Mass Effect [360]

Developed at BioWare, known for Role-Playing Games such as Jade Empire, Mass Effect takes players to a future where humans are taking their first steps into space exploration.

As Commander Shepard, the first human to become a "Spectre" agent, it's your job to prove yourself as an effective member of the law-keeping force while also revealing the existence of a huge threat to the various alien races that inhabit the galaxy. Along the way, Shepard will have the chance to team up with various Non-Player Characters who will also take part in squad-based combat.

The fact that this is a Science-Fiction based game already sets it apart from most of the genre and makes for a nice change from the typical sword-swinging RPG action. The game world is huge, with players using a map of the galaxy to determine which planets to travel to and explore. Players can also choose how they interact with other characters through a choice of dialogue options ranging in aggressiveness to make Shepard's character their own and affect responses. In general, players will find themselves with some main objectives involving travel to specific solar systems or planets. You can go pretty much wherever you want though, and check out uncharted planets, possibly finding ruins or even space pirates to battle. As the story progresses, you'll have the option of allowing other humans and aliens to join your party, and take part in battles against various enemies.

While the story is classic Sci-Fi stuff on a grand scale, and the main characters are well-acted by the likes of Seth Green, Lance Henriksen, and Marina Sirtis, the combat action in the game is often frustrating. Your squad-mates exhibit very little intelligence and are often dead before you know it. Adding to the pain are the seemingly hobbled weapons at lower levels (they overheat really fast) and the unskippable cut scenes that you need to watch before each attempt. The character upgrade system is nice though, with earned points either assigned manually or by using an auto-level system. You can also choose to level up Shepard manually and leave the secondary characters on auto, which is great. You'll also have to drive a land-based vehicle called a "Mako" when visiting planets, which has absolutely terrible controls and physics.

Visually, the game generally looks good and features some solid facial mapping and motion capture work, as well as fairly robust character customization. The engine seems to be pushing the system pretty hard though, since graphic details are often seen popping onto objects after they have been on the screen for a couple of seconds. It's also a shame that the game doesn't seem to be streaming any data from the hard drive, as this probably could have helped clean things up and improve load times. Sound-wise, the voice acting is generally excellent, and the music, while perhaps a bit too obvious a nod to Vangelis' score for Blade Runner, is still a nice change from the sweeping strings in most RPGs.

In all, Mass Effect is a nice departure for the genre that does a lot right, even though it gets somewhat undermined by being perhaps a bit too technically ambitious and the action elements needing more tuning. Devotees of the studio's previous games and those looking to give their swords and spells a bit of a rest should definitely make some time for this one.

7/10

Naruto: Rise of A Ninja [360]

Naruto, shunned by most of his village, vows to become the greatest ninja around. This Xbox 360 exclusive features mission-based gameplay, with fighting action as well.

In the main Story Mode, players take control of Naruto as he fails his final martial arts test. Shunned by the other residents of the village, he sets of on various quests in order to restore the town's faith in him and earn their respect. Consisting mainly of fetching and collecting items, ramen delivery quests, and timed races; the game follows the first 80 episodes of the anime series. Naruto can also earn training points, used to visit the Ninja Academy and learn new skills to use when fighting his enemies.

Visually, the game's cel-shaded look won't surprise many, though it does have a higher level of detail than expected. Cut-scenes that further the plot appear to have been pulled from the series, which seems appropriate, but compared to the game look washed out. There's also a strange type of letterbox on the sides of the screen, making the footage taller than it is wide. It's a bit jarring aesthetically, but relatively minor. Sound-wise, the game features music and voice-work that's neither noticeably good or bad, except that a majority of the game's characters pronounce the word ramen incorrectly upon receiving their delivery.

The controls are straightforward when guiding Naruto around the village, but jumps aren't as smooth as in the studio's other titles, causing the occasional missed ledge. Things get more complicated when fighting adversaries, as the action becomes a more conventional fighting game. Naruto can learn and perform special moves by moving the control sticks in various directions, which require good timing and give players the feeling of doing more than just mashing buttons.

