Sharvie

BioShock is a stunning first-person shooter from 2K Games on the surface, but it's so much more when you dig deeper into the game. It is the tale of one man's elusive fantasy which, in turn becomes a secluded city's worst nightmare.

The game begins with a plane crash-- your plane crash-- and your the only survivor among the wreckage. As you float in the sea of the Atlantic you notice a lighthouse is your only hope of salvation, as you enter it, a bathysphere lies in wait for your arrival to take you into Rapture. Rapture itself was once a thriving metropolis, the creation of an idealistic man named Andrew Ryan.

As the city flourished, so did its scientific advancement which resulted in creations people could only dream of outside of Rapture. This creation was plasmids, a genetic modification devise that granted the user incredible abilities. However, the Rapturians were not ready for this advancement and paid a costly price for these abilities. It is upon entering Rapture that you discover the horrific cost of power. The psychotic people of Rapture are horribly deformed "splicers" raiding the city for ADAM, the key substance that makes these modifications possible. And they will do anything for ADAM--even kill.

To discover the secrets and tribulations of Rapture, you will have to use weapons and plasmids. The primary weapons are a pistol, shotgun and machine gun. However later in the game you can come across grenade launchers and flamethrowers to aid you in your quest. You will have the opportunity to upgrade your weapons to increase their damage and firing rate. You can also invent new items at U-Invent machines in Rapture where you can make new ammo variations like heat-seeking RPGs. Each weapon offers variation to the way you unleash your payload on the inhabitants.

Bioshock's weapons are fun to use, but it is the plasmids that differentiate BioShock from other FPS. You will collect the electro-bolt plasmid near the start of the game, but as you progress more advanced and more powerful powers will become available. Plasmids also offer a more tactical element to the game as you can use the area around you to your advantage like firing a lightning bolt into water with splicers in it to give them a real shock. The plasmids offer an alternative side to BioShock instead of just running and gunning down enemies which on the whole, makes the game a winner in itself.

To use plasmids to their full effect, you can also obtain gene tonics. These are tonics that will pass over time but can give you a real edge of your enemies. They are split into three categories: physical, engineering and combat. Physical tonics will make you more resistant to damage and become stronger. Engineering tonics improves your machinery skills like hacking safes. Combat tonics can vary from increasing melee damage to making you more prolific with your weapons. But to obtain these tonics and plasmids, you need ADAM.

ADAM can be taken from Little Sisters. Little Sisters used to be ordinary little girls, but experiment have changed their whole way of living. Little Sisters travel through Rapture, extracting ADAM from the various bodies that lie in the city. At first they will seem like easy prey but Little Sisters are protected by a Big Daddy. These monsters, clad in armour-like diving suits, protect Little Sisters with sheer brutality and unmatched aggression.

Big Daddies come in two pain-wielding varieties: a rosie and a bouncer. A rosie carries a mammoth gun whereas a bouncer dishes out pain in close combat with his enormous drill. Defeating a Big Daddy is one of the biggest challenges in the game so you will have to use your weapons and plasmids to great effect. They are quick for such huge and intimidating characters so you will have to move fast and think quick. Creating Armour-piercing bullets is a sure fire way to bring them down along with using your plasmids with the environment around you.

After taking down a Big Daddy, you are rewarded with the presence of an extremely vulnerable Little Sister. Should you harvest all the ADAM from her, or do you rescue her from her genetic sarcophagus but only receive half of the ADAM to use on your modifications. The decision is yours.

Among the chaos of Rapture is a very sophisticated defence system that Rapture's ruler, Andrew Ryan imposed on the city. These defences come in the form of security bots, machine gun turrets and and rocket-propelled grenade launchers which call all be hacked to work in unison with you. To hack these machines, a mini-game must be successfully completed. To complete it you must line up the pipes successfully from start to finish to allow the liquid to pass all the way through. Failing the game will cause the machine to short circuit and damage your health. Vending machines which can provide you with ammo and health packages can also be hacked which in turn can lower the price of the items.

One of the first thing you notice about BioShock when you first play it is how good the game is visually, and how good the audio is. The water effects for the game are simply stunning, from swimming in the ocean at the beginning of the game to walking under water leakages and watching the water pour down the screen. Despite Rapture's sadistic nature, the city still looks beautiful. The buildings are consistent with the 1960's time period, ever little detail counts from the old elevators to the decor furniture of the city. The sheer detail of the characters is astounding, you get detailed view of splicers with their blood ridden clothes and their eerily scary part masks they wear to cover their mutilated faces. You will be hard pressed to find a graphical fault anywhere in the game.

