The Armageddon Clause...

Red Faction Armageddon is here on our consoles and now gamers can get back onto a Red Faction game that is a lot more like the original games in the series. The graphics are wild and the storyline is gripping. the game looks awesome so far but of course is going to be absent the sandbox feature that Red Faction Guerrilla housed within its beatiful Mars setting. I will miss the sandbox feature as I am a massive fan of the genre, but this game looks like it is going to be a huge hit. Lets hope it does not get overshadowed by the Duke this week.

The 12-Year Wait...

Is now over, and I can honestly say that, after nearly 3 hours of gameplay, it was not worth the wait. So far I have found the graphics to be appalling - jagged like that of a PS1 game, the gameplay to be fast but inaccurate (especially whilst aiming), and the whole scenario where you are shrunk (please do not let there be more than one) is pathetic and really irritating. I did get bored of this game very fast and I do hope that they have done something more imaginative with the rest of the game.

L.A. No

I have recently finished playing L.A. Noire (well, around two weeks ago) and after 16 hours of gameplay I found myself completely under-whelmed. I found the driving to be completely boring, the cases started off exciting but after finding hundreds of pieces of evidence became very repetitive. I did want to complete the game to see how it ended, but again this was quite an obvious ending (if you have played Rockstars Red Dead Dedemption). I expected the death of Phelps upon loading the title for the first time as I thought that Rockstar may continue with this new trend set by their best selling western. The free-roam was the main reason I wanted to play this game and I did expect a lot more. Unfortunately, playing as a policeman meant that all you could do in free roam was "borrow" some terrible cars and walk/run around. There was no random crimes that you could get involved into and even the in-car calls were limited to 40. I found that the entire game was based around the new technology regarding facial expressions, and whilst this was 'quite good' it was not breathtaking. I played the game through storymode and most of the 40 side missions and once I finished the last storymode mission I turned it off with no intention to replay this title at any time in the foreseeable future. 4/10

Kool Kombat

I have recently finished the story mode in Mortal Kombat that was released for the XBOX 360 a week ago. I am amazed at how much they have actually improved the franchise and I am satisfied in saying that this has been the most enjoyable beat-em-ups that I have ever played. I found the characters more realistic and ultra-defined with the HD graphics. I found the sound to be superb, and the moves and combos are really a perfected format for a 2D fighter.
The fatalities are also really gruesome, but awesome at the same time. This game has got me hooked!
Also, the fact that it took me 3 hours to beat Shoa Kahn, well shows my patience but also shows that you really do not want to give up on the game once you are playing it. A victory at that stage was well worth the effort. The only downfall with the game is the inability to skip cuts scenes. not a problem when you are watching them for the first time, but if you happen to have had sleep inbetween playing sessions then you may have to sit through a 5 minute cut scene for a second time. Otherwise a fantastic game.

For the beat-em-up category 10/10, for a game overall 8/10. Good job!