This time around events are moved to Shanghai as Rios and Salem quickly find themselves caught in a large scale terrorist attack that decimates half of the breathtaking city. It’s an interesting premise, and the destruction of the city is spectacular, with explosives and aircraft knocking down some of the tallest and most impressive skyscrapers in the world. However, the story quickly takes a backseat to the action as you’re shunned into the unknown. Your antagonist doesn’t reveal himself until the very end of the game, and the only way to gauge what’s happening is to collect radio logs spread throughout each level and listen to them in the pause menu. It’s a poor way of storytelling, but the narrative is easy enough to ignore if you just want to focus on the action-heavy combat.

Though there are still some issues with the tone of the game as it once again struggles to find any sort of consistent identity. The story is fine – taking a simple, linear path with its typical action fare – but on each mission you’ll come across a few moral decisions. They seem out of place with the rest of the game, but offer certain rewards depending on your choices. For example, towards the beginning of the game you can choose to execute an ally you’ve just worked with for some extra cash from your employers, or you can let him go for free – since you’re supposed to have formed some kind of bond in the 10 minutes spent with him. If you choose the “good guy” option your reward will come later on, but for some instant gratification you’ll have to kill him then and there. It never really works as intended since you normally have more than enough cash and weapons to never need to go down the dark path, though if you choose the right path the outcome always has a negative conclusion so there’s little incentive to swing that way either. The message is clear, but it’s a flawed system, and when it brings up controversial issues like rape and child murder, it doesn’t work when the rest of the game deals with playing rock, paper, scissors and discussing how Rios has sex with endangered pandas.

Luckily this moral compass doesn’t have an effect on the gameplay since the shooting isThe 40th Day’s strongest aspect. There’s a nice range of weaponry available with pistols, assault rifles, sub-machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles and so on. And, once again, you can customise each weapon you buy or find with a range of attachments and improvements, whether it’s swapping out new barrels and grips or adding a laser sight and silencer. There’s a hefty rate of gear in each category so customisation is high on the agenda, and in the end it all factors into the returning Aggro system. Like before, one player can attract the attention of all enemies by firing a large, loud weapon, allowing the other person to flank around the sides for some easy kills. It works well, built on teamwork between two players, or one player and the AI, though it’s not always required since you can down most enemies in one or two shots. The only exceptions are the heavies, who you’ll need to flank in order to hit the weak spot on their backsides.

It’s a competent shooter, best played with a friend. The AI does its job, earning a decent amount of kills and generally staying out of your line of sight, but it does have its flaws. Oftentimes when you’ve gone down he’ll drag you into the open before trying to heal you so there are some unnecessary deaths. And I found that sometimes he’d wonder into the open himself and get killed even when ordered to hold his position. You see, you can give him three specific orders, to regroup, advance and hold position. For each of these you can also render him passive or aggressive, tying into the Aggro meter. It’s easy enough to make him advance or hold his position on aggressive, allowing you to flank the enemy positions with a silenced weapon, virtually unseen, while he gets all the attention. It works well and is probably the best way to play with the AI.

The downside is you’ll be performing this manoeuvre over and over again throughout the campaign’s short five hour runtime. There’s no real variation to any of The 40th Day’s seven missions; each one funnels you down a linear path as you engage in one shooting gallery after another. It looks good, particularly in the character models, but past the opening destruction of Shanghai the rest of the missions look like any old war-torn environment with the zoo being the only exception. When there’s no variety to the gameplay, and relatively little inspiration in the environments, it begins to get repetitive way before the miniscule five hours are up.

It’s just a shame that the solid fundamentals laid out by the original Army of Twocouldn’t be built on in this sequel. The story is an improvement only in its “less is more” execution, but the gameplay has remained mostly the same with no improvements to the systems already put in place or the design of its missions. It gets far too repetitive far too quickly so Army of Two: The 40th Day should be viewed as a rental at best. With a friend it can be fun for a while, but anything else and it outstays its welcome.

The boys of B-Company are back yet again, though Bad Company 2 is a much more serious tale than its predecessor’s Three Kings style hunt for gold. A mysterious WMD has fallen into the enemy’s hands and Sarge, Sweetwater, Haggard and Marlowe have been drafted into a special-ops unit to help put a stop to this weapon and the threat it poses to the US. It’s a fairly simple military tale more in tune with any number of recent modern shooters than the more novel concept of the first game. You can expect plenty of Generation Kill lingo, large set pieces and obvious plot twists as you head for the anticlimactic ending. It’s not great but it serves its purpose, moving events from Alaska to Bolivia and beyond as B-Company traverse the globe with the simple objective of stopping this super weapon.

However, what Bad Company 2’s narrative may lack in originality and intrigue it more than makes up for with its returning characters. These are real, living, breathing people with more personality than the protagonists of any other shooter on the market. They may not be the most complex bunch, but in this war-torn scenario there’s no group I’d rather spend more time with than B-Company and all of their flaws, humour and daft political comments. Whether they’re discussing their favourite scene from Predator, pondering why Afro-American’s call 50 Cent “Fiddy” instead of “Fifty” or taking a friendly dig at Modern Warfare 2 (“Snowmobiles are for pussies”), the dialogue always feels completely natural and consistently hits the right comedic notes. It certainly keeps the downtime entertaining and ends up being a highlight of the six hour campaign as you get to know this rag-tag bunch of regular Joe’s (albeit one’s with exceptional military talents) as they’re thrust into an unimaginable situation.

The rest of the single player campaign is fairly uneven, starting off slowly before eventually opening up and picking up the pace during the last few hours. You’ll fight your way through many different locales, most notably freezing cold mountains, dense jungles and expansive desert towns. The art design in each is sublime, showcasing some awe inspiring vistas reaching as far as the eye can see, while the weather and surrounding environment can also cause distractions you’ll need to adapt to. From snow obscuring your vision and sand being swept up and covering enemies in its murky browns and golds, the climate and visuals actually have an important effect on the gameplay. However, Bad Company 2 doesn’t have the same sort of scale as the first game, instead funnelling players down a fairly linear path in order to extort even more grandiose set pieces. It works well for the most part and there’s definitely some leeway to tackle situations from multiple angles, but if you enjoyed the large scale environments from the first game you may be a little disappointed that they rarely show up here. It can also be pretty tough in places, so you’ll normally end up relying on rote enemy placement memorisation to get through particular areas. The rest of B-Company are always with you along the way, and while the AI does a good job of keeping up with the action and looking busy, they’ll rarely ever kill anybody, leaving you to deal with the waves upon waves of rushing enemies. It’s not a large issue but it’d be nice to get some help every now and then.

But despite the single player’s flaws the shooting mechanics are tight, intuitive and enjoyable enough to keep the campaign engaging as you begin collecting more and more weaponry for your arsenal. Bad Company 2 loves its guns so much that finding them all will unlock rewards and Achievements, skipping past something like hidden Intel in favour of encouraging you to seek out and find the good stuff. There are tons of distinct assault rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, light machine guns and so on, with different variations of certain guns and multiple attachments for each. The majority of the weapons are fantastic fun to use and you can start each mission with a different loadout to customise the game to the way you want to play. Each gun and weapon type has a significant feel, and when fighting across long distances you even have to consider gravity in the equation. There’s nothing more rewarding than sniping someone from one hundred metres away with a perfect headshot, the bullet dipping downwards as it reaches the target. The single player may be fairly lacklustre at times but the shooting mechanics are second to none so you won’t mind too much.

Plus, most of those added weapon attachments, like grenade launchers, offer a multitude of additional explosive action. Like its predecessor, Bad Company 2’s main pull will always be its destruction, and this time around it’s been improved upon. Destruction 2.0 is the name, and while it doesn’t really change too much you can certainly marvel at its technical wizardry. Before, a grenade launcher would blow a hole in any sort of scenery, usually to expose a group of enemies holed up in a house, create a new path through a level or make you highly cautious of your surroundings and cover. In Bad Company 2 that same effect still takes place, but blow up enough walls and the foundations will begin to crumble as the whole structure comes crashing down. It’s never really utilised since it takes time and ends up being easier to just shoot the enemy, but once you’re in the driving seat of a tank or flying one of the explosive UAVs, it can become a useful and enjoyable tactic, both in your hands and the enemy’s as your cover is literally blown away.

And this carries over to the extensive multiplayer package. Conquest is on the agenda, as usual, with two teams vying for control of three bases spread across the map. Rush makes a return from the first Bad Company (then called gold rush) that has two teams taking it in turns to attack and defend targets, while squad rush sees a smaller version of it and squad deathmatch rounds things out. Maps vary in location not too dissimilar from those seen in the single player campaign, meaning you’ll need to deal with the same kind of weather and particle effects. Add to this dynamic geometry and terrain, dense foliage, multiple destructible structures and expertly positioned objectives and you have some of the most finely balanced and varied maps available. Not to mention their spectacular scale, often stretching far and wide to provide some of the most open and tactical battles rarely seen in multiplayer shooters.

Some are suited to the plethora of vehicles on offer with tanks, jeeps, armoured trucks, the powerful but extremely-hard-to-control helicopters and even zippy quad bikes, but most of the time you’ll be on foot utilizing various classes and squad tactics. Each class, be it assault, engineer, medic or recon, comes with its own set of weapons, gadgets and specialisations. Performing well and earning points in Bad Company 2’s progressive ranking system will unlock certain gadgets, ranging from gun attachments like smoke grenades, more powerful RPGs and C4, to the more squad friendly medi-packs, defibrillators and ammo boxes. Meanwhile, specialisations focus on scopes for your weapons, extra body armour, grenade vests or extra ammunition and vehicular improvements among others. The ranking system is as terrific as ever, constantly rewarding the player with new weapons and items, and the customisation available for each class is significant, allowing you to build up each class with particular strengths far reaching the most apparent.

However, Bad Company 2’s most defining feature is its tactical awareness and focus on teamwork. If you want to win you’ll need to be a team player, working together to earn kills and attack and defend objectives. Even if you’re just a recon, sitting back and sniping, you can help the team – besides the obvious killing – by “spotting” enemies so that they appear on the radar and screen for your whole squad to see. This can be done with any class at any time, so if you don’t think you can get the kill you can hit a button and you’ve successfully pinpointed an enemy, making him a far easier target for the rest of your team. Then, of course, you have the medics who can drop health for people; the assault class can drop ammo and the engineer who fixes vehicles on the move. There’s nothing more exciting than defending a structure with your whole team working in tandem, “spotting” enemies for each other, resupplying and healing, and even bringing them back to life. These moments may depend on who you’re playing with, but so far the community seems especially adept at dealing with all of the nuances of Bad Company 2’s multiplayer.

Although if you’re new to the series it may be a tough introduction. The single player campaign has a fairly generous aim assist that is absent from the multiplayer, and the game doesn’t do a particularly good job of teaching you the ropes. Attempting to pilot the helicopters without training is suicide and basic skills that you might not know even existed are never revealed. It’s only a slight flaw, but if this is your first Battlefield and you’re looking to go online you may want to scour the internet for any tips before entering the battle.

If you do decide to jump in prepare to be amazed by the spectacular sound. Each and every weapon sounds sublime with the noise changing depending on your position. Fire across a large distance in an open space and it will reflect that; fire in a tight corridor at close range and the acoustics will adapt perfectly. Explosions sound different depending how far or close your proximity is, muffling from close range and deafening as your ears start ringing. Battle chatter is exceptional in single player and multiplayer as your squad communicate, signalling out enemies and adding their own unique chatter to give everything a natural feel. War is Hell and Bad Company 2 does as good a job as any reflecting that in its sound design. You know when it’s time to cover as bullets whizz past your ear and a tank blows apart a house, the broken brinks crumbling all around as injured teammates go down in agony.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 thrives on these moments of war-torn chaos. Its brand of epic, large scale, squad based multiplayer is rarely seen on consoles, taking what was great about the original Bad Company and Battlefield 1943 and refining it with a substantial amount of engaging game types and phenomenal map design to create one of the best multiplayer experience available. The single player is a bit of a letdown as it’s obvious DICE spent the majority of their time working on the online, but the core gameplay is enjoyable enough and the characters memorable enough that it’s worth one playthrough, at least. The overall package might not topple Modern Warfare 2’s throne, but the multiplayer might have just surpassed it. Competition is always healthy.

You play as Sean Devlin, an Irish race car driver with a stereotypical lust for drinking, swearing and saying “Top ‘o the morning to ye”. Needless to say he’s not the most thought-out character in the world, though he is a fairly likeable lead when all is said and done. At the beginning of the game – on the eve of the Nazi invasion of France, no less – his driving and mischievous antics get him caught up with Dierker, a blonde haired, blue eyed, driver/Nazi torturer who performs some particularly despicable acts in the name of being an evil Nazi bad guy. This fuels Devlin’s story of revenge as he heads to the majestic city of Paris for more than just sightseeing and the local cuisine.

It doesn’t take long for Devlin to get caught up in the French Resistance within the city. While it may not be his cause, he’s willing to help if it means getting to Dierker and extracting his revenge. It’s certainly an interesting concept using Nazis and World War II as a backdrop for a story like this, but the narrative never really gets going. New characters are consistently introduced all the time, but as you can tell from the two characters already described it’s quite a mix of stereotypical Frenchmen, Brits, Germans and everything in-between. The voicework is a mixed bag but the majority of it is fairly poor with some of the laughable, over-the-top French accents exemplifying the general quality on offer. The story does enough to hold interest to the end, but it struggles to find a tone or make you care much about anyone other than Devlin.

It’s a shame really because the stunning, black and white visual style would have benefited greatly from a film noir-style tale. Areas within Paris under the oppressive rule of the Nazis are plunged into darkness with overcast skies and constant rainfall dampening the faith of the people. Animosity and dread fills the air as only the striking, blood red colour of the Nazis pops to life amongst the gloomy black and white spread across each rooftop, pebbled street and back alley in the city. It’s a fantastically unique visual style that harkens back to that era and the way the Parisians must have felt under threatening rule of this evil empire. In simple game terms it’s your duty to restore colour back to the world, and inspire the people of Paris to fight back against history’s favourite enemy. The restoration of colour is an effect used in both Prince of Persia and Okami so it’s not as stunning as it could be here; however it provides good motivation, and works well as a gameplay mechanic, with more and more Resistance fighters helping you fight in these restored areas.

