Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta

For Xbox 360.
Verdict: King of the hill.
After an initial glitch that kept eager gamers round the world waiting an extra day, Thursday 17th May allowed access to beta code of one of 2007’s most anticipated titles - Halo 3.
With the full game due for release in September, the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta is a three week long peak into the future, in the final part of Bungie’s acclaimed trilogy (downloadable from the menu of supercop game Crackdown).
Allowing access to three varied multiplayer maps and a mixture of social and ranked game types, the beta is a slice of the unfinished game going through testing and gameplay tweaks that the public are now contributing towards completing.
While not giving anything away about the story of clashing cultures and ancient alien technology, the beta has allowed us to see how Halo’s gameplay has evolved and what modern technology has done for the series.
With sharp new textures, physics reactive water and some incredible sound design the most immediate enhancements, the controller layout has changed to assign the X button to new ‘Equipment’ items.
Equipment are rare items scattered across the maps that add new depth and strategy to Halo. 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 legendary weapon sets.
As well as Equipment, new weapons have been added - Spike Grenades are strategical genius, the Brute Spikers are ferocious, 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.
Along with significant and welcome changes to weapon balancing, changes have been made to Halo 2’s still unbeaten party system which allows for friends to group in large teams and take on the world while ad hoc teams of strangers can form after games and disliked maps can be vetoed by vote.
Halo 3 also allows you to save your battles as editable movies, giving Machinima directors unprecedented flexibility and friends the ability to send bragging clips of their victories to each other.
For those 360 owners without Crackdown - you’ve got two weeks left to taste the future.

Pokémon Ranger

Platform: Nintendo DS.
Verdict: Gotta circle ‘em all.
Rating: 3/5
The Pokémon franchise has been with us since 1995 and over those years, in accordance with the ‘milk it’ directive, has spawned sequels, spin-offs and merchandise on a scale that almost matches George Lucas’ own ego funding empire of Yoda duvet covers.
Pokémon Ranger is the latest spin-off for the Nintendo DS that takes the world of cute monsters and gives it a new gameplay hook.
Removing the strategic turn-based combat that lies at the heart of the series, Ranger replaces it with a new touch screen centric method of capturing Pokémon that involves drawing multiple circles round them.
The key here is that you’re not playing as a trainer any more, you’re a Ranger which is the equivalent to the Pokémon RSPCA (or RSPCP).
Obviously, making pocket monsters fight each other isn’t going to sit well ethically so your new adventure sees you helping them rather than harming them.
Upon confronting a distressed Pokémon, the screen switches into capture mode allowing you to draw circles around it with your ‘Styler’ a gizmo that if used correctly can create an emotional connection with the creature and calm it down.
With a number of linked circles required, Pokémon attempt to disrupt your hard work by attacking the circle and resetting it. Each type of Pokémon behaves in a different way so the skill lies in watching and waiting before you frantically scribble round it with the stylus.
Friendly Pokémon can help out too with abilities such as trapping the aggressive Pokémon in a handy bubble of water but unfortunately this is as deep as things get - frenzied scribling and one off special traps.
The actual adventure sees you graduate quickly from helping the public to foiling the plans of the nefarious Go-Rock Squad who are intent on using a new Super Styler for their own dastardly deeds but like the Styler action, it never quite engages enough for you to want to see the end.
Hopefully we’ll see the end of light weight spin-offs for a while as the true sequels ‘Diamond’ and ‘Pearl’ are on their way - are you ready Pokéfans?