One of the most impressive features of the game is how the atmosphere is portrayed. Playing the game is a thrilling and exciting experience that no other game can offer. The characters in the game are also very intriguing and it is very interesting to see how they develop through the game. Atlas, the man you first meet is a ordinary man with a shocking secret. Andrew Ryan is very complex and neurotic man, which his crazed visions of greatness are a treat to watch. Even the lesser characters have very different qualities to them. You will encounter an insane surgeon who is obsessed with cosmetic perfection with truly terrifying results. Audio dairies are also littered through the city which, if read, offer some interesting insights into what life was and is like in Rapture.

Bioshock has accomplished everything it has set out to do. As a story, you can squeeze about 15 hours out of it including playing it through again and just by exploring the wide open city. However as a FPS, it offers a unique blend of shooting, powers and story-telling that any gamer should not pass up.

Assassin's Creed offers a unique blend of stunning graphic design, excellent voice acting and a very different, but complex storyline. There is an endless amount to do in the game that will leave you satisfied and hungry for more.

Assassin's Creed follows the tale of Altair, a highly skilled 12th Century assassin and his journey through the Holy Land, during the Crusades. You will encounter different environments in the cities you will visit: Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem. Each city is beautifully designed and rendered which will leave you speechless at how life like the cities are.

Each city is alive with a thriving populace and busy streets. In the cities you will encounter beggars, drunks, town guards and hardy Templar Knights; and of course the people going about their normal business. You must take into account the population when making your move on your target as the population can be your best friend or worst nightmare.

The visual quality of Assassin's Creed is one of its many strengths. Each city is enormous and is your's to explore--though most of the cities are cut down to districts which are unlocked as you progress through the story. Everything is beautifully textured from the ancient pottery to the exquisite rugs and detailed clothing on the citizens. Most walls can be scaled one way or another by Altair and you can jump gracefully from one building to another, and you can leap from high towers into bails of hay when the opportunity arises. This makes gives you an extremely fun alternative to running from the guards in the busy streets--why not take them to the roofs?

Moving around the roofs and in combat is easily mastered by the sleek controls also make the game very fun to play. It seems effortless to cut down guards and just running and climbing is extremely easy to master. Fighting the guards in close combat can be a tempting challenge but it becomes more difficult when you are being pursued by 10 or 15 guards who will encircle you and attack; fleeing from them and using your profound agility can help you fend off the guards, allowing you time to escape to the roofs where they will be no match for your speed.

Assassin's Creed's sound quality is one of the best to date for a game. Everything you will hear adds to the experience of being in a busy city. As you walk the streets, you will hear the cries of endangered citizens, their views on religion and politics, the pleas from desperate beggars and the ramblings of drunks all makes the citizens all the more interesting to interact with. The voice acting is also magnificent, each character is made their own thanks to the fantastic voice actors. Combined with this is a beautiful musical score. The subtle sounds of Middle-Eastern tones and harmonies brings the game to life and provides a unique blend of scores for the different situations that will arise.

The story is what binds the whole game together and makes it unique. The story is in two parts. One is centred around Desmond, descendant of Altair, who has been forcibly kidnapped by a researcher and is placed in a machine called and Animus, which withdraws Altair's memories from Desmond's mind. This is when you will begin to play as Altair, eliminating assassination targets sought by your Creed master. The story can be rather confusing at times and switching back to Desmond can some-what slow the pace of the game. The ending especially leaves you on a cliff hanger which opens doors for a possible sequel that will surely be on the table.

There are an endless amount of tasks to do in the game that will take you away from the main story for a short time. You have the opportunity to rescue citizens being bullied by the guards; you can climb tall towers to get a synchronized view of the cityscape and you can collect various flags which will eventually unlock some achievements. Each will grant you elusive benefits like vigilantes that will grab your pursuing enemies allowing you time to escape. Climbing "View Points" will also allow you a bird's eye view of the city and will reveal missions you must do to discover the location of your targets. These varied missions come in the form of eavesdropping on people's conversations, beating information out people and pick pocketing victims for more information on things like your target's position. All of this grants you opportunities to flex you stealth talents by creeping around gathering information on your prey and preparing your strike.

