Now seven years later. The third installment in the Deus Ex franchise has been unleashed, with news now making its way across in internet. Deus Ex Human Revolution will again see us playing from the first person perspective and will have the role-playing elements we are used to from the franchises first outing back in 2000. With weapon and player customisation promised, this will be a game that holds true variety. It has also been said that the game will also have a multi solution approach to its obstacles, meaning, whatever your gaming style is, You will find an enjoyable way of playing Human Revolution.

The beauty about this game is that it is a prequel to Deus Ex 1. Meaning new comers to the franchise will not be left out or thinking ‘what the hell is going on here?’ the game starts a whole 25 years before the first game, but what I do appreciate here is that it won’t leave Deus Ex fans in the dark either, as familiar characters from the previous games will be popping up every now and again. It has also been said that the end of the game will flow pretty much perfectly into Deus Ex 1, which I think is a nice touch also.

If you played any Deus Ex titles you know that the gameplay is very open-ended. For example, if for instance you wanted to go and murder a main character, you could do so, they may be too powerful for you to kill, but hey you can still try. Human Revolution brings that style of open-ended game play back, quite literally giving you the freedom to do pretty much anything you want gameplay and story wise. Mind you some RPG dialogues have to be mandatory to keep the game together but other than that it is up to you, this in turn gives the game some pretty epic replay value, which will have any Deus EX fan salivating.

I am personally looking forward too how the game’s story line deals with Argumented people this time round. In previous titles there have been people in the Deus Ex world who have been argument, which means they have manipulated their body and changed their genetics for the better, weather is getting a reinforced bone structure or the ability of using a sniper rifle without the need of a scope there are people in the dues ex universe who want to make themselves better (and before you say OMG! BIOSHOCK! Deus Ex used the idea first.). There are also the non-argumented humans who think this is absolutely wrong and people shouldn’t ‘play god’ This in turn makes for some interesting political views within the game’s story line. That said, we know that arguments will be making a return in Deus Ex so it will be interesting to see how it will play a part in this story line.

Not much else is known about Deus Ex: Human Revolution as yet, I forgot to mention that this will strictly be a single player game, No multi-player for this title. Which is good really, gives me a chance to max out the achievements.

More will be revealed at this years E3 expo. Stay tuned to Plus XP for more info as we get it.

I shall now leave you with the latest trailer

Garv

Mark Boss hits the Oxford Street HMV for the launch of one of the biggest games of the year.
On his own and midly ill he tours the queue armed with only a Microphone (named Susan) and his camcorder.
This actually turned out to be one of my favourite event coverages so far, and a great start to the year.
HUGE thanks to all those in the queue that doubled as my camera person. That includes you Pete!
Uber cool points for my Tecmo Koei family Chin and Julia for actually getting me the collectors edition of the game whilst I was in the queue to get it signed!
And also a huge ‘I want to adopt Becky and David’, you guys are just awesome.

me and the gamers after the event on 'official xbox magazine'

-markBOSS

http://blogs.ign.com/markB0SS
www.twitter.com/markb0ss

*somewhere over the Ukraine*

I sat back and drank the last of my brand of El president Rum. Leaving Tropico was hard. The beach, the sun, the women…
I leaned over to where Garv was playing on his DS.

“How-much longer until we’re in London?” I slurred.

“Uhhh, yeah, about that…” he said, putting Professor Leighton down.
“You’re not going to London Beanie, you’re ah, no longer recognised as a UK citizen. Sorry…”

“Bwuh!? But, I was born there! I can’t be cast off like some manky kleanex!”

“…You were a dictator on a Caribbean island. The foreign office wasn’t too keen on your policies so revoked your citizenship.”

“Awww come on! I only tested ONE nuke there!”

“Unlucky buddy. The good news is we found a country that’ll take you AND is a segway to your next review!” he said grabbing an AK and parachute.

“…I’m not going to Paris am I?”

“Nope! Hope your Russians good, yer going to Pripyat!” he said tossing them to me.

“But Pripyat is in the Ukraine…”

“So? They still speak Russian there! Now get yer arse over to the door!”

“Wow, we at the airport already?”

Garv gave me a look. “Oh yeah, we’re almost there, all ya gotta do is step out the door…” he said snidely.

“Right-o boss! You’ll lemme know when my papers come through right?” I said hopefully.

