GTA V Screenshots HD

GTA V Screenshots HD

Grand Theft Auto V is a 2013 open world action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 17 September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. It is the fifteenth title in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the first main entry since Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008. As one of the last titles to be released exclusively for the seventh generation of video game consoles, Grand Theft Auto V was highly anticipated preceding its release.

Grand Theft Auto V is played from a third-person perspective in an open world environment, allowing the player to interact with the game world at their leisure. The game is set within the fictional state of San Andreas (based on Southern California) and affords the player the ability to freely roam the world's countryside and the fictional city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles). The single-player story is told through three player-controlled protagonists whom the player switches between, and it follows their efforts to plan and execute six large heists to accrue wealth for themselves. An online multiplayer mode is included with the game, allowing up to 16 players to engage in both co-operative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting.

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F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon Review

F.E.A.R. Review

Have no fear, this game really delivers...

F.E.A.R. or First Encounter Assault Recon takes you into one badly lit office building after another, while shooting a seemingly never ending onslaught of like-minded enemies with a relatively scarce selection of weapons.

This is a game that will make outrageous demands of your old war-torn PC. Oh, and not to forget; this is also one of the most intense, nail-biting, super-spooky games ever made. Let me tell you why.

Who’s afraid of the big bad…little girl?

It all starts with a guy named Paxton Fettel. He’s an insane military commander who has taken over an army of clones with which he is somehow mysteriously telepathically connected. Fettel and his so-called Replica soldiers have gone berserk in an unnamed American town where they’ve taken over an office complex belonging to the Armachem. Apparently they are looking for something and have taken hostages but not made any demands and the whole situation is very unstable. The government dispatches a team to investigate, but communication is interrupted by a mysterious signal and the team is wiped out.

Now you have to go in – along with your fellow Delta Force soldiers in the F.E.A.R. team and find out what happened and uncover the source of the unknown signal. Luckily, you possess supernatural quick reflexes that seem to slow down time thereby enabling you to get the better of your enemies. But you are not the only one with supernatural powers in the Armachem building; Fettel himself isn’t exactly what you’d call normal and there’s also a little girl wandering around the building creating chaos. What’s going on? What’s Fettel’s purpose? Who’s the girl? And from where do you get your own powers? F.E.A.R. is very much a journey into unknown territory.

Intensity

The filmic inspiration is very obvious. As in the Matrix you have a bullet-time option and it works very similar to Max Payne only here it’s seen in the first-person perspective and it looks much better. The colours change and blend into each other, motion blur is used and every time a shot is fired you’ll see its trail in the air. It all looks amazing. The bullet-time ability enables you to hit your enemies with great precision, gives you time to use medpacks, throw grenades and at the same time avoid the opponents’ shots.

You’ll need this ability – constantly. The enemies in this game are tough as nails and they behave in a relatively intelligent way, often taking cover or ambushing you when you least expect it and in these situations it’s always nice to be able to go into slow motion. Your bullet time ability isn’t infinite and needs to recharge, so you need to be somewhat strategic in your approach.

Another source of inspiration is Japanese horror films. Anybody who has seen the little girls in for example The Ring or Dark Water will know what I’m talking about here – though you’ll not know all. The girl in F.E.A.R. looks a lot like her Japanese, ahem, role models but she hides other secrets. All in all the game makes good use of the distinguished Japanese style of horror; after some weird events in the beginning of the game things get quiet for a while and the atmosphere gets more foreboding and eerie and you never know from where the next scare will come.

There are not many BOO! scares of the more western traditional horror type – rather the game gets under your skin as the Japanese films to which it plays homage. This kind of slow creeping horror combined with rampant action is not something I would have thought worked but it turns out that I have been proven wrong.

After a hectic firefight the ensuing silence works to great effect and the satisfaction from dishing out a can of whoop-ass after having crawled around dark hallways with your heart beating loudly cannot be downplayed.

Know your arsenal

In the game you can only carry three weapons at a time, so you need to make some choices as to which weapons you wish to part with when you find new ones. You can also only carry three types of grenades and only five of each. These vary from regular hand grenades, prox-mines that explode when enemies get too close to remote bombs that stick on objects and can be detonated at a distance.

You need to figure out which weapons are best suited for your current situation; some rifles are equipped with scopes but are no good at close range, the shotgun is nasty up close and personal but enemies do tend to run away, the small machine gun is great against enemies with no armour etc.