The game also gives you important choices to make: should you go in all knives blazing, or sneak in through the crowds of people and cunningly killing your foe with your hidden blade. You can use your throwing daggers to kill enemies from a distance or use your sword or short sword to kill them in close quarters. Each way has their own satisfying rewards, be it smooth gruesome combo kills or a sneaky knife in the back. Close combat can be risky business as killing innocent citizens will give you a severe loss of health which will hinder your confidence in a large fight.

Needless to say, stealth is your best option. You have the ability to sneak past guards by hiding among white-robed scholars or by blending into the crowd. However, knocking over crate and pot carriers will draw the guard's attention to you and or even drawing your weapon in public will make the guards draw their's in retaliation. This can lead to all sorts of problems whither it be trying to complete a mission or just getting from A to B. You may choose to stay and fight the guards off, but running to the roofs is a far more enjoyable experience as you can throw guards to their deaths from the rooftops or hide in the hay stacks or small gardens located there until the guards regroup and go back to their posts. It all adds to the game's immersive quality.

Assassin's Creed is one of those rare games that portrays how hard Montreal Studios has worked on this game. The graphics, especially in High-Definition are stunning and is the sound quality of the game. From the living and breathing cities, to the slick combat and free running qualities of the game, it provides a deeply satisfying experience that you will soon not forget.

After the enormous commercial success of previous Zelda games, it was only a matter of time before a Zelda game would be developed for Nintendo's DS. The result is a unique and immersive game that will tingle your gaming senses.

While The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass may seem like the same old Zelda game, there is something refreshing about the game that ultimately reinvigorates the series in a brilliant way.

One thing Phantom Hourglass is excellent at doing is making you feel like you are in your own adventure. If you're not making charts, you're picking up clues or jotting down directions via your stylus for later use. It doesn't take much to figure it out, but the illusion is impeccable, and will drive you onward to the next challenge.

The controls for the game have been reformatted for use on the DS. Directing Link to wherever you want to go is as simple as pointing or dragging the stylus in your desired direction. Attacking is as simple as jabbing and slashing your enemies on the screen. The way the controls are applied across the game world to solve puzzles is enthralling in totally new ways.
Even the most obvious things - like realising you can activate a switch around the corner by drawing a line for your boomerang to travel along, or blowing into the microphone to put out candles - will put a subtle smile on your face.

The ability to draw on your map is a simple yet effective method to keep track of what you have and haven't done, the order to pull switches, or the best path to take. When you are annotating the map, it efficiently sits on the top screen so it is always on show.

You would expect the game to have shrunken down graphics for the DS but this is not the case with Phantom Hourglass. Despite the game's lack of graphical prowess, the simplistic animations and artistic nature of the game make it outstanding to look at. It may not have graphic you would expect from the PSP, but it offers something colourful and fun.

You don't have to have played Wind Waker to get into Phantom Hourglass's story. The story revolves around Link searching for the mysterious Ghost Ship which has kidnapped Tetra. To find the ship, you must search for clues amongst the six main dungeons, which are alive with puzzles and monsters to battle, along with a boss to destroy at the end of each dungeon. Each boss is different and you have to be resourceful and use your weapons and environment to defeat them and progress.

One of Phantom Hourglass's issue is it's almost stubborn reluctance to let you figure out the quest for yourself. For experienced Zelda players the game may be a bit too easy. The clues are too bold, and the fairy who guides you have a chest full of giveaway tips that it dishes out, and is omnipresent through the game. The illusion of being in an adventure is quickly threatened due to the suppressing need for the game to 'hold your hand' through the experience.

Forgiving these flaws are easy, though, and not just because everything is such a delightful riddle, but because it's just as charming and as humorous as all the other games have been. From when Link extravagantly finds a new important item; from the upbeat music; to when a new fairy friend bounces around you playfully. The whole mood of the game is something that would put a smile on the face of even the grouchiest man.

When the single player is over, you're left to a surprisingly engaging multiplayer game, where a player plays as Link and collects Force Gems and the other plots the path for roaming Phantoms to stop the other player. It may be in a whole other world from the superb singleplayer experience, but it is a fun little add-on to occupy your time.

Even among Nintendo's best games, Phantom Hourglass manages to capture your imagination and catapult you into a quest that you will never forget about anytime soon. It may be over sooner than you expect, but you won't wish that it had lasted longer. You'll wish more games were tuned the way Phantom Hourglass is. This game wasn't made for the DS, but the DS was made for Phantom Hourglass.

The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth 2 was the first of its kind in the Real-time strategy genre for the Xbox 360. Since then, developers have used the game as a basis to further expand the RTS genre onto the Xbox 360.

