Eureka Seven Vol. 2: The New Vision (PS2)

Eureka Seven Vol. 2: The New Vision presumably closes out the video game-format prequel to the nearly year-to-the-day-ended anime series Eureka Seven. Apparently oblivious to the potential gold mine that is robots exploding robots in close-quarters combat miles high in the sky, Namco Bandai again mostly sidelines the gameplay in favor of watching its story unfold. To that end, as long as New Vision is approached as an interactive anime, fans of the series mourning the loss of Renton and Eureka should find some solace in the further pursuits of Sumner, Ruri, and Moondoggie. And with its evened-out presentation and more focused storyline, you'll have an infinitely easier time getting into that story this time around. It's just a shame that you'll need to subject yourself to the first game to make heads of the second.

As with New Wave, story plays front and center in New Vision, and the game picks up a few years after where the last left off. Morose as ever and prone to waxing philosophical, Sumner is now a professional lifter, which, 10,000 years in the future, involves not tossing kegs or running with anvils but flying on surfboards--go figure. With Moondoggie in tow (self-styled "looks cool and totally with it"), Sumner wins a mech, or LFO; has said mech promptly stolen by none other than Ruri; recovers his old LFO from a friend's bathroom; and then joins up with team Azure, a lifting sponsor not unlike, say, Billabong--that is, if Billabong were militant and headquartered in a well-armed flying fortress. From there, a tale of love, friendship, treachery, and ramen unfolds, occasionally seasoned with wanton acts of mechanized destruction. Eureka Seven's brand of teenage melodrama plays out much the same way here as in the anime series, where Sumner and Ruri's relationship mimics Renton and Eureka's. Fans who thrive on this kind of unrealized sexual tension spiked by fatalistically insurmountable odds will undoubtedly wolf down everything New Vision is dishing up.

New Vision's story is made all the more palatable by a completely overhauled presentation. Whereas New Wave resembled a madman lost in the wilderness, occasionally climbing a tree to proclaim his moral superiority over the marsupial, New Vision has a clear direction and delivers its message in a well-structured and coherent way. It has...a vision, one might say. It also helps that all of the dialogue is now voiced, eliminating the need to quickly scan the dialog box before the text poofs, and all of the cinematics are now in the same resolution, as opposed to flipping back and forth between high- and low-res scenes at will. The voice work is at an anime-standard level, and it's complemented by a good mix of likewise anime-standard synth rock tunes. Those cinematics also look pretty good considering the platform, as characters exhibit more natural and less repetitive animation, faces are emotive, and environments are varied and have a fairly clean look. Further, the loading times and save prompts have been drastically scaled back, though they're still prevalent enough to functionally act as commercial breaks. It's also a bummer that you still can't pause the game during these prolonged cutscenes. Really, the improvements made to New Vision merely elevate it to a level you'd reasonably already expect from a game, and they only bear mention because of how vastly improved they are over the previous game.

A little less than half of the eight or nine hours it'll take you to hit the back of New Vision can be considered actual gameplay. For the most part, New Vision plays to its strength by focusing on aerial mech combat, though it doesn't execute well on that concept. Occasionally you'll be deployed in your LFO as either Sumner or Ruri to clash with enemy LFOs while riding your surf board, known as a ref board. LFOs are of the Gundam ilk, which means combat is often melee-centric and fast-paced, at least in theory. While the far horizons of the land below and the sparse clouds and ample particle effects give you a decent sense of speed and the feeling you're thousands of feet up in the air, combat isn't as exciting as you might think it would be. More often than not, these monumental clashes devolve into boring WWI fighter-pilot tactics, where you jockey for position by circling the enemy, who is also circling you.

But you're still fighting with heavily armed robots, and it's still miles in the air, and those two elements together are an undeniable formula for at least mild amusement. Combat can get interesting on those occasions when the odds are stacked against you and the sky fills with missiles and golden sparks from your ref board, and the frame rate almost surprisingly holds steady throughout. These sequences are far from difficult, though, and you'll probably hit on a cheesy strategy right quick. If you do happen to hit a challenge, you'll be able to retry missions with more and more health, which is added on unbidden, as if the developers were openly conceding that combat is just something to get through so the story can progress.

Aside from a few minor but beneficial tweaks, ground combat in your LFO is mostly the same as it was in New Wave, which is to say it still isn't particularly good. Evading enemy attacks isn't difficult, and it's still pretty easy to systematically destroy each of your opponents by mindlessly skating in circles while pounding on them with a heavy weapon until they explode. Fighting and surfing as Sumner and co. while not in their mechs is also slightly improved over New Wave, which is to say it's gone from pathetically bad to just moderately terrible. There are a myriad of problems here too long to list, so suffice it to say that the game is made worse by their inclusion, especially since these sequences could very easily have been omitted. If the brief interludes between chunks of cinematics don't scratch your robot-mongering itch, all of the various venues for fighting are available in a situation mode, which has stages and characters unlocked as you progress through the game.

While not a particularly good mech combat game, New Vision plays out as a decent-enough anime that further fleshes out the Eureka Seven universe. However, fans of the series should note that, as studly as he is, Moondoggie is the only substantive link between this prequel and the actual show. Ultimately, it's difficult to recommend an otherwise decent game that relies heavily on backstory supplied by a mostly poor game, so newcomers will be better off letting this one slide. However, if New Wave left you wanting more, then by all means New Vision is worth a look. Of course, if that game managed to not turn you sour to all that is Eureka Seven, you'd probably be picking this one up regardless.

Super Paper Mario (Wii)

With Super Paper Mario, Nintendo has outdone themselves yet again, creating not only the best incarnation of the Paper Mario series to date, but a near-perfect amalgamation of drastically different gaming genres. Super Paper Mario combines the classic platformer that Mario has been fine-tuning for decades with a great story and some RPG elements, resulting in a hilarious and innovative product that is, above all, one of the most fun games around.

Naturally, you play as a paper-thin version of Mario, who is called upon once again to save the world. This time, he has to collect eight Purity Hearts in order to stop the menacing Count Bleck and his diabolic plans to destroy the universe using a dark prophecy. Princess Peach, Bowser, and a certain special fourth hero all inevitably join Mario on the quest, along with a butterfly named Tippi who serves as Mario's guide and constant companion. As his travels take him from base of operations Flipside to a series of different worlds, each harboring a different Purity Heart, Mario winds up everywhere from deserts to swamps to outer space. The game is broken down into eight chapters, with most containing four different segments that serve as levels.

It's the gameplay that really shines in Super Paper Mario, which manages to succeed at the impossible in this day and age: do things that have never been done before. Think of a standard Mario platformer game, where Mario runs through levels, jumping on Goombas and Koopas and collecting power-ups and coins. Add hit points to both Mario and his enemies, an inventory with expendable items, and replace points with experience for leveling up... and you've still just scratched the surface of Super Paper Mario's depth.

On top of all that, there are the puzzles, which are clever and occasionally tricky without cheating. Mario's most useful ability is to literally flip around the world, taking the 2-D side-scroller landscape into the third dimension and revealing new pathways, pipes, and enemies. Not only is the 3-D landscape beautifully rendered and fun to look at, most of the game's challenges require intelligent use of this ability, and there are a plethora of secrets which will have you constantly flipping back and forth to try to find. Mario also receives the assistance of floating little creatures called Pixls, each with its own special ability. One Pixl will let you grab and throw objects, another will let Mario use the classic hammer, and a handful of others offer a range of exciting new powers that will open up new secrets and passages to explore every time you receive a new one. Between different characters, different Pixls, and dimension-swapping, puzzle solutions require smart use of all of your unique abilities in order to get through the game.

