Vanquish (PS3)

I think deep down i was always going to get a raging sem-on for this game, it's directed by Shinji Mikami - a man who has either directed or had a hand in many of my favourite games of all time which meant i've had my eye on it ever since the first details were announced.

As it happens Vanquish is actually a 3rd person shooter with a cover mechanic, and has been compared by misinformed hacks and gamers to Gears Of War. To look at a screenshot you can see why, the use of cover is familiar and the design of the LT Col Robert Burns character is very similar to that of the "Gears" (something which i believe was done on prupose to poke fun).
This is where the similarities end however, and if you try and play Vanquish the same way as something like Gears Of War you will get raped on Normal difficulty and above.













What Vanquish does is take the general blueprint of a cover shooter and fill it full of amphetamines. This is mainly down to the moves that your characters suit can perform. The suit allows you to boost along the gound at high speed and also go into a "bullet time" style slow motion mode, both for only a limited time before the suit overheats leaving you exposed and very vunerable to enemy attack.













These two moves completely change the game, the boost is so intuative you will find yourself using it as your default way of getting around even when no enemies are present. The slow motion "ARS" mode allows you to pick off multiple enemies with ease and is absolutely essential to taking down the bosses.
This mode also allows you to pick off missiles that are fired towards you, the likes of which have never been seen in a game of this type before, they are more akin to the kind of flak you have to avoid in a modern day shmup to be honest!













Vanquish throws numerous set pieces at you and moves at a frantic pace, much like Resident Evil 4 felt the first time i played it. Not suprising really when they share the same director.
Unfortunately even though Vanquish has received good reviews in this specialist media it's chances of selling in large numbers seems quite remote, much like Bayonetta i belive the price will fall quite quickly which is a shame as it deserves more sales!

Now playing:

Call Of Duty: Black Ops (360) - Multiplayer

Top 5: Arcade racers

5. F Zero GX (Gamecube)















Blindingly fast and un-relentlessly challenging or the harder difficulties, Nintendo definately picked the right people to develop this game in Sega's Amusement Vision studio.



4. Burnout 2 (Gamecube)















Probably the last "pure" title in Criterions excellent series before EA diluted the franchise with "EA Trax" and "DJ Wankstain". A much more traditional racer than Takedown and showing it's age a bit but an exhilarating experience nevertheless.



3. Ridge Racer 6 (360)












Regardless of being released very early on in the 360's life i still think RR6 looks and plays fantastic to this day. It's also huge and very challenging in the later stages which add to the games lastability.



2. Outrun 2 (Xbox)















A fantastic sequel to a classic racer. Wonderful home conversion by Sumo Digital as well, especially when you consider most people thought that the Lindberg powered arcade game was too powerful to bring to home consoles.



1. Burnout 3: Takedown (PS2)















I really expected EA to ruin the franchise with this game, especially after the classic that was Burnout 2. Luckily developers Criterion pulled a masterstroke and gave us a top drawer title which bests the second game and everything else out there. Unfortunately they peaked with this game in my opinion as i don't find any of the follow ups as good. The graphics are also fantastic for a last gen title.

Now playing:

Vanquish (PS3)


And it's fooking marvelous!

Batman: Arkham Asylum (360)

Despite being released in 2009 i have only recently played through this great game. Having ignored it at release thinking it would be a very generic title (much as i did with the equally wonderful Dead Space)

Arkham Asylum certainly made me eat my words however. Aside from some slightly ropey combat in places and some rather uninspiring boss encounters it's a superbly crafted, atmospheric title and actually does deserve the majority of the praise that's been heaped upon it.












Having read the first play thread over at NTSC-UK to wet my appetite before playing the game one comment had stuck in my head, a comment that likened Arkham Asylum to Bioshock.
At the time i couldn't quite fathom what the poster meant but now having finished the game i can completely see what he was getting at, the graphics and the general atmosphere of the game definitely remind me of Bioshock.












Arkham Asylum also benefits from having fantastic voice acting and music, both of which enhance the experience and add to the feeling of "being Batman"

What i actually loved the most about Arkham Asylum was the hidden Riddler challenges. To begin with i didn't pay much attention but as the game progressed finding them all took over and i was consumed with the need to find them all! That's how collecting stuff in games should be, actually interesting and intriguing rather than just the standard "collect 100 flags etc" found in other games.

