Retro Reviews
Review Awesomenauts (PlayStation 3)
Awesome or naut?
It's the year 3587, and two robot armies are in a galactic struggle for power. It’s up to the elite group of combatants known as the Awesomenauts to determine the fate of this cosmic clash. Gameplay in Awesomenauts revolves around a series of three-on-three battles as each team attempts to break through the enemy's defences and...
Perplexing petals
Don't try too hard to understand. Datura is bizarre, a short adventure designed to be played in a single sitting with PlayStation Move, seemingly intended to bewilder anybody who comes before it. Yet that's one of its strengths. With no background information whatsoever, you take control of a man who is apparently as lost as the...
Review Skullgirls (PlayStation 3)
The weird warriors
2009's Street Fighter IV inserted plenty of coins into the ailing fighting genre, bringing it back to the forefront of competitive gaming. With six buttons on the agenda again, Reverge Labs is hoping to capitalise with Skullgirls, a new title aimed squarely at serious fighting fans. Skullgirls doesn't completely close the door on...
Review Velocity (PlayStation Minis)
High flyer
Sometimes a game comes out of nowhere and completely blows you away. Coconut Dodge – the first Minis endeavour from Brighton-based studio FuturLab – had that impact upon almost everyone that tried it. Simple in premise, but deviously addictive, the arcade mini-game was a captivating affair that still holds our attention today. Its...
Review House of the Dead 4 (PlayStation 3)
Kill 'em again!
Years ago, gamers' weekends weren't filled with online multiplayer binge sessions. Instead, they filled local arcades with a pocketful of quarters, ready to show off their skills and hopefully land a top score on a cabinet for bragging rights. One series that made its name in these arcades is SEGA's zombie-infested light gun shooter,...
Review Prototype 2 (PlayStation 3)
Heller good?
Prototype 2 is anything but subtle. The follow-up to Radical Entertainment’s 2009 murder simulator rarely gives you a moment to breathe without gunfire, rockets and tendrils of errant intestines bursting from the screen. Its anarchic approach to gameplay can grate on you, but without a meaty plot to hang its crimson hat on, it’s...
Review Defenders of the Mystic Garden (PlayStation Minis)
Gnome mercy
Defenders of the Mystic Garden (DotMG) takes elements from the tower defence genre and tweaks a few aspects to help differentiate it from others. Like most entries in the genre, you’ll control a limited number of units to fight against hordes of incoming enemies, but DotMG has movement on its side. Instead of units remaining...
Review Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims (PlayStation Minis)
Keep the faith
You get lots of things if you're a cloud god. Your very own personal, environmentally friendly air transportation, the power to smite the mightiest of demons with only the tips of your fingers and the undying devotion of as many little old men as you like. It's not all lounging on beds of water vapour and gobbling grapes, though...
Review Rayman 3 HD (PlayStation 3)
'Armless fun
With his goofy haircut, non-existent limbs and a nose that threatens to eclipse the remainder of his face, Rayman's popularity is pretty surprising. After being sidelined in favour of screaming leporids for the last few years, the Glade of Dream's number one hero burst back in vogue after the exceptional Rayman Origins. Taking advantage...
Review Wheels of Destruction (PlayStation 3)
Crash course
Between Twisted Metal, Smash ‘N’ Survive and the upcoming Fuel Overdose, PS3 has the monopoly on car combat. Gelid Games’ PSN exclusive Wheels of Destruction is yet another entry vying for attention in the crowded bracket, and it hopes to win over players with its budget price point and high-octane multiplayer. But does it...
Review I Am Alive (PlayStation 3)
Survivor
I Am Alive's road to release was as troubled as the journey of its protagonist Adam. Originally announced at E3 back in 2008, the project was passed between numerous developers before settling in East Asia at Ubisoft Shanghai. During its transitional years the game's changed a lot, switching distribution platforms from physical to digital...
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 (PlayStation 3)
Out of the woods
It’s been a year now since the publicity surrounding Tiger Woods’ marital mishaps forced any real acknowledgement of the star to be removed from EA’s premium golf series. But time is a great healer, and, heading into the Masters, last year’s laughing stock is now the one to watch. That change in attitude is reflected...
Review Yakuza: Dead Souls (PlayStation 3)
Dead light district
The Yakuza series is well known for its self-serious plots and goofy side stories, but Yakuza: Dead Souls aims to elevate things to the next level. Introducing zombies may seem like an act of desperation to fill a creative void, but it’s quite the contrary, as the developer experiments with placing some of its most well-liked...
Review Ninja Gaiden III (PlayStation 3)
A bloody mess
To accept a life that walks in the path of a ninja is to accept death itself. Bloodshed flows like a river through the fingers tightly grasped to the hilt of his blade. Burdened with carrying the weight of the thousands of lives he’s taken, always knowing that payment for his sins will come in due time. In Ninja Gaiden III, series...
Review Mass Effect 3 (PlayStation 3)
Cause and effect
Mass Effect 3 is all about the big payoff and no, we’re not talking about its controversial conclusion. Those who’re returning to BioWare’s sci-fi epic will have already invested many hours trawling the galaxy, zipping through mass relays, forming alliances with races from distant worlds and making difficult decisions that...
Review Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PlayStation 3)
No braaains
Set as a side story during the events of Resident Evil 2's Raccoon City outbreak, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City drops you in the heavy boots of an elite Umbrella commando squad. Your assignment: retrieve the G-Virus or, failing that, destroy all evidence of Umbrella's connection and remove any dangerous survivors — Leon S...
Review Binary Domain (PlayStation 3)
Binary dismemberment
Global warming has flooded Earth, killing millions. With human manpower severely diminished, the mass production of robotic workers went into full force to assist with rebuilding the devastation around the world. Governmental powers crippled in the wake of the disaster, laws and regulations weren’t properly enforced: in Binary...
Review FIFA Street (PlayStation 3)
Quality street
A lot has changed in the football genre since EA released FIFA Street 3 back in 2008. The mainline FIFA franchise has enjoyed an impressive transformation over the past five years and, consequentially, has knocked former champion Pro Evolution Soccer from the top of the league. It’s telling, then, that the latest FIFA Street comes...
Review Rugby World Cup 2011 (PlayStation 3)
A collapsed scrum
HB Studios is no stranger to rugby union, having created EA’s last-generation rugby titles, although these were merely decent at best. After a four-year hiatus the studio's returned to the field with its latest offering, the officially-licensed Rugby World Cup 2011. Given its previous experience with the previous console...
Review Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge (PlayStation 3)
A challenge well met
Rugby union and video games traditionally do not get along well. For years, fans have been demanding a decent — even half-decent — game to come out, but are constantly disappointed. With only a handful of titles out there, egg chasers have had the option of either like it or lump it. Just when you thought this console...
Review MLB 12 The Show (PlayStation 3)
Diamond pleaser
MLB the Show is known as a series dedicated to baseball accuracy and purity. It boasts identical replicas of the major league stadiums (even some minor league ones), players move fluidly and resemble their real life counterparts and sounds from fans heckling to the smack of the bat are captured perfectly. MLB The Show 12 still...
Review Canabalt (PlayStation Minis)
Dashing desperado
The PSP is positively bristling with input buttons, yet Canabalt is a game you can play with just one. Originally conceived as a free-to-play browser game, it made the leap to iOS in 2009, and now graces the PlayStation Network as a PSP Mini. Canabalt’s premise is the ultimate in high concept. The planet has been invaded by...
Review Twisted Metal (PlayStation 3)
Carnival of carnage
Twisted Metal doesn’t care much for first impressions: the game’s overarching heavy metal motif is about as dislikeable as the psychotic characters at the centre of its gratuitous plotline. But to dismiss Eat Sleep Play’s car combat reboot on the basis of first appearances would be a grave error, because beyond the...
Review Jak & Daxter Collection (PlayStation 3)
Jak of all trades
PlayStation 2 proved a haven for fans of platformers: Sony published no fewer than three outstanding platforming trilogies in Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper and Jak & Daxter. But while Insomniac’s already honoured Ratchet & Clank with a second PS3 trilogy of its own and Sly Cooper’s on the verge of a comeback courtesy...
Slip slidin' away
During its prolonged tutorial — which sees players leaping out of a plane before plummeting towards terra firma until all of the required actions have been performed — SSX is picture perfect. A seemingly endless and expertly crafted snowy mountain expanse stretches off into the horizon, the lighting is stunning to behold and...
Review Street Fighter X Tekken (PlayStation 3)
A cross to bear
Two of the biggest fighting franchises collide — wait, haven't we been here before? Over ten years ago SNK and Capcom crossed over to create a series of fighters that, however entertaining, ultimately failed to become more than the mere sum of their parts. Now Capcom's back in full-on synergy mode with Street Fighter X Tekken, but...
Review Smash 'N' Survive (PlayStation 3)
Smash and desist
Chances are, if you owned a PSOne in the nineties, you will at some time have been exposed to Destruction Derby, the main selling point of which was that violently smashing rivals' cars to pieces was actively encouraged and deemed a perfectly acceptable tactic in the rush for victory. Players understandably lapped it up and, despite...
Review Daxter (PlayStation Portable)
Lots of ottsel fun
Developed by Naughty Dog – creators of the critically acclaimed Uncharted trilogy on PS3 – the Jak & Daxter series has enjoyed about as much success as a 3D platforming franchise is capable of achieving, short of donning blue dungarees, growing a moustache and taking lessons in Italian. True to form, the series' debut on...
Review Worms Ultimate Mayhem (PlayStation 3)
No backbone, but still solid
Unless you live under a rock like the franchise’s titular heroes, you know about Worms. Team 17’s long-running series starring surprisingly articulate worms shooting, blasting and blowing each other up with firepower that would frighten the world’s mightiest armies has always had a loyal fanbase despite few...
Review Hungry Giraffe (PlayStation Minis)
Good grub
If gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, then Hungry Giraffe is heading straight to the pits of hell. The game’s titular greedy ungulate has a serious scoffing addiction that’s accentuated by the host of snacks left lingering in the sky. Laughing Jackal’s latest PlayStation Mini isn’t going to win any awards for its fiction,...
