Jimbob2k666

It's OK but is it really necessary? Won't be long now before we see a remake of a remake in this series. I think its time to lay this IP to rest.

Remember, you are reviewing the game, not whether or not you can get it to start or not. I played this on PS4 and I'm enjoying it again on PC. Fairly solid port and runs well on my PC. If you haven't had the chance to play this on console and your rig can run it, its an experience any ARPG gamer should have.

Being a gamer in my early 50's, I have some memories of the first Evil Genius. However, I'm never one for examining sequels that are literally just a revamp of the original where said game was more than 15 years old. I don't have particularly fond memories of the original anyway, and I found it clunky, too complex for what is essentially The Sims with a purpose. So, I couldn't find myself having time to relax in the original and gave up quite quickly. The first 10 hours of Evil Genius 2 does allow for some relaxation, but it is all a prelude to what becomes a bit of a mess. The heat system could have been a good feature, but it requires far too much micromanagement, and if that wasn't bad enough, the interface (World Map) where you attempt to control it is not well thought out and needs some sort of list feature, instead of trying to frantically scroll around trying to figure out what needs to be taken care of. The amount of incursions to your lair by Investigators, Soldiers is OK at the start, but later on, when you are constantly fighting against the world map design, the uncontrollable heat, and then trying to focus on the main and side missions, it all becomes too much. My first playthrough lasted 15 hours before I gave up in the hope I'd learnt enough to make my second run better, but then that run also felt like I was getting nowhere fast. This was playing on the 1 star easy mode too! I'm all for spending time to learn how to play these types of games, but I feel that 35+ hours in should mean I know how to cope. Playing on easy mode, I would have expected to have virtually completed the game, yet I am miles away from completing it. Having so many setbacks in easy mode does not make for a great experience. I was hoping to beat it on easy, then work my way through the other 2 difficulty levels to ensure replayability. However, I'm feeling like either I make a breakthrough soon (can't get to research 3) or i'll give up. I hope they do some balancing so that easy mode actually is easy mode. I'm not the greatest gamer that ever lived, and I'm always first to admit that, but when easy means hard, it makes me mad!

I score this an 8 by not giving consideration to the price I paid for the VIP version (£89.99). The game itself is fairly decent, and I am most definitely looking at this as a casual player who is just a fan of all sorts of music. The campaign is fun and can be tough at times. I have still only scratched the surface having completed the first stage sets. I have also evaluated some others who have uploaded clips for competition, and listening to a lot of these gives me the confidence to know I am not as bad as I first thought I was! Technically I have had 1 crash in 5 hours of play time, and this was when listening to others, never in my own sets. The sound is great when you land everything well and graphically it is decent enough. Recommend if you don't mind sinking a few extra hard earned pennies to get it. If you are more concerning with your cash, wait for a sale, but don't pass it over completed.

Not what I paid for and lots of stuff missing. If I look at the game without comparison and pretend I don't have the original then coming in as a new player I would expect to give this a 4 and that's only for the story. The gameplay in this day and age is below expectations and there is just too much missing from this.

I'm so glad I found Ghostbusters. I used the money I got from refunding another game that was just released (really lucky there), even if it was out of spite, I just wanted to give that money to someone else that was undeserving of it but somehow, still more deserving than the first. The first thing that got me about Ghostbusters was the quality of the CGI introduction, the animation of the characters and that even in 30 FPS it runs far smoother than I expected. Some other developers should really take note that even in 2016, newer games than this could learn something!

Finally the WRC brand has delivered a more in depth and interesting game for those of us who find the Dirt Rally series a little bit too hardcore (especially for gamepad users). The presentation of the career mode appears to offer some fun but as to how much it affects the car performance is yet to be seen as I progress. The only real problem I have with the game is the poor optimization. On a I7-7700k at 5.0ghz with a 1080Ti I would expect to run this at least as good as Dirt Rally 2.0. The graphics here are not on par with that game yet I see big dips in FPS down to the 30s and even lower on every stage. I don't expect to have to remove all post-processing features to still get this. Maybe it is in need of a driver update with nVidia? If they manage to improve this then I will increase my score to an 8.

Like others have stated, I have seen other gamers say that they have had issues running this game. I have an i7 7700k and a 1080ti and I have experienced no issues. The graphics engine I understand is new but it doesn't look that distinctive from fs17. The gameplay is pretty much the same and there are enough new things and changes to satisfy my opinion of this being a fully fledged new game. For those with medium or low end PC's I would advise to let a few optimize updates make their way in, unless you want to turn down some of the more fancy graphics settings. The only thing I have spotted on my game that was weird is the shadows updating every 2 seconds where it flicks from one set of shadows to another. It is very noticeable but not enough for me to want to put it down. 8/10 for now but I've only put in a few hours so far. But as with FS17 and the ones before it, the gameplay never really goes backward so a few hours of play gives enough knowledge to form a reasonable opinion to score it.

I cannot find the reasons to give this a 10 as so many others have, however, this is a good game. The storyline and attention to detail with characters and NPCs fully fleshed out in an open world is typical Rockstar and the improvements in this area are superior to their last outing in **** loses a couple of points from me in the gameplay area. The searching and looting is long drawn out and clearing up the loot after a big showdown (Black Belle for example) takes way too long. Walking around inside buildings looking for things to loot and open up - again, takes too long. I get that the developers wanted things to move at a slower pace compared to their mainstay GTA, but this is way too slow...….. Getting from A to B is also laborious with POIs and quest markers miles apart. I've played around 8 hours and feel like I've achieved almost ****, I have likely only scratched the surface of the game but 8 hours into a storyline? I should be well embedded in it by now.

