Review: Dragon Quest IX (DS)

I’ll be honest. I’m a little biased towards the Dragon Quest games after my experiences with Dragon Quest VIII, a game which I would highly recommend playing to anyone with a forlorn looking PS2 and 60 hours of spare time. Dragon Quest VIII had charm, a captivating story and a fantastic, albeit it traditional, battle system. Dragon Quest IX seems to have taken these qualities and to myself, and several of my colleagues, become the best RPG on the DS console.

It’s difficult to say why. The game itself seems to have very little in terms of game play mechanics that differentiate it from the other Japanese RPGs the DS offers. The reason for this, I would suggest, is because it does everything that a traditional JRPG would do, very well.

The graphics are outstanding for a DS game; in cut scenes the characters’ faces can be seen clearly and do not appear too pixilated. When in battle there is a huge amount of detail visible, both on the monsters and on the equipment worn by your party. The only time I noticed that the graphics on the game were disappointing was whilst playing on a DSI XL console, when the pixels on the characters were blown up to make the appearance of everyone and anything appears very ‘blocky’. Having said that, I do not own a DSI XL myself, and this has been the only game I have tried it on, so I cannot definitively say whether this is due to hardware or software (hardware unfortunately – Dave).


The battle system is very simple and easy to navigate. The player will choose from several options, allowing either a basic attack, or the chance to cast a spell, to use a special ability (which are not over-powered and are situation- specific) or to use an item. You can also build up a character’s ‘tension’ over time to finally unleash a super charged move that can deal massive damage. This feature is useless in standard battles but is often a successful tactic in boss battles, allowing a bit of variation in the play.

You start the game with a default class or ‘vocation’ as they are known in Dragon Quest IX. As a minstrel you are rather akin to a Jack of All Trades which allows you complete freedom in choosing your fellow comrades later in the game. There are a number of character classes in Dragon Quest IX, beginning the game with the options of the Warrior, Mage, Priest, Thief, Martial Artist and Minstrel, but later able to unlock several additional classes. You are able to change your original character’s role about 10 hours in to the game but the level of your character is dependent on the vocation, meaning that each time you change any of the parties roles, they will start at level 1 again (unless you have previously levelled that vocation). This adds an additional level of strategy into the game as you have to think carefully about whether you have members of the party of a high enough level to support your level 1 ranger until they have gained much more experience.


At the beginning of the game you are able to design your character, choosing features such as your height, hairstyle and colour, eye shape and colour, and name. Later on you are able to choose an extra 3 companions, who you can either design yourself or accept predesigned characters created by the game. Every time you equip a new sword or a new robe or piece of armor the appearance of your character will change to reflect this. For me this resulted in hours of playing around with outfit combinations to get my characters looking as well dressed as should befit the hero of the mortal realms.

After you have created a hero you are thrown head first into the story, and learn that you are from a race of guardians, tasked with protecting the mortal world. You acquire a lovely set of wings and a halo but sadly and inevitably as in all JRPGs things start to go wrong, and the hero is cast down to the world below, loses their guardian status, and is gifted with a quest to build benevolence and thanks in order to get back home.


As with most RPGs there are a huge number of side quests that upon completion allow you access to rare equipment, weapons, items, or unlock additional job classes for your characters. This adds a great deal of play time to the game, as you set off to all four corners of the earth in a hunt for 3 rabbit tails, with the knowledge that upon completion you will receive that new shiny helm. Added to this is an achievement system that awards you new titles every time you hit a significant point. For example achieving rank 1 in sword skill, or taking part in 500 battles. For many players of JRPGS this adds to their already burning desire to have every piece of equipment or learnt every skill available.

The story is traditional, but this is in no way a bad thing, and the wit and speed with which the story transgresses means that you become captivated with the game’s plot. However due to the multiplayer ability built into the game, your own party results in 4 created characters with no personality whatsoever. There is no dialogue between your own character and your party members, and even your own character seems to have no personality. It is therefore very difficult to feel any sort of emotional attachment to any of the created characters. This is a shame because when it comes to the NPCs in the game, you often feel emotions when some evil befalls them. I do not wish to ruin the game for anyone but one sub storyline made me genuinely sad (One word, Coffingwell).

The multiplayer option in the game is excellently integrated. One player acts as a host and up to 3 friends can join in on their game. However they are not limited to simply following the host around, but instead can explore much as they can on their own game. There has even been the inclusion of blue chests that can be opened by the non-hosting players, as well as by the host when they return to single player. If the host requires assistance, other players can jump to their aid after a summons, which pulls them straight into the host’s current battle seamlessly.


I would highly recommend this game to any fan of the JRPG or even to anyone who is looking for a good game to get their teeth into this summer. Although some might consider the battle system slow moving, or the game play too similar to other games available, the game has bucket loads of charm which will captivate anyone willing it to give it a chance. Now, I need to go and hunt down some slimes to complete my set of slime armor…

VERDICT: 9/10

Mary Antieul, Contributor

Review: Earthworm Jim (XBLA & PSN)

Earthworm Jim was one of my favourite Megadrive games of all time, although it didn’t start out that way. When I first played the game I was confronted by a steep difficulty curve and a unforgiving level design structure that confused me more than it cared to entertain. After a few goes over three days I took the game back to the rental shop thinking that it nowhere as good as the likes of Aladdin or Cool Spot; two of Shiny’s best MD platformers.

However, a few months later something finally made me pick up EWJ again and alas, I found myself renting it for the second time. Surprisingly the game made more sense this time around. The previously confusing level layouts and cheap enemy positioning didn’t seem half as bad, merely providing a much needed challenge to an otherwise simplistic title. Maybe Sega Magazine was right about Jim - that it was one of the most essential must have titles released that year, along with Treasure’s guaranteed spectacular, Dynamite Heady. Or so it seemed.

Out of the two challengers to Sonic’s crown it was Shiny’s Earthworm Jim that most caught on with the general games playing public. The story was as simple as it was idiotic; a man-sized space suit had came crashing down from the sky and the stars above, landing straight on our invertebrate protagonist turning him from an ordinary earthworm into a alien blasting, cow saving super hero. This suit brought Jim intelligence, plus a whole host of enemies wanting to blow him to pieces and steal back that powerful suit he was wearing.

Tasked with battling your way through a bizarre mix of enemies, and something about saving a princess who’s name he can’t remember, the game saw your jumping, blasting, and swinging your way through eight levels themed around junkyards, hell, internal organs, a laboratory, and an underwater base, whilst also delivering its own unique brand of humour.


EJ was always a funny game, with enemies ranging from a psychotic cat with genius levels of IQ; a goldfish with an eye for world domination; and a wealth of bizarre creatures ranging from killer crows to a Jekell and Hyde type puppy dog. It was also incredibly tough, requiring some precision jumping, and extremely quick reflexes in order to navigate some of the devious levels the designers had waiting for you.

Earthworm Jim HD then, is more of the same. In fact, it is almost exactly the same, right down to the obviously amusing character designs and twisted level layouts. What you have here is the 1994 original, remade with brand new, hand-drawn HD graphics, a reworked soundtrack, and disappointingly, completely new voice acting for all the characters and some less than stellar sound effects.

In terms of looks you can tell that every single frame of the original game’s animation has been re-drawn in HD for this version. The vast majority of animations still look really smooth, and almost Disney-like at times - just one of the trade marks of Shiny’s 16bit output. Everything from when Jim scrunches up his face in anger, to when his big eyes almost burst out of his face when hit are all accurately represented here in this HD take on things. Jim’s range of moves is also identical, being armed with a plasma pistol and his own wormy body as a whip, used both to grapple on hooks and to slap the enemy into submission.

