Gears of War Golden Lancer DLC, Xbox 360 - Free
This is a bit of an exploit opened by the new online Marketplace at xbox.com. Follow the link and log in and you'll be able to queue the download to your 360.
This is the same gold-plated gun that is available as a code in the Collector's Edition of Gears 2. If you only bought the regular edition then you were supposed to miss out on this extra.
If you want it, grab it quick - I imagine this loophole will be closed soon.
UPDATE: Hope you grabbed it, it's now 99999 MSP. If you think it's worth it.
Gears of War Golden Lancer DLC, Xbox 360 - Free
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe - Review pt.1
It has QTEs.
In a fighting game.
...At one point, it says "Mash buttons repeatedly"
That is one of the instructions.
More later.
Saints Row 2, PS3 - £17.99
Argos have Saints Row 2 for the PS3 for £19.99, and PC World will price match plus 10% of the difference off. PC World are currently selling it for £39.99, and by my maths that comes out as £17.99 when bought in-store.
Print off this page and ask for the pricematch in-store.
Saints Row 2, Xbox 360 - £18.49
Argos have Saints Row 2 for the 360 for £19.99, and PC World will price match plus 10% of the difference off. PC World are currently selling it for £34.99, and by my maths that comes out as £18.49 when bought in-store.
Print off this page and ask for the pricematch in-store.
Half Life, PC - 78p
Half Life, PC - 78p/$0.98 on steam.
I am pretty sure everyone will have this already, but if not, you really should have it.
This price is to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Half Life. Certainly one of the most influential games ever. It was a pivotal title in the FPS genre. It broke down a lot of the genre's conventions, and pioneered first person narrative. A brilliantly designed game that is still very playable today.
I feel old.
What you need to know about Wii System Menu 3.4.
Nintendo recently offered an update for the Wii software, which offered several improvements, these are:
Support for USB keyboard in the Mii Channel
Enhanced parental controls
Improved SD card read/write speed
One of the negative side effects of this update is that currently, the Twilight Hack will not work with it. This means that if you update to System Menu 3.4, and then wish to run homebrew on your console, you will be unable to do so.
If however, you have already installed the Homebrew Channel, you should be fine. It will not break currently installed Homebrew applications, it will only prevent new installations of the homebrew channel.
It is likely that a workaround will be found soon, so don't despair if you have already updated.
I would recommend that you avoid updating your system in the mean time, unless any of the new features are hugely important to you, or you are happy with your Homebrew Channel install.
Call of Duty: World At War - Review
Call of Duty: World At War, Xbox 360 - £35 delivered
Call of Duty: World At War, PS3 - £37.71 delivered
Call of Duty: World At War, PC - £29.49 delivered
Call of Duty: World At War, Wii - £29 delivered
Review by LewieP
CODWAW (Cod·Wah) is a funny beast.
The previous entry in the Call of Duty series was a big franchise reboot. It left behind the World War 2 backdrop of the previous entries in favour of a modern setting, It also brought a whole load of new ideas to the table for the multiplayer, adding an almost MMO style meta-game to the multiplayer really added to the game, and it was also hugely successful. It was also developed by Infinity Ward.
This entry to the series is seemingly undeserving of a number. It goes back to the relatively safe territory of World War 2, and instead of telling a new story, tells the story of (fictional) characters taking part in the (real) World War 2. It is developed by Treyarch, whose previous output can generously be described as 'mixed'.
A lot of people thinking of picking up CODWAW will be thinking a lot about the Multiplayer. Sorry, I have not played the Multiplayer. I am not a big fan of online FPSs anyway, so consider this a review of the single player aspect of CODWAW.
I jumped straight into the single player. Before each mission you are given a bit of historical background to the mission you are about to undertake. These are in the format that can best be described as halfway between a BBC2 WW2 documentary and a White Stripes video, voiced over by Jack "Corporal Roebuck" Bauer. Honestly, I don't know how I feel about these. Generally, I think history is fair game for making books/films/games about, and world war 2 is just a part of history. I just think using archive footage of real soldiers in real battles, likely real soldiers who died fighting, in the same game that features a "Nazi Zombies" mode is a little crass. More on that later.