Much like Dead Space and Skate this is an unexpected classic that everyone should sample.

Alan Wake (360)

After being in development for what seems like an age Alan Wake was finally released in the UK on 14th May 2010. Over the years Remedy had at one point billed the game as an open world survival horror where the protagonist Alan Wake is searching the fictional town of Bright Falls for his lost wife - plot sound familiar? Yes it's Silent Hill 2 basically, and much like that series it takes many pointers from David Lynch.

Somewhere along the way the open world aspect was dropped and Alan Wake became a very linear action orientated horror game in the vein of Resident Evil 4. A great game to reference and Alan Wake does it quite well i just can't help wondering how the game would've been if they'd kept the open world aspect they originally touted.

The driving sections are obviously a carry over from when it was originally planned this way and did make me wonder what it would've been like to be able to go about Wake's investigating at my own pace, nipping in cars to drive to different areas etc.











The tight linear structure however does allow Alan Wake to focus more on a structured narrative, and this is both a strength and a weakness of the game. The story is presented in a superbly cinematic way and does draw you in however it's conclusion is so confusing and unsatisfying it leaves you a bit pissed off at the game really. The story is a bit unitelligent compared to something like Silent Hill 2 and feels poorly written in places, it's a shame as this could have been something really special.












It's a similar story technically, the graphics in places can look fantastic, some of the best i've ever seen in fact. Then in other places it can look absolutely terrible.
Facial animations are poor as are the actual animations of Wake himself in places. The game also suffers from terrible screen tearing which wouldn't normally concern me but in this example is really quite excessive!

Soundtrack is fantastic and one of the areas i truly love about Alan Wake. Roy Orbison!

The combat can also be fiddly and frustrating, but on other occasions very satisfying. It's obviously trying to be Resident Evil 4 in these sections and it does have a couple of decent set pieces but overall it is a bit second rate and again inconsistent.

If i sound disappointed that's because i am, this could have been an absolute classic with a bit more care and attention. Instead it's a just a good game.

System Feature: Sega Saturn

A much criticised and maligned system the Sega Saturn also happens to be a personal favourite of mine (second only to the Super Nintendo), this is mainly because of the deluge of fantastic 2d games available for the system, many of which the majority of gamers here in the UK had no idea about as unfortunately a very large percentage of the games stayed in Japan!

With the Saturn, Sega unfortunately didn't anticipate the industry's move to 3d and built a machine which was an absolute 2d powerhouse. I could write for ages about the console wars of that period but i won't, basically the Saturn got trounced in the West, where we were more interested in the N64 and the Playstation, but the console fared much better in it's native Japan where the more arcade orientated 2-d genres such as fighters and shmups are still very very popular.












In the West it was the wrong time for the Saturn, the traditional Arcade scene was dying on it's arse and industry was moving towards a "hip" mainstream direction due to the clever advertising of Sony and the general "new" feeling produced by the first wave of 3d titles to hit the home. Had the Saturn appeared instead of the Mega CD add-on a few years earlier then it would've no doubt wowed and have had a couple of years to cement a market position, because at that stage 2d titles were still very much the mainstream.

Of course with the market moving the way it was Sega were wary to publish certain 2d titles in the West due to their supposed limited appeal, leaving "the hardcore" with importing as their only option if they wanted to experience these gems....

And what gems they were, here's a few of the best imports...


Soukyugurentai (Raizing)















Better than Radiant Silvergun..enough said. Awesome graphics, stunning Sakimoto score. A must play for anyone with a modded or import Saturn


Battle Garegga (Raizing)
















Brilliant conversion of one of the greatest arcade shmups ever released. One of the greatest, most pumped up first levels in a shoot em' up.


X-Men V's Street Fighter (Capcom)












The best of the Capcom V's series, converted flawlessly from the arcade and played next to the pitiful Playstation version it shows off what a 2d powerhouse the Saturn really was.


Vampire Savior (Capcom)












The best game in the Darkstalkers series again converted brilliantly to the Saturn. This game plays best with an arcade stick to pull off some of the button combos


Radiant Silvergun (Treasure)















Over hyped, overated but still bloody good! First time i played this game my jaw literally hit the floor. The impact it had on me was outstanding.



