Max Payne 3 - Review

Some guys just don't have any luck, and Max Payne's ran out quite a while ago if the events of Max Payne 3 are anything to go by.

It's 9 years since the events of Max Payne 2 and Max, still haunted by the death of his Wife and Child, has moved to Sao Paulo to work personal security for the wealthy and influential Branco family. Apparently Max's luck rubs off pretty easily though, as soon enough his Boss's wife has been kidnapped, several attempts are made on the rest of the Branco family, and Max has to work out what the hell is going on.

The story in Max Payne 3 is undoubtedly in the true traditions of Neo-Noir. Max is the typical Anti-hero in a modern setting, and while Sao Paulo doesn't fit the 1940's American archetype of traditional Film Noir, it's the tone of the story as well as the presentation that give it the unmistakable feel that was also present in previous Max Payne titles.

The first thing you'll notice about Max Payne 3 is the style of presentation. The camera effects are similar to those found in portions of Manhunt, flickering and discolouration on screen leave you with the impression that you're watching these events unfurl on CCTV, while words from the on going conversations appear on screen to punctuate what's being said. In a way Rockstar are ensuring that you pay attention to the right thing by highlighting them on screen, and it's a natural and fluid style that works well with the setting. The whole effect is very strange at first, but it makes for an extremely memorable experience and certainly sets MP3 apart from the likes of Red Dead Redemption and GTA4.



Something that makes a welcome return to the series is the voice over by Max himself, it's audio cues like this that help tie this game to its predecessors even though they are strikingly different to look at. It also helps guide you through the level if you get a little lost and again lends the feel of a neo-noir detective story to the game.

Another welcome return is that of the comic strip style plot points, although Rockstar have done something a little different from Remedy Entertainment's games. While Remedy used them during cut scenes to get plot points over to the player, Rockstar use the comic strip to show the player where they are in the story while the saved game loads up, easing you back into the experience while also giving you something to look at as you wait. Cut scenes themselves are full motion, in game animations. This is something that has, understandably, become the modern day standard and I'm happy to say that the voice acting and animation is superb throughout. Perhaps in tribute to Remedy the first in-game cut scene is presented in "24" style panels.

While we talk about audio it would be a great time to mention the soundtrack for this game. The music doesn't ever really take your attention away from what happens on screen, much like Red Dead's soundtrack. In the traditions of great film and Game making, the music helps frame the action without distracting you from it. It's a fantastic soundtrack all told, it has the flavour of Brazil, thumping club land tunes and of course variations on the original Max Payne theme, that I've had in my head all week. The Audio design is well thought out and employed throughout, a big thumbs up to everyone responsible for it.

Level design for Max Payne 3 follow the franchise tradition of fairly linear level design, but that shouldn't be looked upon as a bad thing. By keeping Max Payne focused on the task at hand and not allowing him to wander off track, the games narrative which is easily the best part of this title is much better served. Sandbox games are all well and good but when you a well scripted story, like Heavy Rain, level design can and should be used to keep the player on point.

Gameplay will feel extremely familiar to anyone who has played the previous entries in the Max Payne series, but also for those who have played Red Dead and GTA4 thanks to the inclusion of the new, much vaunted cover system. In fact this is probably the biggest change to the franchise and I have to admit that at first, I didn't quite get it. If you approach this game like you did the previous entries you'll get your arse handed to you (unless you're extremely good at shoot dodging). Bullet time is a useful tool, and can help you pop a few rounds in your opponents head, but enemies in this game are tougher and more numerous than in either of the previous games. If you are to have any hope you'll need to use all the cover you can find.

Don't stick to one spot for too long though, because Rockstar have programmed different types of cover to have different damage tolerances. So for example, an office divider will take a few rounds of handgun fire before it splinters and leaves you exposed, while a filing cabinet will take all the flying lead you can throw at it.

Destructible cover works both ways in Max Payne 3

 
Enemies are fairly intelligent in this game too, they'll take advantage of cover just as you do so it's vital not to get pinned down as more opponents file in to the room. Luckily there's not a magical spawning point for enemies though, so once you take them all down that's your lot until the next area, and you'll know when you've cleared the room thanks to a gruesome slow motion camera shot of the last enemy going down after a well placed slug to the face.

Beautiful.

The improved damage that both you and your opponents take is thanks to the "Euphoria" dynamic animation engine which featured in Red Dead and GTA4, allowing for more detailed and unique gunfire damage to character models. It really is impressive seeing bullets rip through your enemies as you pull the trigger.
 

The Euphoria engine in all its gory splendor

Another useful new feature, and certainly one that I've needed a few times is the "Last man standing" mechanic. If you have a spare painkiller in your inventory and are taken down by the enemy AI you have a short window of black and white bullet time during which if you take out the guy who shot you, you'll get some health back and live to blow another blokes face off. It's Useful and adds to gameplay without gimping the game, the perfect addition to Max Payne.

It would be very easy to say that Max Payne 3 is Red Dead re-skinned, and in part I suppose that this could be true, but it's more than just the engine that makes a game, and frankly Red Dead was such a great game that I don't care if it is. There's more than enough difference in how they play to differentiate the titles. Dead eye might be a bullet time mechanic, but it's not the same as the one we get to play with here, and that's important.

Conclusion

Max Payne 3 successfully integrates the old with the new, and re-invigorates a franchise in doing so. Non regenerative health is a rare thing these days in a shooters whether they be 1st or 3rd person but Rockstar have managed to retain it without making the game feel infuriatingly difficult or like it belongs in the last decade. New mechanics like last man standing and the inclusion of the Rockstar standard cover system allow for more enemy AI's and therefore a greater degree of challenge but ultimately the game is designed in a way that you can play it as you see fit.

Fans of the series should find this enjoyable and refreshing while those who have played it's stable mates, Red Dead and GTA4, will find the controls familiar enough to jump in and have some fun.

The Walking Dead: The Game (Episode 1) - Review

 Fans of the Robert Kirkman comic book series "The Walking Dead" have been waiting with baited breath ever since it was announced that a video game based on the comic book universe was in development. With Episode one of five now available to download I can safely say that it was worth the wait for both zombie and adventure game fans alike.

The first episode in Telltale Games' Walking Dead series, entitled "A new day" begins with your character, a guy by the name of Lee, being transported to prison in the back of a cop car. Through a surprisingly civilised conversation with the cop behind the wheel you learn a little more about Lee as well as a few details about your escort. As you can imagine, things soon go wrong and through a series of unfortunate events (for your policeman friend at least) Lee is left injured and free from custody but with a much bigger headache to contend with.

