Usually I am not a fan of games copying parts of other games instead of trying to do their own thing, however Darksiders is the exception to this.

Moody, don’t give a damn main character (with all his combat skills also) like God of War – Check! Gameplay of a Zelda game – Check! Portal gun from… well Portal – Check! Various movie/game quotes – Check!

All this adds up to one of the best games I have played for a few years, the 4 horsemen/heaven/hell type setting probably helps as it keeps things interesting but the gameplay keeps the game flowing and with only a few annoyances this game should of probably got more praise than it has.

If you are looking for a hack n slash adventure game (and even if you aren’t) then give Darksiders a go as I cannot rate it highly enough, I am glad to see there is a sequel coming… even if it is due in 2012

Playing ‘War’ has never been so much fun! Bravo Vigil Game, Bravo!

Well I was wrong, the person I thought did it actually didn’t… which is odd as I usually get these kind of things right.  Must mean the game did a good job of keeping it hidden until it was time to reveal the killer.

I have never been a huge fan of action adventure games like this, and I thought I would struggle with the many quicktime events due to not being familiar with the PS3 pad however I did enjoy the game and it actually helped me to get used to the button placements… this should help when I start back on God of War!

It’s a bit hard to talk about Heavy Rain without spoiling the story, so I won’t really but I will say that apart from some slightly iffy voices this game is a very well rounded adventure game that always keeps moving.  Some of the scenes you play through are incredibly well done and had my girlfriend watching me play which doesn’t happen with many games… I think she was shocked that I was playing a game that didn’t involve shooting people/aliens/animals in the face J

What I will say though is I got an ending I liked, got the girl, saved my kid and got the killer… not bad if I do say so myself. It’s tempting to go back and try and see other outcomes but I have so many other games to play that I just don’t have the time sadly.

Heavy Rain is a great game if you fancy taking a break from shooting things in the face.

I have mixed views on this game, I love the settings and the type of game but the actual game itself has all sorts of niggles on the 360.  Glitchy cover system, no decent auto save system and texture pop in throughout slightly ruined what was a decent overall game.  Being a few years old now I can sort of forgive these issues, hopefully Mass Effect 2 is a better all round package.

The first 4 hours of this game I struggled with, I would die in every major encounter however once I had figured out the upgrade system and found some better equipment it became far more enjoyable and I was able to sit back and playthrough the story opening up around me.

Hmm it sounds like I am being a bit hard on the game, this shouldn’t be the case as I enjoyed it alot.  I am very interested in seeing how it has evolved in Mass Effect 2.

Moving next week, so game time will be even more limited. However I do have the God of War Collection ready to keep me busy while I am internetless… Problem is Red Dead Redemption is calling me from afar…

Well in most cases anyway, but Bioshock 2 sadly fits into this category.  Now I loved the first game, I thought it had great atmosphere and a great little story with a good twist. I was worried that a second game wouldn’t be able to recreate the same package and it seems like I was correct.

First off you are now a Big Daddy, sounds cool right? Well it should be except you feel about as strong as a wet paper bag… I got around this by pretending I was a frail human being again, which worked for the most part until the story kept reminding me I was a Big Daddy.. Grrr.

I played the first Bioshock on the PC, so maybe the atmosphere was better through headphones but the 360 version seemed to lack any really… but again this could be a failing of using a TV’s speakers.  I am sure the areas in the second game are smaller though but I could just be imagining it to find more problems… so onto the things I actually liked…

ermmm…

See this is the problem, I love the setting and I like the actual gameplay but a game like this lives on its story and atmosphere and the sequel just didn’t delivery this for me so it was a bit of a struggle to want to playthrough and finish. Maybe I will pick it up when it is mega cheap on PC on Steam one day and try again on PC, who knows.

Don’t get me wrong Bioshock 2 is an ‘OK’ game, just not as good as the first one in my opinion.  Onto the next game I go…

Phew.. what a game! Around 50 hours of playtime and it’s finally finished though and it was one hell of a journey and one of the best games I have played for a long time.

