The 3DS has already been demonstrating its power in terms of 3D gameplay – with titles such as Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D literally porting a 3D console title (albeit an old one) to the handheld format with better graphics than the original, and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D showing the console’s capability to handle gameplay matching Resident Evil 5, although in the form of a score-beating mini-game style as opposed to an actual story.

Now, Resident Evil: Revelations is perhaps the biggest title on the 3DS so far – presented on a higher capacity game cartridge than other 3DS titles, it’s a fully-fledged Resident Evil game on a handheld. This is no spin-off, or arcade game – it’s a full entry into the series, set between the events of Resident Evil 4 and 5. And not only that, the title was promised to return to the series’ more scary roots. Anyway – that’s enough of my waffling, on with the actual review.

The game’s main plot revolves around that of Jill Valentine – who finds herself on a deserted cruise liner at sea – following a distress call from Chris Redfield after the BSAA lose contact with him. She is joined by her partner Parker, who is a likeable character that I enjoyed fighting alongside – people who disliked Sheva’s AI will be pleased to hear that he doesn’t die on you or use any of your items, however. It is questionable as to how much having a partner takes away some of the horror of the game, but I felt his place in the game was well deserved.

The game plays in a third person perspective, much like the modern console RE titles, and any fan of the series will very quickly feel at home. There’s no awkwardness to the controls (and I played without the Circle Pad Pro), which is something that handheld shooters have suffered from in the past. The touch screen is available for weapon switching and item usage, but generally you can do everything using buttons if you so choose – aside from a couple of touch screen puzzles that work well with the game. The tocuh screen can also be used to freely move the camera around Jill, but I didn’t find this to be something I ever needed to use – the third person camera functioning perfectly well on it’s own. After all, who can see behind them without turning, anyway? But honestly, I never really felt handicapped without a second stick, and the few times I did want to use the free camera, the touchscreen sufficed.

The ship that Jill is exploring for the most part of the game is very much like a floating mansion from the old games – that is, the areas are non-linear and you are able to back track around the ship and find keys that open doors elsewhere. This was a very welcome return to the series for me, exploring the ship brought back fond memories of what I loved about the original games – making the place feel more self-contained and claustrophobic, while never knowing whether to feel safe even when returning through an area you had already explored.

That said, the game plays in a chapter based episodic style, which does spoil the exploration a little – chapters have you swapping to other characters in other locations for different parts of the story. The chapters revolving around other characters are more linear, and break away from the fear of the cruise liner. That’s not to say that these sections were bad – the episodic style helps for shorter sessions on a handheld, and it helps the plot progression – but at times I did wish I could just stick to Jill for a more cohesive experience. This isn’t particularly helped by new characters Grinder and Jackass (yes, that’s his actual handle), who are very much cookie-cutter characters that I didn’t really care about and actually questioned whether their presence in the game was really necessary, other than to add extra characters for the game’s Raid Mode (more on this later).

The main inhabitants of the Queen Zenobia (the cruise liner) are creatures called Ooze – the idea being that a new type of virus has been released on the inhabitants, turning them into deformed monsters. While I didn’t find them as visually scary as a zombie (seeing as they look less human), the Ooze do offer what I love about zombies – they take quite a few bullets to go down, and they skulk in silence – unlike the gun-toting enemies in RE5 that felt more or less like normal people (but crazy ones). There are a few varieties of the enemy, gradually adding tougher ones as the game goes on. Ammo is fairly plentiful but not given to you in surplus, so the mixture of the Ooze’s relative toughness and the need to conserve ammo does keep things tense, which is nice.

To counter the lack of ammo, a new move has been added to the game – the dodge. If you tap the analogue nub toward the enemy right before an attack hits, you will duck and run under their attack, avoiding damage. It’s very handy and a nice addition, but if you mess it up you leave yourself open to take the hit. The game also includes a weapon upgrade system – you can hold up to three weapons at once, and when you collect more you can change your loadout via the various storage chests dotted around the game. When on the weapon menu, you can attach various upgrades to slots in each weapon, such as boosts in firing rate or damage. It’s not an incredibly deep system, but it does add a little tactical customisation which I appreciated.

One new tool of note is the scanning device you have access to in the game. By selecting it, you enter a night-vision style first person view that allows you to scan enemies and the environment. Every time you scan a certain amount of enemies, you will be awarded a green herb – obviously this leaves you vulnerable while scanning, but offers you the chance at healing when you are desperate. You can also scan to find ammo in the area if you are desperate, as well as ghostly hidden hand-prints that work towards unlocking an achievement (more below). While this feature is handy, I did sometimes feel that it was a chore to keep scanning each room and slowed the game’s pace a little more than I would like. Thankfully, it’s optional for the most-part so is more for those who want to use it.

Another new feature worth mentioning is the ability to swim – due to the ocean setting of the game, there are times when areas will flood, and you can swim in deep water to progress. The controls work well, allowing you to swim in any direction – and you do need to worry about breath, so it’s important to keep finding places to top up your air. The swimming sections felt like a natural progression for the series’ gameplay, and I always find underwater sections to be quite scary as you are vulnerable from every direction and under pressure to move quickly.

Also new to the game is achievements – by completing certain tasks in the game, you unlock achievements – much like you would in the 360 or PS3 games. However, rather than giving you bragging rights or a general completion score, each achievement you pass unlocks a new item – such as a new weapon or upgrade item. This is a nice extra incentive and adds some extra play value, though it does have the annoying function of being able to add new achievements to beat via Streetpass - something that doesn’t do much good when you don’t live in an area hugely populated with 3DS owners who actually use Streetpass. However, I haven’t beaten all of the achievements so far, so I hope that other ones will always open up as I clear the ones I already have – I don’t want to miss out on any potential unlocks simply due to where I live.

As I mentioned earlier, the game includes a side game called “Raid Mode”. This acts in a similar way the Mercenaries mode offered in previous games – a more arcade style side-game which involves working your way through areas and killing all of the enemies on the way. While the gameplay doesn’t offer anything hugely different to the game, the ability to play as other characters and the addition of co-op are the main draws here. Sadly I had no opportunity to test the co-op, but I can see this being a good way to extend the game’s play time – with the mode incorporating a levelling system to unlock new achievements and access new guns and characters, there’s a certain level of appeal that keeps you coming back.

Overall, I believe Resident Evil: Revelations does what it sets out to do – it’s a true handheld Resident Evil title, merging the gameplay of the modern games with more of the horror aspects of the older titles. While I wouldn’t say it’s the scariest game in the series, there are some good jumps here and there and a good atmosphere. While I feel the game could have been scarier if Jill was alone for the most part and there weren’t regular side-scenarios with other characters, the 10 hour story holds its own against Resident Evil 5 and is an incredible experience in terms of a handheld title. Definitely one of the best 3DS games so far.

- Leon

When Dynasty Warriors 6 made a lot of changes to the series, mostly for the worse in my eyes, Tecmo-Koei did the right thing – they returned to the formula from the earlier games and built upon it with better graphics, new gameplay elements and the best re-telling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms so far – while retaining all that made Dynasty Warriors a series that I enjoy. So, keeping in line with Dynasty Warriors 4 & 5, they have now released an Xtreme Legends expansion to add even more features to the latest version of the game – however exclusively on Playstation 3, which some Xbox 360 players may be disappointed to hear.

Similarly to the older versions, Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends is a standalone title, but is designed in a way that it can be combined with the original for a fuller experience. Therefore, none of the original gameplay modes (Story, Conquest) are included on disc, aside from the tutorial. I’ll talk more about the “Remix” combining system in a bit – but for now, I’ll tell you about the main modes of Xtreme Legends.

The main mode in XL is “Legend Mode”, which puts you in a small ruined village that develops as you progress. Similar to pre-battle camps and Conquest Mode cities from the original game, this is a fairly small hub filled with NPCs that you may talk to for information and various services. When you begin, you decide which officer you want to play as (from any of XL’s roster of 65 characters), and a second character to act as an Adjutant for the city. The character you choose as Adjutant affects how the city will grow, as well as any perks you will gain as it does so – as you complete missions, more NPC’s will arrive in the city, and their mood will depend on the atmosphere of the city. For the most part, though, the city acts as a base from which you can organise yourself before a battle – with dealers to buy new weapons, a Strategist who lets you buy stat upgrades, and a few other things.

By talking to the guard at the city gate, you may access the main meat of Legend mode - the various battle scenarios that are included. These stages follow various battles throughout the Three Kingdoms story, but are mostly told from the perspective of different characters than in the original DW7 story mode. This means that many of the characters that weren’t playable in the original Story mode - including “Other” forces such as Lu Bu, Dong Zhou and Meng Hou - have their own scenarios  in Xtreme Legends. When you choose a stage, it will tell you which character it recommends you play as, usually being the focal character for that section. However, unlike the original Story mode you are given free rein to choose any character you wish, so if you’d rather play as someone else that’s also possible. Aside from these character focused stages, there are also an assortment of revamped stages from earlier Dynasty Warriors titles, which all allow you to play from both sides of the battle. There are over 40 stages, so there’s a fair amount to be getting on with.

