Microsoft

Almost a month has passed since Ubisoft ushered us back into the world of Assassin’s Creed with their disappointing first of two DLCs: ‘The Battle for Forli.’ Set half way through the main narrative of ACII, this game saw Ezio fight for Forli as well as to protect the precious piece of Eden he had recently acquired. Not that he did a good job, however, as the DLC closed with it being stolen by the sinister monk, Savonarola. And so this set the scene for the next helping of ACII DLC.

Today, when browsing the LIVE Marketplace, I noticed that the DLC had been released slightly earlier then I had anticipated. Like ‘The Battle for Forli,’ it was also priced modestly at 320 MS points, so hoping that this wouldn’t mean another second-rate experience, I downloaded it and was pleasantly surprised.

While this is not by any means amongst the best DLCs we’ve seen, this is still a decent entry on Ubisoft’s part, and I did rather enjoy spending some time back on the sunny surface of Florence after spending a large amount of time in the dark deep beneath Acre on ‘Dante’s Inferno.’ Read More  »

Visceral Games visionary of the classic poem “The Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri, which foretells the author’s vision of hell is absolutely grotesque and demented. If you think you know what hell looks like then think again. I can assure you this is one of the few video games that will make your skin crawl and leave you feeling squeamish.

Players take the role of the protagonist Dante, who upon returning home finds his beloved Beatrice murdered with a sword plunged into her lower abdomen. With Lucifer in full possession of her soul she is dragged into the depths of hell. Dante descends himself into hell to rescue Beatrice and ultimately redeem himself, as he realizes that he’s paying for his sins and facing his demons.

Visceral Games have played the common factors of the poem and made it into a game which overall sets the basis for levels. As stated in the poem there are nine circles of hell which are named: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery. Each of them has a distinct environment and demons within them. Sometimes this is not the case as other enemies from distinct circles cross over in levels.

Many see the game as God of War, in more or less every way, shape and form. The reason for this is because the level designer, who worked on the God of War franchise, joined Visceral Games development team for Dante’s Inferno. There’s no denying that Dante’s Inferno uses God of War as a strong foundation, however it makes up for unoriginality in other areas.

Take the cross for instance it’s a great weapon for spamming attacks with and keeping enemies at bay. The cross is great fun to use as there’s no limit on the amount of times it can be used. The upgrades for this weapon are irresistible; they literally make you feel as though the wrath of god is in your hands.

As opposed to the cross the scythe is equally a blast getting to grips with. This is your primary weapon and a dominating one too, depending on how you coinsit it with the cross and magic to devise combos. Read More  »

First off all we’ll just say you can read this review without worrying about plot spoilers for this game and its predecessor because we’re not cruel / stupid and can’t encourage you enough to go and play through the first classic game to fully enjoy this one. So there’s no need to read with one eye open from behind the sofa.

All you really need to know is that in the first game the player found themselves at the hidden underwater city of Rapture after a plane crash. Unfortunately everything had gone completely mental as all the citizens had been busy messing around with Plasmids that altered them genetically, giving them superhuman abilities. After taking it overboard, the Utopia fell before coming into fruition leaving its citizens wrecked of body and mind as they became known as the Splicers. Horrifically the city’s little girls, later dubbed the Little Sisters, were put into a trance and forced to collect Adam (Plasmid currency) from corpses. Players could choose to liberate them from this haunting nightmare or murder them to get extra Adam supplies. Well, after you disposed of their guardian first, the ominous Big Daddies.

The story now resumes ten years later but the Little Sisters and their lumbering protectors are still found wandering Rapture’s art deco halls, constantly wary of the threat of the Splicers. This time around you find yourself in a different part of Rapture and in some very different shoes. The huge boots of the first Big Daddy no less, who has been awakened to try and help… well, I said no spoilers. Read More  »

As we only begin to catch our breaths after engaging in some mind blowing modern warfare, Treyarch are already hard at work preparing for the next Call of Duty release to follow the immense experience that was Modern Warfare 2. Although many will be disappointed by the absence of Infinity Ward in favour of CoD 3 and CoD: WaW developer, Treyarch, it is impossible not to get excited by the prospect of another Call of Duty game on the way, especially seeing as rumours suggest that we are saying goodbye to both World War II and the near future, and are saying hello to a new setting and war entirely. Read More  »

With no new Devil May Cry anytime soon, Kratos and God of War III probably thought they’d own 2010. Yet he’s having to face off a triple offensive of Darksiders, Bayonetta and Dante’s Inferno, one after another. Out of the three, original Devil May Cry director Hideki Kamiya has changed tactics the most by sending the sassy temptress Bayonetta in instead of yet another angry man. Hoping to charm her way in, before going berserk in a way we forgot Japanese games used to do.

Bayonetta on PS3 is a mixed experience. On the one hand you have some excellent Devil May Cry-style action with some of the most enjoyable combat you’ll ever play. While on the other, you have a half-assed port of the same game on the Xbox 360, with a ridiculous amount of extra loading screens, lower frame rate and dulled graphics. Read More  »