The Club

Platform: 360, also PS3 & PC.
Verdict: I'll not be joining.
Rating: 3½/5
Those that predicted a Running Man style direction for sport after seeing the lycra clad trash The Gladiators, may still be crying in disappointment into their giant foam hands. Luckily for society, blood sports are generally frowned upon, even if they involve opera singers covered in lightbulbs. So, it's up to the underworld to organise such nefarious activities, perhaps in the shape of The Club.
No, this isn't Paul's dream dance game about a nightclub, it's an illegal group that organises death matches between skilled gunmen seeking riches, while the rich enjoy the show. As one of these gunmen you're tasked with surviving a tournament of different battles while racking up a huge score to become top of the table.
Bringing to mind 2000AD's revered Button Man series, The Club is a shallower gunfest with little story and lots of action. With a character select screen and an emphasis on speed runs and high scores, The Club draws from racers and beat-em-ups to add spice to the genre. Created by the team behind Project Gotham Racing this comes as little surprise.
At first the action may not quite click – relying on a string of closely timed kills to keep a bleeding combo meter going means the pace can take a little getting used. Once you grasp that this time the term 'run and gun' literally applies, everything changes for the better. Running full pelt through each environment while pulling off a quick succession of skilled shots certainly gets the adrenaline pumping, If only it had the controls to handle such frenetic action.
Strangely, the shooter made by a company famed for racers is let down by handling. Sluggish aiming, clunky controls and a reload that locks you into an animation is cause for much frustration. The disappointments don't end there either – with ties to beat-em-ups watered down to a single melee attack and the loud announcement of 'Fight!' at the start of each round, The Club feels like a watered down sum of its parts.
Feeling slightly clubbed to death by the glut of shooters on the 360, it's certainly refreshing to see someone try something new. Attempting to fuse aspects of shooters, racers and beat-em-ups into a new whole is admirable, if only the end result met that potential. The Club promised much and delivers some – disappointing, yet still worth a blast for the score hungry adrenalin junkies out there, and fans of pugel sticks maybe.

Rez: HD

Platform: Xbox 360 Live Arcade
Verdict: Welcome home Eden
Rating: 5/5
Ever wondered what it would be like to fly and fight through a super computer's network to the hypnotic pulse of syncopated techno while gorging on beat-matched visuals too pure for human eyes? No? Well, welcome to Rez: HD, where hacking can achieve heights of Zen and an AI doubts reality.
For those with a Tron fetish, Rez is a synesthetic wet-dream, inspired by Wassily Kandinsky and cooked up from the crystallised post-club sweat of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, famed creator of other music embracing games like Space Channel 5, Lumines and Every Extend Extra.
Originally experienced on the under appreciated Dreamcast, Rez was one of those games of legend that lit up the DC's line-up alongside more traditional titles. Also ported to the PS2, Rez has finally found a home worthy of its audio/visual prowess on the Hi-Def and surround sound capable, Xbox 360 via the Live Arcade.
Applying crisp, retro-style vector graphics to the traditional on-rails shooter template, Rez sees you hurtling through abstracted virtual landscapes, attempting to breach firewalls and eradicate viruses to get to Eden, an AI that needs rebooting before its soul searching has catastrophic consequences.
Synced to pulsating music (written by masters such as Ken Ishi, Cold Cut and Oval) every shot fired in Rez triggers a timely snare or bleep and each progression in the level kicks out a harder, faster beat.
With a lock on system that removes the traditional need for button bashing, Rez's sublime fusion of audio/visuals and gameplay allows for zoned out, meditative gaming, despite the fact that a giant humanoid made of squares may be chasing you. The inclusion of a chill-out mode that removes the need for shooting is further proof of its wide eyed intention.
For many, Rez's gameplay may be a little too old-school – point and shoot ideals from yesteryear, but they'd be missing the point if they disapproved. Rez is an experiment in fusing stimuli into one indistinct whole and in that it succeeds in spades, even if the trance isn't to your taste.
Finally seeing it in Hi-definition is a dream come true, and for a paltry 800ms points (£6.80!), it can turn your home into a kaleidoscopic collision of colours and sound. Trance vibrator support may even peak your girlfriend's interest too.

