John's Games > Game reviews by John

Buzz the UK edition

Posted : 1 month, 3 weeks ago on 15 September 2009 02:38 (A review of Buzz! Brain of the UK (PS3))

Buzz! is one of the best gameshow video games around because it feels like your actually playing a gameshow. The host of the show Buzz is voiced by Jason Donovan Buzz can be quite annoying host but he offers some humor to the game.

Brain of the UK has themed questions on the UK in an arrange of categorizes UK Cinema, TV & Movies, Around the UK, Art, Motor Sport etc. The problem with Brain of the UK is because this game has so many different versions around Europe and even in Australia and New Zeland you end up getting questions about Finland and other places on europe and I've had some on the US which have really nothing to do with the UK.

The actual stage set is the same as how it is on Buzz Quiz TV the only difference are the flags placed around the studio like the Scottish flag, Wales, England and Northern Ireland. The contestants you choose from are the same as Quiz TV as well as the rounds you would think some different rounds might have been added or additional rounds. The graphics are detailed and still they look really nice.

The single player game features 4 rounds and it's the same one Stop the Clock but at least on Brain of the UK you get more play time on the single player then Quiz TV as that only did offer on the single player 3 rounds. The multiplayer rounds play the same as Quiz TV. The online play also features 4 rounds rather then 3 which Quiz TV had on offer the only problem with the online play on Brain of the UK it's quite hard to find people on it.

Buzz is still a good game I mostly play it on single player and sometimes online if I can get a game it's always a good game to build up on some knowledge. But remember this you must have the buzzer to play this game and you can use the wired buzzers from the PS2. If you do like quizzes your more likely to find Buzz fun with 4000 questions on offer and additional questions on the Playstation Store. Not forgetting the My Buzz quiz which are quizzes that users have made online (if you want to play My Buzz mode you can only play it on multiplayer on this version on Quiz TV you can play it on your own) this game could last you quite sometime.

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Box office Bust to tedious and frustrating to play

Posted : 5 months, 3 weeks ago on 15 May 2009 06:13 (A review of Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust)

Leisure Suit Larry a well known series from Sierra which is an adult game of trying to hook up with girls. The publishing rights to this game was given to Codemasters and published by there Funsta brand and the developers are well known for the Worms series Team 17.

Leisure Suit Larry is different from the last one Magna Cum Laude instead of been at college chatting with the ladies your put into a Studio Lot instead of chatting up the women you must do tasks. The Porn movie studio is owned by Larry Laffer and you Larry Lovage takes a summer job at the place you will be doing odd jobs and trying to uncover the mole of a rival company.

The first mission is quite pathetic it has you cleaning up dirt around the studio lot which isn't that fun at all (the pictures you have to clean are pictures of dicks and no I'm not joking I'm serious) even from first starting to play this game you will see how bad the camera is. Then you will be doing the post which you have to deliver packages, also you will have to find pieces of script. I found one mission just to stupid you have climb on top of the roof to get the phone what idiot leaves his phone on top of a building.

The main problems with Box Office Bust is it's terrible camera angles especially when trying to get around tight corners the camera moves around when you don't want it do causing you to die. In buildings the camera is fixed so your can't move it and problems get awful when trying to find your way around the building. I just hate the missions when your timed trying to fight with the controls and camera angles are annoying and sometimes you may possibly fail.

The mini games are quite interesting but the way the mini games are they just are not fun the racing is terrible placing the checkpoints in awkward places not forgetting sometimes even though you have gone though it sometimes it never recognizes it. Shooting you will do in the Wild West stages and the problems are is your in first person view and moving the camera angle about is just far to slow and this causes you to get hit many times. The fighting is rather dull your opponents do the same thing you they will punch you about 2 times then just won't do anything or somethings they will gang up on you so you don't really stand a chance.

The characters look awful they just look like mutants they all seem to have big eyes and big teeth an example of this is Kip the women are suppose to be stunning every character during the cut scenes look like they have a skin disease. Larry Laffer just looks terrible he just looks like a hobo he looked better in Magna Cum Laude at least he looked more human. I have got to say that Larry Lovage doesn't look that bad I mean he looks better in this game then the other one. The horses I have just have bring this in why is do the horses eyes bulge out it's weird they look creepy.

