Battlefield 3

Let’s get this out of the way first. This game is not as good as Modern Warfare 3. There I said it, and I mean it. Comparisons between these two games have been made since first announcement, Battlefield being the one to topple Call of Duty’s crown. Sorry but it is a long way off.

Let’s start with the campaign. Yes I know games like these are all about the multiplayer but a good game cannot exist on multiplayer alone. A game should still be fun alone and this is going to be a common theme throughout this review.

The campaign is typical military nonsense involving terrorists and nukes, filled with Jargon you’d need an extensive spell in the military to understand. Admittedly COD has this but definitely not as much as in Battlefield.

My biggest beef with the campaign is how lazy it’s been designed. I like DICE, mirrors edge was a lot of fun, but with Battlefield they need to go back to level design 101. Here are a couple of braindead examples.

Early on you find yourself in a car park. Two guys with RPG’s spawn off in the distance. They are well camouflaged and hard to make out with your standard rifle. Get too close and you’ll be overwhelmed by a swarm of enemies. Oh and the Cars explode meaning the only cover will kill you if an RPG hits them.

At no point does it mention that you have a sniper rifle in reserve. This helps a lot and without it the section is pretty much impossible. A simple press Y to change weapons hint would have been nice, but no you get that in the next section.

Later you come across a large room with 9 round desks neatly arranged in a square grid. Around the edge is a balcony with the stairs at the right hand side of the room. Now my gamer brain tells me that I should aim to get high because height gives you an advantage in a shootout. EHHHHHHHH! Wrong answer.

This section requires you to pass an arbitrary point in the room to continue. Remember COD4, remember how it would continuously spawn enemies until you pass an arbitrary point. Remember how everyone hated that and was glad when it got fixed in Modern Warfare 2. Well guess what’s back.

Yes if you go up high you will find that despite killing 30 to 40 enemies they never stop spawning. You have to edge your way to the door at the end of the room. But here’s the kicker, if you jump down from above the door and reach it that way nothing will happen.

You have to edge along the floor making the area above pointless. This actually works against typical strategy like it punishes you for thinking.

There are moments where the game just feels unfair. I know I’m playing on hard but it never feels hard but fair, usually unfair.

Take the AI, like all games now you are part of a squad but how does this game identify friendly AI characters, you know the ones you don’t shoot, by a tiny triangle above their heads which nine times out of ten blends perfectly in the background.

But when you actually shoot one you get a huge unavoidable message saying “Friendly Fire will not be tolerated”. Admittedly I did not fail the campaign by shooting friendly AI but even so it shouldn’t be this hard to identify friend from foe.

And this is By far Battlefield’s greatest weakness and it spills onto Multiplayer too. A lot of the time it seems that you are shooting enemies that are a fair bit away, usually wearing dark green and standing in front of a black background. Just seeing your enemy is a challenge and is far harder than in any other shooter I have ever played.

I did enjoy some of the shooting but this was when you were given a sniper rifle with thermal, at least then I could actually see the enemy.

To make matters worse for the sake of realism they have scattered “dust” on the screen. They’ve really gone all out to make it impossible to see what you are supposed to be shooting. But do you think the enemy has that problem, No! If the slightest part of you body is exposed they will be able to hit it.

Identifying targets to shoot gets a little easier in multiplayer but not by much. Icons are really small as are names above the heads of friendlies. As a sniper you have the ability to “Spot” enemies by pressing Back while aiming. A Useful addition and one that should be explained to you before you start playing multiplayer. I only found out about that through the internet and I will say that Battlefield 3’s multiplayer isn’t the best for welcoming newcomers.

Earlier I said a game should be fun when playing alone, Battlefield isn’t, not in campaign and not in Multiplayer. You need friends to get anywhere with this and this is where it fails for me. Playing Battlefield 3 in a squad of randoms just doesn’t work. Without communication and strategy the whole reason Battlefield 3 is “better” than MW3 goes out the window, and really who speaks to randoms, I don’t, fuck Randoms.

Now compare this to pretty much any other shooter and I hope you’ll get my point. Where Communication helps, you can still get by without chatting to randoms and still have a good time. In Battlefield you can’t take advantage of its strengths without communicating. Vehicles are made with multiple passengers in mind, usually to man turrets and you’ll want an engineer to repair damage to extend the vehicles life. If you’re in a squad with mates this isn’t an issue, you’re communicating and planning on the fly. Take away that communication as it becomes a ball ache, do you take the role as engineer just so you have one? Do you wait for a team mate to jump in your vehicle? Should I jump into this vehicle or is the driver waiting for his squadmate to join him?

With a full squad of four friends, all communicating and working together Battlefield 3 can be a lot of fun despite its obvious flaws when it comes to finding people to kill. Alone though the game fails in campaign and multiplayer.

Other problems include a severe lack of modes (only 4, and two are deathmatch modes) and an insistence for realism throughout. Take the vehicles, Yeah you can fly a jet and it’s cool when it works, but you need a PHD to fly them as they are so awkward. Halo has shown us how vehicles should be in FPS, flying a banshee feels like a QTE in comparison to Battlefields flying vehicles. Why? This has always been one of the things I hate about this series, offers nothing and takes away so much.

How people can say this is better than Modern Warfare 3 I’ll never know. I get that COD is popular now and it hasn’t changed much since COD4, but I can’t see how Battlefield 3 is better. The Campaign is a rubbish mess, compared to MW3’s sublime campaign and Multiplayer requires friends to be any good. I’m convinced that those that say Battlefield 3 is better are sick of COD and want something different, Battlefield 3 gives that but different does not equal better.

Battlefield 3 is a game where its greatest strengths become its greatest weaknesses depending on the scenario. The Realism is impressive but ultimately gets in the way, the multiplayer is set up for team play but then fails when you haven’t got a good team to rely on. The campaign is a rubbish mess with very little redeeming qualities and the multiplayer could do with more modes.

If you really need a realistic modern war shooter and COD aint doing it for you anymore, Battlefield 3 may be just what you need, however it is far from being a brilliant game.

6/10

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I didn’t get on with Oblivion. I heard such great things about it that when I got my Xbox 360 that was the first game I chose. After discovering how save files are linked to your tag (So my first offline profile’s save became useless), losing my tag for several months (I was originally Joz the Bat, I am now Joz Labatte) and just getting lost, I ended up starting the game 3 times and not getting very far.

I tried but gave up at the first oblivion gate as those head butting dinosaur things annoyed the fuck out of me.

For that reason I decided that Bethesda games weren’t for me. The weight management system also felt unnecessarily intrusive, making looting the many dungeons difficult.

Then came Fallout 3 a game I waited to drop in price and I was blown away by it. I don’t know what was different, the change from traditional fantasy to sci-fi (I’m more a fan of the latter), the use of guns over melee weapons or maybe just that I didn’t have to restart several times due to my own unfamiliarity with the system.

I was still weary when it came to Skyrim and again waited for a drop in price. After all the game of the year accolades it was getting I had to at least try it and I’m glad I did.

No it’s not Game of the Year for me but it comes close. I’m enjoying it far more than Oblivion and if Fallout 3 gave me faith in Bethesda, Skyrim has confirmed their status as brilliant developers, one whose games I’ll be getting excited over in future.