And this is only the tip of the iceberg, there's many more great titles available, some even got released in the West

Dragon Force (US/UK) - a true classic! (vid here)
Guardian Heroes (US/UK)
Astal (US/UK)
Kingdom Grand Prix
Donpachi
Dodonpachi
Strikers 1945 II
Marvel V's Street Fighter
Darius Gaiden (US/UK)
Nights Into Dreams (US/UK)
Gunbird
Shining Force III (US/UK)
Cotton 2
Cotton Boomerang
Panzer Dragoon 1, 2 & Saga (US/UK)
Magic Knight Rayearth (US)
Thunderforce V
Burning Rangers (US/UK)
Street Fighter Zero 3

Bubble Symphony

I love the Saturn, it's a old school game fans wet dream!

Bioshock 2 (360)

An increasing trend spreading the modern video game industry is "Unnecessary Sequel Syndrome". Now when a developer hits on to a fantastic one-off hit there is usually a juggernaut of a publisher like EA or 2K games behind them meaning they see it as the birth of a franchise to be exploited rather than a one-off classic.

Whilst i'm all for sequels if the franchise can truly exploit it (Metal Gear, Mass Effect etc) Bioshock 2 does certainly not fit in this category in my opinion. And neither do Skate or Dead Space - two other examples of unexpected classics which now have churned out sequels, Skate in particular has had it's fantastic purity filtered by two rushed sequels.












Where Bioshock 2 struggles as a sequel is that it tries to push a story after the end of the first game which really doesn't work - it shoehorns in new characters that are supposed to play a major part in the problems in Rapture but yet are never even mentioned in the first game. This wouldn't be so bad if the story was actually coherent and gripping, unfortunately it isn't, it's disjointed and devoid of most of the wonderful tense moments that made the first game so fantastic. It strikes me that the developers sat around and brainstormed one idea they though was "cool" (playing as a Big Daddy) and built the entire thing around that, losing out on most of the narrative in the process. It's safe to say that Ken Levine's input is sorely missing from Bioshock 2.












It's not to say that the game doesn't have it's moments, playing as a Big Daddy can be very pleasurable indeed, it does however make an easy game (with the vita-chambers etc) even easier! Which again contributes to the lack of tension in the game. Sound can also border on the annoying, which is hard to imagine if you've played the sonically excellent original, there is a section in the sequel where a bombastic orchestral track keeping playing over and over to try and elevate tension - instead it just grates as it just plays the same few bars constantly in quite a long segment.

I really don't see why the developers didn't make the game a prequel, with the already strongly developed characters such as Ryan and Fontaine this would have been easy to slip into. Instead we get a cast of forgetables (the excellent Moe Szyslak alike Stanley Poole aside)

In closing i found Bioshock 2 a bit of a disappointment. It's fun to play but just feels hollow due to the lack of decent atmosphere and narrative.

A Quiet Year.....

Well it's been something of a quiet year so far gaming wise for me, haven't bought much and what i have played has either been this gen stuff or arcade boards in my cab.

Bought a house in December last year which has led in turn to my expendable income been decreased and also led the decision to sell off the majority of my retro collection which has been sat around unplayed for months and months. This is reflected in the number of games finished so far compared to last years total....


Finished 2010:

Bayonetta (360)
Bioshock (360)
Bioshock 2 (360)
F.E.A.R. 2 (360)
Mass Effect 2 (360)
Ghostbusters (360)


Finished 2009:

Fallout 3 (360)
Yakuza 2 (PS2)
Dragon Force (Saturn)
Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow (DS)
Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow (GBA)
Super Metroid (Snes)
Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
Resident Evil 5 (360)
Resident Evil 5 (PS3)
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii)
Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (Snes)
Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Cube)
Dead Space (PS3)
Mass Effect (360)
Secret Of Mana (Snes)
Snatcher (Mega CD)
Policenauts (PS1)
Chrono Trigger (PS1)
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost And The Damned (360)
Modern Warfare 2 (360) - Finished twice
Fallout 3: Point Lookout (360)
Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage (360)
Fallout 3: The Pitt (360)
Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta (360)
Fallout 3: Broken Steel (360)

Bayonetta (360)

Well, i guess the first obvious question is to whether Bayonetta managed to live up to the massive amount of hype generated by the 10/10 review and the subsequent fanboy fur-ore (which i myself was guilty of) led to very high, almost unattainable expectations.

