Score: 12/13

Written by Jack (work Exp!)

This first-person puzzler will have each player coming close to tearing out every shred of hair thats sits on top of their head, but unable to take thier hands away from the tantalising keyboard that beckons the player to keep playing until they reach the teleporter pad, offering safety and a good minutes relief, before they find themselves already half-way through the next level. For the first few levels the game takes you through a short tutorial on how to throw yourself around the levels to collect the access codes needed to activate the teleporters which take you on to the next level. Levels become even more fustratingly challenging as the player proceeds through the game, but at the same time even more enjoyable to play for those players who like to be tested by a game. Players will have to overcome moving blocks trying their best to squash them, pinpoint accurate turrets that try to barbecue the player alive, and heated floors that melt the player faster than Frosty the Snowman being subjected to a flamethrower. The controls to the game are simple enough, with the player needing only to jump, aim, move, and fire the grappling hook. Though there are very little actions for the player, each one is put to the ultimate test. The movement is somewhat like the movement seen in ‘Unreal Tournament’ games, but maybe a little more sharp, adding even more pace to the already hectic game. The player uses the typical arrow keys (or w,a,s,d) to move backwards, forwards, strafe left, and strafe right, then use the mouse aim to direct where their player moves towards. The mouse aim also has a crosshair in the center, which when either of the mouse buttons are clicked, blasts out a grapple pad for the laser of the grapple gun to connect to when the mouse button is held down. The jump button (spacebar) is also used in connection to all of the other actions in the games, with the player being able to bounce off where they’re grappling to, and jump up various objects. At many points in the game each action must be strung together extremely fast to save your character from certain death.

Now we enter the graphics part of the game. The fact that this is an indie game yet still 3D is quite amazing. The game is in no way pixelated like some early 3D games and even some 2D indie games, which personally, i think deserves a round of applause. Luminous orange arrows guide the way through each level, though some parts still take some thinking instead of just following the arrows like a sheep into a pen.


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

Have you ever been lost in space with a laser grappling hook and the odd smiley face here and there being your only condolences? From Speed-Run Games comes one of the most spectacular indy games of many. ‘Grappling Hook’ finds you as a presumably lost, futuristic astronaut trying to find your way back to Earth. With the 1st person camera you see the exactly what your character sees, including the shape of the characters helmet, and the displays seen inside it. Admittingly, not much of the story is revealed to you, but the gameplay sure as hell makes up for it.

Score: 10.5/13

Written by Scott Malthouse

The story takes place in Zenozoik, a colourful world dubbed by the developer, ACE Team, as “punk fantasy”. You play as Ghat, who is being hunted by his vengeful siblings for killing their Father-mother (which is exactly what you think) with a bomb. Did you doubt the wackiness of this game? Ghat is joined by his friend Deadra, whose hair is larger than most mammals, as they travel across the forbidden desert towards the end of the world. As the game progresses we are told about Ghat’s life through flashbacks, revealing what possessed him to kill his Father-mother. It’s a strange tale that gets odder and more confusing the further you get. Seriously, this one is difficult to follow, as the out-there dialogue raises more questions than answers, and the flashbacks are equally as puzzling. But at least it’s a fresh and interesting narrative, not falling into the tired beat-em up tradition of bog-standard revenge stories or quests to become the best warrior ever.
But it’s the setting that really carries Zeno Clash: the twisted trees, warped carvings and weird architecture combine to create a place that’s unforgettable. The outstanding visuals are a treat for the eyes and the art is second to none. There’s no doubt that this is a beautiful game. It’s quite an experience travelling from one locale to the next, gawping at the environments as you journey through Zenozoik.
All this prettiness is well and good, but this is a beat-em up, and we’re here to bash things rather than stare at them in wonderment. Combat is simple – perhaps a little too simple. You pull off light punches by holding the left mouse button, and right-click to bring on the pain with a heavy punch. The space bar is used to block and dodge enemy assaults, whilst the ‘E’ key locks onto your assailant so you can circle them and give them the old ‘one-two’. You’re going to be dodging a lot, so get used to hitting the space bar and moving the mouse on a regular basis. Whilst most of the combat is melee, you can pick up an array of funky boomsticks to pick off enemies from afar.
You begin with picking up a couple of weak pistols, but as the game progresses you get access to more powerful weapons, like the skull crossbow and musket. The problem with weapons is that they get smacked out of your hands easily when someone gets too close, so you just resort to fisticuffs once more. As a result, you’ll be relying far more on your hands and feet than bullets.
Although you can pull off a couple of other fun moves, like grabbing someone when they’re stunned and punching them to kingdom come, there isn’t a heck of a lot of variation in combat, which eventually results in lots of mouse-mashing.