I have this game on both PC and XboxX. Obviously, with a 108Ti and an i7-7700k is going to knock the quality to bits in comparison to Xbox, but both are very playable and both look amazing. Starting out in FH4 seems like they cut lots of stuff out from the previous game, but mostly it just needs unlocking in a different way. The character customization is a bit like OnRush (if you have played it) where you win items or buy items in the store, and whilst its a bit gimmicky, I am having fun dressing my male character in the most feminine way. I do this because I thinks it's crazy that I can spend hard earned Forzathon points to win pink high heels and a **** for the driving, being a citizen of the UK I am enjoying the scenery I am used to when I visit 'Up North'. The handling is pretty much the same as FH3 and there is in no way a shortage of stuff to do in the **** thing I am annoyed with so far is the idiots who still insist on ramming you at corners instead of slowing down without any penalty. I am yet to play in online adventure with my club so I'm hoping that will make some difference....I have to give this game 10/10, I just wish it had come out a few months ago because now I have no time to play this alongside AC:Odyssey! ….Looking forward to everything that is to come from the Ultimate Edition and really can't wait to play the Goliath equivalent once I rank 20 in racing series.

I'm only about 8 hours in but already I'm enjoying the game. I had been looking for a tactics-type game other than the Mario one after recently purchasing a Switch and for the money on eShop I'm happy with this. The loading times, whilst a bit longer than hoped don't detract from the gameplay and there isn't that much of it. Worth a buy if you like this type of game.

Had zero issues with this after 30+ hours of gameplay. Easily the most accessible AC title in the series. Graphics look amazing on my i7700k with a GTX1080Ti and I've never had a single crash. Rarely get a little choppy cut scene but nothing that bothers me.

The game is enjoyable and brings a welcome change to the style of game that was beginning to look a bit stale. I have no doubt many of the franchise's stalwarts will either berate or embrace what this iteration of AC has to offer. If there is one thing I don't like at this stage is the low framerate. I mostly game on a PC which is becoming a bit old and I didn't want to risk this game playing poorly. This, along with a couple of other Xbox exclusive titles and my age resulting in my reduced interest in first person shooters will be the reason why I opt to buy an Xbox One X next month and use my PC for the ridiculous amount of backlog of games I need to play through. If you are a fan of AC, and I'd even go as far as to say a fan of the Far Cry series then this game will be up your street. The old style of AC combat is gone and is replaced with a hybrid of Far Cry Primal and For Honor's combat. I am enjoying it so far. 8/10 solely for the crappy frame rate.

Relaxing gameplay and easy to pick up and play. Won't be revolutionizing the strategy genre but a fair representation of D&D for a novice to play about with.

Overview: Having played through the first Championship in career mode and some online races, I can honestly say without doubt that this will easily become the greatest racing game created to this date. I have an XBox One S and this game (along with some others) has forced my decision to pre-order a new Xbox One X on release day. The graphics on the current Xbox are phenomenal and I am in the process of downloading the 100gb PC version. I have an i5 4.0ghz and a GTX970 and given that I can play FM6 Apex at 85fps on high settings I am looking forward to see what the PC version holds. My PC is somewhat ageing and the new X might persuade me not to bother upgrading it ever again! :D Onto the game itself. The career mode is setup well and the biggest move forward for me is the ability to select race distance. You can go anywhere from standard 2-3 lap races up to a whopping 50 laps per race. I settled on the option just under that which is between 7-18 laps depending on the track. Most races last about 15-20 minutes at that setting. I am racing on a Xbox One controller with no assists other than ABS on, simulation level damage with normal steering. I also use braking only lines. Traction control is off and I race with auto gears, rewind off and friction assist off. I play using the cockpit camera which I can safely say is the most comfortable I have ever felt in any racing game using this camera option. I have the AI drivers on Expert and I am starting to master this AI fairly comfortably as I close the Seeker Championship so I may up this to Pro. I allow for AI aggression also and it makes for some great experiences. The way you unlock cars and level up has changed dramatically since FM6 and it is more interesting. The jury is out on the crates you buy using in-game money but so far it works fine. Some reviewers believe that crates will be sold for real money after launch but I can't see that happening. Apart from VIP DLC and the other standard Forza DLC I can't see this game becoming pay-to-win like this. This is the first Forza game I have shelled out £80 for the Ultimate Edition at pre-order stage and I'm glad I bought it. I give this game a 10/10 which is rare from me but I can see that going forward I am going to sink a stupid amount of hours into it. If only they would integrate Groove Music into it like FH3 then I would be even happier. As it is, without it I will cancel my subscription and go back to paying for Spotify as my music subscription.

Gotta LOL at the guy on the front page who gave it a 0 because he has to unplug his controller before launching to use KB&M. How is that a reflection of the game itself? The game is decent, different and plays well. I've not put that much time into it but I wanted to get an early review in to counter ticroo's idiotic nonsense.

I am not an aficionado when it comes to motorbike games having spent most of my racing game time in car games. I do however own this game, MXGP3 and Ride2 and of the time spent in these games as of writhing this has me at 8 hours for MotoGP17, 5 hours for Ride2 and just 2 hours in MXGP3. So, in short, given I have only had MotoGP17 for less than a week I would say i'm enjoying this game a lot more than the other 2 which have been in my installed list for longer (Ride 2 since January). I know this game is getting slated by a lot of players who want a thoroughbred motorbike racing game and I feel for them, but for me the game is fine. That is not to say I don't have any gripes **** AI seem somewhat 'off' and don't care what your racing line is and they would happily bump you off the track Road rage style which I don't see much of in the rea lworld MotoGP. At first I thought that it was because I was racing in the Management mode where other GP3 racers were noobs that weren't to clever. I tried GP1 and they were just as bad......Graphically I cannot knock it. On my now ageing GTX970 and i5 2500k I am happily on maximum settings in 2560x1440p with AA on x2 so my card doesn't get too hot. With these settings i'm getting constant 80-85fps which is a surprise. Without vsync on with the same settings I was getting 90-144fps until I figured out I needed to give the game control of vsync in the NVidia control panel.....Overall, I haven't seen anything to knock it, but I wonder why I see zero user reviews after this amount of time since release :(

Thought I'd update my review after a further few hours of game-play. First of all, on my ageing rig (i5-2500k & GTX970) I can play this at 1440p maxed out at 60fps and I think the graphics look fine. Nothing groundbreaking but I wasn't expecting it to be. The game-play is smooth but as a novice, I don't see a great deal of benefit in shifting weight over leaving it as it is when going over some of the jumps. The starts are somewhat random where despite qualifying first I either get the holeshot or the AI have super starts and I'm 15th. I am playing on Realistic in third person mode with semi-pro bike difficulties. The sound is OK with the expected hard rock soundtrack and the bikes themselves seem fine, at least in line with watching the sport itself. There is a lack of crowd and crowd noises are sparse. Overall I still give the game an 8, but I can see myself possibly getting bored of this within a few weeks.

