SpunkyMonkey

I'm genuinely gobsmacked at how bad & dull this game is. I love the FF series up to number 13, but it took a real downturn when Lightening got involved. I detested all the FF13 series, and just wanted something half decent from this. Instead what I got was a dull, empty open world with an absolutely threadbare plot, & 13-style simplified combat which played itself. It's truly abysmal. You really couldn't have made a worse game chaps, I even think I hate it more than 13. Pathetic

Brilliant. Whilst it hasn't got the polish or smoothness of Mass Effect, it's definitely up there with it for quality RPG enjoyment. What the game does so well is give you that immersive feel to lose yourself in through great music, great environments, and a fresh feeling plot. But it doesn't stop there, that is also backed up by cracking combat (although character build does affect that - and playing as a Rogue made my experience a lot more enjoyable) and interesting characters. The missions and whole game feel episodic, and the relationship which you develop between your commanders, companions and other characters become the real focus of the game alongside political shifts, with the missions serving as a great vehicle to bind all that together. It's a criminally underrated game, and personally I've found it to be the best Xbox One game which I've played so far. It's definitely flawed, and there are jarring moments which highlight the gulf between this & an AAA game. But they are fairly rare, whereas the "man this is awesome" moments are a lot more common. If you like action-RPGs this is simply a must buy.

Brilliant. Whilst it hasn't got the polish or smoothness of Mass Effect, it's definitely up there with it for quality RPG enjoyment. What the game does so well is give you that immersive feel to lose yourself in through great music, great environments, and a fresh feeling plot. But it doesn't stop there, that is also backed up by cracking combat (although character build does affect that - and playing as a Rogue made my experience a lot more enjoyable) and interesting characters. The missions and whole game feel episodic, and the relationship which you develop between your commanders, companions and other characters become the real focus of the game alongside political shifts, with the missions serving as a great vehicle to bind all that together. It's a criminally underrated game, and personally I've found it to be the best PS4 game which I've played so far. It's definitely flawed, and there are jarring moments which highlight the gulf between this & an AAA game. But they are fairly rare, whereas the "man this is awesome" moments are a lot more common. If you like action-RPGs this is simply a must buy.

Brilliant. Whilst it hasn't got the polish or smoothness of Mass Effect, it's definitely up there with it for quality RPG enjoyment. What the game does so well is give you that immersive feel to lose yourself in through great music, great environments, and a fresh feeling plot. But it doesn't stop there, that is also backed up by cracking combat (although character build does affect that - and playing as a Rogue made my experience a lot more enjoyable) and interesting characters. The missions and whole game feel episodic, and the relationship which you develop between your commanders, companions and other characters become the real focus of the game alongside political shifts, with the missions serving as a great vehicle to bind all that together. It's a criminally underrated game, and personally I've found it to be the best PS4 game which I've played so far. It's definitely flawed, and there are jarring moments which highlight the gulf between this & an AAA game. But they are fairly rare, whereas the "man this is awesome" moments are a lot more common. If you like action-RPGs this is simply a must buy.

A vastly underated game, Nier has it's flaws and doesn't deliver on all it's promise and grand ambitions, but it's still one hell of a fun and enjoyable game, definitely worth purchasing at a bargain price. The combat is simple but fun, the story is wonderfully bizare (as a lot of JRPGs are), and the voice acting and character banter really work great. Let's also mention the bosses - wow. Some of the boss fights are just brilliant, and it's been a long time since I enjoyed fighting a "final" boss so much. To get the most out of the game you're gonna have to play it through more than once, and this is the game's biggest weakness - the repetitive locations. The familiarity is welcome, but so many side quests have you running over old ground that you really get sick of seeing the same places after the 25 hour mark. My advice would be to play the side quests sparingly so you only do the ones which interest you, and only do what you require to earn you enough money - don't be a completionist with them or it will soon get boring. Also the one side-quest line to make sure you do complete is those relating to the lighthouse. Some are worth it, but the game would be so much better if it trimmed out around 1/3 of them and kept only the quality ones. Overall though it's a great experience, one which may not fulfill you entirely, but one which has that special magic that draws you in.

Not as good as TW2, and over-rated in general. It's got a lot going for it, the aesthetics are superb, but it's ultimately a dull & draining experience. Firstly, it's now more like Assasin's Creed than TW2 - the villages & towns are all condensed into a mathmatical setup of Store, Noticeboard, Inn, quest - which kills the roleplaying feel a LOT. The general movement and control of Geralt is AWFUL, and you spend probably most of your time running around banging into people. The Open World aspect adds nothing to the game at all, it just means more ball-ache getting from one objective to the next, and everything you can find is usually already revealed by a marker. And the story - whilst OK - isn't anywhere near as gripping, deep or surprising as TW2. The Wild Hunt are barely for the first 20-30 hours. It's a real slog in all honesty, and the great bits which are in there are spread too thin over a mountain full worth of dull filler & fluff. Not a bad game, but a real backwards step from TW2 in my opinion.

Nice game, excellent music and "vibe", very fresh and often surprising. Sadly, the actual gameplay just isn't that good, and it often feels like a slog at times, with some sections dragging on for what seems like AGES. Overated, but still has a bit of magic which few other games have.

