Then I was told it was a MOBA (which stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), again I had not heard of this as yet. I was starting to look more like the idiot I knew I was, but basically proving it to the gaming world.

So not wanting to look too stupid I did my interview and got to play a level with the developer, and it was from here I was hooked. Looking at the other MOBA’s they seem quite intense, which is not a criticism, I was just not looking for a huge time killer. This game delivers a great mix of fun, longevity and graphics (and as it happens wastes plenty of time in the process).

Lets break it down,

Awesomenaughts is a 2D side scrolling world. It has a practice arena against Bots (or with friends who don’t have an XBox Live account) and then after that it is all based on playing online (hence MOBA).

You start the game with a step by step guide using Lonestar, the cowboy of the bunch. It takes you through how to play the game and what everything is on screen. It’s quite a useful little section, but really does not prepare you for the skill you need to play online!

The premise of the game itself is to destroy the other teams turrets and then drilling system (you get to that by destroying the turrets). A team is made up of three Awesomenaughts and a plethora of droids that are AI controlled that keep spawning and helping you take out the turrets (they draw fire from you). Whenever you join a match or respawn the loading screen is quite clever. You launch from a ship in space and fall to the ground in a pod. While in free fall you collect silver solar credits before you land in the safety of your base.

The thing to remember with this game is it’s about collecting “solar”, the money unit in the game, to upgrade your character so that they can then be more effective. To start with I was just taking on towers and running around and dying very quickly. It pays to kill the little re-spawning droids and collect their solar. If you can, try to keep out the way of other Awesomenaughts. It is great to get the first kill (lots of solar) but it can become a dangerous game if you are the first to die, especially if you are trying to take down Clunk (the big tank character) with Leon or Froggy G (Assassin and scout).

Each level has secret areas with creatures (kill them get health) some are bigger than others so if you kill a solar boss, then you get rewarded however it is more likely he will kill you first. These can be very useful as you play, and suddenly need to run away. You can also press the right bumper button (Xbox) and teleport home and get your health regenerated but if you are dying and being shot, the teleport won’t work quick enough. In this case….Run!

A game can last anywhere between 10 minutes (from starting at the beginning) to 25 minutes (or more). It is however addictive, but  very relaxed. As yet the community seem to be understanding of the learning curve, and all the hardcore MOBA fans are playing League of Legends. I was a little annoyed that you had to unlock some of the characters as the ones that are given at the start I could not get on with. Playing at the show it was all unlocked and highlighted the best aspects of the game, the reality is more like it would be for games like COD where you gain XP and then unlock perks and levels and characters. As you do find a character you enjoy, the game becomes infinitely more rewarding and fun.

The range of characters is also pretty good. At the moment there are 6 main heroes, each has an ability that benefits the teams goal. The match itself is 3 vs 3 and on the same team you can’t be two of the same character. So if you join a session and your chosen character is not playable then you will have to wait until you join another game. I watched 2 comprehensive videos on how to play, and basically reviewing the game.

They are

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-YdnISxfU

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSfB_aAUZhM

The graphics of Awesomenaughts are pretty awesome. It has a very glossy, comic book/cartoon feel to it. It has bright colours and is easy to see who is on each side. Red vs Blue. It flows well and while being frenetic never gets too overwhelming (if you can just get used to it). It just feels right, great graphics that are not the only feature carrying the game along.

One of the negative sides I feel I need to mention is the omission of a real lobby system. It would be nice to have something like Call of Duty where you enter, can stay with the same people if you are enjoying the game or leave if you aren’t. After a match has ended you have the option of playing another or leaving the game. If you choose to stay in the game it does keep you in the same lobby with the same people, it would just be nice to see that while you wait.

So far I have played a 5 hours of Awesomenaughts (according to my Raptr account) and some of that is playing online and some is with my wife and best mate. That is the other Awesome thing to mention. 3 player split screen, that works. I have a 37 inch TV and the 3 boxes we all played in were still very playable. Yes you lose a little bit, but for the most part, well it is just great fun. I have yet to get friends playing this game online as well and so can’t talk about how it works if you are in a party, but reliable web reports so far say that it is all running smoothly.

So what is my final thoughts on this game?

It’s Awesome.

It got my wife playing a game I want to play that we can both play together (leave it). It is fun and engaging and colourful and did I mention awesome.

This is probably the best 800MS points I have spent. (It’s close between my retro love of Monkey Island and this).

It is a fantastic game that I will be playing for a good while yet. It would be even better with mates but even playing random people is not a problem compared to the many other MP games.

I am recommending everyone to buy this game, it is worth it because it is….well……Awesome.

This is one of my first attempts at using my new AverMedia capture device and I still can’t get the footage edited in HD. (it outputs it fine from the box, but then you can’t chop it down for a long game.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtZVGUIcVos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoBqlW6Nz1M

Tom looks at a few news stories, (and by the sounds of it in a toilet….)

Thanks to Thinking for Tuesday for the music clips.

I’m a little late on the post (3 hours ish) but there you have it. Looks nice too

The musical breaks are TomTom in his band Thinking for Tuesday

The random squeaking is my chair I can’t believe the mic picks up so much

Sorry SSX Tricky wasn’t on Dreamcast it was Xbox (original) I had a Dreamcast too but at that point I was a PC person

Pre-order Bonus

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0cQ6b1zlp4

Believe in Ghosts #2

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwNlas4F3ao

With a development cycle of over three years and twice the production capacity of any previous Ubisoft game, Assassin’s Creed III is set to release on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Windows PC and is also in development for Wii U™ from Nintendo. Assassin’s Creed III is developed by Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with six other Ubisoft studios.

Set against the backdrop of the American Revolution in the late 18th century, Assassin’s Creed III introduces a new hero, Ratohnaké:ton, of Native American and English heritage. Adopting the name Connor, he becomes the new voice for justice in the ancient war between the Assassins and Templars. Players become an Assassin in the war for liberty against ruthless tyranny in the most stylized and fluid combat experiences in the franchise to date. Assassin’s Creed III spans the Revolutionary War, taking gamers from the vibrant, untamed frontier to bustling colonial towns and the intense, chaotic battlefields where George Washington’s Continental Army clashed with the imposing British Army.

Assassin’s Creed III is powered by Ubisoft-AnvilNext, a revolutionary new game engine that delivers breakthroughs in visual quality, character models and artificial intelligence. Assassin’s Creed III will feature a ground-breaking level of stunning graphics that bring Colonial America to life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVUMPrv8oRw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xarVPBxj3wM

Here is the new “Inside Recon” trailer number 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCv6B1EKemE

This game keeps on looking better and better, but how will it play?

This will be on the Xbox 360, PS3  and Windows PC.

Developed by Irrational Games, BioShock Infinite won more than 75 editorial awards at E3 in 2011, including the Game Critics Awards’ Best of Show. The title has been named one of the most anticipated games of 2012 by more than 50 media outlets, including WIRED, USA Today, TIME, GameSpot, and GameTrailers.

The BioShock series has is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed series, which has sold over 9 million units worldwide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Gnh6gL2fI

It reminds me of unreal tournament a bit the speed at which it plays. But with ADS and COD style perks/weapons/attachments.

Definitely worth the 1200M$ IMO. To be honest i would be happy if this was the multiplayer to a full release.

Off the top of my head, based on about an hour or twos play, here are some 1st impressions.

Pros

• Fun!
• No one seems to be taking it that seriously, i saw zero camping.
• Weapons feel good and hit detection seems ok. Multipliers for headshots and hitbox accuracy seems good enough to make it worth going for headshots.
• Weapon balance seems pretty good.
• Knife isn’t a 1 hit kill!
• MASSIVE amount of customisation, more than COD even, because as well as weapon mods & perks, you can change your body shape and characteristics (not just cosmetic, it actually effects your players stats), as well as the way you move around the map.
• The grappling gun is immense fun. You can release it mid air and pull out a weapon or grapple onto another surface.
• Good verticality due to the gliding/grapling/trampolines etc etc.
• The maps are great, seem balanced, and spawns seem ok.
• FREE DLC (I got a free map, and new weapons already)
• Unlock system trickle feeds you tokens so that you can get used to stuff gradually without it being overwhelming.
• Health packs and ammo boxes provide a good compromise between COD style loudouts and map based weapon spawning (i hope that makes sense, i can’t describe what i mean very well). This also deters people from camping to get more ammo and regen health (health regens on it’s own, but slowly).

Cons

• It is hectic as fuck which i find fun, but it could put others off.
• Shotguns are not very powerful (although i haven’t unlocked all the perks yet so that might improve).
• 30 FPS & Graphics aren’t as polished as COD, but it would be a bit harsh to judge it on that considering it’s only 1200M$
• No skill based matchmaking so there are people with better unlocks than you, but nothing seems amazingly overpowered.
• The customisation is a bit overwhelming, i would say there’s more customisation than COD (but less weapons).
• Invisibilty (but you can’t use weapons while invisible and they are fairly easy to spot)
• The only overpowered/nooby thing i’ve seen so far is the katana blade. People rush or divebomb you with it. However there is a perk that lowers damage of blades which i haven’t used yet. Also it’s one of the DLC weapons so might yet be re-balanced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZlOx1MUnF0

So to start my review let me say that places like Play and Amazon have Football Manger 2012 for £14.99. That is a good price (and a testament to the overpriced nature of console games.)

The first thing to notice is the need to register the game through Steam. I am sure the many hackers and coders of the world will devise a work around for the pesky need to pay for it, but as I said, at £14.99 I could afford to treat myself and help keep the developers fed.

