Ever fancied yourself as I bit of a totalitarian dictator? If, like me, you answered yes to that question then Haemimont have got you covered with Tropico 3. The game is a port of the PC release and gives players the chance to play as ‘El Presidente’, the ruler of a tropical banana republic.

Tropico is essential an rts style dictator experience. There’s a slice of Sim City in here too as deciding on building and road placement is apparently part of the job of dictators. The game also has plenty of humour added into the mix which does help to keep things interesting.

The single player mode consists of you taking charge of several tropical islands, each with different natural resources and sets of goals attached to them. You have to keep the population happy whilst striving to meet objectives such as building X number of farms, or attracting a set number of tourists to the island. These goals must be completed within a certain time limit in order to progress to the next island.



Gameplay wise you move the camera around your island using the sticks, whilst the face buttons allow browsing of menus and issuing orders such as putting up buildings. In classic rts style you need certain buildings to allow access to others which means that forward planning of your growing metropolis is essential for success. This is the first area of the game I have to take a little issue with, as the controls really don’t feel all that natural. The game has obviously been designed with a keyboard and mouse in mind and does feel clunky on the pad.

Graphically Tropico is nice enough looking, although I did notice a few instances of screen tearing. The soundtrack is pleasant too and fits in well with the stereotypical and comical portrayal of these banana republics.

The main problem I had with the game was that it didn’t go far enough in convincing me that I was the all powerful dictator I had hoped to be. For one thing: the game has elections every now and again during which you can be voted out of power if you’ve annoyed the people enough. Unfortunately the experience also rapidly becomes repetitive, with each island not being as different as they are first made out to be. The religious faction seems to be important on every island, and failure to build a church just causes people to lose faith in the power of your presidency.

Tropico 3 is a fun enough experience and is quite different to anything else currently available. The game suffers from control and repetition issues but is nonetheless worth a play if you can find it cheap enough.

Verdict: 7/10. Buy it if you find it in the bargain bin.

22 hours and 15 minutes is how long it took me to complete Mass Effect 2′s main story line whilst completing a big helping of side quests. Judging from how much I played the game for shows you just how immersive this game is as I played it that much in just a few days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the outset this game will just blow you away even if you are not an RPG fan, This game is more of a Gears of War 3rd person type shooter with alot of dialogue thrown in. Now if you played the first game in the series you are in for a treat because the choices you made in that game roll over into this one in a huge way. For example crew members who died in the first game will not reappear and even more subtle is you will get full blown quests from people you chose to help in the first game.

 

Knowing that every choice you make in Mass Effect 2 will effect many things in Mass Effect 3 makes the game even more immersive and you genuinely stop and think about the choices you are going to make. Everything from the great voice acting, facial animations, great graphics and all the places you visit just makes you feel that you are in that world and you must fight to save it.

The shooting mechanics have improved immensely since Mass Effect 1 and it rivals even stand alone 3rd person shooters. The controls feel very fluid and smooth. The added bonus of being able to use your D PAD to control your squad mates makes it feel more like a tactical shooter like Brothers in Arms which just brings the whole game together.

 

The upgrade system is a very nice feature, you assign upgrade points to various ablities and once you have maxxed out a certain ability you get 2 choices of how to make that power better. You can also upgrade your weapons, armour,Tech, prototype weapons and even your ship but to do so you must have materials, The way you gather materials is mostly by visiting unexplored planets which is alot different to Mass Effect 1. Instead of driving around a boring baron wasteland aka Mass Effect 1, You have a planet scanner and you scan the planet for materials and when you controller vibrates and the scanner shakes you launch a probe which collects materials. This can get quite tedious and boring but you will find yourself doing this just to get one more upgrade to make your crew even more powerful.

 

The Paragon and Renegade system is very good and it’s not like Fable where you are either good or bad but you can be a mixture of both. You could max out both your paragon and Renegade status to unlock all conversations topics. A nice little twist is that you can interupt conversations with a press of the left or right trigger. You can only do this when the option pops up but with that extra little option there you sometimes sit there thinking to yourself ”shall I or shouldn’t I”? Especially if its a bad action.

