We’d like to share our excitement for this upcoming gem by offering one lucky PlusXP reader the chance to win this rather sexy 6 pack of classic Sonic figurines :

Featuring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Metal Sonic and Super Sonic, this delightful box of treats has the charm of 10 salesmen. So enticing are they that Garvaos was positively vexed when we reminded him that staff weren’t eligible to enter our contests

The contest

So finally we get on to what you need to do to win our lovely prize. Just send us in a photo, or an amalgamation of photos, that you feel sum up the theme Sonic Generations. It could be a picture of your Grandad with a Sonic plushie, a pic of you wearing a Sonic t-shirt as a kid… whatever you can think of. You probably already have a photo in your hard drive that’ll be perfect, don’t ya?

The Rules

• Contest closes on Sonic Generations’ release date. So, to clarify, that’s the 4th November.
• Only one entry per person. But you can change your entry if, before the contest’s end, you think of a picture you’d prefer
• All entries will be featured in an article summing up the contest, so by entering your consenting for your picture to be used in this way

How to submit

Just link us to your entry either via Twitter, where you can find us @PlusXP, or send it to us via email at competitions@plusxp.com

We look forward to receiving your entries guys.

(By the way, those of you who live in London and are over 18 should totally join SonicLondon, run by your’s truly. We have meet ups around the Capital about 3-4 times a year, where we drink, draw, play games and generally lark about : http://www.facebook.com/groups/107060975984482/ </shameless plug>)

-HelenBaby

The Worlds Most Awesome Gaming Keyboard......Apparently

As for me, I am a semi converted FPS fan. Most of you are probably thinking, what the hell do you mean? Well first off I was playing First Person Shooters on the PC. But this was back in the days of Doom, Wolfenstein and Duke 3D. Basically the FPS games that didn’t require you to use the mouse. You could happily go along with the arrow keys seeing as there was no way to look up or down. It wasn’t till the end of my PC FPS game days where Quake 2 implemented the mouse. I couldn’t really get on with it so I just tried it out with the keyboard and somehow made it through the campaign.

With the new control set up for FPS games, I actually feared that my shooting game days were long gone. So I went to the Playstation 1 and 2 for games like WWE wrestling, Tony hawks skate boarding and Devil May Cry. It wasn’t untill I got my original X Box and Halo where I got my FPS gaming back. I then was evermore glued to the console way of FPS gaming. So you could say I have really been playing FPS games the same way all my life, mouse free.

The Perfect Combination Of PC and Console Controllers Perhaps?

But back to the question in hand. What is the best platform for FPS games? If I were to put this question to the Plus XP team I will have a vague idea of who will say what. Leon would say console but then go back to playing God Of War or something similar. Mark will probably say console as well, but then start day dreaming about Jessica Chobot. GuitarGirl’s reaction would probably be ‘does it involve a guitar so I can melt the enemies faces?’. Then there is That Bloke In The Beanie, a hardcore PC gamer who has an X-Box in the corner of his room which he does play every now and again, but I know straight out he will say FPS games are better suited to the PC. This will probably stroke up a heated debate which I will endeavor to post on this site when the time comes.

lately I have revived my original silver clunky DS and have been playing Metroid Prime Hunters. Possibly the best shooter you are ever gong to get on a hand-held ever. Ok so it may cramp up your hands like a bitch but still it utilises the FPS game mechanics perfectly. Possibly not the best platform for FPS gaming by any stretch of the imagination, but defiantly something to look at, using the touch screen as your mouse if you would like, you then use the D pad to strafe and move forward and backward and then use the left bumper button as your trigger finger. Very interesting way at looking at game mechanics indeed.

I feel it is time now to give the Wii an honerable mention. If it were to drop it casual/party game facade that so many people pin down on it these days, I think that this console could be the next big thing for FPS games. Oh c’mon you must have thought at some point that shooting games would have been perfect for the Wii when motion plus came out? Metroid corruption used the Wii controls perfectly, and is today still the game that is making me think about getting a Wii. Red Steel 1 we probably won’t talk about here, just mention it for the sake of mentioning it as it was, quite frankly, a shite game. Red Steel 2 on the other hand looks a lot better with the time I had with it at Eurogamer last year. Then you have games like house of the dead which just turn the console into an arcade cab. But I must say the Will has stunning potential for being the Next FPS platform as you pretty much have a gun in your hand.

