LittleBigPlanet Beta Contests Make Sackboy Cry

After what felt like years waiting to hear from the much delayed competitions currently breaking the internet in two, I finally got into the LittleBigPlanet Beta through one of the many I took part in. It would be an understatment to say that the distribution of beta keys went smoothly, I don't think I've ever seen so much chaos before and can't help but feel that Sony could have done this a hell of a lot better then they did. Anyway, I finally got a Beta Key yesterday morning and have been playing the beta since. Strangely despite having seen hours of LBP footage I still wasn't totally sure what to expect from LBP's gameplay and social aspects. Yet straight away LBP hits you where it matters most, your Sackboy (did that sentence sound weird to anyone else), and your cute little character comes onto the screen for the superb early game credits that felt somewhat like Sony's Press Presentation at this years E3 Show. As you journey through the credits you get to see many of the fantastic folk who created this game with some familar faces from past E3 and more recent LBP related videos. The Game controls well, it's responsive and easy to pick up and play almost straight away. It's fair to state that certain aspects of moving your Sackboy can take a little longer to master but it all works well and considering the power on offer here, it's great credit to Media Molecule that LBP's controls are so flowing and easy to use or access. Graphically the game looks fantastic, as you'd expect to be fair. Everything still as that real Children's Art Show style to it and the games physics are a pleasure to see with many materials having a true weight and belief to them that can create some very amusing moments in Co-Op gameplay with friends or on your own.

LittleBigPlanet is a BIG game, so expect a large amount of tutorials here. I didn't count them all and I suspect there could be more in the full game but theres easily over 20 already to either watch or take part in. It's clear LBP want's to keep the gamer in the gaming experience as much as they physically can. It makes simple sense to do these tutorials anyway, but you can also win items as you go along which is an added bonus if you needed one. Stephen Fry (of QI) does the narration and his voice perfectly matches the atmosphere in LBP. He is amusing, interesting and quite carming to listen to as many Harry Potter fans already know from his Audiobooks he does. LittleBigPlanet Is a very user friendly experience overall and will easily be useable to the younger of age that will no doubt find Sackboy to cute to handle, I even find Sackboy cute and I find very few things cute these days. Speaking of Sackboy, he is the centre character to your LBP experience so it's nice to customize him a little bit. At the moment there isn't a lot of Sack parts or items to place on your Sackboy or Sackgirl, I'm not sure if this is because I haven't either found them or simply because it's a beta. I suspect it's because it's a beta as theres a lot of content missing from the creation part although you have more then enough to spend hours upon hours messing around with it. Sackpeople are great characters and although each character's uniqueness is currently very limited due to the lack of items to wear, it still bolds well for the full game that you'll reconise your friend by just looking at his or her's sackperson. Sackboy is easily one of the best gaming icon's to appear for a good long while. 

The Beta is of course limited, actual official levels simply consist of four (at least thats all I have found at this point) and these four levels are mostly for getting use to the games controls and do a find job at doing that. But already there are a hell of a lot of user created levels and there are some real gems already out there. Sadly Sony and Media Molecule have already stated that no user created content will be transferable to the actual game upon release in the next few weeks. This is a small blow but nothing to bad, I suspect we will see gamers spend a hell of a lot more time creating their worlds once the game as been released. But there are still some great levels to be found in the beta and the searching system seems to work pretty well as it allows you to search for specific words such as 'Brilliant' or 'Co-Op' and the system will search for those keywords that might have been left by users who have played those levels. It can kind of feel limited but does the job for now I guess and we might see a better level search engine on the games release or the first update. The games POD or your POD to be more precise is where you'll be searching for these levels, not a huge amount to say about it except my mother always said I'd eventually end up living in a cardboard box. But it's defiantly better then simply looking at a boring plain menu and again keeps you and your sackboy in the experience. You can of course fully customize your POD with stickers and other wonderful things. 

Now I have to admit to something here, for a long time I wasn't to bothered about LBP's co-op gameplay abilities and it wasn't a big deal for me. But having experienced co-op in the LBP Beta it's easy to say that this is where the best fun can be had with friends. Even if you have never met someone and they just pop into your level its a blast and this is where the much taked about community of Sackpeople comes alive. It's fair to say that when the game gets released in the coming weeks, you'll want to play many of the official levels Online so folk or friends can come and join the fun. Plus there will be co-op puzzles for you and your sackpeople friends to solve and get rewarded with so theres an extra reason to go co-op. The game is still perfeclty fun on your own though so don't worry, so if your someone who doesn't like playing with other people then you can still have a total blast with LBP. But sooner or later you'll get the co-op bug. The game seems to run perfectly fine in co-op although I did come across some serious slowdown when one player joined my game but I also suspect that his internet connection was poor as it was fine beforehand and is perfectly fine when playing with other people. Another fantastic aspect to LBP is your Sackperson's facial expressions, so much emotion and expression can be showed on screen using these properly and there a total blast. Of course theres also the brilliant SackSlap which allows you to get a little bit of revenge on someone who as done you wrong on a level. I've already had endless fun with it.

