Imagine my delight this morning when I woke up to find a coffee next to me, my cat lying on the bed, and a fresh, unwrapped copy of Killzone 2. Following the orders that my still half-asleep brain gave me, I unwrapped the copy and placed it into my PS3. With a 3 or 4 hours before college started (I go in at 2pm and leave at 3pm on Fridays) I decided to get stuck in and give you some first impressions. 

As the game loads into the campaign mode I’m greeted by an impressive, awe-inspiring cutscene. It scares me that I don’t know whether it was pre-rendered or gameplay footage, but either way it was amazing. The general plot seems to be that the ISA (good guys) is pushing back the Helghans (bad guys) from the invasion seen in the first game.

My immediate impressions of the controls were not good. They felt heavily weighted, a problem which apparently was visable in the first game, and the controls didn’t match the standard FPS scheme (CoD4). However, over a short period of time, about 20 minutes, the controls quickly warmed to me, and I found myself really enjoying using the ISA’s default rifle, with it’s ultra accurate dot-sight.

I only had a chance to play one or two matches online. What I played there, was breathtaking. Stunning visuals which matched the single player mode, atmospheric explosions and gun shots all around, NO LAG (J) and a lot of over excited kids that really should have been in colle…I mean school. The way that the multiplayer works is that there aren't any kind of set game modes. You enter a game which should last you about 30-40 minutes, and during that time you’re given multiple objectives. From what I’ve played, the system works really well, and should keep gamers from piling onto one game type (I’m looking at you Search and Destroy on CoD4).

From what I have seen, this game ISN’T a reason to buy a PS3. But this along with Uncharted, Resistance, God of War and Metal Gear Solid, really should get you thinking about buying the black behemoth.

Matt

Labels: First impressions, Killzone 2, Matthew, Matthew Meadows

Consoles - you put a disk in and play a game, right? Wrong. They're just so much more than that, and this post - along with all the other 'Gamer's Guide to...' posts - is going to teach you how to exploit, use and master all the tips and tricks which you can get out of each of the mightiest gaming consoles on the scene today.

PlayTV

Sony's latest add-on hardware for the PlayStation3 comes in the form of PlayTV. This clever bit of kit takes your PS3 and turns it into a PVR, or a Digital TV recorder - a lot like a Sky+ box. It'll allow you to watch Freeview television in full HD (providing you have your PS3 set up for HD); record programmes to your HDD for later viewing; pause and rewind live television and will even allow you to access your saved programmes and watch live TV on-the-go via a networked PSP. Phew, there's alot of features. You can get it for £52 from Amazon.

BBC iPlayer

The love affair between the PlayStation3 and the BBC's on-demand catch up service, iPlayer, began when some bright spark managed to develop a web front-end for the iPlayer, taking the video streams from the original BBC site and using them on the PS3-conpatible website at http://www.ps3iplayer.com/. The BBC soon offered the guy who created this site a job, and the PlayStation3 is now compatible with the official version of the iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/. The site has a very simple and clear interface, and there are pretty much no glitches to be found. The video streams are very high quality, and they take no time to buffer. So, if you missed Eastenders or Doctor Who and you don't want to watch it back at your PC, switch on your PS3 and load up the iPlayer in the PS3's browser, sit back and enjoy.

Demand Five

Demand Five is the on-demand TV service from Channel Five, and is the only one of the other terrestrial channels whose web service is compatible with PS3. Bear in mind that it isn't designed for PS3 though - it's designed for PC, and so there are layout issues to deal with. However, once you get past those, the streaming video is clear and good quality, and the audio is good too. You can find it at http://demand.five.tv/.

YouTube TV

Everyone's favourite video site, YouTube, sports a snazzy PS3 compatible version of it's extensive video database. The layout is simple yet sleek, the controls easy and it makes surfing YouTube - dare I say it? - better than on a PC. You can even login to your account and add videos as favourites and more. There's still no comments integration though, which is the one downside. You can access the PS3 version for free at http://www.youtube.com/tv. It works for Wii, too.

Linford

Labels: Gamer's Guide to

Christ, the Wii games are flowing in now, this seriously looks like the Wii is going to get some decent third party games now.