I like the fact it registers through Steam. It means I only need the disk the once, hell, I don’t even need that but it is cheaper than buying it through Steam itself. I can then install the Steam client on another machine and play the game there. I know I can do this with the disk, but if I am half way around the world and fancy the fix that only FM2012 can provide, then I am good to go.

The next (and I realise I am not even into the game play yet) thing I am impressed with is an idea a friend of mine had. I can’t take credit for this so you can all thank this guy for the idea, (I also appreciate this has nothing to do with the actual game!) If you have a dropbox account, then you can make your dropbox folder the location for your saved games. That way you can be around the world and play the game you were playing at home, without the need of a memory stick or the disk to install the game. The web is a wonderful place! (Back off pesky piracy laws….) If you don’t know about dropbox, well click here sign up and we both get a little more space to store our web based documents.

However I digress completely from the topic and nature of the review, so without any more distractions, Football Manager 2012.

I downloaded the demo from Steam, which allows you to play up till  January of the first season. I chose to start unemployed and made my self an ex-international star with prospects. I turn down a few low level jobs in Germany before landing Aston Villa (and if you think this is unrealistic just wait…) I take charge of the club and am ready to look at the new features of the game. Well as always there are so many it is going to be hard to tell you about them. The good thing about FM is that you can spend as much or as little time in each menu as you want. There is the detail of setting each player on specific training regimes, conditioning and tactics. You can scout staff who will help make this easier, they will suggest the best training for each player depending on how they perform.

Scouting players and staff has become a much nicer interface with easy to use filters and getting reports on how well a player will fit into your team making it easier.

The media section has been developed (although still not perfect) allowing you to add a tone to your voice in the press encounters. You can cautiously praise an oppositions player or passionately praise your own. This also carries over to team talks, allowing you to praise or damn your team. Sometimes either way will lift their spirits and others times they look demotivated.  There is a fine line you tread in the backroom with your team. It helps to have  good assistant manager who can guide you to what you should say at points.

There is now also a team meeting feature. This allows you to call all your players together and fire them up or let them talk about what is bothering them. This has been quite a useful tool, but after holding a few of these, the team did say we have had a lot of team meetings. I thought that was funny, as you should surely try to bring the team together in football? What do I know?

The tactics are now even easier to use and allow you to chain up a few for the team to learn to play. This helps with consistency as changing your tactics after each match can mean that the team will have no sense of structure. There are plenty of menu items I have missed (or avoided) but I recently found one that analysed your tactics, how many goals you concede and score when playing that formation. You get how many games you have used for that formation and how many minutes that equates to. It is incredibly in-depth and you can lose hours to the pursuit of looking through stats and sheets before you even get to game one of the season.

The actual match plays well on my new (ish) PC. I have yet to try it on an older PC or Mac to see how the animations are coped with. I really like the directors cut of the match that gives you a variety of angles. The players are more realistic in their movement and their roles, it’s still got a long way to go before the animations rival the likes of Fifa and Pro Evo, but then this game is not designed with that market in mind, it is a stats-freaks wet dream, it’s not reliant on the graphics (although they are more polished throughout the entire game). The game has the normal options of speed, full match, extended, highlights and these are easily customisable to how long you want to spend in a match. I have it set to a reasonable speed and it can still take about 5-10 minutes of play time to get through a match. You have the feature of recording parts of the match allowing you to post them to your favourite social network sites. This is something I have no interest in, however if that is your bag……well it’s in their now.

The game now also allows you to add and remove active leagues depending on where you want to actively manage. I did this going from the demo to the full game. I added the main European leagues to my already established UK structure. I started with the demo and enjoyed the changes so I invested in the game, so what happened next?

Well, I was at Aston Villa for about 4 months when Chelsea sacked their manager. I put out a press release stating my interest in the job, and immediately had to issue a public apology or face getting fired. Not that it mattered, I was offered the job at Chelsea, 4 months after starting in football (so 33 years old and just retired from playing) I am hired as the manager for one of the biggest names in football. Reality aside, check me out. (Talking about reality, if you did not see this story from about 6 years ago about a Football Manager fan applying to be the real manager of Middlesbrough, then you should have a look)

I have completed my first season and brought the team to 6th in the Premiership and in that time I have tried not to just splash cash on anyone, I have tried to scout young talent as well as experience. The trouble is with the name “Chelsea” comes the counter offer in the transfer market. A player worth £4.5 million is negotiated to £20million. Generally taking half my usable budget on one player! So far I have bought 2 players and signed about 4 or 5 who were nearing contract end dates or were young enough to tempt to Chelsea and only face a small fee for doing it. Will this work? I have no idea.

I have signed Michael Owen  from Man Utd and Owen Hargreeves (both in their late 30′s) for backup players, that’s right 2 injury prone old players. How can this go wrong?

FM2012 is a great game. I am not a football fan, in fact I can’t stand the real game. This is the irony of my gaming life. I love sports games.

I think for FM(any one in the series) I enjoy having 2 PC monitors, one playing a film or TV Series while I wade around the statistics of football. It is enjoyable to be able to take control of every aspect of the game and see the workings of one the worlds richest clubs (and then get fired as you drive the team into debt and the bottom half of the league table).

A few things I miss are the little holes they plugged a few versions ago. Like the fact you could add another human manager and loan a bad reserve to a low league team for £100million and neither board block the process! That was fun.

However they have got so much right in the franchise. More control over every aspect, from how you react to the media and the team talks, better animations in game and easier navigations between menus.

If you love the FM series, then you already own this game. If you are new to management sims and are looking for something to last you, well look no further. The learning curve may be a little steep if this is your first attempt, however you do have the step by step tutorial (which unlocks an achievement, that’s the other thing that has been added!!) which guides you nicely through the basics and sure enough when you are hooked, you will keep learning as you play. I am still learning about every thing that you can do in the game, it is a VAST database of information and statistics that you can drop and pick up easily. It is great that it is now through Steam and has provided achievements for those who were starting to miss that Xbox Live feel.

In conclusion, I have to say it is the best FM yet and I am sure they will continue to improve on the forums feedback. This is the only football management game you ever need buy, I haven’t tried EA’s version, but I don’t have time, I am too busy playing on Football Manager 2012.

If we did ratings this would get 4.5 stars. But we don’t, so it doesn’t.

I did get a chance to play this at Eurogamer 2011 and it seemed to be good then. See how it goes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEelVBr7_bE

Capcom, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, is very proud to announce that Resident Evil 6 is in full development and scheduled for release on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system on November 20, 2012 with a Windows PC version to follow. Blending action and survival horror, this latest instalment in the multi-million selling franchise is the most ambitious, immersive and feature rich title of the series to date and promises to be the dramatic horror experience of the year.

It has been ten years since the Raccoon City incident and the President of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind what took place in the belief that it will curb the current resurgence in bioterrorist activity. Due to be by the President’s side is his personal friend and Raccoon City survivor, Leon S. Kennedy, but when the venue suffers a bioterrorist attack, Leon is forced to face a President transformed beyond recognition and make his hardest ever decision. At the same time, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance member Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack.  With no country safe from these attacks and the ensuing outbreaks, the entire world’s population is united by a common fear that there is no hope left.

In a first for the franchise, Resident Evil 6 sees series favorites Leon and Chris come together to face this unprecedented threat. They will be joined by new characters, each with their own unique perspective and involvement, in this relentless dramatic horror experience enacted on a global scale.

“Resident Evil 6 represents a giant stride forward in the evolution of the series,” commented Katsuhiko Ichii, Head of R&D and Global Marketing. “The development team, led by Hiroyuki Kobayashi, is working tirelessly to deliver the most impressive Resident Evil® title ever both in terms of scope and production values. We are all genuinely excited by the title and cannot wait to share it with the world.”

Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Resident Evil 6 Executive Producer added: “From the outset the team’s intention was to create an experience that delivers a gripping storyline, tense single-player and co-op action all set against a constant theme of horror. We are calling this fusion dramatic horror and are confident it will resonate with both existing fans of the series as well as newcomers.”

Then here you go the RE6 Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmC1lZeQad4

The game will be available for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation3 from this date but will be released on the PC (Windows) at a later date. There will also be a multiplayer beta in April for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

“Ubisoft prides itself on creating some of the most compelling and innovative experiences in digital entertainment,” said Adrian Lacey, IP development director at Ubisoft Studios – France. “Today we are feature complete in our MP, Single player and 4 player coop campaign modes. We have taken the decision to move the date in order to ensure that all these ingredients are pushed to the highest level and provide a truly unique shooter experience. The Ghost Recon franchise is known for setting the standard of high definition gaming and we believe the extra couple of months will allow us to reach that goal. We would like to thank all Ghost Recon fans for their patience and look forward to unveiling some exciting new elements in the coming weeks.”

For a message from the development team and ongoing updates about the game, please visit: www.GhostRecon.com and www.facebook.com/GhostRecon

Players can journey to the majestic holy city of Jerusalem, the opulent imperial district of Constantinople and the colourful mercantile district of Dyers. Fans of the franchise can also revisit favourite Italian Renaissance maps from Assassin’s Creed^® Brotherhood specifically requested by Assassin’s Creed players to be included in the pack. To start, players will explore the historic city of Firenze (Florence), then travel to the mountains of San Donato and visit night time Siena with its carnival lights, talented performers and deadly hiding spots.

The Mediterranean Traveller Map Pack will be available for download on January 24 for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE^® and $9.99 on PlayStation^®Network and Windows PC.