Overall I really enjoyed this game but I am still abit dismayed by EA and Bioware putting codes in the game cases to unlock extra content. It wouldn’t usually bother me but I rented this game and I couldn’t even go online to use the Dragin Armour from Dragon Age on this game as you need a code to use the online service or pay 1200 points for the service which I think is going too far.

 

Even with a few niggles this game really is a true gem and as I said before this game may even appeal to non RPG fans as in my opinion this is more of a 3rd person shooter.  The story line is second to none, sometimes you feel as if you are playing and interactive movie. Every character has a story to tell and it is done so well and with the added element of building relationships with your crew members and seeing their reactions it just brings this game out into it’s own. This is definately a game you should definately atleast try.

 

Hope you enjoyed my short review. Listen to my opinions of the game in more detail on episode 104 of 360GamerCast

You know how Darksiders is gaining all manner of praise for combining aspects from many different sources, refining them, and coming up with something even better? Well Dark Void has tried the same principle, yet failed almost completely.

Developed by Airtight games, Dark Void tells a rather hackneyed story of a plane crash in the Bermuda triangle that leads to an adventure killing bizarre robots which were apparently responsible for stirring up the nazis in the lead up to world war 2. Fan of Lost? If so then the story in Dark Void will definitely feel very familiar. Plane crash on a desert island? Check. Person killed by who knows what just after the crash? Check. Ship stranded in the middle of said island? Check. I’ll be surprised if there isn’t a lawsuit from the Lost writers!

The big hook of the game is supposedly the jet pack which the player gets to use to soar through the air, killing enemies all the while. This is teased in the prologue to the game during which you have a fully powered jetpack at your disposal which you use to take down some UFO’s. The jetpack sections are without a doubt the most enjoyable parts of the game.

So far so good then. Unfortunately though, as the game proper starts you are stripped of your jetpack and forced into a rather poor third person shooter (think Gears of War, but nowhere near as good). The cover system is poor, often leaving you still vulnerable to fire. Zooming in moves the camera just that little too close in causing you to lose track of where you are and making movement difficult. Enemies often take up to a full clip of ammo in order to die which is almost reasonable considering they are mainly cybernetic. Strangely though the player also seems to be able to take a full clip of ammo before being killed, despite only wearing a leather jacket for armour.


As you progress through the game you slowly unlock a better and better jetpack however the problem persists that you are constantly thrown back into these sub par third person action sections. Exploration of the island (think Uncharted, but nowhere near as good) is really not as enjoyable as it could have been as for the most part you have an underpowered jetpack when you are longing for far more.

Graphically the game is nothing special with below par textures permeating the poorly designed levels. The soundtrack is nothing to write home about either. The control scheme for both jetpack and third person sections is poor and inaccurate. All of these factors serve only to confirm the conclusion that this is a poor game indeed.

In conclusion, I would seriously recommend avoiding Dark Void unless you have played absolutely every other game you are even slightly interested in. Playing the game wasted several hours of my life that would have been better spent doing pretty much anything else at all.

Verdict: 4/10. Poor

I’m sure by now that you’ve all heard about the 40/40 Bayonetta received from Famitsu and the 10/10 from Edge. Scores like these don’t come along very often from such well respected publications, but does the game deserve them? Let’s find out.

For those that don’t know, Bayonetta is a third person action game from the creator of Devil May Cry, Hideki Kamiya. To liken it to the most recent outing in the DMC series though would be like comparing Champagne to sparkling wine. Bayonetta takes the ideas and gameplay mechanisms from DMC and turns everything up to 11.

The story of the game is extremely confusing. Our titualr heroine has lost her memories and can only remember her existence since she woke up in a coffin at the bottom of a lake. She soon learns that she must fight angels to preserve her existence and this eventually leads her to find out more about her past. If you manage to understand the story of this game, then you’re a better man than I. Thankfully Bayonetta more than makes up for the confusing story in other areas.