With the orginal Overlord I have to say I was disappointed, the style of the game in previews reminded me of a childhood favourite, Dungeon Keeper, a classic RTS which I will do a Retro review of one day. However, instead Overlord 1 was basically an evil Pikmin game, with players controlling the Overlord himself, who in turn controls his evil goblin minions, seperated into four groups, each with their own unique ability. I played the game on the PC and the controls didnt flow right, it was too awkward to control and I often found combat to be easier by using the Overlord rather than the minion horde, as it was supposed to play out. That said Im hoping that Overlord 2 (Coming to PC, PS3 and XBOX 360) & Overlord Dark Legend will fix all of these issues, and at the end result make a really good game out of it. The Wii control scheme would work wonders for the unorthadox method of attack used in Overlord, solving the major problem I had with the game.

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So all in all I think 2009 might be a good year for the Wii, it may not have any stellar gaming titles coming to it like the 360 and PS3, but its starting to pick up ground and hopefully the success of these games will lead more games developers to start investing in the console.

Tom

Labels: Overlord

So I just made a twitter account. If you wanna hear more of my thoughts on games and such, go to www.twitter.com/meadows14.

Matt

Labels: Matthew, Matthew Meadows, Misc.

Not one for school or work people.

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Add what looks to be another great game for the Wii and Nintendo might just be getting back on track with Hardcore gamers.

Labels: Dead Space

Flower is thatgamecompany’s 2^nd game on the PSN, and 3^rd game overall. I haven’t played the companies 2 previous games, Fl0w and Cloud, but after playing this, I think I’m gonna have to. Flower’s art style and production values have shone through in this PSN effort.

So what is this game? I'll try my best here but I can't promise that this will be an accurate description of what the game is. You start off the game as a single petal in a colourless field. After you extract the petal from the flower your aim is to blow it around the map, touching other flowers as you go, all the while releasing colour into the previously grey surroundings.

One problem that this game might have is its relatively high price, considering that it’s very short. The game costs $10/£6.30/€8. To be honest, if you were looking for a long lasting game, you probably weren’t looking at Flower. But if you were, then don’t expect this game to provide more than 3 or 4 hours of entertainment.

As you can tell from this review’s images, this game looks great. Combining excellent grass effects with a wonderfully bright/moody sky really makes this game stand out, especially considering its price. If you appreciate well crafted graphics with no noticeable flaws then get this game.

Now, I hate to be “that guy” that brings up the debate over whether video games are an art form. But this game really strays the boundary between game and art. On one hand I’m playing it with a controller, but on the other hand it’s like no “game” I’ve played before.

Get to the point, you’re probably thinking. So I will. I can’t score this game. It’s just simply too much of a subjective experience for me to guide you on whether to pay £6.30 for it. All I will leave you with is two links that seem to describe popular feeling on the internet for this game.

Review
Forum

Matt

Unrelated note: We have had some problems with the ShockCast. We recorded the first episode over Skype but the audio quality was terrible. If you have any VoIP recording suggestions then please email me at matthewmeadows@hotmail.co.uk.

Labels: Flower, Matthew, Matthew Meadows, PSN, Review

Mirror’s Edge was released in 2008 by DICE. I haven’t reviewed it until now because I hadn’t felt like I’d finished with it. But now, after completing it 4 times, I can tell you that it is fantastic, for me, but might not be for other gamers. 

You see, I’m an odd type of gamer. Whereas some complain about frustrating gameplay, I love it. Remember that Burnout demo? I set myself a course stretching the entire length of the sizeable demo level and challenged myself to complete it at full boost without crashing. 15 hours later I did it. Sounds like hell? Well you probably won’t like this game.

The reason I make the connection between the Burnout challenge and Mirror’s Edge is that they both offer incredible frustration. At times Mirror’s Edge can be the hardest, most unforgiving game in the world. At other times it can be a free flowing, rewarding experience which will leave you gawping at the excellence of the first-person camera perspective.

However, even the masochistic gamers like myself, will hate the combat. While hand-to-hand combat is passable, the shooting really blows. If you dare fire at any target more than 1 meter away you will undoubtedly miss, due to the terrible aiming controls of the guns. What annoys me the most is that the developers probably justify this lack of accuracy by saying “oh, well, your not supposed to use guns, it’s a platformer”. Bullshit. Let me tell you now, when you get onto a certain section of the game that takes place on a boat, you will agree with me 100%.

