PS1 Puzzle Game Double Header: Tetris Plus vs Bust-A-Move 4

Game: Tetris Plus
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Natsume
Release Date: 18th October 1996

As most people have a favourite version of tetris (mine is DX on the gameboy), other tetris games have a fairly high standard to live up to; a little change in controls or gameplay can put players off almost immediately due to their loyalty to other versions of the game. I found that aside from having to swap right-rotate and left-rotate around, the only other issue was that blocks needed space to rotate, unlike in DX where they would move themselves away from walls if possible, to rotate.

There are 3 gameplay modes featured; Classic Tetris, Puzzle, and VS, as well as a puzzle edit mode. Classic Tetris is exactly what it sounds like; players clear lines until their blocks reach the top of the screen, aiming for a high score. Puzzle mode has 80 different setups in which the player must clear a path downwards for a cartoon explorer to make his way to safety by, before a large spike contraption reaches him. It's a little like trying to fix your mistakes in classic tetis, but with a time limit. VS mode has the gameplay of Puzzle mode, but with the added bonus of being able to send blocks over towards your opponent.

Graphically the game is bright and colourful which offsets the cartoon style of the characters well, even if it does make the game seem a little more like a budget title. My only concern with the visuals was that the colours had been changed from Tetris DX, making it harder for me to play at high speeds. The music which accompanies gameplay seems pretty cheesy, loops incessantly and doesn't fit the mood of the game particularly well. If I had been choosing tracks, it'd have been a remix of the original theme, or something closer to that style.

Overall Tetris Plus isn't a bad version of Tetris, especially if you're not an avid player and don't have a favourite version already. Puzzle mode adds some interest to the game as a whole, and can help players improve their skills in the classic version of the game. VS mode's adoption of the puzzle mode twists helps set it apart from any other Tetris game already on the market, and it appeals well to players without hundreds of hours of Tetris experience.

Rating: 65/100
Grade: C

Game: Bust-A-Move 4
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 31st October 1998

Titled Puzzle Bobble 4 in Japan (due to the crossover with Bubble Bobble characters), Bust-A-Move 4 is the fourth in the long succession of Bust-a-Move games, which is now up to around the 28th instalment, not counting clones. The gameplay remains fairly similar in each instalment of the game, and it's no different here; players use a bubble launcher to shoot bubbles of the same colour into groups at the top of the screen as they move down towards the player, and attempt to get rid of all the bubbles before they reach the launcher.

While there are 3 distinctly different modes of gameplay; Puzzle, Challenge, and Multiplayer (vs the computer, or another player), each of them have the same core mechanic as described above. Playing through the Story seems to be the "main" mode, and while it simply involves beating a number of opponents, it's nice to have some cutscenes and story between battles.

Just like Tetris Plus, this game is filled with colour and cartoon sprites which both enhance the style of the game and add to the budget feel. In Bust a Move 4's case however, this is a true as it was released as part of the simple series. The music (which loops incessantly) is one of my least favourite parts of the game; while it's tolerable on the first listen, by the time you've heard it 10 times or more, it's more of an annoyance.

Overall while this is probably one of the best games released within the Simple Series that I've played so far, it's because the game is already from a fairly successful series, and would be hard to get wrong. At it's core, this is just another Bust-A-Move game, with all the Bust-A-Move action you'd expect. I wouldn't ask it to do any more than that, but considering the number of complex and interesting games released before 1999, this had a pretty niche market.

Rating: 59/100
Grade: C

Game Review: XGIII: Extreme G Racing

Game: XGIII: Extreme G Racing
Console: Nintendo Gamecube
Developer: Acclaim
Release Date: 27th November 2001

XGIII: Extreme G Racing is a game in a similar vein to F-Zero and Wipeout; it features futuristic motorcycle racing against 11 AI opponents at speeds of over 600kph. With 6 teams to choose from and just 4 Grand Prix (named after chemical elements) to win in the main racing mode, the game may seem a little short for a 6th generation racing title, but it has its own ways of elongating the experience, for better or worse.

The motorbikes featured in the game have shields and weapons which are intended to be used to protect players own bikes, and damage/destroy opponents respectively. There's also the option to use some of the power from the shield as a boost, but leaves players more vulnerable to attack from other bikes. When playing in career mode there are also upgrades that can be purchased for the engines and weapons.

Racing feels like a strange blend between travelling at what seems to be around 50-100mph maximum and your motorbike handling as if it's actually going at the speed indicated on screen. While this disparity isn't a huge issue, the game certainly feels slower than racing in F-Zero. Shown in the picture above are purple lanes for refilling your weapon's ammo; there are also green lanes to recharge your boost/shield gauge.