The stages themselves are much the same as you’d expect from a Dynasty Warriors game – as this is an expansion, the gameplay retains all of the same mechanics as before, crunching your way through thousands of enemy soldiers on large battlefields as you take down various officers to complete objectives and win the battle. I won’t go too into detail here – if you’re new to the series, feel free to check out my review of the original title for more detail on the game’s battle mechanics. The Legend Mode does include its own assortment of cut scenes, so there’s new sections of story that mostly help to develop characters who didn’t get as much limelight in the original title.

As you beat stages, you gain gold which you may use to purchase items from the city, and you may also work on unlocking other bonuses – such as gaining new Titles. By beating certain character specific goals that gradually get harder as you progress, you will gain ranks for that character that grant them additional bonuses – such as strength bonuses using certain weapon types, or reaching certain KO counts within strict time limits. As a bonus, the last medals for each character unlock accessories that change the appearance of that character – a very nice touch for people who like customisation options. On top of that, every stage in Legend mode has one or two new Secret Weapons to obtain – by meeting special objectives within the individual missions when playing on Chaos (or the new “Nightmare”) difficulty. This adds another element to the stages, which makes replaying them worthwhile and more exciting.

Since Dynasty Warriors 7 only allowed you to use many of the characters in its Conquest Mode, it seems that the developers have taken that issue into consideration, with every character being able to access every stage and mode that Xtreme Legends has to offer. Even more importantly to me, they have also done the same with multiplayer functionality – meaning that all modes now incorporate local and online co-op, save for Challenge mode which is local only.

The Challenge mode is something that Dynasty Warriors has seen in the past, adding a few side distractions with online leaderboards. There are four challenges in total – Rampage, where you try to defeat as many enemies as possible within a time limit, Arena, which is similar except the fight is purely against other officers, Bridge Melee, where you have to knock off as many enemies as you can without falling off yourself (harder than you might think), and Speed Run, where you have to run through a series of gates, defeating enemies as you go in order to get to the end as quickly as possible – very similar to the ”Guan Yu’s Escape” scenario. While these stages are a bit of fun, they’re unlikely to keep you busy for long unless you really enjoy competing on online rankings.

Aside from new modes, DW7XL also adds three new characters to the mix – Pang De, Wang Yi, and Guo Jia, all on the side of Wei. Pang De is a returning character from Dynasty Warriors 5 who wields twin axes, and has the ability to call a charging troop of cavalry for his musou attack, which is quite original. Wang Yi, a strong female character, introduces a new weapon, the Trishula which works as a pair of bladed trident-like tonfas capable of quick combos, with Wang Yi able to pull off a quick string of hits as her EX special. She has one of my favourite musou attacks - running to an enemy and backflipping off of them, pulling off a cross-slash with her blades from the air. Guo Jia stars as a young strategist of Cao Cao’s, weilding a rod type weapon that looks like a pool cue, his attacks summoning orbs that circle him until he utilises them in other attacks. His first musou is quite unique, summoning an orb vortex that pulls in large numbers of enemies making them vulnerable. Overall, Pang De makes a welcome return, and the two new characters add some fresh moves to the game with their new weapons and musou attacks.

Alongside the two new weapons added with newcomers Guo Jia and Wang Yi, four other new weapons have also been added. While every character can use almost any weapon (although with varying skill) giving plenty of variety in DW7, a couple of the characters did feel as though they lost a little of their unique flair when given a less personalised weapon. In XL, I’m happy to say that Xiahou Dun has been updated to specialise with a “Podao” scimitar, giving him a more familiar stance than the regular swords could offer him, and Zhou Yun, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei have been updated to utilise the new Dragon Spear, Crescent Blade and Double Pike respectively – weapons that were sorely missed as they are almost synonymous with the characters. It does seem that the clans of Wu and Jin have been a little ignored in the updates to the roster and weaponry, but the changes that have been made are definitely for the better.

Now, the Remix mode is where Xtreme Legends really comes into its own - that being the mode that combines the two games together. When you initially boot Xtreme Legends, it will ask if you want to import your save file from Dynasty Warriors 7, allowing you to transfer over your progress to the side game. Once the game has loaded, you can access the Remix option which will allow you to briefly insert the original game disc to open up the old modes in the XL game. But it’s more than just having access to the old modes, it adds new features to them. While Xtreme Legends does work as a standalone title, I do think that the original game’s story mode is the best in the series so the game feels incomplete without it.

Remixing adds multiplayer to the Story mode, something I really missed in the original title. But not only that, it also opens up the ability to play as any character when using the chapter select mode – essentially creating a Free Mode that was also sorely missed in the original game – allowing you to play through any of the main missions with any character, alone or in co-op. The new characters are also merged into the stages, replacing the generic officers with the same name that were in the original title. Remixing also adds the three new characters to the Conquest mode, so that you may meet them and gain bonds with them in the same way as with the rest of the cast. On a side note – all of the DLC from the original game is compatible with Xtreme Legends - such as costumes, music and such, although you can only access the Conquest Mode DLC if you have the original game and use the Remix function to access Conquest Mode.

Warning: Completionists!

While my general opinion of the game is rather good, I do have one issue that’s caused me a bit of grief, and it’s concerning the Dynasty Warriors 7 trophies. Now, I’m no stickler for gamerscores and whatnot, but when I play a game I enjoy, I do like to try to accomplish all of the trophies for that particular game – seeing them as part of that “100% Complete” status. When you import your Dynasty Warriors 7 save data into Xtreme Legends, it essentially takes a snapshot of your current save file, and uses this as a basis for what your Xtreme Legends data uses as a starting point. So, if you had already beaten half of Conquest Mode and only two of the Story Mode campaigns, that would carry over into Xtreme Legends. However, beating those modes in XL’s Remix Mode will not grant you the trophies in the original DW7, and neither of your save files updates the other after the import is complete – making them essentially two different saves.

While this might not bother some people, it’s a big issue to me as I’d like to achieve both 100% Game Completion for the Remixed game, and Platinum trophies in both titles as well. But if I am to import my current DW7 data (with Conquest Mode incomplete), I will be required to finish Conquest Mode twice – once in DW7 for the trophy, and secondly in the Remixed DW7XL for the sake of completion (and all the unlocked weapons and rewards that come with it), and that’s no small task. The alternative is to get the Dynasty Warriors 7 Platinum trophy before importing to XL, but if you’re anything like me I don’t really have the patience to do all of that before I can enjoy the expansion. Like I said, this isn’t an issue if you don’t care at all about trophies – but it’s left me in a bit of an awkward situation where I have to decide if I’d like to hold off on playing XL till I’ve maxed the original title, or else know that I’m going to have to beat Conquest mode all over again at a later date (among other things) if I want to achieve that 100% goal somewhere down the line.

Trophy issues aside, Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends does a great job at expanding the original title with a couple of extra modes, multiplayer support, new characters, new weapons and a few other things. The game can be played standalone, but I wouldn’t reccommend it, as without the main Story Mode the game feels incomplete – and if you haven’t already got Dynasty Warriors 7 I’d suggest you get that instead. The newly added features bring a bit of fresh life into the game for fans of the original, but the standalone game wouldn’t make a good starting point for new players. Essentially, if you enjoyed Dynasty Warriors 7, I’d reccommend this. If you haven’t played the original, I wouldn’t go for this first.

Pros:
+ New stages, characters and unlockables expand Dynasty Warriors 7 nicely.
+ Freedom to choose any character for any stage, which combines into DW7′s Remixed modes.
+ Similarly, co-op mode both local and online available for most modes from both titles.
+ Some of the old characters improved with new weapon classes.
+ Legend Mode gives new storyline and missions focused around characters who weren’t given Story Mode scenarios in the original game.

Cons:
- Somewhat lacking if played standalone – it is essentially an expansion, not a full retail title.
- Dynasty Warriors 7 Trophies are not linked to the game when combined, which is a pain for completionists. 

Score: 7/10 –A good expansion for Dynasty Warriors 7, but only reccommended if you played the original and are thirsting for more to do. If you haven’t played Dynasty Warriors 7 – get that instead.

Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends is released today, Friday 18th of November.

- Leon

Sorry for the delay with the Sonic Generations review, truth is its such a good game its been near impossible to tear myself away! I hope to make up for this by providing not just a regular review of this title, oh no. What you have here, indeed, is a level-by-level synopsis.

Released on the 4th November 2011, Sonic Generations brings together and ties 3 major periods in Sonic’s lineage : the first being the 16-bit era, the second : 2000-2004, and the last being everything since. There are 9 regular levels, which are further supplemented by numerous boss battles, trials and other little bits.
Sega have confirmed that the pre-order figured for Generations is a new record for the franchise which I, as someone who has played the game through to the end, believe is nothing if not deserved.

Green Hill

The title starts off with a bang in the series’ most iconic level. And, gosh, let me tell you, you’ve never seen a Green Hill Zone quite like it! Never before has our beloved verdant haven exhibited so much variety. You’ll find twisty loops, rails, dash rings and more! All meshed side by side with the traditional sites of Totem poles, Crabmeat badniks, and of course, those unforgettable chequered hills!

One thing that really impressed me is not only the sense of deja-vu I get from the days of playing Sonic 1 on the Megadrive, but also how this level brings my mind back to other Sonic games I have loved in the past. For example, the darkened little enclave towards the end of Act 1 instantly (whether intentionally or not) reminded me of the tropical Jungle Zone from the 8 bit Sonic 1. Where as the roses Sonic runs past a little earlier in the Act remind me of the joys of playing the first level of Sonic Advance as a teenager.

