360 Archive

Review: NHL 10 (Xbox 360)

Words by

Billy Withers

Posted on October 27, 2009

I know what you’re thinking…. Is it any better than last year? I’ve read enough of these reviews over the years to know that it’s the first thing that runs through everyone’s head as soon as word gets out that, like life, death and taxes, EA Sports have decided to wheel out the yearly updates and hope that there’s enough difference within them to make upgrading worthwhile. FIFA has already shown us that there is still room to improve things and did so with the newest addition to the footy franchise, but what of the NHL series?

Everything you expect to be here is present. All the NHL teams and national squads, as well as the major European leagues are included, with Switzerland and it‘s teams available for the first time. You can access full season and playoff modes for all of them, which at least gives you more teams to command from outside the usual suspects. All of the action can be done through standard team based games or using Be-A-Pro, allowing for a more personalised crack at the Stanley Cup, providing of course you can help to get your team there in the first place. The beauty of this option is that you can either create a fresh player and come in through the entry draft system and learn your fate that way, or you can jump into the shoes of a seasoned pro and guide him to the pinnacle of the game. The choice is yours.

The main season mode is as extensive as ever, with the option to include the fantasy draft before the first puck drops. This puts all the teams in your set league into the hat and each player can become a target from other clubs as long as they’re grabbed within the time. Once this is done you go forth and win for your team. Definitely one for the hardcore fans out there, but if this still doesn’t cut it for you, then the GM (General Manager) mode is back again and allows you to take charge over 25 seasons with the club of your choice. Salaries, transfer deadlines and the nurturing of fresh talent are amongst all the things that you must balance to attain greatness here. Bearing in mind there are 82 games in the season, you’ll need to get set for a long haul if you go down this path.

So what of the rest of us who just want to get our skates on and score goals? Well, things couldn’t be simpler in that respect. Play now obviously takes care of the 5 minute crowd who just want a quick game, but there is a slightly longer variant in the form of the new Battle for the Cup mode. This gives anyone the chance to take a team through the playoffs without the need of the full season, so you can feel the intensity of each hit and score in the seven match series. Everything that happens in each game gets carried onto the next, so it keeps things realistic, rather than just having set games with fresh legs every time you start.

On the ice there have been some changes, but when you’ve already won 12 sports game of the year awards for your previous effort, you don’t want to alter too much if the formula is already winning, much like FIFA really. The developers have taken a leaf out of the Fight Night rulebook and introduced a first person fighting system which gets you deeper into the brawling action as 2 NHL sluggers battle for supremacy of the sin bin. It does add a bit of fun to proceedings, but it’s not really affecting gameplay that much. What is worth mentioning is the new board play option. This allows players to shield the puck from the opposing player for a spell until help arrives, which gives you the chance to kick it towards your team mates to help get you out of a tight pinch and start a fresh attack. It might not sound like much, but the slowing up of pace and the ability to bring in a new line of offence is not to be taken lightly.

Other than this it’s the same NHL engine you’ve grown to love over the past few years. The AI has been tweaked a little and makes for a more interesting game, but for the most part it still plays a great game of hockey. The visuals are as good as ever and allow for some fast, fluid matches while retaining a fair degree of realism, but you come to expect this from EA Sports nowadays. The sound is where this series impresses me constantly. The commentary is always top notch, but the NHL series has always had a fantastic atmosphere, with some of the best crowd chants around. If ever you needed an example of how to immerse a player in something using the power of sound, then this would be a very good case file to bring up.

Online is pretty much as you’d expect, with ranked and standard matches always to hand, as well as the league system set up for your favourite team and virtual pro. To be honest, NHL 10 is what we’ve come to expect as a whole. There are some updates there, but is it REALLY a huge leap up from last year? I can’t say, in my own opinion that it is. If you have the ’09 edition, I would have to think long and hard before ditching the old guard to keep up with the inductees of the current season because last year’s iteration still plays a mean and hard game. Just what they can add to further improve on the series is a mystery to me, but the next 12 months will be of great interest to see if there can be enough put in to make it stand out from it’s brethren or whether it will re-ignite the debate of giving the EA Sports collection a yearly cooling off period to allow more fresh material in.

If you treat the new addition as a game in its own right, it further builds on what is already a well respected franchise and brings everything together very well. The skill stick control system still works as well as ever and the experience as a whole is well worked. Be prepared to play this well into overtime.