I'm so happy EA Access gave me a 10 hour trial of this game. It has saved me £50. Maybe worth a sale purchase somewhere down the line if they fix all of the issues, but then again, you can't fix a story and recast and re-record the entire voice acting. I felt like I was playing one of the original ME games the graphics are really bland for the most part. I wasn't expecting much anyway so I am not that disheartened by how poor this has turned out to be.

An easy 9/10. I find it refreshing how well the game runs after playing through the s**tstorm that was Mafia 3, No Man's Sky, Quantum Break and other select ports that were truly awful. The textures on Mafia 3 compared to this is like playing this on a playstation 2 and Mafia 3 on a Sinclair Spectrum 48k. The graphics on Watchdogs 2 are really quite good for an open world game. I run an i5-2500k at 4.2ghz with 16GB RAM. a GTX970 at stock and a ASUS ROG G-sync monitor, so you can see. my rig is 5 years old with just a graphics card update. My CPU is far from ideal yet this runs and plays without my CPU hitting 100% much. I have this at a mix of ultra and high with MSAA off in favour of the other performance enhancing AA. I am getting between 40-60 FPS with almost zero stuttering (I used to be a member of the 60FPS brigade until I got my g-sync monitor. Now, so long as it isn't a shooter, I can easily live with 40-50FPS - the difference is non existent. At first glance it looks like there is hardly anything to do because there are almost zero icons on the city map. This soon changes after the first half hour or so. I haven't played more than 4 hours yet and my score may change but I couldn't give it a 10 at this stage. One thing I am certain though is that unlike some other successful open world titles, the first few operations missions I did were not a walk in the park, even on normal difficulty I had issues trying to complete the mission at the studios using stealth alone. Ended up having to shoot my way out. If you are on the fence thinking this is going to be a poor to average game like the first Watch Dogs, then be assured - it isn't. If you are like me and couldn't care less about the u-play DRM then you're in for a treat. If you won't buy because of u-play, well - its your loss. I don't see much of a difference between having to use u-play instead of steam

Pretty much more of the same from Capcom on this one. The first 2 Dead Rising games were fun for a while and this one is too. There are more than enough zombies to take on, however there are times where you feel the same as your character when you turn a corner to find way too many of them in your way, to the point it feels like a chore. If you like your games gory and full of lots of blood and guts then this will be right up your street - if not, then it's fun in short sittings but could become tiresome.

I cant help but be left confused every time I login to this game. There are so many different aspects to the game, and it definitely is not "pick up n play". I feel totally uninspired when I play. Yes it's new but basic things like name tag options are missing. The crafting is confusing and this is coming from a veteran top end crafter in the old days of SWG which was complex if you wanted to excel at it......I have played all the Elder Scrolls games, but this one might be something I end up leaving well before the free 30 days are up.

Very underrated game in this genre. Sure it's multiplayer **** with its restrictions, but as a single player game I found this game to be far more interesting than the likes of Diablo 3. I'm writing this review a long time after the game's release and I bought it on day one. You can easily find this game on the web for a ridiculously low price and it's worth more than every penny. The expansion was well planned out too. If you are a fan of ARPG games you owe it to yourself to at least give the single player a go.

As a big fan of defence games, I was pleased when I stumbled across this game a couple of months ago when it was available as a beta on Steam. The Tower Defence genre has became a little stale over the past year with only a couple of worthy releases, one being a mobile game! However, where this game shines is the additional gameplay features, namely the 3rd person combat. Whilst this has been done before in the form of Dungeon Defenders, this game, for the most, is heavily focused on being in the right place to fight against the varied lycens that the game throws at you, whereas the former relies heavily on the right towers and you collecting gems to upgrade **** thing I like about this game is its difficulty level. Veteran TD players will find a reasonable challenge using the normal character, but for the very talented few, most will find the harder character a worthy test, and one that will keep you replaying maps to fine tune your plan of execution.........Grahpically, this game won't make anyone stand back in amazement, but the small development team have done themselves proud and look like they are doing well with the marketing side of **** music in the game is very, erm "Canadian" in as such there is a lot of traditional folk songs which actually lend well to the scenario........Support seems to be something this developer is keen to keep an eye on, and they commuicate well on their website and the Steam forums. Regular patches that fix bugs, balance mechanics and that actually try to include suggestions from it's community bodes well for the planned Tome II which may at some point include a form of co-op!.......I recommend this game to anyone who longs for the days of something that challenges and stimulates your intellect, yet doesn't punish those who aren't exactly great when it comes to twitch reactions in combat....9/10 Would've got 10 if it weren't for the slightly lacklustre cut scenes and need for more story animation (I know its expensive).

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I'll start by saying I've had no online DRM issues with the game, although I've had to switch servers a couple of times since first playing. I've played the game now for about 30 hours, yet I seem to have become bored with it already. Realisticaly, due to the limits on city size, there is really only a couple of ways to build a successful city and the idea of starting a new one makes me want to quit and do something else..................................... My biggest gripe is the illusion of multiplayer or it's supposed social interface. The chat box never works, I think in the whole 30 hours i've seen one person say "hello" and that's it. I've tried to type replies but these never show up anywhere. Citylog is a waste of time, zones are always full, as they are when you try to search for a game......................................Graphically it's quite nice, but I get a constant, strange flickering anomalies all the time (i have a 7950 card latest drivers etc etc). This is the only game where this occurs and it's quite annoying. I was expecting more details sims though as their appearance is like something from a game 10 years ago......................overall I give the game a 5.

