In case you have been hiding under a rock, or on the run from international Mafia types you should be pretty familiar with the Scott Pilgrim Vs The World movie, on which this offering from Ubisoft is based. However, if you need refreshing then SPVTW is the classic story of “Boy meets girl, Boy loves girl, Boy has to defeat the evil ex-boyfriends of girl”.

Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

Over ten years to make a game is a very long time and often can build up hype in the fans only to leave them crushed when the title is delivered, as it doesn’t live up to the standards expected. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is NOT one of these games, it’s a game that at first may seem just like a beefed up version of its older brother with prettier graphics, faster game play and a better online model. But when you look a little closer is more a definition of RTS perfection with some nice new features. Read on for more…

Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

I've been a big fan of strategy and management games ever since I became addicted to such titles as UFO:Enemy unknown and the Civilisation games, so I was more then happy when a copy of the latest offering from Nitro games ( creators of the fantastic “East India Trading Company” ) landed on my desk ready for review.

Read more...

Read more...

Tiger Woods golf has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine in videogames. With most of my friends and peers being devout hard core gamers it may seem a little unusual to them that I am actually quite fond of whacking a little white ball around 18 holes from the comfort of my own home. So here is my confession of sorts in the form of what I thought of the newest addition in the Tiger Woods series.

Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

Russians have been used as the evildoers in entertainment for years, so it should come as no surprise to you that Singularity has done the same thing. Easy prey for a first person shooter, and not a trend I see ending any time soon. Apparently this is all some sort of payback for the Cold War.

The title screen shows you orange light emitting from an island up to a rather ominous swirling black cloud, and a huge statue arm reaching out of the sea holding a sickle. Ah, communism! I wonder what crazy capers those Russians are getting up to now?

Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

Space Ark puts you in control of a selection of rather cute, big eyed animals with large heads, which do some awesome retro dancing in the form of the running man move. Unfortunately though, these animals lost there home due to a natural disaster known as the black hole. So now it’s the animal astronaut’s that have to TerraForm the damaged planets to make them habitable again.

As you take control of your pet astronaut you will instantly see a resemblance to classic games like Arkanoid and other paddle and ball games. Your astronaut is your ball and your paddle takes the form of a bounce pad, and yes it’s very bouncy. The controls will take getting use to if you are not great at multitasking. You see you not only do you control your pad with the left stick, you also control your animal friend with the right stick and launch him with the LT. This can make for many a fun moment and very strategic ones as well, as I said this is a puzzler so you will have to think before launching your furry astronaut. Yes your eyes will get a little crazy with one on the pad and the other on the bouncy creatures.

Once you get to grips with the controls its time to get repairing those planets. Each planet is divided up into six missions, which represent the sections of the planets that need TerraFormed. The missions are then broke up into six stages, which all have to be completed before you can repair that section. So straight away you can see there are plenty of levels to get to grips with.

In each stage you will have coloured DNA blocks which you collect to form combos, which is the most important but most difficult part of the game. You see a combo is only made when you collect three or more of the same coloured blocks, and if you collect two differently coloured ones at the same time the combo is lost. With each stage you have a set number of combos you will need to get before you can properly TerraForm the planet. Your score will increase with each DNA block collected, and the higher the combo the higher the score. There are also various types of fruit scattered around the levels which builds up your score multiplier, with fruits being produced combos of three or more, so you are in for a fruitalicious time. The type of fruit that appears after a combo will depend on the combo number, which depends on how much the multiplier bar will fill up.

You can tell how much time has gone into the level design as well, with levels being easy to begin with but getting a lot harder and more strategic later on. As you play through the levels you will come across power-ups that will help you get those combos, from a cannon that can help collect blocks, to a power-up that changes all DNA blocks to the same colour. The power-ups are very much like you would find in a game of this type, but this time they are designed to be used strategically just as much as randomly. As I recall, there was one level you had to use the machine gun in order to be able to get that all important combo. There are also clouded platforms, switches, pinball flippers and other fun obstacles to help and hinder your progress.

You will also be able to collect letters to spell out “bonus” that will whisk you off to a bonus stage that features falling fruit for you to collect with your bounce pad. You will get a kudos point if you can tell me what game inspired this? The answer will be in my overall verdict at the end.

If though there is one definitive aspect of this title it has to be the remarkable colourful in-your-face graphics and the joyful animation. It’s the graphics and colour scheme that really bring this title to life, and goes to show the type of games the XBLA service was made for. Each planet has its own individual theme and a graphic scheme to match. There is even a rainbow trail that comes from the bottom of your cute furry space cadets that is very reminiscent of a good old game “Rainbow Islands.” The animations are just the shizzle as well, as seeing a tiger, panda, frog, monkey and more doing the “running man” never gets old. Then there are the various bouncing animations during the gameplay. You really need to see this game up close to really appreciate its quality.

The developers have even put effort into the games soundtrack to fit round the whole theme. Although it will get repetitive and is your usual puzzle game themed music, what impressed me is that the music is even of the bouncy kind. It is these finer points and attention to detail that go to show there as been a lot of thought in mostly all aspects of the game.

The modes on offer are great as well and will keep the longevity there. For single player you have Mission Mode, Time Attack and Survival. Time Attack will see you trying to complete each stage in the fastest time possible without worrying about combos, while in Survival you need to collect those combos to extend the timer.  There is also the multiplayer side of things, while not being online and only offline, it still is just as fun as the single player experience. In multiplayer you play the game just as you do in single player, but you both play the same screen meaning you will be racing to steal each others fruit and DNA blocks while trying to get to the exit first. I guess Strawdog Studios found it more fun to be able to hit your opponent rather than shout over XBL at them – although here at the wings HQ we do not condone violence in any multiplayer session (unless your opponent gets too big for their shoes). There is also an online leaderboard to compare your scores with friends and the world, so you will always be chasing to keep that record breaking high score. There are also gold, silver or bronze medals depending on your score or time in all modes, while in single player mission you can get promoted to various titles.

Bounce Me Into Space On A Fruit Eating Frenzy Anytime!!!

I have not had as much fun recently as I’ve had with Space Ark. The game is entertaining, humorous, a joy to the eyes and overall addictively fun to play. This has to be the only game in the world that makes me want too go and eat fruit each time I play it. Yes people will find some stages frustrating but is that not part-and-parcel with all puzzle arcade games? I think Strawdog Studios has almost got the balance between fun and frustration spot on - there is fun with puzzle and strategic elements a plenty. The thought and time that’s went into the level design is amazing as well, with DNA blocks that form faces, move and switches that needed pressed to bring them into play. The developers truly have though of everything. The game is also full of inspiration taken from a lot of retro classics including Arkanoid, Rainbow Islands and Bubble Bobble. The last being the answer to my question, and I bet you thought I forgot? The real question is have you remembered the original question?

Read more...

Read more...

Read more...