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (15)

Platform: Wii
Verdict: Zombies? Guns? Great!
Rating: 3½/5
Despite feeling rather undead due to a mutation of the common cold, the chance to play Umbrella Chronicles lit my eyes up, not unlike the post-midnight zombies in Dead Rising. If only it could induce similarly increased vigor too, just without the thirst for flesh.
For years the Resident Evil series has been king of the survival horror genre, sticking rigidly to its fixed camera take on 3rd person action and odd puzzles (stick the unicorn medal into the police station fountain?). Until Res Evil 4 redefined the series, the only real striations from routine were the weak Resident Evil: Survivor games which were compatible with a light gun for first person shooting hijinks. Umbrella Chronicles stems from this branch, stripping it down to a House of the Dead style on-rails shooter and pumping it full of lovely Res Evil 4 graphics.
Using the Wiimote as a gun, controls are basically point and shoot. Simple and effective. RE:UC also allows you to switch weapons, throw grenades, pick up items and slash like a nutter with your boot knife (waggle away!), all of which can be done with just the Wiimote. For those wanting a little more flexibility the nunchuk can be attached to spread the load or they can be slotted into the Wii Zapper for a chunkier experience.
Aptly titled, Umbrella Chronicles revisits previous games in the series (with some disappointing omissions like most of Res Evil 2), allowing you to relive the creeping horror and boss fights with the satisfaction that you'll never run out of ammo this time.
The pacing is great and the series lends itself well to the on-rails genre (you shoot zombies, course it would) but it's let down by being all too brief and the fact that apart from waggle features, it really does nothing new.
As a polished game that allows you and a friend to shoot waves of zombies, giant scorpions and mutated monkeys, it's an absolute blast, re-tread or otherwise, and it's certainly nice to see a game on the Wii for a maturer audience.
Now if only the pharmacy sold blue herbs.

Mutant Storm Empire

Platform: Xbox 360 Live Arcade, 800MS Points.
Verdict: Squelchy, shooty stuff.
Rating: 4/5
When all attention is turned towards the stars in search of new and wondrous, imagined forms of life, there lies plenty of undiscovered ickyness in the depths of our oceans. Things you could only dream of flit by in the darkened abyss, nightmarish in their composure, sickening in their alien nature and possibly closer to us genetically than any creationist would ever admit. Such globular, squelchy, tentacled spawn is also what makes Mutant Storm Empire so great.
Sequel to Mutant Storm Reloaded, Empire scurries across familiar ground using the ever so popular twin stick controls to shoot independently of movement. The same organic monstrosities are there, this time accompanied by some mechanical beasts and the same frenetic action is present, this time made all the more tense by gameplay changes.
To warrant the sequel’s existence beyond feeding the mouths of hungry programmers, Pom Pom Games have evolved Mutant Storm by cross breeding it with some classic shooters. Removing the all powerful smart bomb (replaced by a super directional attack), Empire also introduces colour based combo chaining (think Ikaruga) and replaces the abstracted series of rooms with a coherent, seamlessly loading world (like Smash TV).
Fusing these ideas from other shooters into one neon soaked gloopy hue, Empire manages to redefine itself with a new play style, initially unsettling Reloaded veterans yet inspiring new challenges and techniques.
Colour based combos up the difficulty for score chasers while the lack of a smart bomb removes an easy get out clause for the novice - things may sound tougher but a multiple lives system that replenishes at the end of each area eases the pressure somewhat, creating a chaotic shooter that can be blasted through with little grace or played like an artiste with pin point accuracy and a thirst for the razor’s edge and topping the online leaderboard.
Full of aquatic character, Empire has some of the best audio design this side of an amplified petri dish and is made all the better by the inclusion of an online co-op mode, which is just what you need when the going gets a little too squishy.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat

Platform: Xbox 360, also PS3 and PC.
Going head to head with shooters like Halo 3 would leave many games trembling in the dust but CoD4 merely shakes the mud from its boots and soldiers on, bringing it’s own brand of chaotic realism to the mix.
As the suffix suggests, CoD4 is set in the present day, with a close to the bone fictional story of terrorists and nuclear bombs.
Ditching the bolt action guns of WWII for state of the art weaponry, CoD4’s action is refined yet retains the chaos of previous iterations.
Undoubtably one of the best looking games around, the battlefields are awash with smoke and bloodied inevitability with the FPS action claustrophobic and tense.
The tale may be a relatively brief affair and the endlessly respawning enemies a blot on gameplay but the addictive, RPG laced online modes more than make up for it.
9/10

Mass Effect

Platform: Xbox 360.
Verdict: Stars and wars.
Rating: 4/5
Conversation has never been considered a skill of the stereotypical slack jawed, square eyed gamer. With our Grandparents adopting gaming through the likes of Brain Training, that mistaken cultural perception is thankfully on the way out. For those that still need convincing, perhaps Super Deluxe Conversation Simulator can help, otherwise known as Mass Effect.
Created by Bioware, the highly respected developers who made one of the only decent Star Wars games (Knights of the Old Republic), Mass Effect is a similarly epic Sci-fi, telling the Solar System spanning tale of civilisation’s stand against an ancient robotic nemesis.
With a state of the art spaceship and the fate of the solar system on your shoulders, you can travel galaxies as you choose, investigating leads, battling robotic monsters and talking your way into or out of situations.
Trading the light sabres and space cowboys of Star Wars for a cleaner aesthetic and emphasis on guns, Mass Effect still treads similar territory as George Lucas’ modern mythology while borrowing from 3rd person shooters like Ghost Recon.
With squad based gunplay and cover based mechanics, Mass Effect differs through its use of under the bonnet RPG elements. As well as levelling up through experience and upgrading skills, action can be paused at any time to issue Biotic and Tech commands (otherwise known as Jedi powers).
Touting a much hyped conversation system, Mass Effect allows you to talk (almost as much as shoot) with a convincing degree of flexibility. Although it can rest a little too much on friendly/neutral/aggressive branches, the freedom to choose if you’re a Luke or Anakin provides satisfyingly different results.
As engrossing, epic Sci-fi goes, Mass Effect ticks all the right boxes at creating a living, breathing universe through sublime art direction. Unfortunately it’s ultimately let down by a graphics engine that struggles to keep up with the action, some frustratingly placed restart points and combat that doesn’t quite work as well as it should. Still, there’s plenty to talk about.

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (18)

Platform: Xbox 360, also PS3, PC.
Verdict: More bark than bite.
Rating: 3½/5
The standard genus hero of videogaming’s short and accelerating history has been that of the unflinching beefcake of justice. You know the type - chiselled jaw, gruff voice and bullet proof skin with the ability to drop cliched catchphrases at the exact hour of cheese o’ clock. Admittedly some shooters have played the anti-hero card but they usually involve leather attire and nu-metal. Kane and Lynch’s over stated direction flys in the face of all that by introducing two ‘heros’ who are anything but.
Meet escaped convicts Kane and Lynch, one a mercenary heading for the chair for mass murder, the other a medicated psychopath prone to seeing pig faces. Freed by The 7, an elite mercenary group who want their stolen money back from Kane, Lynch is thrown in as his unpredictable watchdog and together they must fight to get the cash, save Kane’s family and avoid being killed by The 7, or most likely - each other.
Playing much like Io’s previous Freedom Fighters, Kane and Lynch mixes basic squad based mechanics with daring heists and the unpredictable nature of Kane who can flip at any moment and kill a room full of hostages at the whiff of bacon.
The story is initially executed with considerable flair as Kane and Lynch argue their way through the tourette filled missions, but regrettably becomes hum drum as quickly as their banter begins to tire.
Multiplayer avoids the me-too crowd with Fragile Alliance which pits you and online friends as a group of robbers after some cash. With loot separated evenly between the fellow criminals, it’s possible to turn on your friends at any point, kill them and take their stash. It’s admirable in it’s intentions but games can quickly turn into an unsatisfying scrap.
Unfortunately the high production values and obvious effort that has been poured into the single player script are dashed against the rocks of accolade by the element most essential to get right - gameplay. With clunky, counter-intuitive controls and a glitchy cover system, Kane and Lynch is reduced to mediocrity in one foul swipe. Perhaps Kane should have got the chair after all.

