During my life I’ve been through several musical phases. In the mid-nineties I enjoyed the guitar-lead refrains of Britpop; at college I strayed into dance, mixing and the superclubs; whilst my uni days brought me swiftly into the domain known as “cheese”; and since drawing a salary, iTunes tells me that “rock” is my most played genre. By a strange quirk of fate, it appears that the Hero brand is also going these exact phases. Except in reverse.

Starting off with the rock of the initial Guitar Hero, it then slipped into the family pleasing pop of Band Hero before rather swiftly morphing into DJ Hero, complete with amply sized peripheral. Does this march through my music tastes mean that my prayers will be answered and an Ocean Colour Scene Hero will soon be brought to market?

Sticking with the now familiar Hero formula, the aim of DJ Hero is to “play” along with the music being piped through your speakers, matching the on screen actions to obtain as high a score as possible. The only difference between this and the original Guitar Hero being that in addition to pressing buttons in time to the beat you must also scratch and fade between tracks at specified points, mixing two tracks together and sending the crowd euphoric in the process.

To achieve such feats, the DJ Hero controller proves a substantial device. To the left side are a series of buttons and knobs corresponding to crossfaders and effects dials, and to the right a movable turntable, slightly smaller than a dinner plate, with a trio of buttons embedded in it. A somewhat large and yet surprisingly lightweight block of plastic, it is just the right size to sit on a person’s lap without impediment.

Whilst feeling your way around this new fangled device, on-screen three glowing lines run towards you, curved slightly as if they were being spun on a giant record and each representing an aspect of the mix you are about to play. Along them stream a series of dots, all corresponding to one of your three buttons on the deck. Tapping them in time to the rhythm will earn you points and the admiration of the gathering turned out to hear you play. Missing them, however, will cause the music to falter and your set to go askew.

This in itself is not a captivating experience. Apart from the red centre track that represents effects, it is hard to say what you are tapping along to. The rhythm may be flowing and you may be matching the beat but I couldn’t comprehend what those actions were comparable to. In Guitar Hero it is plainly obvious that you are strumming out the tune on your virtual guitar but when mashing The Killers in with Rihanna, why am I tapping out the riffs other than to fill the void in gameplay?

However, this is the folly of starting DJ Hero on an easy difficulty setting. Its strongest credentials are held back for those wanting to brave a stiffer challenge and it is here where the wheels of steel are really spun.

Long coloured bars then charge down the glowing tracks at you, representing a scratch, with the tracks themselves then jumping back and forth to indicate the need for a deft touch on the crossfader. The tapping still persists but these two elements begin to raise DJ Hero from being just another rhythm-action cash in. As with the Guitar Hero, I found myself having a much better time when I pushed myself. It is one thing to score an almost perfect percentage on the middling difficulty settings but it wasn’t fulfilling. Until I felt that I was being asked to try and fade or scratch every ounce of the record I never felt truly involved in the experience, swiftly whipping the fader back and forth and furiously scratching in a bid to keep up with the latest mashup.

Though my enjoyment did increase on these more technical sections, my faith in the hardware diminished. True the turntable is smooth and responsive, but the crossfader was too light and inaccurate. There is a notch in the centre to help differentiate its three settings, nevertheless it had a tendency to fly past my intended track and straight onto the one on the opposite side. When staring at the screen and being asked to flick it back and forth at great speed it seems a little disappointing that such a tiny thing that would ultimately have a large impact on the game was overlooked. I have looked up solutions involving sticky tape to limit the amount of travel but the fact that even needs considering is a shame.

As with all other Hero games, your aim in DJ Hero is to march through a career mode, playing gig after gig and unlocking songs as you go. There are multiplayer modes, including hooking up another deck or a guitar to jam along with the mix but both feel a little strange. None of them have the same group togetherness that you find in any of the band games on the market. Whereas grabbing three extra mates and forming an impromptu Foo Fighters tribute act is the basis for a Rock Band party, I can’t see DJ Hero ever evoking the same emotions in me.

DJ Hero is a solid rhythm action game though, and should be given a chance by the naysayers. The wealth of music included (93 songs) is incredible and the execution of the Hero mechanics has evolved just the right amount so that it is both familiar but also unique, set itself aside from its Guitar brethren and playing to strengths of mixing. For me, however, it just lacked the connection that could have made it a great music game; far too often I felt that I had too little involvement with what was going on, standing on the periphery and occasionally poking buttons. Compare this once again to the Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands of the world and with every song you are not only involved from the very first bar until you repeat-til-fade your way to the end, but you are the star and without you none of that would be happening. Those wanting a fresh challenge will find it here but those wanting another music revolution will leave disappointed.