In Assassin’s Creed Revelations, master assassin Ezio Auditore walks in the footsteps of his legendary mentor, Altair, on a journey of discovery and revelation. It is a perilous path – one that will take Ezio to Constantinople, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a growing army of Templars threatens to destabilize the region.

In addition to Ezio’s award-winning story, the acclaimed online multiplayer experience returns, refined and expanded, with more modes, more maps and more characters that allow players to test their assassin skills against others from around the world. The latest chapter in the Assassin’s Creed saga also includes revolutionary gameplay, allowing players to manipulate the construct of Desmond’s memories and the Animus, to decipher the mysteries of his past and gain insight into the future.

This year is slightly different, We are still handing out awards to forum members but on top of this we are doing games this year. So lets start with the forum & members awards.

Poster of the year:- LuckyNoS7evin (yes me)

This was a close battle for the person who contributes to the forum and has done so all year, I do however thank the guys for voting for me and I do have to mention the close runners up of Schro and TomTom. Schro mainly for his insightful gaming knowledge and all-round video editing prowess, then there is TomTom who has written articles for SFFA and also got the podcast up and running.

Thread of the year:- You Know What Lads

This thread was all about the 5 current games on our xbox gamercard, that’s right there was a fight to have the best games on a gamercard. The runner-up to this thread was a thread I cannot find anymore but involved one of our members going to other random forums joining and seeing how long it would take to get banned. I’m not talking gaming forums or the useful stuff, I’m talking about an incest forum and others like that.

Gamer of the year:- Schro

If you don’t hang around the forum much Schro (schrogeek) will not mean much to you unless you watch his youtube channel. On the 28th April he posted the following youtube video which took youtube by the nuts and swung it round his head. I was on a night out in Manchester at the time but I think in 24 hours it had 100K+ views. This shot schro to YT fame and he now has a little contract from machinima, well done Schro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjApKHyEGTc

Biggest toys out of pram moment:- Tie Schro and LuckyNoS7evin

Well that was going to be be a close one between me and Schro but we tied. Schro got pissed off and left the forum for a couple of weeks and me well I got pissed off and wrote this.

I tell you what is pissing me off…

when black ops came out you could get into a game as a single player but not as a party… it took almost a week for them to get this sorted or longer I can’t remember.

Homefront came out, yes they had a few issues with servers but you could more times than not get into a game as a single player but not as a party.

So why the fuck are people trading this in 3 days after release? Why the fuck didn’t you trade in black ops 3 days after release? Probably because you lot are fucking sheep and there is no point in even trying to play another fucking game because it’s not COD.

The same shit happened when BF:BC2 came out, a few of us started playing that and yes they had server issues too for the first two weeks but a lot of you wouldn’t even look at it.. now it’s all sunshine and fucking lolly pops on BC2 and it’s the game of the hour.

all I can say is grow a pair of balls and at least stick with the game until they can sort a few teething issues…

I’m sorry if I offended anyone but fuck it I can’t be bothered with the fucking moaning right now, if you don’t like the game because of the graphics or the actual gameplay then fine that’s not my issue. It’s people moaning about connection (they will get it sorted give them more than a weekend to fix it for fuck sake) and people moaning about campers (yes they should have put bullet penetration in but oh well) don’t blame the community for the shits who sit around corners…

Love the S7ev bye for now fuckers

Right so lets get back to the fun and get tot he actual games…I’m not going to spend to much longer on this post and will just reel off the awards.

Game of the year: Skyrim

Best RPG: Skyrim

Best FPS: Modern Warefare 3

Best Racing: Forza 4

Best Arcade or Indie game: Bastian

Most Surprising game: Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, Modern Warefare 3 and Portal 2

Game you can’t stop playing: Skyrim

Most disappointing/biggest let down: Battlefield 3

Best multiplayer: Modern Warefare 3

Best action/adventure (covers things like Portal 2, Deus Ex HR, AC: R, unchartered 3): Tie Portal 2 & Deus Ex

Most anticipated for 2012: Mass Effect 3

Best Storyline: Assassin’s Creed Revelations

Well that’s it for another year, join the forum for more fun see where 2012 takes us…

This headset is in a low price range at £55 considering they are wireless, the price alone attracted me to them in the first place. I was eager to see how hey compared to other wireless sets and even wired ones in the same price range.

PACKAGING

The Gamecon X95 is presented in a stylish box with a window to see the headset itself. It’s a green and black colour scheme which seems to reflect the Xbox itself.

The headset itself seems well protected in a plastic tray so would appear to be safe while in transit.

Looking around the box you have a lot of information regarding the features and specification of the headset and they are presented in a variety of languages.

Thankfully this is not a blister pack like some other headsets on the market so can be opened with ease and stored away

HEADSET, COMFORT & DESIGN

Opening up the box we have a number of items included. A set of 2 AAA batteries, a get started guide, a 3.5mm to RCA plug, a USB to power cable and the wireless unit itself.

These are all simple enough to work out where they go and if upgrading from any previous Xbox headset (not including the bundled headset) then you will know what to do with these items. Those who use HDMI will either need to take the casing off the AV adapter or will need to buy an audio adapter to slot in alongside the HDMI.

The Gamecon X95 headset is a good looking headset coming in a matte black and white colour scheme, The matte finish is ideal as scratches/marks show up less. It has very comfortable ear pieces and a over the head band, they are suited to long gaming sessions and after a long time wearing them I found them to be good.

The headband is adjustable and after numerous adjustments it still keeps the same stiffness and grips well to the head.

They feel very robust and don’t appear as if they will break easily.

The microphone is small and can be extended out when in use and when not in use can be tucked up under the headband out of the way. They are not totally wireless and still required a cable from the headset to the controller (only seen one headset with totally wireless but can’t compare as I’ve not used them).

On the back of the right earpiece you have the on/off button, small led light and game volume control.

On the back of the left earpiece you have the chat mute switch and voice volume control.

They are all easy to reach when gaming so the volumes can be adjusted as necessary.

The only downfall I have to headset design is the earpieces and headband cushion seems to pick up quite a lot of lint/fluff.

HEADSET SOUND

This is the part of the headset most people will be interested in, being my first owned set of wireless I was eager to find out how they compare to the more expensive wireless sets out on the market.

I’ve very much a FPS kind of guy and tested these out first with MW3. Sounds are good, not quite as much bass as I was hoping and what I was used to but still good.

Guns sound realistic and you can clearly hear footsteps of the opposing team when they are trying to sneak up behind you.

I was impressed with the clarity considering the wireless and overall it was generally good. There was some issues with the sound cutting out when walking out if the room but when playing Xbox it’s much easier to stay in the same room when playing the game. Voices are nice and clear and I didn’t have any complaints with my voice even having long conversations.

SUMMARY

Overall I would say the sounds are very well represented and for a stereo wireless headset at this price you can’t go wrong.

If you’re in the market for a wireless headset then these are a very good contender. They’re not as good as some of the wireless turtle beach sets on the market but at half the price they represent much better value for money.

Battlefield 3

Modern Warfare 3

Skyrim

Assassin’s Creed Revelations

We also mention this:-

And we also mention this:-

So what have I got for you today? I have the latest installment of the WWE franchise games, WWE’12 for the PS3. Now first things first when I got this through the post I did have to think to myself when was the last time I actually played a wrestling game from the WWE (WWF if you’re old school like me). Now believe it or not the last time I played a wrestling was Smackdown! (PS1) and then Smackdown!2 (PS1), yes that’s right I’ve not owned a game of this type for such a long time. So what was I expecting? I was expecting the same old game with updated graphics, new characters (including the classic create your own), the “new” moves for these characters and last bit not least a fun experience. Today I’m going to discuss wether WWE’12 lives up to my expectations, as I cannot really comment on the previous titles between 2 and now. Many be one of you could comment on that.

Well I’m quite frankly shocked, games have come a long way in the past 10 years but this franchise seems to have gone nowhere. On one had the graphics are great and much better than the old days and the wrestlers actually look like people and the crowd is more than just flat textures shoved on a background, but on the otherhand the motion and controls in this game are rubbish.

So I’ll expand on the controls and motion a bit more because after an hours play time I got bored of it. You have got your standard press a direction on the sticks and hit one of the buttons does some damage or throws your opponent or grapples your oppenent into stuff. Yes we knew how to do that in the first few WWE games. The Issue I have is they go to hit you and the counter button is R2, it seems to work about 2% of the time. bash X to not be groggy anymore, oh I can’t my opponent has already bashed my head in. The overall feel is the game doesn’t work you try and grapple and miss 90% of the time, counter moves don’t work and the speed of the wrestlers is slow, I’ve seen more speed from the old guy down the road walking up a hill.

I’m not going to bash the controls or motion all day although bashing the controls was what I was doing by the end to even try and win a match (Normal Difficulty), I’m going to go onto the storyline and the rest of the game. Again I’m afraid it just doesn’t work… There is a Road to Wrestlemania where you don’t seem to be able to pick your character which seems bloody odd. Then the WWE Universe game mode just doesn’t seem right either, it has a list of scheduled matches for that week which I presume advances and you can play them all and pick which wrestler you want to be in that particular fight or interupt with another wrestler.  There just doesn’t seem to be an option like in the good old days to do a Career or Superstar mode.

Muliplayer, I can’t say much about this all I can say is there is one but not a single soul was online during the time I was reviewing.

I’m sorry if you played last years WWE title and found it good but either I’ve been away from the game too long or I’m getting too picky about games.

WWE’12 gets a 4/10 from me. Graphics are great but apart from that they have made the game over complicated and don’t give enough “options” in game modes. The atmosphere of the game is authentic but the motion and control system make it feel slow and dated.

