Built using the Avalanche engine 2.0 the first thing you notice is the engines lush, opulent, warm visuals. The game looks fantastic, for a sandbox game this big (and I mean BIG) the level of detail in the world is outstanding. Without a stutter or a load screen the engine not only allows you to –  it begs you to –  fly from snow laden mountain tops to tropical oceans and dust bowel deserts in one round trip. Even more impressive is that these aren’t just environmental changes, the whole atmosphere will change as you move from location to location. If you’re in the mountains the weather will change between light snow fall and full blown winter blizzard; meanwhile on the other end of the island tropical thunder storms and majestic Riviera sunshine is the norm. Climbing  a thousand feet in a jet liner until you can see space in the near distance is pretty breath taking, that is until you decide to jump out and take a Birdseye look at the stunning playground that is Avalanches Panau Island. Its not all perfect though, I’m pretty sure you can count the amount of enemy and civilian models on one hand and the lip syncing in the cut scenes is appalling but none of that really matters as you surf towards a military harbour inches above the water, using a jumbo jet as a surf board.

The gameplay is you’re standard open world scattered mission structure with a twist. You play as Rico Rodriguez who looks like he watched too many Robert Rodriguez movies since last time we saw him. As the game begins you’re told you need to upset the corrupt president of Panau by helping the three main criminal factions at work on the Island to grow, in the hope that the chaos that will ensue will distract said mad Dictator long enough to pop a cap in his ass. I know what you’re thinking, it makes no sense but again it doesn’t really matter in fact if you’re buying this game just pretend ‘doesn’t have a story’ is one of the back of the box features. The main thing is that these mission are pretty rewarding to play through and often end in over the top climaxes that help you forget all about the awful cut scenes that came before them. To progress the story further the player has to unlock ‘Agency Missions’ and this is the best part, how do you unlock these missions? You have fun. Every single time you blow something up, be it a propaganda van spouting rubbish out of a loud speaker, a Government facility, a gas station or even a vehicle you get awarded Chaos Points that go toward unlocking these missions as well as instant access to vehicles, weapons and missions that you can use anytime you want by a handy portable shop. Most points get awarded via the faction missions so there is always the incentive to at least go back to the story to see what the game has in store for you next.

How your approach missions is where the fun really starts, helped in no small part by the tools as Rico’s disposal. Hitting L1 fires Rico’s grappling hook in any direction. Once attached to any surface Rico will go hurdling towards it, pres X before hitting the end and he will open his branded parachute  catapulting his leather clad ass into the sky. Firing the the hook while airborne allows you to ‘row’ Rico in the air keeping him floating for pretty much as long as you want. It’s a brilliant way to get around and apart from jet fighter is the most fun way to get around Panau. It kind of reminds me of how it felt using the swinging mechanic in Spiderman 2 except instead of being the games main feature Just Cause 2 has much more to offer. The sheer amount of option at you’re disposable is pretty dizzying and when you get rewarded at every single turn for having this much fun its really hard to not sink hour upon hour into the game. One forum user mentioned he put 45hrs into the game without even completing much of the main story! Now If that’s not value for money I don’t know what is. Along with collecting Chaos points the game has several other collectibles hidden around the world, some in a nod to Crackdown give Rico access to points that level up his armour others let you select specific weapons and vehicles that you can upgrade. Presentation wise the upgrade system is far from slick but it easy to use and add an extra incentive to exploration. Each Faction also has their own collectible boxes, the collection of which will reward you with some of the games harder to acquire vehicles.

Gun Combat is pretty solid with a huge variety of weapons at you’re disposal but it wont win any awards for intuitivism mind, visually it can look a little stiff – especially when dual wielding. On the other hand using the grapple hook during combat is frequently hilarious, at one point I was defending a technician while he hacked onto a terminal only to be set upon by a group of soldiers who brought their big helicopter friend for back up. You see holding L1 after firing Ricos grappling hook allows you to select a second target, when you let go the two targets become attached, yes (again) I know it makes no sense but its brilliant. So as the the helicopter attacked I used the grappling hook to hang some soldier of it before I blew it up. It then spun the soldier around and launched him into a fuel tank blowing every thing in a ten mile radius to kingdom come. Naturally I survived only to hear the men I was tasked with protecting chanting my name out into the sky. My only regret is that the game didn’t tell me I could I video my accomplishments and put them on YouTube via the pause menu! I found the option by accident while taking a break to pet my dog and yes that is a euphemism. Listen carefully developers(they all read my reviews) this feature should be in every game, not only can you upload to YouTube you can save them to you’re consoles HD. Brilliant (check out my YouTube debut below)

