Review: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (Xbox 360)

Review: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (Xbox 360)

The World Cup is great, isn’t it? Three games of football on every day, showcasing the best talent in the world. A party atmosphere that makes you want to go and buy ice cold beer and join in, albeit in your living room with some friends and not the blistering heat of South Africa. In some ways 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa hits these highs, capturing the fun and frolics of the occasion. In other aspects, however, it’s still just plain old frustrating FIFA.

The base gameplay mode is obviously the 2010 World Cup, allowing you to play through the real group stages or create an alternate present by playing your own qualifications. EA have even gone one step further with that thanks to the Story of Qualifying game mode. Once you get past the huge Coca Cola Zero image, you find yourself with a list of scenarios from each region in the world. These scenarios place you into a losing situation with only minutes to change the outcome. For example, Scotland against Holland, 86th minute, a win would see Scotland with a chance of qualification – and yes, I played this one first, and still lost it.

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Hands-On: Halo: Reach (Xbox 360)

Hands-On: Halo: Reach (Xbox 360)

A beta is a wonderful thing. So much anticipation, so much hype. It’s almost as big as a game launch. But ultimately the point of the beta is to work out the balance of the combat and nerf any annoying glitches. We can still have fun doing it though, right? And with Halo: Reach, there’s a lot of fun to be had.

Armour upgrades are the most notable change to Halo’s multiplayer experience and they hold much of the fun. Flying around the maps with a jet-pack is one of the most satisfying things I have done in a long time. It also opens up the level design and gives the designers the chance to really try something new. The two levels featured (at the moment) are perfect, with ledges and walkways all over the place, just begging to be abused.

But there are other armour upgrades, three in fact, and they too work well within the levels, but they are more suited to tactical games. Sprint gives you the ability to dash over open areas for a limited time, great for rushing a sniper or getting that early flag grab. Cloak gives you a short timed invisibility which is great for sneaking time in the hill, or just being a sneaky little bugger in general. Armour lock is the most useful of the four, and when used right, can be the difference between winning and losing – thunk your fist down on top of the flag, letting you return it and stopping the enemies frags – but I still don’t like it.

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Review: Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess (PSP)

Review: Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess (PSP)

Sometimes it’s the simplest of ideas that grow into the most enjoyable games. That’s certainly the case when it comes to Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess, which is charming and great fun, even if it is rather short.

You play the Duke, a demon whose princess keeps being kidnapped by various lumbering monsters. You have to save her by jumping up a series of platforms, catching up with the monster and jumping on its head three times. Simple indeed! Players can’t even die although it is possible to lose if the monster reaches the top of the screen without being defeated.

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