Gamecca Magazine May 2012

Prototype 2 Kinect Star Wars Ridge Racer: Unbounded Silent Hill: Downpour Twisted Metal Trials: Evolution Catherine and more...

The Virus

Fighting Mercer in Prototype 2

A New Swing

New ideas in Tiger Woods 13

He’s Back!

The tale of Sanctuary continues in Diablo 3

I S S U E 3 5 / Vo l . 3 M ay 2 0 1 2

w w w. g a m e c c a m ag . c o m

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Š 2012 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Diablo and Blizzard Entertainment are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.

Inside 6 From the Editor 8 Unstuck Following the Creed 10 The Devil You Know A look at the Diablo franchise 16 Previews 8 Games to look out for 32 Soapbox Reduced bandwidth prices open new doors 34 Console General Is 2nd hand evil?

36 Anger Management The king of casual gaming has feathers...

40 Reviews 24 great games on display...

92 Essential Classics Space monkeys and latex 96 Hardware Stuff you need!

THIS MONTH’S COVER Diablo 3 is almost here...

Read our feature on page 10.

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104 From Space Where’s the stimulation?

Competitions 91 Kaspersky ONE Universal Security

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Previews Reviews

18 20 22 23 24 25 28 30

42 46 50 54 56 58 60 61 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 81 82 84 86 88 90

Resistance: Burning Skies LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Rocksmith The Amazing Spider-Man Hell Yeah!

Of Orcs and Men Deadlight Sorcery

Prototype 2 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 Kinect Star Wars The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition Ridge Racer: Unbounded Kinect Rush Yakuza: Dead Souls Shogun 2: Total War - Fall of the Samurai Armored Core V Silent Hill: Downpour Zumba Fitness: Rush Twisted Metal Anomaly: Warzone Earth Trials: Evolution Trine 2 Wargame: European Escalation Catherine Mario Party 9 PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Confrontation Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Sine Mora Silent Hill HD Collection

GAMECCA Vol. 3 Issue 35 May 2012 Editor: Walt Pretorius walt@1337-media.com Writers: Charlie Fripp Christo van Gemert Dylan Bouch Grant Wilson Iwan Pienaar James Francis Lein Baart Pippa Tshabalala Sarah Snyman Suvesh Arumugam Walt Pretorius Letters: letters@gameccamag.com Competition Entries: competitions@gameccamag.com Newsletter Subscriptions: www.gameccamag.com Design & Photography: 1337 Media cc Marketing Contact: Katia Taliadoros katia@1337-media.com

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Copyright © 1337 Media CC 2009 - 2012

5

Almost There...

From the Editor

by Walt Pretorius

T

he excitement in the air is almost palpable. You cannot have a conversation about video gaming these days without someone breathlessly mentioning that Diablo 3 will be available in less than two week – barring major catastrophe, of course. And it seems there is a lot to be excited about – Blizzard always deliver when it comes to new releases, and it looks like they have a lot going on with the new Diablo release. I, for one, am extremely excited. I have a sort of Diablo 3 advent calendar… I am counting the days…

But there are a number of other titles coming in the next month that are worth looking into. Sniper Elite V2, MUD, Max Payne 3, DiRT Showdown and a number of others will get gamers all excited.

This past month has also been a great time for game releases, as the 24 reviews in this issue implies. It’s great to put such a chunky issue together – we love the big issues, even though they take quite a bit more effort to compile.

Speaking of bigger, we have a few new names to welcome to the Gamecca crew. In my haste last month I forgot to welcome Sarah Snyman (sorry about that, Sarah) who is something of a girl-geek and super-gamer… both of which are meant to be compliments.

Also joining us from

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this issue is comedian, entertainer and impresario (and gamer) Grant Wilson. And last, but not least, Pippa Tshabalala, the popular South African TV personality and gaming industry icon, will also be adding her words to Gamecca every month. We are very pleased to have all of them on-board.

A few weeks back I got a phone call from 702 Talk Radio, asking me if I would be willing to do a phone interview on air about the effects of violent video games on people. This, of course, came after the mainstream press leaped all over the fact that the Norwegian murder Anders Breivik played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I agreed, and started doing all the research necessary for what I believed was going to be a good fight. But when the interview came along, I was pleasantly surprised by the attitude displayed towards violent

video games by both the show’s host, and by the other interviewee, an online behavioural psychologist from Port Elizabeth. It seems that the general attitude – despite what the mainstream press and certain watch dog groups are apparently trying to achieve – is rather reasonable and measured. Perhaps people are finally figuring out what we gamers have known for ages.

What was equally surprising was how quickly I got defensive about the whole matter. Perhaps it’s a bit of a trained response, to immediately get one’s guard up when mention is made of violent video games. Whatever the case may be, it is obvious that attitudes are changing. And that’s a great thing.

Right, enough speculation from me… let’s get on with the 35th issue of Gamecca Magazine! g

g a m e c c a c o l u m n • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Resistance: Burning Skies™ ©2012 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Developed by Nihilistic Software. “Resistance: Burning Skies” is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. All rights reserved.

“2” and “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Also, “ ” is a trademark of the same company.

Tracking an Assassin Unstuck

by Charlie Fripp

A

number of really awesome games have been announced for the rest of the year, and I truly can’t wait for two of them. I know that everybody has their favourites, and a whole bunch of other exciting titles will also see their entry into the market, but I simply can’t wait for Assassins Creed 3 and to a lesser extent Borderlands 2.

It’s rather ironic that they are both follow-ups from previous games, but that just builds on the hype and excitement of it. This year will also be one of the years where the most sequels or follow-ups will be released, with other titles like Diablo 3, Max Payne 3, LEGO Batman 2 and follow-ups to Call Of Duty: Black Ops and Ghost Recon will be released.

I’m really excited for the next iteration of Assassin’s Creed for a number of reasons, but mainly that it takes place during the American Revolution between 1753 and 1783 - and that it involves Native Americans.

It’s really cool to see that they have moved up the timeframe for the franchise, as the whole Middle

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Eastern and Medieval Italian thing was getting a bit old and boring. But the fantastical nature of the plot means that they could move it to anywhere, at any time, and just make it fit into the story.

I do think that this will unfortunately be the last that we see of the master assassin and his offspring, unless the reduce the time between games and focus on other key world events, such as the Russian Revolution, one of the World Wars or even send the game’s premise to a far-flung place like South America.

Besides all the added extras that normally come with designing a new game, it great to see that the main character, Connor, won’t be fighting with the stereo-typical “good guys”, and will instead be helping the native people of America.

When I lived in America for two years, I developed a bit of a love to the Native American people and the way that they do things, so for that reason I’m very pleased that I will be fighting alongside them and not against them.

But it’s also a logical move from a plot and game development point of view, as it was made clear throughout the franchise that the Founding Fathers of America were all Templars, which is essentially the enemy of the entire Assassin’s Creed series.

Players will get to meet (and fight) well-know people from history, such as George

Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Lee and General Lafayette. How they fit into the whole plot is yet to be revealed, but it will truly be an awesome game.

Developer Ubisoft also took some guidance from Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, since the game released half-way through the development process of Assassin’s Creed 3.

Yes, the game has been in planning and development for that long. But anyway, Ubisoft took notice of RDR’s vast explorable frontier and the hunting of wild animals, and decided to include the same elements into AC3.

If you even slightly know me, you will know that I really love sandbox games or games in which the player can just wander around looking for items and generally just explore the world with no cause or purpose. So games like RDR are really up my alley - which is another reason why I’m super excited about AC3.

But I think a lot of people can identify more with the happenings and plot of AC3, and most gamers will know who (or have heard of) George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. While the Middle East was a fantastic setting (for any game), gamers will actually know who these people are when they talk to them, and it brings it a little bit closer to home.

It’s really a combination of factors, but when I see the cover art or read something new about the title, I get little shivers down my spine and feel the excitement build up once again. If it is really the last AC game that we see, I truly hope that they go out with a bang, and not fizzle it out like EA did with Mass Effect. g

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The Devil You Feature

The return of the Diablo franchise is imminent.

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g a m e c c a fe at u r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Know

by Walt Pretorius

I

t was in 1996 that a game arrived that would arguably change action adventure games – sometimes referred to, rather aptly, as hack-and-slash games – forever. While many had come before, Diablo was one of the genre’s defining moments, introducing a host of new ideas to an already developed group of titles.

When the small town of Tristram sprang up next to the ruins of an ancient monastery, the religious king Leoric claimed the ruins and built a new cathedral over them. What the king didn’t know, however, was that the soul of three lords of Hell were secreted in the ruins, trapped in Soul Shards, hidden there after they were imprisoned by the Archangel Tyrael. Diablo, the most powerful of these demons, entered the dreams of the cathedral’s archbishop, Lazarus, and tricked him into destroying the Soul Stones and freeing the evil souls. Diablo first possessed the king, sending his armies to do battle with and lay waste to the surrounding peaceful kingdoms. Then he took over the body of the king’s son, Filling the caves and dungeons beneath the cathedral with creatures from the prince’s nightmares.

News of the terrible events in Tristram spread, bringing all kinds of adventurers and treasure hunters to the town. The game allowed the player to either be a warrior, rogue or mage, and to take on the forces of evil in either single player or multiplayer modes. The wealth of monsters, original game dynamics and treasure system all combined to make the game a hit with players the world over.

And what about the ending? Well, in the end – the accepted story – is that the warrior character imprisoned Diablo again, and drove the soul shard into his own forehead to imprison him. But this was part of Diablo’s plan; the warrior’s body was much better than the prince’s after all. That character would return in the sequel, as would the rogue, as Blood Raven, and the mage, as the Summoner.

The second game in the series allowed the player to assume the role of one of five characters: the amazon, the necromancer, the

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Feature

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barbarian, the sorceress and the paladin. A later expansion added the druid and assassin to the mix as well. These characters were far more varied than those in the previous game, and new skill trees allowed for better customisation.

The game itself changed, too. The treasure system, which would randomise items found by the player, was improved, and levels were randomly generated, rather than following fixed layouts. A more robust multiplayer system also helped the game along, and it became a firm online favourite that was still getting updates and patches almost a decade after its initial release.

The warrior who defeated Diablo in the first game begins a long and arduous journey eastwards across the lands of Sanctuary. As he makes his way, he is slowly corrupted by the power of the demon he imprisons. Deckard Caine, who assisted the player’s character in the first game, relates this tale to a new adventurer – once again the player’s character – who undertakes a journey to stop the warrior.

The tale lead the player through three acts, distinct areas with unique monsters and challenges. The final act took place in hell, where the player’s character was charged with destroying numerous soul stones, and thus destroying the souls they held forever. But, at the end of the expansion, one of Diablo’s brothers, Baal, manages to come into possession of his own soul stone…

Twenty years later, the world of Sanctuary is once again under threat. It was drastically changed by the destruction of the World Stone at the end of the second game’s expansion, and has now come under threat from Azmodan and Belial, two surviving evils.

Players will be presented with a larger vision of Sanctuary this time around, too, with two continents and numerous islands on offer, How much of that will be open for exploration remains to be seen.

Numerous new features will await players in Diablo 3, which will offer both single and multiplayer experienced via developer Blizzard’s Battle.Net system. Multiplayer affairs will feature drop-in, drop-out functionality, to help keep the game-play fluid. Destructible environments will also make part of the game’s static and randomly generated levels, the latter g a m e c c a fe at u r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

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having been included to allow for a greater range of experiences when replaying the game.

Also included will be health orbs, which will be dropped by enemies. These will replace the potions of old, potentially speeding up game play and making player’s lives just a little easier.

Runes that modify skills are also on the cards.

In addition to the monsters and NPC the player meets in the general course of the game, there will also be artisans and followers to enhance the experience. Artisans are workers who can modify weapons and equipment, and they will even be able to improve in skill as their services are used within the game. Followers will be ‘henchmen’ that will accompany the player, and will also feature upgradable abilities.

One of the big new additions to the game is the auction house idea. Virtually everything that can be found in the game world will be tradable, either via in-game interactions, or through the auction house system. Items will even be able to be traded for real world money, so hanging on to that powerful item that is useless to your character can still have benefits.

There is a wealth of information available on what to expect from the third iteration of Diablo 3. We’re hoping that the game lives up to the tremendous hype that has been generated around it, which we will find out from the 15th of May onwards, when the title hits store shelves.

What we can be certain of is the following: firstly, Blizzard very rarely, if ever, produce a bad game. Next, the Diablo universe has a lot to draw on, both from a plot point of view and from the technical know-how and experienced gained making the previous two titles. And lastly, it’s going to be huge. Releases like this only come along once in a blue moon, and with the last Diablo product (in the form of the Lord of Destruction expansion released for Diablo 2) having been released eleven years ago, anticipation for this title is at fever pitch.

It is difficult not to get swept away by the hype, but this new game is coming into an arena that is very different to the last time Diablo was released. That said, Blizzard are a company that seem to understand gamers and trends extremely well. In short, there seems to be little reason for this game to be anything but brilliant… provided the servers manage to stand up to the undoubted crazy rush on release day. g g a m e c c a fe at u r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

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Previews Highlights 18 Resistance: Burning Skies Fight on the small screen 22 Rocksmith Real guitar playing 25 Of Orcs and Men The other side...

28 Deadlight Zombies everywhere 30 Sorcery PS Move magic

E

3 2012 will take place next month... this means two things. First of all, we can expect tons of great game announcements from the show. Secondly, information on new games set for release later this year is a little thin on the ground.

Despite the fact that this year is seeing what appears to be a smoother roll-out of games, there are still many titles that will only see the light of day in June, setting us up for what is increasingly looking like an awesome fourth quarter for 2012.

That said, we still have some preview titles for you to look at, across a variety of video gaming platforms... g

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g a m e c c a p r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

“2”, “PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION”, “ ”, “PS3” and “ ” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “SONY” and “ ” are registered trademarks of Sony Corporation. “make.believe” is a trademark of the same company. Sorcery™ ©2012 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Developed by The Workshop.

“Sorcery” is a trademark or a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. All rights reserved.

The Magic Is In Your Hands

The PS Move conTroller iS your Magic wand!

The dark forceS of The nighTMare Queen STalk The kingdoM and only you, a Sorcerer’S young aPPrenTice, can harneSS The True Power of Magic To Save ThiS MySTical realM.

Resistance: Burning Skies

The Big Fight On a small screen

W

hen you have a hot IP and a hot gaming platform, getting the two to work together is a pretty good idea. And Sony, with their fairlynewly-launched PS Vita, are doing just that. We have seen a number of franchised owned by the giant corporation appear on the Vita, with even more heading for the device’s small screen. Among those is the Resistance IP. Set for US release at the end of this month, Resistance: Burning Skies is being put together by Nihilistic Software, and will introduce the player to a whole new story set in the Resistance universe.

Complete with a single and multiplayer offering, Burning Skies will remain true to the franchise, presenting the

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by Walt Pretorius player with numerous locations set in an alternate 1950s USA, as well as well-known and new Chimera opponents.

This game, which will be the first FPS for the Vita (and arguably the first true handheld FPS, thanks to the Vita’s control systems) will also feature the well-loved weapon wheel, as well as a higher grade of weapon customisation.

Playing as Tom Riley, the player will get to experience the first few days of the Chimeran invasion of the US East Coast as he searched desperately for his family.

We have high hopes for this game, based both on what we have seen from the franchise, and what we have seen from the platform. g

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AT A GLANCE: Developer: Nihilistic Publisher: SCEE Distributor: Ster Kinekor g a m e c c a p r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

May 2012 Platforms

Resistance makes its way to the PSV at the end of this month… and it looks promising.