The hud is constantly updating you with useless information like how long you have been playing , how many people you have killed in the last 60 seconds, how much damaged you have caused etc etc etc. It’s not going to give the likes of Heavy Rain any competition in terms of narrative but when it comes to that sensory overload players want from an open world title few can claim to give you as much as JC2. At every step of the way Just Cause 2 rewards you for playing it and not just with the pleasure of playing the game you paid for – with actual rewards that enhance the game play experience in enumerable ways. For me that’s about as next generation as you can get.

In a lot of ways Just Cause 2 is the GTA game people who loved San Andreas wanted next (without the brilliant story and  gangster humor) if you were one of those folks then maybe you should  take the leap.

Its an achievement in itself to say Just Cause 2 still manages to shine in probably the best Q1 of the last 10 years. Go get.

Gamers across the web are posting pics and video’s of what looks like, the Island from Lost’s appearance in Just Cause 2!? Nagh, their crazy right? Well, lets look at the evidence:

• Your plane automaticly bursts into flames when you fly over the island
• The beach has the remains of a previous flight littered across it
• It looks like the ‘Island’ (ok, so does the rest of the game but its raining!)
• oh, and there a Hatch!

Check the below video out to see the ‘Island’ in action, there have been reports of ‘Smokey’ noises but I cant find any proof of a paranormal smoke monster anywhere yet.

[PS3attitude had the screen shots]

New trailer below. For those of you who like blowing things up while parachuting to safety.

By anyone’s standards 10 minutes is a lot for an official trailer, Looks like Eidos are hoping people are going to forgive how awful the last game was, enough so that they will pick this up in a year saturated with AAA titles.

Anyway it actually doesn’t look that bad! Confident in this, Eidos are planning to release a Demo for the game pre launch so keep an eye out.

The new Edition will include all the free DLC map packs released plus two new exclusive packs designed with the GOTY edition in mind. There is also a rumor that the game will be a director’s cut of the original but until something solid comes out on that I’m going to remain skeptical.

The game is still showing a strong online following with people still battling for the best scores on the challenge rooms, even after coming back to the game months later and seeing the flawed boss fights in action, I still stand behind my 5 star review. The quality on offer and the mounds of replay value is what put this game on all those GOTY lists last month.

The new game well be the exact same but at least you can jump between cars and aircraft with a grapple hook and I think we all know thats what counts.

Take a look at the Dev Diary below.

Ok so Tomb Raider Anniversary is just what it says on the box. It’s a rereleased and fairly heavily tweaked re-issue of Lara Crofts first outing. The movement has been updated. Lara can no longer see through walls and the myriad of insane glitches has at least been staved off a little. The game takes the same form as the original, lara is hunting a scion [read: shiny thing] which has been split into three parts .Theres a minor plot with an immortal businesswoman who’s looking to destroy the world but, being a fairly old game, this plot isnt near the standards of games nowadays exluding FPS games of course.

So the game engine looks prettier, lara moves like a person rather than a robot and the puzzles are a little harder to figure out since they dont stick out like a sore thumb any more. Having played Tomb Raider: Legend (lets not go there), its easy to see that its the same studio behind both games. They accurately gave lara a set of moves that didn’t over complicate the original and didn’t make lara a near-sentient being like altair(Assassins creed) who just waits for button presses and does whatever fancy stuff he likes.

On the subject of glitches i found one or two in the game. One specific one was that the “endless pits” that  are fairly rampant throughout the game, aren’t always actually endless. Twice during one play through, i ended up with lara, still alive, stuck in these pits,with no hope of escape. Another incredibly annoying glitch is how sluggish frame rate gets any time lara leaves water areas. The attention to detail with her wet clothes and dripping water seems to have crippled the slightly vital GAMEPLAY!. Twice i was killed by nearby lurking jackals as a result of this.

So all in all Tomb Raider Anniversary is a fairly solidly built game. The newly crafted boss fights make the game a little more contemporary, however i mourn the sense of smugness i got from being the only guy who killed the t-rex in my class(its become a requirement). The team created a game that is not only new to veteran fans, but also gives enough familiarity to have you staring glassy eyed at the screen as you remember that the rock you hid from velociraptors on is right where you left it,ready to shelter one more time.

