GamesTM Issue 97

[prinnysquad]

Reviews

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 10 - Wii
Blur - 8 - 360/PS3
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - 8 - PSP
UFC Undisputed 2010 - 9 - PS3/360
Alpha Protocol - 8 - 360/PS3/PC
Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands - 6 - 360/PS3/PC
Rocket Knight - 5 - 360/PC/PS3
Beat City - 6 - DS
ModNation Racers - 8 - PS3
Backbreaker - 7 - 360/PS3
Vulcan M - 6 - Arcade
Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess - 8 - PSP

Online

Lost Planet 2 - 8 - 360/PS3

Cover depicts Castlevania, which a feature inside about 'Taking The Whip,' concerning the latest reboot of the series.
Previews include Star Wars The Force Unleashed III, LBP 2, TDU2, FEAR 3 and Red Faction: Armageddon.
Features include Reach For The Stars, talking to Dead Space 2's Exec Producer, Lost In Translation, about localising games, and Games for Adults, a chat with two companies hoping to legitimise the online sex game industry.
Retro has a Behind the Scenes on Seymour Goes to Hollywood, Pentarou Hall of Fame, and a feature on Castlevania.

[Kaladron]

Obsidian Entertainment fans should love this issue. by the way. There's a four page review of Alpha Protocol, an eight page look at the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas and another six pages talking to Chris Avellone about his career. That's eighteen pages of Obsidian goodness.

[merf]

good to see some Modnation love, though personally I'd stick it up 1 or 2 marks.

can't understand the good UFC reviews, I'm playing it now and it seems no different to last years, plus they've still not sorted out all the poxy menus and the career mode is incredibly unintuitive to understand whats going on. for laziness I'd give it a 7 tops

[rmoxon]

The alpha protocol score is a shock, no one else seems to think its worth peoples time. Be intresting to see what they actualy say about it.

[prinnysquad]

I've browsed the review and it infers that beneath the ropey visuals and seemingly basic gameplay, there's a lot of strategic depth and a good narrative. The type of game that really kicks in and clicks after a few hours.

[Eight Rooks]

It is a good game, yes, though it's horrendously unpolished. I'd be interested to see if they noticed stealth is so ludicrously overpowered that at higher levels it's basically a giant win button, given you can turn invisible for up to a minute at a time and freeze time to plant up to six instant headshots on people. But while the basic story isn't much to write home about - evil corporations undermining the gubmint, whoo, etc. - the quality of the writing and much of the voice acting is excellent, and the different ways everything can turn out put everything Bioware's ever done to shame.

[prinnysquad]

Yeah, I seem to recall something about its replayability due to different outcomes.

[Decider-VT]

Brutal score for Rocket Knight, it didn't seem that bad from the demo. Nice to see a magazine taking the time and trouble to rate Lost Planet 2's online aspects- did they review the co-op campaign?

[Sketcz]

Lost In Translation, about localising games

Can you say any more about this feature - who is interviewed, who wrote it, what;s the angle, the games covered? I always love a good localisation feature.

[ItsThere]

Monsters (probably) stole my Princess is ace.

A brilliant score attack game, you actually need to learn its nuances from the story mode before going into score attack.

For whatever pennies this costs - great game. Most played PSP game since Loopop Mega tossed Salad * Extreme PSP.

[Number45]

The alpha protocol score is a shock, no one else seems to think its worth peoples time. Be intresting to see what they actualy say about it.

I get the impression that I'll quite enjoy the game from listening to Jeff talking about it on the Bombcast. Sounds like you can plan ahead to partially fix some of the more broken aspects of the gameplay.

Probably will pick it up at some point in the future.

[112]

Extensive Fallout: New Vegas article FTW IMHO.........

I just want to know EVERYTHING about this game now..........

112

[prinnysquad]

Can you say any more about this feature - who is interviewed, who wrote it, what;s the angle, the games covered? I always love a good localisation feature.

It's about the developing quality of translations. A couple of games are looked at in a little detail - Apollo Justice and Demon Souls - to show how the team operated under a tight schedule in the case of the latter, and how a specifically-regional slant was put on translation in the former. A load of people are interviewed in quotes that form the main body of the text, from university bods to localisation directors, discussing things such as the importance of context in ensuring a smooth and effective translation.

[Sketcz]

Tah, sounds ace.