The Beta also features the exciting Creation Mode, you select a patch on 'My Moon' and go create. For those who might find the creation mode a little overwhelming (so that includes everyone) 
Media Molecule have provided very useful tutorials in both gameplay and video forms. Once you get the hang on the tools and general controls in Creation mode it's surpringly easy to handle and have fun with. With the creation mode it's best to look at everything as a Children's Art Show on TV as you'll often need to use simple human sense to build things but this is also why there is such a HUGE amount of freedom with Create Mode. Just remember that everything as physics and you'll be fine. Just as long as you take the time to master the tools on offer you'll find that LBP Creation Mode is all that it's been hyped up to be. The much talked about Thermometer is still there but I haven't found it a problem at all (and I'm building a big level) and there is sometimes a 'over complicated' message on certain shapes you create. I have found this message appears because your using one shape to create a level when its best to do parts by building blocks of shapes, that's the method I have used and the same method MM have used to create the levels found in LBP. I also recommend that you experience some other user created levels to see what already as been done, some are amazing especially when you consider a hell of a lot of the games content is missing from the beta. With the good comes the bad of course, some levels are very average so always look for the best if you want the best example of what can be done with LittleBigPlanet's Creation Tools. 

This being a beta, you'll come across a good amount of bugs. I have found some weird ones including the reverse undo animation getting totally stuck and some levels not even loading. But I believe the level loading bug came from how busy the game seem to be last night while playing. You can bet many of these bugs will be fixed before release, this is why they did a beta. But no game is perfect so some of these bugs still might find there way to the official release disc. I have also wondered if certain issues are simply because this is a Downloaded based Beta rather then a Blu-Ray Release, it's possible that some of the beta's issues are there because it's downloable compared to the game actually being a Blu-Ray based game. I'm not certain but certain issues or bugs I've come accross have made me wonder. Anyway, LBP Beta runs until the 11th of October with the game getting a release on the 21st of the same month in the US and Canada and the 24th for it's European Release. I'm not totally sure when the Asian release is but I believe it's around the sametime. There are still chances to get into the beta if you look around, although chances are running a little slim now. But who knows, maybe Sony will release a new batch of Beta Keys soon.

Is LBP as good as the gaming media and gamers alike keep telling everyone? well simply YES! The Beta alone as shown that the full game is going to be something special indeed and could very much be the killer game the PS3 really needs at the moment. My own personal opinion is that LBP will be a GOTY winner everywhere. Co-Op is a total blast, creation feels limitless and Sackpeople are cute, thats my main early impressions from the Beta already. Not bad for a game that is currently hit with Beta Bugs. The signs are great, with the 50+ levels to play with friends, the added many collectable and user created levels. I suspect that LBP will be a very unique experience that you'll find hard to put down. I can best describe LBP as the same as playing on the Playground of my Primary School as a small child, the fun I had is very much the same here. It's sometimes immature, sometimes downright silly.... but always a total blast.

My PSN is SaitanMar if you wish to add me to your PSN Friends List for the LBP Beta.
Thanks for Reading!

Impressions from TrueEnglishGent.

THE FORCE IS INDEED STRONG WITH THIS ONE!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed puts you in the robe of Starkiller (Galen Marek), Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice. Starkiller is taken as a young boy after the evil Vader attacks and kills his Jedi father on the planet of Kashyyyk. You are then taken to Starkiller as a young man doing the work of his master Darth Vader. It's worth stating that TFU as a very solid story that works very well in not stepping on any known facts from the actual films. Set between Episode Three and A New Hope, the universe sticks very much to the original films both by art style and atmosphere. This is nice to see considering LucasArts recent up session with the more recent prequel films with all it's colourful worlds and characters, its pleasant to see the darker dirtier feel that the classic Star Wars films did so well. That's not to say that TFU is a dirty ugly game, infact it's a stunning experience. The game as a fantastic art style which is to be expected, but everything looks sharp and as a great sense of real material and form to them, creating worlds or levels if you wish, that are consistent throughout the game and provide a Star Wars fan's wet dream. A lot of the talk around the game concerned the engines physics which were originally shown over a year ago now, they are outstanding but defiantly not the best aspect to the games graphically look. Of course, as to be expected the game as it's good amount of glitches and some of the actual level designs could have been better considered. To many times I found myself getting stuck in an odd area of the surface or simply falling of the edge of a cliff while taking down a stormtrooper or two. They are frustrating level design issues, but won't spoil your overall experience of The Force Unleashed.

Unlike a lot of the more recent new Star Wars characters added to the universe, I actually found Starkiller a very interesting figure and although aspects of his story are commonly found in Star Wars (the whole evil becomes good and vice-verse) material theres still something about Starkiller that makes him one of the best Star Wars Videogame characters since Bastila Shan. He struggles between good and evil but throughout it feels as if there is a deep dark soul within him that is ready to attack if triggered. He is a troubled figure and superbly voiced by Sam Witwer who was also used as the appearance of Starkiller. The game features some top quality voicework and the overall sound quality of TFU is superb, everything sounds as it should do in the Star Wars Universe. Lightsabers sound like lightsabers and blaster fire sounds like blaster fire, all of this is to be expected from a Star Wars game though so we shouldn't be surprised. But it's still fantastic to see it done right and with quality, and The Force Unleashed does it with style, sometimes making you feel as if your watching one of the actual Star Wars films. It also helps that the games soundtrack is as superb as you'd expect, there are some very familar tracks from the works of John Williams and even some newer pieces that do brilliantly to help you emmerse in the universe the game offers.

