Reviews

PS3 Game Reviews

  • Review Funky Lab Rat (PlayStation 3)

    It's time to get funky!

    2D platformers have seen a revival in recent years, with the rise of downloadable games, which has brought us many fantastic titles such as Super Meat Boy and Braid. Now, imagine a mix of the time travel elements of Braid with the puzzle mechanics of Tumble and you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect in Funky Lab...

  • Review Deadstorm Pirates (PlayStation 3)

    Davy Jones' lock-on

    Over the years Namco has been prolific in developing light-gun titles including Ninja Assault, Point Blank and most prominently the Time Crisis series. Earlier this year it unleashed two-player on-rails shooter Deadstorm Pirates as a sit-down booth coin-op, so considering the possibility that your local arcade has not invested in...

  • Review Swords & Soldiers (PlayStation 3)

    Don your Sword and ready the Soldiers

    A port taken from the the popular WiiWare title and recreated with HD graphics and a new game mode, Swords & Soldiers recently received a free patch to support PlayStation Move. In a tower defence style of gameplay, gamers control troops and advance them forward while trying to both take the opponents base...

  • Review Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (PlayStation 3)

    Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is a delightfully addictive sensory experience

    Everything about Namco's re-reboot is perfectly tuned and overwhelmingly memorable. A must-have. Pac-Man has always been a bizarre game. Take a moment to digest the original's pitch: an incomplete pizza roams around a haunted maze scoffing tablets. Weird, right? Pac-Man...

  • Review Beat Sketcher (PlayStation 3)

    Who said games can't be art?

    Beat Sketcher combines the art of “light drawing” and music creation to create a new and unique experience for PS3 gamers, and using the PlayStation Move lets budding artists draw highly detailed pictures and share them with friends and family. When the game is first loaded a thorough calibration process kicks in,...

  • Review Auditorium HD (PlayStation 3)

    Challenge the mind and please the senses

    What started as a PC Flash game years back has now been translated into a full HD experience in the form of Auditorium HD. A captivating music puzzle game with fantastic auditory and visual style, the PC original has already won awards for its unique style, and arrives on PlayStation 3 with exclusive content...

  • Review Create (PlayStation 3)

    More play than Create

    Play, Create and Share are words that PlayStation fans have become very fond of in the last two years. Games like LittleBigPlanet and ModNation Racers both have gamers not only playing the games, but creating and sharing their own levels online with others across the world. EA has decided to get in on this trend with Create,...

  • Review Crazy Taxi (PlayStation 3)

    Crazy Taxi's the perfect game to have sitting on your PlayStation 3's hard-drive

    The initial pang of nostalgia more than makes up for the digital download's asking price, but it's the game's time-wasting potential that will keep you coming back for more. Crazy Taxi is a game that's so good we actually broke our original Dreamcast copy from playing...

  • Review DanceDanceRevolution (PlayStation 3)

    Dance Dance for the world!

    The granddaddy of all dance games is back as Konami's classic franchise makes its first appearance on the PlayStation 3. DanceDanceRevolution (DDR) is arguably the one game that proved that not all games needed to be played sitting down. If you aren't familiar with the DDR franchise, gameplay revolves around stepping on...

  • Review The Fight: Lights Out (PlayStation 3)

    Get the low down on this beat down

    If you're a hardcore gamer interested in the PlayStation Move, chances are that The Fight: Lights Out has been on your radar for quite some time. With a full-fledged online mode, dirty fighting moves and a gritty presentation, it is the very antithesis to Wii Sports boxing. While other motion-based fighting games...

  • Review Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (PlayStation 3)

    Coming out of Criterion Games, our initial impressions of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit were tempered by it not being Burnout

    We expected to jump into the game, hit ridiculous speeds and twist in and out of traffic with Burnout's trademark controller response. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is a lot heavier and slower than Burnout, and it wasn't until...

  • Review The Sly Collection (PlayStation 3)

    Adventures of the Thievius Raccoonus

    The Sly Cooper games for PlayStation 2 were incredible platforming game experiences in themselves, but here we have all three Sly Cooper games in one package remastered in beautiful high definition for the PlayStation 3. Move supported minigames and stereoscopic 3D support are icing on the cake for this must-have...

  • Review Get Fit with Mel B (PlayStation 3)

    Spice up your life

    When people think of gamers, they don't usually think “fitness.” Yet once motion gaming was introduced, a surge of exercise games began entering the market. Some, like Wii Fit, have been a huge success, causing companies like EA and Ubisoft to follow suit. Many of these titles are paired with a celebrity name to help set them...

  • Review Call Of Duty: Black Ops (PlayStation 3)

    We go into every Call Of Duty with a degree of trepidation

    By launch day the franchise's hype has usually got ahead of itself, giving the game impossible expectations to live up to. The Infinity Ward developed Modern Warfare 2 was greeted with so much rapture and excitement that when the game launched it felt like a let-down. The formula worked fine...

  • Review The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (PlayStation 3)

    Son of Samwise

    Aragorn's Quest is the first fruit from a decision by Warner Bros to acquire the rights from Electronic Arts and produce its own spin on games set in The Lord of the Rings universe. Originally developed by Headstrong Games with the Wii as its lead platform, but it was later converted to PS3 by TT Fusion. It's a third-person...