So the best platform for FPS gaming? Well I am going to have to hand it to the consoles, A) because I can’t get on with the mouse that well, B) because if it wasn’t for Halo I would have probably never touched an FPS game again, and C) the Wii has so much FPS potential it just makes me a tad sick that it has had this casual gaming marker put on it.

But that’s all my opinion, what do true FPS fans out there think? Feel free to voice your opinion.

Garv.

Back in my uni days I was a sucker for trading in games. This was partly so I can get the latest games a little bit cheaper and I really didn’t think that any of my titles were worth hanging on to except a select few. My collection kept changing and changing. It was a fantastic way to save money and get some good titles in the process.

Ever since things like Xbox LIVE and Steam on PC started to do downloadable games, I was always a tiny bit put off when the words NO REFUND FOR THIS PURCHASE came up on-screen when you were just about to hit the download button. I always thought if retail games were allowed to be traded in once you are done with them, shouldn’t download games get the same treatment?

From one stand point you could say royalties are something that should be considered, game developers and publishers are working their butt’s off for these games and yet when people are finished with them they get traded in and then some gamer is gonna pick buy it again and then the game creators get nothing. This is why EA have probably done the whole multiplayer lock thing, so that they can get something back from the trade ins. It is a very touchy subject whatever side of the coin you look at it, but I have stumbled across a website that grabbed my interest almost instantly. (I say stumbled a nice gaming man emailed me and said check this out, I was then pleasantly surprised at what I had been sent. )

A website called Greenman gaming that does digital download games, which you can trade in after your done a great concept which someone should have done sooner, but not only that, they also pay royalties back to the game creators. Making us the gamers and the game creators very happy. I thought this was a perfect idea, for all of you who are interested here is their business synopsis in full:

“Green Man Gaming (GMG) is a UK based independent digital retailer for PC Games. Using globally unique proprietary technology, GMG offer consumers the ability to trade-in digitally downloaded games for new purchases and publishers the ability to generate ongoing revenue from their intellectual property. Green Man Gaming is the only retailer in both the online and offline world to pay a royalty back to the publisher on all pre-owned sales.

There are currently some 500 titles available to purchase from 50 publishing partners.  These games have been sold in to 89 countries around the world.”

Sounds pretty awesome, and recently they have done a website overhaul which includes a desktop widget that can automatically launch the games you have bought from the site, and also puts the gamer in control of all their trade ins.

A fantastic idea if you ask me, and something that Sony and Microsoft should take into account. I think digital media should be something that you are able to trade in, and I also thing Trade-ins should give something back to the game creators. Maybe if we give something back to the creators they will stop doing pointless DLC that should be on the game disk in the first place and stop locking out multiplayer options on second-hand games.

Gamers of earth the green man has spoken

Garv.

Check the website out at: www.greenmangaming.com

As a Gamer, I can…sometimes find myself a bit too engrossed in my work. We’ve all been there; a quick play turns into a couple of hours and then more and more and more. You don’t want to leave the gaming zone you’ve created for yourself. There’s always an excuse: “Just to the next save point” “I just have to finish this quest” “Just a few more levels, then I can face the boss”. And if you’re particularly unlucky, the game tricks you into playing it more and more by exploiting the most likely excuses you’re making to yourself to keep going. That happened to me when I started playing Jagged Alliance 2.

Released back in 1999, the game is set in the fictional country of Alruco, which is suffering under the tyrannical rule of Queen Deidranna who took power in a coup in 1988. Since then she has monopolised the country’s wealth and suppressed all dissent. But that’s about to change. The former King, Enrico Chivaldori has hired you to get his country back for him by whatever means necessary. The game is split between the tactical map and the 2D isometric real-time zones where combat takes place. You start with a fistful of dollars with which to hire some accompanying mercenaries and to create on yourself by answering a multiple choice personality test and assigning skill points to particular areas.