4/10

Richie provides us with his review of Batman: Arkham City one month after it’s release. This is mainly for those who haven’t played it and are wondering if they should, as there were games released on a weekly basis from the start of October and continuing into December what should you get for Christmas?

Holy Cow Batman!!!

Yes that’s right. It really is Burt Ward in the background you hear, proclaiming just how great a game Arkham City is.

Let’s not beat around the bush though. Arkham City will not be to everyone’s taste, and that’s fair enough. But it is a sad fact that this game will also go unplayed by so many, simply because it has no MP attachment. A seemingly now necessary facet to any big release, not in my eyes though, but that argument remains for another day.

Arkham City is a game though that really pushes boundaries. I remember discovering Arkham Asylum one night on a friend’s PS3, and being completely blown away by it. Well with Arkham City I was blown away, and then some. It’s a rare thing these days when a sequel truly betters the original in every way, but that is exactly what AC (how I shall refer to it from now) manages to do.

Picking up from the end of Arkham Asylum, we find the home to all the scum of Gotham is now a sectioned off portion of the city. And what a beautiful city it is. Rocksteady have really gone to town on creating what is effectively now a slum, split into areas controlled by the super-villains who used to occupy only a cell back in the days of Arkham Asylum. The ability to swoop around this city is breathtaking, and there are a number of ways it can be done. My personal favourite was grappling up to a helicopter and being flown around as you sat on the rails. However grappling from rooftop to rooftop is hugely enjoyable, as is gliding (once you master it), and it is possible to glide the entire city in one swoop should you choose to do so. The other thing i loved was from the get-go you could explore the whole city. There was never any part that was locked out till you progressed so far into the game. Naturally some of the buildings crucial to the story where inaccessible, but this was to be expected. You could just roam around to your heart’s content if you chose to do so.

Onto the story and once again the game delivers as Arkham Asylum did. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but it really was a terrific campaign, with a brilliant shock ending which I never saw coming. Some parts where a little tongue in cheek, and in one moment it did just about jump the shark (I can’t think of a clever way here to mention the Fonz for Schro, so I’ll just say it instead!), but to hell with little niggles like that. It’s a comic book story after all, and I cannot wait for the next one to see where they take it. Alongside the campaign there are also side missions that you can complete in any order you wish, and at any time. These side missions vary, and involve villains that don’t have any part in the main campaign. This is a nice touch really, as you don’t feel you have missed the opportunity to interact with some of the main characters in Batman’s world. Alongside these side missions, you also have the customary return of the Riddler’s puzzles and trophies. Personally I wasn’t that fussed about solving/collecting all these, but I know for some it provides extra enjoyment, and many of the puzzles did actually require some serious thought. Not for the dumbed down gamer that’s for sure!

Depending on the version you bought there are also some great bits of DLC to participate in. The most noteworthy of these being the Catwoman episodes, these are integrated into the main campaign at selected points. I did actually find the episodes quite short, however it was a nice touch to switch characters every now and then, and the Catwoman model they created for the part was outstanding. I also was fortunate enough to have the Robin DLC, and this gave me the opportunity to play as Robin in some of the Riddler campaign games (which are in the main menu and separate from the main story, but still good fun). They involved having to fight off an ever increasing number of goons on selected main story levels, and having to clear a room as quickly and stealthily as possible. Your results can then be compared to the rest of the Xbox communities efforts, and this is as close to anything MP that you’re going to get. To date I have completed several of the challenges, but doubt I will get through them all, as some are notoriously difficult.

Now to the most important aspect – Gameplay. First and foremost, this is not a button masher. I have read numerous posts about this on the net, and the bottom line is if you find yourself mashing buttons, then you are not playing the game correctly. Okay yes it is possible to button-mash your way through the bad guys, but it soon becomes tedious doing this constantly, and it’s not the way the game was designed. There are far more interesting and challenging ways to progress. Even when just in a straight up fight however, the timing of the buttons and direction you choose can change the fight dramatically. Also the way the game utilises the environment during your fights is fantastic. Throw a guy through a wall, into a lampost, off a ledge, through a window, bang heads together, grab an opponent’s weapon and use it against it them – it’s all here. My personal favourite though is when Batman grabs an iron bar off an opponent, and proceeds to bend it Superman style, before tossing it away casually.  As you progress and take enemies out, you also unlock (through experience points) greater abilities, and more devastating and deadly manoeuvres to use on your enemy. However the greatest fun to be had is when you use the gadgets at your disposal to take down the opposition. Again I don’t want to spoil it too much for people, but jamming an opponent’s gun before tackling him head on and watching the panic set in on his face as he tries to work out why it has jammed, is the stuff of brilliance. Also freezing the enemies’ feet with an ice grenade and watching him to struggle to move as you glide past him is another highlight. Catwoman also has her own set of moves and counters – as well as gadgets – and fighting with her is a totally different experience than using Batman. A highlight to the game that is most welcome and unexpected. She has a completely different move-set and animations, and for an additional character with not a great deal to do, it really shows some effort on the developer’s behalf.

However confronting an enemy and even letting them see you could be deemed by some a failure. It is possible to progress through large parts of the game without being seen, exactly as you would expect from the Batman. Positioning yourself correctly too can make for some great takedown moves, and leave the rest of the enemies confused and panicked. Such is the brilliant programming of the game, these opponents then become erratic and behave less or more deadly than they perhaps would have previously. There is nothing quite like hanging inverted, like a bat, and swooping down on an enemy who passes you below. Drop a smoke grenade straight after and grapple away elsewhere, and you will not be seen at all. As the game progresses though, enemies become wiser and harder to take down silently. Playing the game on the hardest level, I also found myself having to repeat clearing rooms on occasion, and each time things would happen differently to throw you off. The enemy also equips itself better, using such things as thermal scanners and proximity mines, so you really have to plan out your attack without just wading in. The challenge is there for those who want it, and again it is provided for so well by Rocksteady. The game also wouldn’t be complete without those boss showdowns. And they don’t disappoint. Each one is different, and the highlight for me was the showdown with Mr. Freeze. Without spoiling it, it reminded me a little of Metal Gear Solid, and some thought had clearly gone into this one when they made it.

To say that AC is an outstanding achievement really isn’t doing it justice at all. It is a truly fantastic game, one that captures itself perfectly. What I mean by that is as the Dark Knight is considered by some to be the perfect superhero movie; I think this is the perfect superhero game. Where they go with it from here I really don’t know, but I’m glad they’ve gone where they have, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this review! It’s often easy to praise and put down games, but this truly deserves praise for the sheer effort that has gone into it, and for managing to surpass an original game that was already one of the outstanding releases on the Xbox360. The visuals are stunning – the character models are better than they were in Arkham Asylum, and those were held in the highest regard already. The sound is and audio spot on, and the most important aspect being the gameplay, for me personally is perfection.  It is an irresistible blend of action and stealth; a mixture so often not found in other games. I wouldn’t only say this is the best game I have ever played on the 360 – I would go as far as to say it is simply one of the best games I have ever played, period. And quite comfortably my GOTY thus far.

My final review score…..

A Holy 10/10!!!

Bottom Line: Play this game!!

So what’s the story? not literally, I mean what’s changed between Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and this new version of the long running series?

Since 2007 when Ubisoft first released Assassin’s Creed I have been stunned at what they have given us and I can say this once again. With Assassin’s Creed 2 they gave us better Graphics and a better story which was less repetitive than AC:1 and in Brotherhood (3) they gave us a better story, improved visuals and a good multiplayer.

So what does Assassin’s Creed: Revelations bring to the table?

Well I’m not going to spoil the story for anyone so I’m just going to say after 3 hours of game play the story is awesome 10/10, I hope by the end it answers all my questions, but up to now I’m liking it.

The graphics are the easiest to write about, they are more polished than Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, in terms of other games they are fantastic, there are very few games that have better graphics these days. I mean yes you can look at textures until they make your eyes go blurry so comparing them to FPS games, Racing games is pretty pointless. I’m going to give them 9.5/10 as I was on the PS3 version so haven’t seen the xbox 360 version.

Right now on to controls and the motion of Ezio (The Main Character, if you don’t know that you seriously need to start playing Assassin’s Creed from the start). They are the same as any other Assassin’s Creed and that is all you need to know. Ezios’ motion has been slightly improved over previous games but I personally don’t think they needed to change much in terms of single player gaming. You don’t seem to make supid mistakes like ha-way up a wall jumping off it and having to start the climb again.

The one thing that has been brought into each of the AC games is toys, the more toys you have to play with the better. In Brotherhood you could collect items from around the world to trade in for a few items which was interesting but they’ve gone one step further. Bomb Crafting, that’s right you can craft your own bombs, so what’s that all about? Collect pots as casings, gunpowder and other powders as the egnighters and some random items as shrapnel. This can create different bombs and grenades with smokebombs and distraction bombs included.

The other big thing in Revelations is the primary and secondary weapon selector. The old weapon selector was one wheel, the new one is two which makes for easier use and I know it seems small but overall it works in your favour.

The hook blade is another toy worth mentioning and by the name yes you’ve guessed it, it’s a blade with a hook on the end. There is a comical moment in the story where as you receive your hook blade the person giving it to you describes it exatly how it is. Climbing becomes more fun and speedy with this item and over the edge assassinations become easy and fun. The next big thing with this weapon is ziplining with air assassinations from the line.

An added feture to Single Player is a “tower defence” style mini game where you defend your base from a set number of waves. you build barricades, and have 4 roof tops where you have to put an assassin commander on to use that roof. you then get crossbow and rifle assassins who take out the enemy on the floor. It’s a fun addition and could see some improvement in future AC games.

