Bargains Galore

So, there I was, down the town preordering my PSP, when decided to have a little browse around Gamestation. I had no intention of buying anything, but ended up buying no less than four games! You know how it is (or maybe you don't). Luckily, three of them were only £5 each, and the fourth was a reasonable £20. I won't go into too much detail now, because they're worthy of their own reviews or Hidden Gems entries in their own right, but here's what I got...

Armed and Dangerous - Xbox - £5
This is definitely my favourite of the games I bought. It's been a long time since I've played anything that's put as much emphasis on pure fun as this game. It's a frantic third person shooter, and good one too. The sense of humour is a little depraved, but there are some great parodies of Star Wars and other Science Fiction favourites in there. The weaponry is genius, and the level of destruction and the ease of the controls all add up to make this one of the best games I've ever stumbled across by accident!

RTX Red Rock - PS2 - £5
This reminds me of the old LucasArts classic The Dig in many ways. It's starts off in a fairly realistic manner. You are E.Z. Wheeler, an RTX (Radical Tactics Expert) who's been sent on a mission to investigate what's been happening on the colony on Mars. Things soon take a turn for the worse though and you find yourself stranded on the red planet, battling strange aliens called LED's and solving all sorts of puzzles in order to save yourself and the colony. So far the puzzles have been a little obtuse, and it's not always clear where to go next, but it's a fun, well presented adventure game.

Drakengard - PS2 - £5
This is was originally known as Drag-On Dragoon in Japan, until Square-Enix wisely renamed it for US and European audiences. It plays like a hybrid of Dynasty Warriors and Panzer Dragoon except neither part is quite as good as its inspiration. The graphics are a bit underwhelming and the camera was really bad from what I've played so far, but I've only got a short way into the game so I'll reserve final judgment until I finish it.

Prince of Persia - Xbox - £20
Finally I've got around to buying the first next generation Prince of Persia, and it's very faithful to the 80's original. The ability to rewind time allows you to experiment with the puzzles, which are very imaginative and will take all your platform game dexterity and brain power to overcome. After I've finished with A&D, Shenmue 2 and Super Mario 64 DS, I shall definitely be going back to it.

Phew! That should keep me quiet for a week at least! There's some good games coming out soon though, which I'm pretty sure I won't be able to resist. Titles like Resident Evil 4, Baiten Kaitos, Gran Turismo 4, Metal Gear Solid 3, Star Fox Armada and Wild Arms 4 are all either out already or are extremely imminent. I shall post my impressions and reviews of each of them as I acquire and complete them, so keep checking back regularly!