Star Wars: The Old Republic Intro

Star Wars Battlefront III

For fans of the original Star Wars Battlefront and its successor Battlefront II there has been a long wait for a sequel on a newer platform and now it looks like our dreams may be answered.

A sneaky teaser trailer was released onto the internet earlier this year giving Star Wars fans and gamers the chills as they begin to hope for more running around blasting Stormies/Rebel scum depending on your orientation.

The first two games were fantastic and allowed many of us Fanboys to finally do what we had always wanted to do - run around as Stormtroopers, drive AT-ATs and fly TIE fighters in combat.

The levels were all straight forward and held the same format as the World War two variants of the game with taking bases to increase your potency, bring you forward command posts and weaken your enemy.

There were two eras to choose from, The Republic (vs the Confederacy of Planets) and the Empire (vs. the Rebellion) with each army haing basciallythe same untis but with specialised elites.

The first offered a limited role for starfighters with only the Bespin level making them the focus. The role was mainly close support and anti-vehicle role but the smallness of the levels meant that you could never open up the throttle.

The AT-ST was the king of the battlefield and somewhat unstoppable if you had a pilot character inside and the Droidika was the best in built up eras and corridors.

Although the campaign wasn't great it was entertaining as you cross the galaxy and if you win enough battles you get to remove a planet (by Death Star or Blockade) or instantly get it to switch side (if you're the good guys). Each planet offers a benefit for your campaign like more ammunition, health regenration or more reinforcements.

There were heros avialable on certain levels for a limited time period dependent on how many hits you took and how many bad guys you killed.

The Second offered much much more to offer gamers.

Although the AT-ST was toned down and erial support was removed from ground battles certain other bonuses came forward.

Firstly Officer class characters who are able to rally troops with a mod and carry a greande launcher. Personally i didn't use this much and stuck to my trustee Stormtrooper (or Sniper) class.

The biggest change was the advent of Space Battles. Each side having four classes of Starfighter (Fighter, Interceptor, Bomber and Transport.) with Pilot class and Marines for boarding - Yes Boarding!

I was elated to thefirst time I climbed out of my TIE fighter and ran around a Mon Cal Cruiser. Unfortunatly the accessable area is fairly small but worth exploring.

space battles revolve around scoring points by destroying parts of the enemy's Capital ship like Engines, sensors, Gunnery and sheilds. You can do that outside or for trooper fun - inside.

The Campaign for the single player is fantastic and follows the career of a 501st clone from Geonosis up to the battle of Hoth fighting droids, Rebels and Clone troopers with a story mode feel with individula mission objectives making it feel less samey and more story based.



A Droid Marine



Galactic Conquest has been streamlined so there is only one battle per planet but you earn points per planet owned to pay for new Starfleets or unlocking new troop types. The Starfleets can only move along the Space lanes and through systems you control making it ever so more tactical.

It is a game that never really tires and that can appeal to the General of the Grunt - If the new game runs on a similiar engine and is even half the game that I and II were then it should be amazing...

I, and a lot of other gamers and Star Wars fans wait with baited breath!

Star Wars The Old Republic Game Trailer

Just more awesomness because I love Star Wars and it is the weekend.

Game Review: Skyrim

A year or so ago I saw a trailer like this on the television and I turned to my wife and said;

I have got to play this game dude...

I have played a lot of shooting games like Call of Duty Modern warfare and Black ops as well as other games like The Sims 3 and was thinking about a change and this trailer caught my eye.

I hadn't played a role play game like this in a really long time, since Daemon's gate on the PC and that was more of a strategy rather than a one player game.

As I loaded the game I began to get excited as the black cleared to reveal three other NPCs in a cart, one is gagged, the other is a soldier and the fourth a Horse thief. As we're taken to Helgen for execution and our heads put on the block when a dragon descends and torches the city and you have to flee for your life.

Character generation can be lengthy but as it is your character for the rest of the game it is indeed worth it.

You can skip through with a cursory "yep" and a click if you're not bothered how you look or size etc but race is very important as each has its own bonuses and draw backs. My first character was the embodiment of an old Dangeons and Dragons character I used to play as - Uglύk the half Orc barbarian - now a fully fledged Orc warrior who is now level 50 and fairly unstoppable in most fights smashing through bandits and Drauger with relative ease. My current character is based on one of my other favourite Lord of the Rings characters, the Wood Elf Haldir of Lothlorien, who is now at level 4 and who got eaten by a bear lastnight...

