Mega Derived


Tom Clancy’s HAWX Review @ play.tm
March 6, 2009, 9:55 pm
Filed under: 360, Games, Review

HAWX’s greatest failing is that, as ace pilot David Crenshaw, you never quite pull off the dazzling aerial moves that the various cinematics lead you to believe are possible: one in particular has an aeroplane pull a 180 degree flip in a millisecond, and unleash two rockets at a pursuing target. The whizzy futuristic technology goes down a treat, but it’s hard to fall for the illusion of being a maverick pilot when you’re cruising around a turning circle wider than the gap between reality and Tom Clancy’s personal version of it.

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Dawn of War II Review @ D+PAD
March 6, 2009, 9:54 pm
Filed under: Games, PC, Review

Levels in the single-player campaign start with a lull; the game rests momentarily on an almost frozen shot of the landscape. It’s an opportunity to bask in the game’s excellent graphics. Then a big, brash, metal drop pod collides into the ground and four squads of Blood Ravens bundle out. This is the meat and potatoes of the hefty structural change; as opposed to the army-from-scratch philosophy preached in the original, Dawn of War II has you marching around the cosmos with the same units. It’s like a big, intergalactic, superhuman, cybernetic version of the A-Team. Just without having to run from the law.

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50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Review @ D+PAD
March 6, 2009, 9:53 pm
Filed under: 360, Games, Review

It’s ridiculous, of course. And with all the integration of 50 Cent’s musical empire – “featuring 18 exclusive new tracks” is given top billing on the back cover – there’s the perfectly understandable concern that the game will get lost by the wayside. It doesn’t, but the resulting title is one that can only boast of being average. The shooting, graphics and controls are all distinctively competent. Its scoring system works but contains no incentive. The game lacks any sense of flair or vision: its design ambitions must have been to create the most middling gameplay experience of all time. If it were a colour, it would be a perfectly pleasing, inoffensively functional grey.

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GTA IV: The Lost and Damned Review @ play.tm
March 6, 2009, 9:51 pm
Filed under: 360, Games, Review

The Lost and Damned exudes confidence alongside competence. It’s all the better for it. The developer might be occasionally accused of arrogance, but they’re producing material of such quality that they can get away with it. The Lost and Damned is intelligent to the point that parts of it are advancing storytelling in videogames. It is, however, juxtaposed against wanton violence, a desire to stir up controversy and shots of penises.

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F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin Review @ play.tm
March 6, 2009, 9:48 pm
Filed under: 360, Review

As an overall product, F.E.A.R. 2 is a decent mix of self-aware cliche, gratuitous and hyperbolic violence mixed with the occasional touch of subtlety and reservation. It’s a solid, dependable shooter that, in its best moments, gets your heart racing. Whilst the universe might be confusing and unfriendly for those who haven’t played the first game, the shooting mechanics should be satisfying enough for fans of the genre. And, let’s face it, that’s pretty much everyone with an Xbox 360. The ending isn’t as spectacular as the original’s, but it is just as abrupt. Which is again a shame. It couldn’t be more disparagingly abrupt unless it printed “F.E.A.R. 3, anyone?” onto the screen before the credits rolled.

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