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron

Platform: PSP
Verdict: Too big for it's portable boots.
Rating: 3/5
Since the dawning of George Lucas' empire in '77 there have been over 40 videogames with the iconic logo emblazoned on their box art. Mostly they've been rubbish, apart from the odd diamond like The Knights of the Old Republic. After seeing how popular a home made Star Wars mod of Battlefield 1942 had become, Lucas Arts created the Battlefront series. The mixture of epic multiplayer gameplay, vehicular combat and the Star Wars license was a no brainer which saw it become one of the most successful Star Wars games made.
Renegade Squadron sees the traditional template of base capturing and Storm Trooper blasting married with online multiplayer (a first for the series on the PSP) and a new narrative to carry its single player.
Based around the secret group of galactic misfits organised by Han Solo to use guerilla tactics against the Empire, Renegade Squadron weaves its tale around the films with animated illustrations, filling in the gaps between episodes and creating behind-the-scenes tales.
Gameplay remains the same as ever with no dramatic changes other than removing soldier classes in favour of user customisation. Essentially allowing you to pick and choose your weapon sets, Renegade Squadron allows players to create their own style of soldier, restricted only by a credit system that prevents you from becoming a walking armoury.
As well as the rote base capturing, missions are spiced up with varying tasks like destroying generators or protecting friendly characters but they all essentially boil down to the same thing while space combat missions are a twitchy disappointment.
The eternal curse of the PSP's single stick layout detracts from the game immensely, providing an auto lock-on substitute to a second stick. It's an unsatisfying solution that removes most of the skill from the shooter template and makes multiplayer a tedious game of circling opponents while waiting to see who dies first.
To its credit though, production levels are high, customisation options varied and the all too rare inclusion of 16 player online multiplayer is the jewel in its crown - but then that was the whole point of Battlefront in the first place.