Fans of the anime series are certainly going to enjoy this title, with its somewhat open-ended gameplay. The game also brings more to the fighting engine than expected, and both offline and online Versus play help extend the replay value.

8/10

Halo 3 [360]

Arguably the most anticipated game ever, Halo fans finally get to "finish the fight" and find out if the world ends in this final installment of Bungie's shooter franchise. Picking up from the cliffhanger at the end of Halo 2, Master Chief's mission is to stop the Prophet from finding an artifact called "The Ark", and prevent him from using the Halo weapon to annihilate the planet. Unfortunately, you've crash-landed in the jungle and need to get yourself out of there first. As you progress through the game, you'll travel to various diverse locations along the way, occasionally taking control of several vehicles to break up the standard shooting action.

The missions themselves are fairly standard. You'll mostly be putting down the Covenant forces, but occasionally need to arm bombs or disable enemy defenses. There are also a few timed-escape levels as well to keep you moving. The levels are quite large, and have some generally good designs. There are a lot of missions that ask you to backtrack though, and this definitely makes some parts of the game feel like filler to bump up the play time. Your squad-mates aren't always dependable either, and you are often paired-up with the Arbiter, who seems to go Missing In Action quite a bit. The game allows for up to four-player co-op though, which is most welcome, especially at higher difficulty levels.

Visually, the game keeps the same general style as its predecessors, but definitely benefits from the Xbox 360's capabilities. Jungle levels feature plants that bend as you brush by and gorgeous water effects in the form of waterfalls, rivers and pools. More barren locales in the game are enhanced by smoke, dust and blowing snow effects. While it doesn't seem there was any facial mapping done, the character animations are top-notch. The game streams in level data during each mission and, while the frame rate hiccups a bit now and then, it's certainly better than watching a loading screen. The Head's-Up Display could have been better though, since objective locations aren't always shown, and players are often left guessing their way through levels that should be easy to navigate. The game's sound is mostly what you'd expect, with various vehicle and weapon sounds mixed in with friendly and enemy voices. The music is handled especially well, and fades in cinematically at key moments during the action.

Naturally, series fans are going to be interested in some multiplayer action as well, and on that score, the game doesn't disappoint. With support for up to sixteen players and some truly large levels, there's a lot here to keep fans busy for quite some time. Standard Slayer (death match) and Capture The Flag modes are joined by seven others, including Infection, where players kill Flood creatures or infect humans and Juggernaut, a kind of reverse tag where killing the Juggernaut player (the target) makes you the next Juggernaut. The game also has some added features, such as the ability to record gameplay and allow players to upload clips to share with friends. There's also a mode called Forge, which a basically a real-time level editor, allowing players to customize the levels as they play. Multiple players can take part via split-screen or over Xbox Live as well.

While this is certainly a comprehensive package, it does seem that all these extras come at a cost to the main Campaign mode, which is much shorter than expected. Most players will likely get through the game in eight to ten hours and, though the story's ending should satisfy most, it's unfortunate that the journey along the way isn't a bit more substantial.

8/10

Skate [360]

Electronic Arts takes video game skating back to basics and gives Tony Hawk some much needed competition in the process.
While skateboarding games have been around for the better part of the last decade, none have posed a serious challenge to Tony Hawk's reign over the genre until now. The big difference here is in the controls, and players will immediately notice a difference. Using the analogue sticks to pull off basic tricks and spins gives the game a new feel, and even experienced virtual skaters will have to practice to get the timing right.

The game's career mode consists mainly of completing challenges scattered around the town, which is no surprise. A nice twist comes with the choice of two skate crews with differing styles to hang out with, one is more aggressive, and the other is more about precision. There's also a good number of skating pro cameos in the game, and a decent character creator adds some customization, allowing you to unlock more sponsor's gear as you progress through the game.