The music is fabulous beginning with the housey/basey Classic rendition of the classic green hill zone tune then evolving in to a stomping Ska piece. Very fitting opener that instantly draws you in.

Chemical Plant

At first I was surprised to hear that Sonic 2′s Chemical Plant had been chosen for a Generations remake, thinking it a little too ambitious. Then I remembered that mecha levels (particularly in 3D) is something Sega excel at! They have the benefits of near-enough 20 years of experience making games since Chemical Plant’s original inception, and it shines through quite clearly. Sega have really done well to breathe new life into this old gem.

The 3D level, for example, has clearly taken many nods from levels such as Sonic Adventure’s Final Egg and Heroes’ Final Fortress. Neon-lit tunnels are in abundance, as are mesh flooring and hazards galore (but don’t worry, you now have Omochao to patronise help you!).

The blobbish blue poison, one of the level’s signature features, has been used in some interesting new ways. The 3D level, interestingly, incorporates it as avoidables for when skydiving, where as the Classic level features vats of the stuff, swirling away like the most ominous of lava lamps. The music’s pretty groovy too.

Sky Sanctuary

I want to begin by saying that the 3D level in Sky Sanctuary was my most pleasant surprise while playing Generations, and also my favourite level. So masterfully have The  Sonic Team managed not just to re-create that Star Wars-esque sense of anticipation, but also to weave that in with an eye-watering 3D rendition of the Athenian backdrops of the original. It boggles my mind quite frankly! This Act’s music was also drop-dead gorgeous, full of nifty electronic bits and sparkle, while also sounding slightly on the classical side, if that even sounds possible!

The 2D Act wasn’t quite so good… the music was poorer for a start. Aside from that it just felt like an amalgamation between the original stage and the 3D level found here, which was disappointing and, thankfully, something not found across the game as a whole.

Speed Highway

Speed Highway was perhaps my biggest disappointment in Generations. Sure its got the twisting roads, the floodlights, the rockets, the rails… even the helicopters of the original, and in many ways its better. However I felt it just didn’t have the same magic. Maybe its the absence of that glorious purple sky, or the simplicity of the original, but I think the main thing that makes this version less enjoyable than its Sonic Adventure incarnation is the removal of ‘Speed Highway at Dawn’, the much-loved mini-level at the very end of the original.

If I judge Speed Highway purely on its own merits, however, I cannot deny that it is a very fun stage! Among the things it manages to carry over and improve on is the flow of the level, which serves to demonstrate momentum-based platforming at its very best. It also needs to be noted that no effort was spared on this level’s visuals, and at any one time the screen is filled with a multitude of exciting things going on in the background.

City Escape

Its easy to see why this was chosen as a demo level for events like Eurogamer : it really is an outstanding piece of both art and of level design. The original City Escape itself couldn’t have come at a better time being smack bam in the middle of the Dreamcast era. Ah the Dreamcast era : a time when Sega were really out-doing themselves, particularly in the field of recreating bustling metropolitan scenes (see Shenmué and Jet Set Radio) the result was as it only could have been : the best level in Sonic Adventure 2.

As you might imagine from my enthusiasm, the Generations version actually manages to improve on this, not an easy task. The Generations version manages to squash more ideas into what feels like the same amount of time, with expanded parks, actual choice when encountering crossroads and an even more sinister and invasive evil monster lorry (atleast during Classic Sonic’s level. Meep!). The fan service featured in this level is unrivalled it has to be said. That’s quite a claim given this is Sonic Generations we’re talking about here! References include, but are not limited to, WANTED posters featuring Bark the Polar Bear, Bean the Dynamite, Fang/Snipe the Weasle, among others. There are also buildings entitled things such as ‘Coffee-Blaze, ‘Tails’ Pizza’ and ‘Amy’s Market’.

Music-wise I must say the tune featured in the classic level is one of my absolute favourites in the soundtrack. But I don’t think the 3D level’s track works so well. Laid back, almost country-ish rock can’t do justice to such an upbeat track as ‘Escape from the City’. Atleast not in my opinion.

Great level.

Seaside Hill

Oh, Seaside Hill. Its up there with the Green Hill Zone as one of the most featured level in the series’ entire lineage, despite being a poor man’s Emerald Coast. Its featured in at least 5 games so far, and will no doubt feature in many more. As you may be able to tell, I’m a little bit sick of Seaside Hill, so can’t say I particularly enjoyed this level. Particularly the 3D stage, which was very similar to the original (although at least this time you’re not restrained by Sonic Heroes’ seriously annoying play style).
The 2D version is a little more original. Its a traditional water level with a temple-inspired background. It actually has some nice touches, such as when the whale propels you up by the stage by head-butting you. The music’s also good, a housey update.
All in all not an appalling experience by anyone’s standards, but certainly my least favourite level from the selection thats on offer here.

Crisis City

I laughed when reading SonicYoda’s review of Sonic Generations on SegaDriven.com. He wrote : “It should… be commended that Sonic Team made a Sonic ’06 level enjoyable!”.
Enjoyable it certainly is. Crisis City is a brilliant, suspense-filled jaunt through a high-rise city in lava-quenched peril. At times it reminds me of the first level of Shadow the Hedgehog, other times Chaotic Inferno from Sonic Rivals 2.
The music is somewhat reminiscent of that found in the Bowser castle levels from the original Mario Bros games. Oh the irony Its quite up-beat and housey, despite the impression of impending doom it simultaneously manages to convey. Brilliant.

Rooftop Run

Rooftop Run is based on the joyous, sunny level Spagonia from the mighty Sonic Unleashed. It’s quite an impressive home-coming it has to be said! Act 1 sees you navigating through buildings and streets built in that Western European many of us have missed so, while a continual flow of confetti descends from the sky, creating a really jubilant, summery feel. Later in the level you work your way up a glorious clock tower, which invoked in me happy memories of Nights : Journey of Dreams.

Act 2 looks a lot like the original level from which this was based, except more colourful, with an abundance of hot-air balloons! There’s also the breath-taking moment when you’ve finished running up this really high building and suddenly begin sliding down, spying a million tiny rooftops in the distance.

The music on both Acts is really good, and overall I’d say this is one of my favourite stages.

Planet Wisp

Like Seaside Hill, Planet Wisp doesn’t show a massive amount of deviation from the level from which it was originally inspired. Which, given how recent Sonic Colours still is (it was released in 2010), might not be that surprising.

Planet Wisps sees you strewn into what seems like an endless valley of flowers and mint-green grass, which soon gives way to a devious mecha red jungle. Like the Colours’ version (and, indeed, that whole game in general), it is actually quite challenging, and one you’ll certainly need to use your brain to get through. The 3D level also, unforgivably, has a bad case of Bottomless Pit Syndrome.

Not one of my favourite levels, but it was good to see the return of Wisps, the little creatures from Colours who’s fondness for I didn’t even realise until I saw them return while playing this! An interesting return to Eggman’s Amazing Interstellar Amusement Park.

So in conclusion what you have here are a wonderful set of levels that really draw successfully on, and exhibit well, the long history of Sonic, if not indeed Sega itself. The variety is top-notch, and gamers will find plenty of different play styles to keep them amused as they traverse these 9 fields of home.

I’ve got heaps more to say, but quite frankly it would take me another 1900 words and quite frankly I’m exhausted now. Instead I’m going to be cheeky and do a bit of a journalism no-no : just summarise the rest of my thoughts among the Pros and Cons section below.

Pros:
+ Jaw-dropping visuals that improve on everything that’s gone before.
+ Implements old ideas in awesome new ways
+ Nothing has been spared on the fun factor
+ Many different ways to play
+ Fan service is immense
+ Brilliant sound track

Cons:
- Some of the levels not quite as fun as others. But thats more me being nit-picky than anything
- The 2D levels don’t revert to 3D, so its annoying how the 3D levels go back to 2D sometimes

Score: 9.5/10 – Honestly the best-looking, best-sounding and, most importantly, funnest game I’ve played this century so far. No Sonic fan should be without this, heck, buy an Xbox/PS3 if you have to!

~HelenBaby

When I first heard about Batman: Arkham Asylum, I can’t say I really took interest. Being a casual fan of Batman thanks to the recent movie series, it wasn’t until I had a moment of boredom that I randomly decided to give the game’s demo a shot. I was glad I did – because Arkham Asylum ended up being one of the best games I’ve played – Rocksteady catching many people off-guard by producing a Triple-A title seemingly out of nowhere – creating a game with a great engine, beautiful visuals and an incredible portrayal of Batman and his enemies – full of the colour and imagination of a comic book, but also dark and gritty at the same time. Arkham Asylum turned me into a real Batman fan, even convincing me to purchase the latest issues of the Batman comics.

I’ve been highly anticipating Arkham City since it’s announcement, and enjoyed the official Arkham City graphic novel that leads up to the start of the new game (I’d recommend it as it bridges the two nicely), eager to get a taste of what’s to come. On release day, my copy arrived and I’ve since been playing the game to pieces at every opportunity. While Arkham Asylum was an unexpected hit, Arkham City is in a completely different situation – attempting to match or even beat the success of its predecessor. So, how does it measure up?