Just when you think you've seen it all already, the game pulls a fast one. Every single level contains one surprise or another, and the RPG elements allow Super Paper Mario to do things that other platformers can't pull off; name one other game that has you explore an entire planet in order to find some toilet paper, yet does it with class. All of your regular monsters show up, from Boos to Piranha Plants, along with a good chunk of new creatures that range from frightening to wacky. Unfortunately, many of the game's levels rely way too much on unnecessary repetition, which leads to a lot of tediousness, particularly toward the final few chapters. However, for the most part, the gameplay is refreshing enough to alleviate this problem.

The Wii controller is used pretty simply in Super Paper Mario; for the majority of the game you'll be holding it horizontally like an NES controller, using the directional pad to move around and the 2 button to jump. For those players used to holding B or Y to run while moving in a Mario game, you'll have to readjust to the new controls, as the 1 button has a different function. Consequently, you might find yourself accidentally activating your Pixl power by muscle memory and producing some unintended results. The controller can get uncomfortable in its horizontal position, but you'll get used to it. Motion-sensing is used in some cool ways; status ailments like sleep require you to shake the remote in order to wake up, and some items require you to hold the remote in certain ways in order to properly activate them. You can also shake the remote while jumping on enemies in a throwback to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door that lets you impress an audience and receive extra experience points for "stylish attacks."

While the dialogue in Super Paper Mario is abundant and the game could be considered pretty text-heavy, nearly every line is well-written and punchy. Because the game doesn't take itself seriously, it makes fun of just about everything in some very clever ways. With a charming cast of heroes and villains, every single character is appealing, from a shape-shifting girl who forces you into slave labor to pay back loans to a nerd chameleon that seems to frequent the RPGamer message boards. A tribe of cavemen all refer to you as "brah" and ask for you to "hook them up," while a Goomba encounters an injured Luigi and suggests that they team up, noting "well this is awkward." Even the townspeople of Flipside always have new ridiculous things to say, and if you don't take the time to constantly talk to people, you're missing out on a good portion of the game's hilarity.

Mario's new adventure is quite aesthetically pleasing, with intricately designed levels and bizarre background shapes and images. The graphics of Super Paper Mario are clearly meant for the Gamecube, but they fit the tone nicely, and the 3-D transition is smooth; it's hard to expect much else from a game like this. There are a few noticeable slowdowns when flipping at times, but the different perspectives are well-rendered and very attractive -- there's a certain 3-D railroad ride that is stunningly gorgeous despite its simplicity. Aurally, Super Paper Mario is pretty appealing, remixing old tunes for a good portion of its levels. Many of the new songs are pleasant while others can get repetitive and annoying, but there's nothing quite like the nostalgia of hearing classic Mario music, even if it has been rehashed a million times by now.

Super Paper Mario is an easy game for the most part. It's easy to accumulate damage fast, but since you can hold healing items and use them at your discretion, it's rare to see the Game Over screen. Mushrooms, Starmen, and Fire Flowers are all in but do completely new things; mushrooms give HP, Starmen turn you into a giant 8-bit version of yourself for a few seconds in order to crush the entire level, and Fire Flowers cause coins to fall from the sky. There are other power-ups that are both neat and surprising, and since they're found frequently, most battles are easy to defeat. Bosses are way too easy despite looking cool, and most will leave you wondering "is that it?" upon their defeat.

The normal story will run you about 20 hours, but there are things you can do to extend the gameplay, besides the myriad secrets and conversations you can have all throughout the worlds. There are minigames in the form of a video arcade, including a cool Boo shoot'em'up using the Wii-mote as a pointer. There's also the infamous Pit of 100 Trials, which allows you to challenge yourself and attempt to get through 100 levels of increasing difficulty with no save point in between them.

Super Paper Mario will hopefully set a new standard for games, both on the Wii and otherwise. The hybrid of platformer and RPG is something that should definitely be used again, and it's refreshing to see that game designers can actually create a game that is completely unique (despite continuing all the classic Mario trends) and hasn't been done at all before. Of course, the game has its flaws; it's short, easy, and can get really tedious when levels force repetition. However, the sheer amounts of hilarity and fun Super Paper Mario provides makes it a must-buy for any Wii-owner.

Sam & Max Episode 5: Reality 2.0 (PC)

Sam & Max are back for yet another episode, and are even funnier than ever! In Reality 2.0, the Internet, online gaming, and the history of computers are all fodder for the writers. The result is truly hilarious.

Again, it’s up to Sam & Max to save the world from itself. In the last episode, Abe Lincoln Must Die!, Max was elected President of the United States. He promptly moved the Office to his office, and is merrily conducting national affairs. But, duty calls, when Sam and Max are informed that computers all around the world have suddenly crashed. They immediately set out to discover the cause and help get America back online.

The whole setup is rich with material, with jabs taken at MOP games, beta testing, game designers, game geeks, and of course, the ubiquitous Internet, which is portrayed by a robotic female avatar. Bosco is too funny as a half-elf, his chosen avatar in the online gaming community. Sybil is also present again, and this time her career of choice is as a beta-tester. My favorite joke was the one where Bosco reveals that his online banking password was deleted from his memory, but instead placed on an unnamed part of his anatomy for security purposes. I found this hysterical, given my own husband’s obsession with security and other issues of Internet privacy.

The puzzles appear to be a bit more challenging in this episode, although still not overly difficult. They just require a little more thought than previously. Part of the game is centered on the alternate world of Reality 2.0, a virtual online community. Sam & Max will travel back and forth between this virtual world and the real world to solve many of the puzzles.

The designers had a lot of fun with the Reality 2.0 virtual world, with some great artwork! The virtual settings mirror the actual settings, but in a bizarre manner. Bosco’s store has been transformed into an elven-themed store, similar to the type that would be in a fantasy RPG. There is a “hot rump” skewered on a spit on the counter, and a list of goods for sale items hanging on a wooden board. Of course, Sam & Max need to buy a needed item from Bosco, and this time it’s a “long sword of incredible longness” on sale for 5 gold coins in Reality 2.0. Of course, this requires they find and collect these coins while in Reality 2.0. At the same time in the real world, they need to cough up a billion dollars for a biological weapon.

As in previous games, there is a humorous song parody, this time sung by a group of obsolete computers, game machines and output devices. The song is their motivational song for their support group meetings. The song itself isn’t all that funny, but the reaction of Sam & Max to this song is priceless. Players will need to keep getting the machines to sing more verses to get the full effect. The end of the game is too funny, as well, with a look back at text adventures straight from the world of Infocom.

This is the fifth episode in a series of six, and they just keep getting better! I can’t wait for the next and last episode. If people have waited this long to experience the new Sam & Max, I would advise to buy the whole set of episodes for $35, which is the best price anyway. The episodes themselves are each only a few hours worth of gameplay, but as a whole unit, this game will offer many hours of fun.

It’s truly a difficult task to take a product that has a large fan appeal and a solid reputation and resurrect it successfully many years later. I have been disappointed many times before with similar games that just didn’t meet the bar set by the original game. Telltale has done a splendid job with Sam & Max, although I don’t like the episodic formula as well. However, Telltale is a business and hopefully this particular business model is bringing in profit, so they can continue to make great games.

