Galaga Legions Review

Space... The final frontier, As Captain Kirk or Picard (depending on your age ) utter those immortal words they hit a chord in our soul, demand we ask ourselves the question 'Is there anything out there?' Galaga Legions Boldly answers the question with a psychedelic assault on the gamers' eyes shouting 'Yes there's bloody millions out there... prepare to engage!'

Galaga legions, is the next title released in the 'Summer of Arcade' promotion and comes from the same team over at Namco, who were behind Pacman Championship Edition. Anyone familiar with that title will know how they reinvented the game both visually and through refining the gameplay, yet subtly retaining enough of the original to make it recognisable to the audience. Galaga legions is no different.

Graphically Galaga legions is a combination of old and new with the title screens still retaining a '16 bit' style. This is expertly done with thumbnails depicting the worlds that the gamer will see, very similar to the original Starfox on the SNES or R- type.

By contrast the in game graphics are startling, almost as if the sombre menus are designed to sucker punch the gamer!

The visuals are sublime, with the levels rapidly changing from traditional star fields and meteor showers to pulsating neon lights and luminous rainbows of colour. This is further reinforced by the spacecraft models which are also incredibly well done, with detail going into the textures of the enemy models; particle effect and explosions are especially nice proving that the future is bright the future is Galaga!

Another excellent feature, showing the developers understanding of Galaga's heritage are the various skins that you unlock. These transform the games look, making it look similar to the games retro old brother Galaxian. Gameplay wise these changes in appearance are insignificant, but moreover they show how aware Namco is of their audience.


On the downside to the Las Vegas style spectacle that the gamer is treated to; is that Galaga can and does distract the gamer. This ensures that at times the gamer is unable to see their ship's positioning clearly due to the score multiplyers appearing. Death's sometimes come, not from the fact of poor judgement, but more the inability to see enemies.

Galaga Legions is split into two core gamplay modes, Adventure mode which sees the gamer using a limited number of lives to progress through all the worlds, and Championship mode which allows you to play through any of the individual worlds. Each prove worthy of play mainly due to the novel yet simple controls.

Typically with any space shooter on Live the gamer would imagine dual thumbstick control method - with one controlling the ship while the other directing the fire power. For all that this gameplay mechanic created a 'newness' originally, Its over use has made it go stale quicker than an old loaf. Thankfully Galaga doesn't use this 'Traditional' method, well not quite.

Galaga legions key difference is the ability to deploy your ships Satellites, essentially mini ships. These Satellites are controlled with the right stick, while control of the main vessel if designated to the left stick. The Satellites can be deployed in either horizontal or vertical space where they remain fixed, firing in the chosen direction until repositioned by the gamer.

This drastically alters the way the gamer plays the game, rather than a no brain shoot em up, the gamer is forced to place them strategically in order to survive. Whereas Geometry wars sees the gamer fire in all directions, the intentional limitations of Galaga's controls enhances the gameplay, causing the gamer to think quickly and carefully about the satellites deployment.

This strategy soon becomes essential as Galaga legions soon becomes challenging, demanding of the gamer quick reactions and even quicker thinking. It's this level of challenge that makes Galaga both appealing and yet immensely daunting at the same time.

First play will see you die in a relatively short space of time, it is only after several attempts that you begin to notice patterns of attack within the enemy waves, recognise holes in what seemed like an almost impossible defence. From this point on Galaga asks the gamer to play a deadly game of risk, should you go guns blazing, or hang back an await the onslaught!

The fact that the gamer willingly enters this battle is testement to the addictive quality of Galaga, and that even when your last ship disappears into cinders and ash you don't mind repeating the level, all the while trying to employ new strategies or tactics to achieve success.

Galaga does use several hooks to keep you playing - namely being the Galaga itself; a huge eye like entity that when hit spawns hordes of 'space creepy crawlies' which defend your ship till their dying breath. This ensures periods of relative calm in the gameplay and further gives new gamers at least a fighting chance.