So where to begin with Skyrim, well lets start with the obvious, this game looks amazing. The detail throughout is fantastic. One thing Oblivion did have was beautiful graphics, but Skyrim makes that look like a PSone game. Every texture is very detailed and beautifully lit.

But for Skyrim where there is greatness there is also weakness. Graphically it looks stunning but I’m 30 hours in and the scenery has barely changed. Outside it is a stunning winter wonderland, switching between forests and mountains but that’s it. Skyrim has its look but rarely deviates from it.

Similarly inside the dungeons look pretty much the same throughout. If it is not the same crypt walls, it’s the same cave walls.

Compare to say Xenoblade Chronicles which obviously can’t stand up power wise, for pure detail Skyrim has it beat. But then the locations on Xenoblade are nicely diverse and unique. From basic plains to marshland that lights up beautifully at night, the hot humid jungle to the cold mountains, the ruins of the fallen arm to the fleshy alien interior of the Bionis.

Moving onto Gameplay, Skyrim has a lovely menu system which allows you to move through your inventory with ease. Favourite weapons and magic can be favourited for quick access through a separate menu activated by the D-pad.

But its strength lies in how it handles combat. The Left trigger controls your left hand, the right trigger your right. You can select any combination of magic, shields and weapons you want. I use magic on my left (usually healing magic) and a small weapon on my right (usually an enchanted mace). But you can sacrifice both hands for more powerful heavy weapons like Axes and Sledgehammers, or for long range combat through bows.

Two handed weapons can block but you can’t use magic without changing your setup, hence why I prefer the one handed weapons despite losing the ability to block. Shields are used not only to block attacks but also to parry. Use you shield as an enemy attacks you and they will stagger leaving them open to counter attack.

You can also dual wield. Two of the same spell will be more effective than one when used at the same time. You can also dual wield one handed weapons for maximum offence but no defence. The point is it is entirely up to you, each system has its advantages and disadvantages and this wealth of choice is always appreciated.

Armour too can vary. You can select normal clothing for minimal protection but maximum speed, heavy armour for maximum protection but minimal speed and light armour in between the two. The weight of your armour dictates the noise you make so successful sneaking requires lighter armour or a spell. How you handle situations is entirely up to you whether you take hits and dish them out, or you sneak around undetected to catch your enemies off guard.

However the annoying weight management system still rears its ugly head. I guess this is just something you have to get used to but I hate it. Every item suddenly become a choice, can I carry this? is it worth anything? oh no I have to drop something because I’m carrying to much.

There is so much to pick up but a lot isn’t relevant at all. Things like money and lockpicks are generally weightless, but the majority of stuff will have weight. Potions are useful but too many will eat up a lot of your weight allocation. Selling armour and weapons you find but don’t need will be your primary source of income but it is hard to tell whether or not you can carry it all.

What you find is that halfway through a dungeon you will need to make a choice, discard loot you intend to sell or leave the dungeon, sell your items and come back. This happens way too frequently and only the assistance of a companion (which this time appears early in the game) is your only way of looting a dungeon without stopping regularly to sell your loot.

Speaking of selling loot everything seems to take forever in Skyrim. Every merchant has limited gold and if they can’t buy something from you, you will have to go to the next merchant. That usually means at least two loading screens, one for leaving the merchant’s building and one for entering the other. They do get more as time passes but if you have a lot to sell you will be going back and forth a lot. You can spend an hour selling stuff that in most games would take 10 minutes tops.

Out of my 30 hours at least 10, maybe 15 have been sent creating items, enchanting items, balancing weight, selling items and organising storage of items.

Not to mention that the powerful dragon enemies tend to attack cities at random. The following scenario has happened more than once and it is really annoying.

To carry more loot to sell I store my armour and most of my weapons in a chest in my house. I fast travel to another town to sell my loot but as soon as I arrive a dragon attacks. I can’t fast travel away, the dragon won’t let me. I then have to fight the dragon with no armour and often just a mace. Since dragons fly I often have to chip away with magic. This is usually a no win situation, one that no player should come across.

Skyrim is like a wild bachelor party that never seems to want to end, with the most beautiful strippers, delicious beer and filled with loads of fun games to keep you occupied through the night, however every so often you have to take your gran to Tesco’s and wait a long time until she’s ready to go back home.

Fantastic game but with a couple of minor annoying features that ruin the whole experience.

9/10

Why Region lock the Internet?

The internet is great isn’t it? Someone in America can upload something online and I can view it in realtime. For the last decade or so we have had the ability to view information from different corners of the world in realtime. This is by far the internet’s greatest strength.

So why is there still so much region blocking particularly with the rise of streaming video. Physical products to some degree I get, developing something for another country takes time and resources which cost media developers. Although technology wise there is a lot less to differentiate between regions now than there was a decade ago, there are still some issues that need to be resolved when translating it to another region.

Language is the most obvious barrier but also the PAL/NTSC switch, particularly for gaming. Now though the latter barely applies, TV’s and products can easily accommodate a single system throughout the world, so why don’t they?

Take portable gaming. The DS was region free. With the internet you could quite easily buy a game only released in the US and import it to the UK. It would play without any fuss at all. The 3DS is region locked for some bizarre reason no-one has ever explained.

The closest anyone had ever come with a reason is with regional sales. Their argument as far as I can tell is if people import their sale goes towards the other regions sales, not theirs. I.e. buy from America it would add to their sales, not the UK’s. They makes it harder for companies to determine whether or not a product is worth shipping to the other country in the first place.

Case in point. The Phoenix Wright series is hugely popular in Japan but only has a cult following in the UK. Translating the large amount of text takes time so regional sales gives a good indication on whether or not this is worth their while. Fair enough.

But then when it is out in the US it is already translated in English and probably Spanish, even French too if it is also available in Canada. But that’s besides the point it is in English, I can understand it, I want to play it but when a UK release isn’t planned because regional sales are low I should be able to import it.

For example Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations spent a lot of time in translation limbo, despite the fact the Japanese version also had an English language option. It took over a year for the game to come to the UK and there were large doubts whether it would even come. I imported it, loved it, Capcom got their sale, I got to play it, everybody wins.

Even if they hadn’t brought it to the UK the combination of the Internet and a region free device meant Capcom got an ADDITIONAL SALE. I know I am not a special case, other people did this. The fact it was later released in the UK holds no relevance.

Because I could import Capcom got their sale. If this wasn’t possible I either have to do without (fuck that) or download it illegally (which I would), Capcom would lose out on a sale.

This is what people mean by piracy is a service issue. People pirate stuff because it is cheaper but also because developers don’t always bring it to your country, or you don’t particularly want something in English to be translated into French, German, Spanish, etc before you can buy it legally.

Moving away from gaming and back to streaming video, these days On demand TV is on the rise. BBC’s iPlayer, 4oD, etc allow people to catch up on their TV when they want, for free, and everyone benefits. Except those in other countries. They are blocked from the content. Similarly there are American services which block the UK.

Imagine for a second if they weren’t. Not only that but they were showing a live stream of their channels. The technology exists for this but so far hasn’t been implemented for the exact same reasons. If they did this they would not know which markets their product would be successful in.

Do they really care though? Imagine if they then made a channel that was internet only and available to anyone. Instead of locking people out by region they could show it to everyone at the exact same time around the world. Those that want to watch it can watch it, those that don’t, don’t. No you can’t watch this because it is unavailable in your region.

