AndyWilliams24

Aperture Science has taken you against your will and has made you come face to face with a human sized mouse maze. The exception? You have an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (Portal Gun) at your disposal. But will you be able to get from point 'A' to point 'B' to claim your warm, moist, delicious reward? That's cake im referring to, surely.

This is a huge step; scratch that, a huge leap forward in the gaming industry. It has been a long time since a new and highly innovative idea has been dropped into the world that is video games. What is the thing you have always wanted in life? A watch that stopped time, a restart button and a portal gun. But there's already games that let you alter the phenomenon that is time, so it's about time we get a game that we can mess with the the assents of the universe.

Portal is all about you not knowing what's happened/happening to you and being manipulated to complete a human version of a rat maze. You need to use your brain, wit, and cunning idea's to advance through each stage of the game. As you progress the game unfolds and twists occur. But will you be able to survive Aperture Science's twisted generic mazes? Even for Cake?

A First-Person-Shooter without weapons and violence doesn't sound all that exciting, right? Wrong, you're just not being creative enough. Because this is exactly what Portal is, a FPS. Sure there are no gun battles, but guns aren't in the criteria for a FPS. But this game has all the excitement that most FPS's could only dream of. Portal knows how to keep you on your toes, and don't think they will implement this gift.

On the graphical side of things, Portal is just above par. But with that said, it's the perfect example that proves quality is greater than eye candy. Don't take this out of context though, Portal isn't a hideous game either, it just doesn't go the extra mile in the graphics department. But it's a maze; you don't want bright colours leaping out at you. But maybe a few extra tones would have been nice.

This game comes into its own when it introduces you to the comedy that comes in the form of GLaDOS (Genetic Life form and Disk Operating System). A computer artificial intelligence unit that monitors and directs you through the duration of the game. She will give your briefings about each test chamber. Don't get fooled though, these comments won't help you in the slightest. There more in the form of witty, sarcastic comments that will leave your side's aching from laughter.

Portal also introduces a lot of new technology into the gaming industry, mainly in the form of a Portal gun. The portal gun can create two distinct portal ends, orange and blue. Neither is specifically an entrance or exit though, you can use either. But with this, the gaming industry can thrive and grow. This is something we have been needing for a while now, new ideas - and not having to recycle old ones.

The only major downfall about this game is the length; it can easily be completed in the space of two/three hours depending on your general intelligence and puzzle solving abilities. Despite this, the game is near flawless. A very unique gaming experience and should not be missed by anyone, you don't have to be a fan of Half Life to enjoy this. As the series have very little correlation. If need be the game is also available on Steam for a relatively low price is you would like to try it out without purchasing the full Orange Box package.

All in all, with everything said. Very unique, very heart warming, hilarious moments, a roller coaster ride from start to finish.

It’s once in a blue moon when movie to game’s actually end up being worth a play through. There have been a diverse amount of these attempts and only a select few have been worth a play through. But can EA pull it together and team up with Warner Brothers to put this game on the map? Well read on to find out what exactly make’s this game tick.

This seller hit the shelves on 29th June 2007. A mere week before its counterpart movie hit the box-office. It was one of the most anticipated movies of the year, so surely this would convince people to go out and buy the game to feel the magic early; surely if the movie’s good the game to be, right? Unfortunately this isn’t the case with all games, and this game isn’t an exception.

The past Harry Potter games have been mediocre at best. But this was EA’s time to make a fresh start and really impress us as they took there series into the next generation; although it was a some what wasted opportunity. The game has its strong points, but in this case it doesn’t balance out the bad points….

This game take’s the young hero Harry Potter into a new adventure that’s darker and dreary than ever. Now that the dark lord Voldermort is on the rise Harry is in more danger than ever, so much in fact Dumbledore won’t always be there to look over him. With Dumbledore stepping down as headmaster of ‘Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ and the Ministry not believing Harry about Lord Voldermort’s return, even Harry’s peers are looking at his differently. This year Harry’s friends mean everything to him. You play as Harry as he watches the school go downhill rapidly. Just to make it more inconvenient the Ministry forbid all students to practice magic. As they are convinced they will not need it as Lord Voldermort is not on the rise. So Harry, Ron & Hermione take it upon themselves to make a secret underground organization to teach students how to protect themselves from all things in the outside world that may endanger them. This organization is suitably called ‘Dumbledore’s Army’. So it is your goal to recruit members into your club; this will take you around the new world of Hogwarts trying to persuade your friends into attending your meetings. Persuading them can include doing tasks for them, doing there homework, or simply helping them get there safely.

After you have been your friends skivvy, and doing all there choirs you are ready for your meetings. This is require you teaching your new students new spells which will also then be accessible to you from then on. So there’s a silver lining to you doing everyone’s homework, kind of…

But just as you feel comfortable with your meetings with the DA, and think you are sticking it to the man (new headmaster Professor Umbridge). You get buster in your hiding place by Draco Malfoy who is now recruited by Umbridge. Does a month’s detention sound fun? No? Not even virtually? No? Fine then!