  • Review SingStar Dance (PlayStation 3)

    Bust a Move

    When you’ve been the leading karaoke title for the past six years, how do you keep the experience fresh? That’s the rather fortunate problem facing SingStar, and this year has seen two significant additions to the formula, first in the form of SingStar Guitar and now with SingStar Dance for PlayStation Move. Rather than hold a Move...

  • Review Blacklight: Tango Down (PlayStation 3)

    Despite playing host to a pile of technical issues, Blacklight: Tango Down is actually a lot of fun and an interesting experiment

    The PlayStation 3 version couldn't be launching at a worse time, but those looking for a cheap multiplayer shooter will be well served here. When we heard about Blacklight: Tango Down our scepticism quickly ran into...

  • Review James Bond 007: Blood Stone (PlayStation 3)

    It's fitting that Blood Stone ends with a car chase

    The game's developed by the criminally under-rated British studio Bizarre Creations. Y'know, the team behind the excellent XBOX exclusive franchise, Project Gotham Racing, and this year's PS3 combat-racer, Blur. Seeing as there is no James Bond movie this year, Blood Stone is a unique story penned...

  • Review Rapala Pro Bass Fishing (PlayStation 3)

    Luring them in if only for a while

    Rapala Pro Bass Fishing is like having an arcade machine in your living room. It may not have the appeal of current blockbuster titles on the market, but what it brings a fun, arcade-style fishing experience that is sure to please, whether you’re a fishing enthusiast or not. Starting up Rapala Pro Bass Fishing...

  • Review Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PlayStation 3)

    World at war

    Picking up the epic arc of events in Infinity Ward's blockbuster Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the much-hyped continuation of the near-future storyline. Modern Warfare 2 crafts a darker, grittier plot than Call of Duty 4, but it's also less grounded. Set roughly ten years in the future, you'll play as...

  • Review Time Crisis: Razing Storm (PlayStation 3)

    Running out of time

    Practically from the moment Sony announced the PlayStation Move controller, so-called ‘hardcore’ gamers have been more than happy to brand it a device aimed at ‘casual’ players. It could be argued that they have a point – especially when you consider how closely some Move titles resemble undemanding Wii-standard...

  • Review Brunswick Pro Bowling (PlayStation 3)

    This is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

    When it comes to simulating sports in video games, there is always a fine line for developers to tread between realism and accessibility. Hardcore fans of a given sport can criticise games that fail to live up to the real thing, while more casual players just want to be able to jump into an...

  • Review The Shoot (PlayStation 3)

    Lights, Camera, Action!

    The Shoot is that simplest of creatures: the arcade lightgun game. If you’ve played any on-rails shooter in the past 20 years you’ll think you know what to expect, but The Shoot makes enough subtle additions to be worth a look even for jaded shooter fans. Setting the scene with a brass James Bond-style theme, The...

  • Review PAIN (PlayStation 3)

    No pain, no gain!

    Televisions all across the globe have humans inflicting pain and injury upon each other every day. Martial arts, reality bloopers and viral videos fill the airwaves, and millions of viewers find enjoyment in this type of entertainment. The creative developers at Idol Minds know that some gamers crave the chance to inflict pain on...

  • Review Superstars V8 Racing (PlayStation 3)

    Superstars V8 Racing is not Gran Turismo, but it's certainly not bad either

    With a competent race model and some pretty graphical effects, it's certainly worth checking out while you wait for that other game. Racing games. What else is there to say? There are cars on a track and they go "vroom". Superstars V8 Racing is one of those games...

  • Review TV Superstars (PlayStation 3)

    A real turn-off

    TV Superstars is a minigame collection that hinges on the concept of being contestants on a range of reality TV shows, so it’s fitting that it ends up being a shallow and forgettable experience. It all starts off well: you use the PlayStation Eye camera to snap three photos for your contestants’ head, record a short sample and...

  • Review Fallout: New Vegas (PlayStation 3)

    How do you possibly review a game like Fallout: New Vegas? Isn't it our promise as a publication to see all of a game before we deliver a verdict? In New Vegas' case, that's impossible

    It really is — there is no way we could possibly see everything the game has to offer and still meet deadlines and cover other games. New Vegas is like a vacuum, it...

  • Review SingStar Guitar (PlayStation 3)

    As far as we're concerned, SingStar's baseline presentation remains head-and-shoulders above the current crop of high profile competition

    As such, if you like SingStar — and you've got a couple of Rock Band/Guitar Hero guitars lying around — you'll probably enjoy SingStar Guitar. Someone, somewhere is probably planning on writing an epistle...

  • Review DJ Hero 2 (PlayStation 3)

    The sequel to last year's dance, hip-hop and pop rhythm alternative; DJ Hero garnered a following with the crowd yet to be lulled by Guitar Hero's heavy-rock focus - those searching for a video game equivalent of club culture

    It both succeeded and failed — while the original DJ Hero's track-listing was a breath of fresh air, the game suffered from...

  • Review Buzz!: The Ultimate Music Quiz (PlayStation 3)

    Pretty fly

    Buzz! has been around for what seems like ages; released in 2005, there have been no fewer than 18 releases in the Buzz! series in those short five years. Now the latest outing for the be-quiffed host arrives in the form of Buzz! The Ultimate Music Quiz, and it’s brought a few Move rounds with it. If you’ve never played a Buzz! game...