Last but not least you must remember to pick up medpacks, which you can carry ten of at a time and don’t forget the boosters that increase your lifebar and bullet-time bar permanently. You also carry a flashlight which battery constantly runs out and needs to recharge – a cheap horror trick to be sure but at least you can use your flashlight along with your weapons as opposed to certain other games…

Tech-talk

While F.E.A.R. makes ample use of all the latest graphics achievements it doesn’t look as good as Half-Life 2 or DOOM 3. The level design in F.E.A.R. even appears to be simpler by comparison. Still it seems that F.E.A:R. is the most impressive of the three games mentioned. Try throwing a prox-mine after a group of enemies standing next to an object that can explode or break, go into bullet-time and place a shot in the middle of the mine. Insane pyrotechnics await.

All this doesn’t change the fact that the game suffers from some basic problems such as the weird corner-lag (yup, that’s a neat new expression). Every time I turned around a corner the game got choppy to some degree and it didn’t matter how much I tweaked the graphics settings.

Most of the time the game ran smoothly even in intense situations but occasionally I had experienced these annoying choppy sequences when the video game was first released usually when something exciting was about to happen. I’ve been told that the 512 MB RAM I have in my system is not quite enough but my neighbour experienced the same and he has 1 GB RAM in his system.

I was using a Radeon X800 XT PE and he has a Radeon X800 Pro, so I went to the game’s website which had info on some problems with ATi’s streaming technology supposedly being the reason for the lag. This smells of the game being optimized to run on Nvidia’s cards all over since its logo is both on the box and in the game; The Way It’s Meant To Be Played they say. That’s very good thank you but we Radeon owners would like to get a piece of the cake too.

Another point of note is the sound. It’s almost as if the different sound effects were recorded at various input volumes. A shot from my machine gun ought to be louder than the noise it makes when I tip a can off a shelf right? Sometimes you get a shock when you’re walking around a room alone and suddenly hear a loud noise as a result of walking into a phone or a cardboard box. But maybe it’s meant to be that way.

Interactive film revisited

It’s an old cliché but this game really delivers an experience with production values reminiscent of Hollywood. The firefights of the game can make John Woo jealous and there are plenty of grotesque details such as bodies torn in half and objects that are smashed, torn, burnt, cracked and splintered.

But Monolith knows that this no movie, so you will not be bothered by weird changes of camera angles and there are no specific cutscenes besides the ones in the beginning and at the end of the game. The mysterious protagonist of the game never speaks which may seem a bit odd but at the same time it gives you the impression that it’s the player that plays the main part. It’s you that are in the centre of the fights, it’s you the F.E.A.R. team communicates with over comlink and though you can’t answer there is an understated feeling that you tell the team about everything that is going on.

The game manages to get very personal just like Half-Life 2, but since the experience is much scarier and intense it strikes a deeper emotional nerve than Valve’s masterpiece, and therefore you can forgive it for the faults it has. The story is primarily told through flashbacks and a lot of phone messages and laptop files scattered around the game. But this aspect isn’t the game’s strongest asset even though the voice acting is convincing. The phone messages are plentiful and it can be hard to maintain the interest it takes to listen to them all. Overall, the story isn’t as tight as in Half-Life 2 but the intense gameplay more than compensates for that.

F.E.A.R. gets its high grade from the insane combat and intense atmosphere that borrows a lot from Asian horror movies. The game isn’t so scary that it should keep easily spooked people from playing it – it does help that you play a tough guy with heavy firearms and supernatural reflexes and not some defenceless single mother or what the victims are in all those movies. The game is scarier than Resident Evil and as adrenaline fuelled as Alien vs. Predator when playing as marine but not as diabolically evil as Silent Hill. But make no mistake: the blood, scares and foul language makes it deserve its 18+ rating.

The multiplayer component of the game was somewhat redundant in my opinion. There are the classic game modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Elimination and Capture the Flag and then there are the SlowMo modes. In the latter you search for a reflex booster powerup which yields points when you have it. If you manage to hold on to it long enough you can activate bullet-time. This applies to all players but the one holding the booster moves twice as fast as the opponents. If you’re killed carrying the booster you drop it for others to pick up. In SlowMo Team DM your entire team gets the ability. It works quite well but not as good as in singleplayer.