The game itself is ultimatly fairly sandbox and although there is a story mission you are relatively free to wander the huge area that is Skyrim and make your own adventure. Indeed as Uglύk I have only done one Legion mission and only completed Part 1 of the main story missions but have completed the thieves guild, become thane of most of the holds and chief Wizard at the College of Winterhold.

I find this the most enjoyable part of the game. Skyrim has a vast sprawling landscape of mountains, grassy valleys, icy tundra and swampy estuaries. The whole landscape is peppered with caves, creepy castles, bandit camps, huts and mines. Each is crawling with bandits, enemy factions, undead, necromancers, wild beasts and Vampires and flying high above you are Dragons...

The graphics are really good and quite entrancing at first. I wasted many hours riding from place to place just because I enjoyed the landscape and for the random encounters. Once you have been to a place however there is always Fast travel between them which will move you, your horse and any companions to that location. It can be quite helpful if you, like me, regularly lose their horse and can't remember where it is parked.

Aela the huntress

The missions themselves are pretty good with a variety of sneaking, cunning and downright bloody fighting - it is totally up to you.

With every skill used you gain experience and with every level we gain a perk point which can be allocated to a skill tree giving you bonuses. For example as you assign points to Archery you can unlock the overdraw (which does more damage), Eagle eye (which allows you to zoom in) and Hunter's discipline (which allows you to recover more arrows from a fallen foe). So whatever you want to be your key skills can be maxed out. This is why Uglύk is such an awesome two handed weapon wielding heavy armour wearing killer blacksmith with secondary sneak and bow skills.

There is scope to get married and with the add ons you can even build a house (rather than buy) and adopt children for the full total immersion. This game does suck you in and you find yourself totally immersed and losing time just by running around or going to the next town to sell your plunder or buy the latest gear.

The draw backs are that the game has quite a few bugs. Some missions get stuck and you need to reload from quite a time before. I did one dungeon and found on trying to exit that a door had slammed shut and wouldn't let me open it. I've also been unable to complete certain quests even though I have done so and they show up repeatedly in my "To do list". I am also barred from buying the house in Markarth as I completed two quests at the same time and missed the dialogue with the steward which is most vexatious.

The loading screens can be quite tiring as well and can take a loooooonnnnnnnnggggg time to load between going between sections of dungeon, out of a building or into a city irrespective of the size of the location you are entering. This can be quite annoying if you are playing to a time limit or running around a city. I once ran spent as much time on loading screens as I did actually running around!

If you like fantasy or role play games, freedom to explore and do what you want without the oppressive "Story" hanging over your head and pulling you back then this is definitely the game for you. Easily ***** despite the bugs!

Tomb Raider Reborn: Game review

This may seem slightly premature as I'm only about a tenth of the way through the game but I am already

hooked which is rare for any game. Usually I get a day or so in, hit a snag or a tricky bit and put the game down for a while or I come home from work and I am too tired to play but this one... this one had me the moment the first title screen started rolling.

I have never really played any Lara Croft games before. I was a teenager at the time the first one came out on the PS1 and like any teenage boy I spent more time marvelling at her form than at the game itself - that and I didn't have a console to play on!

Any way, despite the reviews of my peers I didn't really get into it. I am not very good at judging distances for jumps and have loathed platform games in the past much preferring real time strategy like Dune II or Sudden Strike and flight sims like European Air War or Reach for the skies.

I thought I would give the franchise a shot though with Lara Croft; Angel of Darkness but in all honesty I didn't get very far and became stuck trying to jump from a house to another part of the street, became bored and played something else.

I was fairly surprised when I was in Game and saw Tomb Raider: Underworld and Tomb Raider; Reborn and looking at the back of the boxes decided to give the cut down pre-owned games a shot. Underworld I'll review else where but Reborn has blown me away!

The cinematic game footage is pretty sharp and dramatic, the graphics are so convincing it is like watching a movie. There is a lot of cinematic moments through the game which in previous games was quite annoying with stop starts just interrupting your flow but in this game they act as moments when you can catch your breath and they are seamless, often only a minute in length and even interactive.

The plot is that you are looking for a legendary Japanese island and seat of the Sun queen when your ship is sunk by a mysterious storm. Having been washed up on an island and kidnapped by some guy you now have to get back to your crew and get off this rock but things aren't what they seem. Imagine the imagery and basics of Lost but ten times better. The "Others" in this case are very much out to kill you and capture you so you need to be on your toes because they don't hold back at all. Daubings on the wall say eerie things like None shall leave and the bodies of World War Two Japanese, 16th Century Portuguese ships and modern vessels and planes litter the landscape as a testament to that.

To make things even more interesting you aren't the seasoned warrior that Lara has become in later games rather you are the girl fresh out of university learning how to survive, how to kill and put what you have learnt into practise. You earn skill points for actions that can be invested into skills allowing you to find your way around, survive, fight and gain precious salvage. Salvage is used to upgrade your weapons making them more accurate, have better magazine capacity and do more damage. .

However you do start the first level and a bit you don't have a weapon at all and rely on your wits before finding a modified Longbow, which in my opinion is the best weapon in the game so far, although the pistol has a higher rate of fire the bow is good for stealthy kills and distractions.

This game has something for everyone in it. If you are into shut'em'ups you can play it gung-ho and hammer through or you can go stealthy in a  Hitman style.

There are still lots of jumps and exploring to do that have kept from the original series but it isn't a dominant force. In fact I find the jumps, scrambles, climbing axes and rolling into cover a lot easier to do than on other games so if you are think; Ugh not another platform jumper

Then do think again. It isn't like that

I feel driven to save Lara, to find out what is going on on the island and get us off it. The cinematics make it feel like a movie and I've really found myself rooting for the lead character .

At one point Lara had her feet caught in a beer trap and there were wolves coming out of the undergrowth and armed with a pistol I had to take one shot at each - my heart was racing with adrenaline. I spend much of the game fearful and curious of what is going on. It is real entertainment.

If you have never played Tomb Raider before, as was the case with me, I would strongly suggest you start with this one. As a reboot to the popular series I can only hope that any further games are made in the same mold as so far this has been a fantastic experience.

Definitely my favourite game of the moment ***** out of 5!

Lego Batman DC Super Heroes - Game Review

DC Heroes in Lego form - awesome

I have been a big fan of the Lego franchise of games since the first Lego Star Wars came out and I've managed to play most of them.

There have been many improvements through time to these games such as the advent of Split screen which means you no longer accidentally drag the other player over cliffs!

There is also the ability to change characters mid  free play game that allows you to swap to a character that hasn't been been selected by the game. This means that the amount of Toggled characters is kept to a minimum and you don't have to scroll through a dozen characters for the one you need now. This is a great improvement on the first Lego Batman game as in free play you had to go through all the Batman and Robin suits and then a handful of villains with special abilities which could easily be up to fifteen characters and very time consuming!

Moving on to Lego Batman II it has everything we've come to expect from Lego games with fun puzzles, and character specific rooms that need to be done on free play. In that respect there are no surprises and no complaints, like all the games it keeps you on your toes and makes you think about things.

There is an added free play aspect in that now you get to wander around Gotham City and look for more Gold bricks, vehicles, superheroes and Super villains. This is quite fun and is a an interesting break from levels! The down side to it is that you will (often and I mean often) get attacked by goons which can be a little annoying even when you are invincible!

The other thing is that even when you unlock all of the vehicles you cannot use them in missions even on free play - though it is fun cruising around Gotham City in a Squad car with the lights and siren on.

The plot is pretty good with you trying to bring down Lex Luthor and the Joker who are trying to bring down Batman and Gotham city with 15 levels.

The levels are, as I said pretty good but with a couple of downsides.

The first is that the only playable characters on Story Mode are Batman and Robin and then from about half way through Batman and Superman and the variety is slightly lacking.

There is a vast swathe of Justice league characters who you can play with but only in the last two levels of the Story mode. Flash, Green Lantern, Cyborg and Wonderwoman which is a little disappointing but they are all there for Free play!

There is also a vast array of villains that appear in the first three levels like Catwoman, Bane, Riddler, Harley Quinn and Scarcrow but they are only seen in these levels as a bit part for you to overcome quickly and instead you focus on just Joker and Lex.