The challenges start off pretty easy, letting you get to grips with the basic controls before demanding anything too complicated. The controls feel natural as well, pulling off tricks by flicking the sticks in various directions and using the triggers to grab. The game looks good, and the town you skate around in is quite large, with four neighbourhoods to explore. The bail animations (which you will see a lot of) are varied, depending on what you hit, but don't have the blood effects you might have grown used to. Naturally, there's the requisite soundtrack to keep you moving, and the lineup is no disappointment here. Songs by the likes of Bad Brains, Eric B & Rakim, and The White Stripes highlight a diverse track list that should please most.

The game has Xbox Live support for multiplayer games of up to six players, or you can take turns battling your friends on the couch in a few rounds of S.K.A.T.E. and see who's best. You can also record, save, and upload clips of your best tricks online to show off and prove your skills. While the controls are the big draw here and do change up the action somewhat, there's still a very back-to-basics vibe here that works both for and against the game. It would have been nice to see a more substantial multiplayer game as well, with a few more modes that are different from the career challenges. It's a great start though for a new franchise, and real competition in the skating genre is certainly long overdue.

7/10

Blue Dragon [360]

When Microsoft announced that it had enlisted Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's new company, Mistwalker, to create games for them, Xbox 360 fans who were waiting for a Japanese RPG couldn't have asked for better news.

With a veritable dream team behind it, the game also features character designs by Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Quest) and music by Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger). The story picks up when a boy named Shu and his friends try to rid their village of a menacing creature and find out that the situation is much more complicated than it first seemed.

Unfortunately, in many ways it feels as though this game is stuck in the past. From the stereotypical characters (including a male sidekick and token tag-along girl) to the general predictability of the story, there isn't much here that players haven't seen before. It often feels as though they went through Final Fantasy VII with a checklist, trying to duplicate its success as closely as possible. Even elements such as the battle victory music and items with names like "Phoenix Talon" are highly derivative and never really let the game have its own identity. There's some good news on the random battle front though, since players can avoid wandering creatures and pick their fights for the most part. You can also choose to fight multiple creatures at a time, which often pits them against each other, making your job easier.

The game also adds some training wheel style options that are on by default, seemingly making the assumption that since the Xbox 360 has been underserved by Japanese RPGs, somehow that must mean that the console's owners have never played one before. Graphically, Toriyama's designs work well, especially each character's shadow creature that they can use in battle. The creatures look good as well, and have a cartoonish look mixed with a touch of realism. The outdoor environments can be sparse though, and there doesn't really seem to be much going on that taxes the console's abilities. Musically, the score is competent, while suffering from the same "me-too" aspect as the rest of the game. The mini-boss battle music is laugh-out-loud bad though, with 80's hair metal blaring and screaming vocals that sound like a wanna-be Ozzy from the Black Sabbath days.

With the team behind it, this should have been a colossal event on the scale of a Final Fantasy release, but instead, comes off feeling dated. Hardcore RPG fans are likely going to want to give it a go anyway, and though the story is somewhat enjoyable in general, the game doesn't have the sense of scale or innovation that it should.

6/10

Project Sylpheed [360]

Even though it was also developed by Game Arts, and shares a similar name with Silpheed: The Lost Planet for the PlayStation 2, this game moves from 2D shooter into 3D space battle territory. In the 27th century, some of Earth's colonies are fighting for independence, against the Terra Central Air Force, who are Earth's defenders. The game starts with a training mission of seemingly raw recuits to the T.C.A.F, during which, the enemy attacks. The characters are revealed to be fairly typical anime-style stereotypes, and after engaging the enemy for a while, you figure out that Katana Faraway is the main character and that you assume his role.

The action mainly alternates between mission briefings and heading out to dogfight in your fighter. Completing missions earns you new weapons, as well as points toward developing more powerful weapon options. While in combat, the gameplay consists mostly of finding the nearest bogey and dispatching them, usually with lock-on missiles. It's definitely reminiscent of games like Ace Combat, although you won't have to hunt as much here, since the enemies are usually a lot closer and often leave huge light trails on the screen making them easier to spot.