The dead have risen from the grave and are hungry for some living flesh.

The opening conversation introduces the timed response mechanic

Pretty soon you meet up with Clementine, the 8 year old first grader who's well being it falls to you to ensure, as well as a small group of survivors that you will be spending a lot of the following 5 episodes with.

This game doesn't play like your typical adventure game, but similarly isn't hampered by the constant Quick time events that made Jurassic Park such a disaster in many peoples estimations. Quick time has its place but the gameplay is almost like a hybrid between the story driven Heavy rain and the point and click adventure games that Telltale have made their livings on for the past decade.It focuses much more on exploration than combat.

Movement around the environments (on consoles) is handled with the left analogue stick, while the right stick allows you to move a reticule around the screen with which you can interact with items, other survivors and in one early scene, a zombie intent on getting some dinner. This control system feels intuitive enough that anyone could quickly learn how to play the game, although it was disappointing that the reticule controls didn't have an inversion option for those who have played too many flight-sims for their own good. Even so, I quickly got used to the non inverted aiming of the right stick, and found that the standard presentation option, where interactable items show a white target dot when the reticule is moved, didn't detract from my enjoyment of the game and actually helped out a little from time to time.

Use the reticule to interact with items, people or zombies

Interactions play a massive part in the Walking Dead comic series, so it shouldn't surprise anyone to find out that a majority of the time you'll be talking to people, rather than wading through a hoard of zombies in a Left 4 dead/Dead Rising style killing frenzy. With this game Telltale have made sure that character interaction is treated with the importance it deserves. Many of the dialogue choices that you make as Lee will have knock on effects later in the series, and some even have an effect on this episode. Don't worry If you didn't like the way it turned out either. Telltale have allowed for three seperate play throughs to be saved so that you can experience the game multiple times to see how different choices affect the outcome.

Speaking of choices, On two seperate occasions in the first episode I had to choose who to save during a zombie attack. Whilst the decision of who to save might be an obvious one at first, the immediate consequences do make you question if you made the right choice. Ultimately though it's down to how you feel about the characters in peril, Save the idiot with the gun or the nerd with a heart of gold? There is no right or wrong answer, this is about survival. There's another choice laid out for you in episode one that is both heart wrenching and shocking, i won't spoil it here but it's an impactful piece of storytelling that leaves you questioning what you would have done in the same situation.

Another hallmark of the Walking Dead series is the well written characters, and while it's very early to be judging if every character in the game will display a similar amount of depth i think they've got off to a good start. Lee is a complex and mysterious character that isn't everything that he first seems, while Clementine is a smart, resourceful girl who is much wiser than her 8 years might suggest. Not every survivor you'll meet is a nice person, and i have no problem with that at all. A whole range of personalities will survive the zombie apocalypse and dealing with jerks makes it that much more realistic an experience. Other characters haven't really had the chance to be expanded on, although i very much doubt that Duck has any depth to him at all while Carley, a reporter from Atlanta, doesn't get off to a good start as she apparently can't fathom the complexities of electrical devices and how to use batteries (you'll see when you play it).

I'm amazed Carley hasn't managed to shoot herself yet

This dumbing down of a main female character isn't the only mis-step in episode 1 though.

I was left bewildered when Lee, after being chased by the walkers to a fenced off garden, started to shout for help to anyone that could hear him. The only reason that the zombies had originally left him alone was because they heard gunshots in the distance, it's not unreasonable to think that the sound of a guy shouting for help might get their attention back again. Probably just a brain fart on the part of the studio, but if i can pick up on this immediately why didn't anyone else?

The audio in Walking Dead, unsurprisingly for a Telltale game, can be sketchy at times and the animations can sometimes freeze slightly, but overall the presentation is excellent for a near ten year old engine. The voice acting is very good all round (TV's Steven Yuen reprises the role of Glenn for the first episode) while the graphical aesthetic of thick lines and cell shading makes the game pop. It really feels like an interactive comic book.

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Conclusion
While recent Zombie games have been an excuse to hack, slash and shoot our way through a large number of shambling opponents, The Walking Dead takes a much more thoughtful approach to the genre which reflects the series from which it was spawned. Despite the seemingly illogical choices that characters make at times, and despite the same old audio/video issues that seem to be a Telltale hallmark, the well paced story shows great promise and sets up a believable and compelling cast and situation, while the cliffhanger ending make it a difficult decision to walk away from the season pass.

Catherine - Review

A certain Irish Stout advert states "Good things come to those who wait" In the case of Catherine this claim holds just as true. European gamers, unlike our American cousins, had to wait an extra 7 months for an English language version of the Japanese Survival horror/Dating Sim/Puzzler, but the wait was definitely worthwhile.

Those of you that follow this blog as well as the Killer Keyboard site will have seen the unboxing video for Catherine: Stray Sheep Edition that i made back in February. I've been a little slow to get into it, but when i finally did make the time to sit down and work my way through the latest Atlus release i discovered an extremely deep puzzle game wrapped in a delightfully vibrant yet disturbing anime style ribbon.



Vincent Brooks is the main character in Catherine, a man who avoids commitment and growing up at all costs. His girlfriend of 5 years, Katherine, is restless with the current state of their relationship and is starting to exert pressure on our man to commit to her long term (yep, the M word people) However, his increasingly complex life takes yet another turn when the morning after a heavy night's drinking he wakes up next to his dream girl, who strangely enough is also named Catherine, but as you can see it's with a C not a K.

Katherine and Catherine

 The game is, at this point, split into 2 main parts. During Vincent's waking hours you see him eating with friends, and can take control of him when he goes to the Stray Sheep bar to drink and talk to his friends. In the bar you can talk to the patrons, check your phone for messages, drink until you drop (the drunker you are the faster you move in your dreams) use the jukebox to play music that is unlocked as you progress through the game, and play a strange game called Rapunzel which bears a striking resemblance to the Nightmares that you will have to play through in the other half of the game. Texting is an important part of your waking life, the messages you send can alter how the story plays out so think carefully about how to end your texts in-case they give the wrong impression.

