Review: Ghost Squad (Wii)
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, News, Nintendo Wii, Review. Tagged with Ghost Squad.
Anyone who has frequented arcades in the last 3 or 4 years should know the name “Ghost Squad,“Â Â it has been one of Sega’s most popular arcade titles, in recent years, with a new version Ghost Squad Evolution being released (in Europe at least) last year.
Ghost Squad is pretty much a typical arcade lightgun game. You hold a large plastic assault rifle, point at the screen, and squeeze the trigger when gormless enemies popup on screen. The game sets you as a member of an elite Special Forces unit known as (guess what?) ‘GHOST Squad.’ Basically you are sent into different missions to eliminate terrorist threats and foil hostage situations; you know the typical day job for any crack unit.
Yeah the story behind the game is pretty cliché, and it’s really not much deeper than that paragraph I just used to describe it. But then again, how many arcade games really have deep involving story lines? With arcades, it’s all about quick, easy, fun gameplay.
But we aren’t talking about the arcade version of the game, it’s the new Wii version we are speaking about. Can Sega replicate the hit arcade game for Nintendo’s Wii?
Review: The Club (Xbox 360)
Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC, Review, Sony PlayStation 3. Tagged with The Club.
It has been nearly a week since the “Guns ‘N Gore Event†at Sega Europe HQ, where we were treated to a test run of Condemned 2: Bloodshot (which I still can’t talk about - sorry) and The Club.
Well, since then, I have spent the better part of a week playing the final version of The Club and getting to know the ins and outs of the game.
Now, one thing I should point out is that when I first heard about The Club, I had my doubts. Then, I saw an early development video, and to be frank, I thought I was looking at one of the worst games I had ever seen. It wasn’t just the graphics (though they were bad at the time), but the gameplay looked boring and the sound was terrible – the guns sounding like pea-shooters. I am happy to say that absolutely everything has been improved, and it was later revealed that Bizarre had never wished for the mentioned video to be leaked onto the net.
Review: PSU: Ambition of the Illuminus (PC)
Posted by Ryan. Filed under PC, Review, Ryan. Tagged with Phantasy Star Universe.
Like most Sega fans I played Phantasy Star Online to death, the game was revolutionary and playing an MMO on a console was something special back then, I could meet up with my fellow Sega fans online, kill monsters, battle each other or just sit around in the lobby areas and chat about how awesome the Dreamcast is. Those were the days!
So when Phantasy Star Universe was announced you can imagine the excitement, I waited years for this game to finally release and when it did… What a disappointment, don’t get me wrong, it did everything PSO did and did it better! But that, in my opinion, is partly the problem!
Review: Universe at War: Earth Assault (PC)
Posted by Ryan. Filed under PC, Review, Ryan. Tagged with Universe at War.
When Sega and Petroglyph games announced they were going to be making a real time strategy game together I must say I was very excited. Knowing full well the main developers within Petroglyph are Ex-Westwood studios, who (of course) worked on the original Command and Conquer games, which was one of my favourite PC game series growing up. So, did they deliver the game I was hoping for, or did they fall short of their previous greatness?
Review: The Golden Compass (Wii)
Posted by Graham. Filed under Europe, G, News, Nintendo Wii, Review. Tagged with Golden Compass.
 
Well I’m sure you have all read Chris’ wonderful review about the Xbox 360 version of Sega’s latest licensed game. Chris’ opinion of the game was not too good, giving it a, below average, 4/10 score.
But what about the other versions of the game? Could Shiny Entertainment manage to pull off a mini masterpiece with the Wii version of the game? Could Shiny use the Wii’s motion sensors to the game’s advantage?
These questions and many more I deem to answer in this review.
Review: The Golden Compass (Xbox 360)
Posted by Chris. Filed under Chris, Microsoft Xbox 360, Review. Tagged with Golden Compass.
Several years ago, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay proved to everyone that licensed games could be pretty damn good, and in some cases, even better than the product that they’re based on. However, The Golden Compass isn’t one of them.
I’m sure at some point in the planning stages, Shiny Entertainment had a fairly epic game on its hands. However, all that development time ends up being a complete waste as the game it’s shipped is crippled, not only by horrible story telling and pacing, but also by some of the most boring action sequences I’ve experienced in a long, long time.
