Reviews - Page 3 - Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Review

Thursday, 27 October 2011 James Lenoir

Can you smell it? The rich aroma of jet fuel, cordite and the flesh of those who dare to stand against Democracy. Now picture our hero staring distantly out towards the horizon, closed fists on his hips. His square and manly jaw quivering majestically as a banner with the tag line, “Make Metal Bleed” is unveiled behind him. Generic metal tunes thunder gloriously in the background as fireworks explode, lighting up the night. This is the mental image that played itself in my mind as I opened up the Ace Combat: Assault Horizon game case. A few hours later, with my aviator sunglasses foggy from perspiration, I mumbled to myself "Who wrote this? This could have been an Iron Eagle sequel. Someone call Louis Gossett, Jr. ...

FIFA 12 Review

Thursday, 20 October 2011 Henry Dowling

You would have to imagine that by now the suits over at EA Sports are laughing all the way to the bank. Year after year the masses line up in droves to pick up the latest offering in the FIFA franchise - a football series which, to my aging mind, feels like it’s been banging on since the dawn of time. Granted, there have been dark times too, those grim years when the once genre-defining footie title was left picking up the scraps from the table of Pro Evolution Soccer’s glory days. But ever since the FIFA team got their groove back - lets call it since FIFA 08, give or take a year - it’s been EA Sport’s franchise which has been perched safely on the top of the premier league. Now, with EA Sports once again asking gamers to shell out for an annual update, it's time to step onto the pitch and see if enough has changed to warrant yet another purchase ...

Driver: San Francisco Review

Wednesday, 19 October 2011 James Lenoir

The latest Ubisoft Reflections game, Driver: San Francisco, continues from the events of the third instalment, yet apparently tries to “forget” about the shocking conclusion to the very mediocre third instalment Driv3r. I can't blame Reflections either, since Driv3r (and Parallel Lines) struggled to impress. Needless to say, both John Tanner and his arch-nemesis Charles Jericho survived Istanbul, and Driver: SF starts in medias res a few months later, in the fine Californian city of San Francisco ...

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review

Tuesday, 18 October 2011 Ray Whitcher

The Warhammer 40,000 universe is one steeped in rich history and diverse, colourful storylines set in the far future, filled with a host of rather angry factions bent on destroying one another. From its humble beginnings as the board game Space Hulk through to its table top miniature war game, the 40K universe has been the inspiration for many games of varying levels of success, from Fire Warrior to the acclaimed Dawn of War series. So by now, gamers are pretty familiar with Space Marines ...

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 Review

Friday, 14 October 2011 Henry Dowling

I have strange feeling of deja vu as I write this. Not because this year’s Pro Evolution Soccer offers too little to recommend it over its predecessor, but because once again it’s Konami’s soccer outing that just can’t seem to make up the ground it has lost against rival series FIFA. It’s like Road Runner and Coyote cartoons - poor old Wile E. Coyote keeps on pulling out all the tricks in the bag, but that damn Road Runner just keeps getting smaller on the horizon. To whip together a more fitting analogy, Konami’s franchise is the defender chasing down EA’s star striker who is slowly but surely pulling away towards the goal. We thought that PES 2011 posed a formidable threat for the title of top footie game, but while this latest version has more to offer than ever before, it’s becoming clear that this franchise is starting to lag behind the competition ...

Dark Souls Review

Thursday, 13 October 2011 James Lenoir

I have a story tell. It features a bright-eyed adventurer, eager to embark on a magical quest. He has done this on many occasions, sometimes as a scantily clad elven vixen, a deified mortal, an eastern European immigrant or even as a late 1940s Los Angeles detective. "For fame, achievement points and fortune" he laughs, as he eagerly awaits the chance to control his avatar ...

X-Men: Destiny Review

Thursday, 13 October 2011 Castro Ntsebeza

A missed opportunity, that’s what the X-Men: Destiny feels like. It has a great premise, putting the player in the shoes of a new mutant rather than playing a well established mutant. How you choose to shape and develop this mutant is up to you. Add the opportunity to make meaningful choices and X-Men: Destiny has the potential to be a spectacular game. Unfortunately the potential of the game is not fully realised as this fun action brawler is hindered by repetitive mission structure, generic action set-pieces and inadequate production values ...

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron Review

Wednesday, 12 October 2011 Corne du Plessis

There's nothing quite as satisfying as pulling off a slick combo in a stylish third-person action game like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Action games like these rely heavily on solid and precise combat mechanics and usually sports an anime story and visual style; a tried and tested formula that has proven successful in the past. When I heard that Takeyasu Sakewai - the designer of numerous characters in Devil May Cry - was the lead designer behind El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, I pretty much expected the same style-driven combos and spiky-haired characters delivering corny one-liners, but in a slightly more artistic setting. Twenty minutes into the game I realised this was not the case: El Shaddai is different. By this I don’t mean that it’s bad, but rather that El Shaddai is one of those games that strives to present you with a unique experience, and for the most part, delivers just that ...

UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System Review

Wednesday, 12 October 2011 Henry Dowling

The increasing popularity of mixed martial arts must have had the suits over at THQ headquarters in a brainstorming frenzy - as a publisher, THQ long ago snapped up the rights to the biggest MMA franchise of them all, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which stands head and shoulders above the competition. With a successful UFC Undisputed fight series already doing the annual rounds on our gaming consoles, those involved have surely been trying to come up with new ways to capitalize on the sought after license. Microsoft’s Kinect device, along with other motion control systems, opened up new avenues for revenues, and while many would have thought that a full UFC Undisputed title with Kinect implementation would have been the simple answer, THQ took a different route: combining the famous UFC brand with the ridiculously popular workout game genre. Far from being just a cash-in on a fast moving genre though, the resulting UFC Personal Trainer has turned out to be an effective tool for those looking to get fighting fit ...

Bodycount Review

Monday, 10 October 2011 Henry Dowling

In March last year we were promised an "exhilarating sensory overload" in the form of Codemasters Guildford's Bodycount - a shooter that was toted to feature "best-in-class" gun play and all manner of high-octane explosive action. Let's be honest, we were cynical from the word go - claiming best-in-class gun play in a class that includes some of the most highly regarded games in the industry was always going to be a serious challenge. Things got worse for Bodycount's future prospects when the project's executive producer left the studio, and creative director Stuart Black - the driving force behind the whole thing - announced he too would be leaving the studio. By this point Bodycount seemed to be a game from a broken home, and the final product is representative of that: a rough, misguided shooter that fails to deliver on its promises ...