After the events of the first game, Warden Sharp took the credit for stopping the Joker - seizing power by using his lies to be elected as mayor of Gotham City. Using his new position, he deems Arkham Island unfit for containing the criminals of Gotham, instead turning a large portion of the city into an open-air prison surrounded by high-security walls – dubbing the area “Arkham City”, and leaving it under the control of the mysterious Hugo Strange - a psychiatrist and ex-patient of Arkham Asylum who has managed to deduce Batman’s true identity. Within the City lurks The Joker - still alive, but suffering from fatal Titan poisoning after using it on Arkham Island – vying for power against masterminds such as The Penguin and Two-Face, each fighting to take control of the city while Strange’s TYGER troops make sure that no-one escapes.

Rallying against the proposal of Arkham City, Bruce Wayne is kidnapped by Strange’s troops and thrown into the prison along with anyone else who opposes it. After a nice introduction where you get to play as Bruce being lead into the prison – including a fist-fight in handcuffs, he soon has his Batman gear airdropped in and proceeds to patrol the city as the Dark Knight to keep a watch over the inmates, and investigate Hugo Strange’s plans – an operation codenamed “Protocol 10″ apparently going to be set into motion very soon.

Obviously, one of the main changes to the game is it’s setting. While Arkham Island was a free-roam environment, the game was majorly set inside the various buildings of the island, all connected by outdoor grounds that were still fairly self-contained. Arkham City, however, is a large map consisting of several districts full of tall buildings. While Batman feels and plays very much the same as in Arkham Asylum, he has of course been tweaked to incorporate long-distance travel – most notably with the updated gliding mechanics. When you leap off of a building, you can now dive bomb during a glide to gain speed, and then open your cape to gain extra lift and speed. You can also unlock a grapnel ability that allows you to grapple onto a building and use hook to slingshot yourself forward to keep yourself airborne, which is a handy trick. The city itself looks great, and the fact that it’s set in a portion of Gotham means that there are a number of notable locations from the comics – including The Monarch Theater, Ace Chemicals, The Iceberg Lounge and the Gotham City Police Department Building. Obviously there are a fair amount of regular “filler” buildings, but generally there’s always something unique to see wherever you are.

In terms of combat, the game again feels much like Arkham Asylum - rather than changing or re-inventing Batman from scratch, they have simply upgraded him with some new abilities and gadgets. The free-flow combat system is much the same, utilising combo chains and counterattacks to access special attacks that range from disarms to instant takedowns. Enemies with weapons and guns return, as well as new enemies that carry shields – these can really cause problems when facing large groups of enemies as you need to perform a specific aerial attack to damage them, especially when combined with armoured opponents that need to be stunned with Batman’s cape attack before they can be attacked. While the old gadgets return, the explosive gel has been given a quick fire mode to help mix it into combat, and most other gadgets have combat uses as well – for instance, the REC Gear is a type of electrical device used to activate certain devices, but also doubles as a sort of taser that can be fired to shock an enemy in battle.

Speaking of gadgets, most of them return from Arkham Asylum (even with some new features), as well as a few new gadgets too. One such gadget is the Smoke Pellet, which allows you to escape from armed guards more easily, or else can be thrown into a group of enemies to disorient them and make them vulnerable. Almost every gadget has a secondary function or two, so there’s a good mix of abilities to play around with and multiple ways to tackle certain groups of enemies. As much as I’d love to spill all of the different combinations, I won’t spoil the fun as discovering some of the gadgets is half the fun in my eyes.

While Arkham City is huge, the majority of the storyline missions take place inside the various buildings dotted around the city – such as the Iceberg Lounge where the Penguin resides. Obviously, these areas are much like the buildings in Arkham Asylum (though not quite as big, as there are more of them), and you get to use Batman’s more sneaky abilities such as crawling through air vents and such while you are inside. These are generally some of the most interesting places in the city, all with their own themes and styles. One small detail I would like to note is that I was glad to see that they’ve not thrown gargoyles everywhere indoors – while gargoyles in Arkham Asylum were core to the gameplay, they were everywhere. In this game, however, there are a variety of different objects that serve the same purpose, just they’ve been designed to blend in with the theme of that particular area. Oh and by the way – enemies are a bit smarter this time round. If they spot you on one of these ledges in the rafters, they’ll promptly shoot it down, so you can’t abuse them quite so much as before.

In terms of in-game storytelling, the game has been crafted well, often flowing straight between gameplay and cinematic, sometimes taking you into a first-person view in certain situations, which gives you a more personal perspective in certain events. The cinematics themselves are of course as good as before, with all of the characters brought to life using the in-game graphics, all voiced excellently as well. While fans of the Scarecrow will be disappointed to hear that he doesn’t return, I’m happy to say that Rocksteady have found other ways of creating similarly surreal hallucination sections, so the game doesn’t suffer too much from his omission. Mr Freeze joins the cast also, fighting to save his wife Nora who has been taken from him – I found him to be a very interesting character and he’s among my favourites in the game.

Bosses have also seen some improvements in the game – while it’s still no God of War in terms of epic fights, there’s definitely been a reduction in battles that are essentially fighting large waves of enemies with the odd Titan thrown in – bigger bosses require Batman to avoid attacks while working out a strategy to damage the opponent (such as one that requires to set explosives in certain places around the stage), while some require more stealthy tactics to hide and strike when they’re not expecting it. That’s not to say that there aren’t sections where you have to fight groups of henchmen, but Rocksteady have obviously put a lot more thought into the bosses, which are more varied, fun, and look great. While you do fight a Titan henchman or two, it’s been made less systematic to take them down and you don’t have to keep repeating the same process of “dodge a dash, blind with a batarang, attack while they stumble around” like you did before.

Aside from the story missions, there’s a fair amount of things to do around the city. First of all, the Riddler returns with hundreds of challenges – finding his trophies, figuring out his riddles and destroying certain objects. However, the variety has been mixed up a bit more, and you often need to make clever use of the various gadgets to work them out, and I’ve found myself having to really think to figure some of them out. One small complaint I do have, however, is that while in Arkham Asylum you knew which room you were looking for a riddle solution in, this time it’s separated into districts, which aren’t clearly defined on the map – so it’s hard to tell exactly where to be looking at times, which is a bit of a nightmare considering how open the world is. While you can interrogate a Riddler goon to display where solutions are on the map, it then becomes a matter of just following markers around the map rather than genuinely trying to find answers. Of course, you can just ignore the map, but then as I said before it becomes quite difficult due to the lack of obvious area boundaries.

The best update to the Riddler is the new Hostage missions that have been added. Every time you reach a certain amount of Riddles solved, you unlock the location of one of his hostages. Going to that location, you’ll find a puzzle room which requires you to solve in order to navigate to the hostage and save them. And, unlike the first game, you can actually meet the Riddler in person in this game, rather than being purely a long-distance contact – making him feel like a real enemy, rather than just a random voice.

While the Riddler is by far the biggest side-quest, there are a mixture of other side-misssions that can be accessed – these mostly take place in the city itself, as opposed to the storyline missions that are usually indoors. For instance, one quest has you working alongside Bane to destroy Titan containers around the city, while another has you tracking the serial killer Zsasz by answering payphones and rushing to another phone within a time-limit. Some of these missions are better than others, but it’s great to see a few extra characters incorporated into smaller roles, and it adds some more variety to the game.

Assuming you bought the game new, the game comes bundled with a DLC code that adds Catwoman to the game. While many people tend to groan about DLC, it’s meant as an incentive to buy the game first-hand, which at this point you probably would be doing anyway. If you get the game new, the DLC would cost you £7.99, which isn’t cheap (the developers want a cut of your cash, if you buy it pre-owned), but Catwoman does add a decent chunk to the game. Make sure you download Catwoman before you play the game, as her chapters actually get slotted into the game’s storyline into the relevant places, and she’s quite fun to play as.

Although she plays similarly to Batman, she does have some differences – firstly, that she cannot glide, but can instead use her whip and claws to swing about and leap up walls, and she also has the very cool ability to crawl on the ceiling when there is a metal grating to grip into. Combat-wise, she plays using the same free-flow system as Batman, although her animations are much more agile, and she has a few of her own gadgets including caltrops to trip enemies, and special attacks utilising her whip.

While Catwoman doesn’t have as much storyline as Batman, she’s still rather well developed (pun not intended). She has her own set of upgrades (not as many as Batman, but she does also share some of his unlocked abilities), is fun to play as, and most importantly to me, is also able to free-roam Arkham City at certain points (and also post-game, so don’t worry you can always go back!), including her own set of Riddler trophies to find. She can also access all of the challenge maps, so aside from Batman’s story missions you can use her for everything that he has access to.

While the game is a good length and there’s a fair amount of missions, one thing I did find was that the game perhaps wasn’t paced as well as Arkham Asylum. When I’m playing games, I do try to spread out side-quests over the course of the story – while it was fairly easy to work out how much of Arkham Island you had explored, there’s no real indication in City that you are nearing the game’s conclusion. By the end of Arkham Asylum, you had defeated all of the villains who made physical appearances in the game, and it was clear that events were reaching their climax as events unfolded. With City, however, some villains make appearances but never really play major roles in the plot – Poison Ivy and Two-Face specifically had smaller roles than I expected, and Killer Croc was said to be loose in the sewers, so when the final parts of the story took place and they hadn’t been dealt with, I wasn’t ready for it - expecting some extra story arcs beforehand that never occurred. I’m not saying that the game lacks villains or content, because it at least equals that of Asylum - but City ends with villains that are still roaming the city doing their own thing, leading me to think there was more to do before the end. There’s post-game free-roam so you’re free to clear up any side quests, so that’s not a problem, and the story itself is very good – plenty of exciting moments, plot twists and shocking moments that often surprised me (in a good way.)