Test Drive Unlimited (PC)

Test Drive Unlimited somehow managed to sneak up on me when it arrived on the Xbox 360. Now it's arrived on the PC and is every bit as impressive as its 360 debut. Eden Games' ambitious sounding racing game isn't the easiest to understand. It's not that the concept of racing is something new; it's that this is more than a racing sim - it's a racing, lifestyle sim. You won't truly get a sense of what the game is all about until you start playing, arriving in Oahu with $200,000 in your back pocket, ready to spend on a swanky pad and new car. Of course, you'll need something to potter about in before hand, so you hire a car from a rental place, giving you the chance to cruise around in some impressive rides right from the start.

Once you're in Oahu that's it; other than a New game/Load game option when you boot up, everything else is handled entirely as if you're a real person living the high life on a tropical island (albeit a person that can't walk). Everything is seamless, and the sim aspect really shines through in all areas of the game. You need to buy a house for somewhere to live, but also so you can store more cars, so the obvious thing is to drive to the real estate agent - and that's what you do. If you want a new Ferrari in real life you wouldn't buy from a menu, you'd head over to the show room and have a look for yourself, and the same is true in TDU - complete with the option to inspect each car and go for a test drive.

Everything about the game is immensely slick, even the characters. While you don't get an abundance of options, you do get to choose from a number of model-like characters, both male and female. Clothes stores are also scattered about the island (which you strangely need to win tokens for, as they don't accept cash), so you can play dress-up, but plastic surgery isn't an option. This simple approach to customisation carries through to the cars themselves.

Cars bought can be upgraded by purchasing upgrade packs from part dealers, but customisation is very limited. If you're hoping to 'trick out' your ride, this isn't the game for you, and it's not for performance tweak experts either, as it's all handled in a simple, streamlined fashion - upgrade kits increase car stats in certain areas and that's it. The driving experience can be tweaked a little though, with seat height, steering sensitivity and driving assists all being changeable. You'd think this lack of detail in an area so important to simulations would be a weakness, but it's nowhere near as much of a problem as it sounds.

TDU isn't about spending hours in the garage tweaking the gear ratios on your new TVR; it's about buying that new TVR, kiting it out with some upgrades, and then cruising around the island. Of course, there's more to the game than that. In fact, there's an awful lot more, both for the solo player and for people online, although the line between the two experiences is somewhat blurred.

Oahu is a huge island in the context of a video game, and dotted around its roads are plenty of challenges. These take the form of standard races, time trials, speed challenges, elimination races, hitchhiker missions, deliveries and more. There are hundreds of them, and winning a medal in each will earn you cash (or clothing store tokens) and increase your in-game rank. Some events come with car restrictions, while others are open and favour the player with a fast car. It's not always just about speed either; numerous events deduct winnings or penalise time if you damage your car or stray from the road. It's more than a little annoying to wave goodbye to a perfectly good time by hitting a lamp post on the final corner, but it adds a sense of risk and reward to proceedings.

Because money is so vital and new cars must be bought to calm your desire for new things, you get hooked. Delivery missions are great to earn huge chunks of cash, even if they take a lot of concentration. Delivering a car to its destination isn't about speed, but what condition it arrives in. Driving a Ferrari 15 miles in traffic might sound easy, but when every bump reduces your earnings you're not going to be moving at top speed, so they're tense, rather time consuming missions. Get it there undamaged and you'll get a nice bonus too, meaning, perhaps for the first time in a video game, you'll want to stop at traffic lights. Racing at high speed is more than a little hairy, with slightly nervy twitches causing some unpleasant out of control spins.

Driving around the island itself is fun and the GPS means navigation is never a problem. The overview map lets you set waypoints and target certain events or buildings. If you're feeling lazy you can even teleport straight to a location, assuming you've been there before. Filters can be applied to show where real-life online players are cruising, but this is only part of the online integration.

It's not technically an MMO, but TDU certainly has similar elements. If you're online you'll see other drivers on the roads (although you can't see everyone), and a simple flash of your headlights sets up an instant challenge. You set the destination point and you're off. Other locations on the map are already set up for online races, and there's a great system that lets you create and enter user-created challenges. For example, you create a time trial event, but other players need to pay to enter, with the winner taking a big prize and you a small cut. There's also a nifty club system (which of course costs money) and the ability to trade cars online. It really does feel like you're part of an exclusive car loving community.

But it's not just cars - you get to buy and race in bikes as well, and these can be mixed and matched in online races. It might be a personal thing, but I found the bikes a little awkward to control. In fact, control in general will be the biggest area of concern for most gamers. TDU uses a somewhat realistic driving model so finding out how far you can push the vehicles will cause more than a few spin outs for the first few hours. Tweaking the steering sensitivity and turning off the driving assists helped improve things, but at times you'll wish you were cruising around in cars that handled a little more forgivingly.

For a free-roaming open world game, TDU looks rather beautiful. The island environment is one of the most pleasing to the eye ever seen in a video game, and when bathed in sunlight it looks truly stunning. Car models are equally impressive, with some fine attention to detail on the exterior and interior, complete with working dashboards and animated gear changes. You'll need a pretty powerful PC to get the most out of the visuals, but it's worth it.

Maniacs will be disappointed to hear that crashes have no affect on your car, either performance or appearance wise. NPDs (non-playing drivers) get into all kinds of trouble though, and their cars aren't immune to the laws of physics. After a rather badly timed overtaking manoeuvre you can ram headfirst into an oncoming car, which will react and dent petty realistically. We're not talking Burnout levels of destruction, but the effect is more than good enough. Sadly, the NPDs frequently demonstrate near suicidal levels of intelligence, turning blindly into traffic or simply ramming into each other for no reason. If you're a motorway driver you'll also find their incessant lane changing a nightmare, especially during the high risk delivery missions.

Little details go a long way and TDU is full of them. The radio can be controlled (not advisable while at high speed), the GPS is complete with voiced instructions by a calm sounding lady, animals can be seen in the forest areas, you can get tickets from the police and spend time in jail, and stats are tracked for just about everything. The one thing that's missing that worked brilliantly in the Xbox 360 game is Achievements. These were implemented brilliantly on the console and their absence here makes prolonged play a little less satisfying.

The strange thing about Test Drive Unlimited is that it grows on you without you really noticing. Before long you'll own numerous properties, be part of a club, be thinking about buying your tenth car, and you'll have clocked up a thousand in-game miles. Its faults are there to be seen and some - like the lack of tuning options - could be seen as game breaking faults, but if you're not bothered about the technical side to driving, Test Drive Unlimited is simply wonderful. It's a breath of fresh air to the racing genre and features some of the best online integration to date.

Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific (PC)

It hardly seems like any time at all since I was diving into the deep blue sea amidst the crack of thunder, the roar of displaced water shaking my command room as the U-Boat rocked from side to side in Ubisoft’s Silent Hunter 3, one of the best Submarine sims to grace the PC in a long time.

We gave the 3rd full 3d instalment a whopping 9/10 because it was truly one of those games that deserved it. It had something for everyone and the sales figures as well as the modding community proved time and time again that there was always something new to play with.

Now it’s the turn of Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific (Yeah, I dig that title) to go under the periscope. After such a success with 3, have Ubisoft cracked the genre wider than ever before with number 4?

Ubisoft have taken a long hard look at the various feedbacks from established sim fans, from all over the gamer-world. They’ve listened to a lot of the concerns that many people at the Subsim website raised from the previous version, and also made sure the game is more accessible to the non-submarine sim gamer too.

Now you might just think that I’m talking cavitations here but I’m not. I had the help of Serpent on this one. Serpent isn’t a sub sim gamer; I don’t think he’s played a single submarine simulation ever – so he was the perfect (stooge) accomplice for this particular test.