The most understated gem of the game, and the reason the gamer continues to play on is the leaderboards in place. On the screen the high score is always visible while on the left hand side of the screen is your current score. This notion of beating the high score far exceeds the need that the gamer feels to progress to the next level, and is in part the reason why the gamer doesn't resent the challenge offered by Galaga Legions.

The only possible criticism for Galaga legions is that for some gamers it will prove too difficult, not that any of the gameplay styles change, waves of enemy still attack in memorable patterns, deploying your satellites is still crucial; It's just Galaga pushes the gears into overdrive testing your acquired skills to the maximum.

One wonders how the Starship enterprise would have fared against the hordes in Galaga, reassuringgly or perhaps worryingly Namco shares Kirk's approach to Alien diplomacy far more than Picards; opting for maximum firepower rather than chatty, time consuming diplomacy!

Summer of Arcade is offering some truly quality games, and Galaga is no exception to this, and instead is arguably one of the most instantly gratifying titles released through this promotion. Galaga is brash and bold offering no apology for its retro style gameplay, but offering enough strategy, scope and replay value to make it an essential purchase.

Wii gets a Great Gun controller from Venom!

The Wiimote has become accustomed to its fair share of plastic gimmickry, Golf club attachments, Tennis racket attachments heck even a lightsabre attachment can be found! They all, however share the same trait, that they are pretty pointless addition not giving any benefit to the gamer.

Nintendo like a ray of hope touted that it was releasing a gun attachment 'The Zapper' , turning the Wiimote into a masterful Lightgun. The problem with this attachment was that it was no better (although the addition of Zelda Crossbow training made it a bit more palatable). Worse the Zapper made the gamer hold it like an arm crippling rifle maybe in a nod of respect to the mutilating terror which was the Super scope!

Fear not though fans of the Lightgun, Venom has released a truly magnificent controller attachment, making arm ache a distant memory! The Venom Light Weight Controller.


The gun is fashioned in a stylish white, keeping with the Wii's overall look, and is an extremely light weight, even when the Wiimote is mounted. The Venom Controller though isn't just a plastic cradle, like you may find in High Street gamestores. Such devices have just simply 'held' the controller, ensuring that even though they looked like a traditional Lightgun, gamers instead had to operate them in a similar way to the Nintendo Zapper.

By contrast the Venom Light Weight controller enables the gamer to play a light gun game just like they would have done in the arcades or on Home consoles such as Playstation 2. This 'freedom' comes from the fact that the Wiimote doesn't just rest in the holster and more it is 'plugged' in allowing the nun chuck device to be attached via the base of the gun, rather than mounted onto the Lightgun, in the way the Zapper requires.

The trigger on the Venom controller presses the B button on the Wiimote (Usually the default trigger button in Wii lightgun games) and is extremely responsive allowing games like House of the dead to be an immensely enjoyable experience, rather than a continual reminder that the Wiimote wasn't a 'Proper' lightgun.

The Venom controller also ensures that the Wiimote never is tempted to fly out, searching for the next television screen to destroy, through the locking bar at the front of the controller.

The controller also makes every face button usable, which is one of the main criticisms of such attachments. This allows the gamer to fully navigate game menus and exit from their game with relative ease.

One aspect that makes purchase of the Venom Lightweight controller essential is the price, which on Amazon is currently £6.80! with pre - owned versions on the same site being sold for considerably less!

While the games list on the Wii may be limited the Wii has had a plethora of gun games such as Ghost Squad and House of the Dead Collection, which have largely been unplayable due to the peripherals on offer. The Venom Lightweight Controller makes games such as this an absolute joy and comes thoroughly recommended!

Come on Down Microsoft The Price is... err... Wrong?