I’ll be kind and tell you right now, if you’ve never read the book or watched the movie, don’t bother playing this game. No, sir. This game should only be played by the most ludicrous “His Dark Material” fans out there, and to tell you the truth, I’m not sure if there are any of those currently living. But if you have the courage to stay with me, please keep reading.
Review: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Posted by Hudson. Filed under News, Nintendo Wii, Review. Tagged with NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.
NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is not a terrible game.
Review: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Posted by JamesC. Filed under James, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Review. Tagged with Mario & Sonic, Mario and Sonic, olympics, sega.
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, the most recent party game to hit the Nintendo Wii, tries very hard to add something new to the genre and in a lot of ways succeeds. Developed by Sega, in partnership with Nintendo, the game is surprisingly (at least to this reviewer) fun.
Shining with a good amount of polish, M & S offers up some high production values to get people interested, and to keep events engaging it employs a really challenging curve towards the latter events. All these elements keep things feeling competitive and fresh throughout nearly the entire game.
I say nearly because in some cases the game comes up just short- somewhat in the same way a fat Italian plumber would if he ever actually tried the long-jump. But ignoring a few faults and looking to where the game really excels, you could end up having a lot of fun for a very long time with this addictive game.
Review: Sonic Rush Adventure
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Nintendo DS, Review, Sonic. Tagged with Sonic Rush.
Ever since the game has now been out for a while, many of you will have already read reviews, or even played the game. So rather than doing a normal long review, I have decided to not go into too much detail on how the game works, but rather give my straight up opinions.
Ok so for those that don’t know, Sonic Rush Adventure’s story is basically that Sonic and Tails are flying in a plane, are caught in a storm and crash land on some random island somewhere. On the island they are greeted by a young female racoon, called Marine. Now I don’t read the Sonic comics or watch and shows, so I don’t know if she is new or just made up for the game.
Anyway, it turns out that the island they crashed on is in another dimension, where Blaze is from. Exciting stuff eh? So Sonic and Tails have to find a way back home, but at the same time, some evil robot pirates have stolen a special Sceptre that Blaze was supposed to be protecting, and naturally, Sonic and Tails, plus Marine, opt in to help Blaze recover the Sceptre and defeat the evil pirates.
That’s basically the story in a nut-shell. How does the game play out?
Virtua Fighter 5 reviews are in
Posted by Ryan. Filed under Microsoft Xbox 360, Review, Ryan. Tagged with Virtua Fighter 5.
Great news gang, the Virtua Fighter 5 review scores are in, boys and girls, and we are proud, but not surprised, to say, Virtua Fighter 5 is officially awesome! Yep, it’s true, so lets get stuck in shall we?
1UP: 10/10
If you love fighting games and want to play a fighter that continually unveils new wrinkles day in and day out and rewards dedication like no other, this is the game to get. Virtua Fighter 5 may not have kangaroos or weapons or bridges to fall off of, but it has unmatched playability as its calling card, and that’s the only thing that counts.
IGN: 9.0 (outstanding) Editors Choice Awards
Fighter is the best fighting series in videogames. Sorry Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, DOA, and every other contender. No series has offered greater depth and complexity over its lifetime than SEGA-AM2’s Virtua Fighter.
Euro Gamer: 9/10
You already know just how much we love this game. And now, with an online mode that actually works and a wealth of new goodies to round up (not to mention the lure of Gamerpoints making us more likely to push for the higher ranks or actually play through arcade mode for once), we love it even more. Best fighting game on the 360, easily. Best fighting game of this generation, easily. Best version of this sterling beat-’em-up, easily.
OMX UK: 9.0
There is no such thing as perfection. It’s something every developer aspires to but ultimately, can never reach. It’s the impossible ideal. Bioshock is not perfection. Jessica Alba is not perfection. Even waking up on Friday morning to find you’ve been given the day off for some whimsical reason, seeing a £500 cheque addressed to you in the post and finding a missed phone call from the ex you’ve been lusting over since you split, that’s not perfection. Perfection simply doesn’t exist so while the quest to attain it is admirable, the quest to find it as pointless as returning that phone call is (she was actually drunk and trying to call a cab. Sorry. Perfection doesn’t exist, remember?).However, there is such a thing as pretty damn close to perfection. That’s where Virtua Fighter 5 sits. As far as fighting games go, it is unrivalled as the king of the genre. That’s the good news. The better news is this Xbox 360 version the absolute best version of Virtua Fighter 5 possible, making it well worth that torturous wait following the PlayStation3 release.