Anyway here is a Dev Diary for the bound to be crap but fun Just Cause 2, the first game was a good laugh and man was it cool sky diving onto the island from hundreds of miles up. It was also nice and green….and blue. That’s about all I can say bout it really.

Enjoy the new footage.

It has been confirmed(although it isent any where to be seen on the official website) that this content will be 2 new Challenge Rooms and will be titled the Insane Night map pack.

The first map is a combat challenge that mixes up traditional inmates with those running at you crazy guys that you can put down pretty easily.

The 2nd is a silent predator map that brings you out side under the shadow of the Arkham watchtower removing the comfy gargoyles and exploding walls that make things easier on bats.

If that wasent enought for you rumours online suggest that we are going to see a 2nd pack released on Sep 24th called ”Pey in the Darkness”

So there you have it, alot of companies would be charging €10+ for such content so kudos to Eidos and Rocksteady for the unexpected surprise.

[source:Joystick.com,Eidos.com forums]

Mini ninjas, a game that makes you the cutest little underhand death dealer ever . I gotta admit i didnt really have high hopes for this game but gave it a try anyway.so lets go with a little background first.you are hiro (tough naming task there), a small ninja who must defend the local people by stopping evil samurai from, presumably, killing them all.You begin the game with a basic background, being told of impending doom and that its all coming from the nearby abandoned castle thats meant to be uninhabited,lets just let that one go.

To get through the game you’re given an arsenal of typical ninja weapons,swords, shurikens and the like.And now for the plot twist,these aren’t just any evil samurai warriors, they’re the insanely cute transformed forest creatures. This brings in another gameplay aspect.Through the powers of ninja magic, you can become the animals.Yes you too can be a ninja rabbit,panda,boar,frog,chicken and many more.The samurai themselves are fun to beat up but you’re left with a little guilt. They do all look like four year olds after all. The enemies vary from normal mini foot soldiers to captains to massive club weilding behemoths, the latter requiring a transformation into another character. This is done through a quick menu click using the left shoulder buttons.There are two of these characters available in the demo, each having their own strengths and weaknesses and of course being immensely cute.

So moving on to controls. Mini ninjas is very well named in that the basic controls are all the same as ryu hyabusa (ninja gaiden series).The enemies attack in swarms and quick mashing of both attack (x) and jump (a) causes hiro to dive around vanquishing them all.you can be calculated about these attacks and avoid button bashing but either way seems to work. Add to these controls the use of shuriken to daze enemies and fireballs to obliterate them in groups.of course battle can be avoided by taking on the likeness of a bear and decimating the samurai with one sweep of claw. This is usually a better idea in that, at first the samurais’ whooping noises are kind of funny,but soon grow very tedious. At least the noise changes with each different class of samurai. The life system is most easily described as the zelda system.Starting with three hearts you can refill using health potions and freshly caught sushi (something you have to catch yourself).

Mini ninjas is a decent game. The controls and movements of your character are a strange hybrid of ryu and link(zelda again).The levels are all platform based with you climbing rocks by flipping back and forth and using long grass to your advantage.There are also some side parts which require the player to fish or row a boat or even pick flowers!

The graphics while looking like something from hello kitty,are very good,shown off most by the shade under trees and bridges and the contrasting bright sunny environments. The trees, animals and statues bring life to the levels. Even the swaying of the grass add to a level that would be at home in any generic platformer had they not been present. There is a definite vibe from this game that its meant for younger gamers too,most evident by the fact that you can call “upon the gods” to show a directional arrow,telling you where to go next.

So all in all i’d say mini ninjas is a fairly fun game, bringing to the table a few new ideas and definitely a good sense of humour.The downside though is that without the cutesy graphics, this would just be a fairly run of the mill platformer, not to mention that adding ninjas to a game seems to be a stable for selling pretty terrible games.Mini ninjas has a good set of controls,easy to pick up. Its fun to play with the animals (did i just say that?) but sadly i dont see this being a game with replay value,or for that sake a game where you wouldnt complain about monotony too much a lot like ninja gaiden.

So here goes: I give it 3/5. Great ideas, but not enough innovation in an over saturated genre. Add to that the pure rage i could see those samurai bringing out in me after at most an hour of listening to their “whoops”, like those bloody devils in the windwaker…

Mini Ninjas is a game developed by IO interactive and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released on September 8, 2009 in North America and September 11, 2009 for Europe, for PS3, XBox 360, Microsoft Windows, Wii, and Nintendo DS

Yes i meant these things