Switchball is what Super Monkey Ball would have looked like had it been made by Nikola Tesla – where Sega’s effort was all spinning bananas and mild simian peril, Atomic Elbow have laid down pipes, fans, circuitry, weights, magnets and steam. While this may sound more like a science experiment than a compelling videogame experience, the reality proves to be quite the opposite. Read the full story »

The lovely folks over at Rising Star Games and www.bagofbees.co.uk have given us FIVE limited edition ‘Half Minute Hero’ retro themed T-Shirts to give away! Read the full story »

The Super Monkey Ball series is perhaps one of today’s most puzzlingly prolific games series. Not puzzling in a sense that it lacks quality, puzzling in how developer SEGA have once again managed to re-invent gameplay that literally amounts to rolling an encased monkey towards a goal. In the wake of stylus control (Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll – Nintendo DS) and Smartphone accelerometers (Super Monkey Ball iPhone), SEGA are hoping its second Wii installment give gamers a reason to (literally) dust off your Balance Board and control Aiai and friends in a much more embarrassing fashion. Read the full story »

Too many modern games developers try to fashion their products on things that aren’t games. Take a look around: we’ve got oodles of trendy titles that want nothing more than to imitate the look of the coolest movies and the pacing of the most nail-biting TV shows. There’s a place for that – usually at the top of the sales charts – but you won’t find it in Half-Minute Hero, a game which opts to go the opposite route and dress itself with equal parts homage and send-up of retro Japanese genres. Read the full story »

This year’s reboot of the popular AVP series is one we have been following for some time. After all, when three campaigns are promised it’s likely to pique your interest, particularly when the FPS genre has been saturated with cookie cutter clones. Thankfully Rebellion – the development team behind the original games as well as this latest iteration – has succeeded in making each species play distinctively, in turn awarding gamers a unique experience with each campaign. The game has an online component that strives to set itself apart from the competition via these diverging play styles but will it be enough to bring the franchise snarling into the modern era and appease the fans left disillusioned over the lacklustre films? Read the full story »