Serpent was able to dive into the game after a few control explanations by me, which took about 5/10 minutes and in a quick MP session we co-operatively sank several Japanese merchant ships.

So it meets the accessibility criteria for a good game for definite. The GUI and controls have been tweaked since the last game; it’s now fairly easy to navigate through the various control stations via mouse or keyboard shortcuts. Double-clicking on a particular icon takes you to that station or function and in combination with the keyboard you can very smoothly control your submarine.

The World War 2 theatre is back and this time you’re in charge of US Navy submarines as they sneak around the Pacific and sink various Japanese vessels and assets in a War Patrol, Quick Mission or a dynamic campaign that builds on the same living world system as the previous title, but does it so much better this time around.

Crew management and general boat management is slicker, there’s less emphasis I think on the whole micro-aspect and the whole thing functions in a tighter manner. I have to admit I love the fact that you can tailor the game’s experience to your own personal preferences – taking down every single realism option if you just want to get a feel for the game at first and slowly increasing the options until you’re playing the game as the hardcore sub-simmers will surely do.

I also have to say that I was impressed to see such excellent after-sales support, since a patch followed the game’s release by a short time and addressed some of the issues I already had – if you want to see those issues then check out the patch notes on the Silent Hunter website. I won’t go into them here and I’m also pleased to note that a lot of those issues were kind of cosmetic and the game out of the box was playable enough for me.

You crew earn experience as you play the dynamic campaign and you can save at any time, saving replays this time around too. A quick note on the replay feature, you can also take control of your sub at any time during that replay and re-do a fatal mistake or change a course heading that may have led you into trouble in the first place.

Silent Hunter 4 has all the navigational tools on the main map, you can plot your angles and if you’re into maths, then you can use these tools to get fairly accurate firing solutions without the aid of an officer or other methods. Moving crew around the ship has also been streamlined.

To summarise the game plays like Silent Hunter 3 only far superior, with all the niggles of the original smoothed out (not as though I found the original lacking really)

The gameplay isn’t the only thing that’s been tweaked/refined and polished, Silent Hunter 4 is graphically slick and when you rack up every option to the top it delivers an intensely atmospheric experience. It has some of the best water effects and weather effects in a game to date.

The attention to detail on the submarines, of which there are numerous types including the Gato, Balao and Salmon to name but three is superb, you can see the water cascading off the hull when the boat’s running on the surface and the tiny whispers of cavitations as the propellers push it through the water.

There are rust marks and other features prevalent on the textures for the subs and other vessels in the game, the Japanese merchant ships have big funnels that belch out smoke as they churn on across the surface.

The lighting, the shadowing and the various other graphical features are all combined to bring the Pacific Ocean and the world of Silent Hunter 4 to life. The sea is suitably murky the further you go down with the full 3d external camera and you can even see algae as the sub whispers on by under it, the periscope breaking the water in a slow or fast wake.

Raise the camera up from the water and it’s as though you have actually dipped a TV camera into the sea, the water drips from the screen and the camera blurs. It’s a simple effect but one that is totally solid and even lends to the atmosphere of the game rather than breaking it.

The event cameras are back and they are smoother than before, they capture the critical moment as a torpedo either hits or misses the target and the aftermath. And what an aftermath this time, with all the graphical features stepped up the explosions and damage effects in Silent Hunter 4 are superbly done, the fire roars and the physics kick in as the ship is decimated, rocked from side to side by the vicious impact.

Its movie like in execution and quality, the whole thing is pretty flawless, you might even shed a tear as the vessel leaves cargo floating and sinks to a watery grave almost peacefully.

Having a full 3d command and control centre adds to the atmosphere as well, especially when the sub takes a hit from a depth charge. Depending on the level of damage things may break, water may rush in from burst pipes and dials shatter as the glass cracks. The lighting changes from a comforting white to an angry red, flickers and then goes out.

You’re left in the dark as you watch the depth gauge slowly increase, it gets faster and faster – you know at that point that there’s no coming back and you are about to meet your fate as the crushing embrace of the ocean crumples your submarine like it were made out of tin.

And like the previous offering the dials, gauges and various controls aren’t just there for show – you can interact with all the stations via the mouse.

The game has realistic day/night cycles and features advanced weather system simulation tied into the graphics, running below the thermal layer and taking your boat down to perilous depths all have an effect on the graphics and animations, the crew aren’t static and neither are the various parts of the ship.

The opposition, neutral and friendly forces have the same gorgeous amount of detail as your submarine and half the fun of the game is switching to the external camera to admire all the vessels and aircraft as you sneak about under the ocean.

Of course none of this would be any good without some decent sound to back it up, and I can say that Silent Hunter 4 post patch has a lot more in terms of crew vocals, it seemed a little barren pre-patch 1.1 but this didn’t really affect the gameplay. I’m all for having more and more interactivity and atmosphere and the 1.1 brings it in buckets.

The submarine engines and the various other sounds are all there as they were in SH3, except this time there’s more oral detail than before. The sounds as the submarine dives into dangerous depths increase, the pressure on the hull makes the vessel shudder and you can almost hear the various bolts and welds giving way as you push further down, you know you can only stay there for a short while before the whole thing buckles but it’s worth it to keep from being detected.

The sound helps immensely to draw you into the atmosphere the developers have tried to create, the soft thoom of the water as it’s displaced by the depth charges and the heavy crack as they go off, muffled by the water almost shakes the submarine. It is worth it to get into trouble like this just once, to hear and see the effects.

Married to the absolutely cracking audio is a sumptuous full orchestral sweeping soundtrack, the music to the game being one of the highlights for me overall – I love a good theme tune and Silent Hunter 4 has some truly uplifting pieces. A personal favourite of mine is the pounding introductory military tune that rises to a blistering crescendo and then slowly trails off.
You can feel the emotion that Rod Abernathy and Jason Graves have created in their soundtrack to the game; it works perfectly and gets top marks from me.

The AI in Silent Hunter 4 is a lot better than 3 and has been tweaked; the destroyers will run search patterns and attempt to flush you out. Merchants might make a break for a safe passage and you can use this in co-op to set up coordinated attacks where one of you plays the bait and attempts to lure defensive ships away from the juicy cargo freighters.

Watch out however, because the AI will use radio communications to bring in other assets from the area, aircraft and sub-hunters can be dispatched along with other fleets depending on where you are in the Pacific Ocean and how close you are to an enemy port or allied area.

The theatre of war is not static; it will continue to evolve as you play based on your actions as well as actions of allied/enemy/neutral units involved. You might surface your boat close to Midway to find you’re in the middle of a battle there or suddenly discover that an allied fleet is being attacked by an enemy fleet, you can choose to divert your submarine and assist them.

I love living worlds like this.

So with excellent gameplay, fantastic music, good sound and some highly detailed graphics Silent Hunter 4 rises well above Silent Hunter 3 for me. But that’s not all, there’s also the return of the multiplayer, featuring co-op gameplay with a wolf pack of up to 8 other players, against various scenarios and even some randomly created missions where the host sets up the parameters and decides on the presence/strength of enemy units.

New to Silent Hunter 4 there is an adversarial gameplay option where one player is in control of a fleet and the others are tasked with sinking his assets. The player can give commands to his units whilst the submarines sneak around and engage targets at will based on their orders.

Based on your realism options (no external camera etc) you can further tailor the MP experience to how you want it, if being unable to see your targets in glorious 3d floats your boat (as I know it does for some hardcore sub sim folks) as you work to coordinate attacks with your comrades whilst avoiding the eagle eye of human or AI players, you can do just that.

The MP was flawless on the two machines I tested it on, and thanks to Serpent for helping out there too.

