The story in Mafia 2 is well thought out and you start off as a soldier in the war against Mussolini. From there you come back home and that is when you start to fall into the life of crime which is the basis for the game. It does flow really well with a decent pace but unfortunately at about halfway through the game the pace is ruined by a chapter which drags down the game to a snails pace and really takes away from the game rather than adds to it. I don’t want to give away spoilers so that is where I will leave that comment, only to say that personally I think the game would have been better without that dull chapter and without it ruining the pace.

The graphics in the game are excellent and well detailed however at times there was some screen tearing on the Xbox 360 version. This seemed to happen really only in the first couple of hours and then settled down so it was not too much of an issue, just a little distraction.

The game uses a cover system which feels a little clunky at times but it is very important to use cover as there are times when you can be killed by one shot. The AI is not that great, but come across one with a shotgun and it may be game over if you are out of cover. One annoyance I found was the police wanted system. You have two layers of wanted – first the car you are in is labelled as wanted and secondly if the police see you out of the car they get a description and then your clothing is marked as wanted. To get rid of the wanted status of the car you must change vehicles or change the number plate at one of the many garages and to get rid of personal wanted system you must change your clothes. The problem was getting to these places. There seemed to be at times police on every corner so it was quite a task to actually shake off the police. You may lose their alert but as soon as you go near another police car the alert starts again and you can get into a vicious cycle.  Simple taking another car is not that simple because all stationary cars are locked so you have to wait for the animation of smashing the window or picking the lock before you could take it – and in that time another police car turns up. I tried running to a shop to get a change of clothes and shock horror just as I was about to go into the store a police car turned up and the alert started again, I got into a 20 minute vicious cycle of alerts and no alerts before I was able to take proper action. Frustrating times but it did not dent my enjoyment of the game.

Overall I really enjoyed the game and it’s storyline and would recommend it to everyone to play. It may not have the sandbox feel of other games but really it does not need it. Definite rent, possible buy.

Another change is the view, this game is a 3D top down view which at first I thought was a bad idea, as I have never really got on with top down views but this game plays well and it is very enjoyable. The controlls are very simple and unusually the gun fire action is done by moving the right stick in the direction of where you wish to shoot. This is a strange control method used also in Shadow Complex but after a while it feels natural and works very well indeed.  It is not the sort of control method I would wish for normal 3D games but for top down it does it’s job. It also aids to making the game a tad easier though as it is easy to spray your gun in all directions.

The game has lots of collectables and many which may prove difficult in getting first time round and this encourages the player to play the game multiple times to get 100%.  Other encouragements for replayability are mini objectives within the levels and also beating your level completion times. The game also has local co-op so you can play the game with a friend beside you. I believe that online co-op is due later this year as a downloadable patch.

The puzzles in the game are standard Tomb Raider fare – move cranks, blocks, balls, etcetera to release levers, traps etcetera.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is definitely a decent addition to Xbox Live Arcade and whilst the price is on the top end you do get a pleasing gaming experience and it is worthy of your money.

It is not all bad though, because the “prologue” (demo) is on Xbox Live Arcade there is a free trial available. So that is a demo of a demo of the real game. Try as they might to gloss it over as a short separate story, this is a demo of the main game and they are charging for it. If this is the way of the future for Xbox Live demos then I want no part of it. 400 points may not seem a lot but it is a slippery slope to more tight arsed practices.

DeathSpank is an RPG with the usual elements of collecting items, levelling up, fetch quests and mini dungeons.  Your goal of the game is to seek an artifact but in true video game style, your quest for the artifact is blocked by doing many other quests first for weird and wonderful people en route.

The graphics are cute and have a hand drawn 2D effect to them. Scenery look like paper cut outs and it really fits in well with the games design.  I experienced no graphical glitches but there was the odd occasional screen tearing which never was a bother.

To help you along the way if you get stuck, you can collect fortune cookies and these unlock hints if you are lost and not sure what to do. My only criticism of the game is that there are not enough fortune cookies. A number of times the game does not do a great job in guiding you on what you have to do and the clues can be very vague, leaving you to possibly use up your fortune cookies too soon.  There is no hand holding to tell you where you are suppposed to be heading so your only option is to visit the entire map looking for where you are supposed to be going, or to use these fortune cookies.  I would liked to have seen an optional radar for those like me who needed extra assistance in working out what to do.

