New Releases - 16/03/07

Before I get started with my regular release update, I have a quick note to say that as soon as my R4 Revolution flash cartridge arrives, I shall be delving into the wonderful world of Nintendo DS homebrew and I will most likely report my findings here. There's some very exciting stuff out there and new developments come up on a regular basis.

Without further ado, let's see if there's anything worth spending your cash on this week...

Nintendo DS



Phoenix Wright: Justice For All
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Rayman Raving Rabbids

Some interesting stuff for Nintendo's handheld this week. For me, Puzzle Quest is probably the most intriguing of the three because it promises to meld a Tetris style puzzler with RPG elements such as a storyline and levelling up. It could be good, it could blow goats, we'll have to wait and see. Raving Rayman Rabbids isn't the same game as the Wii mini game frenzy. Instead we have a return to the classic 2D platform genre that made him famous in the first place. While a mini game orientated package probably would have worked quite well, I welcome this more traditional game and look forward to giving it a try.

Finally, the original Phoenix Wright passed me by, which I plan to rectify some day as I keep hearing great things about the franchise. They've been likened to the classic graphic adventure games of yesteryear, which has always been one of my favourite types of game, but of course they also incorporate the unique strengths of the DS such as the touch screen and microphone.

PlayStation 2



Pac Man World Rally
Test Drive Unlimited

I do love a good kart racing game, but it has to be said most pretenders don't manage to beat Mario Kart in any of its guises when it comes down to it. I watched some video clips of Pac Man World Rally a while back and it has potential but whether it can live up to Nintendo's benchmark series remains in doubt.

Test Drive Unlimited gets released today on several formats, a few months after the original Xbox 360 version. It's a very ambitious game to try and port over to such comparatively under powered hardware as the PS2 and PSP, so I'm very curious to find out how good it's turned out.

Nintendo Wii



SSX Blur

Several weeks after appearing in the Import Corner, SSX Blur gets a European release this week. It looks like a rather stripped down version of SSX Out of Bounds, so if you already own that you may want to think twice about purchasing this as well. Perhaps the motion based controls will push it to another level?

Import Corner



Cooking Mama: Cook Off (Wii)
Wing Island (Wii)

A couple of cool looking games for the Wii this week. Cooking Mama is another one of those clever little games that originated on the DS (see also Trauma Center) being given a new lease of life. It features over 300 recipes and requires you to hold the remote in various poses, such as like a rolling pin to make pastry, or like a wooden spoon to stir a stew.

Wing Island could be the game that fans of Pilotwings and Pilotwings 64 have been waiting for, although it looks rather different from the screenshots I've seen. Holding the Wii remote like a paper airplane, it's your job to steer a formation of planes through hoops while performing various stunts. Looking good!

The RetroModern Gaming blog Pick of the Week
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
This game sounds different enough to be worth a look!

Hidden Gems 2007 Volume 1

Time for another series of Hidden Gems! As before, each game featured here was overlooked in some way on its original release and is actually well worth checking out. They can often be found nice and cheap to, which makes them extremely good value for money. The more open-mined gamers out there could pick up quite a few bargains if they're willing to look past the crap that regularly appears in the sales charts.

This week I'm looking at a double pack of racing games for the PC which are available via the Steam online distribution service for the equivalent of £10. They are Xpand Rally and GTI Racing, and while not perfect by any means, both offer plenty of game to get your teeth into.

Despite being a few years old, the Chromed engine that powers both games is capable of producing some impressive graphics.

Of the two games on offer here, Xpand Rally is perhaps the more famous of the two, but that's not really saying much. It aims to offer PC rally fans an alernative to the big name Colin McRae franchise, and almost pulls it off. It's actually a very solidly made game, with crisp clean graphics (though not quite as detailed as Colin McRae), a sizeable career mode and a nice range of well designed tracks. However, the cars in the game are not officially licenced, but it's pretty obvious what they're supposed to be. Mini Coopers are renamed Tiny Hoopers, and Peugeots are replaced by Lions. It doesn't really matter that much that they're not the real deal, they still look good.

The game is not quite perfect however. It is let down slightly both by the controls and the game structure. When you first create your profile, you can choose between an Arcade or a Simulation style control model. While you'd expect it to be much easier to chuck the car around the bends in Arcade mode, I actually found Simulation easier as Arcade was too floaty and unpredictable. The cars still start of rather twitchy in Simulation mode as well, but it's much less pronounced and gets better once you replace the stock suspension and steering parts that come with your new car.

This brings up the next problem I have wit the game. Each race in the career mode gets a little harder to beat, but rather than using pure skill, victory is largely dependant on how much you've upgraded your car. This results in you having to basically replay the first four races until you've got enough money to buy a car in the next class up and start over again upgrading that car. This is the same problem I have with the Gran Turismo games - it feels like you're not really racing but merely repeating the same process over and over again until your car is good enough to move on. Despite this however, driving around the many environments, such as the Grand Canyon, Poland, and Sweden is good fun and the rather challenging handling makes victory all the sweeter. The replay function is well done too with many different cameras and visual effects such as saturation, blur and black & white filters.

GTI Racing takes the same sort of structure, but this time the handling is pure arcade style through and through and feels spot on. Progress is also much easier as well, because you can make your first car last for a good 8-10 racers before you need to start thinking about changing up to the next class. The cost of repairs is also much less than in Xpand Rally, so you won't have to spend out so much off your valuable prize fund on fixing up your car after every race.

GTI Racing also has a full Volkswagen licence, which means you'll be driving Beetles, Baha Bugs and Golfs to name but a few. The game has a very European flavour which is represented by the track selection. You will be racing around areas in Bavaria, Sicily, and the UK, and not just in straight circuit races. There are also drift challenges and off road events where you race your rivals to be the first to a selection of checkpoints.

Both games also feature online player, and you can choose to either switch collisions on or have everyone as ghosts. If you do decide to switch the collisions on, you may notice a bit of lag unless everyone has a powerful PC and a fast internet connection.

So while the games have their little quirks, they're still well worth a look at the price that they're on offer for. Personally I thought GTI Racing was the better game of the two due to being more accessible and forgiving.

If you don't own a joypad for the PC (which helps immensely with driving games) but you do own a PlayStation 2, there are a variety of PS2 to PC adaptors on the market. I own a Joytech one which only cost me £7 and has worked with every game I've tested it with (it even supports rumble if the game in question also supports it, which Xpand Rally and GTI Racing do).

Whereas Xpand Rally is quite a solitary affair, GTI Racing features pack racing with a fair amount of jostling for position.

New Releases - 09/03/07

Here I am again with this weeks new releases. Let's see if there's anything exciting in store this time...

Nintendo DS



Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis

It's a pretty good week for DS fans if you're a fan of platform puzzlers. Personally I'm starting to get a little tired of the Metroid style Castlevania games as Konami seemingly chuck another one out every year, and they've been doing it since Symphony of the Night (which has never been bettered). A return of the original straight platforming instead of the RPG hybrid would be a nice change of pace. MvDK2 has been compared to Lemmings, but it has plenty of original ideas of its own and is well worth a look.

PC



Silverfall
Trackmania United

Silverfall has potential - it's a new action RPG and you just can't get enough of those in my opinion. Will it go down the Diablo-esque route that so many others have or manage to bring something new to the table? Trackmania United is a "best of" compilation of all the games in the series so far (Original, Power Up, Sunrise, Extreme and Nations) brought together under one interface and given a visual update. There's also new building blocks and a more organised multiplayer mode that makes it easier to find clans and teams divided by country.

Nintendo Wii



SSX Blur

I've been a fan of the SSX games ever since the original came out at the launch of the PS2, but I didn't enjoy the last game, SSX On Tour quite so much. SSX Blur looks like it has more in common with Tricky and Out of Bounds which is no bad thing as they were the best games in the series. As long as the controls don't let the side down we should be in for another quality snow racer with a stonking soundtrack.

