Through the frozen tundra of Skyrim, a lone warrior steps forth. He’s tired, with only the metallic sounds of his armour and heavy footsteps for company. It’s then that he hears the taunting; a marauder chief charges with a battle-axe in hand followed by a host of bow-wielding minions. Such arrogance is foolhardy, rewarded only with a burst of flame from one hand and a blade to the gut from the other. Avenging their fallen master, the villains fire shots from a distance. But this man is the Dovahkiin, ‘Dragonborn’… and so the opposition succumbs to the flurry of fire and steel. As he glances over the bodies of the fallen and loots all he can carry, a terrible sound hails from above – a blood dragon approaches. Equipping his sword and fire-resistant shield, the Dragonborn is not unprepared. He stands against his foe and proudly utters the words of Unrelenting Force, ‘Fus Ro Dah!’ Read the full story »

Since its quirky flash-based origins tower defence has come a long way and is now an established and influential genre in its own right. A surprisingly varied and broad range of interpretations of the basic rule-set have hit nearly any and every device you could imagine, and even big budget action titles have seen fit to jump on the tower defence bandwagon (Gears of War’s Horde mode, for example). Fans are hardly short of options then, and it is into this increasingly crowded arena that Trendy Games’ Dungeon Defenders enters, supplying its own action-RPG spin. Read the full story »

For three years now, our routine in the first week of November has been almost identical: day off work, the new Call Of Duty game and several uninterrupted hours in which the single-player is usually completed, the set-pieces fawned over, multiplayer dabbled in and the gnawing feeling that what was spectacular just moments ago will likely pale in time, the instant thrill replaced by a pseudo-critical detachment. It’s quite a feat that Activision has pulled off, hardwiring gamers into this annual ritual (judging by the numbers I’m not the only one in this position). It’s videogaming on a Pavlovian level: one well-edited trailer and we’re there. The cynical, not unfairly, will likely point out that Activision’s design and release schedule is as clockwork as ours described above. Read the full story »

Past and present collide this season as Sonic comes face to face with the very past that rightfully earned him a place in gaming history. Whatever you might think of his recent outings, there’s no denying that the hedgehog has had something of a rough time in the transition to the third dimension, though only very rarely have the high-speed hijinks been of poor quality, generally being let down by needless padding and unwanted gameplay mechanics. There are no Werehogs to be seen in Generations, but is this more of a Sonic bust than a Sonic boom? Read the full story »

With Start the Party: Save the World, the PlayStation Move gets serious. Set in the near future in which planet Earth has been ravaged by pollution, war and collapsing economies, you – as a lone ideologist – must form a political party, guide it to power and then set about bringing peace and harmony to the world. Wars must end, the environment must be cleaned-up and the corrupt practices of fat-cat bankers must be eradicated. It is at once a harrowing and informative experience that brings into stark reality some of the toughest questions that modern society now faces. Read the full story »