Overall, Batman: Arkham City is a worthy sequel to Arkham Asylum, which is no easy task considering the high bar the original set. The change of scenery has both good and bad results - while the open world looks impressive, opens up room for extras and is fun to navigate, it does mean that there are more areas that you will only ever skim past, perhaps not as easily appreciated as the few beautifully crafted buildings that made up the entirety of Arkham Asylum – making the game feel a little more Assassin’s Creed than Metroid, but the game does generally maintain all of the great qualities of the original and it feels like a natural transition to a larger scale setting. The story is very good with plenty of unexpected turns, and ultimately doesn’t disappoint.

I just hope that if Rocksteady continue with DLC support, they’ll be adding extras to the free-roam, not just the challenge maps – I’m not bored of Arkham City yet!

Pros:
+ Great story with plenty of unpredictable moments and surprises
+ A natural evolution of Arkham Asylum’s abilities – updated movement, combat skills and gadgets
+ Arkham City looks great and is fun to explore, with both Batman and Catwoman
+ Deeper Riddler challenges and side-quests give plenty to do outside of the storyline

Cons:
- Ending came a bit suddenly for my liking, the game didn’t naturally feel like it was drawing to a close
- The size of the city makes things feel a bit more spread out than the original, leaving many buildings and areas that are somewhat forgettable, as opposed to all of Asylum’s intricately designed areas.
- The Riddler challenges are hard to find and left me resorting to secret maps more than before.

Score: 9/10 – Another amazing Batman game from Rocksteady delivers a worthy sequel to the amazing original. The move to a larger setting has both positives and negatives, but the game has plenty to offer and a variety of extras to explore. Definitely worth a purchase.

- Leon

The heroine of the adventure is Totori, a young girl – and student of Rorona - living in the small village of Alanya. Cared for by her protective older sister Ceci and their quiet father, it is believed that their mother – an Adventurer – is dead, having disappeared years ago. However, Totori refuses to believe this, and decides to set upon becoming an Adventurer herself in order to seek out her mother and find the truth of her fate. To do so she must master her skills as an Alchemist and learn to take care of herself.

The first thing I will say about Atelier Totori is that it is a very beautiful game in terms of visuals. Gust have done a very good job in this respect – the game almost has the look of a living painting – a mixture of anime style characters in vibrant and colourful locations, the fields looking inviting and a pleasure to explore. While dialogue is depicted using character portraits (as opposed to animating the character models), the art style is detailed and the portraits look great, with various poses and such for different expressions. While anime can often have very generic looking characters, each one is very unique and even the various NPC’s in shops and such have all been given their own character and design. The game’s music is equally vibrant, with some catchy tunes, although at times I did find it almost a little too cheerful for my personal taste.

While I would never say that a game is specifically for one gender, I would however say that Atelier Totori feels as though it is perhaps aimed at a more female audience. While it wouldn’t appeal to all girls, the game does have a very flowery feel that I can see would be very off-putting to many male gamers, and of course follows a female lead. Being fairly open-minded with games (and very tired of space marines), that didn’t stop me getting stuck into the game to see what it had to offer – but it is perhaps something to keep in mind.

The game mainly revolves around using Alchemy to synthesise new items and equipment to improve your Alchemist rank, and fulfilling quests to grow as an Adventurer, once you obtain your Adventurer’s License. Quests include hunting specific enemies, gathering materials and synthesising new items, granting you new items and Cole (currency) in return. The game uses a calendar system, so most quests have a deadline in which to fulfil them. Meeting the criteria quickly will get you better rewards - but you are also judged on the quality of the items you present, so handing over some old low quality products quickly won’t give you the best result.

Alchemy is quite a deep system within Atelier Totori - while I’m used to synthesis in other RPG games, it takes more than just following a recipe to create good items in this game. As with quests, the quality of your items used in synthesis affects the outcome of the items you create, and ingredients also carry various traits that are inherited by your concoctions. In this way you may systematically combine various ingredients to create new items with lots of bonuses, such as increased power for an item, or higher selling price. New traits (such as resistance to elements) can be fused into armour and weapons, meaning you can tailor your equipment to your current needs. Alchemy is quite daunting at first, but it’s easy to pick up. One flaw I did find, however, is that the items you need to create something are depicted by icons, rather than words (such as a picture of a nut), and multiple ingredients can fit this criteria – which can be something of a hassle when trying to work out exactly which ingredients fit that category.

The game uses a world map, with each town and location marked as destinations linked via roads on the map. By selecting your destination, Totori will travel the distance, and time will pass accordingly – as well as LP, which determine how long you can go before you need a rest. If your LP run out, your characters’ stats are weakened until you restore them – by using an item, or resting in one of the Alchemy workshops located in some of the towns. While everything in the game takes time, you don’t feel too pressured, as the game assures you that you will be fine as long as you don’t intentionally waste time.

The general progression of the game is generally accomplished by meeting objectives in your Licence to raise your Adventurer level. The objectives range from searching new locations, to defeating certain enemies or beating different types of quests. Each time you meet an objective you gain some points, until you gain enough to rank up. Doing so will then open up new locations on the map to which you can travel, and in turn open up new objectives to meet in order to increase your rank further.

Being a JRPG, Totori does not travel alone. To begin with, she is accompanied by her best friend Gino, a lively boy who reminds me of a younger Vaan from Final Fantasy XII. He joins her as an Adventurer, and they both obtain their Licences together – in fact, he is the one that pushes Totori to become one. As the game progresses you gain new companions, and can then choose to take two of them along with you on your travels, the others waiting in towns if you want to switch them into your party at any time. Depending on your chosen team, you will see a mixture of different scenes as they interact – a nice idea, and it helps to develop their characters and relationships well. A fair few of Atelier Rorona’s cast is still present within the world of Atelier Totori (being only five years later), and a couple of them are playable characters you can gain for your party later on – including Rorona herself.

Of course, there would be no purpose for all of the equipment, gold and teammates without some combat – something I feel Atelier Totori does quite well. Using a fairly solid and traditional RPG combat system, the fights revolve around a turn-based system with each character being able to use basic attacks, different skills and items to assist in battle. While RPG protagonists are often good damage-dealers, Totori is rather weak and serves more as a support unit, relying on her items to attack. However, many of the other characters, such as Gino and Mel are all good for the melee damage, so don’t worry if you like some good swordplay!

As an RPG player, I don’t really like to rely on items in battle. They’re exhaustible, and I usually like to have a good mage on my team to heal rather than using potions and such. So naturally, adjusting to Totori’s reliance on items was something I initially struggled to adapt to – using bombs and such being the best way to work with her. However, once I got used to this, it wasn’t too bad – and I soon found that you could pull off some cool moves. One feature I really liked was the assist function – in various situations in combat, it is possible to press L1 or R1 to call in one of Totori’s partners to assist her. When being attacked, this means they can dive in front of her to take the hit, and when she uses items, they can follow-up with an attack of their own. This doesn’t come for free however, and is governed by an assist gauge below each of the partners’ HP and MP readings. While a relatively simple system, the assist gauge works very well, and I found it to make combat a lot more exciting as it adds an extra layer of strategy to the game. The enemy designs are varied - some look cool, some look too cute to actually fight, and others look a bit bland. Generally I’d say they’re pretty average, and fit into the game’s visual style fine.

While I’m generally happy with Atelier Totori‘s game system - especially its combat – it slowly began to dawn on me that the game’s story wasn’t to my taste. The thing about this game is that it’s not your traditional RPG which involves an unlikely group of people getting caught up in some grand plot to save the world from some evil force bent on taking over or destroying the world. Which is fine – and it’s nice to see games that don’t fit obvious moulds, trying something new – but unfortunately, it wasn’t what I was expecting. While Atelier Iris had been a much grander journey, Atelier Totori’s story is exactly what it seems from the very beginning. There’s no sudden twist that Totori’s mother had been killed defending the world from impending doom leaving her to mature and take on the responsibility (or anything of a similar vein) - just a simple tale that’s more of a personal journey. While that’s perfectly acceptable, I personally found that without a major purpose, I simply had little motivation to see Totori grow and wasn’t particularly invested in her personal story – much of the dialogue feeling somewhat like aimless banter with no real purpose. Sadly the voice acting was also sub-par which didn’t help, with Totori’s being the worst of all – a grating high-pitched tone that I didn’t enjoy listening to.

Overall, Atelier Totori is a relaxing RPG with an emphasis on item creation. If you enjoy side-quests and investing yourself in the characters, you might like this – it has a repetitive nature that could give you that addictive “one-more-go” buzz as you work on increasing your item library and opening up new locations. While I loved the game’s art-style and it’s combat system, the lack of any major goal left me feeling as though I was aimlessly fulfilling quests without a very rewarding outcome. If you’re looking for an epic quest I’d avoid this, but if you’re more in the mood for exploring and watching Totori become an Adventurer, it could be a nice break from the more serious games available out there.