Import Corner



God of War II - PS2
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Wii

I wasn't that keen of the original God of War really, I found it a bit boring. Not because of the setting, I love Greek mythology, but the gameplay didn't really grab me. I know an awful lot of people thought it was fantastic though, so they should definitely check out the sequel. If anything, it definitely shows of the power of the PS2.

I would really like to try Tiger Woods on the Wii just to see how well they've carried off the controls. If it plays well I would probably buy it, as the previous games in the franchise have been absolutely rammed with content.

The RetroModern Gaming blog Pick of the Week
Silverfall
I do love my RPG's and Silverfall looks extremely promising.

Final Fantasy XII review

Just like the year before, for me the winter months were spent mostly playing an epic RPG by genre powerhouse Square-Enix. Instead of Dragon Quest VIII however, this time it was the turn of Final Fantasy XII. While arguably not as popular as the Dragon Quest series in its native country of Japan, if the whole world is taken into account then the Final Fantasy series is the leader, ever since Final Fantasy VII wowed RPG addicts and non fans alike some 10 years ago. Yet, some fans were not pleased by the changes made in FFXII, which are most radical changes the series has seen in its history. Which way do I lean? Read on to find out...

Format: PlayStation 2
Publisher: Square-Enix
Developer: Square-Enix
Genre: RPG
Region: NTSC (USA)
Price: Around £30

How does one even begin to review a game as huge as Final Fantasy XII, which has already won countless awards, including Game of the Year from Edge Magazine? Well, firstly I will try not to be biased by what other people have said, and to be as honest as I possibly can. I will go through each area of the game and try and come to a sensible conclusion.

Firstly though, you have to respect just what Square-Enix has achieved here. Last year I found it remarkable exactly how much they managed to fit on one DVD Rom for DQVIII, and yet FFXII outstrips even that game by a considerable margin, content wise. When I had finished the game, I had almost 110 hours on the clock, and I hadn't even seen and done everything. I might go back and finish off the last few optional quests some time but other games have already enticed me with their siren calls, so it's difficult. Don't go into Final Fantasy XII unprepared however, you have to be willing to lose yourself in the game. Yes, you can finish the main plot in about 40 hours if you really want to, but to me the most enjoyable parts were the optional extras. I'll get back to those later. In the meantime here's what I think about each aspect of FFXII in turn.

Graphics: 10 out of 10
The visuals of Final Fantasy XII are easily some of the most impressive that the PS2 has ever produced, easily rivalling anything that the next generation machines have to offer. A lot of this is down to the age of the PS2 and the power that has slowly been drawn out and exploited by the more expert development teams over the years. You will explore vast deserts, gargantuan tombs and mighty aerial fortresses, all in real time 3D. There's no prerendered backgrounds (as in the PS1 games) or being locked to a particular path through an area (ala FFX), you are free to roam wherever you want, as long as you are either strong enough to withstand the attacks of the monsters or fast enough to avoid them. A lot of the cut scenes are actually powered by the 3D engine as well, and the close up shots of the characters really give you the chance to appreciate how much detail there is in the character models and how high res the textures look. Everybody looks incredibly crisp and clean instead of suffering from aliasing (jaggies) like in the early days on the PS2.

Of course it wouldn't be a Final Fantasy game without plenty of FMV sequences, and these do make a return as well. They're nowhere near as prominent as in say, FFVII and personally I think this is a good thing. The story in FFXII has been rather simplified and pared down compared to the last few games in the series, something I think it needed. That's not to say that what's there isn't good, but the changes are refreshing.

Sound and Music: 10 out of 10
First of all think the music in FFXII is absolutely amazing. As the drama unfolded during the opening FMV and the main theme of the game came in, I had goosebumps go up my arms and back, it was that exciting. The same thing happened throughout the game, mainly during boss battles, and I also remember the Phon Coast having some outstanding music. This is definitely one game I would consider buying the soundtrack for. Even though Hironobu Sakaguchi has taken Nobuo Uematsu with him to Mistwalker, Hitoshi Sakimoto has managed to fill his shoes brilliantly and is just as good, if not better in my opinion.

The voiceovers are also some of the best I heard in a game, and for once most of the performances are nice and understated, rather than being overacted to the point of being annoying which so often happens in the RPG genre. Of course it helps that the actors have such a good script to work with. The localisation for FFXII is easily one of the best jobs that Square-Enix has ever done (along with DQVIII of course). It wasn't so long ago that Square-Enix were regularly critiscised for their localisation efforts, for games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy IV. It appears that they are finally taking the western fans seriously and giving them the attention they deserve. Some may find the style of the dialogue a little "flowery" for their tastes, but I found it suited the medieval/industrial fusion of the world of Ivalice. At time it reminded me of something like Gladiator, where the characters would talk to each other with an air of polite menace.

The voice actors include Cat Taber as Penelo, who should be familiar to Knights of the Old Republic fans as the voice of Mission Vao. Phil Lamarr who has played many videogame roles including Vamp in Metal Gear Solid 2 is also in the supporting cast, along with Dwight "Mad Murdoc" Schultz who returns from a successful stint in Final Fantasy X in a number of small roles throughout the game.

The sound effects are the icing on the cake and they do their job well, from the typical sounds of battle (weapon hits, magical explosions and so forth) to the background noise of the city (your characters foosteps, the sound of market traders promoting their wares). It all adds to ensure that FFXII gets another perfect mark.

Fran is not your typical bunny girl.

Plot and Character: 8 out of 10
For the most part, the main characters and those that support them are a pretty likeable bunch, with as mentioned elsewhere well written dialogue and skillfully delivered lines. We have Fran, the exotic looking Viera (rabbit creatures, seemingly all women) with an accent to match. I can't quite place where the actress is from but it may be a Scandinavian country. Sounds cute anyway.

Then there's Balthier, a scoundrel of a sky pirate who seems to be in the quest only for fortune and glory but really has a heart of gold. People have compared the plot and characters to the Star Wars trilogy and it's not really hard to see the resemblance. Balthier would definitely play the part of Han Solo, which would make Fran Chewbacca... except rather less hairy and certainly more attractive (unless you have some strange fetish I'd prefer not to know about).

Accompanying those two are Princess Ashe, who has witnessed her kingdom become the victim of a powerplay between to rival nations, not to mention seeing her own father and husband killed in acts of battle and betrayal respectively. Joining the party a short way into the game is Basch, formally a captain of the Rabanastran army, but stripped of his rank and imprisoned for killing Ashe's father and a young recruit by the name of Reks.

Finishing off the main cast are Vaan, who is the elder brother of Reks, and his childhood friend Penelo, who get swept along in the quest and are motivated by feelings of hatred towards the Empire which has occupied their home city by force. They long for the day that their people can walk freely again and not have to suffer the suspicious gaze of an imperial soldier on every street corner.

There are also many supporting characters that frequently fill the fourth guest spot in your active party roster, and you don't have direct control over them. These include Larsa, the youngest member of the house Solidor, which also includes the old Emperor and Vayne, his evil, scheming son. Larsa doesn't agree with the tactics that his family have put into play, and longs for peaceful cohabitation between the various countries.

No, any problems in this category aren't the fault of the characters, but rather the plot that carries them along. Everything starts off extremely well with the promise of political intrigue, betrayal, heroic deeds (dare I say "derring-do"? Perhaps not), and an epic quest. Many plot threads dangle but rather than coming together neatly at the end, everything starts to unravel because things that were started are never followed up on. This could well be deliberate, because Final Fantasy XII is just one part of the "Ivalice Alliance" series that Square-Enix has got planned, which also include Revenant Wings on the DS, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War on the PSP and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2, also for the DS. The plot also isn't as spectacular as past games in the series, but to me that was actually a plus. It makes things seem more believable in a way, and the amount of background detail that Square has piled in to the environments and the bestiary keep you interested enough to keep exploring the world.

Vaan and Penelo are the young whippersnappers of the story.

Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10
The basic design of the Final Fantasy series has stayed more or less the same through its history, with the odd tweak here and there for each new game. Final Fantasy XII is the first truly radical change in over 20 years. The turn based, random nature of the battles has been replaced with monsters roaming in the field and a more hectic battle system. Those of you brave enough to attempt the game with the battles set to Active instead of Wait can expect to have quite a tough time of it.

You take control of one of the party (you get to decide who) and any other party members including your guest follow along behind you. Most enemies will be hostile from the moment they detect you and you will see a red arc of light from the enemy to the party member they are targeting. This also works in reverse when you are targeting a monster, with a blue arc denoting an attack and a green arc denoting magic or items. For those that have played an MMORPG such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI or Dark Age of Camelot, combat works in much the same way.

Pressing the X button on the joypad brings up your menu of available attacks, spells and specials. There are quite a few different options here, which grow as you buy more spells (divided into White, Black, Green, Arcane and Time), technicks (special skills which are free to use), Quickenings (basically this games Limit Breaks), Espers (Summons). Being able to use anything in the game isn't quite as simple as just buying it and equipping it however, each character also has a licence board and you have to buy a licence for anything you want to use, including weapons, armour, magic, espers (once you've defeated them) and augments (which permanently give your character a boost in a certain area, such as blocking). This can be a bit of a pain at times, and in the long run it doesn't really aid character customisation that much because you can easily obtain everything on the grid with every character, meaning they become facsimiles of themselves towards the end of the game.

Another aspect to Final Fantasy XII is the Gambit system. This basically acts like a very simple programming language for your characters, letting you set up various rules and conditions. So for example you could tell your characters to buff themselves up with Protect, Shell, Regen and many other spells in a quiet moment, or cast Curaga on undead creatures (who are extremely weak to White magic). You can chop and change Gambits at any time, even in the middle of a battle, and at times you will have to because one set of rules may be completely unsuited to that particular battle. It all works extremely well, and you can set up your characters to basically do most of the fighting for you, with you only stepping in in an emergency. The only major downside to the Gambit system is that for some reason beyond my comprehension Square-Enix decided to dole out new conditions (e.g. Ally HP is less than 20% or, Enemy = Undead) gradually throughout the game and they are unlocked depending on how far you are through the story.

Most of the battles against standard creatures can be fought and won without having to use the Gambits all that much as long as you are at a sensible level, but some of the optional bosses are much easier to finish off with their help. It's just a bit of a shame that on one hand Square-Enix give you this great tool to customise your characters, but on the other hand limit what you can do with it.

Innovation & Cleverness: 9 out of 10
Square-Enix should be applauded for the way that they've shaken up their oldest and most important franchise. The battle system, while not completely new to MMO fan, is at least new to players offline RPG's, and while elements like the Gambits and the Espers (which are a bit of a waste of time) don't quite work out, it's a very valiant attempt to inject some life in the flagging series. I also applaud their decision to veer away from adolescent whiny male main characters and feature a much more cheerful bunch where no one can really be considered the lead character. While a couple are left in the shadows for a lot of the time (Penelo being a good example), others such as Vaan, Ashe and Balthier all get equal time in the spotlight.

Personally, I think Final Fantasy XII is just what the series needed, but Square-Enix had better be careful because they're in danger of reaching saturation point with the amount of FF related games they're releasing. We've already had 4 games in the last 6 months, with another 6 or so on the way. Even if all of them are great games, that's still too many considering the time commitment you have to give to each one.

Value & Replayability: 9 out of 10
While it is questionable whether you'd replay such a long game, it has be said that Final Fantasy XII is phenomenal value for money. The main quest itself takes around 40 hours to finish. If you add on the major side quests, which include going on dozens of monster hunts for Clan Centurio and then tracking down another 60 rare monsters for the Hunter Club late in the game, that number can easily be pushed over 100 hours. There's even more to see though, because a good half of the Espers you can add to your party are optional and they have to be found and defeated first. I haven't even mentioned all the other little quests throughout the game yet, including hunting for lost Cluckatrice chicks and delivering a letter to every sister who each work on a different airship route.

Then we have the bestiary, which is extremely well written and will take even the most thorough player a considerable time to complete. When you defeat a monster you get a page of information about them, but when you defeat a monster a particular number of times a second page is unlocked which contains a variety of things including details on the various areas of Ivalice, hints as to what the monster may drop or other random tidbits.

While the game is enjoyable for most of the time, I must admit on occasion it began to feel like hard work as you have to level grind in order to be able to defeat some of the tougher monsters. At least Square-Enix has taken that into consideration as you are rewarded with better and better loot depending on how many monsters of the same type you can chain together. Personally I found the monster hunts to be the most enjoyable part of the game and I felt compelled to try and beat them all (which I haven't quite done yet, as the final beastie has around 5 million hit points).

Other races first introduced in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, such as the Bangraa, also make an appearance. These guys are particularly nasty bounty hunters that are after Balthiers head.

Overall: 9 out of 10
While I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Final Fantasy XII, I don't think it's a perfect as Edge magazine or Eurogamer did. When you've played for over 100 hours, the small flaws start to show themselves. I'd much rather play a game that's a fresh feeling and exciting as this rather than the same sort of thing all over again though (see Final Fantasy VII-X). Apparently, at least one of the three(!) announced Final Fantasy XIII games will be an action RPG, which has caused a bit of a stir among die hard fans. I have faith that Square-Enix can pull it off though after what they've managed to achieve here.

Note: The PAL version has only just come out, and I have no experience with it, so I don't know if Square-Enix have learnt their lesson from FFX and FX-2 and actually taken the time to optimise the game for PAL TV's. I would certainly hope so. If you have played the PAL version, add a comment and let me know.

New Releases: 02/03/07

I'm going to try and bring back an old feature this week where I comment on the new releases in time for each Friday. Instead of listing everything coming out for every format however, I'm just going to stick to the games that I think are worth your attention and money.

Nintendo DS



Elite Beat Agents

To those that haven't imported Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! already, then I urge you to give Elite Beat Agents a try. It's much more than a simple translation however, as all of the music and levels are brand new. In fact, even if you have already played the original game, it's still worth picking up this pseudo sequel.

PC



Resident Evil 4
Jade Empire: SE
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne

A couple of oldies but goodies finally get released on the PC this week. Resident Evil 4 remains one of the best games of the last decade. Jade Empire isn't quite in the same league but is a fun little game in its own right. Finally we have the new expansion pack to the recently reviewed Titan Quest, which I hope to get my hands on soon.

Nintendo Wii

Sonic & The Secret Rings

Sonic has never really impressed much when he's appeared in 3D, except for in the original Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast. Sonic & The Secret Rings promises to be a return to form however, as Sega have stripped things back and concentrated on what makes a Sonic game special - speed.

Import Watch

Burnout Dominator

North American gamers get a brand new Burnout this week in the shape of Dominator. There's no radical changes to the formula this time around (those are being saved for the next generation Burnout 5). Does a new range of tracks and challenges merit a purchase for the fifth time in a row? Personally, I thought the formula was starting to get a little tired in Burnout Revenge so I have my doubts about this one.

The RetroModern Gaming Blog Pick of the Week
Elite Beat Agents
Go on, don't let the fact that it's a Rhythm Action game put you off, EBA is well worth it.

Searching made easier

I've just finished adding labels to all of my old posts since I upgraded to the new version of Blogger, so now it should be much easier to find articles that you are interested in.

Firstly you could choose just to view all the retro or modern articles. Then you could just view all the articles of a certain genre, such as rpg. Or you can look at articles about a particular format, e.g. PS2 or Xbox 360. Finally, if you just want to read my reviews, or you'd like to see all of the Hidden Gems articles I wrote as one big collection, you can do that too!

You can find a full list of all the article labels after all the web links on the side bar on the right of the page, and you can also find labels at the end of each article so you can jump to others that may be of interest to you. It should help to enhance the site immensely!

