Latest Reviews
Review Starhawk (PlayStation 3)
Brave new world
It’s a testament to Warhawk's longevity that almost five years after its original release, it still maintains a vibrant and enthusiastic community. Most other multiplayer titles shed their numbers at a worrying rate, but engaging core design and unprecedented post-release support has ensured the downloadable shooter a place amongst...
Review Sniper Elite V2 (PlayStation 3)
Not a bad shot
Sniper Elite V2 is a pretty single-minded game, when all’s said and done. The Rebellion-developed remake has grand plans of being a stealth action title with tactical frills, but in reality it’s much more content with being a profoundly simplistic shooter. With a limited arsenal and even fewer gameplay distractions, the success of...
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...
Review Mortal Kombat (PlayStation Vita)
Goresome
Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios released Mortal Kombat on PS3 last year, returning the series to its über-violent 2D roots and right back into the top tier of fighting games. The lengthy story mode and robust online options were only the start of what the game had on offer, and that’s before the DLC started rolling in. With the Vita...
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 Dynasty Warriors Next (PlayStation Vita)
A welcomed new touch
Omega Force gets plenty of stick for sticking too closely to the same old template with its Warriors titles, and while the aptly titled Dynasty Warriors Next sticks to its tried and true basics, it also shakes up the formula by making creative use of Vita's control inputs. The real-time hack-and-slash feudal warfare is further...
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 Pure Chess (PlayStation Vita)
Pawn shop
With an extensive range of tutorials tucked beneath its board, Pure Chess is set to make a grandmaster out of the freshest chess newbie. There are unforced errors in its approach, however, that prevent it from matching up to the age-old game's traditional quality. Pure Chess is the work of VooFoo Studios, the team behind Hustle Kings, and...
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 Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (PlayStation Vita)
No absence of depth
The Disgaea series has surged in popularity in recent years, mainly due to its nearly limitless degree of combat depth and heaped amounts of content. Disgaea 3 was originally released on PS3, along with a vast selection of downloadable content, so rather than create a brand new game for Vita from scratch Nippon Ichi decided to...
Review StarDrone Extreme (PlayStation Vita)
Spinster
StarDrone Extreme should be a mess: the game has a longer list of influences than an experimental electronica band. But somehow developers Beatshapers and Orb Games have managed to fuse the title’s extensive list of disparate inspirations into a cohesive package, and against all odds produced a tremendously enjoyable action puzzle...
Review LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (PlayStation Vita)
Block-tastically magical
There’s no question that Vita's gaming experience can be called “magical,” but with the release of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, the enchanting experiences of the final films in Harry Potter’s epic adventures are charmingly downsized LEGO-style and placed right upon your fingertips, allowing the magical series to...
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 EA Sports FIFA Football (PlayStation Vita)
Transfer listed
The portable FIFA titles have come a long way since the days of Game Boy Advance, when pitched down versions were the norm. These days EA takes the portable market a little more seriously, going on PlayStation Vita from day one and launching FIFA Football alongside the new system. If you've played a home console FIFA title in the...
Review BlazBlue: Continuum Shift EXTEND (PlayStation Vita)
The deep end of the pool
After the original BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger wowed fighting game fans with its amazing depth and character variety, developer Arc System Works took things a step or two further with its follow-up, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. Not only did the follow-up continue the in-depth fighting experience of the first release, it also...
Review Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted (PlayStation Vita)
Breakin’ bones and genres
Modern fighting bouts are glamorous events these days, but it hasn’t always been this way. Fighting for honour, societal positioning or for the unadulterated brutality and adrenaline rush, the warriors of Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted are so highly trained in the art of fighting that their bare hands are lethal weapons...
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 Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (PlayStation Vita)
Captivating
Ever since X-Men vs. Street Fighter way back in the 1990s, Capcom knows its fans want to be able to fight Ryu with Wolverine. As popularity increased, Capcom expanded the roles from just X-Men and Street Fighter to include various characters from the Marvel and Capcom line up. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (UMvC3) builds upon that initial...
Review Plants vs. Zombies (PlayStation Vita)
Cherry bomb
If you have an electronic device released in the past few years, there's an extremely good chance that a version of Plants vs. Zombies is available for it. Since its original release back in 2009, the game has become somewhat of a measuring stick by which most tower defence games are judged. Now, PopCap Games has created a version for...
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 A-Men (PlayStation Vita)
Get to the chopper!
In the description on PS Store for A-Men Polish developer Bloober Team has thrown down the gauntlet to players by stating that its tactical 2D puzzle game is built for “hardcore gamers.” PlayStation gaming has a modest history of character swapping puzzle games; as far back as 1997 the PSone had Lost Vikings 2: Norse by...
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...