Pros
+ Beautiful visuals
+ Lots of unique characters to meet
+ Solid combat system
+ Alchemy system is fairly deep

Cons
- Voice-acting isn’t great
- Lack of major plot could be offputting to RPG fans

Score: 6/10 – Not really a game for me, but I can see it being appealing to some people. Give it a rental if you’re on the fence about this one.

- Leon

Games based on anime can vary in quality – while some can make good use of their existing characters and ideas – such as Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage and Dragonball Z: Budokai 3, others fall short in re-creating the magic of the original material and have little appeal aside from the popularity of the series. Bleach: Soul Resurrección was released on the Playstation 3 this week – on which side of the fence does it fall?

The game’s plot revolves around the rebellion of Aizan, a Soul Reaper who has turned upon the Soul Society – Ichigo and friends fighting to stop them. As a casual fan of Bleach, I have only watched the first series of the anime, and I found the game’s plot to be quite vague, with the majority of the plot told in paragraphs of text before each stage – disappointing, as I feel that storyline is one of the anime’s strong points, and it hasn’t really been dealt with brilliantly in-game format – especially considering the game covers a large amount of episodes in a fairly short time. It essentially equates to “Beat the bad guys who are causing trouble” and relies on the action to keep the player’s interest.

Previous titles in the Bleach series have mostly been fighting games, but Soul Resurrección instead goes the route of hack n’ slash – an idea that really appealed to me as a fan of the genre. Very reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors, the game involves a button-mashing frenzy to take down large groups of enemies with a roster of 21 characters in total, unlocked as you progress through the game’s story.

At your disposal you have basic combos performed with the Square button, the most bread and butter of your attacks. Next you have attacks that consume Spirit Pressure, represented by a blue bar under the health bar. By pressing Triangle, the character will use a spirit attack - usually a projectile – that costs a little Spirit Pressure. These attacks are very handy, and some also offer other functions, such as freezing an enemy on the spot temporarily. By pressing Circle, the character will unleash an impressive special attack that uses up a lot of Spirit Pressure. The spirit pressure bar gradually fills at all times so you can never run out altogether, although if you empty it completely you will have to wait until it fills completely to use those attacks again.

On the left side of the screen is a third gauge – when full, you can press L2 to activate your character’s transformation – with Ichigo it is his Bankai form, complete with Hollow mask, while other characters have their own, often an aura if they don’t have a specific “powered up” form in the series. In this form, characters attacks are more powerful, and the Spirit Pressure gauge fills more quickly. Best of all, pressing L2 before the gauge runs out will activate the warrior’s ultimate attack which does devastating damage, and then reverting the character back to their original form.

Characters also have access to an unlimited dash ability, that will also result in them flying to the same height as an enemy if you are locked on, as well as guard and side-stepping abilities for evasion.

Mission-wise, the game is quite straightforward. You must progress through each stage, taking down groups of enemies to continue, before facing the stage’s boss – usually one of the playable villains who is then unlocked to use once the stage is completed. There are a variety of enemies to face – from various humanoid foot-soldier type enemies that act as basic sword fodder, to giant turtles you must knock onto their backs to defeat, as well as various other opponents.

Once levels are beaten, characters earn Soul Points, depending on the amount of opponents defeated and how well you performed. These points can then be used as a form of currency on a grid reminiscent of Final Fantasy X’s sphere grid – unlocking stat upgrades, as well as other abilities such as extending combos and counter-attacks. As you unlock characters, new areas are added to the grid, but you are required to level up individual characters to open up each of the new areas for the rest of the roster to access.

The game’s controls are fairly responsive, and visually the game looks great. Characters look faithful to their anime counterparts, and their various attacks all look equally impressive with their various elements and styles. While all of the character’s are fairly similar in play-style, their individual designs make them all feel quite unique and interesting. The graphics on the stages also are quite good, although the areas themselves can be a bit repetitive and lifeless as they lack variation throughout the stage.

When I initially began the game, I was impressed. The game looked great, the attacks felt fluid, and it didn’t take long to pull off some cool moves with Ichigo in the game’s first stage. However, it didn’t take long for the game’s flaws to become all too clear. While the game reminds me of Dynasty Warriors in its gameplay, it feels a lot more shallow – stages are mostly  linear paths, and there are no strategic elements to the game – simply run forward, defeat enemies, repeat. While other characters talk to you with words of support mid-battle, allies are never present in-game to fight beside – Orihime, for instance, has a few lines and is mentioned in the mission prologues, but is otherwise absent from the game.

The combat itself also becomes quite samey – while characters have their unique flourishes, the gameplay generally just revolves around mashing Square around weaker enemies, using projectiles for the more deadly enemies, and using your transformation to do heavy damage when needed. The combat itself would be fine if the levels had more varied objectives, but the sole dependency on combat makes it feel a bit less fleshed-out than it could be to keep it fresh.

The game’s modes also sadly lack variety – the game has a story mode with fixed characters per level, missions that are free for any unlocked character, and soul attack which allows players to compete with online rankings. However, it all adds up to more of the same, really. While the game seems to expect players to focus on mission-grinding to power up characters, it doesn’t really let you focus on one character for long before you are forced to move onto another – the story revolves around less than 20 missions, with each character only having one stage each, and the locks on the upgrade grid force you to build on multiple characters to allow you to progress further with another.

I really feel as though Soul Resurrección had potential, but it just feels like it falls short by quite a bit. While the game flows well, looks great and offers a good roster, the gameplay feels too reliant on the player to be happy with repeating the same few moves over and over on increasingly repetitive levels.

I did enjoy the game a little in small-doses, and powering up characters does make you want to keep playing, with that “one more go” mentality, but it’s not really enough to keep me satisfied for long. It’s hard to say whether more hardcore fans would enjoy the game more – perhaps the fan-service and background knowledge would make for a more enjoyable experience, but I could also see fans being disappointed by the vague coverage of the storyline.

I wouldn’t really recommend this game for people who aren’t already fans of the series – it’s not a good way to get acquainted with the storyline for the first time, and I don’t think the gameplay alone is enough to make it worth a purchase. Fans of the series might want to give it a shot – depending on whether or not playing a game revolving around Ichigo and co. is enough to satisfy the Bleach buff playing.

Pros:
+ Nice visuals
+ Powering up characters can keep you wanting to play
+ Good size roster of Bleach characters

Cons:
-Storyline not covered well
-Combat feels shallow and repetitive
-Forced character-switching can be irritating

Score: 5/10

SuperRope is a looping game from Craneball Studios where, like Robot Unicorn Attack, the main goal is to achieve as high a score as possible. In it you control a character as he climbs up ropes, shifting from one to another in order to avoid stage obstacles like falling pianos and anvils. It is available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, and requires iOS 4.0 or later. Perhaps the best thing about this fun little app is that it happens to be free. Extra Funky Stars (the game’s main currency, which can be earned in game) can be purchased in different bundles from the App Store, and these can be used to unlock extra levels, characters, power-ups etc. More will be said about that below.

This article will take you through how the game plays, the Funky Stars system, the game’s controls, graphics, and lastly its sound.

The experience of climbing up the ropes, swinging from one to the other, will remind older gamers of the beanstalk levels in Super Mario Bros 2. Which for many will be a very welcome trip down memory lane. It feels almost breath taking, the feeling of getting higher every second. In addition you’ll be racking your brain trying to figure out the best moment to jump in order to collect the most amount of power-ups, or simply to ensure a safe-landing. The game isn’t amazingly brain-taxing, as with most looping games the challenge is really to remain focused for as long as possible. When you manage to beat your high score you’re rewarded with a banner and a little fanfare, which is a nice touch it has to be said, and really encourages you to keep coming back.

As mentioned above extra Funky Stars can be purchased in bundles, starting at 69p for 1000. These can also be earned in game, but it takes ages to earn enough to unlock anything (items in the shops start at 1000 stars). Players willing to persevere with this option will find it extends the game’s longevity quite a bit however.

Interestingly, players also have a third option ; turning on adverts will earn the player 1000 Stars, while watching a promotional video will earn 200. It’s admirable how many different methods of obtaining Funky Stars the developers have included. This may have something to do with the deal of emphasis on the Funky Star system. Indeed, using the stars is the only way players can unlock extra levels and characters. There is also the opportunity of purchasing extra power-ups, for those with stars to spare.

There are two control styles to choose from. The first sees you control your character by sliding your finger across the iPhone’s screen left or right. The second one sees you merely tap the screen in the direction you want to go in, which does speed things up a little it has to be said, and is slightly better for your visibility (seeing as you won’t have your fingers in the way so much).

A quick word on the menus; they look the part and are well set-out, but I find it can sometimes take them quite a while to respond.

The visuals have the kind of cartoony, cell-shaded look to them that has become very much the standard on iOS games. The character designs are cheeky and full of expression, and appear to have been influenced by Angry Birds, while the level artwork looks like something out of a preschool cartoon. Its components all stand out vividly with their blocks of colour, yet, because of their lack of outline, they still allow for your character of choice to stand out over them. It’s fair to say that SuperRope is a lovely looking game.

There is, dissapointingly, only one music track in the game. Then again, that never stopped the likes of Robot Unicorn being good, and thankfully it is a good one. It’s a creeping wind instrument number, with a real mischievous undertone. Think of the music of Banjo Kazooie and you might be getting close on what to expect. The sound effects are similarly chirpy and madcap, from the little teleporter noise made when you fall off your rope to the ‘boing’ sound when you collect a large coin.