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

Zeno Clash is downright bizarre. There aren’t many games out there where a tutorial consists of a guy, sounding like he smokes 60 a day, mentoring you on the intricacies of taking pot-shots at headless chickens running around a freaky alternate plane of existence. This first-person brawler is as entertaining as it is pant-wettingly surreal, with a gorgeously rendered world and some memorable characters to meet. However, the unintelligible story and often monotonous combat mechanics prevents Zeno Clash from being a true classic fighting game.

[SinglePic not found]

Score: 12/13

Written by Gow

Broken Steel rectifies this beautifully by implementing the best bit of script-writing since “it was all a dream?!” This can be forgiven as it does open up the entire wasteland for you to roam and complete every last little quest. So for those keeping score, that’s 1-1 so far.

As with the previous DLC’s new areas, weapons and enemies have been introduced into the game. The Adams Army base is the new location as well as the route to get there which happens to be plagued by one of the new enemies, Ghoul Reavers. “Oh whoop-dee-do, another crappy little ghoul who’ll die in seconds” I hear you say, well. Not quite.
Ghoul Reavers are the hardest enemy in the Fallout universe, bar none. They have speed, power and seemingly infinite health. You’ll find yourself emptying clip after clip into them in a futile attempt to slow them down. They just keep coming at you, relentlessly. Worse still, they travel in packs along with normal ghouls and the Glowing Ones. If you are spotted, you’re gonna die. If you have sentry bots and a follower… they’ll die, and then, you’re gonna die. If you turn your flamer on them… You’re gonna set on fire, roll around then die. Do you see a pattern here?
For the first time in Fallout, you are actually rewarded for being tactical and stealthy which, to a run and gun gamer, is a new style of gameplay. Sadly all of the effort to create a challenging foe has been squandered by the usual Fallout problems – bugs.

I’m not talking about you’re common Radroach or Bloatfly. No. These bugs prevent you from being able to do any substantial damage to the Ghoul Reavers. Under heavy fire they just twist and turn incredibly fast, so fast I thought we were all in the matrix shooting at agents… but after a short fall from a high building and a trip to A&E, it turns out I was wrong. (2-2.)

Read More in Issue 15

About the game

Broken Steel, the latest DLC for Fallout3, happens to be a paradox of a game. While it offers up the whole wasteland for you to continue on your merry way (GREAT!), it also offers little new gameplay and feels lacking compared to the previous offerings. Those who have played it will no doubt be screaming at their monitors right now and getting ready to flame me, but let me explain.

This is the first DLC that offers content after the main story-line, so you need to have a character close to the grand finale to start the new quests. Sadly, this is where the first problem rears it’s ugly little head. Without spoiling the ending to Fallout, the ending is pretty… well, it’s shit. There’s no arguing that the ending left many disappointed and yearning for more. It stopped so abruptly that you couldn’t go and finish other quests no matter which choice you made at the end.

Score: 12/13

Written by Scott Malthouse

Okay, so it’s your bog-standard Tolkien fantasy setting, nothing ground-breaking here. You get to create a character, choosing from one of four available races: Orcs, Elves, Humans and Undead. Once you have your character, you get a castle, which you will be upgrading as you gain more money and resources. You are taken to the main screen that shows your town hall and surrounding environments within your castle. The artwork depicting this scene is just stunning, some of the best art in any browser game. You start by purchasing a barracks so you can train troops to defend your castle. With limited resources you will only be able to buy the cheap centaurs right off the bat, but as your pile of resources grows you will be able to train units like Elf Scouts, Dwarvern Soldiers, Dryads and the Fairy Dragon, which has the most ridiculous name for a crazy powerful creature. Each unit has its own strengths and weaknesses, so you will need to tailor your army depending on the type of battle you want to fight. You can purchase a variety of buildings later, like the Tavern, where you recruit a hero to head off into the wild in search of riches, and the Bazaar, where you purchase weapons for your heroes. Your Town Hall is the financial hub of your castle, producing gold every hour. You can upgrade it, like everything else, to produce more gold as you progress.
From the main screen you can check how many resources you have (lumber, ore, sulphur, crystal and gold), chat with people on one of the two servers you’re playing on, join a guild, undertake a task or go to the shop. Once you have recruited a hero and gathered a group of units together, you can select the ‘Leave Castle’ button and be taken to an isometric view of the area surrounding your castle. From here you can raid mines for ore, attack monsters and find treasure that’s lying around.
Monsters have a star-rating representing their strength – the more stars they have the harder they are going to be to slay. Clicking on one reveals some flavour text about the creature, co-ordinates of where it is on the map, the force needed to kill it, and any other units it is fighting with. If something has minimum force 457748, such as a unicorn and elite archers, you really need your force number to be above that if you want to stand a chance of killing it.