In the "career" mode of the game players are entered into race tournaments where they must receive a certain amount of credits over the course of 3 races to continue. Helpfully, the game keeps a track of the position you'll need to finish in each race to achieve the target. From the outset the number of credits required is very high, and difficult to achieve for anyone who's just picked up the game. Assuming players finish in 7th place, as the pre-race screen suggests is required, they'll need to win the next two races in order to reach the credit target.

In most games this wouldn't be a problem; after all you're usually supposed to win a majority of races in racing titles, but without a fair amount of practice and a good amount of luck, there'll be a lot of 2nd and 3rd place finishes. For perfectionists this can be frustrating, and it's not ideal that even a superb performance isn't guaranteed to result in victory (however realistic it may be). The difficulty of progressing in career mode is probably the most offputting feature of the game as a whole.

Once players have earned some credits through winning races there's the option to upgrade their bike with bigger engines, or a variety of weaponry which can be switched out during races depending on what's needed. While most upgrades seem fairly expensive when starting career mode, they're well priced as long as you're playing through all 4 sets of races.

Graphically XGIII is pretty impressive, coping well with the high speeds of racing and futuristic track designs. The backgrounds seem a little flat in places, but that's the only real visual issue. The game's soundtrack is made up of electronic music which is reminiscent of Wipeout on Playstation; it's nothing that you'll be wanting to download and listen to outside of the game, but it fits with the themeing and mood of the game well.

Overall Extreme G Racing isn't a particularly unique game in it's themeing or content, and its career mode has a few flaws, but there's some good core gameplay underneath. This is the sort of racing game which seems like it'd be fun to play with friends, making best use of the weapons provided. Unfortunately for Acclaim, the futuristic racing genre was well populated when they got to it, and so making a truly innovative single or multiplayer experience was beyond their capability.

Rating: 68/100
Grade: C

Game Review: RC Revenge (and Pro)

Game: RC Revenge
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Acclaim
Release Date: 16th August 2000

The remote control car racing genre had plenty of titles from 1999-2001; ReVolt, Stunt GP, RC de Go! and RC Revenge in addition to a few others. While they all had a their own unique twists on the racing formula, RC Revenge was one of the most conceptually interesting, featuring tracks based on movie sets, transitions between car and boat racing, and items that were possibly inspired by the Mario Kart series.

Interestingly, around six months after the release of RC Revenge on Playstation, RC Revenge Pro was released on Playstation 2 as an enhanced port of the original game. As they're pretty similar, I won't be doing a seperate review for Pro, but rather comparing both games in places and giving individual scores for each at the end.

(RC Revenge for Playstation)

In both games there are 4 racing modes; Championship Mode, Single Race, Time Trial and Multiplayer Race. Cars and tracks are unlocked in Championship Mode, with 2 bonus cars unlocked for beating every Time Trial record on normal and reversed tracks. The original game has 15 cars/boats which can race around 20 different tracks (set in 5 movie themed worlds), while the enhanced port has 19 cars/boats racing on 24 tracks (in 6 movie themed worlds).

Championships consist of one race on a course from each of the worlds, with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum championships available to race, as well as mirrored versions of each. Points are awarded to racers for their finishing positions and winning races and championships unlocks tracks and cars for use in other modes. The other modes are fairly self explanatory and have no real unique features.

(RC Revenge Pro for Playstation 2)

The handling of cars in both games feels a lot looser than you'd expect in most racing titles; cars can turn in incredibly tight circles and will drift at the slightest touch. This makes them feel fairly realistic as remote control cars, and once players are used to the handling isn't too much of a problem. When racing on the boat stages the handling changes significantly; the only game I was reminded of was Hydro Thunder for the Dreamcast, as the forward momentum of the boats gives more of a drift style to the handling.

Items are acquired from boxes scattered about the track, which range from a heat ray, to an oil slick, to water balloons, and there's even a shockwave item which takes out anyone in close enough range. With 11 to choose from in total, and some vehicle specific weapons in RC Revenge Pro, there's a good amount of choice although none of them seem as well thought out as the weapons of Mario Kart, and there's nothing in place to stop players from taking 2 or 3 hits from weapons in a row.

(RC Revenge Pro for Playstation 2)

Graphically RC Revenge isn't bad for the Playstation era, although some parts aren't particularly high resolution or impressive. While the enhanced port is an improvement on the original game's graphics, it's nothing special for the Playstation 2 era. It's best feature is running at a higher resolution and frame rate than the original. Musically the game is fairly average with some rock/techno themed tracks and wacky sound effects on top.

Overall RC Revenge is a fairly mediocre remote control car racing game which can be fun at times, but has no real unique qualities. Its remote control car racing can be found in Stunt GP and ReVolt, its item system can be found in Mario Kart and its boat racing in Hydro Thunder. Other than this, the game's track design isn't particularly good (though Acclaim do get points for including a track editor in which players can make better ones), and aside from the various championships there's not a lot else to do.