Saboteur Warfare

It’s relatively basic but The Saboteur features a neat perks system to improve Devlin’s skills and abilities. For instance, get 15 headshots with a sniper rifle and recoil will be reduced on all snipers for more accurate shooting. You can even have some fancy sports cars delivered to the games various garages if you win a few races, or some extra powerful explosives for destroying enough Nazi structures. It’s a fun way to get the most out of Devlin’s various anti-Nazi skills.

Not that Devlin really needs the help. He’s quite the handyman with a typical array of abilities. Hand-to-hand combat comes first but the omission of any kind of lock-on makes it a clumsy and ineffectual combat strategy that won’t be used much past the first few missions. Firearms are introduced soon enough, and while the controls are fairly loose, headshots are easy to pull off and each hit has a satisfying feel to it. There’s not a lot of variety to weapons, although you can buy new, more powerful weaponry from black market dealers throughout the city to spruce things up a bit.

t should come as no surprise that Devlin is fairly capable behind the wheels of a car. The driving isn’t great with some stiff controls but it’s serviceable enough and the myriad vehicles look great. What you may be surprised to hear is that Devlin isn’t too shabby when it comes to climbing buildings either. Any appropriate surface is scalable and it’s as easy as pressing A to jump between ledges, pipes and so on. It’s simple to do but not all that fun with some clunky animations that damage the flow. Once you’re atop the rooftops of Paris more problems begin to arise as Devlin’s character movement is twitchy and unpredictable. Using ladders, zip lines and even dropping down always brings with it an heir of uncertainty that’s evidently justified when you stumble to your death for the umpteenth time. If the controls were more refined this could have been a fun aspect of the experience, but with recent games like Assassin’s Creed 2 mastering fluid and exhilarating rooftop action, The Saboteur feels dated and clumsy in comparison.

The same could be said for the stealth as well. While not as weak as the platforming the stealth gameplay isn’t as fun as it could have been had it been more fleshed-out. Providing no one sees you, you can knock out and steal a Nazi’s uniform, using it to infiltrate restricted areas. All this essentially amounts to is looking at circles within circles on your circular mini-map to avoid being recognised. In most cases your cover will be blown anyway so it’s easy enough to go in guns blazing from the start. It’s nice to have the option to tackle missions in multiple ways, but I found it more fun looking for different routes in rather than being generally stealthy.

And most of the missions revolve around blowing up a whole lot of Nazi equipment so it’s never going to be quiet anyway. The best moments in The Saboteur come when you blast your way through an enemy stronghold before planting dynamite and seeing it all go up in flames. The majority of missions utilize this winning formula, with a few big set-pieces thrown in for good measure. Even when you’re just cruising around the city there’s a plethora of free-play targets to destroy. There’s something wholly satisfying about planting explosives on a Nazi tank before walking away nonchalantly as it explodes over your shoulder.

So it’s a shame that some of the best moments in the game – big explosions, lots of Nazis dying – is spoiled, somewhat, by unstable framerate and plenty of glitches. Maybe it’s because Pandemic were put out of business, but The Saboteur reeks of a game that’s unfinished. You’ll see objects and people floating, cars fall out of the sky; at one points a giant hole was blown in the side of a building yet the game was still treating it as a solid surface – I could take cover against it, climb it, but not run through it like I was supposed to. It may not sound like much but the amount of glitches and visual imperfections do disrupt the experience and impressive presentation.
In the end The Saboteur is a solid swansong for a struggling developer. It vastly improves over Mercenaries 2with a lot of enjoyable, explosive combat and a fantastic visual style. The characters and story leave a lot to be desired but it’s a fun ride and a cool take on the World War II genre. It has its problems with control issues and glitches, but the biggest crime of all is that this solid concept isn’t fully realised.

You take on the role of Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent out with his crew to answer a distress call from the massive deep space mining ship, the USG Ishimura. They think they’re being sent to fix a routine mechanical failure, but it’s never that simple. Upon arriving they find the crew dead with the majority turned into alien life forms known as Necromorphs. Dead Space takes a lot of influences from classic horror movies such as John Carpenter’s The Thing, Event Horizon andAlien, and this is none more obvious than with the Necromorphs. They still maintain some of their human features, but they’re vile creatures that manage to get even more grotesque as the game goes on. The designs are outlandish and highly inventive which just makes it a lot more enjoyable to blow them up. They come in all shapes and sizes and you’ll need to adapt different strategies to defeat each one. It manages to keep you on your toes as you never know what kind of foe you’ll be dealing with next.

The Necromorphs are also a lot harder to kill than your average enemy. They cannot be killed by conventional methods, so headshots are out of the question; instead you’ll need to resort to using Strategic Dismemberment. This is the process of incapacitating enemies by shooting off their limbs or alien tentacles. Each enemy has a different area to attack so you’ll need to differentiate your methods for each fight. The starting enemies can be taken down by shooting off their legs to drop them to the floor, and then finishing them off from there; whilst others will require a lot more thought, but I won’t spoil that here.

Strategic Dismemberment is what separates Dead Space from other shooters and gives it an identity of its own. It’s an excellent gameplay mechanic that changes the way you’re used to playing, especially in regards to the usual headshot dynamic we’ve become accustomed to over the years with survival horrors.

Of course it’s difficult for Isaac to get his hands on conventional weaponry anyway. Being an engineer as part of a deep space mining operation he has access to many powerful mining tools; these can cut through solid rock, so using them on flesh would be the logical thing to do. There are plenty to chose from, each coming with a secondary fire option. You’ll spend most of your time with the default weapon, but it’s perhaps the most effective. The secondary fire lets you switch between vertical and horizontal shooting, and using the two is essential for most of the enemies.

To pack a much bigger punch you can also upgrade your weapons at one of the many work bench’s spread around the Ishimura. You’ll find power nodes around the ship and then the work bench lets you apply it to different categories such as damage, capacity and reload speed. You can also upgrade your suit and stasis and kinesis modules. Stasis lets you slowdown objects and enemies for a short amount of time, proving handy when dealing with foes or environmental puzzles and kinesis is very similar, allowing you to pick up objects instead.

You’ll want to upgrade your suit to take less damage, but also to give Isaac more air time. There are many points in Dead Space where you’ll need to venture out onto the hull of the ship, giving Isaac a short amount of time before he suffocates. These section speed up the game, and can get pretty frantic when dealing with enemies and floating debris, although it doesn’t quite compare to the excellent zero gravity sections. Here you’ll need to jump around the environment to reach your goal, whilst the Necromorph will also float after you. It shakes the usual gameplay up a bit, and it’s amazing to look at. You’ll see drops of blood floating in the atmosphere along with decapitated heads and other human limbs. Just trying to figure out a path up along the ceiling and walls is a puzzle within itself.

Dead Space is a stunning game to look at, the lighting and shadow effects are phenomenal, adding to the creepy and tense atmosphere aboard the ship. There are some aliasing issues with shadows on Isaac’s suit, but it’s not noticeable enough to detract from the experience, and the rest of the ship is superbly lit with ominous shadows that will keep you guessing what’s up ahead. Some sections of the Ishimura – especially those with views out into space – are simply awe inspiring, and it really catches that sense of claustrophobia even though it‘s huge.Dead Space may not get the recognition it deserves because of the vast amount of top quality games being released at the moment, but it’s definitely one of the best looking games ever seen.

Saying that, the audio manages to surpass even the stunning visuals. Necromorphs will move around the ship via vents and the sound does a brilliant job of freaking you out as you hear them rustling all around, never knowing where they’re going to pop out; they’re shrieking cries adding to the freight. However, the stand out moments comes when you’re outside the ship, as sound becomes muffled as if you were under water. Isaac’s yells echo within his suit, and enemies are almost inaudible. It adds a new dimension as you can barely hear what’s around you until it’s right behind you ready to rip its claws into your back; now we know what Alien was on about.

Put simply, Dead Space has production values out of this world. Everything comes together to create a cohesive experience that can match up to any of the best survival horrors of recent years.

It does, however, have its bad points. They’re few and far between, but they are there. One of the main gripes is with the amount of backtracking you’re forced to do. It makes sense in the context of the story, but with a ship as big as the Ishimura you would expect to visit brand new locations on every mission. It doesn’t hinder the experience too much, especially when there’s a handy navigation tool to help you out, but it can get a little tiresome. And the same can be said for the combat. It’s a great system, but after a while it does get a little repetitive. New enemies keep things fresh but there aren’t too many of those either. But of course it is the beginning of a new franchise, so we can expect more and more of this universe to be explored in the future.

And Dead Space isn’t a bad way to start a new IP. It creates a creepy, disturbing atmosphere that is often unnerving, and combines that with a deep and engaging combat system that is simply one of a kind. Dead Space may have floated under your radar, but it should be in plain sight by now; it’s one of the best survival horrors in years and looks set to become a prominent figure in video gaming in the years to come.

Before I answer that question, I feel a little history lesson is in order. If you’ve never played Skate before then it’s worth noting how different it is from the Tony Hawk series. Their philosophy was for big thrills and spills, creating an arcade experience that focused on massive combos and out-of-this-world tricks and stunts. Sure, it was fun, but it wasn’t what skating is all about. If you’ve ever watched any skateboarding videos, or are a skater yourself, then you know it’s not all about pulling off one hundred move combos, it’s about nailing maybe one or two tricks in quick succession and using your environment to pull it off. It’s about getting a big grind down a set of stair rails, or just making it over a gap.Skate embodies this realistic nature, and by and large it’s a much more rewarding experience when you nail that perfect line or pull off a particularly hard trick on your fiftieth attempt.