Wow. What a gem. Lush, magical music & graphics (seriously, the music in this game is brilliant and very fitting, reminds me of the Monkey Island series); fluid, inventive and simple-yet-fun gameplay in the classic Nintendo mold; fresh ideas and challenges constantly being thrown at you; controlable elementals full of personality and character; and some great down to earth humour too. It's simply brilliant. On the downside it can be a bit simple at times, and is definitely a bit too easy, but it's just so much fun that it doesn't seem to matter. The challenge actually comes from enemies, obstacles and puzzles stopping you from progressing as opposed to them doing much to kill you, but overall it works a treat. I bough this for £3.50.......£3.50! Do yourself a favour - especially if you're a fan of games such as Super Mario World for the SNES & Ocarina of Time - buy it! I personally actually prefer it to Ocarina of Time as it flows better and slicker. Thankyou to all involved in this game. Just brilliant!

It just doesn't play that well. It's choca full of "wow" moments, but they stop counting for much because you soon realize that - through awkward camera controls which leave you chasing enemies round like a dog chasing it's tail, and just allround unintuative combat - it all counts for little. Full of gumph and filler such as the codec speil, and yet very short too, MGR really is just a junk-food cash in. An explosive and at times exciting one, but ultimately one which has so little substance and quality you'll do well to make it through it's short length.

Should I buy? - Yes, at a reduced rate. Summary: Fresh and often brilliant, it's also very flawed, tedious and ultimately unsatisfying. But it's definitely worth experiencing. A total Twin Peaks rip off, it heavily nods towards the series and also other such murder based media such as The Shining, yet it still remains fresh and original enough to keep you interested. What makes the game is how it draws you in. There's 27 chapters, but the first 20 or so are superbly crafted in terms of atmosphere and setup. You get **** in to this wonderful world and, if you can allow yourself to bare with the game mechanics, feel part of this community as your investigation proceeds. However, those mechanics and the game designed can be a pain to live with. To be honest, the combat isn't as bad as people make out and it can often be fun, what is bad though is the repetitiveness of it all and towards the last 5 chapters it just becomes very, very tedious. But the way the game plays with light and shade, the humour and lightheardedness which feel very 60's sitcom-esq suddenly interupted by the grizzly shenanigans of twistedness such as murder or child abuse etc. just works superbly. It's a hard grind to finish, and I did leave feeling a bit unsatisfied with some of the characters being underdeveloped and an ending not to my taste, but it was still a great experience overall, and even if you only play the first 3/4's it's a must-experience game for me.

LIES! Bioware & the "Proffesional Critics" have been feeding us all with outright lies in both promises and reviews. The game is bad, REAL bad. It walks the same path as WOW & Kingdoms of Amalur, has very little actual RPG quality about it, and stumbles badly where combat is concerned. It just doesn't provide me with any type of RPG experience which Bioware provided for over a decade to us before EA came along. It's crazy how far wide of the mark they are now shooting. Avoid like the plague.

"...One of the universe's biggest mysteries is why SEGA's excellent franchise has never reached the same American commercial success as its competition...." IGN. Well, let me solve that mystery for you now and tell you the reason why........because it's a big bubbling bag of diseased dog-spunk that's why!! I'm sure when you've spent 8 years memorizing a whole load of button-bashing combos and honing your skills like a ****ing warrior monk you may start to enjoy the game, but I'd also like to be able to pick up and play the game to a certain level without having to do this. Unfortunately, VF5 has about as much instant appeal as Joe Merrick's modeling portfolio and it's clearly made for loyal fans who already love the predecessors. To someone like me who hasn't that love because I've not played them it feels slow, stale, unspectacular and weak. I got this game for £10 and still felt cheated, there was just nothing to make me want to keep playing it and 2 days later it was swapped for good. VF5? In 5 words Yawn, yawn, yawn, ****ing yawn.

Quick, re-review. Great game, but takes some getting into and hard work to get to the nitty gritty goodness. Buy it and follow my advice to enjoy it the most - 1) When answering questions in the Dungeon about what happened do it in order, from top to bottom. Otherwise you play out the prologue in an order which makes no sense and throws you for the rest of the game. 2) You get the choice of two paths, without doubt one is far more interesting than the other IMO so create a save before you make this choice (it's towards the end of chapter one and *minor spoiler* it's when you choose between an elf or a King's bodyguard), and don't be afraid to restart from that save if you find the path you chose boring. 3) If you get to the end of Chapter 1 and things aren't making sense, quit, take a breather for a few days/weeks, and start the game again understanding all the terminology/people/events goes a long way to making the game enjoyable.

Simply put Fable 3 is Fable 2 but watered down and without the charm. Additions which have been made are silly and only make the game more cumbersome, and overall it's weaker all-round and has obviously been crafted with about as much love and care as a tin full of spam. A production-line cash-in if ever I saw one, and although the differences between this and Fable 2 aren't that massive, the overall gulf in class and gaming enjoyment is. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

I've just copied and pasted YogibBear's review because it was so spot on........"Absolutely stunning engine, and gun mechanics. Great atmosphere. Ruined by terrible gameplay and boring plot with missions design that is severely limiting. I don't know what happened with this game, but it had the potential to be amazing and it fell flat on its face with bad level design, bad characters, bad plotline, bad missions, and relentless linearity and tunneling when it came to execution that screamed "I am a video game and thou shall play me exactly as I say, press A to win, don't press B else I'll tell you off".." - He's hit the nail on the head, the world is simply stunning and so rich that you can't help but be blown away by it, but the game as a whole is lame. I put Vice City on after playing this and within seconds it became clear just how much sandbox games have de-volved into borefests.

