Unfortunately, whilst the Reaper and I were expecting that the post New Year period would bring with it the opportunity to kick back a little and come back to some more important thins (like playing games, writing reviews, watching 80s TV shows and eating cake) we have actually found ourselves more distracted than ever.  However, fear not, for we have not been idle.  All of those reviews, and more, that werepromised way back when in the middle of December will soon be upon us.

We have also now requistioned a reliable X-Box 360 spokesperson.  My fabulous new girlfriend Lissa, who is one of the primary reasons I personally have been so…distracted of late.  So, thankfully, the rather weighted bias towards the Wii and Playstation 3 will be gradually offset as we move to a more balanced approach to review publication.  Hopefully, we should soon be in a position to get one from each of the current primary platforms each week.  That being Playstation 3, Wii, X-Box 360 and PC.  As well as a spattering of others here and there such as downloaded games and the odd retro classic.

And, finally, the Reaper, my amazing new girlfriend and I have been working on a seperate internet venture that will see distribution, hopefully, some time before the end of next week.  A twelve part Star Wars audio comedy/drama that we believe many of our loyal readers (hoping that we actually have some) will find to be at least moderately entertaining.  Also, next week should hopefully see a return to posting as I have both a Wii and PC title to air my views on.  The PC game I have choen should prove to be most interesting as it is something which has devided a great many gamers for a number of years now.

Keep your eyes peeled everyone.  There are good things to come very soon.

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Well, our regular subscribers will have surely noticed that it’s been a little quiet in GR land the past few weeks.  But fear not, we have not forgotten you, our loyal minions of return minionness.  It5’s gotten back to that time of year when everyone, even we, your review writing lords, have a lot to deal with.

At present, our duties consist of :

1) Shouting at the TV

2) Shouting at each other

3) Shouting at ourselves

4) Eating cake

And E) Sleeping in the garden

However, come the other side of the new year, bot the Reaper and I will return with an impressive line up of both new and old games for you to sink your teeth into.  I don’t want to go into too much detail about our little secret project, but I can assure you it is something on a scale not previously considered.  Something that has been made possible only now through the keen application of Ebay, an old CRT Television and a lama called Steve.

We will also be briinging you Fallout 3 for both Playstation 3 and PC, Siren Blood Curse, Rainbow Six Vegas and several more titles that you may still be uhming and ahhing about that we can, perchance, inform you correctly about.  Both the good and the bad aspects.  Watch this space my loyal minions, thine faith shall be rewarded.

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Hello folks, here is another review from your friendly neighbourhood Jedireaper. The object of scrutiny today is TimeSplitters 4 for the PS3 home console…

Uhh, oops sorry I mean Far Cry 2, and I have a confession to state out first before we get down to the wilderness of Africa so to speak.

To begin with, my confession: I have not been playing FC2 as much as I should have been, rather I’ve been bashing away at GTA online as it is soo much fun, and during times when I’ve had no internet I’ve been playing Half Life 2 & Portal (The Orange Box). For some strange reason I have been avoiding FC2. Do not ask me why as I can give no reason- unless it was the daunting task of writing this review, then I still can give no true reason… Enough said, and now to get to the reason of a review- namely, the review.

Far Cry 2 is a very good- I hesitate to say amazing -game. It certainly delivers a punch to the gut of other shooters of the First Person shooter, and Sand-box genres, this game delivering 50 kilometers square of lush jungles, hazy savannah, and dry desert, and a few small villages and exactly two full towns or settlements if you feel like being accurate.

The Far Cry 2 engine certainly can pump out some impressive environments, from the highly detailed and beautifully animated plant-life, the perfect environmental lighting, and rather good enemy and friendly AI, though usually you are on your own- I was mostly because I killed one of ‘em by blowing him up with a grenade, and got another captured by the UFLL who were my immediate enemies at the time, since I was doing missions for the APR, not that there is any differance between the factions, but APR sounded cooler -you will be driven through the game being used as a Mercenary, or a ‘gun for hire’, doing the dirty jobs that the factions cannot be seen doing.

One of the few downpoints about this game being free roaming, and on so large a map, is that there is a lot of journeying about this fictional African state, sometimes by boats, cars, jeeps, and trucks, but more ofter you will find yourself walking.

This can be forgiven as Ubisoft Montreal have tried to do the GTA thing with the FPS while throwing in elements of the game Mercenaries and some COD4. This has made for quite a shooter, with the general game mechanics such as the control layout being totally fluid and easily accessable to even newbies to the FPS genre, or the hectic shoot-outs, or the ‘being able to set things on fire’ whitch has been coded nicely to co-inside with the pysics engine- my favorite part -lends itself to ceate a dynamic and unique experiance, both visually and gameplay wise.  Before I move on to what is perhaps the games best feature, a special mention should go to the weapons of FC2, both being varied and meaty. They even get jammed and dirty through continued use, then break apart in your hands which is certainly a unique feature. Make sure to always have fresh weapons, as being caught short with your pants down isn’t going to do anything but get you killed. Fast.

The map-maker is one of the best yet seen in a video game, allowing you to do and create anything and everything, from floating platforms, Normandy Beach-heads, and COD4 level recreations- and why not -to the Eiffel Tower, to huge city sized maps and vast jungle valleys. Everything can be tweaked and to be honest, it is all relatively easy to do however if you are attempting to do the Eiffel- I’ll see you in a few weeks. It will take a while and although it can be done, its ambitious.