The gameplay is where Bayonetta really shines above any action game that has come before, and I do include the God of War series in that statement. The controls are simple and revolve around combinations of kicks (B), punches (Y) and a set of weapons that are collected as you progress through the game. These weapons can be equipped to Bayonettas hands or feet, and the diferent combinations of wepon loadouts lead to different combos that are performed when pressing the kick or punch button in sequence. This is coupled with the ability to dodge enemy attacks using the left trigger and doing so at the very last second triggers Witch time. This is essentially bullet time in Bayonetta, and once it is activated enemies will move slower which enables the player to pull off some of the more outlandish combos. Extra moves can be unlocked using the in-game currency which is the halos of dead angels. As you can imagine due to the large number of different possible weapon combinations, there is a ridiculously large scope for different fighting styles. You can even change loadouts on the fly by pressing the left trigger if you find you’re not satisfied with your current set-up.

Stringing together combos will gradually charge you magic meter and once this is full you will be able to use the brutal torture moves. These include things like iron maidens, guillotines and gigantic wheels with spikes on. The torture moves are incredibly satisfying to pull off and give a little respite from the chaos of combat whilst Bayonetta mashes the enemy. That is for all of a couple of seconds until it is the player who has to mash buttons in order to max out the effect of the torture attack.


 
The most powerful weapon at your disposal is Bayonettas own hair. The skintight catsuit that she’s wearing is actually made up of her own hair, and when you unleash certain combos she will use it to summon demons to attack her enemies. Gigantic demons are summoned to apply finishing moves to the games many bosses and these are some of the most brilliant looking moments of the game.



Talking about brilliant looking moments, I have to say that the graphics of the game are no less than stunning. There are some minor issues with screen tearing but due to the beauty of the game I’ve found myself more than willing to let these slide. On occasion it is possible for the screen to become cluttered with enemies which can be confusing, but all that’s necessary to reacquaint yourself with whats going on is to quickly dodge Bayonetta back into view. The music in the game is also worthy of note, with some of the angelic sounding pieces matching perfectly with the environments in which you find yourself fighting.

The difficult thing for me in writing this review is that I know you, dear reader, have no context for what I’m saying. To help with that let me tell you that if this game had been released 2 weeks ago it would have been my game of the year 2009. It really is that good. The satisfaction of the combat is unparalleled in gaming and it’s this that makes Bayonetta such an incredible experience. At several moments during the game I’ve found myself mouthing the word ‘wow’, and I simply cannot remember the last time a game had this effect on me. It’s hard to put down, fun to play, gorgeous looking and completely sexy in every sense of the word. I hope that many of you at the very least give it a try as otherwise you really will be missing out.

Verdict: 9.4/10. Stunning.

Like the sound of that? Or just like free stuff? For details on how you can win a copy of the game click here.

I would like to begin by saying yes, I know this game isn’t a new ones, but I only recently decided it was time to give it a try. There are very few games any more which make me yelp in startled wonderment, let alone jump out of my chair. Dead Space managed both of these within the first 30 minutes of playtime. Sadly, it didn’t last very long. As a survival horror third-person shooter video game (what?), it did it’s job okay… for most people. However, being desensitized from playing so many games & watching so many horror films, the novel terror wore thin after the first chapter. Coming into the game, I noticed right away how lovely it was. The graphics are quite nice & I was intrigued as my shuttle landed in the docking bay, yet there was my first annoyance.

 

 

The movement in the game is like Mass Effect in 3rd person view… all the time. You can’t switch to a first person view & your character is always slightly to the side of the screen. I understand this is because you need to see your health & stasis energy, but really, this could have been done with a HUD or something. All right I suppose we can let that one slide a little because you sort of get used to it… I guess. I had a little trouble adjusting to the way the camera looked when I was trying to spin around, but enough of that.

 

 

So the graphics, as I said, were nice. They were great in fact, with one glaring flaw to wretch your eyes out. Because it’s on a spaceship, Dead Space was very limited as to the scenery it could provide the player. It seemed that I was either in a steel grey hall with rust, a steel grey hall with rust & organic flesh everywhere, or a steel grey hall with slightly green organic rusty walls. & there were some pumpkins at one point, which I thought was very amusing, but I’m not sure why. So after the second chapter, when all the variations of organic ship structure had been offered to me, I started to find it boring to look at. Even the various graphical changes to my Rig & weapons didn’t make it any better. Here was this game which presented itself so beautiful, torn into a slightly dark & dreary living vessel.