But seeing Umbridge’s outraged face in high definition is worth all the money I paid for this game. She is one of the nastiest pieces of work in a long time. This brings me onto the graphical aspects of the game. The school looks like it has been carved from a fine stone. The details around the castle will easily make you impressed. Although it would seem the developers spent a little too long working on this because the characters in the game don’t look all that great. Maybe it’s harder making a real life person into a character? Maybe its just Daniel Radcliff’s face? I’m not to sure. But after looking at the graphical potential in this game it’s a bit of a disappointment when you see your favorite characters for the first time.

Unfortunately this story isn’t all that great in the length department. It can be done in about 4-5 hours if one sitting if you know what to do. But if you aiming to do all the side objectives such as chess champion, snap champion etc; this would add a considerably large about of time onto this game, but still it doesn’t make the $60 you paid for this game worth it. But there are still all the discoveries around Hogwarts to discover. These help you unlock achievements (around 200gs worth). As you discover something new about Hogwarts (fix statues, hang portraits, mop up mess on the floor, rake leaves etc) you get some discovery points (around 5-10 for each thing you discover) at first you just need about 200 points to reach the next level, which wouldn’t take that much time. The highest level is level thirteen, which needs 15,000 points, so as you could imagine this would take a lot of things to be discovered. So for that much discoveries you would need a large area to search right? Well you got it, in this addition Hogwarts is a lot bigger and more open ended that in the last games. So finding everything in every nook and cranny won’t be an easy task although no loading screens make things a little easier, so best keep a sharp eye on everything all the time. Or you may just miss something important.

But exploring cant all be bad, as you unveil and venture into a new environment the music can change and shape itself into something more suitable to your surroundings; Which is great as the music in this game is definitely one of its strong points. Say if you went strolling into the forbidden forest or the dungeons the music will become slow and dense with a very atmospheric sensation. Then as you enter the Great Hall where all your classmate’s are usually eating the music changes to something cheers are you hear people chatting and practicing magic at there table’s, a very nice and warm feeling. This is the first game that used the original Harry Potter theme song (also recognized as Hedwig’s Snowy theme). As odd as it may sound in the past the Harry potter franchise didn’t even have legal rights to the movie’s theme sound. But now its here, and you can hear it as you escalate the castles revolving staircase. A great new ambitious addition to this game is the new manual spell casting system. This allows you to have full control of Harry’s right arm at the push of a button (Y). To do the spells you with to do you have to move Harry’s arm in a certain fashion, each spell requires s different movement of the arm. Some require a rotational action, while some just need an up/down movement. But memorizing these sequences is the tricky part. There are a total of 12 spells you need to learn and act out throughout the game. There are 6 defensive spells and 6 offensive spells. These are mainly used in dueling which trigger at certain parts of the game. Also some spells can be used while roaming around the castle, spells such as Reparo (which repairs things) and Incendio which sets things alight.

The only major disappointment about this game is the abysmal thing they call cut scene's. It is a huge let down when a game with such a huge potential suffers greatly by little things like this. The cut scene's in this game are nothing short of 5-10 second clips of blotchy inaccurate movie to video game character models. Its as though the game tries to keep you as far away from the characters emotionally. It doesn't give you time to feel what Harry feels as he's exploring Hogwarts for getting abuse shouted at him by the opposing house mates.

If you are looking to finish this game to completion with all achievements unlocked you will be forced the go through the game on the hardest difficulty, which isn’t hard at all. Its pretty much the same as all you need to do is do tasks, only thing that may cause concern are the duals but with a bit of determination you will get through it. Also another thing you will be forced to do is beat all the mini objectives (chess, bowls, snap challenge’s etc). So you will need a slight knowledge of the games and a quick hand. Good luck! (4/10 – Pretty Easy to get all achievements)

Overall this is a very enjoyable game, but isn’t much if you wanting a game that will last you for a while. This game could easily be completed and finished with all achievements in a single day. But it’s very enjoyable while it lasts. But $60 for a game that will last a day isn’t a very good deal. So I would advise renting this game, but it worth a play through if you enjoy the Harry Potter franchise and/or the game series.

This game had practically no hype until it was announced it would be bundled together with a beta test invitation for one of the biggest and most anticipated game in arguably the whole gaming world. Yet it stands as a good game none the less.

This game place's you as a scientifically enhanced cop in the middle of a run down city. It is your duty to eradicate each and every criminal walking the streets and make it safe for the civilians to wander in the daily life. But this is were the problem arises, your primary objective is to of course clean out the city of criminals. So how would you fit this into a story line? Well Realtime has based the story not on levels but you explore the city and eliminate the gang leaders making it easier and increase the possibility of eliminating the Islands Kingpin. There are 18 gang leaders to search out spread out over three decent sized Islands. Then 3 KingPin's running the Islands, which are securely hidden in the utmost confound of the Islands preliminary defenses. So finding them may not be as easy as first imagined. Which leads us to your Dossier; the Dossier is your communication between you and base. You will get a Dossier update whenever a gang leader is near or needs your attention. Showing you the general direction of those pesky gang leaders; this can be a life saver at times.

