Prowling through the first level of the third-person assassination simulation Hitman: Blood Money, we got the distinct feeling that we were being watched. A sizable hunk of that feeling came from the voices coming through the little earpiece and the constant, spoon-fed updates to our progress in the upper right corner of the screen. Of course, that's because the first level is all about getting your feet wet and instructing you how to go about your human hunting activities. Throughout the ...
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10 Apr 2006

X-Men: The Official Game - Hands On

Xbox Preview | X-Men The Official Game

The past few years have been very kind to comic book-based video games - but they weren't always skyscraper-swinging adventures like Ultimate Spider-Man. It used to be that every superhero game was a beat 'em up that threw waves of inept thugs at you while occasionally asking you to use the hero's signature power. Oh, there's plenty of fist-meets-face action in X-Men: The Official Game, but each level is built just for a specific character. Iceman's missions are fast-paced races that involve ...
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6 Apr 2006

Justice League Heroes

Xbox Preview | Justice League Heroes

When it comes to comic books, there's no team with more heavy-hitters than the Justice League. If you've read the books, seen the long-running cartoon or even just heard about their adventures through convenience store chatter, you know what we mean. Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. These full-blown, unstoppable icons are now getting the X-Men Legends, action RPG ...
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6 Apr 2006

Winback 2: Project Poseidon

Xbox Preview | Winback 2: Project Poseidon

Winback 2: Project Poseidon is straightforward third-person shooting action at its core: run and gun down corridors with a pistol, hug walls and peek out for quick shots with the shotgun, or duck behind desks and crates to toss a grenade. Since you're a covert operative, you'll perform dramatic evasion acrobatics, and even bang out a few switch puzzles, all while rescuing hostages. In an interesting twist, you only get ammo from enemies if you shoot their gun arm. Bullets are in short supply, ...
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3 Apr 2006

FlatOut 2

Xbox Preview | FlatOut 2

FlatOut is remembered mainly for two things: drivers who went flying violently through the windscreen with every serious collision, and minigames that revolved around how far you could launch your driver out of the car. Some critics dismissed the actual racing as unremarkable, but the horrible-accident minigames stood out so well that the game is getting a sequel. FlatOut 2 features everything a good sequel should: more cars, more varied tracks, more personality and twice as many minigames ...
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31 Mar 2006

Tomb Raider Legend

Xbox Preview | Tomb Raider Legend

We've talked plenty about Tomb Raider Legend in previous articles, but what we haven't done is given you a level-by-level description of it - until now. We'll keep the spoilers and the small talk to a minimum, though we will warn you that Eidos has made us promise not to show you every level yet, so the screens don't always match the levels. Also, we do reveal a few story details here, so consider yourself spoiler alerted. Clear? Okay. Grab your gear. The first level is appropriately swaddled ...
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31 Mar 2006

Scarface: The World is Yours

Xbox Preview | Scarface: The World is Yours

When it was shown at last year's E3 expo, Scarface: The World is Yours got a lukewarm reaction. Its graphics were chunky, the gameplay seemed sketchy and overall it looked like a bad Vice City clone. "It didn't pop," said Pete Wanat, the game's executive producer, as he explained why the game was essentially torn apart and rebuilt after the showing. "We view this as a long-term franchise. ... We can't mail in the first one." And so, the entire virtual city of Miami was rebuilt, the driving ...
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30 Mar 2006

2006 FIFA World Cup

Xbox Preview | 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany

You wouldnt be remiss to consider EA Sports latest soccer game a quick sequel to the annual chart-topper, FIFA Soccer. No doubt the publisher wants to cash in on its massive investment in the worlds biggest sporting event. Curiously though, this games producer goes to great lengths to pitch 2006 FIFA World Cup as a sequel to the 2002 World Cup iteration, and not the recent FIFA Soccer 06. This matters why? Mainly because FIFA Soccer 06 was generally considered to be pretty stinky, particularly ...
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28 Mar 2006

The Da Vinci Code

Xbox Preview | The Da Vinci Code

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' ...
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23 Mar 2006

Sensible Soccer

Xbox Preview | Sensible Soccer 2006

With its speedy action and cartoon visuals, Sensible Soccer - Sensi to friends - is the anti-Pro Evo, and the nemesis of realism. It's not about simulating weight-perfect Premiership counter-attacking cross balls, it's about 35 yard goal-thwackers that bend like squashed bananas. Fifteen years after the original, the veteran footie game is returning for PS2, Xbox and PC this June as an antidote to "dull, drab sims", according to the creator of the series. But Pro Evolution Soccer is no ...
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