'Adidas 4 stripe' trainers, Nicks bag and le shark T - shirts! to say I was sponsored by a market stall in my youth was an understatement! You see for my mum it was value for her money and while this may be true; being asked if I sold the Big issue by countless classmates didn't help to reassure me that I'd been wearing 'quality' You see price, value and quality are so concretely linked, that depending on your definition of each, your level of satisfaction is based... For some reason Microsoft have seemingly forgotten this.


Microsoft's prize Bull of this holiday season has been the 'Summer of Arcade', with game quality each week being sublime - ranging from the guts and glory bionic commando through to the psychedelic genocide offered up by Galaga. Microsoft though has inadvertently thrown a spanner into its own machine; Namely through the nonsensical pricing policy!

400 points, 800 points, even the dreaded 1200 points, what is it really? £3 - £10.50, what does that actually buy you outside of Live Arcade? KitKat chunky, Bottle of Lucozade and a magazine perhaps. I know the world's in financial peril nowadays, but I'm also sure Wall Street won't crash anytime soon over such sums.


The problem for Microsoft is that they've created the proverbial rod for their own back! Years have gone by and like gaming sheep we've grown accustomed to 'Arcade Wednesday' and what it means - new game, cheap, disposable... Thank you very much.

Part of the problem with this mindset is that points are different from pennies and pounds, their value is different, not in literal terms, but rather what those points represent; especially when attached to an item.

I am sure there are people out there totally unaware of how much actual money 800 points equates to, and instead it just means they can get a good quality game like Pac Man Championship Edition for it. Microsoft obviously intended some level of vagueness so that people would spend more, all the while feeling they were getting a 'bargain'. Such decisions have been extremely lucrative thus far with over 13,000,000 paid downloads, so to some degree their pricing has worked... until now.

The problem with this is that the gamer has become used to this pricing, maybe naively, and now demands that Live arcade adheres to this code of ethics Microsoft created. Rather than a monetary value the gamer is more attached to the vague 'worth' of the points. Just look at the recent posts on countless game forums and you can witness the backlash first hand "I'm not buying this it's way too much!" or worse "what a rip off!"

To further complicate this, the recent releases have fueled the outcry - Geometry Wars 2 (800 points), Then Braid (1200 points. Had this been it; with the subsequent games following Braid's same price point, then I like many would have assumed this was the new pricing structure for Game titles. What in fact happened was the direct opposite with Bionic Commando and Galaga both undercutting Braid making it seem to the consumer even more 'expensive'


It's interesting to mention that the Playstation 3 doesn't suffer from this stigma at all. Why? because they haven't used 'mythical money' you don't have to trade virtual carrots for the CGI Goat, instead you pay with something quite popular in this modern world... Money!

There's no price 'standard' Like there is within Microsoft's Live Arcade, and while Elefunk is £4.99, Siren: The Blood Curse in its fullest form is £19.99. The buyer instantly understands these values, and is therefore inherently more educated as to the game's 'worth' Another strength to the Playstation Store is that prices change, allowing for their own 'Bargain Bin' moments, but perhaps more crucially not allowing the consumer to grow falsely attached to an assumed cost of a game.

Playstation Store definitely needs more content ... and maybe Microsoft saw this as a pitfall they wanted to avoid with their service. Live arcade has become synonymous with masses of content, updated regularly; sure it turns heads, but inadvertently Microsoft has created a stereotype of what downloadable content is - making it almost comparable to mobile gaming. They have created an Ogre like shadow which truly great games find inescapable, not due to a flaw in the gameplay, but because the community somehow feel cheated on price.

The recent pricing storm isn't entirely all of Microsoft's own making though, When commenting on Braid's official blog, Jonathan Blow Braid creator said the pricing was to "guard against... the Space Giraffe problem" (Space Giraffe received a mere 19,000 downloads) Can this possibly be true that a more expensive pricing somehow equates to it being a more legitimate game? If Jonathan Blow considers Space giraffe's main flaw its price point then I can only suggest he replays the at best 'mediocre' game!