No Silent Hunter review would be complete without a big shout out to the folks at Subsim.com who provide the best forums for submarine related information and modding support on the net for virtually every sub game you can think of. Their support of Silent Hunter 3 and the level of quality of the mods made the game even better – I can’t wait to see what they have in store for Silent Hunter 4.

So to Neal Stevens and the folks of Subsim, I fire off a post and pre-emptive thanks!

Added: 03rd April 2007: I'd like to note that as mentioned in the forum post of the game, I experienced no game breaking bugs in the 1.1 version of SH4, no crashes to desktop, no errors with crew members eyes popping out of their heads, or their models going 2d etc.

I experienced no frequent crashes to desktop when using the submarine for extended periods, I could fiddle with the realism settings to my heart's content (and did) to see the various options. I had no missing sounds or strange blocks sticking up out of the water - nothing happened that spoilt the game for me and since I don't run a microscope over the code to look for bugs, nor do I actually have an advanced trigonometry knowledge regarding the exact angles used for attacking in manual mode, so I couldn't tell you if there was a bug there either.

Every icon worked perfectly, every dial was fine...and I could manipulate a lot of the controls (not as though I really sat down and played with the Sonar or so on for more than a few moments - not with enemy ships to sink)

The same can be said about the second computer the game was tested on, Serpent had no problems at all on his machine and he is running a vastly different configuration to myself.

However, in the spirit of cooperation here's a list from Subsim's forums of the various glitches and bugs that can be present in the game - since they didn't happen to me or Serpent we can't intentionally rate the game down (especially for things we never saw).

If you want to wait until 1.2 before getting the game, you'll be missing out on a superb simulation of submarine warfare. But there will be people out there of the highly vocal majority that'll tell you the game sucks - as always, don't listen to me (or them), make up your own minds by playing it.

Guitar Hero II (Xbox360)

After waiting for what has felt like an eternity, Guitar Hero II has finally arrived on the Xbox 360. No longer will I have to borrow Game Almighty's PS2 on the weekend, a fact that should delight all of the God of War 2 freaks here at the headquarters. Now I can safely rock to my heart's content throughout the week, indulging my unrelenting obsession with all things Guitar Hero.

It would be cliché for me to say that you must be living in a cave if you haven't heard of Guitar Hero, and probably not very accurate as I'd be willing to bet that even Osama bin Laden has heard of the game. Guitar Hero is a phenomena, embraced by young and old, male and female. It is single-handedly ushering in a new era of music-based games and will no doubt change the way music is taught in the future.

For the two of you out there who have no idea what Guitar Hero is, allow me to give a brief description. It's a rhythm-based game like Dance Dance Revolution, but instead of hopping around a dance-mat, you'll be strapping on a guitar-controller, pressing buttons and strumming in time with music tracks. That's pretty much it. Doesn't sound like much, but neither would the act of sex if I offered up a brief description, which, in the interest of not getting fired, I won't. Suffice it to say, both Guitar Hero and sex each benefit from actual experience in order to fully appreciate...or so I've been told.

Several factors conspire to make Guitar Hero so great. First, you have the excellent controller, which, in the case of the 360, is the newly christened X-plorer guitar that looks far more rock & roll than the PS2 version. It's well made, sturdy, and can take serious punishment as long as you're not bashing it over an amplifier in true rock fashion. Once you have the guitar hanging from your shoulders you'll enter an alternate-reality and become suddenly transfixed by the feeling.

The second factor is the actual gameplay. Guitar Hero II offers several difficulty levels, from Easy to Expert. Most new players will want to tackle Easy mode, which only has you dealing with three fret buttons and less on-screen action. As you move up the skill ladder, Guitar Hero II starts punching you in the face and calling you its bitch. Eventually you'll have to handle all five fret buttons as well as a relentless number of on-screen targets to time perfectly. Just glancing at what Expert mode demands of you is humbling and you'll no doubt think that you'll never, ever be able to handle it. But the beauty of Guitar Hero II is that it rewards practice. Playing this game is a skill that can be honed. Before you know it, you'll find yourself in a transcendental state, becoming one with a song and nailing difficult notes without even thinking about what you're doing.

So it has a great controller and fantastic gameplay, but if the song selection sucks then none of it really matters. Fortunately, Guitar Hero once again delivers. There's music here for every taste and even if there's a particular song you don't like you'll find them all a blast to play. You'll find all manner of style, from classic rock to speed-metal and grunge and even a few that defy classification. You'll get to hear Spinal Tap, Nirvana, Wolfmother, Skynard and tons of bands that fly under the radar yet still offer up finger-numbing tracks. It's an eclectic, well-rounded list.

Some complain that the majority of the tracks are performed by cover bands, but this doesn't bother me at all. I think it plays into the nature of the game, especially in career mode that finds you rising up the food chain, playing bigger gigs at better venues. I mean, the reality of the game is: you ARE a cover band. You're not pretending to be Gene Simmons of Kiss, you're a cover band playing a Kiss song, so why critics harp on this aspect is beyond me.

With over 55 tracks on offer, there's no shortage of options and you truly get your money's worth. Especially when you consider that more tracks will be available at regular intervals on Xbox Marketplace, Guitar Hero is the kind of game you'll be playing until...well, until Rock Band is released next Christmas.

A new feature for the 360 version is the ability to play a song from three different modes, including bass, rhythm and lead, as well as co-op play with a partner, assuming you've invested in a second guitar. All of these modes just further Hero's appeal, giving you more options and longevity. It's all great and nearly perfect.

Nearly perfect? Well, I do have two complaints, though none of them are that big of a deal. First, it would have been great if the X-plorer guitar were wireless. Unfortunately, you can blame Microsoft for this problem as they have some weird rule about using their proprietary WiFi code, so send all hate mail to Redmond and leave Red Octane alone. Secondly, Guitar Hero II lacks multiplayer over Xbox Live, though there is reason to believe that this feature may debut in the future. I can understand why it's missing, as how they go about dealing with lag in a game that demands split-second timing is a hurdle set incredibly high. It will be interesting to see how, and if, they resolve this problem.

Let me end this review with some hyperbole. Guitar Hero II is one of the greatest games ever created. It's innovative, addicting, polished and just plain awesome. If you haven't played it before, I urge you to run out to Best Buy or some other big retailer who has a demo running at a kiosk and give it a shot. You won't be disappointed.

Prince of Persia: Rival Swords (Wii)

Publisher Ubisoft has finally brought one of its biggest and baddest franchises, Prince of Persia, to Nintendo's next-generation console. We're Prince fans and thus, this is exciting news -- or it should be. After all, Sands of Time was an outstanding project that seamlessly blended action combat and truly remarkable platforming elements into one stylistic package. Even now, we can look back upon the game and appreciate its groundbreaking level designs and fluid character animation. Ubi followed Sands with Warrior Within, which introduced a darker, "edgier" Prince and heavy metal guitar riffs, but not much else -- and it was predictably something of a disappointment. But in late 2005 the company debuted The Two Thrones for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, a sequel which added the mechanic of a light and dark Prince (each with unique abilities), tightened up the controls, expanded upon the platform-heavy stages, debuted a chariot racing mode and ultimately proved to be a worthy follow-up to the let down that was Warrior Within. Rival Swords for Wii is more or less a port of The Two Thrones with added Wii controls to boot, so we should be psyched, right? You'd think that, but it takes a little more than a year-old port with a sometimes-fun gesture system and censored content to make us stand up and cheer, even if we freely admit that the core game is still as engaging and entertaining as ever.