If you appreciate good art style you’re in for an absolute treat. Mirror’s Edge is my favourite looking game of all time. Sure Killzone 2 looks nice, and sure Uncharted wasn’t without it’s charm, but Mirror’s Edge paints the important parts of the game in different colours making the game look like a 6 year old’s painting that has been sharpened by Picasso.

The score I’m about to give is for you guys. You are the ones who may or may not purchase the game because of this and as such it would be irresponsible for me to give it a 10/10 (which is my personal score). Because of the frustration factor, which will turn a lot of gamers off, I just can’t recommend it for everyone. 

5/10 

Matt

Labels: Matthew, Matthew Meadows, Mirrors Edge, Review

The news lots of people have been waiting for since L4D was released was the news of what downloadable content would be made available to the 360 and PC versions of the game. Today it was announced that Valve would be releasing a new multiplayer mode entitles Survival, aswell as including Death Toll and Blood Harvest to the Versus mode. The pack has been dubbed the L4D: Survival Pack and will be out this Spring for no charge at all for both Xbox 360 and PC users.

Grimmy

First things first with this game; it isn’t based on the movie by the same name and released in the same year, it has many similarities to the Walt Disney movie: Pirates (obviously), English soldiers who move from being the goodies to the baddies, then back to goodies and even a ship called the “Black Pearl.” The game was developed by legendary RPG studio, Bethesda, in 2003 but despite its link to the popular movie, gained only average reviews.

The year is 1630, and the Caribbean is bustling with piracy. The main protagonist is Captain Nathaniel Hawk of a small merchant ship, the “Victory”. After leaving the port of Oxbay (which serves as the tutorial, teaching you how to fight, buy and sell booty, hire crewman, fix your ship or loan money) you are given control of a ship and a crew and then given complete freedom in usual Bethesda fashion. Some players might find this intimidating, personally: I loved it.


The 7 islands that you can now explore are each controlled by one of six different factions, with England controlling two. You can choose to do whatever you want, sail to Redmond to inform the English Governor there of the attack on Oxbay that forced you to leave, you could continue your career as a merchant sailor, going from island to island buying and selling goods or you could turn pirate, praying on rich trading ships and becoming a terror of the seas. The fast travel system -which would be essential for a game like this that involves moving large areas that would usually take days-, is solid and straight forward. You are given a crow’s eye view of a map, focussing on your ship. The graphics for the time are beautiful, one thing I disliked about Morrowind (which was released by Bethesda a year earlier) was the graphics, in the small amount of time between these two games, the change is astounding. The gameplay too is good, the main quest line is captivating but not original as once again, ideas from the Disney movie have been borrowed; the hunt for cursed Aztec treasure is the order of the day for this game.


The good points of the Pirates of the Caribbean are almost equalled by its weak points however. The huge areas and brilliant graphics are often dwarfed by bug problems that can destroy your entire campaign; multiple and regular saves are a must. Misspellings in the subtitles are also common and give the game a very unprofessional feel at times. Other, smaller, things; such as how a single, regular crewman will often slay highly paid officers during boarding battles get increasingly annoying. The vagueness of the quest log can also become frustrating at times; this is the draw back to sand-box RPGs, with other games a system of trial and error will –in most cases- eventually pay off. In Pirates you may often find yourself combing the Caribbean, looking for “someone with information about a secret pirate hideout”. Asking the tavern keeper of every island is usually a good way of finding this kind of information out, however, even this sometimes fails to work and you have to ask people at random or have the good fortune to simply stumble upon the person/place you were looking for in the first place.

The overall quality and enjoyability (yes, I think I just made this word up) of Pirates of the Caribbean is high, however, the constant paranoid saving that becomes almost second nature due to a fear of game-killing bugs spoils what was otherwise a great game that, with a few tweaks, had the ability to be a game to be remembered for years to come. Instead, the game was forgotten about soon after its release.

7/10

Lewis

Labels: PC, pirates of the caribbean, Retro review, Xbox

Well its true, Nintendo have finally got a range of decent games to be released, that will boost the Wii's gaming repertoire a bit more. If you’ve read my No More Heroes review, you’ll know how much of a gaming gem it is and a must have game to have in your Wii collection, almost purely based upon its adult setting and characters. Excluding a No More Heroes sequel which has not got a defined release date as of the time of writing, three more “adult” games are due for release in the near future that cater to this serious niche in the Wii’s gaming library:

Madworld- A black and white gore fest that focuses around the exploits of “Jack” in an underground fighting circuit.