Titan Quest review

Format: PC
Developer: Iron Lore
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Action RPG/Hack 'n' Slash
Region: Europe
Where to buy: www.gameplay.co.uk

Titan Quest is the latest in a long line of Action RPG's for the PC that have aspired to better the venerable Diablo 2. Ever since it was released back in the year 2000, it has remained the benchmark of the "Hack 'n' Slash" genre, and despite a very valiant effort, Titan Quest doesn't quite knock it down from it's lofty perch. The two games are on the surface very similar, but TQ is different enough to be worth a look even if you have already fought Baal and his demon hordes over half a decade ago.

This time you play the part of a lowly mortal destined to become the saviour of mankind. The Titans, powerful elder gods who were locked away by Zeus and co when they tried to wipe out humanity, have managed to break free of their prison and are now wreaking havoc all over Greece, Egypt and China. Thousands (and I do mean thousands) of beasts and monsters from legend such as satyrs, gorgons, minotaurs and the odd cyclops are laying waste to entire towns and cities and its up to you to slowly build up your level by defeating ever stronger enemies so you can take on the terrible bosses. These bosses include Medusa and her two sisters, a Minotaur Lord and several Telkine, evil sorcerers who are responsible for all of this chaos in the first place.

What sets Titan Quest apart from its peers for me is the fact that all of its locations and monsters are based upon real world Greek, Egyptian and Eastern myths, which is the sort of thing I find fascinating. There is usually a storyteller among the NPC's in each town, and by speaking to them you will learn about Theseus and the Labyrinth of Knossos and many other stories. For example did you know that the island of Icaria is so named because that's where he landed after his wax wings melted? Well now you do. There's nothing forcing you to listen to these tales, they can be totally ignored, but for me it helped enrich the experience.

Ah, satyrs. You'll be seeing quite a bit of these fellers, believe me.

Graphics: 8 out of 10
Being a much more modern game, the visuals of Titan Quest are of course a good deal better than those of Diablo 2, which came out before 3D acceleration had really caught on and without the expansion pack was limited to a screen resolution of 600x480. Fittingly enough however, the visuals came sometimes be this games Achilles heel, because the specifications required to run the game with all the visual trickery turned on is quite demanding indeed, and if you attempt to run the game on a lesser machine you will probably get a jerky frame rate until you change the settings to something much more modest. If you have enough grunt in your box (ooer) then you will no doubt be impressed with the ancient Greek, Egyptian and Chinese landscapes, which include the Parthenon, the Valley of the Kings and the Great Wall of China, to name a few highlights.

Sound and Music: 6 out 10
The music in Titan Quest is largely atmospheric and not really memorable at all. You don't really notice it as you're hacking away any hundreds of spiders or whatever flavour beastie is in vogue at the time, but you'd probably notice if it wasn't there as well, if you know what I mean. You probably won't be humming any of the tunes while at work at any rate. There's the usual range of magic spell effects, sword clangs and monster cries that can be a bit noisy considering how much fighting you'll be doing, and then we come to the voiceovers. The NPC's that give out quests in the towns are all given speech, but to be honest it isn't that great. It's quite obvious that the "actors" reading the script (supposedly by the screen writer of Braveheart, Randall Wallace) are Americans pretending to be Greek or Egyptian, and not doing a terribly good job of it. It's rather hammy, but it's not as bad as some of the speech I've been subjected to over the years.

Egypt is home to some impressive sights.

Game Mechanics: 7 out of 10
Titan Quest follows the Diablo blueprint down to a tee. Basically, you are given a quest, which more often than not involves going off and slaying hundreds of monsters followed by one big badass monster, and then returning to the the quest giver for your rewards. There's the main quest line which you have to follow if you want to complete the game, and many sidequests. Although they are optional it is advisable that you complete each and every quest you are given or you many find yourself under levelled and hurting bad by the time the boss comes around.

To help levels the odds between yourself and the monstrous hordes, you have several things on your side. You have hot keys for potions that refill your health and life bars, and it's advisable that you carry as many as possible, especially when going up against the bosses. You also have a portal that you can drop at any time and use to instantly go back to any of the main cities that you've already been to, which is very useful when you run out of said potions, or if you want to sell any loot you've picked up and buy some new equipment. The chances of you actually needing or wanting to buy any weapons or armour are pretty remote though because from my experience you find much better stuff out in the wild from random monster drops or inside chests. Items vary in quality from broken through to legendary. Broken stuff is of very little value and most of the time not even worth picking up, but as your level gets higher the better the chances of finding decent gear.

In addition to this, every time you level up your character you get to upgrade your stats, and spend some skill points on one of eight mastery's. The statistical upgrades include Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity, all of which govern things like which weapons and armour you can equip, how much HP and MP you have, and how hard your physical and magical strikes hurt the enemy. You will get to choose your first mastery when your character reaches level 2, and this is basically your classes. Once you reach level 8, you get to choose a second mastery which can help bolster your first. For example you could go with one support mastery and one attack, or go it broke with two attack focused mastery's, or play it safe with two defensive mastery's. In my game I chose Nature as my first mastery, which allowed me to summon a guardian wolf, and a nymph later on, and also heal my characters and inflict and cure poison. My second mastery was Earth, which allowed me to bestow my weapons with the power of fire, throw fireballs and rocks at enemies, and summon a huge Core Dweller (rock monster). All of these creatures can be summoned at the same time, you don't have to choose, so I have a party of four running around and the Core Dweller naturally has an ability that draws the attention of enemies away from you and onto it. This means it usually dies rather quickly in the tougher battles but it can give you the time you need to make the fatal blow before you are killed yourself. With 8 mastery's that gives you 36 possible combinations, although whatever you chose, your left mouse button (the attack button) will still take a bit of a beating.

Who's afraid of the big bad multi-headed snake/goat/lion thing?

Innovation & Cleverness: 6 out of 10
I'm going to take a few points away for this category because whatever way you shake it, at its heart Titan Quest is still quite obviously based on the Diablo formula. Admittedly it's quite a good blueprint to start with, and they do say if it ain't broke don't fix it, but at times this can feel a little too familiar. It doesn't even do some things as well as Diablo did - for example, all the levels layouts are fixed, unlike in Diablo where they were randomised each time you played. On the other side of the coin, Titan Quest does some things better than it's forebear. For example when you died in Diablo you had to go back to your own corpse and get your stuff back. There's none of that here, you just get sent back to the last Rebirth Fountain which are nicely spaced out so you never have to do too much backtracking.

However, the game does earn itself a few Cleverness points because of the use of real settings and myths which give it a slight layer of depth and prevent from degenerating into just another mindless clickathon.

Value and Replayability: 7 out of 10
The game is likely to last you in the region of 30-40 hours on one playthrough, assuming you explore all the areas and finish all the side quests, which to be honest actually felt a little too long to me. Because of the rather repetitive nature of the hack 'n' slash action, you can start to tire after a while. I wouldn't recommend playing for too long and maybe you should consider playing or doing something else in between sessions or you may grow bored before you reach the end.

If you do love every minute of it however and want to play more, there are two further difficulty settings after the Normal setting which include some unique quests and bosses that aren't in the standard mode. There's also a fully featured online mode so you can form a party with friends and play through the whole game cooperatively, which increases the fun factor immensely.

Finally, although it's only been out for about a year you can already pick up Titan Quest for as little as £10 which is very good value for money. It is also available to download as part of Metaboli's Games on Demand service (more on this soon).

Overall: 7 out of 10
After the monster that is Final Fantasy XII (again, more on that soon) it was actually quite refreshing to get my hands on a shorter more action based RPG for a while. I feel the setting of the game in the ancient world elevates it above what it would have been if it was just another fantasy title for example, and at the price you can find it for now it's well worth a look. Those who prefer games that are crammed to the gills with story and cut scenes may be rather bored however.

Note: An expansion pack, Immortal Throne, is due out in March. I will post an update when I get the chance to try it.

