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Review: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

Words by

Sayem Ahmed

Posted on October 12, 2011

The JRPG genre has been stagnating, whether we want to admit it or not. There have been no real revolutionary steps in the genre to revitalize itself and become relevant to the games industry. Final Fantasy is being beaten like a dead horse, many of the Tales series games are not being localised for western audiences, and lets not even talk about what happened to Star Ocean. This is where Xenoblade comes in.

Director Tetsuya Takahashi has been instrumental to creating prolific RPG’s such as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI and Secret of Mana. With this pedigree behind him, Xenoblade does not disappoint. Honouring many traditional JRPG elements and conventions, Xenoblade has a plot that takes a few hours to really kick in, but when it does you realise you have stepped into a massive, sprawling world and the slow start just ushers you into a tantalising and surprisingly refreshing world. Even with truckloads of JRPG tropes in tow, it feels more modern than any other JRPG I have played this generation.

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Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360)

Words by

Thomas Mullin

Posted on September 30, 2011

Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360)

In the gaming bible it’s well known that for many believers Deus Ex was the beginning of modern gaming; a genesis of sorts. It was a confident blend of shooter action, RPG development and explorative adventure. Its words were, and still are, gospel to many and the universe that’s contained within is still a marvel of storytelling.

Government conspiracies, cloak and dagger activity and political intrigue were the order of the day, all ready to be tackled by the augmented super soldier, J.C. “make your own assumptions about what his initials stand for” Denton. It was considered blasphemy that Invisible War, it’s successor, exists to some and so rightfully so there was due concern about Eidos’ latest addition to the series; the prequel, Human Revolution.

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Review: Bastion (Xbox 360)

Words by

Ray Willmott

Posted on September 16, 2011

Gaming characters are an expressive lot. They’re always talking about their lives, their loves, and their losses, whether they’re making you feel sorry for them or getting on your goat. Generally they’re the ones who link the player to the virtual world, captivating them with their emotional outbursts which tie in nicely with the games over-arching narrative.

Bastion however, doesn’t follow the same conventions you’ve come to expect from the RPG genre. The Kid isn’t going to spout vindictive curses to anyone who will listen because of an undying hatred for a certain individual. He’s not going to tell you that he “fancies Mildred, but is still in love with Dorothy.” He just fights for his life while silently walking a long weary road, attempting to restore balance to a broken world. Yet, even though our protagonist is mute, his every thought and action is illustrated to us in detail by dynamic background narration, voiced by Logan Cunningham.

The story of Bastion takes place after a catastrophic event, known as The Calamity, rips the world into pieces. The Kid wakes to find he is one of the few survivors of the tragedy, and is suddenly face to face with malicious entities with hostile intentions. With everything familiar collapsing around him, and little hope for survival, a thought occurs to him. The townsfolk used to say that they would seek refuge at an impenetrable safe house known as the Bastion, should the world be on the verge of collapse. Thinking this will be the best place to find other survivors, The Kid fights his way there and sure enough encounters the narrator of his tale Rucks (a name that makes him sound more like a childhood teddy bear than a wise old man) who is all the inspiration The Kid needs. Together they decide to try to rebuild the world to its former glory.

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Hands-On: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Xbox 360)

Words by

Thomas Mullin

Posted on September 5, 2011

Hands-On: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Xbox 360)

It was always going to be a monumental task for Relic to bring over 20 years of Warhammer: 40,000 lore and mythos to consoles. Even now there are those screaming and ranting about what Space Marine has in common with Gears of War, which makes it a difficult task to try and convince fans of Epic’s franchise that Space Marine can stand out from the crowd.

Before even discussing the exact details, it’s important to address the issues of any supposed similarity between the two. It can be stated quite clearly, and without any form of prejudice against either franchise, that the only thing the two games have in common is simply that they are both 3rd person shooters.

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Review: Beyond Good & Evil HD (Xbox 360)

Words by

Billy Withers

Posted on August 26, 2011

Review: Beyond Good & Evil HD (Xbox 360)

There is now, much to my pleasure, a more regular occurrence happening within the games industry. Over the past year or so we have seen games which may have escaped the grasp of many get re-released with a fresh lick of paint and, in this recession hit world especially, a much lower price point. Thing is though, I’ve played a fair whack of these and already know just how good they are.

What I’m trying to get at is that there is never usually a great game that I’ve completely overlooked, but at a time when the Playstation 2 and Xbox were the big machines I never bothered with Ubisoft’s Zelda-esque adventure, even when you have everyone and their cat urging you to at least give it a go. I shall not be making that mistake again, so without further ado let’s see just what I didn’t let myself in for.

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