The mini map at the bottom of the screen also has problems it can be confusing trying to figure out where you have to go as the pinpoint is there but when the camera moves the point moves with it which can be annoying. The frame rate when in the movie studio you will notice when you move about how jerky the screen is it like goes slow every second or so then speeds up.

If Larry falls he will die and it doesn't have to be a big fall which it can take down your whole health bar so if you die you will have to repeat the whole mission again and to be honest it just gets annoying.

The music in the game actually loops it's self some of the music plays for about 2 minutes or so before looping the whole song again but I found the Wild West music to be pretty decent.

The script writer to the game is one of Adam Sandlers good friends Allen Covert which the jokes that he has provided for this game just aren't funny or entertaining in the least. The script is rather boring and it just seems like a rush job at least the jokes were funny in Magna Cum Laude.

The voice acting is one of the best features within in the game it's actually the only thing which is good well apart from the level designs. The game has great voice talent such as Jay Mohr, Tom Arnold, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth and more but it's shame that these great voices have been wasted on such a bad game. Actually the voice actors will have got paid more then the budget on this game.

I don't care that this game has no nudity but this game is tedious and I have tried to like this game but I finished with the Wild West Stages tried a few more after beating that I can't put up with it anymore it's just to frustrating. The game states that it uses the Unreal Technology Engine and this is the worst game I have seen that uses it. Leisure Suit Larry Box Office Bust isn't fun it's annoying packed with bugs and glitches bad controls terrible camera angles. The testers of this game should be fired I mean most of these problems should be fixed but Codemasters and Team 17 seemed to not care just because it's a Larry game they knew they are going to be rolling in the cash. The game is priced at 19.99 and still at that price it's to high for a game which is tedious and frustrating and which feels unplayable. The game features trophies but that is something that is not keeping me play this game at all. When I play this game I feel like throwing my controller at the wall and believe me it's that annoying I can guaranty anyone who plays this will feel like that to.

It's a shame for Team 17 the company has been going for years and you would think that the development of this game just could have been done better and with care. If a patch ever gets released that fixes the problems I would rate it higher but for now it's staying with a 2 out of 10. This game has adult talking but the game is rather a childish platform game.

Overall try to forget this game never happened and Team 17 for spoiling a good series should actually been ashamed of themselves. Sorry I complained during this review I just had to because it's really pi**ed me off this game plus it's my fault for buying this piece of garbage and if you have played this game you know what I'm talking about.

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Stranglehold was good but could be better

Posted : 6 months, 2 weeks ago on 25 April 2009 06:46 (A review of John Woo Presents Stranglehold)

Stranglehold is either a game you love or hate the game stars Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo written the story to the game he also also featured in the game. Stranglehold has you playing as Tequila it's a follow up from John Woo's movie Hard Boiled (which I've got to see). The story I found was quite average Tequila loses the girl he loves which he has not been able to see for years she has been kidnapped along with Tequila daughter (Teko) which Russian's have kidnapped them.

The best part about Stranglehold is been able to slow down time and dodge bullets it really makes the game a lot more interesting as it's something different. The show down battles were actually good it just really makes the game more unique and that you can just shoot someone and watch what happens close up like shooting some far in the face it's quite good to see it just slow down.

I enjoyed Stranglehold but then again I found it really repetitive as it many enemies come at you at once and it be honest it gets annoying and sometimes frustrating. The levels were good at the start but I found the worst levels were the boat ones I just didn't enjoy them but I did like the levels later in the game towards the end. Stranglehold is easy to play due to it's very simple controls the buttons you will use most is just L1 and R1.

The one level I thought was kind of pathetic you have a huge gang with guns and such and you have to defend a Jazz group now I don't why the hell they stand there and keep playing. Tequila has to defend them but why would you stand in the middle of a gun fight because I certainly wouldn't.

One of the most annoying things within the game was the voice acting I mean some of the people in the game were Chinese but they had an American accent which I thought if it's Chinese person born in Hong Kong they should at least have the accent. I noticed Tequila having the accent with Chow Yun-Fat doing the voice over (although I am not sure if he does do the voice over as looking in the credits it says someone else does the voice acting for Tequila)

Multiplayer is actually dead no one plays it anymore I only had it for like 4 days so far and only had 1 game online since then I have tried and it says no game found. I don't understand why people don't play this online because it is actually a decent game and online when I got the chance to play it you know it is fun. I am annoyed that the Stranglehold map pack is still on the Playstation Store for £9.99 whats the point since no one plays it anymore.