 

 

These tiresome graphics added to the dulling down of my startles through out the game as well. After the first chapter ended I knew what to expect & so things didn’t really startle me anymore. I jumped a few times, the whispering was a bit creepy, but after a very short period of unrest, I began to expect the enhanced whispering in the loo’s & I knew that pressing a button near my objective would cause the blast doors to come down & dudes would come out of the walls to attack me. After the first chapter, the only part which did put the living fear of god into me was at the very end of the game, right before the credits roll. I won’t say what it is though.

 

 

The combat is pretty engaging, though the weapons are a little lack lustre. As soon as I got the Ripper, that’s all I used until I got the Force Gun & then it was easy street. It was really at the Ripper once you realise that anything & everything will die from either being shot in the head with the saw-blade or hacked to pieces with the chainsaw like function. I didn’t even use the other guns until the very last boss when I was forced to use the Pulse Rifle for two kills, then back to the Force Gun. I suppose if I had upgraded the other, inferior, weapons all the way & not touched my two overpowered BFG’s, then maybe they would have been some use to me.

 

 

That brings me to the upgrading system. It’s… well I don’t want to say broken as you’re not really supposed to be upgrading everything to the max on your first play-through. It got to where I was literally tripping over ammo for my two monster guns so I ended up selling everything else. I never once used an air container (& didn’t even upgrade my Rig’s air capacity until chapter 10/12 I think) so I sold all those, & I didn’t use med kits until I was being thrown Medium kits, so I ended up selling all my small ones & just keeping one or two on me. Then it got to where I would sell the Mediums as I was finding Large ones everywhere.

 

 

The whole point of this is that to upgrade your Rig, Stasis, Knesis, & various weapons, you need power nodes which are found or bought at the Store for 10k each. I upgraded completely my two guns, my rig, stasis, & knesis. I could have easily upgraded to the max a few more weapons, but I just didn’t see the point. I was also being weighed down by my own credits at this point & at the end of the game I got yet another 50k & 10 more power nodes for my next play-through.

 

 

Also, I would like to briefly comment on something I absolutely hate in games like this. Mini-games. Shit like sit in this chair & shoot fucking asteroids with this unwieldy mining gun. This was the worst of the worst here. It took me 11 tries to complete this mini-game, unskippable of course, not because it was hard so much as the gun was almost impossible to control. I’d move it a little to the side & it’d fly to the other side of the screen. We just need to do away from these things. They are not fun! I would also like to say that I hate vehicle sections in games too, especially FPS’ because I’m playing it to shoot some dudes, not ride around in a god-damn Jeep because the game wants me to get from point A to point B in record time. I’ll walk it!

 

 

Anyroad, last, but not least, the music in the game left something to be desired. It sounded like someone was trying to scratch old symphony records. I shit you not. The surrealistic classical music that always seemed to be playing was only further driven into by a screwdriver when something was going to happen when it changed from symphonies written by a five year old to people franticlly hitting their string instruments against a wall. Not to mention, all this happens about 20 seconds before you even run into something. Talk about taking the surprise out of something. Now I’m a fan of a lot of classical music, as well as other music, but this was just… chewing on tinfoil.

 

 

Despite all these flaws, I do think it was a pretty okay game. I managed 29/48 achievements on my first run through of the game, & I didn’t even try for them. I did enjoy the game for the most part. There’s very little more fun than dismembering a lot of mutants (especially mutant deformed babies) with a saw-blade. However, I don’t feel the urge to play it again, not even for the achievements. Even if I keep my upgrades, it doesn’t make the game more interesting. The characters were dull & I didn’t give a shite about them, & the voice acting was pretty emotionless. Lines spoken rather than lines delivered. I might buy the game somewhere down the line if I see it for really cheap, but I just don’t want to play it again. I beat it once, it wasn’t hard, I don’t have a desire to do it again.

 

 

I guess I would probably recommend it for a playthrough, but if you really must get all the achievements… good luck to you. My brian is going to melt if I try for them all.

Game: Assassins Creed II
Certificate: 15+ BBFC
Price: £36.99 (Tesco’s)

Ok hello everyone, this is my first review that I am going to do for the site, I hope it helps everyone who is sitting on the fence regarding this game based on the last one.
I have not written many reviews yet, however I have submitted some reviews for Eurogamer in the past. Hopefully this will help some people with their decision regarding this game.