PC X360 PS3 Wii PSV DS 3DS

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“Take to the skies, we have a city to save”

by Charlie Fripp

G

ame developer Traveller’s Tales have been responsible for some of the most lovable LEGO adaptations of popular movies, like Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

All of their LEGO games have a unique quality - there is no spoken dialogue. In order to convey conversations and talking points, they cleverly make use of facial expressions and small grunts and moans. And gamers won’t have to wait too long to get their next LEGO fix.

The developer has almost completed work on LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, which will see a return

of Batman and Robin. The pair was previously catching criminals in the first LEGO Batman title, which has sold over 11 million copies.

In this iteration, the pair will rope in the help of other DC Super Heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. They will need all the help they can get, as Lex Luthor and The Joker are on a destructive path through Gotham City - and need to be stopped.

Players familiar with the franchise will know that it will be filled with wacky humour, a lot of action and enough twists and turns to keep any gamers happy for a while. g

AT A GLANCE: Making use of the trusted LEGO strategy, this title should be a lot of fun.

Developer: Traveller’s Tales Publisher: Warner Bros Interactive Distributor: Nu Metro

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Q3 2012 Platforms

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

Big Hero Action

PC X360 PS3 Wii PSV DS 3DS

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18 MAY ©2004 - 2012 Rockstar Games, Inc. Rockstar Games, Max Payne, and the Rockstar Games r marks and logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software. “2”, “PlayStation”, “PS3”, “Ã ” and “À” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. KINECT, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. Bullet Time is a registered trademark owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All other marks and trademarks are properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved

Rocksmith

The Real Deal Rock-God in training...

by Dylan Bouch

I

f Guitar Hero and Rock Band aren’t real enough for you, check out the upcoming Rocksmith…

Plug any electric guitar in and get ready to play… with a real guitar! Rocksmith will not teach you to hit certain buttons at precise times but will teach you to play the real songs, with the real notes and chords.

This title will adapt to any skill level in real time, and for all those experts, you will be able to play the lead or rhythm guitar, or even both, during the same song and if that isn’t enough the game will pick up your skill level and automatically adjust to you. Once you have learned the song, you will be challenged to play the song by

memory.

Rocksmith will also include effect pedals built into the game so players can tweak the cords with their preferred effects; hard distortion or a ‘70s twang, you’ll be able to adjust it to your own style and play your own songs too.

Play all the real chords from the songs you love from a variety of different music styles that will available in the game, learn, play and become a real Rockstar while your T.V and sound system become your amp.

Rocksmith will be a guitar simulation that, on some level, will be compared to the likes of Forza and GT… I think this might be one of the top titles this year. g

AT A GLANCE: Developer: Ubisoft Publisher: Ubisoft Distributor: Megarom

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Sep 2012 Platforms

Super amped to get my hands on this title and hit the high notes.

PC X360 PS3 Wii PSV DS 3DS

g a m e c c a p r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

The Amazing Spider-Man

Swing, Swing New York has an amazing hero

by Charlie Fripp

W

hile Spiderman is one of the better heroes in the comic world, even Peter Parker can be plagued by a malady that he can’t solve - the dreaded film-to-videogame adaptation. Since the invention of immortalising a film as a videogame, there have only been a handful that have actually been good enough to play for more than an hour.

Hopefully The Amazing Spider-Man will be slightly different and break the stereotype that is hindering the gaming industry.

The film, which is being released later this year, will no doubt be filled with action and a terrific plot; let’s just hope its gaming counterpart can keep up.

It is being developed by Beenox, a company that has a solid history when it comes to Spiderman titles, having developed Spider-Man: Edge of Time and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, as well as other film adaptations.

The Amazing Spider-Man will take on a slightly different approach to the normal titles, in the sense that it will be a free-roaming environment, where players are free to swing where ever they want to and choose which side missions, challenges and mini-games they want to complete when not busy with the main plot.

Spider-Man villains Rhino and Iguana will be antagonists in the game, and fans won’t have to worry about spoiling a plot, as the game takes place after the film. g

AT A GLANCE: Developer: Beenox Publisher: Activision Distributor: Megarom g a m e c c a p r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Jun 2012 Platforms

With the Amazing Spiderman swinging through town, most gamers will enjoy the film tie-in.

PC X360 PS3 Wii PSV DS 3DS

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Hell Yeah!

A Killing Adventure Oodles of cute carnage

by Dylan Bouch

I

ndie games are growing in popularity with the growth of internet and gaming consoles being able to connect to the internet . Indie games aren’t a particular type of game but just games created by smaller companies or individuals without the financial backing of big publishing companies.

Hell Yeah! was one of the lucky few to make it big, being backed by Sega… but will only be available for download.

This title will have the gamer playing the prince of hell,

a rabbit called Ash. Ash goes on a rampage after some damaging photographs of himself and a rubber ducky go public on hell’s own version of the internet.

The idea of the game is kill as many monsters as you possibly can, in the most outrageous ways you can think of. A game that encourages players to explore, kill and explore some more while killing – upgrade your character, explore and kill again with more insanity then before.

Push the boundaries of monster killing and then go one step further in this 2D adventure game. g

AT A GLANCE: Developer: TBC Publisher: Sega Distributor: Online

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Q2 2012 Platforms

Connected to the inter-web, enjoy adventure, killing and comedy mixed up in the blender? Then check this one out.

PC X360 PS3 Wii PSV DS 3DS

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Of Orcs and Men

The Other Side Bad guys being good?

by Walt Pretorius

N

ormally, when we take to fantasy role playing games, orcs and goblins are the guys we are intent on bashing with a variety of sharp implements.

That, though, will not be the case in Of Orcs and Men, a new title from Focus Home Entertainment.

In this particular game, men are the bad guys, killing goblins and enslaving those orcs unlucky enough not to die in their on-going war. The player will take the part of a valiant orc warrior who, joined by his goblin side-kick, takes on the oppressive forces of mankind in a game that is quite unique and looks rather promising.

Although not too much has been revealed about the game dynamics, the rather pretty looking game appears to be a healthy mix of action and stealth (thanks to the different approaches presented by the two protagonists).

And it appears to be third person perspective, too, which is preferred by many when it comes to hack and slash action of this nature.

It looks fairly entertaining, and we shouldn’t have to wait too long to find out for sure. Of Orcs and Men is set to be released in the second quarter of this year… so any day now, really. g

AT A GLANCE: Developer: Cyanide Studios Publisher: Focus Distributor: Apex Interactive g a m e c c a p r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Q2 2012 Platforms

An interesting take on the fantasy genre, this game sees the player taking on the role of traditional bad guys…

PC X360 PS3 Wii PSV DS 3DS

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Deadlight

City of the Dead Survive - at all costs

by Charlie Fripp

T

hose who know their history will know that Operation Deadlight was the name given to the operation to scuttle U-Boats that were surrendered to the Allies during the end of World War II. At first thought, gamers might think that the game Deadlight might have something to do with the U-Boats of maybe World War II, but it couldn’t be more further from the truth.

Developed by Tequila Works, the title will take players on a horrifying journey through an apocalyptic city filled with more zombies than you can shake a stake at. But

before gamers think that it’s going to be just another zombie game, the title has the backing of Microsoft Studios, so they know that it will be wild ride.

The game takes place in the ‘80s with characters having no access to internet to find out what happened in the city.

For a main plot, the title sits neatly in the survival horror genre, and gamers will have to fend for themselves while trying to figure out what happened - and get to safety.

Titles like I Am Alive and Resident Evil do spring to mind, but Deadlight, with its 2D environments, will definitely be something different. g

AT A GLANCE: Developer: Tequila Works Publisher: Microsoft Distributor: Microsoft

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Q2 2012 Platforms

Taking a unique twist on the genre, the title will be something special.

PC X360 PS3 Wii PSV DS 3DS

g a m e c c a p r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

WELCOME TO THE NEW FRONTIER

ExpEriEncE Epic solo or multiplayEr conflict at thE EdgE of thE galaxy. EngagE in intEnsE combat, on foot or in lEthal vEhiclEs and aircraft and changE thE war zonE at will with thE uniquE build & battlE systEm.

“2”, “PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION”, “ ”, “PS3” and “ ” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “SONY” and “ ” are registered trademarks of Sony Corporation. “make.believe” is a trademark of the same company. Starhawk™ ©2012 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. Published

by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. “Starhawk” is a trademark or a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. All rights reserved.

Sorcery

Magic Wand Have we seen this before?

by Walt Pretorius

M

agic and fantasy-type stuff always make for great gaming. Generally, though, playing the spell-caster in a fantasy game means that you’re going to die a lot, at least in the early stages.

But that probably won’t be the case when it comes to Sorcery, a new PS3 title in development by The Workshop. See, in Sorcery, a magic-user is all you can play…

Now you can call me a sceptic all you want, but when a game claims a ‘Real Magic Wand’ as one of its features, I start to wonder about whether the developers are losing their grip on reality. Still, Sorcery will make use of the PlayStation Move controller to facilitate gesture based spell-casting. In addition, that particular

controller will enable the user to brew potions and solve puzzles within the game environments.

The gesture-based system will also allow for combos, with the player linking together various gestures to cast more powerful magical spells.

The world will present the player with five unique realms, each of which will offer different enemies and challenges.

Also, the player will be able to develop their character through the game, which is always a plus – and almost a necessity in a fantasy game.

The story will apparently be the stock “only guy who can beat the forces of evil” kind of thing, but we’ll see for sure later this month, when Sorcery is scheduled to hit the shelves. g

AT A GLANCE: Developer: The Workshop Publisher: SCEE Distributor: Ster Kinekor

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May 2012 Platforms

A gesture based magic system – complete with combos – and character development might make for an entertaining PS3 exclusive.

PC X360 PS3 Wii PSV DS 3DS

g a m e c c a p r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

one great role playing game, two epic quests Experience an amazing adventure in one of the most fascinating universes of medieval fantasy literature. At the heart of a thrilling plot guided by vengeance, allegiance, betrayal and honor, you will decide on the fate of two heroes everything set apart. Travel and battle across the continent of Westeros, and fulfill two epic quests for the Iron Throne!

Watch the trailer!

www.gameofthrones-thegame.com /gameofthronesRPG.eu

/focusinteractive

@focushome

18 ©2012 CYANIDE S.A. and Focus Home Interactive. Published by Focus Home Interactive under license from Cyanide S.A. HBO and related trademarks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used under license from Home Box Office, Inc. Cyanide S.A and its logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cyanide S.A. Focus, Focus Home Interactive and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Focus Home Interactive. KINECT, Xbox, Xbox LIVE and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. «2», «PlayStation», «PS3» and «Ã» are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved. All other names, trademarks and logos are property of their respective owners. Uses Bink Video. Copyright © 1991-2012 by RAD Game Tools www.apexint.co.za

Distributed Exclusively by Apex Interactive Tel: (011) 796 5040 Email: sales@apexint.co.za All rights and trademarks and logos are copyright of their respective owners.

www.apexactive.co.za

Brandwidth Soapbox

by Suvesh Arumugam

B

andwidth finally got cheaper!

After years of speculating, particularly after waiting for Seacom’s cable to rescue us from exorbitant internet costs, it’s safe to say that bandwidth in South Africa had remained extremely high. The cheapest option has always been ADSL, with 3G fees ranging as high as R150 per GB. Telkom recently announced that they would be cutting their IP Connect costs by 30%. This is basically the fee that Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) pay to Telkom to run on their network. This caused a massive price backlash from ISP’s, with MWeb hitting the market first by cutting their uncapped 1MB accounts by almost half to R199. Competitors Afrihost replied with an across the board price cut on Capped accounts of almost 50%, with the cheapest prices on bandwidth so far in the country at R8 per GB. It’s all connected to Telkom’s strategy for bandwidth provision over the foreseeable future. Telkom promised us, about 2 or 3 years ago, that 384kbps lines would be phased out, and upgraded to 1024kpbs. 1MB would be upgraded to 2Mbps, and 4Mbps to 10Mbps. They have also been long threatening to introduce 20Mbps, which hasn’t yet happened.

Up to this point, very few of the Telkom DSLAM (ADSL) exchanges can handle 10Mbps. Most folks are connecting at lower speeds - the infrastructure can’t cope, even though the technology exists. This is partly due to degrading copper cable, a lack of sufficient exchanges, and scarcity of resources from Telkom. It seems that Telkom is now on a drive to get as many people on ADSL as possible, to raise money and

32

feasibility of the upgrades required to meet their new June deadline.

As exciting as it might be to get more megs for your money, the real excitement is the possibilities for the average Joe to access meaningful bandwidth, and for the internet (as far as South Africans are concerned) to become more accessible. This will probably result in awful user generated content like the Hot Problems music video that is doing the rounds at the moment, but it will also mean it will become feasible for poorer schools and households to get online, and make cloud hosted content and media more feasible. Crowd funding (which is poised to change the music, film and gaming industries) and Social Media marketing (through apps like CrowdTap) will become more powerful as they access more online users. Google has announced that they would soon be launching cloud hosted data storage facilities, with 5GB available for free on sign-up, and up to 100GB available anywhere, anytime.

The possibilities, and convenience, are limitless, and shows that the next technology phase will be cloud based and portable. The days of travelling with flash sticks and hard drives are soon to be over. Let’s not forget the launch of Smart TV’s by all the

major brands (which have dominated electronics trade shows so far this year), which are setup for internet connectivity and streaming, which will thrive on decent bandwidth availability (and generate a need for content).

We can be sure that South Africa will start to move closer towards international standards of cheaper uncapped and unshaped bandwidth, which will also create new opportunities of social networking, e-commerce and recreational gaming on a much broader scale.

This means more opportunities for IT professionals, web developers, hosting companies and hopefully even game developers. But its biggest effect will hopefully be a shake-up of media and marketing, hopefully giving “the little guy” a much bigger chance of success. g

g a m e c c a c o l u m n • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Cash In! Console General

by Montgomery Paton

O

K, time to throw a cat among the pigeons here… but perhaps a little by way on an introduction is needed. Games are expensive, I get that. Why they are expensive is up for debate – the industry will say that it’s because of high piracy rates, while consumers will say that it’s because publishers are money-hungry. Whatever the case may be, they cost a lot of money.

So the idea of selling second hand games seems like a great idea. In fact, many retailers will say that their trade-in systems are brilliant, turning over lots of cash as customers stream in the trade in their old games and get ones they haven’t played yet at a much cheaper price. It’s a win for the consumer, and it certainly is a big win for the retailer (because you can’t for a second believe that those systems aren’t designed to make cash.) Publishers, though, are crying foul.

Let us suppose, then, for a moment, that publishers are not the money-hungry sharks everyone seems to believe they are. Let us suppose that the prices they charge for games have to do with maintaining staff and keeping their interests rolling, rather than filling silos with cash that will sit stagnant and buy them all tropical islands when they retire. Let us take that extraordinary leap of logic and believe – if even for a second – that they need to charge the prices they do to keep the industry alive.

It’s not that big a stretch or the imagination… games cost a lot of money to develop, after all. And we are hearing of development houses shutting their doors and people

34

losing their jobs in the industry all the time. Could it be that second-hand sales of games are actually harming publishers and developers, as they so deviously claim?

Of course they are! It doesn’t take rocket science to see that the sales of new titles are negatively affected by second-hand sales and, because publishers have no control over the second-hand market and make no cash from it, they are feeling it. It is small wonder that there are rumours floating around about somehow locking future consoles against second-hand products.