The first mission opens with a cut scene, only it's a "you can move your head so it's not actually a cut-scene, honest" type of cut-scene, you'll be seeing a few of them. The game has you switching roles between a rescued American POW, Miller, fighting The Japanese, and a (believe it or not) Russian, Dimitri Petrenko, from the 3rd Shock Army, fighting in Stalingrad, and later across Germany.
The core gameplay is pretty much what I've come to expect from COD. Set pieces strung together with shooting bad guys, taking cover, and using a range of weapons (all of which are pretty fun to use, and sound great) to follow a very linear set of objectives.
A few things did bother me. There are more invisible walls in CODWAW than any game I have played in a while. Far too often you are stopped by an invisible force, for seemingly no reason. I'm not expecting some kind of open-world game, but it's really disappointing when sloppy level design breaks your immersion. Similarly, there are lots of times when there are ledges or walls that you should be able to climb over, and you can't. Sometimes you can easily hop a 3ft wall, other times a 1ft step is insurmountable. This is pretty basic stuff, and I don't remember it being a problem in COD4. There are often a bunch of conveniently placed explosive barrels too. In 2008.
I can't help but feel I am alone on the battlefield. There are times when I know I would not have been a good target, it would have made more sense for the enemies to target one of my squadmates, but still I am target number one. Conversely, you have to single-handedly achieve all of the objectives, you can forget about expecting your buddies to kill any of the enemies, and left to their own devices they would never get anything done.
The environments, whilst generally pretty, are very un-interactive. A lot of stuff doesn't react to being shot. There are loads of doors that can't be opened. The fire burning effect is not all that good. The animation is sometimes excellent, like when you see your buddies slide behind cover beside you, but they will also often clip through corpses, and the really seem to struggle with steps and stairs, I have more than once seen people floating/clipping through the ground.
There are lots of constantly spawning enemies. Times when it is simply impossible to just kill all the guys, you have to kill a few, then run through an invisible gate, which will trigger the command to stop spawning more guys.
There are also QTE-esque "press this button to not die" thrown at you every now and again to keep you on you toes. Because everybody loves them.
You have the same health/death/respawn system from COD4, although I must say, it is not implemented as well here. Sometimes check points feels far too spread out, and sometimes too close together. I have also often respawned at the end of a series of corridors, or at the bottom of a flight of stairs, just to have to walk a long time each time it reloads. Kinda frustrating. I also had to quit once because I was being respawned over a grenade and hadn't got enough time to move out of its way, or throw it away.
That said, the 'return the grenade' manoeuvre feels a lot tighter. I can't put my finger on what has changed, but I am much more often successful at it than I was in COD4.
Other good stuff -
The Flame-thrower is a hell of a lot of fun, if a bit over used.
When a grenade goes off, you know about it. Lots of nice sound and visual effects really put you right there in the battlefield.
There is probably one of the better "on rails" sections of any FPS in a while, shame it was so short, and is skipped when playing co-op.
The soundtrack is actually a real surprise, mostly subdued electronic stuff. I wouldn't have thought it would work on paper, but it makes a great change from sweeping orchestral themes we are so used to in WW2 games.
Split Screen Co-op is a much welcome addition, you'll have to sit pretty close to the screen, or have a big telly, but I can see myself replaying it many a time on co-op.
The Nazi Zombie mode is as fun as you would hope. It reminds me of one of the best bits from RE4. You get points for killing zombies, and you can use these points to get more ammo, better weapons, and other stuff. Great fun, and very frantic.
Overall, it is a bit hard to get too excited about CODWAW. The narrative, characters, and set pieces are all a notch lower than those of COD4. That said, it certainly has some great moments, and some of the new stuff is a lot of fun.
As great as COD4 was, it certainly wasn't forward thinking enough that the design won't get stale pretty fast. This is a sequel which brings very little new stuff to the table, and it really shows that Treyarch are simply not as good at making Call of Duty games as Infinity Ward are. There is fun to be had here, for sure, but if you wait another year, you will get the real sequel to COD4.