The only qualm is that the new flash-like visuals lack some of the personality and raw detail to be found in the original’s 16bit bit sprites, though admittedly not all, with much of the humour based off the graphics still coming through. More importantly, every last sprite created for this remake is at least trying to accurately represent the original artwork, rather than completely re-envision it for modern day audiences. Essentially the flash-style nature of the work does this instead without cheapening the overall look and feel of the game too much.


Gameplay wise, some fifteen years on from its original release Earthworm Jim is still a solid enough title, challenging and reasonably fun after a while, even if being a little too abstract in its design to be completely successful today. Initially frustrating, the game regularly presents you with some rather confusing level design choices and some limitations with regards to how much Jim can use himself in order to traverse certain areas of his environment. For example, he can only jump down from hanging onto wires or hooks, rather than being able to jump up to reach higher ledges or platforms. Instead the game makes you find alternative routes to reaching a previously unreachable destination. Sometimes this pays off and reveals a rather cleverly thought out approach to the strange level design. More often that not though, it simply leads to more frustration and another trip to the continue screen.

However, It is also apparent that EWJ isn’t all that hard once you get back into the swing of things, learning the layouts of each stage and knowing where to jump, and which parts of the environment to touch or avoid. In this respect EWJ HD is as faithful as it could be to the original MD game, and to an extent that is actually a good thing. Some of the design choices that initially seem bizarre to modern day audiences start to make some kind of sense, and you can begin see how the developers have tried to craft a fine balance between a fair challenge and impossible odds. Jim has always had less in common with contemporary platform games in this regard, although in 2010 this maybe does him more harm than good.

Combined with its off-the-wall sense of humour, strange characters, and filled with originality, EWJ is still a potentially enjoyable game even if it doesn’t quite hold up as well as you remember. Newcomers to the series, and old fans without the patience required to enjoy it will surely be disappointed. Give it a chance though, and Jim can be a reasonably entertaining and particularly challenging alternative to other 16bit platformers of the time. Worthy of the HD remix treatment? Maybe not, but better than another poor attempt at a 3D sequel.

Sadly, not everything is quite as forgivable with this release. Whilst some of the gameplay deficiencies can be overlooked (more a deliberate part of the design than anything else), the use of new sound effects and poorly arranged soundtrack simply cannot.

The developers at GameLoft have taken the liberty of changing the voice work for Jim and some of the other characters, making them sound annoying different whilst also taking away some of the endearing personality they had in the original. Voices sound scratchy, and appear to be slightly compressed lacking the clarity they need, thus doing more harm than good for the experience. The brand new arranged soundtrack doesn’t fare so well either. It’s more upbeat and electric than the16bit tunes of the MD original, giving the game a more modern feel but at the cost of becoming intrusive during play.

However, the new sound effects, voices and music do suit the new flash-styled visuals on offer in EWJHD, which is not really all that surprising as the visuals themselves lack some of the detail and personality contained within the original’s 16bit pixel art, but appear fresher and more modern as a result. But perhaps that’s the problem; all these changes cheapen the experience somewhat, and only help to heighten the gameplay issues as you become less immersed in Jim’s world as the game’s outrageous humour loses its sparkle throughout all the tampering.


Despite some annoyances with this HD remake, Jim holds itself together pretty well and provides fans of the original with the best conversion of the first EWJ game since the Win 95 and Mega CD releases. Misguided audio aside there’s very little to complain about in terms of the game being authentic, and certainly, there’s none of the sloppy control problems and graphical slowdown which ruined both GameBoy Advance iterations of the first two games. Perhaps the only real downer is that the game design hasn’t aged very well, often proving to be incredibly frustrating at times, and that the new multiplayer features included in this release are next to useless seeing as very few people appear to be playing it online at the moment.

Earthworm Jim HD may well be worth checking out for die-hard fans of the series, who are likely to quickly become accustomed to its unforgiving nuances, though it isn’t quite as easy to get into as it should be with the level design and gameplay issues putting a dampner on some interestingly twisted characters, and a genuinely warped sense of humour. It that respect, it is almost exactly as you remember it, which is both a blessing and a curse, depending of course just how you decide to approach it and whether or not you care to get around the game’s initially confusing design choices.

VERDICT: 7/10

Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)

The original Super Mario Galaxy was unquestionably my 2007 game of the year. With it’s magical atmosphere, delightful art styles, stunning graphics, and exemplary level design it was one of the best games to come out of Nintendo since the N64 days, and Super Mario 64 itself. This is made even more impressive as during the GameCube generation, with the exception of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Nintendo failed to create anything quite as captivating, or as awe-inspiringly beautiful as their N64 masterpiece.

SMG displayed the kind of wondrous personality and gameplay mastery associated with the company for the last twenty years or so, providing all who ventured into its grasp with some of the most refined and downright amazing platforming on any videogame system to date. It was to many, myself included, beyond just being a sequel to one of the best games of all time, firmly stamping its own mark into a genre long since forgotten amongst today’s mainstream gaming crowd.

The use of gravity as a gameplay mechanic, throwing players around from planet to planet; and the use of switching perspectives, 3D to 2D, and back again, brought forward deviously fresh gameplay which had never been seen before. Not quite like this, and all the more refreshing as a result. Huge bosses, unique level designs and challenges, new and old characters, all contributed even more to the experience. And that’s not even mentioning the whimsical nature of the affair, steeped in a lovingly polished goodness of visual beauty and orchestrated audio delights, quite possibly the closest thing to perfection in a long while.


This sequel in many respects is more of the same, partially streamlined to be more accessible, but more hardcore at the same time, without compromising on the style and gameplay foundations which worked so well the last time around. But it’s more than just a rehash of what has gone before, and the concepts established in the first Super Mario Galaxy. It’s an attempt to bringing together something fresh and altogether familiar at the same time.

At first glance SMG2 is undeniably similar to the last game. The intro sequence in particular being a 2D homage to the opening of the original SMG, with Bowser once again invading Princess Peach’s castle and stealing her away from Mario once more, thus yet again introducing us to the use of space travel and the need to collect those delightful golden stars. From this point on, the mechanics are pretty much identical to the last game, and the use of gravity, the combination of traversing across large and tiny planets are all so familiar. The difference is, that this sequel mixes it up far more than seen in the original SMG.

It’s a testament to the minds at Nintendo’s EAD team that they’ve managed to plunge so much originality in what could be seen as a rehashed, homage title of sorts. Calling it a rehash though, simply doesn’t do SMG2 any justice, as the game is brimming with brand new ideas, excitingly tough and imaginative levels, and perhaps the best orchestral score used in a Mario game to date. It is definitely in many ways a homage title though, more so than the last game.


SMG2 also expands upon the gravitational ideas and shifting perspectives introduced to us in the first game, whilst adding practically a new gameplay mechanic almost in every level. Nintendo have taken onboard what worked, and ditched perhaps what didn’t, or rather what did, but just not as well as it could have. At the same time they have also reduced the number of stages which favour Mario 64’s brand of exploration, instead focusing on obstacle course style level layouts. These stages have a definitive beginning, but the end sometimes feels out of place and strangely positioned into what appears to be the most challenging to reach area in the stage, whether it makes sense of not.

Despite this the game still manages to be an awesome experience through and through - just not quite as amazingly perfect as I would have liked - and this is further upheld up by the inclusion of cool new power-ups, and the return of an old friend from Super Mario World. The finely crafted orchestrated sound track, and magical nature of the game also plays a large part in this too, with the usual Nintendo touch being applied without restraint.


