SO CHELSEA may well be top of the Premiership having beaten Liverpool at the weekend.
But there’s only one match that gamers are gearing up for next – Fifa 10 versus Pro Evolution Soccer 2010.
They say there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
And with our (once again) abismal summer the only thing to look forward to is the annual play off between Electronic Arts and Konami.
It’s worth pointing out right now that I sit firmly in the Pro camp.
Always have.
But that may well be about to change.I got my hands on a copy of Fifa 10 last week and it’s safe to say it rocked my world.
It has been given a very serious makeover with life-like actions, awesome gameplay and great sound effects.
Manager Mode has returned and the developers have made dozens of improvements.
The one aspect I REALLY like is that teams are updated weekly (via the web) to update players’ injuries and team form.
On the other hand I’ve just downloaded the free playable download of PES 2010.
The free demo showcases the full game’s exhibition mode and users can select from Liverpool, or Barcelona, or the Spanish, Italian, French and German national sides.
The selected sides can then be played against the CPU or a friend in a five-minute match.On first impression the graphics rival Fifa’s.
The individual menu screens look awesome with a new makeover and the pre-match in-tunnel scenes look incredibly realistic.
The music (if you could call it that on the previous releases) has been vastly upgraded with the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs lending their tunes to the title.
But, and this is a temporary but before I experience the full game (released on October 23rd), the gameplay seems slower.
I don’t know why but it just doesn’t seem to flow with pace.Sure there was a vast difference when you played third-rate teams compared to say top national sides, but even with Liverpool versus Barcelona it seemed... tired.
I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong. My own brother thinks I am but we’ll see.
I’m still holding out to see whether the online glitches have disappeared to make my official rating.
But it’s safe to say that Fifa has raised the bar a fair way.
Here’s the Fifa review and that of several others released this week:
Title: FIFA 10
Platform: PS3
Genre: Football
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 5/5
WELL, put it this way, the boys at Konami are going to have to pull off a comeback of Man Utd vs Bayern Munich in 1999 proportions to have any chance of winning this season's battle of the heavyweight football sims.
FIFA has been improving significantly in recent years, while the Pro Evolution stable has stalled, and this latest EA offering has got the lot.
From improvements in on-the-pitch action such as better ball control, passing, dribbling and player positioning to the triumphant return of the Manager Mode, boasting over 50 major improvements on a list too detailed to go through here.
Rest assured, the realism is there like never before, and everything is polished to a high standard.
This is a shining example of a developer listening to player feedback and giving them a finely-tuned, superb football simulation that they somehow have to top next year.
Over to you, Pro Evo.
Title: Family Trainer: Extreme Challenge (with mat controller)
Platform: Wii
Genre: Sports
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 4/5
After the extremely enjoyable Outdoor Challenge comes this year's 'Extreme' offering, giving parents the opportunity to let their children experience the adrenalin rush of base-jumping and street-luge without the broken bones and ludicrous life insurance premiums.
The 12 or so activities available all stick tightly to the 'extreme' niche-sports theme, with wakeboarding, rock climbing, kite surfing, BMX biking and skateboarding thrown into the mix.
A good variety in gameplay on each activity will have you interacting with the Wii Remote and 8-buttoned custom mat in many different ways, and there's no doubt that this will keep your calorie count down if you or the kids are watching your waistlines.
And, of course, you can play it together, banishing any lingering preconceptions of gaming as just a lonesome life in a darkened room - this is extreme gaming, so get stuck in!
Title: The King of Fighters XII
Platform: PS3
Genre: Arcade
Price: £39.99
Hit count: 4/5
Remember the legendary arcade beat-em-up Street Fighter? Well, this is on a par.
KOF XII serves up 22 characters each with their own unique moves and styles in a stunning 2D production incorporating all-new, high-resolution fighters.
With every production house seemingly trying to out do each other with graphics and gameplay – almost trying to reinvent the wheel – it’s actually a breath of fresh air to play something which is new, but has a retro feel.
KOF XII is fast and furious fun for any game fan.
The only real snag is that it seems to be very easy to complete - even on normal mode despite the fact I've never played it before. Still, I don't mind going back and replaying.
Title: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action / RPG
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 4/5
Hailed as ‘the greatest superhero action/RPG of all time’, Marvel Ultimate Alliance is back with the biggest and best army of heroes and villains to date.