The Conduit– A first person shooter that promises to use clever graphical techniques in order to push the Wii’s graphic capabilities to the max.

Tenchu Shadow Assassins- If your familiar to the Ninja Gaiden series then the concept of ninjas won’t be to new to you. Tenchu is just that, running around on a open free map killing to your hearts content, cause stealth is leaving no witnesses.

So it looks like after what seems an age of waiting the Wii finally begins to churn out some killer games that aren’t cheap ports (which in turn get ported over to the PS2). I can’t say anything for definite but a series of high runners might knock over a domino and see more hardcore games being made for the Wii……

Tom

As Linford pointed out, we are on the verge of a new GGTL experience, a GGTL 2.0 if you will. This "experience" does begin, but doesn't end with the ShockCast. Expect the site to start delivering videos and other interactive tidbits.

We said we wanted to provide you with the complete gaming news website and we're committed to fulfilling that promise.

If you have any ideas on improving the site in ANY way, or even some criticisms, email me at matthewmeadows@hotmail.co.uk. Who knows, your name might get read out on a podcast!

Matt

Labels: 2.0, Matthew, Matthew Meadows, Misc., ShockCast

Some of our more regular readers will have noticed that the general design of the blog has changed, with a brand new top banner and a slight change in colour scheme. Our less regular readers will not have noticed. However, I feel it is only fair to introduce the latest in gaming journalism brilliance to you all before it goes live. I am proud to reveal, ShockCast.

ShockCast is a monthly gaming podcast from the guys here at Gamer's Guide to Life, providing the listener with news items, audio reviews and general gaming chit chat to listen to whilst on the bus, at work, in bed on their iPod or at their computer. The podcast will be available to download for free (that's right, you don't need to fork out one pretty penny) from the site to your computer, PlayStation3, or MP3 player/iPod.

Look out for ShockCast, episode one, coming over the next week or so.

Linford

Labels: ShockCast

The review for Lord of the Rings Conquest has been posted under the 30th of January, if you want to read up on it you can find it here: http://ggtl.blogspot.com/2009/01/review-lord-of-rings-conquest.html

Labels: Conquest, LotR

• Tom Clancy's HAWX has been dated for release in March. Ubisoft has announced that the game, which is set in the same universe as the Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfigher series and incorporates elements from EndWar, will be released on both Xbox360 and PS3 on 6th March. [MORE INFORMATION]

• LittleBigPlanet developers, Media Molecule, will be releasing free Valentine's Day DLC for you to adorn your Sackboy with, ready to serenade that Sackgirl you've always quite fancied. The DLC will be available for download from the PlayStation Store. [MORE INFORMATION]

• 43 former Free Radical employees were saved by Crytek after the developer, most famous for the Timesplitters series, went into adminstration over Christmas. [MORE INFORMATION]

• Uber-developer Electronic Arts has delayed the release of The Godfather II until the 2010 fiscal year. The decision came after EA realised that the game would not get the hype they wanted with other massive releases in 2009, such as Killzone 2 and Street Fighter IV. [MORE IFNORMATION]

• The demo version of Killzone 2 hits the PlayStation Store today, Thursday 5th February 2009, at around 5:00pm. You can expect to play the first two parts of the first level, named 'Corinth River'. Stay tuned to GGTL for the demo review over the next few days. [MORE INFORMATION]

• Electronic Arts have snagged the entire rights to the works of Robert Ludlum. Including the 'Bourne' series. [MORE INFORMATION]

• A PlayStation Home patch is due for release today. The update includes many bug fixes and updates. For the full list, click the link. [MORE INFORMATION]

Labels: NewsBites

Right, as the title implies, this is just a really quick post. I'd just like to say sorry for the late NewsBites posts recently; I've been very busy with IT coursework (particularly tonight). Should I be lucky enough to get another snow day tomorrow (fingers crossed), you can expect a NewsBites post early tomorrow afternoon. However, if I have to pull myself out of bed and comply to government education regulations (ie. go to school), you can expect it sometime tomorrow.

Linford

PS. look out for reviews of Savage Moon and WipeoutHD in the next week or so.

First off, sorry about not posting for a while. A wonderful cocktail of coursework, exams and illness (along with laziness) prevented me from doing so.

Skate 2 is the latest in EA’s skateboarding franchise. Whilst this game offers little difference from the last, it’s still a solid game, with only a few problems.