I do think Midway could have done a better job I did feel that the game were to short and the story felt rushed you didn't get much information on the bosses it was just like this you meet them you don't really get to know much about them then kill them. Stranglehold is good but could have been better the graphics are decent but it has problems as the audio sometimes just cuts off for no apparent reason. This game is only worth getting if you see it cheap as I didn't really think it was long enough without multiplayer I found that the game really doesn't have replay value because it's rare I will play through a game twice. If Stranglehold has a sequel for some reason I just hope it's made by a Japanese developer. The last thing I have to say is the ending with Teko was actually good as it was sweet revenge.

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Streets of Rage finally on the collection

Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago on 28 February 2009 05:11 (A review of SEGA Mega Drive: Ultimate Collection (PS3))

Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection known in the US as Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection brings 40 Mega Drive games on both PS3 and XBOX 360 along with 9 games which are mostly arcade games while I think 2 are Master System Games.

Now finally they got something right with this collection it's been ages but Streets of Rage is here all 3 of them which was one of the main reasons I bought this for it's classic music specially SoR 2 I just love it. All the Sonic games are featured from Sonic 1, 2, 3, 3D, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic Spinball, Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (which is just Puyo Puyo a game I have never quite liked) something that is missing is the lock on feature Sonic 3 with Knuckles has been taken out of the game which is a shame. It's great to see Comix Zone back it's still hard but it's still one hell of a good game (One thing I have to had Comix Zone had a problem for no reason the game crashed on level 1 emulation problem I think and I can tell you it wasn't my PS3 that crashed the game).

Many other titles are on here again the likes of the boring Ecco the Dolphin I could just never get into that game, Vectorman (I don't call this a classic at all), Gain Ground (I like the game but it's repeated again), Alex Kidd in Enchanted Castle (I didn't really think much of this one as Miracle World back on the Master System).

The game did need Gunstar Heroes a lot of people will agree with me on that one kind of makes me wonder why Dynamite Headdy is one the collection Gunstar Heroes was developed by Treasure as well and it's not on here. Dynamite Headdy is a classic game and I am glad it is here I still own the cartridge and I still think it's a great game even to this very day. What did annoy me though is Space Harrier 2 is missing that game is a classic and I thought Super Hang On should have been on here the music was awesome in that game.

The collection is full of RPG games to name one of them Shinning Force 1 & 2 are on the collection personally I am not a big RPG fan though I did like Final Fantasy 7 and 8. All the Phantasy Star games are here from Master System to the Mega Drive the problem is to unlock Phantasy Star you need to beat the boss in Sonic 2 with 2 players which is a pathetic way to unlock the game as if you don't have 2 controllers then you can't unlock it.

Space Harrier the arcade game is featured on this collection but the problem is the music doesn't sound right it hasn't been emulated that good kind of makes me think why didn't they use the 32X version. Shinobi the arcade game is also on the collection I have yet to unlock the game and also Fantasy Zone which is not that bad.

The trophy's in this game are easy certain ones will require you to collect so many coins or beat Stage 1 of Streets of Rage with all 3 characters they are easy to get.

The Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection doesn't have artwork of the games of the Mega Drive and only features the Genesis artwork as well as only having the US versions of game. This can be noticed as The Story of Thor is named as it's US name Beyond Oasis same goes for Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island as it was known here but in the US it is called Sonic 3D Blast. The interviews are the same from the last collection so no change at all.

Overall this game is worth buying as your getting 49 games altogether for the price of £24.99 I still own my Sega Mega Drive but it still doesn't stop me buying this collection. Some games are not all that good while others are classics it would have been nice to add some online for Streets of Rage or even Sonic 2. The last thing I have to add if you haven't played your Genesis or Mega Drive in a long time this will bring back the best times that Sega brought us unlike most of the bad games Sega are publishing/developing now.

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The Club review

Posted : 8 months, 2 weeks ago on 21 February 2009 02:55 (A review of The Club)

The Club developed by Bizarre Creations and Published by Sega has 8 men fighting out in order to be the best in The Club. The game of the Club has you going around prisons, old warehouse, manor house and such which you have to kill people to score points. The idea behind this game I have to say is weird but it's not that bad.