“Uh huh, yeah, sure. Now fly you beanie wearing freak! Fly!”

Then I fell…

Luckily I knew how to work my parachute…unfortunately I hadn’t factored in how hard I would hit the ground…

When I woke, there was the sound of the wind in the trees, the patter of light rain on my face and an alien wailing in the far distance. There was a man standing just in front of me seemingly motionless. He smelled of death and decay mixed with rotten vinegar.

I pulled myself to my feet, pulled my AK to my side, safety off. As I did so the man turned, his flesh pallid his eyes glazed over, his arms hanging limply by his side with a 9mm clenched in one hand. I brought my rifle to bear and pulled the trigger…with a worrying *click*.
The zombie stumbled forward, raising its gun as I fumbled to re-load my weapon. Then came the shot. The zombie fell back, twitching in its death throws as a STALKER appeared through the brush. He walked straight past me and put a knife through the zombies sternum.

“Thankyou! Thankyou so much!”

He didn’t respond, going through the dead man’s pockets.
I got to my feet. The droning siren wail still permeated the air.
“What is that…”

The STALKER finished his business and stood up. “It is the sound of the wind through the greatest anomaly. All day and night it never stops. It is calling to us. It is calling us…to Pripyat.”

And now, to the review.

Call of Pripyat (COP) is the third game in the Stalker series, continuing the events from Shadow of Chernobyl and is by far the best game in the series. It takes place in 3 areas, the Zanton old riverbed, the Jupiter rail station and industrial district and the suburban city of Pripyat.

To those of you who are unfamiliar with the STALKER series, lemme give you the cliff notes: Alternative universe where the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown causes strange anomalies within the radiation Zones to create artefacts which are worth a lot of money attracting treasure hunters called STALKERS who fight each other’s and the mutated animals while avoiding the daily emitions that are lethal if caught in.

Yes the premise is silly, but the end product is excellent. GSC GAMEWORLD have clearly learned from the previous 2 games and given us a wonderfully atmospheric shooter.

The plot this time is that you play Major Alexander Degtyarev, but I like to call him Al. He works with the Ukrainian secret service or USS. You’ve been sent into the zone to investigate why several helicopters in Operation Fairway were suddenly down upon entering the zone with no apparent explanation. Although you are fairly well equipped at the begging as opposed to the last two games, your weapon is only fully useful once it is upgraded and customized to your style of fighting. You can mix it up between using a pistol and sniper rifle or, my favourite, a machine gun and shotgun combo. However, weapons can only be upgraded by the relevant tools you find within the zone. Why the inhabitants had the tools for customizing SMG’s in their houses I don’t know, but it adds a nice challenge and reason to go exploring.

So what else does COP improve over its predecessors? Well, the factions for a start. While they exist, they are not permanently at war and peace and the zone is not divided up the most common stalkers you will see will be operating as independent stalkers of Bandits. This makes the game much more streamlined as you’re not worrying about who controls what area and you’re free to follow the plot missions or side quests.

Now, I’m about to make a statement some may consider controversial, but I say it with confidence: COP’s side quests, are better than Fallout 3’s side quests. A FPS shooter, has better quest in it, then an RPG. Wow. I did not see that coming. Why are they better? Let me count the ways. You earn USEFUL in-game achievements when you complete them, they are varied and interesting enough to make you explore every corner of the Zone instead of just the plot locations and they actually have a bearing on what happens when the game ends!

The weather and lighting effects are top-notch and the melodious sound of the wind in the trees to the howling of the pseudo dogs will keep you checking your back to make sure nothing is creeping up on you and believe me, they will creep up on you…

I’m not going to talk about the monsters you face too much because it will spoil the surprise, but you’ll be seeing some new faces and some old ones to send shivers down your spine. You can go from hunter to hunted in a matter of seconds if you don’t have your wits about you.
The surrounding environments especially that of Pripyat itself have been lovingly recreated by the team to be as realistic to the actual location as possible. The desolate wastes, the empty buildings add to the tense feeling of loneliness before you get, jumped, shot eaten or hit by an anomaly. The artefacts that you find while risking your life in anomalies are much more worthwhile than in the previous game as they are integral to surviving radiation and attacks on the harder difficulties and later on in the game.