In a world where developers think 8 hour games are decent it was nice to play a game that actually lasted and was better for being longer.

I spent a fair amount of time doing most of the side quests that came my way but still had a few more I could of done so I could of spent more time at it but wanted to get it finished.  I went through the game as a dual wielding/archer rogue, with my dream team of Alistair (as my main tank), Shale (as second tank but, used as damage) and Wynne (as my healer) and much fun was had. I used a few of the other characters at various times but always came back to this selection as it worked well, although I do feel like I missed some fun by not using a proper full on damage mage… maybe on another playthrough…

For once I am not going to drone on about a game, if you like RPG’s then you will love this, I found it quite hard for the first few hours as I ran out of health potions quickly and this made fights difficult but once I had a proper healer in the group it became easier and more fun.  More loot would of been nice to pimp out your group more but this is nit picking, I loved the game and will be picking up the expansion once I have cleared up the back log of games I have.

In a world where developers think 8 hour games are decent it was nice to play a game that actually lasted and was better for being longer.

My experience with this series was a mixed one, the first game had a few too many annoyances but I was hopeful the sequel would have sorted these and how right I was… this game is amazing. A bold statement maybe, yes the game is a little annoying in places but those moments are vastly over shadowed by the amazing amount of work that has gone into this game.

The game looks great, by far the best looking game I have played on the PS3 to date and probably the 360 as well.  Uncharted 2 has all the cinematic finesses of a Hollywood blockbuster with voice and music scores just adding to this feeling.  Gun fights in collapsing buildings, fights on rooftops while avoiding an attack helicopter, and the quite frankly amazing train fight make this one of the best games I have ever played.

The platform sections can sometimes annoy (usual platform problems of missing jumps etc..), and some of the gun fights can go on a little too long (never thought I would say that) but these issues are always forgotten about as the next ‘wow’ moment is never far away.

If you own a PS3 and haven’t played this game, go get it as you won’t be disappointed… who am I kidding… you will have by now.

Roll on Uncharted 3!

Anyway, moving on from feeling very old the latest Ghostbusters game that came out last year is actually pretty good when I was expecting it to be pretty awful.

If you want a game that allows you to strap on a proton pack and capture ghosts then this is the game for you, it captures the cheesiness of the films and also the fun of wielding the wavy streams of destruction extremely well.  You even get to use the slime cannons too, covering team mates in green slime is always fun This is a third person shooter that allows you to play a new member of the team alongside all the famous faces of the film, you go through many different locations capturing ghosts while destroying most things in your way.  You also get to use the PKE meter to help find these ghosts, this also allows for many a creepy moment in the game.  The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man also makes his appearance fairly early on and you get to dispatch him, although sadly you never get the chance to drive Ecto-1

The game is paced very well, on the middle setting (Professional) it was a smooth pleasant playthrough, that was until towards the end.  Then it almost seemed like the developers suddenly thought they had made it too easy and made a couple of levels a royal pain in the arse (cue much swearing, much to the girlfriends amusement). This wouldn’t of been so bad if the the game didn’t have to reload the entire level again.. I can only imagine that’s what its doing as the loading times are a bit long.. I used to love that Ghostbusters theme lol

There are plenty of nods to the films in this game (achievements named after sayings from the film, the Vigo picture in the HQ that has various sayings etc..) so any fan of the series will love the game, even if you don’t you will still find it a capable shooter… well maybe not but who doesn’t like Ghostbusters?!

Good fun, glad I only rented it though

The odd game comes along though that shows that the consoles can pull it off, rarely but when they do it makes for a great game.  The Halo series was the first for me, Bungie had all the elements in place for a great series but sadly it does seem to have lost its way as my Halo ODST musings showed.

I haven’t had my PS3 long so I am slowly working through the few exclusive games I have missed over the years, Killzone 2 has been the current game and it took me by surprise.