So who, then, benefits from this practice? The consumer gets to pay less money for a game, sure, but the real people rolling in cash from this practice are the retailers. And their short-sightedness keeps them from

realising that they are, to a degree, at least, killing the goose that lays their particular flavour of golden egg. If they do enough damage with this practice, the industry will suffer enough that there may no longer be a viable need for retailers of physical product. Publishers may take distribution completely on-line, removing retailers from the mix. On the one hand, the practice of selling second-hand games seems like a great idea, but on the other it is like an extremely slow form of industry suicide.

I am not against getting a good deal. But the current model isn’t sustainable. Something needs to be figured out, or we may see the industry change drastically as a result… and not necessarily for the better. g

g a m e c c a c o l u m n • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

“2”, “PlayStation”, “PS3” and “ ” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “ ” is a trademark of the same company. “Ô” is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation. “Blu-ray Disc” and “BD” are trademarks. All rights reserved. The Ratchet & Clank™ Trilogy ©2012 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, 10 Great Marlborough Street, London, W1F 7LP. Developed by Insomniac Games and Idol Minds.

“Ratchet & Clank” is a trademark or a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. All rights reserved.

Join Ratchet and Clank in their first three epic adventures; load up on explosive weapons and gadgets and fight to save the galaxy one planet at a time in laser-sharp HD.

Feature

Anger Manag The king of casual gaming

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gement

by Walt Pretorius

W

hen it comes to video gaming, the image of the solitary, basementensconced, antisocial hard-core type, surrounded by gaming gear and empty pizza boxes, still seems to be the norm. But there are many signs that point away from this unfair stereotype, not least of which is the extreme success of casual gaming titles.

Statistically, the hard-core market makes up for a small percentage of video game purchasers and players and, if asked, avoids most things that could be considered casual, in terms of video games. And yet games intended for a more casual player flourish. Is this because the hard-core gamers are closet casual game fans at heart? Many of them probably are, but the fact is that the numbers still don’t add up. Take the example of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2… there are an estimated 25 million unique players enjoying that game.

That’s an impressive number, yes, but it pales in comparison to the roughly 700 million downloads experienced by one of the world’s most popular games at the moment: Angry Birds.

The argument can be made that those downloads happened across all four iterations of the game. In that case, we are still dealing with an estimated 175 million downloads per title… still a far greater number than the estimated players of one of the world’s most popular hard-core titles.

Angry Birds is one of the casual gaming market’s greatest success stories. Initially released by Rovio Entertainment for Apple’s iOS in December 2009, the game has reached near-legendary status in record time. It is now available on multiple platforms, including the PC. There are even boxed copies of the game available for purchase in stores, and the response to that has been excellent.

So what makes this particular set of games so very popular? What is the secret formula that has created a massive following, not to mention a great degree of success for Rovio? g a m e c c a fe at u r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

37

Feature

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The answer is something that is seems more hard-core game developers lose sight of from time to time: engaging game dynamics. Angry Birds offers the player a game that is, on the surface, very simple and extremely easy to play, yet has an undercurrent of complexity that is really rather surprising.

The premise of the game is off-the-wall.

Green pigs have stolen eggs from the titular birds, which has made them angry. In an act of war against the pigs, the birds launch an assault on them. The pigs have constructed numerous buildings, which the birds need to smash down, in order to destroy the pigs. The player, using a slingshot, launches birds at the pigs’ structures. There are a variety of birds, all of which have different abilities, as well as various construction materials employed by the pigs, which also have different properties.

Using the birds abilities, often best suited against particular materials, the player uses a combination of brute force and in-game physics to bring the pigs’ creations tumbling down.

There have been similar games before, but none with the charm and appeal that Angry Birds delivers. And the original game has provided a basis for expansion, as the recently released Angry Birds: Space illustrates.

Although the initial three releases all used very similar mechanics, Space introduces gravitational physics, advancing the game and evolving it into an almost new concept. In this particular title, the physics are those of space… celestial bodies have gravity, and using this gravity, the player needs to sling-shot the birds in more complex ways.

Rovio managed to put together a game that is almost perfect in its execution. A wide variety of situations challenge the player, while the built-in physics model can often deliver varied outcomes on the same level. In addition, new levels are regularly distributed to those that have purchased the game, adding longevity to this very reasonably priced franchise.

So, is a gamer a basement-dwelling, pastyskinned troglodyte? If you consider that, in any given situation, you will probably meet at least one person that has played Angry Birds, the answer becomes an obvious no. g g a m e c c a fe at u r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

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Reviews Highlights 42 Prototype 2 Hunting Mercer 50 Kinect Star Wars Is the Force strong in this one?

56 Ridge Racer: Unbounded Race destruction 64 Silent Hill: Downpour Back to town...

72 Trials: Evolution Got what it takes?

A

nd so 2012 keeps rolling on, with a steady stream of game releases to keep us busy. This month we had a particularly full calendar, with 24 games that needed to be played, analysed, dissected, studies and written about.

With the long wait for Diablo 3 almost over, the prospects for gaming in 2012 are just getting better and better. There are many really hot titles coming, and there have been many already released this year. Some of them are right here... g

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16V

Prototype 2

Oh, Heller…

Promises of awesomeness undelivered.

H

ere’s the thing about sequels; they need to take what came before and improve on it. We don’t expect that from movies. Most of the time cinematic sequels are generally worse than the first film, but there are a few times that the second movie is as good as, if not better than, the original. But when it comes to gaming, it’s a different matter. A sequel had better be an improvement, of we do not forgive it. It’s simply the way it is in the video game world. And rightly so, really, because the march of technology is inexorable; if game developers don’t keep up, they shouldn’t be doing what they are doing (or, at least, that’s what the average gamer seems to think.)

The improvements aren’t just technological, either.

Other elements need to be worked on, too, including all

42

by Walt Pretorius

the little niggles and bugs that may have occurred in the first game. It’s the way of the industry.

But every now and then, even with improvements, a sequel comes along that somehow just doesn’t seem to make any sort of grade. Perhaps improvements to game dynamics allow previously unnoticed flaws to become apparent. Maybe seeing more of the same just isn’t enough. And it is into this category that Prototype 2 falls.

I wanted to love Prototype 2, I really did. To be honest, I did enjoy playing the game but, sadly, there are enough chinks in this title’s armour to take it from a level of potential brilliance and bring it down a few notches. The original game – coincidentally the first game to be featured as a Gamecca Magazine cover – did a lot of things right, but also showed some issues. These, oddly, were sorted

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out to a large degree, only for a whole bunch of others to creep in.

The story revolves around Sgt James Heller, who comes back to New York after a tour of Iraq, only to find his wife and young daughter murdered by those infected with the horrific Mercer virus. The virus, of course, is named after Alex Mercer, the protagonist of the first game. But the developers saw fit to put Mercer on the opposing team this time around, and Heller swears bloody revenge on the mutated anti-hero. And then, for some or other reason, Mercer infects Heller, giving him similar powers.

Yes, that’s right – the wall-running, high-jumping, fastgliding action is back, this time with Heller armed to the mutated teeth with biological enhancements that include claws, blades and shields. And, in that matter, it once

g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

again shows a crack. It might be personal opinion, but Heller, like Mercer, is just too powerful. There is very little that can stop this ‘superhero’, unlike the other great origin tale lead, inFamous’ Cole McGrath (in my opinion a much better, more believable character.) Instead of giving us a character that we can actually like, the developers once again have presented us with a near psychotic killing machine to try and identify with. Heller is brutal, foulmouthed and single-minded in his quest for vengeance against Mercer, making him a somewhat one dimensional character. Hating to bring the comparison up again, but the player had some modicum of control over McGrath’s personality in both infamous titles. Here, you get what you get.

So, let’s set aside the lead character for a bit – put it

43

down to accepting him – and look at what the game has on offer. Prototype 2 tasks the player with careening around the city and causing mayhem, pretty much. The main missions follow a formula, for the most part, that gets a little old quite early into the game; take on a disguise by ‘consuming’ an enemy, infiltrate a base, and break stuff, before dashing out to make your escape. Nine out of ten, that’s what you will get.

To break the monotony of the main missions, a number of collectable and side quests have been included. Sadly, each group of them follows formulaic patterns too. Field Ops missions, for example, involve beating up bad guys in a specific location. Blackbox missions involve finding a recorded message. Hive missions… well, you have to destroy an infected hive. And //Blackwatch missions involve hunting down a character, getting information by

44

absorbing them, and then undertaking one of a handful of different missions as a result. This all comes down to breaking a monotonous pattern with other monotonous patterns. Hardly variety… but at least the rewards are tangible, with each set of side quests and collectable missions rewarding Heller with a new mutation. Also, most collectables’ locations are hinted at on the map, so you can do a bit of power-gaming early on.

Control-wise, things have been trimmed up. The fingergymnastics and crazy button combos that needed to be memorised in the first game are a thing of the past, making the overall experience slicker. Blasting your way around the city feels a little more measured, a little less chaotic than in the original, which is great.

Graphically, the game is a mixed bag. It looks good, for the most part, until a bad texture or clipping snaps you

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of a building shouldn’t help you evade attention… it should draw even more attention. Oh, well.

As it starts out, Prototype 2 is filled with promise, but it never really delivers on that. It manages to flirt with awesomeness, without ever really taking itself in that direction. Instead, it grows repetitive and a little long winded, despite only offering around 14 hours of game play. The plot is a bit thin, too, so don’t go looking for depth there.

Basically, this game can be a lot of fun to play, with its over-the-top action and fast paced, free-roaming movement, but it won’t stick in your memory as a great gaming experience.

One play-through is probably all you’ll ever give it, which is a bit sad, considering that it could really have been awesome. g

AT A GLANCE: Prototype 2 is a lot of fun, but it missed being awesome because of a few chinks in its armour.

Developer: Radical Publisher: Activision Distributor: Megarom

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

18+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PS3 Platforms

out of the visual illusion every now and then. The voice acting, too, leaves a bit to be desired, with particularly Heller seeming capable of only angry exhortations liberally punctuated with the F-word.

And then there’s the AI. It’s pretty smart, for the most part.

The player will feel that they are being hunted, and that nasty habit that people on the streets had in the previous game of not reacting when Mercer landed on the ground with a resounding thud after a long fall has been more or less taken care of. But they still don’t seem to be able to look up. You can go gliding right over the heads of soldiers without them noticing, and suddenly running up a vertical surface seems to draw little, if any attention. It just breaks the illusion that the game could have created, once again making it far too easy to play Heller. Running up the side

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

78 45

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13

Tiger’s Journey

Relive every stroke from the once-great player

T

he Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise has been turning couch-players into professional golfers since 1998, and really needs no introduction. So it came as no surprise when gamers found that the latest iteration, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, was shipped with all kinds of added-extras, changes and a new direction of gameplay.

The title was shipped in two different versions - a standard one, and a Masters Collection edition. The standard game has all the functionality of the normal Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, but lack some courses and special equipment that was included in the Masters Edition.

It is by far better for any couch-golfer to get the Masters Edition, as it includes a set of Masters golf clubs, which will give any player a real boost in terms of strength and accuracy.

46

by Charlie Fripp

The most striking difference between Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 and the other games in the franchise is that this title focuses rather heavily on online content and being constantly connected to the EA Servers.

When players first start the game, they have the option of creating a new golfer from scratch or to import their own character from Tiger Woods 12 and using the EA servers to make use of EA’s Game Face functionality. The process takes quite a while, and there have been reported problems with importing character faces from the servers a number had their faces all mixed up with weird blotches covering their face.

If players import an experienced character from Tiger Woods 12, they will receive a rather generous 75 000 XP to boost their base skills. This is very handy, as the beginning rounds of golf can be rather tough to get through without going over par. More XP is gained

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

throughout the title for things like long drives, close approaches and hitting the green in regulation.

In previous versions, players were able to master courses by simply playing them a number of times and achieving a number of set goals. While this is still possible for TW13, players must now be online and logged into the EA servers to gain Course Mastery. The whole system has also been refined, where player will now be able to buy rounds at downloadable courses with the coins they earned. Once they have mastered a downloadable course, they will have access to unlimited rounds at that course effectively playing the downloadable course for free.

Players also need to be online in order to gain these coins and status point. Coins are awarded after each round and the amount depends on how well the round was played. These coins can then be used to buy Boost packs and other goodies from the title’s in-game store.

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Status points are linked to yet other new feature - online country clubs. Players will be able to create their own or join an existing country club, and earn status points for their club depending on how well they play. When players are a member of a club, they will be able to quickly play against other members, access the club’s leaderboards and earn status points, which will push the club further up the worldwide club lead board. But once again, to access the country club or earn status points, gamers will have to be signed into the EA servers.

Besides the normal “Play Now” and career mode, TW13 included Tiger Legacy Challenge, where gamers can relive Tiger Woods’ greatest golfing moments - from 5-yearsold right through to the present and beyond. It’s rather fun and disturbing at the same time to swing a golf club playing a 6-year-old Tiger, but it does give a wonderful backstory to his life and how he became one of

47

the best golfers in the world. Each section in Tiger Legacy Challenge is beautifully illustrated with a video in which Woods explains the period in his career, and it’s actually amazing to learn that he won the Under-10 Junior World Golf Championship when he was only eight.

But while the game’s presentation has changed and a few added aspects were included, the biggest difference in TW13 from any other Tiger Woods title is the new swing mechanic. The three-click system has been completely eliminated from this one, and the only way to swing a club is with the analogue stick.

Players will have to set up their shot using the same button configuration as from the previous version, but the magic happens in the swing. Once the shot has been set up, gamers will see a swing plane (the path that the club will take during the swing) and a little bit extra at the end

48

for a boost, display in relation to their golfer.

Players will have to pull down on the left analogue stick perfectly straight so that the club will travel on the prefect plane, and once the desired strength for the shot has been reached, players push forward on the stick to initiate the full swing.

Playing on amateur difficulty will always be a lot easier to swing than on others, as any shot will always be at full power - no matter the club or the distance. Playing on anything other than Amateur is where the real test comes in and things start to become a bit tricky.

Where the shot will always be at full power for Amateur, other difficulties retain the full power of the swing plane, but make a mark in it as to where players should stop and make the backswing. Go over the recommended mark, and players will most definitely hit the ball too hard and see if

g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

faults.

Sometimes the wind speed and direction can be very inconsistent and putting power can be irregular.

Other than that, the graphics have been given a fantastic boost and the new swing mechanic is the best we have seen thus far. It’s just a pity that Electronic Arts shamelessly make use of in-game currency and the need to be constantly connected to the internet in order to reap the benefits from certain aspects. But while the game is incredibly engaging, there is a worry that it won’t have the longevity it needs, as it can quickly become monotonous after extended periods.

It’s a very pleasing and well-planned title from Electronic Arts, with a great amount of real-world courses, some new playable golfers from around the world and it should definitely be on every golfer’s shopping list. g

AT A GLANCE: It is by far the best Tiger Woods game the market has seen Developer: EA Tiburon Publisher: Electronic Arts Distributor: EA South Africa

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

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Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

flying over their intended target area. Putting is done in the same fashion, but is slightly harder to do compared to other versions.

Tee-off boosting has also been removed, but players will still be able to spin the ball in mid-air to gain an extra advantage over a shot or wind direction. One of the biggest delights is that the Caddie Mode can now be disabled completely.

TW12 introduced a rather persistent on-course advisor, which became a bit much after a while, but luckily players can now turn him on permanently, activate him manually or opt to turn him off completely. When engaged in manual mode, he will only give on-screen direction, having no voice or character on screen.

While Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 is definitely one of the best golfing simulators on the market, it’s not without its

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

89 49

Kinect Star Wars

Dark Side, This Game Is...

This is not the game you are looking for

T

he Star Wars of my childhood had Ewoks, Han shooting first, and Princess Leia in ‘that’ outfit.

The Star Wars of the present has Jar Jar Binks, a kid called Anakin, and many other truly idiotic characters.

While I am by no means as devout a fan as some, the original trilogy still has a special place in my heart. It had all the elements a young sci-fi fan could wish for with me spending many a happy hour watching, rewatching, and watching it some more.

Sadly, time has not been kind to the franchise. First there was the re-release of the original trilogy. Significant edits drew the ire of many fans. Then, there is the small matter of the prequel trilogy. Enough has been written about these movies but suffice it to say they hardly succeeded in restoring the franchise to its glory days of

50

by Iwan Pienaar

the 80s.

When Kinect Star Wars was announced, everybody sat up and took notice. After all, who would not want to be a Jedi Knight and take on the Empire thanks to those lightsabre skills carefully honed in front of the mirror years ago? This might just be the game that could bring a new hope for the franchise.

So when the Ed offered me the opportunity to review Kinect Star Wars for this issue, I jumped at the chance hoping that all the excitement about brandishing a light sabre in a Kinect environment would be worth it.

After all, there have been many decent Kinect sport, dance, fitness, and racing games. So it would be a no-brainer for Lucasarts and Microsoft to really bring a premier offering to the table. Heck, Microsoft even

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

launched a special edition Star Wars console for this title.

The fact that they would make a fair amount of money from hardware sales is beside the point.

The game is split into five sections, each with its own structure and feel to it. These are the kind of mini-games you would encounter in a Mario-type environment. While not a major issue, the sections feel disjointed and could have benefited from an overriding story arch instead of just relying on the fact that they are all set in the Star Wars universe.

Jedi Destiny sees the player assuming the role of a Jedi padawan (student) trying to help stop the forces of the Dark Side. This is what would pass as the main campaign mode of the title. Yet, the story feels like nothing more than a glorified piece of fan fiction. Sadly, the biggest

g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

issue with this section (and many of the others) is the poorly developed Kinect integration.

What sounds good on paper in terms of using a lightsaber in the one hand and shooting the Force from the other, fails dismally on the Kinect. The targeting system for your Force powers is clumsy. Instead of selecting a piece of rock next to a droid, you inevitably select the droid. With no ‘move to next target’ button, this becomes an exercise in extreme patience that at least has the benefit of forcing you to swear in Huttese (obligatory fan reference).

Moving around the levels is haphazard at best. Bending down and taking a step forward for your fast Force running does not feel eloquent and more often than not the Kinect simply does not register the correct movement. Jumping

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is about the only thing that does get tracked fairly consistently.

Rancor Rampage turns the player into that loveable pit creature from Return of the Jedi with the goal simply being to destroy everything in sight. Yes, it does start off as a bit of fun, but this quickly loses its appeal. After all, you are playing Star Wars for those lightsaber duels are you not?

The self-explanatory podracing mode pits the player against other racers in a Formula 1-type environment. This is perhaps the best developed of the five Kinect Star Wars sections. Movement is fluid and the sense of speed as you whiz around the race tracks is palpable.

The graphics, as with all the other sections, are decent enough but it does not quite feel finished. This is perhaps

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indicative of the entire game. From the controls to the level design, from the campaign mode to the lightsabre duels, this almost has the feel of a beta.

Duels of Fate is dedicated to lightsaber duels with the player eventually taking on Darth Vader. Now this is the one I looked forward the most. Sadly, as with Jedi Destiny, the lightsabre duels can be likened to playing a game of chess against an octogenarian who is blind in one eye and suffers from Parkinson’s Disease. It is not even let you hack and slash or cleverly parry incoming blows.

No, a lightsaber duel consists of a defensive round where you have to block an incoming strike that is telegraphed what seems like 10 minutes in advance. Once you stave off a few blows, then you get to attack. But instead of how you

g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

committed.

Yet, despite how it sounds, this is actually one of the better sections of the game. Imagine some of the wellknown pop songs with lyrics suited for Star Wars. Plus, anything where you get to see Princess Leia dance in ‘that’ outfit cannot be all bad.

You will be hard pressed to find any review on the internet that will encourage you to go and buy this title.

Sadly, Star Wars fans would have in all likelihood rushed to buy the game without caring to read reviews. Everybody else might consider it for the lightsabre appeal. However, whatever your inclination, please do not get this title.

Instead, take the R400 you would have used and give it to a charity. At least then it would go to a worthy cause. g

AT A GLANCE: Every childhood fantasy you ever had about lightsabers gets swiftly crushed by this completely damaging title to the Star Wars universe. You have been warned.

Developer: Lucasarts Publisher: Lucasarts Distributor: Microsoft

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

12+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

think a Jedi Knight should attack, you end up making a few arbitrary movements and eventually defeat your opponent.

I do not think it is a problem on the hardware side as the Kinect does an exceptional job with several fitness and combat games I have played previously. Rather, the developers might have rushed the title and decided it was good enough to ship.

The final mode, Galactic Dance-off, allows players to dance against some of the iconic characters of the franchise. Yes, you read right. Imagine watching Darth Vader boogie down to a YMCA tune with lyrics customised for the Star Wars universe. This is the point where hardcore fans will probably go for a 10-minute shower to try and clean themselves of the apparent sacrilege

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

40 53

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

Wanton Women & Mangy Monsters Or the Gamecca Guide to Successful Witchering

“

I

ndeed, there is nothing more repulsive than these monsters who defy nature and are known by the name of witcher, as they are the offspring of foul sorcery and witchcraft.” Excerpt from Monstrum, or a Portrayal of Witchers, Anonymous Geralt of Rivia. A Witcher. THE Witcher. The only witcher worth mentioning…

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is the second game in The Witcher series, based on the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. Oh, but wait, you already knew that right? It was released last year after all. Why are we reviewing it then? Well, that’s because in 2012 Geralt is making his console debut on the Xbox 360.

The story, in a nutshell, follows on from the first game, where Geralt saved King Foltest of Temeria’s life by helping stop a rebellion instigated by the Order of the Flaming Rose. In the process he killed some monsters, shagged some women and was forced to take sides in a war.

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by Pippa Tshabalala

When disaster strikes in The Witcher 2 and Geralt is wrongfully accused of being an assassin, he must fight to clear his name. What follows is a long and complicated narrative where tough moral choices must be made as he tracks down a mysterious witcher assassin and recovers his memory.

The storyline is intricate and utterly engrossing. And brilliant. Did I mention that? You are forced into making a game altering decision right at the beginning of the first Act, with the remarkable result of two separate narratives that only realign in the final act. This greatly increases its replay value.

This review is focused more on comparing the transition from PC to Xbox however – has the port been successful?

What has suffered when transitioning this very processor intensive game to a somewhat more limited capability piece of hardware?

If you compare the PC and Xbox versions side by side, you immediately notice a rather pronounced difference

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

as well is the combat system. Actually that’s not entirely correct. The combat system is in itself quite intuitive and well suited to the console controller. There’s target lockon, easy access to menus, well assigned combat and hotkeys – no, what I mean to say is that The Witcher 2 is easier on the Xbox.

Yes, that’s right, apparently Xbox owners can’t cope with a difficult RPG. Battles that I replayed countless times over in The Witcher 2 on PC, I now completed first time around.

Granted you can ramp the difficulty up to compensate for this if you prefer more of a challenge, but there is definitely a marked difference between the rather more complex and hard-core PC version where you absolutely need to use potions to survive, and the Xbox where if you notice the combat patterns and dodge a lot you’ll manage.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings remains an excellent game. Those RPG fans who were unable to experience the world of Geralt of Rivia prior to this, will not be disappointed. g

AT A GLANCE: Geralt of Rivia returns to do more monster slaying, make difficult moral decisions, and get his freak on once again. But this time on Xbox.

Developer: Developer Publisher: Publisher Distributor: Distributor

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

18+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

between the two. The Xbox lacks the atmospheric fog and lighting effects of the PC, and the textures appear slightly blurrier, with more jagged edges. You also notice a difference in colour and therefore, to a certain extent, in style. The game on PC has a rather washed out palette that is enriched beautifully by the ambience of the environments and at night, the fog enshrouding the landscapes enhances the glow of the torches. To compensate for the decreased atmospheric effects, the developers have made the entire colour palette of the Xbox game a great deal more saturated and slightly higher in contrast, which means that The Witcher 2 on Xbox has a style uniquely its own. And if you’ve never played the PC version it’s likely you’ll still think that The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is still one of the best looking RPG games on the Xbox at the moment.

I think we can agree then that while the graphics may be somewhat different on the Xbox and PC, they still look pretty darn amazing either way. What hasn’t ported quite

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

87 55

Ridge Racer: Unbounded

Burning Out?

A new direction… but is it the right one?

T

he Ridge Racer franchise started in the early 90s with the arcade style racing and over the last two decades. Ridge Racer has kept to its familiar racing style and presentation, which has made the series so popular amongst gamers. The story of Unbounded follows a group of racers lead by the mysterious Kara Shindo, where you’ll have to prove yourself as you race for pride, and glory… all while demolishing the city, tearing the streets of Shatter Bay apart and racing where no car has gone before, because everything that lies before you can be destroyed.

Races take place in the city. Start from last position and beat all your opponents to claim glory, all while you boost to stop speed, destroy the city and take down your opponents before they take you out. The controls are very simple; accelerate, handbrake and boost. Although the series has come a long way, the game hasn’t really

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by Dylan Bouch

evolved much, but that’s the reason why it appeals to its fans and has been so successful. Although the game has stuck to its original style of racing and drifting, handling doesn’t seem to change much with the different cars.

Modern racing games like Forza give gamers an accurate feel of the car, where this title seems far from reality.

This title is fully automatic and doesn’t require any gear changes but you’ll notice that the vehicles seem to have 10 speed gear boxes; during a race you can hear the car gear up a good few times then down once, and the up again a few more times.

The burnout series worked really well with a boost system and driving extremely fast, dodging cars and so on; Ridge Racer has the player driving as fast as the car can go, but when boosting, the car doesn’t go much faster.

However, when it comes to destroying the city, if you’re not boosting, you won’t be demolishing anything but your

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

the job done while racing. Most of the cars look similar to each other, with similar rear lights for some odd reason.

The cities look like real cities would and demolishing them looks even better.

There are few great ideas that were implemented in this title; the driver position and lap times, for example, are displayed on the buildings or overhead bridges, and the player will be able to see them while driving past.

Ridge Racer: Unbounded introduces a cool feature where players can create their own cities to race in and destroy with friends, but the system is a little clunky. The career modes consist of various races (race, time trial, checkpoints) in different city areas and there are nine areas to visit, which makes for a short but tough career.

Most of the fun will take place online, where the RR community will share new tracks or at least new tracks available on DLC. g

AT A GLANCE: This title is a arcade racer, only Ridge Racer fans will really enjoy it.

Developer: Namco Bandai Publisher: Namco Bandai Distributor: Megarom

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

7+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

vehicle. When the player crashes, he really crashes, and hard. The lack of damage model doesn’t prevent accidents from destroying the player’s chance of winning.

The soundtrack isn’t the best I’ve heard. All the cars sound the same, even though they look different and are supposed to be different. The music style in this title is what I call TransFormer Music (shryllics and wub wub) which does get annoying after a while and the supporting sound effects are simple. The voice acting for Kara Shindo is also not too impressive… she is always talking with a loud whisper, like a late night phone stalker.

The better half of this title are the graphics, from the intro to the races and all the way to the menu – they look great. The surrounding environments in each level look similar to each other but are still good overall.

The cars aren’t the best I’ve seen and can be compared to those in Burn Out. The cars aren’t licensed, but will get

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

60 57

Kinect Rush

A Rush to the Finish?

While fun, Kinect Rush could have been so much better

by Iwan Pienaar

A

t first glance, Kinect Rush is yet another Disney title designed to appeal to the younger set.

After all, how good can a title be that combines five classic Pixar movies (Toy Story, Up, Cars, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille) into a series of platformthemed challenges?

The answer is surprisingly fun. Sure, the little ones will love being able to jump into many of their favourite Pixar movie worlds with a fairly intuitive Kinect control scheme. But the nice thing is that even parents will enjoy joining them in a two player co-op mode with split screen – not to mention getting a good workout to boot as the pace is quite frenetic at times.

At its most basic, each of the games entails solving a set of time-based challenges by jumping, running, dodging, ducking, climbing, and so on. In single-player mode, you work with one of the characters from the

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movies to accomplish the challenges for that particular level, unlocking more levels and secret areas as you go along.

As with any platformer, you need to collect coins as you progress for additional points and rewards at the end of each level. In co-op, you and a friend will work together in the aforementioned split-screen mode. Thankfully, each player can pretty much do his or her own thing and is not pulled into any specific direction. This helps with coin collecting as the players can go on their merry ways. This is great for younger children who each have their own idea of how to do things but ultimately progression does rely on following the marker arrows.

The length of the levels can vary between anything from four to 20 minutes depending on how much you care about collecting every coin and finding every hidden area. Of the five Pixar movies, the most enjoyable seem to be Toy

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to only a handful of levels, the game can be finished fairly quickly in a few intense sessions.

On the one hand, the shorter levels are good for the young ones but even my boys got annoyed when a level would finish just as they were getting into the hang of things.

The other frustration is the control scheme. Moving around is done by jogging on the spot with players turning by making subtle shoulder movements to the left or right.

As children tend to have exaggerated movements it will probably take them a while to get into the habit of making these smaller movements.

Despite the frustrations, Kinect Rush is an enjoyable title that will keep the children busy for a good few hours. The lack of replay value is a bit problematic but enough time between gaming sessions should take care of that. So if you are looking for something for the next school holiday, consider Kinect Rush. You could do a lot worse. g

AT A GLANCE: The children will definitely enjoy this one but the replay value ultimately lets it down.

Developer: Asobo Studio Publisher: Microsoft Distributor: Microsoft

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

7+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

Story, Cars, and Up but all of them have their own charm.

The graphics are decent without being amazing. But there are some nice touches in the background if you keep your eyes out for them. The South American scenery of Up and the Parisian backdrop of Ratatouille really shine and succeed in drawing the players in.

However, the audio really lets Kinect Rush down, especially the voices of the characters. This really becomes apparent in the Kinect Park, which acts as a sort of a holding area where players can choose which Pixar adventure to go on. In the Park, there are a host of other avatars wandering around with their repetitive chatter bound to drive you up the wall.

Unfortunately, replay value is also very limited as the short levels do not endear themselves to being played multiple times. In fact, all the games in Kinect Rush feel just too short. What is more, with each movie being limited

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

74 59

Yakuza: Dead Souls

Zombies, Right?

Makes absolute sense…

direction for the franchise is the fact that the developers, who previously produced a pretty solid brawler, managed to release a thoroughly broken shooter onto the market.

The camera controls, for one, are nasty, and relying on the camera to take care of itself is not a good option, either. And then there’s the actual shooting bit; a clumsy collection of fumbles that leave little more than a sour taste in the player’s mouth. And it just gets worse as the game progresses.

