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Aliens Vs. Predator
In space, Rebellion can't hear you scream... the studio is too busy making you scream louder the next time around. Developer of the original 1999 action-horror classic, Aliens vs Predator, returns to PC and high-definition consoles.
But this is no remake. This is re-invented, Colonial Marine versus Predator versus Alien madness. Taking control of any particular one of these species sucks you into a very different single-player story experience, where you must use various skills to overcome unique obstacles. Of course, the stories of the three species will cross over, allowing for some rather manic showdowns.
The story itself follows the premise of the original film – an ancient pyramid is discovered on planet BG-386 containing a dark secret, while a race of warriors arrive intent on keeping the structure sealed at all costs. Then all hell breaks loose.
Each species has its own abilities, weaknesses and strengths – the Colonial Marine isn't as agile or well-armoured as its enemies, but it makes up for this in raw fire-power and map scanning technology. Predators have the benefit of stealth and melee attacks, but can be scuppered by long-range assaults and co-ordinated ambushes. Aliens are the fastest of the three, and can run along walls and kill their enemies before they've even noticed what's happened, but it comes at the cost of any real health or power.
Online, the fight is something unique in a first person shooter in that it's not all about the weaponry and agility you have, but how you use one species' abilities to overcome another's weakness. Three-way species battles allow for Aliens, Predators and Marines to fight a battle of brains and brawn to become the deadliest in the universe.£7.99 -
Assassin's Creed III: Join or Die Edition
Assassin's Creed needs no introduction, because despite the number on the box, this the fifth major instalment in the historical open-world action stealth series. The series jumps forward, once again, as we're transported in time and space from middle ages Europe to revolutionary America.
This is the first major break in the series narrative, and while the mission-based structure of the game is retained, the "Animus" characters and environment are all new. The main protagonist of the AC3 is a half Native American, half English man born Ratonhnhakéton, who goes by the English name of Connor Kenway. Connor's real-world modern counterpart is still Desmond Miles, who has been a constant part of the AC series. Continuing a trend that began in the last AC title, AC3 features more playable sections featuring Desmond.
As has been the recurring theme of the series, the Templar/Assassin conflict is the subtext that is being played out both in the modern world as Desmond, and in-game as Connor. As one would expect from the later timeframe, firearms feature more heavily in the game this time. But in line with the North American location, hunting bows and the Tomahawk also take their place in Connor's armoury alongside the traditional hidden blade.
Unlike the last two games, which were essentially very extensive level and mission packs for Assassin's Creed 2, this game is all new, and has been in development for three years, alongside the previous two games. As a result, we see a host of new capabilities as well as a host of new environments. For the first time in the series the player can brandish and use two weapons simultaneously. In keeping with the game's location and time period, hunting plays an important part in the game.
But it is the American revolutionary war that gives the game its main drama and drives the narrative. Connor inhabits the world of and interacts with characters such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Paul Revere while travelling between his native Mohawk village, the colonial frontier, Boston and New York. The Eastern seaboard will also be a theatre of conflict, and Connor can captain a ship and take part in naval combat. Connor does battle with the forces of evil as a member of the Assassin's brotherhood.£19.99 -
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
New Assassin's Creed games have become an annual event over the last few years. Unlike many sequels, that are mild re-workings of the previous title, each new Assassin's Creed game brings an incredible amount of new locations, characters and gameplay tactics to the table.
Being set in a computer-created virtual history, the Assassins Creed franchise has the luxury to jump around both the globe and historical timeline with abandon. This time the series alights in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy - the early 18th century. As you may expect, the adventure relies heavily on the nautical battle aspects of the game that were first introduced in Assassin's Creed III.
Otherwise, the game features the same free roaming, adventure combat game style that players of the series have come to love. But as usual Ubisoft has tweaked things to make it a fresh and exciting experience.
The game is more open, more quickly, preventing the user having to complete too many linear missions before unlocking extra areas of the game world. This leads to a more free-roaming and exploratory game style from the beginning. As you are more victorious in combat, you will be able to use your spoils to upgrade your ship. And you'll be able to recruit your crew from captured boats, or add the vessel to your fleet. But beware, as your notoriety rises, pirate hunters will begin to try and capture you for a reward.
Combat has been changed to allow for "free aiming" rather than being target-lock based. And you can carry multiple weapons and chain attacks.
