and is great fun but what was most shocking about this game playing it again after so long was the visuals. For a game that was released 5 years ago it still looks really good. I'll admit there are moments where it's pretty obvious you're playing an old game but those occasions are small and insignificant in the greater scheme of things. See Ratchet and Clank Future does things a slightly cartoon-y way. This is the opposite to say Uncharted 1 which in my review for it I commented that the game looked old because it tried to be realistic and just got upstaged by newer games. Having a colourful, cartoon-y world full or expressive over the top characters and enemies just doesn't look bad even by todays standards.

However there will always be negatives no matter how good a game is. The most obvious here is that the subtitles suck. You turn them on and they only appear for the cutscenes. However during gameplay enemies are very expressive and are talking humorously to themselves about current events and how they are going to carve you into pieces but you can barely ever hear them! The game also has a habit of throwing tons of little Sixaxis minigames into the mix. Obviously when this game was released Sony were still into the Sixaxis gimmick but it didn't work then and still doesn't, very well anyway. I would be okay if the minigames weren't related to the plot in anyway but here its necessary to get through the main quest. Flying around, hacking doors, cutting through walls and others are all fundamental parts of gameplay and all controlled by swinging your controller around. Absolutely infuriating and totally breaks flow.

So there is more then meets the eye to the story. The game is genuinely funny with interesting characters who you want to succeed. It's the closest you will ever come to playing a Pixar film in game form (obviously none of the actual games based on Pixar films were good so don't count). The puzzles and platforming are enjoyable but never reach the stage where your turning off the console in anger. The combat is up there with the best with loads of weapons and gadgets to get your hands on and level up at you leisure. The Sixaxis sections are face meltingly awful and dying isn't a problem. The game as a whole will put a smile on your face as you play, and what more could you want? Games are to entertain are they not? But is this one still worth your time and money? As stated above, hell yes, go forth and buy it and do not ever look back! (Price average around £12 at time of writing).

Thanks for reading and remember that comments and suggestions are of course welcome.

See you next time!

Not exactly a good poster child to sell this article (one about reviewing old games) seeing as Resistance 3 came out last September but there are 3 reasons that I wanted to start with it. Firstly Resistance is still fresh in my mind from a recent playthrough, secondly it is genuinely a good game and thirdly nobody brought the bloody thing! Which is both hilarious and tragic at the same time because PS3 fanboys will constantly badmouth 360 exclusives if they sell well because they see them as mindless drivel being spoon-fed to the public and constantly hype up their console because it has so many more exclusives to choose from. So the question is would you prefer a greater choice with a risk of game developers not making a profit or less choice and guaranteed success? The answer is that I should probably get back on topic with the review of Resistance, so let's move on.

Resistance 3 is an interesting little game. Even from the moment you see the box art you know there is something special about it. The striking orange and white is a refreshing change to the norm of space marines in various dramatic poses. In fact that wording – refreshing change – can basically be used to describe the whole Resistance 3 experience. When I first started playing Resistance 3 I had previously been playing the generic-fest that was the Battlefield 3 campaign which just summed up how bad a modern day shooter could get. To then swap disks and put Resistance in was an interesting experience. See as someone who has been playing videogames for around the last 15 years I have seen the evolution of shooters. From Goldeneye on my N64 to Halo to Call of Duty the shooter has slowly been shifting away from its original roots. Those roots are often pined for by the old school gamers but I'd never been able to sympathise properly with them until I played this game. To be frank if the good old days were this good then why did anyone even consider changing the formula.

But on with the review. Resistance 3 tells the tale of Joseph Capelli who shot the previous protagonist Hale, whoops spoilers. Anyway he and the rest of humanity have lost the war with the Chimera and have been reduced to living in secluded camps underground. The story then becomes a trek across the States with a professor from the previous games in order to finally stop the Chimera or die trying. Story wise the game isn't exactly Oscar bait since it's pretty basic and you've seen it all before. Where it does shine is in the world that Insomniac have created. A world destroyed by the Chimera and left to be tended to by nature alone. Humans have all but vanished and your only interaction with them is through left over collectable tapes or notes. Joseph is a good main character who although you cannot relate to (1950s, aliens etc) he has his own struggles and definitely isn't as gravelly voice as other characters that you've come to know in similar games.

