GamesRadar - Xbox 360 Reviews

1942: Joint Strike - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

29/07/2008

Joint Strike works. The gameplay hasn’t changed since 1984 and this is a good thing, if you’re making a 1942 game. This is a classic vertical shooter, waves of planes swirl and spin from all areas of the screen, red planes offer powerups, bombs and health; standard planes offer points, lots of points. ...

2006 FIFA World Cup Germany (Review)

31/05/2006

Wednesday 3 May 2006 Remember Baddiel and Skinner singing about "Thirty years of hurt" during their classic England anthem Three Lions? That's how we feel about EA's FIFA series - it feels as if it's been that long since we played a semi-decent version of the series. EA has obviously taken note of all the criticism directed at FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup 2006, and the result is the best soccer game (that isn't Pro Evolution Soccer) we've played in ages. Thank goodness for that. Lots of ...

2006 FIFA World Cup Germany (Review)

25/04/2006

Ah, the World Cup. Every four years, soccer fans from around the world gather to celebrate the planet's most popular sport while beating the living snot out of each other. Electronic Arts commemorates the event with 2006 FIFA World Cup, the official game of the tournament with all of the teams and players that will be kicking the rock around Germany this summer (riots and hooligans not included). The two main "simulation" franchises in the soccer video game genre - FIFA and Winning Eleven - ...

3 on 3 NHL Arcade - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

11/03/2009

There are no real sound effects in this game. Kind of. Instead of the harsh clank of puck on ice you now get the noise of a bored EA developer sat at his desk making swoosh noises. And ‘Hup’, ‘Oip’ and ‘Florp!’ Oh dear. ...

3D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

23/04/2007

3D Ultra is, as youd expect, a mini golf game. So precise putting is what its all about. And as far as the nuts and bolts, the game does a good job. Particularly the fact that it gives you three different ways to control the action – an analog swing, a power bar setup in which you hold the button, then release when the meter hits a certain point, and the classic, three-click swing meter old-schoolers know and love. Its weird, though, that two of the three require an extra step at the end ...

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Review)

24/02/2009

Blood on the Sand is a work of mad genius. It’s all about killing, smashing stuff, collecting trinkets and swearing – using a swear button – to the beat of the most aggressive rap 50 Cent has to offer. It’s silly, relentless and – in a guilty way – pretty fantastic. ...

AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack (Review)

5/01/2009

AC/DC Live is the laziest title we’ve played in a long while. It’s the ultimate in barebones gaming; just eighteen songs and virtually nothing else. There’s no band involvement a la Guitar Hero: Aerosmith; there are no interviews; no documentaries… AC/DC themselves don’t even make an appearance, in person or in digital form. Fan service? Hardly. ...

Ace Combat 6: Fires Of Liberation (Review)

22/10/2007

Oct 22, 2007 Six years ago Ace Combat 04 dropped everyone's jaw with its photorealistic airplanes, fast arcade action and ultra-detailed environments. It was a piece of technological grace that both showed what the current generation of consoles was capable of and also provided the most white-knuckle jet experience in memory. Now we have a new champion of the skies, and it's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. Take everything we just mentioned - the planes, the intensity and the terrain - and ...

Aces of the Galaxy - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

11/07/2008

Like being taken outside and beaten up by a gang of enraged skinheads, Aces of the Galaxy is an outright assault on your senses of the most unwelcome variety. Like Space Harrier, Panzer Dragoon or most recently, Rez, Aces is an on-rails arcade shooter, accelerated to a speed which makes every stage a dizzying blur of enemies and lasers. ...

Afro Samurai (Review)

27/01/2009

For those not in know about Afro Samurai, it was originally a manga that then got adapted into a cartoon, and features an assassin literally named Afro living in a sort-of future yet feudal Japan. Possibly inspired by Highlander, the story focuses on the number one assassin (originally Afro's father), who can only be challenged by the number two assassin. ...

Age of Booty - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

17/10/2008

Pirates, eh!? Brilliant, eh!? Not really, but this is a multiplayer game up there with Bomberman and Worms. ...