As usual, as well as the historical aspects of the game, there is a "present day" section, which requires the user to explore the Abstergo offices in Montreal, Canada. As you move around the offices, avoiding combat, you can eaves-drop on Abstergo employees and hack into their computer systems, to learn more about the huge conspiracy in which Desmond Miles is enmeshed.£14.99 -
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: The Skull Edition
New Assassin's Creed games have become an annual event over the last few years. Unlike many sequels, that are mild re-workings of the previous title, each new Assassin's Creed game brings an incredible amount of new locations, characters and gameplay tactics to the table.
Being set in a computer-created virtual history, the Assassins Creed franchise has the luxury to jump around both the globe and historical timeline with abandon. This time the series alights in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy - the early 18th century. As you may expect, the adventure relies heavily on the nautical battle aspects of the game that were first introduced in Assassin's Creed III.
Otherwise, the game features the same free roaming, adventure combat game style that players of the series have come to love. But as usual Ubisoft has tweaked things to make it a fresh and exciting experience.
The game is more open, more quickly, preventing the user having to complete too many linear missions before unlocking extra areas of the game world. This leads to a more free-roaming and exploratory game style from the beginning. As you are more victorious in combat, you will be able to use your spoils to upgrade your ship. And you'll be able to recruit your crew from captured boats, or add the vessel to your fleet. But beware, as your notoriety rises, pirate hunters will begin to try and capture you for a reward.
Combat has been changed to allow for "free aiming" rather than being target-lock based. And you can carry multiple weapons and chain attacks.
As usual, as well as the historical aspects of the game, there is a "present day" section, which requires the user to explore the Abstergo offices in Montreal, Canada. As you move around the offices, avoiding combat, you can eaves-drop on Abstergo employees and hack into their computer systems, to learn more about the huge conspiracy in which Desmond Miles is enmeshed.£19.99 -
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
What do you get the master assassin who has everything? We’ve been following the story of Ezio Auditore for two games now in Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood - watching the Italian stallion’s journey from birth to adulthood. But Ubisoft Montreal is proving that there are still a lot of things for our now aged and wise Ezio to achieve.
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations allows the Renaissance hero to find the last pieces of the Apple of Eden jigsaw puzzle and solve the mystery that has haunted him for years. He does so by traveling back to where the struggle between Templars and Assassins began - Constantinople, during the rise of the Ottoman Empire.
As well as the usual weapons at Ezio’s disposal, you get to play with a new toy called the Hookblade. It can be used to grab and chuck enemies around and line them up for some spectacular assassinations - but it goes far beyond combat. Rooftops are now littered with zip lines that can allow Ezio to sling himself down at high speed (with the added bonus of assassination from above).
You can now create your own bombs in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations too, with black markets in the city selling ingredients for you to mix in various bomb shops to build the explosive for whatever situation you want.
While the last Assassin’s Creed game introduced the Brotherhood (which makes a return in Revelations), the big new concept here is the Dens. Dens are hotly-contested areas in which you have the option (or in some missions, requirement) to attack to gain some ground against the war with the Templars and Byzantines. As well as attacking and taking dens, you'll be charged with defending them. These missions see your own areas get challenged by enemy forces. This is probably the biggest change to the Assassin’s Creed formula - tower defence gameplay from the third-person viewpoint of Ezio, the Den commander!
In short, there's plenty of Assassin's Creed: Revelations - both familiar and unfamiliar - to sink your blade into.£9.99 -
Assassin's Creed: Revelations: Collectors Edition
What do you get the master assassin who has everything? We’ve been following the story of Ezio Auditore for two games now in Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood - watching the Italian stallion’s journey from birth to adulthood. But Ubisoft Montreal is proving that there are still a lot of things for our now aged and wise Ezio to achieve.
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations allows the Renaissance hero to find the last pieces of the Apple of Eden jigsaw puzzle and solve the mystery that has haunted him for years. He does so by traveling back to where the struggle between Templars and Assassins began - Constantinople, during the rise of the Ottoman Empire.
As well as the usual weapons at Ezio’s disposal, you get to play with a new toy called the Hookblade. It can be used to grab and chuck enemies around and line them up for some spectacular assassinations - but it goes far beyond combat. Rooftops are now littered with zip lines that can allow Ezio to sling himself down at high speed (with the added bonus of assassination from above).