Re-review. I was way too harsh on this game with my first review, having played it through again I've now revised my opinion - very good but flawed, and still nowhere near as good as the original. The trouble with the game is that the faults are just so basic, and so easily rectifiable that it makes it very frustrating. Let's start positive though, the first 2/3rds of the game work really well and the game's high points come at sections where, instead of having to infiltrate a place, you actually have to escape it. Game mechanics work well enough and the design of the earlier places flows very nicely. The fundamental flaws which do so much to hinder the game though are as follows: Firstly, the game is far too geared towards stealth - the original Deaus Ex was all about choice, but with Human revolution rewarding the player with more exp points for stealth "kills" than action ones this essentially punishes those who want to play a more action orientated style - poor design IMO. Secondly, you really do need to choose the right Augs to enjoy the experience. Punch through walls, parachute and lift heavy objects are essential just to do things which are necessary to have fun. The game is setup to punish you if you make the wrong choices, whereas it should be setup to reward you if you make the right one, and that does effect enjoyability. Thirdly there's just too much hacking - there's no need for so much and it bogs the game down. Fourthly it falls apart towards the end. The last few sections are really bland (the final one especially) and it honestly should have been scrapped. The plot loses it too and major twists hinted at never emerge. Finally the way your Aug's energy is managed is stupid - you really should just be able to recharge all of your slots. It's still a good game and has some great moments; it's also got a fantastically balanced difficulty which allows for a perfect balance of challenge, death, satisfaction and progression without getting overly frustrating. But be warned, it takes some work to appreciate the good game which lies in there.

Yawn. Whilst KOA:R has it's moments, it's just too repetitive and tiresome overall to be deemed as anything more than a filler. The lush graphics and Fable-esq music create a superb fairy-tale environment, and the combat is good - often allowing for free-flowing, fun battles - however it's just a shame that there's no real game to back all that up. After a while even the combat becomes boring simply because of the complete lack of challenge once you've hit the level 15-20 mark (which is barley a 1/3 of the way into the game), and all those environments count for nothing when you realize that they contain nothing but dull quest/character after dull quest/character. In fact I really can't overstate how dull and underdeveloped most of these characters are. Very rarely does the overall story ark ever feel relevant, and something else which doesn't help matters is the fact that the loot system just means you're constantly tripping over crap items and forever organizing junk. Also, the leveling system (which has received so much praise) actually hinders you for the first 5-10 levels as you try and figure out how to play - it's messy and unsatisfying, with me only finding any real fun in playing a Chakram wielding sorcerer. There's certainly some good to be found in KOA:R, and for around 10 hours I really enjoyed it, but 10 hours out of a 200-odd hour package is a small percentage and there's just so much work involved in getting to those good bits that after a while you really can't be bothered.

I've had to re-review this as, after a 3rd full play-through, it just gets better and better. Again, you can't hide a few flaws, but something I never mentioned in my old review is that how little those flaws actually affect the game or the experience itself. The weight behind some of the decisions, especially those towards the end of the game, just feels massive and it's phenomenal that a computer game can provoke such an emotional response. The tactical side of things is something which gets overlooked too - the way enemy ambushes operate and are setup is quite simply stunning - the amount of time they must have put into the game to make every battle feel so great must be staggering. An upgrade from a 9/10 to a 10/10 for me - a true classic.

From reading user comments on the net I was only expecting a bit-part expansion, but there's really quite a lot to get your teeth into here with 5 new companions to get to grips with and a quest which is roughly around the 20 hours mark. Awakening has some really cool environments to adventure in too - most are twists on the familiar, but definitely significantly different enough to feel very fresh and fun. There is a slight over-reliance on codex entries and there's also the odd flash of what's to come in Dragon Age 2 as on the odd, very rare, occasion things feel very streamlined and soulless. But thankfully those occasions are few and far between and the overall package is a great little addition to DA:O. If you liked DA:O buy without haste, there's far more to be fun to be had in the 20 odd hours here than there is in all of DA 2.

This is one boring and repetitive game. BS starts off absolutely superbly with an action packed, testosterone fueled intro that leads you to believe you're gonna be in for one hell of a ride, but you are quickly bought back down to earth when you try to get your teeth into some real action. You see, for all the scenic grandeur, epicn-ess and trashy marine-talk that the game offers the gameplay itself is very dull and very gimmicky. For the brief moments where combat plays like a real shooter it can get very exciting, but these moments make up 1% of the game with a stupid slow-mo "bulletkick" and the "creativity of you kills" being a tiresome gimmick which the whole game is based around and which just bogs it down. The mechanics work well enough, but there were just so many moments in the game where I though "I wish I could just cut through the BS and enjoy the game". Enemy AI is dire and, as with so many other games, you can hide away whilst your team-mate goes and kills everyone for you. Throw a mish-mashed, bloated, & poor plot into the bag and you've a game to definitely avoid. As gimmicky as games get and very, very poor for it.

Amazing. What can be said about this game which hasn't been already? As a kid raised on Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers etc. I remember longing for the day when I'd be off exploring space in a starship and as puberty hit you realize that day will never come. Mass Effect however get's me as close to that experience as a young kid could wish for (without the hassles of work or death either) and as a game it's a boat load of fun to boot. Does it have flaws? Of course, but they are so minor when compared to the overall experience that I'm not even going to mention them here. If I were to list all the plus points of the game this review would be 100 pages long. A sheer joy to play and a must-buy for anyone with an Xbox 360.

"Bunch of old boring ****" - that's how those who write this superb game off as "for younger gamers" should be described, as they've obviously forgot the joy of having a bit of simplistic fun every now and then. Mini Ninjas is a game I am totally in love with and which captures that SNES-era style simplistic "run-jump-slash-run-jump-slash" free flowing platformy action very well. It also adds a smattering of modern day depth to that via a sprinkle of sandbox-like exploration, radial inventory menues and the odd element from various games such as Prince of Persia and Zelda. All this is presented in a fantastically immersive atmosphere which is packed full of charm - it's really quite mind-blowing how peaceful and tranquil the environment is when you're exploring, and how it quickly switches to something so chaotic, humourous and exciting when combat kicks in. And that's something else - whilst not laugh out loud funny there's loads of really cool touches with give the game a superb sense of humour. I've never wanted to run round my house shouting "Ninja!!"so much than after playing this! Mini Ninja's is a thoroughly enjoyable game and whilst it has the odd flaw (the companions are a bit pap, an extra move or two would have been nice, certain boss fights are typical quick-time affairs) it's just so much fun that you'd be'd daft not to own it. "Ninja Ninja Ninja!!!"

LA Noire is simply Dragon's Lair for the new Millennium, and I feel for the folk who get **** into loving "games" like these. LA Noire simply does not have enough interaction, enough repercussions or enough substance on the whole to be anything more than a really boring movie. Also, what little interaction is there in the game is pretty badly done too. The difference between doubting a person's answer and accusing them of lie-ing is often silly, and then it doesn't feel consequential to anyone other than completion-ists; the actual "action" itself feels very linear and very much stuck on a railroad track, the massive LA world contains nothing of note; and the main protagonist is a **** who quickly becomes annoying. There came a point in the game where I was asked to "shadow" a suspect in a cafe - after a few fails the game asked me "would you like to skip this?" - FFS! A key point in the plot and it's treated as if it doesn't matter - it just made things feel cheap and it was as if the game admitted "yeah, this bits a bit crap but we thought we'd chuck it in anyway". Also on the whole the plot seems very disjointed at times and, if you play it out differently to how most would (ie go to a later destination before the obvious one), then the plot often gets a few jumbled up lines thrown in which don't make sense. Other than superb facial animations I really can't see why anyone would be interested in such a pointless game.

Eh?? Whilst Portal is most possibly THE best gimmick-game ever made, it is still just a gimmick game and if it lasts you 2 hours you'll be lucky. As for Half life 2 & it's expansion well they are horrible, dated, boring and weak games. P*ssing about with see-saws and other puzzles designed to show off a physics engine is just tedious and makes for a tiresome game. I really don't get what people see in this other than nostalgia and a cute little bonus puzzle game??

Haon's review on this game is very similar to how I feel about it. Whilst there is undoubtably bags of quality in there, as an overall package it just doesn't quite work as well as it should. My main gripe isn't that the combat is boring - personally I found it quite decent and pretty fun even after 30 or so hours - it's that the game itself is boring. There's a lack of any real excitement throughout the game and each quest is more work than fun. The game's got a lot of great aspects including a superbly downtrodden and realistic atmosphere, it's also got a very mature and practical feel to it (although it does go overboard with the amount of women you get to bang with such little effort), but throw in lots of micro management with the inventory and labourious quests that involve a lot of going back and forth and it just feels like to much work to play through.

Sacred 2 does do that much wrong - it's just not that exciting or good a game itself. For one I'm not a fan of the combat, for me it feels as if you're just relying on stats to do the job and a lack of a block option or the need for any type of rhythm to win battles makes it very dull. The quests themselves are all text based which in today's gaming world feels very dated, and the world also feels very old-school too - too old-school for me to get into. Add to that a camera angle that doesn't allow you to see very far in front of you, and Sacred 2 is just too dated and too dull to be worth a purchase.

Never have I fell in and out of love with a game so quickly! Screen tearing and sub-par graphics aside, the first few hours of Darksiders were absolutely bliss for me - really, really cool and instinctive combat action followed by some truly brilliant puzzles (one set in a Temple of Doom type room is probably the best in-game puzzle I've known - a perfect balance of test and reward). But then it totally loses it's way - instead of giving you time to settle and enjoy your role as War, it keeps endlessly throwing new things at you and breaking the pace up with alternate sections such as a flying on a griffin - there really is no need for it and it just disjoints the game horribly. Then the puzzles start becoming a bit more obscure and laborious too, the combat just becomes more confusing and repetitive the further you get into the game, and the upgrades you purchase hardly feel worth the effort either. Mark Hamill does a great job with the voices though, as do most of the cast - something worthy of a mention as their undoubted class adds to the game. Sadly, that can't save something which just doesn't cut the **** as a whole. Give it a try - it might be something you can get on with and is definitely worth a look, but it just grew too old too quickly for me.