With that done you’re dropped into Alruco and sent to meet what remains of the rebel movement. In order to take on the Queens forces you need more cash, which can be acquired by taking back towns and the mines that produce precious metals. You will spend the majority of the game fighting Deidranna’s soldiers in the real-time zones, which can be both deeply frustrating and satisfying. Sneaking one of your mercs around a building or cover to take pot shots, or dash in with a knife or fists to finish them off quickly. But if the enemy sees a group huddled together, pray your body armour can resist a grenade coming your way or that gas masks are ready to deal with any gas attacks. The tactile map shows where your mercs are, what condition they are in and where you want to move them, including the locations of mines, cities and SAM sites that might shoot down the chopper you can quire to move around more quickly.

Once you take a town you need to hold it to ensure that you have a steady income so that you can pay your mercs, hire new ones and buy better equipment for them to use. So you have to hire and train militia units to hold the towns. You do not have direct control of the militia and they will only help you if you are in the same square when enemy forces invade.

But why does this game endear itself to me so much? The graphics are VERY dated; it’s still buggy and you’ll find yourself re-loading saves quite often.  Well, JA2 works because it’s able to endear itself to you. Like an old bloke down the pub that’s a bit rough around the edges, a bit insane, but always has something interesting to say. For example, the mercs you hire have their own little foibles, likes and dislikes. Of course, if you’re working with someone who has to kill for a living they’re likely to be pretty unhinged…and funny! As you walk along or situations arise, you get to hear gems like: “I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m psychotic. I’m not psychotic! I just have a passion for my job!” and “I’m here, I ate every bug on the way, they were many.” The turn based combat, while a bit choppy is still very much enjoyable, even if the A.I can be a bit daft sometimes.

Also the plot is straight out of a bad 80’s action movie with cheesey 2D yet funny character archetypes. This is particularly prevalent with the Queen herself, who pops up from time to time, usually when you’ve just taken a town. Her hapless minion Elliot comes into the Palace related the news and..well…lets just say Deidranna hasn’t heard of the phrase don’t soot the messenger. It usually ends with her slapping him about and screeching “ELLLIOTTT YOU EEEEDIIIOT!” All she’s missing is a skull castle and a better haircut.

JA2 is a nostalgia trip, you know if you’re going to enjoy it in the first half hour of playtime. It is currently available on steam.

- That Bloke In The Beanie

Hexes. It was all about Hexes. Without them, you had nothing. He who controlled the hexes controlled the world. It was true in Resonance of Fate, but more important here. Connecting cities and cutting off your foe from vital resources, marching your army forward in such a manner so you will not be surrounded or outflanked. Hexes…

Few games out there are as recognisable in their genre as the Civilisation series. Sid Meier’s creation sprung from humble beginnings into a mainstay of PC gaming. Any PC strategy gamer worth his or her salt has played or at least knows about the empire building games of Civilisation.  It has been nearly 20 years since the original was released, so how does the latest incarnation hold up?

The graphical overhaul from Civ 4 shows, the unit animations, terrain, animals and flowing sea make for a very pretty picture, as long as your graphics card can handle it. Likewise the music for each playable Faction is practically pitch perfect, from the flute and wind chimes of Japan to the Classical orchestra of England.

The streamlined game play is most immediately noticeable when you enter the city management screen. This time, the computer automatically picks the best resources for you, making sure the city has enough food to feed its citizens and enough production to keep things steady. This might be a bit annoying if you want a more hands on approach to your Empire building, but at least it ensures everything remains stable.

You expand your city’s  limits with culture and the option to buy hexes for a certain amount of gold. This is perhaps my favourite feature of the game. No longer will your hands be tied by static slowly growing borders, or annoying Civs building cities to ninja recourses out from under you.

The resources themselves have changed little from Civ 4, you still require certain techs to round-up pigs or harvest cotton, except this time you don’t have the arduous road building to get them back to your city for the bonus. However, the times I played, I noticed I was the only Civ using roads to connect cities and prep my troops for an invasion. Now even on normal difficulty, I expected my rivals to be making use of this tech but they did not. It was bizarre…even in the last game Civs would build roads all over their section of the map, even if it seemed to be out of boredom.

The combat in-game is again much improved upon. This time you see entire regiments of units instead of 1 or 3 solitary guys fighting like rock’erm’sock’erm robots. You can withdraw your units if you are loosing and gain XP regardless of whether or not you win or lose. The city sieges are also much improved, now you don’t have to worry about your populace just laying back and allowing a new ruler inside due to a lack of units. The bigger the city and the tougher the upgrades, the harder it’ll be for invaders to capture.

