PS3 | VideogameUK | Fragging and teabagging since 2008 | Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS and PC Reviews and Previews

Review: Peggle (PS3)

Words by

Jennifer Allen

Posted on March 12, 2010

Ahh Peggle. What is there left to say about it? It’s a casual gaming phenomenon and rightly so as it’s brilliant fun. The premise is simple as always when it comes to casual puzzle games: fire a ball at orange pegs and try to clear them all within 10 balls. During Peggle’s story mode you come across ten different ‘masters’, colourful animals who can all lend you a hand via the green pegs. Simple yet brilliant.

Admittedly before I first played Peggle, I didn’t understand what the fuss was. It sounded silly and focused on randomness too much. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Propelling your ball to ensure you maximise your efficiency is all down to careful, precise movements. At times you won’t be able to hit an orange peg but you will be able to clear a path by destroying the various blue pegs in the way. Tactical manoeuvres like this are quite useful but it’s all a careful balancing act to make sure you don’t run out of balls.

Read the rest of this review »

Review: Frogger Returns (PS3)

Words by

Billy Withers

Posted on March 1, 2010

Frogger is one of the more well known arcade classics from our childhood, so was really a no-brainer for Konami to revamp and spruce up for a 3D release. This one is not to be confused with the Playstation One games which went so far off the original’s beaten track that you couldn’t really see where the origins came from. As it stands this time round, we have an homage to the old school hit.

As before, the objective is painfully simple. Get your amphibian friend from one side of the level to the other, avoiding cars, wildlife, domesticated animals, transport and so on. The good thing is that Returns manages to retain the gameplay we’re used to, but there was not enough resistance to avoid putting new things in. Some of these do work, while others don’t.

One of the positives is the inclusion of 3 extra levels. Subway, Sewers and Swamp. They do, for the most part, keep the idea the same, but try and add the odd piece of variety to the normal A-to-B mission. As an example, the sewers have some dodgy pipes, chucking out steam in a fairly repetitive and learnable manner, but at least it keeps things slightly more interesting than they could have been.

Read the rest of this review »

Review: Heavy Rain (PS3)

Words by

Jennifer Allen

Posted on February 25, 2010

Heavy Rain is an extremely important game; it’s also a very divisive one that will spark arguments akin to the days of playground fights over whether Mario or Sonic was best. You see, calling Heavy Rain a game is a difficult one. Nor is it quite a film considering its interactive element, although it certainly tries the hardest I’ve ever seen a game try in its effort to be cinematic. It’s best to consider Heavy Rain as an interactive experience. One that will reside in your consciousness for a long time to come, assuming you allow it to that is.

Set in an unnamed American city, Heavy Rain focuses on the lives of four characters whose lives are intertwined through their search for a serial killer named the Origami Killer. Notably, unlike many other games, all the characters are rather flawed. There’s Ethan Mars, a man wracked by guilt and grief after the death of his son in a car accident, Madison Paige an insomniac journalist, Norman Jayden a drug addicted FBI agent and Scott Shelby an asthmatic private detective. Crucially it makes each of the characters more human and simpler to relate to. These aren’t gung ho action heroes like we’ve seen so many times before; they’re all vulnerable souls and much more indicative of ‘real’ people.

Read the rest of this review »

Review: MAG (PS3)

Words by

Billy Withers

Posted on February 23, 2010

From the offset, MAG was billed as a very ambitious project. The possibility of 256 players on the one battlefield, giving their all for the cause made players salivate with anticipation, as something of this scale, especially on a console, was a thing of folklore. The last time a first person shooter tried numbers larger than normal was Delta Force: Black Hawk Down on the PS2 and Xbox; and while it did have a small degree of success, the technology didn’t do it any favours by having characters resembling Nintendo Game and Watch screens jerking along from one side of the map to the other.

Now, Sony have always been well known for having some of the smoothest and most robust servers out there, as many of the first party FPS titles have proven over the past few years, so how does Zipper Interactive fair with their first attempt at something outside of the SOCOM universe?

Read the rest of this review »

News Update: New Challenge Mode for Soldner X2: Final Prototype

Words by

Billy Withers

Posted on February 18, 2010

News Update: New Challenge Mode for Soldner X2: Final Prototype

As some of you who have been visiting the dizzy heights of the Videogame UK Towers will know, we’ve been getting rather excited about the second Soldner X game, Final Prototype. Sidequest Studios and Eastasiasoft are putting the finishing touches to the sequel of this very popular (and some would say under-rated) old school blaster series. What has become new to us all is the inclusion of a Challenge Mode. Looking deeper into this fresh addition brings us some mouth watering ideas, especially for a PSN title.

What the Challenge Mode will do is allow players to revisit previous levels and aim to collect rewards by achieving certain tasks, much like what Achievements and Trophies do, but instead of getting a few points and a pat on the back from your ego, you’ll get stuff you can actually USE.

“What fine trinkets will I get, Mr News Man?” Well, I’m glad you asked that. At the moment it’s still a little on the vague side, but bonus items, additional credits and other unique things have been promised.

CEO of Sidequest, Marcus Pukropski has said that the additional time was vital in getting this extra option incorporated into the game: “a lot of gamers were hoping for a Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype launch during the winter time. Thanks to the added months of development we had time to give the game the perfect finishing touches and implement a few more ideas, including the challenge mode.”

This new information only adds to the anticipation of what the team have been able to do since the very impressive debut to the franchise launched back in 2008. With 7 very colourful, HD filled levels and more new options than a sports car dealership, this will be something to most definitely look forward to, especially if you’re a retro head, like me.

Soldner X2: Final Prototype hit’s the Playstation Network in the 2nd quarter of the year.

For more information, as well as some screenshots to whet your appetite, visit www.soldner-x.com.