So the story is enjoyable but the make or break section of most games or indeed all is in the gameplay. Here is where Resistance 3 really shines and the real reason why you should pick it up. The big gimmick here is the weapon wheel and no regenerating health. Over the course of the game you will pick up 12 weapons of mass destruction ranging from assault rifles to snipers to shotguns to rocket launchers with a few special treats thrown in. All these weapons can be upgraded by using them on enemies so what may start out as a small flick to the ear of a Chimera may end up catapulting them into space. The upgrades are a nice little touch which add a sense of progression to combat over the course of the game. However the big problem with having so many weapons is that the game might feel a little easy. Resistance 3 manages to find a nice sweet spot where the game isn't a push over but is challenging enough for the player. Battles tend to go for the Halo experience as they take place in big open battlefields with large and varied groups of enemies. This means that you might start off sniping enemies then move in closer with the assault rifle and end up smashing faces in with the sledgehammer.

Another thing that works in the games favour is the lack of regenerative health. Now I'll admit when I first sat down to play this I was a little uneasy about this feature. Too many games I've played have managed to mess up the challenge of the game by having either too many health packs or too little so either you never ever die or you spend ages looking through the scope of the sniper desperately trying to thin the tide so you can reach the next checkpoint. Resistance thankfully manages to work around this problem with a few sparsely placed health kits and some of the bigger enemies dropping additional ones when they are killed. It creates another layer of tension to combat. Do you pick of the bigger ones first in order to get that health boost or do you try to survive long enough to not need them? Or do you just rush in? Actually a tip for those who do go play the game. Do not rush into combat because you will die, a lot.

The game does have a multiplayer mode which is actually quite fun but its just the standard package. Imagine Call of Duty re-skinned with aliens, different guns and funky killstreaks. Enjoyable? Yes. Worth your time? Depends on if you are one of those people who enjoy spending hours leveling up your character, exchanging your weapons and perks for new ones and you know the drill. Personally I have always preferred the single player for games and Resistance didn't make me change my mind so take that as you will.

But no game is perfect as we are all aware and Resistance does have a few problems. Remember when I said Joseph was a good main character. Well he is during the cutscenes but he completely shuts down during gameplay. Not a single word is uttered which I guess is consistent and compared to say Dom in Gears of War crying about his wife then cheerfully commenting that burning enemies 'smell like chicken', I know which one I would pick. Some of the weapons are also incredibly easy to level up compared to others. This creates the weird situation where some of the later game weapons are fully leveled whereas the earlier ones from the beginning are left behind. The sledgehammer weapon also doesn't have any upgrades like the other weapons and in a game where health is essential to combat going melee is just silly. (It's also a bigger problem because Insomniac is known for their outrageous weaponry so I was expecting some form of gravity hammer as a later form but no).

(There has also been some discussion about whether Resistance 3 rips off Half Life 2 and especially the Ravenholm level somewhat. I can see where people are coming from but it's just not true. See Ravenholm was about you and a mad priest fighting zombies. In Resistance 3 you meet mad priests wife then fight zombies by yourself then fight Satan in some mines with the mad priest. See completely different)!

Anyway. The fundamental question must be answered. Is this game still worth your time and money? Yes. The game is enjoyable, has a ton of replayability and although there are faults they're never enough to bring the experience as a whole down. At time of writing the average price I found was about £20 so check your local games retailer or online store to see for yourself. Anything I can do to help this games sale increase will count as my good deed for the day/week so at least have a look.

Thanks for reading and remember that comments and suggestions are of course welcome.

See you next time!

In Recession Proof Reviews I go back and review old games to see if they are still worth your time and money.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune PS3

So this is part one of the Uncharted trilogy which I will be going back over and reviewing. Starting us off on this adventure is Drake's Fortune which came out way back in 2007 where it apparently sold a nice 3.5 million copies, not bad. However as it is in this industry so many games are left in the dust by their sequels but is this the case for the Uncharted series? Let's find out.

So the game starts out with Drake (you) searching for clues leading to the fabled treasure of El Dorado. The story is typical Uncharted stuff with likeable characters way, way out of their depth. In this game you must race against a horde of pirates and mercenaries for the treasure. Drake, his buddy Sully and his girlfriend Elena do battle across a few varied jungle and temple locations with his foes. If it feels like the summary of the story and its characters is maybe lacking a certain spark it because there just isn't much to go on. The games story isn't deep or indeed very clever (not a bad thing). What it is is shallow. It sets you a goal very early on and sticks with it. The few twists and turns down the road do little to change the landscape of the overall adventure and it works. However Drake at one point for me turned from generic white boy adventurer into a deep and human character. It was a scene where he is arguing with Elena that fighting armies of mercenaries just isn't worth the gold. At that specific point I fell in love with the character because he was willing to drop his adventure as he values his life, he knows when he's beaten, something that very few action hero's understand.

