Tag Archives: Xbox 360

by | 19/12/2009 · 12:00 pm

ALTERNATIVE MUSINGS – Why Achievements Have Ruined Gaming

By Duncan Voice

xbox-360-avatar-caption-generatorI was having my monthly nostalgia moment in my local retro shop recently, gushing over the hundreds of Mega Drive, SNES and N64 carts they have there. Each one I exclaimed to my not-at-all-interested girlfriend was ‘my favourite game’ growing up (I have since settled on Rocket Knight on the Mega Drive, by the way).

It got me thinking about the days where LA Lights were the must-have pair of trainers for the fashion conscious 11 year old and begging my Mum for 25p to go and get a packet of Premier League stickers, even though I’d always rip the top of them. It reminded me of the first time I knew I wanted to play games, watching my big brother speed through Green Hill Zone on Sonic the Hedgehog.

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by | 09/12/2009 · 12:00 pm

GAME REVIEW – Assassin’s Creed 2 (Xbox 360)

By Duncan Voice

AC2-Cover

It’s not often that I’ll take offence to an advert, being the fairly laid back fellow that I am, but after a first game that transcended even listening-to-your-Dad-drone-on-about-airplanes levels of boredom I was quite taken aback by the TV advertisement for Assassins Creed 2. It carries itself with a swagger, an air of arrogance much like it’s lead character Cesc Fabregas, erm sorry I mean Ezio Auditore de Firenze. He swans about, performing his murderous duties whilst the advert screams at you various accolades about it being ‘Action Game of the Year!’ and ‘9/10’, all the while having the gall to play the awesome Genesis by Justice during proceedings. So by all means, if you’re going to sing about it from the rooftops, it had better be good!

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by | 25/11/2009 · 1:00 pm

GAME REVIEW – Dragon Age: Origins

By Duncan Voice

DragonAgeOriginsCover

Occasionally, I’ll sit back for a moment, wondering why I even play games in the first place. Sometimes I just burn through them in a few hours for the sake of collecting achievement points. Other times I’ll become bored fairly early on and they just become currency for my next trade-in.

During these times I lack a certain gaming muse. Something to stir a few emotions inside me other than anger when I fail yet another song on the latest cash-cow rhythm action game. A game that you can truly call an experience, and reminds you once again why you are willing to hand over forty notes for a small shiny disc.

One such game is Dragon Age: Origins, one of the greatest games I have ever had the pleasure to play.

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by | 19/11/2009 · 12:00 am

GAME REVIEW – Batman: Arkham Asylum Second Opinion (From A Batman Fanboy!)

By Duncan Voice

Batman-Arkham-Asylum

To the left of the desk where I am writing this stands a glass cabinet containing the complete line of Batman Hush action figures, including the Jason Todd as Hush figure, only one of two thousand ever made, pristine in the box of course.

To the right stands a bookcase holding about fifty pieces of Batman literature ranging from Frank Miller masterpieces The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Back, and the seminal Year One, to Jeph Loeb’s Batman:Hush and The Long Halloween, to the infamous Knightfall series where Bane defeats the Batman.

I left the cinema after both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight feeling particularly underwhelmed. Such is the plight of the fanboy, nothing is good enough. The films seemed to forget that Batman is the ‘Worlds Greatest Detective’. He’s a thinking mans Superhero. If Superman reads Nuts magazine, Batman reads Esquire.

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