Dark Void. Heard of it? Probably not, this Capcom published title has been in development for a while, and early footage (back in early 2008) looked fairly promising. But this game is a text book example of being “sent out to die”

As the release neared, Capcom slashed it’s sales projection for the title to 600,000 units, and pre-order prices were starting at less than £30, which is unusually low. Signs were bad that this was a stinker. A lacklustre demo was released which failed to impress anyone, even people like myself that were looking forward to the game. Within weeks of it’s release it could be had for about £12… Oh dear

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So with the disappointment of Bayonetta out of the way, I really needed something decent to play. Thankfully I had Bioshock 2 waiting in the wings.

There has been a lot written about the first Bioshock both for and against it, and this isn’t the time or place to add to that debate; but I will say I adored the first game.

Damn it’s been good to go back to Rapture! As settings in videogames go, Rapture has to rank up there as one of the most interesting, detailed and well conceived. It’s a joy to simply explore the place, looking for audio logs, taking in the exquisitely designed art-deco environments or simply being in Rapture is a reward in itself. Gameplay wise it’s very similar to the first game, nearly identical in fact, with a few tweeks and improvements. That’s no bad thing of course. It can be unforgiving at times, so you really have to plan ahead, laying traps, hacking security and using your plasmid’s intelligently if you want to have any chance of surviving

Some reviews and people have mentioned the game’s short length (reports of 5-6 hours). Something I’d like to dispute; I’ve been playing this for a week, a few hours per night. I’m close to the end now and it’s evident that’s a much longer game, 10 – 12 hours or thereabouts. You probably could rush thought it, heading straight for the next objective ignoring everything there is to do and see. But doing that you’ll be missing so much of the game you might as well not have bothered playing it at all.

Anyhow it feels good to playing something that makes me feel positive about gaming again, yay!

Is fucking shit

Obviously very late to the party with this 2009 horror themed FPS, but it’s sub-tenner practically everywhere now.

I enjoyed the first FEAR game, it was a bit lacking variety and had a odd, practically monochrome visual style. But it was a decent game and not without a solid dose of scares.

FEAR 2 is pretty much all you could want from a sequel, much improved visuals, better combat, environments which are more than the same endless office building. Still more or less the same game – only better. I’m kinda shocked how good this game is actually. I’ve found myself drawn in and playing it far more than I expected. It really hits its stride a few levels in, once you start exploring the ruined city and get to use a ridiculously overpowered mecha-power armour suit. Reducing enemy soldiers to a red mist with a high powered mini gun, actually put a big grin on my face.

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