Microsoft

Unless you’ve had your head stuck in a box of the plastic bricks for the last five years, you will be well aware of the presence of the series of videogames which has been reducing the heroes of our favourite movies down to tiny plastic figures who possess a considerably higher level of charm and wit than the actors who portray them in the films. I am referring, of course, to the Lego videogame series developed by Traveller’s Tales, which so far has released two (soon to be three) Star Wars titles, two Indiana Jones entries, as well as a Batman game. While the critical responses to some of the more recent of these games have begun to wane in their original enthusiasm, which seemed to peak at the first Indy game, all of the games inhabit an irresistible likeability, particularly when it comes to accessibility for all types of gamers and friendly multiplayer, which has you and a buddy cooperating happily, working in unison to solve charming puzzles instead of trying to blast each other’s heads off with a sniper rifle, which has been the general objective for the most recent cooperative games.

Now Traveller’s Tales next Lego game is on the horizon and it looks to be the best yet. While the main flaw with the series’ latest games has been their persistent inability to improve on the weaker elements of their predecessors, never seeming to even try and fix problems which were present in the first Lego Star Wars which was released five years ago, a lot of effort seems to have gone into this next game. And what could bode better than it being based on one of the most successful franchises in history; Harry Potter?

Focussing on years 1-4 of Harry’s time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (which makes sense seeing as once Warner Brothers are finished with the series, there will be a total of eight films, allowing TT to make two games, each containing the content of four films), Lego Harry Potter boasts the biggest location ever included in the Lego series, Hogwarts, which apparently will constantly expand as your progress though the game. The latest two non-Lego videogames based on the Harry Potter movies have adopted a sandbox gaming format, where the character is free to roam around the massive virtual campus of the enchanted school. Presuming this game is going to follow the trend set by all the other Lego games, however, it can be assumed that this will have levelled structure. That’s probably for the best, really, as the two games in question were painfully tedious as you walked wearily from one end of the school to another doing boring tasks.

Set in Feudal Japan you star as an injured Samurai, regaining consciousness on a battlefield surrounded by corpses of other warriors after a bloody battle. From here on in you get to decide how to shape the story in this sedately paced Samurai-sim.

The series, which started on PS2, has always prided itself on the amount of choice it provided to gamers with multiple endings being a key selling point. This time there are over twenty of them.  Players are allowed a degree of freedom in shaping their adventure by selecting from multiple dialogue options, usually based around being nice or nasty.

There’s also an option to draw your sword or apologise to interrupt most cut-scenes. Apologising has you drop to your knees, stopping the scene and the game resuming with the characters you’ve bowed to either disappearing or not reacting at all. Or you can draw your sword to threaten or attack people. This is generally preferable to the poor dialogue or repetitive cutscenes. The main problem is that until you play through a few times and pick up some decent weapons you’ll probably get your ass handed to you in a noodle bowl if you attack the most annoying characters.

There’s nothing better than watching a couple of campers blend in with the ruble of a building as you sabotage it, to blitz with an RPG or a charger. There’s never a dull moment in Bad Company 2, with the Frostbite Engine’s Destruction 2.0 whole buildings and objects in the gaming environment can be destroyed realistically. You’ll spend a lot of time in the campaign shooting and blowing up destructible environments just to admire the realism.

This time around the campaign has taken a turn for a more serious but linear storyline. The Russians have set their keen eyes on a mythical WWII weapon of mass destruction, which in the wrong hands will threaten the world. Preston Marlowe (you the player), Haggard, Sweetwater and Sergeant Redford are sent on a mission to hunt for this weapon before the Russian’s gain possession.

The missions you play throughout the campaign are great fun from vehicle shootouts to avoiding freezing death in the snow trail blazing mountains. Your AI team mates are splendid bullet sponges and rarely take a shot penetrating enough to take a life, leaving it to you to pull the plug on your enemies.

At times when you progress through a mission you can see enemies being spawned right in front of you, generally after a while you start to memorize their positions. There is little incentive for exploration apart from finding the collectable guns placed in every level.

Banter between your team mates is never ending, livening up the atmospheric tension of the battlefield and keeping you entertained throughout the campaign. DICE doesn’t take itself too seriously with its humor in the campaign and takes various shots at Modern Warfare 2 in cut scenes and during gameplay.

Bioshock multiplayer probably wasn’t too high up on the list of things we wanted to see included in Bioshock 2 given that it was everything apart from the guns that really made the game (and its sequel) really stand out. Turns out that maybe we should have wanted it all along as it’s turned out very well indeed.

If you’ve heard that the multiplayer takes place before the events of the first game, then you heard correct. However, don’t expect to gain any more particular insight into the fall of Rapture as all it really means is you’ll revisit some familiar locations that have less rubble and destruction than you’ve previously seen. This time though you’re one of the psychotic Splicers.

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.’

When it was announced at E3 back in 2005, Alan Wake had Xbox and PC gamers salivating over the promise of a psychological thriller in the style of Twin Peaks or the X Files. Early screenshots of the game boasted impressive visuals and the game seemed to be on track to blow our minds in 2007.But then something happened, Remedy, the studio behind bullet time ballet Max Payne, announced the game “still needed time” and the released date was depressingly pushed back. Gamers didn’t really seem to care however, distracting themselves with the big name titles such as Halo 3 that had the good graces to come out on time. By early 2009 when the game was put back again most people had given up on Mr Wake, and waited for the inevitable announcement that the project had been shut down.

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.

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.

Rockstar has revealed a selection of pre-order bonuses available from retailers in the United Kingdom. Red Dead Redemption is being released on 30th April 2010, if you’re interested in purchasing the game I recommend you check out these pre-order bonuses. Bonuses include a special war horse, gold weapon pack, deadly assassin outfit and a Brady Games mini guide. Check out the press release below in Rockstar’s own words: