Slowing down……

Well as the videogame industry starts to slow down, for all of four weeks before the mini rush in January, I’m bringing you a small update on work this week. In between putting up the Christmas decorations and tree and currently being ill, I did manage to do some work.

PSP Comic Reader – I started the week exploring the new comic reader for PSP, will it be a success? That’s really up to the consumer, but it has the potential to be a great app, that, if successful, may lead to ebook readers or many other things. If you own a PSP it’s worth checking out, both the article AND the reader itself.

The Ballad of Gay Tony – I had the opportunity to review the latest DLC pack for Rockstars mammoth title and I’m so happy I did. TBOGT is superb and very reminiscent of Vice City in its own way, humourous, touching and anarchic.

The Saboteur – Well, this is a game I’d waited the whole year to play, so excited by each and every black and white screenshot, thrilled by the E3 trailer and then I had the chance to review it. After reading Lewis Denbys frankly somber preview I was concerned about how the game would turn out. I’d ignored it at Eurogamer Expo as I wanted to wait until release, my thoughts in the end were mixed and I think the review shows that.

Echoes – Neil at Electro Candy asked if I could cover the following games and being a fan of PSN titles I jumped at the chance, check out the reviews and see what you think.

Gravity Crash

PixelJunk Shooter

So that was the week in a nutshell. Next week will be a little different and a little slower. The only reviews planned are Blood Bowl for 360 and Take That Singstar for PS3, hoping to receive the new Zelda title from Nintendo, so you may see a review of that too. It’s worth keeping an eye on Resolution too as the site celebrates its first birthday as we bring you competitions, unique features and much more from our marvellous team.

After a great year for games, on the run up to 2010, I’m looking forward to winding down a little and catching up on titles I’ve missed throughout the year and games that need finishing. In the next blog update I’ll likely share the list of games that I hope to play through.

Are they the right reviewers?

This ramble is inspired by a few recent comments on Twitter and elsewhere on the internet, the main thing on my mind is – Can reviewers review anything?

I think it’s pretty obvious that the answer is no, but do the actual reviewers realise this or do some take the opinion that anything can be reviewed and will, which at times can reflect poorly on the game or even for their audience. It’s fair to say that giving a basketball game to a critic  who loves shooters is a bit pointless, they may not be too familiar with the rules, the momentum of the game or the players and teams. But what about more generic games or other specialist titles?

Let’s look at the recent release from Cyanide Studios, Blood Bowl. For those who don’t know, Blood Bowl is a turn based board game made by Games Workshop, you know the ones, they make little plastic and metal men so that blokes with beards can stand around in a cold garage and play war, I know it all too well. Blood Bowl is a specialist game when we talk about the original board game and it’s safe to say that it’s videogame counterpart will be equally specialist, so that should surely mean that whoever reviews the game should have played the board game right?

It doesn’t look like it. It seems that so many sites are anxious to add one more review to their site and unfortunately the game will never get reviewed fairly. This can be said for so many titles, there isn’t much point in giving a racing game like Forza 3 to someone who usually gets their speedway kicks from Mario Kart, most of the nuances will be lost on them, so surely their review will reflect that and the fans of the series will be “mislead”

If the game can’t be played as the developer intended or the fan expects, then the score and narrative [of the review] will never represent the game. So a reviewer saying “this mechanic seemed arcahic”  may be overlooking the fact that said mechanic may be a tradition in the games history and upset the fans and, dare I say it, possibly unbalance the aggregate score.

Let’s go back to Blood Bowl as an example, I’m currently reviewing this game and as I hinted to above I’m a Games Workshop geek. I visit the store regularly, I play 40k and Warhammer, I’ve played Blood Bowl a few times among the other games they produce and even I was puzzled by some of the videogame. Perhaps it was because its been some time since I last played it, but I’ll admit my confidence in reporting this games quality is a little shaken. So, I called on some experts (friends who still play the board game) and checked with them on some details and now, confidence restored I feel I can cover the game.

But not all publications have reviwers with experience on games like this or could call on someone to help. This has me wondering how many editors distribute their review code to the right people, something that can’t really be answered I suppose.

It’s been a while

Well, I have to apologise to any regular visitors for not updating recently. It’s been a busy busy world. With new jobs creeping up, plenty of work and my 2 year wedding anniversary I have found little time to jump on here and type an update.

But I’m here now, so let’s give you a little update eh?!

Lets start with some work for Electro Candy, I was asked by the Editor Neil to cover LittleBigPlanet on PSP, as a huge fan of the franchise and Sackboy I jumped at the chance. It turned out to be a positive review. Before being asked to cover LBP I reviewed DJ Hero. I adore rhythm games and couldn’t wait to play the new turntable based Hero game.

Moving on to the latest Ratchet and Clank, A crack in time on Sony’s home console, another big game that received a glowing review from myself. I reviewed it for VideogameUK and loved every minute of the game and writing the review.

After many, many, many words I gave ANOTHER great review, this time for Resolution and this time it was Valves Left4Dead 2. A very challenging review as there weren’t amny people online to really test it, but in the end I found some terrific Germans to play with, although I did not understand a word that was said.

I wasn’t overly busy at Ve3tro in the last few weeks, but I did review the Wallace and Gromit collection for them, which was fun but lacked any real substance.

In other news I wrote a Top Ten for TheGameReviews, the subject was guns from First Person Shooters and, if you pardon the pun, I had a blast writing it. You can find it HERE. Other than all the writing above, which doesn’t even count work on Citizen Game and other little odds and ends here and there, I have been asked by Sam Morris at Nidzumi to join him as an editor for the site. This is another great opportunity and I hope to work with Sam to push the site to a new audience.

That’s all for now, I’ll try to update again very soon when a little more has happened.

From a strange week, to a BIG week.

So, what have I done this week? Well, a little bit here and there…..but first, the big news.

You can now find me at Resolution Magazine full time, as Deputy Editor. Thanks to Lewis Denby, the Editor of the site for asking me to join the ranks. I’ve freelanced there for some time now and honed my craft under Lewis’ guidance. It’s great to be rewarded with this opportunity and you can see me covering quite a lot at the site, we have some great plans.

It’s been a funny week with reviews though, I started the week with very little to cover and now I seem to be overflowing with them.

So, what’s gone live then? I hear you cry. Firstly I wrote a piece on Citzen Game regarding World of Goo and thier birthday sale, where you could name your own price. HERE. What else, there was a Tekken 6 review at Resolution, which unfortunately didn’t do as well as I was hoping. Being a huge Tekken fan I had high hopes for part 6, but you can read what I thought HERE. LastlyI wrote a review of the Tower defence game based on South Park (I can’t be bothered with it’s rather silly name) but you can read all about it HERE.

That’s it for this week. Next week should be a busy one. With new stuff over at Reso and reviews for Brutal Legend, Borderlands, Wallace and Gromit XBLA and Womens Murder Club on DS I hope to see you then.

Strange week this week

Well, anyone who checked in with my last update would have seen that I was due to cover the Golden Joysticks and Eurogamer Expo this week. If you follow my Tweets you will have also seen that the week was a bit “up and down” First I was going, then I wasn’t, then I was etc. So I got to Thursday and I couldn’t make the Golden Joysticks, I did however cover the Eurogamer Expo. Coverage of which will be on Hi-Score pretty soon and some will also be found on Resolution, in fact you can check out my hands on preview of Joe Danger (my game of the show) HERE.

In other work this week………..well, there isn’t a great deal, mainly because everyone was flitting about with the EG Expo and were all pretty busy.

I did write a quick hands on with the Left4Dead 2 demo for Ve3tro earlier this week, if you’ve got a chance to try it, you really should. It’s far better than the original.

Literally just published today my first piece for TheGameReviews, a Top Ten for Halloween, Top Ten Terrors. This was a fun piece to write, I had great fun with it and I look forward to the next one in a few weeks time.

I think that’s it for now. Stay with me next week for reviews of Tekken 6, DJ Hero, Towerbloxx, South Park Tower Defence and more previews from Eurogamer.

This Is It

Yes it certainly is. Having been a fan of Michael Jackson since I was knee high, I was saddened when MJ passed away a few months ago. On the cusp of his biggest show to date, This Is It would’ve proved to the world that the King of pop could still put on a show. To be held in the O2 arena Jackson had previously traveled to our shores to announce the sell out gigs, the reception was rapturous. Unfortunately on June 25th Jackson died, even more unfortunate is the fact that his death is still incredibly suspicious and is now being deamed as manslaughter.

Michaels demise left hundreds of thousands of fans without the show they so badly wanted to see, but AEG Live and Columbia Pictures have delivered Jacksons final performance in the documentary film, This Is It. In cinemas for only two weeks, This Is It broke day one records in the UK eclipsing Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prnce. Although surrounded by some controversies, fans stating that Jackson wouldn’t have wanted the film to be made and that AEG were merely making money from Jacksons death, the film has been a tremendous success.

I went along to see the film last night and left the cinema astounded and amazed at the portrayal of a legend, in a good way. Micheal was shown as a gentleman, a humble and caring man and above all a musical genius. The film is created as part concert and part behind the scenes, the latter showing the creation of the stage effects and film sequences that the audience would have enjoyed. From short movies that document the suffering of our planet to new scenes created for the classic Thriller, in 3D no less. It’s clear from these moments that the performance would have been a spectacle, true to Jacksons dream.

It was clear that Micheal reveled in each movie sequence that bridged the gap between songs, laughing and smiling along with the cast and crew in each shot. Admittedly a lot of it was quite cheesy and very reminiscent of Moonwalker, but is that not classic MJ? Why yes it is. In fact throughout the entire show, Jackson is firmly stuck in the nineties, with his clothing, his performance and the set up of the show.

The best moments from This Is It have to be the softer side of Michael, his moments of insecurity when a note is out of place in one of his masterpieces, his sincerity in his thank yous and god bless’ to his dancers and crew. This is Micheal as his fans would want to see him, enjoying life, enjoying his time in the spotlight. I’m not going to go into how healthy he looks, or how much energy he had, but MJ looks comfortable on the stage. In every scene Micheal dances and sings softly, full of confidence. Performing his greatest hits, he’s particular that every beat, every strum of a guitar string is true to his original works, seeing the genius at work is awe inspiring and a little sad. Knowing this legend will never perform this show for his fans is a tragedy.

Highlights of the film, other than MJ’s humility, are obviously the songs. But in particular his performance of a Jackson 5 medley is superb, hearing an adult MJ perform the songs that made him famous made me grin from ear to ear. Looking around at the crowd in the cinema, all staring at the screen with eyes of glee, a few mouthing the words as the tracks play out. This may not be the real gig, but it’s as close as we’ll ever get and that’s fine with me.

If you’re a fan of the King of pop, you must see this film. Watch him strut, dance and sing, the talent was still there right up to the end. Watch the joy on the dancers faces as they perform with their hero, watch MJ as he encouarges people to shine, giving them their time on stage to perform. Watch the spectacle and watch as a legend is brought back to life, one last time. This Is most definitely It.

Work this week…..I had all of the big scores!

Well, it’s been an interesting week this week. I’ve had plenty of reviews to write and I seem to be getting all of the big hitters. With Uncharted 2 and Forza 3 topping the list it was a week of marvelous games. Below is a link to each of the pieces and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Next week should be just as busy as I take on more work, and strangely enough, venture back to Game People. Keep an eye out for my reviews of Tekken 6, Need For Speed Shift and South Park Tower Defence.

Forza 3 – 360

Uncharted 2 – PS3

Lips Number One Hits – 360

Heavy Weapon – PSN

Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 – 360

This week will also see me covering the Golden Joystick awards in London on Friday, so Keep an eye out for my coverage over at Ve3tro. Hoping to get some interviews in and some great coverage of the awards themselves including all the winners.

Citizens…..now is the time!

Citizens, now is the time……..

Citizen Game is back and better than ever. A big thank you to Barry White and Danny O’Dwyer for giving me an opportunity to work on staff at Citizen Game.

My first editorial for the site talks about how we as gamers tend to be fed too much information in regards to rumours and “leaks” to the press. Whereas back in the day this was a rarity and left more excitement for us gamers. Anyway, you can find out more by reading it HERE excuse the mispelling of my name, oops, the editors are aware……I hope.

New work on the review page

Just a quick post to say, check out the review page and find some reviews from my time at Game People and also a review of Operation Flashpoint for Nidzumi.

My time with both of these sites has ended, mainly due to other working commitments. Please bookmark these sites and support them, they’re great places to visit and see what the writers have to say.

Well I never……

Well, it’s been quite an eventful week. Loaded up with countless review code which includes, Uncharted 2, Forza 3, a late arrival in Need For Speed: Shift and a small handful of arcade games too. Add to that, Microsoft have delivered (after endless issues with the couriers DHL) my debug 360. I am now a fully fledged freelancer and looking for new writing work.

You can consider me to be tickled pink that Microsoft had faith in my writing to give me the unit, now all I need is the preview code to play on it.

I’ve also made a few changes in my career, leaving two of my writing jobs. Several reasons sparked the move from Game People and Nidzumi and I enjoyed my time there but now I will be looking for new homes to hold my writing. Anyway, a quick update of the portfolio page and I’ll see you soon.

Much Love.