Reviews
Burnout Paradise (XBox 360)
Reviewed by Urbanebula
When I first saw a trailer for Burnout Paradise I knew that I was going to get it. The main reason for this is that I owned every single burnout game released on the PS2 and was beginning to feel the effect of my recent lack in fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping, white-knuckle racing. The second reason was that it looked gorgeous. I know that buying a game for the way it looks is often a one way trip to Disappointment Central but this game actually delivers.
Ok so I turned on the console, with a minute feeling of dread that the Red Ring of Death (RROD) would rear its ugly head, and was presented with a loading screen. The intro movie is a guided tour of Paradise City and the ways of the road. You get taught about all the events that were in previous games, (Road Rage, Burning Lap, Race etc.) as well as the mandatory "NEW!" event that seems to come with every Burnout game there ever was. This is a good thing however because when you look back over the years the Burnout series really came from nothing. I believe that it was one of my first PS2 purchases and oh dear satan how bad it was. 7 Cars, 3 Tracks, Race, Multiplayer Race or Championship. The only way was up. Then after "The Fast and Furious" was released the game suddenly decided it should be faster, more events were added, cars were so much better looking (albeit exact copies of those in the film) and you didn't crash by hitting the curb anymore which was a great relief.
Anyway, the intro ends and another loading screen pops up. It fades and there you are, in-game. I was quite looking forward to playing Road Rage from the off just to check out the new physics engine powered crashes with the lovely lovely damage modelling. (I mean c'mon! It acts like real metal FFS!) However it seems the free roaming aspect is coming into play more and more and this game is no exception. The events are based at every junction in the game. You enter a crossing or T-junction and a little icon appears to let you know which event this area starts. You perform a wheelspin and the event starts. I'm glad for the developers to be able to boast about having 150 miles of road but the fact is, with no set tracks you can go anyway you like to reach the finish line. Interesting? Yes. Fun? NO! Burnout is not the kind of game where you need to look at a map to reach your goal. For one thing its far to fast, for another thing the map is bloody tiny. You glance down at that little circle to get an idea of where to go next and before you know it your kissing the concrete. As pretty as the crashes are now they are still bloody annoying.
The cars seem pretty good. Each one earns boost in different ways, handles differently and looks like a real-world model but you have to earn each one by winning events or simply by crashing other racers you see driving around the city. If your car gets damaged you can drive it to a repair shop and fix it up. OR, if you want to save time, pile it into a truck. You respawn with a fully repaired car and money and points are non-existant. This also makes the respray drive throughs a little pointless. You can't even choose the colour you want unless you drive all the way to a JunkYard and pick up a new car anyway.
I couldn't help but think that this was all an attempt to compete with the likes of Saints Row or the immenant release of GTA IV and if that is the case it's an awful failure. Burnout is NOT that kind of game and shouldn't try to be.
I like the game, its a good way to waste a few hours away much like it previous brethren. It just doesn't need all this Action/Adventure/Driving game bullshit tacked onto it.
8/10
GameTap (PC)
Reviewed by MNuTz
I am not sure that many of you will of heard of GameTap before so I thought a little review may help.
The idea behind Gametap is that you download a client, pay a monthly subscription and then download as many of the games as you like and play them for as long as you have a subscription with them.
Many of the games are ports from older consoles, the Amiga etc. However there are some newer PC titles such as Jericho, all the tomb raider games, Overlord etc.
I have downloaded over 30GB of games in the last 2 weeks, I have had trouble with one or two not working as they should which requires that you download it again or load it up and leave it for 30 minutes.
The first month as a gold member works out as costing you just 50 pence, which is worth it just to play Cannon Fodder again!
I decided to cancel my account before my first month as I have more important things to spend my money on with the run up to Christmas. After being unable to figure out how to cancel my account I resorted to google only to find several results referring to how difficult it was to cancel. I had to contact their live web chat and speak to a gent called Micheal, bearing in mind it is only EST not GMT that its available.
Micheal enquired why I was cancelling to which I explained the above to him, he then offered me a month free. I said it was tempting but no, he then offered me two free months, I still turned it down.
So, you know now you can get 3 months of free games for the grand price of 50p, you wont own the games but why would you want to after completing them anyway!
Not Rated
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