The universe of Amalur has been around for a while now and with the release of the demo for the new game; Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning, there has been an even larger interest in the work put into it's world. As a massive fan of RPG's I thought that this would be the best place for me to start.

The first thing you notice about a game when you start it up is the menu. It's design and interactivity are the beginning and in this demo I was pleased. The colours blended well and even though it is only a demo I could see what was what.

The demo began with a somewhat lengthy cutscense with you playing a dead character. After a few sections of dialogue you create your character and name them. Your dead body is dumped on top of a pile of other dead guys and then you awake, restored by the Well of Souls. As soon as I took control of my character I looked around the cave that I was in and was impressed with the graphics and feel of the character. The environment is of a cartoon style but still vibrant and full of life. Think of a cross between Fable and Dragon Age. The character itself moves in a decent way, it's easy to control and you get where you want to go. Read More  »

Specialist video game retailer GAME is holding its first Event, open exclusively to reward card holders. GAMEFest will take place at NEC Birmingham on 16th - 18th September.

You can expect to play games such as, Batman: Arkham City to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It's great to see the giants of the games industry, finally visiting Birmingham for a change.

The prices are a steal, adults (Aged 12 onwards) can enter for £10 and Children (Aged 11 and under) for £5.

Feast your eyes on the list of games, from publishers attending GAMEFest:

Microsoft Xbox 360:

Gears of War 3

Sony Playstation 3:

Resistance: 3

Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception

Nintendo:

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Super Mario: 3D Land

MarioKart 7

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D

Activision:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

EA:

Battlefield 3

Need for Speed: The Run

Fifa 12

Mass Effect: 3

THQ:

Saints Row: The Third

WWE 12

U Draw Game Tablet

Disney: Read More  »

The creators of Resident Evil and No More Heroes collaborate once again, delivering their most ambitious title yet; Shadows of the Damned. Players step into the shoes of Garcia Hotspur, a demon hunter who's girlfriend (Paula) is kidnapped by Fleming (King of the underworld/hell). On a rescue mission to save Paula, Garcia must dismantle the underworld in search of Flemings Castle.

By his side at all times is a former demon named Johnson, who can transform, into a pistol, shotgun, machine gun and torch. Those who played Resident Evil 4 or 5 will be familiar, with the games third person over the shoulder shooting mechanics.
As you tread along the underworld the background music entails you to walk slowly, pondering what's around the corner. Credit goes to legendary video game composer Akira Yamaoka, known for creating Silent Hill's score. Shadows of the Damned feeds off 70/80s horror, giving an intentional b movie vibe. Inspiration for the sound and general theme of the game, derives from Quentin Tarantino's work ethics.

What differentiates this game from others, is the gameplay mechanic known as the darkness. Once you enter it your health depletes and Garcia must  shoot a mounted goats head, to escape darkness. The wrath of darkness sometimes works in your favour, to highlight enemy weaknesses and create puzzle sequences. Such as shooting highlighted items to open doors and collecting health pickups, while looking for a exit. Read More  »

DICE has confirmed they will be revealing more of its upcoming expansion pack, next week at Tokyo Game show. So far only a teaser trailer has been shown of the Vietnam expansion, shown at E3 2010.

Catch a glimpse of the teaser trailer below:

There is set to be Vietnam themed weapons, maps and vehicles featured in the pack. Brand new trophies and achievements will follow as well and new unlockables. 

So far it’s shaping up to be a day one purchase for any fan of the series. It defiantly has more to offer than its competitions map packs from Activisions, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Anybody who purchased Bad Company 2 brand new is reaping the rewards of the VIP map packs.

The Vietnam DLC is scheduled for a winter release on Xbox Live and Playstation Network. If you haven’t done so already you can read Game Hub’s, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 review right here.

Its official Playstation 3 owners will finally have a chance control Commander Shepard. At the moment the release dated is slated for January 2011, which is not too far away. Also The PlayStation 3 edition will include the full Mass Effect 2 game and hours of bonus content. It’s just goes to show that nothing is Exclusive for long, unless the game is being published by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.

This seems to happening a lot these days, first with GTA’s DLC and then with Fallout 3’s DLC. It won’t be long before Ubisoft finally announces Splinter Cell: Conviction for PS3.

For those of you who haven’t been following the Mass Effect franchise, let me tell give you a little recap. The Mass Effect franchise is an epic science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous aliens and mysterious, uncharted planets.