Getting enjoyment from Prototype really depends how you're wired, and the more wired you are for destruction and all out OTT chaos the more you'll enjoy it. The game itself is fairly simple - typical sandbox stuff but with the added bonus of super powers thrown in to give you real freedom of movement around the city - nice. Combat is nothing particularly revolutionary either, but it is good, very violent + OTT, and when you get into the swing of flying around the city and smashing the absolute frickin **** out of everything it's really hard to put down. That's what Prototype nails more than almost every other game I've played - it absolutely excels in making you feel as if you are one badass muther-chuffer. The stealth element is handled quite well too, something which fits surprisingly nicely into such a chaotic game. Slightly pap graphics aren't good on the eyes, and it can get a bit repetitive at times, but my advice would be for any fan of mass annihilation to give it a whirl.

By no means a revolutionary or great game, Singularity is fairly solid and does have it's moments - it's just a shame that there aren't more of them. As a story based FPS in the Bioshock mould (some would say that it's very much a rip off of Bioshock, and rightly so) time travel and manipulation provide the spice to this game which plasmids did in it's spiritual father. On the whole I personally preferred this over Bioshock as it just seemed to pack more action into it - that's what Singularity does right - when the action kicks in it's great and there's plenty of intense moments throughout the game (helps that you can die in this game too, unlike Bioshock). Unfortunately, these moments aren't found quite as often as one would like, and the other elements of the game - puzzle solving, plot, etc. - fall a bit short. Major gripes I have include the magical doors shutting behind you all the time so you can't go back for weapons, or even run backwards when you think you can, also badly timed plot sections which often occur during action or some other narrative which means you can't quite get what's going off. Also, the plot sets things up nicelyonly to fail on final delivery of the ending. The controls can be a bit fiddly at times when things get frantic too, which is annoying, but not to the extent where it ruins the game. But for all it's negative aspects it is fun and it is a game which will keep you playing until you finish it - during which time you'll mostly enjoy the ride. It doesn't quite hit the spot enough to be deemed great, but it is entertaining enough to be worth a good look and it's definitely worth considering as a purchase at a budget price. Like having a good **** over some decent porn but not getting to finish - cheap easy fun which leaves you a bit unfulfilled, but fun none-the-less.

Whilst Skyrim feels like a cheap, by the numbers cash-in designed for nothing more than raking in people's dollar from pre-orders, Fallout 3 (GOTY ed) is a superbly crafted game, and the effort + skill put into this top notch package is evident throughout. The main reason the game works so well is because the game's environment, and subsequent discoveries you make throughout exploring it, really draw you in and submerse you with ease - the capital wasteland has so much character that you can't help but fall in love with it. Everything about the game fits and works well too, from the leveling system to the VATS combat system which, although it may take a little time to get used to, never gets old. The atmospheric terminator-esq music helps draw you in too, and a lot of the quests actually require you to keep pushing on throughout the wasteland instead of being simple fetch quests (although there are a few of those in there) - which again enhances that desire to explore further. The RPG aspect does still lack - again it's a case of there not being that much choice available (although there is still SOME choice available, more than Skyrim). But the game is no weaker for it, and a game which is all about exploration in a ruined wasteland manages to nail that right on the nose. It can be a bit buggy at times, and it can also be a tad repetitive, but overall it just works and it works superbly. Definitely one to put at the top of your shopping list.

Let's forget about Red Faction: Guerrilla - It was a top game and very enjoyable throughout, however I'll judge Red Faction: Armageddon as a stand alone game. Right, RF:A as a stand alone game is **** It really, really is a poor example of a shooter and offers the player absolutely nothing which hasn't been done before and done a lot better. Straight from the outset the game comes across as a dull Gears of War rip off which hasn't the refined cover mechanics, nor the polish to draw you in. Crammed in there are certain destruction elements from RF:G, but they are poorly implemented and this time around the game is more about repairing things with this laughably bad "make everything better" device rather than destroying them. And when the second level hits and it suddenly becomes apparent that you can get through the levels simply by running through them, and without shooting or caring what is in the way. Combine that with awkwardly narrow areas in which you fight, and an enemy setup which punishes the player for taking time to engage the enemies, and this whole experience just grinds to a halt very early on. I only purchased this for £5, but i still feel robbed. I cannot see any reason to play this and I'd strongly recommend everyone steers well clear of it.

Arkham Asylum was a class game and a truely wonderful experience, however Arkham City, whilst good, just never hits those heights. The first bugbare is the rather hard to swallow plot and introduction - without adding spoilers lets just say you have to suspend your belief a fair bit to swallow it. Then there's the sandbox element of the game - it works to a certain degree, but you never have to walk around the streets of AC and you can quite easily miss a lot of content by rushing through the game - which wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't make you want to progress far and fast so that you can obtain upgrades and complete the puzzles which are lying around. As an overall experience it just doesn't flow that well, and no sooner have you got into it than it;s ended. But it's still good, the combat flows well and moving around AC is a blast. However, another gripe is the DLC setup of the game - I'm looking at certain buildings and listening to various conversations they strongly hint at other villains which I should be encountering.....which I don't - again it pushes you on to get further and before you know it it's all over. Which wouldn't be so bad if the game hadn't thrown absolutely everything at you in terms of enemies and gadgets in the first 10 minutes. It really is a very oddly paced game and one that just doesn't work that well as a full package. Yes it's fun, yes it's worth playing, but no it's not a classic, no it's not as good as the original, and no it's not very memorable.