I've been gaming since the early 80's but only made the transition to PC gaming in 2000. I've played the original XCOMs and similar games in the genre, but they generally failed to keep my interest, with some of them consuming masses of my free time with intricate micro managing squads, resources, soldiers etc etc. So, I was a little sceptic when Firaxis decided to make a new game in the series. They stated they would reduce the time required to manage your squads, bases and resources, and they were true to their word. I bought the game just a couple of days ago and I have already ploughed around 20 hours into it. I can understand why some die hard fans of the original game are a bit miffed, but I for one am happier that they made the changes they did. The game is still VERY challenging and it has great immersion.

I didn't play TL1 to any great extent. In fact, it was quite boring and repetetive. I kept an eye on Runic's plans for TL2 as they looked to be quite ambitious in comparison to the first entry of this series. I didn't take part in any beta events, and I bought the game on day one of release.........................I think the main point of focus when looking at TL2 is it's price vs product. For £15 it offers up a well polished game. Many will compare it to Diablo 3, which for my money, Blizzard failed to deliver anything like what I'd hoped, and if you are compelled to compare the two, then the first port of call is on loot. D3 absolutely failed on loot throughout it's entirety, and TL2 is the complete opposite. Plenty of loot drops that are relevant to your level and character...................Graphically TL2 has a less realistic feel to it, and is, strangely enough more comparable with Warcraft games. It is probably a required taste, but you soon lose yourself inside the game's various areas and **** far as gameplay is concerned, well it's pretty standard fare for this genre, and I'd say gamers of any level can easily pick it up and play. As far as combat goes, it's pretty simple, and is probably where it lets itself down - but only slightly. Pretty much everything i've encountered so far on my Engineer is simply a case of spamming and running, but then again, I'm only about 10 hours or so into the game. Maybe later on, or on a more difficult setting everything might get ramped up - or might require some thought into how to defeat the bosses..................Finally, co-op play. For a game to include this at this price is quite rare, and a definate plus for Runic games' reputation. I've only tried it a couple of times, but it worked fine for me, and when you think back to only last year with Dungeon Siege 3 - which was a full priced supposed AAA title, where you had to stay in a limited area on the same screen as your compadres, how Runic have implemented it how they have on such a small budget shoud really make some developers sit back and rethink there approach as to what gamers want. If you deliver cr*p, then gamers will remember and speak with their wallets next time around - ie: they won't ****, TL:DR - TL2 is a welcome addition in the genre, something that I think I could put alongside Titan Quest as a winner in this genre....... Buy it - you won't be disappointed.

This is definately an MMO you don't want to play if you are very solo orientated, or anti-guild (which I never really did get people like that in an MMO). The reason for this being that in my opinion, TERA is a social MMO more than anything else. The combat is refreshing and works well, but as others have pointed out, the quests are quite generic and you will rarely find yourself doing quests other than go here and there and kill X amount of monsters and go back. This is fine by me, and there are some very challenging quests of this nature mixed in with some nicely made dungeons that don't require masses of wiping and strategy making to get through them. Saying that, the later dungeons are not easy tank 'n' spank affairs which will challenge even the hardiest MMOer................(c'mon metacritic let us use paragraphs)...............Where the game shines is in it's social and political areas. It can be very easy to join up in small groups to get quests done if you find yourself struggling against some of the harder quest mobs, and so far most people in the game seem to be quite friendly, which usually means come the inevitable 30 day exodus that most new MMO's initially suffer from, TERA might make it through that to be even more friendly amongst its player base. However, a well thought out political feature of the game where players can vote for people to be a "mayor-like" character for their entire server will likely add some shenanigans and back stabbing amongst the power crazy.........................Graphically the game is fairly astounding. I run on a fairly old machine with DDR2 memory(!) and a now ageing but well served Q6600 at 2.8ghz alongside an AMD 6850 card. I can run the game not far from the maximum settings and achieve a steady 60 frames a second. I do however have to use D3DOverrider (google it) as the vsync, even though forced via the AMD CCC application - does not do its **** you are an MMO fan looking for a group-centric, social but sometimes challenging MMO then you probably owe it to yourself to give it a try.

OK, this is a reworked review from the one I originally posted, although it is still a 10, it is a 10 with much more deserving. Let's begin by putting the horrors of the first two days behind us, and now that we are, for the most, able to login, the game plays very well, with some slight improvement on the latency, it would be fantastic...................Graphically the game is pleasing in the most part, and at some points quite amazing. I game on a 5 year old machine with a trusty old Q6600 cpu at 2.8ghz, just 4GB of DDR2 RAM, and an almost stock 6850 card. I play at 1920x1200 with everything on high but without anti-aliasing. I get 60 FPS pretty much everywhere, with a rare bit of stuttering which players on the very latest equipment are also reporting. I can turn on the AA, but I don't want to push my luck, and the game looks great without it anyway................... As far as audio is concerned, I didn't see much in the way of options for this apart from the usual sliders, I didn't see any settings to accomodate my 5.1 surround headphones, but I'll forgive Blizzard for **** to the gameplay. This is pretty much a tried and tested format as far as the basic mechanics go, and anyone who has played previous Diablo games or games like Titan Quest, and other games in the same vein over the years will feel comfortable with the "pick up and play" format that comes with isometric action RPGs........... The encounters in the game are decent enough with a wide variety of mob types, and the random element in the layout of various zones give you a refreshing crawl each time you play through them - and you will want to replay them as with the random layouts come random dungeons with various bosses in most of them. You will need to do these not only for the odd bit of XP grinding if you want to play that way, but also to complete the many, many achievements that come with the game for you to complete...................Last of all the storyline. It's a fairly common story for Diablo games, and your task is basically to destroy the devil to restore peace in the world. The story is told with a lot of panache and style, and you can get a feel for the lore by collecting the various journals lying around which are all fully fleshed out with vocals. Which is a good thing because some of the times you collect them you have no time to read the dialogue with it, and if I did have a gripe with this, then it is the fact that when you pick up a journal, a third of your screen is immediately taken up with the text which is being read out to you, which usually means you have to quickly close it down if you are in the middle of a tough ****, as far as giving the game a 10 out of 10 goes, well, in this day and age, what does it take to make a game a 10? quite a lot really, and even though the four acts the first time around will give you about 20-30 hours of gameplay for a player who wants to take everything in at a reasonable pace, repeating the game on nightmare and the subsequent crazy difficulty levels will have you coming back for more. Add to this an Auction House for you to trade your unwanted items, or to buy some yourself, provides even more excuses to waste your weekends behing your screen. Blizzard plan to go live with a real currency version of the Auction House in the coming couple of weeks, and you just know there will be people prepared to spend real money for some of the more sought after Legendary Items. So, enjoy the game and make a bit of cash on the side to boot! Lets just hope Blizzard make a few expansion packs like they did with previous incarnations to keep everyone happy..................Diablo 3 is here! It's been 12 years in hiatous, and its great! Go and buy it!

