All PS3 Reviews

Hellboy: The Science of Evil (Review)

Jul 9, 2008

Granted, Hellboy is not a terribly sophisticated comic book character. His super powers are basically just that he's remarkably durable, kinda strong and has a stone hand he uses to punch things. Thus, even though his comics tend to have interesting characters and storylines (not to mention fantastic noir art), we didn't expect his games to be about riddles or gadgets or sorcerous cults or anything else that says "brainy" instead of ...

Beijing 2008 (Review)

Jul 8, 2008

First, a cautionary note. Beijing 2008 requires some form of protection for your hands. Our right hand is cut to shreds; this despite using various aids, including cartoon plasters, a thick promotional T-shirt lying around the office, and a comedy sponge hand. None of those prevented a seeping welt from appearing on our palm, soon to be joined by a pair of blisters and, most irritatingly, cuts on the skin at the base of our ...

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Review)

Jul 2, 2008

Somewhere between Rock Band and the distant promise of Guitar Hero World Tour, ‘classic’ Guitar Hero became very ordinary, very quickly. This, now the fifth game, bears all the hallmarks of a series paddling to stay afloat. World Tour’s change of direction is looking even more necessary now. It all started so well too. Aerosmith has been involved with track selections, story elements and even mockumentary videos, and are ...

Kung Fu Panda (Review)

Jul 2, 2008

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 ...

Wall-E (Review)

Jul 2, 2008

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
...

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Review)

Jul 2, 2008

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. ...

Hail to the Chimp (Review)

Jun 30, 2008

Did you ever order lobster bisque in a fancy restaurant and then have bubble gum-flavored ice cream with gummi bears on top for dessert? Of course not; it's a mismatch. Hail to the Chimp seems to be making the same attempt to merge two worlds, combining kiddie-style, action-packed minigames with a plot and setting that spoofs the electoral process in a way only adults have a chance of appreciating.

In an election to select the ...

Overlord (Review)

Jun 24, 2008

There’s a telling line spoken by Rose – one of the maidens the Overlord takes into his harem – a few hours into Raising Hell. “You look like run-of-the-mill dungeon fodder,” she says – which is gutsy considering she’s being confronted by a seven-foot-tall axe-wielding maniac with a loyal army of goblins. However, she’s right – on the surface, Overlord smacks of familiarity and cliche ...

Battlefield: Bad Company (Review)

Jun 23, 2008

It’s finally arrived – and while the silly story, drab voice acting, contrived dialogue and limp characterisation made us wince more than once, the world that it takes place in is more than enough to compensate for said errors. For the uninitiated out there, the story of Bad Company is this: you play Preston Marlow, a new recruit in B Company (hence the title) working with a ragtag threesome of war vets in the midst of a ...

Top Spin 3 (Review)

Jun 23, 2008

First, you have to unlearn everything you know about tennis games. Not since Pro Evolution hit the PS2 and redefined videogame footy has a title so radically changed how we look at in-game sport. Top Spin 3’s arrival makes Virtua Tennis look like Pong. Where Sega’s title asks that you be in the right place and aim in the right direction in a timely manner, Top Spin 3 stresses technique and the most delicate touch. Holding a face ...

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Review)

Jun 17, 2008

When you bought your PlayStation 3 the chances are it wasn’t because you were dreaming of playing a game in which you built a garden of hanging vines to attract William Shakespeare to your city while Ghandi shook a stick at you in a fit of rage. The chances are even slimmer that you pictured yourself playing said game, bellowing your civilization to victory while trying to shove a sandal up Ghandi’s rear.

But that’s ...

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Review)

Jun 10, 2008

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is completely out of control. To anyone who knows the animated series, that’s no bad thing. What starts out looking like a standard 3D fighting game soon gets turned on its head when the big-eyed brawlers start flying and shooting insanely damaging energy beams from their fingertips.

It’s still a one-on-one beat ‘-em-up, that somehow carves a new niche into the well trodden way of ...

The Incredible Hulk (Review)

Jun 10, 2008

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 ...

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy (Review)

Jun 4, 2008

Looking back on preview coverage from this and other sites, there seems to have been a lot of excitement from critics leading up to the release of Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy. After playing through it from start to finish, though, it's hard to understand why. The Bourne Conspiracy is aggressively average, offering up an adaptation of The Bourne Identity that - while mostly enjoyable - fails to do anything that plenty of other games ...

Fatal Inertia EX - PS3 Network (Review)

Jun 3, 2008

Launch title? It was meant to be, yes. But now Fatal Inertia is finally here, albeit as a PS Store release. And comparisons with WipEout are inevitable. Both are futuristic racers with anti-gravity craft and magnetic weaponry, but, well… one’s a lot better than the other.

Comparisons aside, there’s an abundance of features to get stuck into. There are four classes of racers, each with their own advantages and ...

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Review)

Jun 3, 2008

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. ...

Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 (Review)

Jun 2, 2008

Remember coin-op classics such as Smash TV, Mercs and of course Commando? Well, Wolf of the Battlefield runs along the same lines. Charge across top-down battlefields rescuing prisoners and laying waste to an army of insurgents using those tried and tested dual analog stick controls.

In co-operative three-player this is a nostalgic blast, but single-players will grow bored quickly despite a wealth of weapons, vehicles and ...

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Review)

Jun 2, 2008

Metal Gear Solid 4 is a masterpiece, arguably the best in the series and – though many will fiercely disagree – ever so slightly disappointing. About 40% through, our notepad was scarred with breathless superlatives like 'Genius', 'Amazing' and 'Wow!!!' but by the game's conclusion, they'd given way to considered criticism and stark cries of 'WTF?'. Will you enjoy it? ...

GRID (Review)

May 30, 2008

“Hello, Bozo.” It’s charming enough when a game greets you every time you load it. It’s even more endearing when you can choose to be called, instead of your first name, a gently satirical nickname like Bossman, or Chief or, indeed, Bozo. The announcer sounds like she’s almost laughing whenever she says it, like it’s our little shared joke. So we’re proud to be a Bozo, and we feel welcomed. ...

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Review)

May 27, 2008

Shooters. Shooters. Shooters! They’re everywhere right now. We have the disappointing Haze; COD4 is still tearing up the Network with its rabid fan base, Clancy’s keeping Vegas terrorist-free in the Rainbow Six sequel and this issue’s exclusive review, of Battlefield Bad Company looks tasty. Now id Software is making its PS3 debut with the riotously addictive, objective based, multiplayer focused Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. ...