Normal service WILL be resumed shortly

As I am sure you have noticed, there hasn't been any new posts for a while. I am working on rectifying this situation within the next week or two, and in the meantime I have made a few changes to the blog which I hope you will appreciate.

This year I hope to have more general diary style entries as well as the usual reviews and other features that I have been posting in the past. However, if there's something in particular that you have enjoyed reading here, you can let me know via the poll which your should find in the right side bar.

I have recently completed Final Fantasy XII for the PS2 and I hope to have a review up soon, however I would like to spend the time to make it a good read, much as I endeavoured to do with my Dragon Quest VIII review around the same time last year.

I won't make too many other promises at this stage as far as content goes, but I hope to be able to post reviews of Titan Quest and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess soon, as well as a full week devoted to the Wii and its games like the Xbox 360 week I wrote towards the end of last summer.

Less than a month until Wii-day!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. I am working on a few reviews to make up for it (Grandia III, Final Fantasy IV Advance and Dead Rising). In the meantime, enjoy this new Zelda: Twilight Princess trailer from Veoh courtesy of NyHc0 and be sure to check out the rest of the trailers he has posted there - it's great stuff and I can't wait to get my Nintendo Wii on December 8th!

Albatross18: Realms of Pangya review

Hi once again and welcome to another review, this time for the relatively unknown game Albatross18: Realms of Pangya.

Format: PC

Developer: Ntreev Soft

Publisher: Hanbitsoft, GameFactory Inc

Genre: Massively Multiplayer Online Golf RPG

Region: US and Europe

Where to buy: Sign up and download for free at www.albatross18.com

There have been many quality golf games over the years, from Leaderboard back on the Commodore 64, through the Links series, to Mario Golf, Everybody's Golf (aka Hot Shots), The Tiger Woods PGA series and beyond. With the odd exception (such as EA's Tiger Woods games or Nintendo's Touch Golf on the DS) the basic controls and the way each game works has remained the same. Except this game melds the traditional golf game with ideas borrowed from Japanese RPGs. Intrigued? So was I...

Graphics: 8 out of 10
The graphics in Albatross18 are extremely impressive considering this is a free game. The courses are all very well designed and there's quite a bit of variety between them, including sunny tropical beaches, snowy festive landscapes, huge battleships and windy valleys. In Korea, where the game originated from, they have additional courses that haven't been released here, which include a desert region, an icy course and a hellish volcanic area. This will no doubt eventually make it to our version of the game, but Korea is already in Season 3 of the game and we only have Season 2, so we have some catching up to do.

Considering how good the graphics are it's surprising how little loading time there is, and lag is also noteable by its absence. This really is a slick package. Characters are all drawn in an anime style, featuring big eyes and other exaggerated features. They all look like something you'd find in a typical traditional Japanese console RPG (except of course this game was made in Korea).

Sound & Music: 7 out of 10
Now I must admit that when it comes to the music in Albatross18, you will either love it or hate it. It's very catchy, upbeat, cheerful and cute, not to mention bordering on annoying. I love certain tunes (including one of the ones that plays in the background of Blue Water, but I really can't stand others (the music of North Wiz comes to mind). You'll either be tolerant of it, or you'll turn it off straight away.

There's not a lot of sound effects, but what is there is decent enough. There's the shout of "PangYA!" whenever you pull of a perfect shot (which apparently means bang in Korean), the whistle off the ball as it flies through the air, the thwack as you hit it and other small, unobtusive sounds. Again, considering that this is a free download, the production values manage to outstrip expectations quite easily.

Game Mechanics: 9 out of 10
If you're familiar with other casual golf games such as Mario Golf, you will be able to pick up and play Albatross18 without any problems whatsoever. The same style in swing bar that has been featured in golf titles for close to two decades is in place. Basically, you have a bar at the bottom of the screen with the maximum yardage of your selected club displayed on it, and measurements in between. The first click of the left mouse button (or press of the space bar) starts a small bar moving from left to right. You then have to click again to decide how hard you hit the ball, and the bar will start heading back towards the left. Finally, you have to stop the bar as close to the middle of the pink section at the start as possible, to decide the accuracy of the shot. If you miss a little to the left or right your shot will go to the left or right respectively. If you miss by a lot the shot will be a complete mishit.

You all also have a small picture of the ball in the bottom left with a blue dot in it. You can move this dot to the top to put top spin on the ball, or to the bottom to apply backspin. You can also move it to the left or right to curve the ball, which is very useful if you have a tree directly in front of you which you need to avoid, for example. The controls don't end there, as special moves can also be pulled of by keying in various combinations of the arrow keys as the shot is taking place, including super topspin and backspin, the tomahawk shot and the cobra shot. While the game is very easy for newcomers to get used to, these extra moves and advanced features give the pros plenty of flexibility and depth.

Speaking of depth, you character starts off at the Rookie F level, and moves up to Rookie A where they will then become Beginner E. This pattern then carries on all the way through Junior, Senior, Amateur, Semi-Pro, Pro and National Pro, with the amount of experience needed to advance increasing exponentially from one level to the next. Moving up ranks gives both advantages and disadvantages. For example as a Rookie player you will have a special necklace that increases your accuracy, but as soon as you reach Beginner you won't be able to wear it anymore. Instead Beginner players get an additional Power slot to spend on their character.

Characters can be powered up in various categories, including power, control, spin and accuracy, usually by equipping certain items and sometimes when leveling up. There are two ways of powering up, the first increasing certain attributes by equipping an item, the effects of which are lost when you equip something else. However, some items also come with "slots" which you can spend Pang (the games main currency) to upgrade, which are then permanently part of your character (or at least until you downgrade them).

Pang is earned by playing skillfully, in a similar manner to the way that Kudos is earned in PGR3. You get certain amounts for completing a hole at par (typically 3 to 10 Pang depending on the difficulty of the course) with significantly higher amounts being awarded for Birdies, Eagles, Albatrosses and a Hole in One. You also get pang for hitting the ball further than the clubs typical range (either by using a slope, spin or the wind), very difficult chip-in shots, long putts and for pulling off the special moves. An extra 1000 Pang is awarded every time you beat your personal best on one of the courses, but considering that the really useful stuff in the Shop starts at 5100 Pang minimum and goes up to around 300000 for the really good stuff, expect to be saving for a while. Extra characters and caddies also have to be bought with pang, or with Cookies, which is the way that Hanbitsoft make their money.

Cookies can only be gained by buying them with real money on the web site, with prices ranging from about $10 to $50. Certain items of clothing in the shop, or extra charters can only be bought with Cookies. Now, I know what you're thinking, what's to stop rich kids from just buying tons of Cookies and then just buying all the good stuff?

Well, they can... but in most cases the Cookie versions of clothing and items are only a little bit better than the Pang equivalents. Plus if you buy an item of clothing with slots on it you still need to pay out a load of pang in order to upgrade them. So while you gain a slight advantage buy paying out some cash, it isn't really that much of a big deal. If you don't want to spend your money on this game, don't bother. Chances are however you'll find yourself enjoying yourself so much you'll actually want to support the developers by reinvesting some cash into the game.

There are several modes of play. To start with you will only have access to the VS room, where you can play Stroke or Match games with 2-4 people, with each person taking turns. This is the best way to earn experience and to have a more personal game with just a few people. Once you advance past the first level, you will unlock access to the Tournament server. Here, up to 30 people play a full 18 hole round of golf at the same time, with a maximum time limit (usuallly between 30-40 minutes) for everyone to complete the course. Scores are updated in real time and the wind and weather are hard to predict, giving a different experience every time. Then we have the new Pang Battle mode, which is basically like Skins in traditional golf where you put a certain amount of Pang on the line per hole and the winner takes the pot. Finally, there's Family mode - which lets you and other real life friends or family play on the same computer.