You can now create your own bombs in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations too, with black markets in the city selling ingredients for you to mix in various bomb shops to build the explosive for whatever situation you want.
While the last Assassin’s Creed game introduced the Brotherhood (which makes a return in Revelations), the big new concept here is the Dens. Dens are hotly-contested areas in which you have the option (or in some missions, requirement) to attack to gain some ground against the war with the Templars and Byzantines. As well as attacking and taking dens, you'll be charged with defending them. These missions see your own areas get challenged by enemy forces. This is probably the biggest change to the Assassin’s Creed formula - tower defence gameplay from the third-person viewpoint of Ezio, the Den commander!
In short, there's plenty of Assassin's Creed: Revelations - both familiar and unfamiliar - to sink your blade into.£7.99 -
Assassin's Creed: Rogue
While Assassin's Credd: Unity moves the blockbuster series onto next-gen platforms, Rogue has those on older systems (or just those who fancy a double AC dose this year) covered.
It's a canny blend of the familiar and the unfamiliar. The game builds on the assets and mechanics established in AC3 and Black Flag, but gives them a serious twist. It's set, once again, during the Seven Years War for control of the colonies. The difference is that this time you're not playing on the side of the assassins - you're a templar. Our (anti)hero is Shay Cormac, an assassin who's an assassin either turning bad or finally picking the right side, depending on where in Rogue's many shades of grey you fall.
While much of the game will feel faintly familiar to longtime fans, the developers at Ubisoft Sofia have been able to focus squarely on content thanks to the groundwork laid in previous games. Alabama and Quebec are now part of the picture, providing a change of scenery. Perhaps the biggest change comes from playing as a templar, though. Missions that would previously have been assassination attempts become assassination prevention attempts, with the aim being to keep a target alive.
The sailing mechanics that were so popular in Black Flag make a reappearence, with players getting the Morrigan, a slimmer, more manouvrable vessel than the Jackdaw. New bits and pieces have been brought in too. Most notable is the air rifle, which allows players to take out enemies with a fresh range of ammo types.
Rogue offers up plenty of the good stuff that Assassin's Creed fans love, with a big enough dash of the new to add spice to proceedings.£19.99 Buy Now -
Batman: Arkham Origins
The hunter becomes the hunted. After Arkham City and Arkham Asylum, many gamers are familiar with Batman as a hunter, stalking his prey from the shadows and running down enemies other crimefighters couldn't handle. The kevlar boot is on the other foot now, though. The crime lord Black Mask has put a 50 million dollar bounty on the Dark Knight's head, and some of the world's most fearsome assassins - including Bane, Firefly, Copperhead, and Deathstroke - have answered the call.
This isn't quite the Batman we've met in previous Arkham games, either. This is Batman circa year two of his career. Yes, he can fight and hold his own, but previously he's gone up against organised crime and regular street-level heavies. He's never gone up against anything like these master assassins before.
As you may have gathered, there's an increased focus on combat in this instalment - the first developed by WB Games Montreal instead of Rocksteady. While the careful balance of attack, counter and dodge is preserved, WB is looking to push the player's skills in different areas to make them a master, not to mention throwing in new gadgets. The idea is that as Batman grows and develops as a fighter, so do you.
The increased emphasis on combat doesn't mean that the more cerebral parts of the game have gone away. Players will still be able to do things like engage Detective Vision to puzzle out crimes and stalk enemies.
Are you up to helping the Caped Crusader become a Dark Knight?£14.99 -
Borderlands 2
Welcome back to Pandora. Gearbox has been expecting you. The studio is not blind to the hype and expectation that has built up around Borderlands 2 - Randy Pitchford and friends have spent a lot of time ensuring that this is every bit the sequel that it should be, while maintaining everything that made the 2009 predecessor stand out from the crowd of FPS games.
So, what's new? For starters, Gearbox has added a number of gameplay features that can help you out in a pinch - the most direct one being a special perk that can be activated by hitting the trigger buttons.
When you’re not pumping lead, your ammo is replenished over time too, allowing you to go on a proper killing frenzy when you’re nearly down and out. Insta-Health vials will only go so far this time around.