The Story also follows the Joker's giant robot that they are using for about six levels with the same enemy being fought in different ways through out and that can get a bit samey.

There is also another glitch that means that if you are playing two player and you are aiming with a sonic gun, laser eyes, freeze breath or water gun and Player 2 is running around your aim will move all over the place and you can't do anything. Sometimes it feels like the game was designed for One player at times rather than Co-op.

Over all though it is a good game and continuation with the Lego franchise. If you have played any of the other Lego games and enjoyed them you'll like this one and I can recommend it as a worthwhile purchase.

*** Stars out of five.

Girl's got game: Lucy Collette and Game reviews

I travel a lot by train and at Stupid O'clock in the morning. Sometimes a book is my only companion, most times I nap and other times I scroll through the day before's Tweets and conversations, which is what I did today, and I stumbled on an argument between some Tweeters and Lucy "Vixen" Collette the glamour model and Game reviewer for Nuts magazine.

It did get fairly personal in its nature, which was very uncalled for, but the original question was a valid one;

Does she actually play a lot of games or is she just the sexy figure head with a team of ghost writers?

Lucy claims that she does and what cause is their to disbelieve her?

Well, it is difficult, for some people, to believe that:-

a) A glamour model would be into gaming - after all surely it is the domain of geeks and kids?

b) The self same model wouldn't be able to formulate a review of a game without help.

This is pigeon holing and playing to stereotype. After all gaming is an open recreational pastime and although teenagers and students do predominantly control the market due to having more free time and money, there are also those who enjoy Call of Duty and Fifa games who are not in this bracket.

Gaming is also not gender specific, though mainly (from my experiences) a male pastime. However there are "Gamer girls" and more than you would expect. There are famous examples such as Ann Hathaway, Team Unicorn and Claire Grant. Again, from my own experiences I have met and know  some fantastic "Gamer girls" and even my wife has learnt to play and can use a Sniper rifle as well as anyone if not better. She has even surprised my mates (who presumed as a girl she was there to make up numbers and wouldn't be very good) with her savage tenacity and deadly aim!

I can understand the accusation that she is merely the face of the Games reviews as Nuts Magazine's demographic is teens and early 20s men and Lucy doing the reviews would attract more attention than say...me.

Let's be honest if you were in this demographic and wanted a games reviewer who would you want?

A redhead with cleavage and a Skyrim addiction or Miss Collette?

The other thing to bear in mind is that a Games review is a games review and ultimately if you want to read the review would it matter if the review was done by Lucy or by a nameless writer? Her presence definitely "Sexes up" the games section but it isn't a necessity.

Lucy does tweet about gaming - mostly Simpsons online, but there are others including an endearing picture of her beloved pet "Pookie" on one of her Controllers. People have based their judgements on the overall lack of tweets compared to other Glamour related posts.

Well that isn't a great basis, I was/am an avid gamer. My history of gaming stretches back to my teens (and an Amstrad 1512 CGA pc!!!) with addictions to games like Their finest hour, X-wing vs. TIE fighter, A-train, Dune II, GTA III, GTA San Andreas, Star Wars Battlefront (I & II), Force Unleashed (I & II) Fable III and recently Skyrim (blogged here and here) to name but a few.

If you read my twitter feed you will find very little about any of this except on the very rare occasion. Most of my boring stream is about Liberal Democrats, Medway Politics, Trains, my Kids and randomness.

If I started writing Games reviews would I be accused of having a ghost writer? It seems that the basis for the accusation is purely on the fact she is a Glamour model. The same could be said for complaints that she is aiding the objectification of women by writing the column. Forget for a moment that she also poses semi-naked elsewhere in the magazine, take her as the young, attractive woman (with a positive body image) who is breaking the mold of adolescent male Games reviewers and therefore a role model for "Girl gamers" by showing the world that women do game and they are as good if not better than many guys give them credit for and actually know what they're talking about. Gaming isn't about gender or background it is about your achievements and abilities in what ever genre of game you are playing - be it platform, strategy, sports, simulation or RPG. I was once outnumbered 15 to one by enemy fighters and still fought them all off and landed back on the air field with only minor damage to the 109. My wife made a head shot from across the Siberia map on Time Splitters future perfect, these small feats are to be celebrated why fixate on the gender or the background of the player?