The first thing that you’ll notice has changed in SMG2 is the use of a hub world to serve as entry to one of many galaxies to be found in the game. Instead of featuring a large and expansive hub in which to both explore and to act as a gateway to new stages, you now have Starship Mario, and the return of a traditional map system. This new map system is very much like the ones found in both New Super Mario Bros and Super Mario 3. Levels are clearly marked in order along with the amount of stars possible to collect in each one, and the amount required to unlock the next stage. There are also branching pathways which lead to bonus levels or other normal stages.

The map can also be zoomed in and out, to show either individual galaxies, or simply the stages to be found in each one. It is a far more convenient way of displaying all of the game’s levels, which are now easier to find and keep track of, than to have to hunt around for them in the old hub world. Sadly the map system lacks some of the same charm and magical quality compared to SMG1’s ‘observatory’, although Starship Mario certainly does not.

Starship Mario itself is a smaller version of the hub found in the original SMB, complete with hidden areas, and a cool reproduction of one of the last game’s observatories, which acts as a museum of sorts for displaying power-ups found and artefacts uncovered on your journey. The Starship looks like Mario’s face, and you can run all around it, venturing into unlocked rooms and talking to the inhabitants that arrive at certain points throughout the game. Jumping on the pressure pad in front of the steering wheel (yes, a wheel) takes you to the game’s map screen, in which you browse through, and select your levels.


Outside of the new hub world and map system, most of the changes and improvements are contained within the gameplay itself. The biggest addition to SMG2 is the inclusion of Yoshi, who has been missing in action for far to long in a Mario game. He hasn’t changed much from his debut in Super Mario World on the Super NES, keeping both his tongue grabbing and hovering abilities at the forefront of what he’s all about.

Yoshi is only used in certain stages, most of which have a new mechanic, which uses him in different ways from just running around and doing the usual platform jumping. For example, some stages will require you to keep Yoshi fed with fruits enabling him to walk on otherwise invisible platforms. At other times eating a blue coloured fruit will see him puff up like a balloon and enable him to float up in the air to areas out of reach using the standard Mario/Yoshi combination. Likewise, the game will also test your basic tongue-lashing capabilities by having you swing from objects suspended high up in the air before reaching a specific location.


After Yoshi comes the use of brand new power-ups, including Cloud Mario, Rock Mario, and a funky looking drill that Mario can carry above his head (Drill Mario?). These are awesome, especially Rock Mario, which sees the little fellow take the form of a rocky boulder when waggling the Wii Remote, causing him roll around on screen at speed, much like Morpthball Samus in Metroid Prime.

Cloud Mario has the ability to create a few temporary platforms in which to stand on, allowing you to reach previously out of the way areas. Simply by jumping up and then waggling the Wii Remote creates one of three clouds for Mario to stand on. These clouds can be created in jet streams allowing Mario to glide across the sky, or just to gain a little extra height. After using up all three clouds it simply a case of grabbing another power-up to refill your supply, and away you go.

Like with Yoshi levels are all specifically designed to use these abilities, and in many cases new mechanics are presented for the player to learn and master. The range on offer is pretty incredible, with an almost constant barrage of new, or quirky things coming your way, all of which are done extremely well.


If there is one complaint about an otherwise near perfect experience, it’s that a lot of the levels are very linear in nature, and with little exploration to be had. You never really get to ‘know’ the levels like in Mario 64, or even parts of the first SMG. Instead the levels feel like a design homage to the likes of Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, or Super Mario World, created more in the way of testing your hardcore platforming skills rather than delivering the most intoxicating, and expansive Mario game yet.

However, the challenges set in nearly every world are as imaginative as the last, and a lot of effort has gone into making this one of the most inspired Mario titles yet. It also works beautifully as homage to the old 2D Mario titles, with redone orchestral music, and faithfully styled level designs. Approaching the sequel in this way, rather than putting it on a ten out of ten, revolutionary, and perfectionist pedestal, is perhaps the way to go.

And this is in itself the way that Nintendo views the game – as a hardcore instalment of the series designed for the most experienced, and dedicated Mario fans. In which case the game succeeds with flying colours, earning its Koopa wings, but maybe not in making it the ‘best’ Mario game of all time. Perhaps not quite as sublime as the first SMG either, though that will be debated for years, I’m sure.


Moving forward, there is plenty to do once you’ve finished the game. After getting 120 stars you unlock another 120 green stars to collect, taking the challenge up a notch, and giving you another chance to play through every level once again. Getting stars is only one part of the challenge though. Throughout every level is a hidden comet coin, and picking this up unlocks specific challenges in addition to the main task required to getting a star. So, for example you might have to do a timed run of a specific star challenge, or a race to the end of the stage.

Occasionally I thought that some of the challenges the game has to offer are just a little too frustrating, especially later on when the slightest mistake leads to a lost of life. In these situations it isn’t so much the level design or actual challenge itself that is the problem, but it’s these elements combined with what appears to be occasionally restrictive camera placement that impacts on the overall polished nature of the experience. It’s nothing overly bad, or even enough to tarnish the delights that Nintendo have managed to cram in here, but it does in my opinion make it less of an overall exemplary experience compared to the first game.

So, you could say that while this sequel does much to improve on the original, it doesn’t quite beat it outright, at best matching the original’s brilliance, and at worst not quite hitting the same highs. Either way, however you slice it, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is still one of the best games to be released in the last ten years or so, and well worth picking up, essentially so, even if it’s not as awe-inspiringly fantastical as SMG was.


Overall SMG2 does so much right. The inclusion of new characters and power-ups are suitably inspired as they are superb, as is the streamlined map system and the extra challenges that keep you going after finishing the game, not to mention the beautiful visuals on offer – Nintendo have really pushed the Wii in this regard, shiny and beautifully lit graphics all at a lavish 60fps. That said, this sequel isn’t quite as groundbreaking as the first game, and not quite as finely balanced either. However, you do have to appreciate the fact that Nintendo very rarely makes a Mario sequel, and in this case it’s one of the best they’ve ever made, minor issues aside.

Perhaps, at the end of the day that’s all that matters, because whilst Super Mario Galaxy 2 might not be as revolutionary as the first, it’s still full of imagination, atmosphere, and some of the most impressively creative level designs to date. Sure it can be frustrating at times, and the reduction in larger level exploration is mildly disappointing. But by the same token it is complete celebration of what gaming used to be about, not what it is about now, and with this in mind it is an undeniable success.

VERDICT: 9/10

Movie Review: Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time

Originally I was never intending to review ‘Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time’ (TSOT) after I’d seen it, not having the time to do so and all. However its recent return to public consciousness, with the revelation that the film has so far dramatically failed to reach anywhere near its $200 budget, has made me revisit the my initial thoughts on the film, with enough time passing to gather together any mixed feelings and write up what I could consider to be my final opinion on the matter.

I will say that against all my initial prejudices against most game to film adaptations made since the late nineteen-nineties, I actually quite enjoyed Prince Of Persia. It was ‘alright’, ‘not bad’, and could have been so much worse. I was surprised to see just how much more polished and professionally directed it looked to be from other videogame adaptations - a far cry from the DTV or music video look some of these films tend to take on. Whether that be from poor direction or just a lack of a decent budget I don’t know. Maybe both. But one thing is for sure, that TSOT ranks as one the best game adaptations to date, even if in terms of story and characterisation it is even shallower than some that have come before it.