In conclusion, SuperRope is an absolute marvel, both in general and specifically because it’s free. It looks good, sounds good, and the gameplay is really fun. The Funky Stars system is also ingenious, so hats off to the developers for coming up with that. That said, it would be nice if some more music tracks (of the same style and ilk as the one currently included) were featured in future updates, if anything just so that the different levels could have more differentiation from one another.

All in all, an essential download for iOS gaming fans.

Pros:

+Full of character

+Lovely visuals

+Great gameplay

+Surprising amount of settings/choices for an iOS game

+Music sounds great

Cons:

-Menus slow to respond at times

-More tracks would have been nice

Score: 7.5/10 – Brilliant loop-em-up with a price you can’t argue with : free! Your iOS device shouldn’t be without this.

-HelenBaby

In this simple yet addictive little shooter you play as Jon Bambo, an angular looking chap who, you guessed it, looks like a little Rambo made out of Lego. Armed with an arsenal of different weapons and a red bandana, Bambo must gun-down the oncoming zombie horde as they attempt to surround him and rip him to shreds. If he is successful in his undead massacre Bambo is able to progress to a new, slightly harder level of zombie infestation containing multiple more challenging types of zombie. If he is unsuccessful, well the zombies eat him, game over. The game has 3 levels of difficulty ranging from Casual, to Hardcore and Nightmare mode for those who are more advanced at zombie eradication and takes place over 6 playable levels. Each of the six levels moves Bambo a little bit deeper into the depths of Hell and this is represented not only in the change in scenery but also by the difficulty level. Unlike other games in this genre however you do not have to play these levels in order, meaning that if you fancy taking a trip to Lucifer’s Den there is no need to take the scenic route via Death Alley, well unless you really want to.

As well as leaving behind a substantial puddle of blood defeated zombies also sometimes deposit small boxes containing various goodies for our boxy friend to collect. It is through these boxes that Bambo is able to regain some health and gain new weaponry to aid him in his quest for survival. Though the point and shoot mechanic of this game is relatively simple I was impressed by the amount of weapons that could be unlocked. Though you begin the game with only a pistol (unlimited rounds) you are quickly able to pick up everything from a Shotgun to an Uzi, Minigun, Rocket launcher, Grenades, C4 (iPhone and iPod touch exclusive) and even remote Mg Turrets. In addition to the artillery you are also able to pick up and place exploding barrels and spiked barricades to distract your zombie foes and build your defences adding an element of strategy to the game. Though the weaponry was quite good overall, the only thing which did disappoint me a little was the lack of a comedy melee weapon. Zombie games are usually survival based and one of the things I usually love about the zombie theme is the range of absurd unlikely weaponry picked up in a survival situation. Over the years we have seen zombies defeated with golf clubs, axes, frying pans and guitars as well as being effectively decapitated by the throwing of records and priceless ornaments. In contrast when out off all other weapons Bambo turns to a pistol. A creative choice? Disappointingly not but effective nonetheless.

Weapons aside the deliberately retro boxy styling of Boxhead does give the game a good dose of retro appeal. This retro styling gives the game a distinctly ‘old school’ arcade type feel which suits the simple point and shoot theme very well. The block colour characters also make it easy to introduce and identify how different types of zombie foe will behave, for example if a zombie is dressed in red you had better run as we all know those who wear red are speedier than their plain cousins. In addition to the fast and slow zombies, on his journey through Hell Boxhead will also encounter foes which have the power to become invisible and even the odd devil or two. Though these foes all have their own characteristics which can make them harder to defeat rest assured that none are immune to the Boxhead treatment, in short a shot to the face should do it.

One thing which surprised me about this game was the lack of a soundtrack. Though the game has multiple sound effects there is no in game music, and I must admit this caught me off guard. When the lack of music became apparent I quickly made the best of the situation by switching on my iPod and choosing a playlist which I felt was most appropriate for zombie slaying. To my surprise this worked quite well and I soon discovered that conducting a zombie massacre to your own music could be quite good fun. If you like the idea of playing to your own music or you mainly play in silence (perhaps on public transport or around others) then the lack of music should not be a problem, however if you think that the soundtrack adds atmosphere to the game then you may be disappointed.

One other thing that did slightly frustrate me about this game was that if you went back to the home screen of the iPhone to answer a message or change a song on your iPod the game quits out completely losing your current progress without saving. If you just want to play for fun and do not really care about your score or progress then this should not bother you too much but otherwise its “Goodbye high score, nice knowing you!”

Overall this is a relatively basic but quite addictive little shooter. The game is easy to play and the various difficulty levels make it accessible to many players. The deliberately retro styling is reminiscent of early arcade gaming and the simple point and shoot game mechanic makes it perfect for kicking back for five minutes which otherwise would have been wasted. The fact that the game quits when using other features of the phone could do with fixing but lets face it, score or no score who doesn’t like a little bit of boxy virtual bloodshed to brighten up their day.

Boxhead, The Zombie Wars 7/10

Pro’s
- There are multiple weapons to unlock and multiple difficulty levels
- The gameplay is simple and easy to master
- Your character looks like a mini Rambo made out of Lego

Cons

- There is no music
- The game quits without saving if you have to answer a call or send a message

Until next time,

24

x

Boxhead, The Zombie Wars
Available now for download now from the iTunes store for iPhone and iPod Touch.
MEDL Mobile inc.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is the third title in a relatively new series of games which focus on the characters and settings of Sega’s history. The first two titles in the series were ‘Sega Superstars Eyetoy’ and the commercially successful ‘Sega Superstars Tennis’. SSAR (Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing abbreviated) has thus far proven the hit itself, having sold 2.37 units worldwide to date. It has been praised far and wide by critics and fans alike for its cartoony visuals, Outrun-esque driving style but, most of all, its fun factor. In addition, Sega fans were also delighted to see the return of some familiar elements from Sega’s past, perhaps most notably the much-loved Ryo Hazuki from Shenmué, who hadn’t been featured in a new game for almost a decade. On a personal level I absolutely adore the console version of SSAR, and consider it to be, perhaps, my favourite kart racer ever.

SSAR was released on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii and Nintendo DS last February, with arcade and PC versions popping up since. June 18^th 2011 saw the release of the iOS version, and it is this particular incarnation that this review will examine. Available on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad this portable racer will set you back $4.99 (or £2.99), and is a tidy 293 Mb in size. This review will look at how the game controls on the iPhone (the format I play it on), the different modes, the graphics and the sound, before making a judgement on whether it lives up to the high standard set by its console counterparts.

There are two control-sets. One sees you control your character by tilting your iOS device to the left and right, as if you were steering a vehicle. The default sensitivity is cranked pretty low, and I’ll tell you something ; having to turn your iPhone to odd angles frequently during play really messes with your visibility, not something that is welcome in a game so heavily reliant on responding to the ever-changing events on screen. Mercifully this can be corrected in the Settings menu, and playing with the tilt controls can actually feel pretty good once you get the hang of it.

The other control-set has you determine left or right movements by sliding a switch. This can be problematic, especially at the beginning of the race or after a crash, as you first have to put your finger on the slider before you can move it in the direction you want to go. However it works pretty well when you’re in the thick of the action, and I can understand why the developers chose this over a d-pad.

Which ever way you choose to play it has to be said ; this game is a hell of a lot harder to control with an iPhone screen than with a nice chunky 360 controller, and never quite as fun.

All the modes from the home console version are here, from Grand Prix and Multiplayer right down to Shopping and even Achievements. Grand Prix and Single Race, as you might imagine, are poor man’s versions of their Xbox 360/Playstation 3/Wii counterparts. Its not that they don’t work well or that they’re completely devoid of entertainment, its just that the home version was really something special ; whenever you played it you can really feel the hussle and bustle on the track, and you never felt alone somehow.

In this version’s favour, the Mission Mode is actually preferable to the console version, even though its obviously harder. Perhaps it works better here because its slightly slower paced and less reliant on scene-generation. The portable factor doesn’t hurt either, making the missions truly pick-up-and-play.

Although all the modes are the same they’re implemented quite differently in places. You will, for example, see a fair bit of deviation in the tracks used in the iPhone version. Mission Mode, itself, no longer works on a graded system (which ranked players’ performance between A and E), it now relies soley on stars. These are welcome developments for those of us who finished the game in its home console incarnation ; its refreshing to revisit that much-loved old territory, then to take to it using new challenges and criteria, and to see things are slightly differently.

The graphics were never going to be on a par with the 360/PS3/Wii version. To expect them to be would be to significantly over-estimate the iPhone’s graphical prowess. The game’s visuals are, however, up there with the very best Playstation 2 games which, for a portable title, puts this release in very good stead indeed. And for an iPhone release ; among the very best the format has to offer.

The view you’re presented with on screen makes use of the entirity of the iPhone’s resolution, and, furthermore, this is a game that really pays attention to the small details. There are little moments, such as Sonic looking back and smirking at your player from the starting line, which will genuinely leave portable game players open-mouthed in admiration. In addition the game’s cartoony style has lost none of its appeal here, and those who persevere with the hard-to-learn controls will find much to gawp at, from the gorgeous checkered twisty tunnels of  Whale Lagoon, to the Latin loveliness of Studio Amogo.

