EA’s Syndicate reboot is as closely related to the 1993 original as Flo Rida’s lyrical arsenal is to Dickens, and that’s no reason to hate it. It is reason to question the practice of dressing up an essentially new IP in an ancient franchise’s clothing, though. It’s in danger of alienating series fans by presenting a complete departure from the game they loved, and confusing new players by placing them in a universe borrowed from a game they haven’t played.
No headbutt! No attack groin! No grab rope!’ If the three magic instructions of the Pride-era referee give you a nostalgic twang of the heartstrings and a manly tear in your eye, you may as well stop reading and trip giddily to the shops now: this is the game you wanted when PS2’s awful Pride FC came out, and it’s fantastic. Everyone else: have a seat, and I’ll explain why.
It’s Leon and Phil again to talk you through new footage of The Darkness 2 in this PS3 video review. (You can read Phil’s full Darkness 2 PS3 review here). Here we discuss the changes to the sequel, the bloody (but fun) combat and the less than sucessfull boss fight where it all gets a bit Deus Ex.
If you want to polarise a room, start playing The Darkness 2. Half the populace will take one look at your demon arm burrowing about in a mobster’s squishy bits and leave the room – and your life, forever. The other half will form a crowd. (To see why, check out our Darkness 2 video review.)
Wow, this plays a lot like Skyrim. No, don’t fret about framerates – I’m talking flower-picking, wildlife-ogling, sandbox role-playing with a level of depth that simply wasn’t expected from a new franchise. But that Elder Scrolls parity shouldn’t be a surprise. Morrowind and Oblivion’s lead designer Ken Rolston is at Reckoning’s creative helm, bringing with him all the staple mechanics of those games. Enchanting, alchemy, intriguing locations: if you spent any time at all in Cyrodiil, you know what to expect here.
Excuse me while I channel my inner Queen Of Hearts… “Off with his head!” Although, in Never Dead’s case, it’s ‘off with his bloody everything’. In these days of super-safe military shooters, it’s nice to see a game go out on a limb – alright, all of its limbs – and try something new. And for all its rough edges, this silly slasher can at least claim the crown of being the only PS3 game to let you control a decapitated, unkillable bonce.
Look over the shoulders of people playing Soulcalibur V and you’ll see something worrying. Something that will make you think Namco’s glorious new fighter is, quite frankly, a bit Bethesda’d. At the end of a round, the victor often judders uncontrollably, like a bugged disco android in meltdown. But everything is fine. The reality is that the winner is hammering X so frantically it resembles an attack of the collywobbles. It’s an involuntary action brought on by the urge to start the next round without undue delay – in medical parlance it’s known as the Soulcalibur Shakes.
From Valhalla, I can see all of time,” says Lightning as she scans the brutalist landscape of FFXIII-2’s opening locale. It sounds abstract at first (everything sounds abstract when a pink-haired battle babe says it) but it’s the crux of this new Final Fantasy’s gameplay and narrative. Travelling back and forth through time is commonplace. Visiting parallel universes you’ve created by changing history is bread and butter. To main characters Serah and Noel, time is a plaything, and altering it makes for a unique role-playing experience.
If Just Dance 3 was another girl on a nightclub dancefloor, I’d probably be a bit intimidated by her. I can practically feel her derision seeping from the TV as I awkwardly flail my limbs, Move controller in hand, in an attempt to emulate the steps shown on-screen. ‘Okay’ – and sometimes the occasional ‘good’, but practically never a ‘perfect’ – is all she offers me by way of encouragement. Yes, I was already aware of the fact that I dance like an unco-ordinated octopus trying to find a misplaced set of keys. But screw her: I’m enjoying myself.
Young children and hi-tech gadgets are never a good combination, but this is ridiculous. No sooner has a fancy new tablet been thrust into the hands of titular eight-year-old Amy than a train crashes, a ticket inspector knocks you out, and the whole world turns into flesh-eating zombies. And you thought it was bad when they drew on the walls or punched you in the gentleman’s area at the supermarket.
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