DeathSpank is an excellent addition to the library of XBox Live Arcade games and is a very good single player experience. For those unable to work alone, there is also local co-op mode as well and you can complete the game side by side with a friend.  Some games are not worth 1,200 points, but this one definitely is worth your money.

EXCELLENT/10

Toy Box is a whole town which you can build up and do mini fetch quests for different town residents. Quests are very short but there are plenty of them to keep you occupied. I have spent 3-4 hours in Toy Box mode so far and I doubt I am near completion.  It is a fun game with plenty to keep you occupied and is available on all formats.

This is not a review, just a passing comment

GOOD/10

This game has borrowed (copied) many elements of some of my favourite games. You will see elements from the likes of Bioshock, F.E.A.R and Fallout 3 just to name a few. There is an old saying that imitation is the best form of flattery and the developer here has done very well in it’s flattery and come up with a very accomplished game which is worthy of your money.

The detail in the graphics is excellent and unlike the above named games I experienced no glitches, bugs or graphical issues like tearing whatsoever.  It was like they took all these games, mixed them up and actually improved the look and feel to give a polished experience.

The story itself is a little wild and at times has you going from the year 2010 back to 1955 via a TMD (Time Manipulation Device) strapped to your arm. The game is based around time manipulation but unfortunately I do not think they used it enough in the game. There was only a bit near the beginning and some near the end of the game where you went back to 1955. I would liked them to have extended this and had more experiences of going through the time warp. It was a good feature but not used to it’s potential. This did not affect my enjoyment of the game at all, I just think it should have been utilised more within the storyline.

I really enjoyed Singularity and it was a pleasant reminder of some games I had played in the recent past and would definitely recommend everyone play it. It is an accomplished FPS and whilst it may not be worthy of the full RRP price, this is a must-play if you can get it cheaper than what the game shops are offering (£44.99). Available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Rated 18 Years

GREAT/10

It is classic Lego game fun and while I would not rate is as highly as the previous games – Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones it is still definitely a worthy addition to your collection if you are also a Lego fan.

The previous games got bigger and bigger in gameplay space especially the last Indiana Jones episodes so it was a disappointment to find that Harry Potter version feels a heck of a lot smaller.  I think this is due to being mostly in the confines of Hogwarts Castle so I did feel at times a little claustrophobic and restricted and it also felt quite linear.  I suppose this is not really something I can criticise too much because of course they are trying to vaguely follow a story which was mostly set around Hogwarts and if they strayed too much away from that, die hard Harry Potter fans would find holes in the story.  As usual with Lego games there are tons of collectibles – red bricks, gold bricks, postal boxes and some which are unique to Harry Potter like shield crests – each level has 4 quarters of a shield to collect. There are also bonus levels to play for extra gold bricks.

There is really not much I can say about this game further. It is Lego, in the same vein as the other games with a different skin and a smaller playing area. If you are a Harry Potter fan you can add it to your collection, if you are like me and do not like Harry Potter but are a Lego game fan, it is still a worthy game to play because you will soon forget you are playing the series.

One final note for the developer, I think the title is wrong. I know the game is aimed at all ages, but the title Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 really makes it sound like the actual game is aimed at pre-school when it is not.

GOOD/10

What next for Lego games?  Spiderman, Superman, or maybe a collection of super heroes would be good?

EA Sports have tried to change the game slightly and have added a new “true aim” mode which is supposed to replicate proper golf and which is turned off by default so you have to enable it. Sadly, in their rush to try and bring something new, they forgot to tell us how to use it.  This is exactly what the manual says:

True-aim is an all-new, more authentic way of playing golf in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. Rather than utilising an aiming circle, players using True-aim must use an in-game marker to see the distance ot the target and then adjust their swing accordingly. This results in a more realisitic way of playing and gives players even more control over their swing.

Sounds easy yes?  Except when you switch to True-aim mode you are presented with not an individual marker but about 8-10 different GPS points and there is no explanation at all on how to use them or switch between them.

Another lack of explanation is for the new Focus mode. And this is what they say:

Use the all-new focus feature to take even more control over your game. Your golfer’s focus is displayed as a red meter in the lower left corner of the hud. As you perform advanced maneuvres such as power boost, spin, putt preview or shrinking the aim circle, focus decreases. Once focus is completely depleted, advanced maneuvres are no longer available. As time passes, focus is slowly restored.