Ultimately we as gamers are left with only one question " What do we base value on?" Game hours clocked up? Graphics? Multi player options, is it solely price?

Microsoft must change its pricing of Arcade titles to become less uniform. Old Arcade titles should become cheaper, full titles varying in price depending on developer, games available as episodic content. This much needed variety will re - educate gamers as to what the Live Arcade service 'means'

Currently Live Arcade lies trapped within its own myth - that it offers cheap, dispensable, 5 minute 'pick up and play' games; while this idea surrounds Live arcade like a smog, inventive games such as Braid will continue to be viewed as 'costly'

Microsoft needs to understand, as do the consumers of Live Arcade, that a 'Marketplace' might well sell crappy imitations, but it can also offer vintage quality goods that you pay more for. Maybe Marketplace should be re branded ' Live Boutique'... Then again maybe not.

Braid Review

Individuality, bit of a mixed bag really; for all that applaud such 'special' qualities, there's the stick waving mob ready to roast the Ogre. Think about it Gandhi, JFK, Martin Luther King heck even Jesus! I'm sure you've noticed the common pattern; and gaming too has its own fair share of gaming casualties, Psi - Ops, Beyond Good and Evil, Ico, to name but three, all sporting the 'individuality' badge. Braid almost aware of this, treads an uneasy path between freak or unique within the gaming world.

Braid instantly shocks the gamer through the visual style and the lack of a traditional start screen, instead placing the gamer into a Lowry come Vangough inspired Landscape, dark and foreboding with a rich tapestry of smog illuminating the solitary silhouette of Town house. As you go right towards the house you immediately realise that this it the game hub , with each room intricately detailed offering a portal to the game 'world' - all the while daubed with the artists ominous brush!

This is a stark contrast to the graphics depicting the levels themselves, which are bright, almost impressionistic in style, with several layers of colour swirling whirlpool like within the game objects such as clouds.


Graphically though Braid is a mixed bag, with the in game characters not sharing the same level of charm and appeal as the levels they occupy. The hero of the piece, Tim who is the character the gamer controls for the duration of Braid, is hampered by a limited set of animations. Jump sequences look very similar to walking, he shows little or no emotion when reaching the 'Barneyesque' end of level Dinosaur, which unless living on Sesame street you might find a slight bit odd!

The same criticism can be levelled at the in game enemies, all of which lack the variety and personality of a Mario or Zelda adventure. This is especially odd considering the level Environment designer David Hellman redrew these to "Better match the now-predominant style of the backgrounds"

Such feelings are largely offset by the sublime in game music. Braid's orchestral tones beautifully contrasts with the gamers expectations of a Platformer; its Celtic Violin melodies brilliantly reflecting the melancholy tone of the game narrative.

Had Braid solely been a Platformer in the traditional sense, then the game would have floundered; massively. Simply keep going right, opening the subsequent doors and you will reach the final world with relative ease... Braid though is anything but traditional! Each level serves as a logic puzzle, taxing the gamer and providing some genuine 'Scratch your head and think' moments. The real task of Braid is not that you reach the end of the level, but rather that you are able to collect every Jigsaw piece within the various worlds.


Rewinding time, slow motion, creating a deathly double of yourself all become skills the gamer needs to acquire in order to gain the illusive jigsaw pieces, and while puzzles increase in their complexity, Braid subtly introduces new skills ensuring that the gamer never feels lost at sea.

Within the Puzzle solving, Braid strikes a wonderful balance between taxing gameplay and the need to have 'Just one more go!' The puzzles, when conquered offer enough 'Eureka' moments to instantly make the gamer feel as though Einstein and Hawking were their equals (albeit without the need to love quantum physics!)


As a Puzzle game Braid works fluidly allowing for an easy comparison between gaming greats within that genre such as Chu Chu Rocket and Echochrome.

