Gears of War 2 review

It is a tricky process to portray a blockbuster style scale and grandeur in a video game. Ultimately the ideal can either make or break it because of how much of a fine line it is to balance upon. As you can see from previous big budget releases, even the thought of a blockbuster game sequel brings in huge amounts of sales. The question of whether the game is enjoyable becomes a part of the thought process that comes after opinions based upon mass advertising and trust in the developer to '1-up' it's own prequel.

Shadow of the Colossus

As a game, I found it extremely hard to review, as I found it to be much more of an art form of interactive entertainment rather than a simple video game.

You play as a warrior who has bought the love of his life, killed by circumstances we aren't told about, to a temple in the hope of bringing her back to life. A voice suddenly booms throughout the temple, and it gives you the challenge of exploring this derelict world in search of huge creatures of colossi. It is your quest to kill them and, as you find out, the task is a lot harder than what is expected.

These colossi are the biggest foes you will see in any video game, and they are so perfectly realised aesthetically, making it hard to know whether your enemies are animal or machine; alive or dead. This gives the game such a gigantic scale; it makes you feel like an underdog just as the character is. It's a real spark of the old imagination.

So you fight each colossi in turn, and as you kill each one, you are teleported back to the temple. But, instead of the feeling of triumph you usually expect to feel as you beat a boss, you experience something else quite different.

Nothing but the purest of guilt.

These enemies never strike first. You deal the first blow; the Colossi simply defend themselves against your onslaught. A saddening soundtrack accompanies the death scenes as your 'enemy' collapses lifelessly, and his eyes cease to glow. It's at this point you begin to realise you are going to an almost inhumane extent to bring your love back from the dead. It completely eradicates the traditional video game design paradigm of making you feel triumphant after a success.

This is further accentuated by the dramatic ending sequence, which reveals that you've been the evil one all along. It's a twist that you’ll kind of see coming, but not to this huge extent. I'm not going to tell you what happens in case you haven't played it, and we're solely focusing on emotion created not the plot.

At the release speech of the Playstation 2, the console was said to have an "Emotion Engine" built into the workings of the machine. Out of all the games to define the Emotion Engine in its goal of sparking human and psychological reactions to on screen entertainment, many stepped up to the mark and failed. Shadow of the Colossus, with its marriage of emotions and it's truly original concept; in my mind is the truest definition of emotion in video games.

A true juggernaut of interactive entertainment; get it if you can!

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A small flight back to the past

Their really isn't an aim to this post, except for the fact that I've just fallen back in love with my N64 and Dreamcast. Infact, the regimented language use that reviewers adhere to is thrown out the window so I can show my personal affection towards them.

Fable 2 review

Having an element of choice with limited knowledge of the consequences from your decisions has been an articulation of life, amongst others, that video games have not been able to simulate sufficiently. The feeling of responsibility for your actions, and after-thought for the consequences; the element of "what if?" hasn't been adequately captured in a game to the same extent as it encapsulates human existence. Of course, this is most probably not possible on the current generation of consoles we are found in; but Fable 2 is a bold step to the mark.

Portal Review

Half-life 2 was, and still is famed internationally for its ground-breaking, physics based gameplay that allowed the player to freely manipulate any item you saw, with realistic gravitational consequences when you drop or throw them. The overall cohesiveness of visuals, audio and gameplay created a realistic, yet fantasy atmosphere that you simply couldn't avoid. Now it is over three years since Valve had this glory, and after recruiting a small team of university students with a creative idea, can this boundary be pushed yet again?

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Review

It’s not that often that I review an Xbox Live arcade game; but under the circumstances I'm making an exception. Found residing in Bizarre Creations Project Gotham Racing series, Geometry wars was a side project that was hidden in-game as an innocent looking arcade machine for the many players to find.

SSX On Tour review

The issue of change has always plagued many modern game series. Developers change the formula, which in some examples such as Final Fantasy XII has worked tremendously, reinvigorating the series to more than just the hardcore fan. However, the majority of the time, either the supposed "reinvention" does nothing to the game and it becomes more of an expansion pack of the previous game, or the developer lose sight of making the game fun to play amongst their craze of chucking new stuff in that really doesn't complement it.