The Battle for Middle-Earth games have been a huge success on PC with thousands of Lord of the Rings fans able to play as their favourite armies and take to the battlefield in huge battles. Now EA have released the game for 360 owners, hoping to further expand the game's popularity.

One of people's main concerns over the game was how the control scheme would pan out in the game and overall - it does a pretty good job. EA have come up with a relatively simple way of using the thumbsticks to control the cursor and camera. With the A button you can select a unit, and order an attack on a unit by moving the cursor over the enemy and hitting A. Holding down Left trigger (LT) and hitting A will select all military units on the screen. By holding down the Right trigger (RT) you bring up a small order menu where you can build units if you have selected a building, for example. The controls are rather intuitive and are something more console RTS games are now using.

Battle for Middle-Earth allows you to play as both the good and evil side in a singleplayer campaign that takes place while Frodo and The Fellowship are on their perilous journey to Mordor. The story is well told and you will encounter some noticeable characters that were left out of the film in the game. In the good campaign you will predominantly play as the Elves, Men of the West and Dwarves; and an evil campaign which you will play as Goblins, Orks and Uruk-Hai.

To add to the singleplayer experience, the game has a Skirmish mode that allows you to play the AI on various maps, ranging from Minas Tirith to the mysterious Mirkwood forest. In this mode, you can select any race to play as: Men, Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Orks or the Uruk-Hai. Each faction has their own strengths and weaknesses, for example Elves have superb archers, whereas Dwarves are slow moving but can pack a punch. No matter who you select to play as, you can select what enemy to play (I can't count the amount of times I relived the scene from Minas Tirith from the movie). You can also select if you want any allies and what difficultly the enemy will play as. Skirmish mode is a nice little add-on and can at least provide some replay value to the game.

There are also some obvious, yet subtle, tactical elements to the gameplay. Cavalry can easy wipe out a band of archers, whereas Uruk-Hai pikeman will clean up any cavalry charge up ahead. Combined with the tactical element to the game, an impressive power ability is featured. As you play through a game, you rack up experience points for killing enemies, and more. With these points you can purchase special powers like healing allied units, and more expensive ones like summoning a ferocious dragon to fight for your side. Certain powers are associated with each faction though, so there is no ability for Elves to summon the Balrog. You also have the ability to summon heroes to lead your soldiers in battle. The heroes at the top of the list, like Gandalf, cost a lot of resources but if looked after, they can dish out a whole load of hurt to an enemy army.

Multiplayer in the game can be an enjoyable experience with modes to cater for everyone's taste. There is the typical skirmish mode which is a free-for-all battle against other opponents with the victor being whoever survives. There is also capture-the-flag, capture-and-hold, and a resource race that can be finished in pretty quick time. Finally, there is Hero mode where a both players are given a hero and you have to fight it out until a player's hero dies. The multiplayer is a lot of fun to play, even with friends, and even now it doesn't take long to get into a decent game.

The visuals of the game are also well worth noting. The game's variable environments look excellent and are very well designed. Units also look fairly detailed and their character models look just how you would expect them too. Each faction also has their own unique look. Elves have a more natural and elegant look with trees incorporated into their buildings, whereas Orks have a more degraded appearance with flimsy, dirty structures. However the game suffers from an almost unbearable frame rate collapse during large scale battles which is quite a disappointment. The audio is also great. Some actors from the films provide voice acting for their roles to give the game a more endorsed feel. The music is also quality, which you would expect due to the films having such beautiful musical scores.

Despite some technical hitches with the game, it still offers a full package of things to do from the singleplayer campaign, skirmish, and online mode. Any fans of Lord of the Rings would enjoy the game's loyalty to the books and a story that is lesser known to people will certainly give you some enjoyment.

There is no doubt that Evolution Studios has crafted one of the most visually appealing experiences that PS3 owners will enjoy since the system's launch. The game features persistent terrain details: tyres ripping through mud will leave dents and ribs that will remain for the duration of the race, while the collision of vehicles will leave scattered debris. The game truly is a graphical array of photographic textures; sublime cars sprayed with mud and skidding and grinding through races, and the way mud splatters onto your first- or third-person view all enhance the overall experience.

What is disappointing about MotorStorm is its shallow singleplayer mode. Not only does it have very little volume, but it is paper thin. The basic idea of the game is high octane racing on a total of 8 tracks to beat your opponents. However's across a race's three laps, you'll struggle to remain in first place the whole way through, but the challenge is trying to find the balance of driving well and finding the right route to take. If you find yourself at the back of the pack, navigating among the perilous and often heightened path to a better route may get you level. The move is risky but it is extremely rewarding if it is done successfully.