Surprisingly, the film also feels much like it belongs in the POP franchise as a whole, featuring art direction that is partially simillar to ‘The Two Thrones’ with elements of ‘The Warrior Within’ put in for good measure. The costumes, especially with regards to the film’s Prince Dastan have clearly been adapted from the ‘Prince’ character in the last two games, representing a halfway house between the ‘emo badass’ look he had in the second game to the ‘hardened Persian adventurer’ he became in the third. One scene in particular, in which Dastan accidentally activates the dagger of time, demonstrates this perfectly. He becomes a half-human, half mystical being closely representing the dual light/dark prince on the cover of ‘The Two Thrones’ videogame.


The main reason behind this, and other such similarities, is that one of the film’s lead writers (who is also one of the producers), is in fact the original writer behind the ‘Sands Of Time’ game, which has no doubt left a lasting influence on the production team as a whole with regards to the film’s artistic style and rather superficial storyline. I thought it was quite nice to see someone paramount to the overall game design process finally being allowed to take on such a large responsibility in shaping the film, clearly keeping the overall look and feel closer to the franchise than most of these adaptations have done before. Other influences coming from Director Mike Newell and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer obviously creep in too, and this can be seen both in the way the film is lit and how the action is directed.

The yarn told in ‘Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time’ isn’t particularly original, though it works well enough for the film, while also closely representing the kind of narrative to be told through the prince’s many videogame adventures. In that respect it’s still reasonable solid, if nothing but superficial, and makes for entertaining if unremarkable movie.

It’s a pretty straightforward affair in which a young Persian Prince (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is not of royal blood, gets entangled up in the death of the Persian King and an apparent plot to seize the throne. Naturally he’s innocent, and along with a mysterious Princess (Gemma Arterton) set off to find the truth and enjoy some adventure along the way. That and something about a sacred time-controlling dagger, with whoever possessing it having the ability to alter a few minutes of time and space for their advantage.


This dagger is the main plot moving device in the film, along with the almost non-mystery surrounding the King’s death, and is used largely for story purposes than for any meaningful action sequences. Though it does come around full circle towards the end, but that is to be expected. Unlike the videogames there are only one or two scenes in which the Prince actually uses the dagger to reverse time to evade danger, and this is deliberately limited, mostly it seems to expand the story about the resting place of the mythical sands of time which power it.

Other than the use of the dagger of time, and the surprisingly accurate dress of its characters, which match the look and feel of the later games perfectly, there isn’t much else to be found in ‘TSOT’ that feels like a Prince of Persia movie. There are no fiendish scenes of Dastan escaping diabolical traps, or traversing an elaborate maze of different surfaces, although there are a fair few elements of rooftop acrobatics which depict the style of the games, if not in a slapstick kind of manner.


The dialogue is entertaining whilst being drenched in the obvious cheese and cliché that is to be expected from any summer popcorn flick, although at times the modern day language and constant wisecracking was somewhat off-putting. There are some convincing locations, marred by some strangely poor CG. But most of all, ‘TSOT’ displays a noticeably clear degree of professionalism and solid film-like qualities that most game to film adaptations lack, instead looking more like DTV releases masquerading as box office material (Mortal Kombat Annihilation, Resident Evil).

A thick layer of grain covers the image looking unmistakably filmic, and most scenes are filled with an over-saturation of colours, all representative of a standard Michael Bay production. Comparisons can be drawn with Pirates of the Caribbean, and definitely Transformers in this regard. This stylised look certainly aids in trying to create atmosphere for the film, and makes things seem that little bit more real than in the usual artificial looking videogame adaptations. Plenty of location shooting and solidly designed sets also do this, and is only let down by the sometimes-poor nature of the CG. At times it blatantly looks like something out of a videogame cut scene and is jarring compared to the live stunts in the rest of the movie.


Most of the films performances are by the numbers, with some of the actors going through the motions. Both Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton both seem guilty of this. Then again the scrip leaves them very little to work with and is the main cause of the performers failing to deliver any chemistry between characters, and any suspense in the film. Both their characters are equally strong willed, with Jake being the wise-cracker, and they all too often argue like adolescent teens despite the severity of the situation they find themselves in, taking more than a leaf from the Pirates book of characterisation.

Entertaining? On occasion, surprisingly so, especially when Afred Molina is drawn into the mix. His character, a tax-evading, modern day businessman of the time, brings some added fun and charisma to the film. Clearly he’s enjoying playing up his role (which appears to be a loose parody of Oliver Reed’s character in Ridley Scott Gladiator). Just one of a few obvious nods to other box office hits. Ben Kingsley is an obvious choice as the film’s villain. It’s a role that he’s played many times before, and as such requires him to do very little. The sheer stage presence he commands is enough to fill the part, and as a result he calmly sales through on autopilot without so much as of a hitch.


Frequently the story and action sequences can appear to be flung together rather quickly. Although individually they are okay, and the action sequences themselves are well directed and easy to follow, with plenty of explosive scenes. At one point during the middle of the film, the feeling of time passing and distances travelled for the characters and the audience, which is so important in building up a large scale and epic feel to the proceedings, seemed to be obviously absent. I noticed the same thing during my viewing of ‘Clash Of The Titans’, in which the entire film felt like an endless string of scenes being put together. Thankfully ‘Prince Of Persia’ mostly avoids this, and after the small blip in the middle keeps pushing forward relatively naturally.

Despite these issues ‘TSOT’ is a fun and pretty entertaining movie. Definitely more ‘Pirates’ meets ‘Clash’ than true ‘Prince Of Persia’, and this is clearly evident throughout. However the film isn’t bad at all, nor is it particularly good. Instead I would say that it’s alright (the exact word I used as I left the cinema), and comes off as a lot more polished than most game to film adaptations, even if it isn’t the most deep or coherent pick of the bunch.


One thing that I will add, is that is very refreshing to see a game adaptation look and feel so much like a standard by the number summer blockbuster than the obvious ‘not a proper movie’ that so many of these films seem to take. If it wasn’t called ‘Prince Of Persia’, then it could be mistaken for a Persian ‘Pirates’ movie, or a competitor to ‘The Mummy’ franchise. It does however maintain an overall artistic style that resembles in no small part the ‘Two Thrones’ and ‘Forgotten Sands’ videogames. A sure sign that these things are being taken far more seriously.

Ether way, it is a solid enough, and reasonably entertaining movie, if not slightly boring in parts, which is all to be expected really.

Alright… Yeah, that will definitely do it.

You may have noticed that unlike our game reviews we haven’t given TSOT a verdict out of ten. For any movie reviews we do at IQGamer we’ve decided to drop the arbitrary one-to-ten marking system, and instead let the tone of the review speak for itself.

For another take on Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, and loads more movie goodness head over to Beames on Film.

Review: Split Second (PS3)

Have you ever wanted to be speeding down a central city block as other cars are being flipped over? As explosions erupt from the sides of buildings, with the spray of glass blasted all over the street? As superstructures collapse, and dust and debris are flung everywhere in a sea of carnage? All the while, your hearty determination and exemplary grip of the road sends you careering into first place. Rivals burned, fame guaranteed, and all in a days work in the name of late night entertainment.

That right there is Split Second in a nutshell. BlackRock’s latest racing endeavour is more of a battleground of high-powered and fast-moving machinery, all dolled up in the form of a brutally entertaining TV show. Contestants aren’t just expected to race – is this actually possible? – But to use every single method available to them in order to take down their opponents and secure victory. The more chaos, the more points and popularity that ensues, and with that, the game expects you to go all out to secure that coveted No.1 spot.