They would then get the maximum people watching the show with no risk. No-one would get left out; they would get all the revenue. The technology exists, why isn’t it being done?

Instead you get Sky celebrating show from the US with the tagline “Days after it’s aired in the States”. Why not at the exact same time? In those few days I can download it illegally, watch it and completely ignore your showing. You lose out, I gain, illegally maybe but if you give me no other option… see service issue, provide the service, get your gains.

Why am I brining this up now. Well it seems a couple of the biggest names on the internet are starting to censor websites by country. Finally we get technically capable of sending information across the world in real time and Google/Twitter want to go backwards and restrict it by country. They say this is to allow them to withhold regional laws.

If they are going to start segregating the Internet by country where will it end? It goes against the Internet’s greatest strength. If there is a problem upholding the laws it is not the Internet that needs to change, it’s the law.

YOU CANNOT POLICE AN ENTITY THAT IS NOT SEGREGATED BY REGIONS WITH REGIONAL LAWS.

People will always find away around it. Take the Pirate bay. Everyone knows what they do and in many countries it is illegal. But in Sweden where it is based it is not and therefore they continue to run giving a big two fingers up to copyright holders.

This is why extreme legislation like SOPA and PIPA are even thought up. The problem with SOPA/PIPA is not that it would take down sites that promote piracy, like the Pirate bay, it that it would take down half the bloody internet. The power goes to the copyright holders, big businesses when it should be an independent panel (ala the OPEN act). It is also America imposing their laws on the rest of the world.

But it is very easy to point out flaws it’s another to find solutions to them. So how do you solve the biggest conundrum of the 21st century, how do you police the internet?

Short answer, you can’t. The only way you could is if all the countries with access to the internet agree on a single Internet law. The Internet has to be treated as a separate entity not linked to a single country because that is what it is, and should always be.

Now if only if was possible to get all the countries of the world to agree to a single law.

Game of the year 2011

Game of the Year 2011

2011 has been a fantastic year for gaming. We’ve seen new IP’s mark their mark, Trilogies come to a close and even seen the triumphant return of classic characters that have lost there way. I haven’t been able to play everything I’ve wanted due to time and there just being so many games available now (seriously, I have at least one years worth of gaming in my backlog).

To qualify for consideration I must have played it and it must have come out, by the PAL release schedule, in 2011. Ports are included and there are five so you can ignore them and consider this a top 20 rather than a top 25.

Notable releases not included in this list:

Battlefield 3 – Battlefield 1943 left a sour taste in my mouth. Everyone said that it was brilliant but I thought it was garbage. The bastard child of COD and Halo that has both their flaws and none of their benefits. Currently have this from Lovefilm so we’ll see if they have learned from their mistakes.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, L.A. Noire, Resident Evil 4 HD, Resident Evil: Code Veronica X HD, Rayman Origins, Tales of the Abyss, Dark Souls, Mortal Kombat, Alice: Madness Returns, Super Mario 3D land, Littlebigplanet 2 – All bought but have not had time to play

Mario Kart 7 – I want this but not bought it yet.


25. Daytona USA (Score out of ten: 6)

Getting dated now. As close to the classic arcade version so far but arcade racing has moved on. A reminder of simpler times and the inclusion of a Karaoke mode is inspired, there just isn’t enough meat on the bones to warrant a higher score.

24. Space Channel 5 Part 2 (6)

Fun but short. Not really a fan of this sort of Gameplay, feels like a glorified version of Simon says. Secrets and high score beating add replay value. Good for a quick burst but anything more and it starts to drag.

23. Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (6)

Practically the same game just with Frank West. The story is pretty much the same, I was hoping for a new story set in the same area. Survivors, Psychopaths, weapons, vehicles, and useful items are pretty much all the same (although the magazine locations are different). There are some new elements, the camera from DR1 is back for example, but it just isn’t different enough to justify buying again.

22. F3AR (6)

Point man and Fettels contrasting styles offer a good level of variation leading to a decent level of replay value. Added to that the excellent use of a challenge system giving each level an arcady high score beating element. Feel a little too COD like but trying to throw horror into the mix. Too Schizophrenic, the shooting isn’t the best and the horror completely misses the mark.

21. Sonic Generations (3DS) (6)

Better bosses than its HD brother and the special stages make getting the emeralds seem a bit less cheap. S ranking is also at a good difficulty this time (it’s a little too easy in the HD version). The two styles blend too much into each other, especially half way through the game. Modern Sonic is stuck in 2D and feels more like Rivals than colours. Good use of streetpass and online multiplayer is a bonus.

20. (Ultimate) Marvel vs Capcom 3 (7)

Hyperactive, silly and everything feels cheap. It’s fun but no where near as deep as Street Fighter or Blazblue. Ultimate adds some of the features the original should have had and expands on the single player with an excellent free mode called Heroes and Heralds.

19. Okamiden (7)

Charming little game let down by the system it’s on. No analogue movement or camera control hinders the game so much. Good use of the touch screen for the Celestial Brush. Decent length and the story and characters are good enough. No where near as good as the original Okami but you can do a lot worse.

18. Dead Space 2 (7)

Linear and too monster heavy at the end, the series seems to have lost its way a bit. Isaac’s new found insanity was handled nicely and there are a couple of really cool moments, the whole of chapter 10 for example. The end though just floods you with never ending monsters, not stopping to build up tension.

17. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (7)

Too much like Brotherhood just with less charm. The biggest difference is an unwelcome tower defence mini game that is practically unavoidable. The subject 16 cryptic message mini games don’t seem to be there and instead we get pointless first person sections. Enjoyable but a disaster compared to the rest of the series.

16. Shadows of the Damned (7)

Generic third person shooter saved by its humour. Fairly short, lacking in challenge and with some minor control issues. Unskippable cutscenes ruin any addition playthroughs and so hurt replay value. Still it’s impossible to play without a huge smile on your face and the setting is satisfyingly twisted.

15. Ms Splosion Man (7)

Continues on from the excellent Splosion man, fixing some framerate issues. Superb one button Gameplay with some good humour (I can’t make up my mind whether or not Twisted Pixel should be committed). Would’ve preferred 6 worlds of eight rather than 3 worlds of 16 though. Difficulty is pretty high but that was expected, although I can’t say I’m a fan of the skip area option message that keeps coming up whenever you fail a few times.

14. Sonic CD (8)

A classic returns. Arguably one of the best sonic games adjusted for widescreen and with a couple of new features added. The ability to select a soundtrack is very much appreciated and the achievements give a focus on discovering the exploration side of the game, this is easily missed.

13. Beyond Good and Evil HD (8)

Playing this again just makes me want a sequel. Lovely blend of Zelda style dungeon crawling and decent stealth Gameplay. Controls take a while to get used to again, particularly the camera. Not really much wrong with the game, it was great 8 years ago and it’s still great. We need more original IP’s like this, there are way too many sequels in this top 25 list.

12. Uncharted 3 (8)

You know it’s been a good year for games when an uncharted game doesn’t make a top ten. Continuation of a series than has combined good storytelling and likeable characters with strong platforming and some intelligent puzzles. Shame the gunplay has always let it down and little has improved. When enemies run through your bullets to start a fist fight in the middle of an ambush something is wrong. More puzzles, less gunplay please.