The only marring of Braid's puzzle credentials is that at times the platform jumping ( a necessary part to completing many puzzles) can be extremely fiddly, resulting in countless attempts - not due to the gamer not understanding how to solve the puzzle, but more due to a slight flaw in the game mechanics.

So where does Braid rest on the arc of individuality? Is it Zen like in its thinking? or rather just a bit wacky and awaiting the playground bully to 'sort 'im out' Braid certainly is bold as a concept, almost frighteningly so; fighting at times to contain all the ideas it intends to offer the gamer. While the platforming is hit and miss, and Braid's hero Tim is largely unremarkable; level design, sense of atmosphere and the ingenuity of the puzzles counter balance any negative feelings, helping it remain a rich gaming experience.

Longevity comes through revisiting the levels rather than any additional extras, and while 1,200 point price tag seems steep - especially when compared to recent releases such as Geometry Wars 2 and Bionic Commando - Braid still commands attention making it a more unique than a freakish experience, and one that is certainly uncommon within Xbox360 marketplace.

Playstation 3 Home Beta Invites

Myspace, Twitter, Facebook you'd have to be a caveman living under the very world itself not to realise that social networking is big business. The Internet has done its very best to shrink the world and it seems that with that achievement, users of the net now want the proverbial garden fence to gossip over.

Gaming has largely remained free of this - much to the annoyance of its community, but with the growth in popularity in the Xbox Live service, it has allowed a community to grow. Enter Sony; the new boy of Internet community, offering the 'Home' experience that doesn't just give you the metaphorical garden fence to chat over, but instead a gargantuan of a town to explore and enjoy!

For lucky members of the Sony community, a closed beta version of Home (version 00.97.3 when going to print) has been released. There has been some speculation as to how members obtained an Invite, with US customers having the option of being on the 'waiting list' by downloading and installing the Home Theme, while others received emails From Sony, That read as follows

"PlayStation®Home is a 3D, interactive, evolving service, exclusive to PLAYSTATION®3. It's free to download and easy to use. Home is the place to be if you want to deepen your gaming experience - the place where you can meet, chat, plan, and launch games together. Also, you can fully customise your avatar, decorate your own Home apartment, play mini-games, watch videos, take part in events, and much more - it's all part of the Home experience.

We've chosen to offer access to Home to a select number of PLAYSTATION®3 owners, and as a valued member of PLAYSTATION®Network, you have been selected to be amongst the first to try this exciting new service.

To take part, and play an important role in helping us evolve and grow the service over the coming months, please redeem your unique promotional code below using your PLAYSTATION®3 and join us in Home...

Please remember that Home is currently in a restricted testing phase, which means that we'll be constantly adding new features and content, and testing the service, over the coming months. As part of your participation, we'll also occasionally ask you about your experiences, and gather feedback, so we can continually improve the service.

Also please understand that this is a closed and confidential beta and your participation is subject to our Terms of Use which will be presented to you the first time you connect to Home. Please keep all discussion of your experiences within Home confidential and limit them to our private Home Beta Forum...

Welcome to PlayStation®Home.

Yours,

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe"


As you'll gather from the above correspondence there's very little else we can say, due to the confidentiality of the Beta, but once it goes to a Public beta or general release... we'll be first with a guide on how it all works!

Bionic Commando Rearmed Review

Funny old thing nostalgia, it's the reason we cry for remakes of television shows, the reason we wear Thundercats T - shirts and the reason we buy action figures the moment we have a shred of a disposable income! The only problem with this bubble of nostalgia is that it bursts; painfully at times, all too often reminding us that it wasn't quite as good as we remembered.

The 360's Live Arcade and to a lesser extent the Playstation Store, are graveyards to games that should have never been brought back - Robotron, Speedball, Smash Tv, Paperboy to name a few... Thankfully Campcom's Bionic Commando Rearmed is a gem that is well worth rediscovering!