This is all pretty self explanatory and on the whole it works very well except I cannot get it to work for boost accuracy in the training section so I keep failing. The instructions are clear to a point but when you exit to take your shot there is no instruction on how to actually apply it to the shot and so my training is failing. Needless to say I exited the training and just played the game as I used to.  Now I am sure some bright spark will come along and explain how to do these, but if something which should be simple requires explaining, then EA Sports have failed.

Let’s talk about the putting. This is one of my biggest gripes of the later Tiger Woods games, it is that I cannot use the putting grid very well. I struggle to read it and understand the speeds and putt accurately. I can manage about a foot either side of the hole but anything greater than that and my putting is a mess.  EA Sports have been criticised by many gamers for this before – not for having a putting grid, but for having no real alternative to read the green for those who hate the grid.  Sure they have the putting line by pressing LB (Xbox 360 version) but this can often be very vague and it is limited in use to how much focus meter you have. The putting line uses up quite a large chunk of focus so there are many times when you can only use it once per putt or even have no chance to use it at all because you have not enough focus, so you are left to using the putting grid – if you know how to use it well.

Gone are the monetary prizes for your skills and now you have the XP system known from RPGs and adventure games.  You get XP points for completing challenges and general play of the game. These can be spent on upgrading your skills or buying items from the club shop. You have to balance out your desire for new kit against upgrading your skills. My personal recommendation is to ignore the pro shop until you start  getting lots of XP and concentrate on upgrading the skills only at first. Certainly there are a few early challenges which require you to have a certain amount of power to pass so power should be an early priority.  Speaking of challenges, there are 48 challenges to play ranging from completing 3 or 4 holes in a certain par or more challenging types of 9 holes. They are a little challenging this time round as not only do you have to beat the par score of the opponent but you also have a minimum amount of greens-in-regulation (GIR) or fairways-in-regulation (FIR) – so as an example one of Retief Goosen’s challenges is that you have to beat his score of -1 under par but also minimum of 7 out of 9 greens in regulation. So its a double challenge as you may pass on one but fail on the other.

Generally I feel the game is an okay upgrade but it seems to lack some punch and something new to the table, those bits which are new are quite poorly explained and the whole game just barely feels like a new game at all. As I said at the beginning it is just the same of golf churned out with a few bells which at a push let out a little ding.

Be wary of buying the game second hand if you wish to play online. EA now have a unique code on each manual which unlocks the online play. If the code is used then you have to pay to unlock the online play. A bit cheeky but I can understand a bit that they want some money from the second hand market although being the largest game developer in the world, they certainly do not need the money and many customers will see it as penny pinching.

I am disappointed with this game, its just another rehash but if you are one who has to buy every iteration of every Tiger Woods game then it is worth buying, just do not expect any groundbreaking new things. I would class it more as an expansion pack, but then that is the way all sports games are nowadays.

GOOD/10 (at a push)

So I thought I would test my iPhone 3GS model loaded with OS4 and voila I could replicate the problem. Within 20 seconds of holding the phone, my signal went from 5 bars down to one. I did this process 3 more times to rule out a fluke and the same happened. Some people have shown videos to show calls dropping on the iPhone 4 but as Gareth states, if the phone thinks it has a low signal it will drop the call. Now I am no scientist or a technical buff, I leave that to the experts, I can only tell you that this happens on the 3GS too on OS4 so it is highly likely to be a software issue. I await a patch from Apple to fix it.

Naughty Bear – Xbox 360, PS3.  Cuddly bears meet Grand Theft Auto. Well sort of. Cuddly bears  but not for kids under 12 apparently as it is a bit gory.  It is a brand new game idea so hopefully it may bring something new to the table. Even if it does not, shotgun-toting teddy bears could be interesting. Remember folks, it is only a game, your teddy bear will not attack you while you sleep.

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 – All consoles.  If ever a film did not deserve to become a Lego game, it is Harry Potter. What were they thinking?  Oh well, it could be a good bit of fun, I do love Lego videogames.

2^nd July

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 – All consoles. Another year, another Tiger Woods game. It is hard to know how they can change a year-in/year-out golf game but  this time you do get to play in the Ryder Cup.  Fortunately no sign of added  girlfriends.

9^th July

Crackdown 2 – Xbox 360. Another long awaited sequel. Hopefully this time round the game will have just a wee bit more substance rather than just jumping around collecting orbs and shooting people.

16^th July

Toy Story 3 – All consoles. Oh yes everybody loves Toy Story, right?  Good platforming games do not come around often, I am hoping this is going to be an excellent edition.