VideogameUK verdict: 8/10 (7/10 if you already have NHL 09)

Review: Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360)

Words by

Billy Withers

Posted on October 27, 2009

Well, it’s finally out then. Turn 10 have given us the follow up to one of the most successful racing games of the current generation and petrol heads around the world can rejoice again. It’s been 2 years in the waiting, but is the new contender on the grid a champion in it’s own right, or are we just destined to be overtaken by too much familiarity and end up bored rigid?

The fact it’s on two discs for a start shows that there is more to this than previous incarnations. With over 400 cars and 100 tracks to race and master, the depth is most certainly there. The fact you can race up to 220 different events also help to keep things a bit on the fresh side, as the more serious sim side of gaming can produce some tediously boring moments, no matter how much you’re into the subject matter.

Let’s start with the cars. The polygon count has been raised to a much higher level, allowing some very detailed renders. Of the new additions, the stand outs are the Bugatti Veyron, the Holden Australian Touring cars and the introduction of the higher performance people carriers, like the Porsche Cayenne and the BMW X5. There are other fresh arrivals in there, but for the most part a lot of the roster is what you got in FM 2.

This also extends to the circuits. The 100 tracks are split into 22 separate locations, with 13 of those ported over from the previous game. The pick of the nine new additions has to be Camino Viejo de Montserrat, which is a well sized coastal circuit with some sweeping corners and a lovely start finish area with just enough kinks in it to keep your wits sharp. The longer version of what is the demo course on marketplace also brings in part of the Iberian International Circuit and the Ladera test track. Both are understandably smaller than Viejo, but are full of bends you can take at reasonable speed and can help to produce some fine races, especially in the smaller classes. There are other well known names which have also been added to the mix, such as Catalunya and the 24 hour Le Mans circuit. Let’s just be thankful that there isn’t an endurance option to have you racing for an entire day, unless of course you’re a member of Insomniacs Anonymous.

Making a welcome return to the series is the reinstating of the point-to-point races. These were originally in the very first Forza and a totally revamped Fujimi Kaido has never looked better. The time off has certainly done it the world of good, with some truly lavish scenery, as well as giving us back one of the thinking man’s tracks, with hidden corners set to catch out the unwary and the occasional fast straight acting as a reward for negotiating the more intricate parts unscathed. To compliment the “Something Old, Something New” attitude of the third game, we also have the Rally di Positano, based around the Amalfi region of Italy (and also housing it’s namesake circuit within its boundaries). Again you have to be on the ball to get the most out of it, but there may well be another reason we have these more cerebral roads back….

Drifting has finally reached Forza. It has been kept caged in the world of Need For Speed and Midnight Club for long enough and has become mainstream enough to seek inclusion here. I have to be honest and say that this has never been a side to racing that’s even caught my eye, let alone give me any interest in the subject, but it certainly looks like it’s here to stay. For those who have enough talent and know how, victories are possible by, as its normally put, chucking the back end out and maintaining control for as long as possible, while all the time amassing points in the process. All I will say is good luck to you because as far as I’m concerned, this is a skill for a more acquired taste. Drag races are also given more exposure, with a whole section of the event list dedicated to this pursuit.

The feeling you get from Forza now is that of trying to juggle simulation and arcade together without dropping them and causing an almighty mess on the floor. Drifting and Drag Racing were normally only seen on the more simplistic titles, but having them here brings a feeling of trying to please all of the people, all of the time. At the core it still remains as solid as a drum, with all the normal racing modes still in place and working perfectly, but the section where you can see this sense of easy racing is in the multiplayer section, where it looks like Turn 10 have been in at the carcass of PGR and picked off the juicy bits, throwing them in here.

This isn’t to say that it’s a bad thing though. The online section of Bizarre Creations’ last Microsoft outing gave us Last Man Standing, Cat and Mouse and so on. These are now available in Forza 3, as well as the drift and drag racing which have already been covered. Some of the purists (or fan boys if that term rolls off the tongue better) may not like this, but to be honest, anything that adds to the experience without taking away from it can only be beneficial for the majority, right?

There are some innovations that could have maybe been done better. The most notable of these has to be the rewind button. This, as we all know, is a product of the GRID/DiRT school of motoring and allows people to eradicate mistakes made on the road, whether it be your fault or not. With the Codemasters titles, you’re only able to use it up to 4 times at most. With Forza though, that limit has been lifted and this allows drivers to redo things as often as they wish. It’s all fair and well saying “I’ll never use it.” but just wait until you make an error. Just like a drug addict going into relapse you’ll just keep using it time and time again and before you know it, it will be your best friend, regardless of whether it gives you an unclassified lap time or not.

