Level256

Right, I’ll get the disclaimers out of the way: I am a girl, I’m a retro gamer at heart, I’m not fantastic at fighting games and I’m not a boxing fan….that being said – let’s review Fight Night Round 4!

First of all the game looks stunning. The 40 plus licenced boxers are now available with extra shiny shorts and skin and each boxer has a distinct look, to the point where even I recognised some of the bigger names. As I’m sure you will have heard, Round 4 features such boxing greats as Muhammad Ali, Ricky Hatton and (in his first appearance in a boxing sim) Mike Tyson.

You can now fight on the inside and height is accounted for, making this installment in the franchise a much more strategic game to play. Fighting as Muhammad Ali against Mike Tyson, I had to keep my punches coming hard and fast to stop Tyson getting on the inside and annihilating me. I felt in full control of my fighter’s movements which were fluid and intuitive. Having played through the training level, I won won my first fight by knockout in the third round, using the tactics I had been taught and not by random button bashing (or stick wiggling in this case).

Fight Night Round 4 lets you control your character’s movements with the left stick and his punches with the right. That was fine, though it took me a little while to get used to using the triggers and bumpers to add nuances to his movements and blows, such as blocks and haymakers. When you block a punch you can counter attack, which is by far the quickest way to do lots of damage quickly. It’s quite difficult to get the timing right on the counters but they are well worth it once mastered. This and the ability to fight dirty when the ref isn’t looking should lead to some interesting and closely contested fights in multiplayer. With glancing blows and signature punches also available, it looks as though EA may well deliver on their promise of no two fights ever being the same. In fact the level of control you have over your boxer’s movements is very impressive, though occasionally I felt that the game took a while to register my punches – admittedly this may just be down to the frantic pace I was setting. The AI responded very well and adapted to my fighting style, ensuring that the same trick didn’t work over and over again and keeping each bout interesting.

Another nice touch was when my character was knocked down and I entered a mini game in which I had to regain my balance and get up before being counted out. This was achieved by moving the left stick from side to side (aiming for a sweet spot) to right myself and then getting up with the right stick once my equilibrium had been restored. I also enjoyed the multiple replays from varying angles whenever I landed a particularly impressive blow. I felt a strange sort of glee as I watched Tyson’s face get mushed up from several different viewpoints. The sweat and blood effects from the previous game have been refined and look almost sickeningly good at times.

Between rounds you can use points that have been collected by performing well (landing a percentage of shots, stunning your opponent, finishing a round etc) to boost your character’s stamina, health or damage. These points can also be saved for strategic later use.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t play that much of the Legacy mode. It looks competent enough, with the ability to create your own fighter or relive the career of a star, but I found that starting from scratch wasn’t as much fun for me as playing with established fighters. I imagine that once you get out of the gym and gain a little respect, there is a lot of fun to be had here but I found it quite dull, especially when I foolishly pressed the ’simulate fight’ or ‘watch a really dull play by play for what seems like forever’ button. It works similarly to every other career mode I’ve played before, start off small, make a schedule, do some training, win some fights, move up a rank, repeat…only with occasional text messages from your trainer to guide you.

I did however thoroughly enjoy the training mini games. Your performance in these obviously affects the stat boosts they’ll give you and I quite liked that it was necessary to vary the training to become a balanced fighter, as training will usually impact negatively on one or more stats whilst improving others. From hitting a punchbag whilst ‘in the zone’ (requiring swift movement and fast punches) to ducking back and forth a set number of times without being hit by a bag from above, each training mini game is guaranteed improve your play. I played around with these for a while trying to beat my own high score.

The fighter creation seemed somewhat limited despite having 80 odd faces to choose from, but that seems like a small sacrifice when there are so many famous names present and the content that is available looks so damn good. The commentary is relevant and actually helpful in fine tuning your strategy at times, which is a rare find in a sports game.

Although I only played Fight Night Round 4 for a short time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. As I stated above, this isn’t normally the type of game I would choose to play, so if it can win me over I’m confident that fans of the series will be thrilled when the game is released on Friday 26th June.

Set in 1940?s Nazi occupied France, this open world action/adventure looks very promising. You play as Sean Devlin, an Irish racing mechanic turned reluctant hero on his quest for revenge on those who destroyed his life. Pandemic are promising an intimate story line with big blockbuster action and from the brief glimpse I got at EA?s European Showcase, it looks like they are set to deliver an emotional roller coaster ride with plenty of action! The sandbox environment gives players a chance to explore a beautifully stylized Paris. Drive fast cars, meet loose women, derail trains, blow up zeppelins, destroy armored tanks and level buildings. Sneak in, then run out in a blaze of gunplay, explosions and glory!