The treatment of science and social policies is another great addition. Now with every full bra of culture you can choose a path from the available tree’s including honour if your being militaristic or liberty if your into growing your cities. Science is based on an independent value, so you won’t be able to just poll 90% of your income into that area to out-do your rivals, though you do have the option to ‘build’ it later.

The victory conditions carry over from the last game, but due to the size of the maps , you can get away with having a three city-state and still win a solid victory, heck it even makes certain victory types easier, especially if you are going for a cultural or diplomatic victory. Which is where the city-states come in. Depending on the map size, there will be a number of city states that act as mini civs with only one city and a few select resources. You can choose to woo them and get bonuses like access top their resources, extra troops or culture, or invade and take them for yourself. Upon taking a city you have the option to annex it or to install a puppet government. Annexation makes the populace more unhappy but gives you direct control over what is made and where you buy expansions to your territory. The puppet government keeps the populace happier, but you have no control over how it develops.

Now comes the problems. The AI isn’t particularly challenging as an opponent and in some cases simply stone walls you with odd request or totally unreasonable demands. I know your not dealing with real people here but I was expecting a bit more than this! For me, that was the fly in my otherwise awesome soup.

It’s all very well having a very pretty, well designed game with a great soundtrack, and great layout, when the diplomacy, which should take up a good third of the game, just feels…empty. Yes, you’ll help city states in need, but you can always just buy them off and they’ll like you all the same. There’s no palpable depth to it, you don’t feel like you haggling with Ghandi over trying to get his vote, more like trying to put his head to the floor with a  45. Against his head screaming, “Play along sunshine, or god help me you’ll be passively resisting a bullet through your brain!”

Its frustrating. I was all set up to give my heart away again to the turn based strategy king, only to find out I’d be fobbed off with his pretty but dim daughter. It’s like I was saying to Garvaos, It’s like having the perfect pancake, just the right size, shape, thickness, but with no sauce for it. Civ 5 is a very good game, it’s just a pity it’s AI isn’t up to scratch.

- That Bloke In The Beanie

Assassin’s Creed II was a hugely enjoyable game for me – one of the best sandbox style titles I’ve played. Unlike it’s predecessor, the game was chock full of things to do and places to see – taking the original concept and melding it into something vastly more exciting. Truth be told, I’ve still yet to get the DLC, since I’d long since stopped playing since it’s release – but I could quite happily say I was satisfied with my purchase and even managed to get my first Platinum Trophy by tracking down every last feather in the beautiful Italian regions of Venice, Florence and Tuscany. It’s rare I say that a sequel surpasses a predecessor in every way – but this time I think they managed it.

The upcoming release of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood this November did get me wondering what exactly we should expect. Firstly – the game is not deemed a true numbered “sequel”, secondly - it’s only been a year since the release of Assassin’s Creed II, as opposed to the two-year gap between the first two titles, and thirdly - I haven’t noticed nearly as much advertising for the latest installment. It’s perhaps because they’ve simply decided to follow the plot of the same character that they have made these choices (akin to Final Fantasy X-2), but the reluctance to number the title does make me wonder if the game will feel more like an expansion than a true sequel. So what do we know? I’m here to tell you what I can.

Although we are returning to Ezio as the lead character – I’m happy to say that the game will not be set in the same area as Assassin’s Creed II – it’s not recycled content, but instead the vast city of Rome for you to explore. However, the city is not as beautiful as you might expect – the city rife with corruption, the Vatican having drained the city of its wealth through its ruling of the Templars. A new area is a good sign – but actually, it seems there may be even more to Brotherhood than you might expect. The game introduces multiple new features that are making the game look like something very interesting indeed.