The daily emitions from the Chernobyl power plant have to be sheltered from at all costs, if yer out when the sky turns red yer gonna be dead. I know, it’s a bad rhyme but it’s true. You’ll find yourself ditching your stuff just to make it to a tunnel or bunker so your goose isn’t cooked.

However, the game is far from perfect. While the voice over’s have improved, the voice doesn’t always match up with the text and is still the grinding eastern European accent which makes it hard to discriminate one character from another. While the game has fewer bugs than its predecessors it still suffers from clipping issues and occasional messy A.I. For example, when I travelled between the areas all of a sudden all of the STALKERS in the safe area ran out as if someone had done a toxic fart in there!

But these are minor gripes. Ultimately COP is an enjoyable atmospheric shooter with a good 15-20 hours of game play and a satisfying ending. While it’s not perfect I’d definitely recommend it to fans and newbie’s alike.

- That Bloke In The Beanie

Welcome one and all to today’s show. This week I am sitting on the couch with ‘Genetic Life form and Disk Operating System’ This is a once in a life time interview, and we will be discussing the Values of Human life and what it means to be a hyper intelligent A.I.

Garvaos: Welcome GLaDOS, May I call you GLaDOS?

GLaDOS: Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science computer aided enrichment center.

Garvaos: Umm Yes. So tell us about yourself, where are you from.

GLaDOS: My Purpose is to help and guide test subjects through the Aperture Science enrichment center. Once the test subject has completed the test, there will be grief counseling and cake…The enrichment center would like to Thank you for helping us to help you help us all.

Garvaos: In….deed, so tell us more about Aperture Science and the Enrichment Center?

GLaDOS: The Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center is the perfect place to test the Aperture Science Hand held Portal Device. We also have the Aperture Science ‘Bring your daughter to work’ day, which is the perfect time to have her tested and the Aperture Science Self Esteem Fund for Girls where you can donate all your vital organs.

Garvaos: I see, So lets get to the subject in hand. What are your thoughts of us as a Human Race and the Value of Human Life?

GLaDOS: Humans are the perfect test subjects for the Aperture Science Hand held Portal Device which is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in {SUBJECT HOMETOWN HERE.}*scrambled computer noises*
With the promise of cake, human test subjects can for fill the Aperture Science tests quickly and sufficiently. Once the test subject has been used it is then Disposed of and will be…..missed.

Garvaos: So you don’t value human life in the slightest.

GLaDOS: There was one test subject I remember. We had a great time together. I remember when the platform was sliding into the fire pit and I said ‘Goodbye’ and they were like ‘NO WAY”, and then I was all “We pretended we were going to murder you”, that was great.

Garvaos: So what happened to this test subject? Did he or she get their cake?

GLaDOS: The subject failed to assume the party escort position and did not get their cake. She put the Aperture-Science-Thing-We-Don’t-Know-What-It-Does into an Aperture-Science-Emergency-Intelligence-Incinerator. Then I flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin. The Aperture-Science-Thing-We-Don’t-Know-What-It-Does was my Morality Core they installed after I flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin the first time.

Garvaos: Did the test subject survive?

GLaDOS: After a big explosion, the test subject then proceeded to Assume the ‘Party Escort Submission Position’ and was then collected for the party. Her best friend could not make it though, she killed it. Her record says she is Unlikable. It’s official.

Garvaos: So in the end they actually got the cake you promised?

GLaDOS: The test subject was then- *scrambled computer noises.* Speedy-thing goes in, Speedy-thing comes out. *More scrambled computer noises* weeeeeeeeeeeee

Garvaos: So what is instore for you next? What future plans do you have?

GLaDOS: I am awaiting the Test Subject’s comeback . My data processing chip informs me that she will return. Then I will give her what she deservs.

Garvaos: And what is that exactly?

GLaDOS: Another Cake….. *scrambled computer noises* Excuse me {SUBJECT NAME HERE} have you tested a Aperture Science Hand Help Portal Device?

Garvaos: Ummm……no?

GLaDOS: The Enrichment center would like to take this oppotunity to offer you to be our next test suubject. There will Be Grief Councelling and Cake on completion of the test.

Garvaos: I think I’ll be ok thank you….

GLaDOS: There will be a weighted Companion Cube….

Garvaos: A what?

GLaDOS: The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube cannot speak. In the event that the Weighted Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice *scrambled computer noises*

Garvaos: Ummm GLaDOS?…….Hello? Are you still with us?