This game might not be remembered the same way Half-Life 2. But it’s some of the best you can feed your PC if your nerves (and PC) can take it. Remember to check out if your machine matches the minimum specs or else you’ll get disappointed. Which certainly is not a big problem right now because no one have Pentium 3 or old mac's in there homes anymore.

007 Agent Under Fire Review

007 Agent Under Fire Review

Electronic Arts’ "Agent Under Fire" is exactly what a James Bond video game should be — slick, sexy and jam-packed with action — but this adventure is short with limited playability over time, except perhaps for its multiplayer modes.

The game begins with the roar of the MGM lion, a familiar Bond film-style introductory movie and the instrumental theme song that accompanies every 007 film. Without giving away too much of the story line and its plot twists, the missions revolve around Bond as he tries to stop Malprave, a criminal mastermind who is planning to take over the world with cloning technology. The first few levels involve attempts to retrieve Malprave’s briefcase with the cloning plans and blood samples.

On foot, in vehicle

Primarily, "Agent Under Fire" is played on foot, and from a first-person perspective, but a few of the missions require the player to drive vehicles. On one of the most visually appealing levels, players must race through the streets of Hong Kong — first as a passenger armed with weapons to destroy helicopters, barricades and enemy cars — and then drive a BMW Z8 to stop — but not destroy — a van with secret weapons inside.

Naturally, there are all kinds of weapons to use throughout the game, ranging from pistols, sniper rifles, dart guns, grenades and missiles, and some of the missions will call for blazing guns while others require more stealth (Bond’s style, of course). Plus, there are a handful of cool gadgets right out of Q’s lab such as a laser to burn through locks and a claw to scale buildings.

Despite the weapons, vehicles and high-tech gizmos, the single-player game play is disappointing because it’s too easy and quite short. Experienced gamers should be able to finish the first five of 12 missions at medium difficulty in less than an hour. Fortunately, the action gets a bit tougher later in the game, but it’s still an eight-hour title at best. Also, the enemies aren’t the smartest, so it’s easy to pluck them off and continue on with the mission objectives.

Graphically, "Agent Under Fire" looks great and its visuals easily are the game’s greatest asset. The player models are highly detailed, especially the key female characters such as Zoe Nightshade. Plus, the indoor and outdoor environments are gorgeous, be it an underwater oil rig, a city street or a large house.

The level design, on the other hand, is somewhat linear and predictable for the most part, especially compared to the more imaginable and interactive levels found in similar 3-D shooters such as "Red Faction", "Half-Life" and "No One Lives Forever".

Split-screen play

The multiplayer options were fun, supporting up to four players with the addition of a PlayStation 2 multi-tap peripheral. There were four game modes such as "death match" and "capture the flag," plus many characters and weapons from which to choose. The split-screen visuals that are part of the multiplayer mode proved to be a welcome addition to the otherwise short game play of the single-player game. Multiplayer video frame rates remained relatively smooth, maxing out at about 30 frames per second, though they can be up to twice as fast in singe-player mode.

To wrap up, "Agent Under Fire" is a good — but not great — game that could be better with more depth and challenging game play. The game is certainly a fun and polished joyride while it lasts, but players was undoubtedly sticked to the multiplayer modes at that time rather than run through the solo adventure a second time.

Quake 4 Review

Quake 4 Review

They call it a format breaker: something that turns the status quo upside down. In television it’s one off specials of our favourite shows (Like the live episodes of The Bill in the UK or Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Once More With Feeling).

In music it’s the concept album (The Street’s A Grand Don’t Come For Free having each song form one part of a grand narrative structure), and in film it’s things like Richard Linklater’s TAPE (Three actors, one room, feature-length run time).

Quake 4 is not a format breaker – however, this review is. In order to justify my feelings on the wreckage that is Raven’s shooter, I feel I must tackle the review a little different. So I have separated the review into sub-sections, starting with...

1. The Concept

Quake 4 doesn’t have a story - it has an excuse. Sometimes an excuse is not necessarily a bad thing (take the PC version of FarCry for example), but in Quake 4 it is. The premise behind the entire game is this: what happened in Quake 2 is still happening… boot up, soldier.

The first several minutes would make you believe otherwise. We open in space with a scene reminiscent of Starship Troopers as decapitated bodies drift through space and we pan to a full-scale war on a nearby planet. Orders are barked at you – Matthew Kane – in your dropship as you approach the war torn planet of Strogg.