So enough about the Single Player and onto the Multiplayer, the vertict is….Better than Brotherhood. In Brotherhood you used to aim for someone hit the assassinate button and get the person next to them. The targeting system was a bit off in Brotherhood and I’m glad to say they seem to have fixed it. In my time playing Multiplayer about an hour I don’t think I hit one wrong person, although oddly enough even before the game is released I ran into a lobby with a level 26 user… god knows how they got that high that quickly but it could be a tester or developer type person, answers on a postcard.

Now down to the verdict of what I truely think and what you should do. If you have played 1,2 and Brotherhood it will give you more of the same with improvments and more toys. If you haven’t played the series start with 1 and work your way through them all including this, it may take a while as you’re a little behind the times. If you have played and didn’t like it, I’m sorry for your loss.

9.5/10

On an added note.. I love the fact Ubisoft have included AC:1 on the PS3 version of Revelations, get hooked and play more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3sBJzXc8sw

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 franchise has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and has been hailed as one of the best first-person shooter series of all time.  The games are known for depicting high-tech counter-terrorist operations set within the Tom Clancy’s game world.  With Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots, Ubisoft is building upon the success of the franchise while also taking it in a bold new direction.

“Terrorism has evolved, and so has Rainbow 6. In Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots, all the team play, tactics, and realism that fans of the series love have been coupled with an exciting new narrative direction,” said David Sears, creative director at Ubisoft. “This adds an unprecedented level of humanity that will make Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots an extremely tense and immersive experience.”

In Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots, Team Rainbow faces a new and very real threat called the “True Patriots,” a highly-trained, well-organized revolutionary group that claim the American government is irrevocably corrupted by greedy politicians and corporate special interests.  The True Patriots will do whatever it takes to reclaim their country.  Playing as Rainbow, players will face critical scenarios that will require them to make tough ethical decisions in order to stop this new breed of terrorists.

In addition to the immersive single-player storyline, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots will introduce a huge variety of new innovative co-op and multi-player experiences. Players will be rewarded for working as a team and mastering the game’s new features that enhance communication and tactical execution between teammates. Success will come from a mix of split-second decision making and working to coordinate attacks against the enemy.

Additional details on Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots can be found in an exclusive cover story in the Christmas issue of Official Xbox Magazine, available 30^th November.

After a month of playing Gears of War 3 Richie gives his review of the game and we see how living with a game actually pans out. You always read/listen to the release reviews where a publisher has played a few hours, but this is a month of play and you can do a proper review.

18 months after sinking Jacinto, the COG are back for the final battle. Having failed in their attempt to stop the Locust, they now face a dangerous new enemy, and the odds on survival are looking slim. This my brothers is the end.

The first thing to note about Gears 3, is it is no Gears 2 clone. And for that we should be grateful. Gears 2 was plagued with problems, the most notable on the MP side. Thankfully (and to their credit), Epic have taken on board the communities response to Gears 2, and crafted an experience that surpasses both its predecessor and the much-coveted first game.

First thing to discuss is the Single Player. The campaign is an excellent final chapter in the trilogy, and ties up the story beautifully. There are some bumpy moments including the final boss showdown, but the closing scene more than makes up for that, and it becomes a distant memory once those credits roll. Get through it without shedding a tear as well, and you’re a cold hearted soul! The story can also be played in co-op or even as a 4-player. This is another great addition to the game, and I had great fun playing through it again with friends. Up the difficulty to Insane, and you’ve got a real challenge on your hands.

Now for the big one. There were so many things wrong with the Gears 2 MP, it almost felt like correcting them was going to be impossible. And it’s what the fans feared most. Yet manage it Epic have. The first thing you notice is the change in feel. Gone is the clunky, heavy feeling of Gears 2, and in its place returns the lightweight movement of Gears 1. However the greatest change is the way the game plays. After the infamous Gears 2 host advantage debacle, the public demanded dedicated servers. And dedicated servers is what they got. Making the MP a level playing field for the first time in the franchise.

Within the MP there are also some great new additions to gameplay. Weapons like the Digger and One-shot, can now be found alongside old favourites the Boomshot and Torque Bow. There are also 2 new standard weapons to choose from in the load-out: The Retro Lancer and the Sawn-off Shotgun. Regardless of what you may read elsewhere, these 2 weapons are great additions to the game, and they were much needed to break the monotony of Gnasher battles that had become the keynote of the franchise.

Another addition to the game is the ability to “spot” enemies – a very handy feature in modes like Capture the Leader (i’ll talk about modes next), and a new move to counter those campers; the Mantle Kick. Find someone with a tent pitched behind a wall, and you can now vault over disabling them for a moment, whilst you dish out a much deserved gib!

There has also been a revamp in the modes the game has to offer. King of the Hill is now what we knew as Annex from Gears 2, and Guardian has been scrapped in favour of Capture the Leader – a mixture of the Guardian and Submission games from Gears 2. Added to the mix for the first time is Team Deathmatch, and it works surprisingly well. To date, it is also proving the most popular mode, something that has surprised me in light of old favourites Warzone and Execution still remaining amongst the playing options.

One of the biggest talking points about the game before its release was surrounding Epic’s Horde 2.0. A re-vamped and quite frankly astonishingly brilliant mode, it boasts one of the best MP experiences on any MP game, ever. The ability to now build fortifications, turrets and more to combat the enemy, adds to what was already a brilliant game mode on Gears 2. With some great new maps to play it on too, it is a mode worthy of the purchase itself.

Mirroring this, Epic have also created a Beast mode, which reverses the Horde mode. Going up against the COG, you now assume the role of various Locust (each unlocked as you progress), trying to breach the fortifications built by the humans in order to dispatch them as brutally as possible. Whilst not as deep or involving as Horde 2.0, it compliments it nicely and is yet another mode to compliment a cracking variety already on offer.

I could go on for a lot longer discussing this game, but quite frankly I would likely bore you all to death. But Gears is without doubt my favourite shooter on the Xbox, and this 3rd game is the best of the bunch. If you’ve not been a fan before, now is the time to become one. I would certainly not recommend seeking out the first 2 games at this stage – they are vastly inferior to this edition, despite their merits – just catch up on the story and drive straight into number 3.

My review score – an astounding 10/10.

So here they are, in reverse order.

50. Rock Band
49. Dirt 3
48. Far Cry 2
47. Doritos Crash Course
46. Tony Hawk’s Project 8
45. Defence Grid: The Awakening
44. Assasins Creed
43. Flat Out: Ultimate Carnage
42. Fifa 09
41. Fight Night Round 4
40. Madden 10
39. PES 11
38. Limbo
37. Pinball FX 2
36. Halo Reach
35. Mass Effect
34. PES 6
33. Bayonetta
32. Forza 3
31. Full House Poker
30. Tales Of Vesparsia
29. Assasins Creed 2
28. Fifa 10
27. Dead Space
26. Fifa 11
25. Gears Of War
24. Vanquish
23. Forza 2
22. Rock Band 3
21. Trials HD
20. Battlefield 1943
19. Monday Night Combat
18. Batman: Arkham Asylum
17. Fallout: New Vegas
16. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock
15. Grand Theft Auto IV
14. Call of Duty: World at War
13. Halo 3
12. Assasins Creed: Brotherhood
11. Mass Effect 2
10. Mirrors Edge
9. Fallout 3
8. Gears of War 2
7. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
6. Portal 2
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops
4. Portal: Still Alive
3. Read Dead Redemption
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

This is not in the main podcast as it is 40+ minutes of pure gold.

Thanks Richie for doing this with Tom

Me and TomTom talk about:-

F1 2011

Forza Motorsport 4

Rage

Up Coming Releases

Firstly let me give you a little history I used to be a racing game nut, I have played Gran Turismo 1 & 2, all the Project Gotham games including Metropolis Street Racer for the Dreamcast which was Project Gotham 1 in disguise, and although I didn’t ever have Forza 1 I do have 2, 3 and now 4. The next thing you may ask is what sort of time did I play on the previous 2 Forza games? Well I got 1000 gamerscore on both games, which if you lot have played them you will know this is not easy.

So lets get down to talking about Forza 4, and my thoughts when I got this even before sticking it in the xbox was how can they improve on Forza 3 and what they have done is amazing. Improved graphics, the handling and settings on cars has improved and the overall feel of the game just seems more substantial.

Right so they have only really smoothed out the graphics on the cars and they do look better than 3 but the real improvement graphically is the tracks and scenery. Fujimi Kaido the “drifting” track from FM3 has not only improved by a scale of 10 but they have changed the track slightly, the track seems a little more narrow compared to previously. The same goes for the absolutely shocking DLC track from FM3 and that’s the Nurburgring Grand Prix track, this track was shockingly bad in FM3 but again improved 10 fold.

So onto the settings and handling of the cars, FM3 had lots of settings to change the hadnling of the cars and this was either through tuning setups or even just through the difficulty settings. Forza 4 is no different and there are of course more settings to customise your racing experience.

That is the key feature of FM4 customisation, they have taken what they had in 3 and just gone that little step further in all aspects. Now what I am going to say it they didn’t do everything, an example of this is when you are racing AI cars and they are slipstreaming you it makes the lap you are currently racing a “dirty” lap, which was the bad thing in 3 and they didn’t improve it or change it. The next thing is Silverstone GP circuit is still the old version not the newer one which is a bit of a dissappointment.