This Nightmare half of Catherine is where the puzzle elements come to the fore. Every night when Vincent goes to sleep he finds himself in a weird nightmare world where everyone else looks like sheep, and he must climb giant block mountains if he is to survive the night. Because as the theory goes, if you die in your dreams you die in real life too. The puzzle portion of the game is surprisingly deep and extremely addictive, the emphasis during the nightmare is to ascend the tower as quickly as you can while the blocks below you fall away. on top of this there are some stages where you will be pursued by your worst fears, be that a demonic chainsaw wielding baby or a shadowy reflection of yourself.



At regular points during your nightmare you'll reach a base camp of sorts which more closely resemble a church than anything else. During these levels you can save progress, talk to other sheep to figure out what's going on and even exchange techniques that could better help you climb the towers still to come. If you look closely you may even recognise a few of the sheep you talk to at this base camp...

As you progress, the towers will get more and more difficult to ascend, and more varieties of blocks will be brought into play. Immovable blocks, heavy blocks, black holes, exploding blocks and spike traps are just a few of the varieties you'll have to learn to use to your advantage because, and i forgot to mention this before, you might not be the only one climbing the tower, and the other sheep won;t think twice about throwing you off the block and down to your death.

When Catherine was originally released in Japan a lot was said about how difficult the game was, and that it was prohibitively difficult for Western audiences let alone the Japanese. Luckily Atlus patched the Japanese release to lower the difficulty, and included that coding in the EU and US releases of the game. There's also a "Very Easy" mode available if you're really having a hard time of it, but for the most part i have to say that Easy is rather forgiving while still frustrating you every now and then. Rapunzel, the arcade game in the Stray Sheep Bar also offers some fantastic alternative gameplay as it focusses more on solving the puzzle rather than getting it done as quickly as possible. It really is the hidden gem inside the larger hidden gem that is Catherine.

Music, as most of you will appreciate, is a very important part of any game and in Catherine this is just as evident. The Music is excellent, there's a good mixture of songs available on the Stray Sheep's Jukebox so everybody should be able to find something listenable there, while the classical music used in the nightmare stages is unsettling and atmospheric. As a fan of Samurai Champloo it was nice to see some J-Hip-Hop used in the Game intro as well, you really get the feeling that Atlus appreciate how music can improve the game play experience.

Graphically the game looks superb, Atlus themselves have said that it serves as "an experiment for Persona 5" and there's no doubt it was a success as the engine runs superbly. The animations are smooth and natural while the cell shade style gives it a unique look that few games can match. Studio 4 degrees C have done a stand-up job with the story animations as well, they mesh perfectly with the rest of the game thanks to the cell shade colouring of the in-game engine.


Fans of Japanese games will lap this up while most gamers who enjoy a puzzle game should find plenty to enjoy about the game too. The multiple endings give Catherine decent replay value as do the nightmare levels themselves as they all have multiple solutions. Rapunzel offers something different while the additional Babel and Colosseum game modes offer something different for anyone who wants to slide some blocks around outside of the main story. 

Anyone looking for an off the wall puzzle game with charm and personality could do a lot worse than giving Catherine a try, This is a great example of a game being different and better for it.

Catherine Unboxed

I had a lovely surprise waiting for me when I returned home from a hard day of graft today. As I walked through the door my peepers fell upon a gloriously large box emblazoned with the corporate logo of Amazon.co.uk. This could only mean one thing, Catherine had arrived.




Okay, so I admit to being slightly disappointed with the lack of soundtrack. Honestly I have no clue why I thought there would be one, other than perhaps seeing the coasters and making the assumption that they were actually the game disc and therefore the OST too. No matter, as you can see from the video the special edition of Catherine is a nicely packaged piece of kit with a super large T-shirt, Poster, Coasters and Pizza box style container to keep it all in. The box art is superb and as for the game... Well I'll let you know when I have the chance to play it.

In the mean time, you know when I said on last weeks show that I wouldn't be getting a PS Vita any time soon...

Why games can't vanish from the high street

On episode 24 of the Killer Keyboard podcast Nick and i talked about the financial difficulties that GAME currently find themselves in. The reports, which detail plans to close as many as 60 shop fronts by 2013, make for depressing reading for employees and gamers alike. 

Since May of 2007, when Gamestation was purchased by GAME for approximately £74 million, there has been no other dedicated games retailer in the UK, nowhere else where you can get the same dedicated advice and assistance. Shops such as HMV and WH Smith, along with Supermarket chains like Sainsbury's and Tesco all sell video games, but unlike GAME they don't have dedicated staff with knowledge specific to the field, and certainly don't have the floorspace to stock the same variety of software.

Without a dedicated Video Games retailer out there on the street we would see a massive reduction in the one thing that is the life blood of Video games. Choice.

If there was no GAME on the high street would we even see new and interesting games like Catherine or the niche Ace Combat series on the shelves? or would the big supermarkets and retailers stock the things they knew would sell? There would be a whole shelf full of CoD and FIFA, while lesser games would be buried on the bottom shelf, unseen and unloved.

Go into your local supermarket and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. With little room to spare you'll see every PS3 or Xbox game they have to offer on a rack that measures, at best, 6ft x 10ft. You won't see Catherine, you won't see Ace Combat, but you'll see a shed load of games that the managers think will sell the best. You can't blame them for doing it, but it would kill smaller game developers if these were the only places you could buy your games.

While i applaud HMV's efforts in the expansion of their games business, both in range and the addition of a pre-owned section, their financial position is even worse than GAME's is purported to be. The only other retailer that could possibly do justice to games may be about to vanish down the plug hole.

You could, of course buy your games online through a website such as Play or Amazon, but some of my fondest memories of games growing up come from seeing a random game on the shelf and buying it on a whim. Loaded and its sequel Re-loaded were two games that i had for the original Playstation, but I only played them because i had seen the first game sitting on a shelf in GAME. If I'd seen it on a list of games on Amazon, i would very likely have skimmed straight past it. Would I have played the hilarious and completely addictive Football game " All-Star Soccer" if I hadn't have picked it up in GAME? probably not, since it was neither FIFA or ISS (Pro Evolution Soccer's predecessor) very few played it, but it had a charm that made me want to play it, and i never regretted buying it.

 

Sure, it wasn't "sexy football" but it was fun

Then of course there's downloadable titles. True, it looks as though the days of the physical game disc are numbered, certainly as the dominant delivery system, but it would be a shame for physical copies of games to disappear completely. Even if downloadable titles were cheaper, as they appear to be looking at Japan's Vita game sales on the PSN, a great number of gamers, myself among them, resist this trend and would always prefer to own the disc than have a downloadable version of the game. You don't get the same "just opened" smell from an online game manual...