Rating: 57/100 (RC Revenge)  58/100 (RC Revenge Pro)
Grade: D

Game Review: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Game: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Console: Nintendo DS
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 11th January 2011

Listen to music from the game as you read!

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is one of the most interesting games I've played this year, for a number of reasons. Firstly its use of the DS touchscreen is innovative, fully necessary, and works well to define the character of the game. Secondly it has an engaging and interesting story which unfolds at a consistent pace throughout the game's 18 chapters. Lastly the gameplay is fun, challenging and some of the most unique puzzling I've seen in a title from a large publisher in this decade.

If that didn't convince you, then maybe going into a little more detail will; Gameplay is made up of puzzling sections, interspersed with story and cutscenes which develop once you've solved the puzzle at hand. Players control "Sissel", a soul searching for his identity and trying to figure out why he was killed, and by whom. Taking control of his "core" to possess inanimate objects and briefly animate them, or to talk to other recently departed souls, Sissel is also able to travel back to 4 minutes before the death of souls he comes across.

Most levels involve trying to stop a particular event, or series of events from happening by possessing various objects in order to make a path to that which you want to change. While in the "ghost world", time pauses so that it's easy to switch between objects that are near one another, however if you want to animate an object using a ghost trick, then time must be unpaused. This leads to some situations where timing is critical later on in the game.

There's a set amount of time in which you must complete each level, as once the timer runs out, the event you're attempting to prevent happens, and the future will not play out as you'd like. While messing around with time in this way does sound quite complicated, the game does well to provide a somewhat continuous flow of time through its chapters on the whole.

While there's not many details of the story that I can reveal without giving away spoilers, it features a good deal of mystery, plot twists and character development, especially for a game which is set over the course of one evening (for the most part). Without the storytelling power of the game, it'd be a series of fairly disconnected puzzles, but that just goes to show how well the events of the game tie everything together. The cutscenes and dialogue sections of the game are just as interesting as the gameplay.

A consistent feature of the game is its humour which ranges from sarcastic to slapstick with many other stops inbetween. Every character you meet and interact with has their own mannerisms and style, which goes a long way towards giving the game its unique feel. The pacing is near perfect, as I never felt that the game was moving too fast or slow for my liking, and the only indication that the end was almost upon me was given by dialogue and the events of the game, rather than the progress chart style of other games.

Graphically the game has a nice 3D foreground on a 2D background feel to most of the gameplay, with cartoon style sprites representing important characters when they are in conversation. As always the image quality isn't exactly helped by the size of the DS screen, but it's on par with most of the other games for the system. The music for the game is fitting, enjoyable and incredibly catchy. Its ambient electronic style enhances the mood of gameplay and stays with you even after completing the game.

Overall Ghost Trick is a game that I'd highly recommend if you're looking for a handheld game which is just as engaging as console titles, a good puzzle/adventure game, a well told and unpredictable storyline, or all of the above. Even when I couldn't figure out a certain puzzle, the game was so good that I was encouraged to carry on (some are challenging but never illogical or impossible). My only criticism of the game is that it ended, because I've been yearning to play again since completion.

Rating: 88/100
Grade: A

Gaming History: E3 2014

E3 should be an exciting time of year for all gamers, with updates on games that we know are in development, and announcements of new games that we had no clue even existed. While there are often memes born at conferences; "599 US Dollars", "Riiiidge Racer" and "my body is ready" being prime examples, I'd like to take a look beyond that at this year's E3 and look at the promising content from each press conference as well as the games which weren't quite so inspiring.

The first conference of E3 2014 was held by Microsoft, focussing heavily on new games coming to the Xbox One console in the near and not so near future, with hardly any mention of the Kinect or media capabilities of the system. At least 22 big budget titles were announced alongside a handful of indie games, and although around half of them were exclusive to the Xbox One, there were enough titles to give a general excitement to Xbox One owners, and those keen to get the system.

My pick of the game announced at the conference was Sunset Overdrive, by Insomniac Games, a new take on zombie games which puts the emphasis on fast paced fun and evasion of zombies, rather than fighting your way through huge hordes. Players are able to grind along rails and gain huge kill combos by shooting and blowing up zombies. The cartoon style looks bright and vibrant in a deliberate contrast to recent zombie games and shooters, and fits well with the game's humour and sense of fun.

(Sunset Overdrive Trailer)

The other exclusive game announcements from Microsoft were; Halo: The Master Chief Collection which features the first four games in the Halo series, remastered and upgraded for the new generation. Halo 5 Guardians, announced as having a Beta opening in the holiday season this year, which should be exciting for fans of the series, although so far there's only a cinematic trailer for the game. The Forza series also got some exclusive announcements with Forza Horizons 2, the open road racing sidekick to Forza 5, in addition to some free new tracks for the latter game which is already out on Xbox One.