The graphics are what make's this game feel truly next generation. It’s set out in a cartoon style with a sprinkle of pixel shading. The graphics from the ground are fairly standard but when you get your abilities up and begin to climb to the top of tall building you will notice there's a nice scenery and atmosphere once the city has been restored to its peaceful state.

Crackdown has also been tampering with a little bit of the RPG side of things. With the abilities gauge which as you increase you grow levels which gets you stronger/faster or what this game is most famous for the extreme jumping skills. When your jumping ability is at max you can jump around 30ft at a time. This is more than the standard double story building!

It is one of the only game's I have had the pleasure of playing that has this sort of physics system and still become a success. After the hugely hyped "Hulk" game becoming a flop, most would have thought casually jumping 30ft in a video game also died at that moment.

Another major downside to this game is the driving capability. When you first begin the game you will barely be about to slide around a corner while going at a high speed but as you grow your driving ability it will slightly improve. But not up to the par I am used to, sorry Real-time you let me down here. But when you do eventually get to do some insane stunts after you have been launched of a cliff in your little van you can do a lot of cool stunts, like back flips and barrel rolls. Which nearly make’s up for the lack of driving potential. Because if you cant even get up the ramp, what’s the point of being able to do all these insane stunts?

I guess not many people would choose to drive when you could easily go faster and have a lot more fun jumping from rooftop to rooftop....

The abilities are split up into 4 main categories (agility/driving/explosives/shooting). You can increase these skills by doing simple tasks such as shooting opposed gang members or driving through stunt markers, mainly just meeting requirements for the corresponding skill. As your agility level increases you can do better in each category such as shoot more accurate or jump higher. But it may take some dedication to bring all these abilities to the max.....

This game will last you about 20-40 hours if you have online and a friend who plays it also. Because online Co-op is the high point to this game; its sandbox with a friend. You’re in the city at the same time, exploring or helping each other with missions. Or even creating some games if you are imaginative.

But if you are willing to spend the money for possibly a game that will be completed in a few days then be gather dust in your collections. But this game would last you longer with a friend. But those hours you spend playing it will be a happy and extremely enjoyable one. So you may want to just rent it if the single player is all your interested in. But the online for so much more.......

Over the years many superhero games hit the market. As they come and go they seem to just be another attempt to advertise there latest movie. With not much ambition actually coming forth in the games; this time it’s different though, there back, with the ultimate alliance.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a hard hitting superhero RPG. You assemble your team of up to four superheros from a series of Marvel franchises. Then take the action to the extreme. You can switch between your selected four heroes at any time in the game, just by hitting a direction on the D-pad. Certain battles call for different heroes to put there best foot forward. So don’t think you will be keeping the same formation for the entire game. The game begins as your onboard the S.H.I.E.L.D hellicarrier as it begins to get attacked by Dr Doom and his minions. But before you have much time to do anything the game throws you straight into the action. You begin to fight of the waves of minion as you reach the control room to see Nick Fury and find out what is happening on board. Before long the plot unveils and you make you way through the world uncovering secrets, traps, boss battles, unlock new heroes and find the true meaning behind Dr Doom’s evil plan.

Activision really hit a long awaited homerun with this title. You begin with the team of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America and Thor. As you progress through the opening battle you reach an S.H.I.E.L.D Access Point. These allow you to change you team, save game and Extract yourself to base. There are several of these throughout each level. So no needs to worry about what team you pick at the beginning of each segment; you have plenty of opportunities to change your team as you progress.

You will have a fair selection of heroes to choose for your team, so you shouldn’t have any trouble forming the team that mostly suits your style of play. There are 20 heroes to choose from. Heroes such as Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Man, Hulk, Cyclops, Venom, Storm, Thing, Iron-man, Dr Doom, Spiderwoman and much more. When your team consists of certain heroes it triggers a team bonus. For instance if you have all members of the X-Men in your team you will get a bonus, these bonus’s can be anything from 10% extra damage to “coin multiplier”. Coins are another way to power up your hero. You can exchange your coins to power up attacks etc.

At first glimpse this game wouldn’t come across as a RPG game. But as you play you realise your characters level up as you gain Experience points (XP). You can gain XP from enemies you have defeated or answering Trivia questions at your head quarters. The higher your level the easier and less shots it will take to kill a enemy or defeat a boss. So levelling up is key to success. But as you alter your team you may change you’re levelled up hero for a hero which hasn’t been levelled up at all. Thus making level progression harder; so remember to plan ahead.

Once the story mode ends in this game, it is by no means the end of the game. You go back to main headquarters and then have access to go to any mission again and play through it again. Or play through some training simulators to unlock some more outfits, scavenge for coins and find unlockables such as action figures which can unlock more heroes to use at your desire. This game is also a very online friendly game. This allows you and 1-3 other players to team up online and go through and tackle story mode together. You can also help each other level up and go through the training missions together to unlock more outfits for your characters.

Overall this is a very enjoyable game and should not be underestimated by any Xbox360 owner. It has so much potential for a sequel and has superb graphical limits. The replay value is also the very attractive/compelling thing about Marvel it is great value for money. Which modern day games seem to lack.