7/10

A few years ago, of all the licenses that could have been signed by a music game, a child’s set of building blocks must have been quite near the bottom of a rather lengthy list. We’ve seen Metallica, The Beatles and even Van Halen all attach their names to the current craze of plastic instruments and yet here we are with the oddity of Lego Rock Band. Cue gags about Bloc Party, Another Brick in the Wall and Block Rockin’ Beats.

A few years ago, however, we didn’t have Lego Star Wars, Batman or Indiana Jones. Each of which has slowly built the Lego brand into more than a Danish ambassador. The Lego world has developed a character all of its own with an unerring knack in distilling film plots into amusing cutscenes. It has taken three franchises and made them into family friendly experiences where prior knowledge is in no way a prerequisite. And it is this identity that EA have coveted in order to take Rock Band to a broader audience.

Traveller’s Tales have done a superb job in taking the traditional Rock Band experience and encasing it in a Lego bricks. Everything from the opening car chase cinematic to the menu’s background has been tweaked to incorporate blocks whilst still keeping the original’s essence. The biggest change, for it is still Rock Band 2 under this veneer, is in the story mode and its outlandish venues. Rather than clubs and stadiums it starts you off busking at the railway station and moves on to zoos, prehistoric caves, pirate ships, haunted mansions and palaces.

The Lego theme isn’t just limited to scenery however, and as you rise to stardom special gigs will become available. Some offer the opportunity to embody the likes of Blur, Queen and Bowie, all perfectly recreated in minifig form. Others will get your band to turn their hand to some rather specialist tasks. Were you aware that the power of rock can be used to banish ghosts, bring down buildings and even defrost explorers who became lost in the Arctic? No?

Although silly, the accompanying videos are packed with all the charm that you expect from the Lego series; the only negative being that you have to watch your stream of notes and not the unfolding shenanigans. Everyone in your band and management team can be seen capering about the stage with each and every one of them customisable. Currently my band has a peg-legged pirate on vocals, a ticket conductor on bass whilst a deep sea diver plays lead guitar on a par with Hendrix himself. As for me, the least said about my giant vegetable drum kit the better.

Despite all that, disappointment creeps in as Lego Rock Band is a twelve-month old product hiding behind a new wardrobe and it shows little sign of progression. Although tuned for accessibility – you can’t fail a song, there’s a super easy move, and drummers can ignore the foot pedal entirely - it still lacks basic features. There’s no option to jump in mid-song, or even mid-tour, and the Thomas brothers will once again have to fight over the drum sticks as the opportunity for two people to play the same instrument remains absent. These omissions are made worse by rival Guitar Hero having addressed them both.

Whether Lego Rock Band is for you will be down to an individual’s position. Those previously put off by the brand’s rocker image should put worries aside and start clearing space for your plastic band now. For Rock Band veterans, it’s a harder sell. Treating it as a bonus song pack will be dictated by personal taste but the clincher should be whether the enticement of having a band made completely out of minifigs can be resisted. Either way, what it does well is add a much needed sense of humour to what is becoming a formulaic experience.

Now do excuse me, I need to go and chase away an octopus from my lead singer’s ship.

8/10

The point-and-click genre is one that I have to limit my exposure to; an overdose can see my mind a little unhinged. It causes me to stare at every day objects wondering how I could combine a roll of sticky tape with my lunchbox and just what the hell I would then use it for.

My last experience was with the Sam & Max and Monkey Island episodes and whilst the humour was as good as it ever has been, I missed the dynamics that came animated sprites in a 2D world. The character that can be encapsulated in a simple animation is far and above that which can be squeezed from Maya. Compare a classic like Discworld to its modern day counterparts and the same level of expression cannot be found - and anyone wishing to differ should try to recreate that dunny scene before disagreeing.

This is one of the many reasons that Machinarium has become an instant favourite. From the very first moment you can see the love that is poured into every inch of its stylised world; against the backdrop of a craterous landscape, tiny robots buzz about whilst in the distance a city looms. The hand-drawn backgrounds that you greet you in each new scene are all exceptional and are packed with subtleties that would no doubt have been lost if a third dimension were added.

The same can be said for the robotic stars themselves. Controlling a small, nameless robot, you send him tottering around in search of his lost robot girlfriend. This story is not conveyed through traditional means, though, rather through thought bubbles playing short cartoon snippets. Considering dialogue is a foundation of similar games, it’s a bold choice but one that fits within the robot world; these metal beings have transcended the need to vocalise thoughts.

However, style alone does not make a game and at its core Machinarium is very traditional where collected items are used and combined to complete puzzles. The path towards your love is continually blocked by locked doors, nefarious characters and the occasional 8ft policeman demanding batteries for their cuddly toy, all of which you have the power to solve given the right mental approach.