I made my original review of this game back in August 2011. I scored it as a 5. The score was based on Gameplay vs. Cost. At the time it would have cost somewhere in the region of £90 to play this game with the premium DLC's I felt were an integral part of the game, and after playing a few missions with the free but severely limited content I felt the score was justified and 9/11 people who read my original review seemed to agree......... So, now the game has had a big revamp in Spring '12. A big patch to address some major issues, a reduction in the price of the premium DLC packs, but most important of all, a release on Steam with a special "Wonder" bundle for just £9.99 - a 10th of the original cost....... Needless to say, I immediately bought the wonder bundle and began to play the game with all the premium content installed. I even went to the GFWL marketplace and bought a couple of the aesthetic DLC packs (which will work on the steam version once you have updated your downloads via the GFWL application).......... I have already ploughed 25+ hours into the game in less than a week and I'm enjoying every minute of it. The game lets you play it at your own pace, so should you find it difficult to beat some of the missions, you can create your own skirmishes vs the AI at a difficulty level you like until you eventually level up enough to take on the missions you were failing at....... The online aspect of the game is quite good with being able to trade and play vs or co-op with others in your server, giving it a slight MMO feel. It could do with a fully functioning Auction House to add to the economic side of things, but at the moment it seems ok. Graphically the game is nice, and everything loads in really fast and doesn't seem to tax my slightly ageing PC................ Overall I now score the game as a 9/10 and I feel it now justifies the score. Sure it is quite different to its predecessors, and there will no doubt be a proportion of the AoE fanbase who won't like this version. If you are new to the series, or even new to RTS, this game is one that you should give a lot of consideration to.

To be short and to the point - If Sony can get developers to make more games of this quality and stick them up for a fiver, the Vita would be more appealing to potential buyers of the console. Personally, I've bought all of the games that are £9 or under, and compared to the 3 or 4 full priced games I bought, with exception to Everybodys Golf (Hotshots golf in the US), I've spent a heck of a lot more time on the budget titles than the supposed AAA titles so far....... These types of games could be the new "Minis" for the Vita.

Probably the only purchase I've made for the Vita so far. I have the PC version which I really like and hav played a lot. I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking for the Vita version, but I was expecting something a bit better than this. Seeing as the Vita has 2 analogue sticks I don't know why we have to suffer an on/off acceleration and braking system. It really does spoil the game. I can understand some limitations of the device but there was no need to cut out most of the full version's presentation features and this makes the whole experience less personal and does not give any kind of gratification after winning a race. The AI are pretty awful also. As Zeng says before me, I don't think I'll be buying another racing game on the Vita unless a decent GT comes out, and not a version that **** like the PSP one did. Buy if you are a hardcore fan who just has to own the game, but it's not something worth the price tag of thirty quid if you ask me!

I thought this game deserved a mention seeing as nobody has made a review. I bought this last night and have played through some of the levels. The game is pretty much the same as the PC version which I've had and played a fair amount of over the years. The Vita version is actually a better version as the touch screen features have made the game more "twitchy" and you can react a lot quicker than with a mouse. It also makes use of the Vita's Gyroscope meaning you can do things like collect suns and coins just by slightly tilting the console..... For £8.99 it might seem a bit steep and I feel that the game would've been better priced and more supported by Vita users if it was around the £4.99 region, especially as it is competing with titles such as MotorStorm RC and Mutant Blobs attack which are both priced under a fiver and are unique games and not a rehash.

Was enjoying it up to the point of where it wanted me to find something green with the camera. Being colourblind, the game needs an option to have a colourblind mode which you can turn off this one part of the game which otherwise, is a good bit of fun in small doses.

I'm normally a hard taskmaster when it comes to rating aRPG's, but I do feel that the magazine reviews so far for this game are a little unjust. The game is NOT a direct port of the PS3 or the mobile version and has been improved and expanded somewhat for the Vita. Sure, it isn't exactly inspiring, but I've played worse attempts in this genre on the PC and other formats........................... Graphically the game is fine and looks nice on the new Vita screen, and the gameplay is standard hack'n'slash fare which works fine. Its all about dungeon crawling and loot with these games, and DH has plenty.....................I actually picked this game instead of Unchartered when choosing my bundle for release and I don't regret it as I am still enjoying it. I give it 7/10 but if it was out of 100 it would score 75.

I have mixed feelings about this incarnation of Everybody's Golf (The EU title of the game). I have both 1 & 2 on the PSP and I think I might've been expecting more from the Vita version than what appeared. The characters are more detailed and crisp, but the graphics for the courses don't really seem to take advantage of the Vita's graphical ability and still has a PSP feel about **** content itself is very good, with lots to unlock and play. In single player the game runs along smoothly and is everything you would expect from this franchise. However, the thorn in it's side is the online multiplayer. Sure, the leaderboards and daily competitions that you play on your own are fine, but the actual multiplayer part is extremely slow and laborious. Every player in the tourney gets a set amount of time to complete each hole, and that's fine, but the big problem is that pretty much all of the time everyone in the game has completed a hole in good time, and you are all left sitting waiting for the next hole to start for maybe up to 1 minute every time, which soon adds up. The game needs a Ready button, or a termination of the countdown once all players have finished the hole. 9 holes simply takes too long, and 18 holes is severely tedious, even for a 40+ year old fart like me. Still, I write this review just a week or two into its release, and with the vita being more "update and patch" friendly than the PSP was, I'm hoping it might improve over time.