This mixture of arcade racing and carefully orchestrated destruction perfectly embodies just what Split Second is about; having as much crazy fun in a car a possible, whilst still trying to retain some grounding in reality. The road becomes a blast-filled battleground, in which getting to first place is only half the challenge. Keeping it on the other hand, is altogether different matter. It’s in these heated contests of power drifting around corners and detonating explosives that BlackRock’s latest really comes alive, delivering a solidly fun, but frequently flawed experience.


The game is basically presented like a fictional TV show. Each of the courses are elaborate sets filled with destructible scenery such as buildings planes, industrial equipment etc. Set across 12 episodes, which act almost like the cups in Mario Kart or the events in Burnout, there are four races initially available, with one being the end of show ‘elite race’. Your goal is to drive and battle your way through various challenges earning a number of points per race – depending on position – in a bid to get faster cars, and thus to complete more challenges and finally unlock the finishing ‘elite race’. This special race acts as the game’s episode finally, and victory here decides on whether you move on to the next show of the season.

A number of different challenges are available to you before you reach the final race. These give you a choice as to what types of events you want to do, and its possible to earn the required number of points to unlock the final race without placing first in all of the events. Effectively, if you get stuck trying to complete for example the ‘eliminator’ event, then you can simply skip over it and move onto one in which you might be more comfortable with. This can be done throughout Split Second’s career mode, although later on in the game the number of points required to progress rapidly increases, and so to does your need to actually be competitive in all the types of event.


Unlike other driving games, racing in its purest form, won’t get you anywhere in Split Second. Instead your aim is to build up the games ‘powerplay meter’ by either drifting around corners, slipstreaming behind other cars, or grabbing some air, before triggering destructive events at certain points around the track. These ‘powerplays’ are designed to takedown your opponents, and can be activated when each section of your meter is full, and when a small icon appears over the other racers.

Some of theses are incredible to watch. At one point I was jostling for 3rd place right after drifting around a corner, only then to see the road collapse before my very eyes in an explosion of smoke particles and debris. The car in front flipped over and burst into flames as it hit the deck, while I went flying off the end of the track and into the battle for first place. At other times, you’ll be confronted with airplanes taking off right in the centre of the course, buildings falling down, random explosions, and a constant barrage of chaos - both a curse and a blessing.

Using the ‘powerplays’ actually requires great skill to be used as consistently effective takedowns, whilst also staying out of harms way. Seeing as your opponents also trigger these very same events, you can often be on the receiving end of one if you’re not careful. And this can happen at any time during the race. In essence the game becomes less about fighting for position, and more about learning the tracks and planning that next ‘powerplay’ strike. The only need for racing it seems, is purely for the purposes of building up ‘that’ meter and staying within reach of the opposition.


At times the overly excessive use of the destructive scenery, and constant bombardment of vehicular carnage feels a little bit too much. Not quite a one trick pony, but it does start to feel really drawn out, and in the end proving maybe too intrusive for its own good. Racing can become overshadowed, with its inclusion merely servicing the overseeing powerplay mechanics.

That said, the scenes of chaos and the edge of your seat action is hard to put down, with that ‘one more go’ feeling constantly tugging at your exhaust pipe. This is especially true in heated races in which you’ve only narrowly missed out on first place, and are boiling up for a spot of revenge.

The racing itself, during points in which it’s possible, is pretty good for the most part. Although the handling is quite loose and floaty, constantly veering between having too much over steer, and being overly slidey. It’s a strange driving mechanic, I’ll give you that. And the game’s arcade sensibilities come out through and through, feeling almost like a combination of say PGR and Burnout, and maybe just little OutRun.


Unfortunately, like with most arcade racers, a fluid sixty frames per-second is really required for such a handling model to shine, and in Split Second the game fails to do so, being serviceably fun, albeit flawed. Of course when the screen is being filled with large clouds of smoke, collapsing buildings, large explosive scenery, bleached out and intensely bright HDR lighting, it’s no surprise that the magical 60fps isn’t obtainable.

At times Split Second looks awesome, and with so much going on it never misses a beat, maintaining a solid 30fps throughout with only the occasional screen tear for company. However, when the game’s two distinct elements come together perfectly, the framerate and handling seem inconsequential, and the real fun aspect begins to shine through. Sadly moments like these are ether rare, or rather, broken up by the split racing and ‘powerplay’ aspects of the package.


That said Split Second is pretty fun and rewarding to play at times, although perhaps missing some of the succinct polish that made Pure so great. Evidence of BlackRock’s unique style and personality are plastered all over the game, with everything from the presentation and bleached coloured lighting following on from the art choices made in their last title. The radical ‘powerplay’ mechanic is an entertaining sight to behold and puts a new spin on arcade racers like Burnout Revenge, or action driving titles like Stuntman, favouring combat over sheer driving ability.

In the end Split Second succeeds in entertaining, if only for a while. Scratch the surface and you’ll find a highly playable racing game, simply let down by a little too much emphasis on the explosions and action, and not enough on the driving. What we have here, is a game in which the main mechanic sits somewhere between a bombastic spectacular and unusual curiosity, providing solidly differently take on the traditional arcade racer, but which lacks the true greatness compared to the genre’s most defining titles.

VERDICT: 7/10

Review: Alan Wake (360)

I can tell you two things right here about Alan Wake. One, that this isn’t quite the game you might have expected it to be. And two, that what we have been given is a mostly fitting reward after five long years of waiting; an alluring adventure which although doesn’t quite reach the bar set by the likes of Silent Hill or perhaps Resident Evil 4, is a firmly solid attempt at crafting a new kind of exemplary survival horror.

Alan Wake may have started out as a free-roaming action thriller, with the emphasis firmly on the thriller part, but its final appearance as a far more straightforward action game isn’t to be looked down upon. Remedy have provided a title with incredible atmosphere, an intriguing storyline that keeps you guessing, and a lovely looking playground in the form of Bright Falls, all of which envelops you as you try to fend off numerous amounts of ‘Taken’ along your travels.

The action is tightly focused, and most of all, edges just enough on the right side of being fast-paced without feeling too much like a shooter, and instead more like an tense psychological ride into chaos. That said, the experience isn’t quite perfect, and there are times in which the game would benefit more from you actually driving forward the story through investigation and discovery, rather than scripted point to point moments. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that Alan Wake is as tightly controlled and linear as Resident Evil, because it really isn’t, and often allows you to wonder off the beaten track into the foreboding wilderness in search of that next vital manuscript.


Interestingly, the story and narrative structure is presented in a similar style to an episodic TV show with a defined beginning and end to each episode. Each one starts with an opening cinematic recapping past events, or an introduction the first time you play the game, although there is no mock credits sequence which is a little disappointing, and would have made the TV show effect much more convincing. Whichever way you look at this, it definitely makes a change from the ‘end of chapter’ and ‘score tally’ used in most survival horror games.

Cut-scenes are pretty short for the most part, and are mainly used to gel together the other forms of storytelling keeping that TV show feel consistent throughout the game. The vast majority of the narrative is driven forward by the use of in game dialogue, and the many pages of manuscript left lying around Bright Falls. These pieces of manuscript reveal interesting snippets of backstory surrounding the ‘Taken’ and the town of Bright Falls, whilst also describing key occurrences which happen in the game. Sometimes you will find a page that blatantly describes an event that is only moments away from happening, taking any feeling of surprise and significantly reducing the amount of fast-hitting tension you’d otherwise be presented with.