The quality bar for these posers is high throughout and most will get your grey matter churning, although none are as obscure as to cause migraines. Cracking one that has been staring you in the face for a period of time is still supremely satisfying but every solution makes sense - you just need to be attentive and thinking in the right plane. Pages are also taken from Professor Layton’s book with a smattering of straight-up logic puzzles offering a break from thinking too abstractly.

Superbly attentive design also keeps frustration to a minimum. This is not to say that brainteasers they set are easy - many will have you scratching your metal head until inspiration dawns - but whether it be limited screen clutter, keeping many puzzles on a single screen or allowing you to stand only in predefined spots, they reduce red herrings to the smallest amount possible. All of which in turn keeps your brain clear to concentrate on the puzzles in hand.

For those who do come a cropper there is always help at hand. Clicking the light bulb permanently ensconced at the top of your screen will, through use of more robot thought bubbles, show you your objective in that particular area. Although not a huge give away it can get you back on track and even prove an utter life saver when staring blankly at a dog trapped on the other side of a canal. A further step-by-step guide is also offered by completing a small Gradius-esque mini-game but both should be used sparingly to gain the most from your adventure.

The trouble with a game like Machinarium is that all of the high points are wrapped up so tightly in brainteasers that if revealed they would ruin it for everyone else. Safe to say, those willing will be met with some of the most cunning and rewarding puzzles to grace the PC in recent times. Much like Portal, it may also not be longest of adventures but any game which leaves you feeling sad when the credits roll is a game worth paying attention to. Pitched just right, it doesn’t pad out the experience for the sake of it and Machinarium leaves you wanting more.

9/10

Originally posted on www.7outof10.co.uk

I have been known to board in the past. There was once a time when I skated through the streets of Southampton and glided down the slopes of the Alps. Ranking as a complete amateur in both, I have often attempted to live out my delusions of grandeur through the Tony Hawk’s and Shaun White’s videogames of the world. Both big name riders, but at times their series have had a tendency to play on the reputation of the brand and not always on the quality of the product.

Whilst Stoked’s cover may not be decorated with household names, it attempts a far subtler approach. Initial training is taken by Snowboarder of the Year Wolle Nyvelt and, with the wooden voice acting you’d expect from a professional athlete, he leads introduces you through the fundamentals of Stoked.

The focus on a refined experience allows any reliance on the joypad’s face-buttons to be removed. Body movement and positioning are controlled on the analogue sticks, whilst grabs and prewinds (the act of preparing for a spin) are initiated with the triggers. Movement feels fluid and intuitive; carving through the snow by leaning from side to side with the left stick, with an upwards flick on the right sending your rider into a jump. Once your boarder is in the air, hands need to be contorted with a series of sharp tugs on triggers and jabs at sticks to do grabs, twists, spins and grinds. Simple variants are available but expect several minor layers of complexity - and numerous bone crunching landings - to lie between you and more advanced feats.

Those who button mash will end up face first in the snow as a little consideration needs to be applied before each trick. Transitions between them aren’t quick and the key is making sure you’ve enough time to not only complete but land your trick.

This more grounded experience extends throughout the game. Mountainsides aren’t filled with half-pipes or conveniently placed railings, rather fallen trees and convenient clumps of snow. An initial run may seem quite barren but soon you begin to pick out the understated nature with which the landscape has been assembled. Soon it even takes on a sense of serenity, and cresting a rise to see the sun break over the mountain range and spill into the valleys below can be a striking sight. Visually, as you cut ruts in the snow or snake down the mountain through near blizzard conditions, you have to be impressed at what this small studio has produced.

To occupy your time, challenges litter the slopes. All are quite basic in their focus - beat this score, do these tricks - but each explores a different style of play, acting like a more restrained but prolonged tutorial. Score challenges hinge on stringing together a handful of tricks, whilst the trick specific tests are there to show off your wide array of moves. Known as the Grab Bible, there is a list of tricks available in game to help you but given the sheer quantity of moves it’s guaranteed that when a specific grab is required you’ll head straight to the Bible armed with a piece of paper to note down just what is expected of you.

Each challenge beaten sees your fame grow and before long sponsors and the press are courting you. There is no character progression accompanying this rise in stardom, however. No stats are upgraded or specialist equipment unlocked, instead more and more events open their doors to you as you turn pro.

Up until this point, Stoked was at risk of falling flat. With more than 50 basic events requiring completion before becoming professional, the designers are testing the attention span of many gamers. Once pro forms are signed, the game then gains far more structure: photographers will demand lines of flashy tricks; competitions pit you against other riders; promoters set you timed runs; and in each of them the bar is gradually pushed higher and higher until nothing but the perfect line and quick fingers will see you through. Expect frustration throughout as many challenges, even early ones, will see your rider faceplant countless times before you prove victorious.