11. Gears of War 3 (8)

Nice end to a fantastic innovative trilogy. The campaign is well made with some nice twists, including a moment I never saw coming and a callback to the original infamous advertising campaign. The multiplayer is still a shotgun-fest, it’s almost as if Epic has given up trying to change that. Beast mode is a nice addition. As polished as it is ever going to be, getting a headshot in gears is still one of the most satisfying moments in gaming.

10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (8)

MW3 is very much a case of if it aint broke don’t fix it. It has been about polishing what has made the series great rather than giving it a make over. The campaign is the best yet with the right amount of over the top action. The difficulty on veteran is spot on and great to play in short bursts. The multiplayer hasn’t change much but has been tweaked slightly to encourage competitive play over camping, addressing one of COD’s biggest problems. Specs ops, with its new horde like survival mode completes a well made package.

9. Sonic Generations (8)

Another step closer to creating a Sonic game as good as the classics. The two styles of play compliment each other nicely, being a celebration of the old and the most polished version of the new. I like the Hedgehog engine, it keeps the series unique and detached from traditional platformers like Mario. It suffers from being a little short (replay coming from S ranking and speed runs) and the bosses are pretty weak, the final one in particular being terrible.

8. Ghost Trick (9)

With Miles Edgeworth 2 unlikely to make an appearance over here the chances of more Phoenix Wright games is getting lower all the time. Ghost trick is probably the best you’re going to get. A unique blend of puzzle solving through object manipulation and storytelling that keeps you hungry for more. Original, unique and brilliant.

7. Child of Eden (9)

Unique take on the lightgun genre combing beautiful trippy visuals with a mixture of shooting and bemani. The addition of a second weapon adds the need to balance the two weapons leading to more satisfying gunplay. The new perfect octa lock system (where score multipliers come from locking onto eight targets at once and releasing on the beat of the music) gives the music meaning far more than it did in Rez. Initially short but with arcade style replay value, Child of Eden is easy to get into, difficult to master, the way a game should be.

6. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (9)

Stunningly beautiful and incredibly detailed Skyrim is a very addictive experience and you’ll be wondering where the time has gone. Still suffers from the usual Bethesda bullshit like an intrusive weight management system (I’ve never like this), and it would be nice to have scenery besides Mountains and Forests (lovely as the are I don’t think any of the areas I’ve been to compares to the beauty and uniqueness of Satorl Marsh and Eryth Sea in Xenoblade). Bit too much copy and paste particularly with dungeons.

5. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (9)

A new Zelda main series game is always something to get excited over. The use of Wii motion plus is inspired although it does make the game more difficult than usual. Motion control is used everywhere, perhaps a little too much, but to some inspired moments. The result is a unique feeling entry to a series always made to an exceptionally high standard.

4. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS (10)

OOT is the greatest game of all time and the 3DS version is the definitive version. At 13 years old it still feels incredible and worth every penny. The only reason it is not number one is because it is 13 years old and everyone with sense should have played it by now.

3. Batman: Arkham City (9)

Arkham Asylum was my GOTY 2009. City expands on all the things that made asylum so great and added rooftops, lots of rooftops, so you can really feel like you are Batman. I was expecting a bigger city and a longer story which stops it getting a perfect 10, however it is still a fantastic well made game

2. Portal 2 (10)

I thought this was a dead cert to be my GOTY. Expands on the original in every way a sequel should. Decent length main story with lots of charm and humour throughout. The puzzles will get the old grey matter pumping but won’t frustrate you. The inclusion of a separate but equally compelling co-op mode rounds off what is a perfect package.

1. Xenoblade Chronicles (10)

Breathtaking, Huge, pushes its system to its limits, Beautiful, long, simple yet complex, fun, gripping, unique, original, there are so many ways to describe Xenoblade its unreal. A fantastic game that came out of nowhere to steal my heart and fix itself as my number one Game of the Year. A game made for gamers that gets pretty much everything right.

So GOTY 2011 is Xenoblade Chronicles. Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

Now for some individual awards.

Exclusives:

Best Wii Exclusive: Xenoblade Chronicles (Obviously)

Best 360 Exclusive: Gears of War 3 (Multiformat seems to be winning over exclusives)

Best PS3 Exclusive: Uncharted 3

Best 3DS Exclusive: Ocarina of Time 3D

Best DS: Ghost Trick

Best PSP: N/A (can’t think of a PSP exclusive released this year that I have played)

Best PC: N/A (See PSP)

Game Elements:

Soundtrack: Sonic Generations, incredible remixes of classic tracks.

Honourable mentions go to Xenoblade, Child of Eden and Marvel vs Capcom 3

Individual Song/Track: “One who gets in our Way” the boss theme from Xenoblade. Made each boss a joy, menacing yet inspiring. Gets you pumped up for a great battle.

Honourable mentions go to Passion/Maker from Child of Eden, Ending theme of Shadows of the Damned, Crisis City Act 1 from Sonic Generations and Cara Mia Addio (The Turrent Opera) from Portal 2.

Use of Sound: Child of Eden. Sound plays too big of a role throughout not to be mentioned.

Honourable mentions: Modern Warfare 3, Gears of War 3, Arkham City

Visuals (Technical): Skyrim. Fantastic detail throughout.

Honourable Mentions: Gears of war 3, Uncharted 3, Arkham City, Ocarina of Time 3D

Visuals (Stylish): Child of Eden, one of the trippiest games ever made

Honourable Mentions: Xenoblade, Ghost Trick, Zelda: Skyward Sword, Marvel vs Capcom

Story/Dialogue: Portal 2. Funny, quotable and with an insane ending.

Honourable mentions: Xenoblade, Ghost Trick

Best Kinect use: Fruit Ninja. Child of Eden in fun but much better with a controller.

Best Wiimotion Plus use: Skyward Sword

Best Move use: N/A. Don’t use move.

Other:

Originality: Ghost Trick. Stylish and original all the way to the core.

Honourable Mentions: Child of Eden, Xenoblade, F3AR (fettles possession Gameplay)

Disappointment: Dead Space 2. Too linear and monster heavy towards the end. Last five chapters dragged on.

Dishonourable Mentions: Marvel vs Capcom 3, Dead Rising: Off the Record, Okamiden, Sonic generations (3DS)

Surprise: F3AR, despite poor reviews I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Honourable Mentions: Xenoblade (came out of nowhere)

Jawdropping moment (Highlight see Spoilers): Portal 2

*SPOILERS highlight to see*

Portal 2’s end where you plant a portal on the moon to defeat wheatley.

*SPOILERS*

Honourable Mentions: Gears of war 3, Uncharted 3, Ghost Trick, Arkham City, Dead Space 2

*SPOILERS*

GoW3: Dom’s Death
Uncharted 3: The Desert
Ghost Trick: That you’re actually the guy’s cat.
Arkham City: Jokers Demise…..? / The fight with Mr Freeze
Dead Space 2: The needle in the eye

*SPOILERS*

Horrible Moment: Sonic Generations, The terrible final boss.