The choice on offer is really impressive, as you can create and customize your dream team from the Marvel Universe, selecting from more than 24 playable characters, each with specialized powers which gradually level-up in traditional RPG style as you progress through the game.
The 250-plus fusion attacks are a blast as, for example, you team up Human Torch and Thor to create a spectacular fiery tornado.
This all sucks you in even further to the incredible Marvel world, plus brings a real tactical element to co-operative multiplayer, which you can experience online with three friends.
Compared with the first Ultimate Alliance release, there's probably not a whole lot that's new here.
The overall polishing up and tweaking, however, make this a Marvel adventure well worth revisiting.
Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up
Platform: Wii
Genre: Action
Price: £29.99
Hit count: 3/5
Here's another comic-book crew which has been around for more than 20 years, and stood the test of time pretty well.
This fighter seems to go back to the roots of the TMNT franchise, with good-old scrapping at its heart.
The overall game mechanics seem to lean heavily on the influence from Super Smash Bros Brawl: arguably the daddy of all fighting titles.
This is a good thing forturtles fans, who can select their favourite characters, pick a stage and then beat their opponent to a pulp - safe in the knowledge that the fighting gameplay is going to mirror that which it's copying.
But where this game falls down slightly is in depth - the collection of characters is paltry, bearing in mind there are 20 years or more of stories to draw upon.
Also, 12 trophies or figurines to collect compared to Smash Bros 500 or so doesn't cut it.
Overall, a great game for TMNT fighter fans, but it could have been so much more.
Title: Space Invaders Extreme 2
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Arcade
Price: £19.99
Hit count: 4/5
It's fantastic to see some of the early gaming franchises still going strong, none more than Space Invaders, which for many was the first and only experience they needed to have before becoming hooked on videogames.
Shrunk down from that first huge arcade cabinet to the more petite proportions of the DS, SpaceInvaders Extreme 2 is an arcade-like assault on your gaming senses.
In the game you shoot, attack and stave off the onslaught by defeating all the invaders onscreen.
After annihilating a battalion of enemies and defeating the boss, it's onto the next stage.
This may sound basic and repetitive, but the variety invisual backdrops, and also the tactical formations that the invaders will throw at you, ensure that this is as intense a retro-gaming experience as you can get right now.
And for under £20, snap it up now and get zapping!
GAMES CHART: ALL FORMATS FULL PRICE
1. Halo 3: ODST
2. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box
3. Need For Speed: Shift
4. Guitar Hero 5
5. Wii Sports Resort
6. Batman: Arkham Asylum
7. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
8. Colin McRae: Dirt 2
9. Wet
10. Wii Fit
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (c) ELSPA (UK) Ltd
Showing posts with label Konami. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Konami. Show all posts
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Those Spectrum days relived
THE NEXT time you see me I may well have less hair, a permanent look of anger on my face, and bruised knuckles.
Now I haven't joined the local cage fighting league... I've actually been playing Pro Evolution Soccer 09 online.
The idea is simple. Connect up your PS3 (or whatever platform you have) to the internet, get a copy of the game, register it and wallah! You can play matches against people from all over the world.
The actual reality is very different.
Remember the days of the Spectrum ZX and the (later) Spectrum 128K? Remember how you used to go to load a game, inserting the cassette into the tape player, and wait while the annoying noise signalled the game was loading. And then... it stopped. Without loading the game.
My parents used to ask me how the keyboard of the Spectrum became warped, as if someone had applied pressure onto it... almost like someone had thrown their clenched fists down onto it with great force.
You can imagine how it came about.
That rage from my youth has become increasingly apparent with the release of that game, and the subsequent attempts I have made to 'play' it.
While PES09 is different - in that it actually loads - the problems are similar.
You start the game and all's well. You're playing Ronaldo78 from Paris, France, he takes a shot and it goes wide of the goal.
My keeper goes to take the goal kick, he runs up and kicks the ball, the screen moves to the far end of the pitch and the ball is nowhere to be seen.
The game continues on Ronaldo78 scores, and I'm none the wiser. I was looking at the other end of the pitch where nothing was happening.
In computer speak it's called 'lagging' and it's where the game crashes.