While Yakuza: Dead Souls could have been a great game, despite its weird direction change, the execution of the whole matter leaves more than a little to be desired. g

AT A GLANCE: It looks good and it is a novel change for the franchise, but the execution is horrible…

Developer: Sega Publisher: Sega Distributor: Ster Kinekor

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

18+ 60

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PS3 Platforms

I

would really love to be a fly on the wall in some development meetings. Like, for example, the one in which Sega decided that the obvious next step for their brooding, moody, character-driven, heavy-plotted crime drama franchise, Yakuza, would be to stick zombies in it. They obviously have access to really good narcotics…

However, that’s what they did – they moved away from the serious nature of the game to have the franchise’s familiar city overrun by zombies. Four favourite characters return to the title, too, each of whom needs to deal with the sudden outbreak of undead.

Even more ridiculous than this sudden change of

by Walt Pretorius

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

40

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Shogun 2:Total War – Fall of the Samurai

A New Culture As forged by war…

While conflicts abound, this expansion provides one with a much more political game. Agents have become far more important, and new agents can be used to sway the views of enemy populations and generals alike. While it is unlikely that your campaign will be as bloodless as the real Boshin War, playing the political angle now has far more impact on the game dynamic.

As is almost always the case with the Total War franchise, great graphics, sound tactical concepts and complex machinations all form part of this compelling title.

Having played the previous Shogun 2 releases will help, but the changes in dynamics, plus the fact that this is a stand-alone title, not requiring the original game, means that having played the others is not a necessity.

And don’t go thinking that it’s a short game, either, just because it is an expansion… strategy and history fans will get their delightful fill with this compelling, complex strategy title. g

AT A GLANCE: An excellent strategy title, and an expansion that changes the dynamic of the original.

Developer: Creative Assembly Publisher: Sega Distributor: Ster Kinekor

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

16+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PC Platforms

T

he Boshin War was a largely bloodless conflict when the pro-Shogunate north of Japan struggled for control against the pro-Emperor south. It took place roughly the same time as the American Civil War, although it was arguably much more civil than that particular conflict. It was an era that changes Japan’s future forever, bringing that country away from Feudal government systems and aligning it with the modern world, and it is one that the new Shogun 2: Total War expansion, Fall of the Samurai, takes a long hard look at.

This stand-alone expansion not only adds new elements to the original, but changes sweeping aspects of the game.

The advent of gunpower-using units means that artillery and the like is far more effective in this title, and the growth of naval power makes ships important, particularly when you consider that Japan is an island.

Aside from the change in battles, the overall feel of the game has shifted, too.

by Walt Pretorius

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

89 61

Armored Core V

Heavy Metal

Big robots, big explosions, teeny tiny instructions…

T

here is something extremely appealing about jumping into the cockpit of a giant battle-robot and dealing some righteous destruction on the bad guys. Thing is, one would imagine that a mechanical war machine like that would come with quite an instruction manual… I mean, there would be buttons and levers and all kinds of intimidating controls all over the place.

And that’s something that Armored Core V would have benefitted from – a good set of instructions. As it stands, though, playing the game may need a lot of experimentation.

The lack of instructions forms something of a barrier to entry. Gamers not totally convinced that they want to take the trial and error route in this game may well set it aside, but that would be a mistake. Armored Core V is a great title, provided you are willing to do two things; firstly, experiment with various battle suit set-ups and,

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by Walt Pretorius

secondly, play online.

See, this game works best as the sort-of MMOG it was intended to be, and playing with others will not only up the ante in the action stakes, but it will also allow the player to get good advice from more experienced players.

Still, taking it on solo is not a terrible idea. You will, however, have to wade through absolute piles of information. There is a lot of equipment that gets unlocked during the course of the game, and the lack of detailed tutorials or training modes does leave the newcomer on the back foot – not only in combat, but also when configuring a mech. When you get the hang of it, though, the massive range of items means that building a battle suit for any occasion – from light and nimble to heavy and powerful – is possible, and enjoyable. Varied weapons can be employed, too, to help ensure that the player’s mech is as multi-purposed as possible, and reloading and repairs

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The game certainly looks the part, too, with the impressive and highly customisable mechs (right down to colour schemes and decals) really looking the part. It feels big and heavy, as it should. The action is intense, and explosions abound, also appropriate to what the game is all about.

Sadly, the story is rather horribly disjointed, and the player’s motivation for doing anything really isn’t very clear most of the time. It’s more of a matter of getting to where you need to go, and killing everything that gets in your way… no questions asked.

If you are the kind of player who is going to take things online, and dig into the nitty-gritty of decal designs and mech configurations, Armored Core V is a great option. But don’t expect the game to be easy, or even user friendly.

Here’s a commitment you will need to make before starting the title, because expecting anything else will have you getting very frustrated. g

AT A GLANCE: A great game for mech fighting fans who want to dig into the nitty-gritty, and don’t need a game to hold their hands…

Developer: From Software Publisher: Namco Bandai Distributor: Megarom

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

12+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PS3 Platforms

during story missions (thanks to in-game ‘garages’) helps keep the action going.

Most missions – even the ‘single player’ ones – will allow for at least two players to join, while others have larger minimum requirements. Playing online really opens this game up, with the player able to form or join a team, in which every player’s contribution adds to its ranking. Players can even make their services available as mercenaries, joining up with others on a temporary basis.

The game dynamic changes a bit in multiplayer, as there are generally more mech enemies about, but in either mode the player will find that run-and-gun tactics seldom pay any substantial dividends. Rather, a clever approach is needed, and the canny player will do far better than the one who just leaps into situations. Using scout drones and planning tactical approaches all help to enhancing the experience that Armored Core V has on offer.

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

79 63

Silent Hill: Downpour

Rain, Rain Go Away!

We revisit Silent Hill as the storms hit.

S

ilent Hill Downpour is the latest in the survival horror Silent Hill franchise title, and the eighth game in the series.

As usual, you must solve puzzles, explore the surrounding environments and fight frightening nightmare monsters.

You play as escaped convict Murphy Pendleton, who is stranded in Silent Hill when the transport bus he’s aboard crashes and falls down an embankment. Murphy escapes and makes his way into Silent Hill, only to find out that all roads out of Silent Hill are closed.

As in the other games in the series, you must solve puzzles, fight monsters, meet weird characters that inevitably have something to hide and constantly collect and then refer to your maps to figure out where the hell you need to go.

Like so many games released these days, Downpour has a karma system that affects the ending of the game, all of which are dependant on the good or bad moral choices you make throughout. While this always adds a

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replayability factor to any game, it’s not really an original feature as they are quite basic and lack subtlety, but if you’re persistent you might get two, maybe three playthroughs, in order to see the multiple endings.

Another system introduced in Downpour is, quite aptly, the rain. Or rather, the dynamic weather, which not only transitions from day to night, but also affects the actual weather conditions such as sunshine and rain. As a storm approaches, know that you better be heading inside to safety or be prepared to run fast and battle it out with the beasties as they surface, emboldened by the bad weather, to hunt you down.

Visually, Downpour’s graphics are crisp and beautifully rendered, and the style has remained consistent across the series whilst at the same time still improving in accordance with the times. As always, there is an attention to detail that immerses you in the world. The fog that has always permeated the town of Silent Hill returns once again. This time however, the fog is enhanced by the recurrent rain

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

ineffectual and most definitely sub-par to the experience many gamers have come to expect from the survival horror genre.

Even worse, the PS3 version has some frame rate issues on occasion that make for an irritating and laggy experience.

Overall, the game’s story is engaging and the visual production quality is of a high standard, but the technical performance is below what we have come to expect from both the series and the genre as a whole. The combination of these binaries means that whilst Silent Hill is better than some of the previous Silent Hill games, ultimately the verdict is that it becomes slips slowly into mediocrity. The earlier games in the franchise remain the better examples of Silent Hill survival horror.

Silent Hill Downpour is a worthwhile journey, and in so many respects harkens back to the Silent Hills of old. Unfortunately the overall experience is ultimately forgettable. g

AT A GLANCE: Convict Murphy Pendleton must escape from Silent Hill like so many others before him. You know the drill.

Developer: Vatra Games Publisher: Konami Distributor: Ster Kinekor

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

18+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PS3 Platforms

and dynamic lighting.

Coupled with these changes in visual atmosphere, the sound design and music, as always, play a big part in setting the tone of the game. In many respects Downpour is reminiscent of the atmosphere in Silent Hill 2, probably one of the best games in this franchise. The atmosphere is tense and frightening, keeping you on a knife’s edge throughout the game. Moments of dead silence, which only occasionally fall flat, keep things wonderfully suspenseful. When there is background music, it sets your nerves on edge and heightens the anticipation of combat to a point where it is almost painful, and when that monster leaps out at you, it doesn’t matter whether or not you die, it is almost a relief to not be waiting for their eventual appearance.

While Silent Hill is successful in some respects - its suspenseful atmosphere, its dynamic weather system, its detailed and beautiful graphics - unfortunately it fails in many others. The combat system is clunky and rather

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

68 65

Zumba Fitness: Rush

Shake It! Again!

A much-improved Zumba game

T

he Kinect system has enabled us to get up off of the couch and move… everyone knows that. And, quite honestly, it has become more than just a tool for entertainment, thanks to the great many work-out titles that are available for the system. But we still want to have fun, right? So there are a bunch of dance games out there to allow for that, too. Now mesh the two together: a great workout that is fun at the same time.

The result is Zumba Fitness: Rush.

The idea didn’t originate for the Kinect, of course, but we’re pretty sure that similar lines of thinking were followed. The whole craze is all about getting fit and keeping in shape while having a huge amount of fun. And the Kinect provides the perfect opportunity to do so, when combined with this game.

Rush isn’t the first Zumba title to be made available on console, but it certainly is the best of the two that have been released. Numerous issues that cropped up in the

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by Walt Pretorius

original have been addressed. For example, the motion tracking that measures the player’s movement has been improved a lot. It may not seem so, because the game tends recognise almost any movement, but the better the movement – the closer it is to what it is supposed to be – the better the reward. The player can even earn stars during the workouts, which will unlock videos that can be enjoyed during strenuous workout sessions.

To make sure that you get the moves right, the game has a much-improved tutorial system. With fully animated instructors this time around, seeing the movements onscreen is much better than before, and the ability to choose when the movements speed up or slow down will help you fine-tune your steps.

But that isn’t the only learning you will have to do. The trick here is to memorise the various sequences of steps, so that you can blithely get through workouts without having to first try and match your movements to those on screen. See,

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whatsoever. To pause, simply walk away from the camera’s view. Other than that, you’re in for the long haul.

The menus are also wonderfully responsive, whether through standard hand controls, or voice activation controls.

As the market for fitness titles grows, it is becoming more and more important to produce titles that are not only effective, but are also enjoyable. Zumba Fitness: Rush nails both scores. Sure, the game has a few niggles here and there, but it is a massive improvement over the original, and is tons of fun to ‘play.’ Be warned, though – just like a real life Zumba class, this game will get you sweating in very little time, and some of the more exaggerated movements will require a bit of space – particularly if more than one person is doing the workout.

On the whole, solid controls, good graphics, catchy music and a fun workout all combine to make Zumba Fitness: Rush one of the better fitness programmes we have seen for the Kinect. g

AT A GLANCE: With most of the niggles from the original ironed out, this title will give you a fun – and exhausting – workout.

Developer: Zoe Mode Publisher: 505 Games Distributor: Apex Interactive

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

3+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

the basic steps in the tutorial are just that – basic. But with numerous dance styles and routines on offer, things get a lot more complicated. So a little muscle memory will go a long way to ensuring that you get the most out of your workout.

The graphics overhaul is also of massive benefit to this new title. The motion captured instructors make it possible to very clearly see what you are supposed to do, from foot placements to intricate hand movements.

As to be expected, the game will track your progress, as well as enable you to choose between short and long workouts, of varying complexity. You can even customise your own workout, with up to twelve songs in a custom playlist.

While playing in single player, or with a friend, very little of the screen is taken up by any form of user interface. In fact, aside from the player tracking sections in the bottom corners of the screen, and the ‘next move’ warning that pops up when needed, there is no menu or other functions

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

88 67

Twisted Metal

Pure Madness Flaming chainsaws are an optional extra

I

’ve never been a fan of car games. I find them generally repetitive and pointless, and the more hard-core titles require a degree in engineering for you to get the most out of them. That’s not to say there isn’t fun to be had. I’ve fond memories of Carmageddon, mowing down pedestrians for points, laughing maniacally all the while. Overall though, there just haven’t been any titles in the last decade that have really jumped up and grabbed my attention. That is until Twisted Metal landed in my hands, cover complete with a flaming clown head.

The premise is not particularly complex. Twisted Metal is a tournament held by the enigmatic Calypso, in which the winner is granted any wish that (s)he may desire. To win is relatively simple: kill everything. Why a god-like being wants to host a vehicular combat tournament is never explained, but that’s not really important, is it? The single player campaign will have you step into the shoes of three drivers, namely the iconic serial-killer clown Sweet Tooth, brooding Mr Grimm and the psychotic ex-

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by Lein Baart

model Dollface. Each has their own story arc, replete with cutscenes, offering stories that are as dark and twisted as the game’s name suggests.

Twisted Metal can essentially be described in two words: strategic mayhem. From the very moment you’re launched into the first event, things are pure pandemonium. You’re scarcely given a chance to breathe before the first rockets coming screaming in, and this sets the tone for the rest of the game.

There’s an excellent variety of vehicles on offer, from motorbikes to muscle cars to trucks to a helicopter, and each comes with their own special weapons, as well as individual stats. It’s here that the strategic element of the game comes through, as slower vehicles tend towards heavy armour, and vice versa, meaning that certain levels do better with certain types of cars. Besides for the special weapons, each level has a host of power ups scattered across it, which include standards like homing missiles, but also unique weapons like the remote bomb.

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suddenly seem surprisingly intuitive. The difficulty can also be maddeningly inconsistent, with some levels near impossible, while others are practically a breeze. Finally, the A.I. seems set on seeing you suffer first and foremost, forgetting that they’re meant to be rivals. None of these are game breaking however, and you’ll always find yourself itching to load up another level, eager for more punishment.

Multiplayer, however, is where things ramp up to truly insane levels as you battle it out with sixteen players online.

Besides the standard team deathmatch and elimination modes, there’s a new take on CTF, Nuke, which requires you to capture the enemy’s chieftain as a sacrifice to power up rocket launcher, and Hunted, where one person is designated a target which everyone else must kill.

Complemented by an awesome soundtrack, consisting mainly of metal, there is never a dull moment to be had here. Things are frantic and furious, physics are meaningless, and everything dissolves into pure anarchy.

It’s wonderfully intoxicating. g

AT A GLANCE: PlayStation’s longest running franchise returns to give you a healthy diet of bullets, rockets and insanity.

Developer: Eat Sleep Play Publisher: SCEE Distributor: Ster Kinekor

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

18+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PS3 Platforms

It’s all nicely balanced though, as the stronger weapons usually require aiming to pull off, and in the chaos of combat, this is no mean feat.

The levels themselves deserve a special mention. The array is impressive, which ranges from a quiet suburb to a battle arena to driving around the L.A. skyline, and all are fantastically designed. Each is also almost fully destructible, meaning that as you rampage across the map, the sheer carnage is reflected by the rubble left in your wake. The various modes that you play through the campaign, such as the Juggernaut level which features a truck that spawns new combatants every couple of minutes, add a further level of madness to this already chaotic mix, creating truly memorable moments. Throw in the three boss battles, which are well and truly epic, and you have a game that’s going to keep you hooked throughout its disappointingly short campaign.

This is not a title without faults however. The game’s controls are difficult to learn initially, though when mastered

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

85 69

Anomaly: Warzone Earth

The Other Way! Tower Defence from a different direction…

W

hen someone comes up with a great idea for a video game, it is natural that many others will try and copy that idea, adding just enough in the form of tweaks to claim an original approach. But the truly original approach things from an entirely different direction…

The idea in question here is Tower Defence and the opposite direction really is exactly that; Anomaly: Warzone Earth takes on the genre from the other side. In this game, the player isn’t defending against an invading force… rather, the player is the invading force.

This game has been available for a while on PC and iOS, but it has now landed on HD consoles, and the developers have done a brilliant job of translating the control systems. While strategy type games often feel clunky and clumsy on a console platform, Anomaly feels smooth and well-conceived.

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by Walt Pretorius

OK, a bit of background… the Earth has been invaded by an alien species, who have sectioned off areas using massive energy domes. What is going on under these domes is the player’s job to find out, specifically in the cities of Baghdad and Tokyo. To do this, the player must reach one or more specified points in the city, moving a squad of units through the ruined street. Along the way, the invaders have set up defensive structures, which range from guns and energy weapons through to devices that modify the behaviour of the troops under the player’s command.

And here’s what makes it even more interesting. The player, technically, does not control the squad. Rather, he can control a battlefield commander, a unit that moves independently of the squad… but the vehicles, not so much.

The player will be able to do the following things: choose

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very simple.

Unfortunately, the presentation of the game leaves a little to be desired. It isn’t the prettiest game around, although the graphics are better than just being functional. The effects and like are great, though, adding just enough eye candy to keep the game appealing. The voice acting is pretty nasty, though, with forced-feeling ham acting being the order of the day, and the sound track gets terribly repetitive after a while.

But these really are minor quibbles when considering the unique approach that the game takes. It’s biggest downfall in this regard is that it is a pedantic, time consuming affair that may not sit well with many gamers. This is one that you will either love or hate, but the unique approach to a tired genre, as well as the fairly fast-paced strategy side of things make for an exciting time, if you are so inclined. And the fact that the controls are pretty smooth and feel ‘right’ just helps that all along. g

AT A GLANCE: A unique take on a tired genre, Anomaly: Warzone Earth puts the player of the strategic offensive…

Developer: 11 Bit Studio Publisher: 11 Bit Studio Distributor: XBLA

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

10+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

vehicles to make up the squad (from a variety of unlockable choices) and upgrade them as funds become available; designate the route the squad must follow in an overview map and; on the battlefield, deploy support devices and draw enemy fire. The support devices include things like repair kits and decoys.

With these tools at his disposal, the player needs to take of the 14 single player missions (as well as a few other modes) to try and eliminate the enemy. So, in short, it’s Tower Defence, just from the other direction… Tower Offence, if you will.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth offers the player a very high level of challenge. Even at the easiest difficulty settings, sending the squad down the wrong alleyway may result in a mission failure.

In addition to careful route planning, deploying support devices at the wrong time could be the difference between success and death. This makes the game fairly strategic, even though the overarching principles, and even the game dynamic itself, are

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

79 71

Trials: Evolution

The Bike Trial Frustration can be a lot of fun

T

he original Trials games had millions of downloads, so when the sequel, Trails Evolution, was announced fans knew that they would be in for an awesome game. The title might be a bit overwhelming for players who haven’t played the first game, but with a bit of persistence and a strong tolerance for frustration, the title can be mastered.

The crux of the title is that players use a variety of trial bikes to race, ride, jump and manoeuvre over obstacles on a course in order to finish it in the least amount of time and with the fewest possible retries.

When a track is completed within a certain time frame in single player, a medal (bronze, silver of gold) is awarded. The more medals players unlock, the more tracks will become available. The number and strength of the bikes available will also depend on how many tracks the gamer has managed to beat.

In terms of graphics, the game upped the graphical

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by Charlie Fripp quality a little bit, but generally stuck with the tried-andtested method of game presentation. There really isn’t a point in making the title as pretty as it can be, as the scenery whizzes by at break-neck speeds anyway.

At a 1.3GB download on the Xbox Live market, the graphics couldn’t be pumped up as much as traditional games, as it would push the download size even further.

Something that took a bit of a backseat in the first Trials game is the fact that gamers will now be able to customise their rider and bikes in a variety of ways. After completing a track successfully, the player will be given a sum of cash (depending on the type of medal awarded), and this can be used to buy decals and different bike parts. The parts won’t upgrade the bike’s capabilities, but they will sure make it look a bit more fearsome.

A major part of the game is the user-generated content, which probably spans into the thousands of created tracks.

Players have the choice of using a Lite editor or the Pro

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After each race, players will be awarded points for their position, and the number of retries will be subtracted from that.

At the end of the championship, the player with the most points will be crowned the winner.

In terms of longevity, the multiplayer is the portion of the game that will probably suffer the most, as there isn’t much to do beyond the setting up of a race and competing against friends and others players. Granted, the multiplayer races was never punted as being a sellingpoint, but it would have been good to see a game have all its elements in check.

Trials Evolution is definitely one of the best games available on XBL at the moment, and it provides gamers with a fantastic challenge in self-control, patience and problem-solving.

The controls are great, the graphics are as good and the fun just never stops. g

AT A GLANCE: With the follow-up from the original title, developer Red Lynx has outdone themselves in the fun department.

Developer: Red Lynx Publisher: Microsoft Studios Distributor: XBLA

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

12+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

Editor, and with it they will be able to create any track imaginable.

Gamers will have a choice between creating a Trial or a Supercross track, and their imagination is the only thing standing between them and a great way for other gamers to experience the might of the game’s editor.

Some gamers have even gone so far as to create a track based on the popular games Portal and Angry Birds, where riders have to go through the same motions as the real titles. The possibilities of track design are really epic, and it will be a strong driving point for the game going forward.

The title does have a multiplayer aspect to it as well.

Gamers can choose between Trial tracks or Supercross and race against each other on them. Before the race begins, the host of the game can queue up a number of tracks in succession, and will form part of a small championship.

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

90 73

Trine 2

There and Back Again A Trine’s tale

mechanics are as solid as ever, with improvisation the key to solving particularly hard puzzles, and overall Trine 2 still captures an air of fantasy and innocence that is lacking in modern gaming, despite (or maybe because of) its weak story. It’s just that, well, this was all here before. The game is good fun by any measure, but strays towards the repetitive a little too often.

This all changes, however, with the three player co-op mode. It is clear that this is where the majority of the design was focussed, and it reaps spectacular dividends.

Puzzles that were monotonous in single player suddenly take on new life, as you navigate your way through the myriad of landscapes, killing goblins and growing beanstalks with magical water (no jokes). What was a good single player experience becomes much more engaging, and is really how the game is meant to be played. g

AT A GLANCE: Its quaint setting, splendid visuals, robust mechanics and well-designed multiplayer amount a worthy, if short, sequel.

Developer: Frozenbyte Publisher: Focus Distributor: Apex Interactive

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

12+ 74

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PC Platforms

I

n the past I’ve rattled on ad nauseam about how indie developers need to create games that differentiate themselves from bigger, better funded competition. Trine was exactly this sort of game, combing classic 2-D platforming with stunning visuals and physics-based puzzles, all wrapped up in a fairy tale fantasy setting. It was simple, clever and fun; a shining example of how developers can approach gaming from a fresh perspective, and had us all waiting breathlessly on tenterhooks, or me at least, to see what Frozenbyte would conjure next.

For better or for worse, they opted to stick with their original formula, so much so that Trine 2 could be an expansion rather than a true sequel. It still has amazing artwork and visuals, indeed the world seems to practically shine with mystery and magic, and the next gorgeous vista is always but a screen away. The

by Lein Baart

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

81

g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Wargame: European Escalation

Open Conflict The Cold War heats up…

I

t happens quite often that, in the hustle and bustle of glitzy graphics and over-the-top action – such as we demand from new games – we forget the fundamental ideas that make games great. We forget ideas about good game design and solid mechanics in favour of how many guns a game has on offer, and we forget things like complexity when we see how big the explosions are. But every now and then a game comes along that might not have all of its glamorous bits hanging out… and yet it reminds us of how a good game should be put together. Wargame: European Escalation is such a game.

Set in a slightly alternate reality 9that asks the question “what would have happened if the Cold War warmed up bit?”) Wargame places the player I control of either NATO or Warsaw Pact forces as they clash in Europe, fighting for domination of the continent. To this end, the player has access to a massive collection

76

by Walt Pretorius of land and air vehicles, in order to build an army. This is done principally by selecting units in a “card deck building” system between missions, but during fights the only game currency, Command Points, can also be used to bring in reinforcements. There is no naval combat in this game, but there doesn’t need to be – it will keep the player good and busy without anything like that.

See, the battles here are huge. So huge, in fact, that the player will spend most of their time zoomed right back from the action, just to keep a grip on what’s going on. The individual units have name tags, which helps, but it also hides the fact that the game actually does have a lot of graphic-bling on offer. Zooming in will show this, but will mean the player isn’t aware of the bigger picture. And the high-end graphics may be fairly demanding on the PC it is played on.

The massive battles aren’t just about rushing in and squashing the enemy, either; here is a game that demands

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to play. While the tactics and strategies that the game demands may become rather complex, getting things done in the title is simple. The in-game controls are easy and intuitive, while navigating menus and building armies is a snap.

Those that like their strategy games realistic and devoid of base building will love this game, which even takes ideas like supply lines and inclement weather into account.

Watching your army advance (from a distance) while a fire spreads on a far corner of the very large map (the result of another skirmish) is rather gratifying, and planning the perfect troop placements can lead to great rewards… provided you got it right.

On the whole, this strategy game is well worth the effort.

It may seem to lack some of the flashier aspect that other games have on offer, but it has the most important aspects – good graphics, intuitive controls and excellent strategy balances – in spades. It is a strategy gamer’s dream. g

AT A GLANCE: A great strategy title, with all the important elements well taken care of…

Developer: Eugene Systems Publisher: Focus Distributor: Apex Interactive

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

16+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PC Platforms

thought and strategy, both in building an army and in executing any given battle. Unit speeds, for example, can make quite a difference to a battle, so careful, pedantic movement – something which happens in the real world – becomes yet another part of the tactical requirement asked of the player. Cover, elevation and numerous other factors also make a strong appearance. Even luck enters into the fray, with units that can get stuck in mud or damaged while travelling having quite an effect on a battle.

The single player game offers the player 22 missions, all of which are great fun and earn Command Points to spend on that all important army, but multiplayer is where the game really shines. With up to eight players able to join the fight, the game still presents only the two sides of the conflict. This means that the games are always co-op as well as competitive.

Best of all, Wargame: European Escalation is simple

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

88 77

Catherine

Sheep Wanted!

Interact with anthropomorphic sheep while climbing towers of blocks!

T

his headline might sound sensationalist and completely and utterly implausible. But it’s not.

You spend a large portion of your time in Catherine climbing blocks in your nightmares, clad only in your boxers and sporting a pair of horns. Great. Just what I needed.

At the beginning of the game, a red-haired beauty welcomes you to the story presented by The Golden Playhouse, and the throughout you do indeed feel somewhat of a voyeur, watching the scenarios and intricacies of the tale unfold.

You play as Vincent Brooks, a 32 year old office worker being pressured into marriage by his long term girlfriend Katherine. While avoiding speaking to Katherine about their plans for the future, Vincent meets Catherine. She proceeds to seduce him and he ends up spending the night with her. Confusing, right?

Concurrently, Vincent has also been having nightmares in which he is climbing a collapsing tower of blocks, knowing that if he dies in his dream, his real life will come

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by Pippa Tshabalala

to an abrupt end as well. After his liaison with Catherine, Vincent’s nightmares get a whole lot worse and reality and dreams begin to blur as each night his climb up the tower of blocks gets progressively more difficult. To make matters worse, the news is filled with stories of young men dying mysteriously. Coincidence? We think not.

Catherine is a game in only the loosest sense of the word.

You spend large amounts of time simply sitting in the bar, The Stray Sheep, chatting with your drinking buddies as well as watching the story play out with very little interaction.

The obvious comparison for me here is Asura’s Wrath, which also falls into the realm of interactive anime rather than fast paced, immersive game. This kind of thing didn’t bode well for Catherine, considering I personally didn’t enjoy Asura’s Wrath due to the random QTE’s and lack of interaction with the story. Catherine pleasantly surprised me in this regard however, because the story itself is interesting and worth watching. It’s engaging even if somewhat slower than Asura’s Wrath which by comparison is a visual migraine

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Visually Catherine is beautiful, and you can see right from the start that this Japanese produced game has a great deal of personality as well as a very distinct style. There is incredible attention to detail, in both the characters as well as the environments. It helps of course that the narrative is beautifully told and the gameplay is unusual and original.

The control system is simple and intuitive, although one gripe is that you cannot skip any cut-scenes, or even make the dialogue go faster if you’ve already read ahead. In this regard, Catherine’s cinematic qualities come to the fore as you are forced to sit back, relax and enjoy this story presented to you by The Golden Playhouse.

On the whole, Catherine is unique and fulfilling. It’s beautiful and rewarding, it draws you in and it keeps you captivated and breathless in anticipation of what will happen next.

If you’re a fan of hack and slash Catherine won’t be your cup of tea, but if you’re willing to let the story carry you along you’ll be in your element. g

AT A GLANCE: Vincent must choose between Catherine and Katherine as well as climb nightmare stairs sporting a pair of horns.

Developer: Atlus Persona Team Publisher: Deep Silver Distributor: Apex Interactive

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

18+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

filled with hack and slash.

Interspersed with the narrative are interactive sections in which Vincent can talk to other patrons in The Stray Sheep, answer text messages and save the game. Don’t answer the text messages blindly though, as your answers ultimately contribute to how the story plays out. There are also Vincent’s nightmares, represented in the form of puzzles, in which he must climb a tower of collapsing blocks, rearranging them, avoiding anthropomorphic sheep and various other surprises. The puzzle sections, which you’d think would become tedious after a while, are surprisingly fun and challenging. You can speak to different sheep to learn new block rearranging and climbing techniques, collect pillows for extra retries, and other objects to help you negotiate the collapsing stack of blocks.

The multiple endings are all dependent on the subtleties of your answers throughout the game – how you answer your text messages for example, as well as questions you are asked within your dreams.

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

88 79

Mario Party 9

Plumbers Back…

Travel together as friends but battle it out like foes!

By Suvesh Arumugam

Stars can be converted into party points to buy additional stages, characters and vehicles.

The real attraction to Mario Party 9 is the range of minigames available, which can also be played individually, or in party mode. The games vary from ridiculously easy to slightly challenging, but the emphasis is mainly on fun, social gameplay. I really appreciated the mini-games being very different and original, while there are still many choose from. The characters are drawn from the various Mario franchises, and are the right level of cute and funny to make for lots of fun and laughter all around for those cold Sunday nights.

For fans of the series, and social party games, this is a good addition to your collection, and will probably become a family favourite before long. g

AT A GLANCE: Have heaps of fun playing a huge variety of mini-games and compete for mini stars!

Developer: Nd Cube Co Publisher: Nintendo Distributor: Core Group

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

3+ 80

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

Wii Platforms

Y

ou can usually bet on certain game franchises to deliver a decent mix of fun and adventure.

Mario Bros is one of the longest running and best-selling game series in history, despite being exclusive to the Nintendo family of consoles and handhelds. From their 8 bit origins way back in 1983, the adventures of the Italian plumber have had fans captivated and glued to their TV’s for nearly 30 years.

