There is a lot riding on this sequel games may have awarded it 7/10, but Juiced certainly wasn’t the greatest racing title to emerge from the previous generation. Nevertheless, the game sold by the bucket load, which was more than enough to help UK developer Juice Games to get the go-ahead form the THQ to make a follow-up. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to be your initial response.
We suppose any interactive experience could be considered a ‘game’ meaning anything from cycling to work to friendly banter with your mates would qualify, in the very broadest sense. Take Aqua Vita, for example, its being released as a download on the Playstation Network, lumping it in with such titles as Stardust HD and Snakeball, but as it turns out its less a game and more an experience akin to Tamagotchi or Nintendogs.
Will anybody in the UK bother playing Madden 10 online? After all, American football is perhaps more maligned that any other major sports over here, launched at by rugby fans and unjustly cast aside as complicated and boring. Spend a little time with EA’s increasingly accessible Madden Series, however, and your tune may change. It’s the sporting equivalent of a turn-based RGP, with both players identifying and experimenting with the best plays in order to outfox their opponents. And in respect, Madden 10 online is superb.
For a nation much more at home kicking balls about in grass than sliding a rubber biscuit over frozen water, the appearance of a second ice hockey game which looks, play and even sound almost same as the first EA’s NHL 09, is pushing it. Confusing the issue even further is the fact that they are both really good. Last month’s NHL 09 scored an impressive nine, and 2K9, although still lagging a little behind, is a big improvement over last year’s stiff, over serious sim.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling’s videogame debut couldn’t have come at a better time, with the rival WWE Smackdown Vs Raw series on the wane and the UK release for the excellent Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on PS2 pulled at the last minute. Happily this is much more than an opportunistic crack at a genre in dares need of freshening up. Its unique six sided ring and roster of WWE vets (Kurt Angle, Booker T), indie starlets (Samoa Joe, AJ Styles) and aspiring youngsters (Shark Boy, Chris Sabin) are obvious plus points, but its Impact’s impressively accessible gameplay which makes this worth a look over its big name rival.
A few minutes and polite questions passed before anyone tackle the enormous zombie elephant in the room. So… how did resident evil 5 producer Masachika Kawata react to the accusation that the game’s use of African villagers as monstrous enemy was inherently racist? “It was a little bit unfortunate,” he explains calmly. “And we feel that it was a little bit unfair because we set the game in Africa and then obviously we had to make the indigenous people, and they happened to be black people. We don’t take racism so lightly it was just a coincidence nothing more.”
Concerned that the inclusion of superheroes might reduce the traditional MK diet of gore, gore and, for you sir, an extra side order of gore? Don’t be. Beheadings and dismemberings are out – after all, who wants to hack Superman’s head off? (Don’t answer that, Lex) But! There’s still plenty of blood spurting from Midways eight Mortal Kombat game. Perhaps the best example of this is the Joker’s fatality, available once you have pounded your foe enough to earn the famous ‘finish him’ prompt.