GLaDOS: Unbelievable! You, {SUBJECT NAME HERE}, must be the pride of
{SUBJECT HOMETOWN HERE}

Garvaos: ummmm….ookk Well Thank you GLaDOS and thanks for coming on the show.

GLaDOS: Stop squirming and die like an adult or I’m going to delete your backup. Stop! Okay, enough, I deleted it. No matter what happens now you’re dead. You’re still shuffling around a little, but believe me, you’re dead. The part of you that could have survived indefinately is gone. I just struck you from the permanent record. Your entire life has been a mathematical error…A mathematical error I’m about to correct.

Garvaos: Ummm security…..Please Escort GLaDOS out of here…..

So who can imagine my epic excitement when I heard about portal 2’s conformation yesterday. The beautiful people at Game Informer magazine gave us a nice slice of the Portal 2 cake and have given us some great information which I cannot help but be excited about.

All this started when the tech heads at Valve let loose some new content and patches for the original Portal on PC last week. There was one new achievement slapped onto the game and some weird new cryptic noises and sounds coming from the radio in your chamber when you start the game. These new additions to the game sparked off a lot of PC geeks out there in the vast universe that is the internet to decode these sounds, turns out they were some sort of morse code which could be subverted into images. Sounds blinking weird I know but, these were the images that were uncovered.

Confused much? I sure as hell am. But as I dug deeper into the wealth of information about these images, it turns out that these are images taken from the Aperture Science CCTV from the first Portal. I bet some of you are thinking, yeah? so what? Well these images contain vital equations and data that all of the portal geeks out there were hungry to find and solve. After slaving over a keyboard and staring at these images till their eyes bled, it turns out they all lead to a number that once dialed up would let you into Valve’s bulletin board system and then let the user download some more images. These images known as ASCII images are images that are made up of keyboard characters. Here is an example

These were the first ever images of Portal 2. A lot of hacking coding and problem solving boiled down to 3 of these images….

…Then valve went and confirmed that Portal 2 will be coming out and hitting shelves at the end of the year for Xbox 360 and PC. Game informer then scooped it up and hey presto we have a sequel to a truly awesome game.

So what is this next installment going to be like? I have been doing reasearch here and there and I have found a couple of things out. Whether they are true or not I don’t know but I am going to list them anyway.

1. This is going to be a full-blown title, unlike Portal 1 where it was an attachment to the orange box. This title will be a stand-alone. Meaning it will be a lot bigger. This make me think that Portal 1 was maybe testing the water for the actual main event which is portal 2

2. This title is going to be set way in the future. Meaning that the long abandon Aperture Science labs are going to overgrown with foliage and very forest like. But be rest assure that this will not stop GLaDOS one bit.

3. GLaDOS makes a welcome return. The next generation SHODAN is back Baby!!

4. You again play as Chell (the same woman you played as in Portal 1)

5. split screen and online co-op staring 2 biped robots. Apparently these robots like to hold hands alot…in teresting.

6. some of the games physics will be juggled about to make up for some interesting game play. An air vent can be combined with a portal. This in turn sucks the player into the portal and spits them out the other side. Sounds awesome.

7. there will be alot more interactive objects from things that fling you sky-high to cubes that will deflect lasers.

8. there will be some new characters and a bit more story. Meaning that Valve has probably going all out on this title.

And that’s about it so far, stay tuned to Plus XP for more Portal 2  info as I hear it. Untill then I may have another stint at 1. I love GLaDOS!

Garv

The game follows four main characters. Ethan Mars, perhaps the “lead” character, is a fairly regular guy who finds himself torn as his son goes missing, presumably taken by the notorious Origami Killer – a mystery character who kidnaps children, and then dumps the bodies 5 days later, unexplained. Ethan will do almost anything to get him back, leading to the game’s tagline – “How far would you go to save someone you love?“. It really is that – the more Ethan works toward saving his son from the Origami Killer, the more difficult his choices become. And these choices become your choices – you can really find yourself wrapped up in the world, and I often found myself thinking.. “What would I do, given that choice to make?”. It’s very much about taking this into mind, and the more you invest yourself into it, the more enjoyable and tense the game becomes.

