GamesRadar - Xbox 360 Previews

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing – Hands-on (Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing)

27/11/2009

It's been a few months since we last spent some quality time with Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing – and it's surprising to see how far it's come in that time.

Sega fans will be pleased to hear that Sumo Digital (who handled the console conversion of OutRun 2 and also developed Sega Superstars Tennis) have created something more than just a by-numbers Mario Kart rip-off. How? Like this:

Drifting

OutRun 2's ...

The Saboteur (The Saboteur)

21/11/2009

Sin City. Grand Theft Auto. Inglorious Basterds. Moulin Rouge. Indiana Jones. Daniel O’Donnell. All these things seem to inform Pandemic’s World War II-set open world kill-’em-up.

It’s German-occupied Paris as a big-budget action movie: explosions, preening Nazi race drivers, base-jumping off the Eiffel Tower and sexy secret agents. By which we mean it’s trashier than a gossip magazine. ...

APB – hands-on (APB)

20/11/2009

Dave Jones’ initials are tattooed across our nipples. We have a mullet, a moustache, aviator shades and a belly that arrives in a room a few seconds before we do. “Players are going to have to think very carefully about who they want to be,” Jones tells us. “You can be a psycho, quiet, on-the-streets kind of killer." ...

Divinity II: Ego Draconis - first look (Divinity II: Ego Draconis)

19/11/2009

The Divinity series, like its classmate at High Fantasy High School, Gothic, is a big deal in mainland Europe. Until now, neither RPG has made much of a dent in either the UK or US. With its impressive translation, convincing animation, inventive quests, and combat and reward systems reminiscent of Diablo, Divinity II has the best shot yet.

Cast in the role of a Dragon Slayer, your role is, oddly enough, to slay dragons. ...

Bayonetta (Bayonetta)

19/11/2009

Bayonetta’s bravest trick is to throw out the usual rules on what you can do with on-screen action and third-person cameras in a videogame and just presume that you can handle everything going completely and utterly mental. And, as it turns out, you can. ...

Dante’s Inferno (Dante's Inferno)

19/11/2009

God of War meets Dead Space in Hell. That’s how we first described Dante’s Inferno and it wouldn’t be risking the wrath of Hell to suggest that’s how EA’s infernal epic looks now.

However, reducing the game to comparisons no longer does it justice. ...

Super Street Fighter IV (Super Street Fighter IV)

17/11/2009

When we first heard about Super Street Fighter IV a few months ago, we felt like Capcom was getting ready to milk its fans. A few new characters just didn’t seem to justify a completely new stand-alone title when they could’ve been distributed via DLC. ...

The Secret World (The Secret World)

16/11/2009

Unlike their last effort, Age of Conan, Funcom is using an original setting for this online game: the real world. But don’t worry: this isn’t a game that has you washing +1 dishes before travelling to the supermarket to purchase increasingly nutritious vegetables. Like the classic shooter/RPG Deus Ex, The Secret World is grounded in our most intriguing urban legends, myths and secret societies. ...

RAGE (RAGE)

16/11/2009

The world is a post-apocalyptic dustbowl populated by mutants and proud retro-fitted scavengers with fast, growling cars, deadly makeshift crossbows and upturned woks for hats. You, the unwitting outsider, emerging prematurely from your Armageddon-proof panic room, find you’re somehow better at surviving in this hostile environment than those who’ve been living in it their whole lives. ...

RUSE (RUSE)

16/11/2009

Generals are shifty buggers. Hitler, for example, would often call up Churchill and claim to have sent 4,000 Maus tanks to Newcastle. Winston would hop on the train to go up and have a look, leaving Number 10 undefended. Such deception is a key element of war, as established by Sun Tzu in The Art of War – a book now read exclusively by advertising bumholes. ...

Joe Danger: First great download game of 2010 (Joe Danger)

16/11/2009

What do LittleBigPlanet, bikes and Sonic and have in common? ...

Just Cause 2 - hands-on (Just Cause 2)

13/11/2009

The first order of business in Just Cause 2 isn’t to steal a car, or motorcycle, or ATV, or fighter jet, or attack chopper. It isn’t to go exploring the miles and miles of jungles, mountains, and cities. No, first you must wrap your head around the grappling hook and parachute. ...

Army of Two: The 40th Day- hands-on (Army of Two: The 40th Day)

6/11/2009

You know you’re not in the real army the moment you take cover behind the corpse of an elephant. It’s just not something Soap McTavish, or Master Chief, or the guy out of Rainbow Six, would ever do. Maybe Marcus Fenix, but then he always was a bit sick. ...

James Cameron’s Avatar: Hands-on (James Cameron's Avatar: The Game)

6/11/2009

Five minutes into this prequel to the forthcoming sci-fi flick and we feel like we’re in one of the year’s most generic games. As we step off our transport into the alien planet Pandora, all the elements are in place for a generic third-person shooter. Main character who's a stoic military type with a crew cut: check. NPCs we have to seek out for missions: Oh yeah. A 40 foot monster that looks like a mad scientist has forced a hammerhead ...

Crackdown 2 - first look (Crackdown 2)

4/11/2009

It must get pretty boring being unstoppable. Imagine how Superman feels after yet another fight involving the same ordinary mortal fleshbags he could crush with a twitch of his little finger; he must long for a bit of Kryptonite to shake things up and present a challenge for once. It sometimes felt that way playing the original Crackdown – you were a super-powered, genetically engineered clone capable of outstanding feats of strength and dexterity, but you were the only one in existence. ...

AvP: Alien vs. Predator vs. Marine - Who's the best in multiplayer? (Aliens vs Predator )

26/10/2009

HANDS-ON: Xenomorph, hunter and human taken for a brutal deathmatch test drive. ...

Mass Effect 2 – hands-on (Mass Effect 2)

23/10/2009

“Shepard! But... but you’re dead!” cries a baffled Asari crime lord having been backed into a corner by our hero. “I got better,” replies Shepard, as cool as a penguin’s bum. It’s not a dialogue choice, it’s right there in the cutscene; otherwise we’d have chosen the option along the lines of “I know, after that E3 trailer I’m just as confused as you about the whole thing." ...

Left 4 Dead 2 – dev interview (Left 4 Dead 2)

23/10/2009

Left 4 Dead 2, Valve’s cooperative zombie shooter, has had to overcome two skeptical parties: the portion of Left 4 Dead players concerned that promised free content for the original game had been replaced with a rushed, full-price sequel, and Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. “Gabe’s got a good amount of healthy skepticism about anything we do,” says Chet Faliszek. ...

Assassin's Creed II: Hands-on (Assassin's Creed II)

22/10/2009

We made no secret about our love for the original Assassin’s Creed. We scored it glowingly, took some flak from you guys, and stood proudly by our 10 like a Christ-like figure up against an inquisition of haters. Okay, perhaps that’s a bit much. ...

Dead Rising 2 (Dead Rising 2)

22/10/2009

When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth. And, according to Capcom, appear in TV shows.

Years after the first game’s critically acclaimed zombie invasion of the Willamette Mall, the whole of America is infected. In the casino town of Fortune City, Nevada, a deadly TV show plays out to millions of viewers across the nation. ...