What could potentially change the game - in a good way - is the introduction of Badass ranks. While characters still have a level cap of 50, Badass ranks don’t have such a limit. When you level up in this manner, you earn a Badass token, which can be used to spend on increasing a number of base statistics. The genius here is that tokens spent to increase stats are applied to every single character you have on your profile. Add the mystery of golden chests, and the secret golden keys that require special actions to obtain, and you have a sequel that puts a lot of emphasis on the RPG side of things.
Gearbox have obviously put a lot of extra care and attention in Borderlands 2. On the surface, it’s business as usual - familiar graphical style, familiar locations, familiar storylines. But players get to be involved with the inhabitants of Pandora in a way that’s not seen in the original game. The amount of improvements in Badass points and golden keys also shows that Borderlands 2 will be a much deeper and rewarding RPG experience to complement to intense FPS action.£24.99 Buy Now -
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Set between Borderlands and Borderlands 2, you'll play as four new characters classes fighting alongside Handsome Jack, witnessing his transformation into the ruthless tyrant you loved to hate in Borderlands 2, and assisting with the rise of the Hyperion Corporation. The signature shoot 'n' loot gameplay of the Borderlands series expands with the addition of low-gravity and oxygen-powered jetpack combat, the icy 'Cryo' elemental damage type, the deadly laser weapon class, and new vehicles to help you explore the lunar landscape.
Who will those four new playable character classes be, you ask? Well, they are all familiar faces from the Borderlands universe:
- Athena, the Gladiator: Uses her Kinetic Aspis, which is a shield that can absorb incoming damage, then convert it back into energy to use against enemies. Athena made her debut in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC for the first Borderlands game.
- Wilhelm, the Enforcer: Wilhelm was previously seen in Borderlands 2 as one of the first deadly bosses in the game.
- Nisha, the Lawbringer: The sheriff of Lynchwood from Borderlands 2, Nisha will be dealing out her own brand of justice.
- Claptrap, the Fragtrap: Wait - Claptrap? The goofy robot companion from Borderlands 2, now playable for the first time? Fragtrap is his character class? Well, you can play him too!£14.99 Buy Now -
Dark Souls II
Demon's Souls really established FromSoftware's reputation as a developer that wants to take your sense of hope and gnaw on it using the jaws of zombified rats. Dark Souls, the game's spiritual successor, took that and ran with it. Now the developer is back once again with a sequel in both name and spirit.
The game features a new world, new storyline and an unfamiliar world steeped in death and despair. Expect the same uncompromising difficulty, the same epic boss battles and the same incredible sense of empowerment that comes with triumphing against the odds as the first game. Don't, however, expect something quite so straightforward as a re-skinned version of Dark Souls.
The game's online has been made a little more approachable this time out. Voice chat is now supported and by aligning yourself with certain in-game gods you'll be able to summon friends to help you lay waste to whatever particular beast is challenging your will to live.
You can also now travel between bonfires right from the outset of the game and the health system is a little more forgiving, with life gems complementing the flasks of the last game. Don't despair that FromSoftware has gone soft, however, as you'll lose a little more of your life bar every time you die.
The world is perhaps not quite so bleak as those of past games, but it does offer up its own sights to bear witness to. An eerie village sits at the sea shore, with desperate locals trying to pedal their wares, while a tangled, ruined castle lurks at the heart of the forest.
So, Dark Souls II is not quite the same beast as the first game. Did anyone want that, though? It's still a fiendishly difficult game set in a rich, brutal fantasy world. And there's still plenty of dying to be done.£12.99 Buy Now -
Dark Souls II: Black Armour Edition
Demon's Souls really established FromSoftware's reputation as a developer that wants to take your sense of hope and gnaw on it using the jaws of zombified rats. Dark Souls, the game's spiritual successor, took that and ran with it. Now the developer is back once again with a sequel in both name and spirit.
The game features a new world, new storyline and an unfamiliar world steeped in death and despair. Expect the same uncompromising difficulty, the same epic boss battles and the same incredible sense of empowerment that comes with triumphing against the odds as the first game. Don't, however, expect something quite so straightforward as a re-skinned version of Dark Souls.
The game's online has been made a little more approachable this time out. Voice chat is now supported and by aligning yourself with certain in-game gods you'll be able to summon friends to help you lay waste to whatever particular beast is challenging your will to live.