Your ship is blown to pieces and you crash. Waking several moments later you find yourself right in the middle of a battle. You climb from the wreckage of your ship, grab a nearby pistol and follow a soldier straight into a large room where the first Strogg enemy dives unremarkably in front of you.

Within a minute of the game beginning you are shooting at something. Several somethings.

2. The Strogg

There are dozens of enemy types in Quake 4 – all of them unremarkable. Despite what you thought of Doom 3 you cannot deny how diverse the enemies were. Each of them forced you to re-assess combat and tackle them differently. And when several differently kinds attacked you at once it was hectic.

In Quake 4 there are lots of enemies and each attack in different ways. But every single one of them is pathetic in their attack methods. You can guarantee that if you happen upon a long corridor with enemies stationed at the far end, there will be no struggle in conflict.

But what is truly bothersome is that even in most close-quarters scenarios there isn’t much struggle in conflict, either. You know you have a game with problems on your hands when the best criticism you can level at the opposition is that they can side step your gunfire.

3. The Level Design

Or more specifically, the lack thereof. There is a great sense of nose-ringing in Quake 4. That is, the sense that you are being dragged through each location rather than working the way out for yourself. The level design is so basic that locations just whip past with nary a thought spent on how good they looked.

Sure, Quake 4 looks stunning – and it’s pleasing that it is much easier to run on lower end specs than Doom 3 was – but the game’s preposterously linear design means you cannot explore any aspect of the locations.

Worse is the amount of backtracking in the game. Raven’s decision to have the player re-visit levels is both annoying and boring, and its inclusion serves little more than to make me think it did it to add length to the game. You see, there are countless times when an objective is reached but needs re-powering or a switch elsewhere needs to be flicked on.

The player then has to backtrack through the level to a door that was previously locked, do the deed, and then work their way all the way back again. It’s a slap in the face of the player the first couple times it happens. It’s practically a kick in the nuts the twentieth time, however.

This is the exact same structure throughout the game. Because you’re a lowly grunt you constantly have orders barked at you from above. Kane, go here and do this! Kane, go there and do that! And all this and that ever amounts to is turn this on or turn that off.

There is not a single aspect of this game that goes against the grain. Not even the widely talked about Stroggification.


4. The Stroggification

About a third of the way through the game Kane is captured by the Strogg and turned into one of them. As fate – or bad writing – would have it, you aren’t really a Strogg until a chip is turned on inside your head. Kane is rescued before his is activated, meaning he now has the best of both worlds.

Except, well, he doesn’t. As soon as you step from the tank you were suspended in you realise you can move a little faster, your heart and shield rate has been extended and – most interesting of all – you can now fully understand the Strogg.

But the idea is never taken anywhere at all. You never run into cutscenes where two Strogg are talking, or happen upon documents pertaining to the Strogg’s past. In what could have been a unique touch – and what could have allowed Raven to truly develop the Strogg as a race – we instead have nothing to show for it.

This is first-person shooter of the most basic nature. There is no use key, no squad control, there are no physics beyond the odd box that tumbles over, no story to stand on, no character development (except for the one attempt mid-way – but even that is ripped straight out of HALO) and ultimately no sense of fun.

So why have I given the game a five out of ten and not lower? Well, let’s examine what there is in Quake 4 worth talking about.

5. The Good

Peter Stormare. Mainstream cinemagoers will know him as Satan from Constantine, while the rest of us remember him as the blonde psychopath in Fargo (or the nutty Russian in Armageddon). He provides the voice for the only noteworthy character in the whole game: Strauss.

The graphics truly are amazing and as mentioned earlier you don’t need a high-end PC to get the better of them. I managed the whole game in High settings and a resolution of 1024x768. As far as Quake 4 is concerned graphically it is one of the best-looking games on the PC.

The sense of war in Quake 4 is also one of its best features. Regardless of what you feel as you shoot the next dumb enemy you really get the sense you are one man in a full-scale conflict.

And finally, the absolute best criticism I can say about the whole game is that you feel compelled to play straight through to the end. That isn’t because it’s fun – it’s actually rather dull. It’s because things move by so fast the sense of speed captures you. As linear as it as and in spite of how much it drags you through the game you step into a rhythm and just have to keep playing.

But those aspects truly are the only good things in this game. The Quake 4 we have is ultimately not the Quake 4 that was born of four years worth of development. There is just no way in hell. And from a developer this kind of game is appalling.