 

 

Story (spoilers ahoy!) 8.6/10
This game is set in two different times, modern day and the 14/1500′s in Italy. Most of the game is set in Italy, however there are some parts where you play as Desmond again, which this time include action scenes and fights. The story for him picks up where the last game left off, and is a fairly good continuation of the series. The new character, the stylish Italian Ezio Audiotoire, is just a teenage member of a rich family when his father and brothers are arrested for treason and executed. Obviously, Ezio is a little bit upset about this and murders the man that set hsi family up. He then flees the city and meets his uncle Mario (no he’s not a plumber) and escapes to the families villa. From there the story continues, however I don’t want to spoil it for you here. Needless to say, the acting and emotion are well portrayed, with the characters having good Italian accents, and using some Italian words to add to the realism. However if you haven’t played the first game you might get a bit lost in the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design 9.2/10
This game is a lot less linear than the last game, and has more branching paths, side quests and hidden extras to find. This adds greatly to the value of the game, and makes it less tedious as the last game. You can still do the same type of missions that were required in the last game (pickpocketing, beating people up etc) but now they are optional extras to earn you money. As a result you find yourself enjoying the bits in between the big assassinations, which was not the case in the first game.
They have now added a new RPG-style system that involves your villa. By doing missions, killing targets and if you are desperate pickpocketing, you can earn money that is firstly used to buy new weapons that improve your killing power, and secondly to upgrade your villa and the town next to it. By upgrading different shops and services, you improve the economy and discounts that you receive. From the money earned by the different shops in town, you get a percentage every 20 minutes, Fable II style. This gives you an incentive to upgrade as more money means a better chance of survival due to a more deadly arsenal.

 

 

Gameplay 9.5/10
The gameplay in Assassins Creed II is as fun as ever, with free running, fighting and climbing making up the majority of the game. Free running is great, by holding A and RT you instantly scale any surface that is climbable. It feels fun and fluid, and the animation is just superb, because of this you will find yourself getting distracted just so that you can try climbing everything that you see in the city. The combat is also great, however you do find yourself relying on counters a bit too much still, however other than that the fighting feels good and counters are rewarded with gory finishers, some of which are pretty brutal. The hidden blades are back, and are as awesome as ever. Now you can get two hidden blades, which allow multiple simultaneous stealth kills. You also have a lot more options in regards to situation kills, for example you can now throw guards off ledges, jump out of some hay for a quick kill, or even drag an unwitting guard into the waters of Venice for a silent kill. These new additions really add to the game, and make it an altogether more rewarding experience.

 

 

 

 

Presentation 9.3/10
(Please note that this game was played by me with both full 1080p and standard definition on a 19 inch TV.)
The graphics in this game are great. Played in full HD they are clear, crisp and beautiful, with the stunning views of rural Tuscany spread before you. In SD, they are a bit dimmer, but still improve on the old game in every way. The new additions such as being able to dye your clothes different colors add greatly to the customization of the game, and allow everyone to make their clothes their favorite color. The sound is better than the last game too, with the accents more believable (however the Middle Eastern Altair in the last game spoke with an American accent, so its not hard to improve) and the use of the Italian language adds to the authenticity. The sound effects are excellent, with sword clashes sounding realistic and guards screams sounding suitably terrified. Overall it has an excellent presentation, which has improved over the first game.

 

 

Overall
This game is a massive improvement on the last game in almost every way. Fans of the original will certainly love this entry to the series, however even people who hated the first game will be hard pushed to find faults with this. However if you really loathed the first game, rent it first and see what you think then. Anyone who is sitting on the fence should not be unsure, and should pick this game up as soon as possible, or at least wait until it goes down in price if you are really not sure. This game is definitely one of the best games of this years Q4, and if Modern Warfare 2 is not your cup of tea then you should certainly pick this excellent game up for 20+ hours of sneaking, climbing and fighting in beautiful medieval Italy.

Overall score: 9.2/10
Buy, Rent or Miss: Buy

 

 

Review by Urban Surfer

It’s a new year so that must mean that there is a new Smackdown vs Raw game. Over the last ten years these games have become an annual tradition along the same lines as a Madden or a Fifa, but is there any need for you to go spend your hard earned cash on the game? Let’s find out

 

The roster for SvR10 is vast with 67 WWE superstars for you to choose from, ranging from the top stars such as John Cena, The Undertaker or Triple H to the lesser known stars such as Dolph Zigler, Evan Bourne or Jack Swagger. Old school fans may also be happy to hear that unlike last year’s The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are back in the game, which I’m sure will make some people happy.

 

There is a down side to the roster on SvR10 and that is that it’s a little out of date, the roster in the game has superstars that were in the company at wrestlemania 25 which was in march 2010,  which means that’s there’s 6 wrestlers in the game that haven’t been with WWE for about 6months.

 

But all in all the roster is a big plus for the game. 8/10

 

New Features

 

WWE storyline creator – This is new to the Smackdown franchise, it allows the user to create storylines for the wrestlers in the WWE. I was really looking forward to this part of the game in the build up to its release but I must say I’ve been let down by it, the storylines may take a hours to make and at the end of it it just seems a little pointless considering the road to wrestlemania game mode and also the career mode.

 

Training facility – this is a good little mode that has been added to the game, its kind of like the arena in fifa, it allows the user to try out moves that they have been finding difficult to pull off in the proper matches.

 

Road to wrestlemania – This may not be a new feature to the game but it has new wrestlers in which you can navigate through the mode with. For the first time you can use a WWE diva in the mode which hasn’t been available before.

 

Superstar threads – This mode allows the user to create they’re own clothes for the WWE superstars, this mode is very limited though as you can only change the colour of the clothes they are already wearing, so for those people wanting to put triple h in a dress I’m sorry but you just cant.

 

There aren’t many new features in the game so I would give this a decent 7/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Improvements

 

Create a Wrestler – For me this mode has been dramatically improved over the last few years, it allows the user to go into much more detail than was available before. You can now create your own tattoos and logos in the game but I did find that to be a little sluggish.

 

Improved created a finisher – I don’t really know why they are calling improved as it’s the same as last year with the only exception being you can now create top rope finishers, so for all the people that want their superstar to do a back flip 5 times then go ahead.

 

There’s a few minor improvements to the games but not a complete over haul 7/10

 

Online/DLC

 

Ranked/Player matches – This for me is always a bad thing about SvR games, the online matches are terrible, I don’t know why but when ever I play its constantly lagging or people are doing the same moves over and over. So for me this is a major downside to the game.

 

The community – SvR is a huge selling game every year, but there never has been somewhere where people can show off what they’ve made etc, well know that all changes with SvR10. users can now upload wrestlers who they’ve created (expect a lot of borat) they can also upload finishers, WWE storylines, which I would recommend as there’s a lot of good ones available, WWE highlight reels, entrance movies and screenshots. There’s a load for people to go and download.

 

Playing matches online is a major low for the game but the community for SvR is fantastic. 9/10.

 

Overall

 

You may notice that I haven’t spoke about the actual gameplay, this is because it’s the same for all the other SvR games, its solid but not ground breaking, which is what id say the game itself. It’s a game that will keep you entertained for a while, but you won’t keep coming back for more. Once you’ve done all the roads to wrestlemania’s and done the careers mode there nothing else to do other than do exhibition matches.

 

Defiantly worth a rent.

 

7.5/10

 

Good –

 

The community

 

The roster

 

Create a wrestler

 

Bad –

 

Online matches

 

WWE storyline creator

 

Michael Berry

 

BerryGunner8

Halo Waypoint has just hit the scene and boy are we glad that it has. Already fans are weeping with joy over the new virtual experience brought to us by Microsoft Game Studios and the friendly folk at 343 Industries.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the program, Halo Waypoint is the very impressive HQ for all halo fans on Xbox Live, gold. This program is still fresh and therefore its content is limited, however we already have two sections to play around in.

The first is known as Intel, your halo library. Here you will be able to access pictures, tips, videos, articles and so much more. Updated every day from various sources (including yourselves!) Halo Waypoint are forever gracing us with unseen exclusives. Intel is also going to be the home of the up and coming hit, “Halo Legends”, the new halo universe story soon to be released in a series of episodes. For more details, see below.