Rage is about as much of a non-emotional experience as I've ever had. Whilst 80's arcade games lacked a story or depth they often provided excitement, whilst 90's RPGs lacked graphical pizzaz or superb asthetics they made you to care about characters and surrounding events, whilst 00's stratergy games took some time to get into they give you a great sense of satisfaction and feeling of challenge - Rage however stimulates you about as much as a wet fart does. It's not bad by any means, the controls are fine, the graphics are good, the overall game is, well, **** that's it. There's no stand out moments or instense feeling of excitement or satisfaction, there's just a few good ideas stuck in a mixing pot with the usual FPS elements and the ultimate end product is a rather dull one. Gripes I do have include a totally out of place driving element to the game, which just puts you off even more as it really breaks up the FPS action in a bad way, and the overall cartoony feel to the game feels out of place and nowhere near as immersive as Fallout 3's. Add to that a very short campaign and I can't see any reason to buy this. Bland and kinda pointless.

The Last Remnant, whilst flawed and far from perfect, contains enough creamy goodness of the Square-Enix flavour to deliver an experience that JRPG fans will enjoy getting a good fix of. Whilst a step behind in terms of presentation (the game contains far less voice-acted sequences than most modern RPGs) this is soon forgotten once you're into the thick of the game, as what it does contain is enough actual RPG elements (stats, side-quests, exploration, etc.) to give you a very enjoyable experience. The combat system, whilst not fully fleshed out and also a little cheap at times, is a great side-step from previous Square Enix titles and could well be the base they need to build upon in order to re-invigorate the JRPG/FF series. Fighting as units, and having so much depth involved in their management (due to the stats and abilities which make up those units) truely gives you something to really get your teeth into. Combine that with a fast paced "trigger" system during battles which keeps you on your toes (eg, sometimes it's better not to hit the trigger as you want to delay your healing moves, but you only have a split second to make that decision) and battles can be very tense affairs indeed. It's just a shame that there's not a more comprehensive tutorial of the system and that some of it's elements during battles are left outside of your control and can be completely random. SE could have really gone to town with the union setups and fleshed both them and the battle system out into something fantastic - as it is though it's just good and refreshing as opposed to brilliant and epic. The game itself is also very large, but doesn't feel repetative nor padded out until the very end - and even then that's only if you choose to persue all the side-quests (which are there more as an after-game experience for you to come back to - especially the companion/collection ones). And the story? Well, it's a bit cliche'd as you would probably expect, but it's cool enough to keep you playing and it also contains some nice down to earth humour at times (as well as a diet version of the usual JRPG cheeseyness too). Those of you craving JRPG kicks for the 360 should deffinately check it out - the performance issues, whilst still present, are mostly fixed by installation to your HDD, and so long as you're prepared to bare with them and do a bit of digging around on-line to help get you into the game then there's plenty here to keep you satisfied. It falls short of being spectacular but it's a very, very, very solid game with plenty of fun to be had. If you're prepared to put a bit of time into it, and want that taste of JRPG goodness which is becoming rarer by the day due to companies such as EA **** companies which still have a creative core, then you should buy it without hesitation. It may not be for everyone, but I loved it.

When is Castlevania not Castlevania? When it's a poor immitation of God of War + Devil May Cry + Shadow of the Colossus. All forms of entertainment media nick ideas from others - it's what helps create great games, music, films etc. - but when something does that, but does it very poorly then it really isn't worth bothering with. CLOS as you may have guessed is such a game, from the very outset you just don't feel as if you are playing anything other than a poor rip off. The game itself is gash, playing with a weird, sloppy feel to the combat and a very linear approach to levels and bosses........which wouldn't be so bad if any of it was any fun. However the design of the game itself really feels ported from a bygone era and there's just not very much fun to be had at all. Decent graphics and environments are complemented by some good sound, but boredom poor gaming are all that await under the surface. Awful game and a disgrace to the Castlevania name.

Seriously, WFT is wrong with the likes of IGN and Gamespot giving this such a low score? Just how much are those lowlifes getting paid by the companies to rate AAA titles so highly when they are ****, yet great games like this so poorly when they are great? The Saboteur is your usual sandbox game with a few tweaks. Set in WW2, both the graphics and audio aspects of the game go to create a superbly atmospheric world and as the game starts out it promises to be an outstanding experience. Unfortunately that promise falls a bit flat when you get out into the world and realise that it's just another sandbox game. However, when you persist past that you find that the game itself is just an absolute boatload of brilliant fun. Because of easy going freerunning controls and quick + exciting controls in general (makes combat loads of fun), cars which don't explode within two crashes, loads and loads of explosions + **** killing and a ton of missions this game just chuffing rocks and rocks hard. Stealth is a bit sloppy (esp the disguise aspect of it), you can find yourself looking at your radar throughout the game a bit too often for my liking, and if there was a tiny bit more of an RPG aspect to the character interaction the game would be better for it. But overall the game's a blast - it finds a quality balance of OTT action and down-to earth realism for you to fear danger at most turns, but not be afraid to let lose and go crazy when you have to. In Nov 2011 I purchased this for £8, at Xmas 2011 I bought Skyrim + Dark Souls. Come Feb 2012 Dark Souls and Skyrim got consigned to the "games to swap bin" a while back and I'm still playing this which is firmly rooted in my "games to keep forever" collection. Buy it now.