As a sidenote, props to Treyarch/Activision for making the Wii version the same game as the other versions just with less pretties. More of that please.
Discuss it in the forums.
Call of Duty: World At War, Xbox 360 - £35 delivered
Call of Duty: World At War, PS3 - £37.71 delivered
Call of Duty: World At War, PC - £29.49 delivered
Call of Duty: World At War, Wii - £29 delivered
Spider-man: Web of Shadows, Xbox 360 - £22.99
Spider-man: Web of Shadows, Xbox 360 - £22.99 delivered
Fallout 3 - Review
Fallout 3, PC -£24.73 delivered
Fallout 3, PS3 -£37.49 delivered
Fallout 3, Xbox 360 -£34.99 delivered
Review by LewieP
This review is basically spoiler free.
Fallout 3 is a horrific, buggy, glitchy mess of a game. Large aspects of the design are dated and sometimes even archaic. There are some issues that were problems in Morrowind, then in Oblivion, and are still causing trouble in Fallout 3.
I've got stuck in the floor, and stuck to doorways. I've had broken quests. I've had AI do things which just don't make sense. I've shot an enemy, and instead of sustaining damage, it's just shot up into the sky in a perfectly vertical line, never to be seen again.
I've spoke to a few people who've also played it, and some have experienced similar bugs, and some people have not, I guess your mileage may vary.
I don't really care about these bugs.
Some of the voice acting is pretty annoying, and the in game radio repeats itself quiet a lot. The game would benefit from a better inventory system. Not being able to sort items by weight/value/amount is kind of annoying. It would be nice to have my weapons split up into the different classes, not just sorted alphabetically. There are also times when you are given an item, told what it does, but if you don't remember there is no way of finding out again. I would also prefer it if there was an easier way of telling which ammo goes with which gun when you are buying/scavenging, as is, you have to remember, and there are quiet a few types.
I don't really care about any of these flaws.
I wish Fallout 3 wasn't quite so much like Oblivion. So many things from Fallout 3 are basically recycled from Oblivion, and I really wish Fallout 3 had more of it's own identity. It's just a lot of low end stuff. The sneaking/pickpocketing system, the general interface (basic movement and interaction with items), the save system, the camera and the terrible, terrible player animation (please play it in first person). It's also astounding how rough around the edges it can be at times, there are occasionally bits of terrain that don't even look like anything, and the random bits of dialogue people shout as you walk past them doesn't always make sense. After playing Mass Effect, I would love it if Fallout 3 had a similar dialogue system, but it is a pretty basic list of options to pick from. I have decided that I am no longer going to be tolerant of First person games where my players feet/body are invisible, and so I have to call Fallout 3 on it. You feel very much like a floating gun, and the jumping is kind of off.
I don't really care about these technical shortcomings, or derivative elements of the game design.
Now that I have got those problems out of the way, let me talk about how much I love Fallout 3. Fallout 3 is the most enjoyable role playing experience I can remember ever having had.
Fallout 3 has made me a bad person.
Very few games have this effect on me. Assassin's Creed made me a bit of a prick, but Fallout 3 has made me flat out evil. First thing I think when I see a new person is "Could I kill them if I wanted too?", second is "Have they got any good stuff?", and third is "What can I do to get their stuff?". If I have to quest to do it, I will do, but if I can just kill them/steal it, I will. To me, someone's life is only worth the value of their stuff (in caps). It's not my fault, that's just the law of the wastelands.
Lots of games would punish you for exercising this level of dickery, but not Fallout 3. Sure, there are direct consequences for being evil (negative karma), but these consequences don't have to be punishment, they are just a part of the role-playing experience. There are a bunch of ways that negative karma can be advantageous (such as perks that require you to be a bastard before you can get them).