You can also now travel between bonfires right from the outset of the game and the health system is a little more forgiving, with life gems complementing the flasks of the last game. Don't despair that FromSoftware has gone soft, however, as you'll lose a little more of your life bar every time you die.
The world is perhaps not quite so bleak as those of past games, but it does offer up its own sights to bear witness to. An eerie village sits at the sea shore, with desperate locals trying to pedal their wares, while a tangled, ruined castle lurks at the heart of the forest.
So, Dark Souls II is not quite the same beast as the first game. Did anyone want that, though? It's still a fiendishly difficult game set in a rich, brutal fantasy world. And there's still plenty of dying to be done.£12.99 -
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin
Demon's Souls really established FromSoftware's reputation as a developer that wants to take your sense of hope and gnaw on it using the jaws of zombified rats. Dark Souls, the game's spiritual successor, took that and ran with it. Now the developer is back once again with a sequel in both name and spirit.
The game features a new world, new storyline and an unfamiliar world steeped in death and despair. Expect the same uncompromising difficulty, the same epic boss battles and the same incredible sense of empowerment that comes with triumphing against the odds as the first game. Don't, however, expect something quite so straightforward as a re-skinned version of Dark Souls.
The game's online has been made a little more approachable this time out. Voice chat is now supported and by aligning yourself with certain in-game gods you'll be able to summon friends to help you lay waste to whatever particular beast is challenging your will to live.
You can also now travel between bonfires right from the outset of the game and the health system is a little more forgiving, with life gems complementing the flasks of the last game. Don't despair that FromSoftware has gone soft, however, as you'll lose a little more of your life bar every time you die.
The world is perhaps not quite so bleak as those of past games, but it does offer up its own sights to bear witness to. An eerie village sits at the sea shore, with desperate locals trying to pedal their wares, while a tangled, ruined castle lurks at the heart of the forest.
Scholar of the First Sin also includes the first three downloadable content packs released for the original game, Crown Of The Sunken King, Crown Of The Old Iron King, and Crown Of The Ivory King. On top of that, this new version will get some brand-spanking new content for players to battle through.
So, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin is not quite the same beast as the previous games. Did anyone want that, though? It's still a fiendishly difficult game set in a rich, brutal fantasy world. And there's still plenty of dying to be done.£27.99 Buy Now -
Darksiders II
The second game featuring the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Darksiders II sees Death seeking a way to clear his brother War’s name in the depths of the hellish Underworld (if you remember, War was accused of starting the Apocalypse early, which we all know was a bit of a fib). To do this, our more nimble and athletic Horseman is on a quest to search for the Tree of Life - a magical landmark that can reverse the extinction of mankind and allow War to walk free.
Except things haven’t exactly gone to plan for Death, either. His quest, running parallel to the events of the original Darksiders, takes a turn for the worse as a cursed sage known as the Crowfather plays a trick on him and sends him all the way to the dying land of the Underworld. The path to the Tree of Life is blocked by Corruption, and if Death wants to restore order he’s going to have to get involved.
The Underworld that Death adventures through in Darksiders II is much more rich and vibrant than War’s post-apocalyptic Overworld. From the second you load up the game and begin to explore the Crowfather’s ice palace, it’s obvious that Vigil is taking much more of an artistic liberty with respect to colours and level design. This continues as Death is tasked with continuing his open-world journey into fiery furnaces and watery reservoirs.
Dungeons are as meticulously designed as ever, with logistic puzzles that are likely to give you a good mental workout.
Vigil has tighted up the combat controls and added a few new HUD details to Darksiders II, but the big takeaway from these tweaks is just how much the game now feels like a full-blown action-RPG. Sure, you had unlockable weapons, hidden trinkets and character upgrades in the original Darksiders, but the improvements made here really help to complete the experience. There are now numbers and health bars galore for fans of traditional RPGs to sink their teeth into. But, if you’re not a numbers guy and don’t want to see all of these changes affect your classic Darksiders experience, you have the option to turn it all off. Attack numbers will stop appearing, Death will be auto-equipped with the best gear available, and you can even set the game to automatically pick up loot dropped on the ground.