Visually the game is nothing short of stunning, with the old tracks getting a new lease of life and the newer additions hitting the ground running in terms of providing us with such eye candy. Some of the scenery, especially in the coastal tracks, is jaw dropping, which is more of a shame considering you’ll be spending most of the time racing past it at silly speeds, but the thought is there. All the cars are painstakingly rendered with full scans of the internal cockpits and the outer shell to provide us with the closest many of us will get to the real thing (unless you’re Jay Leno). The sound department needs no long winded scan through, mainly because the sound from 2 was as good as it could get and they’ve just went with more of the same, so there’s no problems here (although the musical choice isn’t quite up there with the last one, in my opinion).

It’s the handling that we see one of the biggest plus points with in Forza 3. Sure, we may never drive these cars in any other guise than a video game, but it’s all down to how they feel to us. The beauty of how Turn 10 make these games work so well in this department is mesmerising, as you always feel like the mistake is your fault, and that’s how it should always be. It manages to catch that happy medium allowing people fresh to the franchise and veterans alike to feel like they’re in total control and that nothing can beat them. The constant 60 frames per second also makes its presence felt in keeping everything unbelievably smooth, which makes more of an impact than you’d think.

The online community has always been at the heart of the series and this has been tweaked and expanded to near breaking point. The Auction House still allows would be entrepreneurs to make their millions on the used car market, but the addition of the storefront lets the painters and decorators get their hands dirty too, without having to rake through tons of cars just for the paint job. The way things are laid out now makes it easier to manage what you want to buy or sell, as you’re given your own space to create, store and purchase, allowing for a more personal online experience. Designs and decal sets can now be bought separately from the cars themselves, as well as the chance for budding photographers and directors to show off their skills in the picture and video libraries. The new layout makes it even easier to become involved with an already fit to bursting service, so top marks there.

This is without doubt the best racing game on the market to date. It’s managed to seamlessly integrate the playground of PGR with the hardcore elements the franchise has been famous for for some time now. All the bases are covered and that takes a lot of talent and ideas and Turn 10 have shoehorned both into two discs and there is no way you can do without it. If I had to be picky I’d have a moan about the rewind functions and the menu layouts, which can be a little bit easy to get lost in, but that’s LITERALLY being picky. If you are into racing games in ANY way, you need to grab Forza as soon as possible.

VideogameUK verdict: 9/10

Press/Promo Copy Of DJ Hero Turns Up On eBay!!

Words by

Russell Maher

Posted on October 25, 2009

Press/Promo Copy Of DJ Hero Turns Up On eBay!!

Originally posted at Ve3tro.com:

Once again another game has leaked onto eBay, this time it’s DJ Hero and comes packed sealed with the turntable.

Even though it’s listed as an early release the auction doesn’t end for another 6 days, and listed at £43.00 it will probably go for more than the recommended retail price.

The eBay user, glengormley_1945, has other promo games as well as promotional swag up for auction. You can pop over and bid on DJ Hero here. Maybe I will as VideogameUK could’nt get our hands on this…

Review: Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360)

Words by

Steven Wright

Posted on October 23, 2009

Have you ever sat and watched people, watching sports? Jumping up and down spitting at the TV, screaming with pure joy when their team scores. That is exactly what you will look like when you play Madden 2010. Your cat will run for its life, your girlfriend will sigh and shake their head but you just wont care, all that matters will be laid out in the field in front of you and what a pretty field it is.

EA have worked hard to make you spend your hard-earned pennies on another football game to add to your collection. Is it really worth forking out the 40 quid for a similar game? Yes and no. Sure, you get the updated rosters but what you want is new game modes, sharpened graphics and most importantly, bigger and better gameplay.

Madden 10 delivers a fast and frantic football experience. Their impressive physics engine is back, supported by the all new Pro Tak animation technology displaying massed carnage on and off the ball. Watching players getting floored by a 300 pound American monster never fails to draw a smile to my face, unless their sacking my quarterback that is. With 22 players all trying to knock each other into next week the engine does get put under some pressure and it does stand up to it. Only on a few incidents did it let me down and remove me from my little bubble of realism.

Realism is key to your Madden experience. You want to feel the pressure as you’re pushing for that key first down and I can honestly say that EA have nailed it. The graphics are superb; the sunlight reflecting off the helmets, the wear and tear on the field. It is quite possibly the best looking sports game I have played. Add in some crisp crunching audio and intuitive commentary to bolster the effect and you have something special. Listening to the commentary is key to improving, unlike most sport games they actually give you tips rather than mocking your lack of ability. Looks like EA have learned a lot since the days where I used to turn off the commentary on PGA tour (they were cruel, cruel people).