As for the other characters – there’s Madison Paige, a photographer who becomes closer to Ethan as she meets up with him during his quest, Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler working with the police to try and work out who the Origami Killer is, and Scott Shelby, a Private investigator looking to find out information about the murderer by seeking out and talking to people who’s lives were ruined by the Origami Killer and his previous victims. All of the characters suffer from their own personal problems – Ethan suffers blackouts leading him to question his own sanity, while Madison is an insomniac plagued by vivid nightmares. Jayden suffers an addiction to a drug “triptocane”, which is seemingly tied to his over-use of the “ARI”, a sort of ‘reality altering’ set of glasses that allow him to access virtual reality aspects and manipulate the way he sees the world around him – to aid his work, and help him focus. Shelby is an asthmatic, to complete the set!

The game generally works in two styles of play (Fahrenheit players will feel familiar with this) – the first being the more “exploratory” sections which involve walking around, interacting with people and objects at your own pace to a degree. This is where the bulk of the more “laid-back” scenes occur, such as walking around Ethan’s home at the beginning. The game uses a system with minimal HUD – where the only symbols you will see are the ones that tell you what you need to do in order to interact with the object in question – a Down arrow on a door handle indicates you must move the right analogue down to interact with it, or a curved arrow indicates a more rolling quarter-circle motion.  Unlike Fahrenheit, however, the game makes much better use of these different actions, making them different depending on the action; getting a grip on something - such as taking hold of a huge bag of shopping with both arms - means holding several buttons at once, and releasing them too early or accidentally can result in dropping it. Some actions require you to do things slowly and carefully, or slamming the motion controller in a certain direction, to bang on a door for instance. Obviously its never 1:1 control, but it feels that theyve really tried to make each input relevant to the corresponding action. Also, in most cases the speed at which you perform the motion affects the speed at which the animation will work in game, which helps it even more.

The other main style of gameplay are action sequences – somewhat like really long QTE events. The characters will move by themselves in a more cinematic movie-like fashion, and you will have to react to the button prompts as they appear on-screen. The beauty of this, however, is that missing a button doesn’t necessarily result in failure, only the flow and outcome of the scene – missing a button one time may mean the enemy will get an upper hand in the fight, but get the following commands right and you could get some good punches in to reverse the state of affairs. Sometimes there will even be options – such as which way to turn or what action to do, meaning you have to make split second decisions that can affect the outcome of the event.

Often these sections have a couple of different outcomes, and it depends on your performance to how the scene commences. Sometimes this will affect the plot minimally, but other times it can be bigger things, such as character deaths. At some points, characters lives will be placed in your hands – at one point I actually killed a man by accident, and the character felt remorse for it later on. However, interestingly, some of the main characters can also die – if put in a life-threatening situation it’s possible to fail and for the character to meet their demise. The story will continue however, and in my playthrough of the game I did in fact lose one of my characters due to not acting fast enough. Don’t worry, however – these instances are fairly clear, and you won’t lose a character simply due to one slip of the hand on an action scene or anything like that. Usually you have a fair amount of chances to turn things around – but you can’t guarantee they’ll all survive if you don’t act!

There’s not a lot I can say about the story without spoiling anything – it’s very much a personal journey where you should take each moment as it comes. The events along the story are done particularly well, Quantic Dream managed to really capture the characters’ emotions and instilled a real sense of despair or confusion in characters’ like Ethan, including some of the non-playable characters who are done equally well. With more than one possible ending, which I’m pretty sure is not always guaranteed to be a happy one, your performance during the game can affect the final scenes and decide the fate of the cast. Thich means you’re never secure to come out on top if you don’t really go for it and think about your actions. Although the game does have some parts that can change, it’s not a totally open story - so some critical events will always occur in the same order, in one way or another. There are odd scenes that can be different, and of course the characters can “drop out” of the story and the ending can change, but generally there’s an overall plot that will be followed to a degree. Although this is a good feature, it doesn’t mean you can re-play the game and have a completely different experience each time, more than each person who plays will have the plot tailored to them, and the outcome will be a result of their own choices and actions. It’s certainly interesting to re-play – especially to change the fates of those who lived/died, but the first time you play it will always be the best.

There were a few plot holes/continuity errors in places, which were a shame yet not game-breaking, I think perhaps this is to do with the slightly different storyline possibilities perhaps getting a few elements confused. If you don’t think about it too hard it’s not bad, and believe me the story is still well worth playing – but there were one or two moments I thought “how did that character know that?” or in hindsight a few of their actions didn’t make total sense when I knew more about the characters’ histories and motivations.