The game has different stages such as Sprint this has you going around the stage where you have to score as much as possible, Siege is the mode i hate your in a area a marked area and if you leave you have about 5 seconds to get back into the marked area or you will die you must stay in the area and kill as many people possible oh but the people are all over around you, Time Attack has you doing laps you have to survive and gain as much points possible, Survivor has you scoring as much as you can within the time limit if not then you fail, the final mode is Run the Gauntlet you have to sprint through the level as fast as possible.

The game is an arcade shooter and if you enjoy those this may be your type of game I found this a decent game but I mostly recommend this for online play which still gets used which I am surprised as it's not really a popular game (online is busy at certain times). Online is decent but can be hard the guns are always in the same place they never change and one thing I hate is spawn kills and trust me it happens quite a bit. If people know the map inside and out and know where the good guns are you really don't stand a chance while fighting unless you get a good shot at the head. Online features 8 modes my favorite has to be Team Siege 2 teams one has to defend your zone while the other team has to kill them but beware your team sometimes turn on you which gets annoying. Free for all death matches in the prison is one of my favorites only thing I hate is people trying to get the sniper riffle. Getting online is easy hardly any wait times just enter a match and your straight in the match which you can join a match that is already going which is good as it is fast. If you want more information about online just check the official website of The Club.

This is a decent game I got it pre-owned for £8 and it's quite good I like the theme music and the characters I found were great I did like Kuro, Seager and Nemo. Overall the graphics are not fantastic a bit PS2 style then PS3 however this game is quite fun if you see it cheap I recommend it. Bizarre Creations are on to something good with this game and if they improve on it and make a sequel I think it could be even better for one thing as I said the characters are great. That's all I can really say as it really has a plot to sum up this it is a crazy game.

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Posted : 9 months, 3 weeks ago on 14 January 2009 04:16 (A review of Sonic Unleashed)

Sonic Team finally release another Sonic game after the abysmal Sonic The Hedgehog next gen which was released on 360 and PS3 I thought of losing hope for Sonic.

Sonic returned in 2008 and Sonic Team bring us Sonic Unleashed (known in Japan as Sonic World Adventure) the story is pretty much this Sonic fights Dr Eggman Sonic transforms to Super Sonic. Eggman catches Sonic and so on which changed Sonic to a Werehog. Sonic later meets Chip who doesn't really know his name but he guides you around the game. In the game you will meet Tails and Amy Rose but what surprises me is no Knuckles I think that Amy Rose should have been removed shes awful in the Sonic games.

So about the levels they are actually great when your Sonic the levels don't last long but they are fun and fast which is what a Sonic game should be. However the downfall the Werehog makes it boring it's everything but fast yeah your strong but your slow and it takes ages just to do one level. So you will get some Sonic levels then during the night your turn to a Werehog.

The graphics are great the levels have a lot of detail specially during the day time stages when Sonic is running at a fast speed it sort of looks good. As for the Wii controls they do suit the game and rather work well.

Chip the new character is actually quite good but for me he is to jokey and I think that side was put in for the kids I would have rather Knuckles guide you or something.

The soundtrack is something that I like to this game that horrible Rock music is gone and it features nice orchestral music which in my opinion fits the mood of the game. Glad the rock music had gone it's awful to see that in any Sonic game.

Sonic this time around is good the only problem is the Werehog I don't know if it was Sonic Teams experiment but it's failed and could have been a better story. I think Sega and Sonic Team could put more effort in the games it just feels like they just don't anymore I still like Sonic specially the classic Mega Drive games but for 3D games of Sonic or Mario which I would say Mario games are better. If you enjoy the fast pace of Sonic you will enjoy those parts but as I said the Werehog runs it down due to been very slow.

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Posted : 10 months ago on 6 January 2009 09:57 (A review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men)

Kane & Lynch Dead Men I have noticed people have rated this game a 10 believe me this game does not deserve it and I'll tell you why.
Kane & Lynch Dead Men does suffer from poor controls I mean aiming your Gun can take time which is why you always have to find cover. The graphics are not on par with most Playstation 3 games the graphics seem like it's from the PS2 but the cut scenes do look nice and are very detailed. This game may suffer from problems but I also do like this game and personally I think the plot to the game is interesting. Kane killed 25 people which put him on death row and what Kane intentions are is finding his daughter which he will do anything just to see her. Then we have Lynch who is my opinion a bit crazy in the head he just shoots anyone for the fun of it but his background is he killed his wife both men have been put on death row. The sdtart of the story has you escaping from the police and Kane & Lynch don't even know each other but they have to work together because a gang that Kane stole money off have his daughter. I like the story and the voice acting which is something that makes me want to play and you know it's not free rome and to be honest I am glad I get board of driving from place to place like I did with GTAIV when I gave up with it.