Innovation and Cleverness: 7 out of 10
While casual golf games have been around for a long time, and even a golf RPG has been done before (the Game Boy Color version of Mario Golf) the way that Albatross18 fuses the two genres together makes it a rather unique playing experience. When I've mentioned the idea of a golf RPG to some of my friends they have been both confused and a bit disgusted by the idea, but you really should give the game a chance. There is practically no risk involved seeing as the game costs nothing to download and runs smoothly on modest PC's - in fact I'd say the only risk is that you will become addicted to the game and spend the next few months of your life playing golf with strangers on fantasy islands. There are those who will never "get it" and will remain content to just waste away their lives playing Halo 2 until the end of time - their loss in my opinion. If you fancy something different then don't be afraid of giving it a try.

I would also like to mention the Clubstar Calendar system as something I found particularly innovative. On your account page on the Albatross18 web site, you will find your very own Clubstar Calendar page. For every day that you play a full game and then log out, you will earn a sticker on the calendar. Prizes are then awarded for those that manage to play on 7 days, 15 days and full month, with the prize getting better each time. Furthermore, there are 5 additional randomly selected days where you will also earn an item just for playing that day. This gives you an incentive to keep coming back, and the better prizes are really worthwhile. At the moment you can earn a special ball for playing everyday in a month - the Golden Phoenix, which is only available this way and can't be bought with Pang or Cookies, although this could change at any time. It's really not that difficult to play everyday, because a 3 hole, 2 player VS game only take about 15 minutes at the most.

Value and Replayability: 10 out of 10
Being a free game, Albatross18 is of course exceptional value, but there's a ton of things to do in the game as well. To start with there's 8 courses in the game at the moment, all of which have their own little quirks, so these will take a fair bit of time just to get used to and improve your score. Then there's the leveling up system, which will take you a fair old while to get all the way to the top. It takes most people an average of 30 hours just to get from Rookie to Beginner, so you can imagine how long it will take to get to National Pro. There's also the items, character upgrades and random variables such as the wind and weather that ensure you never experience the same game twice, even on the same course. This guarantees things will never become boring. Finally, you have all the real people that you will meet and talk to as you play, which have to be one of the nicest on line communities I've yet come across. Golf is a much more gentle game than an FPS and I can't help thinking that this has some effect on the attitude of the people on the servers, there much less aggressive and less likely to swear at you. There's also a fairly high percentage of female players which makes a refreshing change.

Overall: 9 out of 10
At first I only downloaded this game out of curiosity because I heard that a version of it was coming to the Nintendo Wii (Super Swing Golf PANGYA) but it didn't take long for me to be hooked. Now it has become one of the best games I have played all year and I sincerely recommend it to anyone who isn't afraid to try something a little different, or is strapped for cash and want a good new game to play. With Albatross18, Ntreev have scored a hole in one!

Xbox 360 week - the conclusion

So there you have it. All of the 7 games I've reviewed this week are worth checking out. You can expect more Xbox 360 reviews in the future, including Perfect Dark Zero which can be picked up used for £20.

There are some exciting games just around the corner for the 360, including Dead Rising, Test Drive Unlimited, Lumines Live and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Of course, before the end of the year we can expect the Nintendo Wii to be released, and you can expect the same RetroModern Gaming treatment then. Soon we will get our hands on Zelda: The Twilight Princess at last and find out whether it lives up to all the hype.

I'm going to take a short break from blogging now but you can expect me to return very soon with new content. See you there!

Moto GP 06 review

Here it is, the 7th and final part of my week dedicated to Xbox 360 reviews. This time I'm taking a look at Moto GP 06.

Format: Xbox 360

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Climax

Genre: Motorbike simulation

Region: NTSC (Game is region free!)

Price: PAL version £50 - NTSC for as low as £22

Where to buy: www.gameplay.co.uk, www.gamestation.co.uk, www.play-asia.com

First off, I want to say that I will try my hardest to be unbiased while writing this review. You see, one of my oldest friends Kim Burrows, was a programmer on the game. He even put my name in the credits in the Special Thanks section just after his newborn baby boy. As such I have more of a vested interest in this game than most, even though under normal circumstances I probably wouldn't have bought it, as motorbikes aren't really my thing.

Graphics: 8 out of 10
The visuals in Moto GP 06 fall somewhere in between those of PGR3 and Ridge Racer 6. It isn't quite as insanely detailed as Bizarre's game, but is definitely a step up from Namco's racer. The sense of speed, especially when you are in the first-person view, is really quite phenomenal. Thoccasionalal bit of texture tearing is evident but it's nowhere near as noticeable as GamesTM magazine would have you believe.

The Grand Prix tracks all look pretty much as they should - beinmodeleded on real life locations, but some of them are rather sparse. This isn't really the developers fault - they're merely representing the tracks as they appear in real life. The other half of the game, the Extreme mode, features much more lavish tracks which are full of background details such as fountains and rides which you will just about get a glance of as you go hurtling past at breakneck speed. Each of the Extreme races take place at sunset as well so there's some nice lighting effects on show. Really, the GP tracks do exactly as they should - they give die hard fans of the Moto GP season accurate representations of the course they've seen on TV or visited in real life, whereas the Extreme tracks are really an opportunity for the designers and artists at Climax to show off.

When you get this many real life racers going through the same corner, expect there to be casualties.

Sound and Music: 6 out of 10

The sound effects, much like the graphics in the GP mode, accurately represent real life bikes and are well done. Personally, I thought the music was alright, but not spectacular. One major downside of them music though is that the particular tune chosen for a race will repeat over and over instead of another tune being selected, which can begin to grate on longer races. I usually find myself making use of the custom soundtracks option in this case and streaming something from my PC (I recommend the Pirates of thCaribbeanan soundtrack - strangely it works!). So, the sound isn't horrible, just not as good as it could have been.

Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10
Moto GP 06 is split into two distinct halves - the Grand Prix mode and the Extreme mode. Within the Grand Prix mode you will find a full simulation of both the 2005 and 2006 Moto GP seasons, with all the real life tracks (17 of them) and riders you would expect. The learning curve is actually quite smooth, because there are four difficulty settings, a decent tutorial mode, and a variety of challenges geared around helping you learn the toughest parts of each circuit.

At first you will probably fall off your bike at regular intervals, but as you slowly a) get used to the game and b) improve you statistics blevelingng up your rider this should become less frequent and you will start to enjoy the game. You can either choose a quick race or a full-on season comprising of 17 races each with Challenge, Practice, Qualifying and Race options. The number of laps can also be adjusted from 1 up to a full length race for those who take they're racing really seriously.

On the other side of the coin is the Extreme mode, which is much features handling which is much more forgiving (almost, but not quite arcade style), and 17 fantasy tracks based around locations around the globe. As well as the same four difficulty settings as the Grand Prix mode, Extreme mode also features 600cc, 1000cc and 1200 bikes. In order to race in the faster leagues you will first have to earn enough money to buy one of the bikes. This mode also allows you to buy upgrades for your bike, and so gives a bit more freedom and depth than the Grand Prix races.

One thing I wasn't that keen on was having to race a full Grand Prix season before I could try the Extreme mode, as I wanted to try that first. To be fair though, this was probably a stipulation that the Moto GP association made, as after all it is an officially licensed product. Really, Climax didn't have to include an Extreme mode at all, and it's a really nice extra for those who wan't a break from the more serious Grand Prix races or prefer they're driving a bit more on the forgiving side. Look at Namco's Moto GP series on the PlayStation 2 - they didn't offer anything like an Extreme mode in that, did they?

Then there is the Xbox Live mode, which lets you do everything you could do in single player but up against real life opponents. It really works very well and as yet I haven't encountered any problems with lag or slowdown. The online mode also has two extra modes - Stunt and Tag, which are fun asides from the pure racing if you're in the mood for something a bit different.

You start off with a seed of 100, and everytime you beat people who are seeded higher than you (either online or off) this will go up. At first this will improve quite quickly, but when you get to around seed 70 it will start to slow down.