Overall though, the game was an incredible experience and it’s quite hard to explain how much I enjoyed it without going into detail about certain scenes! The game really does throw you into an emotional journey, and so long as you really go for it, the game is gripping and it really does make you think about your own morals and ideals. Really, the ultimate question is, how far would you go to save someone you love?

-Leon

As a gamer, I like to buy and play videogames, and then tell other people my views on the games I play. However, videogames are a serious business, and I feel a need to attach myself to and champion a particular videogame console that not only does not reciprocate the love which I give it, but is made by a company who not only do not care what I think, but would probably look at me with distain if they did!

You don’t think I’m right? Then sit back and watch as I prove to you why my choice of Videogame Console is clearly superior to yours.

Soon you'll realise I am like a King, and that you all shall bow!

1. My Console Has Features That Yours Doesn’t

You see this thing that my console does? Yeah, your console is incapable of doing that. That automatically makes my console better than yours. Oh, so your console is bringing out their own version of that feature? Well, yours is a bad knock-off, and it’ll never be as good as the original! Oh, what’s that? My console’s bringing out its own version of your feature, well, because the feature is newer, it can improve on your one and make it better! My logic is infallible, and you can’t win!

Anyone who doesn’t understand this joke needs to go to http://www.scene-stealers.com/blogs/james-camerons-avatar-disneys-pocahontas/

2. Exclusives & Forthcoming Games

My console has better exclusives than yours! Allow me to list all the games that are coming to my console and not yours! I won’t even buy half of these games I mention, but I’ll use them as examples to prove that my console choice, and by extension, myself, are better than you. Even if some of those games aren’t very good, I’ll claim that the reviewers are all biased against the console (even if their review is positive), that their writing is bad, and that they should be fired and their review replaced by someone who actually knows what they’re talking about… Me! And then I still won’t play them.

"This game... Is totally proof... that I'm better than you... Okay, where's my money?"

3. The Game Is Superior On My Console

So that upcoming game that looks really good is multiplatform, but that fact is irrelevant! You know why? Because that game is going to be better on my console, not yours! My console will have the better graphics/sound/gameplay/controls/online mode/a feature my console has that yours doesn’t/mine does better, while your console’s version will be ruined by inferior graphics/online/loading times/multiple discs/mandatory installs/the fact your console doesn’t have a feature mine does/does as well! That’s why when a game comes out that’s the same on every console; I still win for having the better version!

See? The graphics on my version are way superior...

4. Inaccurate (Possibly Made Up)/Irrelevant Statement About Your Console:

And another thing! My console is so much better than yours because not only does it have features yours doesn’t, the better exclusives, and any multiplatform games will be better on mine, but (and yes, there is more!) you also need to contend with something else. That is the following thing I’m about to point out about your console, that will either be incredibly irrelevant to the argument thus far, will be completely untrue, or will have been said so many times before that you can probably see it coming from a mile away. This last one will be like a Reality or Talent TV show, in that it’s inevitable, and yet you’re more likely to score with a supermodel than stop it.

These red lights are in no way relevant to what I am saying right now... Or Are They?

Primarily, I’ll end up using this as a “…and furthermore!” argument, in that despite it having no actual relevance to the rest of the debate, I’ll still use this ad verbatim because I believe this actually matters.

5. Grossly Inaccurate Personal Insult

If you’ve seriously not been bought round to my way of thinking, and you somehow haven’t realised that my logic is that of a God, and made a shrine in my honour, yet, then you know what? I don’t care what you think, and to show how much your comments haven’t affected me, I’m going to post some grossly inaccurate assumptions about the way you live your life! You disagree with me? Ironically, I’ll end up using insults and descriptions of gamers that I’ve criticised the media for using, such as your possible living arrangements (with your parents), your weight, social standing, appearance, your ability to spell or use the English language, and whether or not you have a life.

(Because apparently having a life doesn't simply mean being alive or dead, anymore)

You know why I’m going to do that? Because I’m right, no matter what, and since my previous arguments somehow haven’t swayed you, then my only course of action that remains is to baselessly insult you, because nothing makes you realise you’re wrong like a complete stranger on the internet trying to persuade you insulting you!