And I can't tell you how annoying it is. Since launching the online service a couple of years ago the makers of the PES series have admitted to problems with its online content.
Each year I get the game and play it hoping the problem has been fixed. But it hasn't.
The online content on other games such as Grand Theft Auto is fine. Or rather, it works. But it seems Konami still haven't worked out how to fix it.
My internet connectivity is fine so it must be down to the game.
It is the single most annoying thing of my 31 years. Apart from of course the dark Spectrum days.
With the release of the new 2010 game later this year, one can only hope that things will improve. At least for my sanity's sake.
Anyways, in the meantime here's some other titles to crack on with:
Title: G-Force
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action
Price: £39.99
Hit count: 4/5
The prospect of controlling a guinea pig hooked up with a high-tech jet-pack and other electronic gizmos is already enough to make the most mature gamer raise a smile - the fact that this game comes bundled with a couple of pairs of old-school 3D glasses merely completes your regression to pre-teen times.
Tying in with Disney's big-screen release, G-Force predominantly puts you in control of Darwin, heading up a team of dynamic guinea pigs on a mission to save the world. Plus there's Mooch the fly, whose character you can switch between when puzzles require you to access those hard-to-reach places.
There's a great balance of action and puzzle-solving throughout, and the enemies can't fail to raise a chuckle - whether you're tackling a crazed food blender or temperamental toaster. Tight controls never waver, whatever you're trying to do, and a mild sense of repetition later on the game does little, if anything, to dampen a fab movie tie-in experience.
Title: GTA Triple Pack
Platform: PS2
Genre: Action
Price: £24.99
Hit count: 5/5
While Grand Theft Auto 4 gave gamers a startlingly realistic glimpse into the future of sandbox titles on the next-generation consoles, Rockstar fanatics will never look back at previous incarnations of the GTA series and scoff - they'll appreciate the giant leaps the developer took for gaming-kind with each instalment.
Now you can relive the past with an incredible trilogy that simply must be owned, if only for keeping shrink-wrapped on your shelf for posterity.
A mere £25 gives you the full, unabridged versions of GTA 3, GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas, all of which in their own right are fantastic, funny, controversial and captivating games - together they're a hefty chunk of the best games ever released for the PS2.
Title: Fritz Chess
Platform: PS3
Genre: Chess
Price: £19.99
Hit count: 4/5
Chess is chess, so how can so many different incarnations of this classic board game continue to shift thousands of units? Surely, if you've got one simulation, you've got them all?
Well, one glance down the features list of Fritz Chess shows that while the classic mode is there in all its glory - and with several difficulty settings - there are also a host of 'alternative' modes that would probably have the game's creators turning in their graves.
Chess 960 randomly shuffles the greater pieces to give each match a new unexpected challenge, while Giveaway chess sees the victor crowned when he has captured all of his opponent's pieces.
These modes certainly add a bit of spice to proceedings, and some much-needed variety, but it's the core challenge that will appeal to chess fans.
And, with over 2,000 historical matches to relive and analyse, there's more than enough to keep those over-active brains ticking over.
Title: Cake Mania: In The Mix!
Platform: Wii
Genre: Cookery
Price: £19.99
Hit count: 3/5
So, what will the Wii controller have you doing this week? It's fair to say that almost every physical activity has been recreated on the system during its relatively short life-span, meaning we shouldn't bat an eyelid at being asked to decorate a cake that you've just baked.
And that's exactly the kind of gaming challenge you can expect with In The Mix, as you build up your bakeries to the point where celebrity chefs would be jealous at the embarrassment of culinary riches at your disposal - from display stands to cookie ovens and everything inbetween.
Graphically it looks really nice, and there's no doubt it becomes a serious challenge pretty quickly, but sadly it's let down by a pretty clumsy control system - the one thing that makes this version truly unique from other formats, albeit this time in a bad way.
Title: Puzzle Kingdoms
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Puzzle/Strategy
Price: £19.99
Hit count: 3/5
From conquering cities around the world to competing in what is essentially are-skinned Bejeweled experience, Puzzle Kingdoms challenges you to plan outstrategic attacks in order to defeat your opponents, then order your troops across the map, winning battles through this puzzle gameplay.
At first it's aslightly bizarre combination of role-playing-games and puzzle action, but overall it works pretty well.