Also announced as exclusive titles for Microsoft were Scalebound, a game which seems to challenge players to battle dragons Monster Hunter style, a remake of Phantom Dust, Ori and the Blind Forest, a nature inspired platforming game, Fable Legends and Crackdown 3, as well as Project Spark, which seems as if it will be able to let players create any game they want and share it with friends (exclusive to Xbox One and PC), and the Xbox Live exclusive Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX plus Alpha, which lets players don Street Fighter and other classic Capcom costumes and take down zombies.

(Cinematic Trailer for Halo 5)

Multiplatform titles announced by Microsoft include Call Of Duty Advanced Warfare, Evolve, Assassin's Creed Unity, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Rise Of The Tomb Raider, The Witcher 3, and Tom Clancy's: The Division, in addition to a host of indie titles which may or may not also be appearing on Steam/PS4 also. The final announcement was not a video game, but Halo Nightfall, a live action miniseries detailing some of the events of the Halo franchise.

Overall Microsoft presented a strong field of videogames, both exclusive and non exclusive coming to the Xbox One platform. While I doubt that many people will choose to buy a console purely because a game comes to it first or has extra DLC, when added to the other announcements these make for good backup purchase justifiers. With a lot of work still to do to make the Xbox One competitive in the eighth generation, Microsoft have taken a step in the right direction by focussing purely on games, and bringing what seems to be a strong selection of titles to their console.

EA's conference proved to be one of the shortest at this year's E3 with a runtime of just 50 minutes, in which they showcased 5 sporting titles, and 7 non sports titles. While I felt that there was far too much time dedicated to their sports titles (since everyone pretty much knows what they're getting already), most of the games shown were at least interesting. The best shot at a memeworthy moment came from EA's conference with their presenter exclaiming "All the feels-uh!" after a trailer.

My pick for the most interesting game of the presentation was tied between two games; Dragon Age Inquisition (already showcased at Microsoft's conference), due to the sweeping flyover shots in the trailer, establishing the world of the game, a choice of action or tactical gameplay and a fairly diverse looking cast of playable characters, and Criterion's as yet untitled vehicular action game featuring helicopters, atv's, jetskiis, snowmobiles, wingsuits and more.

(Criterion's Untitled Vehicle game trailer)

Other non sports titles announced by EA include The Sims 4 which seemed to celebrate features that apparently appear for the first time in the series, but were basically present in at least the first two installments, Mirror's Edge 2 which promised less linearity and more realism once released, a new Mass Effect game, and Dawngate, a MOBA which is currently taking on player suggestions to craft it into a better experience; these included giving the characters a large and interconnected backstory to provide battles with more meaning to players.

The final title announced that isn't a sports game was Battlefield: Hardline which features "Cops vs Criminals" style gameplay for up to 32 players online, with action style chases, gunbattles and destructible environments. While it's unclear just how different the game will be to other shooters of this generation, the concept seems to be solid and if executed well could foster a large community of players. The beta for the game was announced at the conference and is available for PS4 players.

(Battlefield: Hardline gameplay footage)

Most of EA's sports titles seemed to promise improvements which should have been implemented years ago, such as "corner flags that move", "interesting defence" and "adding more emotion". EA Sports Golf got the best feature of the group, with a course editor that includes the ability to add battleships and other obstacles to your custom holes. Overall though EA's UFC, NHL, FIFA, Madden and Golf franchise games will most likely be bought by the same people who purchased previous instalments in each series.

As EA appeared on my bottom 5 publisher list earlier on this year, you might expect me to have disliked their presentation. While I wasn't excited for every game they showcased, there were a few good ideas on offer, and their insistence that they wanted to listen to what players want from their games left me slightly more positive. Let's just hope that they want to hear from gamers who disagree with them, as well as their fans.

Ubisoft's presentation showcased the least amount of games of the big 5, with just 8 games discussed and demonstrated. With an hour to fill, this left time for an in depth look at some of their upcoming titles. Three of their titles were shown in some depth at other conferences; Tom Clancy's: The Division, Farcry 4, and Assassin's Creed Unity. All of these looked like solid additions to their respective franchises, and I'll be elaborating a little more on the first two once I get to the Sony conference.

Another tie for most exciting game occurred with Assassin's Creed: Unity showing off what seemed to be truly next gen graphics and gameplay set in the French revolution, despite its rather boring cast of indistinguishable pale dudes. The other game which caught my eye was The Crew, a beautiful coast to coast driving game across the USA without any loading screens, featuring 2 hour+ missions and multiplayer capabilities.

(The Crew gameplay trailer)

Two rather boring announcements (from my point of view) were Just Dance 2015, and Shape Up, a new fitness game which promised to feature more of a gaming approach to fitness, allowing players to enjoy working out. The final two games to be announced by Ubisoft were Valiant Hearts: The Great War, which uses the same art engine as Rayman: Origins, but only featured a cutscene style trailer, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege which appears to be a team based shooter, challenging players to either defend or capture a hostage in a domestic style setting.

(Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege gameplay trailer)

Overall Ubisoft's conference showcased a strong lineup of games; stronger than EA's lineup in my opinion. Although not everything they're producing was 100% interesting to me, I remain hopeful that at least 3 of their titles will be fully innovative and enjoyable gaming experiences.

Where Microsoft focussed solely on the new games coming to Xbox One, Sony's press conference featured a lot more discussion relating to their hardware, PSN, tv shows they were involved in making, remastered versions of games and old games coming to PS4. Amongst these announcements were Playstation TV, a new streaming device which allows players to watch tv series and films, access selected Playstation games, and (providing you have a PS4), play PS4 on a different television to the one it's attached to.

My favourite part of their 1 hour and 45 minute presentation was the announcement that the Hulk Smash move on Disney Infinity would be exclusive to PS4. In a way, I think that this sums up a lot of the 'exclusive content' announcements of late; they seem to be less and less exciting incentives. Obviously companies need some sort of lure towards buying games on their system, but 3 hours of extra gameplay, a few skins, exclusive missions, or one character's special move don't seem to me to be quite enough.

(The White PS4 Destiny Bundle announced at E3)

The main 8 games announced by Sony that make up the majority of their exciting news this E3 were Farcry 4 which had an impressive opening 5 minute cutscene and announced the ability for multiplayer with friends who don't even own the game. Dead Island 2 was also previewed with just a trailer to show fans what was to come. Battlefield: Hardline was shown a little more detail than at the EA conference, and Mortal Kombat X looked surprisingly good for a fighting game, especially one in the MK series.

The second set of 4 big announcements included the new gory Suda51 game Let It Die, which looked interesting. Batman: Arkham Knight looked largely like the other games in the recent Batman series, and even comparable to Batman: Arkham City on the WiiU, with a little more graphical power. Uncharted 4 got a teaser trailer, with Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain also receiving an interesting and exciting trailer.

(Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Trailer)

In addition to these "Big 8" announcements, there were 6 game which I felt didn't quite look as impressive. Destiny promised an alpha which was open to gamers, two months before their beta, which was a short while before its release date. For a game with such a large budget, I'd have expected it to be released when it was ready. Infamous First Light was released as standalone DLC for Infamous: Second Son, and Entwined was shown off as an interesting indie style game where players control two separate creatures through space and attempt to ultimately link them up into a dragon.

Little Big Planet 3 announced 3 new characters in the franchise, adding new gameplay mechanics and options; Oddsock, Toggle and Swoop can help to solve different types of puzzles over each level. Bloodborne comes from the director of the recently popular Dark Souls series, and while graphically amazing, the trailer didn't show enough of gameplay to give a good idea of how the game would be. The final game in this set was The Order 1866, which is one of the exclusives for PS4. It looked to be fairly slow moving, and not as unique as originally touted, but again very little of the actual game was shown.

(Bloodborne Trailer)

The final set of games announced were remakes and indie titles. Two games from 2013 will be coming to the PS4 in the shape of The Last Of Us and GTA V. While these won't be hugely different from their PS3 counterparts, it's a good chance for those PS4 owners who had missed out on there experiences. Grim Fandango got a warm reception when a remake for PS4 was announced, and although I've not played the game myself, I'm glad that Sony are listening to fans in matters like this, as it could pave the way for other games (like Shenmue) to be re-released.

The Indie titles announced as coming to PS4 included but were not limited to; No Man's Sky, which is an interesting exploration game which promises to start each player in a different location and allow everyone to map the playable universe which is apparently infinite, and Abzu which is an underwater exploration style game, from the company Giant Squid.

(No Man's Sky Trailer) 

Overall, while Sony spent a little too long talking about tv shows they're developing and Playstation tv, their expansive lineup of new games and remasters justified having the longest runtime, and showed that the PS4's strong sales are likely set to continue in this console generation. Although most of the best games look to be multiplats so far, depending on your tastes, there are enough exclusives to justify getting a Playstation 4.

The final conference of E3 belonged to Nintendo, although they chose a digital event in which to showcase their offerings, rather than a traditional press conference. Despite being the shortest conference of E3, 11 games were announced, with the addition of 3 more later at the 'Nintendo Treehouse' event which showed gameplay and more details of many games featured in the digital event.

My pick of the games from Nintendo was surprisingly a shooter, though it's aim is more focussed on claiming and painting as much of the map as possible, rather than shooting other players (though doing so does have its advantages). Splatoon will allow 8 players to go head to head in 4v4 team matches dedicated to finding the best strategy with which to cover a map in paint. With the ability to turn into a squid to travel more quickly and recharge your paint, as well as the addition of super weapons and paint bombs, all this game seemed to need were a few more maps (which I'm sure will be added before its release).