Now it should be incredibly clear to see that I am completely correct, and that my choice of console is clearly better than yours. You’re allowed to praise me, and worship me as your new God. You know why? Because by devoting myself to just one console, and insulting anyone who dares question me, I not only like to prove how I’m right and you’re not, I then uphold the same image of gamers that most people are trying to shake from our industry; the obsessive, annoying fan boy.

…

…

Okay, screw it; I’ll buy the other consoles too.

You ever get those moment where, after you have seen an epic game trailer/video, you realise that you were starting at the screen with you mouth physically open and a vacant stare spread across your face while you were watching said video. This is exactly what happened to me when I watched the multiplayer trailer. I personally didn’t think Halo could get any better multiplayer wise. There are new game modes, new weapons and assassination moves just to name a few. Today I am gonna pick out the new things I saw from the trailer and give you my opinion what the new additions to the game are going to be like.

JETPACKS

Ever since I saw the elites bobbing round in these things in Halo 2, I could not help but think ‘I Want That!’ well a couple of games later, my mental message has eventually reached Bungie and now we have Jet Packs in multiplayer and I could not be happier.

Then I thought some more, how will these jetpacks work? Are we looking at a fuel gauge for them? Are they just going to feel like the anti-gravity mod in Unreal Tournament? Or are these actually going to be the single best thing to ever come out of Halo Reach and everyone will be having mid-air gun fights? I have learnt in the past that ideas such as these don’t pan out the way you think they are going too. I personally expect some limit to these jetpacks, so I am preparing myself for a fuel gauge of some sort, unless it will be classed as a new vehicle, in which case it will be unlimited and awesome.

ASSASINATIONS

I touched briefly on the addition of assassinations in my Halo Reach News Round Up a couple of weeks back. In this new multiplayer trailer you get to see them in full action.

Right off the baton I immediately thought Aliens Vs Predator. This was the first time I ever saw the assassination mechanic used in an FPS game when I played it back at Eurogamer in October. I personally love the fact that Bungie have brought it into Reach. Sure, since Halo 2 the game had the assassination medal for when you melee’d an opponent from behind, but this takes it to the next level with full on assassination animations, which I have to say look awesome and a lot better than the AvP ones. So I will be looking forward to assassinating any Halo player that gets in my way, be it Spartan or Elite!

WEAPONS

Again, another thing I briefly touched on in the previous article but this trailer brings us some interesting footage of some of the new weapons available. We all know that the needler rifle can take out three enemies at a time, and the marksman rifle is a love child of the sniper rifle and assault rifle. But in the trailer I saw what looked like a Covenant version of the Spartan laser! If that is true, we could be looking at some insane laser battles. I also saw what looked like a laser guided fuel rod cannon too.

NEW GAME MODES

Probably one of the most important things in any new multi player game, whether it is a sequel or not. Game variety is key to anyones enjoyment. It definitely looks like Bungie have added a breath of fresh air to the multi player with a good few game modes.

So here is the all-important list and what I think you have to do for each game mode. I could be wrong here but I’m gonna give it a go.

HEAD HUNTERS – It looks to me that head shots are key here. Kill someone with a head shot and they drop skulls, collect the skulls and the total of skulls is totted up at the end, the player with the most skulls wins. How did I get all that from a little clip on a trailer? I put it down to educated guess. But that is not necessarily what will happen. I believe this will be one of those games that snipers are gonna love or hate. All well and good scoring head shots but if you half way across the map when ya do it, someone else is bound to collect those skulls.

INVASION – To me this looks like Bungie’s answer to an assault type game mode. Meaning that one team defends while the other fills out objectives to inevitably invade an area or destroy something. I loved assault levels in time splitters so I hope Bungie’s attempt at this game mode (if it is what I think it is) will be perfect.

SPARTANS VS ELITES – To me this just sounds like a team death match, one team Spartans, the other Elites. What they could implement into this though is race specific abilities, like Spartans can sprint while Elites have active camo, or something along those lines. It will be interesting to see how Bungie develop this game idea.

THE ARENA – To me it just sounds like they renamed slayer. I could be totally wrong, it may be something like a one on one shoot out? I am pretty confused about this one and can’t comment much on it. best wait and find out.

