Ported to the PS3 and Xbox 360 from the well regarded PC game, Enemy
Territory: Quake Wars can now be played with a control pad. But will
you want to do this? If you've already played the PC version, then
probably not. But for newcomers there's a lot to like here.
It's finally here!! Resident nut job Will Barker reviewed it, calling the title "a monumental game that will go
down in the annals of not only gaming history, but cultural history as
truly visionary and eminently interactive work of art." Yep, another almost perfect score. Find out why in this banging review.
When Devils cry, do the wings of a thousand
butterlies fell trees in deserted forests? We can't know for sure, but
Capcom's latest action game Devil May Cry 4 certainly felled us with
its superlative visuals and engrossing combat. Tommy Machuca
reviews one of the coolest DMC games yet.
The cast of Looney Tunes returns to the PS2, Xbox 360 and Wii
for ACME Arsenal, where wacky weapons are a way of life. The Evil Mad
Scientist has created a time machine to change the past and destroy the
future, but it's nothing that Daffy Duck can't handle.
Texas hold 'em poker has riden a tidal wave of success as the most
popular card-based gambling game since the French government banned Pog
in 1995. But are the videogames any good? We test the best of the best
- WSOP 2008.
The Call of Duty franchise has been a strong seller, and for good
reason - the games are some of the most realistic, pulse pounding
experiences you're likely to encounter on the small screen. The fourth
game in the CoD series has arrived and it's easily the best yet!
The
Tony Hawk franchise is starting to see solid competition in the form of
EA's Skate, but the latest game in Hawk series is crammed with new
stuff. But will a new video editor, open-ended gameplay and the online factor be enough? Will Barker investigates.
The
theme park simulator genre has but a few inhabitants and though
LucasArts all-ages game may look simplistic at first, it's got plenty
of depth for gamers who want it. There's also 34 cool minigames which
have made it very popular in the Games Channel office.
With an old-school beat 'em up feel, intuitive controls and 2-player
co-operative gameplay, this new Spider-Man game has all the ingredients
to be a cult classic. As Will Barker explains, it's an enjoyable romp
of destruction through 24 levels of carnage.
The Master Chief returns for his third and final sojourn, but
will
he succeed? Arguably the biggest videogame launch in the history of the
world, Will Barker reviews the game and says it's got some issues.
Ouch! We've also included a full run down, description and even a
rating of each weapon, grenade, and vehicle in the game. Take a seat,
this one's big...
If there's one thing that unites Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 gamers,
it's Stacie Orrico. But, in the grand scheme of things, Will Barker
writes that an online mode for the upcoming Resident Evil 5 game could
also change the way rival console gangs approach each other. In-game
trailer included.
The Xbox
360 is home to a number of excellent games, and has a pretty cool
online network as well. But as is increasingly the case, thousands
of
owners are reporting system failures, often indicated by the red ring
of death. William Barker delves into the issue, and looks at a couple
of theories that may be the source of the console's bugs.
Bringing
automotive carnage to the Xbox 360 in high definition is the latest
FlatOut game from Scandinavian developer BugBear. It features fully
deformable cars, heaps of tracks, plenty of game modes, and even online
play. But is it worth getting when games like Forza 2 are out there? Will
Barker takes the game for a test drive to find out.
Do
you ever tire of games? Have you thought the frustration and punishment
you must endure just to beat a game is obscene? Offensive? In her regular gaming
column, Sandra
Maksimovic writes that she has gamer-over phobia. This often wrongly
diagnosed fear of digital failure affects one in every three gamers, and like Bird Flu there is no cure...
What is a Fanboy? Perhaps a more appropriate question would be, when does a fan become into a Fanboy? Sandra
Maksimovic has taken time out of her videogame development studies to
take a closer look at the Fanboy (Fan-people?) phenomenon, and some of
the possible reasons for their one-eyed love of Nintendo, Sega, Sony,
or Microsoft. And sometimes Atari.
We've
got a new writer and she's got a new bi-monthly column - but what's it
all about? Well, seeing as how Sandra is currently studying game
development at a top secret laboratory that floats in the clouds and
can only be accessed by headbutting a floating block of masonry that reveals a
strange bean stalk, she offers her opinion on all topical games
industry issues, such as the looming Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, and
Xbox 360 console war.