(Splatoon Gameplay)

The announcement of a new Zelda game would have made for my top choice had they shown more than one minute of footage relating to it. While the trailer did look truly amazing and showcased the WiiU as a proper challenger to the other consoles in the generation, all it really confirmed was that a new open-world Zelda was coming soon. This was essentially the same for their Starfox announcement; a new game is coming, but you'll have to wait to see anything of it.

The new Smash Bros. game for WiiU and 3DS looked to be a worthy addition to the series with new challengers, stages and special attacks. At the Nintendo Treehouse event there was a Smash Bros. U tournament featuring 16 skilled Smash Bros. players which helped to showcase the game a little more than was shown in the Digital Event. Also mentioned was the fact the including the ability to fight as Miis means that "any" character can be modelled to fight in the game.

(Zelda WiiU trailer)

To go alongside Smash Bros. U, Nintendo announced the launch of Amiibo, small figurines of characters from their games which will interact with the NFC reader in the WiiU gamepad and have an effect on the game being played. While I think that gaming figurines are nice things to have and collect, I doubt that these will be particularly popular with most WiiU owners since they're not vital to gameplay, but are more of an accessory.

The two most 'hardcore' gaming titles coming to WiiU proved to be a mixed bag; Bayonetta 2 (which includes the first game) looks set to be a good continuation of the series, with plenty of action and features. As a WiiU exclusive my only real criticism is the Nintendo themed costume packs included as they seem unnecessary. Xenoblade Chronicles X on the other hand had a rather lacklustre trailer, visually, and the gameplay demo was even worse. It's framerate was inconsistent, and while the gameplay was better graphically, than the cutscene displayed in the trailer, there were many instances where players and objects clipped through eachother and somewhat ruined the immersion.

(Bayonetta 2 Trailer)

Nintendo's cutesy games received a fair showing this E3 with Yoshi's Wooly World looking like a spiritual successor to Yoshi's Story, Captain Toad seemingly launching a full game out of Toad's minigame from Super Mario 3D Land with added features and levels, and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, which looked to be the best of the 3, for its touchpad based play and colourful design.

Hyrule Warriors was touched lightly upon in the Digital Event, but had a gameplay showcase later on at the Nintendo Treehouse, at which the game looked like it'd be interesting for Zelda fans, as a stopgap before the newly announced open world game, and fun for fans of the Dynasty Warriors and similar series. The new Pokemon remakes were also shown in a little more detail and although in a lot of ways fans of the series already know what to expect, it was interesting to see some new Mega Evolutions.

(Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Gameplay Trailer)

I'm hoping that the final three games announced by Nintendo will be released as eshop downloads since I'm not sure they'd be worth full retail price. Mario Maker gives players the ability to design and edit their own Mario levels, for near infinite options and challenges, Giant Robot challenges players to robot duels amongst skyscrapers in a city using the WiiU gamepad to push other robots to the floor, and Project Guard plays a little like a tower defence game where the player with the gamepad needs help from their friends to spot all of the invading robots and put a halt to their infiltration. The last two of these games are projects by Shigeru Miyamoto, so I'm hoping that they will live up to his past standard of work.

On the whole Nintendo had some exciting announcements, and many of their games look fun, although there weren't too many surprises in their Digital Event. Pac-man was announced as a playable character in Smash Bros U/3DS, since Namco Bandai are developing the game, and the new Starfox game was confirmed at the Nintendo Treehouse event, so players have things to look forward to even if there weren't many unexpected announcements.

(Project Guard Screenshot)

So that's all the conferences from this year's E3. With a look at over 60 games across all 5 conferences, there's something for every gamer to be excited about. Personally I don't like the idea of any one company having "won" E3; there are good conferences and not so good conferences, and EA had the only conference that I'd say wasn't quite up to scratch. In terms of the Big 3, both Sony and Microsoft announced many new titles for their consoles, a fair few of which are multiplatform titles with some content first on either system. Nintendo in contrast announced a fairly strong lineup of games, though I'd say they came in a little behind the other two conferences, despite exciting games like Splatoon and the new Zelda.

My Top 5 most exciting games this E3 are as follows;

1. Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One)
2. Splatoon (WiiU)
3. Assassin's Creed: Unity (Xbox One/PS4)
4. The Crew (PS4/Xbox One)
5. No Man's Sky (PS4)

(remember that I haven't seen enough of the new open world Zelda to get hyped for it yet, or it would be at the top) and I'd have to say the the worst game showcased was Xenoblade Chronicles X as it definitely didn't seem to be "next gen". Monolith Soft have time to fix it however, and I hope that they do.