Rebuilding Rome

That’s right - in the same way that you could rebuild the small district of Monteriggioni in Assassin’s Creed II, the vast city of Rome can be rebuilt and improved. This means that by investing in the city you will actually see the world change as you progress, on a much larger scale than we’ve seen before. This feature is supposedly integrated into the storyline itself – so I do wonder whether you will need to have reached a certain ”city level” for the story to progress, or otherwise capped on improvements until you hit certain points – but either way it sounds very exciting. I did enjoy Monteriggioni in ACII, so this definitely sounds exciting to me – especially since Rome is supposedly the biggest city in the whole series to date; although the previous titles did consist of two or three cities, so that’s not to say the game will necessarily be larger in total. Rome will be composed of five districts - Vatican, Downtown, Tiber, Country and Antique – hopefully each with its own distinct style.

Recruiting Rome

Perhaps one of the biggest new features in Brotherhood is the new recruiting system. Now a Master Assassin out to retake Rome, Ezio understandably needs allies. Using a new management system, Ezio will be able to take on rookie assassins and train them in his ways. Said recruits will be customisable, including their specific weapons. These recruits can then be sent out on various tasks, called in as support in missions, and will gain experience as they do so to become more powerful teammates. Although similar systems have been seen in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, I’m quite intrigued to see how this all works, as I can’t say I’ve seen such a system used in a home console title before. One thing I will say – the idea of being able to call a group of assassins down to take down an unsuspecting group of Templars sounds like good fun to me. Oh – and I’m glad to note that there will be female assassins in the mix - not just a selection of grunting generic males but  a variety of different characters.

Fighting in Rome

While I expected Brotherhood to simply clone the fighting mechanics from ACII, it seems even the combat has been at least worked on, if not rehauled - it’s hard to tell until we can get a more hands-on experience. However, it looks as though there are a few new features worth noting – firstly, the introduction of ranged weapons in combat. While previous titles allowed such weapons for long ranged stealth-kills, it seems these weapons will now take a much more active role in battles, allowing Ezio to interchange sword combat with his hidden pistol and throwing axes. There are also new enemies to keep you on your toes, such as horsemen and riflemen – both of which sound nasty in their own way. While I find the fighting mechanics to be the weakest area of Assassin’s Creed’s gameplay – being far too easy to master – it’s said that Brotherhood will have more focus on quick strikes, rather than focusing on counter-attacks – and enemies are supposed to be more aggressive, ditching the habit of only attacking one at a time when in a group. It may be a little early to know for sure – but these definitely sound like changes that could improve the combat vastly. Not only that – but now horses will be available inside the city itself, and horseback attacks have been introduced, giving a lot of potential for some new scenarios such as horseback chases through marketplaces, for instance. Could be tricky to control – but I’m glad to see that Ubisoft are making an effort to improve their game rather than churning out a clone.

Multiplayer

Perhaps the biggest love/hate inclusion to Brotherhood is the new addition of an online aspect to an Assassin’s Creed title. Since it has already been stated that there will be no co-op, it doesn’t appeal to me hugely over the much larger interest in the solo aspect of the title. If, however, you are one of those people who loves to spend your evening fighting your best friends to the death, then perhaps this will be your cup of tea. There will supposedly be various modes, including one called “Wanted” which involves up to eight players, each of which is tasked in hunting a specific player.  The idea - to kill your target before your hunter kills you. There will be a selection of different characters available to play as, each with their own signature weapons and animations to mix things up – and players can even level up to gain new abilities - such as disguises, attack boosts and various other skills. Although I’m not a huge fan of multiplayer modes, one of the cool things that does interest me is that the modes will still use civilians in the same way as the story mode, allowing you to work yourself into the crowds - which could create one of the most interesting stealth experiences seen in a multiplayer mode if done right. So long as the online mode hasn’t taken any of the manpower away from the quality of the main game, it could actually be quite good – a nice break from the huge hoarde of gun-based online titles that saturate the multiplayer market. I guess we’ll just have to see how it pans out once we get access to the real thing.

Overall, I was really surprised with what seems like a lot of work put into Brotherhood. Although a quick glance had me thinking it would be another cash-cow spinoff such as Bloodlines, it looks as though the new title will be bringing back all of the features that made ACII great, with a fair amount of new content to get excited about, too.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is set for release in November – just enough time to play through ACII one more time, and maybe the DLC, too.