Halo 3

Platform: Xbox 360.
Verdict: 3 is the magic number.
Rating: 5/5
When Bungie first came up with the idea for an Apple Mac based Sci-fi strategy game they could never have predicted it would become a media phenomenon, a record breaker and a console FPS. Years down the line, after the original Halo defined console FPS' and Halo 2 defined online console gaming, Halo 3 has arrived to define the 360's future and tie up the story of intergalactic warfare, alien religion and one green suited man's legendary heroics.
After the abrupt and unsatisfying cliff-hanger of Halo 2, the sequel picks up almost immediately. Master Chief has returned to find Earth over run by the Covenant (alien races united under religion) who are unearthing the Ark, an ancient alien installation in the middle of the African desert. The Elites have disbanded from the misguided Covenant and sided with humanity to stop the activation of the Halo rings which will wipe out all life in the universe. With Cortana the AI missing and the threat of the Flood (a deadly parasitic species) the odds aren't looking good.
Taking its cue from criticisms of Halo 2's Campaign, Bungie have tried to recreate the feeling of their original classic – huge open battlefields, a single character narrative (no more playing as the Arbiter) and a more satisfying and coherent story thankfully address them with great success.
With cutting edge HDR lighting, physics reactive water, improved AI, an emphasis on the Brute's pack mentality and some incredible sound design the most immediate enhancements, the controller layout has also changed to assign the X button to new 'Equipment' items.
Equipment are rare items scattered across the maps and add new depth and strategy to the combat. The Bubble Shield, Power Drain, Trip Mine and Grav Lift all seek to encourage even more improvisational gameplay without disrupting the careful balancing of Halo's fine tuned weapon sets.
As well as Equipment, new weapons and vehicles have been added - Spike Grenades are strategical genius, the Brute Choppers are brutal, the Spartan Laser is devastating and the welcome return of the Assault Rifle as a start weapon sees Halo 2's emphasis on dual wielding thankfully reduced. The final inclusion of a flame-thrower and the ability to rip turrets out of their fittings and carry them from the hip like Arnie in Terminator 2 are also more than welcome as is the comical Gravity Hammer.
While all these additions and enhancements are welcome in the campaign, their true test of worth is discovered in the peerless multiplayer. Halo 2 set the standard, Halo 3 picks up the baton running. After the successful Beta and the data mining that was undertaken, Bungie have delivered another rock solid matchmaking system full of superb multi level maps, inventive game types and teenage smack talk - thankfully it's now easier to mute those poor losers.
As well as the Campaign (which allows for 4 player co-op play online and competitive scoring) and traditional multiplayer, there are two new modes to Halo – Forge and Theatre.
Forge is a unique variant of custom games that allows anyone to edit a multiplayer map mid game, in real time and create new game variants for sharing. With Halo 3's already massive community in it's infancy, it'll soon blossom into a hub of creativity where new game types can be uploaded to Bungie.net, downloaded by others, tweaked and evolved into perfection.
Theatre mode allows you to watch previous sessions, changing camera angles, slowing time, recording clips (to send to friends) and saving screenshots. Beyond that, controls are fairly limited it's but still an excellent feature to showboat your skills, create machinima and find out how exactly those players got the drop on you.
While gameplay may not be as revolutionary as hype implied (and as a 3rd iteration in a series, such a divergence wouldn't be welcome), it's such a finely tuned, polished and perfected experience with a raft of unique and excellent features, that it's an FPS at the top of it's game and will still be played in years to come. Legendary indeed.

Bioshock

Platform: Xbox 360, also PC.
Verdict: Art Deco horror.
Rating: 4½/5
Every once in a while a game will come along and take your breath away – be it the enchanting Ico with its minimalist design or the brutal Gears of War with its destroyed beauty. Both games excel beyond mere aesthetics but they’re always the first thing you notice about a game. Bioshock is one of the most stunning games yet and thankfully its qualities also extend far beyond eye candy.
Set in the underwater city of Rapture, a 1930’s vision of utopia, Bioshock tells the tale of a lone survivor of a plane crash seeking refuge amidst a city gone to ruin. Guided over short wave radio through the sumptuous Art Deco nightmare by the uncannily persuasive Atlas, you’re a fish out of water in a world gone insane. Signs of a civil uprising are apparent and the hedonism that fuelled the city has spiralled out of control as its inhabitants found themselves hooked on genetic upgrades that lead to madness.
Playing much like the unsurpassed Deus Ex, Bioshock is an FPS with an RPG edge. Mixing 30’s aesthetics with sci-fi technology and genetic modification, it gives you plenty of tools to fight with. Your eventual arsenal of modified guns is backed up by Plasmids, the DNA scramblers that re-programme your genetic structure and grant you abilities like telekinesis and lightning attacks - but will they send you mad?
The inhabitants of Rapture are a dangerous bunch but none more so than the lumbering Big Daddies that moan like blue whales as they escort the Little Sisters – GM girls sent out into the city to harvest corpses for rare genetic material. This unlikely pair are central to Rapture and its story and provide the game’s moral crux and subsequent ramifications – to harvest or rescue the sub-human sisters.
With shades of Metropolis, 1984 and Atlas Shrugged, Bioshock is a horrific dystopian vision with one of gaming’s most triumphant narratives (and twists), buoyed by stunning Art Deco aesthetics, fantastic voice acting and carried by solid and occasionally innovative gameplay.
Now would you kindly play this game…