The Force Unleashed does a lot of things well, but it's also continually hit by small gameplay issues and graphical glitches. The game uses the much talked about Eurphoria Engine found in Grand Theft Auto 4, and although its not as overall impressive as it was in GTA4. It still adds a lot to the game, even if characters (including yourself) can go flying across the Starship floor a little unrealisticly from time to time. That said, you'll defiantly have those 'WOW' moments as you force push a group of Stormtroopers into a starship window and see them get sucked through into deep dark space. Speaking of the force, one of the games biggest issues comes from using the power of the force. The games targeting system can be pretty poor at time, and although its possible to eventually master the system using the camera in the right method. It is still frustrating considering so much emphasis was put on the games use of force powers in advertisements and you'll lose patience with it when the targeting system causes you to die once or twice. But, I eventually did get use to it. The trick involves using the camera the correct way and simply requires you to do a little extra work in getting things at the correct angle for you to use force grip on an item or character. A much better system could have easily been worked into this game so such a system is disapointing to see. It also doesn't help that the target symbol can be hard to see on certain levels so your never totally sure what your targeting.

Another odd aspect of The Force Unleashed is lightsaber action, even though it looks great. You won't be doing one hit kills like the films might have you think. As I said in my preview of the game a few weeks back, you'll have to take down certain enemies using a variation of your force powers. You can of course use your lightsaber but some enemies require a little more thought to trully master them in battle. The game also includes a nice combo system that simply requires some button pressing, as you develop Starkiller through force levels you'll be able to access new powers and combo attacks so you can customize him to your style of play. For instance I found myself using force lightning quite often, so I decided to master that and it payed off later in the game against the much tougher enemies and machines you run into. But you can customize the character to your own personal play style, prefer using your lightsaber. Then simply concentrate your force points on new battle combos, you will unlock some combo's as you play through game so it does some of the growth for you automatically. But its a simple and nice system, some may find it a little to simple while others won't even want to mess with it. Sadly, The Force Unleashed is filled with one to many loading screens. It's a pain when leveling your character as you need to suffer a loading screen twice and it ends up removing you from the universe for a little to long. I can understand loading screens for cutscenes or certain other events but accessing my characters data and powers should be as simple as a single press of a button.

Another area that as recieved some criticism from the gaming media and gamers alike were the boss fights in which there are numourous. Some of that critism is more then fair and overall they will be a little hit or miss for most gamers. I personally thought most were a lot of fun and felt great, past games have shown that it's not exactly easy to do lightsaber battles right and for the most part, The Force Unleashed does more then a fine job. Some of that credit is due to the games amazing soundtrack featuring some of those classic Star Wars tunes we all know and love. You simply can't help but get bumped when John Williams's 'Dual of Fates' starts up on your surround sound system, that song would make painting a fence epic. It's fair to say that some boss levels will frustrate, such as taking down the Star Destroyer which took a little bit of time to actually figure out and wasn't the most satisfying experience I've had in gaming. But there are some great battles, one in peticular against a familar Star Wars face which I'll let you play the game to find out who. One aspect of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed that could very much possibly leave a bitter taste in your mouth are the timed action button pressing cutscenes, you know the type as we have seen it in many games since first really being introduced in the PS2 hit God of War. The cutscenes are pretty amazing, especially the lightsaber battles but the fact that they are even required lets the game down. They take you away from the experience of the game and the fact that you need to keep an eye out to see which button to press next means you can easily miss those spectacular battles in cutscenes. Its a gameplay feature that could possibly be a game breaker for some, personally I got use to them and enjoyed them at certain areas of the game. But it's a system that is starting to already feel outdated and it's odd that we haven't really found a more modern gameplay system that would see the gamer more involved in the action on the screen.

Star Wars: The Forced Unleashed features a large amount of collectables on every level, I will admit I didn't find them all but some of the Force Holocubes are often right in front of your face and easy to find, which is important considering they are required to find new items, build up your force points and a number of other things can be found in these yellow glowing cubes. There are also combat for of these, which give you a number of different enhancements including health drain which drains the health of nearby enemies and invincibility which makes you immune to damage for a short time. They defiantly help, especially in the later harder levels. Starkiller is also one smart dresser, as the game features a large number of different costumes for Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice. Every level Starkiller can be found in a new costume and you can also change Starkiller's cloths anytime during gameplay through the Select menu. I'd also say that the game requires multiple playthroughs to obtain all the costumes found in the game, the same can be said for the many lightsaber crystals and lightsaber powers obtainable throughout the game. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed isn't a long game, it'll last your around seven to eight hours. But the experience on offer is one of the best we have seen from a Star Wars game for a good long while, since the Knights of the Old Republic games I'd say and that's counting the game story aswell. You could easily playthrough mulltiple times but if your looking for a quick Star Wars fan run through then I'd recommend renting the game instead of paying the full retail price due to the shortness of the game's story. But I'm sure some Star Wars fans will happily purchase this game and from early sales reports I'd say that the game as done very well already. But I personally found that the game didn't offer enough worthy of it's full price tag.

OVERALL

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed as it's problems, glitches and gameplay issues. But it's still one of the best Star Wars experiences found in the form of a videogame for a good long while. Not all is perfect, but it's all very solid despite some of the weird gameplay choices. The story, characters, sound and Star Wars atmosphere are all here and done superbly. The boss battles will be hit or miss depending on what type of Star Wars fan you are, but it defiantly as those Star Wars special moments and does great fan service throughout the experience. Graphically it looks great and sticks more to the art style found in the original films, great credit must be given to LucasArts for doing so and gameplay is a lot of fun helped by the games amazing physics system and beautiful graphics. Areas of the game can feel a little flat but for the most part there is a lot to like here if your a Star Wars fan or not. But it defiantly helps to be one.