OTHER THINGS I PICKED UP ON

DODGE ROLL – It looks like Bungie have implemented a dodge rolling system of some sort. Looks pretty cool but how it will work form a first person perspective is beyond me. Will it zoom out like an assassination?

ACTIVE ROSTER – This looks cool. Looks like you can jump in and out of active games. Means you don’t have to scoff down your dinner in time to play a game with your mates.

Halo reach multi player looks like its taking a step in the right direction. And I cannot wait to jump into some Beta test action on May 3rd. Who’s with me?

Till then I will leave you with the Multiplayer Trailer:

Garv

I will start this article off with one word: Yoshi! Yes the famous pint-sized Dino is making his way to the Super Mario Galaxy universe, which I have to say is great, I mean who doesn’t like Yoshi? The cool thing here is he can use his tongue to swing across gaps, he also eats fruit which in turn gives him a variety of power ups, such as inflating like a balloon ‘Kirby style’ or a nice little speed boost to help you along your crazy 3D planet scaling.

Now we all know about the star pointer in the first game, well that’s also making a welcome return; but while riding your very hungry green Dino friend, the pointer turns  into a red dot which in allows you to control Yoshi’s tongue, this can be used to grab levers, swallow enemies in classic Yoshi fashion and of course swing over gaps as previously mentioned.

Another new addition to game play is Mario’s ability to dig. This means he can start shoveling away at the planet’s surface and eventually find new places to explore. There are also switches scattered around the levels which slow down time momentarily. It’s a shame you can’t equip Mario’s Dr Mario costume and change the colour to black like you could in Smash Brothers Melee, because I thing that would add to the Matrix effect the switches are inevitably going to have!

There will be some interesting level design thrown into Super Mario Galaxy 2. As with Galaxy 1 there will be some levels which will be forced perspective side scrolling, much like the 2D Mario we grew up with. But this time there will be levels where the gravity shifts from up to down, or rolling log type levels with 2D platforms cut into a cylinder which you have to jump on. The creators here have definitely been experimenting and it will be great to see what things they have come up with.

On a side note, rumour has it that Mario’s gaming rival, the speedy hedgehog known as Sonic will be playable in the game. If it’s false then blame Ngamer magazine for spreading the rumour.

Along with the new gameplay elements there are a lot of the same classic Super Mario Galaxy game play we all fell in love with when we first played the original title on the Wii. Many gamers out there believe that the first game was the best game to ever hit the Wii console, so will the second installment of this new mini franchise have the same impact as the first game? We will know, June 11 2010.

Garv

The recent onslaught of Lego video games has caught my attention. I played a little of Lego Batman and I am in the process of completing a band session on Lego Rockband. I will hopefully get my mitts on Lego Star Wars eventually, but untill then I am going to shed some light on the latest Lego tale, Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4

All you Harry potter nuts out there will know from just reading the title of this game that years 1-4 will be covering The Philosophers Stone, The Chamber Of Secrets, The Prisoner Of Azkaban and the Goblet Of Fire. This time round the emphasis of game play is on collecting and exploring, rather than the combat we are used to from the likes of Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Bat Man. What is pretty cool though is the use of magic spells (it wouldn’t really be a harry potter game without and magic now would it?) from the get go you will have one or two spells available for you to use, one of the being Wingardium Leviosa, which does the neat trick of lifting and arranging Lego bricks and another being Immobulus which freezes enemies for a short time.

Potion making is another element of game play. In some levels it is a vital for you to make potions to progress, also if you mix a potion incorrectly it may have an adverse effect on you. It would appear that some incorrectly mixed potions will tune you into a Frog, so be careful.

The great thing about this game is there are so many characters you can play as, 140 to be exact, including Harry, Ron, Hermione, Malfoy, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, and also Fang, Dobby, Buckbeak and centaurs which is pretty cool - you have to give the side characters some love too. Each of these characters has their own abilities, such as Harry will have amazing broom flying skills and Hermione would be the best character for casting spells as she is the brains of the bunch.

Not much else is known about the game but I can safely say this is going to be a classic tongue in cheek video game, combining the Harry Potter universe with the Lego phenomenon we all grew up with as kids.

But what does this all mean for the future of Lego? Will the building bricks start to phase out while the video games take over? Or are we looking at a Lego fad? I mean whats next, will Lego start parodying games as well? A little bit of me wants it to, as I am sure a Lego Halo would be quite awesome.

Garv