We've done the math and any way we approach it, the numbers don't add up. If you want Prince of Persia: Rival Swords for Wii, you're going to pay $49.99 for it and you're going to find that the added Wii controls don't do much -- in fact, they sometimes detract from the overall experience. (We'll explain below.) You're also going discover that the bloody sequences in the M-rated Two Thrones (same game, different name, remember) have been toned down so that sliced and diced enemies now bleed sand -- not a major deal for us, but seriously, why do that? And the kicker is that even if you only own Wii, you've got a better choice. You can pick up the uncensored, traditionally-controlled Two Thrones for GameCube and it'll play fine on Wii. Best of all, the GCN title will only cost you $19.99, by the way. So as we see it, unless you absolutely must swing your Wii remote and nunchuk controller up, down and all around to execute Prince's arsenal of moves, you can skip this too-little-too-late port altogether and buy the GameCube effort, which has been available on store shelves for more than a year.

And yet, Rival Swords for Wii is not a catastrophe or even a bad game. It is, quite the contrary, a good one that just so happens to be mostly unchanged from its predecessors. In some cases, the new Wii controls better the experience and in others they worsen it, but all said and done the project remains as enjoyable today as it was a year ago on other systems.

You take on the role of the Prince as he's thrust into a somewhat convoluted storyline that's easier to follow if you've played the first two games, but by no means out of reach if you haven't. The Prince is returning to Babylon and to glory as the title begins, but his hopes of peace and prosperity are soon dashed. As he sails ever closer to his city, he discovers that it lies in ruins. Even before he can gather himself, his ship is attacked and his passenger, the beautiful Kaileena, kidnapped. You will eventually learn that Prince has unwittingly reversed the fates of the first two games and in doing so returned his arch-enemy, the Vizier, to the realm of the living. The storyline unfolds cinematically in real-time thanks to a solid 3D engine that draws atmospheric worlds and characters, not to mention voice actors who deliver their lines with convincing dramatic tone and flair. Rival Swords carries over what has become a franchise trademark, which is the telling of the story through Prince's inner-monologue even as you jump across chasms and duel against enemies. We prefer this approach because it's not intrusive -- you begin to understand more about the character and the tale even as you progress through the quest at your own pace.

Rival Swords is the same game as The Two Thrones, which received a high 8.8 rating by our GCN, PS2 and Xbox sister sites when it debuted for those respective systems. What this means for you is that the same great level designs, which are filled with intense platforming challenges and showered with opportunities to dual-wield blades against foes, are back. If you have never played any Prince of Persia game before, you will be amazed by just how interactive the game world is in Rival Swords. Ubi has imagined a Babylon overflowing with architectural ledges, poles, drapes, and gaps that can be jumped to, swung from, slid down and leaped across at any given moment. Prince is able to fluidly traverse the environment, acrobatically running up walls, shimmying across narrow pathways, and more, all the while avoiding deadly booby-traps like rotating blades and spikes that spring from the flooring. It's classic Prince of Persia reborn in the third dimension and made better than it ever was in 2D - high praise when you consider that people adore the original titles.

Still, the title is not perfect. As with every Prince game we've played, we find that combat, which has definitely improved since The Sands of Time, still takes a backseat to the platformer elements in Rival Swords. It is, frankly, just more fun to explore the environments, navigate the architecture and accomplish death-defying leaps after running across a wall and swinging from a pole.

Obviously, the big (and really, only) difference between The Two Thrones and Rival Swords is the newly implemented Wii controls. Ubisoft has mapped many of Prince's moves to gestures on the Wii remote and nunchuk. In some instances, these new motion controls enable a more immersive gaming environment. For example, Prince is able to sneak up on enemies and execute stealthy death strikes, which were previously assigned to buttons. In the Wii game, you motion downward with the nunchuk to begin the attack and then swipe down twice with the Wii remote in coordination to on-screen cues to stab enemies. It seems like a trivial change, but it feels good and it's fun. Later, when you transform into the Dark Prince, a meaner version of the character, you can leap from ledges and swing down with the nunchuk to shoot out his chains, which grab onto poles and enable the anti-hero to swing forward. Again, the controls are very responsive and feel right. Even the simple sword-swiping actions, which have you making quick swing gestures - they needn't be grand; a flick of the wrist will suffice - are intuitively implemented.

That noted, Ubi has been challenged with the task of porting a dual-analog game to a console whose controllers lack two analog sticks. In the Two Thrones, the left analog stick maneuvered Prince while the right one operated the camera. In Rival Swords, the nunchuk's analog stick still manipulates the hero, but there's no stick for the camera. As a result, Ubi has been forced to sloppily map camera controls to the motion-tilt on the Wii remote; twist it in a turn-key motion and the camera will swing left; twist it right to go in the opposite direction. It doesn't feel good and the response time on the camera is imprecise, so you may sometimes overshoot your desired camera view. Thankfully, as an alternative, you can use the Wii remote's D-Pad, which is a much better solution. However, even that presents problems because you'll find yourself thumbing from the D-Pad to control the camera and the A button to make Prince jump - both actions cannot be performed simultaneously. Meanwhile, if you need to pull back for a wide camera - a useful operation during some platforming situations -- you'll need to press the 1 button, which means you'll have to reorganize your grip on the remote entirely.

In spite of these irksome control issues, Rival Swords is still entirely playable. It is, to be sure, still fun. But given the choice to play the title with the Wii remote / nunchuk combination or a traditional controller, we have to be honest: we'd choose the latter. And we're the Wii guys. Given that the port's only advantage are these new controls, that's a true disappointment.

From a technical standpoint, Rival Swords looks like its GCN, PS2 and Xbox predecessors. There are no major graphical upgrades, which is unfortunate since Ubisoft had more than a year to up the visual presentation if it so desired, and Wii is certainly more capable. The art style is still beautiful and the animation as fluid and seamless as ever. The game's engine enables large 3D environments with impressive architectural designs coupled with a wide range of lighting and particle effects. But at the same time, the game is a year old and the texture work is showing its age, as walls and characters tend to blur up close. The game does run in 480p and 16:9 widescreen on Wii. Otherwise, the only notable difference in presentation is the baffling omission of blood from Rival Swords - a decision undoubtedly made so that the title could score a more attractive T rating. Odd, when you consider that Wii's user base is much older than GameCube's and that two of the most violent games of the year, Manhunt 2 and No More Heroes, are more or less exclusive to the platform.

Closing Comments
The bottom line is that Rival Swords is the same game as The Two Thrones with added Wii controls that sometimes better the experience and sometimes worsen it, but if I had to choose, I'd take a traditional control setup to the new gesture system. Bearing that in mind, I'm telling you to pick up the GameCube version of Two Thrones and play it on Wii if you need a fix of Prince of Persia. It's a lot cheaper and you aren't sacrificing the gore factor, if that's your thing.

At the same time, I'm conceding that if you do buy Rival Swords for Nintendo's next-generation console, you won't be walking away with a bad game. It is nearly as fun and engaging today as it was when it was first released in December of 2005 for the other systems.

I have, however, scored it significantly lower on Wii than on the other systems. I've done that not only because it's a year-late port, but also because the newly added controls actually lessen the end gameplay endeavor and because Ubisoft has otherwise brought nothing new to the table, choosing to completely ignore the prospect of adding new content or using Wii's added horsepower to its fullest.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Review (Xbox 360)

The 2D side-scroller became popular in an era when there wasn’t much choice of software for the gamer. Technology limitations forced people to game on two axes, with a movable background to denote larger settings.