The Saboteur?s Paris is a film noir inspired masterpiece. Using the Odin engine they have created a city that reflects the feelings of its inhabitants, with stunning views of the skyline and, my favourite innovation of the day, The Will To Fight causing the city to change dramatically as its residents gain hope. Nazi occupied Paris is a dark, depressing place rendered in black and white, the empty streets a reflection of its hopelessness. As Sean takes action, the people gain inspiration from his acts of bravery and venture out of their homes, slowly, colour returns to the city. With inspiration comes resistance. Fueled by their new sense of hope, citizens will start to fight by your side, finally freed from the shackles of depression which had chained them inside their homes, frightened of the consequences that action would bring. The changes in the city are remarkable. From the dark grey scales of occupation to the vibrancy of a metropolitan Paris I imagined when I was young.

Sean Devlin smokes throughout. A small detail which rounds his character out nicely. A true 1940s Irishman in Paris. The normal guy who got involved in something that was more than he was. The game looks moody and exciting and Pandemic have made every effort to create an action packed adventure for the somewhat tired WWII genre.

A masterpiece in the making delivering all kinds of action. Sex, revenge, sabotage and race car driving?.what else does a game need?

You can find out more about The Saboteur at www.pandemicstudios.com/thesaboteur/

I awoke on my day off on June 16th geared up to grab myself some more Left 4 Dead achievements. As I stared at the strangely blank menus of my dashboard it hit me…Xbox LIVE is down….DOWN….TODAY…ON MY DAY OFF! Why was this happening to me? What do people do if they aren’t playing online? WHAT HAPPENS?? Gaaaaah!

I tried to will the 360 to connect for a little while but accepting that I cannot force servers to be online using the power of my mind, I flicked through the arcade games on my machine. I decided it was at last time to give in and try Peggle, a game I had endured friends and colleagues raving about for months.

Oh Peggle. Where to start…

The point of the game is to fulfill the crazy, peg related desires of a bunch of generically cute (yet strangely charming) cartoon animals. Okay, that may not be the actual point but these little critters are sure interested in what I’m doing. So much so that each will lend me the use of their unique ’special’ powers in order to help me clear the game board of orange pegs and blocks using balls fired from a cannon at the top of the screen. I feel a picture is in order to demonstrate:

Using a limited number of balls – hit as many pegs as you can! Blue pegs provide moderate points, purple boost your score and green unlock those coveted special powers. The aim of each board is to get as many points as possible whilst clearing all the orange pegs and blocks. Each peg the ball makes contact with lights up and eventually disappears. Points are awarded for each peg cleared and these points increase as you clear orange targets and fill your Fevermeter. Once you hit that final orange peg the screen fills with rainbows and fireworks and Beethoven’s Ode To Joy blasts out from your sound system. I occasionally rose from my chair cheering when this occurred!

Beyond a basic understanding of how angles work this game is mostly luck. There is something very satisfying about watching that little ball bouncing its way madly from peg to peg though. I started out thinking each shot through carefully but eventually took the same approach I do with bowling – throw it in what looks to be the right direction, then sit back and enjoy the outcome knowing I had little influence. I found myself willing the ball to bounce favorably and screeching in delight when I was awarded ’skill’ points for flukey shots.

The only thing that lets Peggle down is its lacklustre multiplayer modes. The best way to play this multiplayer is the old school ‘pass the controller when you die’ method, thus ensuring fun for all.

Peggle is a delightfully simple game which somehow ate my entire afternoon, as such I’d highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to kill some time and play something that won’t infuriate them. It’s instant gratification and silly enough to have you smiling throughout. Buy it. Buy it now!

Blue Dragon is a strange series. Decent game ideas but nothing new or innovative. Enjoyable game play with unbelievably irritating characters. The shadow ranks are interesting but only need to be levelled to around 36 in the 360 version ? making any further advancement pointless beyond the achievements gained. Why do that? Why not reward people for slaving away at your game for hours? Where?s my ultimate shadow skill for hitting rank 99? I?ll do it for the right reward?I bred Chocobos for DAYS to get Knights of the Round. Reward me for my dedication damn you! These and other frustrations led to me getting very close to the end of Blue Dragon, but never finishing it.