The score, is it really worth my pecious money?
Graphics: 8.5

Gameplay:9

Sound: 8

Plot: 8

Replayability: 8.5

Overall: 8.4

This game is not for everyone mind, and may even be daunting to those who own it, like me. But it is a good solid game, with lag free online multiplayer. Well worth owning.

This game also gets the “Jedireaper Innovation Award” for the excellent map-maker.

This is certainly worth the time to play even just for the online experiance- excellent main game aside -as it certainly rivals COD4 though I can’t vouch for World at War yet, but if you need a game to keep you going till Killzone 2 arrives for your PS3, then this is it, especially for the map-maker.

Join www.killermovies.com/forums/ and discover a new world of online socialising. From discussions about comics, books and films to Role Playing in any manner of variety. There is something for everybody.

Hope to see you there.

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“IN MY RESTLESS dreams, I see that town”.

And in my worst nightmares, I see this game. Double Helix have taken the phenomenal series that Konami created way back when on the original Playstation console, and perverted it into a pale imitation of it’s former glory. When the PSP game, Silent Hill Origins was released, it was met with mixed views by both players and critics alike. Some saying that Team Silents decision to pass the series on to an outside developer (Climax Studios in that case) was a bold, and not all together wise move. So when it came to the sixth chapter in the series, it seemed even more bizarre that they would do so again.

Unfortunately, whilst Climax rose to the challenge and produced a, somewhat different, but still fundamentally Silent Hill experience, Double Helix just…didn’t. I can only surmise that they were relying heavily on the name alone to bolster sales, because it is clear to me that only minimal effort was put into programming the game. The textures are…well, textureless, the complete lack of expression on every single person in the game is downright insulting, and the gratuitous use of needlessly dramatic music and ridiculous popping and squelching noises on a number of the cities warped denizens combine to transform this from a sparkling addition to the Silent Hill franchise into a painfully clichéd Hollywood style monster of the week movie.

Which brings me to the next point. I honestly cannot fathom why, but this latest foray into the misty burg relies very heavily on the Silent Hill movie (widely accepted as being utter crap apart from the outstanding direction by Christopher Ganz) for it’s source material. Featuring, for no discernible reason that I can find, the movies signature gas mask clad cultists and even some of the same locations such as the Church which hosts the films gore infested climax. Even the inclusion of fan favourite Pyramid Head does little to lift this game beyond anything more complimentary than the mediocre. Especially when he comes toddling out with massive thumping noises much better suited to a scene from the Incredible Hulk. The dude is seven feet tall, carries a knife (yes, a knife) that’s six feet long and has a giant metal pyramid for his freaking head. He doesn’t need screen shaking footsteps to scare the bejeezus out of you.

You may be wondering if I have anything at all positive to say about the game. And, sadly, I actually do. As always, the scripting is positively top notch and the voice acting, though not the best in the series, is still utterly outstanding. And, of course, the soundtrack by the ever talented Akira Yamaoka-sama is eerie and chilling as ever (if a little overused in places). Unfortunately, all this succeeds in doing is reminding us of how good the came could and should have been. And, in my case at least, left me pining for previous titles in the series to such an extent that I was only part way in and put it back on the shelf for a while in favour of a trip back to the previous generations for a reminder of what Silent Hill used to be like.

However, eventually, I took the plunge and muddled my way through to the end. A far more laborious task than it really should have been. When you face minor enemies that are more resilient than the major boss fights you know something is seriously wrong. That little section in the prison immediately after being separated from Wheeler had me spitting nails for a full two days. Those Schisms (odd creatures with a bladed hammer shaped head) kept cornering me and effectively cutting me to ribbons in only two or three head wiggles. Supposedly no major challenge, they were a bloody nightmare for muggins here. Whilst the final enemy, though genuinely quite frightening, bashed me around a good half dozen or so times and only had my health down half way. Hmm, not quite what you expect really.

So, having said all this, would you be surprised if I still gave it a tentative (and sanity questioning) recommendation? There are a lot of flaws with the game, this is true, and it is far and away the worst chapter in the series (yes, even worse than the film) but any true Silent Hill fan will still find something in there to satisfy their appetite until the next chapter comes our way. If you can plow your way through the horrendous gameplay and tedious, overly complicated monster battles, there are some fantastic plot moments. Unfortunately, those self same moments that make the whole thing worth the immense effort in the first place still leave you pining for something better because of the before mentioned utter lack of expression. If not for the quality of the voice acting, even the great script wouldn’t be enough of a draw.

Overall, a thoroughly disappointing, shameless cash in from a series that has shocked, thrilled and titilated like no other. If this had been produced by Team Silent themselves it would be inexcusable, but since it was passed out to someone else we can let it slide this time.

Just

Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay: 5.5/10
Audio/Music: 8/10
Plot/Scripting: 9/10
Overall: 6.5/10

By the way, some people have noticed that my ranking system is not mathematically correct. This is because the overall score is not linked only to the other four areas I list. I picked those four out because they are the most commonly noticed by your average player, whilst the final score takes into consideration my overall impression of the game. I hope this clears up any confusion

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