If this equation - Fallout 3>Morrowind>Oblivion - looks right to you then this may well be the review you're after. Having now played through Skyrim for over 100 hours I'd say that it fits into that equation like this - Fallout 3>Morrowind>Skryrim>Oblivion. For me Oblivion was a sidestep from Morrowind as opposed to a step forward and Skyrim is no different. On the plus side Skyrim's melee combat is deffinately getting there - the extra weight and overall feel is far more satisfying than it has been previously. The asthetics are superb with immensely atmospheric music, some lovely graphics, and dungeons that are no longer cookie-cutter bland. However, once you actually get into the game it's not all that long before it really starts to drag and those asthetics can no longer cover up what is just a souless and often boring game. Morrowind's main appeal was in it's exploration and sense that you were out in this big wide world where you could stumble across anything at anytime. However, thanks to the reliance on fast travel and the return of the compass which magically shows you things which you have yet to find the feeling of exploration is killed dead, and the game feels more like a test of your organisational skills than anything - not fun. The encumberance system just means you spend hours trudging back and forth collecting and selling loot and it just gets tiresome. Bethesda either have to dump the encumberance and persist with Skyrim's setup, or dump the fast travel and make the game more about exploration. The story is very thinley spread out too, and often handled badly with dragons swooping out of nowhere in the middle of an important conversation or other NPCs spouting some random BS at you during them instead. In fact the whole RPG element is nothing short of dire, with your choices and actions affecting very little - with a lot of quests often prevent you with 2 choices - "yes" or "yes". Throw in an essentially broken magic system, and a leveling system which kills the joy of finding any rare weapons, and suddenly you become aware of what a mishmash of gaming genres this is and how badley the series as evolved. Whilst not as mind-numbingly dull as Oblivionis, it's still something I couldn't recommend to folk. It's kinda like the Lost In Translation or Blaire Witch Project of games - a lot of hype and a empty husk of an experience. All Bethesda have to do is give Morrowind Skryim's combat feel and asthetics and you'll have a far greater game than the one served up here, which is a damn shame as I was so hoping they'd learnt there lesson from Oblivion. However, they most certainly have not. Less size, more substance next time Bethesda please.

Whilst there's fun to be had in Dark Souls it is also a prime example of how dumb, sad and gullible it's core audience is as reading through comments and user reviews people seem to be more bothered about the fact that they can play a tough game as some kind of badge of honour than the game itself. You see, the game is actually very lazy - great graphics but naff all music, barely any RPG elements of which to speak (with hardly any plot or story to drive you on), and worst of all repetative gameplay that just makes the game DRAG. I don't mind fighting a tough boss 5, 10, 20 times to beat it, but when I have to run down an empty path for a few minutes just to get there first and then be killed in one hit it's hard to look back on the time spent travelling and finding any fun in it. Also, the game could get away with being to tough and merciless if it's mechanics worked well, but the camera gets stuck behind trees, you roll through solid walls, and most unforgivingly of all the targetting mechanic spins you round in the opposite direction if you're not close enough to an enemy - by which time the enemy has usually jumped you. Dark Soul's also doesn't allow you to pause the game....ever. Now, I don't know about you but sometimes I need to pee, eat or actually do things in real life such as answer a phone call, the fact that this wasn't included is beyond a joke. If you're batteries die mid combat? No pause screen, your man just stands there and dies. But, slap a tag on it that this game is for "real games" and the drongos will buy en mass *facepalm*. On the plus side the combat can be fun and once you're a bit tougher it isn't so bad - until you come to a new area which means hours grinding to get tough again. I've probably focussed a bit too much on the negative aspects of Dark Souls, but folk need to be warned that it's more than just a case of it being a hard game - it's a hard game that's mechanics are poor and doesn't allow for glitches or reality. Deffinately try before you buy.

Fresh from playing the extremely lame Deus Ex: Human Revolution I decided to get back to basics with a re-purchased PS2 game - "The Warriors" - and boy was I delighted to do so. From a time when Rockstar made games which were all about fun and not about the boring side of realism (as GTA 4 so badly displayed) The Warriors gives you an excellent atmosphere and basic premis to go round and reak havoc. The combat is fun, real fun, the overall vibe ripped straight from the movie is cool as **** and although It's a bit rough around the edges and the camera can be a pain at times, it's always a good crack to play and for my money the best beat-em up on the market. If your a fan of the film you'll especially love it as familiar faces and gangs appear throughout too. The last boss battle it's pants, but getting there is so much fun who cares? All this for £4.50?? Bargain.