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

The internet is bursting at the seams with massively-multiplayer browser-based strategy games and RPGs. But for every good game there’s a horde of atrocities floating around in cyberspace waiting to ambush you with their unoriginal ideas and cloned systems. Heroes of Gaia is one of the better ones, a free flash-based strategy/roleplaying game inspired by the Heroes of Might and Magic series, where your aim is to build a kingdom that produces gold like milk and an army to make Napoleon blush. Heroes of Gaia is uncomplicated, addictive and filled with impressive artwork – clearly a lot of effort has gone into its making.

Score: 13/13

Written by Drunken Gamer

Torchlight is a boomtown. The two has substantially grown ever since somebody got lucky and struck a massive vein of Ember there. Ember is the essence of magic, used in alchemy, and is therefore highly valuable.
Unfortunately things are not all well-and-good for this lucky mining outpost – they found more than just Ember in that mine. As they dug deeper they realised they were not the first to find this vein. There was a whole labyrinth of ruins and old civilisations, filled to the brim with dark, evil creatures…and something far worse.

The darkness is seeping out, corrupting both the Ember and the townsfolk, and the only way to deal with it is to combat the source of the evil by slaying the primary villain. This is where you come in.
You, and your faithful companion, will be this town’s champion, fighting your way through the forces of fire and earth and into the lost cities to save them and purify the ember.

In order to do this, you will first need to pick one of the game’s three classes:

The Destoryer: A wandering Warrior, that’s inexorably drawn towards trouble, was naturally going to wind up in Torchlight. Once he has found trouble, he promptly sets about pounding it into the ground and cutting it up with his dual blades. A master of close quarters combat, The Destroyer prefers to get up-close and personal with his victims.

The Alchemist: Alchemists use Ember to perform their magical feats, so it makes sense that when the biggest ever cache of Ember is found, one of these guys wouldn’t be far away. But our alchemist is not daft, and knows this mother lode cannot be touched until it has been purged. Preferring to blast the enemy with spells from range, they have also learnt to summon a small army of pets to help them.

The Vanquisher: The Vanquishers are an ancient order dedicated to justice and the balance between good and evil. Once news got out regarding the creeping evil and disappearing townsfolk, it was only a matter of time before they showed up. The Vanquisher soon learns that there is a lot more going on than she initially expected, and is going to have to use all of her skill, with traps and marksmanship, to restore the balance.


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

After all this time, Diablo II still ranks amongst my top ten favourite games, and over the years I have seen and tried many of its contenders. Last year, one game came close to bringing me the same level of entertainment – Mythos. Unfortunately, due to difficulties at Flagship Studios, development on Mythos went on an indefinite hiatus. (Yes, we are aware that it has restarted under another studio).

When it was announced that some of the Flagship team, including both Max & Erich Schaefer, had gone on to form a new studio called Runic Games, we followed them closely, knowing that something good would come of this.

Lo-and-behold, we have been rewarded for this diligence with the thoroughly impressive Torchlight.

Score: 12/13

Written by Alex Ross Bower

Modern Warfare 2 has been available for a month now, so the chances are you’ve played it. And so it’s even more likely that you’re aware how superbly it’s been delivered. Furthermore, it’s almost certainly apparent that you’ve loved every second of it, from its intense, if not dramatic, single-player campaign to its addictive and flawless multiplayer mode. If this is you, then you should probably stop reading now. For those of you who are yet to play the game, either because it’s wrapped up and tucked under your Christmas tree, or you’re sceptical about Infinity Ward’s ingenious title, then stick around…this review is for you!

We promise not to spoil any of the narrative by mentioning major plot twists – though there is an ample amount of them for an eight hour story – and we also promise not to get lost or sidetracked in the controversy surrounding the Russian International Airport level. In fact, let’s get that out of the way now.