Battles are frenetic and addictive, and the careful management of your team of heroes is also crucial to your success. Fans of Galactrix and Puzzle Quest will be grateful for more of the same here, although things probably haven't moved on as much as you would like.
For anyone else looking for a fairly unique, on-the-go gaming experience, Puzzle Kingdoms is probably worth a look for under £20.
WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT
Following the Grand Theft Auto retro trilogy pack on PS2, iPhone and iPod Touch owners can now also take a peek at how GTA-style action is taking shape on Apple's hardware.
A free 'lite' version of TAG Games' crime sim Car Jack Streets has been launched in the App store.
The top-down, free-for-all provides a 30-minute crime spree across the city, with the aim of raising 5,000 dollars to pay off a mob boss, while the full version gives you the wide open city you'd expect, with unlimited missions and carnage to create.
Designed and developed by members of the original Grand Theft Auto creative team, this is one not to miss.
In the charts this week, Wii Sports Resort went straight into the No 1 position, toppling Harry Potter, which in turn sent Transformers spiralling down from two to five.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 held firm at three, as did Wii Fit at four, while Virtua Tennis 2009 was the big loser of the week, falling out of the top-10 altogether.
GAMES CHART: ALL FORMATS FULL PRICE
1. Wii Sports Resort
2. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
4. Wii Fit
5. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
6. Fight Night Round 4
7. Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood
8. The Sims 3
9. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
10. EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (c) ELSPA (UK) Ltd
Now I haven't joined the local cage fighting league... I've actually been playing Pro Evolution Soccer 09 online.
The idea is simple. Connect up your PS3 (or whatever platform you have) to the internet, get a copy of the game, register it and wallah! You can play matches against people from all over the world.
The actual reality is very different.
Remember the days of the Spectrum ZX and the (later) Spectrum 128K? Remember how you used to go to load a game, inserting the cassette into the tape player, and wait while the annoying noise signalled the game was loading. And then... it stopped. Without loading the game.
My parents used to ask me how the keyboard of the Spectrum became warped, as if someone had applied pressure onto it... almost like someone had thrown their clenched fists down onto it with great force.
You can imagine how it came about.
That rage from my youth has become increasingly apparent with the release of that game, and the subsequent attempts I have made to 'play' it.
While PES09 is different - in that it actually loads - the problems are similar.
You start the game and all's well. You're playing Ronaldo78 from Paris, France, he takes a shot and it goes wide of the goal.
My keeper goes to take the goal kick, he runs up and kicks the ball, the screen moves to the far end of the pitch and the ball is nowhere to be seen.
The game continues on Ronaldo78 scores, and I'm none the wiser. I was looking at the other end of the pitch where nothing was happening.
In computer speak it's called 'lagging' and it's where the game crashes.
And I can't tell you how annoying it is. Since launching the online service a couple of years ago the makers of the PES series have admitted to problems with its online content.
Each year I get the game and play it hoping the problem has been fixed. But it hasn't.
The online content on other games such as Grand Theft Auto is fine. Or rather, it works. But it seems Konami still haven't worked out how to fix it.
My internet connectivity is fine so it must be down to the game.
It is the single most annoying thing of my 31 years. Apart from of course the dark Spectrum days.
With the release of the new 2010 game later this year, one can only hope that things will improve. At least for my sanity's sake.
Anyways, in the meantime here's some other titles to crack on with:
Title: G-Force
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action
Price: £39.99
Hit count: 4/5
The prospect of controlling a guinea pig hooked up with a high-tech jet-pack and other electronic gizmos is already enough to make the most mature gamer raise a smile - the fact that this game comes bundled with a couple of pairs of old-school 3D glasses merely completes your regression to pre-teen times.
Tying in with Disney's big-screen release, G-Force predominantly puts you in control of Darwin, heading up a team of dynamic guinea pigs on a mission to save the world. Plus there's Mooch the fly, whose character you can switch between when puzzles require you to access those hard-to-reach places.
There's a great balance of action and puzzle-solving throughout, and the enemies can't fail to raise a chuckle - whether you're tackling a crazed food blender or temperamental toaster. Tight controls never waver, whatever you're trying to do, and a mild sense of repetition later on the game does little, if anything, to dampen a fab movie tie-in experience.