As processing power and programming skill increased- but still before the 3D era side-scrollers became quite wonderful representations of video gaming. In fact, there are many video game critics that still have 2D scollers in their all-time lists.

The advent of 3D gaming pretty much put the side-scrollers on the shelf, but there were a few companies that still embraced the genre through console releases. One of these companies was Konami, whose Japanese roots kept most of the trends from the Far East fresh in the minds of Western gamers.

The trend of never letting the 2D side-scroller perish can be seen in Japanese companies like SNK and Capcom, but Konami and their Castlevania series really epitomizes this feeling. Born on 8-bit hardware, the Castlevania series is still growing strong thanks to the demand for visually simple games that run well on powerful handhelds.

Another great re-launching pad for Konami’s Castlevania titles is Xbox Live Arcade, which really seems to be going head to head with the Wii with its recent arcade and old console ROM lineup. Microsoft’s latest title is Konami’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which many consider one of the finest achievements of the original Playstation system.

You’ll begin your Castlevania: Symphony of the Night quest where predecessor Dracula X left off - a final boss battle featuring Richter (the headliner in a few other Castlevania titles) battling Count Dracula. Once Richter defeats the count, the story behind Castlevania: Symphony of the Night finally begins with the aid of decent cut-scene visuals, on-screen text and dialogue. Set four years after the count’s defeat, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night reveals Richter as the new high priest of Castlevania. This doesn’t sit too well with the Count’s son Alucard, who eventually comes to life as your friendly neighborhood player character.

Earlier fans of the Castlevania series that didn’t have a chance to check out Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or Dawn of Sorrow will notice the major transformation of the franchise right away. The control scheme of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is indicative of the PSOne controller functionality. Jumps are completely pressure-sensitive, the use of a shield and a back dash move join jump/attack on the face button bank, and vampiric item use can be controlled through the shoulder buttons (a combo of shoulder and trigger in the 360 controller’s case).

The ability to view the map with a quick tap of a shoulder button (left trigger for us) illustrates the fundamental structural change of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as compared to its predecessors: not all pathways lead to an end. Yes, the notion of open-ended style gameplay in the Castlevania universe begins with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which makes for a much more enticing, adventure-style experience. You’ll sometimes have to backtrack to get where you really need to go (although it’s frustrating fighting the same enemies again), and not all pathways are paved with goodwill and good intentions.

Konami’s decision to make Castlevania: Symphony of the Night more open-ended was directly related to the introduction of RPG-style elements. Running about Castlevania: Symphony of the Night’s world will reveal weapons, spells, equipment, and other items (such as a full compliment of relics which affect the world around Alucard) which can be equipped, dropped and summoned like your favorite role player. Each item has a certain RPG attribute, too. The system is a bit simpler that your typical RPG game, but the balancing of inventory definitely plays a role here in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Hit and magic points are gained and taken away, yet the heart system still determines the overall wherewithal of your hero. You’ll also notice from the Next button PC rap sheet that your hero levels up throughout his journey, in standard areas such as strength, intuition and good ‘ol luck. The player card also shows a tab entitled the Familiars, which are essentially helper entities that can attack at Alucard’s whim. Bats, demons, swords, ghosts and imps can all be summoned, while at the same time ranking up to make them more powerful.

The RPG elements and solid control scheme come together as a very enticing side-scrolling package. The cutscenes are old-school of course, but there is voice acting and some semblance of a plot for those into all things Transylvanian. However, stealing the thunder of Konami’s wholesale gameplay changes is the sprite art that really showcases this genre. These Kojima-designed characters are some of the best you will find in the land of sprites. The backgrounds are just as fancy, and help to achieve an eerie feel that only the scariest of modern games can match. You’ll also be met with particle effects that surely inspired many of today’s top artists, and animation sets that could make the mo-cap machine worker feel a bit guilty. There are early attempts at 3D here that somehow work, too. Your coffin of savedom spins ‘round in three dimensions, and there is a depth-of-field effect on distant items that is being helped along with the Z axis. 2D and 3D somehow come together to create an artistic interpretation of that time just before 3D ruled the roost.

The soundtrack is just as impressive as the visual feast, and that’s saying a lot for 1997. Budgets couldn’t call upon a philharmonic, so a Roland had to suffice. Oh, how the keyboard suffices in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! Makes sense really – put the word “symphony” in your game title and you should probably attempt to create some aural magic on that silvery surface. Yeah, the voice acting is as hokey as you’d expect, but the sound effects are as solid as that Snake dude from another chapter in Konami’s past

With a mixture of open-ended gameplay elements, more advanced controls, and a gripping story, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the epitome of the side-scrolling genre. What’s more ironic about Castlevania: Symphony of the Night’s prowess is the era in which it was released. 3D was burgeoning, but the strength of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night came through loud and clear to PSOne owners, just as it will come across to XBLA subscribers nearly ten years after its original release.

The Godfather: The Don's Edition Review (PS3)

Does the game warrant enough respect?
The Godfather released for last generation consoles a few months ago. It was generally well accepted by reviews praising that it did a good job with The Godfather license. Not wanting to leave the PS3 out of the equation, EA spruced up the last-gen title and ported it over. The Godfather: The Don’s Edition is more or less a “director’s cut” of things that were left out of the other versions of The Godfather. How does this version stack up? Read on.

Little Italy
It is 1936 and you live in Little Italy. Organized crime it at its peak and everyone needs “protection.” You are just a little boy, not yet involved with the mobs. One day you come across the body of your father after you heard an explosion. He is shot dead by a rival mafia. Don Vito Corleon comforts you and promises you will one day have your revenge. Nine years pass and you have become nothing more than a street thug. Your own mother is worried and asks The Don for his help. He dispatches his trusted advisor to find out where you are so you can be part of the family.

As you roam the streets of New York City circa the 1940’s you’ll feel like you are in that era. The dress, the scenery, the music all throw you back to a time of smooth crooners and sharply dress gangsters. The world that was created in the books and movies of The Godfather remain intact as you feel like you are part of the Corleon’s family. Streets are dirty and the gangsters hiding in the alleys makes the old New York seem like a seedy place to live and operate. Once you start to drive around, you’ll notice that some buildings look the same and the floor plans of the business you need to extort are identical. Not only are there problems with the game world looking the same (save for a few famous buildings) character animations look like stiff boards trying to swagger about.

I Need A Favor
The Godfather: The Don’s Edition might be classified as an open world “sandbox” type game but don’t be fooled. The Godfather is more linear as the story is more pronounced and important than creating unorganized havoc in Brooklyn. You interact with key characters from the movie as you make a name for yourself. Marlon Brando’s voice and likeness are used for The Don, which is nice to see and adds you right in the thick of the movie. Still, there are all the elements of an open, persistent world game. You can mug random avatars, hijack cars, plant TNT on safes, or bride local police. Aside from the story, which is something you’ll want to delve into the most, you can do a variety of side jobs to increase the family’s bank roll.

You can extort businesses for money by offering your protection. If the business owners do not comply, you “negotiate” by any means necessary. These negotiations are a fun mini-game as you find out what breaks the will of the shopkeeper the most efficiently. This is where SIXAXIS control makes a large contribution. To rough up the owner, you can thrust the controller to the side to smash their head into the cash register to open it up or slam them into the wall so they know you mean business. There is a problem with consistency because sometimes the motion controls do what you want and other times, you head-butt the victim.