Skate 2 is largely similar to its predecessor. Of course the innovative Flickit controls remain at the heart of the game, and there’s now an overabundance of new tricks included in your repertoire. Whilst the original focused on flip tricks, grabs and grinding, Skate 2 opens things up with hand and foot plants, no complys, finger flips and even hippy jumps, just to name a few. The sheer amount of moves you can pull off is overwhelming at times, and it’s here that the Flickit controls’ main fault lies. Pretty much every trick is mapped to the right analogue stick with other buttons, like the right trigger, allowing you to tweak these moves. This is fine when you’re casually skating around, but when it comes to certain challenges where you need to pull off a specific trick, it can get frustrating. There are so many moves mapped to the right analogue stick that slight adjustments in any direction will produce different results. You’ll be failing a challenge because you’re moving the analogue stick a tad too high for the particular trick you need to perform, and just trying to get the right movement can prove tiresome after you’ve bailed for the thirtieth time.

However, while this may be the biggest fault of the control scheme, it’s still a minor complaint when you consider how well it can work. Performing a basic kick flip has never been so rewarding, and it’s a compliment to the Flickit controls that it’s managed to remain just as refreshing and exciting as it was in the first game. If you’re a Skate veteran it’s easy to come into Skate 2 and begin owning the streets just as you were before. Only now it’s just a case of mixing in the new tricks into your repertoire. While it’s not the big change people were waiting for, the new tricks do fit in well; you’ll just need to adjust to using them, and remember to include them when roaming the streets.

The big new change this time around is the addition of actually getting off your board. Sadly, the controls are pretty terrible. I would call them tank controls, but it’s quite possibly worse than that. Don’t panic though, because it’s not all bad. While the controls may be horrendous, they prove useful for navigating to hard-to-reach places, and just mounting a set of stairs. The lack of a climbing button does hamper the experience when you can’t get over a four foot wall, but it’s much better to have them than not.

Especially when it allows you to manipulate objects in the world. See a high wall you want to jump over, but can’t see a way of getting the height? Easy. Just grab that bench over there, move it into position, and you have a perfect launch platform. There’s a profusion of moveable objects scattered around the fictional city of New San Vanelona, all there for you to move around and create your own, unique lines. A lot of the challenges require you to position objects, so you better get used to it and the controls. Luckily they aren’t as bad as the other off-board controls – they’re actually quite easy; just go up to an object and you can easily grab it and move it in any direction, or even rotate it how you want. It’s intuitive and makes setting up your own obstacle course an easy task. The problems arise when you consider that they have virtually no weight. Skate 2 is primarily a physics based game, so it’s strange to see this big wooden ramp knocked out of position when some wannabe-skater crashes into it. It makes sense in terms of game design that they’re weightless when you’re required to move them around, but once they’re in place they should be bolted to the floor, per se. In busy areas you’ll constantly have to keep moving objects back into position as the busy streets tussle and turn them every which way and that.

It also makes some challenges harder than they should be. As you well know, in the original Skate, completing tasks was always a trial and error affair – much like real skating. You’d be asked to hit a certain rail whilst performing a specific trick, so it would often take many, many attempts. It was a rewarding system though. The sense of jubilation when finally nailing the line was a terrific experience, and it remains the same in Skate 2. The reason the moveable objects create difficulty here is that you never quite know whether you’re supposed to use them or not. For instance, one challenge required me to gap over a water fountain. It looked doable with a simple ollie, but there was also a set of ramps and rails pushed to one side. I figured that since they were placed precisely in that spot that it was pretty obvious that I needed to use them. So I set the ramp up and had tremendous difficulty making the gap. It was only after I took it away, and tried the gap a few more times that I accomplished the task. Skate 2 is already full of trial and error gameplay, so hinting that you need to use objects even when you don’t just adds to this because you never quite know whether to continue trying it with the objects, or scrap them and try doing it without. Telling you whether to use them or not may take away from the added strategy, but it’s better than not knowing whether you should continue on or try something different.

The story mode could have also been improved upon. It remains strikingly similar to the first game with most challenges revolving around nailing tricks for magazines, shooting sponsorship videos, competing in contests, impressing pros and so on. I know there’s not a whole lot more you can do with skating, but it’d be nice to have a little more variety thrown in. You’ll spend the majority of your time shooting photos to get in both Skateboard Mag and Thrasher. It’s always built up that this is your main goal – and I would imagine it’s the same for any skater – but the outcome is a tad disappointing and anti-climatic.

The progression is still a firm favourite of mine, however. Rather than improving your skater’s abilities, he’ll stay the same throughout the whole experience. The only one improving will be you. It’s a brilliant way to progress as you know it’s all down to you. There are no upgradeable stats holding you back, it’s just personal skill. When you’ve played for a few weeks you really get a sense of how far you’ve come and it’s extremely gratifying.

Especially when your skater looks like you. Whether you’re male or female, both sex can be chosen here – although that’s really the only difference. Surprisingly the rest of the features are pretty slim compared to the first game, but there are still a bunch of clothing options to dress your skater however you want him/her to look as you get ready to hit the streets of New San Vanelona.