After the usual learning curve with getting used to the pad controls I got down to the matter of killing the Helghast. The first thing that struck me in Killzone 2 was how good the game looked, at last I have found a PS3 game that actually shows what the console can achieve. This game is stunning in places, the only problem is the action rarely lets up for you to admire it!  I am not sure it quite tops Gears of War 2′s graphics for me but it is very close.  This game is all about the action though, its pretty non stop which is good as it keeps things flowing and is mixed up with the odd vehicle or turret section to slow it down a little.

There is nothing ground breaking about Killzone 2, it just has a lot of polish and does what a FPS should do, and does it very well. This is a game that also frustrated, the 1 on 1 fight with the flying HK like thing on the roof top was a nightmare for me! The last level of the game is also very well done with a long intense series of fights leading to a bit of an annoying boss in the form of Radec who can cloak and re-appear where he likes.  Radec was a pain in the arse until I grabbed a flame thrower and set him on fire so I could always see where he was

Couple of things that let the game down though, loading times are really long and sometimes the game just freezes where its loading the next part of the level (I thought it had hung my PS3 the first time it did this). It is also too short, I think my play through said just under 6 hours which is pretty short considering the end shows what’s going to happen next… I wanted to carry on the fight right then!  Small complaints though for a very well made game.

Next game on the list is Uncharted 2, looking forward to playing this.

The decision to move away from the main hero Master Chief of the previous games was a brave one, instead in ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) you are a rookie member of one of these drop shock troopers.  A drop goes a bit wrong and your character then spends his time wandering the city finding clues to what happened to the other members of the team, and when you do find a clue you then play a mission in that team members shoes to show you what happened.  This obviously leads up to the final levels of the story once you find out what happened to each.

It is not that bad a concept except the wandering around the city to the next clue does get boring after like the second one, a more linear approach would of been more interesting (for once) I think.  The actual proper missions were fun though, especially the ones where the whole team were together… however there are very few of these which also lets it down.

As you are no longer the super marine that you were in the previous games you now have proper health that doesn’t regen by itself, at first I thought this would be quite a nice change and make combat a bit more of a challenge.. which it did… but not in a good way I feel.  All it tended to do was slow down fights when you were low on health, at least before you could go find cover and recover before and keep the game flowing but now you find yourself just dying alot to allow you to carry on faster.

I realise that this game was a bit of a stop gap title, but it had some nice ideas.  I have always liked the working in a team aspect, its just it didn’t use it enough.  ODST is a fairly enjoyable game if you like the Halo universe but if you were new to the series you wouldn’t be very impressed.  It’s worth noting that I never played this multiplayer but that’s because my idea of being of fun is not being killed over and over and over again against people who play Halo day in, day out!

Lets hope Halo: Reach does a better job.

I can best describe the game as a action/platformer, if you have played any of the Tomb Raider games then you would be write at home in Uncharted. The thing is, Uncharted is a much better game than Tomb Raider… while the basics are the same run and gun action with the odd puzzle platform sections it plays alot better than any Tomb Raider game I have ever played and has a pretty decent story behind it.

Having to run around picking up ammo seems tedious at first (no unlimited ammo guns for you) it actually leads to some pretty intense fire fights as you hear the dreaded *click click* sounds of your gun being empty and having to go find a gun off a previously felled foe…. or go toe to toe with them and beat them up in hand to hand. Oh yes, you can beat up enemies with your fists if you wish, something Miss Croft never got to do!

The game got a bit weird towards the end when you start fighting weird zombie things but it flows nicely and always keeps you entertained, however the last level is a real pain in the arse! more on this in a sec.

Few bad points to mention, the platform bits can suffer from the age old platform problem of needed precision jumping or you fall to your death, and the jump to cover action can attach you to the wrong thing sometimes but all in all they are small gripes and don’t happen that often.

The last level of this game though was a royal pain in the arse to finish, much swearing was heard by the girlfriend as I died over, and over, and over, and over… again!  Once I managed to finally get though all the shooting parts of it, I then died alot on the final hand to hand quick time event as my limited Playstation time caused me to always press the wrong button when it flashed up on screen!

Great game, I am now looking forward to starting Uncharted 2 as I have only heard good things about the sequel.