GRAPHICS (4/5)
Overall, the game looks simply stunning. Everything keeps to it's original Star Wars source and is a great tribute to the fantastic world George Lucas originallty created in the first set of three films. But some of the level design choices must be questioned as you'll find youself falling off one cliff to many and there are some frustrating graphically glitches throughout the world that can often affect gameplay. 

GAMEPLAY (4/5)
For the most part Gameplay feels great, it's fast and enjoyable. But like a lot of aspects to TFU, it can be troubled by other issues surround the game such as the level design and targeting system which can take a bit of time to master and get use to. But theres still a lot of solid areas to point out, most importantly it's fun to pick up and play which is the most important of all when you think of what a videogame should provide. Boss battles will be hit or miss but are still pretty enjoyable and a better system could have been used instead of the action timed button pressing cutscenes found through the game but it's nothing that destroys your enjoyment of the game. 

SOUND (5/5)
What can I say, simply stunning. You'd expect no less from LucasArt's considering there history of sound in films and TV, but there are some amazing classic Star Was tunes that only add to the experience. Voicework is wonderful throughout the experience with special mention to Sam Witwer who does the voice of Starkiller and also I believe Emperor Palpatine. He does a fantastic job to help bring Starkiller across to the gamer. It's hard to critise the sound, eveything sounds like it should do and in the right surround system can be simply brilliant.

VALUE (3/5)
It's kind of hard to justify paying the full retail price for The Force Unleashed, but if your a Star Wars nut then you've probably already payed the cash and bought it. But for those on the fence I'd recommend renting it instead, the game only lasts between seven or eight hours and although there are reasons to playthrough again because of the extra collectables and the game overall. It's still hard to justify the overall retail price compared to what you get from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED (360, PS3) GETS 4 STARS OUT OF 5.

Reviewed by Joseph Bayliss (True English Gent)

Hello My Fellow Giantbombers!

THE NEXT NEXT GENERATION OF CONSOLE.... ALL A LITTLE TOO SOON!

So as you may have read these past few weeks, there as been some talk about the possibility of the next generation of consoles revealing themselves in the very near future. Well at least from Microsoft's end there is. A lot of this talk seems to have appeared from rumours concerning Microsoft's much loved Halo series originally created and developed by Bungie Studios. But what's next you ask for this money making console FPS? well if you are like me and thought the series had seen its end you must have been as dumb as a very poorly designed doornail as it appears Microsoft still want to see Halo games (of all forms I suspect) hitting the gaming market in the years to come. Of course we all know about the surprisingly unhyped Halo Wars hitting XBOX 360 and PC sometime first quarter 2009. But after the somewhat dispointing Halo 3 Single Player Experience we shouldn't be trully surprised to hear that Microsoft are looking to continue the series and see it launch their brand new console sometime in the coming years. But the question on the media's lips is who would be developing the next installment in this hugely successful (both financially and critically) series of games. Of course Bungie Studios are understandly off to make other games and I can't blame them. I enjoyed Halo 3, but it was painfully clear that Bungie wanted to start something new and fresh then do yet another Halo game. So it makes perfect sense that Microsoft would look to some solid studios who would simply jump and even kill to get their hands on an I.P like Halo with its huge fanbase. Early rumours were stating that Gearbox Software were developing the game for a brand new console for Microsoft. In fact to be fair these rumours concerning Gearbox Software and something 'Huge' have been around for a good while now so its no surprise that the media put one and one together to get a news article where they could finally put up that picture of Randy Pitchford as a Halo soldier wannabe. 

Sony famously predicted a 10 year life cycle for their Playstation 3 system, now I agree with them to a certain degree. I do infact believe that this current generation of consoles still have a lot to offer us and I'm pretty sure a lot of developers would agree with that to. Its a gamers nature to want to discuss the future of gaming so these types of rumours are to expected. But it still feels as if there is so much we still haven't seen from the consoles of this generation. The Wii is still yet to meet its ambition for perfect motion controlled gaming and there all sorts of the PS3 we have yet to see to its full potential. Its only this past year or so that the XBOX 360 as started to show its limitations with the most recent discussion being about id's RAGE Engine that will appear on the 360 console next year if all goes to plan. id have stated that the 360 is holding its RAGE Engine back and that the game will have to be distributed on two disks due to the 360's limited Harddrive space. Now you maybe thinking ''but can't you upgrade the 360's harddrive?'' and you'd be right. But of course you have take into account that not everyone as upgraded their harddrive due to the expense of doing so. For example, I payed £60 for a 320GB HDD for my Playstation 3 console yet I at to pay over £100 for Microsoft's 120GB HDD. Currently, there are still many gamers using the original 8GB HDD found on most 360 consoles nowadays. 