I could literally go on for hours and hours about how good this game is, and I will but in my own private time, the one thing I do have to mention though is the multiplayer and what they have done with this. Car Clubs, that’s right you can join a car club and share your cars, this is pretty cool but there is more. Rivals, race and beat your friends and others times on tracks (time trials) to try and be the best. improved lobbies and some cool game modes make the multiplayer in forza the best in a racing game I’ve ever seen.

So it’s time I left this review alone as I think I’ve got my point across that this is a visually stunning racing game and will keep me going until Forza 5.

95/100

I have it for the Xbox 360 and have put in a few hours between the modes so far. I think I have about 5 hours of on track time. I am an F1 racing fan both to watch (I got up at 4:55 to watch the qualifying this Saturday) and to play but I am not one of the true die hard fans who notices all the bugs and problems.  In the F1 2010 version I never had the pit stop problem that loads of people were experiencing. I  probably don’t notice many problems that get other people angry either.

So F1 2011 has already had bugs, updates and people moaning and I have a few of my own, but probably not the ones that the true die hard racing fan have.

So how does the new F1 2011 pan out?

Really well is the answer.

The game loads in and checks for your DLC just like Dirt3 does. You are presented then with a very glossy looking menu over layed on a sky view of a section of the paddock. You can then choose between Career, Grand Prix, Multiplayer and a few other generic options (MY F1, Set up type options) When you start a new Career you are taken to Spain for pre-season testing. You are interviewed about your name, nationality and what level you are expecting to be driving at. These, of course, can all be changed once you start anyway. You are asked to confirm your team from the choices of Williams, Force India, Lotus, HRT and Virgin.

Here is where I would like to suggest a possibly new mode, you do a few laps in a generic car (no sponsor) and depending on lap times you get offered the appropriate contract. I started at Force India but have since changed to Lotus as I figure everyone will have gone to Force India. The next thing to notice is why I changed. It used to make sense.  I would go from one session to another, sometimes turning off the console. I was doing the practice and qualifying for the Turkish GP and took a phone call. Paused the game, helped a friend out and came back to the game. Some how I had quit the race and was now onto the next date in the season. I have found that where you would once retire to the paddock you would come back at the right place. Not anymore! It is frustrating to know which way to leave the game.

This aside the graphics are similar but better and I think it is to do with the lighting. The shades and colour are more defined and it looks very slick and feels great.

So in the career mode I have my lovely looking green Lotus and love the little touches that you can do with set up of the car, from a quick engineer set up to the full changing your own gear ratios. I know this was in 2010 but it’s nice to see they have kept it. The bit that was missing from the TV screen mode was that you could not see the 3rd sector times when watching other drivers. Now you can. Its a small feature but a nice one. On track is smooth and well presented and as I say, it looks the same but better. The tracks drive well and you feel drawn into the environment and surroundings of the game. This year they have made the people around you look better, and the pre-rendered graphics for the cut screens are lovely. It is also nice to have a larger choice of helmets this year.

However for all the new pretty cut screens of you winning, you don’t have the drivers press conference at the end if you make it to the podium. It is now all David Croft in the paddock no mater what the situation. This is a step back in my opinion. It was a great feature and surely can’t take up much space on the DVD disk?

With the Cars this year you have more buttons (especially if you are on an Xbox Controller) with the introduction of KERS and DRS. (If you don’t know what they are, google it.)

It’s quite interesting to see how KERS and DRS affect the race and the cars, for instance on the long straight in the Chinese GP the Mercedes gets up to 211 MPH but the Renault only gets to about 209MPH each car is different in terms of performance and handling. Lotus, HRT and Virgin don’t have KERS but do have DRS.

When I first played this I had it on Easy. I have moved up to Intermediate. It is more of a challenge but still do-able.

In between races you are housed in your teams motor home, with no agent sat at a computer this time (they had to make cutbacks this year in hiring staff), instead you are talking to your team through the laptop on the desk. Setting out objectives and praise. It tracks your media interaction and is a lovely way to do it. As I mention you can choose from a range of helmets but it would be quite nice to have a helmet editor. A range of decals you can stick on to a basic colour lid, but it’s hardly make or break for this game!!

As I write this and read it back I keep thinking of more to write. Which is probably a good thing!

Looking at the on track racing side of the game, I think they have done a great job with the new tyres and handling. In F1 2010 if you kept tyre wear on, but scaled down a race, after half a lap (on about 20% race distance) your tyres had no grip and you could not get back to the pits. This year it’s incredible. If your tyres are cold you feel the lack of grip on some corners. As your tyres age you can feel where you can’t push it as much. You don’t just fly off the track. One change I am not so pleased about is when to pit. You could call the pit stop your self, the racing line would show you where the pit lane was and you could drive in. Now there is no need to call a pit stop, the people run out when you drive in. However if you have no idea where the pit lane is……

So onto the Multiplayer.

The VIP code you get when you buy this new allows for certain multi-player options such as the Co-Op GP. LuckyNoS7evin and myself are doing the Co-Op together and it is fun. A few problems slowed us down at the start, but we think that might have been my router, so we won’t slate Codemasters too much. The critism comes when you realise you can only do one co-op session. I have another friend from the SweetFFA forums who would have been up for this and as S7evin found out you can’t run more than one. Surely it’s not hard to have that as a feature?

Saving data to the hard drive. You may not always be on-line at the same time so you want to have a few sessions running. At the moment this will not happen. Maybe it will be patched? I doubt it.

The Co-Op however is great fun (small gripe is that when the cars are on track they are all yellow on the mini map. You don’t know which might be a rival or your team mate).

The other multi-player has been great fun as well. Racing with Rafe and few others has been great. It’s brought up my game, although I am no where near their times. However every one seems to be racing on a steering wheel and I am using an XBox controller. I am finishing anywhere from 3rd to mid table but not usually last.

Overall this is a great racer and brilliant advance in the F1  game series. It has the safety car feature (although I have not seen it yet) and feels like a lot of work has gone into it.

I would recommend this game to anyone interested in F1 or loves a good racing game. For the Xbox at least this is a near perfect racing game. It does have problems and needs a few patches but I think for the average gamer they would not notice some of the largest flaws.

So to end this review off here is Race 2 from the S7evin and TomTom F1 2011 Co-Op

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Dx01sk7ak

I’m pleased to announce the winner is Joel Edwards with

I think i should win because i’m awesome, cool and smell of baby sick!

The runner-up is Michael Bott and he will be getting a RAGE XBL Avatar t-shirt code.

Thanks for playing

Bethesda were allowing people 20 minutes to play the demo they showed at E3 earlier this year and get as much as you could get done.  Now as far as I know no one at the show managed to entice a Dragon out to play, so now we’ve got that out the way.

The Environment for Skyrim is looking fantastic with so much to interact with and fantastic changes between environments it is looking to be quite special.  Even the wildlife seems to have lost that quite angular method of movement, when you collect ingredients for Alchemy they disappear (I would assume that they grow back).  The Flora and Fauna aren’t the only things that have had a work over, the weather system looks like it has had an overhaul as well.  The only disappointment is that as far as I know no one over the Eurogamer weekend got to fight one of the Dragons which are, without a doubt, going to be what makes this game due to them being unscripted, allowing for a different experience of them everytime.

The new control method with the left trigger controlling the left hand and right trigger controlling the right hand works really well, my only complaint is that when putting a healing spell onto my left hand I’d end up drawing my weapon in my right hand when I cast it, it is a minor thing, but

The new combat system works quite well, and there seems to be no more ‘holding your shield up’ all the time till you want to strike as opponents appear to be able to hit you round that, so you need to time your blocking which was difficult but rewarding.  Beware Fatigue though, it does play a bigger part in combat and you will end up not being able to fight back if it runs out completely

The Magic system seems to work really well still there is obviously still a dependency on the mana you have available,  but the ability to have two active spells at once (left hand and right hand) makes magical combat a far more entertaining prospect, and much more devastating when you combine the same spells on both hands.

As part of the interface there is a much more slick method for levelling up, all of your usual stats have gone, no longer are you adding points into attributes, you just pick whether you want to increase your Health, Mana or Fatigue before adding points into the perks for your skills which obviously level up by using them while playing the game.

I do like the Elder Scrolls games, so I’m not without an amount of wanting this to be great, and despite this being from E3 earlier this year it still has some anti-aliasing issues, although I was assured that these are usually the last things that get sorted out (bear in mind here that even without this it still has a fantastic looking environment).

I think I’ve covered everything, but this looks and plays fantastic, I’m just disappointed that I didn’t get to meet a Dragon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH1Il4JynSY

So what is up for grabs?

• OnLive microconsole
• Uncharted T-shirt
• Skyrim T-Shirt
• Battlefield 3 Poster
• Battlefield 3 Lanyard
• PCGamer (Nov 2011)
• Guildwars 2 Bag and Notepad
• a bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos
• and a few other things….

Closing date – Friday 7th October

What you need to do to win?

Tell me in 140 characters or less why you should win. Judging will be done by myself and TomTom.

Reply to this post (not twitter or the forum) with your entry only all other comments will be deleted.

Thanks

LuckyNoS7evin

The stage was set. After six-months of Tekken Force qualifying sessions at London’s HMV Gamerbase, 16 of the UK’s best Tekken 6 players were ready to go head to head to determine who the Tekken Force champion would be. Up for grabs was the coveted, Heihachi Head Trophy and a RAP RealArcade Pro3 PremiumVLX arcade stick worth around £200, provided by sponsors Hori. A crowd of nearly 300 hundred people gathered at the Samsung stage as the tournament got underway on a giant screen for the whole Expo to bear witness too.