No, if GAME were to cease to exist, gaming would be a worse experience for it. Limited Choice, reduced interaction with the product and the loss of a tradition are what we face if they can't turn it around. I just hope that they can.

The VGA Round-Up

Despite the fact that Spike TV couldn't seemingly be bothered to screen all the award winners at this years Video Game Awards, and while acknowledging my own personal abhorrence for their treatment of living legends such as Mark Hamill, it wouldn't be right to completely ignore an awards ceremony that had as many trailers for new upcoming games as E3.

On a side note, It's worrying that Kojima tweeted yesterday that perhaps he would abandon E3 and make all subsequent announcements at the VGA ceremony from now on, although i think perhaps his tongue was placed firmly in his cheek.

So here's a quick list of the categories and victors at this years Spike TV VGA's

Game of the Year - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Studio of the Year - Bethesda Game Studios

Character of the year - The Joker – Batman: Arkham City

Video Game Hall of Fame Award - The Legend of Zelda

Gamer God Award - Blizzard Entertainment

Best XBox 360 Game - Batman: Arkham City

Best PS3 Game - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Best Wii Game - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Best PC Game - Portal 2

Best Handheld or Mobile Game - Super Mario 3D Land

Best Shooter - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Best Action Adventure Game - Batman: Arkham City

Best RPG - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Best Multiplayer - Portal 2

Best Individual Sports Game - Fight Night Champion

Best Team Sports Game - NBA 2K12

Best Driving Game - Forza Motorsport 4

Best Fighting Game - Mortal Kombat

Best Motion Game - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Best Indy Game - Minecraft

Best Adapted Video Game - Batman: Arkham City

Best Song in a Game - "Build that Wall (Zia's Theme)" by Darren Korb – Bastion

Best Original Score - Bastion

Best Graphics - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Best Performance by a Human Male - Stephen Merchant as Wheatley – Portal 2

Best Performance by a Human Female - Ellen McLain as GLaDOS – Portal 2

Best Downloadable Game - Bastion

Best DLC - Portal 2

Most Anticipated Game - Mass Effect 3

Gametrailers.Com Trailer of the Year - Assassin's Creed: Revelations – E3 2011 Trailer

EA Sports NFL Blitz Digital Cover Athlete - Ray Rice


We gave a quick breakdown on our thoughts on the winners in episode 17 of the Killer Keyboard podcast if you haven't already, have a listen for our discussion on topics such as, who really should have won the best Human Male award, and why i was disappointed that Fight Night got a gong.

Also, of equal interest to many watching the VGA's were the many trailers that were interspersed throughout the evening. Games such as Metal Gear Rising were re-packaged and duly put back on our radars, while newer titles such as "The Last of Us" and the somewhat controversial Rainbow Six: Patriots were given their débuts.

For the benefit of those of you who didn't or couldn't watch the awards on TV, here's a few of the trailers that ran that night.


Hitman: Absolution

The Last of Us

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD

Command & Conquer: Generals 2

Mass Effect 3

Rainbow 6: Patriots

The Amazing Spider-Man

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Fortnite

BioShock Infinite

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Darksiders 2


Metal Gear Rising - Revengeance


That'll do for the VGA Round-up, the regular round-up will return soon to cover the rest of what's happened in the last seven days, along with further details on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The Last of Us and news on the most played game of 2011

Until then, happy trails.

Ace Combat : Assault Horizon - Review

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, available on both PS3 and XBox 360, marks something of a departure for Namco.

Ace Combat is a franchise that has spanned three generations of consoles over sixteen years, not to mention the several iterations of the game on mobile devices including the iPhone, PSP and GBA. In all that time the console franchise has always been set in a fictional world that, although mirroring real world politics, remained somehow alien to us. The new game, however, attempts to please it's devotees while attracting a new generation of Ace's from the Modern Warfare/Battlefield market, with diversified gameplay and a real world setting.

Unlike the Belkan War, or the territorial disputes of the Usean continent, this instalment of the franchise is initially set in Africa and later visits locations such as Washington DC, Miami, Dubai and Moscow. Each location is rendered in the highest detail of any Ace Combat game, including a great number of three dimensional buildings in city settings, something that has until now been a weakness of the series.

Dubai is represented in brilliant detail

The renditions of Moscow and Dubai in particular are stunning, you instantly recognise where you are, and when looking at the ground below you really feel like you're above a real city, not just a glorified high quality Google map. The music also helps to set the mood, each location accompanied by music that really manages to bring it to life. Anyone who buys the special edition will get a copy of the soundtrack on CD, it's an excellent selection of tunes and well worth hunting down the special edition for. Less worthwhile however is the note book that accompanies the special edition. The box claims that it's a signed notebook, but quickly it becomes apparent that the "signatures" have been printed on. I am disappoint Namco!

Gameplay when flying a jet is largely unchanged from previous Ace Combat games, with the exception of the new DFM (Dog Fight Mode) system. DFM makes taking down your enemy a much more visceral experience than previous games have managed, in essence it puts the plane in auto pilot mode, allowing you to focus on shooting down your rival Ace at close quarters.

When you close in on an enemy fighter to a range of approximately 700 feet, a green ring surrounds your opposite number, indicating that you can engage DFM with just a click of your L1 (LB) and R1 (RB) buttons. After that he'll try to shake you off while you train your reticule on him in an attempt to deliver a well placed homing missile or volley of bullets.

Gameplay now includes Helicopter missions, among others

In a further attempt to diversify the game and attract new gamers, Namco have added several new types of gameplay to what was once an exclusively jet based experience. You'll take the part of a door gunner on an American Helicopter, defending your whirlybird from roof based rocket launcher attacks, You can man the weapons on a gunship, protecting and supporting a group of soldiers as they infiltrate an enemy stronghold in the mountains. You'll fly an Apache through the streets of Moscow and you'll even take charge of the Bomb bay doors on a vital bombing run in enemy territory.

These missions add a lot of diversity to the game and make a nice change of pace from the usual deluge of dogfights and bombing runs, but fail to hide the faults that plague the game.