All of this means that at one point in the future a turning point will be made where the 'next generation' will come into focus, possibly for all three of the major companies. Even if Sony might not be ready to discuss a Playstation 4 I suspect Microsoft will force them to discuss it with whatever they unveil in the years or so to come. Of course its also important to remember that games consoles take time to be developed and most commonly find a year later release from first being showed to the outside world. Its possible that next year we could see the first signs of the advertising bandwagon from Microsoft as they get set to show the world whats next for the 360 fanbase and the gaming media alike. I do honestly believe it will be Microsoft who will be the first to unveil a future console, I was never totally sure if they felt the same about their console as Sony feel about theirs. I don't believe Microsoft see a 10 year life cycle in the 360 at all, though I'm sure it will still sell well even after the launch of a future console due to its solid mixture of titles avaliable for the system. There are already signs of this happening with the recent 360 price-cuts around the world, though I'm still not sure if I am ready for the next generation of consoles. I'm not even sure if I'm ready to talk about the next generation of consoles, even though I'm doing so now! But Gaming being as big as it as ever been, who knows what the future might show? so many questions are to be answered, but I'm not totally sure that I want the answers just yet.

SONY WANT YOU TO FEEL AT HOME ON THE PLAYSTATION 3!

Remember Playstation HOME, you probably do but not for the right reasons I suspect. Sony's much hyped new virtual world is still yet to be released despite being in Beta for what feels like an enternal lifetime. Despite being in development since 2005 it might not surprise many when I say that its got a huge possibility of falling flat on its face. Simple fact is Playstation HOME is a huge risk for Sony, but the question is if the risk is worth it? I think so, Sony are desperate to make their console different to current competitors on the market and when you consider the money Sony have piled into this project its no surprise to see Sony give it 100% considering its so far down the line. Now recently Sony have told the gaming media that HOME will indeed be seeing a 2008 release, and maybe sooner then we think as rumours speculate an October Release of HOME Version 1.0. which seems very realistic considering they have just reopened the HOME Beta to a much bigger audience of Playstation fans. Your True English Gentleman as sadly missed out on getting a HOME Beta code, though he as been keeping a close eye on developments as the beta as progressed. HOME as seen a lot of changes this last year or so, and most for the better I'd say. But as I have seen HOME develop and grow, I can't removed that spec of doubt in the back of my mind.

When taking a closer look at HOME, its hard not to compare it to the Online Virtual World Second Life. Even though they are appearing on two different platforms they are offering a very similar experience. Except hopefully HOME won't run at two frames per second like my experiences with Second Life, a virtual world which I didn't enjoy visiting. Thankfully the signs for HOME are much better, even though it won't be as open to experimentation (or abuse, depends on how you see it) and will be a more Sony driven experience. I don't see why that should be such a bad thing. Concerns and questions about HOME are understandable, is this really what Playstation 3 users want? and how will it expand to actually be beneficial to the experience of the user to spend the time and visit HOME. It could turn out in one of two ways, it will either be a surprise success and become the must have feature for all future consoles or it could be a simple feature that will be forgotten and maybe even abandoned by Sony in a years to come. Its hard to tell at the moment, But one thing is for sure and thats that the experience of HOME will totally depend on the users found in this virtual space. I can't personally see myself spending a whole lot of time with friends in HOME, its not because HOME wouldn't work its more because I don't see the point. If I want to hang out with mates I'll hang out with mates in the real world, not some virtual world with my virtual self being. Of course there may be friends that live overseas where this feature might be nice to have, but yet again the question must be asked if the PS3 really needs this? and does it have much of a future. A lot will depend on HOME's first couple of months when it launches sometime soon, if it offers a chilled out environment for PSN Friends to hang out, talk about the lattest games or play a good round of Resistence Multiplayer then HOME could possibly be a surprise to those that have continually doubted it. But if it starts with a bug infested experience then it'll do nothing but provide more paper to add to the fire of Anti-HOME gamers.  

I still don't know what to fully think about HOME. I would love to see it work, and in all honesty the foundations are there for it to be a unique experience on any console. But that spec of doubt continues to get bigger and bigger as time goes by, I haven't even discussed the fact that you'll need to pay for 'virtual' items with 'real' money. Its another concept that doesn't sit well with me and shouldn't even be in there. But I'm sure folks will still buy virtual furnishings for their HOME Appartment. Maybe I'm just a tight fisted English Gentleman, who knows!! its just that theres far more opportunities for HOME to fail then there is to succeed. There does seem to be a lot riding on HOME, and although I'm not convinced it will please the masses of PSN users out there. I'm pretty confident it will find a nice place in the heart of some PSN users looking for a more unique experience then they'll find on any other console currently on the market. 

The actual future of HOME is a little more foggy. Will we see paid expansion packs? Will we see developers actually making games for use only in HOME? and will folk actually spend real life cash on virtual items? in fact quickly returning to virtual items, the more I think about them the more it reminds me of the DLC avaliable for most music rhythm games. Whats the difference between a Downloadable Song on Guitar Hero and a chair on Playstation HOME? There both virtual items and they both don't actually physically exist so maybe I need to rethink my view on purchasing virtual items with real life money when HOME Launches. Maybe its not as mad a sounding idea then I first thought. 

Both Sony and HOME fans are hopeing HOME will be a success. As I have already said a lot of it will depend on how its viewed in the first couple of months, and I will indeed be taking a closer look at HOME when it launches as its a concept that as interested me ever since I first saw it unveiled sometime ago. At the moment the gaming media enjoy seeing Sony fail with there many concepts and ideas, for Sony I hope HOME is a success because I still feel the PS3 is a console that needs to prove to people that it can be up there with the 360 when you consider the Hardcore audience of gamers. I won't go into details concerning my own opinions of specific features found in HOME, I'll do that when the feature officially launches in the coming months and I think I've spoken enough concerning the matter.

