Alone in the Dark loves a good cliff-hanger – quite literally in the case of one helicopter crash sequence – but there’s no scenario more hair-raising than that of publishers Atari themselves. Teetering on the brink of financial disaster, they’ve put all their eggs in this gothic basket, expecting a company-rejuvenating three million sales across multiple platforms. Here’s hoping the next-gen version shifts a ...

With Brutal Legend’s fate still undecided, you might think us mad for recommending Kung Fu Panda as an alternative adventure starring Jack Black (not least because all the voices in this tie-in game are sadly provided by so-so stand-ins), but bear with us. First of all, we’re not so addled with bonhomie thanks to our experience with this silly game to deny that the action is the definition of ‘par for the course’. The ...

Damn you Wall-E, and damn whoever decided to come up with that way our trash-compacting, lonely-hearts-surfing robo-friend constantly repeats his own name in gurgling, quasi-’endearing’ fashion. It’s not cute, it’s not appealing, it’s... oh, the movie’s set to rake in $250 million? Ah. Shows how much we know. Still, at least the blatantly nicked premise shows promise. Take sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf and ...

It’s such a familiar quandary – there you are in your local games store, crisp note in hand, looking for a new addition to your collection. There are a few caveats, though: one, you want it to be a linear adventure mainly based around flicking switches and collecting shiny things; two, you’re also very keen for it to have a Christian subtext; oh, and three, there simply has to be a homicidal dwarf involved
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The people that made the 2008 rendition of The Incredible Hulk must have really liked 2005's The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. They've employed the same free-roaming design and have given the Hulk many of the same abilities that he had in that earlier game. But that's totally A-OK, since they've also jazzed up the graphics and given players many more ways to destroy the people and buildings populating the expansive 3D replica of ...

The flaw in trying to turn a game of chance into a videogame is just that. It’s a game of chance. And nothing is more insulting than watching the computer draw an endless succession of winning statistics. Even when you think you’re near victory, the buggering AI will suddenly hit a ten-card streak. It’s not even slightly entertaining.

Sure, Top Trumps tries to jazz things up by introducing special powers such as Name ...

How can a game that’s identical to the brilliant LEGO Star Wars in almost every respect not be as good? Simple - the setting. The Star Wars universe is vibrant, colourful and fantastical, while Indy’s real-world ’40s setting is more subdued. This works in the context of the films, but recreated in LEGO it has none of the outlandish flair of Lucas’ galaxy far, far away. ...

Digital distribution via the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade has thankfully helped stifle the previously intense flow of classics compilations to retail, but this is one greatest hits package we can get behind. SNK Arcade Classics: Volume 1, as indicated by the title, compiles 16 of the most prominent NeoGeo hits from the early 1990s – Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown, and The King of Fighters '94 included – without the need for dusty, overpriced cartridges. ...

Never heard of Nights? It’s the game that came out on Sega Saturn in 1996, in which you, as a purple jester - the titular Nights - played through two children’s vivid dreams of flight and aerial acrobatics. In tow, you had the kids themselves - Elliot and Claris - and you had to fly through all manner of dreamscapes. The game concept and style of play set Nights apart as something different 12 years ago, but it’s a testament to the strength of the original recipe. ...

If you’re hardcore enough to derive happiness instead of pain from the Roguelike convention of starting from scratch when you die, but not quite hardcore enough to have imported this dungeon crawler ten years ago for your Sega Saturn, we recommend this terrific remake of Baroque.

Baroque’s death mechanic dovetails neatly with the narrative - it’s by dying and revisiting that you start to piece together the intriguing ...