Madden can be a tough little game for new players, I was one back in the day and after missing out on the last game I am back there again. I had to relearn how to read the pitch and hit the right passes; I threw a ridiculous amount of interceptions in my first few games as will you. EA have included a clever feature called Madden IQ that will set the difficulty in relation to your skill level. You take command of the player in a TRON like virtual reality arena where you will be tested in the four main gameplay categories: rushing, passing, pass defence and rush defence. My personal weakness is passing, I know thats a pretty big weakness but now with Madden IQ I can get a little help while I improve.

The Ask Madden feature is a complete godsend, click this option and you will greeted with 3 plays specifically chosen for your situation. Do not be afraid to let John Madden gently hold your hand and lead you through the maze that is an American football playbook because it will take you ages to work it out. Even after many years playing Madden games I only dip into the playbook when and where I have to and trust me, it’s a scary experience.

Ultimately Madden is for the die hard fans of the sport and EA have added so many little things to make them smile. From simple little sideline animations to watching the chain gang rushing out to see if you have your first down. The game even has a halftime show with a real presenter. In Franchise mode you get to see all the scores from around the league and the key stats from the big players. Sadly realism brings one of its nasty little friends, advertising. Snickers sponsor the game and you will see their logo plastered everywhere. Just wait until you see the puns: CHEWS WISELY, CHOMPETITION. These may be funny once but quickly leave bad taste in your mouth. That has to be the biggest problem with Madden 10, the shameless advertising and money grabbing tactics used by EA.

With the shipped game you get to play Franchise mode, Superstar mode and online ranked, unranked and co-op. Does not seem too bad until you find out that there are two game modes that are only available when you purchase them from the Madden store. Pick a Superstar mode lets you play as any NFL star not just your created player; why is this not in the game? Why do you have to pay 160 MP for this? Surprisingly enough it does not end there. Online Franchise, AFC Legacy Pack and the most horrifying of all, twenty plus DLC packs that you can use to improve your franchise mode. I know you don’t have to buy them but just having them there is bad enough. It feels like EA have shipped half a game and have left it up to you to buy the other half.

It is a worrying time for gamers if EA and other developers continue down this road. I am a fan of DLC but not when theres more game modes to buy than there is shipped. If Madden had a few more game modes that are as supported as Franchise mode then it would not be so bad. Superstar mode is more basic than when I played it in Madden 08 which seems a surprising step back by EA. I used to love this mode but now it feels so hollow compared to Franchise mode.

Even with all its faults Madden 10 is possibly the best game of the series so far, it contains all the in-depth intricacies of the sport to keep all the die-hard fans happy and is easy enough for new players to get to grips with. It’s an impressive feat to walk that thin line but EA have managed it. It’s a shame that the advertising and exploitative marketplace content sours the experience. If you manage to avoid the Madden store and ignore the adverts then you are guaranteed a good time. Never played a Madden game? Then dont be scared to pick this up, give it some time and I guarantee you will learn to love it.

VideogameUK verdict: 8.5/10

Review: Need for Speed: Shift (Xbox 360)

Words by

Billy Withers

Posted on October 21, 2009

Review: Need for Speed: Shift (Xbox 360)

If I said I was a keen follower of the Need for Speed series then you could immediately call me a liar. Since, for me anyway, Road Challenge on the original Playstation, there hasn’t been a decent NFS title since. Midnight Club showed that the arcade driving sandbox could work better than Underground and EA started to lose its way. Last year’s almost appalling Pro Street was the last straw and gave the gaming giants the wake up call the series needed.

Now we have a new developer behind the wheel in the form of Slightly Mad Studios, made up of some coders who worked on the critically acclaimed GT-R series on the PC, so at least the credentials are good. To say that this move has brought through a whole sweep of change would only begin to scratch the surface of the sheer amount of difference there now is between not just the previous games in the series, but the entire franchise itself. No more towns to aimlessly drive round to find a race with some ponce in a done up motor with a paint job resembling a baby’s bib after breakfast. Police cars are back at the precinct and public roads have been given back to the people.