In Mass Effect 2, PlayStation 3 players will step into the role of Commander Shepard for the very first time, leading a crew of the most dangerous special operatives from across the galaxy on a mission to save mankind. Featuring intense shooter action, a rich storyline, space exploration and emotionally engaging character interaction, Mass Effect 2 delivers an unparalleled gameplay experience.

The world’s biggest game show continues in LA with E3. It’s Sony’s turn to take to the stage and stake their claim for bragging rights for the next year of releases. 3D gaming is gets a real push and like Microsoft, motion control is going to be play a big part in the show. But will they be ignoring gamers in favour of the casual market too? We’ll tell you below while also looking at some proper games.

3D

As you’ve probably heard we’ve already had some patches to current games to make them 3D, namely: Pain, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Super Stardust HD and WipEout HD. Sony said other publishers are working on more, by March 2011 we’ll have at least 20 3D titles. We’d suspect a mix of old and new games to get the 3D. Still, can you really save £1500 for a 3D TV by then?

Some games that are already confirmed as 3D at launch are: Gran Turismo 5, MotorStorm: Apocalypse, Sly Collection, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, Shaun White Skateboarding, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Tron Evolution and NBA 2K11. Unfortunately there are only a few fleeting glimpses of these games during the rest of the presentation. All three Sly PS2 games in HD? That’s pretty damn awesome. Read More  »

There’s nothing better than watching a couple of campers blend in with the ruble of a building as you sabotage it, to blitz with an RPG or a charger. There’s never a dull moment in Bad Company 2, with the Frostbite Engine’s Destruction 2.0 whole buildings and objects in the gaming environment can be destroyed realistically. You’ll spend a lot of time in the campaign shooting and blowing up destructible environments just to admire the realism.

This time around the campaign has taken a turn for a more serious but linear storyline. The Russians have set their keen eyes on a mythical WWII weapon of mass destruction, which in the wrong hands will threaten the world. Preston Marlowe (you the player), Haggard, Sweetwater and Sergeant Redford are sent on a mission to hunt for this weapon before the Russian’s gain possession.

The missions you play throughout the campaign are great fun from vehicle shootouts to avoiding freezing death in the snow trail blazing mountains. Your AI team mates are splendid bullet sponges and rarely take a shot penetrating enough to take a life, leaving it to you to pull the plug on your enemies.

At times when you progress through a mission you can see enemies being spawned right in front of you, generally after a while you start to memorize their positions. There is little incentive for exploration apart from finding the collectable guns placed in every level.

Banter between your team mates is never ending, livening up the atmospheric tension of the battlefield and keeping you entertained throughout the campaign. DICE doesn’t take itself too seriously with its humor in the campaign and takes various shots at Modern Warfare 2 in cut scenes and during gameplay. Read More  »

Visceral Games visionary of the classic poem “The Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri, which foretells the author’s vision of hell is absolutely grotesque and demented. If you think you know what hell looks like then think again. I can assure you this is one of the few video games that will make your skin crawl and leave you feeling squeamish.

Players take the role of the protagonist Dante, who upon returning home finds his beloved Beatrice murdered with a sword plunged into her lower abdomen. With Lucifer in full possession of her soul she is dragged into the depths of hell. Dante descends himself into hell to rescue Beatrice and ultimately redeem himself, as he realizes that he’s paying for his sins and facing his demons.

Visceral Games have played the common factors of the poem and made it into a game which overall sets the basis for levels. As stated in the poem there are nine circles of hell which are named: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery. Each of them has a distinct environment and demons within them. Sometimes this is not the case as other enemies from distinct circles cross over in levels.

Many see the game as God of War, in more or less every way, shape and form. The reason for this is because the level designer, who worked on the God of War franchise, joined Visceral Games development team for Dante’s Inferno. There’s no denying that Dante’s Inferno uses God of War as a strong foundation, however it makes up for unoriginality in other areas.

Take the cross for instance it’s a great weapon for spamming attacks with and keeping enemies at bay. The cross is great fun to use as there’s no limit on the amount of times it can be used. The upgrades for this weapon are irresistible; they literally make you feel as though the wrath of god is in your hands.

As opposed to the cross the scythe is equally a blast getting to grips with. This is your primary weapon and a dominating one too, depending on how you coinsit it with the cross and magic to devise combos. Read More  »

Play it with a friend. Seriously. Army of Two: The 40th Day may allow you to take it on with an AI partner, but to do so would be doing the game a disservice, and result in a poorer experience for yourself.