Spectrobes

Platform: Nintendo DS
Verdict: Gotta bore em all.
Rating: 3/5
Spectrobes is every parent’s worst nightmare. It’s not one of those mythical murder simulators that’ll turn your kids into slavish brainwashed killers but a new game with the obligatory addition to the ever expanding roster of wallet sapping, Manga styled Saturday morning cartoons. You know the ones - they make little sense and usually send the most resilient into an epileptic fit.
Despite the cynical cash cow Spectrobes is obviously meant to be, the game that will spawn a thousand merchandising opportunities has a lot going for it. Taking its cues from the Pokemon stable, it’s all about collecting monsters, rearing them and making them fight (kinda like bear baiting for ethically minded kids).
Spectrobes’ twist on this successful formula is that the creatures begin life as fossils that once located and excavated can be awakened by the dulcet tones of your voice.
Reared in incubators on a nutritious diet of similarly excavated minerals, the baby Spectrobes can become battle ready adults and even evolve (sorry creationists) into new wondrous forms of walking A-bombs.
Split between adventuring across sprawling dual screen landscapes to save the universe and the more sedentary aspects of archeology and creature breeding, Spectrobes attempts to use the DS’ unique features in a number of ways.
Excavating fossils requires the careful use of the touch screen as you scrape away the rock face with your stylus and in a lovely (but pointless) touch, blow away dust with your own breath (using the DS’ microphone).
Unfortunately, once you’ve awakened and reared an exciting collection of creatures, the actual combat makes it all rather pointless.
Trading Pokemon’s deep and strategic turn-based combat for a butchered real-time approximation, Spectrobes delivers a weak alternative with cumbersome controls and a bizarre impression of line dancing on ice.
Along with the stop/start trudge of random fossil searching and a forgettable story, no amount of unique touches can save it from the death knell of boredom - not what you need on a Saturday morning.

The God of War 2

Platform: PS2.
Verdict: It rocks.
Rating: 4/5
When our ancestors were granted with opposable thumbs, not only did it allow them to emerge as a dominant species and a master of tools, it allowed for the future creation of the iconic joypad and the subsequent need for blister covering thumb plasters.
The God of War series seems solely based around the punishment of your unsuspecting thumbs, requiring them to tap buttons like an uzi with infinite ammo and the latest instalment is a trip to Hades for them in more way than one.
Continuing the story of Kratos, God of War 2 sees him stripped of his powers and embark on a quest from the dead to slay the god Zeus with the aid of the mighty titans.
With his trademark chain weapons, Kratos rips and sunders his mythological enemies with claret spilling ferocity and a brutish disregard for life amongst exotic and fantastical locations.
Easily earning its age rating, God of War revels in its on screen carnage but aptly so - war is sick and brutal so its god must surely lead by example.
Kratos easily lives up to his title, slaying his way through Greek mythologies finest and GoW2 provides updated combos, new attacks and new weapons to create deeper combat and bring more variety to the admittedly repetitive action of its predecessor.
As well as the wanton carnage and thumb burning button combos, GoW2 is laced with puzzles. Giving you time to rest and a chance to flex some cranial muscles instead, GoW2’s puzzles are often satisfying and simple to work out.
Unfortunately some can be so subtle that the answer can be staring you right in the eye when your progress has halted in frustration.
Boss fights can slow progression too with some unfair difficulty spikes but each generally just requires learning attack patterns and keeping calm amidst a flurry of button presses and curses at the screen.
Like an Epic Metal record cover come to life, God of War 2 is loud, brash and a graphical swan song for the aging PS2.
It’s also what thumbs were made for.

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2

Platform: Nintendo Wii, also PS2.
Verdict: My hands are on fire!
Rating: 3½/5
With a grand and slightly incomprehensible title, the latest game in the Dragon Ball Z franchise aptly suggests much complexity yet beyond initial Wii based control changes and a comprehensive charting of the Dragon Ball sagas, there lies a very simple fighting game.
Seemingly attempting to be the definitive Dragon Ball Z experience, Budokai Tenkaichi 2 thankfully eschews any attempts at padding the game out with ill advised RPG adventures and remains true to the series’ hook - huge explosive battles between super charged martial artists, aliens and androids.
Alongside straight up tournament modes and Vs matches, DBZBT2 (to abbreviate) charts the entire saga of the Dragon Ball Z manga and anime series in a stunning 3D cartoon style, allowing you to participate in every key fight along the way with your fighter showing wear and tear as he battles on.
Of course, being on Nintendo’s quirky Wii console, things aren’t quite that straight forward. Those familiar with previous PS2 outings will be in for a shock as the Wii’s motion sensing controls become centre stage to really mix things up.
With the Nunchuk attachment in place, controls are at first glance familiar - movement is on the analogue stick and attack, charge and blast functions all have reasonable button placements. Motion however controls flight around the massive arenas, dodge moves and special attacks.
Shaking the Nunchuk to fly or dodge takes quite a while to get the hang of but patience bears many Zen points and the special attacks fit right into the new scheme as you mimic fireball blasts by throwing your hands out towards the TV.
It can be confusing and fiddly at first, requiring a lengthy tutorial but ultimately becomes satisfying, fun to master and the relatively simple combat never asks too much of you.
As engaging as the motion controls are, they’ll never be a match for the speed of button presses and to those completely alienated by the rampant hand flailing, respite lies in the appreciated (but dull) support for the Classic or Game Cube controllers.
Thankfully, on a list of things to do before i’m 35, ‘Throwing fireballs with my own hands’ has now been ticked off.