Leon

Set four years after the Brood War expansion of the original title, Jim Raynor now takes the lead role acting as the game’s protagonist, and many familiar faces such as Mengsk and Kerrigan make a welcome return. Naturally the games’ three main races – the Terran, Zerg and Protoss – are back, although the Campaign mode focuses solely on the Terran this time, with two more expansions planned each covering a single race. Although this obviously means that you’re restricted to one campaign mode rather than the original’s 3-in-1, it seems this choice will allow them to develop each race in more depth in the long run – going as far as including new gameplay elements in the later installments. Don’t worry – you can still play as all three races in the skirmish and multiplayer modes, so it’s not limited totally to Terran gameplay.

Before I go into the campaign details – I think it’s about time I talked about the gameplay itself. If you have played StarCraft before you will feel instantly at home, with the gameplay, menus and controls working in the exact same way. I’m pleased to say that after over a decade, the game still feels like StarCraft – something I was personally worried would be lost behind the new graphics and Blizzard’s experiences with it’s various WarCraft games they have since produced. As always, you’ll be commanding gun-toting marines, construction/collection focused SCV’s, plenty of vehicles, and buildings that are able to take flight.

For those of you that are new to StarCraft – and I’ll bet there are a few of you – one of the best aspects to the game are the different races. Each race has it’s own style of playing, it’s a lot more than just looks. The Terran are your humans, who play in the most traditional RTS style – using SCVs (your builders) to construct buildings and gather materials, which in turn you use to build barracks, factories and turrets to train troops and fight your enemies. The Zerg are a more biological, primitive enemy – lizard-like aliens that utilize organic structures, that hatch larval aliens which are then grown into various forms, able to spawn weaker units but at a much faster rate than the Terran. The Protoss are more advanced aliens, with access to shields, energy-based weaponry and stronger troops, who in turn are more expensive to produce. There’s a real beauty to the races, as they each need to be mastered individually, yet are kept in balance exceptionally well in terms of overall power.

Obviously, while the game follows the same general gameplay to the original, some new features have been added. While most units retain most of the same abilities – such as the marines’ Stimpack ability and the Seige-Tank’s ability to bolt down to the ground and act as a powerful mobile turret – there are also some new options, such as the Zerglings’ ability to turn into suicide bombers, and the Zealots’ new charge ability. Also, perhaps more importantly, there are of course some new units – such as Reapers (dual-wielding marines with jump-jets that allow them to leap between different levels of terrain), and the towering Protoss “Colossus” units (huge walking tanks, equipped with beam weapons). There’s plenty of familiar units to be comfortable, with some nice additions along the way.

As I’m more a solo gamer than multiplayer, the campaign mode is an important factor to me. While the original StarCraft’s (albeit decent) storyline was a simple matter of briefing, mission, repeat, StarCraft II features a much more in-depth hub between missions. Playing as Raynor, you are given access to the Hyperion which acts as a mobile base and interactive menu to utilise various mid-mission features. The cantina and bridge serve as areas where you can talk to other characters and access missions, while the armory provides you with options to spend earned credits to purchase unit and structure upgrades, as well as hiring special mercenary units that can be deployed in battle. It all adds to the quality of the campaign, and helps the storyline feel more padded out.

The missions in Campaign obviously follow a traditional RTS style, often revolving around constructing bases and taking down those of the enemies,but often mixes in other objectives and scenarios such as survival, completing missions with only a small group of troops, retrieving an artifact or keeping on the move as lava rises destroying everything it touches.  It’s all quite standard, similar to StarCraft, but of course – if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

The new 3D graphics style is done fairly well, and the game has been optimised so that it can work on most systems, even laptops, without struggling too much. Obviously you’re better off with a high-end PC if you want to set the graphics all the way up to “Ultra”, but the minimum requirements aren’t too high. Although the game looks fine in 3D, I personally preferred the 2D style of the original and thought it was a shame they couldn’t update simply to a higher resolution version of what they had originally – the old 2D sprites have aged well over the years and still look clean even now. Generally, the game looks fine, although I personally thought the graphics were fairly average compared to some of the impressive titles consoles we’ve been treated with more lately. It probably doesn’t help that one of my soft spots for the original was it’s particular graphical style!

