First Impressions: Alien Isolation

As a very young child I have grown up watching the Alien movies, so being an avid fan of the alien series I have been expecting great things from the gaming industry. There are some titles worthy of the alien franchise such as Alien Trilogy and Alien Resurrection for the Sony PlayStation; unfortunately these classic 3D titles are the closest things to the movies you will get. There are a few spin-offs that looked quite promising, but ultimately failed to meet standards that the hardcore alien fans expected.

Plants vs. Zombies Adventures Beta Impressions

Plants vs. Zombies was my first tower defense game and I loved it. Originally I had purchased it for my ex boyfriend and watched him play it; but it wasn't until a friend  eventually purchased it me for Christmas, (where I managed to finish it in the same day) that I became a fan.

I wanted to play more of it, but it was too short and I was relying on survival mode to still feel like I would benefit from playing it (if you grow your tree of wisdom to one million feet you will unlock zombie mode, but that’s overboard despite mine currently sitting over halfway to that goal) and not go insane via the achievements for vase breaker and I, zombie.

For anyone who has not played Plants vs. Zombies or perhaps haven’t played a tower defense game before, you’re the plants defending your home (and brains!) from a variety of unique hungry zombies.

You start off with sun power which is used to purchase offensive and defensive plants, and sunflowers that can then generate more sun power for you. The action takes place in different environments, with different weather effects. You can be battling in the back garden on a foggy or clear night, outside a swimming pool, or even on the roof of your home.

Doctor Who: Worlds in Time goes into 'preview' mode

If your fill of Doctor Who wasn't already at crazy levels due to the Christmas special out in a handful of days, prepare to enter the rabbit hole that is Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, which has entered 'preview mode' in which the game is playable but features will be changed and added before release, sounds like a beta to me.

Many of you may be asking 'What is Worlds in Time?' It happens to be the series first venture into the MMORPG market (yet not it's first game, that even pre-dates Moffet's attempts in 2010/11) done by the nice people at Three Rings (the Puzzle Pirates and Spiral Knights guys) and the BBC. 

In this version time has 'exploded' and bits of it are now crystal form within pockets of time, which these pockets of time are now changed yet frozen forever unless the time crystals are collected and restored to normal time. Try wrapping your head around that, even the Doctor gives up trying to explain and just throws you (who has only just picked you up in the TARDIS), into these new time lines to collect the crystals and restore order to time.

You are not alone you will be teamed with other players and/or AI in collecting everything in micro episodes played out in real time and in true Three Rings style every action be it reprogramming a computer, picking locks, reversing the polarity or fighting off Daleks is done via completing puzzles either with your team or each player tackling each problem on the screen at the same time.

It's going to be on the watch list for 2012 that is for sure

Source: http://www.doctorwhowit.com/

Soul Calibur V - First Impressions

Now entering it's fifth iteration Soul Calibur has somewhat lost its sheen and its edge. With Soul Calibur IV being a major disappointment with unbalanced character creation mechanics and sloppy online game modes. So whats set to change in Soul Calibur V? Well quite a lot from what I can see.

Hands On: Ridge Racer Unbounded

All I remember of Ridge Racer was the old arcade days, little did I know that it's now in it's eight incarnation with Ridge Racer Unbounded. Continue to read on to find out what happened with our hands on experience at GAMEfest.

Street Fighter X Tekken - First impressions

After an exhausting weekend which encompassed the preparation and attendance of Game's successful first convention GAMEfest and the birthday of yours truly, I have for you here the first of our event content. Over the course of the next two weeks we'll be rolling out some exciting impressions, previews and photos of our time at GAMEfest, including a roundup of our experience there.