I feel a real ownership of my character. The levelling system is excellent. It allows a huge deal of customisation, but, for me anyway, I never felt like I was too far down one branch to stop and change my mind and be a different style of character. The process of learning the game, deciding what type of character I wanted to be, and actually levelling up and picking stats was perfectly synchronised, which is something I have never felt in the Elder Scrolls games.
I think one of the things that really makes Fallout 3 work is the rules. It is incredibly open ended, but everything makes sense. I don't really think there is a 'bad' type of character to play as. Whatever type of character you create, you will have strengths and weaknesses, but always something that makes you think "I am glad I chose to have that stat quite high".
There is always a multitude of ways of dealing with any scenario, and it forces you to think "What would my character do?", and for the first time in a long while in an RPG, over time, that changed to "What would I do?". In the past I've really struggled with the Role Playing part of RPGs, often I've just played them for the mechanical gameplay, or the story, but Fallout 3 has been an incredible role playing experience.
The game world is really stunning too. It is as huge as you would expect, but in every nook and cranny there is something interesting to do, see, loot or stab. The backdrop to the game is an immense, bleak, burnt out, wasteland, and it really feels like it. Just getting by in the game is a challenge, and sometimes it feels like everything is out to kill you.
Despite this though, the wasteland will always provide exactly what you need, and if you are resourceful enough, you can always get by. Just. At it's most intense, there have been moments when I have had low health, been surrounded by super mutants, but had no recovery items left. I managed to find a toilet full of irradiated water, which would give me just enough health to get past them. Obviously, drinking this water gave me radiation poisoning, but that was a problem for the future. Fallout 3 is at it's best when you are just getting by, living in the moment, and taking from the wastelands whatever you can.
The wastelands may be brutal, but there are plenty of friendly characters, and tonnes of sidequests to do. Some of them are a little pedestrian, but more often than not, they are fun. Some of them are downright genius too. There are some set pieces which are fantastic, and the game makes it pretty easy to just wander off, exploring, and come back to the main quest whenever you feel like it. The ending of the main quest was a little weak, but this really is a game where the ending doesn't matter too much.
It's really believable too, Fallout 3 has one of the most convincing post-apocalyptic settings I've played in, and it's got a great, cynical, sense of humour that adds a lot to the game.
The combat is great. It's a really intelligent blend of realtime FPS and turn based RPG combat. The turn based combat is called "VATS", essentially when you trigger the VATS, it pauses the game, and lets you decide which enemy, and where on that enemy you want to attack. Each attack uses up "Attack points", which constantly recharge. Once you have selected where you want to attack, it cuts to a cinematic 3rd person camera angle, and your character carries out the attacks, then you jump straight back into the realtime combat.
It's a great idea, for the most part used well, but there are some flaws. Sometimes the FPS aspect of it suffers from it being an RPG, the enemy AI doesn't hold up that well for an FPS. They seem to only ever employ one of two strategies: "stand still at a distance" or "Run at him!". The RPG elements sometimes suffer from it being an FPS too. The VATS sometimes tells you that you have a 95% chance of hitting someone, but then when it cuts to the 3rd person camera, you gun is actually just behind cover, and you unload into a wall, even though you had line of sight before starting the VATS. The VATS sometimes takes a little too long too, and the over the top gore is probably not entirely necessary, although it is kind of satisfying to blow someones head clean off with a well placed rifle shot.
I love this game. Love, love, love it to bits. It is very flawed, but I guess that's Fallout. The flaws (to me) really don't matter, and sort of add to the charm. I have sunk a huge amount of time into it, and pretty much enjoyed every second of it. If you liked Oblivion, it has enough in common with it that you will probably like this too. If you didn't like Oblivion that much (like me), don't let the similarities put you off. It certainly is "Oblivion with guns", but it is also a whole lot more.
Discuss it in the forums.
Fallout 3, PC -£24.73 delivered
Fallout 3, PS3 -£37.49 delivered
Fallout 3, Xbox 360 -£34.99 delivered
Dragon Quest: The Chapters of the Chosen, DS - £15.99
Dragon Quest: The Chapters of the Chosen, DS - £15.99 delivered
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