Overall, the new instalment to the StarCraft series does what it sets out to do – it gives us a fresh look at Blizzard’s old sci-fi RTS, with some new features included and a completely rehauled campaign mode. Personally, I didn’t find the game to be rehauled enough to go as far as saying it tops the original, but once Blizzard have expanded it with the Zerg and Protoss expansions it could potentially become something much bigger. If you loved StarCraft, you should enjoy the sequel – but if you’ve never experienced it before I’d personally suggest picking up a copy of the original, which I personally found to equally enjoyable – and costs less than a quarter of the price. That’s not to say StarCraft II isn’t a great game – because it is – only I think the original is still just as good.

-Leon

Together with Sid Meier, The Creative assembly are responsible for the iron grip that strategy games have had on me for the past 11 years. I first played Shogun in 2003 and haven’t looked back since. The seamless mix of turn based and real time strategy with beautiful 3D environments and weather effects had me chomping at the bit for more.  I devoured every single game in the series and now, with Shogun 2 announced I can barely sleep for excitement.

The total war games have changed the face of strategy gaming, even going so far as to be the main feature on Time Commanders, the only computer game to have a show totally devoted to showing off a new engine. Now we finally get to see Shogun in a whole new light with the latest technology to remind us just how awesome the original was.

We are, of course, back in feudal Japan during the 16^th century where various clans fought for dominance of the island and their own survival.  Choosing one of 9 clan leaders scattered throughout Japan, you’ll have to combine your political, military and your leader’s personal influence to get ahead of your enemies. And, if all else fails, you can always call in a ninja…

Shogun TW’s strength was how you utilise the limited number of troop types into an effective fighting force with each soldier suited to a particular task. For example, the cheap but poorly trained farmers that make up the Ashigaru class of spearmen can be used as a meat shield while your better trained more expensive troops get into position, flank or make a clean getaway. A great new feature of S2 is that you can upgrade your troops as teh game progresses giving you even more flexibility in how you fight your battles.

What’s most exciting is going to be the real time battle visuals, seeing the rain, mist, fog and wind shake the tree, plans and mountains are your forces struggle not just to fight the enemy but the terrain. As well as your normal troop types there will also be the addition of hero type units to bolster your army, whether it be holding a bridge, boosting moral of floundering troops, or making a b-line for the enemy general to break the back of an army before it even begins. Of course you can counter these with your own hero units to make them engage in a duel…or simply fill them full of arrows before they can take you apart. But wait! It gets better! General speeches are back! Originally a feature of Rome Total war but dropped in Empire, when starting a real time battle the general would adress his troops and give essentail tacticle titbits to the player. Whats more, they even call out other generals and heros in opposing armies, which could lead to a duel to decide teh battle! Awesome!

Thanks to the smaller world map, you’ll be having a more intimate relationship with your faction and the way it evolves and engages with your rivals. So you’ll be nurturing family members like in RomeTW to be great governors, generals and politicians. Finding and keeping a great general will make much more of a difference in battles than in previous incarnations.

One of the weakest areas of the earlier Shogun was the crassness of the siege battles. The gates would be open, the walls only really offered cover from arrows and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion one way or another. Now that the Creative assembly have the experience from Rome and Medieval 2, we can expect some great multilayered assaults and defences to really do justice to the way.

The AI is also promised to be as radical now as it was when the original was in 2000. Programmed to utilise Sun Tzu’s art of war in how the enemy utilises its forces and responds to your tactics, as long as you haven’t broken them before they have the chance to do so. There’s also the inclusion of sea warfare which will be interesting to see how well they integrate it into fighting in and around an island with limited units.

These are just a few of the things that Shogun has to offer at this early stage. It has a lot of potential and I for one cannot wait to get the finished version on my PC.

The man, the Myth, the Legend!

It’s been 5 years since Civilisation 4 first graced our screens and now we have the pleasure of Sid’s next installment, Civilisation 5. So, what can we expect for this new installment before the big E3 reveal? Let’s take a look at what’s already been announced:

For one, we have a whole new game map with a hexagonal grid, taking a break from the normal format seen in previous games. Gone as well is the religion feature, which could be seen as an improvement by those who thinking whipping out a religious group could be seen as a tad risqué. So what other new features are going to available? Well, for one all the faction leader are now going to be actually talking to you instead of showing simple text boxes. Though it’s going to be interesting to hear the Babylonian leader Nebuchadnezzar (try saying that 5 times fast, heck try saying it at all!) insulting you in a dead language…though I wish they’d kept Hammurabi as the leader, he was always my favorite leader.