This is a proper racer now, with a 38 course mix of fact and fiction, all based around the Forza mentality of tracks. Some of the real places will be instantly familiar, if not a little long in the tooth now, like Laguna Seca and the hardcore favourite of the Nurburgring. Other additions are very welcome, such as Belgium’s infamous Spa Francorchamps and a few British Touring Car icons like Brands Hatch and Donnington Park. Ambush Canyon and Tokyo Club are some of the highlights from the made up circuits, but as choices go, things are good here, with a real mix of easy to drive certainties to those tough and demanding efforts that require a good deal of knowledge before attempting.

The types of races are split into four categories. You have the standard, of course, as well as the now obligatory Time Attack, but Drifting has began to take more of a front seat with there being more chances to get the back end out here than in most other driving games I’ve come across. I’m sure the chavs and their Corsas are rejoicing at the news. The fourth and final mode is the Car Battle section, or Driver’s Duel as it’s known in the multiplayer. This allows 2 people to race against each other, one of who has a slight head start. The objective is simply to either pass your opponent and win or just stay in the lead, dependent on the viewpoint of the hunter or the hunted.

The Forza link is also felt in the tuning sections. It may well be a little more simplified, but there is still plenty for the amateur racing enthusiast to get stuck into, with almost all aspects of the car changeable once unlocked. Be prepared for a lot of effort to do this though, as in order to get stuff you have to gain stars through race wins, which not only unlocks more equipment to use, but helps you to progress through the 4 tiers of events standing between you and the NFS World Tour. As a way of taking away from the more serious side of things, there is a points meter allowing people to gain more stars by driving fairly or aggressively, depending on how you feel at the time. Personally, I feel this detracts from the direction Shift is trying to go, but like most things in life, it can be more difficult to let go of the past than people think.

It’s certainly one of the better looking titles on the grid as well. The cars have that usual EA glossy shine to them and the cockpits are all finely detailed, giving Turn 10’s upcoming racer a run for its money. The tracks are also nicely done, with the surrounding scenery given just as much of a boost as the tarmac and tyres. This is not to say there aren’t any glitches to be mentioned. Every so often, for example, you will see that rarity of the world which is a flag bearer standing slap bang in the middle of the vehicle she is trying to draw attention to. Unless she’s going to a fancy dress party in the style of a Subaru Impreza then there is clearly something wrong.

If there was one word to describe the audio side of things for Shift it would be interesting. The music is only kept to the post race scoreboards, in game menus and selection screens, with your ears being bombarded by what some would deem as cool, but for the most part just seems kind of strange. Your career is accompanied by a hard talking Brit who seems to have become a fan of the US, as some of the words he bashes out do seem to have that “have a nice day” twang to them. It’s possibly another sign that the game has been Americanised towards a mainstream audience, but it can make some people chuckle. The races are simply revving engines, squealing tyres and banging crashes. For the most part you do get some mighty fine sound hitting your ear drums, but the burning rubber seems to have become distorted in its transition and sounds more badly sampled than the rest of it, which is a bit of a shame.

Online is a pretty basic affair, with a standard versus mode for up to 8 players and the aforementioned Driver’s Duel. It’s not to say that they don’t work, but I was expecting just a little more from this, as multiplayer sections are becoming the breadwinners in gaming, as you need to have plenty to keep the customer entertained after the main event has finished and the audience have walked out, so to speak.

Up to now, it all sounds pretty good doesn’t it? The thing is though; this game fails to deliver on one of the key qualities of the driving game, in my opinion. Graphics and sound are both fine and dandy, but the handling for these high horse powered beasts is something that defies belief. I can understand how some tweaking may need to be done to allow people to get the most out of the cars they choose, but when you have to get your hands dirty with immediate effect to stop a basic motor having it’s arse stick out more than a sumo wrestler at a rave is just wrong. If you look at ANY other racing title worth it’s salt (GRID, DiRT, Forza, Gran Turismo, PGR and so on) you know that you can get stuck in without you fighting so much for control that people will think you’re attempting a hostile takeover. With a steering wheel this may not be a problem, but for all of us pad users, this could be a make or break problem, so be well advised.

Overall Shift is showing signs of improvement. It’s certainly heading Need for Speed in the right direction and I do hope this acts as a good foundation to improve the ageing series to get it back in amongst the contenders. As it stands though, the feeling is that of disappointment. I had high hopes for this after seeing all those smart pieces of video footage before release, but the handling issue has just left me a little deflated. If you do like a challenge in your driving games then there’s no harm in looking at this, but with Forza Motorsport 3 just around the corner, you can only feel that it just doesn’t have the complete package yet. Next year should be interesting though.

VideogameUK verdict: 6.5/10