MotorStorm also features an impressive soundtrack which is suited perfectly for such a crazy racing game. The fast paced music helps to really get you into the game in such a way that will have your heart racing from the start to the finish of the race. The sound effects are also top notch. Engines roar with such ferocity like they are right beside you. The crashes and collisions also sound terrifyingly real and you really feel the impact of two or more crashing cars.

What can be particularly frustrating about the game is the AI unforgiving aggressive behaviour. Your opponents will bash you around quite a bit and if you collide with something, the respawn feature will rob you of speed which will allow opponents to pass you. This may not be a problem for the majority of gamers, but for casual gamers it can be very frustrating when you're in the lead.

Races are also a very frustrating experience at times. Vehicles can go flying at even the slightest bump, particularly with lighter vehicles which may plague you with failures and constant race restarts. You shouldn't be put off by the relative simplicity of the tracks and modes, nor the general slower pace as MotorStorm's use of physics and technical racing is a spectacle to behold.

MotorStorm is also not a party game when friends are round, especially since it doesn't have split-screen multiplayer. The game does have a pretty good multiplayer mode though, with twelve players able to rave at any one time. The multiplayer is an add-on to a short singleplayer, but it is a fun experience to play with little lag and what seems to be a fairly populous online community.

In conclusion MotorStorm's unpredictable nature is vivid in single-player mode and the online gaming community is downright vicious. Despite its lack of content, MotorStorm offers spectacular visuals, sound and an experience that will thrill you to the very bone.

The Total War franchise has always been one of large scale battles with hundreds on soldiers battling for their lives. Medieval 2 is no different to these past Total War games. It also offers so much more.

The campaign of the game is where you will get the most gameplay out of. Not only is it packed full of stuff to do, but it combines turn-based strategy with epic 3D battles that the franchise has made its own. It does take long to get the used to how the game works. You pick a faction to play as - this could be England, Holy Roman Empire
or France to begin with, and many more will unlock when you complete the campaign.

You are then thrown into a scale map of Europe, Asia, and eventually, South America. You then take turns moving units around the map, organising your cities and creating units, agents and buildings. This all costs money which has to be carefully administered around your empire. Armies cost money to upkeep, it also costs money to build and create things. Money can be generated through taxation, trade and by occupying more settlements. After your turn your opponents take their move. Creative Assembly have done an excellent job in really making your think, as considerations have to be made with relation to making the Pope happy, for example.

Every aspect of life in the medieval time is taken into consideration. You must focus on tasks from the Pope like a new Holy Crusade to take back the Holy Land, to trading with neighbours and keeping the people in your towns and cities happy. The game really does make you feel like your managing an empire.

The second area of the game is played out through 3D battles where you command your units on a picturesque landscape. If you run a high-end PC then the battle will be all the more smoother and an overall more beautiful experience to watch as you battle it out with your enemies. The controls to you're managing an easy to pick up, and the option to group units together really helps. The 3D battles are also a chance to bring out the inner tactician in you. How have to think about how to defeat your enemy: do you outflank them using light combat; or charge in with your heaving infantry for some intense melee and hope for the best. Even if you're not a master tactician, you can skip these battles at the pop-up menu.

The units in Medieval 2 have also change a lot for the better. It is obvious Creative Assembly has done an astounding job making each unit look and feel individual. Each character model is remotely different - each have different faces and even some hold weapons in different hand. It all just makes the gameplay more believable.

The graphics for the game are also stunning. Armour will glisten in the sunlight and every detail has been considered. You will be able to see the medieval cloth pattern your soldiers are wearing. Even the managerial side of the game has improved graphically from previous games. The land is more detailed and you can clearly see things like land degradation on the map.

The game also features and impressive sound track. Each song is expertly crafted which will make you feel relaxed while managing your armies. In contrast, in the 3D battles, the clanging of metal and yelps from soldiers really makes you feel like you're on a battlefield bearing the forefront of combat.

Along with a divine single player experience, the game also features a customisable battle creator where you choose units to use to fight against and also customisable enemy. There are also a few historical battle that you can play with auto-selected units which is pretty fun. The multiplayer side of the game is restricted only to the 3D battles, but with a huge single player campaign, you may not focus too much on the multiplayer. The multiplayer modes are only limited to last man standing and scored resolution, and they support up to eight players where your primary objective is really just to kill as many guys as you can.