I don't believe there is evidence to support the claim that she doesn't write the column or that she isn't a gamer and I think until given solid reason you should give her the benefit of the doubt - I believe Lucy is a gamer, I have also enjoyed her column so what's the big deal?

It is a sad commentary on today's culture and society that we immediately judge an attractive woman by her occupation and disbelieve that she is capable and must have ghost writers.

Computer game violence: Hate the player not the game

Skyrim: Fantasy Sword play

Last night I killed a man. I don't know his name, where he came from or if he had family, all I know is that he died at the end of my blade gasping for mercy as he laid on his knees.


He did start the fight to be fair, he attacked me first wielding a two handed sword and rushing out of the long grass at me as I looked for an easy way into the castle.


I should point out I was playing the fantasy game Skyrim and not wandering the streets of Rochester.


I've grown up on computer games starting with an old Amstrad 1512 back in the very early 90s when PCs only had CGA graphics (4 colours) and by the time I went to University I was susceptible to a good looking game. It was back on that first PC that I killed my first computerised German serviceman in the classic "Ace of aces" (I think) in which you fly a Mosquito fighter-bomber over Europe. Now some twenty years on I hate to think how many German Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen I have killed. Mostly it has been watching their aircraft burning and heading to the ground over the skies of Kent, or in key battles of World War Two like Dieppe, Falaise gap, Stalingrad and the Bulge in a rifle shot. There have been other games - Goldeneye on the N64 ate ALOT of time in my first year of Uni, Perfect Dark, Medal of Honour, Commandos, Sudden Strike, Age of Empires and of course the classic Grand Theft Auto.


It is a game that has attracted a lot of criticism from parent groups, members of government and well meaning people but it is a game that has also attracted a lot of fans. I've played most of the GTA games (except the newest one) and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. Yeah, they can be violent - I used to start riots in the streets, aggravate the Police - I even shot a man dead in the street because he insulted me- but it is fun. 

The point is;  for me, and all the gamers I know, the game and violence ended when I switched the Playstation off. It was a great stress relief. Nothing beat coming home from a hard day at work than opening a cold beer and taking out my wroth on the people of Liberty city with aggressive driving and lawless abandon. I'm not an aggressive person, in fact many have commented on me being a walk over who is uncharacteristically even tempered for a redhead. Also coming from a family tradition of Policing and Law meant that I would never consider breaking the law. It is escapism and fantasy, a world you can do what you want and hang the rules.

Critics would argue that these sort of games encourage violence among young people and that they become attracted by the violence of it and want to try it out in reality. In some cases the border between reality and fiction become blurred and some idiot will go out to try an enact what they have done in game.

Maybe this is true for some people, a small minority who tar the rest of us gamers with the same brush. 

I will admit that some games are worse than others. I once played Manhunt which was blamed for a murder and I was horrified at the methods of killing and the needlessness of the violence. Personally I like a good reason for combat - generally fighting the forces of evil (or good if it is a Star Wars game) rather than the helpless. Maybe the gaming industry should look at the premise of some of the games but as I'll come to in a minute, there are age ratings for a reason.

The same criticisms can be levelled at movies and even literature.  I've been weirded out by the honest Medieval savagery of the Game of Throne's books but I've not taken to rape and pillage. Violence has been part of popular culture forever - look at Shakespeare, Canterbury tales, the classic kid's film Watership Down that scarred my generation. Look at the body counts in movies like Where Eagles Dare or all the ketchup spilt in Battle of Britain. So why blame computer games when other forms of escapism are just as violent?

The last thing to say about it is that... These games have a rating for a reason. I was once introduced to one of my Mum's friends who complained to me that he'd watched his son playing a game that included beating a prostitute to death and stealing a car. He'd bought it as a 13th birthday present. It was GTA - I told him to check the rating, its an 18. I believe that it was duly taken away from him!
 So parents, you should keep an eye on what your kids are playing.

As for the rest of us? Well some of us like sports, others like good books (I do love my reading), model making (you should check out my spare room), hard drinking, clubbing, walking and others enjoy computer games. As long as gamers aren't going out and recreating games/fantasy in the real world then who are we to tell them that they cannot enjoy themselves? After all recreation and committing a crime is a conscious choice made by an adult and is not the fault of a game.