Capcom well aware of its original fan base tips its hat towards the games retro roots with a great opening musical score, that while reinvented, would sit quite comfortably on the NES. The music brilliantly reflects the in game action as well as its heritage, seamlessly mixing fast bass driven pieces into periods of calm. Sound effects are crisp with enough pop and zing within Gunfire and explosions to allow any gamer of the '20 and over' bracket to proudly proclaim ' This is why gaming is great!"

It would have been easy for Capcom to have made a quick buck on this game, releasing it just before the sequel; but instead Capcom has done anything but this - paying meticulous attention to every last detail of the game. This labour of love for Capcom is shown no less in the graphics.

The levels are vibrant and bright with a good level of variation between levels, whether that be in dense wintry woodland or heavily urbanised areas. The game play, while being very much 2D the in game characters are 3D models textured to give the appearance of sprites and fixed on a 2D plain, in a similar fashion to Capcom's Streetfighter 4. This allows the physics of the models to be fully utilized, with ragdoll physics being in place for the countless deaths of the in game enemy.

The games bosses are typically Capcom, in that they come in 3 varieties big, bigger and biggest, with their demise being brilliantly realised in a kaleidoscope of explosions and fire - brilliantly rewarding the gamers efforts. Graphically the gamer never feels short changed.

The reinvention of Bionic Commando is not wholesale, and rather than an "Out with the old and in with the new!" attitude Capcom has instead opted for evolving the series, and still maintaining the classic feel. This is reflected through the in game dialogue screens and NPC's using speech bubbles.

Bionic Commando Rearmed also changes from side scrolling platformer to a top down shooter at brief moments, and unlike Capcom's previous release Commando:WOTB balances this change, so that the gamer maintains interest, both through the diverse shift in visuals but also through the change in game play.

This balance of old and new is perhaps most pronounced within the game play of Bionic Commando. Capcom have made some changes from the NES original to appeal to a modern gamer such as a health bar replacing the previous system as well as being able to change your weapon mid level, but the game does to some degree ask the modern gamer to change their 'thinking' so that they can get the most from it and rescue 'Super Joe'

Instantly skipping the tutorial and jumping straight in, makes you ask why cant I jump over a barrel? why wont my gun shoot diagonally? and to which Bionic Commando has no response; only that it is and old school game, brought to a new audience.

While this initially throws the gamer - it pales into insignificance due to the beauty of controlling your Commando, and more importantly using his bionic claw. Using the grapple hook claw soon becomes second nature and sees you swinging like King Louis from platform to platform, albeit without the accompaniment of Mowgli!

This is immensely satisfying and the gamer can't help but feel smug when they acrobatically swing behind the enemy to finish them off.

The 'old school' nature of the game hero's maneuverability is game's only real criticism, and while some modern gamers may not be able to accept this, Capcom does its utmost to compensate through the wide breadth of game play modes, such as Co - op, Versus and the brilliant addition of the Challenge rooms.


These challenge rooms (initially shown via a tutorial, then becoming fully unlockable later) allow the gamer to fully grasp the the game mechanics in a relatively safe environment.

The Challenge rooms are anything but 'just a training level' though, and anyone familiar with Metal Gear Solid's VR missions will feel instantly at home. The task is seemingly simple - get to the end goal in the allotted time, however what initially seems a simple task of going from A to B, soon becomes devilishly addictive, taxing the gamer to find the most ingenious pathway so that they can finish top of the leaderboard! With all this variety offered it makes the 800 points (Xbox360) or 6.99 (Playstation 3) price tag excellent value for money.

Bionic Commando to a certain audience will always be a trip down memory lane, and while this air of nostalgia is true, Bionic Commando Rearmed offers enough depth and style to make it more than palatable to a new audience; showing other game developers how true gems of gaming can lovingly be restored and refashioned, so that they shine on the 'Next gen' stage.