Alien Syndrome

Platform: Wii, also PSP.
Verdict: Warrior needs food.
Rating: 2½/5
While building a new life in a new city, there’s nothing like playing a 4-player game on your own to make you miss old friends. Thankfully the 360’s online services help bridge that gap - as the makers of the rather imminent Halo 3 are well aware of, playing a game with friends is almost always better than on your own. Alien Syndrome may not have the online components of this year’s pre-destined hit but it does at least have 4-player co-op too. Beyond that though, it’s bragging rights rapidly diminish.
Remaking their popular 1987 shooter, Sega have attempted to update its simple old school formula by increasing the amount of players that commit alien genocide and by adding stat crunching RPG style elements. Playing more like a dungeon crawler than a frenetic shooter, Alien Syndrome has you blasting your way through an alien filled space ship of repetitious design while upgrading your abilities as you progress.
Updating the twee graphics of yester-year to a 3D vision of the generically gritty industrial future, Alien Syndrome is an ugly, dated looking game that suffers from being a port of a PSP title and is disappointing considering the Wii’s more than capable abilities.
Elsewhere, Sega have tried to justify it’s presence on the Wii by introducing motion controls for melee combat and special moves. While not unwieldy, button presses would more than suffice, making the controls feel unnecessary. What does work well however are the twin stick style controls – using the left stick to move and the Wiimote to point and aim is an intuitive setup and in the right game (like Geometry Wars: Galaxies) could work wonders.
After reading this my friends will probably be thankful we live miles apart because although some fun can be gleaned from this uninspired shooter it’s time that’ll be better spent playing online Gauntlet through rose-tinted spectacles, or Halo 3.

Space Giraffe

Platform: Xbox 360. 400 MS points.
Verdict: Psychedelic Marmite.
Rating: 4/5
Few games rarely generate such divisive opinions yet Jeff Minter’s latest animal inspired opus has exploded the gaming community alight with vitriol and praise in almost equal measures. With its distinctive visual style, sense of humour and dance music, Space giraffe has much to please or offend the gamer.
Taking the classic Tempest 2K (Minter’s popular remake) as its starting point, Space Giraffe is a psychedelic shooter concerned more with synchronised audio/visuals and complex gameplay strategies than actually shooting.
Placing you in control of the titular Space Giraffe, an auto-firing abstracted shape that can move left and right along a floating neon web, you have to destroy enemies floating up towards you. Shooting them is the obvious solution, yet use of the Power Zone, Jump Pods and Bulling technique will net you a far greater score and that’s what dangles in front of Space Giraffe like a virtual carrot made of psychedelic gold.
Points may not mean prizes but they certainly go a long way in giving you an incentive and you can even attempt to topple Minter’s own high score off the leader board. To do so, certain techniques (that notably stray from the Tempest formula) are necessary - charging up the Power Zone allows you to ram enemies off the web when they reach the top. Shooting enemies or using Jump Pods charges the Power Zone so a careful risk/reward balance has to be struck in order to reap the benefits of point heavy Bulling.
Online leader boards, a constant (and in my case damning) assessment of your progress by the game and the continual hypnotic mix of pulsating visuals and synchronised music (including your own custom soundtracks) all serve to egg you on to that next multiplier bonus and brain melting moment of gaming zen as you enter the zone.
Such glory comes at a price though as Space Giraffe is no simple shooter to pick up and play. The tutorial could be more clear cut in its instructions and the ‘trippy’ visuals can get in the way of gameplay but despite its niche shooter status and love it or hate it stylisation, its budget price and sheer exuberance means it should at least be given a chance to puke its addled charms out of your TV.