Dishonourable mentions: Zelda: Skyward sword (swimming), Dead Space 2 (too many monsters at the end), Shadows of the Damned (Unskippable cutscenes), Assassin’s Creed Revelations (Den defence)

F.3.A.R

The F.E.A.R. series has always been a strange one to me. Advertised as a blend of FPS and horror it’s actually more of schizophrenic, switching between the two. In the background you have this creepy, disturbing story but what you’re presented with is fights with faceless soldiers. Soldiers are not scary.

It says a lot about a developer that they can give you a walking tank and still think they can make a game which terrifies you. Yes there are horror undertones but these are ruined by having two few actual monsters.

For those of you who haven’t played the F.E.A.R. series it centres on psychic warfare. A group called Armachan worked a secret project called project origin where they attempted to create the perfect psychic warrior. They experimented on a girl called Alma who became an extremely powerful Psychic. So powerful in fact that they found it hard to control her and while they managed to imprison her physical form to an extent, they could not stop her psychic abilities.

Considered a failure Armachan looked to her genes, impregnating Alma with genetically engineered embryos with the goal of combing Alma’s psychic abilities with highly skilled soldiers. She gave birth to two children, Fettel and Point Man.

In the first game as Point Man your job is to take down Fettel who had gone insane just as Alma did. Alma still sees herself as a little girl and you are haunted throughout the series by her psychic projection.

The big reveal at the end of the second game is that Alma is pregnant with a third child. You also free the now dead Fettel from his prison cell allowing his to psychically project himself into some sort of Poltergeist.

In this game Point Man and Fettel work together to find their mother and deal with this third child. This leads to a game with two unique first person play styles.

Point Man plays like he always had. Normal First person shooting with a bullet time-esque Slow motion ability thrown in to make it somewhat unique. Fettel on the other hand can possess enemies for a limited time and fire psychic projectiles.

You can tell from the first minute this game is made for co-op play and typically the single player suffers because of it. It always feels like you’re missing something playing alone and you shouldn’t need another person to get the most out of a game.

It has a fairly short campaign but makes up for that with its best feature, the challenges. There are a set number of challenges you can unlock when you play a level ranging for using your abilities completely draining your meter to shooting a certain number of people with each weapon. The goal is to unlock as many of these as possible each level.

The points you earn from challenges increase your characters level and as you level up you earn new perks from increased health and ability meter to additional Melee attacks. I’m a little weary of games adding a pointless RPG element but I don’t particular mind this one.

It’s a little like Call of Duty’s multiplayer and these challenges aren’t all that’s ripped from COD. Shooting feels very like COD, even the basic assault rifle has stolen the exact same holographic sight as most of COD’s weapons. F3AR is basically COD with the occasional horror style fucked up moment.

Unfortunately those are far too few and far too short. For a game series famed for its horror it is very light on it. The atmosphere is there but ultimately it doesn’t feel terrifying. At least this time however the monotony of fighting wave after wave of soldiers is broken up by crazed junkie style enemies and monster dogs. The former behave like the splicers from Bioshock with some suicide bombers thrown in. The latter are your standard avoid their lunges and counter enemies.

The cover system from the previous games is back and actually works pretty well. Like in a third person shooter you can lock yourself to cover and peak around corners. It’s a little different than traditional first person shooters but it soon becomes natural.

The guns are a little disappointing. For the majority of the game you have your standard two assault rifles, shotgun, sniper rifle, pistol, rocket launchers and uzis. Unfortunately the COD influence is in force and instead of using names they use codes. I don’t see why they couldn’t just give them proper names. I found myself calling them after their challenges rather than their actual names (e.g. the sniper rifle being the Ghost rather than the C-3PO or whatever the hell it was).

Another small annoyance is the difficulty or rather how the game treats difficulty and failure. Some developers seem to think if we’re struggling we want the game to play itself. Nintendo are getting to be notoriously bad at this, the White Tanuki suit for example. Ms Splosion man was the same offering the option to skip a difficult section (and since you died a lot you saw that screen a lot).

F3AR however has a slightly more annoying feature where if you die a couple of times it will automatically highlight “Change Difficulty” instead of “Reload Checkpoint”. For any developer reading this, it doesn’t matter how many times I die I NEVER WANT TO SKIP A SECTION OR CHANGE THE DIFFICULTY. I will keep trying a section until I get passed it and I will rapidly tap A until I’m back at the checkpoint, attempting to speed things up as much as possible (especially when I’m getting frustrated). I’ve almost been caught out by this and it is annoying.

The game does feature multiplayer but unfortunately the servers are dead. Shame because Soul King might’ve been fun. You can play against bots but there only seems to be two modes, the Horde/Firefight like contractions mode and Soul King.

Soul King sees you playing as a demon that can possess enemies. You chose an enemy to possess and kill other enemies. For every enemy you kill a skull appears, collect the skull to get points. The harder the enemy the higher the point value of the skull. If your possessed body dies you have to wait a couple of seconds before you can claim another, although once in a body to can move to another without waiting. Die when not in a body and you lose half your points. An interesting mode with some potential, shame no-one wants to play it.

Ultimately F3AR delivers a fairly average experience. For every good idea there is a slight annoyance. The campaign is short but made to be replayed with an awesome challenge system. You never feel like your getting the most out of the game unless you’re playing in co-op, even though both playable characters offer completely different Gameplay experiences. The multiplayer is dead but could’ve been fun, we’ll never know.

For a horror game there is far too much soldiers and Mecha, not enough fucked up moments and monsters, but at least the enemy types this time a little more varied. Plenty of Atmosphere but little horror to utilise it.

It’s a nice short game but feels like a ceramic mug amongst a sea of golden cups. I’ll happily take a drink out of it but I’d rather use one of the golden cups.

6/10

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

As this generation closes we’re seeing the closing chapters of some of this generations best new characters. Already we have seen the Gears of War Delta squad story come to a close, and now we say goodbye to our favourite Italian assassin Ezio Auditore.

Ezio’s final chapter sees him move away from Italy, instead dealing with the corruption underlying Istanbul. Ezio is looking for five keys that will open Althair’s Final Vault in Masyaf, the birthplace of the assassins and home of Althair. Revelations closes both their stories and leaves the series open for a new character to come in.

Expect Assassin’s creed 3 to appear on the next generation, featuring a new character for Desmond to sync with.

Revelations starts immediately where Brotherhood left off (but seemingly ignoring the Da Vinci Disappearance DLC). Fans of the series will be pleased to know the game starts of with a bang. I’m not going to spoil it; I’m just going to say Desmond is starting to lose his mind, to the point where he is actually trapped in the Animus.

If the first game was Althair’s story, the second Ezio’s and Brotherhood about the creed itself, Revelations is definitely Desmond’s story. Yes you play as Ezio but that whole plot seems overshadowed by what is happening to Desmond as he hopes to reclaim his mind.

This is most evident in the first person sections. Yes, assassin’s creed has a whole new Gameplay style added on to the already popular sandbox style game. By collecting Animus fragments you get to explore some of Desmond’s memories on how he was raised to be an assassin and how he ran away from it all.

These sections replace the awesome Subject 16 puzzles from the previous games and the game suffers because of it. This Gameplay style isn’t all that good although it does have some good ideas. You move around a sterile, cold environment in first person. The only tool at your disposal besides a basic jump is the ability to create different shaped platforms.

These rarely challenge and thankfully are over before they get too boring. There are some inspired moments, the way the environment replicates a river in one of them was pretty neat.

Playing an Ezio feels the same as it always has done. Very much a case of if it’s not broken don’t fix it. Very little has changed from Brotherhood. Ezio now has a hook at the end of his blade which is used in a number of inspired ways. You can now travel down zip lines for instance, and those lights that swung you around corners can now be used to perform long jump by using the hook to swing.

The biggest new addition is the bombs. While in previous game you could only use smoke bombs you now have the ability to create bombs with all sorts of effects, both lethal and non lethal. For example you can create a bomb that makes a loud noise that guards will go to investigate, or you can create a bomb that explodes into coins, making crowds gather round them.

You still take over dens to claim control over an area of the city, allowing you to buy shops and landmarks to bring in more money. However this time you need to watch your actions as if the Templars become aware of your presence they will try to take over your dens.

Commiting crimes raises your awareness meter as it always has done, but now so too does buying shops and buildings. If the Templars are alerted to your presence they may start attacking your dens. You will then have to go back a defend them and you do this through a tower defence style mini-game.

This tower defence mini game isn’t all that fun and it certainly isn’t welcome. If you fail the den the Templars reclaim it and you have to kill the captain and light the tower again. Doing so makes the Templars aware of your presence, which leads to them attacking another den, which leads to another mini game, which if you fail means you have to win back the den again.

I have been victim of this loop and it’s not fun. The den defence mini game is very easy to fail and since you can no longer rip down posters, it can take sometime to remove your awareness (You have to rely on bribing heralds and occasionally killing stewards who randomly appear).

The only new feature I liked was the expansion of the brotherhood missions. Now called Mediterranean Defence you send your apprentices to various cities completing missions for Experience and Money. Level your apprentices up and they become more effective when you need them.

What’s new however is that it is more than just missions. Each of the cities has a percentage of control. Completing missions increases assassin control away from Templar control. Failure to keep your control percentage high and the Templars can win back assassin controlled cities.

What I mean is that before when you had a fully training brotherhood you didn’t need to do anything. That element of the game was pointless. Now though if you want to keep control of your cities and the bonus’ they bring you have to defend captured cities using your assassins.

Revelations plays a lot like Brotherhood but with more bad changes than good. For a series that has always pushed forward this is a step back. Like Ezio the series is getting old and all too familiar. Still anyone that has followed the story has to play this, especially the opening which promises so much for the game, but ultimately fails to deliver.

The story this time isn’t all that interesting but it is a fitting conclusion for Ezio and Althair, and a reawakening for Desmond. It is a decent enough game just not one to go mad over.

7/10

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward sword

Since A link to the Past came out in the early nineties the Legend of Zelda series has gone from strength to strength, producing some of the best games ever, including the best game ever Ocarina of Time. Even its worst (if you ignore those awful CD-I games) still has the power to blow you away.

When the Wii came out it promised to revolutionise the way we play games by including games with motion control Gameplay. So far the best uses of this outside mini game collections and sport titles have been just simple shaking your wiimote to attack. Something a button can handle just as well. Even the Wii motion plus has failed to inspire developers to use the technology in a way that works.

While Nintendo dabbled with Motion control with Zelda in Twilight Princess it hasn’t been used anywhere near as much as it has in Skyward Sword, the latest in the series and probably the Wii’s swansong. The problem with motion control is that while it has the potential for unique Gameplay it more often than not just gets in the way.

I have yet to see a game which has actually benefitted from Motion controls, although Skyward sword has come closer than any other game in achieving it. The swordplay is excellent offering all sorts of new strategies when dealing with enemies. They will read your stances and prepare blocks and counters to how they think you are going to attack. Other enemies can only be beaten when you slash your sword in a certain way.

For example the Beamos enemies are towers that you have to cut down first with horizontal slashes. Get the angle wrong and your sword will just bounce off its body. Once you cut it down to just its head you have to thrust your sword forward to stab it in the eye.

This leads to a more challenging game as you have to learn how to fight all over again. It’s not 100% perfect but it works.

Although the Motion controls work really well for some things for others it fails badly. There are parts here where Motion controls are definitely not welcome in particular the swimming. To swim you have to hold A and move the Wiimote to turn. This is hard to get right and something which should be simple, like picking something off the floor becomes a nightmare of hand twisting. They should have just left it to the stick like normal as the motion controls complicate things too much.

You spend a fair amount of time flying a bird and again the same problem rears its ugly head. These flying sections can be just as bad for awkward arm “twisted-ness”. Also to gain height you have to flap the Wii remote like a wing, but the slightest tip to the left or right will turn it in that direction dramatically. Flying straight forward for any period of time becomes a challenge all of its own, an unwelcome one.

The Sky overworld filled with Islands (a bit like Skies of Arcadia) is joined by three areas on the surface world below. To keep the game a decent length each area has new areas that open up when you get new items. The Sky overworld is disappointingly empty and the three Surface areas don’t feel all that big.

Skywards swords biggest failing is the amount of repetition in the areas you visit. There is a Forest, a Volcano and a Desert. That is it, and you visit these areas at least three times each. On top of that there are two bosses you fight three times each, getting progressively more difficult but rarely deviating from the same patterns and weaknesses.

On the other hand the way they have used the three areas is inspired, particularly with the use of water. One area becomes flooded with water completely changing the dynamic of the area. Another uses crystals to change the time of a small area. On later levels these crystals move either by machine or your hand. There is an inspired section where a boat holding one of these time crystals turns a vast desert into a small ocean.

The dungeons are the highlight of the game. Although sticking with the tried and tested formula of holding a key item that opens the rest of the dungeon, they are very well designed. It’s the bit in-between the dungeons that are a little lacklustre.

As is the musical instrument. Previously we had the ocarina, loaded with songs to learn and play through five buttons. Then the wind baton which used C-stick directions determining the differences between songs. This time we have a harp, while there are different songs you can’t choose which to play. They all only open up new areas and so are nothing more than a way to accelerate the plot. Playing the harp is down to Rhythm, you move it in time with an onscreen hint. The Instrument feels pointless.

So for all its inspired hits there are some annoying misses, overall though Skyword sword is still a fantastic adventure and another amazing game to add to an impressive Christmas rush, but it’s not the best Zelda, in fact it is pretty far down that list.

8/10

Xbox 360 Metro Dashboard

Last generation ask a gamer what the term firmware meant and you would probably get a blank stare. The way pretty much everything connects to the internet means the people behind things can send updates to their things over the internet.

Games consoles are no exception and in this generation in particular we are flooded with updates for games and the consoles themselves. The Xbox 360 in particular has had two big changes to its dashboard, the hub the controls access to every part of your system.

The most recent change has been made to match the tile system of the new windows phone. It’s a bit like the PS3’s XMB system but with big square tiles giving access to various different things for each category.

In one world it is Terrible. God awful, messy, horrible, and a complete disaster all go some way in describing Microsoft’s latest monster.

It has clearly been designed by the 360’s biggest mistake, Kinect, in mind. The only positive besides speed is that Kinect is integrated rather well. Voice commands generally work and even something like Halo Waypoint is easily recognised.

But that’s where the praise ends. Let’s start with the first new “blade”, Home. This is where your system starts. First off this should be in the middle of the “blades” for reasons which I’ll explain later, instead it is far too Left. You are greeted with a huge advert that takes most of your screen. What 9 times out of 10 you will actually want, play disc, is left at the side in a much smaller tile.