Title: GTA Triple Pack
Platform: PS2
Genre: Action
Price: £24.99
Hit count: 5/5
While Grand Theft Auto 4 gave gamers a startlingly realistic glimpse into the future of sandbox titles on the next-generation consoles, Rockstar fanatics will never look back at previous incarnations of the GTA series and scoff - they'll appreciate the giant leaps the developer took for gaming-kind with each instalment.
Now you can relive the past with an incredible trilogy that simply must be owned, if only for keeping shrink-wrapped on your shelf for posterity.
A mere £25 gives you the full, unabridged versions of GTA 3, GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas, all of which in their own right are fantastic, funny, controversial and captivating games - together they're a hefty chunk of the best games ever released for the PS2.
Title: Fritz Chess
Platform: PS3
Genre: Chess
Price: £19.99
Hit count: 4/5
Chess is chess, so how can so many different incarnations of this classic board game continue to shift thousands of units? Surely, if you've got one simulation, you've got them all?
Well, one glance down the features list of Fritz Chess shows that while the classic mode is there in all its glory - and with several difficulty settings - there are also a host of 'alternative' modes that would probably have the game's creators turning in their graves.
Chess 960 randomly shuffles the greater pieces to give each match a new unexpected challenge, while Giveaway chess sees the victor crowned when he has captured all of his opponent's pieces.
These modes certainly add a bit of spice to proceedings, and some much-needed variety, but it's the core challenge that will appeal to chess fans.
And, with over 2,000 historical matches to relive and analyse, there's more than enough to keep those over-active brains ticking over.
Title: Cake Mania: In The Mix!
Platform: Wii
Genre: Cookery
Price: £19.99
Hit count: 3/5
So, what will the Wii controller have you doing this week? It's fair to say that almost every physical activity has been recreated on the system during its relatively short life-span, meaning we shouldn't bat an eyelid at being asked to decorate a cake that you've just baked.
And that's exactly the kind of gaming challenge you can expect with In The Mix, as you build up your bakeries to the point where celebrity chefs would be jealous at the embarrassment of culinary riches at your disposal - from display stands to cookie ovens and everything inbetween.
Graphically it looks really nice, and there's no doubt it becomes a serious challenge pretty quickly, but sadly it's let down by a pretty clumsy control system - the one thing that makes this version truly unique from other formats, albeit this time in a bad way.
Title: Puzzle Kingdoms
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Puzzle/Strategy
Price: £19.99
Hit count: 3/5
From conquering cities around the world to competing in what is essentially are-skinned Bejeweled experience, Puzzle Kingdoms challenges you to plan outstrategic attacks in order to defeat your opponents, then order your troops across the map, winning battles through this puzzle gameplay.
At first it's aslightly bizarre combination of role-playing-games and puzzle action, but overall it works pretty well.
Battles are frenetic and addictive, and the careful management of your team of heroes is also crucial to your success. Fans of Galactrix and Puzzle Quest will be grateful for more of the same here, although things probably haven't moved on as much as you would like.
For anyone else looking for a fairly unique, on-the-go gaming experience, Puzzle Kingdoms is probably worth a look for under £20.
WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT
Following the Grand Theft Auto retro trilogy pack on PS2, iPhone and iPod Touch owners can now also take a peek at how GTA-style action is taking shape on Apple's hardware.
A free 'lite' version of TAG Games' crime sim Car Jack Streets has been launched in the App store.
The top-down, free-for-all provides a 30-minute crime spree across the city, with the aim of raising 5,000 dollars to pay off a mob boss, while the full version gives you the wide open city you'd expect, with unlimited missions and carnage to create.
Designed and developed by members of the original Grand Theft Auto creative team, this is one not to miss.
In the charts this week, Wii Sports Resort went straight into the No 1 position, toppling Harry Potter, which in turn sent Transformers spiralling down from two to five.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 held firm at three, as did Wii Fit at four, while Virtua Tennis 2009 was the big loser of the week, falling out of the top-10 altogether.
GAMES CHART: ALL FORMATS FULL PRICE
1. Wii Sports Resort
2. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
4. Wii Fit
5. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
6. Fight Night Round 4
7. Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood
8. The Sims 3
9. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
10. EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (c) ELSPA (UK) Ltd
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