I have a fairly useless reputation in my own mind when it comes to RTS games, favouring the now rare Turn Based Strategy games. Saying that, I have most RTS games in my collection including the C+C games, Warhammer series, CoH series and Starcraft amongst others. In all of those games, I have had rare forays into multiplayer which I pretty much gave up on after a few embarrassing defeats. So, why did I but this game? ..................................................I did a fair bit of research into this game before its release. I didn't play the beta and took my opinions from the game's website. I still wasn't convinced until on the day it released I found a link on the Steam forums to an hour long video on Youtube (The devs ought to give this guy a free copy as I'm not alone in making my judgement off the back of this guy's half dozen videos). This showed me how simple but deep the game was. How easy it was to pick up and play, yet be interesting enough for both casual and hardcore players. Also pleasing was the inclusion of a fully fleshed out single player campaign, which I am working through right now and it is not only helping me learn how to play but is giving me unlocks which I can take online in multiplayer later.................................................Graphically the game is very nice. It is simple but well detailed and has a feel of realism when fully zoomed in. Saying that, zooming in and out is flawless for me with no stuttering which is suprising considering my rig is becoming ancient (Q6600@2.9ghz; 4GB DDR2 RAM; AMD6850; W7 64BIT), it plays on maxed out settings (low HDR) @ 1920x1200, and achieves a constant 60fps with VSync **** single player, you are able to save the game pretty much whenever you like which is another rare thing in RTS games, with most only saving after each campaign map is beat. Overall I think first impressions after around 5 hours of playing are that the game is not as difficult as it first seems. Give it a chance and a few maps and you will start to click with what needs doing to win. If you are an old fart like me, you will maybe enjoy the pace of the game, although I'm fairly certain that in multiplayer it will be a bit faster paced. 8/10.

First off the graphics: Although they may feel a little dated, the most important factor here is that they run very well, with no dipping below 60fps with vysnc turned on and maxxed out. All this on a 4 year old CPU, 4gb RAM and a 6870 GPU. Some people have compared the graphics with WOW - these people must be blinkered or blind, as they are nowhere near as dated as WOW.......... Next, the gameplay: The combat is fun, nothing extraordinary but it has enough variety and advancement to make it a well done component of the game. One thing that is evident is the "MMO" style of quest hubs and the way you progress through them, which is actually quite good from what I've seen so far........ Story: Your usual fantasy fare but the underlying main storyline is well executed........ SUMMARY: In a genre filled with some stunning games over the past 12 months or so, KoAR should find its very own core of fans. It is different enough to claim that it has differences which establish itself as a new IP and providing it is given the right support by its developers, it ought to result in success and a sequel. ****: Good performance on average PC........ CON: Its biggest fault is it's field of vision - the character, which is 3rd person is too big on the screen and it is often difficult to see the horizon point - this needs fixing quickly as it feels very claustraphobic. (PS: The "pro's" who have given this game 100% must have been locked away in dark cupobards and haven't been playing games for the last 2 years. The game is good, but 100%? No way).

Scores of 100? Really? ---- I am new to Minecraft and never event gave it a fleeting look before its full release. I picked it up a few days after release just to see what all the fuss was about.................... Well, I appreciate that I have effectively missed the preverbial boat with this game, and there are a lot of people about that have played it do death during it's somewhat lengthy beta cycle to the point that they've given up on the game either before it ended or just as 1.0 came out................. So, what is all the fuss about? Well, it's beyond me. Whilst I have spent quite a few hours in the game, I tend only to bother with it whislt I'm watching football on SkyGO in a window, or now, more recently, whilst i'm sitting in a 40 minute queue waiting to get in to play SWTOR. I have, when I first got it ploughed numerous hours into a world, but I cannot for the life of me find any kind of motivation to keep on playing as I'm almost certain I've seen pretty much everything it has to offer....... I bought a cheap rental server to see if some of my friends wanted to join, but it really isn't holding anyone's interest. Mojang's website have mentioned something about new game modes coming soon, but from what I can read into things, Minecraft, now released is now as good as being declared a finished project for the developer............. A way to pass an hour or two if needed, just like Tetris was in the 90's and the Rubik's Cube was in the 80's. A fad, slightly innivative, but ultimately flawed with no insiprational outlook. 7/10

I was a stalwart fan of SW: Galaxies before it's "redesign" half way through it's existence. I was an out and out crafter for a couple of years, and I've been searching for a similar crafting system ever since. Yet no MMO since has used the dynamic resource system that made SW:G so unique. Howevver, being a big fan of the SW franchise since I went to see the original film when I was just 10 years old, I had followed SWTOR since it's announcement, but purposely didn't apply for beta, knowing that since SW:G, I have participated in almost a dozen MMO betas which then end up disappointing me at release...............Damn Metacritic for not allowing paragraphs............................Anyway, onto the new game. So far I have tinkered around with Bounty Hunter (Merc) and Sith Warrior (Marauder). Both of the opening planets and areas for the classes are well fleshed out and keep your interest. I can see how some fans of traditional MMO gamers will get frustrated with the fact that Bioware have taken the time to have full cut scenes with literally every mission giving NPC, and I can envisage hundreds of people constantly clicking there space bars to progress the conversation just to get to the end. For me, I'm in between. I like the cut scenes, but they can become overbearing at times, especially if you get to a new NPC zone and speak to two or three NPC's in a row just to find that it's taken nearly 15 minutes jus to get the missions in your journal......................... The missions themselves are pretty generic fodder, with the sporadic inclusion of class missions that at least provide you with your own instance to work through............... The flashpoints (group instances) so far are well done, and the dialogues with NPCs include a new mechanism for MMO's with each member picking their own responses, and "rolling" to use it in the story, resulting in bonus social points (another new mechanism) if you win the roll. These social points can then be used to buy things at various vendors....................................... Onto crafting. I can see how some players might find the crafting system a little daunting at first, but it becomes simple as you get throught it, if somewhat expensive to progress if you try to do it in the starter zones where not many resource spots exist resulting in you sending off your NPC companion to take part in virtual missions that result in them gathering resources for you. Reverse engineering various crafted, looted and purchased items will provide you with some return on the cost of doing so, and also will provide you with random schematics to boot........................................There is a lot more I could go into, but it would take too long. Overall I am rating the game at 8/10. I was hoping for a bit more, but the game has only just been released so that score could well go up (or down) with Bioware's support. I am still fearful of how the game will progress but that is due to the EA branding, which I don't have a lot of faith in as they have a history of grabbing money now and not giving a s**t later (allegedly). Time will tell, and for now, I'll give them that time.