Hopefully my next Gaming Blog will be sooner rather then later, though I will be busy these next two weeks with a few real life matters (including some less then joyful Hospital appointments) so I'll be updating my page as much as I can. I hope to get around to finishing some games off so I can get around to writing up my reviews on them. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. I do greatly appriate people reading them and please add me to your Friends Network if you wish, I'm currently in the phase of accepting anyone due to the fact that the friends network bug seems to have quiet. 

Thanks for Reading and Keep on Gaming!!
True English Gentleman!

MERCS 2 AS ITS FAULTS, BUT THERES STILL A WHOLE LOT OF FUN TO BE HAD WITH THIS SOLID SEQUEL 

For those of you who have ever experienced Pandemic Studios's Mercenaries: Playground Destruction then you'll know what to expect from its sequel. This is because so much of Mercs 2 feels similar to its Predecessor in so many ways and although in areas this is not indeed a bad thing, it is when you compare it to so many other open world games currently avaliable on this generation of consoles. Its fair to argue that aspects of what Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction offered was ahead of its time, but deep in the vains of Mercs 2 you'll find the blood of the last generation of gaming consoles and sadly its these issues that let Mercs 2 down because even though its still a fun game to pick up and play and you'll find still find a lot to like about this game, its hard not to notice the games many faults, glittches and issues as you try to enjoy the experience on offer here.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames lets you take control of one of three Mercenaries who simply want to get paid for their ''destructive'' work. You can play as Mattias Nilsson, Chris Jacobs and Jennifer Mui. All do offer a variation of options when it comes to going into battle for instance Mattias regenerates Health much quicker then the other two Mercs avaliable but you can't help but feel you'll still be using them for the same destruction everytime and the game doesn't really reward you if you try to be stealthy or precise. Its better to go in all guns-a-blasing and hope to survive. All three of the Mercs do have their own attitude to things and there is some nice dialog to be found throughout the game. The game is set in Venezuela and sees you helping a local drug lord by the name of Ramon Solano. He gets you to help rescue a captive VZ general. But rather then pay you for your hard work he decides its actually best to kill you (thats the good old Drug Lords for you). You escape and end up getting a bullet in your butt so begins a story of wanting revenge as you look to get your hands on Ramon Solano. The Story does help the experience but feels a little flat for the most part as all you'll trully care about is blowing stuff up, something Mercenaries 2 does very well. Compared to the original, it is in fact nice to have a story act like a spine to you being in Venezuela in the first place so for that it is to be credited.

When I said that Mercenaries 2: World in Flames felt similar to the original I meant it, because theres many aspects of the game that we have seen all before. The game generally controls exactly as its original, though thats not a bad thing as the controls were one aspect of Mercs: Playground of Destruction they got very right. It still feels responsive and very active, the only complaint to be found there is the slow turning the system seems to have. It can feel like it takes ages to turn your character 360 degrees and when in the middle of a heavy fire fight that is something that can easily cause death. But controls a more then solid and do a great job, with a game like Mercs its important the controls don't get in the way of the total destruction of Venezuela. Vehicles for the most part control perfectly well, Helicopters have a nice feel to them and although Tanks can take a bit of time to adjust to its all good and will be easy for anyone to pick up and play. 

Graphically Mercs 2 looks impressive when you order that air strike in to blow up that row of beautiful Ancient buildings for no good reason but your own personal sick pleasure. But the world itself, or Venezuela to be precise. Can look a little iffy in spots with some game textures either looking blurry or downright ugly. The game runs well enough and I experienced very little slow down through my play. There are some graphical glitches to be found throughout the world though and theres also a lot of pop in and pop out of objects of the world. These are to be expected with open worlds like this though there often can be to many to be excused and I defiantly ran into some of these moments while playing Mercs 2. But to be fair, it does its job fine and looks solid enough, as I have already stated Explosions look superb and have a real impact feeling to them. The much talked about ''total world destruction'' that developers Pandemic Studios hyped is debatable as not everything in the world is destructable. But I would say about 80 to 85 Percent of the world can be destroyed by some means. So for the most part Mercs 2 looks solid and runs well. Grand Theft Auto 4 showed that its hard to make a game look pretty all over the board when your building a game around an open world without any loading screens while traversing that world. Sadly my experience of the PC Version was less then great, it should be mentioned that at this moment the PC Version seems to lack higher resolutions for bigger monitors which is very disapointting but hopefully can be patched. Graphically the PC Version looked identical to the 360 and PS3 Versions of the game.

Many of the familar missions found in the original return, most noteably the obtaining of a targeted individual and either killing them or capturing them to get your pay from your customers your working for. Its simple but still a mission type that works well even if it can get a little repetitive from time to time. Repetition can sadly affect Mercs 2 in a big way, I learnt with the original that if I got a little bored I would stop playing and come back to it another time. This plan as worked again with its sequel as areas of the game can feel a little like the same old job from time to time and will lower peoples view on the experienced offered. Unlike my experience with Assassins Creed, I didn't find myself fasinated by the world itself to keep playing on even if I became frustrated at the mission types on offer here. But saying that, there is still a solid mix on offer that will no doubt please fans just as long as you don't try to play through the game on day one. There are a number of other aspects such as the common find and pickup mission modes where you can obtain spare parts for your own personal engineer to build custom vehicles. I couldn't help but feel that if the world of Mercs 2 had more detail and heart the experience would have been a much better package then the one we have ended up with.