And it’s “New” for a reason. While there are plenty of landmarks you’ll recognise, there’s now a vast number of new locations as well. These are great, particularly the areas designed around gaining as much speed as possible. It’s an exhilarating experience blasting down a hill, pulling off tricks with little remorse for human life. Skate 2 does an exceptional job of conveying speed so that it never feels like you’re quite in control of your board. It‘s these new locales that are definite highlights, although, for you traditionalists out there, there are still plenty of classic skate spots to enjoy as well. The great thing about San Van is that it never feels like a game world. Sure, it’s built around skateboarding, with rails, empty pools, and the like, littered across the city, but it’s never so obvious that it couldn’t be a real city. It’s testament to the design, and definitely makes San Van a joy to explore. Sadly, the frame rate can slow you down though, especially when overlooking the city. It’s not as smooth as it could be, often dropping when there’s a lot going on.

The visuals aren’t a big step up from the original either. It still has a washed out look, but it fits the skateboarding scene, particularly when you consider that the game is always looking through the lens of a camera. The most impressive aspects are the little details. Your skater will now cut and bruise after bails, and his clothing will get dirty over time. It’s nothing big, but it is something you’ll notice that helps absorb you into this world, and get a feeling of the pain these guys go through.

And this is none more evident than with the new bailing system. The animation throughout the game is outstanding, but if there’s one complaint that was levelled against the original Skate, was that the bails looked a bit iffy. That has been rectified in Skate 2 as bails look just as painful as you would imagine them to be. It might not fit in with the realistic nature of the rest of the game but the Thrasher: Hall of Meat is an enjoyable and hilarious new addition. At any point in time you can chose to bail out, and then continue to pull off special moves whilst crashing through the air. These will earn you points to go along with the extra points you get for distance travelled, objects hit, bones broken, and so on. It turns into its own game as you try to find the best places in the city to hurl your skater to certain death. You wouldn’t think it’s possible, but Skate 2 actually makes bailing a fun experience, especially when you hear the gruesome cracking of bones all over your body.

A definitive aspect of the excellent sound design. Whether you’re just cruising down the street or flying face first into a vehicle, the sound just feels right. And the soundtrack is of similar quality – although some of the songs don’t lend themselves well to skating. As a collection, the soundtrack has a great mix of different genres and styles to please all, it’s just that some of them don’t really fit in with the skating culture. You might enjoy listening to them on their own, but they’re not ideal when cruising the streets. But really, that’s just nit-picking.

Skate 2 is an enjoyable romp through skating culture. It’s extremely similar to the first game, but the new additions here are a lot of fun, even if they contain some flaws. It’s not the huge step up people were waiting for, and it’s disappointing that some aspects weren’t fixed; but the Flickit control scheme has managed to feel just as fresh and exciting as before, and the plethora of new tricks are welcome. There just seems to be something missing.

Maybe it’s the fact that there seems to be a greater need to play through the story, rather than just skate around in your own time, that’s most upsetting. This was one of the best aspects of the first game, and it really captured the laid back, relaxing nature of skating. In Skate 2, this attitude seems to have been lost in the mainstream. You can now teleport to absolutely anywhere on the map, eliminating the need to explore the city. Sure, it‘s a handy feature to have when you just can‘t be bothered to traverse across the whole map, but a lot of the fun from the original was based around skating to your destination and getting to know the city whilst learning all the tricks on the way.

Regardless, Skate 2 is still a blast. If you’ve done all you can in Skate, then it’s worth picking up to extend your adventure. For newcomers, it may be better to try the original first and just spend time skating around and learning all the tricks on offer. Maybe it was because it was something new, but for me, the original Skatewas a much more enjoyable experience. Skate 2 builds on that, it just can’t quite capture the magic. But don’t let that put you off, it’s a hard task matching Skate’s high expectations.

Does this game deserve to cut down the nets?

Gameplay

It is hard to argue with the game’s uncanny ability to recreate, almost flawlessly, how a player moves, cuts, commits fouls, and even shoots. However, it takes some time to adjust to shooting, especially 3s and long-2s, because shooting is all about timing. Each player is different, which can be very frustrating. Rhythm is the most important part of shooting, and each player is different based on their rating and shot motion. Some players shoot exactly at the apex of their jump, while other have a hitch and may hold the ball longer before releasing it. The more frequently you play with the same teams, or at least types of teams, will help you develop better timing for your shots. Rhythm and timing also imply to shooting free throws. Regardless of the level of difficulty, if the user is good enough at them, the shooter’s free throw rating has almost no effect. This becomes frustrating if your opponent is very good at free throws.

Like playing FIFA, mastery of both control sticks can make a huge difference. This is one of my flaws, and it allows my opponents to steal the ball from me more than a few times per game. This is a common problem amongst the gamers I interviewed, all of whom voiced frustration that in the game oftentimes when a player will drive toward the bucket, the defender will magically strip the ball and force a turnover. Understanding when to spin and how to control the dribbler is crucial for enhanced gameplay. It allows you to not just score and have more possessions, but creates some exciting moments in the game. Know that it will take time to master the control sticks and correctly timing both shots and dribble moves. The payoff is not just winning games, but winning in style.