So hopefully that's given you some insight into what went on at E3 if you missed all/any of the conferences, and if you didn't then you're now aware of my opinions on the games announced. Feel free to disagree, or tell me what games you're excited for that were announced at the conference too!

Series Review: London Racer

Game: London Racer
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Davilex
Release Date: 29th September 2000

Racing games generally appeal to certain types of people; the best titles may well interest people who don't usually play racing games, and some titles such as Gran Turismo, Motorstorm and F1 games once appeal to a niche market. Once in a while however, a racing game comes along which appeals to absolutely no-one, with no real likeable features, and gameplay that will disappoint racing game fans and gamers alike.

London Racer was a game developed by the Dutch company Davilex, in which players tried to make their way through single player mode (the only mode in the game; there's no multiplayer), upgrading their car and winning races against three computer opponents around London to earn enough prize money to buy a better car.

Gameplay is made fairly unenjoyable by a mix of poor handling (the car slides about instead of actually turning), poor physics, bad AI, many invisible walls on tracks, and unsignposted turns. Both the opponent cars and police cars which chase you drive badly and will ram into the side of your car, slowing it down significantly many times per race. There's only 8 tracks in total and 6 cars, the 5 of which you don't own at the beginning are far too expensive to buy considering the cost of upgrades, fixing damage and fines, as well as the measly amount of prize money for winning races.

The main (and only) game mode is poor due to a lack of progression and options; all there really is to do is upgrade your car, or buy a new one. Players are able to view the record times for each track but are only able to race on the circuit they've got up to. Losing a race means that you'll be returned to the menu to try again. There are 2 ways to lose a race (other than coming 4th); damaging your car too much will first result in a plume of black smoke which obscures your view, before putting you out of contention for good, and being caught 3 times by the police (which happens a lot more than you'd think).

Graphically the game is very poor with unimpressive stretched textures which deform as you pass them, a lack of detail and some big problems when cars collide with eachother (it's as if the game has no clue what to do sometimes). The music in the game is generic and doesn't really stand out as anything much, but oddly seems to be the best feature of the game due to the others having far more flaws.

Overall London Racer is deservedly included on many worst Playstation game lists and sits a triumphant first place atop gamefaqs lowest rated games for the system also. Despite my best efforts to find a redeeming feature it seems that the exclusion of any multiplayer modes, terrible handling and gameplay, poor graphics and sound, and general lack of effort all contributed to making this a truly bad game.

Rating: 9/100
Grade: F

Game: London Racer II
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Davilex
Release Date: 14th June 2002

There's no logical reason that London Racer should have warranted a sequel, but somehow 2 years later London Racer II appeared and probably caused gamers to wonder why Davilex were still in business. Some new modes have been added since the first game; Single Race, Tournament and Time Trial are the single player options, with Duel and Player vs Cop as multiplayer modes.

The main mode of the game is Tournament mode which challenges players to compete in the London, British and World Cups which have 3, 6 and 9 races respectively. This pads out the game's run time a little as there are only 9 tracks in total, which means a lot of racing on the same track in different cups. The requirements for winning each cup are easily met, and there was only one occasion where I didn't win a race.

Although the handling of the cars is better in this game than the first, it's still very difficult to stop your car from spinning out at certain points in the game. There's also the added danger of riding up the side of other cars and managing to flip yours which wasn't present before. Overall the cars feel very heavy and glued to the road when they're not being influenced by the strange physics engine.

Damage and Nitro gauges return from London Racer, but now there are power-ups scattered around the courses which aid the player in gaining more nitro or fixing damage. There are so common however, that there's no need to buy nitro or pay to fix damage in the options of tournament mode. The only real costs players should have is upgrading their car through the 3 tiers of performance. Once the peak is reached, there's literally nothing to do with the excess cash. I finished tournament mode with over £50,000 in the bank.

Graphically London Racer II is a big improvement on its predecessor, looking just a little blocky in places and without much detail on its vehicles and landmarks. While I wouldn't say that it's up to general PS2 standard, it isn't bad for a budget video game. The music and in-game radio which accompanies racing is pretty dire; players are stuck with a techno station featuring spoof phone calls and a humourless DJ attempting to make jokes for most of the game.

Overall the game was never likely to win many awards. As the sequel to one of the worst racing games I've played, it's definitely an improvement. There's some career style single player gameplay as well as multiplayer modes and a selection of 9 tracks, 6 drivers and 12 cars. The handling and overall experience of the game could still be improved in a number of areas, but at least the series got a little better. Apparently there were more London Racer games released, but I think 2 is enough for me.

Rating: 36/100
Grade: E

Game Review: Space Invaders Invasion Day

Game: Space Invaders: Invasion Day
Console: Playstation 2
Developer: Sammy Studios
Release Date: 5th September 2003

It's been a while since I've played a Simple Series title, but I was curious to pick this game up, as it's part of the most successful D3 Publisher franchise; Earth Defense Force. The best way to describe this game is as a virtually static shoot em up meeting the original space invaders game, which is as impractical as it sounds. Players are locked to the bottom edge of the screen and only able to move left and right, as well as shoot upwards at monsters which continue to spawn until the boss appears.