All in all, Darksiders II builds on the strengths of its predecessor while adding heft and bulk to the experience.£4.99 -
Dead Island
Dead Island is the zombie game you have in your head. It's the conversation you've had with your mates in which you discuss whether you'd be better off grabbing the hedge trimmer or the cricket bat from the garage in the event of a zombie attack.
Dead Island doesn't make you double-hard like Left 4 Dead or ready-qualified for zombie-fighting like Resident Evil. It doesn't make light of the fact that zombies want to eat your brains, like Dead Rising does.
Rather, Dead Island chucks you into a scenario in which zombies are on the rampage (or amble, depending on which zombies you encounter) on an island with a believable level of resources and an open map to go at and challenges you to survive. Fortunately, developer Techland has substituted whatever slightly dull town you're from with a tropical island resort.
This is the structure of the game – talk to folk, get missions, complete missions, wander the island of the dead. It's a case of finding your own way to survive, including what weapons you should use. Don't think you can arm yourself with a bat and a shotgun at the start of the game and be on your way - for starters, that kind of desirable equipment is hard to come by, and secondly it wears out. Slightly reminiscent of Dead Rising, though, is the inclusion of work benches where you can mod, repair and upgrade your weapons. There's also a skill tree for you to navigate, so you can hone your zombie fighting skills.
When you think about it, Dead Island isn't just fun, it's preparation for the impending zombie apocalypse. Your survival may depend on it!£12.99 -
Dead Island: Riptide
You might have thought you'd made a clean break from the original Dead Island. Bad news, unfortunately. Your escape didn't go as cleanly as you'd have hoped and... well, the next thing you know, you wake up on a new, unfamiliar island to a new, unfamiliar face. The woman tells you that the island’s gone to hell, hands you a knife and tells you that you should head to the Paradise Survival Camp. And you're off!
Survival, escape and hitting zombies in the head is the aim of the game. Riptide offers survival horror spliced with a strain of strategic play.
The game features both main quests and side quests, but is set apart from its peers a little by team quests. Team quests are basically ‘Fetch Quests.’ They can come in handy; each member of your team will contribute their bit towards upgrading and defending the base as you complete team quests for them – electrifying fences, providing you with mines etc.
'Fences?' you ask. Yes. Riptide introduces hub defence missions – your base is under attack from horde after horde of hungry undead, so it’s defend or die. You’re able to set up barbed wire fences as a wall of defence before the zombies break through and start mindlessly flailing their arms about.
As always, melee weapons are customisable – baseball bat, nails, basenailbat. Cloth, lighter fluid, shovel, fiery-deathshovel. You get the point.
Riptide focuses a lot on water rather than land, so boats are your best way to get about. Don't expect to be taking nice leisurely trips along the river, though. You'll often find that some of the floating dead aren't actually dead. These zombies will jump aboard the second you give them a chance, and you have to be ready for the quick-time event to kick them in the face as they lunge towards you. Thankfully though, boats have speed boosts. It’s always been fun driving around splatting zombies in a Jeep, and mowing towards them in a boat is no different.
As well as focusing on water, Deep Silver has decided to add weather changes to Riptide, so you might find a sudden storm breaking out while you’re fending off a huge horde of undead.
If you found that beating up zombies never gets old and you still enjoy mugging the brain-dead silhouettes of former men for the $62 they were carrying, then Riptide is definitely a must-buy.£17.99 -
Dead Rising 2
In Dead Rising, as the name suggests, players took the role of Frank West, a photographer fighting to contain an outbreak of a Zombie virus in the backwater burg of Wilamette. Now, two years later, it is clear that Frank was not completely successful, and Zombiefication has been occurring all over the United States. Dead Rising 2 delivers more of the action adventure/survival horror thrills of the first game. Dead Rising 2 has as its main protagonist Chuck Greene, a star Motocross Rider, and as a result the photography aspects of the first game are gone, but the rest of the gameplay remains similar - a mission-based zombie slaying fest.
The game is set in Fortune City - a fictional pleasure capital, reminiscent of Las Vegas. Dead Rising kept players' pulses racing by forcing them to adapt anything they could lay their hands on as weapons to defeat the zombie horde. Dead Rising takes the same route, but ups the ante with exciting new environments, more zombies to be killed and more blood than ever seen before. This being a gaming city, there's plenty at hand to use to attack the undead - baseball bats, electric guitars, even roulette wheels and slot machines can all be used in your defence. There are more creative weapons too, a moose head can be worn and used to barge zombies out of the way, a drill bucket combines three power drills and a bucket to make a very uncomfortable item of headwear. The paddle saw is a broom handle with a chainsaw at each end - imagine how much carnage that could cause.