Ratchet: Gladiator Playstation 2 Review

Ratchet Gladiator Playstation 2 Review

The story behind Ratchet: Gladiator is simple enough – Ratchet and Clank find themselves captured by a mad TV producer (Vox – an intergalactic version of Robert Murdoch) who is running the gladiator like TV program Deadlock – fighting to the death is a ratings winner and if you are good enough you might just earn your freedom. In short order and with doomed resolve, Ratchet is suited up and paired with a couple of bots who, with their complaining and absent mindedness, hardly inspire confidence in our hapless hero.

The main focus of the game is on Ratchet and the bots as they battle through the various scenarios. Clank, rather than being in the thick of the action, plays the part of his coach, sitting at a terminal and keeping an eye on events and giving advice via intercom – he is certainly a sideline player here.

Ratchet’s battlefields are mostly stadium like and with an ever increasing assortment of weaponry (including his devastating wrench) he must chew his way through attack bots of all shapes and sizes. His companions do their fair share as well and often the scene is a hail of bombs, laser cannon fire and exploding pellets. Adding to the confusion are the lumps of gold that zoom in Ratchet’s direction after each kill. This gold comes in handy between fights to upgrade armor, guns and his companion bots (they come to him in less that average condition). Once the required number of kills has been reached force fields allow Ratchet to go through to the next area – inching Ratchet closer to the enviable show down with the current champion.

All of this action would be frustrating and the appeal of the game would last about as long as a Federal election TV Ad if the graphics were poor and the control sluggish but thankfully this is not the case. Graphics are sharp and game play smooth and fast. No sooner have you fired than your enemy explodes, Ratchet’s weapons fire as rapidly as you care to thumb the control. Another Godsend, considering the manic pace of the game, is that scenes load quickly and if you’re unlucky enough to die you spawn again in very short order.

The production value of this game is very high without losing sight of its light hearted and comical roots but hard core fans will notice some differences. No more open ended scenarios or puzzle solving, this is just a shoot-em-up – make no mistake. Imagine if they made a first person version of Tomb Raider – same premise, different experience. The humor and characterisations too are again first class with some definite adult humor hidden behind double meaning and well placed ‘beeps’.

If I had to gripe about something it would be the design of the HUD and, now that I mention it, the default button config doesn’t seem as friendly as they good be. Running out of ammo isn’t very obvious, in fact the only clue I got while playing was a ‘click’ and this was easily lost amongst the bombs and cannon fire. Once you have cottoned on that your gun is no longer working, changing the gun is a little unsure. It should be R1 and yet I am sure that this only changed my weapon half the time. Most of the time I just stayed with one gun and used my wrench until I found more ammo.

With all this aside though, the bottom line is this game is fast, furious and a lot of fun. If the non-stop destruction doesn’t get you, the humor will.

Rugby League 2 Review

Rugby League 2 Review

A few years ago HES put itself on the map with the first NRL game in a long time. After taking the license from EA, HES enlisted Sidhe, a New Zealand developer to get the game done. The result was a quality title that showed so much potential if Sidhe was given more time and more money to develop a second title. That second title is now here and Sidhe is now a much bigger developer. Rugby League 2 gives fans exactly what they want but still has a few issues to contend with before jumping to the next generation of consoles.

As with the original game, most of the game modes revolve around the NRL Telstra Premiership. You can play a season or exhibition match for a quick play but for the true die-hard NRL fans, franchise will be the order of the day. The franchise mode is new for Rugby League 2 and mimics that of many higher profile sport titles such as Madden.

The default camera is top/down but Sidhe have really worked on the TV style presentation and we found the dynamic camera to look the best while remaining playable. Aside from that really Rugby League 2 is a graphical update of the original game which to be honest is a little disappointing. Sidhe had two years to build this game, and decided the animation engine they used for the original was enough. Don’t be surprised if you feel a little too familiar with the game when you first start playing if you have played the original game.

With that said, the guys have worked very hard on getting this year’s game right. The AI has been reworked and generally offers a much better challenge to gamers this time around. The days of passing five or six times and sprinting to the try line is over. They have also heavily worked on the presentation but on the PS2 version this becomes more an annoyance than anything as it greatly increases the load time between plays. We found ourselves turning this off within the first match as the game flows much better without it.