Having the quickplay option, where you can pick from the last ten games/apps you’ve used is a nice touch, but again completely overshadowed by the giant ad in the middle. This dashboard is basically an advertiser’s wet dream. There is a least one ad on every blade, it’s not surprising that people have gone out of their way to block the ads, they are far too intrusive.

Going back I mentioned that the home blade was far too left. The actual problem lies with where the games blade is. I feel a bit like Woody shouting at Buzz here, the Xbox 360 is a Games Console. First and foremost its priority should be games. Yet to get to the games blade you have to skip past Social, Video/TV and even Music.

I wouldn’t criticise this so much if it didn’t have such a simple solution. Move the home blade into the middle. Then to access games go left, video/TV and other media go right (or vice versa). But it seems Microsoft want the Xbox 360 to be a media hub, which is not going to happen. If I want to watch Sky I’ll watch it the proper way, through my Sky HD box.

The Games Marketplace is even worse. Once you’ve passed four blades to the games blade and select the option each individual category now has its own blade. When the NXE came out it had a wonderful new arrivals category. This listed all new arrivals regardless of category.

They then changed it slightly in the last update by categorising them but still having a little preview. This was so the vast number of new music game tracks (i.e. Rock Band) didn’t dominate one category. It would’ve been better to separate music game stuff from the rest, but this was still OK.

Now well let me go through the buttons you need to press in order to check all new Games, Demos, Add-ons and Trailers (what I check for everyday).

Old way (2nd Dash)

Up > Select Games Marketplace > New Arrivals

(3rd Dash)

Up > Select Games Marketplace > Select Arcade games* > Back* > Right > Select Games in Demand* > Back* > Right > Right > Select Demos* > Back* > Up > Select Add ons* > Back* > Right > Select Videos*

*Only if the three in the preview tile were all new.

(4th Dash – This one)

RB > RB > RB (to games blade) > Down > Select Games Marketplace > RB (to games) > Select New Arrivals > Back > RB (to add ons) > Select New Arrivals > Back > RB (to extras) > Right > Right > Right> Select Videos > Back > RB (to Demos) > Select New Arrivals.

Way too many button presses and not a preview in sight.

Another thing they pointlessly messed up is the new Social blade. This replaces My Friends and some of My Xbox. You get three options, Friends, Social apps and I forget the third. Then your avatar and a nice summary of your last twelve achievements. Then a preview of THREE of your friends.

To access your friends list you need to go into an additional option. In the last dashboard you only needed to go to My Friends. Since 90% of the time I have more than three friends online this preview is pointless.

Also in the old Friend list system parties were displayed first and then individuals. If something was going on it was the first thing you saw when you went to My Friends. Now to see if there are any parties you have to go into another option.

So it’s Friday night, after 9pm and in the past you have got into a party with your mates and played something online, probably Call of duty. Check out your friends list, see a party is going, you join and in the next game they invite you in. Simple.

Now you have to select the social blade, select friends, and then select parties to see if anything is going on. Needless additional steps that add nothing and take away so much. Considering the Xbox’s strength is Online and Party chat this is a step backwards.

I said in my prediction for the next generation that we would see apps becoming a big part of console gaming. I didn’t realise how soon as Microsoft have a new apps section. So far though they have all been centred on streaming video. You can now use Youtube (only if you’re gold though apparently, so paying for something which is free on PC), and Lovefilm.

Lovefilm isn’t anywhere near as good as it should be. Even though you can sign in to your account you can’t access your rental list, add titles to your rental list or select titles from the list to watch online. There’s no reason for this. You’ve signed into your account you should have access to your rental list and chose films to watch online from there.

So while there is a nice selection of movies you can watch, and you’ve already picked out your favourites, you can’t then use your list of favourites to choose what to watch. This is pointless and hopefully just an early teething problem with the new app.

So overall the dashboard brings with it very few benefits in exchange for making all the things that make the Xbox so good, Games, Friend List, Party chat and Marketplace all that little more awkward for no good reason. It’s a case of one step forward but five steps back.

Mind you I have yet to try the new Bing Search and Cloud save feature but I doubt I’ll use them that much.

If this wasn’t a mandatory update I’ll tell you all to avoid it like the plague but alas we’re all stuck with this mess.

Sonic Generations (3DS)

The HD version of Sonic Generations is a very good celebration of the last 20 years of Sonic. The combination of beautifully detailed scenery, kickass soundtrack, and two contrasting but highly polished styles of play led to a fun, if short-lived, gaming experience.

SEGA definitely have a history of jumping straight into new technology so it isn’t all that surprising to see them being one of the first third party developers to support the 3DS, bringing a whole new version of Sonic Generations.

In some ways the 3DS version fixes some of the faults of the HD version. The bosses in particular are much better, each taking the traditional 8 hits instead of 4, and staying true to the original versions but with their own unique twist. The last boss in particular is a huge improvement on its HD counterpart.

There are only seven levels instead of nine this time but only Green hill is the same, making this a good compliment to the HD version. Each looks and sound superb however both styles are entirely 2D which leads to the biggest problem of the 3DS version, both styles are too similar.

In the HD versions classic Sonic stayed true to his roots, sticking with just the standard spin attack and spin dash. Modern Sonic meanwhile had all the moves, being able to stomp, homing attack, boost, light speed dash, slide, quickstep, etc. Mastering all these moves was the key to getting the really fast times.

Each style was unique whereas in the 3DS version very little is different. Modern Sonic still has slide, boost and stomp but halfway through classic Sonic learns Homing attacks. Being entirely in 2D doesn’t help either, leading to the two styles being more or less the same.

It also suffers from the same short length issue the HD version had. Getting all S ranks for an experienced player will only take you a couple of days, and that’s only playing a couple of hours at a time.

It does make good use of the street pass feature. You can only unlock so many missions on your copy without streetpass or spending lots of playcoins. By passing people with the game you unlock more missions, which you complete to access more rewards. The addition of online multiplayer is a nice but expected bonus.

Much like the HD version it still relies on beating high scores and times to prolong its life. Getting S ranks is a little harder this time around, it felt a little too easy in the HD version, here it feels just right.

Sonic Generations 3DS address some of the problems with the HD version but ultimately create some of its own. The bosses are better and it is harder to get S ranks, but the two styles become too similar halfway through and it is just as short as its HD brethren.

A nice compliment to the HD version but only really necessary if you are a fan of the series and/or you can get it cheap.

6/10

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

In some ways this has been a strange generation. Normally you judge a system’s strength by its exclusives. This time though besides the Wii neither has had a long list of exclusives even though they have been out for almost five years each.

Most judge the systems by its features. Whether you prefer the additional features Xbox live offers over the free service PSN does, whether you prefer trophies or achievements, etc. I definitely in the Xbox camp but there is one Playstation series which excites me and validates my PS3 as a game machine. That is the Uncharted series.

Gorgeous visuals, brilliant voice acting and cutscenes, likeable characters, solid platforming, intelligent puzzles and fantastic set pieces are all what makes the series great.

Uncharted 3 has all this and that alone deserves your attention. However it is stuck in the middle of one of the busiest Christmas rushes to date. Uncharted 3 holds its own but only just.