Alan will himself also sound off one of his many monologues during his time spent in Bright Falls, mostly speaking out on his thoughts and innermost fears as you explore the shadowy landscape so beautiful but foreboding in nature. Like with the manuscripts, Alan has a tendency to describe the obvious. A lot of the time he will simply describe just what is happening in front of him, rather than shed light on what he thinks might be going on. Towards the end of the game, his little mobile soapbox moments actually begin to feed the player deeper into the story and the twists that it provides. It goes from a vaguely pointless inclusion, into an essential part of driving forward the experience.

Thankfully, there is a reason for both the initially obvious dialogue choices, and some of the seemingly pointless manuscript pages – it’s not quite as well thought out as you might think, but the continuing script and storyline is rather cleaver overall, revealing that it isn’t just trying to state the obvious for lack of originality, but instead attempting to direct the player down various paths and conclusions. Everything that might at first feel quickly rushed in, serves a deliberate purpose. And later on in the game those revelations start coming thick and fast.

To this end, some of the writing and voice acting is a little contrived, and in rare occasions pretty hoaky overall. Regardless, it can be totally captivating at times, and never falls into the artsy and often-pretentious trap that Heavy Rain went down. At the same time some of the game’s big reveals aren’t perhaps as psychologically cleaver as you’d hoped them to be, feel a little bit dialled back for the sake of presenting the player with another large action sequence, and of course the inevitable sequel.


No sooner after Mr Wake and his wife have touched down in Bright Falls and made their way to a quaint secluded cabin retreat, the wife mysteriously goes missing, and Alan finds himself bruised and battered in the middle of the forest with no recollection of what happened. Strange events and occurrences begin to happen, and people with a thick black mist surrounding them start attacking you. A mysterious voice calls your name, and a bright light shines out drawing you ever closer to its source. All the while a sinking feeling hits your gut and shivers run down your spine, as you reluctantly take the first steps into a world about be turned upside down.

There are two parts to the actual gameplay featured in Alan Wake, two individual elements of the experience that are intricately linked together, but at first seemingly at odds with each other. You have the fresh and sedated daylight sections, in which the bulk of the main story progression and characterisation occurs; and the night time scenarios in which most of your time will be spent, fending off scores of ‘Taken’, and avoiding a range of deadly supernatural presences.

At first the hellish events that occur at night are largely unseen by the people of Bright Falls, with the odd disappearance or two being the only evidence to show something’s gone awry. But as you delve further into battle with the dark forces at work, and become closer to finding your wife, the events in one world begin to radically affect the other, with the ‘dark presence’ ultimately taking hold of the entire town, providing you with a series of spectacular set-piece events.


The ‘dark presence’, which manifests itself as a veil of black fog, can take over both living and inanimate objects, called the ‘Taken’, presenting you with a danger beyond possessed townsfolk and into the realm of the insane. Light is your most important weapon against this evil force, with you having to use it to burn away the foggy shroud before you can either kill the people behind it, or extinguish the control the ‘presence’ has over lifeless objects.

Your arsenal initially consists of just a pistol and a lowly torch, but as you make your way through the town facing increasing amounts of ‘Taken’, you are given everything from high-powered industrial torches, to flash bangs and flare guns to take down your adversaries. The left trigger controls your torch, and pushing it down gives off an intensely bright light that helps burn away the ‘Taken’ more quickly, but at the expense of battery life. It is possible to aim the torch at enemies by gently holding down the trigger, allowing the initially weak light source to impact their progression before using your firearms to shoot them down.


High-powered torches weaken enemies more quickly, also using more batter power; flares instantly remove all traces of the fog allowing you to focus on immediately gunning down the people underneath before they get to you; flashbangs explode and destroy all enemies in the blast radius instantly, as does the powerful flare gun, which all help greatly in battling off the various supernatural sources at work when surrounded by them.

The more powerful the items, the more battery power they use. However, along with the inclusion of several torch upgrades, you’ll also find longer lasting lithium batteries, which give off a stronger blast of focused light, and faster power regeneration abilities.

Better guns can also be picked up as you make your way through the game, with several types of shotgun, and a powerful hunting rifle, which can kill most ‘Taken’ in a single shot. Ammo is in fairly short supply, and the game often sets up encounters with scores of enemies requiring you to leave that trigger happy persona at home and conserve the ammo you have, using a range of guns, flares, flashbangs, and the environmental light sources in order to stay alive.


The first half of the game is largely based around slowly giving access to all the tools you’ll need to battle the ever-increasing strength of the ‘Taken’ as it sifts through Bright Falls. Sadly, after the first two or three hours of play, the game starts going through the motions of constantly surrounding you with enemies, and having you deal with them by routinely cycling between, and using, various weapon types and well-timed evasive techniques.

About halfway through, this familiarity begins to fade, and as the game pushes further towards its conclusion, starts to up the ante, with large and particularly intense set pieces steadily growing as you reach the end of the game. These become somewhat ridiculous in nature, taking a fairly believable supernatural horror and turning it into a bombastic struggle for survival. During these latter parts of the game, you’ll once again be forced to battle everything from possessed construction vehicles, to roofing structures, along with what looks like the bulk of the now ‘Taken’ townspeople.

Perhaps this was a step too far, as although stunning to look at and exciting to play, these parts are also the most frustrating in the game. It is also at this point that some of the game’s rather cleaver narrative choices betray itself, with some of the big reveals being somewhat of a let down compared to the mysteries they provided. The lure of DLC and continuing story means that Remedy are content to almost use this first instalment as an opening episode as such, delivering what looks like a conclusion (at this point I haven’t quite finished the game) but at the same time leaving other questions left unanswered.


One thing that is so exceptionally good about the whole experience is that one more go factor that Alan has. Every time I sat down to play a short one or two-hour session, I was hooked for nearly double that before having to drag myself away from the controller. It’s a sign of truly engrossing game design and masterful atmosphere creation, all of which leaves you wanting more until the end of chapter cut scene finally plays out.

Alan Wake’s biggest success however, isn’t the incredibly polished gameplay mechanics - repetition aside there’s very little to complain about - but instead the ability to create a deeply dark and disturbing atmosphere in which to completely immerse the player. With shadows crawling all over the surrounding environment; the rustling wind blowing through the tress; and the eerie mist flowing throughout the air, the game’s night time sections are utterly gripping, and often veer on edge of your seat territory.

It’s this atmosphere, and suspenseful nature, which is really Alan’s talking point. Many people speak about immersion, about disconnecting the player from reality and into the game world. And at times, this is exactly what Alan Wake does, combining cleaver storytelling and visceral action-packed gameplay to form a largely compelling, if not slightly cheesy ride into psychological madness and supernatural chaos.


Beyond the impressive graphics, solid gameplay, and mixed storytelling devices, Alan Wake is a mostly sublime experience. Not quite as refined or perfectly scripted as it should have been after five years of work. But nevertheless, a highly promising first outing for a franchise that has enough potential to really turn into something awe inspiringly good. Remedy aren’t too far away from that point, and whatever issues I have with Mr Wake, I was utterly gripped whilst playing the game, not wanting to put the controller down even in the most frustrating of situations.

Alan Wake may be at heart, a Stephen King inspired Resident Evil, a title that clearly wears its influences on its sleeve, and one that isn’t afraid to still feel like a traditional videogame. It isn’t quite as revolutionary as I’d first hoped, and in that respect the question that bubbles around in my head – does it really need to be? – Is a hard one to answer, as all throughout my time in Bright Falls, I was almost completely hooked every step of the way.

