Traveller’s Tales’ Lego games have been riding on something of a downward slope as of late. With a distinctly unique visual style and level design, they proved to be a novel way of re-formatting popular film franchises like Star Wars and glossing it all over with a kid-friendly focus. Since then, they’ve grown to be kind of stale. It’s good news then that the most recent instalment – a trip to Hogwarts with Lego Harry Potter – casts some much-needed life back into the ailing series. Read the full story »
If you hadn’t already been made aware, Pixar’s crowning glory returns to silver screens this summer in Toy Story 3 (out in the UK on the 19th July, if you’re interested) and with it, of course, is the tie-in videogame – this time from developer Avalanche Software and Disney Interactive Studios. Although movie tie-ins are often unmistakeably poor, with Toy Story 3 it’s obvious that Avalanche have thought long and hard about the game in order to deliver a rich and colourful visual style that sticks true to the franchise’s heritage coupled with platforming and puzzle mechanics that supply a good deal of challenge and entertainment for all ages. Read the full story »
Naughty Bear is on the prowl, meaning it’s time to dust off the digital kitchen knives for some mediocre antics as the psychopathic teddy. A single glance at the cutesy setting and colourful characters might have some believing the game to be an innocent, child-friendly experience. Anyone privy to the impressive marketing campaign will know better however, as Naughty Bear is all about striking fear in the hearts of these denizens in as many despicable ways as possible, in turn bolstering your score multiplier. As the fluff begins to fly, you may find some rudimentary reasons to chuckle, but be warned; there is a heinous truth from which even Naughty himself cannot escape Read the full story »
We’re now halfway through 2010 and the number of top-tier titles that have graced our consoles in the space of 6 months has been nothing short of astonishing. While there is obviously still a some time to go before we have to flip over our calendars to 2011, there’s nothing wrong with a little reminiscing is there? Read the full story »
Shooting stuff, collecting things, jumping about, driving cars and beating up mutated freaks with your bare knuckles are all tried and tested foundations for classic videogame experiences. With enough polish, each can stand on its own, negating the necessity for a gripping narrative to keep you engaged, and it was on this belief that Realtime Worlds founded the original Crackdown. It was a game with minimal plot that became the archetypal sandbox; playing was its own reward. Since Crackdown launched, however, the world of sandbox gaming has seen some pretty significant advancements…advancements that for Crackdown 2, Ruffian Games has chosen to ignore, instead opting to get right back to what Crackdown did best – yes, that’s right, shooting stuff, collecting things, jumping about… Read the full story »