With the tournament in full swing, fancied players, Dinosaur and Lion-o were knocked out early on while hot favourite, Asim, who had won four of the six Tekken Force tournaments so far battled his way through the ranks once more, to reach the final. There he would face surprise package, Wing ObiSamuraidu. In a hotly contested affair, in which the excitement of the assembled crowd was tangible, Asim secured a narrow victory, winning 3-2 and for the fifth time this year, walked away with a Tekken Force grand prize in addition to the honour of being crowned Tekken Force ‘King of Iron Fist Tournament.’

The entire tournament was streamed live and the cacophonous crescendo that was the grand final, can be viewed in its entirety via the following link: http://www.twitch.tv/tekkenlondon/b/295867427

Tekken Force has proved a huge success in the UK in bringing the Tekken community together and Namco Bandai would like to thank the Tekken Force team for all their hard work and enthusiasm in organising and managing the events. The quality of play on show at the this year’s Grand Final proves that UK Tekken players are up there with the best players in the world.

For more information regarding Tekken Force and future tournaments, be sure to follow Tekken Force on twitter (www.twitter.com/tekkenlondon) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tekkenforceuk).

I had a quick play on this little iPad game and it was fun. It is using the camera on the front of the iPad very well and can also switch to the other camera to try to help you out.

It is a clever use of augmented reality, being a black and white game with the colour only coming from the flows of “water” or particles till they fill the exit of the level.

We have an interview with Alexander Lang in the 1st of the new podcasts but I would suggest you check out the websites for Xymatic (pronounced Si-Matic) and see what the game is all about,

We talk about all the games we played at Eurogamer Expo from the 22nd – 25th September 2011.

Modern Warfare 3

Battlefield 3

Batman: Arkham City

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

and a lot more

Have a listen and tell us what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCQ_m-eDxOs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXY8MTCuIXA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAAgM1ZdRmc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K76rvvMwq-Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izxbSh5mN6E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQLF0FzZxc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BcpurscqNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbYjiLN4QnI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YVtHDijMNE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krL7kykYMCU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_rDwO-JbnE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfOGuUydoZ8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc62hKXOljc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUiCEXJk8gc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDal_qjgP2s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PfVWfPrzgo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyWh1oHckJA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B4eRW44jmk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMedfzvShVI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R68PetBTkQI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZp-XkQJtGE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DgKQ6Ad7uM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ef7UiAxVA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5pmQPRsASI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbrpBtl7pAs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0rov_dWDx8

In Assassin’s Creed Revelations, master assassin Ezio traces the footsteps of his predecessor, Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad. Now, gamers will be able to go back to the beginning of the Assassin’s Creed storyline as the day one copies of Assassin’s Creed Revelations on PlayStation^®3 will include a copy of the original Assassin’s Creed.

Assassin’s Creed^® Revelations will be available on November 15, 2011.

“Selecting Crytek to take Homefront forward underscores our strategy of working with the industry’s best talent,” said Danny Bilson, EVP Core Games, THQ.

“Homefront‘s unique setting and storyline captivated gamers the world over. With Crytek’s industry leading technology and legendary experience in the FPS genre, we’re supremely confident that the next Homefront will deliver that AAA-quality experience that players demand.”

“We see Homefront as a really strong universe that has a lot of potential and that has been expertly created and marketed by THQ,” said Cevat Yerli, Founder, CEO and President of Crytek.  “We believe that bringing our level of quality, creativity and production values to the next Homefront title, creates an opportunity for both THQ and Crytek to deliver a truly blockbuster game.  It’s really important to us that THQ has the faith in giving us a lot of creative freedom over one of its most important properties to allow us to bring the Homefront world to life in a new and innovative way.”

The first Homefront title was released in March 2011, and proved to be a commercial success for THQ. The yet to be named sequel is scheduled for release in THQ’s fiscal year 2014 on console and PC platforms.

The WWE ’12 collector’s edition is currently scheduled to offer the following items:

• Foil sleeve cover packaging featuring The Rock
• Copy of WWE ’12 videogame
• The Rock playable in-game character
• Exclusive Foil Topps Trading Card featuring The Rock
• Art Image of The Rock

WWE Blu-Ray/DVD featuring:

• WWE Championship Match – Booker T vs. The Rock – SummerSlam – 19^th August, 2001
• Intercontinental Championship Match – Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam – Raw – 16^th September, 2002
• World Heavyweight Championship Match – Triple H vs. Kane – Raw – 23^rd June, 2003
• 60-Minute Iron Man Match for the WWE Championship – Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar – SmackDown! – 18^th September, 2003
• WWE Championship Match – Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio – SmackDown! -18^th March, 2004

• Looks sweet and plays smooth
• New defensive system adds more realism to the game
• Quick Throw-ins are nice
• No more waiting for sub animations
• Head to Head Seasons (play a friend and it keeps a record. Be good for on here)
• Much better than Fifa 11
• Proper names and stuff as always (i know this is important to folks)
• Improved AI
• Precision dribbling makes it easier to dance round people

PES 2012
Pro’s

• Ridiculous improvement from PES 11. a lot more like the old PES
• much Improved AI (but more so than Fifa i would say)
• i’m told it has more licence for real names etc than before, but cannot confirm this. either way an option file is always made to update it
• Some new controls are excellently implemented. For example taking control of a 2nd player with the RS works a treat.
• certainly improved ball physics from what i played of 11
• More fluid across the pitch
• Master League and Champions League modes

Right now i can’t think of anything else, but will edit accordingly if i do. I have not listed the cons because it’s like this really. PES2012 is the best PES in my eyes since PES 5 or 6. However it still looks pretty shoddy next to Fifa, and there is certainly something to the polish of FIFA that Konami cannot replicate. That said, a lot of people are not happy with the FIFA demo. some claim it has gone PES-like. i am inclinded to agree it certainly plays differently than 09,10 and 11. peeps are struggling with it, but i’m not finding it that bad. i think folks will need to play the demo themselves before deciding which one to get.

The biggest change with FIFA is the tactical defending that has been introduced. It can be switched back to the old style defending BUT not when playing online. You actually need to think a bit more about how you are going to defend, instead of rushing in with the tackle button. This will not sit well with some folks. The biggest change in PES is the massively improved AI. Players move around a lot better, and are more reactive to what is happening on the ball. This makes for some excellent gameplay, and i’ve scored some really sweet goals on the demo so far.

The Bottom Line

There is enough in PES this year to warrant a purchase. unlike previous years. A big step-up and i think a lot of fun can be had on the Master League.

FIFA has genuinely surprised me. the play-testing beforehand was overwhelmingly negative. I now think this may have been because those people testing weren’t getting to grips with the Tactical Defending. I think it plays a much better game than 11, and there’s some genuine work to be done to win a game now. More how it should be. 11 was far too easy (against the AI), and even against friends, the old whip and bang tactic was too easy to score from.

I am currently torn between the 2, however truth be told I think will edge to Fifa again, because i know most of my friends list will get Fifa. There’s also enough in the change of basic gameplay to attract me to it. However, i may have a punt on PES for a few months for the 1st time later on, as i genuinely think it can be enjoyed this time around.

Resistance 3 doesn’t quite pick up where the second one left off, and there’s a brief (about 2 minutes) recap on the previous two games, recounting the events and exploits of human/chimeran hybrid and all round hard man Nathan Hale. For those who haven’t played the previous two I won’t go into details of what’s happened, but basically, the human race is screwed and needs someone to come along and perform the most commonly seen computer game miracle of saving the planet. Cue Joe Capelli, ex US army and the next generic hero of the first person shooter genre. The gameplay is pretty standard FPS of reach an area, kill all the enemies, move onto the next area and rinse and repeat. There’s the standard stealth missions and on rails vehicle missions and the lesser seen endangered species of boss fights. The boss fights aren’t quite as good as those offered in Resistance 2, and many are repeated throughout the game, detracting from the feeling when they appear. Basically Resistance is an FPS by numbers, including the obligatory zombie style level inspired by the Half Life series.

Gunplay is impressive, as numerous human and Chimeran weapons are offered and proficiency upgrades are offered, the more you use a gun then the better you become with the weapon, and the more upgrades available for these weapons. The game isn’t long enough to upgrade all of the weapons, you’re looking at a shade under 8 hours for a normal run, so choosing which weapons are your preferred is an important choice to make early on, personally I stuck to the standard Chimeran assault rifle and the Sniper rifle, although the shotgun is helpful during previously mentioned zombie areas. The majority of the weapons have a good feel about them, and actually deliver a realistic experience with recoil and feedback through the controller and HUD. A particularly impressive aspect of the gunplay is that each of the weapons offer a secondary fire option, some more support based, others offering increased firepower and offer great options when you’re stuck in a tight spot.

Graphics has long been a claim for the PS3 to be superior, and yet again, I felt underwhelmed when this game loaded up, sure it’s good for a game, but it’s no better than anything the Xbox can offer, in fact, I’ve seen better on the Xbox. Throughout I’m struck by a sense of ‘not quite finished’ with the graphics, with invisible walls and the faces of NPCs appearing unrefined and bit jagged. If I didn’t know better I’d say the release was rushed to beat the FPS big hitters such as the upcoming Call of Duty and Battlefield. On the positive side, the industry trend of realism by tainting everything brown isn’t carried out to as much of a degree as other titles, and the areas on the Chimeran terraformer create a suitable Sci-Fi environment and a nice change of pace as the game pulls towards a close over New York City. Cut scenes are few and far between and offered a bright spot early on as they appeared to be told through a Sin City style comic strip. However, this seemed to be dropped and appeared fleetingly throughout the game.