You may need a high powered computer to fully appreciate the game and harness its full experience of its beautiful visuals, but the little world you are watching grow and develop will be satisfying to journey through.

Screams of soldiers' broken spirits whittle the battlefield… arrows pierce through the skies above and hitting with deadly accuracy. Cavalry ploughs through your broken lines of soldiers. This is Total War and it's never been so much fun.

Creative Assembly is back with another Total War game that focuses on the trails and tribulations of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, and this game is perhaps their best effort yet.

Rome: Total War is split into two main gameplay components. A campaign map which allows you to control the movements of your armies, the management of your cities and the creation of new units. The second element of the game is 3D battles where you play out battles with hundreds of soldiers fighting one another on a detailed landscape while you manage the advancement of your units. The tactical element to the game is omnipresent as you think about your movements: you do not want to run cavalry into a line of spearman do you?

The game has all the modes you would expect: single player campaign, multiplayer battles, and a prologue campaign for beginners. This is a short campaign that introduces you to the basics of the game. The game differs with past Total War games, so it is not only focused for beginners, but for veterans of the series so the transition to the Imperial Campaign is a whole lot smoother.

You start the Imperial Campaign with the choice of three Roman factions: the Julii, Brutii and Scipii. The additional factions are unlocked for play when you defeat them in the campaign, or just by completing the campaign. Each of the Roman factions are situated in different areas of the Italian peninsula. Each faction therefore has the responsibility of dealing with different factions. The Julii must contend with the hordes of Gauls, Britons and Spaniards. The Scipii will spend most of their time sweating it out in Africa facing the Egyptians and Carthaginians while the Brutii are faced with the challenge of facing the phalanx loving Greeks and Macedonians.

Your primary goal is to expand Rome's glorious empire across the uncivilised world by force or diplomacy. The Senate and Rome itself is a AI-controlled faction that will give you periodic missions like blocking a port or seeking out trade rights. In return for completing these tasks, you will be rewarded with things like cash or units. You position with the Senate and Rome will also increase and as you become more popular with the people the campaign takes a dramatic twist.

Once popularity is gained, you have the opportunity to take Rome and become the Emperor of Rome. This is not an easy step to take, however. Your rival Roman factions are also vying for the prestige of Emperor and will fight you to get there. Managing all your cities, while overcoming relentless sieges and attacks is tough, but is the cost you must pay to become victorious.

The new campaign map has drastically changed from previous games'. The new map contains beautifully towering mountains, lush forests and detailed rivers and streams. The map's little details like trade carts journeying down roads and wild animals scattered around also makes the map impressively detailed. Another excellent feature Creative Assembly has added is the ability to engage and enemy on the campaign map, only to see the same terrain in the right places on the 3D battle map. The little details like this is what makes Rome: Total War a winner.

Another notable difference to the campaign map is the removal of the "game board pieces" that represented your armies in the previous Total War games. Your armies are represented by soldier icons which are immensely detailed.

The game has also embraced a watered down RPG-type system in relation to your Generals, Governors and family members. Your named characters will gain different traits, both positive and negative. Creative Assembly also added in a few humorous traits that'll make you smile. These traits can be gained through different situations, for example, your General may gain the Confident Commander trait by winning a certain number of battles making him a more prolific commander

The sound quality of the game is also fantastic. The musical score in the campaign is excellent, so good in fact that I soon ran out and got the game's soundtrack. The music stays true to the time period - you won't find any Aerosmith in this game. The sound effects in battle are also perfectly conducted and everything sounds as it should from the clanging of metal to your General's scream of morale boosting wisdom.

For newbies of the series, the game allows the player to assign a whole lot of the gameplay to the AI. If you don't want to manage the economy of all your cities, you can chose to have them auto-managed. Battles also have the option to be automatically resolved which can be helpful if it is a battle you don't particularly fancy playing.

The only thing that stops Rome: Total War from being perfect is a few bugs and minor peeves. Sometimes you may find soldiers in a group facing the wrong way, or clashing units merging for a second. It's nothing a patch can't fix but shouldn't be happening in the first place. While navies have taken a more dominant presence in the game, naval warfare is still automatically resolved, something that is to be changed in the next Total War game.

Despite the tiny flaws Rome: Total War is a must buy for anybody looking for a fresh look at a RTS game. Creative Assembly have created a remarkable game stuffed full of replay value and the ultimate Roman experience.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe throws you into the shoes... or leggings of Spider-Man in this far-fetched adventure.