While the engine for Dead Rising could draw 500 Zombies at once, the new game can manage a staggering 7,000 zombies on screen at one time. And it's your job to kill them, which you can do by ploughing through them in vehicles for maximum carnage. Dead Rising 2 delivers the most intense zombie slaying gaming experience ever seen.£7.99 -
Dead Space 2
I ain’t afraid of no Necromorphs! That’s right, Isaac Clarke returns for another spine-tingling space opera in Dead Space 2, featuring all kinds of sick and twisted mutant action and plenty of tactical shooting play to boot. You’ll have the opportunity to see Isaac’s face for the first time too, and hear his voice as he strategically zaps limbs off of intergalactic monsters.
The premise? Isaac's on top of The Sprawl, the space-bound city where Dead Space 2 is set, and he's got to fix some solar arrays. The vastness of space is beyond, twinkling at you. The Sprawl is sat below looking industrial and stark. It's the sort of place British novelists like Orwell or J.G. Ballard would warn you about. The word that comes to mind is 'Epic'.
And as you explore this monstrous vessel, you’ll find that many of the elements you remember from the original Dead Space have been tweaked. Brand new tools are available that allow you to mince your enemies in even more imaginative ways, while an ever-increasing puzzle adventure element will keep you on your toes as you seek to nullify a huge Necromorph onslaught. There are also zero-G environments to mix up the action a fair amount.
This goes beyond survival horror - Isaac’s calling the shots, and this time he means business.£2.99 -
Dead Space 2: Limited Edition
I ain’t afraid of no Necromorphs! That’s right, Isaac Clarke returns for another spine-tingling space opera in Dead Space 2, featuring all kinds of sick and twisted mutant action and plenty of tactical shooting play to boot. You’ll have the opportunity to see Isaac’s face for the first time too, and hear his voice as he strategically zaps limbs off of intergalactic monsters.
The premise? Isaac's on top of The Sprawl, the space-bound city where Dead Space 2 is set, and he's got to fix some solar arrays. The vastness of space is beyond, twinkling at you. The Sprawl is sat below looking industrial and stark. It's the sort of place British novelists like Orwell or J.G. Ballard would warn you about. The word that comes to mind is 'Epic'.
And as you explore this monstrous vessel, you’ll find that many of the elements you remember from the original Dead Space have been tweaked. Brand new tools are available that allow you to mince your enemies in even more imaginative ways, while an ever-increasing puzzle adventure element will keep you on your toes as you seek to nullify a huge Necromorph onslaught. There are also zero-G environments to mix up the action a fair amount.
This goes beyond survival horror - Isaac’s calling the shots, and this time he means business.£9.99 -
Dead Space 3
Dead Space 3 sees Isaac travelling to the home planet of the Necromorphs with one sole purpose: to eradicate them completely. Well, and to save Ellie, who he had a whole relationship with between the last game and this one.
It's a sad fact that any horror series must face diminishing returns when it comes to serving us scares. The Necromorphs have been around for a few games now and they're not quite so pant-wettingly terrifying as they once were. Visceral's answer to this is to ramp up the action. While the horror certainly hasn't been thrown out of the airlock, the emphasis has shifted slightly towards faster, slicker action.
You'll even find yourself, on occasion, faced not with the gloomy guts of a spacecraft but with the frozen surface of an alien planet.
For the first time in a Dead Space title, you fight against other humans. As they have the ability to flank, take cover and coordinate with each other, it only made sense to give Isaac abilities as crouch, roll and evade to be able to keep up. Also new is the adaptive cover system. Pull out your gun behind a low wall, and Isaac will automatically crouch behind it.
Another addition is the ability to craft your own weapons. Where the last Dead Space game enabled you to augment what you had, ths one gives you the opportunity to build them from scratch - providing you've picked up the right parts.
There's also the option to play in co-op, with a second player taking on the role of Carver, Isaac's new ally. This mode might remove a little of the tension, but it opens up new possibilities for solving puzzles and blowing Necromorphs into tiny little pieces...£14.99