The game feels very short. Two days playing the campaign was enough to complete it from beginning to end, and with the game woefully short of replay value there's very little left to keep you interested or playing. In fact unless you want to see your plane in a different colour there's no reason to replay the campaign. The online is solid enough but once everyone has moved onto MW3 or Battlefield 3 it will most likely be a graveyard.

Gameplay feels confused when moving from Gunship to door gunner, since the control stick inversion settings are shared between the two. I personally preferred to have inversion on when using the helicopter Gatling gun, while it felt more natural to have it off when I was operating the gunship. Admittedly these are personal preference issues and they were quickly sorted by entering the pause menu, but it would have been nice to have seperate settings for two very different areas of gameplay.

Namco have made a big thing about the fact that New York Times best selling author Jim DeFelice wrote the screenplay for Assault Horizon, and while his attention to detail shines through when dealing with the nuts and bolts of Military life, the Plot is unimaginative, stale and transparent at best. Plot twists are given as much gravitas as the opening of an envelope, while the fact that it's yet another Military Coup at the heart of everything makes me wonder if they should have just written the plot themselves and saved some money.

It very much feels like the length of the game hurt the story development, almost as soon as it got going it was all over again. The main Antagonist of the game, Colonel Markov, could have been a much more complex and sympathetic character if his motivation was explored properly. Instead we got one cut scene that not only served to show us his motivation but also made a big reveal about another character. It completely took away any emotional response that the viewer could have had by making us choose between two different emotional responses at the same time. One thing at a time Namco, please.

Affirmative action in the military, a must for any NYT best selling author...

I found it difficult to care about characters who had little to no back story and who were at best stereotypical Top Gun style Jocks. It feels like DeFelice was under orders to represent every group in his treatment, we have Hispanic, Female and African American Characters while The cover star, Lt. Colonel Bishop, is once again a White Male. We play as all of these characters throughout the game, but it only ever feels like we get Bishops story. There is zero development of any characters outside of the Lt. Colonel, and from a series that made me care as much as i did about the death of Chopper in Ace Combat 5, that's a sad thing indeed...





Conclusion

While the story is not the most original and the characters are less than two dimensional, Assault Horizon is at heart an excellent Fighter Pilot game. Graphically the Ace Combat series has never looked better, while the shift to a real world setting might tempt some of the Modern Warfare crowd to at least give it a go. Dog Fight Mode has made the game much more action orientated without taking away from it's roots. The addition of Helicopters, Gunships and Bombers has given the game more diversity but the length of the game is a real problem. This is a great game to rent, but with little more than a couple of days worth of gameplay and no replay value of note it's not really the sort of game that you'd purchase for the long term.

The Round-up: Gamestop encourages second hand sales, Wii UK pricing announced, FIFA 12 knocked off it's perch...

A few days later than expected, and with a throat that feels like it's been coated with sandpaper, here's your weekly Video games round-up.



Starting off today's round-up there's news of two seperate legal wrangles currently making their way through the court systems. First is the news that Rocksmith's European release will be delayed into 2012 after it emerged that there is a band with the same name who aren't happy with being fobbed off by Ubisoft. According to Chris Ford, the percussionist for the UK group Rocksmith, the band even took the first step and contacted Ubisoft regarding their concerns over the naming of the new Music game, and trying to sort out a solution moving forward.

Eurogamer quote Mr Ford as saying that "there's nothing I've said that can't be backed up with absolute fact. I've got documents proving that I registered the name." Seems fairly cut and dry to me...

Next up is the news that Mojang have won an interim injunction against Zenimax/Bethesda and can continue to use the Scrolls title for their new game until the action goes to court. In a tweet on his official @notch account, Markus Persson said "We won the interim injunction! We can keep using the name "Scrolls". Zenimax/Bethesda can still appeal the ruling, but I'm very happy :D" Frankly it's ridiculous that Bethesda could even contemplate suing over any concern that the Title "Scrolls" infringes on their Elder Scrolls property, but i guess lawyers will be lawyers...



In happier news it appears that Blizzard have been raising money for charity while giving their rabid MMO fanbase a keep sake of their gaming past. On October 17th Blizzard began auctioning off server blades that used to house their long running World of Warcraft MMO. All in all, four seperate auctions were planned with all money raised going to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. With around 2000 blades up for sale, each with their own special presentation case, that's a lot of money for a very deserving cause.



Good news for all UK Sony fans now, it was announced by Jim Ryan who explained "PlayStation Vita is an incredible device that offers the best possible portable gaming experiences." That's fancy talk designed to make the price sound reasonable, in case you didn't know. To be fair to Sony, the price for the PS Vita is actually reasonable compared to other tech out there right now. At £229.99 for the Wifi only and £279.99 for the 3G enabled models you get plenty of technology for your money including the now famous rear touch screen, front touch screen and massive horse power the processor affords it. February 22nd is the official release date for PlayStation's latest hand held, and with only a £50 gap in price it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people end up going 3G.



While we're talking Portable Sony devices it would be remiss of me not to mention the ever expanding roster of double packs making their way to PSP. For $15 US gamers can pick up the Mega Man Maverick Hunter X/Mega Man Powered Up or Monster Hunter Freedom Unite/Monster Hunter 2 packs. Absolute bargain right there.



More HD remake goodness is heading our way sometime next year, with Capcom confirming that they are working on a remastered HD bundle containing Devil May Cry 1,2 and 3. Not only that, but it will be available on PS3 and XBox 360. That's right, Microsoft fans can play it on their console too. Not happy to leave it there Capcom have also confirmed a RRP of just $40 for the collection!



Everybody knows that the best kind of shit is free shit, and thanks to Zen Studios you can download Pinball FX2 absolutely free of charge between October 26th and November 2nd. Not only that but you can also get the new Paranormal table layout for free at the same time. A round of applause for Zen studios please ladies and gents.



This next item may not be free, but it is awesome. On the heels of the Portal 2 knee socks (see what I'm doing there) comes one of the cutest little plushies I've seen (at least since Kon of Bleach fame). Seriously, take a look. Turret's never looked so cutesy.



Right, we have a shed load of Arkham City stories this week. First up is the news that Gamestop might be giving away Catwoman DLC with every used copy of the game that they sell. Obviously this benefits the retailer as their overheads on used games are much lower than new software, but from the developers point of view this is the worst thing that Gamestop could possibly have done. Kotaku report that an anonymous tipster sent them an internal memo detailing plans that all used copies sold would have a code for the Catwoman downloadable content printed on the receipt. This has since been confirmed with a retail branch by the Video games site.