Despite warnings stating that the scene in question may be offensive, we were caught unaware. In all honesty, it blew us away. The moment our undercover character stepped out of that elevator with four armed terrorists and those unaware NPCs turned around to face their deaths, our faces transformed into grimaces of disbelief.
As a player, we were given the choice to take part in the massacre or continue to watch as defenceless character after character was gunned down. What made this scene so effective were the first three levels before it. During the opening tutorial, playable-character Private Allen is told not to fire from the hip, but to crouch and aim down his sight. The next two levels require the player to follow similar duck and cover tactics from the first game. Like all its other antecedents, Modern Warfare 2 asks for more then just simply running around with guns blazing. However, the terrorists do just that,


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

Legendary developer Infinity Ward returns to take a second shot at excellence, after undeniably succeeding with a certain little title in 2007.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare preoccupied the majority of gamers for over two years, with its addictive campaign and flawless multiplayer – but not anymore. Modern Warfare 2 is the most anticipated and addictive multi-format title to ever grace our PCs and consoles. Even as we start to write this review, it’s calling us back to its multiplayer perfection.

Score: 9.5/13

Written by Daniel Allen

The whole things starts with a seemingly random chemical accident that turns the population of a city into brain-munching zombies. The neighbourhood is being quarantined and you, a driver, are one of the few survivors stuck in there. With the military busy looking for a cure, they start asking you to pick up the remaining survivors and bring them to safety in your car – oh, and kill as many zombies in as stylish a way as possible while you’re at it!
Zombie Driver is all about style, and boy does it have it. Exor have taken a leaf from Sucker Punch’s inFAMOUS book with the opening cut-scene direction, and the music has that epic, “Land of the Dead” feeling to it throughout.
The first thing that hits you is how great the game looks. For an indie title that only costs £6.99 on Steam, Zombie Driver is right up there with the best of them in the visuals department. The art style of the neighbourhood, cars, and environments are superb. Textures are convincing, from grass and train tracks to roads and flying-limbs, and the environment smashes to pieces as you plough through it. The graphics are surprisingly realistic, especially once tire marks and blood stains start to decorate the streets. The gory decapitations you inflict on the undead even manage to look savage from a bird’s eye view. You almost get the feeling it’s a disservice to see it from this far away, especially considering there are a variety of zombie types you’d like to see up close, from your standard “troop” like brain dead wheel-fodder, to infected, rabbid dogs and Hulk-esque monsters who look like they could crush your head and bonnet between the same finger and thumb.

You get a mission briefing before the start of each level, displayed on a bulletin board with various bits of info scattered around. There’s your primary objective, the rewards you’ll earn for completing your goals, and secondary tasks for extra bonuses.
As soon as you progress from the briefing you’re met with a top-down view of your car, outside the base, with you already in it. One of the disappointing things about Zombie Driver is the total lack of association you have with your character – you are simply an unnamed protagonist who is never seen.
Each mission is basically the same – get to a location, or locations, clear the area of zombies, pick up your passengers, and drive them back to safety. It’s all against the clock too, which is cleverly displayed on each of your target locations with a health bar for the group of survivors you’re trying to save.


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

Cars, top-down camera views, and driving over anybody foolish enough to get in your way will undoubtedly bring up happy memories for many a gamer. Exor Studios have played on this well with Zombie Driver, creating an insanely fast game that offers a city to roam around and bags of zombies to mow down. To sum it up, Zombie Driver plays like the accidental kid George A. Romero had with the early Grand Theft Auto games after getting too drunk at a party. We mean that as a compliment..if you didn’t guess.

Score: 12/13

Written by Scott Malthouse

Pacific doesn’t have a story to it, but instead you are plunged into a series of impressive battles as a fighter plane, ship or submarine. You are given objectives before the mission, which could include destroying a specific ship via a bombing run or mowing down a squadron of planes, and there is also a secret objective to unlock in each mission for those war heroes who want their game to last that bit longer.
Battles are visually stunning as you weave your plane through the bullet-ravaged sky or gun down enemies from a hulking warship. The camera is automatically fixed on the back of your vehicle but it can be locked onto targets to make it easier to shoot accurately in the fray. This also adds a cinematic feel to skirmishes, especially when the camera follows your torpedo as it speeds through the water and destroys a warship, which is a deeply satisfying moment to watch…
Read More in Issue 15

About the game

Relive some of the grandest and most critical naval battles of recent history and for the first time, choose to lead your fleet to a completely different ending to the war. With both strategy and action at your command, you can truly anticipate your opponent’s every move and turn the tide of war.

