Saturday 22 January 2011

Weekly News

Well, there goes another week, and what a busy week it was. We found out details about the 3ds. Also, Anne Hathaway will star in The Dark Knight Rises and Tom Hardy has been confirmed to be Bane in the film. We saw shots of Andrew Garfield in the Spidey Suit and there were three game releases this week; Mass Effect 2 (PS3), Little Big Planet (PS3) and Mindjack (Multiformat).

On Monday, we saw a slightly pissed off Andrew Garfield in an awesome (well, better than the first movie) Spider-man Suit without the mask unfortunately. The suit, to me, looked very much like the suit from the Amazing Spider-man era. Also, the suit has web shooters! Which shows that Marc Webb really does want to stick to the comics!

On Wednesday Nintendo held two conferences, one in Amsterdam and one in New York. I was most interested on the one in Amsterdam to find out the juicy European details. So we find out about the release date (March 25th) and the Launch games that will be available, and just as I though they were getting to the price.... Bam! Conference over! Luckily we have the retail stores giving it prices (around £230). This in my opinion is far too expensive for a hand held console. As good as it might be, it can't be cheaper than Nintendo's home console surely? Sure it has amazing features and great upcoming games but it is a lot of money to splash out when you could be getting some of the fantastic games coming out around then. Don't get me wrong, I will definitely be getting one (mainly because my birthday is around there) but I just wish it would drop in price!

Next, to the news on The Dark Knight Rises which was announced on Thursday. It was revealed that Anne Hathaway will be playing the role of Selina Kyle(Notice that Chrisopher Nolan didn't just come out and say Catwoman). I'm not really sure about this choice as i've never seen her in anything and looking through her film's this looks this type of role Is pretty new to her. Saying that though, no one thought Heath Ledger would be a good Joker at first but he certainly proved us wrong. I have full trust in Christopher Nolan and think he can make this work. The other big news from this film was that Tom Hardy, already scheduled to be playing an unknown character, is now playing the villain Bane. This, in my opinion is perfect! Tom Hardy is a great actor and will make a perfect Bane.

And on Friday, Two release dates were confirmed; Mortal Kombat (April 18th) and Duke Nukem:Forever (May 6th) No really! Along with a trailer which is so awesome. Everyone needs to check it out! There was also Three game releases on Friday; Little Big Planet 2,Mass Effect 2 and Mindjack. I picked up Little Big Planet 2. With what I have played so far it's a fantastic game, I will Review it in the coming weeks. Also Killzone 4 was announced..... Hang on is the third one even out yet?

Then on to a relaxing weekend of Little Big Planet,Uncharted 2 and the internet!

Uncharted Drake's Fortune Review

You know how it is, you get a new console for Christmas and you want to try out some of the exclusives to see what you've been missing out on. The thing is, when I put uncharted in, there was so much hype for it I didn't know if I was going to be that blown away. At first I wasn't but Uncharted gets stronger and stronger in every department until the big bang at the end!

The gameplay in Uncharted is solid with moments of brilliance. The guns feel powerful and are good and easy to use. Although their isn't a big variety in guns. It can be a problem moving from cover to cover but that is very rarely. The climbing is fantastic albeit a little unrealistic. The climbing works so well because it is so easy and looks awesome. Who doesn't want to look awesome while doing literally nothing? The platforming sections really work as well but the game is from the people who made Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter!

Uncharted Characters are fantastic, although there are only three main ones (Nathan,Elena and Sully). Nathan Drake is a adventurer, he is also a relation of Francis Drake. Elena is a reported/camera woman and Sully, well I don't really know what Sully does. The dialogue between these characters is very funny (considering the situation there in) but also works when the cut scene is emotional.

The setting looks beautiful and the place Is an awesome place to have this kind of story going on. What makes it even better is, by the time you have finished the game you actually feel like you have explored the entire island.

I find the graphics to look very waxy on the characters but they're really impressive all around you. All of this makes for a great gaming experience, but a few niggles are holding it back from greatness.

The cover system is one of these little niggles. It is a pretty average cover system to be honest but it certainly isn't game breaking. At times though, I found myself sticking to the wall for a couple of seconds. This broke up the flow of the game.Also, the story didn't particularly flow very well on the whole. I felt myself really getting into the game, only to get it stopped for doing a ridiculously easy puzzle. I didn't feel there was much point of that, either make them harder or leave them out.

It also, wasn't very long. The ending showcase came about very quickly. Saying that though I didn't ruin the experience for me and i'm glad I had the chance to play this gem.

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