Spider-Man must set out to rescue villains such as Venom and Doc Ock who have been hypnotised by a mysterious mastermind who is using shards from a meteor crash to brainwash an array of Spider-Man's greatest enemies. While you journey through each level, you will encounter enemies called Phantoms who vary in size from the small minions to huge, bulking beasts. These enemies are just a barrier to the occasional boss fight, ranging from Green Goblin to Sandman. Every villain you defeat will reluctantly join you as an ally which makes the game so intriguingly enjoyable to play.

As you play each level, you will choose out of your conquered villains who you want to help you fight through the level as a side-kick. Each villain has individual attributes and moves but you will soon find that they all have similar fighting styles. The AI of your side-kicks is also pretty good. Occasionally they may fall of a cliff face but they will hold their own in a fight and be quite useful when distracting a group of Phantoms while you sort out the large one's. While your side-kick offers some help in fighting Phantoms, in the boss fights you are entirely on your own.

The game's level structure is nothing spectacular, unfortunately. You will arrive at a foreign location like Nepal, where you'll fight Phantoms coded to appear in obviously planned out locations, then face a boss at the end. All levels are incredibly linear where the only differences are the environmental changes of each place. Phantoms will become stronger as you progress through the story and their appearance will change between each location offering some variety to each level.

The game also has some extras to find throughout each level. Each level has DNA Helixes and Keystones to find. DNA helixes offer unlockables and must be collected to obtain the achievements, the Keystones can be used to open a locked door where you fight more Phantoms that will also contribute to getting the achievements, and also unlock further unlockable things. While these unlockable games offer some variety,you will probably find them pretty boring. They are not difficult to find, and you will most likely stumble across them in-game but it does offer a small distraction to the main game.

Contrary to other Spider-Man games, Friend or Foe offers very little in terms of scaling walls and web swinging - you will most likely be on your feet most of the time using your fists, instead of performing the usual high octane stunts. Dying in the game is pretty flawed, too, the only penalty that is received is a small reduction of your tech tokens, which you find from beating enemies or destroying crates. These tokens can be used to upgrade Spider-Man's abilities and your side-kicks'.

The game can be easily wrapped up in around six hours. While the game is short, the combat in the game is pretty fun. A single button can be pressed in quick succession to allow Spider-Man to perform devastating combos with his fists. However, it is Spider-Man's web-based abilities that are the most interesting. His webs allow him to latch on to enemies from afar then spin them round and throw them into other enemies, bury them into the ground, or throw them against cliffs. Eventually, you will be granted the abilities to shoot projectile webs at enemies and wrap enemies in webbing to render them immobile as you progress through the game.

The sound quality in Friend or Foe is also great, particularly the voice acting which does a great job at emphasising the game's playful humour. The graphics in the game is also pretty good. The cartoonish character design is great to look at and each character is made their own by their excellent design and voice work. The developers have also completely cut out any gore or blood for obvious reasons - it's aimed at kids. While this may cut down on the excitement of the game, it makes it safe for children to play it knowing they will not be seeing that kind of thing.

What is most disappointing about the game is its lack of online multiplayer. The game does allow two player co-op during missions so a friend can jump in at a press of a button. While this is a good feature to have, the lack of a solid mulitplayer experience really cuts down on the game's replay value.

If you are looking for a lengthy challenge, your time and money would be better spent elsewhere, but if you are looking for a suitable game for your children or younger siblings, then Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a suitable alternative if you can get it in at bargain bin price.

Koei's Warriors Orochi is a combination of the Dynasty Warrior and Samurai Warriors franchise. While the game may seem like a fresh idea, it is left with the same characters you will find in both games and the same repetitive gameplay you would come to expect from both games.

There are four different campaigns: Shu, Wu, Wei and a campaign revolving around the Samurai Warriors portion. The storylines are all vary, depending on the faction you chose, but the same structure is used for each faction so the missions are very similar. While Omega Force - the developer - has tried add variety to missions such as escorting officers to safety, or infiltrating an enemy camp, it does little to squelch the monotonous feeling after you are on your last campaign.

The gameplay is what you would expect from the other Warrior games. The AI is about as useless as a rotten sack of potatoes and your allies do very little but distract you from your main objective. You can easily pace through the game using on the two attack buttons and using your special Musou attack. A noticeable change in the gameplay is the introduction of the ability to switch your officer to another one in-game. This is achieved through selecting three officers to take into battle in the prebattle menu then in the battle you can switch the officer with the press of the button. While it adds some variety, it does little to save the game's dire gameplay.