Resistance 3 isn’t a bad game by any stretch, it provides good entertainment for about 8 hours, although not much of a challenge is provided by poor AI enemies. The health system returns to a lesser seen health pack system rather than the often seen regeneration, which was a nice change of pace and created some tense situations when low on health and no health packs are to be seen. There’s also a lack of empathy towards the main character as a result of weak, predictable story. However, should you fancy a game to offer good gunplay and an above average gameplay experience, then buy Resistance: Fall of Man and start the trilogy from scratch, as picking up number 3 midway through the story would leave you confused as to the finer points of the Resistance world.

So what is Warhammer 40k: Space Marine and how was the game?

Well it’s a third-person shooter which is on rails, and by rails I mean it’s very linear from start to where I’m upto now but I don’t see that changing much. The campaign starts with an easy level killing a few enemies learning the ropes which is leading you through the start of the story. From there it’s wave of bad guys, move to next area, two more waves, move to next area and so on. You do however get the odd “boss” fight which is a slightly harder enemy to beat but can be done.

There are of course the cut scenes telling the story as you go but this seems to be the typical shooter style of game now which isn’t great. Call of Duty (all), Gears of War (both), Battlefield:Bad Company 2 were all the same and it’s getting old.

However this is the story but what about the actual game play? Well its a Gears of War clone in terms of movement, aiming and shooting the difference is you find your own cover, none of this press “A” to get in cover. There is also an awesome “close quarters” combat system and health regeneration system. Firstly lets talk about the close quarters combat, it’s fun, you unlock several different melee weapons during the game which have different attacks. for example press “X” three times does one attack while “XXY” will do a different one. Press “Y” then “B” to stun your enemy then execute the damn Ork. This combat system is a lot of fun and is needed in this game as that’s how you re-generate your health. That’s right you have to use close quarters combat to get your health back.

Right so what am I going to talk about next? well I think I’m going to talk about the graphics and all I have to say is they are good the graphics you see in this video are in game and oh and the bloody which comes off your enemy sticks to you and your team for a while before the next battle, which looks cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vskKGCpSb0

So I think that’s graphics done so I’m not going to keep you much longer but I have jumped into multiplayer and its good. It’s very Halo style in the way you have armour and health which can be a pain when reloading but I found a quick grenade then shoot is starting to work for me. Maps on the other hand are huge and very cool, I think once again the higher the level you are the better as there were level 33 people in the lobby I was in and they were unstopable which is a shame.

Down to the final conclusion, this is a fun game and I like it. The story may not be fantastic, but the fun gameplay makes up for that aspect. The graphics are good however and this is a big plus in this game.

Overall I give it 85/100

So where does this 85 stand in the now 3 reviews I have done on Sweet Free-for-all, It beats Homefront by 10 and I can say that this is due to superiour graphics and you can connect to multiplayer games. It beats Brink by 10 due to the the size of the game, Brink was small and limited but this has a good campaign and multiplayer would capture most gamers that liked Gears of War. Although I have only done the 3 reviews for Sweet Free-for-all I think I’m getting to a baseline for my scores although It’s all in my personal opinion and people will disagree.

Thanks

LuckyNoS7evin

“Madden NFL 12 is off to a great start, and we’ve seen a tremendous amount of excitement and demand this first week,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of the home entertainment group at Best Buy. “Fans lined up at Best Buy stores around the country for midnight launch events to be the first to bring Madden NFL 12 home and get a jump on their rivals.”

Among the additional notable accomplishments for Madden NFL 12 in its first week at retail:

• Madden NFL 12 fans have played more than 5.4 million online connected game sessions since launch; the equivalent of more than 10,000 regular NFL seasons.
• Madden Ultimate Team has been a big hit, with fans having purchased nearly 200,000 Madden Ultimate Team card and coin packs in the first seven days.
• EA SPORTS Season Ticket subscribers got a jump on the competition, with early full-game digital access to Madden NFL 12 beginning on August 26. Fans logged more than four million total gameplay minutes in the early access period.
• Within its first week on the market, Madden NFL 12 reached the number one top paid spot on the Android market and ranked in the top 10 grossing on the App Store for iOS platforms.

“With the start of the NFL season only days away, fans are thrilled to get back to football and they’re doing so in record numbers through Madden NFL 12,” says Andrew Wilson, executive vice president of EA SPORTS. “The growth across console and digital shows that the appetite for the Madden NFL franchise has never been bigger.”

Madden NFL 12 sets a new benchmark for the franchise by delivering the most authentic NFL gameplay experience to date. USA Today says, “Madden NFL 12 is a delightful pro football simulation and perhaps the series’ best entry in the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 era” and, according to Planet Xbox 360, “This is the Madden NFL that the hardcore football fans thought only existed in their dreams.”

Madden NFL 12 continues the rich tradition of the storied franchise by bringing fans closer to the NFL than ever before, featuring all 32 teams, stadiums, and favorite players in the league. Madden NFL 12 transforms on-field action and core gameplay modes, driving innovation in six key areas: Playbooks and Gameplay; Presentation; Franchise and Superstar modes; Dynamic Player Performance; Madden Ultimate Team; and Online Communities.

The multiplayer beta offers access to nine characters (The Sentinel, The Vanguard, The Guardian, The Vizier, The Thespian, The Deacon, The Bombardier, The Trickster and The Champion), three maps (Knight’s Hospital, Antioch, Constantinople) and four playable modes (Wanted, Manhunt, Deathmatch, and Artifact Assault), which are only a sample of the final multiplayer content.

Assassin’s Creed^® Revelations will be available on November 15, 2011.

Free multiplayer content:

On September 15th, 12 new routes for all online modes will be made available for free. Then for the following 10 weeks an additional 10 free routes will also be made available, 1 per week.

Driver Club:

Starting now, Driver San Francisco offers an exclusive Games-to-Web / Community service called Driver Club, which allows players to:

-      Unlock exclusive achievements

-      Find your stats and check the leaderboards

-      Showcase your film director clips

-      See and rate your friends’ clips

-      Review the Community facts

-      Follow your friends’ activities using the Driver Social feed

This website is accessible with a Uplay account here: www.driver-club.ubi.com

Players can preload to take the proverbial leap of faith into the action the moment the beta starts, on September 3.

The multiplayer beta offers access to nine characters (The Sentinel, The Vanguard, The Guardian, The Vizier, The Thespian, The Deacon, The Bombardier, The Trickster and The Champion), three maps (Knight’s Hospital, Antioch, Constantinople) and four playable modes (Wanted, Manhunt, Deathmatch, and Artifact Assault), which are only a sample of the final multiplayer content.

In Assassin’s Creed Revelations, master assassin Ezio Auditore walks in the footsteps of the legendary Altaïr on a journey of discovery and revelation. It is a perilous path – one that will take Ezio to Constantinople, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a growing army of Templars threatens to destabilize the region.

Assassin’s Creed^® Revelations will be available on November 15, 2011.

So anyway what can you expect on the 13th?

The full list of content available is:

Maps – Modes

Cochinay - Gold Rush, Shootout, Gang Shootout, Stronghold
Nekoti Rock – Gold Rush, Shootout, Gang Shootout
El Presidio – Gold Rush, Shootout, Gang Shootout
Plainview – Gold Rush, Shootout, Gang Shootout
Gaptooth Mine – Shootout, Gang Shootout
Pike’s Basin – Shootout, Gang Shootout
Rio Bravo - Shootout, Gang Shootout
Perdido – Hold Your Own, Grab the Bag
Benedict Point – Hold Your Own, Grab the Bag
Beecher’s Hope – Stronghold
Torquemada – Stronghold
Armadillo - Stronghold
Chuparosa - Stronghold
Tumbleweed - Stronghold

Multiplayer Characters

Landon Ricketts
Vicente DeSanta
Drew MacFarlane
Deputy Eli
Deputy Jonah
Javier Esquella
Nastas
Uncle

The DLC was called Path of War and is currently on the Markertplace at 560MS. so what’s it like and how does it compare to other DLC on other games..

Well it’s four new campaign missions show events that preceded the original game. Two of the missions are vehicle-based, and two on-foot missions which are better than the vehicle-based ones, new weapons and I think 10 new achievements, and overall took an hour and a half to complete.

Here is the information that goes with the DLC content:-

The Earth Defense Force has been defeated, and after centuries of oppression, Mars is finally free. For a time, there was peace. Yet from the forgotten ashes rose Adam Hale, scarred from years of struggle, seeking ultimate revenge against the Red Faction. His target, the one thing that keeps the surface of Mars habitable for thousands of colonists, is the Terraformer. Relive the battle for the Terraformer through four incredible new surface missions featuring aerial flyers, orbital strikes, and the Red Faction armored surface tank. Unlock two destructive new weapons, the Sharpshooter harpoon gun and Shard Storm projectile cannon, while earning new achievements or trophies in this thrilling new mission pack for Red Faction: Armageddon!

The story I’m not going to talk about but what I will do is compare this to other DLC that is available on the market. Now is 560MS really worth it for the time you get to play the new missions? Well that depends, if you like the game then yes where as if you purchased RF:A to fill the gap in games this summer like I did then not really. There are other games that give you mission packs and I would say number 1 on that list was Red Dead Redemption : Undead Nightmare and on the side of being bad and at the bottom of the list I would place Path of War around about half way… no way near RDR:UN but not the worst piece of DLC I’ve ever seen.

LuckyNoS7evin

Note: Overall I now know why DLC is hardly reviewed if you don’t want to give plot/story away, there is not a lot in the market to compare to and it’s very difficult.