Combat next. In the game you have a mixture of ways to kill. Standard third person shooting affair with guns and grenades and brawler melee system with actual combos. The gun play works well and the controls feel nice and solid while aiming. However Uncharted follows the Killzone 2 school of weaponry meaning that you have one pistol and one rifle. This system just does not work! Maybe it's just me but having to rely on your pistol because you picked up a shotgun earlier and now all the enemies are too far away is not fun. (There is a reason most modern day shooters have two weapon slots and its because one can be used for a situational weapon like a shotgun, sniper, RPG etc and the other slot for an all rounder). The grenades are also useless. You have to select them independently from your weapons and this has never been a good part of any game ever. (Don't even try thinking of a game where it has been good either because it hasn't so there!). You aim and fire/throw just like your weapons but to adjust the length of your throw you have to use the Sixaxis (this game is so old it was released when Sony still gave a crap about that).

The game also has a problem with enemy placement. What I mean by this is that when you fight you normally do it in wide open spaces which allow for a lot of movement. However you will not move because enemies vastly outnumber you and can kill you in a few shots. So you may sit in cover but because the battlefields are so open you will get swarmed and surrounded very quickly. I would go so far as to say the combat is a little broken. Enemies will target you and only you and your AI partner can physically get in your way resulting in many deaths. The game also has a habit of turning off the fighting music. You then think the fight is over because the music has stopped but then you turn the next corner and someone was hiding there. You get killed and have to start again, great.

There is another part to combat, the melee system. It sucks. It constantly puts up hints on screen to remind you to do the 'Square, Triangle, Square' combo because for some reason it's good, I dunno I never got to use it. Whenever I tried to do it the pirate/mercenary/bad guy you just slap me for being so silly. The only combo you'll need and indeed have the ability to pull of is as follows: 'Square, Square, Square, Square, Square etc'. I suppose you can barely justify it as a whole combat system when the only combo available is just to mash one single button but there you have it.

Leaving behind the Gears inspired combat we then move onto the Tomb Raider section of this game. Climbing over ancient ruins and completing fully functioning thousand year old doorway puzzles. The thing is I've never really been a fan of puzzle games. Maybe I just prefer to sit back and relax after a hard days work rather then having to try and figure out which key fits what door and thankfully Uncharted wins a lot of points here by having all its puzzles explained to you at a push of a button. Not necessarily as negative a point as I may have made it out to be but the puzzles are merely a way for the developers to give you some more nice scenery to look at which along with its linear platforming sections are actually my favourite bits of the game.

See it's pretty obvious that when Naughty Dog set out to make this game they wanted to make it cinematic. At certain points the camera angle will swoop away from behind your back and show you the majestic terrain ahead. At other time it will blatantly angle itself to give you the best view of your surroundings and its these little bits which earn the game points with me.

The game could best be described as an interactive movie along the same lines as say Heavy Rain, just without the excessive amounts of quick time events. Instead we get to play out the sections yourselves which you would assume to be a positive thing. However the game just seems to prefer and excel at the one on one moments. Be it scaling cliff faces or turning the wheels of an ancient door (and it is always a form of door). When the game opens up the and throws a ton of enemies in your direction then it starts to falter. This is especially true as the game progresses and towards the end the puzzles and platforming take a back seat to Mr Shooty-pants.

Another area the game is a bit disappointing is the graphics. Now before you all roll your eyes in disgust at me picking on a 5 year old game let me just make my point and we can move on. The point is that trying to achieve realistic graphics is a risky business because technology will always improve and so the graphics will always improve. Uncharted just hasn't aged well when compared to the games of the present (and has a bad case of texture pop in...in a Naught Dog game, blasphemy). Saying that though the game still has incredibly impressive water effects and is still better looking then most of the stuff on the market today which is a testament to what a good job Naught Dog did, hats of to you all.
However now that everything that has to be said has been said its time to end this review. Is this game still worth your time and money? No. The game has its moments and although the story and characters aren't the deepest they will get you through it. The combat isn't the greatest and will cause many controller throwing sessions. But as the first in a trilogy it's hard to look at the game without thinking of what came next. This is even harder to ignore because when I checked the prices, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was just as expensive or more (£20 at time of writing) then it's superior sequel . The only way I could recommend Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is if you plan to buy the double pack which also includes Uncharted: Among Thieves. It's sad that this games time has pasted but a joyous occasion also because we can put this game to rest knowing that it produced some quality offspring.

Thanks for reading and remember that comments and suggestions are of course welcome.

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