EA Montreal built the game from the ground up as a two man operation, and whilst it’s serviceable when you’re on your own, it’s only really in co-op that the game begins to shine. Commands can be given to an AI partner, but that can never compare to screaming into a headset, or better yet to the person sitting next to you, to flank the heavy who can only be taken down from behind.

Read More  »

All your votes are in and counted. So who were the winners of the Game Hub Games of the Year Awards 2009? There are a few surprises amongst the obvious ones.  Fortunately for all the nominees, nobody got zero votes (somebody got one though). So here are the Top 3 for each of the 13 categories:

  Read More  »

Everyone's favourite life simulation game The Sims 3 has a new expansion pack out on February 5th, this time giving you the chance to bling up your sim and their house with the latest in modern design, art, high tech gizmos and even a next-gen gaming system! So now you can play games, in a game!

Transform your Sims’ homes into sleek, edgy apartments with the latest expansion pack The Sims 3 Design & High-Tech Stuff. With a host of new items for the most lived-in rooms in your Sims’ homes, including slick gadgets for your high-tech home office, a next-gen gaming system for the killer game room, modern furniture for the most contemporary living room, and more, your Sims can now give their homes an ultra-modern makeover! After you modernise their homes, turn your attention to their wardrobes and give them an overhaul with sophisticated, cutting-edge fashions, if you like that kind of thing. Whether it’s your Sims themselves or their homes that needs a new look, The Sims 3 Design & High-Tech Stuff lets you catapult your Sims into a more modern, stylish lifestyle! Read More  »

You are Sean Devlin, an Irish racing car driver who becomes The Saboteur on his road to revenge against the Nazis. While the visuals are painfully average and the open-world gameplay offers nothing new, you might just get find yourself sucked right in anyway with fun gun battles and the optional stealth approach.

A neatly condensed Paris and its nearby countryside make up the landscape of the game. You help out members of the French resistance and British spies to help liberate Paris and send the Germans scurrying back to sausage country.

The early buzz around the game focused on the black and white visuals to signpost areas under heavy Nazi oppression, the idea being you would try and take a neighbourhood back and inspire the Parisians, bringing colour back to the world. Get to a high vantage point and you can see pockets of colour around the city. Oppressed areas appear to be in a permanent ‘rainy night’ condition.

While these elements are present it seems to be merely a gimmick. Once colour does return, it’s just an aesthetic effect, with no impact made upon gameplay and the amount of Nazi’s patrols. Okami and last year’s Prince of Persia are excellent examples of how to do it properly. There was potential for The Saboteur to be visually unique but it ends up looking quite ordinary. The textures of the city are so bland it makes the black and white areas look even worse. Read More  »

Some say it’s L4D1 with melee weapons, others claim it should have been DLC. Announced a couple of months after the first installment and released exactly a year later, Left 4 Dead 2 is here. The big question is how this sequel proves to be a purchase when the first one was released 12 moths ago, still being supported by DLC. What does L4D2 bring to the table that L4D1 didn’t? 

One of the biggest criticisms of the first one was the lack of campaigns and modes. In Left 4 Dead 2 there are five campaigns that are more endurable and fascinating compared to what L4D1 offered. With more vibrant audio and voice acting the sound design is ace. 

You choose to play as one of four survivors obliterating zombie hordes to the end of the level, which concludes with all your team mates reaching a safe house. You can either play with bot team mates or choose the more satisfying option of having human team mates.

Each team member has one main weapon and a side arm or newly introduced melee weapons. Cricket bats, chainsaws and katana’s are a few of the quick and accessible melee weapons to beat zombies to a pulp with. By far the melee weapons prove to be the most effectively damaging weapons in the game; it’s so easy to chainsaw swarms of zombies than burst firing a rifle or shotgun.

Variety is not the word here; you’ve got all the weapons from L4D1 and so many newly introduced weapons such as a desert eagle, grenade launcher, AK-47, SCAR-L, sniper rifle, combat shotgun, chrome pump shotgun and a Mack 11 with a suppressor.

The most rewarding experience with these weapons is the upgrades. You’ve got laser sights, incendiary ammo which sets the infected on fire and explosive ammo which dismembers zombies with one shot using any weapon. Read More  »