There are about 10-15 rounds in every level before the boss, each taking between 5 seconds and a minute to clear, depending on the player's use of power-ups. Once the boss appears, it takes in the region of 300-1000 shots to kill, which not only is far too many, but also negates the use of any strategy as most bosses can be beaten by standing still and shooting towards them until they die (as long as you press start to continue every now and then, when your life bar is fully depleted).

There are three characters to choose from, each with their own separate story (completed by playing the same stages), although they aren't well developed or complex enough to warrant making your way through the game 3 times. The story based cutscenes are short and have low quality narrative and plot development; the route I first took amounted to a girl having lost her boyfriend searching for him, told via 1 minute of cutscenes. There's supposed to be a surprising twist at the end of the game, foreshadowed by some of the high score names and menu art, but all it amounts to is that the humans are the real invaders, sending radio waves and signals into space.

Survival mode works in the same way as Story mode, essentially only removing the continues and adding the option of two player play. As it takes around 50-100 continues to complete the entire game (unless you're a master of bullet hell games), there's no way to last very long in survival mode and it seems like a lazy addition.

Graphically the game is fairly poor both in terms of textures and effects; bosses and enemies seem well designed but lacking in terms of how they were actually pulled off in-game. The locations are generally uninteresting, with only 6 to progress through and most of them either in a destroyed city or the alien spaceship. The soundtrack is almost like that of a movie with booming orchestral themes, though they're mostly drowned out by the sounds of gunfire.

Overall this game proves once again that the Simple Series only tends to deliver one dimensional concepts and gameplay, alongside poor visuals and controls. While this attempt at modernising the Space Invaders franchise would hit the mark if they'd attempted to make a 3D action version of the original game, the developer's choice to present the game as if it was a challenger to the Resident Evil throne when it clearly isn't, is almost insulting once you actually start to play the game.

Rating: 33/100
Grade: E

Game Review: SimCity

Game: SimCity
Console: SNES
Developer: Maxis
Release Date: 13th August 1991

The first game in the "Sim" series, SimCity saw a release for many different consoles in several different forms. The SNES release of the game came over 2 years after the first release on the Commodore Amiga. The idea of the game is to build a functioning city from residential, industrial and commercial zones as well as other more specific buildings, using a combination of good planning and strategy.

Using the SNES controller to make almost computer like control movements, players can check on several informational graphs and sets of figures as well as specifically position buildings, zones, roads and any othe placeable items. Moving around the map to a different area can be a little cumbersome, despite a fast travel option being included, and sometimes switching quickly between menus, graphs and the main screen can take longer than you'd expect.

Players aquire money by setting a taxation rate, which may encourage or discourage citizens from moving to the city, depending on where it's set. The upkeep of transport systems, and the police/fire services is also deducted before the player gets their spending money. Once a zone is built, players must wait until it is populated by the inhabitants of their city, according to the demand for that particular type of area. All districts and buildings must have roads or railroads leading to them so that they can be accessed by the population. All buildings except power stations must also be served by some sort of electricity, although it automatically flows through rows of buildings.

The inhabitants of your city will produce a report every year on their biggest concerns which usually include a combination of taxes, pollution, housing costs, and crime. If there are any natural disasters then they may cause some concern amongst citizens also. Sometimes prize buildings such as casinos, zoos, amusement parks and libraries are given to the player to put on the map; these all give their own benefits to the city. With the freedoms given to unleash any disasters from the six available, some players may take more of a relaxed attitude towards their cities, but personally I quite like to fill out all the available space with buildings, get as many citizens as possible, lower the tax rate to next to nothing, and then attempt to get my approval rating as high as possible. Playing in this fashion means that games can last a good hour or two.

Graphically the game features fairly simple representations of a city, especially compared to later installments of the series, however t's not bad for the SNES and it's easy enough to view and recognise all buildings and landmarks that impact on the game. There's also a good variety of choice with buildings and the amount of graphs that are available to view. As the player's city progresses, different music will play behind the game to reflect the mood. These generally accompany gameplay nicely and give the game some charm from the era it was released in.

Overall SimCity provides a pretty basic city building simulator which appears to have more depth than it actually does due to the care and attention taken by the game's creators to provide the player with lots of analysis options and a range of factors which govern the overall happiness of the population. Although there are more in-depth city building simulators which look more realistic and have many more options in terms of building and maintaining the city, SimCity's charm is in its simplicity and it's a great game to play with a friend or two, taking it in turns to be mayor for a year.

Rating: 77/100
Grade: B