Its worth pointing out that this is a racer that doesn’t suffer from the usual big complaints that plague racers in general, and portable racers in particularly ; pop-up and fog. With the right control settings the player almost always has a good impression of whats coming next on the track, which is an achievement for this game’s creators that should not be under-emphasized.

In addition the menus, it has to be said, look slicker than ever, and work like a dream with the touch controls.

My only bone of contention as far as the graphics go are with the framerate, its even worse than the abysmal DS version’s. In other gaming genres this might not make such a difference, but in a racer this can really affect your reaction time. It also seriously harms the flow of a race, and makes play feel less organic somehow.

I believe that the area where the iPhone version suffers most is with the sound. Don’t get me wrong, the music tracks and voice samples they have included sound damn good. But there just isn’t enough of them. The huge soundtrack and veritable catalogue of voice bites featured in the home console version really helped contribute to its fun factor ; I mean, heck, for once you could race to ‘Super Sonic Racing’ in a game that didn’t suck! (sorry Travellers’ Tales!). And the voice bites were legendary, especially the commentator’s comments which were full of delicious innuendo such as ‘Tails takes a pounding’ and ‘Big, showing he can take as well as give!’.

Thats been mostly been stripped away in this version, and playing it is a lesser experience for it. Sure its understandable why the developers did it, most of us can appreciate how much sound files can bump up the overall size on disk of a project and, when cuts need to be made, its easy to appreciate why sound is the first place developers look. But it really is a lesser experience for it.

In conclusion, the iPhone version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is one of the prettiest games on the iPhone, and a decent (although not brilliant) racer on a format where I didn’t think such a thing was possible. Like all versions of this title, its fan-service is top-notch, and the creators have done the likes of Crazy Taxi and Shenmué proud.

Some of the areas where it deviates from the original group of SSAR titles also make it shine in its own stead in surprising ways. The overall increased difficulty and track variations are refreshing and, as I said, the Mission Mode is, I believe, superior.

But now I’m going to be mean and admit that I never played any version of SSAR with the mission mode in mind. In terms of my interests, and I think many will back me up here, this title really fails to deliver. Grand Prix races are jerky and boring, and you never really get that sense of the aforementioned hustle and bustle of the main versions, which it sucks without.

Its a shame because it really isn’t a bad port at all. Quite the opposite ; its clear that every effort has gone into emulating the experience of the original versions. And while it succeeds in doing just that in many respects, it falls down hard on the most important aspect ; fun.

Pros:
+Great looking
+The tracks which are included sound great
+Fun Mission Mode
+Offers new challenges to fans of the original

Cons:
-The controls are hard to learn and not as pleasant as their console counterparts
-Fails to recreate the buzzing atmosphere of the main console versions
-The music’s not as diverse
-The cheeky innuendo of the originals is much missed
-Slow framerate gets annoying

Score: 6/10 – Mediocre version of a brilliant game. It has its pluses, but ultimately it never measures up to the superior home console versions.

- Helen Doherty

Over the last few years there have been only a few fighting games that have interested me when I heard of there pending creation. When I heard that Midway Games were going to team up with DC Comics to produce Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe I was interested in this game. The prospect of fighting with not just my favourite Mortal Kombat characters, but also a chance to fight with some of my favourite DC Comic characters and perform their own unique special moves and fatalities made me smile a little on the inside.

I was very happy when I finally got the game and had the chance to fight in this new and exciting world. The title screen was awesome showing what looked like Scorpion hunting Batman. Every time you went to a different part of the title screen it showed the next part of the event unfolding. I had a massive smile on my face when I saw this sequence but little did I know that this would be the one of the last times this game would make me smile.

When I saw the character list I was a little confused with a couple of their choices. When I looked at the rostra there were certain characters that in my opinion are not so important in the Dc universe, such as Shazam and Deathstroke. On the other hand this is to be expected as you always get a couple of characters that are rubbish or you just don’t like in a fighting game. Now I know some people are going to disagree with that but it is just the opinion I have got from playing fighting games over the years.

As with every fighting game I play, I always do the training or have a practice battle to learn the controls before diving into the main game. This is because I feel that this is the best way to learn the fighting mechanics for any fighting game. I picked a character I had fought with before in Mortal Kombat. I was familiar with their moves and on how to do their combos and when I looked at the move lists I saw that they used a mixture of moves from a variety of different of Mortal Kombat games .It is my belief they did this to make the game more playable for people who have played the later games and not just the original three.

So far so good for the positives on this game.  Midway have thought about the age gap between each version of the game and tried to use that as an advantage. Unfortunately what they also did was to use the same type fighting mechanics from one of the earlier generations of the game i.e. Mortal Kombat Deception onwards. I feel that they again did this to make the game feel more familiar to people who have played previous Mortal Kombat games, however the problem with the Mortal Kombat games that came after Mortal Kombat 3 was that they made the game more about the story and all the extras rather than about the actual fighting moves and fatalities. With this being something I was worried about, I decided to keep an open mind and kept practicing.

I tried every character to see what they were all like. With some characters after about a week I was able to string large combos together without really having much trouble, but there were other characters where I would spend hours upon hours practicing with them and I still couldn’t get their special moves and combo’s right. Normally in any fighting game I have one, maybe two fighters with which this would apply, to but with this game I could only use a hand full of the fighters and all bar one of them was from Mortal Kombat.

Even the characters I could use felt slow and uncontrolled. They were not very fluid or easy to use but with that being said I was still slightly impressed with some of the special moves and fatalities they gave the DC and Mortal Kombat characters. I won’t say who does the best moves or what the moves are, I will leave that for you to see for yourselves. With the fighting mechanics leaving something to be desired and the character list being a bit iffy, I thought I would enjoy the finer points such as the subtle touches to the game.

So to start with, the biggest thing about this game is how they tried so very hard to get the characters looks correct. The details they put in the graphics to make all the DC characters look just like they do in the comics are pretty good. They went a little too far with some characters, changing their costumes just for the game or making them look far too cartoonish I.E. Catwomen, they made her main costume purple and also made it very revealing. You could practically see most of her bare skin and I have never seen Catwomen wear a costume like that in any DC comics. This was obviously because Midway was trying to repeat the “Sonya Blade sex symbol” in this game, but with a DC character instead. They did a little of that with the other female fighters, so why do that with just one and not follow the trend with the rest?

Bit Risque.....see what I mean?

I’m not a pervert so please don’t think that from my last comment, it’s just that in certain games you have female characters that are just used to make gamers drool and a massive example of this is D.O.A. Its a fighting game made up entirely of hot female fighters and that is the first thing people think of when you mention this game. When you mention Mortal Kombat however the first thing that springs to mind is fatalities, blood and gore and THEN its the female fighters.  Some of the male characters looked really good as they were true to the comic’s, but then again there were others such as Deadstroke, Jax and Shazam that just felt far too cartoonish.

The depiction of the characters was not the only graphics issue I saw when I started to play the main story for the game. The graphics felt out dated and the game felt disjointed.  It was like they had used up to date graphic software, but the game just didn’t look very clean or like they tried to improve on the graphics. One of the main things was that during a cut sequence you normally get a little extra touch to make it look better, but with this they just left it all the same .Now you could argue that this was to make the game flow better from cut sequence to battle, but instead this makes the game look cheap and like it was lacking something. Not only this but the story also just felt poorly constructed. I’m not going to mention about the story as I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone, plus I only got a little way in and stopped.

There was something that did impress me greatly and that was the way they constructed the arenas you fought in. The backgrounds looked well constructed, and in certain arenas you have the ability to knock your opponent out of the ring and follow them down to the next floor punching or kicking them on the way down. Obviously your opponent can counter this, otherwise this would be unfair but other than that for me the graphics feel like they need a little something extra. Now I’m not saying that it needed to be made with CGI graphics and more realistic, I am just saying that it left me feeling as it was lacking something. I am not sure on what it was but I just felt that the game was missing something  with the rusty gameplay and Ok graphics.

I decided turn my attention to the BGM (Background Music) and SFX (Sound Effects) to try and redeem this game for me. Now to be completely honest the BGM and SFX was something I barely noticed and not because I wasn’t paying attention to it. It was due to the fact that it was just background noise. I didn’t really connect with the music or sound effects and because of this it was yet another thing that made the game feel less immersive and less enjoyable.

I will be completely honest after saying all of this. I play this game quite a bit for about two weeks, trying to find something about this game I liked and something that would keep me playing it. After two weeks however I personally couldn’t find anything that would make me play this game any longer, there were one or two fatalities that I liked, but how can you play a game for just two small things? This game left me feeling like I was let down by Midway and not only Midway but by DC Comics also. They had the opportunity to make a truly great game that would be loved by not only gamers but also by comic fans. Unfortunately what they did was make a game that was just ok and would be enjoyed by only some gamers and comic fans and not all. For me is something that has let not just Midway Games and DC Comics down but also the fans who were looking forward to this release.

Pro’s:

+The Main title sequence is really good
+Level design works well
+There were some brilliant Fatalities

Cons:

- The gameplay was rustic and did not flow well
- The Background music and sound effects were lacklustre
-  Story mode. Fail.
-  Character list and costumes leave a something to be desired

3/10

- Random Man