The second section of Waypoint is entitled ‘Career’. This area deals with all your statistics. It tracks your progress through some of the halo games and also your achievements – this includes all downloadable content. Using a user-friendly system, Waypoint converts all of your accomplishments from most of the halo games into leaderboard system. This system divides into two categories; awards, based on groups of achievements, and milestones, based on your overall halo gamerscore.

If that isn’t enough to please you, Halo Waypoint also provides users with free unlockable avatar awards! Now we’re not going to reveal what you need to do to get these awards, but we will tell you that you automatically get one just for opening Halo Waypoint .

Us 360gamercast folk (the UK’s #1 Xbox 360 podcast) are thrilled by Halo Waypoint and we know you guys will be to, so take our advise and go download it today! 360Gamercast will not be held responsible for any disappointment or damage caused by fits of outrage ‘.’. Enjoy!

Halo Legends Schedule:

Episode Airing Date (24-hour)

Introduction to “Halo Legends”                           05/11/09

“The Babysitter”                                              07/11/09

Making of “The Babysitter”                                14/11/09

“The Duel”                                                     21/11/09

Making of “The Duel”                                       28/11/09

“The Package” Part 1                                       05/12/09

Making of “The Package”                                  12/12/09

“The Package” Part 2                                       19/12/09

Making of “The Package”                                  26/12/09

“Origins” Part 1                                               02/01/10

Making of “Origins”                                          09/01/10

Trailers of upcoming episodes                            02/02/10

For more information visit: http://twitter.com/HaloWaypoint

Adam C.

AdamnessX

Publisher : Electronic Arts
Developer : BioWare Edmonton
Offline Players : 1
Online Cooperative : N/A
Console Exclusive : No

 

 ‘You are a grey warden, one of the last of a legendary order of guardians. With the return of mankind’s ancient foe and the kingdom engulfed in civil war, you have bee chosen by fate to unite the shattered lands and slay the Archdemon once and for all.’

 

 Has anyone ever heard of that story with a noble warrior, a damsel in distress and a fearful dragon? Yeah me neither…

 

 Released on November 6^th, Dragon Age: Origin has swept us humble RPG fans off our feet, in a good, magical kind of way. The game is a RPG based game described as a ‘dark heroic fantasy.’

 

 Upon starting a new game you will be presented with a character customisation window. Here you will have to determined the gender of your hero, your race, your class and your background. Now already you are faced with crucial decisions as each choice you make will reflect your characters gameplay. For example should you choose to be an Elf, expect to be treated like a slave. If you then go on to choose to be a city Elf, your story will unfold in a way unique to that character, as will all the other background options. Next you will have to create your hero’s appearance and then finally selecting your attributes, skills and talents. Attributes work on a point based system and the skills and talents have to be learnt. There are over 70 skills and talents for your character to learn.

 

 Once in the game you’re going to find ourself gripped with a story leading onto your membership of the grey warden’s. As a grey warden you are expected to help fight the true cause of all this evil – the Archdemon. A simple task you may believe, but this path is not without its bumps. Players prepare yourselves for crazed assassin’s, wicked witches of the wild and demon children! Now I don’t want to give much of the gameplay away so you’re just going to have to drool over this snip-it of information.

 

 Moving away from the story and onto the critical analysis, it was instantly clear that this game was what it promised to be and more. The graphics in this game are beautiful (even if everything is covered in blood) and the voice acting is astounding. The flow of the gameplay is consistent and the the replay value is great (if you want to truly play the game that is).

 

 The best features and themes worth mentioning are that of; a multi-choice based answer system, moral dilemmas which really draw you into the lives of these characters, adult content and disturbing images, and of course a challenging game in general.

 

 Overall this game is simply a winner for all RPG fans. Rarely is there a game which truly ticks all the boxes, and believe you me, this game certainly does. We here at 360gamercast are willing to put our butts on the line and say to all you epic fantasy adventure fans – buy this game now!

 

                                                                                             

                                                                                                                     Adam C.

                                                                                                                      AdamnessX