The achievements include things like racing a certain number of times, reaching a certain seed, and completing the challenges. Some are quite easy to complete, others will take quite a bit of work - which is the ideal balance, in my opinion.

Innovation & Cleverness: 4 out 10

Because this is the fourth iteration of the Moto GP series, and nothing much has really changed since Moto GP 3 on the original Xbox (other than glossier presentation and some new tracks), I'm afraid I have to give the game a fairly low score in this category. It is a very solid game and has plenty to offer newcomers - however if you already own a previous version of the game you may want to think twice before buying it again.

Value & Replayability: 9 out of 10

Moto GP 06 scores very highly in this department, because of the sheer amount of stuff for you to do. There are two very distinct modes with 17 tracks and 4 difficulty settings in each, many different options to play with and challenges. Add the Xbox Live mode which in theory you can keep playing for as long as you want, and it will take you a fair old while to experience everything that Moto GP 06 has to offer. Next, I'll let you in on a little secret that you may not know. Moto GP 06 is region free, and Play-Asia currently has it for sale for £22, which is where I got my copy. Now, I'm not so sure I would have paid out £40-£50 on this game seeing as I'm not a big fan of bikes in the first place, but for £22 it's a bargain.

The replays are packed with detail.

Overall: 8 out 10

Moto GP 06 will initially take a bit of getting used to, but once you do adjust to the correct way to drive a bike your level of enjoyment will rise immensely. Playing through the various seasons in single player is good fun, but nothing beats driving with a bunch of real life friends or rivals on Xbox Live. The extra muscle that the Xbox 360 gives just about justifies this 2006 update to the series, but I can't really see that there's much further to go.

Finally, don't confuse this game with the Moto GP series on the PS2 - they are completely separate entities developed by different teams. For the record, the Xbox games by Climax are better by far - they look nicer, are more enjoyable, have better controls and feature more to do.

Zuma Deluxe review

Here's my penultimate review for Xbox 360 week. I was originally going to review Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting but I feel I haven't spent enough time playing it to do it justice. Instead I will review Zuma Deluxe, which has been eating up a lot of my time recently.

Format: Xbox 360 (Live Arcade)

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: PopCap

Genre: Puzzle

Region: All

Price: 800 MS points

Where to buy: Xbox Live Marketplace

Many years ago a company by the name of Mitchell release an arcade puzzle called entitle Puzzloop. In this game you controlled a central "cannon" which fired out various coloured balls. Around you cannon was a spiral shaped track, along which similar coloured balls rolled along, towards a hole near the centre. If any of the balls should reach the centre, you lose a life. To stop the onslaught of balls, you have to fire orbs out of your cannon and match up three or more of the same colour. The aiming system is rather reminiscent of Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move, except you can fire in 360 degrees.

Later on, Popcap took the basic concept of the game, added a Mayan theme, and released it on the PC as a shareware title. It was a roaring success, and as a result Microsoft saw the potential of the game on their Xbox Live Arcade service and signed up PopCap to make a deluxe version. A very similar game entitled Magnetica has also been released on the DS recently - the main differences being a more futuristic look and the use of the stylus as the primary control method. This is really the true sequel to Puzzloop however, as it is made by the original creators Mitchell. That doesn't stoop Zuma Deluxe from being a bloody good game, however.

As well as simple colour matching, there are a variety of power ups that randomly appear and can really save your life in times of stress. There's one that makes all the balls go backwards for a while, one that explodes and wipes out the area around it, another that pauses the movement of the balls for a few seconds, and one that makes your aiming more accurate.

The aim of the game in the main Adventure mode is to earn enough points to activate Zuma mode. You do this by scoring points, from clearing balls, setting of chain reactions, firing through gaps and collecting random coins that appear in hard to reach places. Once Zuma mode is achieved, no more new balls will appear and you can clear up any that remain. Then everything starts over on a different shaped track. Occasionally, there will be two tracks at once and you will really have to concentrate and aim well in order to survive. There's also a Gauntlet mode included in the game, which is endless. This time when Zuma is activated you go up a level and things get harder. Every so often another coloured ball is added to complicate matters even further.

The first time you encounter one of these double track levels, you will probably panic!

Graphics: 7 out of 10
The graphics in Zuma Deluxe are most definitely bright and colourful as you can see from the screenshot above, but there isn't an awful lot to them. Nevertheless the design is quite pleasing to the eye and there are many differently shaped tracks for the balls to travel along. There's not really a whole lot to say here - they're functional, not amazing, but quite stylish at the same time.

Sound and Music: 8 out 10
I really love the sound effects in Zuma Deluxe. There's a very satisfying popping sound every time you fire a ball out of your frog-cannon, and a clack as the balls hit each other. There's only two different pieces of music that play in the game - a normal theme and a panic theme when you're about to lose. They capture the Mayan style of the game quite well with the instruments and chanting, but can get a bit repetitive after extended play. The panic music can be quite useful if you didn't realise you were in danger, but it can also just make you more stressed sometimes too.

Game Mechanics: 7 out of 10
Only a few puzzle games have really captured my attention and kept me playing for hours on end. These include Tetris of course, and Bust-A-Move 2 for the PlayStation. I can now add Zuma Deluxe to the list. It's just incredibly good fun to pop the coloured balls and try and clear as many stages as you can. The sound effects play a part in this, but it's also down to the fact that the basic game design (as detailed in the introduction) works really well. To be fair though this is more down to the designers of the originally Puzzloop, as PopCap essentially copied the game and reskinned it.

Innovation and Cleverness: 6 out of 10
Zuma Deluxe gets 1 out of 5 for Innovation, and 5 out of 5 for cleverness. There's just to escaping that fact that this is essentially a remake of someone else's game, but also that it really works. PopCap did bring a few new ideas to the table such as the Mayan theme, but for the most part it is somebody else's work. The fact that the game has managed to hook me after one look at the trial version is testament to the good groundwork that Mitchell made though, and a good game is still a good game no matter how it is reskinned.

The first stage of the game is a basic spiral but things get much more convoluted later on.

Value and Replayability: 9 out of 10
Once Zuma gets its claws into you there's no escaping the addictivness of the game. There are many different temples to conquer in Adventure mode, and once you've done that you can attempt to earn the highest rank on each of the individual stages in Gauntlet mode which will take both considerable time and skill. There's the usual smattering of achievements that help add depth and challenge to the game, and these include earning 100 gap bonuses, and playing the game for a total of 24 hours. 24 hours might seem like quite a long time to be playing a simple puzzle game, but once you start playing that time will go by fairly quickly as you'll be playing at every opportunity.

Overall: 9 out of 10
Personally, Zuma Deluxe is my favourite game on Xbox Live Arcade at the moment. It beats Geometry Wars because there's a more gentle learning curve, and I'm actually quite good at it (which counts for a lot). Even today at work I can't get the music and the popping sound out of my head and I can't wait to get home and have another go. Zuma is definitely worth the 800 points - it's just a shame they didn't include any multiplayer mode. Magnetica on the DS does have a single card multiplayer mode however, and come pay day I shall pick it up and find out how it compares to Zuma as an overall package.

Join me tomorrow as my Xbox 360 week concludes with Moto GP 06.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion review

Day 5 is all about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, pretty much the only RPG availabe for the 360 right now. Luckily, it takes so long to complete that some more should have been released by the time you're done.

Format: Xbox 360

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Genre: First-person RPG

Region: PAL (Europe, Australia)
Price: Around £50
Where to buy: www.gameplay.co.uk, www.gamestation.co.uk

The Elder Scrolls series has been around for many years now (at least a decade, it could be more). It all started with Arena, an epic first person RPG set in the world of Tamriel. Together with games like Ultima Underworld it pushed the boundaries of what could be done in the RPG genre and amazed all those that played it. Since then there have been several sequels and spinoffs, which added the ability to become a werewolf for example, and all of them were lapped up by the fans. Until the release of Morrowind on the Xbox in 2003 all of the games in the series were PC exclusives, mainly because there hadn't really been a machine capable enough to run such a huge ambitious game. Because the Xbox had a hard drive this was all changed, and the game did rather well. Thanks to this, Xbox 360 owners get to enjoy Oblivion, one of the most finely crafted games that I have ever played. The control system has even been created with the 360 controller in mind, and it works very well. The game isn't without it's faults though, as you're about to find out.