Their latest caper builds on the format established in previous Mario Party titles. The solo (campaign) mode features two to four players in a board game format taking turns to roll the dice to collect mini stars (and avoid the traps along the way). Players also encounter a host of mini-games along the way, as well as midlevel and final bosses during each stage of the board.

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

74

g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond

Go Beyond PokePark!

A world of adventure and a world of dreams collide!

by Suvesh Arumugam

conversations that need to be clicked through, and the constant dramatic soundtrack. Eventually you can switch between Pikachu and his friends, each having special abilities which help complete certain tasks. In order to make more friends, you must battle other Pokémon (choosing your Pokémon based on your opponents abilities), play a friendly game of chase or tag with them, or complete tasks like returning objects to them.

The gameplay is just simply too easy. The battles in particular are not challenging at all, and the Pokémon controls are frustratingly uncooperative. Even though some of the locations start getting more intricate, it wasn’t long before I began to lose interest. This was mostly due to the long interactions between characters that are generally arbitrary conversations - and just go on too long.

Whatever the secret of this successful franchise might be, this episode seems to be lacking it, and is probably worth missing. g

AT A GLANCE: Play as Pikachu and your favourite Pokémon as they go on an adventure looking for battles, fun and friends.

Developer: Creatures Inc Publisher: Nintendo Distributor: Core Group

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

0+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

Wii Platforms

P

okémon is the second biggest selling gaming franchise (after Nintendo’s other long running Mario Bros series). The original handheld game spawned an animated television series, manga movies, trading cards, and of course, many video game incarnations. The cutesy pocket monsters continue to be a favourite amongst kids (and kidults), despite many competing franchises which have appeared since the original craze in the mid-90s.

PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond features a similar setup to its predecessor. You start as Pikachu, meeting up with Piplup at the gates of PokéPark. Piplup is the first of many Pokémon friends to be made, which is essentially the objective of the game. While exploring a new part of the PokéPark together, Piplup is kidnapped, leaving Pikachu to rescue him, with the help of his new friends.

The game almost feels like Final Fantasy for kindergarten kids. Mainly due to the long, slightly irritating

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

66 81

Resident Evil : Operation Raccoon City

Killing a Legend Just make it stop…

I

don’t like liars. I don’t like it when the sales girl at a boutique tells me I look like I’ll be a size 6 when I know that’s the measurement of my ankle. And I hate it when a game producer tells me that I can play with AI teammates in co-op and then provides me with mentally challenged idiots who are as useful as a BA degree in an accounting firm.

Resident Evil used to be good. They have had some solid releases. This, however, not only breaks the trend, it breaks every rule of the genre in the most annoying ways imaginable. You give me a gun, but instead of bullets that can kill my enemies, you load it with gummy bears, or at least that’s the amount of damage they seem to cause.

And despite my disappointment in this game, the quality titles that I’ve seen in the Resident Evil series mean that I am still excited for the next release… maybe these sub games are just past their prime.

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by Sarah Snyman In this release, you play as a member of the Wolfpack squad for the Umbrella Corporation; your goal is to retrieve the virus responsible for turning people into the undead before the US military gets hold of it. This is all meant to be taking place between the time of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Nemesis, and I will admit that it is fun to play as the bad guys for a change, but the squadbased third-person shooter game felt slapped together, inconsistent with the quality we’ve seen with previous releases.

Between the bizarre antics of the AI squad mates which include jumping into the line of fire for no reason, which is furiously annoying when combined with the seeming drought of ammo and vast array of non-zombie enemies that seem to be tickled by your attempts to kill them.

The third-person shooter genre requires one or two conventions to be followed. I’m all for rule-breaking,

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

I realised, after chasing an enemy around and practically seducing it into attacking me rather than running away, once again with the bizarre AI bestowed upon it, that I am more annoyed at the failure of the game developers than I am with the fact that they tried to spice up a genre.

I am disappointed because of the amount of potential this game has in concept, if taken down a more traditional third person route.

But between running into invisible barriers during boss fights, watching my “special” team-mates throw themselves to the ground for no reason after running guns blazing into a room I’d just cleared, I realised that this game is far beyond repair.

My original love of the first few games means that despite this trainwreck of a release, I will play the next resident evil purely in the hope that there is still a glimmer of “epic” left in the development team. g

AT A GLANCE: Without a doubt, the death of the series. When game developers get it this wrong, I weep.

Developer: Slant Six Publisher: Capcom Distributor: Ster Kinekor

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

18+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PS3 Platforms

rebellion and going against the grain, but unless you do it flawlessly and with good enough reason it comes across as weak.

This is applicable to the annoying “stealth wall magnetism” that has replaced a button as the mechanism to sneak. Since the game is not capable of knowing my innermost desires, it ends up gluing my character to a shelf that I had no intention of hiding behind, or refuse to show any covering potential when I am in desperate need to hide behind a wall. On more than one occasion, I ended up stranded because the game decided I needed to use this alone time to give myself over to target practice while a perfectly good wall went unusable.

So maybe I have been cynical about this game, maybe my lack of patience waiting for the latest game in the series has been turned off by the scarcity of zombies, the somewhat Velcro walls and suicidal AI team mates.

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

58 83

Confrontation

Righting Wrongs …but not in the development process, apparently

I

t’s pretty impressive when game developers move away from pre-existing norms and attempt to forge something fresh. That’s what happened when Russobit-M started working on Confrontation, an action-adventure released through Focus. They began with the world, and decided to do something rather unique with it.

Aarklash, the setting of the game, could easily be mistaken as a steam-punk world, where fantasy and low-technology (like steam engines and the like) meet.

But the world takes that idea a little further, throwing in technological concepts that are more advanced, just for fun and uniqueness. And it would have worked, too, if the developers had given us a reason to actually care.

See, one of Confrontation’s biggest problems is that it doesn’t engage the player on a level that engenders emotional connection to the characters, world or plot. The story is presented by way of dry narration; it gets tedious, and many important plot elements may be missed purely

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because your ears don’t want to listen to the droning narrator anymore. The characters are all right out of two-penny pulp fiction, with no depth or dimension beyond a maddening fervour and a penchant to sounding tough. And the world… well, as much potential as it has, it is delivered by way of repetitive visuals and levels that feel too familiar after a while.

In short, the overall presentation lacks a “wow” factor to drag the player in.

This extends to the core of the game dynamic, too. The game is presented as an isometric action-adventure with strategic elements. The player is placed in control of four characters at a time. Each of these have their strengths and weaknesses, of course, and a player would do well to employ the characters to take advantage of these – using the team as a team, as it were. To this end, the player can pause the action to issue specific orders, which is great. But issues with path finding do enter into the picture from time to time, leaving the player scrabbling to make sure that the characters

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

characters are just as susceptible to the issues of the initial characters; dull personas, hammed-up voice acting, and fixed equipment.

Confrontation’s problems seem to be related to not carrying ideas to their full potential. The basic premise behind the game is great, the setting is potentially awesome, and the game dynamic holds promise. They just feel unfinished, or rushed, perhaps. A little more effort could have taken this game to a level where it could compete with top-notch action adventure titles. But the developers just didn’t carry those things through properly. Other aspects of the game seem to suggest that they are a little disconnected with what players want, which is a little worrying.

That said, there is fun to be had here, if you forgive the game its problems. And if a sequel is ever made, - and the developers pay attention to aspects of the game that could have been better – it would potentially be an awesome title.

Maybe next time, then… g

AT A GLANCE: A great idea gone awry, Confrontation can be an extremely frustrating game.

Developer: Russobit-M Publisher: Focus Distributor: Apex Interactive

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

12+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PC Platforms

aren’t overwhelmed. The same occurs when the game drops surprise encounters in; during a pitched battle, enemy reinforcements may show up, upping the pitch of the battle considerably.

Any group of enemies could realistically kill the player’s characters off, so strategy and employment of beneficial skills is a must here. The player’s characters will also advance in skill, and their equipment can be upgraded. But there is no new equipment to find… only original equipment to be upgraded. The treasure chests in the game generally only hold healing bandages, although every now and then a way to augment a weapon may be found. It’s a little disappointing, really, because part of the fun in games of this nature is discovering tons of new equipment to trounce enemies with.

As play progresses, new characters can also be unlocked for the player to use. Selecting the right characters for the team is pretty vital, both in completing missions successfully and in augmenting the player’s style. But these new

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

50 85

Naruto Shippuden : Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations

Invoke The Inner Ninja!

Fast paced combat game with surreal core mechanics

By Grant Wilson

B

eing a fan of anime and manga I was really excited to get into Naruto. For those who don’t know. Uzumaki Naruto is a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village; there is a powerful creature that resides within him called The Nine-tailed Fox, the strongest of all the tailed creatures (Jinchuriki). As with all heroes there are villains and other powerful opponents that Naruto has to defeat to become the Hokage (the strongest ninja and leader of the village) From the predecessors such as Rise of a Ninja and Storm a unique core mechanic has made this game more enjoyable overall.

The battles are on a 360 degree field and the in-game mechanics from Naruto have been nicely polished off.

Accentuated aesthetics that look very similar to its TV counterpart, keeping to bold contrast and sharp definitions of the characters. In this regard, it gives the

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game a life of its own.

In previous titles, there were open sandbox worlds that were interactive, crammed with fetch missions and collect item quests.

Generations, however, is dressed as an arcade fighting game. Instead of a 2D action plane, though, it gives that dynamic of open field, in which you can strafe and dodge giving distance or close hand combat (or to throw a shuriken just to annoy your opponent) depending on your style.

For someone who does watch the series, it’s an enjoyable game, with over 70 playable characters to choose from. You can evoke your inner ninja thoughts and ask, “who would win against Young Naruto or Young Kakashi?” Those unfamiliar with the series need not be discouraged. The story mode goes through the entire narrative of Naruto, from when he was young to being a

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

blocked or dodged. So, it’s just a question of who uses up there Substitution justsu first as to who will fall short.

Thankfully, the bar regenerates after a while.

The finishing moves and style of the play is visually entertaining, complete with camera cuts and angles to highlight the devastation and power of the attacks. From explosions to comical outcomes, it’s integrated seamlessly into the fighting without the use of quick time events.

This game is specifically built around multiplayer modes because the single player experience falls short of the previous Naruto games, even though some of the dynamics have been improved.

Overall, It’s a polished and well-executed game for all, from hard-core fans to casual gamers; each will find something entertaining and fun about the game. But, as a single player it lacks emotional investment, even if you adore the series. g

AT A GLANCE: The next instalment of the Naruto franchise, which adds a fantastic paradigm to the fighting genre.

Developer: Cyber Connect 2 Publisher: Namco Bandai Distributor: Megarom

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

12+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

teenager in Shippuden. The game stops at around episode 220 in Shippunden, just before Naruto sets off to train with Killer Bee, another Jinchuriki.

What I like is that there are many characters and the control scheme is very basic to understand. The game does lack a tutorial but after a few fights you’ll begin to understand that the moves and tactics are the same with most characters. It’s very diverse in its creativity for a fighting game, which is great. Sadly there are no tag team or joined combo mechanics to be found.

The substitution jutsu is remade into its own bar instead of being taken from your chakra bar. Substitution allows you to block a hit and appear behind the opponent, which irked players in previous games. This time, it’s more of a rush of playing than rationale of moves. For instance, if your opponent is out of substitution jutsu you will choose that time to activate your bigger moves without it being

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

65 87

Sine Mora

Schmup!

An old genre with a modern twist

T

here’s something gratifying about downloading a game from an online service, only to find yourself caught up in its complexities for days on end. Sine Mora is such a game; it appears really simple on the surface, but soon displays that it is more than the sum of its parts.

On the surface, it is a 2D, side scrolling shoot-‘em-up title, with the player using an aircraft to take out waves of enemies and pick up the bonuses they drop. It is, in this way, very reminiscent of numerous arcade titles and console games of yesteryear. But that is roughly where the correlation between those old classics and this modern, soon-to-be classic ends.

Playing through the Story Mode, the player will initially be impressed by that game’s good looks. Although the action takes place on a 2D plane, the cut-scenes will often take advantage of sweeping 3D set-pieces, returning to a 2D orientation when the action starts

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Walt Pretorius

up again. During these cut-scenes, and between levels, the game’s convoluted plot is unveiled, although it is, admittedly, rather confusing. But plot – which involves one race of humanoid animals trying to destroy another race of humanoid animals – is secondary to action here.

While the player may find the dodging bullets, shooting down enemy waves and picking up power-ups familiar, the overall dynamic adds an interesting twist to a familiar idea. See, instead of simply dying when hit, the game is all about time manipulation. The player’s life is measured in time, and each enemy that is destroyed adds a little time to the clock. Conversely, each hit takes a bit of time off of the player’s clock (an knocks weapon power-ups loose, although these can be gathered up again). If the clock reaches zero, the player is taken out. It’s an interesting approach, and one that leads to a surprisingly frantic gaming experience. The player will constantly be striving for that one extra kill as the clock counts down, just for

g a m e gc ca am er ce cv ai e rwe v• i ei sws u•e i s1s7u e• 3 N5 o v •e m Mba ey r 22001120

want to tune their skills up.

Sine Mora also offers a few instances where it isn’t about filling the screen with bullets.

An interesting, stealth-like section, for example, has the player avoiding detection by flying through a maze in a cloud of debris. Challenging, interesting and somewhat unique.

In fact, that could be said about the whole game.

The Story Mode is short, but the other modes, complete with leader boards, will have you coming back for more time after time.

The game’s presentation – although stunning – belies a complexity that is thoroughly engrossing. It can even be called captivating; Sine Mora exudes charm, while still dealing with a rather heavy story line and throwing tons of challenge at the player. It is a fresh breath in a genre that we simply don’t see a lot of anymore, and a game that is well worth playing. g

AT A GLANCE: Sine Mora is a great new approach to a classic genre, and is a game that will keep you coming back for more.

Developer: Digital Reality Publisher: Digital Reality Distributor: XBLA

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

7+ g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

X360 Platforms

that little boost of time to allow them to reach the next check-point.

In addition, that player will also have the ability to slow time down. This is great when the action gets rough, which happens more often than not during the game’s protracted boss-battles. These massive enemies tend to fill the screen with bullets, meaning that the player will need to slow time down simply to dodge around them. This happens in normal play too. And the amount of time that the player can slow down is limited, so it doesn’t make the game particularly easy.

In fact, Sine Mora is downright tough to get through.

The Story Mode is a challenge, but the Arcade Mode and Score Attack are near ridiculous in their difficulty.

That said, it doesn’t often result in a case of throwing the controller aside in frustrated disgust… rather, it’s the kind of challenge that will keep you coming back for more. A boss battle training mode is also included, for those that

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

90 89

Even Spookier

Even Spookier

As if Pyramid head wasn’t disturbing enough without high-def…

by Sarah Snyman every second of your attention. Although, despite the updates, the visuals are still very circa 99, it doesn’t feel old, it feels classic. I chose to play with the new voices, which I preferred, but I was glad to be fully immersed in the game as I was back in the original release. Walking down the winding path to get into the town, and then the moment when you hear that eerie electronic tuning noise… the sign of your first encounter with true terror. I even enjoyed the subtle hints left by the characters if you missed an element of the storyline, so retro! There have been a lot of re-releases over the past year, most of which I find a bit pointless, but this is one that gave me chills all over again. Come to Silent Hill, follow the letter your wife sent, go to the special place, it’s even better the second time around. g

AT A GLANCE: This re-release is not only a winner for nostalgic terror sake, it’ll remind you why you fell in love with the genre in the first place.