Civilization Revolution (Multi Format)

1996 was the year insomnia gripped me, I had removed everything from my diet that would have created it, coffee, tea, sugary foods but still it persisted; there was very little stress in my life even - No the answer was obvious and it lay in a large cardboard box... Civilization 2 had been released!

After the galleons had long since faded from the inside of my retina I thought it would be safe to venture back into 'normal' gaming. Little did I know that Sid Meier had one more dastardly plan under his sleeve, the quite brilliant Civilization revolution. Sleep would never be the same again.

This iteration of the Civilization series, has departed from its PC roots and instead opted for a more 'Console friendly' path, with the game being released on both the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo DS. This may initially cause concern amongst gamers, however those fears are immediately dispelled.

The main reason for this is the extremely intuitive control scheme, with the majority of options being controlled by the shoulder buttons. This proves to be a master stroke as once your settlers have created several cities (Guestopia and Guestropolis in my case!) it offers easy navigation across all your kingdom, making the turn based gameplay into a surprisingly quicker experience.


The game though doesn't overly hold the gamers hand before playing, maybe in a nod of respect to the hardened Civilization players, and rather than the mandatory tutorial a science type character pops up offering you a tutorial, which when opted for will fully detail unit types and their various strengths and weaknesses, as well as offering advice when a new experience is made available to the gamer, such as building a 'wonder' for your citizens.

This was extremely refreshing as the game didn't patronise the gamer, and rather allowed them to opt for assistance as and when they needed it, but moreover allowed the gamer to digest the game's 'ethos' and strategy before moving on within the game.

The only slight quibble with the tutorial, was that although it described the unit types it was at times unclear how you actually create a unit, making a read of the instruction manual a vital companion to the gamers' initial steps within the game.


Civilization has always been a 'thinker' and even the most hardened Civilization fans, for which there are hundreds, will say that it has never been a 'looker'. This has dramatically changed for this incantation.

The graphics are vibrant, rich and a delight to behold, with the world and in game terrain being beautifully drawn with a cartoonish brush. This extends to the in game characters - tribes people, Barbarians, World leaders; each has a wonderfully characateuristic quality, where they will visually show their disapproval or support for your decisions.

This cartoonish style also extends to the unit types, with each unit such as pike men being unique, and furthermore when the unit is upgraded this is reflected visually, allowing the gamer to feel a greater sense of attachment to their units, through their personality and individuality.

'But what about the gameplay? Civilization is nothing without gameplay!' you cry, and this sentiment is fully correct, and is in part why I chose to talk about the gamplay last. The fact is that regardless of all these new graphical touches, new bells and whistles that have been mention above.. this is still an authentic Civilization game, and at the core of it beats the same heart that was in Civilization 2.

The game gives the user command of a huge cultural list (16 in total) ranging from Cleopatra's Egyptian Empire through to Abraham Lincoln's good old USA. These aren't just purely cosmetic differences, far from it, and instead each civilization offers strengths and weaknesses whether it be Ghandi's diplomacy skills or Julius Caesar's military might.

Once the decision has been made the gamer must set out to achieve success for their blossoming Civilization, and success can be achieved in 4 differing ways economic, cultural, technology and domination, with each option having specific criteria to achieve success.


The only slight criticism of this is that due to the map being quite small, yet still having 5 different Civilizations; it means that war is inevitably on the cards and it is at times extremely difficult to keep things peaceful!

This often results in games being won by domination, and when playing I couldn't escape the feeling that it was all to easy to win in this way. This may be Sid Meier's attempt to cater for a console market which is perceived to want instant action, but the continual interruption irritated, especially when your sole intention was to be peaceful.

It is worth persevering with the winning goals other than domination, as from a curiosity point alone it allows you to see your research reach its true potential.

Overall Civilization Revolution is a brilliant re - imagining for the series, which does its up most to cater for Old and new fans of the game alike. The game is also extremely good value coupling together free play, scenarios not to mention the online multi player. Whether or not this version will make it to the PC is another matter, but console fans can rejoice in having a thoroughly deep and absorbing strategy title to play. It seems my insomnia is set to start all over again!