No matter how well it is handled, the thought that kept reoccurring was that even very late in the game I was still doing exactly the same things as I did when I started. New mountains are unlocked and you face an ever growing wardrobe of branded items but the base experience does not evolve greatly. There is a definite sense of your skills progressing as challenges push you harder and harder, but it is easy to lose heart and question why you want to attempt the next dozen photo shoots if their goals are in essence the same as the last dozen.

Stoked has an undeniably strong core, with good handling and a very natural style. Its own confident understated approach, however, may be its undoing; limiting the ways it can present events. Furthermore, taking anywhere up to a couple of hours to break the back of Stoked, to feel comfortable with the mechanics and to reach more engaging events, may ask too much of some.

Those willing to experience an incredibly solid and satisfying snowboarding game should stick at it. Trumping the far showier Shaun White, Stoked is a clear, well executed vision but will only be for the dedicated.

7/10

Originally posted on www.7outof10.co.uk

Blitzing into view is this year’s second greatest American Football game. If Madden’s photorealistic simulation isn’t your idea of how a pigskin should be used, then maybe gridiron mixed with Orks is more your thing with this faithful recreation of the classic and ultra-violent board game, Blood Bowl.

Games Workshop’s Blood Bowl is a fantasy, turn-based interpretation on America’s favourite sport. Given a team of hardy individuals each with their own special skills, you must block, tackle and foul your opponent into submission and carry the ball into their end zone. The victors are the side with the most touchdowns, whether that be after the allotted number of turns or because one team has been battered into submission.

Every action is taken with dice, with the success based on an individual character’s attributes of agility, strength, armour and movement. Stronger players will survive better in the rough and tumble of tackling, whilst the more agile can skip through defences and will be more adept at catching passes. The key is knowing your team’s strengths and your opponent’s weakness in order to exploit them to create gaps in their defence.

It has, however, been many, many years since my ratty Skaven team have been pulled down from the loft and forced on the field of play. Whilst I had a vague recollection of what was required, I felt it safest heading directly to the tutorial to refresh myself. What is presented is woefully inadequate. Most rules, even the very basic concepts of the game, are presented through reams of tediously, lengthy pop-ups. The amount of information that bombards the player is overwhelming and presented very inefficiently. Just one case in point is that when reeling off the dozen or so ways a player’s turn can be ended it is displayed in twelve separate pop-ups rather than a simple list. Worse still is that much of the information cannot be accessed from anywhere else, so any vagueness on the rules can only be righted by inflicting the tutorial on yourself again. This is at odds, however, with the welcome foresight of putting the bewildering array of a team member’s special skills in an encyclopaedia on the pause menu.

Thankfully there is a training match that offers you the chance to play a simple game of Blood Bowl that at every opportunity explains just what you and your opponent are doing. This definitely helps pull the separate parts of the tutorial together and adds a lot more context to the numerous pop-ups.

Outside of this learning curve, the actual recreation of Blood Bowl is very competent. There seems no omissions or compromises in bringing it to the DS and those who have played before should feel at home. It can be summarised as “angry chess” and is a very tactical game where you must weigh up the odds of success against each action you take in your bid for the end zone. The dice rolls are all hidden, which can lead to minor consternation at times as you try and work out just why your star player is face down in the mud but is clearly done with the intention of speeding up play.

Opponent AI seems well rounded, providing a good test even at the base Rookie difficulty, with victories earned rather than given. The downside seems to be large pauses during play for no perceivable reason. Whether it is the DS’s limitations or not, I very much doubt the Blood Bowl equivalent of Deep Blue has been included and it always prompts me to question whether the rival coach is deep in contemplation or has just crashed.

Those willing to sink time into the sport can head to the game’s main mode, the Championship. Based on a normal league format, you start at the bottom of the third division and aim to play yourself to the top, buying in a team of players and then building them into stars as your rise through the standings. The long term depth of Championship – again pulled directly from the board game’s team building - may not be enough to win over those fresh to Blood Bowl, though, as it seems very much a title that will only find success with those who already have prior experience with Games Workshop. There are just too many barriers preventing the uninitiated embracing the game and many will not be able to get passed the stuttering tutorial and the constant minor annoyances of an unresponsive UI.

As a faithful recreation of a classic board game it should be commended but the final verdict is a missed opportunity to bring in new players.

5/10

There was part of me that thought Halo 3: ODST was the beginning of the end for Halo. Whereas Halo Wars took the franchise in a completely new direction, the colon that hung around ODST’s neck filled me with dread. Was this, along with the already announced Reach, the point where the milking really began?

The most prominent aspect of Halo 3: ODST is that there is no Master Chief. The story takes place in parallel with the latter stages of Halo 2, whilst everyone’s favourite Spartan is cavorting across the galaxy in hot pursuit of the Covenant. Into his central role steps a squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODST for short. They are no super soldiers but they are as tough a fighting force as you could want when your city is overrun, willing to be fired in torpedo like transport pods to land right in the heart of the battle.

Thanks to a slight disruption with the fabric of space and time however, the drop pod you enter the city via is thrown off course causing a less than graceful landing. The impact is enough to knock you out for several hours, during which time you lose contact with the rest of your squad. As you come to, night has fallen and with the surrounding area teeming with Covenant you must rely on your training not only to keep you alive but to reunite you with your lost squad.

Whereas Master Chief has often been alone, either through plot twist or because all those around him have succumbed to fire, he has never been quite as isolated as you find yourself now. The silent streets of New Mobasa are shrouded in darkness, lit only by patches of red emergency lighting, and are far from the brushed metallics and humming spaceships we so often seen from Bungie. Unlike recent apocalyptic games such as Fallout, the events that played out prior to the game’s beginning did not raze the city; buildings still stand tall and the streets show signs that people have merely fled with only intermittent signs of pitched battles. It has been taken over rather than destroyed and the intimation that everyone is simply gone reinforces your isolation.

Those that are left within the city walls are the Covenant. Small patrols of Brutes and Grunts that roam the area searching for survivors. Whilst playing as Master Chief these handful of enemies may have been nothing more than an interesting diversion but your first encounter with them as an ODST will underline the differences between the two soldiers.

My first inclination was to hurl a grenade into their midst to scatter them and bring down the Brute’s shields. As I did, however, the arc of the grenade fell woefully short; the super strength gained from wearing mechanised armour had vanished. The weapons, too, were of a more standard issue. With the patrol now alterted to my presence, the new and improved pistol proved adept at satisfyingly picking off Grunts from great distances. Against the heavily armoured Brute I relied more on a panic stricken “pray and spray” method of hosing him with bullets until he fell. As with so many weapons in the Halo-verse, though, each has their time and place and that comes with familiarity.

Gone too is the recharging shield, and in its place are the concept of stamina and a more traditional health bar. Being the toughest that the UNSC has, each ODST can soak up a small amount of damage before it truly begins to hurt them. Come under fire and your screen will turn a shade of red, indicating that your being hit and that you need to find a safe place quickly before your stamina depletes and your health bar starts to take a hammering. With no replenishing health, any injuries will need to be patched up through the use of health packs scattered throughout the city. They’re hardly scarce but neither are they abundant so when facing massed hordes it is often wise to know where the nearest health pack is and when to retreat to it.

The difference is not vast when compared to previous games but it’s enough to make you appreciate slipping back into a Spartan’s armour when you put in the multiplayer disc. Combat becomes more calculated, thoughtful, and those who rush in are likely to be sent very quickly back to the last checkpoint.

The one toy that the Troopers do have over Master Chief is their intelligent visor, specifically designed to work in low light conditions and to identify threats or objects of interest. Activating this allows you to see the street through something akin to Sam Fisher’s night vision, but with the added benefit that any enemy forces will be outlined in red and architecture in yellow. It’s an easy way to discern your surroundings in the dead of night but with a trade-off being that you are effectively waving a torch around meaning the Covenant are more likely to be alerted to your presence.

Very much like the recent Batman: Arkham Asylum and its detective vision, it is often tempting to play the entire game through this filter. Secrets are highlighted and enemies flagged but a lot of the visual magic is lost through the graininess of night vision. Many of the night sections may not be the most awe inspiring graphically speaking, but it is the clever use of lighting that makes the city so atmospheric and this is completely unrecognisable with anything other than normal vision.

However, your helmet’s functionality is vital in the search for your colleagues. With help from the AI running the city, beacons are marked on your helmet’s navigation software that leads you to clues as to their whereabouts. Each clue is an object from an adventure played out during your time unconscious, which is then played out with you switching roles to play as the central ODST in each particular escapade. Whereas New Mombasa by night could be considered the hub world, these are the levels which play out more traditional Halo-esque moments.

From driving Scorpion tanks through the business district to the E3 demo of blowing bridges sky high, there are some memorable set pieces. The kind that could not be achieved if the game was not based in the world of flashbacks as their presence in the midnight streets would have shattered all sense of ambience and as such are possibly even a more enjoyable given their change of pace. In the hub world you often come across broken Warthogs and shattered Ghosts but none are salvageable. Here, though, the whole Halo sandbox is opened up once more and those looking for large scale objectives and battles, or even just a more traditional variety of weapons, than they have found hunting for their squad round town will be more than satiated.

What this presentation style has also given Bungie is an ability to be flexible. Whilst New Mobasa is a single city, these chapters give them a chance to bounce from corner to corner pulling in the most interesting aspect they can depict and, most important, produce the best scenarios for the player. From something as silly sounding as escaping from the New Mombasa National Park to defending the Police HQ, they make the most of the African metropolis. The standard of level design in the cluster of missions available in ODST is high, only dipping disappointingly as the game draws to a close.

Throughout all the flashbacks there is a surprising narrative tying the whole thing together. Surprising because it is such a departure from the traditional Halo fare of Master Chief and Cortana taking on overwhelming odds and coming up trumps. It is a far more human affair of lost comrades, banter between those who work together and even a love story. Given the cast you could be fooled into thinking it was one of the lost scripts of Firefly as opposed to Halo. The humanity of the situation is emphasised all the more because of the surroundings, namely the actual defence of Earth on Earth as opposed to carrying out spec-op missions on a far flying battle cruiser.

Away from the solo campaign there is Firefight, a mode that pits up to four people against a never ending torrent of Covenant fighters. Those who have played Gears 2’s Horde mode will have come across something very similar. You spawn in a room that contains both limited health packs and limited ammunition and are then thrust out to face a series of waves of enemies, with five waves making a round. Each round begins with the meeker Grunts and Jackals but come the end Brute Chieftens will be ten a penny, all armed with Gravity Hammers to smack you into the middle of next week. It’s a mode about endurance, teamwork and decision making - mostly what firearm is going to be most effective and which body can I scavenge ammunition from?

All the Firefight maps are taken directly from the single player campaign, with varying degrees of success. Some are enclosed, infantry-only affairs whilst others cover large expanses opening up the possibility of tanks and aircraft. The trade-off being is that you might have more space and toys to use against the religious zealots being sent against you but so do they.

As an exercise in teamwork, or just as a way to mess around in the Halo sandbox for hours on end, Firefight’s qualities cannot be denied. Early impressions are that the never ending waves could become a little tired over time but as with all multiplayer games it’s mostly about who you’re with rather than what you’re doing. Given the right crowd, a Warthog and a never-ending procession of Grunts and you have yourself a guaranteed hoot and a holler.

As is traditional, the campaign can also be played through in four player co-op, and this is where ODST really shines, in my opinion, the fun found in fighting in Firefight is amplified as you have true objectives to work through. My second run through was with two other experienced Halo players and even on Legendary we made light work of it. It may have seemed easier but I would probably put it down to the way in which we operated. Whereas one ODST may seem underpowered when facing a gaggle of Brutes or a pair of Hunters, two or more can act as a pack: pulling their prey this way and that, exposing the weak spots and making light work of superior opposition.

It may be shorted than previous games but the price you want to put on that is entirely down to personal taste. Most places I’ve seen it has been reduced to compensate for that factor but at the end of the day I never believe in scoring something based on price, for that can always come down. What doesn’t change is the experience you buy and in Halo: ODST you have an experience that takes the Halo formula, shakes it up and gives you the best narrative thread and atmosphere of any of the games so far.

Ultimately, ODST is what I wanted Halo 2 to be. When launched it was pitched as Master Chief coming to Earth and fighting off the Covenant. Admittedly he did that but only for one solitary level before he disappeared back again into space. This fills that void and also some of the blanks surrounding what happened to city once the Chief had gone. It’s short but it is very, very, sweet.

9/10

There are a clear subset of games which I can easily lose my wife to. Zuma is one, Zoo Keeper another and in recent weeks I can now add Peggle to that list.

Peggle is a cross between the pachinko machines of Japan and bagatelle. Faced with a board full of pegs and armed with a limited number of balls, the aim is to clear a batch of designated pegs by bouncing, cannoning and ricocheting your balls off them. When the ball falls off the screen the pegs that you’ve hit will disappear and your task continues until you run out of pegs (good) or run out of balls (bad).

Whilst this may sound like a game lacking in extravagance, Peggle then wraps it all up in sickly sweet colours and sprinkles it with doe-eyed characters. Quite how a unicorn sporting an inane grin fits into a suped up bagatelle I’m not entirely certain. Looking at my own bagatelle it’s hard to imagine dousing it in florescent shades and associating it with mythical beasts, and this is where a many of the more cynical consumers are likely to be lost. Out of my circle of gaming friends many have said that they just can’t get past the look of Peggle.

What Peggle offers these people is an opportunity to rethink their stance very early on. Complete a level successfully and out of nowhere Ode to Joy pipes up, fireworks spark from your ball and rainbows blossom at the bottom of the screen. The sheer ridiculousness of the reward and its contrast to the sedate nature of play is both super pleasing and a revelation. At this point you begin to understand what Peggle truly is: a game that never takes itself seriously. It stops being a cuter-than-cute arcade game and unmasks itself as a collection of elements lashed together with the sole aim of making a silly and addictive time sink. If you can relax into that then Peggle will just keep on giving.

I found there a childlike sense of pleasure from seeing the balls bounce and ping around the pegs, and every new board was readily embraced to keep that feeling going.

There are dozens of boards to play and each batch has its own theme. Their challenge ramps up throughout and so whilst the early garden styled levels bed players in, the later ones are heavy on awkward geometric shapes or moving scenery that test seasoned Pegglers. The hike in skill required to clear latter stages is evident. By the time a competent player has progressed through the main game, though, they will be attuned to the bounce and feel of the ball, enough to feel they can pull off the audacious shots needed. Just like a favourite pool table, you’ll know how the balls bounce and run and it’s just a case of lining up the initial shot.

With each theme also comes a mascot, ranging from aforementioned unicorn, named Bjorn, to a dragon going by the title Lord Cinderbottom. Although all launch the ball in exactly the same manner, they offer variety through powerups. The effectiveness of each may vary but all alter how a board can be approached, the most useful being a mystic owl who hones your shot to zen-like perfection. Other can activate multiballs, create pinball flippers or detonate any close by pegs. A lot can be down to personal taste but there is a reason why the cult of Mr Owl has sprung up in Cheltenham.

One aspect that I never considered before downloading Peggle was the social one. Armed with only a single television, Peggle has to be the game most likely to galvanise a room full of friends. Each ball is met with a chorus of “ooh”s and “ah”s and particularly crafty shots can have whole sofas on tenterhooks. Free balls and lucky bounces are serenaded with “good shot” whilst narrow misses have sympathies pouring in. Most might be down to physics and/or luck but you’ll take the support on board just as if everything after the initial bounce was down to a finely executed masterplan.

Once you’re done just hand the controller on over to the next player in the circle and the fun just keeps on giving. Pass-the-pad at its finest.

By all accounts, Peggle shouldn’t work. It’s a collection of seemingly random art assets combined with a game mechanic that ostensibly revolves around luck. And yet somehow this crazy mix works. Like so many simple concepts, its hooks can sink deep and everything from the ever rising pitch of the activated pegs to the constant positive reinforcement seems like a masterstroke. Above all, it’s about the search for the perfect shot. The one that even Mr Owl would be proud of.

8/10

The origins of the original Death Tank are that of a pack-in game found in a pair of mid-nineties Saturn games. Rather than face the world alone it shuffled into being cowering behind Duke Nukem. Nothing has really changed with the release of a new Xbox Live Arcade version. You still have a two-dimensional hilly environment, you still have to blow opponent’s tanks to kingdom come and it still doesn’t warrant being a stand-alone title.

Even those players who missed Death Tank’s original outings will probably be familiar with the style of play. It is basically a real-time version of Worms, where the trajectories and power for your projectiles must be set with the analogue sticks before launching a weapon. It’s a game of angles and experimentation, mostly, although you can upgrade your weapons to mix things up.

The real-time element does add a sense of panic to proceedings, as you constantly attempt to juggle dodging bullets with maintaining your angles to score hits in return. Upgrades add on boosters to allow you tank to fly around the screen, shields that can be pulled up in an emergency and cluster bombs to rain down destruction, but no matter how hard it tries it just doesn’t possess any charm that makes me want to keep playing.

The bottom line is that Death Tank is ridiculously overpriced at 1,200 MSP (roughly £10 and a 50% markup on the average arcade game) as it is no more than a simple flash game with delusions of grandeur. The actual concept is quite fun, but I got a very similar game to this built in to Q-Basic back in 1993 that was just as enjoyable. No matter how many power-ups or flashy graphics that are laden atop this remake, none can justify its cost. Instead can I direct you to Worms, a vastly superior game for only one-third the price.

3/10

“Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwww!” For the umpteenth time this evening my purple alien cries out for his lost pet blob, Maw. Quite where he has gotten to is anyone’s guess; I last saw him eating tribbles in a bed of daisies. Some time ago we crashed on a strange alien world and it appears that our best way off it is for him to digest half of the world’s fauna, a task which his is excitably setting about.

The Maw is a platformer come puzzler, quite reminiscent of Space Station Silicon Valley. You roam around the green and verdant setting, meeting the local wildlife and attempting to figure out how to break through the various barriers that block your escape.

To break through your pet’s leash doubles up as a weapon, but in situations where that is not enough your pet itself proves useful. Like a gelatinous Kirby, consuming certain creatures will unlock special powers. Fiery salamanders will allow him to burn down trees, flying worms send him bobbing like a balloon whilst eating a peacock apparently turns him into a laser firing fiend. Each transformation brings out the character in Maw and it’s suprising just how much exists within a one-eyed blob.

