If most videogame remakes are dinosaurs trying desperately to find their place in a world that's long since passed them by, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling together is what would happen if a dinosaur cleaned up, got his act together, and managed to work his way up to a steady job in middle management. No, actually, it's more than that. Tactics Ogre – in some incredibly smart ways – speeds right past its modern contemporaries. Disgaea, Final Fantasy Tactics, et al, take note, because this is how it's done...
Some series are instant classics. Every sequel is treasured. Others have one brief moment in the sun, one game where it all comes together - and so far, the Tales series is definitely that kind. Fortunately for GameCube owners, that one brilliant game is Tales of Symphonia. It's hardly perfect, but it's so enjoyable and attractive that it's hard not to get swept up in its charm. It's easy to overlook its shortcomings.
Speaking of which, things here are pretty by-the-book. In a fantasy world of
For those of you who never played Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Legendia, or any of the other outstanding “Tales of” games, this PSP-exclusive may seem less than interesting. Nearly all of the content in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology is borrowed from other Tales games, with a few standard RPG trappings tacked on. There is nothing really new or innovative to make the game memorable, but for fans of the franchise, Radiant Mythology is a nice trip down memory lane and a breath
As every Englishman knows, speaking foreign languages is impossible. Spend three years ramming your ears with schoolboy German and, at best, you'll be able to order a pork sandwich and tell girls you like swimming.
Get a GCSE in French and - at most - you'll be able to ask for directions just well enough for some sneering garcon to reply in perfect, contemptuous English.
Blunder outside Europe and things get even trickier - Korean comes with an alphabet that involves 'stacking' letters on top
When we first heard that the same studio that makes the fluidly acrobatic, lushly visualized Prince of Persia series was going to make a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, we were thrilled. In our minds, no other team on Earth was better suited to blend the four things that define the turtles: a dark personality (in the original comics at least), incredibly acrobatic ability to treat an entire city like a jungle gym, teamwork, and high-flying martial arts shell-kickery complete with different
Would we be crazy to say that the oceanic depth of Tekken: Dark Resurrection makes it the single best portable fighting game ever? Well, we're putting it out there just like that. Search as long as you want, complain all you like, but with more than 30 playable characters, a full roster of fighting styles and the best PSP graphics to date, there's barely even room for comparison.
Dark Resurrection is, in actuality, nothing more than a port of an arcade Tekken 5 tweak. Two new fighters join the
The Wii version of Tenchu: Shadow Assassins offered a solid experience for fans of the stealth action genre. The PSP version manages a rare feat, matching it on almost every point. Add in the fact that you can take it anywhere, and you have yourself a nifty beast of a game and a fine addition to the PSP library.
Giant robots are cool. But giant robots from 1985 that shoot homing lasers from their eyes and transform into jet fighters are infinitely cooler. Thexder Neo slaps a fresh coat of paint on an antiquated PC shooter from days long past and proves a few moments of fun can still be squeezed from this stone.
TNA is a wrestling promotion hoping to go places in 2010. An influx of new (well, old, but you see what we mean) talent including such names as Hulk Hogan, The Outsiders, Ric Flair and Jeff Hardy has left the company dreaming of one day usurping the WWE as the King of the Ring...
TOCA Race Driver 3 was always going to run the risk of being all wheel trim and no tyre.
One of the few criticisms of TOCA 2 was that at times it spread itself far too thin. The gameplay was generally tight, but it tended to fray at the ends when it plunged its dipstick into less familiar turf, the rally sections being particularly offensive.
Keeping this fresh in mind, TOCA 3 could have taken the easy option and streamlined the series into a few specialisms, ramp up the visuals and sell