Having
been abandoned for 20 years after a murderous alien race was discovered
during human colonisation, the Lost Planet is now being repopulated.
But why? William Barker reviews what could be one of the best games of
2007, even at this early stage, saying "It's one of the most immersive
gaming experiences ever". With amazing visuals and rewarding gameplay,
this is one adventure you won't want to miss.
It's
been several years and many games since, but now the 8th game in the
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series is finally upon us. Mr Machuca put the
new game to the test, and as you'd expect from the latest 'Birdman'
game, the graphics are awesome, the motion capture is smooth and
there's new modes, including a wicked slow motion system. But the game
is not withoutfault - it's missing a some features and a couple of aspects have been dumbed down. Read all about it.
As
one of the most anticipated driving games in the last 622 years, Need
For Speed: Carbon has hit the stores and our very own Will Barker sat
down with multiple versions of the game to see if the hype matches the
reality. The game has a number of new innovations, including 'crew'
members who block opponents in races, and the stunning AutoSculpt
feature, where you can fine tine your sports bodykit. It's dynamic, it
looks hot, and has a long single-player game, but is this enough?
Before
it was enveloped by Microsoft - in the Nintendo days - Rare was one of
the world's top development houses, but lately it's let itself go. But
what's this? A new game from Rare on the Xbox 360 with stunning
graphics and the kind of gameplay that could win back its legion of
fans...? An unhinged Will Barker puts this action adventure to the test.
For many Australians,
the 2006 snow season has been the worst on record, and even our
resident knob-end Will Barker is having withdrawal symptoms. But there
is a touch of salvation on the horizon, and it comes in the form of the
new snowboarding game for the Xbox360, Amped 3. With half a dozen
massive mountains to explore, tons of tricks, plus snowmobiles and
sleds to ride, this is "easily the
best snowboarding game" according to Mr Barker.
Featuring
some of the most gorgeous anime babes in the history of gaming, Dead or
Alive 4 on the Xbox360 is quite an eyefull. But on top of the stunning
eye candy, there's also a eminently playable fighting game hidden
beneath the gorgeous veneer, and as the sometimes lucid William
Barker explains, it's easily accessible for newcomers to the fighting
game genre, yet has the kind of depth to keep core gamers happy.
After
emerging from a military hosptial with a second hand cerebellum, a
slightly unhinged Will Barker returns to review our first Xbox360 game,
Project Gotham Racing 3. As the Xbox360's premier racing title, there's
a lot riding on PGR3, and we put the game to task, testing all modes,
online and off, to see if the next generation of gaming is truly upon
us.
Special
agent Harm Assist is known for his sincere distaste of authoritarian
regimes and non-skippable cut scenes, which we thought made him highly
suitable to review the latest game from EA and Criterion, simply titled
Black. It's another special ops shooter, but with the added feature of
(almost) fully destructible environments. Check it out.
Are you a good cop or a bad cop? Do you arrest the
crims or buy drugs from them? Will Barker and Chris Green join
forces, discovering that freedom of choice in the seamy underbelly of
New York City is the ultimate prize. True Crime: New York City allows
players to roam freely across the sprawling mega city, kind of like GTA
- and it's a big improvement on the original.
When
he's not giving tai bo advice to Oprah and Donald Trump, Thomas
Machuca likes to spend his spare time dungeon crawling through the
best RPGs on the market. So why is playing the Fable addendum, you ask?
Simple. Because wombat ninjas told him to.
Adding some dynamic new weapons, a solid
single-player campaign and even the original Doom is the
new Doom 3 Expansion pack for the Xbox. Martin Kingsley
went to hell and back (again), saying "it would be
fair to say that Doom 3 is still the best looking game
on the Xbox."
Chris Green knows a thing or two about cricket
- he once used a cricket bat to "persuade" his
way into police custody, so who better to put the new
PS2/Xbox game through its paces? The 2005 version can
be commended for its improved graphics and bowling mechanics
- but those with only a passing interesting in the game
may be best advised to steer clear...
The last time Will Barker was 'fully loaded'
he landed himself in the slammer... But now he's been
rehabilitated (to put it mildly) and returns to a franchise
he holds very close to his heart: Mashed. Is the updated
version with more tracks and modes worth playing? Find
out inside.