Fear my beard dreads!

So, there a total of 18 Civilisations in this particular incarnation (although Babylon is only available via digital download) each with 2 specialist units, specialized building and unique powers. There’s also the addition of city states, these act like small weaker civilisation which you can either outright conquer or simply extend your influence over to gain, military, maritime or cultural benefits.  Your own and other active playing faction cities have also changed. You no longer have to keep a city garrisoned at all times to avoid it being taken over as the populous as it grows will arm and train its own defenders.

Look ma, no garrison!

The cities themselves will also start with the ability to grow 3 hexes externally instead of 2, but will have to have aid in order to use hexes further from each other. So, that’s most of what we know so far. Hopefully in the next few days we’ll hear more about what we can expect from Civ5 when it arrives in September.

-That bloke in the beanie

The Worlds Most Awesome Gaming Keyboard......Apparently

As for me, I am a semi converted FPS fan. Most of you are probably thinking, what the hell do you mean? Well first off I was playing First Person Shooters on the PC. But this was back in the days of Doom, Wolfenstein and Duke 3D. Basically the FPS games that didn’t require you to use the mouse. You could happily go along with the arrow keys seeing as there was no way to look up or down. It wasn’t till the end of my PC FPS game days where Quake 2 implemented the mouse. I couldn’t really get on with it so I just tried it out with the keyboard and somehow made it through the campaign.

With the new control set up for FPS games, I actually feared that my shooting game days were long gone. So I went to the Playstation 1 and 2 for games like WWE wrestling, Tony hawks skate boarding and Devil May Cry. It wasn’t untill I got my original X Box and Halo where I got my FPS gaming back. I then was evermore glued to the console way of FPS gaming. So you could say I have really been playing FPS games the same way all my life, mouse free.

The Perfect Combination Of PC and Console Controllers Perhaps?

But back to the question in hand. What is the best platform for FPS games? If I were to put this question to the Plus XP team I will have a vague idea of who will say what. Leon would say console but then go back to playing God Of War or something similar. Mark will probably say console as well, but then start day dreaming about Jessica Chobot. GuitarGirl’s reaction would probably be ‘does it involve a guitar so I can melt the enemies faces?’. Then there is That Bloke In The Beanie, a hardcore PC gamer who has an X-Box in the corner of his room which he does play every now and again, but I know straight out he will say FPS games are better suited to the PC. This will probably stroke up a heated debate which I will endeavor to post on this site when the time comes.

lately I have revived my original silver clunky DS and have been playing Metroid Prime Hunters. Possibly the best shooter you are ever gong to get on a hand-held ever. Ok so it may cramp up your hands like a bitch but still it utilises the FPS game mechanics perfectly. Possibly not the best platform for FPS gaming by any stretch of the imagination, but defiantly something to look at, using the touch screen as your mouse if you would like, you then use the D pad to strafe and move forward and backward and then use the left bumper button as your trigger finger. Very interesting way at looking at game mechanics indeed.

I feel it is time now to give the Wii an honerable mention. If it were to drop it casual/party game facade that so many people pin down on it these days, I think that this console could be the next big thing for FPS games. Oh c’mon you must have thought at some point that shooting games would have been perfect for the Wii when motion plus came out? Metroid corruption used the Wii controls perfectly, and is today still the game that is making me think about getting a Wii. Red Steel 1 we probably won’t talk about here, just mention it for the sake of mentioning it as it was, quite frankly, a shite game. Red Steel 2 on the other hand looks a lot better with the time I had with it at Eurogamer last year. Then you have games like house of the dead which just turn the console into an arcade cab. But I must say the Will has stunning potential for being the Next FPS platform as you pretty much have a gun in your hand.

So the best platform for FPS gaming? Well I am going to have to hand it to the consoles, A) because I can’t get on with the mouse that well, B) because if it wasn’t for Halo I would have probably never touched an FPS game again, and C) the Wii has so much FPS potential it just makes me a tad sick that it has had this casual gaming marker put on it.

But that’s all my opinion, what do true FPS fans out there think? Feel free to voice your opinion.

Garv.