GamesRadar - Previews

D1 Grand Prix (D1 Grand Prix)

Jun 9, 2006

The high-speed, high-precision sport of automotive drift racing is starting to catch on in the US, and D1 Grand Prix is ready to cash in. Due out in mid-July, the game realistically simulates the finer points of skidding sideways across racetracks and ruining your tires. It sounds simple, but after sitting down and playing the game for ourselves, we know better. The real-life sport of drifting takes incredible precision and skill, and D1 Grand Prix is no different, with its drifts requiring ...

The Da Vinci Code (The Da Vinci Code)

May 24, 2006

Friday 28 April 2006 The film is out next month. The multi-million selling book is still pounding the sales charts week after week. It's was about time we delve into The Da Vinci Code game and unravel the mystery of what it's actually like to play. Although it's based on the film, The Da Vinci Code fleshes out the action with a fresh line-up of cryptic puzzles and locations. For example, Langdon - the bookish hero - treads the stones in a church called Saint-Sulpice, while his cryptologist ...

The Da Vinci Code (The Da Vinci Code)

Apr 20, 2006

Think of your favorite novel. Now know this: The Da Vinci Code kicked its ass. Dan Brown's thriller about secret societies, hidden messages in famous paintings and some controversial theories about Jesus Christ is officially the best-selling novel ever, nearing almost 40 million copies in print. So what can the game provide that all those dead trees can't? More puzzles. Without giving too much away, you'll take up the role of Robert Langdon, an art expert who finds himself a key suspect in a ...

The Da Vinci Code (The Da Vinci Code)

Mar 28, 2006

Tuesday 28 March 2006 In the spirit of the book itself, we embarked on some keen investigative work and uncovered a few, we have to admit, really very unexciting screenshots from The Da Vinci Code (hit the 'images' tab above to see them). Still, while the shots reveal little gameplay - in fact, nary a hint of it, let alone Mary Magdalene - here's what we know... The Da Vinci Code: The Game is going to be a third-person action-adventure, in part reminiscent of the old Broken Sword point 'n' ...

Damnation (Damnation)

Sep 9, 2008

To fully understand what Damnation is about, you have to forget about Gears of War 2. Forget that they’re both third-person shooters. Forget that they both use the same satisfying over-the-shoulder aiming method. Forget that both have the same darkened ‘ruined beauty’ visual style that is the Unreal Engine’s trademark. ...

Damnation (Damnation)

Apr 4, 2008

Maybe Brendan Fraser, Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi had a point. The Lone Rangers might have been a terrible name for a band, but at least the three airheads realised that you’re guaranteed a longer lifespan as a unit. So while Captain Rouke apes the quintessential Eastwood-loner, he’s going to be a few bullet holes short of a brain if he decides to go it alone. ...

Does DDR on Wii actually work? (Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party)

Jul 20, 2007

The last time we saw Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii, we were almost killed. Giving game journalists alcohol and then asking them to dance is dangerous enough. Requiring that they use their hands in addition to their legs - as Hottest Party does - should qualify as accessory to murder. Wiimotes and Nunchuks were whipping through the air at an alarming rate and we were lucky to avoid serious injury. Now that we've seen and played a much completer version of the game, the potential for fun is ...

Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party - hands-on (Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party)

Feb 2, 2007

For the first time in years, the long running Dance Dance Revolution series is actually undergoing a, well, revolution. Konami has announced that its franchise is coming to the Nintendo Wii with Hottest Party sometime in 2007. When you think about it, this is a no brainer. Dancing titles have always appealed to a wider demographic than most other games, and the Wii is proving that it can attract a similarly diverse audience. So you have the genre and the console that draw both hardcore fans ...

DDR Universe will make you tired (Dance Dance Revolution Universe)

Feb 6, 2007

Straight from Konami comes the umpteenth sequel to the public-embarrassment dancing sim, simply titled Dance Dance Revolution UNIVERSE for the Xbox 360, set for release on February 20th. Konami is wisely doing away with confusing sequel titles such as DDR2: 7th Mix, Extreme or Supernova, this time promising to universally appeal to everybody not afraid to hop around in their living room with its tutorial and Super Easy modes. Be prepared to put down your Wiimote, Grandma. In addition to over ...

Dance Factory (Dance Factory)

Apr 20, 2006

Have you burned through Dance Dance Revolution's entire song catalog? Or have you always wanted to try a dancing game, but thought the music wasn't really your thing? Enter Dance Factory. Due out in August, it's the first game that'll actually let you stomp to tunes from your own CDs. At first blush, Dance Factory looks like your typical DDR clone, as a series of cascading arrows tell you which part of a dance mat to step on in time with music. The key difference is that Factory generates ...