The tense atmosphere, partially original narrative approach, and exciting action sequences highlight just some of the things that Remedy’s five-year opus does so well. But they also highlight a realm of missed opportunities and a conscious decision to tow the more traditional gameplay line, a line that could have been broken down, thus creating a true masterpiece rather than just a extremely entertaining, and often excellent experience.

VERDICT: 8/10

Review: Lost Planet 2 (360)

A giant insectoid-like beast busts up from the snowy ground with an almighty roar. Immediately it catches me in its sights and begins to charge. Armed with only a simple machine gun and a few paltry grenades, I engage the enemy, dodging its first attack before turning around and plugging it full of lead. Some of my shots bounce off its hardened shell but others directly hit its yellowy fleshy tail instead, resulting in another hollowed roar from the creature. At this point I make a hesitant dash for a nearby semi-destroyed building, hoping to gain at least momentary cover.

Inside awaits more of the vile Akrid parasites. It turns out that I’ve just entered this creature’s makeshift nest. Immediately, without fail, I begin to blast my way through swarms of smaller spider-like Akrid, and into the pulsating eggsacks, safe for a short while from the chaos outside – my team are busy getting slaughtered by the huge beast outside. After clearing out the half-standing structure of all its living inhabitants, I take my beef back outside with me. Guns in full blaze I throw everything at my disposal against the giant beast whilst its intently distracted – shooting mercilessly at its now red little tail - and after another roar, plus the obligatory pool of blood and puss, it finally comes crashing to the ground.

Looking around, there are wide-open spaces for miles, the view of snowy particles being blown throughout the air, and the sheen of the glistering white environment reflecting back the light given off by a obscured sun. The Akrid beast is dead, oozing puss and drenched in its own blood, before shattering into a thousand frozen pieces. It was remarkably beautiful and ugly at the same time. The hard exterior shell revealed its intricate markings, while its fleshy body is both soft, and solid at the same time, covered in sheen and detail. Everywhere you look there are wondrous sights full of character, all contained in and around some lovely white vistas.


Welcome to Lost Planet 2! An experience that starts off unsurprisingly like the first game. The stunning visuals, quite possibly some of the best seen on any console to date, along with the tried and testing third-person gameplay mechanics, are every bit as polished as they were the last time around, although now feeling a tad dated. In fact, for the first few minutes or so, Lost Planet 2 is nothing but a solidly made and pretty entertaining action game. Insanely large creatures, huge guns, and lovely environments combine to form a familiar but fun element of shooting action. Much of what was so good about LP1 is also still reasonably good here, and while many of the little niggles are still present too, there are larger issues that you’ll be complaining about.

However, shortly after things take a turn for the worst, as parts of this sequel’s poor design begin to break through the solid foundations built up by the original game. It’s pretty clear that Capcom were keen to have a different gimmick driving how LP2 works, and to this end two distinct elements have been shoehorned into the experience.

One being the multiplayer focused single player campaign, in which you are merely part of a four-man team. And the other, a revised continue and checkpoint system which bares more than a passing resemblance to the hardcore games of old, ill-suited for the gameplay on offer here. These two elements are inexplicably linked together in a way, in which on there own wouldn’t pose so much of a problem, but together they conspire to break the game on so many occasions, leading to numerous bouts of frustration and fist clenching anger.


Keeping things together is the return of the thermal energy meter from the first game. Unlike in LP1, your thermal energy (TE) gauge isn’t constantly depleting. Instead it continuously accumulates more TE as you kill and collect it from fallen foes and various data points scattered around your environment. When you take damage, and as your health bar begins to runs dangerously low, you have the option of using this TE to restore lost health, thus preventing you from loosing a precious life. You’ll certainly be needing this boost, as in LP2 most large enemies have almost ‘instant kill’ attacks which leave you very little time to escape for cover, or simply in many cases, regenerate your health.

To make matters worse, the game is always pushing you towards an offensive solution. Done mostly in order to recoup lost TE as you battle it out amongst the native wildlife and nomadic Snow Pirates, putting yourself in harms way during times in which a more carefully thought out approach would be preferable. TE however, is the least of your concerns later on in the game, with the lack of save points and temporary checkpoints making this part of the experience a frustrating and sometimes an unplayable one.

The checkpoint, life, progression, whatever you want to call it system in the game, centres on something called the Battle Gauge. You start off with 500 battle points, and receive 500 more for every checkpoint you reach (data points that you activate), or 1000 if you happen to be piloting a VS suit. Every time you die, you loose a certain amount of battle points, and are respawned from the nearest data point. Loosing all of your battle points however, means that you loose all of your checkpoints and instead have to replay the entire chapter all over gain.

Chapters can range from anything from 20 to 50 minutes to complete, depending on both their length and player skill level. Either way, it means that if you get stuck on a particular boss, or mission, and end up constantly dying, then you are gonna be replaying a vast amount of content again and again before you get it right.


It doesn’t help that the game isn’t exactly signposted when it comes to telling what to do. Especially I have to say, with regards to some of the boss battles, which not only require you to work out the correct solution of dealing with them, but also working as a team to bring them down. Unfortunately, the complete lack of CPU controlled AI makes this task an infuriating one. It’s all too common in LP2 to have certain parts of the game in which working as a team is essential to score a solid victory, without the frustration and hopelessness which occurs during solo play.

The boss battle at the end of chapter 3 is a good example of this. Set upon a speeding train, you are tasked with battling a giant sandworm whilst attempting to prevent the train from being obliterated. Right at the front of the carriage you are presented with a handful of giant ammunition shells lying around, and a huge gun-turret to load them into. Aiding you in this task, is a small, rather illegible diagram showing you where on the train to load these shells, and the also the position of the engineering room, required for fixing up the train as it sustains damage.

It is clear that the game wants one person to load in the shells, another to distract the boss, another to look after the engine room, and someone to take control of the gun turret. This is great if you’re playing with four other people, but by yourself, it’s a hopeless mess. The key here is teamwork, something that your AI buddies don’t have a clue about. They’ll simply stand around getting killed and leaving you to do all the work, making the challenge so much harder. And as you are running back and forth trying to load the shells you’ll be frequently attacked, being thrown off the train and forced to restart the whole encounter all over again.


With two or more people playing this doesn’t become so much of an issue, making finding a solution for dealing with a boss easier to find, and coordination almost second nature. Of course playing with friends is likely to yield better results. But either way, the multiplayer sessions allow the game to be far more playable than going it alone. It’s just a shame that the single player campaign seems to be completely tacked-on the end of the game, like LP2 was designed to be an online only experience.

During online play the battle points system still gets in the way, which is unfortunate. With all four players sharing the same battle gauge, each player can only afford to die two or three times at the most before the gauge runs out and everyone starts the entire chapter again. On your own you could afford to take a more few chances and die a handful – or two - of times before exhausting your battle gauge, even though the overall fight is made much harder without a coordinated team behind you.

That said Lost Planet 2 isn’t a bad game by any means, it’s actually pretty good at times. A potentially great experience, let down massively by Capcom’s insistence on shoehorning in new and unwanted gameplay mechanics to a system which didn’t require radical change. The return of the TE meter works in the game’s favour, and the core gameplay on offer is almost fun as it was in the first game. However, it’s just that the new elements that have been added really threaten to break apart the game, and on many occasions they do so almost effortlessly. When this happens, all of the hard work and solid gameplay mechanics built up by the original LP is completely overshadowed, leaving an experience which is an excise in frustration.