Despite its problems, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames is a very appealing game. Instant action and enjoyment, not to mention the fun Co-Op on offer here. Yes, you heard me right. Mercs 2 offered Co-Op action with a friends and its a lot of fun. Infact its fair to say depending on your tastes, you might find Mercs 2 a whole lot more fun when your blowing stuff up with a friends rather then blowing stuff up on your own. Personally for me I do enjoy playing this game by myself, though I have played quite a bit of Co-Op on 360 and some on PC with friends. It seems to run pretty well, though with the PC Version the game seem to crash more often then not. But these are things that can be easily fixed with a patch or two, but the princeable is these things simply shouldn't be found in the so called 'final' version of the game. On the XBOX 360 though, the Co-Op ran well and was easy to pop in and pop out off. A lot of that is due to the superb XBOX LIVE system found on Microsoft's console which defiantly makes things oh so much easier to play Co-Op in. Though I haven't played the PS3 Version, I would suspect its runs aswell as the 360 version in both Co-Op and Single Player. 

Like a lot of aspects to Mercenaries 2, the Co-Op isn't perfect. The game doesn't do a Bionic Commando: Rearmed and adjust the difficulty level of the A.I when a friend pops in to help blow up half of Venezuela making the game feel often to easy. Areas of the game when played alone can feel way to easy so to make the game even easier in Co-Op feels a little silly. It would have been great to find that enemies were of a larger number to fight against, not to mention tougher to beat. But thats not to be and its one area of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames that left me disapointed. But you can still have fun playing, anyone who doesn't love blowing up building and getting virtually paid for it isn't human in my eyes. So your bound to have some fun in Co-Op even if it won't be as challenging or unique as you'd hoped it would be. Thankfully the game runs perfectly well from my experience in Co-Op and I didn't see any huge graphically fallout from having a second player in the world, everything still looked solid enough and explosions still looked as spectacular..... oh the explosions! 

Speaking of explosions! to create these explosions you'll need weapons and Mercs 2 as enough to please most folk, you'll always have your trusty RPG that often feels more like a machine gun then an actual RPG as you'll find enough ammo to keep your long necked beauty prepared to fire on that oh so tall tower and let destruction commence. Most of the weapons feel solid enough, though some weapons felt a little useless. Maybe it depends on your playing style but I hardly even touched a sniper rifle and when I did I felt as if they were some sort of afterthought. But I'm sure they can be of use to a different gamers style of play. Your character can only carry two weapons (usually the RPG and a Machine Gun of sorts) and they also have access to grenades and the ever so useful Satchet Pack for blowing stuff up. Like the original, there is a sick pleasure in strapping a few satchet charges to a vehicle and driving it into a enemy base for a huge explosion to occur moments later. It looks spectacular and feels great at the same time..... what else could you ask for. 

The game world also features a variation of vehicles. A hell of a lot more then the original and driving actually feels pretty solid. Its no GTA4 but cars handle a hell of a lot more realisticly then the original and special mention goes to the bikes found around Venezuela. The Bikes handle well and are a lot of fun to ride though not always the best choice of transport. There are also many military vehicles to be found (this is a warzone afterall) such as the mobile AA gun and the usually fun tanks to blow stuff up with. Infact everything about Mercenaries 2 drives you towards blowing something or someone up. I'm not saying thats a bad thing though. But its clear Pandemic Studios wanted to offer a satisfying experience to gamers who want a quick adrenaline rush or two and Mercenaries 2 will do that with passion. But for those looking for a deeper maybe even longer experience will be disapointing as the game doesn't totally feel as if it was worthy of its many delays in production when you consider the many bugs and glitches found throughout the game. I came across a good number of glitches including one where my character got stuck in an animation loop while climbing a ladder. I have also ran into some issues with the games foliage, while running if I hit a bush I would get slowed down by the weird animation of the bushes and trees around. Basically it seems to have a weird hit system that is hard to describe, but was very frustrating. Also not a lot of great things can be said about the games A.I. it can often act a little silly and slow, if at all. I ran into a good few enemy soliders who simply didn't even shoot at me. There not that much of a challenge neither, though in large number they can cause you more of a battle and require you to think a little better, But its to inconsistent to give it due and dissapoints for the most part. In this current gen gamers expect a little more from the A.I then what we find in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. 

OVERALL!

Pandemic Studios have done a solid job in pleasing fans who were looking of a current gen Mercenaries game. But the game could have been so much more and could have been generally better developed. Some gameplay aspects feel old gen while other areas that do work well are more then often affected by general game faults and glitches. It looks solid enough and does explosions better then any other game out there. But Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is the perfect example that explosions don't always equal success as gamers nowadays ask for so much more then that and looking at it as a whole, you can't help but feel that Mercenaries 2: World in Flames as failed to live up to the hope of fans who were looking for the perfect Mercenaries experience.

GRAPHICS (3/5)
Generally looks solid enough, colourful with some nice touches here and there. But some blurry textures and ugly pop-in and pop-out object issues affect the general look to the game. Explosions looks great though as does the games three main Mercenaries. Its just sad that amount of detail couldn't be carried throughout the game. It runs well, even in Co-Op and doesn't seem to take a heavy hit when a second player enters your own personal Venezuela. But the actual country can feel a little plain and lifeless and doesn't seem to have much of a character when compared to another open world game like Grand Theft Auto 4.