In case you didn’t know, the Skate franchise’s success is based on it’s utilisation of the right stick. The right stick is used to do all kick based tricks (ollie, nollie, kickflip, pop shuvit etc), and the left stick is used to direct the player. This system works really well if you are allowed to just go around and “jam” (def: do whatever you want), but when the game forces you to pull off certain tricks to progress, it can get tricky, especially since there are literally about 30 tricks mapped onto the stick, which isn’t the most accurate input in the world.

You won’t have had to have bought the first Skate to understand what’s going on in Skate 2. The near complete lack of any story means that you can just pick this game up straight away. However, the lack of story really put the game on a downer for me, the thing I loved about Tony Hawk: Underground was its great, if tacky plotline, and although the Skate series has improved on the Tony Hawk gameplay formula it’s still a big ol’ shame to not have any real substance behind the gameplay.

The online is a big improvement over the first game, and pretty much the only big difference between Skate 1 and 2 (along with on-foot “gameplay” which I’ll talk about later). There’s all your normal online skating stuff like S.K.A.T.E, which works like H.O.R.S.E of basketball fame, a Hall of Meat mode, which challenges you to get the most bail-points, and a few other standard modes. But the cool thing for me was the spot downloader. If someone online made a “spot” (a place to skate) then you could play it and try and beat their score. The beauty of this feature is its competitive nature; if anyone takes my Cougar Mountain high score, they're dead.

The gameplay of Skate 2 is both its main good quality, and main downfall. When your stringing together quad-kickflips over a staircase, its amazing, but when you get told to do a varial heelflip 360 over a security guard infested staircase, you want to throw the game out of the window. Seriously, at times the game is unnecessarily hard, and not in a good way, in a; why didn’t it register that I did a heelflip instead of a pop-shuvit way. Add onto this, the game’s terrible on-foot controls, which feel like they were made by a five man Soviet game development group coming straight outta Vladivostok, then you get a teeth grinding, frustrating  (at times) game.

Overall, if you’re a really zen person, with massive amounts of patience then you’ll enjoy this game, but if you’re a hot headed idiot with uncontrollable thumbs, like me, then give this game a miss.

6/10

Matt

Labels: Matthew, Matthew Meadows, Review, Skate 2

Now, I must start this article by admitting that I never played the first F.E.A.R game. There was no demo available, and I really didn't want to fork out more than twenty quid for a game which I may or may not have liked. However, things are different this time around; a demo has been released for the latest from Warner Bros, F.E.A.R2: Project Origin.

There isn't much of an insight to the story in this demo, just one hell of alot of shooting. It's obvious, from the flashbacks which the player experiences to the pure and total destruction everywhere, that a disaster has happened. Why, though, there are armed guards trying to kill you, and why there are multiple ghostly spirits and other-worldly creatures is yet to be seen.

The demo begins with a very flashy cutscene, some scary lighting effects and some eerie background sound. All par for the course in a horror game, you might think. However, you soon find that F.E.A.R2 isn't the most frightening game you've ever laid your hands on. It's creepy, I'll give it that much, but to call it a horror game would be a little too kind.

There are some things that Warner have got just right in the horror department, though. The graphics are dark and moody and there's a few of those 'what was that I saw' moments, where you look again and whatever you did see has now gone. They're the sort of bits in the demo that are quite freaky.

Gameplay is good, and shooting in the game solid. The aiming systems feel very similar to those of Call of Duty 4; but, then again, what shooters aren't compared to CoD nowadays? The use of slowmo is well implemented and is essential to beating the game, especially with the hordes of enemies who flock to the first sign of gunfire. The weapons feel good, although there isn't much difference between the feel of the same types; the sub-machine gun is very similar to the assault rifle, bar the fact that they have different scopes. The bad side is the gore; it's out of place and actually takes away from the creepy feel of the demo.

F.E.A.R2 looks like one of those games which you might pick up on a whim because you like the boxart or the screenshots look good. Another reason why you might pick it up is the fact that you like shooters, or you were a fan of the first. However, the likelyhood of the matter is that F.E.A.R 2 is probably one of those 'pick it up when it's £14.99 pre-owned' games. Definitely rent before you buy.

It's a shame. I was hoping to be wetting myself with fright.

Linford

Labels: Demo Impressions, FEAR2