Visually the game can’t be faulted. It looks stunning! LP2 delivers some of the most detailed texture work seen in a videogame so far, along with splashes of intensely delivered particle and smoke effects. Again, being some of the best we’ve seen. The Arkrid creatures are all incredibly detailed; lots of impressive shader effects, bump mapping, sheen and reflections. The environments, like with the first game, are filled with wide-open sprawling vistas, packed full of personality and intricately crafted characteristics. Most of all, the entire game looks and feels distinctly organic, never looking like a fake plasticky resemblance of reality.


It’s rather unfortunate then, that the gameplay fails to live up to the technical heritage on offer, with the solid core experience broken down and compromised by the developer’s need on including new and gimmicky features. All Capcom had to do was to take what worked in the first Lost Planet, and then up the ante with this sequel. Being bigger and more bad-ass, doesn’t mean better, and although it is clear that Capcom wanted to have a scale that was so much wider than in the first game, they have failed to provide suitable gameplay and progression system to really back this up.

In the end, Lost Planet 2 is one of 2010’s biggest disappointments, failing to live up to the standards set by the original game, and placing too much emphasis on the multiplayer aspect. Not enough thought has being put into solo play, and it shows. That, along with the ridiculously outdated (for this style of game) save and continue system, makes this sequel a rather substandard experience for all those concerned.

The original Lost Planet, as it stands, is a much better choice if you want to experience some of the delights of E.D.N III, and although this sequel does still deliver some (very brief) flashes of brilliance, it also completely misses the mark most of the time.

VERDICT: 6/10

Review: Sin & Punishment 2 - SotS (Wii)

Ten years ago Treasure unleashed their little known but highly praised N64 classic, Sin & Punishment. It was a game that brought high-octane on-rails shooting to Nintendo’s failing 64bit system in a way not seen since the likes of Alien Solider on the Megadrive. Giant battles, continuous action, and challenging gameplay were all part and parcel of the experience, an experience though very well received, never made it anywhere outside of it’s native Japan.

Since the release of S&P Treasure has had only a few hits to their name. Outside the GameCube smash Ikaruga, and the commendable Astro Boy for GBA, there hasn’t been anything as iconic or sublimely brilliant at Radiant Silvergun, or even the original Sin & Punishment. Perhaps that’s because Treasure work best when investing in fresh new ideas, and not pandering around to its own rabid fanbase. It’s the main reason why, as a studio, they tend not to create sequels and only focus on new IP.

With this Wii sequel to the original S&P however, Treasure have delivered an experience that is in every way superior to the N64 original, featuring some of the most intensely fast-paced hardcore shooting action to be found on any console to date. If you like games that send wave upon wave of beautifully choreographed enemies your way, with some absolutely huge boss battles continuously emerging from the chaos, then you’ll love Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Skies (S&P2).


Like its predecessor S&P2 is an on-rails shooter. Guiding you along a fixed path, the game has you aiming and blasting your way through anything that stands in your way. Frequently your progress will be hampered by some show stopping gigantic creatures, in which the game mechanics and the on-rails nature briefly expands into something more free roaming, though still as tightly restrictive. In fact, right from the beginning it is clear that you have more control over your characters than in the original game, if only restricted to the view on screen. At the most, you can on occasion move inwards and outwards in addition to the standard left and right, giving you a brief moment of extra manoeuvrability.

The Nunchuck controls character movement, whilst the Wii Remote points and shoots at enemies across the screen. Camera movement is fixed, and your path is largely pre-determined, though you can move around the limited space given at any time. Two different characters are playable throughout the game, each with subtle differences adding some extra strategy to the game, and another excuse to play through the whole thing again once it’s finished.


Isa, the main one of the two and usual lead male protagonist, commands control of a jetpack and has the ability to unleash a charging shot of sorts, which explodes in a grenade-like fashion when it connects with enemies or the environment. Kachi, on the other hand, is a little different. The female of the bunch, she uses a hoverboard instead of a jetpack - yes, proper Back To The Future stylie - and features a lock-on charge shot that can target multiple enemies at once. Both characters can dodge, and also fight back with a standard melee attack, which can repel projectile attacks while still being the first choice for close-range combat.

Throughout most of S&P2 you will definitely need to use your entire arsenal, dodging and shooting your way past a multitude of foes, whilst making sure to keep that chain gauge going up. Later on in the game you’ll be faced with having to dodge through laser beams and constantly melee back projectile attacks, whilst at the same time trying to counter a gigantic boss creature’s main method of attack by firing off a well timed charged shot, disabling it for few seconds before repeating the whole process again. It’s pretty intense, and utterly exhilarating at the same time, being the most fun I’ve had with an arcade shooter in a long time.


It’s also a pretty tough ride all round. Though never unfair, the game requires you to simply learn enemy attack patterns and counter them effectively with the right set of moves. Most of the time, a well-planned dodge or some accurately positioned charge shots are all that is required. Whereas later on, you will need to mix it up using melee strikes and rapid gunfire in order to survive. That said there are a plentiful amount of checkpoints on offer, not least of all before every gigantic boss creature and end of level encounter, so you’re never far away from where you last died. Unlike Lost Planet 2, Sin & Punishment 2 absolutely nails down how old school progression should work, keeping things fair but challenging at all times.

The best part is that the entire game is filled with imaginative ideas, from the huge bosses and the smaller cannon fodder, to the level design and overall aesthetics. Sin & Punishment 2 is overflowing with an art style that is as original as it is bizarre, packed with a level of stylised beauty that could only have come from the minds at Treasure. Much of the game bares more than just a passing resemblance to Ikaruga, and at times it feels like this could almost be a spiritual successor to both Treasures much loved GCN shump and the Saturn classic Radiant Silvergun, though obviously unrelated to either.


Along with the unique art style and imaginative designs, the game also looks very pretty impressive from a graphical point of view. Visually, S&P2 is one of the best-looking Wii games, and doesn’t take its time to showcase its abilities. For one, the game runs at a buttery smooth sixty frames per-second almost constantly, with only minor drops in framerate. Bosses and the larger enemies are packed with detailed textures, bump mapping, and feature a liberal use of that next-generation sheen lacking in so many Wii games.

However, if there is one downside is that the game tends to look a little blocky, lacking consistantly high polygon counts, a result of having so much going on at any given time and keeping a smooth framerate. Also, despite featuring some of the sharpest, cleanest edges for a Wii game, S&P2 suffers from plenty of jagged edges, which means that playing this upscaled on a good flat panel HDTV is a painfully ugly process. Thankfully, any CRT owning folks out there can experience this in all its clear 480i/p glory, which really, is the best way to be playing S&P2.


With Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Skies there’s very little to complain about. Treasure have easily delivered one of their finest games of recent years, and one of the best arcade shooters to come out of any Japanese development studio in a long time. With it’s unique blend of imaginative ideas and art design, filled with unmistakably addictive on-rails action, S&P2 is not only an essential purchase, but also the best thing to come from the minds at Treasure since 2002’s Ikaruga. In many ways this deserves to be remembered as fondly as Radiant Silvergun, and maybe even some of their older 16bit hits as well.

What we have here is quite simply a modern classic, and perfect for anyone out there wanting some old-school action - something that you can dive in for a couple of minutes before getting lost into for several hours. Despite being a little short, it perfectly demonstrates what is missing in so many of today’s high profile titles, and shows that a tried and test formula can be equally refreshing as anything that attempts to push forward the boundaries of gaming.

VERDICT: 9/10