Combat-wise Bayonetta is without equal, other games of this genre such as Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden don't even come close to the fluidity and depth on show here, it truly is unparalleled in this department. Also for a next-gen title from a country which is apparently struggling to adjust to todays more western-centric video game industry Bayonetta is absolutely dripping with innovative little ideas and confidence. It's cheeky little references to other Clover, Capcom and Sega titles are particularly brilliant, my personal favourite being the RE4 merchant skit!












Unfortunately i do have some issues with Bayonetta, the gameplay itself may be pure gaming crack but i personally found the character and location design to be quite bland and samey, basically if you've played the demo then you've pretty much seen everything with regards to looks. Many of the enemies are just too similar and seem to mold into one.

Personally i found the character of Bayonetta herself to be a bit bland also, particularly her voice, the overtly sexualised design of her character doesn't bother me but it doesn't make her any more endearing either. I know in this genre that gameplay is the main thing but i just didn't find her as "cool" as Dante or Viewtiful Joe for example.












The soundtrack however is pure brilliance and will ensure that you can never hear the song "Fly Me To The Moon" again without thinking of the wonderfully elegant combat on show here. Some of the other J-Pop style tracks on offer are pretty good too, a definite breath of fresh air after the dark heavy music vibe of Devil May Cry for example.

So in closing, in my opinion, Bayonetta doesn't quite meet the expectations set by the Edge review but it's certainly worth an 8 or 9 and is certainly one of the best games to come out of Japan for quite some time.

Woe is me

Just in the progess of selling my entire US Snes/Japanese Super Famicom collection :(

Really could use the money and they are just sat on the shelf at the moment, like £500 worth of ornaments

Now it's going to be emulation ftw i guess....

Now Playing:

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (Cube)



(A superb little game)

Mass Effect 2 (360)

The first Mass Effect was a wonderful title and is one of my personal favourite 360 titles, it wasn't without issues however - the framerate and clunky combat are the two most championed when people are sticking the boot in but for me i just found it a little lightweight compared to the scope of the other classic Bioware Star Wars title Knights Of The Old Republic.

I'm happy to say that Mass Effect 2 improves on the original in every single way, they story is darker and much more appealing - the same can also be said for the new characters that it introduces to the storyline, particularly the new antagonists who are far more intimidating than the Geth ever were in Mass Effect.













There are also no technical issues this time around and the combat has been tweaked to offer an experience that feels more like a proper 3rd person shooter rather than a RPG with shooter bits tacked on.

The level of content available to players has been dramatically increased with plenty of side quests for you to get your teeth into should you be that way inclined. I managed to get 35 hours out of my first playthrough which is certainly more meaty than the first game.












The only negative i can think of is that the soundtrack has been made a bit more mainstream and loses much of the wonderful electronica which made the first games soundtrack so wonderful. Richard Jaques isn't involved in the soundtrack this time either.

A great game and the best i've played so far this year.

Policenauts (PSX)

Being a massive fan of both Snatcher and Hideo Kojima games in general i have been waiting for years for the fan translation of Policenauts to be finished. I never thought it would actually be done but last autumn it was finished meaning the english speaking world got to understand what the hell was going on in this game for the first time!

The game itself plays very similar to Snatcher, apart from the shooting sections are alot harder and the game itself is much greater in length overall.














Policenauts does weave a very captivating story, as is the case with all of Kojima's titles. Both this and Snatcher however are free from alot of the complex overly complicated plot advances that the Metal Gear games suffer from.

Whereas Snatcher was pretty much a direct homage to the film Blade Runner, Policenauts is in all respects the same to the Lethal Weapon series and similiar detective buddy films of the 80's and 90's.
Due to this the plot is slightly predictable in places but yet still very gripping.


Again a trait of Hideo Kojima games Policenauts sports a superb soundtrack and it's fantastic main theme will be instantly recognisable to anyone who has played the first Metal Gear Solid game as it's opening bars also feature in the opening to that game (it also can be found and played on the Ipod in MGS4

Have a listen here if you want to know what i mean

Super game and it's a pity the superior Sega Saturn version with light gun support didn't get released in the west as was originally planned along with many other lost Saturn classics

Now Playing:

Ghostbusters (360)

Still alive?

No updates recently, i have no current internet connection yet in my new home, i still intend to keep the blog going though!