GamesRadar - Xbox Previews

Family Guy - hands-on (Family Guy)

11/10/2006

We admit it: when we first heard about plans for a Family Guy game, we cringed. And when we heard that it would be developed by High Voltage, creator of the craptacular Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, our testicles retracted into our bodies so fast that the impact collapsed our lungs. Don't get us wrong - we like Family Guy, but games like this tend to be horrible. Now that we've played it, however, it looks like our fears were unfounded. Not only is Family Guy shaping up to be a good time, ...

The Family Guy (Family Guy)

17/08/2006

If you think Family Guy is a peculiar cartoon, wait until you see what the Griffin family get up to in the game. Baby Stewie's battling his half-brother Bertram (see the episode when Stewie goes inside Peter's body Inner Space-style) as both try to take over the world. Meanwhile, Brian the dog's been wrongly imprisoned for impregnating Mr. Pewterschmidt's greyhound Seabreeze and Peter thinks he's starring in a videogame after taking a bang on the head from a satellite dish. Oh, the ...

Far Cry Instincts (Far Cry Instincts)

22/07/2005

In development for over 90 years, the good news is it's looking more and more likely that the long wait for Far Cry Instincts is going to be worthwhile. An extensive hands-on with the game at E3 proved once and for all that this is no mere PC conversion. Ubisoft has virtually created a new game from the ground up, retaining the basics that made the PC original so brilliant but adding a shiny freshness to every aspect of the experience.Far Cry Instincts gives us new moves (including a sneaky ...

Far Cry Instincts: The next chapter (Far Cry Instincts The next chapter)

22/02/2006

Even by Ubisoft's standards, it's a fast turnaround. Its Xbox reinterpretation of the PC shooter had barely been out three months when it announced that the next Far Cry Instincts was not only in the pipeline, but less than three months away, alongside a bumper-pack conversion of both games to Xbox 360, subtitled Predator. Could the French giant, famous for its annual sequels, really be moving to a six-monthly strategy? No. This, argues producer Bertrand Helias, is a special case, and in any ...

FIFA 06 (FIFA 06)

8/08/2005

It's entirely debatable as to whether EA's FIFA 06 coverage offensive coinciding with the start of the new football season is lucky coincidence or astute planning, but there's no question that the uber-publisher is cute to the fact that gamers will soon be searching for the latest console kickabout to help remedy their football fever.So with the new season comes a new FIFA and, with bitter rival Pro Evolution Soccer 5 also limbering up, EA seems more determined than ever to win the hearts and ...

FIFA Soccer 07 - hands-on (FIFA 07)

18/09/2006

Now that Earth has recovered from its collective World Cup hangover (except for Italy, where the party still hasn't quite wound down), it's time for soccer superstars and regular joes alike to go back to collecting a paycheck. EA Sports focuses back on international leagues with FIFA 07, promising gobs of new features, innovations and enough frantic button press combos to make Winning Eleven fans sit up and take notice. We got to kick the ball around the pitch in PS2 and Xbox preview versions ...

Fight Night Round 3 (Fight Night Round 3)

28/02/2006

The word "visceral" describes things that impact the soft internals of a body (particularly those of the stomach or ‘abdomen' to get all sciencey on you) and there's a good reason why it frequently describes boxing. Graphics or physics alone won't get the job done; a good boxing game has to make you feel like you're about to get slugged. EA has a reputation for delivering the experience of professional sports in a way that goes beyond the rules of the game, and Fight Night Round 3 hungers ...

FlatOut 2 hands-on (FlatOut 2)

10/07/2006

The sequel to the crash-happy racer FlatOut will careen into stores next month, and unlike the original - which was notable mainly for sending your driver flying through the windshield at the drop of a hat - FlatOut 2 looks to have plenty to help it stand out. For starters, the game looks beautiful. Sure, it starts you off racing junkers on dirt tracks, but there's a lot of detail packed into everything you see. Your car, for instance, sports nice-looking light reflections when it's pristine, ...

FlatOut 2 (FlatOut 2)

3/04/2006

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 ...

FlatOut 2 (FlatOut 2)

17/03/2006

Last year's racer FlatOut is remembered mainly for two things: drivers who went flying violently through the windshield 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 ...

Forza Motorsport (Forza Motorsport)

2/02/2005

When it comes to driving games, the bar has been raised pretty high on Xbox. Top titles including Burnout 3, TOCA 2 and the legendary PGR2 are all firm favourites in the office but none have really directly competed with Sony exclusive, genre-shaker-upper Gran Turismo. If anyone was going to take up that gauntlet it was always going to be Microsoft and they've thrown everything into making sure that Forza can go toe-to-toe with GT.Forza Motorsport is aiming to be the most exhaustive simulation ...

From Russia with Love (From Russia With Love)

15/02/2006

From Russia with Love is reminiscent of EA's previous third-person Bond adventure Everything or Nothing, at least insofar as the controls feel similar. You can shimmy up against walls and peek around corners, the unique method of aiming (by locking on to targets and fine-tuning your aim with the C-stick) returns, and the on-foot action is broken up periodically by driving sections. However, while its predecessor was rife with annoying niggles, From Russia with Love seems much more ...

Full Spectrum Warrior (Full Spectrum Warrior)

22/01/2004

There is no fire button. Not in the same way that 'there is no spoon' in The Matrix, but in this team battle you can't push the trigger and unload hot lead into your foe's faces - you just give the order. But don't be put off, because Full Spectrum Warrior is an RTS that's smarter than a barrelful of monkeys wearing mortar boards and spotted bow ties. While other squad shooters let you charge around blasting baddies and barking out commands to a bunch of dumb grunts, this is more like playing ...

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers - the creator speaks (Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers)

10/03/2006

Let's be clear about two things: one, Full Spectrum Warrior was a great game. Two, the imminent sequel, Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers is smarter, and it's going to pound you into the firmament if you don't know your stuff. But we're here to help. We've got the game's own training videos exclusively in our Xbox video section (click here ), and we've also recruited Creative Director Wil Stahl to give us a quick debriefing. Read on, or be blown away before your boots hit the ...

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers (Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers)

8/03/2006

It's been 18 months since Full Spectrum Warrior debuted, out-innovating an entire glut of military shooters by ... not giving you a gun? Yes, the cerebral strategy game carved out its own new subgenre, challenging players to learn to move and cover with a pair of four-man Alpha and Bravo squads, outthinking and outflanking opponents using real Army tactics - without actually having you pull the trigger - in order to conquer opponents in a fictional Middle Eastern urban war zone. The emphasis ...

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers (Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers)

1/03/2006

The good news with this sequel is the military-obsessed boffins behind Full Speccy Wazza have actually listened to the comparatively few criticisms they got after the release of the first game. But the result is that this has left Ten Hammers feeling like a more complete, improved version of the original rather than a fully-blown sequel. It's still looking top draw soldiering to us, though, so it's not all bad. In new flavour FSW, you're now able to burst into buildings to flush out those ...

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers (Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers)

15/02/2006

The good news with this sequel is the military-obsessed boffins behind Full Speccy Wazza have actually listened to the comparatively few criticisms they got after the release of the first game. The bad news is that this has left Ten Hammers feeling like a more complete, improved version of the original rather than a fully-blown sequel. But it still looks like top draw soldiering to us. In new flavour FSW, you're now able to burst into buildings to flush out those pesky snipers who'd keep you ...