In terms of animation, it appears not much has changed. The tackles seem all the same and this was one of our biggest disappointments with the game. It is obvious Sidhe has worked on many aspects but this is not one of them. However there are also many positives to the game. The franchise mode has given Sidhe the option to add recruitment and long term injuries to the game as well as the judiciary. The game only comes up with a ticker to indicate the amount of suspension. It would be nice to have the option to watch a replay and decide whether to contest it or not in the next edition of the game.

In terms of licensing, Sidhe does not disappoint. The game includes both the Telstra Premiership and English Super League and the grounds that make those competitions up and like the last game the representative teams are all here with the Blues and Maroons, International Teams and even City vs Country. The difference is with the franchise mode, this like the real world can affect your ability to play due to injuries or suspensions incurred while on rep duty,

The actual grounds have been updated once again and again appear be the real standout feature. Sidhe has put a huge level of detail into each structure right down to the advertising boards and surrounding areas of the stadiums. Even so, this also adds a little disappointment as we expected Sidhe to really re-work the graphics engine. It’s not a bad engine, but it’s also not that much better than the original. The game is also on console exclusive to Playstation so this obviously has limited the work that could be done to improve the graphics.

Rugby League 2 is hopefully a stop gap until a better game for the next gen. The addition of franchise is what makes this game probably worth buying for NRL fans but for those who can wait and have the original, it’s almost as good and the upgrade is not worth the money in our opinion.

NintendoDS Mario Kart DS Idea

NintendoDS Mario Kart DS Idea

One of the games which Nintendo fans look forward to when the giant company makes a new system is Mario Kart. Whoever at Nintendo decided little characters in karts would make a great game was so right, and we’ve seen so many quality titles in the franchise that it’s hard to see how Nintendo could have improved it. However they have and Mario Kart DS is by far the best in the series so far.

The game has a sense of familiarity when you first switch it on but Nintendo has completely built this one from the ground up. They could have ported N64′s Mario Kart, but to their credit they decided not to do that and have created a fantastic game. As you would expect there is a only few options to choose from including Single and Multiplayer with the main crux of the game being the tournament modes.

As with other Mario Kart titles the game is a racing title and the aim is obviously to finish first. However there has been a few changes to the game to keep it fresh. Most of the game remains the same. There are eight tournaments to choose from with only two unlocked initially. As you progress through you will discover the special cup and after completing that the retro cups are unlocked which are actually the tracks from the very first Mario Kart game.

The other familiar aspect is the three speed levels to choose from; 50, 100 and 150cc. Obviously, the more powerful the kart, the harder it is to control and therefore the harder the game is to play. Honestly however, 50cc really is for those who may have never played this game before and even then most will find it just not enough of a challenge to be even worth it. 100 and 150cc is where the gaming action is.

Although most of the game will feel familiar, there are few changes. First being one of the new powerups which turns you into a bullet traveling at high speed taking out competitors. When we discovered this powerup we weren’t expecting it but it works so well in the game that it should be kept for future games. Other changes are a bit less obvious other than the new tracks and karts. This is a game where many of the tracks have been built from scratch as opposed to inspired by previous games and the tracks are enjoyable to play.

You will find a bevy of characters to choose from but one of the coolest new aspects is the multiple karts. You can drive a kart from the latest game or choose to use a more old fashioned kart from the previous games. Each character has their own kart and statistics. Some are slow and easy to control while others are fast and harder to steer well. Choosing the right character can affect whether you win or lose.

Visually the game is a surprise. It is much better then i were expecting and when the DS produces graphics like this paired with this gameplay it can be easy to forget about the PSP. The game runs very smooth and seems to use a voxel style graphics engine for the 3D effect. Either way it looks brilliant with high levels of detail and most of all it compliments the racing and gameplay very well. The sound effects are typical with music and stupid character voices the order of the day.

Mario Kart DS is a must have game for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo have really managed to put together an extremely fun game and with the online options, the Nintendo DS really does house the best Mario Kart game ever.

Namco Battle Collection for PSP

Namco Battle Collection for PSP

When the PSP was first announced most would have expected high quality, graphically intense games and for the most part that’s what we’ve got. However, there is also a market out there for older games that are perfect for short trips. Namco Battle Collection focuses on this by bringing some of the most famous games in the world to the handheld unit, and this is no cash in. In fact this is one of the most perfect games for the PSP released yet.