For whatever reason, I couldn't get into Tropico 3. It's interface and tutorials weren't up to scratch and amidst a bazlillion other games that released areound the same time, I quickly forgot about it. I bought Tropico 4 because it looked a bit more intuitive. I was right, and I'm really enjoying the game. Another reviewer is probably correct that he feels there isn't much difference between 3 and 4, and he may well be right, but if you haven't played 3 then get 4.

Such wasted potential, and coming out from a Publisher like Paradox it's no surprise the final product was released at a cut-down price of £15. The graphics may look nice, but they are nothing so spectacular as to warrant regular screen lag every 10-15 seconds on a machine good enough to run games like Dirt3 in max resolution in dx11 at a constant 60fps. Not only is there graphical lag, but there is also mouse lag when you try to use the button to fire your cannons it takes a second or two for it to either fire, or not fire at all - something that has no lag when there is no enemies anywhere near you. Graphical problems aside, the biggest gripe is the amount of time that it takes to complete missions. Endless waves (har har) of nothingness as you complete your tasks, it is just way too slow. Verdict? Wait until it's around a fiver, and even then, only play if you are waiting in line for a frontal labotomy.

I'm basing this review on the back of around 6 hours of play. I have an above average PC with a 5770 ATI card which is no slouch and should be able to play most recent releases with a good framerate so long as I don't expect to have full on graphic settings. However, even with everything set to their lowest settings and almost every nicety disabled, I can barely get a steady framerate above 30.....I'm not alone and plenty of ATI and some Nvidia users are experiencing the ****, that is an initial disappointment, on to the game **** first Witcher (enhanced version) was a great game, very much open world and you could explore a lot whilst working on the quests....W2 claims to offer the same but doesn't deliver as almost everything is linear, with the sidequests tagged on which themselves don't allow you to go **** fact, the only real exploring you can do is within the towns and villages you visit during your way to main **** loot drops are extremely clumsy to pick up and you find yourself running back and forth and constantly trying to get the camera into a position so that you can highlight the drops and pick them **** inventory screen is a nightmare to work and even with the physical premium edition I have with it's manual and game guide won't help you figure out how to properly control the game **** for combat, this is a bit of a step backwards from the first game with no real combo's to talk of, just normal hit and hard hit with a kind of "special move" kill should you manage to stun an opponent to make it trigger......There are certain events like barfights and some interactive cutscenes that involve you needing to press a series of keys or buttons (for controllers) which threw me back to the days of good old Shenmue, but even these are lacklustre in design, and are far too easy to beat on the normal difficulty setting. The only pleasure in combat is that the difficulty is really quite tough and some fights will require you to redo them a couple of times, which is almost unheard of in most of todays easy-mode **** summary, for me there are too many cutscenes, too much talking and not enough action. Maybe a few patches down the line Witcher 2 can achieve a standard which the developers reached with the re-worked first edition. But it sure needs new GFX card drivers and/or work to optimize it for gamers who have components up to a couple of years old. The game looks ok, but it's still using DX9, and in today's age, it really shouldn't be difficult to get a good framrate (I consider 60fps a benchmark) for people like myself with a 3.0ghz Quad core CPU, 4gb RAM, 64bit W7 and a 5770ATI card. ----- Needs Work - - 6/10, would give 8/10 if it ran nicely.

Game is fine. Im using ATI and with a bit of tweaking and rolling back drivers I achieve a solid 60fps on a 4 year old pc with a q6600 and a 5770. As for people giving this game "0" because of reasons not to do with the game need to stop posting - after all this for reviews, not opinions about the fact you live in Australia or wherever and can't buy the game at the prices elsewhere in the world. The game just needs a few bugs ironing out and to be fair to SD, they've managed to get a game out at release that is very much playable and fun.

I really don't get why these so called journalists are trying to hate this game, and even some users are giving it really low scores for reasons unfair to the title. It seems that every hack'n'slash title released since Diablo 2 (except for Titan Quest) has absolutely no chance of recieving any critical success and it's unjustified. Darkspore does what it sets out to do, albeit a shallow storyline (who cares in a hack'n'slash) it has a very easy learning curve, but can catch some people off-guard when later on in the game they suddenly have to carefully think about their squad composition when starting each mission. Some of the end game boss fights can be tough, but none are like "hitting a brick wall" in difficulty as all it takes is to learn how each of the bosses, lieutenants and elite mobs operate and come up with an on-the-fly strategy to beat them in order to not lose a hero (usually one of the mission objectives). The game comes to life through it's multiplayer co-op, although PvP is very hit and miss as it needs balancing. The co-op however is really very good. At the end of each successful mission you are given the option to "chain" missions by forfeiting your end-game rewards in the hope of completing the next mission, which will then offer you +1 more item, a higher level item, and a higher percentage chance of recieving a rarified item which will have great stats on them. Rolling a 99-100 will get you a purified item, but I've never managed one of those through rolling, but have looted 3 of them in open **** may not have as deep an experience in the hero editor as you would in the original Spore, but there is an endless amount of loot to add to them for stats as well as items to add for detail. You can also buy upgraded weapons in the in-game store which you pay for using the in game DNA you collect through looting and selling stuff you don't need. There are a huge amount of upgrades to buy in the game which unlock as you **** you play each mission you can find items called Catalysts. This is where the game can get interesting as you try to find better ones, and if you can find 3 of the same type (Offence, defense, utility, prismatic etc) and align them in your interface each one will then recieve bonus stats to your heros. This can make you more powerful and help a lot when trying to take down elite mobs and **** summary, on the surface the game seems difficult when you start to reach level 15 and over. Carefully selecting your squads so that your 3 character attacks mix together (each hero provides 1 attack that each of them can use) so that you can unleash amazing combos helps to create a better game.....Darkspore is nothing more than a dungeon crawler with a great system for building characters. If you take it for what it is, it is an incureable itch which will pull you in. I have many games I play, but this has seen me invest over 25 hours in-game in just 6 days. In that time I've amassed 3 squads that are all around level 50, and I haven't even finished the first run of campaigns. I have dozens of heros that I haven't unlocked yet. If you have the patience to spend 50% of your time in the game at the editor loading up your new loot items and configuring the right gene pools for each one, then you will have a good time. Those who prefer the "jump in and play instantly" approach won't find what they are looking for here. You cannot pick up loot and instantly equip it like most of these types of games do, you have to wait until you have left the missions and then do it at the game editor.