Having never really got into survival-horror type games (the original Resident Evil was to slow for me, Parasite Eve 2 felt too piddley, and Resident Evil 4 was a frustrated action game that wasn't any real fun until you played as the bird in the bonus missions) I donâ

Overhyped, and overated - I just couldn't get into this at all. The most off putting thing for me was the bouncy, flimsy feel to both the player and the weapons â

Cheese meets death meets explosions meets aliens meets big ants meets ka-pow-boom-whack - what is there not to like? Bad points? Not the most polished game by any means, crap vehicles, it may be too cheesy for some, a tad samey and nowhere near as much replay value as some games - Good points? If you like blowing **** up you'll have lots of fun. The sheer swarms of enemies to destroy is massive, pretty much everything else in the game can be blown up as well (Telecom tower style building? No probs for your bazooka). The enemies themselves are really groovy, the variety in weapons is also impressive, and the cheesy theme that runs throughout the game suits it to a tea (screams of "EDF!" and "Yeah!" make you feel like a true military meat head). As said it won't last forever, and those who prefer their games more boring but less rough around the edges may dislike it, but anyone with a full set of working bollocks and a desire to blow things up in style should look no further than this as itâ

First of all, it's gonna have to be a pretty bad game that can mess up a combination of trigger happy Mafioso style bloodlust and demonic evil-bound carnage. Thankfully this game far from messes it up and instead pulls it off and pulls it off in style! Itâ

Although not as bad as Dragon Age 2, Dead Space 2 still falls into the same category of "dross, cash-in sequal". As a big fan of the original Dead Space I was actually rather impressed with this game to start with, certainly there were a few moments where I thought "This is gonna blow me away!", but soon enough the game's flaws started to take over. For one the enemies are far, far cheaper this time round - no end of hits sustained come from Necro's you can't even see and aren't aware of until you play the set peice through a few times. In fact the whole game has a very poor "trial and error" feel to it which soon gets you into the habit of just rushing into every area full on so you can see what's happening, get killed, and then actually try and get past it - it totally kills any suspense or fear. Secondly the puzzels add absolutely nothing to the game - they really do just slow the pace of the game down and feel labourious. Next the weapons just don't feel as balanced this time round, every one feels ropey and less satisfying than in DS1, and there's an over-reliance on the stasis module. And finally the story is pretty pap, I didn't even realise I was on Chapter 7 until I checked a walkthrough for a tit-bit, I was like "Eh? Halfway through the game and it only feels just like I've completed the tutorial". I honestly don't think that a game could make you care less about it as this ine does. Very poor.

Bioshock certainly isn't a terrible game by any means, I played it all the way through to the finish and certainly had some fun in the process, however two fundemental design choices kill any real excitement that the game has to offer - Firstly you can only carry a certain amount of ammo - now this wouldn't be so bad but you can go from full to empty in no time at all, which doesn't add anything to the tension, it just means that you spend ages searching every nook and cranny for additional ammo, which you then despense with in seconds again, on so on, and so on; it really does turn sections of the game into nothing but a chore. Secondly, if you die you just re-spawn a few steps away, there's no real bad side to dying in the game and once you realise this the whole excercise feels pointless. There's a few nice bits in there, but it's just a very average shooter for me that won't live very long in the memory.

Holy Shnuzel this game kicks ass!! I am bewildered at all the low scores and poor reviews given to it by the trend following drongos out there. Having not played the original I decided to have a punt on this for a laugh, and I'm now 35 hours in to one of the best games I've played since Mass Effect 1&2. In my little gaming world Divinity 2 is sort of a spiritual successor to Summoner 2 on the PS2 - (too many 2's!! lol), even though they have little in common from a business perspective they both value fun, atmosphere, and genuine RPG elements over being 'sellable' to Jo Public. The blend of humour, epicness and grandeur, is perfect, making the rol-playing aspects of the game a joy to get involved with - the local Barnsley accents are particualrly cool. Then the combat, whilst not perfect, is still really fun and gives the players various ways of approaching the game - all down to how you want to build your character. The musical score fits to a tee, very immersive, the challenge is good, and although the graphics certainly aren't great at all, who's complaining? Not me, because this is one of the best games and RPGs I've played in ages. Avoid Dragon Age 2, go for this instead.

Total dross. Combat is the games main selling point, but it's soooooooo dull and uninteresting, button mashing not unlike Track and Field with very little else - It's just too fast and too sloppy to care about and too in between the action and strategy genres to work well as either. The game as a whole is and a horrid hybrid beteen a Dungeon Crawler and an interactive movie-game which you'd find on the Mega CD - There's very little actual roleplaying involved like there was in Origins. As a stand alone game DA2 is very repetative, very dull and dire, but as a sequal it contains none of the elements which were enjoyable in the original. The dialogue tree is missed big time with the conversation choices reduced to a basic "Good/funny/evil" choice, none of which feel well placed or make much difference to proceedings. The final straw is replaying areas which you've already run through several times - how each gang and bad guy hangs out in the same ally is a joke. A perfect example of how this game falls short was with a 1-on-1 battle with what would be deemed as one of the games main antagonists - it literally had me laffing out loud at how bad, boring and comicly the fight unfolded. It was kind of like when I first saw Scream expecting a horror movie, but getting more of a comedy. After forcing myself to complete it I put the original on and in 2 minutes it became even more clear how bad DA2 was compare to the quality, if not slightly flawed, Origins. Play Originas through as a different race/class, youtube all the plot vids for DA 2 and avoid purchasing DA2 like the plague!!