Fans of the Batman Beyond TV series will be able to download a free skin of the futuristic not-so-caped crusader if they drink enough NOS energy drink. Although the skin will be available as regular DLC later on, fans of the Fast and Furious styled energy drink will get the attire once they complete the single player or play any of the challenge maps. To be honest i always thought that the Beyond version of Batman was a bit lame, but then, I love impractical capes.

PC gamers will finally get hold of Arkham City on November 18th, the delay is apparently due to the team working on the PC port wanting to fix some bugs before they ship the final product. Good for them i say, patching post release is something i really detest, but it's a growing trend as developers look to meet release schedules.

While players on the console versions of Arkham City might not have many bugs to contend with they are having trouble with DLC, namely the free DLC included in the box. Reports range from codes not working at all, to doubling up on certain pieces of DLC and in some cases Code cards included being completely blank! The Warner Bros twitter account has promised news as soon as they work out a solution, with a cryptic message pointing towards Catwoman being the first to be solved, claiming that players "will get to play as the sexy thief,"



Now then, PS3 owners out there, and i myself am included among your numbers, will know only too well how annoying it can be to turn your console on for a quick session, only to be told you need to run a firmware update before continuing. Sony seem to have finally realised this inconvenience and as a result Firmware Update 3.73, which fixes software stability issues will be completely optional. No doubt other firmware updates will be mandatory depending on what they address, but it's nice to have a choice on this one at least.



What news of EA? I hear you ask, okay i didn't physically hear you, but you must be wondering surely? well the pre-order figures for Battlefield 3 are in, and they're mightily impressive. EA have stated that pre-orders currently stand at over "a couple of million" while participation in the Beta has apparently topped 8 million users according to a graphic on the Battlefield 3 blog. wowzers.

Also hot off the presses from EA is the news that they have filed 2 trademark requests for the title "Prison Kings". Trademark applications for an Online game, as well as downloadable computer game software have both been made but any other clue as to the type of game it will be aren't forthcoming at the moment. Personally I enjoyed the prison sections of Fight Night Champion, so a re-imagining of the Knockout Kings brand set in the prison system would be an interesting take on the fighting game genre. Either that or we're going to get a bully style prison game with online components.



Finally, here's your UK top ten selling games on all platforms for the week ending October 15th

1. Forza Motorsport 4
2. FIFA 12
3. Just Dance 3
4. Rage
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 12
6. Gears of War 3
7. Dark Souls
8. Zumba Fitness
9. F1 2011
10. Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge

The might of FIFA 12 has finally been vanquished! After two weeks in pole position EA's football sim has been outsold by Turn 10's ode to the motor vehicle. What makes this even more impressive is that Forza 4 was released on Friday the 14th, meaning that in 24 hours it sold more copies than FIFA did in an entire 7 day period. True enough most people that wanted FIFA would have bought it inside the first two weeks, but no other game on the top ten this week, including Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, has managed to beat EA's sales.

Good to see once again that Dark Souls is in the top ten, while F1 2011 and GoW3 also hang around the list. Surprise surprise, Zumba fitness is still selling well. I'm beginning to think that Wet wet wet had the right idea when they withdrew Love is all around from sale after they got sick of being number 1. Take note Majesco entertainment...

Right, that'll do for today, I'm going back to bed to die quietly.

Later days.

Monday Round-up: GLaDOS takes over iPhone, FIFA continues to dominate the world.

It's Monday which can mean only two things. One, you just had your first day back at work after a weekend that felt about as short as Wayne Rooney's temper, and Two, It's time for another Monday Round-up.



In what has to be one of the quickest U-turns in recent memory Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has announced that Qwikster is dead in the water. Going forward there will be only one account, one password and one service, be it through the post or by way of streaming.

Hastings posted this message on the Netflix blog this morning - "It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVD", "This means no change: one website, one account, one password... in other words, no Qwikster."

Victory for common sense and keeping things simple!



Listeners of the Killer Keyboard Podcast will be aware of a little game by the name of "The Binding of Isaac" which is being played by our very own Tim Regan. It's an interesting concept for a game, begging the question "just how big can a basement actually be?" but also has some really neat ideas in the gameplay department such as the idea of having only one life per play-through.
Anyone who is curious about the game can now play a free Flash based version of the game on the newsgrounds website, while those who already own the game, including Mr Regan, can look forward to a free update set for release this Halloween via steam.

The update is set to include 20 more items, 3 extra bosses, a new playable character, extra achievements and a new final chapter for anyone who has completed the game already.

Edmund McMillen, who as part of Team Meat created Isaac as well as Super Meat Boy, said of the Halloween update - "This 2nd update is more or less my dream update, something i wanted to be able to do for release but knew it would push the game back another month to get done, so in a way on the 31st Isaac will become exactly what i wanted to release but didn't have the time to finish."

Team Meat are right up there with Valve in my estimations at the moment, let's hope they keep producing original and high quality games like this.



Two pieces of news this week in regards to the aforementioned Valve studios. First off we have this brilliantly edited video that shows just how badly things could go for you hipsters out there if iPhone's new "Siri" voice recognition system goes more the way of "GLaDOSiri". Personally i can't wait for the GLaDOS option to hit the App store...



Also of note is the news that Brandon Jones recently managed to put together a demo of Team Fortress 2 running (or at least rendering) on a web browser. As if this game wasn't accessible enough. If the Unreal Engine can run on Flash 11 there seems little reason why TF2 can't make the move to Flash soon.



Get ready for more Hats!



Xperia Play might not be setting the world of mobile gaming on fire right now, but Sony haven't given up on it quite yet. Sony have partnered with EA to make four titles available for absolutely free during the holiday period. Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dead Space, NfS: Shift and NfS: Hot Pursuit will all be made free to download during the Thanksgiving break right up until January 15th next year. That should keep the dozens of Xperia owners happy...



And if that doesn't then maybe the announcement of Minecraft: Pocket Edition being released on Android will. On October 7th Carl Manneh, the managing director of Mojang, tweeted that the Android release of Minecraft was finally available for download on the Android Marketplace, having originally been slated for a late September release. Owners of Android platforms can now download a free demo of the game to see how well it will run before stumping up the $6.99 (£4.29) it costs for the retail version.



Bad news for XBox 360 owners who love their "Gears" after an influx of reports from gamers complaining that their game was freezing and/or crashing when they try to load a game mode. It appears to be confined to split screen Horde mode and makes one of the users profiles unusable in game.