Alien Hominid HD - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

2/03/2007

If you fancy yourself hardcore, this is the game to prove it. The graphics may be splashy, modern flash animations, but the side-scrolling shooter gameplay is a brutally hard, tear-inducingly old-school, one-hit-kill festival of tiny, quick bullets. Are you a casual gamer? Run. This game hates you. But if you did that, you'd be missing out. The game's wacky, colorful art style lives somewhere between Itchy & Scratcy and Lilo & Stitch, and your little, crash-landed alien oozes acid-tinted ...

All-Pro Football 2K8 (Review)

23/07/2007

When 2K Sports announced that they were getting back in the football game, the ensuing euphoria was palpable. Obviously, the lack of an NFL license was a problem - for one, it meant the game couldn't use NFL teams or current players. But signing 240 retired NFL gladiators to be in the game would add some legitimacy even without the league's coveted teams, stadiums, and assorted accoutrements. The ghosts of 2K's by-now mythological gridiron classics of yesteryear were going to be reborn on ...

Alone in the Dark (Review)

24/06/2008

... they lied. There comes a point in Alone in the Dark, about 80% in, where Eden Studios pulls a very cheap trick. It artificially boosts the longevity of a game perilously close to the wrong side of the six hour mark by featuring a root-killing collect-a-thon, similar to Zelda: Wind Waker's Triforce shard hunt. For one brief moment we caught sight of the game we were promised. Then, after a quick spell, it was all over.

Normally we'd ...

America's Army: True Soldiers (Review)

29/11/2007

Nov 28, 2007 Youd think it would be near impossible to mess up a game about the most formidable and powerful modern military force in history, but somehow the shooter Americas Army: True Soldiers reduces everything cutting edge, dangerous and compelling about being a soldier to a rated-PG play-fomercial. With developer Red Storms pedigree of classic Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six games, this title couldve been really deep. Imagine the possibilities: crazy physical challenges and hazing missions ...

Amped 3 (Review)

25/02/2006

Amped 3 proves that a little personality can make for an awesome gaming experience. Under the wing of new publisher 2K Games, developer Indie Built has shaped Amped 3 into a ridiculously fun and funny example of snowboarding excellence that really doesn't feel anything like the earlier games in the series. Taking cues from other successful winterstick titles (coughSSXcough), Amped 3 also adds massive variety with lots of different snow-based ...

Arkadian Warriors - Xbox Live Arcade (Review)

10/12/2007

Dec 10, 2007 Heres something you dont see every day: an original game for Xbox Live Arcade. Not that theres anything wrong with ports of classics or movie spin-offs; but the promise of an all-new experience sparks more of an interest than “Hey, lets play this game that weve already played, like, 10 years ago.” That said, it was sort of a bummer when we loaded up Arkadian Warriors and found ourselves playing Champions of Norrath Lite - that game came out only 3 years ago; we haven't ...

Armored Core 4 (Review)

23/03/2007

Like Paris Hilton without a camera nearby or C3-PO without plucky sidekick R2-D2, Armored Core 4 is a fantastic giant mech construction sim left incomplete because it just can't find its reason for living - a decent action game. There are a gazillion destructive weapons to bolt onto your rig: bazookas, plasma cannons, sniper guns, energy swords, guided missiles... and even more standard parts, ranging from various heads and legs to missile-jamming ECM generators. You have to monitor each parts ...

Armored Core for Answer (Review)

18/11/2008

Confusing title, but not as baffling a game. This feels very familiar to what’s gone before it. In fact, if you’ve got last year’s Armored Core 4 you’d be mistaken for thinking you’d put the wrong disc in your system. The only differences are the new missions, improved customization and the inclusion of online co-op play. ...

Army of Two (Review)

5/03/2008

When Ridley Scott revisited Alien to produce a director’s cut, many fans were surprised that, rather than chuck a load of extra footage in, he actually cut a lot out. The resulting re-edit was tighter and scarier, turning a great movie into an even better one. And so it is with Army of Two. When we played it back in November, we found ourselves looking at a mostly fun game that had some serious flaws. It seems that EA shared our opinion, ...