Soulcalibur 4 (Multi Format)

Fighting games or the often more referred to Beat - em - up, sit precariously on a knife edge within the modern era or 'Next gen' gaming; you see there's something overly familiar with the genre. Far removed from the gimmickry of waving a Wii remote or the stupidity of six - axis controls - the fighter sits you down with a game pad and asks you to slavishly devote yourself to button combinations.

This premise has remained largely unchanged since the glory days of Street fighter, but what has this got to do with Soulcalibur you may say... well its the fact that Soulcalibur takes this and sugar coats the pill to such a degree that the game is like drinking Honey from the moment the immortal words "The legend continues" can be heard on screen.

What instantly grabs you is the visual style of the game, its as if the head of Namco ordered colour to be cranked all the way up to 10, as the graphics from the environments to the in game characters and menu screens are beautifully rendered.

The characters, or perhaps the range of choice within the character select screen, is what is most impressive, sporting 34 characters from old favourites such Siegfried and Nightmare to newcomers to the series such as Algol and Shura, there should be no reason to feel there isn't a character to suit your personal taste, with each game character offering a unique fighting style; ultimately shaped by the weapon they use whether it be broadsword or foil.


For this iteration of the game Namco has sought the galaxy far far away and recruited 3 star wars characters Darth Vader (Playstation 3 exclusive) Yoda (Xbox 360 exclusive) and the Apprentice (no not Alan sugar!).

Namco certainly has a tradition for incorporating other franchises into Soulcalibur such as link or spawn within Soulcalibur 3, but its a strange, albeit welcome decision to include the Star Wars characters.

Its hard to believe the designers of Soulcalibur understood the concept of a Lightsabre, a blade that is so strong it cuts through any object. We didn't see Obi wan in starwars take 90 seconds and someone uttering "fight!" to chop the arm of the space pirate did we? no it was one quick strike before the Cantina band got back to playing and Luke decided to catch a lift on the Millenium Falcon! so why are the sabres nothing more than glowsticks?

The lightsabres do in fact look pretty, but there is no visual impact of using a Lightsabre on the opponent armour, any more than if it were a club.

This trend is continued with the ability to use the force, with each of the Jedi respectively having a 'Force Meter' to use. Obviously for the balance of the game a meter needed to be used otherwise one force choke and the opponent would be dead, but the limiting of their powers kills thier 'super hero' like quality, and further reinforces that the decision to include them was a choice made more with selling games in mind than their suitability.

This is only a minor gripe and if the Starwars characters do only one good thing it is to erase the horrid memories of playing Starwars: Masters of Teras Kasi!

It is in the Beauty of the game mechanics that the game truly shines through allowing both the newcomer and the honed veteran a game to explore.

There are several game modes available such as Story mode, arcade, and Tower of souls mode which sees you ascend and descend a torturous tower where in order to progress you must fight waves of opponents. Story mode and arcade are relatively easy and had this been all that was included it would be reasonable to feel shortchanged, but Soulcalibur 4 has gone further adding online options, with ranked matches and leaderboards allowing you to measure your skill and progress.

The only slight criticism of the gameplay is that you can progress relatively far into the game if you button bash. This obviously allows new gamers a chance to progress, but dilutes the skill needed to 'beat' the game and in some ways the sense of achievement that the gamer would get from honing their fighting abilities, in the way that say a Virtua Fighter or Street fighter would offer.

Soulcalibur 4 is certainly a return to form, and easily matches the gameplay offered in the Dreamcast original, it moves the genre on a step offering a wealth of depth from online options through to character creation, while at the same time offering traditional fighting that all hardened Beat - em - up fans will be happy with. Soulcalibur 4 performs an amazing balancing act of old and new, refashioning it for the 'Next gen' crowd and is essential for fight fans!

-Guesty81