Retro Reviews
Review Widget's Odyssey II (PlayStation Minis)
Widget's Odyssey II is a simple little platform game with a decent narrative driving it
Sadly, the game's agonisingly short. What's a couple of quid worth? A pint of beer, perhaps. A ploughman's sandwich. Widget's Odyssey II will last longer than both, but not by much. The game picks up from the last Widget's Odyssey title. The adorably annoying...
Review Pinball Heroes: Fat Princess (PlayStation Portable)
The Fat Princess table in Pinball Heroes depicts the chaos of a stalemate in its source material, but it leads to a busy and complicated experience
One thing Pinball Heroes is good at is providing a pinball experience similar to the source material it's based on. The Fat Princess table carries over virtually every element you'd expect it to. Caught...
Review Pinball Heroes: Wipeout HD Fury (PlayStation Portable)
Pinball Heroes' Wipeout HD table is probably the most accessible of the bunch and it also happens to look fantastic
Wipeout HD is a game that's inherently pretty. Pinball Heroes' Wipeout table therefore, is similarly dreamy. Staying true to the source material, the Wipeout table in Pinball Heroes is all about large blocks of colour. Taking the...
Review Pinball Heroes: MotorStorm (PlayStation Portable)
MotorStorm might be one of the more plain Pinball Heroes' tables, but some great artwork makes up for the limited number of on-screen objects
Many of Pinball Heroes tables opt for complicated, detailed stages with numerous objects from their source material. The MotorStorm table is not like that. There's a truck placed in the mid-section of the...
Clearly inspired by the catalogue of Robert Rodriguez and Streets Of Rage, Shank is a gritty yet childish beat-'em-up romp through 2D plains
The story - which is told through a sequence of flash-backs - is merely justification for the violence; but this is a revenge tale. It's an angry, messy game set to the visual style of a children's cartoon, and...
Review Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (PlayStation 3)
The polarizing rag-tag duo Kane and Lynch return for a notably low-brow outing in Shanghai
Teaming up for a final "smuggling operation", events turn decidedly sour when Kane unwittingly takes out the daughter of a corrupt government official, Shangsi. The plot is littered with some pretty uncomfortable moments, but it primarily takes a...
Review Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter (PlayStation Minis)
Those who persevere with Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter will be rewarded with a satisfying experience, but the methodical pacing and lack of variety will not be to everyone's liking
Originally released for the PC in the last 1990's, Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter cashed in on the burgeoning hunting genre that was exploding at the time. Opting to meander...
Review Fly Fu (PlayStation Minis)
There's a bizarre and creepy charm to Fly Fu's presentation, but repetitive gameplay takes much of the sheen off the game's novelty
Fly Fu is weird. Invictus' side-scrolling brawler uses a combination of doodles and dead flies to make up its graphical style. It's certainly makes for a unique look, and it works better than you might think. Being...
Review PixelJunk Racers: 2nd Lap (PlayStation 3)
By focusing on the underlying competitive nature of PixelJunk Racers, 2nd Lap is worthy add-on that will bring newcomers and veterans alike back to the PixelJunk franchise's roots
Being an early PlayStation Network release, and the first in the PixelJunk franchise, a large proportion of the PlayStation 3's user-base are unlikely to have experienced...
Review Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game (PlayStation 3)
Boy meets girl
Boy falls in love with girl. So far, so cliche? Not quite — see, there's a twist to Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers' burgeoning relationship; Scott must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to go on a date with her. Thus ensues the perfect set-up for a seven-stage beat 'em up game moulded around classics such as Final...
Review Earthworm Jim HD (PlayStation 3)
Essentially a re-release of the Mega Drive (/Genesis) version of Earthworm Jim with pretty visuals and a few bells and whistles; Earthworm Jim HD is extremely faithful to its original 16-bit counter-part
Sadly, the original game wasn't brilliant even in its day. The platforming and level design remain second-fiddle, with the game's focus being on...
Review Arcade Darts (PlayStation Minis)
Arcade Darts lacks the tactile response of arrow-throwing that's become a standard on touch screen platforms; but it works with the hardware it's got
You end up with an intuitive arcade sports title with plenty of replay value, even if the learning curve is a bit steep at first. Darts games are hard to make. If you give the player a cursor, they can...
Review Young Thor (PlayStation Minis)
Young Thor's another PlayStation Mini that transcends the quality of its peers
The game's relatively short, and the controls can be fiddly and unresponsive — but the action's rewarding enough to warrant the asking price more than twice over. Playing as Thor, the God of Thunder, you're tasked with the rescue mission of three Norn maidens who have...
Review DeathSpank (PlayStation 3)
Loosely tied together by a plot about as thin as its titular heroes' thong, DeathSpank is a hack-and-slash title written by legendary industry comic, Ron Gilbert
DeathSpank spreads its plot pretty thin, sending you on a lengthy quest in order to recover a mysterious object known as The Artifact. What ensues is a series of fetch quests in which you...
Review Star Hammer Tactics (PlayStation Minis)
Star Hammer Tactics does its best Advance Wars impression with mixed results
The gameplay is solid, but the lack of variety and a downright depressing visual style detract from the overarching experience. Clearly inspired by Nintendo's own flag-ship strategy title, Advance Wars, Star Hammer Tactics is a simple turn-based title for the PlayStation...
