ReviewsEH

Reviews E to H

ElderScrolls 4: Oblivion - PC

Addictive, but rubbish leveling and combat compared to Morrowind, best graphics evar!

Score : 6.5/10

Mr Green

Empire Earth II - The Art of Supremacy Expansion - PC

More of the same, take spear-wielding hunter-gatherers and take them through the ages, via cannons, planes, nuclear bombs and stompy robots. Adds the Russians, Massai, Zulus and er..the French.

FatherJack

Empire Earth III

Rather disappointing, the previous game is actually better and more fun to play even now. There are less 'ages' and the only real addition is a campaign mode where you capture regions on a rotatable globe. The "story" just seems to give up after a few rounds, and too many objectives are bugged to impossibility or very near it, meaning you need units in place before timers start.

FatherJack

Everquest 2 - PC

As standard a RPG fare as you can get really. The sequal to one of the grandaddies of MMO's, and to be honest, it's basically the same game with a shiny makeover.

Graphics Technically very good. They shine in the right places, everything looks sufficiently bumpy and realistic (in stark contrast to World of Warcraft). However, its all a bit paint-by-numbers, and lacks soul. Its kinda wierd to describe, as all the component parts are there, and very nice, but the whole looks fucking horrible.

Good bits To be honest, I have no clue. I played a week long trial, and at not one moment did I see anything that isn't done just as well, if not better by other games.

Bad bits Its very generic, the graphics are both horrible to look at and hard on your system, it's just not very interesting. Having said that, they are the only major complaints about it too. Its just too...bland.

Score : 5/10

Joose

Eve Online - PC

Most of you know it, but for those that dont, think updated ELITE, but MMOised. For those shocking few who might not know what elite is: Trading/mining/flying about shooting things in space. Also some other stuff, like researching and manufacture. All based around corporations and buisness, set in a very Iain M Banks style fairly believable future-world.

Graphics Shiney, but can be scaled down to run on practically anything. Updated graphics soon promise to make it even shinier.

Good things Sense of community, sense of achievement when you get stuff (as its harder than most MMO's to get things, and easier to lose them), flexibility with characters, reasonably good dev support, very different "feel" to other MMO's, will last you a long time (if you like it). Skills carry on training when you are not logged in. Really, really complex.

Bad things Sucks time from you like a big temporal hoover. You cant really play this casually and get enough from it. Can be crushingly bad when you lose something thats taken you months to achieve because some wanker of a space-pirate. Really, really complex.

Score : 9/10

Joose

Fable : The Lost Chapters - PC

Fun console port to PC. Just fun to play. Let me say fun again as it is just that. A real no brainer, linear, humorous, fun time waster. Did I mention that it's fun?

Yamon

FarCry - PC

Good FPS, Probably one of the best ever made.

Score : 8/10

Dr. Kitteny berk

Far Cry: Vengeance - Wii

Takes a bit of getting used to the controls, which work okay with practice, although some simple actions are needlessly complex. Graphically poor, especially given PC Far Cry's quality. Grainy, jerky movies, a very obvious cone of light around you and horrible HDR. Not online capable, and two players need a mote and chuk each.

Fatherjack

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - ==GameCube

Only stylistically like the classic FF series. A clumsy real-time combat system spoils a pretty-looking game.

FatherJack

Forza Motorsport - Xbox

Gran Turismo for the xbox, but better.

Score : 8/10

Dr. Kitteny Berk

Forza Motorsport 2 - XBox 360

Introduction The eagerly-anticipated "next-gen" sequel to the definitive XBox driving game, perhaps the* definitive console driving game.

Gameplay Nice. After a brief period of re-introduction it's clear the old game is still there. Instant gratification with decent cars from the get-go are the hallmark of the series, and that's still the case. Just buy a car, race it a bit, upgrade it, pwn. The original (at least in SP) was never about being the most perfect driver ever, or passing a million license tests, just (sort of) getting the job done. Only gameplay difference I've noticed is in the "hired driver" aspect - rather than train or coach your stand-in, you simply select a CPU driver of a certain level, who then takes a de-facto cut, from 55-100% of your winnings.

