PC Reviews

Dust off your lute and break out the sheep shears - the “fantasy life” of Mabinogi awaits you. A free-to-play MMORPG based on Celtic mythology, Mabinogi has been delighting Korean gamers with its rich fantasy setting since 2004, and now it’s our turn. You aren’t bound to classes like “wizard” in Mabinogi.

There’s nothing like waking up after being unceremoniously dumped into a heap of scrap only to find your head and limbs have gone missing amidst the filthy debris. Making a crummy situation worse, mechanical hooligans have strapped a large, makeshift bomb to the central tower in the looming industrial city you were just booted from, and your shiny lady friend is nowhere to be found.

Based on the 1980s rubber ball toys (no, us neither), Madballs should be awful. But it’s brilliant. You play one of a few rolling eyeballs, equipped with a selection of weapons, shooting stuff in platformy 3D levels, gathering bonuses and giggling at the silly jokes.

If you’ve ever wondered who pays a hero 200 gold to walk 40 metres and kill a rat, there’s now a series of strategy games to answer that question. Majesty 2 is an RTS wherein you have no direct control over any units. All you can do is offer gold for the completion of objectives, and hope some nearby hero is short on cash and in the mood for a quest. It’s bizarre.

Just like with the other recent 2K Sports title NBA 2K9 the sheer quality and sheen on display here is superb. Despite all the efforts EA Sports have made to make their games feel like TV broadcasts, they’ve never come anywhere near 2K’s level of presentation. The graphics are spot on, the sound and commentary is exemplary and the whole thing just feels like you are participating in a game of baseball.