VideogameUK

Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)

Words by

Jennifer Allen

Posted on September 29, 2010

So much has already been said about Super Mario Galaxy 2 it’s hard to know where to begin. In the interest of originality, I’d love to be terribly controversial and critical of the tubby plumber but I can’t be. It’d be a huge disservice to Mario, and worse still, utterly wrong of me. Instead I’m going to have to accept it; Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the King.

To sound like an insane person for a moment, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is much like Dragon Quest IX. No, I don’t mean in terms of content or genre, they’re nothing alike in that respect. I mean in terms of accessibility. Accessibility in a way that doesn’t exclude the “hardcore” gamers but also doesn’t scare off the newcomers. It’s a tricky balance to maintain as I previously alluded to when discussing Dragon Quest IX but again Nintendo has succeeded in doing it. Super Mario Galaxy 2 can be frequently incredibly tough but it also never feels unfairly so. If you want to wimp out you can always collect just the 70 stars that you need to complete the game rather than the tremendous 242 that are available.

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Hands-On: Enslaved: Odyssey To The West (Xbox 360)

Words by

Thomas Mullin

Posted on September 28, 2010

Hands-On: Enslaved: Odyssey To The West (Xbox 360)

Enslaved is the latest title from Ninja Theory, the developers of the PS3 only title Heavenly Sword. It seems going cross platform will only benefit the company as this hands on can attest to.

Basing itself loosely on classic Chinese literature and the 70s kung fu show Monkey, Enslaved is a futuristic 3rd person action/adventure, which puts players in control of the brawn before brains Monkey, who will become an unwilling bodyguard to the female hacker who released him.

It is apparent from the outset that Enslaved is a cinematic experience, from traversing the wing tips of the slave ship to crashing through the Statue of Liberty’s outstretched torch. The scenery is suitably dark and mechanical inside the slave ship, with exteriors providing stark contrast with airy whites and blues. At the end of the demo, the crumbling New York that the escapees crash into is covered in dense vegetation, alluding to a ‘concrete jungle’ that the player will have to explore.

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Review: Halo: Reach (Xbox 360)

Words by

Billy Withers

Posted on September 24, 2010

Over the past few years I failed to get excited by Halo games and couldn’t really see what all the fuss was about. I mean, Halo 3 was average, if anything, and ODST was the equivalent of a decent, but very overpriced add-on with some of its predecessor bolted on to cover the con artistry. It’s not like I’ve never liked the franchise. The first one was a bolt from the blue and was ahead of the pack in terms of vehicular first person shooters. The second one introduced the multiplayer, which we all know to be a very solid affair from the original Xbox days (Backlot is still fun to play, just ask those guys who kept their machines on for days to preserve the online legacy until Microsoft bribed them with new machines).

This is the thing about Halo, the legacy and the regalia. It is one of the big guns that fanboys of the 360 clamber over and say is one of the “best things ever(tm)” and they have their reasons for saying it, but with the last two released to what can only be described as mixed receptions, Reach really does have a lot to make up for, not to mention give Bungie a chance to say goodbye to their baby as they disappear hand-in-hand with Activision for a decade.

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