The challenge is getting each creature in a state where Maw can eat them, as those salamanders need to be cooled, worms grounded and peacocked plucked. Most of these are logical and shouldn’t stop anyone in their tracks for long, but do prove engaging none the less.

There is a hint of Katamari, too. Early on Maw will only be able to snack on the smallest of creatures but the more he eats the larger he gets and the more prey available to him. Completists will scour the level for anything that moves and a few levels in they’ll have an eating machine, chowing down on anything that crosses their path.

There really is only one word to describe The Maw, and that’s “nice: it has “nice” graphics, “nice” sounds, a “nice” concept, a “nice” charm about it and a fun factor that could be summed up simply as being “nice”. Unfortunately “nice” isn’t always enough. Maw is worthy of your time, if you want to gorge your way through a planet, but there is nothing exception or standoutish. It’s possibly why I’m so unsure about this review as there is nothing to damn it for yet equally to praise it highly for, either. Those taking a dip will find a smile inducing journey but there is very little reason to play through for a second time.

6/10

If the future depicted in Mirror’s Edge is to be believed, it is also a world of bold but limited colour. Tall buildings gleam white in the sun, interrupted only by flashes of red, green and blue. It’s as if a the mayor of the city, despairing at his wife’s inability to choose between apple white and snow white for their new kitchen, took some very drastic action to simplify matters.

If the future depicted in Mirror’s Edge is to be believed yet further, it is also a world of high security, where information is everything and highly sought after. Throughout, you guide Faith, a “runner” and purveyor of such information, across the rooftops in a bid to stay one step ahead of the authorities as she clears her sister’s name. Scaling scaffolding, jumping fences or sliding under pipes, she’s an agile lady who also isn’t afraid to get into a scrap if cornered.

Whether the contrasting visuals appeal to you or not is all down to personal taste, but their importance in the world cannot be downplayed. Running across the rooftops, the only signposts you’ll ever encounter are these flecks of colour. Not only do they help create a striking environment but an intuitive one, highlighting your next objective and allowing even new levels to be confidently tackled at a satisfying pace. It’s an unobtrusive way to guide the player and fits in well with the rest of the clean aesthetic; there is no HUD, no clutter, no reason to remove you from the experience.

The speed and freedom that can be achieved in Mirror’s Edge prove its greatest strengths, backed up by the first-person perspective and accessible controls. The former gives you a sense of connection with Faith and her movements, never taking you away from what she is going through, whilst the latter gives easy access to all of Faith’s skills. Wallruns, vaults, flips, jumps and slides, that if strung together across the cluttered skyline can provoke an empowering experience.

Most of the more open areas offer more than one way to navigate them, giving the opportunity to express yourself and experiment. Even the linear sections are welcome, acting like a three-dimensional puzzle that you must crack to progress.

Of course, there will be times when things go badly and a mistimed jump can send you hurtling to the pavement below. On these occasions you are set back to a the nearest checkpoint are persuaded to learn from your mistake. The frequency of this varies greatly throughout the game but whilst they can come in bursts the load times are never long enough to become annoying.

Unfortunately the weak point does come when those who wish to stop your free-running ways arrive on the scene. “Blues” armed with guns will burst out of doorways and although many can be avoided some must be knocked out or killed to progress. It can prove horribly scripted and combat on a whole is a painful, tiresome affair that breaks the game’s flow.

A lone enemy may not prove much of an obstacle, with their intelligence such that you can run straight at them and floor them with a flurry of blows, but rounding the corner to find a small squad always made my heart drop. You are advised to isolate each in turn but on certain rooftops that is easier said than done and on more than one occasion a play session ended because of the sheer frustration that it caused.

There is the option to disarm Blues and turn their weapon on their sqaudmates but the timing for this is ridiculous. A man could be doubled over and wheezing from a blow to the crotch but there is no option then. Instead it seems that the optimum time to remove is weapon is when he’s swinging it at your face. Having said that, and getting into character, I never felt as though Faith was the type to use guns and so insisted on battling through solely using unarmed combat.

Time-trials do become available as you progress, presenting areas where it is simply Faith and the environment, but they are balanced out against being forced to play through the main-story to unlock them.

Mirror’s Edge is ultimately a game of highs and lows: the joys of free-running across a gorgeously, stylistic city, and the lows of yet another bullet induced death. In many ways there are parallels with Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, as in both cases you had a very pure and enjoyable platform-adventure and yet it seems that bad guys were added to either pad the game or because the designers just couldn’t imagine a game without them. In both situations, I feel their inclusion was to the detriment of the games themselves.

7/10