Blue Dragon Plus takes place one year after the end of the 360 game and MAN do I wish I had struggled through those last 2 hours because I have no idea what?s going on. But that?s okay, bite size plot exposition fills me in on all the spoilers negating any need to go back to it. Ever. Worryingly, if I was new to the series I don?t think it would be easy for me to buy in to the concept of people having shadows that look like bats or dragons or Minotaur which come out when they are in trouble. Blue Dragon plus relies heavily on you having played its predecessor and I don?t believe it stands up very well as an introduction to the franchise.

Petty annoyances aside, let?s get to grips with the game itself. Game play is Real Time Strategy reminiscent of the infinitely superior Final Fantasy Revenant Wings. There is no training given whatsoever and you are thrown straight into the ?action? with only brief descriptions of each character?s strengths and weaknesses to guide you in their development. It?s simple enough to get to grips with the controls though and battles essentially consist of selecting all your characters and pointing them at the nearest bad guy, although if you just wait most enemies will wander over to you and you will auto attack them into oblivion. All too soon your group of characters is split up to explore different areas in several teams. I felt I hadn?t been given enough time to get to know the players in this adventure, let alone work out what would be the best way to group them. Apparently it?s irrelevant anyway as I can just summon everyone back to a single party whenever I feel like it.

The game irritatingly pauses whenever you summon a shadow for a special attack and occasionally the action will stop for a bit of plot. Bizarrely this often leads to your whole team being miraculously cured of status effects, low health and even death?kamikaze attacks it is then. Cut scenes are beautiful and impressive and thankfully there are no voices, rendering Marumaro actually bearable. I couldn?t find a way to skip plot so I often ended up just sat, stylus on the screen to fast forward text and waiting to actually DO something. This doesn?t gel well with the otherwise well designed bite size chunks of game play which would make this game perfect for a handheld.

I love RTS games but Blue Dragon Plus is vaguely enjoyable at best. A decent distraction on a long train journey but definitely geared towards the Blue Dragon devotee. It just suffers from too many irritating problems in both its plot and battle system to be a truly great game.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is the first of a series of DS titles to star the cunning Professor and his puzzling apprentice Luke, a pair of sleuths out to solve mysteries?

In this adventure the pair is invited to the village of St. Mystere to help solve the mystery of The Golden Apple, left in the will of the town?s Baron Reinhold. Even finding the path to the village is a puzzle and there?s many more ahead. Once you find and gain entry to St. Mystere you meet some of the town?s quirky inhabitants. It seems everyone in the village is obsessed with puzzles and they?ll often ask you for help when they get stuck. Solving these will gain you clues, items or story progression.

There are 120 puzzles to find in the main game and many more to unlock in the bonuses section, as well as a weekly download from the Nintendo WiFi service.Each chapter opens and closes with an animated clip, these look so professional that I wondered why I had never seen this show before (I?m a big kid). The game has a charming graphical style, which reminds me of French cartoons I watched as a child and the music ties in with this beautifully, creating a suitably relaxed mood so you can settle down for some serious problem solving.

There is always something to do in this game ? I love that about it. At no point did I feel like I was stuck. If I couldn?t work out a riddle or puzzle I could simply move on to the next one and return to it later, or I could use one of the many hint coins I?d collected to give me a clue as to where I was going wrong. I was never bored and only occasionally frustrated with the puzzles I had to solve. As there are many different types of puzzles to play, everyone will find something they?re good at!

Apart from flexing your brain, the main things that?ll keep you playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village are the story and the characters. Everyone is interesting and slightly strange and the plot twists and turns with unsolved mysteries piling up quickly and actually being intriguing enough to have you out hunting for clues because you WANT TO KNOW, not just because it?s a quick way to another puzzle. Professor Layton offers DS owners a break from their daily Brain Training/Maths Training/Whatever with some seriously interesting problems and riddles. There?s a lot more satisfaction in solving problems to progress in the story than in hearing the DA-DING of Brain Training for adding 3+5.

Now?. A glass jar holds a single germ. After one minute, the germ splits into two germs. One minute after that, the two germs each split again, forming a total of four germs. Continuing at this rate, a single germ can multiply to fill the whole jar in exactly one hour. Knowing this, how long in minutes would it take to fill the jar if you had started with two germs?