Developer: Hijinx Studios Publisher: Konami Distributor: Ster Kinekor

Parental Advisory Violence Language Sex Drug Use Prejudice

18+ 90

Accessibility Hard-Core Medium Casual

PS3 Platforms

H

orror. I love it. I could be referred to as a devotee, an addict, permanently on the search for something which leaves me terrified. A feeling that makes me run down the passage, jump onto the bed and ensure that all of my limbs are under the covers, safe from the demonic forces that can’t follow me under the duvet. But, like film, horror games seem to have taken a bit of a stagnant path over the years, nothing seems as gut-wrenchingly horrifying as the first time you opened Doom.

Silent Hill was one of my all-time favourite games; I loved and hated every second of game play, through all three releases. And although it feels redundant to review the re-release of a game that is over a decade old, this is one HD release that is worth every cent and

PC X360 Kinect

PS3 Move

Wii PSV DS 3DS

Score

80

g a m e c c a r ev i ew • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

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Stay Safe!

WIN

a Kaspersky ONE Universal Security software bundle Courtesy of Kaspersky Lab TO ENTER: Send an email to competitions@gameccamag.com Tell us one of the devices this software will protect Insert ‘Kaspersky Competition’ in the mail’s subject line Subscribe to www.gameccamag.com Become a fan on Gamecca’s Facebook Page Competition closes 31 May 2012. Gamecca subscribers only. South African residents only.

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Essential Classics

Drop In, Bug Out. The awesomeness that is MDK

By James Francis

GOG It

is great to see this game on

GOG.

com, where it costs around a quarter of the current retail price for the budget option.

There

is no promise

that the budget copy works out of the box. In contrast,

GOG’s DRM-free Dosbox or making sure it’s fully patched. GOG has nothing to do with Essential Classics, but it deserves a shout-out for keeping classic games alive. The publishers definitely aren’t concerned and without GOG, games like MDK - a true classic - might one day be a memory, left to second-hand copies and the fringes of Abandonware sites. version will, bundling in

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T

GAME INFO. MDK Genre: 3rd Person Shooter Released: 1997 Find it on : GOG.com Works on: Windows g a m e c c a r e g u l a r • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

oday Dave Perry is in the cloud business, Earthworm Jim exists as a cartoon rerun and Shiny is somewhere in the developer making the game version of Battleship: The Movie. In 1997 the Perryrun Shiny was the hottest developer on the block and Earthworm Jim was a gaming rockstar. Then it dropped MDK, a tale of mayhem.

You are Kurt. Kurt Hectic. Janitor and leather-clad, sky-diving, chaingun-toting super-sniper. Thrown upon alien mining trawlers by a mad scientist, you have to lay down the law - mainly that strip-mining obscure English villages is not cool. It’s a clash of cultures - the aliens see things differently and violence ensues. Bug-eyed monstrosities, tanks, flying things, some sort of robot dog, more bug-eyed stuff - it all comes out of the woodwork.

But nothing you might confuse with a mining engineer.

Nobody in overalls or gumboots. Each of the six trawlers only resemble their description when you are above them.

At the start of the level Kurt falls towards the trawler, dodging missiles and grabbing power-ups that parachute down. It’s over in a flash, but a good dive can leave you starting out well-kitted and at maximum health.

From there it is an action/platform adventure - but mainly action. For years fans have speculated that MDK stands for ‘Murder Death Kill’, the designation for homicide in the 1993 sci-fi blockbuster Demolition Man. The gameplay certainly explains how that conclusion was drawn. You only really need to aim in the general direction of your target - if you are close enough, it will get hit.

Real aiming is left for the sniper helmet, which you can access at any moment. With an arsenal that includes homing bullets and mortar rounds, it is pretty awesome but highly specific, working best with a mouse. In contrast, the regular chaingun just needs something on the screen.

Your job belongs more in the dodge and strafe department.

When finally configured to a WASD-Mouse layout (it took some doing), the game plays like an old-school first-person shooter, but you can make headshots and glide with a parachute. Hold in the jump button and Kurt’s slick ribbon parachute deploys, giving him some extra air.

These are useful for the platform bits and to make you a harder target to hit. The trawlers’ multitudes of aliens all pack heat, but as mentioned don’t evoke mining personnel as much as crazed lunatics. The first trawler resembles something you might find if you asked H.R. Geiger to quickly sketch a subway system - and it just gets weirder from there. I only know the story because I read the readme file. MDK doesn’t waste time with exposition: drop in, kill everything, get sucked out.

Need more? MDK, like all shooters, has keys. They are called the World’s Smallest Nuke and you throw them at locked doors. You can also throw them at enemies. This might be the only game in history to have such a weapon.

Nukes are so common you use them to unlock doors. Think about that for a minute... g

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Which Book?

More than just Laptops

I S S U E 1 9 / Vo l . 2 M ay 2 0 1 2

w w w. g l a d ge t m ag . c o m

www.gladgetmag.com Technically, playful !

Corsair Vengeance 1500 Dolby 7.1 Gaming Headset

Behind You!

Directional audio is great for gaming!

by Walt Pretorius

M

eadsets have come a long way, and they fall into various classes these days. From the small, sleek in-ear buds through to big and bulky, from stereo to 7.1 channel virtual surround sound, they come in all manner of configurations. The Corsair Vengeance 1500 headset falls into the upper bracket of both; it offers 7.1 surround sound, and it is on the bulky side of things.

The sturdily constructed 1500 falls beautifully into the metallic aesthetic of the Vengeance range, of which we have reviewed a keyboard and a mouse before. The brushed metal look extends into this headset, which features side ‘arms’ made of the same material. Or, at least, finished with it – the arms themselves are durable plastic, which is a good thing, because pure metal arms might have made the headset too heavy.

As it stands, though, the 1500 is a very comfortable headset to use. It is surprisingly light, considering its bulk, and the headband is finished with a soft pad for added comfort. The generous ear-cups sit around the

96

ear, rather than on it, and are finished with velvety, cloth covered pads. They can also be fully adjusted to fit just about any head, which is a bonus.

On the right ear-cup, a boom mic can be positioned however the user desires, adding voice functionality to the head-set.

In terms of sound, the 1500 is a little bit of a mixed bag.

Because of the virtual 7.1 surround sound, it connects to the PC via a USB plug. This means that it is restricted to PC use only, but that’s quite alright… the quality of the surround sound makes it well worth it to use a more specific device like this. The sound quality is crisp and clear, although the bass levels could have been a bit better. The bass is there, but it would have been better if it was a little more prominent.

Volume is controlled by an in-line volume switch, part of the generous 3 meter cable, which offers + and – buttons for volume control, as well as a mic mute switch. And boy, do these guys get loud! Even at high volume levels – which is really loud, trust me – there is no distortion from the g a m e c c a h a r d wa r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

50mm drivers.

Despite the slightly lack-lustre bass performance, and the fact that this headset is a PC only affair, it will serve the user well.

Unlike the 1300 and 1100 headsets (also reviewed in this issue) this one is intended for those who make use of their PC for entertainment, and the 1500 delivers in games, movies and music equally.

Thanks to the design and comfort features, you will be able to make use of this headset for hours on end, with little or no discomfort.

The stylish looks help, too – the 1500 looks the part, particularly when teamed up with other devices in Corsair’s Vengeance gaming range.

While they may not be the perfect headphones for audiophiles (who probably have theirs specially imported, to go along with the super expensive, vinyl based sound system they are using) their performance as a PC oriented headset is solid enough to make them a strong contender in the market. g g a m e c c a h a r d wa r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

AT A GLANCE: PROS:

• Comfortable • Good looks

CONS:

• A little light in the bass department

Manufacturer: Corsair Distributor: Frontosa Online: www.frontosa.co.za

TECH SPECS: • • • •

7.1 audio USB connector Positionable mic In-line volume controls • Padded headband • 50mm drivers

Score

A great option for those wanting a dedicated PC headset.

86 97

Corsair Vengeance 1300 Alanog Gaming Headset

In the Middle A ‘sound’ investment for stereo fans

by Walt Pretorius

O

ur second Corsair headphone review sits in the middle of their gaming headset range… at least, that’s what the code number in the device’s name implies.

The Corsair Vengeance 1300 forms part of the Vengeance gaming range, obviously.

Where the 1500 offers a USB only, virtual 7.1 surround sound experience, the 1300 moves away from digital delivery and towards a more recognisable analogue system.

This has pros and cons. While the 1500 delivers a great surround feel to the sound it plays, the 1300 heads back to the older pastures of stereo. This isn’t a massive problem for many, but those that want that immersive sound feeling delivered by 7.1 audio will need to consider the 1500, rather. On the upside, though, the analogue connection, with its familiar 3.5mm jacks for both headphones and microphone, is far more versatile.

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The device can be used with things that don’t have USB ports, in other words, and the generous cable means that it can be used in almost any situation.

The Vengeance 1300 is a very comfortable headset, with a broad, padded headband culminating in adjustable ear cups. That’s up or down, for size, and rotation, for people with weird ear positions. The ear-cups are lined with fabric coated pads and, although the headset is fairly heavy, it still feels light on the ears when you’re using it. The ear-cups are generous in size too, so your ears won’t be squashed while you wear this headset. On the right hand ear-cup an adjustable mike can be swung into position, for that increasingly vital in-game communication.

The 1300 is made out of sturdy black plastic, and looks great in an understated way. Lacking the metal parts found on the 1500, this headset is almost all black – just a stylish blue ring on each ear-cup breaks the monotone.

In terms of performance, the 1300 delivers crisp, clear g a m e c c a h a r d wa r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

audio, although it could have been just a little punchier on the bass side of things. Not that the bass is bad… it just lacks that throaty roar that one sometimes comes across when blowing up lots of stuff in a game. The volume is good too, with an in-line volume control adding to the overall convenience of the device. It is a simpler control than can be found on the 1500, with a scroll wheel for sound level and a switch to mute the microphone.

On the whole, you could do a lot worse than using the Corsair Vengeance 1300 headset for your gaming (and thanks to its connectors, more general audio) needs. The sound quality is good, the device sits comfortably and is sturdily built. It is a bit on the bulky side, but this is one of those trade-offs that needs to be made in order to get hold of decent headphones.

If you don’t mind the stereo, or are not willing to spend the extra cash to get the 1500 headset, this one is a very safe bet. g g a m e c c a h a r d wa r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

AT A GLANCE: PROS:

• Analogue connectors • Good audio • Comfortable

CONS:

• Bass is a little light

Manufacturer: Corsair Distributor: Frontosa Online: www.frontosa.co.za

TECH SPECS: • Analogue connectors • In-line volume control • Stereo • Positionable mic • Padded headband • 50mm drivers

Score

Unlike the ‘bigger’ 1500, the 1300 offers stereo audio and analogue connections.

80 99

Corsair Vengeance 1100 Gaming Communication Headset

The Small One Small, but great

by Alex Scanlon

A

t the lower end of the Corsair Vengeance headphone range we find the Vengeance 1100 Gaming Communication Headset. While the name might seem long, this is the smallest headset in the range, leaving behind the bulky headband for a more ergonomic ‘behind the head’ design.

While this headset is not near as comfortable as the 1500 or 1300 models, it surprisingly delivers sound that is a little better, particularly in the bass department. The drivers are smaller, but the sound is still of a marginally better quality.

In terms of connectivity, it offers more options, too, with 3.5mm plugs for headphones and microphone able to plug into an included USB adapter. This adds a massive amount of versatility to the device.

The headset is also rather stylish, with a sleek black and blue band connecting the two foam covered ear phones. A positionable mic arm is attached to the right speaker, and the long cord is complemented by an inline volume control.

While less comfortable than the other models, the excellent sound, versatility and easy portability of this headset makes it a great option for those who want their sound on the go. g

100

AT A GLANCE: PROS:

• Versatile • Small and light • Great sound

CONS:

• A little less comfortable

Manufacturer: Corsair Distributor: Frontosa Online: www.frontosa.co.za

TECH SPECS: • Analogue connectors • In-line volume control • Stereo • Positionable mic • USB Adapter • 40mm drivers

Score

Although less comfortable than its big brothers, the 1100 offers great sound and versatility

83

g a m e c c a h a r d wa r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

An SSF case for all occasions

by Rob Edwards

W

hile we don’t see small form factor cases often, there certainly is a market for them. The In Win BP 671 is a good option for those that are looking for a smaller PC case, for whatever reason that might be.

The solidly constructed case offers a single optical drive bay, as well as a single HDD bay on the inside.

When used with a mini-ITX motherboard, it offers a single card expansion slot, and is cooled by a top mounted 20mm fan.

The sleek black exterior looks like it means business, which is likely where you will find the box used. It features a shiny black front panel, half of which flips up to reveal two USB ports, as well as headphone and microphone ports. Access to the optical drive is also behind this panel, which is opened by pressing on one corner of it.

Naturally, this case is not for everyone. It would not allow the kind of components needed for a high end computer to be built into it, but as a stylish case for a work-station, the BP671 is an excellent choice. g g a m e c c a h a r d wa r e • i s s u e 3 5 • M ay 2 0 1 2

AT A GLANCE: PROS:

• Solidly built • Attractive

CONS:

• Limited in use

Manufacturer: In Win Distributor: Pinnacle Africa Online: www.pinnacle.co.za RRP: Xxxx

TECH SPECS: • 265 x 100 x 310mm • 1 optical drive bay • 1 HDD bay • 2 USB ports • 80mm fan

Score

Those who may need a small form factor PC case would do well to consider the BP671

75 101

In Win BP671 SFF Computer Case

Little Box

Lost?

From Space

by Christo van Gemert

I

s it just me, or has innovation died in modern gaming? It could be argued that back in the day, when everything was a first, coming up with new ideas was a lot easier than it is today - the first platformer.

The first puzzle game with bricks. The first racing game. The first FPS. Those developers sure had it easy – not only did they have a pool of unique ideas to choose from, they also didn’t have to code games for the complex, multi-core, multi-GPU machines of today.

However, the gaming industry is one of the largest moneyspinners in all of entertainment-dom, coming second only to the book industry. That means the companies making games these days have more money to throw at projects and talent, and shouldn’t have an excuse for not giving us new, fresh games.

Instead, we’re subjected to the sequel factories like EA and Activision, who have their annual franchises and alternating franchises. Instead of diversifying ideas, they’re just diversifying revenue streams. It’s ridiculous.

I understand that this is business and they want to make money. I also fully accept – and sometimes enjoy – the crappy run-of-themill games that get put out for mindless entertainment. Now and then the developers behind those games manage to sneak in some actual clever ideas. I’d be happy if this were the case, with larger studios working on giving us a real blockbuster experience every three or four years. Why can’t we have more games like Uncharted? And no, Activision, I don’t want seven

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different kinds of Uncharted with fifty different, overpriced DLC packs.

I mean really immersive, narrative, cinematic experiences.

If I have to play another FPS, ever, it’ll be a moment too soon. You just know the next Call of Duty will be a content pack: more maps, more guns, and a mundane, by-the-numbers campaign. It might be pretty and explosive, but there’s no substance.

I’m also a fussy gamer. I loved the first Metal Gear Solid, but the other three have really bored me a lot. I think there’s a fine line to be tread – what I think should be out there on the shelves are games that are fun to play, filled with action, but also have stories that intrigue, and new game mechanics that push the boundaries of our imagination. Am I asking for too much? g

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