The first thing you will spot with Anomaly is the presentation and polish. For an indie game the presentation is amazing, from the graphical intros for each round to the voice acting, everything has been carefully nurtured to full effect. The gameplay is intuative and very easy to pick up and play without any hand holding required. There is only one downside with the game, and it isn't one that deserves any negativity, this being that it's too short! But it's short in a good way because rarely in PC gaming of recent times have I completed a game wishing that it didn't end and that I could go on. It has 14 missions and all are replayable on a more difficult level. There are even a couple of modes that keep you coming back for more, but I want more! But hang on, I only paid less than a tenner so what am I complaining about? I would gladly have paid £15 for the game and another £5 for some extra DLC maps. I hope that 11 bit studios don't get consumed by a major publisher because these guys know how to make a game - nice graphics, nice storrytelling, nice acting, simple to understand gameplay, and a feel that makes you think you're playing a AAA title. Bravo - and bring on a sequel (which would be ace with co-op or multiplayer - consider 2 player pacman as a theory :D )

......FIRST OFF: Metacritic - Please allow paragraphs, Walls of Text is no fun :D ..............................The last time I tried to get back into World of Warcraft was in 2007 when WotLK expansion was released. I had played the game from inception up to The Burning Crusade, and that was where my love for the game died. TBC was just plain boring, and I didn't see much new imagination being used in how the new regions were created. The reduction to 25 man was also a hard hitter having been an officer in a very successful guild (all server 1sts from MC up to half of Serpentshrine). Suddenly having to pick out people to dump who didn't make the grade was not a task we enjoyed. Tied in with various patches that made all the boss encounters really easy after we had spent many MANY hours wiping, working out new tactics and getting dungeons on farm, I got really peeved at Blizzard for devaluing the efforts of those who wanted hardcore PvE.......................................... I then rejoied the game (and my old guild - as a member) and despite making it to level 78, I just really didn't like what I was seeing. My guildies levelled far quicker than I did as I vowed (to my wife) that this game would no longer take up too much of my life..................................... The guild had been raiding for a couple of weeks and had the first to major instances almost on farm, which to me just seemed too fast. Reports were telling me way too many encounters were just "tank 'n' Spank" and really didn't require much thought to beat. This is when I gave up............................................ So, on to Cataclysm. This time around I am on a PvP server in a new guild which a friend of mine helps to run. They were fairly established with another guild but some squabbles seemed to have seen him and a few others splinter off to reform a new guild. The guild has about 15 players who are very regular, and I thought what the heck, I'll give WoW another try.................................. So, I rolled a fresh character, a Goblin mage, which is a class I have never played as before. I really don't want to go into extreme detail, but the efforts Blizzard have made in the revamped level 1-60 zones are something majestical. They have really put a lot of thought into a lot of quests that have been reworked, and quests now have a much better flow as now, many quest lines don't require you to keep running back and forth to the quest giver, and will give you a "clicky" to complete and move onto the next part of the quests.......................................Experience gain is now very fast, and it does somewhat derail a little as you start going way ahead of quest levels, to the point that I managed to reach level 60 (as horde) by just doing half a dozen zones in Kalimdor, and just Stranglethorn Vale in the Eastern kingdoms. Whilst this is ok for those looking to rush everything, for me, a player who likes to take a bit more time, levelling up all my primary and secondary professions at the same time, became a bit annoying................................ The biggest stumbling block as regards to the flow of the game, is that levelling 1-60 was at a good pace, but then you enter Hellfire Penninsula (I was at level 62) and it suddenly feels like hitting a brick wall. Everything slows down to a snails pace. The continuous quest utility used in Azeroth hasn't been brought forward to TBC or WotLK, so running back and forth is required. Luckily, the guild had hit the level required to give us a 5% bonus to experience, so it speeded it up a little. This buffed up to 10% bonus by the time I finished TBC and hit level 70. I only did Hellfire, Zangarmarsh, and Nagrand to reach level 70, so at least I didn't have to suffer too much in what for me was a nightmare expansion. I managed to get to level 80 by only doing a few zones in WotLK which is fine...................................... At the time of writing this, I have reached level 81, and I am only in the first zone. Things appear to be a lot better so far, and it is a pleasure to see that old grounds will be revisited, and old bosses make an appearance here and there. I have watched some video reviews of the new expansion, and some of the new implementations and mechanics really look like I am going to have a good time. But the most important thing for me, is that Blizzard have re-introduced a level of difficulty to boss fights, and from what I've watched and read, means that not that much "tank 'n' spank" has made it into the expansion.............................. [p] Whilst I haven't witnessed a whole lot so far, I still feel I can give a review so far, and I score Cataclysm (so far) as follows......................Graphics: 6/10, Audio: 8/10, Presentation: 10/10, Gameplay: 8/10, OVERALL: 8....... If you are a lapsed player like me, it is definately worth at least giving it a go.

I think the so called "official" reviewers need to start taking a step back and start to think a bit more when reviewing sports games that release a new version each year, and only review what is put in front of them as a new game. I myself haven't played a Tiger Woods gold game since the early noughties, and I needed a game I could chill out to following some surgery. I bought this game and found it to be truly amazing graphically, and the gameplay was slightly difficult but had a decent learning curve which didn't take too long to master. Some nice touches like the focus metre, and the online is fairly slick and a joy to play.