Sights and Sounds Well, I thought it looked pretty nice at first, and actually it still does show pretty much what you need to see - but it could do a bit more. Cars are quite ridiculously shiny, but the draw distance doesn't always keep up. Don't get me wrong, it pisses all over anything previously - but it's not perfect. Other games have demonstrated that there can be a lot more "going on" on the screen, but I think the clean interface serves this game well.

Stuff that sucks Umm, it is a bit easy. Okay I know I'm like the supar-leetest drivar evar, but this pushes it a bit. You will always win a computer-controlled race if you have the best PI on the grid, but it's also a piece of piss to win manually with the worst car. MP will put you firmly in your place, but it is a bit of a munchkin-fest getting the unlocks. It doesn't have that many tracks, cars or modes compared to the Gran Turismo series.

Conclusion Best driving game on the 360. For now, at least - the only damn one on next-gen consoles.

Score : 8.5/10

• I love Forza and Gran Turismo equally - they're both fucking excellent games, peerless in their execution and playability.

FatherJack

FreeLancer - PC

Elite, but newer.

Score : 6/10

Dr. Kitteny Berk

Gothic III

I think I'll be playing this for quite some time. Very nice and freeform. Think, "A very pretty Morrowind" and you are almost there. I'm sure there is a main quest here somewhere but the massive game world is kinda obscuring it, with it's distinct lack of loading screens and massive scope ofr adventure. This is not a bad thing though. Far from it. Supplies me with the total immersion into another world that I'm looking for.

Yamon

Guitar Hero 2 - PS2

Take to the stage yet again with the sequel to Red Octane's head banging moshtastic guitar shredder.

For those of you who have never played this or the original it's basically a variation on the Dance Dance Revolution/Dancing Stage Mega/Euro Mix type of game, where you have to match symbols appearing on the screen to button pushes.

The difference with this being that instead of some campy dance mat you use a scaled down model of a Gibson SG electric guitar.

The controller has 5 'fret' buttons and a bar to strum in time with the notes.

The original game featured an impressive number of classic and more modern rock classics from Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Pantera to more modern artists such as Franz Ferdinand, Queens of the Stoneage and Audioslave.

The sequel has an even larger repertoire of songs, although in my opinion the set list is a little weaker than the previous game but still features great songs such as Dick Dale's Miserlou, The Alman Brothers Band's Jessica (Top Gear theme tune) and the Foo Fighters' Monkey Wrench.

The controls in this game seem to work a lot better, especially things like hammer ons and pull offs (where you play one note and then just 'hammer on' the next note, without strumming again.

One thing that bugs me a little is that the rhythms don't always seem to match terribly well with the song, a problem that wasn't present in the original, or was certainly much less noticeable to me.

As a guitar player myself I have found both this and the original to be very fun and addictive, but I don't think it is really necessary to be a guitarist to get a lot out of this game, although it does help if you like the songs on it.

In short my opinion is divided on this game somewhat, although the controls are a lot more responsive this is somewhat spoiled by the fact that there are not many songs on here that I know or like. I think if you are interested in this game it is best to check out the set list before you buy it, and maybe even download the soundtrack, in case, as was the case with me, there are songs on there that you recognise, even if you don't know them by name.

I will give this game 3.5 out of 5 even though the orignal would have got 4.5 or 5

Score : 3.5/5

The Incredible...

Half Life 2 - PC

An evolution, not a revolution, but still sets the benchmark for FPS

Score : 9/10

Mr Green

Half life 2.

Score : 9/10

Dr. Kitteny Berk

HL2 ep1 - PC

Great addition to the HL world, well worth the £10.

Score : 9/10

Dr. Kitteny Berk

Halo CE - PC

Every FPS game ever+a bucket load of fanboys + awfull online community= Halo CE

Score : 3/10

Mr Green

Hitman: Blood Money

Controls remappable, but have to be changed from in-game rather than the main menu (you can, but they're ignored), and reset on starting a new game. Why the hell do they make it so difficult? Was okay until I had to "distract the guards". No amount of coin-tossing lured them inside, and upon wandering outside found I was probably the only hitman ever to not actually carry a gun. Guards saw me, and told me I was "dead" but didn't actually shoot me. Carried on with them following me, but not doing anything. Crept up behind gangster and killed him with garotte, got gun. All goes a bit slow-mo. Guards finally decided to start shooting, blew them both away. All goes a bit red. Oh, seems I'm dead. What?

Fatherjack