While the game does have a good amount of action, there just isn't a lot here thats new. Sure it's in space, and younger players who perhaps aren't as interested in the plotlines and relative difficulty of the Ace Combat series, or who are new to the genre will have some fun here. More experienced players will likely yearn for a meatier story and more diverse missions to motivate them though. Even the graphics, while not particularly bad, have a generic style to them. It's surprising this game wasn't released on the PS2, with its larger, younger installed base, since there's nothing really "next-gen" here, and Ace Combat 6 is coming to the Xbox 360 in only a few months.

6/10

Forza Motorsport 2 [360]

Microsoft's racing simulator goes next-generation, and there isn't much for fans to be left wanting. Naturally, this update includes more true-to-life cars, customization options, racetracks, and most obviously, even prettier graphics than last time.

As before, the main event here is the Career Mode, where you choose a geographic region to determine which cars are initially available to you. As you race, you'll earn credits and increase your driver's level, which gains you access to more restricted races. There's also an Arcade Mode for those who don't want to dive in all the way at first, or would rather race offline against computer-controlled cars.
Upgrading and tuning your car is again a big part of the game, and hardcore tweakers will definitely be in their element here. There's also a layer-based decal design mode that allows for incredibly detailed custom paintjobs. After you've created a masterpiece, you can even auction it off online for game credits. Although the original Forza game looked great, the graphics are definitely a step up here. Both the cars and environments have a lot more detail and realism. The tracks are, again, mostly real world locations such as Silverstone, Suzuka, and my nemesis, Sebring. The Manhattan track around Times Square makes a return as well, featuring all the glitzy billboards you'd expect.

Only a couple of minor issues keep this game from getting a perfect score. Unfortunately, the soundtrack sounds more like record label deal-making than a selection of music that the developers actually like. The game supports the system's custom soundtrack feature though, which does help somewhat. There's also no option to have an always-on rearview mirror, which may seem minor, but it does detract from the experience to have to switch to rearview mode to see how close your opponents are. In all, it's a great racing sim though, and even casual fans will enjoy it.

9/10

Surf's Up [360]

Instead of most movie-licensed games, where players generally complete objectives to follow the established plot, Ubisoft decided on a different take here and made a surfing game that reflects the movie's action without retreading the story. The action takes place at various locations around Pen Gu Island, and features several of the movie's characters to choose from.

After a quick tutorial to show you the moves, it's time to move on to the single-player Championship mode. The main gameplay is similar to the popular Tony Hawk and SSX games, and you can perform tricks of various difficulty, including spins, grabs and grinding rails found on icebergs. You'll earn points that count toward a goal amount, and increase your energy bar as well. When the bar is full, you'll be able to enter Stoke Mode, and perform crazier tricks for bigger points. It's fairly easy to control your motion and put combos together, but will still take some time to get the timing right, making for a fair challenge. The obstacles in your path can become frustating though, as you head toward a large rock or chunk of ice and know you can't get out of the way fast enough.

The graphics look good, but there aren't many detailed backgrounds or objects except for the waves, which are well-animated and dominate the screen. The character animations are also a highlight beyond the fact that it's a penguin on a surfboard, since the tricks can get quite complicated. If there's a fault here though, it's that there just doesn't seem to be enough to it for the price. There is a multiplayer split-screen mode and an unlockable Leaf Sliding game, where your penguin slides along a type of luge or toboggan run collecting items in a race against time. The main game will likely wear thin far sooner than it should though, unless you happen to be a rather big fan of penguins.

6/10

Shadowrun [360][Vista]

Microsoft's first foray into cross-platform online play comes in the form of an adaptation of the 90's tabletop role-playing game, combining the technologies of Cyberpunk fiction with more traditional RPG fare such as Elves and Trolls while adding ancient Mayan magic to the mix. While you may be curious what kind of storyline could come from such a combination, this title is strictly multiplayer in the style of a First Person Shooter, except for a practice mode against CPU-controlled bots.