You can also purchase rackets to make money. Rackets are usually in the back of “legitimate” businesses and after you take over a business, you can take over the racket. There are also contract hits you can perform to people who haven’t paid up or have been a thorn in the Corleon’s side for too long. These favors help you gain respect and respect is what you need to advance up the chain of command. As you take more control, you gain points you spend in various attributes that will make you grow into a more skilled enforcer or operator (negotiator). They each have their strengths and it depends on what kind of play style you like the best.

You Talking To Me?
Combat in The Godfather is cumbersome. For as many illegal acts as you commit, you’d think that the fights would be a little easier to handle. To put up your fists, you hold down L1 and from there you use the R-stick to throw punches. You can also thrust the SIXAXIS controller different directions to head-butt or throw your foe. It just seems like you have to press too many buttons to get a punch to work. Weapons are a different story. There is a menu which I call “dial-a-weapon” that is accessible by holding down L2 and you pick your gun or bat from a circle menu. Aiming and shooting firearms is easy and generally is the best way to “off” people.

Singing With The Fishes
The sound for The Godfather is absolutely top notch. The orchestrated score from the movie is included in the title as well as many voices of the actors who were in the movie. Even the late Marlon Brando recorded some dialogue for the game before his passing. With certified actors on-board, the voice acting is done well. Even the oldies that play out of antique looking radios immerse you into the crime underworld effectively. If there is one thing that The Godfather does the best, it has to be in the sound department.

Make An Offer
There are some compelling reasons to get The Godfather: The Don’s Edition. The sound, the story, and even the interesting, yet repetitive, gameplay all make the game work. If you are expecting a fabulous game that delivers on all accounts, you will be disappointed. Even with the few upgrades over the last-gen titles, The Don’s Edition doesn’t belong on the PS3. I was put off by the complex, inaccurate controls to fight other gangs and by how many of the streets seemed to repeat themselves while cruising in the same part of town. I still kept coming back for more as there is appeal to the title.

The Godfather: The Don’s Edition is a great example of a game that might not work in all of the individual sectors but when it’s put together, the package as a whole works. The atmosphere the game creates is unparalleled but the PS3 feels underutilized as The Godfather: The Don’s Edition is still a PS2 game with some upgrades.

Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles Review

Is more of the same enough when “same” means “awesome?” Find out inside.
Sandbox games are becoming more and more common with each generation of game consoles, and likewise, they are becoming more and more open-ended. The Elder Scrolls franchise is not a new one. Oblivion, which released in March 2006, was the fourth full installment in the series. Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles is also not another first for the long-running game franchise. There have been numerous expansions in the Elder Scrolls series over the last ten years. However, Shivering Isles is the first major expansion for Oblivion, and it comes as the first expansion to grace the Xbox 360, too.

Priced at $29.99 and available only on Xbox Live, Shivering Isles is alone – the first of its kind. You need a copy of Oblivion for Xbox 360 to even play the title, and what’s more, you need Xbox Live, which isn’t free, either, to download the expansion. Oh, and we almost forgot: you need Internet access. Then again, if you’re reading this, you probably have Internet, in which case pretend we didn’t say a thing about it and continue reading.

If you’re expecting something wildly different from what you played in Oblivion, stop right there. Shivering Isles, like all expansions, is no full-fledged sequel. It plays just like its immediate predecessor in more ways that we can name. However, this is no complaint, as the game it’s based on is one of the 360’s greatest. If you played and remotely enjoyed Oblivion, you’re going to be happy with Shivering Isles. But if you’ve never played Oblivion or any other games in the Elder Scrolls franchise for that matter, let us back up. If you dig non-linear sandbox-style games, then you’re going to love Shivering Isles. Catch our drift?

Whether you have a decked-out character with the best armor and weapon in the game or you want to create a new one from scratch, as soon as you’re done downloading Shivering Isles, you’re able to jump right into the expansion and experience it any way you want to. Unfortunately, when you first boot up Oblivion after downloading the expansion, you won’t receive any immediate direction as to how you’re supposed to get to the “Shivering Isles.” Bethesda’s approach is a little more laidback. This noted, a mysterious and equally sinister doorway appears in Niben Bay once you’ve downloaded the expansion, which you can use to enter the colorful and simultaneously dark Shivering Isles.

Within the Shivering Isles, new armor, weapons, side quests, dungeons, enemies, landscapes, towns, NPCs and a whole new main quest line awaits gamers. The storytelling in Shivering Isles is never boring, although it’s less conventional than your typical RPG. There are no cut-scenes in the game. The story is told through interacting with in-game characters (NPCs), with whom you must converse.

One complaint we had with Oblivion last year was the somewhat forgettable cast of characters. We’re happy to report that Shivering Isle’s features a cast with much more personality. Indeed, some of the people you come into contact with along your adventure are true characters – each more twisted and fascinating than the last. For example, the name Sheogorath might not mean anything to you right now, but after the first time you encounter the slightly manic and wordy Prince of Madness and ruler of the Shivering Isles, you won’t forget him. His dialogue is entertaining, and you won’t mind his constant ramblings, contradictions or any of the other nonsense he spews from his usually-grinning mouth. The same can be said about his servant, Chancellor Haskill, who is noticeably more serious and sarcastic than the man he serves. What’s more, the two people that rule over the two halves of the Shivering Isles, the drug-loving Duke of Mania and always-paranoid Duchess of Dementia, are both distinctly different but equally likable – or at least entertaining – characters.

The Shivering Isles is split into two parts: Mania and Dementia. Mania’s citizens are often eccentric, animated and almost always insane in one way or another. Oppositely, Dementia’s are sad, gloomy and demented, barely alive – and usually wishing they weren’t at all. There’s a relationship between the citizens of both realms and the landscapes they inhabit. Mania, as expected, is particularly colorful. Overgrown mushrooms cover most of the land, and where there are none, a colorfully psychedelic parade of trees, bushes, plants and other vegetation march, fueled by a light wind. On the other end of the spectrum, Dementia is a land that looks dead. Flooded by swampy bogs, dark forests, thundercloud-filled skies and a persistent aura of despair, the world contrasts the manic-but-colorful Mania in every way possible. Both lands feature undeniably insane people, but they’re all off their rockers for different reasons.

What was fun in Oblivion – exploring new areas, talking to town folk, completing quests – is still fun in Shivering Isles. However, this expansion seems to have more of a focus on the string of main story quests as opposed to side quests. Oblivion seemed to spill over with side quests, whereas Shivering Isles is a little less populated when it comes to them. This is somewhat disappointing to consider, but thankfully, the main quest line is ultimately enjoyable despite its tendency to rely on fetch quests.

There are a lot of new dungeons to explore – some optional, others mandatory – in Shivering Isles. Unfortunately, most of these look and feel too much like one another. We oftentimes found ourselves wishing we could just go back outside to the Shivering Isle’s far more interesting locales instead. A similar complaint we have is in regards to the fact that there is only one major city in the game. There are small towns, each made up of a couple shacks, spread across the Shivering Isles, and the main city in the realm is fairly large, but the town gameplay is so fun in the Elder Scrolls series, it feels like you can never have enough of it.

As an expansion pack, Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles never feels like it’s going out of the way to impress, and that’s because it’s not. Still, because the underlying formula behind the Elder Scrolls series is so irresistibly fun, we can’t help but love the game. We wish there were more side quests and we can’t help but wonder why Bethesda took our horse away. What’s more, the game has some flaws it inherits from Oblivion, such as its less-than-amazing combat system. But some minor quibbles aside, this is a great 20-plus-hour adventure. You can’t help but get lost in its immersive and imaginative design. If you loved Oblivion – we know we did – then you’ll definitely like Shivering Isles. It’s more of the same, but who says that’s a bad thing?