Epic games are currently trying to resolve the issue, telling Joystiq.com that "Getting this resolved is a priority for Epic. We are collecting information internally, sourcing as much as possible from the community and exploring potential fixes. We do not have any recommendations to share with players just yet."



In other XBox 360 news, it would appear that the Fall dashboard update will be hitting on November 25th. According to GIGAom, Microsoft is targeting a Black Friday launch for the update which includes the Live TV functionality reported in last weeks Round-up as well as Bing universal search and Kinect functionality. Interestingly XBox TV partners are favouring the use of Apple's H.264 encoded video over Microsoft's own smooth streaming system, that's a bit of a kick in the nuts if you ask me, but if it works then who cares?



We have Skyrim news!

The above image is apparently the world map for the upcoming Elder Scrolls title and points to the in game world being every bit as expansive as you could have hoped. Revealed at the Igromir Expo in Russia, no i have no idea what that is either, but according to sources every attendee got a copy of said map to take away with them. here's the map translated into English, you can click it to zoom in and drink up "ye olde worlde mappe goodenesse"



Right then, for any Nintendo geeks out there it;s time to hold onto your Virtual boys and baton down your 3DS's. Nintendo have announced that a new Wii bundle will be released in conjunction with the release of Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games this November.

As you can see from the above picture it's...well...It's Blue. It's also one of the new versions of Nintendo's best selling console, meaning that you won't be playing any Gamecube titles on this powder blue relic, oh for god's sake, it isn't even the same colour as Sonic!



Time to wrap it up as we always do, with the UK's Top ten best selling games on all formats for the week ending October 8th.

1.FIFA 12
2.Rage
3.Dark Souls
4.Gears of War 3
5.F1 2011
6.Zumba Fitness
7.Dead Island
8.Deus Ex: Human Revolution
9.Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
10.Resistance 3

So FIFA makes it 2 weeks at number one, leaving everything and everyone in it's titanic wake. No surprises there then. Rage makes a solid début at No.2 while Dark Souls surprises many, including myself by reaching the No.3 spot. Zumba somehow continues to sell well despite the fact that everyone and their aunt must own a copy by now while games like Dead Island, Deus Ex and Resistance 3 all manage to stay in the top ten best sellers.

Seeing a game like Dark Souls doing so well in the chart this week makes me both happy, and optimistic, that gaming hasn't turned away from hardcore titles. While Zumba may well represent all that I despise in gaming, there are plenty of people out there who still like to get their arses kicked regularly and then ask "Please sir, can i have some more?" Props to any of you that bought the sequel to Demons Souls, you're encouraging developers to continue to make great games that challenge the player on several levels.

The Round-up: Valve give away free shit, Karma catches up with Team Bondi.

It's a few days later than expected but non the less here's the weekly edition of the Round-up for all you gamers out there.

Don't you just love getting things for free? I know i do, which is why Valve continue to be in my good books after they released the third volume of "Music To Test By" the official soundtrack for their smash hit game Portal 2. Along with a free download of all three volumes, the official site also has promotional videos, posters and ringtones available for fans of the game. You can follow this link to the free goodness that our masters at Valve have provided for us, just click on the Download link at the top of the Portal 2 home page...



While on the subject of Valve's portal based puzzle game the new DLC pack entitled "Peer Review" featuring a new test track and everyone's favourite homicidal AI, GLaDOS, is now available on PSN, XBL and Steam for free. Once again Valve show that they know how to keep the fans happy. And if by any chance you haven't picked the game up yet i have more happy news for you, as Valve have made Portal 2 available on Steam for half price, get them while they're hot!



Any gamer who wants more graphically impressive games on Facebook or Google + may have lucked out after Epic and Adobe announced at the ADOBE MAX conference that Unreal Engine 3 will support Flash Player 11, even going as far as to demonstrate a version of Unreal Tournament 3 running on flash. impressive, but it's still not going to get me playing Mafia Wars...



Regular readers of this Blog may recall i had a go on Resident Evil: Revelations a while ago, and while i wasn't all that happy with the controls it was a graphically impressive title that showed just what 3DS is capable of. Obviously that build was some way from complete since Capcom recently announced that North America will see the game released on February 7th, that's still a way off so hopefully the controls can be tweaked between now and then.



From one Zombie game to another now, as it was announced by SEGA that Yakuza: Of the End will be seeing a release in the West under the new name Yakuza: Dead Souls. Gamers familiar with the Yakuza series will see a different side to the franchise in this instalment as they try to survive the Zombie hoard rather than beating up rival gangsters. It's an interesting spin on the standard Yakuza stories of the past so here's hoping it does well.

Ah the dead...that reminds me.


Team Bondi are officially no more after documents were filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the company entered administration. Production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell has reportedly bought the studios assets, but fear not LA Noire fans, Take-Two still hold some rights to the game that should have heralded a bright future for the now defunct Australian developer, and given the number of copies it sold will be giving a sequel the green light at some point.

Seven years huh? way to fuck it up Mr McNamara...



It is a truth, universally recognised, that code based validation of video games is a stinking turd of an idea that leaves little good will between gamers and games makers. There's no arguing that developers need to protect their investment, and that the people that spend hundreds of hours honing the games that we play deserve recompense for all the hard work and effort they put into the game, but Sony's Online Pass and EA's Project $10 as i have heard it referred to by some people are the worst way to do it.

Why am i writing about this? Well it turns out that Resistance 3 was only the first game in Sony's first party catalogue that will have an Online Pass included with it. Uncharted 3 will also include one of these wonderful little codes which SCEE/SCEA claimed to be "an important initiative as it allows us to accelerate our commitment to enhancing premium online services across our first party game portfolio."

Bull shit.

Sony's online infrastructure is, has been and will be for some time yet, a pile of Crap. Just admit to what this really is, a way of making more money from people that buy their games second hand because new ones are too expensive. I'll get back to that particular point later on... The implication here is that any first party game with online functions from now on will have a code included with it.

Gentlemen, start your keyboards.



Microsoft's Major Nelson has released a list of Xbox 360's TV partners, essentially listing which TV channels we can expect to have access to when the Fall update hits "This Holiday 2011" with regard to the release date, vague doesn't really cover it does it?

Click here to see the full list for your region.