Lost in Blue 2

Platform: Nintendo DS
Verdict: Welcome to Tartarus
Rating: 2 ½/5
As tragic as being a castaway sounds, you’d think there may be some joy to be gleaned as an athletic 18 year old stranded with a similarly aged, attractive member of the opposite sex. Immediately referencing the film ‘The Blue Lagoon’ is a no brainer yet Lost in Blue 2 has more in common with Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ as the quest for survival can be particularly hellish.
With plenty of similarities to the short but sweet Another Code, everything in Lost in Blue 2 is done with the stylus. Allowing you to move around the environment by touching the screen where you want to go, on-screen tabs also allow for quick access to context sensitive actions and menus while allowing you to interact with the environment with a pleasing tangibility.
After the initial introduction to the game’s controls and simple story of marooned strangers, life very quickly descends into a struggle against the tyrannical demands of your body.
With three meters that need constant monitoring you have to carefully maintain your energy, food and water levels and each has a knock on effect on the other.
While all this seems perfectly fair and uncannily logical, the rate at which the meters drop is torturous, particularly early on in the game where, like some underworld torture from Greek mythology, food is limited to tiny morsels that seem to replenish less than it cost to gather them.
Thankfully the monotony of survival is broken up by a multitude of mini-games. As a game of survival, food is everything and a lot of time is spent cooking and hunting it in mini-game form, utilising the DS’ touch screen and microphone to satisfying results.
Unfortunately the uncompromising demands of your body and that of your inept companion mean that these mini-games are repeated ad infinitum, ironically making the very things that break up the monotony, monotonous.
Progression in the game eventually opens up new tools and skills making survival easier and exploration more enjoyable but the dull pain of repetition inflicted on you to reach these fields of gaming Elysium is too much for all but the most masochistic gamer.

Final Fantasy XII

For PS2.
Verdict: Back with a vengeance.
Rating: 4½/5
As an avid fan of the iconic Final Fantasy VII, I played it for over 100 hours with my best friend. Admittedly we’d just finished our degree shows and allowed ourselves some hazy downtime that involved sinking into an epic adventure and forgetting about the outside world for a week.
Despite Final Fantasy’s continual success over the years it was becoming a little stale as each iteration settled for dated rehashes of tried and tested gameplay and far too many random battles.
Thankfully Square Enix’s latest is a grand return to form and pushes the recently superseded PS2 to the limit in a swan song of epic proportions.
Creating a living, breathing world based around the lands of Ivalice, first seen in Battle Tactics, FFXII is a breath of fresh air.
Mixing sci-fi with distinctly medieval and Middle Eastern aesthetics, its tale of a petty thief mixed up in world changing affairs is entrancing, involving and of course, huge.
Besides a maturer approach to story telling, the most notable change to FF is the combat.
Ditching the static, turn based mechanics for a quasi-real time system that at first feels more like an action title than an RPG, FFXII has made a bold leap from its roots and will make fans of Vagrant Story and Knights of the Old Republic feel right at home.
Placing emphasis in combat on pre-defined ‘Gambits’ you can programme your team of adventurers to react to different situations mid-battle or pause the action and make on the fly changes if needs be.
Traditionalists may find it odd at first but once you settle in it works a treat and the fact that random battles have been banished to the history books should be more than enough to make up for any initial misgivings.
With an epic story, masses of side quests and a talent system that allows you to sculpt your characters how you like, Final Fantasy XII is brimming with charm, confidence and features that’ll entertain for hours and hours. If only I had a spare 100 to play it.