Graphics: 8 out of 10

Although the sights you will see while exploring the nation of Cyrodiil are very pretty, the Xbox 360 doesn't quite have the grunt to keep the frame rate steady and the game suffers from immersion-breaking stutters, especially outdoors. I have also played the game on the PC and the same thing happens there, except you can tweak various settings like turning the grass off (which is the biggest culprit of the slowdown). Unfortunately you're stuck with the default settings on the 360 version, so unless Bethesda release a patch the dodgy frame rate is here to stay.

The problem goes away almost entirely in towns and dungeons, and it's here that the game really gets to show off. Dungeons are typically dark, dank places full of mist and half-light, and they're very atmospheric indeed. Outside, night turns slowly to day and back to night again thanks to the accelerated day/night cycle. These days there are many games that have a similar feature but it's still impressive and helps you feel part of a living breathing world.

Character models all look a bit waxy (a common problem with 360 titles it seems) and some of the people you meet are very ugly indeed. Monsters are quite traditional in their range (rats, skeletons, wolves, demons, vampires) but are well designed nonetheless. The lighting in dungeons can actually be an aid to gameplay - for example if there's a skeleton standing around the corner with a light source behind him, a shadow will give away his location on the ground. In combination with the sound effects this can be a great help in locating and sneaking up on enemies.

Ooh, what a shiny shield!

Sound and Music: 8 out of 10
The music in Oblivion is very reminiscent of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings soundtrack, which suits the style of the game just fine. There's only one problem - there's not enough of it. You will hear the same pieces of musc over and over again throughout the course of the game, especially if you take time out from the main quest to join the many guilds or complete the dozens of side quests. Good as the music undoubtedly is, you will still probably start to get tired of it before long. My recommendation is download the Lord of the Rings soundtrack from iTunes and then play that using the Xbox Guide - it's a perfect match for the style of the game and will give you something different to listen to.

The sound effects can play a very big part in the gameplay, especially if you choose to play as a stealth character like I did. Often when creeping around a dungeon or trying to break into somebodies house unnoticed, you will hear the moan of a zombie, the rattling bones of skeleton, or the owner of the aforesaid house saying something like "Who's there?!". If you're quick enough you can freeze and the person in question will assume they were imagining things and go back to their business. It really helps you feel immersed in the game, and when you hear those bones rattling and creaking from somewhere out of site it will freak you out.

The third and final part of the sound category is the voice over work. Now, just like the music, this is very well done, but there isn't enough variety. You will hear the same 4 or 5 voice actors playing almost every part in the game, with the exception of the Emporer Tiber Septim played by Patrick Stewart (Jean Luc Picard), and Martin Septim, his long lost son, played by Sean Bean (Boromir, or Sharpe). Patrick Stewart adds a certain air of gravitas to the opening scenes of the game, but his contribution is rather brief because his character is bumped off not long after the game begins. Sean Bean has much more to say, and does a pretty good job at it too. The other actors in the game do put in good performances, but it's a great shame that Bethesda didn't hire a wider range of people because hearing every second person speak with exactly same voice does detract from the realism and reminds you that you are playing a game.

Plot and Character: 8 out of 10

You will meet a wide range of characters on your journey, both minor and major, all of which have a distinct personality and their own daily routine. This does help maintain the illusion that you are exploring a real world. Unfortunately there are a few quirks that break the illusion somewhat - such as the city guards. If you are in visible range of someone - anyone when you break the law, the guards will be after you wherever you go in the entire world. It doesn't matter if you travel hundreds of miles away to the far ends of the world, you will still be arrested. As far as I know the guards in Oblivion haven't got mobile phones or email, so how do they know they should be on the look out for you so quickly?

The main plot of the game is fairly standard fair, dealing with prophecies, long lost heirs, demon lords - you know, the usual. Some of the side quests actually have much more interesting tales to tell, and there is plenty of background detail if you are willing to stop and look at your surroundings rather than blasting straight through to the end of the game. There are many books that can be picked up and read should you wish to do so, and if you don't then nobody's forcing you.

Ewww, nice rotting corpse!

Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10
Oblivion is an RPG in the PC mould, rather than the usual console style. By this I mean that you are in control of every facet of your character and what you do is left entirely up to you, rather than playing as a predefined, usually whiny teenager with spikey hair, accompanied by his female best friend with unfeasibly large norks. Traditionally I haven't really got on with this sort of game - I've tried Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and even Morrowind, and couldn't really get into them. They've always felt quite innacessible, and it's often easy to get lost or find yourself wandering into an area where you're totally out of your depth.

Oblivion gets around this by making the enemies in the game level up along with you - so you'll always have a fair challenge but you won't get annihilated just for wondering what's over that hill. There's also a clearly defined main storyline and easy to follow markers that help you find your objective should that be your focus, but you're completely free to wander the land, taking on any quests and joining any guilds that take your fancy. There are four different guiilds - Fighter's, Mage's, Thieves and the Dark Brotherhood, as well as the Imperial Arena to sign up to, and each features it's own lengthy chain of quests for you to complete as you progress through the ranks. This is also the key to most of the achievements in the game - as you become Bloodletter, in the Arena for example, you unlock some gamer points for that. You can join all of the guilds, or none at all, it's entirely up to you.

The controls are very well done - everything feels logically mapped on to the 360 pad, including the ability to put weapons, items and spells on one of the d-pad directions for quick access. If you desire, you can almost play the game as an FPS - storming through dungeons and shooting enemies with your arrows. Or you can sneak about, queitly assasinating anyone who gets in your way with a poison tipped arrow, unlocking treasure chests and stealing valuables. Or, you can play as a mage, throwing fireballs and cursing people as you go. Or, you can play as a brutish orc, violently clubbing anyone and everyone with a huge warhammer. The way you play the game is left entirely up to you and if you're in the right mood it's brilliant. Sometimes you may wish for a little more structure in your game and it's unfortunate that there isn't really a japanese style RPG available for the 360 at the moment. Hopefully Namco's Trusty Bell will get a western release though.

Innovation and Cleverness: 7 out of 10

Oblivion is more a refinement of an existing idea that anything radically new, but it's the way it does what it does that make it revolutionary. It's very easy to get used to the game for RPG veterans and novices alike thanks to the interface and the way it can be played like an action game if you so wish. It's also a true example of what next generation console technology can do - no previous machine could have produced something as huge and good looking as Oblivion. But there are problems, especially the frame rate which really should have been locked down before the game shipped in my opinion.

Value and Replayability: 10 out of 10

Oblivion is such a huge game that it can quite easily take you in excess of 100 hours to finish if you are willing to put in the time. If you're not, you can reach the end with 25. Take on every single quest and guild available if that's your thing, or just try one of them and then try a different one when you play again as a totally different character type. The broad range of things to do, see and try in Oblivion make it well worth a 10 in this category.

Overall: 8 out of 10

This game is an incredibly ambitious project for anyone to undertake (both for developers and indeed players), but it doens't quite reach it's full potential. In certain circumstances, such as when you are deep in a dungeon crawling with the undead - it's fantastic. But at other times, including when you are travelling accross the oveworld and the game slows to a juddering crawl thanks to the bloody grass, or you hear a yet another villager with the same voice, the level of immersion is broken. It's a bit dissapointing that Bethesda didn't invest a bit of extra time or money (or whatever was needed) to fix these problems before the game was released. If you crave an RPG, it's pretty much your only choice on the 360 right now, but don't be surprised if somebody manages to top it some time in the future. Maybe the similar looking Two Worlds will be the game to do so? We'll have to wait and see.