At the start of each round, players are given cash to purchase weapons, technical skills, and magic, earning more by killing enemies or healing teammates. Weapons include various guns such as rifles and miniguns and magic attacks including strangling an opponent or summoning a minion. There are also various technical abilities available that allow players to see through walls or glide in the air. This raises the possibility of a clan of sword-wielding Elves with transportation skills going up against a group of minigun-toting Dwarves, and this open-ended gameplay is what offers the most interest. You never really know what skills and weapons your opponents have until they attack. This is also the game's biggest weakness though, as the game is only as interesting and unpredictable as the players make it.

As mentioned, the game is the first to enable Games for Windows Live and crossplay with the Xbox 360. The two versions are identical, and when playing online, it's impossible to know who's on which platform. Windows gamers who prefer a keyboard and mouse may find themselves at a disadvantage though, since there are so many buttons used during gameplay; As a sidenote, the user interface and tutorial mode even assume you are using an Xbox-style controller on your PC. While it's great to see a developer take a genre like this in a somewhat new direction, the lack of a single-player game outside of the training mode and the heavy onus on finding quality players definitely weigh against it.

6/10

Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End [PS3][360]

While "Movie Games" have a reputation for being nothing more than a cash-grab, Disney's titles have generally fared better, likely for the mere reason that it's their own property being used. So is the case with this game based on the second and third Pirates of The Caribbean films. Again we have Johnny Depp's drunken swagger realistically implemented, as well as facial scans and voices of the main actors.

Naturally, you play as Jack Sparrow for most of the game, but you'll also play as Will and others at points as well, occasionally having to switch between characters to keep them all alive. The levels combine the events of the two films, and at times change elements of the story to keep things interesting and somewhat new to fans. The graphics definitely look better then expected, they even used the 3D models of Davy Jones and his crew from the films, but it's the details that are most impressive. Every level seems to have little nooks and crannies for you to explore and find some of the many collectibles, some of which unlock DVD-style extras. There are also many chances to use items like exploding barrels to make your own dramatic exits in true Jack Sparrow style.

The game does have its shortcomings though, and sadly, these are issues that have been around for years. At times there's definitely a feeling of "What am I supposed to be doing?", which can sometimes be answered by checking the logbook for objectives, but sometimes not. While the swordplay is generally excellent (and the duelling is brilliant), the camera often can't keep up when you're fighting multiple enemies, resulting in attacks from off-screen. This is quite a good time overall, and is easily on the better end of the "Movie Game" scale. The game is near identical on both consoles, with the PlayStation 3 version having a bit of motion control at times, while the Xbox 360 supports Achievements.

7/10

Dance Dance Revolution Universe [360]

DDR makes its way onto the Xbox 360 with generally the same array of modes and options as previous versions, plus the added ability to take on challengers via Xbox Live and work your way up the leaderboards. Danceable tunes are a given, but the tracklist has more of a pop/rock feel that the usual light techno sounds. The various skill levels don't progress as smoothly as previous versions, so less hardcore players may find themselves struggling to keep up. Fortunately, the game allows you to tweak the speed and types of steps considerably. [3/5]

Crackdown [360]

Tracking down various gang lords and taking them out as a bio-engineered supercop sounds cool, but ends up playing a lot like GTA. Skimpy directives and the use of a voice-over instead of cutscenes prevents players from caring about the situation, and the game quickly becomes an exercise in finding enemies with the radar and dispatching of them. Scaling buildings with your super jumping abilities to get at rooftop enemies is kinda cool, but sometimes it's a pain to figure out how to get where you need to go. Overall, there's just too much here that we've seen and done before. [6/10]

Battlestations Midway [360]

Join the U.S. Navy and command ships, subs and planes in various missions based around WWII. There's a lot of depth here, but the controls and various option screens are generally intuitive and well thought out, letting you stay focused on the action. You can choose to command from afar, issuing engagement orders, or take control of individual units for a more hands-on approach. The graphics are realistic, but not mind blowing by any means. In addition to the single player game are various challenges and an online battle mode. Military and strategy game fans should have a blast here, but it's likely a bit more than casual gamers will want to take on. [8/10]