Sony PS3
£425.
The heavyweight enters the ring.
Friday 24th March saw the much delayed launch of Sony’s latest games console in Europe. Compared to the tales of riots and shootings in America, Europe’s introduction was decidedly polite due to plentiful supplies. Figures so far suggest it was one of the most successful console launches to date but time will tell if it can maintain the same momentum of demand Nintendo’s Wii still seems to command.
Taking the polar opposite approach to the relatively cheap and very cheerful Wii, the PS3 is a high-end multimedia hub and games machine designed to supply almost all of the living room’s needs to the techno savvy and gadget proud.
With a free online network to challenge the 360’s subscription service and motion sensing controls to tackle the Wii, Sony looks set to take both on but its high price may put the average consumer off for some time yet while the differences between it and the 360 have yet to be fleshed out.
Containing a Blu-Ray drive, the PS3’s biggest advantage over the 360 is the inclusion of the Hi-Def player and is Sony’s thinly veiled attempt to sneak its own unproven Hi-Def video format into your house. As the cheapest Blu-Ray player on the market though you can’t complain and the larger storage space will hopefully deliver bigger games. Just make sure you have a suitably impressive Hi-Def TV otherwise it’s rather pointless.
With some great titles like Motor Storm and Resistance: Fall of Man in the launch line-up and plenty more to come it’s going to be an exciting year for gamers and it’ll be interesting to see how the PS3 counters the release of the 360 and the Wii’s big hitters - Halo 3 and Super Mario Galaxy.

TMNT
For PS2 and every other platform.
Verdict: Heroes in half a shell.
Rating: 2 ½/5
Considering their watery origins and love of pizza, the green skinned brothers are a surprisingly nimble bunch. I guess that’s down to their mutant genes, ninja training and teenage metabolism but with Ubisoft at the helm it’s easy to see the Prince of Persia series providing plenty of acrobatic inspiration.
As ninjas, the turtles have plenty of moves to get around town with. The usual wall running and double jumping antics that shuriken wielders usually employ are all here and necessary to make it from A to B as you undertake a platforming heavy game of city scaling heroics.
The PoP format lends itself well to the turtles world of sewers and sky scrapers but the twitchy controls, invisible walls and fixed camera angles often make progress frustrating and the linear roof top running seems distinctly old hat compared to recent titles such as Crackdown.
Like Sands of Time, combat punctuates the game at regular intervals, breaking up the platforming with welcome variety but the average mechanics and limited moves never quite deliver.
Uniquely, the basic move set is supplemented by combo attacks with off-screen turtles and the ability to transform into any of the brothers at a button press. With turtle specific moves this does expand your street fighting repertoire but still never gels satisfyingly like a true Ninja Gaiden’s would.
With their reinvention, the turtles seem to have grown up a little but the franchise has neither returned to its darker comic routes nor fully shed its cartoon skin, choosing to traverse a slightly sanitised in between with wafer thin angst and annoying, over-used ‘comedic’ sound bites.
TMNT does have potential to be a great game but the indifferent level design, no-brain combat and rushed production mean it could do with a little more turtle power before it hits that target.
Tip of the week - download the arcade classic over Xbox Live Arcade for some iconic four player fun.

Worms
For Xbox 360 Live Arcade, 800 MS points.
Verdict: Frugal but fun cartoon combat.
Rating: 4/5
They’re funny folks those game designers - all those long hours spent in the underbelly of developing crunch time must go to their heads. I mean, who ever thought it would be a great idea to make a 2D turn-based multiplayer strategy game starring the common earthworm must have had a screw lose somewhere.
Thankfully it’s often the screwiest ideas that often work the best as Worms’ history of success certainly shows and its recent addition to the Live Arcade roster is a very welcome one indeed.
Predominantly designed as a multiplayer game (single player is really just for practice), up to four friends can battle it out over a randomly generated, fully destructible 2D landscape. Taking turns to move and maim, your team of four worms must obliterate or outlive all the rest and with a huge arsenal of cartoon weapons at disposal you can be sure it’ll be done with great comedic effect.
Essentially a port of the PSP’s Worms: Open Warfare, Worms on the 360 benefits from crisp Hi-Def visuals (for those with posh tellys) and the key feature - online gaming.
Traditionally played with friends round a TV, Worms on the 360 takes it to the next level with friendly and ranked games available for you to take your elite squad of custom named worms online and deliver invertebrate vengeance.
As a remake of the original Worms (1994), this version does suffer from a relatively limited weapon set compared to recent titles (no Holy Hand Grenade here i’m afraid) but there are still favourites like the Exploding Sheep and the expandible nature of Xbox Live means updates and expansions remain a likely hood.
The purity of the experience does however mean that those new to the series won’t find it too hard to settle into the tactical and accidental obliteration of megadriles. The comic sound effects, cartoon graphics, slo-mo replays, evolving battle field and the relaxing, social nature of the game all serve to create a charming title that for about £7 you can’t really fault.
Unless of course you suffer from scoleciphobia.