In terms of extra content, Warriors Orochi has very little. There is a free mode which allows you to pick a warrior and fight a chosen battle, as well as some extra features such as a gallery, but it remains at that. You can play the story in co-op but it's not more interesting than playing it in single player.

You would expect the emergence of Samurai Warriors in the game that there would be more officers, but there are only 77 in the game. Despite this, it should keep fans of the franchises busy, and for anyone trying to get the easy achievements in the game.

The area which perhaps sets Warriors Orochi apart from the other games are the new customisable weapons feature. This allows you to gather weapons in battles then merge them to improve your weapon further. You can also add add-ons to your weapons to give it fire damage, for example. It isn't much of a revolutionary feature but is a welcome addition to the game and allows you to create some beastly weapons.

In terms of graphics, Warriors Orochi's are very poor. They are of the same quality of past Warriors games like Dynasty Warriors: Empires. To say the graphics are of next-generation standard would be a blatant lie. The character models of the singular warriors are identical, and on screen they can become just a choppy mess. The named officers are slightly better and give an aura of individuality thanks to their colourful and unique design. Other than that, the game is more like a recycled Xbox game.

The sound quality of the game is also unbelievably bad. The script is poorly written and phrases in the game are completely over-used. The voice acting is also abysmal. You would have thought in a game set in medieval China that it would feature some of the Chinese language, however, the Officers have accents similar to those who live in Sussex. Not only that, but the irritating cries of warriors on the battlefield and the 1970s electro soundtrack is enough for you just to mute the game - you might even get some enjoyment out of it that way.

Warriors Orochi is proof that Koei is really just milking the franchise, and perhaps it is time to cut the Warrior franchise and focus on something new. If you are one of the fans of all the other Warriors games, then give it a try, but if not your money is better spent on something more worthwhile.

When Capcom's Lost Planet hit the shelves, I was one of the first to buy it. While I was not disappointed with its pretty graphics and abundance of aliens to kill, its tangled and uninteresting story makes it a pretty mediocre game.
h are in essence mechanised suits that your character can climb into and dish out a whole load of firepower in the form of chain-guns to devastating grenade launchers. These suits are an imperative part of the game and in destroying some of the more hardy Akrid creatures that your machine gun just cannot kill.

While the game has some gargantuan monsters to face, there are also the smaller Akrid. The weaker Akrid are more commonly found as you progress through a level and usually emerge through noticeable spawn alien-like pumping stations which will continually pump out these smaller aliens until you destroy it. By killing the Akrid, you can gain thermal energy from their carcasses which are used to replenish your health keep you alive in harsh planetary conditions. As you play through the game this energy is continuously drained until you eventually die. This energy drain is an instant concept but from playing through the game on various difficulties you will rarely have to worry about it on the easier difficulties as it is so easy to get your hands on.

Graphically, the game is excellent and the game is not always played out on snowy plains. The level design is also great and most levels aren't too linear and offer a bit of exploration with the aid of your grapple hook which can be used to grapple onto ledges or rappet down to areas below. The levels are also pretty varied as on occasions, you may find yourself in vast concrete-slabbed complexes, in rocky mountainous regions and in what appears to be abandoned cities. There are also various storage containers, barrels and machines which can be blown up which creates some beautifully crafted explosions. Overall the game's graphically and visually superb.

The game also has plenty of weaponry to use ranging from the standard assault rifle to varied guns like a plasma gun. You can also pick up the Vital Suit weapons which wield devastating attacks but severely hinders your movement. The weapons also sound great to from the pulsating rounds of the assault rifle to the huge explosions created by the grenade launchers. Not only do the weapons sound great but everything else sounds excellent from the screeching cries of the Akrid to the crunching noise made from walking in the snow. Everything sounds as it should on Lost Planet.

The online portion of the game is also pretty good. You can fight it out on several different maps that are spacious and look and supports up to 16 players in four game modes ranging from Team Battle to Data Post Grab (capture the flag). There is also a basic level system so buy playing games you can increase your level, while it bears no real rewards, it is an incentive to keep playing.

Lost Planet is an action-packed game which will provide you with plenty of fun and excitement. While the singleplayer is a short ride, it makes up for it in an enthralling multiplayer mode that will offer you plenty of enjoyment out of a game that is a lot of fun to play, overall.