Dark Age of Camelot: Labyrinth of the Minotaur (Dark Age of Camelot)

Feb 8, 2007

Most MMOs are lucky enough to release at all, let alone gallop into their sixth year with no sign of flagging; constantly adding fresh content without damaging the original concepts that made the project a success to begin with is dicey business. When in doubt, though: add dragons. Such is part of the agenda Mythic Entertainment has in mind for its long-running, defiantly tripartite MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot. In a break from tradition and quick on the heels of Novembers expansion Labyrinth ...

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic single player hands-on (Dark Messiah of Might and Magic)

Sep 15, 2006

Our recent hands-on with Dark Messiah of Might & Magic makes it clear that this is an extremely tough game to pigeonhole into a specific genre. Its brutal, physical first-person action crashes viciously through the tidy role-playing box we'd thought to drop it into when we first heard about it. Our recent hands-on of the first few single player levels violently proves that this isn't just another first-person ...

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (Dark Messiah of Might and Magic)

Jul 18, 2006

Tuesday 18 July 2006 After being charmed by the lively goblin bashing action of its single-player mode, it was with beard trembling excitement that we sat down recently for a hands-on with Dark Messiah of Might and Magic's multiplayer to discover what this fantasy action treat has tucked up its mage's sleeve for gamers who like to play in force. First up, the basics: up to 32 players can opt to side with either human or undead factions and can fight as one of five character classes - archer, ...

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (Dark Messiah of Might and Magic)

Jul 17, 2006

Forcing Dark Messiah of Might and Magic's single-player story and gameplay into a single, distinct genre is just about impossible. But pegging Dark Messiah's multiplayer Crusade mode as sharply influenced by the iconic Battlefield series, and finding the fingerprints of the seminal Team Fortress all over its deep gameplay is clearly right on the money. OK, so it's got a magical (and mighty) twist, but this is class-based team multiplayer at its core - and dare we say - at its finest. We got a ...

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (Dark Messiah of Might and Magic)

Jul 12, 2006

Wednesday 12 July 2006 You should have already seen just how exciting Dark Messiah of Might & Magic's action-packed combat is - just check out some of the footage on our movies tab - but now we've finally had a chance to thrash about in one of the game's single-player levels. And we're pleased to tell you that the orc-bashing feels fantastic. Dark Messiah has a pleasing grittiness to skirmishes that highlights the game's differences to fellow first-person fantasy game, Oblivion. This is a ...

See the Dark Messiah (Dark Messiah of Might and Magic)

Jul 7, 2006

• Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (WMV, 10.7MB) Monday 22 May 2006 With its constant in-your-face combat, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is set to deliver a far more action orientated experience than fellow first-person adventurer Oblivion. This new trailer will give you an insight into your ultimate adversary, an evil force summoned by a fiendish band of wrong-doers. Don't let the cheddar-grade plot put you off. Dark Messiah's combat system and attention to detail is remarkable. Your ...

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (Dark Messiah of Might and Magic)

Jun 2, 2006

Ubisoft has spilled a few details on the multiplayer modes included with its upcoming first-person fantasy saga Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Sure, Dark Messiah is a role-playing game, but one rammed with so much physical action that it only made sense to spill that into a multiplayer game. In Dark Messiah's Crusade mode, two 16-player teams will enter multiple-round campaigns to conquer one another's castles by capturing control points and killing off the opposition. Teams will choose ...

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (Dark Messiah of Might and Magic)

Apr 6, 2006

You've cleaned out all the treasure that you can carry - but its former owners are hot on your trail. A yawning chasm stretches before you. You can just make out a rocky outcropping beyond the divide. As an assassin, you know that you can make the leap - confidence in your abilities is well-deserved, as you've crossed hurdles like these many times before. Torch-light and screams of hatred swell behind you; it's time to go. Hitting your stride quickly, you nail the landing on the outcropping - ...

Dark Sector - multiplayer hands-on (Dark Sector)

Feb 26, 2008

We recently gave a detailed hands-on look at Dark Sector’s single-player levels, including a rundown on the game’s signature weapon, the glaive. Last week at GDC we were able to try out the two multiplayer modes, known as Infection and Epidemic. In Infection, one player starts out as Hayden, the main character from the single-player story. All of the powers and upgrades normally earned through progress in the game are ...

Dark Sector - updated hands-on (Dark Sector)

Jan 29, 2008

For the last year or so, most of our glimpses at Dark Sector have been centered around a dreary, crumbling Eastern Bloc neighborhood in the fictional country of Lasria, populated by a bunch of gasmask-wearing soldiers and a few zombie freaks. Last week, however, we finally got a chance to play beyond that crummy locale - which, it turns out, is the game's fourth level - and got a much broader idea of what lies in store when Dark Sector arrives in late March. If you've been following the game ...