GAMEPLAY (4/5)
Not a lot as changed from the original Mercenaries Gameplay-wise. Not to much of a bad thing though as even today the gameplay feels solid enough and shows what a great forward thinking game the original was. Characters generally move with great response even if the turning degree speed of your Merc is a little to slow when in heavy action. A.I is to inconsistent and you'll come across a gliched enemy or two. Vehicles are solid enough and some are even quite enjoyable to drive, though tanks can feel a little strange at first and require some practice. But Helicopters handle well and aren't a chore to control like they are in many other games. 

SOUND (3.5/5)
The game sounds fine for the most part, with only two really worthy mentions being the great impact sound heard when you blow up a building or when those fuel tanks finally explode and the sound of gunfire which while probably not being the mode realistic out there, still sounds surprisingly good and in surround sound is defiantly one of the high points for the games sound. Other then that its nothing special, cars and bikes can sound totally odd and unrealistic but nothing to bad, remember this really isn't a Driving simulation game so such issues can be forgiven. But theres nothing to special on offer here and you get what you'd expect.

VALUE (4/5)
Despite its problems, you can still have a lot of fun with Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. If you enjoyed the original you'll defiantly find more to like about its sequel as it generally offers more to do and see. Co-Op is fun and does what it says ont the tin. Without Co-Op the game would recieve a lower score but not many games do Co-Op to well and for the most part Mercenaries 2 does a fine job and you'll find a lot to enjoy here. The games longevity depends on the gamers playing style as you may find you play each character different and I guess its fine to consider some gamers will indeed do that. But my own personal view on that is that my own playing style would find me attacking the same situations the same way other ever i am play as. But the world itself is still interesting enough to enjoy and there is a good amount of value found in the Mercenaries 2 package. But you can't help but feel that this game could have done multiplayer perfectly, GTA4 showed that you could so why couldn't Mercenaries 2?

MERCENARIES 2: WORLD IN FLAMES (360, PS3, PC) GETS 3.5 STARS OUT OF 5

Reviewed by Joseph Bayliss (True English Gentleman)

WILL THE DEMO SCORE YOUR PREORDER CASH OR SCORE AN OWN GOAL

SOMETIMES THE CASTLE DOES INDEED CRASH, BUT ITS STILL A FANTASTIC ARCADE GAME

OVERALL!

GRAPHICS (5/5)

GAMEPLAY (4/5)

SOUND (5/5)

VALUE (4/5)

Castle Crashers (XBOX LIVE Arcade) gets 4 Stars out of 5.

THE FORCE GETS UNLEASHED AS DEMO HITS OUR CONSOLES!

Hello My Fellow GiantBombers!

SO-CALLED SOUL CALIBUR PERVERSION!

THE GEOMETRY WARS CONTINUE!

EXTRA NOTE OR TWO!

Hello There My Fellow GiantBombers!

This being my first blog for this cool, hip and happening new site I wanted to talk about a matter that recently got my blood boiling. For those of us who love our Video Games, you will have no doubt tuned into the the widespread media coverage of Gamings key Event, E3. Though its fair to say that for the most part E3 was pretty average this year, there were a number of key talking points from Final Fantasy 12 coming to the 360 to Nintendo's below average press conference. But for the moment I want to concentrate on one specific announcement made by Microsoft in their press conference. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, the much debated New 360 Dashboard Redesign. Now I'll happily admit that the current 'Blade' system as had its day, its become slow with the influx of content found on the Marketplace and its style had become a little average for most 360 users. Yet despite these problems, the current 360 Blade Dashboard is still generally loved by a good amount of users, but theres no denying the system needed a redesign. Especially when you compare the system to Sony's XMB (Xross Media Bar). But did we truly expect such a change when we feasted our eyes on Microsoft new vision for its Hardcore orientated console, it depends on the user I guess. Its clear the general feeling of fans for Microsoft's new vision is mixed, but I guess its a 60/40 split. From doing my research (a fancy word for just looking around on the web and reading gamers views on the matter) I'd say 40% of 360 users do like the new Media Centre-like redesign, while around 60% of 360 users simply do not. Of course, these are my views from traveling around the World Wide Web and are not at all scientifically proven. I'll admit I place myself in that 60% of users who simply do not like the new redesign, I usually like to give these types of things a chance and now its been over a week since it was first announced, and I've read, watched and listened to articles concerning the new design I still stick to my first impession. The old 'Never Judge A Book By It's Cover' line doesn't fit with the new Dashboard design, simply because my view of it hasn't changed a great deal since first being seen at the Microsoft Press Conference. It's not a case of me not liking the general style, or simply hateing the concept of LIVE Avatars. It's more to do with my overall feeling of what kind of audience plays the XBOX 360 Console, its fair to say that Microsoft have since the original XBOX been aiming for a more Hardcore Audience of Gamers. The audience that would rather cut up a creature of Hell with a chainsaw then play motion controlled tennis or play a tough action packed online shooter with mates then play short mini-games with the family and Grandparents. You get my point, but maybe I was wrong in thinking this way. Microsoft seem to think I was wrong, from the feeling I got from the Press Conference. Are Microsoft aiming for the Nintendo dominated audiences? Are they after the casual family friendly gamer who just loves playing the endless mini-games the Nintendo Wii system seems to have nowadays. I suspect they are!