Crowd

I had hoped that the impact of the crowd would be huge in close games because every sports gamer dreams of a game where there will actually be a good way to replicate home field advantage. Unfortunately, the crowd impact is a miss. The crowd will be loud and shake the camera if the game is close and late, but overall, it has little effect on the outcome, leaving me sorely disappointed. A momentum meter, like the ones featured in previous versions of the game, would have been a welcome addition. It is always fun to see how one’s performance in the game would realistically affect the crowd and momentum for each team.

The CBS presentation features the familiar overlay and theme song.

Announcers

As with all sports games, be prepared to grow quickly tired of the same phrases from the same voices. The good thing is that both ESPN and CBS worked on this game so there are 5 different announcers rather than 3. It is nice to have Dick Vitale and Gus Johnson in the same game, because it allows the player to choose who they want to broadcast each game. They compensate from having constant color commentary with cut-ins of the crowd and people like Erin Andrews. Announcing never adds much value, but it can ruin a game. EA gets a passing grade for having both ESPN and CBS, although a few more colorful and situational lines would make the game experience significantly better. Presentation is very important and overall the game does a very good job of it.

User game experience makes all the difference when playing, especially against friends. This game is worth the investment if you have a good friend with whom you can play. My advice is rent the game before you buy it if you are not a huge NCAA Basketball fan.  I give the game a four because it is a lot of fun to play, but it certainly clangs off the rim, and fails to be a slam-dunk.

Another World War II game? Most people grudgingly sigh when they hear “World War II first-person-shooter”.  For all of the great experiences had in games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, there have been a slew of horrendous games just trying to cash in on the lucrative formula.  One of the more successful franchises in the shooter genre are the Battlefield games, which have a robust online community that keeps the games strong years after they’re released. Battlefield 1943, the latest installment in the franchise is a game that deserves your attention. As the true-sequel and a homage to the classic PC shooter Battlefield 1942, this game is fast-paced, addicting, and a superb value at $15.

Battlefield 1943 got off to a rough start. The Xbox 360 version in particular had server outages which did not allow many people to play through the first weekend after the game’s release. In addition, the game’s voice chat features and squad systems seemed glitch ridden. Yet DICE worked diligently to add more servers and correct some other problems joining matches with friends. Upon sitting down to play the game it seemed as though it finally gained some momentum.

Battlefield 1943 keeps the formula pretty simple—three classes and maps all built around one gameplay variant.  Players will play conquest matches as members of the Japanese Imperial Navy or US Marines on three of the most iconic battlefields from the Pacific theater of World War II. Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima were sites of intense fighting during the war and are all compromised of vastly different topographies.  What Battlefield 1943 is missing in numbers, it makes up for in diversity and substance. Wake Island’s unique boomerang shape, Guadalcanal’s hills and valleys, and Iwo Jima’s fortified Mount Suribachi (the site of the iconic flag raising) all play differently enough that player’s strategies will have to be significantly amended from map to map.

Strategy comes through choice of classes and vehicles. Players can choose from infantry, scout, and rifleman classes. All of the different classes have their strengths and weaknesses but certain classes seem to be a bit stronger than others. Unbalanced classes are not overwhelmingly apparent but I found that the sniper rifles and machine guns were weaker than the rifles. Players take a lot of damage before they are killed regardless of which weapons are utilized, something that leads me to believe that lower powered weapons were a design choice. This design mechanic creates a game that plays differently from other more realistic shooters but doesn’t dilute the enjoyable aspects of the game.

Where the game has a more arcade feeling among the shooting elements, the vehicles often time feel like a complicated simulator. During a loading screen, the game warned me that the planes were incredibly hard to use, something you discover immediately after takeoff. The game uses a very complicated control scheme for flying planes which will result in many unintentional suicides.  Practice makes perfect but after the flying has been mastered the underpowered explosives replace the controls as the most frustrating element. Planes and tanks have explosives as one would expect, however, they are enormously underpowered when facing soldiers. The explosives small damage radius is the problem. In order to kill an enemy with explosives you have to hit them almost directly, an almost impossible proposition when facing a fast moving target.

It is important to realize that these problems do not ruin the fun. This is because there’s an entertaining experience to be had regardless of what role you take on your team. One quickly realizes that not everyone is going to be an ace pilot or sharpshooter but that every player will find a position that’s fun even if it’s derived from defending a flag. Although reviews tend to highlight the negative sides of games, I want to stress that Battlefield 1943 is one of the most enjoyable and addicting online games I have played of late. Of course, some of my enjoyment of the game is because I was a fan of Battlefield 1942 (I have to admit that I got goosebumps after I heard the theme music again) but the beauty of downloadable games is that everyone can try the trial. There are some bugs within the games, particularly in the Xbox360 version’s graphics and leaderboards, but the underlying entertainment value is not diminished.  For a $15 downloadable title, Battlefield 1943 is an amazing value which will definitely provide hours of entertainment and hopefully be supported by additional downloadable content.