Review 5-In-1 Arcade Hits (PlayStation Minis)
5-In-1 Arcade Hits stretches the definition of "arcade hits", but offers enough content to make it an enjoyable way to pass the time
5-In-1 Arcade Hits is not a compilation of Time Crisis, Crazy Taxi, WrestleMania, House Of The Dead 2 and OutRun. Sadly not. It's more a classic games compilation — meh, whatever, semantics. We could get caught up...
Review Everybody's Tennis (PlayStation Portable)
If you've ever wished for an old-school RPG where the battle system's replaced by smashes and strawberries and cream, then Everybody's Tennis will be a dream come true
This is a fun (and surprisingly deep) sports game dressed in an uber-cutesy Japanese exterior. The Everybody's (or Hot Shots if you're an American type) franchise has always been...
Review Singularity (PlayStation 3)
As Captain Renko, a modern-day military operative, you're sent by the US to investigate an unusual Russian Cold War-era research island known as Katorga-12
It's clear bad stuff is going down there, because after a pretty brutal helicopter crash, you find yourself warped from the ruined propaganda-laden halls of the island in the present day, to the...
Review Naughty Bear (PlayStation 3)
Naughty Bear's probably the best PlayStation anti-hero since the God Of War himself, Kratos
The mis-understood plushy just wants to be everybody's friend. But he's constantly ignored by the other bears of Paradise Island, who'd rather laugh at him than invite him to groovy birthday bashes. Naturally, this all results in the scorned super-ted turning...
Review Transformers: War For Cybertron (PlayStation 3)
Transformers: War For Cybertron is set years before the events of the original cartoon series, commonly referred to as Generation One
Fans of the franchise will know that it's at the start of said series where the Transformers take their fight away from their native land of Cybertron to the energy-ridden plains of Earth. War For Cybertron, as the...
Review Sam & Max Episode 302: The Tomb Of Sammun-Mak (PlayStation 3)
Sam & Max: The Tomb Of Sammun-Mak is a clever follow-up to the sometimes formulaic events of the Episode One
The clever story-telling mechanics and challenging puzzles make this episode a solid entry in the season. While the escapades of evil space gorilla Skunka'pe made for a solid return for crime-fighting duo Sam & Max, The Tomb Of...
Review Vibes (PlayStation Minis)
Vibes is a competent rythmn game with a great visual style and a pretty varied track-listing
It's unlikely to hold your attention for longer than five minutes at a time, but afterall, this is what PlayStation Minis were designed for. Our favourite thing about Vibes is likely to be everyone else's least favourite: the tracklisting. This isn't a...
Review Sam & Max Episode 301: The Penal Zone (PlayStation 3)
Ultimately, it's clever story-telling and interesting puzzles that are going to make you want to check out Sam & Max's third season debut, The Penal Zone, even if the episode does overstay its welcome
Providing a story more mind-boggling than the sheer fact that Telltale are able to churn out these adventure games at such an alarming rate, Sam...
Review Tehra Dark Warrior (PlayStation Minis)
Tehra Dark Warrior does its best God Of War impression to admirable effect
It's not the instant classic you'd expect from an outing with Kratos himself, but the mechanics and ambition are enough to make it a viable distraction from all the Greek God murdering. The moment you see a needless dragon roaring upon a fortress wall, you realise Tehra Dark...
Review Joe Danger (PlayStation 3)
Formed by four legendary Guildford developers, Joe Danger is the fruit of new studio up-start Hello Games
Based around the concept that jumping off ramps is fun (it is!), Joe Danger is a combination of influences. Clearly inspired by Nintendo's overlooked Excite Bike franchise, Joe Danger's a 2D motorcycle side-scroller, in which your objective is...
Review Green Day: Rock Band (PlayStation 3)
There's perhaps no game quite as subjective as Green Day: Rock Band
In all honesty, your purchasing intent should depend on one factor only: how much do you like Green Day? As a reviewer, it doesn't really get easier than this. Green Day: Rock Band is a package so firmly routed in subjectivity, that it's impossible for us to educate you as to...
Review UFC Undisputed 2010 (PlayStation 3)
The sequel to last-year's surprise hit, UFC Undisputed 2010 tunes all that was in the 2009 version and turns it up to eleven
Naturally the roster has been beefed up, with now over one-hundred fighters to choose from. The gameplay's also been tweaked, with defensive sways now added to heighten the countering strategy during gameplay. It's the career...
Blur is the sum of a combination of games
At its very core it is Project Gotham Racing: take to the circuit with semi-sim, semi-arcade car handling and earn "fans" (as opposed to kudos) by racing creatively. But there's much more to Blur than its PGR inspired core. The power-up racing concept is very much a Mario Kart staple, though here...
Review Split/Second: Velocity (PlayStation 3)
Split/Second's a game which puts its best foot forward first
The first few races you'll experience are among some of the most exciting moments in video games. The premise is simple - you're part of a mad futuristic game-show, in which competitors race around an ever-changing track rigged to the teeth with explosives. Ambitious driving will reward...
Review Coconut Dodge (PlayStation Minis)
Like its name, Coconut Dodge is simplistic as it gets: dodge the coconuts, collect the treasure
The key to its success, therefore, is its bold simplicity — after all, this is what Minis were made for, right? We have the utmost respect for Coconut Dodge's developers, FuturLab. Their website notes a torrid tale in which the recognised Flash studio...