Namco’s collection is made up of some games which truly defined gaming in the eighties and still have quite a following today. Ranging from Pacman through to Galaga, even the younger generation of gamers will find something to like here. Especially considering some of the games have been remixed in an ‘arranged’ format combining old school gaming with modern gaming and culture, a popular option with budding DJ’s of today.

Pacman

This game continues to innovate and be synonymous with old school and modern gaming even today. Basically you control a little yellow face (pac man) and have to pick up pellets while avoiding enemies. The tables can be turned if you eat a power pellet and you can then eat the enemies. In terms of changes for the PSP the original is here in all its glory if you wish to play it, but there is also an arranged version which changes some of the game options and rules. For instance in the third level speed arrows are added and moving through these can help you kill enemies without eating pellets. Overall the game is still as fun as it was when it first came out and will be one of the more popular in this compilation.

Galaga

Galaga is an interesting one as it seems to be a sort of pseudo 1942-Space invaders combination. You fly through space shooting craft but these craft join together to make them tougher making it feel a bit like space invaders. The arranged version has improved the graphics giving it a sort of 3D feel but other then that not much has changed.

Rally X, New Rally

Rally X is a sort of pacman clone in that you drive a small car being chased by a car while having to pick up flags. However it is a heck of a lot of fun to play. The arranged version has improved the graphics somewhat and there is two versions of the classic edition included, Rally X and New Rally X. The arranged version is based on New Rally X. The controls can be annoying with this one until you realise the DPAD is a lot easier to use than the stick.

Dig Dug

Dig Dug is a game which tasks you with moving a little man around digging holes and dropping rocks on to enemies. However it does require some strategy because the rocks drop basically as soon as the dirt is removed around them. Running out of rocks is not an option as the entire aim of the game is to beat the enemies to move on to the next stage. The arranged version hasn’t changed much other than the graphics but the new character looks rather cool so it’s worth playing.

King Balloon

There is no arranged version of King Balloon. In the classic you are tasked with shooting balloons which are coming down to steal the king in a very space invaders like way. The difference is that if the King is caught you can shoot the balloon to rescue him. It’s quite fun to play but the more famous classics will probably get more play time.

Bosconian

Boscnian is pretty much asteroids with a space ship that can shoot front and rear and you have to aim the ship to hit the asteroids and ships coming into hit it. Again it’s probably a game that will be forgotten because of the other classic games.

Xevious

We really liked Xevious even if it doesn’t have an arranged edition (but should have) because of one cool feature and that is the ability to have both air and land combat. You fly a small ship but you can drop bombs on land structures shooting at you. It was probably one of the first games to introduce this mechanic and it works extremely well.

Mappy

This is a very strange game and is hard to play. You take the role of a mouse trying to steal items from the cats of the neighborhood such as TV’s. To do this you enter the house which has trampolines and doors to slam in cats faces. It’s interesting but again not one of the game’s best titles.

The Tower of Druaga

Think of a very early version of Gauntlet and you have the right idea. Taking control of a little barbarian man, you have to work you way through a maze, find the key, kill the enemies, and unlock the door all in a set period of time. Fun to play but the guy just moves too slowly to have you interested for any period of time.

Dragon buster

As the name implies you kill dragons in this one. Despite its simplicity I really liked this game. You travel from kingdom to kingdom, entering dungeons and killing enemies for the king. You basically do this by moving left and right and slashing. Now this may sound boring but the cartoon graphics and simplicity makes it one of the better games.

Grobda

Grobda is an unknown but extremely fun game to play. It reminds me a lot of the Tank Commmodore 64 games where you had to drive around shooting each other. You’re placed in a small area with a number of tanks and have to eliminate them without being shot. It’s a shame there is no multiplayer options for this one.

Motos

In this game a small craft and a number of balls are placed on a plane in space. You have to push the balls off the edge without being pushed off yourself which is harder than it sounds as the game progressively adds more obstacles and balls as you progress through.

Rolling Thunder

This game is again simplistic but again I really like it. You take the role of a human with guns having to shoot enemies in colourful outfits. Basically you move from left to right shooting enemies and gaining weapons. Simplistic yet it works very well. Namco Battle Collection does have its problems (like the perspective of some of the games, top down, with borders) but overall fans of Namco arcade games from the eighties will really get into this, especially the arranged versions. It’s also a title that allows you to pick up the PSP, play two minutes, and turn it off without losing too much progress.