Fury is the first expansion pack to the leading futuristic racer, WipEout HD. Saying it’s an expansion is underselling it to say the least though.

Fury features 8 new race circuits, 13 new ships, 13 new Trophies, 6 new music tracks and most importantly three new game modes.

First up we have Zone Battle. This is similar to the old Zone mode but features competitors and level boosting with you needing to reach a set level first to win. Boosting is built up by filling up a bar by flying over the speed boost pads. You can unleash it at any time or max it out, then release it to propel yourself forward up to eight levels. Or you can re-absorb it to get some health back. There are no weapons, but when you or anyone else does use a boost it creates a ‘barrier’ which is an obstacle on the track that’s a bit wider than your ship. Hitting this takes a large chunk of your health. This mode is quite fun in single player but gets very hectic online and quickly becomes more about dodging the barriers than keeping your vessel on track at speeds exceeding 1000 km/h.

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If you missed our launch party article for the game here’s a quick reminder. Downloadable only, team-based World War II first person shooter based on three (soon to be four) beautifully designed Pacific island maps. It’s like Bad Company has gone on a sunny holiday.

Iwa Jima might not be the place you remember from the two recent World War II films from Clint Eastwood. The volcano isn’t that tall, has a solid top, there aren’t any tunnels, there’s more buildings and there doesn’t seem to be any black volcanic rock anywhere. It’s similar to the tranquil (apart from the war) beach resort vibe the rest of the maps have to be honest. But hey, I’d only be complaining if it was all grey and misery like Killzone 2.

You’ll find yourself experimenting with the steep slopes near the ocean and hills to see where you can climb up. Surprisingly you can in quite a lot of places by bashing forwards and jump, one wrong move though and you’ll hit an impossible bit and slide all the way to the bottom again. Then the sniper that’s watched you struggle all the way might put you out of your misery. Read More  »

New York, New York. The city so nice they named it twice. Except poor old Max Payne doesn’t seem to agree if these screenshots are anything to go by.

After the moderate success of the recent movie which used New York for some great noir elements it’s surprising to see Rockstar ditch the Big Apple for this sunny, possibly South American setting.

It would seem that his whole image seems to have dried up in the sun too. Former NYPD detective Max now looks like a mix of John McClane from Die Hard and an escaped convict.

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Digital. Everything’s going digital. In fact if you’re in America right now it’s the only way you can watch TV, as the analogue signal was recently switched off. The last few years has seen digitally distributed music explode and become the market leader way ahead of the CD.

But what about games? Recent years have seen platforms such as PSN (PlayStation Network) and Xbox Live Marketplace distributing small and diverse games such as Geometry Wars, Braid, Flower, and Rag Doll Kung Fu. There have even been full-sized games such as Warhawk and Burnout Paradise, or extra chapters as in GTA4: The Lost and Damned.

So what does this mean? Will game discs start to fade out like CD’s? Only a fool would say so (or somebody very confident of not accidentally deleting their collection after a night on the town). However, Sony’s recent announcement (that we all knew about anyway) about the new PSP Go, is relying solely on digitally savvy gamers.

The new PSP will not have a UMD drive; instead games will solely be available through digital distribution. This can be via the PSN on PS3, or on a home computer, and possibly straight to the PSP with a wireless connection at home connecting straight to the PSN Store. Read More  »

Fuel Review

Developer: Asobo Studio

Publisher: Codemasters

Videogames often draw the most absurd parallels. When you take your first drive in Fuel, the open world racing game from Asobo Studio, you might find yourself thinking of You’ve Been Framed. There’s always a clip of some show-off in that programme on a motorbike or quad, who thinks he can make it up that muddy slope only for his vehicle to tip up indignantly, almost crushing him in the process. In Fuel, that show-off is you, and the hilarity your doing. But right here lies the first problem. The game proudly presents itself as an open world exploration sim as much as it does a standard racer, giving you, it claims, free reign over the vast global-warming terraformed environment of near future North America. To make this huge playing field -the biggest ever seen in a game, around 14,400 square kilometres to be exact- manageable in gameplay terms, Asobo Studio have invented all manner of exploration-curtailing design features. Crashing your vehicle, or ‘totalling’ it if you’re in on the extreme sports lingo, is one of them. Rather than witness your racer fall to his hilarious £250-well earned doom, the game’s screen fades to black and places you back on the land a reasonable distance from where you crashed. Not only does this disjointedly interrupt the supposedly seamless sim-like nature that Fuel champions, but because there’s no recognisable signs of damage to your vehicle as it drives through and is damaged by terrain, it’s very difficult to tell where and when such a feature will be initiated. Obstacles such as trees, cliffs and farm buildings seem to do random amounts of damage to your vehicle, regardless of its bulk or the speed at which you’re driving it at. This means, like ever-popular You’ve Been Framed camcorder celebrities such as the extreme sports show-off, the drunk wedding gran or the over-exited dog at a barbeque, you never really learn from your mistakes. What parts of the environment can and cannot be traversed seem entirely arbitrary, and you’re never sure if your vehicle will withstand you charging through them. As such, you tend to stay clear of these dangerous areas, reticent to explore them rather than encouraged. Read More  »

Since it's UK release in March 2007 the PS3 has failed to impress me with any stand out gaming titles. Despite the PS3's bigger and better processing and graphics capabilities these have yet to be shown off in a way that I feel can't be replicated by the Xbox360. The 360 hit our shelves in December 2005 which has given developers a 2 year headstart in getting the most out of it. The early titles in particular I felt showed a clunky, shallow graphical experience which lacked the depth and thoroughness of Xbox titles being released at the same time. Launch title Resistance Fall of Man looks remarkably unimpressive compared to the original Gears of War, which was released 4 months previously in November 2006.

There has also been a number or art-style and experimental games that have failed to whet my personal appetite for what it can offer. Experimental and arty games are great, but mid-range gamers need a core substance of quality shooters, racers and action games that they can't get from the 360 to justify shelling out the £300 required for a decent bundle. Related to this, the loss, or to-date lack of, PS3 exclusive franchises which mid range gamers can feel passionate about. The loss of the GTA series exclusivity was a big blow and Gran Turismo and God of War are all games we can get excited about but can't yet buy.

But as with so many things, these issues are coming to light again now because they're hopefully about to disappear. With big name titles like Gran Turismo 5, God of War III, Heavy Rain, Massive Action Game (MAG) and Uncharted 2 on the horizon, the PS3 is hotting up. Massive Action Game is getting me particularly excited and we'll be taking a look at this in more detail. Read More  »