Last but not least here's the new UK Top 10 best sellers on all platforms

1. FIFA 12
2. Gears of War 3
3. F1 2011
4. Zumba Fitness
5. Dead Island
6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
7. Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection
8. Driver: San Francisco
9. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
10. Call of Duty: Black Ops

People of the UK, you disgust me. How on earth are you still buying Zumba Fitness!?

On the other hand the rest of the top ten looks rather respectable, FIFA 12 is somewhat inevitably at number 1, more on that in a moment, while GoW3 and F1 2011 round out the top 3. Driver is still hanging around the top ten dropping two places from 6 to 8 and it's great to see the Team Ico Collection getting some love. The continued sales of Lego Pirates of the Caribbean are confusing while it was no surprise that with CoD and Battlefield around the corner CoD:Black Ops has seen a rise in sales.

So FIFA 12 is number 1? It didn't exactly take a crystal ball to figure that one out, but the rate at which it's sold is startling. On the list of all time début weeks It's third behind CoD: BlOps and Modern Warfare 2, beating GTA4 down into fourth. Given that last year EA claimed that FIFA 11 was their fastest seller ever it seems clear that FIFA 12 will not only dwarf that record but most likely it's on target to become the quickest selling sports game of all time. EA estimates put week 1 sales of FIFA 12 at some 3.2 million copies meaning that it's up on last years release at the same point by roughly 20-25%

As i said, Startling.

Even more surprising though is the fact that in almost every shop that sells the game it's retail price is £42.99. Now I'm no cheapskate, but it seams to be a cynical move on either EA's part or on the part of the retailers. Knowing that the game would sell out on day one, they put prices up by an extra £3 on the normal retail price for a current generation game, which for the longest time has stood at £39.99. HMV actually made a big deal of the fact that they were selling the game at £39.99, the price the game should have been to start with.

This isn't the first time that the Market has been manipulated by EA and the retailers though. Back in 2010 during the world cup in South Africa you couldn't find a copy of FIFA 10, used or new, in any store. Instead you could only buy FIFA World Cup 2010, the same game as FIFA 10 but with World Cup branding etc. I'm sick of being treated like cattle by these big companies, but unfortunately the majority just go along with it.

I've tried the Demo for FIFA 12 and I'm not buying, admittedly I'm a bit of a PES fan boy, but this year EA have taken defending and turned it into an impossible challenge, aiming more at people who can already play the previous instalments of the game rather than trying to be inclusionary to the rest of us. The rest of the game is fine, but they made learning the game too hard for me to jump ship, plus PES is easy as hell to patch with real Kits, and that's really the only thing FIFA has over Konami's game most years, in my book anyway...

Fight Night Chump-ion - Spoilerific Review

Oh dear EA, how could you create such a great story mode and botch it so badly at the end?

Fight Night Champion is the first in the franchise to feature a custom built story mode to supplement what has now become the standard Legacy and Fight Now modes from last year. You play as Andre Bishop a former amateur boxing champion turned pro who was framed by a corrupt boxing promoter and sent to prison for assaulting a police officer and carrying an unlicensed weapon.

The problem I have with this game isn't anything to do with character development or scripting, all of which is top notch and a real credit to the guys at EA Canada. The reason that the story mode falls down is that the path it forces you to take makes no sense whatsoever.

EA Canada are at great pains to develop a bond between the player and Andre Bishop. His back story is classic underdog stuff. Framed for assaulting a police officer he's locked away in prison only four years into a promising career, through flashbacks you play through Andre's rise to prominence and learn all the techniques needed to succeed in professional boxing. you face the nine time amateur boxing champion and defeat him in what is presented as a real upset, you learn how to take down a man quickly in sparring sessions, you witness the relationship between Gus, your trainer and adoptive father, and the Bishop brothers.

When Andre is framed and sent to prison you're right there with him. After several vicious fights you both emerge from the state prison more ruthless and hungry than ever. Andre, having put on several extra pounds of muscle in order to survive in jail, is now a legit heavyweight but is left mopping floors after brother Raymond gets him a job at the gym. Embarking on Andre's comeback you're faced with new challenges. In one match Andre breaks his right hand, meaning that you have to box the majority of the match one handed and still win. This raises the stakes but is also a great way for the game to teach you how to box behind a jab rather than swing for the fences in the vain hope that you catch the opponent with a lucky shot.

Eventually, through hard work you reach the top and a possible face off with current Heavyweight champion Isaac Frost, and unfortunately this is where things take a turn for EA Canada's story mode.

I have no trouble with the idea that the Bishop brothers would fight each other for a shot at the title, and while i can also understand why Andre would take a fall to let his brother have a shot at the title, it makes no sense for me as a gamer to play a game just to lose on purpose.

Worse still, when Raymond gets his shot at the champion you find that you're in control of the Champ and not your brother! Why on earth would i want to control the champion at this stage? Surely if the idea is to impress on the player just how strong Frost is it would be better that you play as Raymond and get obliterated?

Never the less Raymond loses and is brutally knocked out, setting up the fight that everyone wanted. And now it's personal.

Having set all of this up it would make sense to let me go hell for leather against this guy wouldn't it? Surely i can swing for the fences and get sweet revenge for my fallen brother?

nope.

For the first three rounds of the title fight you're instructed by your corner to run away. Yes, that's right, in the grudge match of the century, a blood feud where the older brother is gunning for vengeance in his brothers name, you have to spend the first three rounds RUNNING AWAY from your opponent! at least when you complete this ridiculous task the corner then tell you to start putting in body shots, unfortunately this is ruined by a counter which is placed in the corner of the screen to tell you when you've hit him 75 times. I thought this was a game about realism? oh well.

At least after another three rounds of body punching I could look forward to being able to let loose on the bastard that brutalised my brother, oh wait, I have to run away for another two rounds?

great.

Finally, in round 8, you can fight Frost like he's a regular human being and not some kind of Omnipotent Greek God carved out of granite.

It would have been so much nicer if i could ignore the corner and box my own match, but they've overpowered Frost so much that it is literally impossible to beat him until round 8 when they normalise his stamina and punching power. If you even attempt to stand your ground before then you're toast. I didn't buy a Superman game, why am I fighting him?

Why spend all that time building up a great story only to completely gimp it at the end with totally nonsensical game play choices and almost impossible endgame fights? EA had a gem of a game here for 90% of the play through, it's such a shame they blew it with the last three fights...

/Rant