What lets Uncharted 3 down is the series’ weak point, the gunplay. It just isn’t as satisfying as other third person cover based shooters. Your bullets never seem to hit your crosshairs right and there is terribly inconsistent hit detection. Sometimes a single bullet will bring down an enemy, other times it takes an entire clip. They may fix this in a patch but surely after 3 games Naughty Dog would have this right first time.

But what they can’t fix is the repetition. Your enemies lack variation. Armoured brutes are your only other target than the same generic enemies. And the AI is ridiculous. Often in the middle of a fire fight enemies will charge straight at you and try to punch you to death, rather than shoot a machine gun at you.

Instead of the player having the power to choose how to beat an opponent, the option is usually forced upon you. This can get really annoying when you are trying to get the “defeat a certain number of enemies in a row by shooting” trophies and you keep getting engaged in fist fights. Or say a group of enemies are shooting at you and you can’t get free of a fight to save yourself.

And there is so much of it. The game has some nice puzzles to break up the monotony of the gunplay but there aren’t enough of them. There is a lovely puzzle involving casting shadows on a wall to create a shape, there should have been more of this kind of stuff instead of constant gunplay, particularly towards the end.

Speaking of the end it feels a little rushed and it just happens. The story starts of well, delving into the history of Drake and his relationship with Sully. There is a nice reveal about Drake’s past and then after that nothing. Perhaps Uncharted 4 will flesh that out a bit, but I was disappointed that it didn’t go anywhere.

Uncharted 3 starts off rather well. There are some exciting set pieces and pretty smart puzzles. It feels like it is going somewhere but in the end it doesn’t. By focusing on the not so great gunplay what you get is a disappointing game by the series already pretty high standards.

Given the number of quality titles out around the same time you’d be forgiven for waiting a while and seeing if the price drops. However you should still give this a go when you have the time for it.

8/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Ask any non gamer to name a video game and they might mention old classics like Pong, Space Invaders, Pacman, or Tetris. They might mention controversial titles like Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt. They may mention Mario, Sonic or Pokemon the big well known brands. But most likely if they don’t mention Fifa then it will probably be Call of Duty.

Initially set around World War 2 the Call of Duty franchise has spawned an impressive 8 different titles and has spread out into the Vietnam War and a war based in modern times. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the first of the series to be set in present times. Widely regarded as one of the greatest FPS’ ever made it quickly made a name for itself amongst the casual and the hardcore alike.

The combination of high speed action, easy kills and a nice blend of solid gunplay with decent stealth, all with a hint of realism, set the series apart for it’s rivals to the point where it became more than just a game, it became one of the most popular gaming franchises of all time.

The single player was fun but it was the multiplayer where the game really shone. Fast, fluid with easy kills (but conversely you died easier than in other FPS’) obtaining long killstreaks became addictive. Overall it was a unique experience that won a lot of people over, particularly non-gamers.

The sequel expanded on COD4, giving more killstreaks, including the game breaking Tactical Nuke. COD’s popularity rose. Since everything is a trilogy now Modern Warfare 3 has been released. COD’s popularity has led to a lot of copycats, some successful, some not. COD no longer feels unique, more that one to beat.

Recently EA and DICE have brought the Battlefield series into the fray which has drawn a lot of attention away from COD, attempting to steal some of its userbase. Can COD still compete? Well to do that it needs to evolve, which sadly it doesn’t really.

First the single player. Unusually this is probably the highlight of the game now. Completely abandoning any sense of realism, Modern Warfare 3’s campaign is a wild thrill ride, highly polished and a worthy end for such a successful series. Once again you travel around the world attempting to stop a terrorist but now he’s practically won. The whole world is at war and one of four characters you’ll travel all around the world, shooting enough soldiers to fill a continent.

It all works really well and the veteran difficulty level is just right providing a very challenging experience that never feels too impossible.

Spec ops returns with some enhancements. These are carefully reused segments of the game to offer quick challenges detached from the game itself. The second of these is a wonderful twist on the classic Mile High Club challenge from COD4. This time you’re the last terrorist of a group that has just hijacked a plane, who has to kidnap the Russian President.

In addition to this they have also added a Gears of War Horde / Halo Firefight style Survival mode. Here you fight wave after wave of enemies that get steadily more difficult as you proceed through the waves.

All of Spec ops can be done alone or with a friend and with scores/times to beat including global and friend leaderboards they have plenty of replay value.

What will take your hours though is the multiplayer mode. After 8 games the multiplayer has changed ever so slightly to meet the criticisms of previous titles. This is more a case of polishing what you have got that completely evolving the game however there are a couple of interesting new features.

It seems Infinity Ward have attempted to address one of the main problems with COD, which isn’t even a problem with the game but the people who play it. They seem to have focused on getting people to stop camping, a defensive technique where players stay out of fights, find an area they can secure easy and get kills from distant vantage points. This is all in an effort to keep their kill to death ratio high.

This has always been an effective way of keeping your Kill to Death Ratio high but doesn’t help when it comes to securing objectives. Typically what you find is players will place their scope on an objective and kill anyone who comes near it. Frustrating for players that actually want to play the game.

For example, Sabotage is a game where you have to collect and plant and neutral bomb at your opponents bomb site. When you have the bomb a huge marker appears above your head displaying Kill for the defending team. What you tend to find is that opposing teams never go for the bomb and set up camp around their bomb site. You can’t win if you don’t plant the bomb and matches can last the full 20 minutes.

Well you couldn’t win that way unless you got a tactical nuke after a 25 kill streak. Thank god they removed it after Modern Warfare 2.

So how have they addressed camping. Well first they have introduced a new mode called Kill Confirmed. This is like team deathmatch however when you get a kill you don’t score the points until you collect the dog tags they drop. If your opponent collects the tags before you do they can deny you the point which gives campers a dilemma, Do they leave their secure area to score the points and risk death, or do they rely on their teammates to collect the tags for them and risk their kills being denied?

Next is the addition of strike packages, in particular the support package. Previously rewards were given to players who could maintain a streak of kills without dying. Those that wish to play this way can chose the Assault package that offers rewards that hinder the enemy team. These are your predator missiles, helicopters and airstrikes.

Support meanwhile gives rewards based on points and does not reset on death. Capturing flags, planting bombs, generally helping your team achieve the objective with get you rewards that help your team. These include Advanced UAV’s, Sam Turrets, Armour vests, etc. This means that those who would throw themselves on a grenade to help their team win will get the same kind of rewards as those who can maintain a high Killstreak.

If you want something different you could try the specialist package which gives you additional perks the longer your Killstreak continues, to the point where you become an incredible powerhouse ready to rape all that dare challenge you.

Ultimately it still plays like COD4 did but with a little polish which seems to be putting off players who want to play something new. The look and feel of the game is all too familiar and this is probably the biggest criticism of the game. There are also some initial teething problems with some guns being overpowered but I’d expect that to be patched soon.

Overall MW3 is very much a case of if it aint broke don’t fix it. Some slight improvements have been made to the multiplayer but it feels all too familiar. The Campaign is a lot of fun and Spec ops is likely to keep you going for a while.

The perfect end to a fantastic trilogy but perhaps now we’re due a more dramatic overhaul for the series, so that COD9 will be a totally new experience.

8/10