Battlestations Pacific sees you carrying out some of the most famous naval battles of the Second World War, putting you in control of over 100 air, sea and undersea units. You can play from both the Japanese and the American perspectives, from the attacks on Pearl Harbour in 1941 to the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.

Score: 8/13

Written by Johnny Clapham

NHL 2K10 is certainly not a bad game, but it’s a style-over-substance title that may disappoint die-hard ice hockey fans.
More time seems to have been spent making this game a ‘social’ experience than trying to bring some new innovations to the series, and has parts that both suffer and prosper from this focus shift. For once, the Wii seems to get the best version of the game, while the other consoles get, mildly, shafted.

Lets start with the best improvement to the multiplayer and online modes – setting up games has been made a lot easier. Firstly, you can invite friends into any game mode you want. If you’re playing through franchise mode, it’s pretty easy to allow friends to play with or against you. The same goes for the other modes, such as exhibition and pond hockey. This easy to use system is a big improvement over previous editions, and something we welcome with open arms. The lack of the MyPlayer feature, which is available in most other 2K Sports games, is rather strange, though you can still compare stats and standings, and even your whole team, with other players.
The Reelmaker, which is used to make your own personal highlight reel to post online, is not the most in-depth, but still a good feature to have.
Online works fine, even with a full team; there is the odd moment of lag, but nothing that spoils the game.

The downside to this new ‘social’ experience is that the developer has taken it to mean ‘dumbing down’, and created a simplified experience as a result.


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

The latest instalment of 2k Sports’ NHL franchise offers a whole host of features that have not been available in previous games in the series. These include new online features where the player can create new teams, and the addition of more defensive moves in order to create a better-balanced game.
Whether you’re a die-hard NHL fan or a casual player, NHL 2K10’s pick-up-and-shoot controls, true-to-life authenticity and variety of on-and-off-line multiplayer modes promise hours of entertainment. Focus during development seems to have been on the Wii version rather than the PS3 and Xbox versions. Does this fact harm the hockey experience on the other consoles? Let’s find out.

Score: 4.5/13

Written by Johnny Clapham

There was a time around the seventies and eighties, and possibly the nineties, when ninjas were cool. This was a time when they were either mysterious assassins striking silently from the shadows, or sewer dwelling amphibians with a penchant for pizza and saying “dude a lot”. Today, they (along with pirates and monkeys) have been reduced to lazy punchlines and jokes, told by those who think that ninjas and their ilk are ‘lol totally random.’
What has that little rant got to do with Ninja Blade? Well if we were to place Ninja Blade into one of those categories, it would most definitely be in the latter.
After almost a year, Ninja Blade finally drags itself from the 360 to the PC, stinking of port more than a 19th century sailor with no new additions to be seen. For starters, if you’re thinking of playing this game with the keyboard and mouse – forget it! It is just far too fiddly, and one of those times when you do actually need a gamepad.
What makes it worse is; not only is this a lazy port, but it seems that the only new feature the PC version of Ninja Blade has to offer is a whole variety of glitches and technical cock-ups. While they aren’t game breaking, they are certainly annoying, with inconsistent frame-rates during combat and audio occasionally cutting out.

OK, its obvious that the game does not take itself too seriously (pink pinstripes are the ideal mutant killing clothes, you know), and while over-the-top madness can be fun, it’s not nearly as fun when there is such a derivative game behind it.
Yes there are some bat-shit insane moments, such as surfing on a missile through the skies and totally ignoring all laws of physics on a motorcycle, but these moments have been reduced to that old favourite of lazy game design: the QTE.
To be fair, QTE’s can be implemented creatively in other games, but sadly that is not the case here,


Read More in Issue 21

About the game

When a small village was attacked by strange creatures known as Alpha-worms, some of the villagers were infected and started to turn into mutants. Fearing the situation could worsen and result in an outbreak, the military were forced to sterilize the site. They assaulted the facility and destroyed all traces of the infected and the Alpha-worms. To prevent panic, governments of the world kept the Alpha-worms secret. There have been contained outbreaks of infection over the years, but all have been stopped by the G.U.I.D.E. squad. The government was confident that they could control the spread of Alpha-worms – until now.
You play as Ken Ogawa, a member of the elite squad charged with stopping the spread of the infection.