Xbox 360 Reviews

There are two things you need to know going into L.A. Noire, and the first is that this isn't just a 1940s-set Grand Theft Auto. Yes, it features a lot of driving and shooting in an open world, but its real focus is on investigation. And while you're probably already aware of its detective-sim aspects, you might be surprised to learn that you’ll actually spend a lot more time scouring crime scenes and questioning suspects than you will chasing them down and/or shooting them dead...

Let us begin by saying right off that we’re sort of rabid Tomb Raider fans. We liked even the lesser entries in the series, except Angel of Darkness, for obvious reasons. Even so, one does not need to be a Tomb Raider fan at all to enjoy Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. One also doesn’t need to play it in co-op – it’s still a tremendously fun experience when played alone. Before we get into the rest of the review, though, we should address Lara’s elephant in the mansion: the lack of online co-op for the initial release. In case not everybody knows, although we were all led to believe it would be an online co-op game from the get-go, instead it currently features only sit-next-to-your-buddy co-op, with online being released through a patch in about a month...

We're pretty keen on the recent emergence of Kinect-enabled Xbox Live Arcade games, as only a handful of the existing retail offerings have captivated us long enough to warrant a full-price purchase. We need these kinds of quick-hit experimental offerings, and we need them fast – though the downloadable releases to date have been a little hit or miss. Or rather, hit (Fruit Ninja Kinect) and miss (Hole in the Wall), since only two have launched prior to this week.

Rescue is here - after a long, bloody battle with countless zombies, you and three fellow survivors have made it to the rooftop of a ravaged hospital, where a helicopter lands to evacuate you to safety. In a blaze of gunfire and guts, you and two of your companions fight your way to the helipad and climb aboard the chopper, but the fourth member of your team is wounded and limping behind you.

Unlike most other shooters, Left 4 Dead hinges on cooperative multiplayer. You and three friends must shoot, tear and slash through an unrelenting mass of raging zombies. From the moment you leave the safe house to the final rescue chopper, you are completely dependent on each other and constantly hunted by special boss zombies that behave with their own aggressive, strategizing intelligence

There’s a lot that’s cool about Legendary, in theory. The opening level is a tour-de-awesome that’s fifty percent “Oh hey, everything’s exploding!”, and fifty percent “I hope I get to shoot something soon”. The story is simple – you’re an art thief who was tricked into opening Pandora’s Box, and you’ve unleashed the creatures of myth into the modern world.

Who is Batman to you? The violent lawman of the modern comics? The wink-wink star of the 60’s TV show? Tim Burton’s gothic icon, perhaps? The point is this: Travellers’ Tales have never had a subject so open to LEGO interpretation, and with it, playful experimentation. And boy, do they love it. Did you feel that Indy was a tad shackled to his tombs and dusty continents?

You get a rough time of it as a Harry Potter fan, not least if you’re a Harry Potter fan over the age of 12. For most people this involves hiding your literary shame by buying the ‘adult’ versions of the books (no, we’re reading Dostoyevsky’s Konstantin Potter and the Goblet of Dense Russian Prose) or obscuring your replica lightning-bolt scar under a shaggy haircut and a porkpie hat. For those of us who quite fancy running around Hogwarts and blasting Dementors in the face, we’ve had to endure worse: a series of lame, lazy or frustratingly not-quite-there games, all of which failed to make the most of Potter’s wizarding world...

If you have played any of the other LEGO games you already know what to expect with LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7. Set in the LEGOfied wizarding world, the newest iteration never delivers on moving the series beyond what has already been done, but it does provide solid gameplay, plenty of fan service, and the charm the LEGO games have become known for...

Steven Spielberg and Traveller’s Tales are in a similarly tough place, both fine purveyors of last-gen thrills struggling to find relevance in the modern day. Indy 4 showed the director selling out his brand of practical derring-do for a handful of CG monkeys. Tales too try something glitzier, and under the extra weight their creaky design shudders like Harrison Ford’s knees.