The online mode your playing with a group of others to do a bank heist at any time within the game you can turn on anyone on the group but this will make you the bad person as you want all the money yourself. If you get killed you turn into a cop which you must kill the group. The online mode is actually quite good though I have noticed that not a lot of people do go on this I guessing because the game is getting old now as it was released back in 2007.

I would give the game an 8/10 the game may have poor controls and the graphics aren't the best for the PS3 but I really like the story line. I would love to see more third person shooter games because I don't really like all these 1st person shooter games. The game is by IO Interactive the same team who developed the Hitman series. I herd that Kane & Lynch 2 will be coming out I look forward to see what they come up with.


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Home is it any good?

Posted : 10 months, 1 week ago on 3 January 2009 09:50 (A review of PlayStation Home)

Home is like a virtual sims you can go around chat to anyone you can buy items for your house but a cost some which are 79p and some up to 1.59 for clothes you can also buy another house for £3.99. The annoying thing about Home is everything to upgrade your home you have to buy if you don't want to then your house looks quite boring who cares it's not like your going to be spending your time in the house anyway.

The theater in that section you can view trailers but for me it does take ages to load lots of people in that part aswell it gets very packed. The theater has an upstairs as well though it's pointless as nothing is up there expect playstation advertising with movie posters maybe it might have a toilet upstairs when it is out of beta who knows.

The shopping center you buy your items you get some free while others you pay for which I hate that idea you can also hang about with friends and even dance with them if you feel like it I know I don't.

The arcade allows you to play bowling with 4 playing at a time I played it once and missed the pins I left because I looked silly. The arcade machines allow you play 3 different games Echochrome, Ice Breaker (I think thats the name, I can't remember the name of the other game as well you can play pool.

In the home square this will take you to your home, theater, a place which you cannot access, shopping center and the bowling alley can you can also play chess if you want.

Overall I think Home looks nice and hell it has potential I think it should be improved in the arcade section such as having a laser quest game would make me happy. The truth is if you want to chat with others when it's worth a download otherwise it takes up a lot of space on your HDD. This is not that bad but as it's just in BETA it feels quite limited but I want to see the updates which I am looking forward to. But has it is free to download it is worth checking out at least Sony didn't make us pay for the software. I would give it a 7/10 it's only in beta but it looks pretty good and as I said it's free to download.

I have posted some footage here on listal so you can what the European version of Home looks like I have tired to show you everything that it offers.

http://www.listal.com/video/10385026

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Burnout is what Paradise is

Posted : 10 months, 1 week ago on 30 December 2008 08:18 (A review of Burnout Paradise)

Burnout is a game that I always have enjoyed I am not the biggest racing fan but when it comes to smashing cars then I enjoy it. Burnout we all know started in 2001 which was then published by Acclaim Entertainment in 2004 EA took over publishing the game still with Criterion Games still developing the series.

Burnout has really changed specially in Paradise for one the crash mode has been removed which to me is disappointing as it was my favorite mode to appear in the series. The big change to the game is that it is open road and you can go where you want which I certainly like this change I think it's a good change to the series as it's something new. The graphics are fantastic the places cars the smashes all look realistic it does look fantastic. In Burnout your going to have to stunts, race, escape from other cars trying to smash up yours, as well as smashing other cars so that you can use them if you know what I am talking about.

The soundtrack to the game is pretty much the same as Burnout Dominator but Paradise has more music in it a lot of rock music and classical. The main theme to this game is Guns N Roses - Paradise City which does suit the game. But I wonder why the hell Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend is on the soundtrack it doesn't really suit the game. One song that feels that is appeared a lot is N*E*R*D - Rock Star (Jason Nevins remix) it has already appeared in SSX 3, Burnout Dominator then its back in Burnout Paradise which I have to admit it is annoying but thankfully you can skip the songs you don't like or just turn them off

I am surprised that EA have still kept the online going I know after a while they turn it off but in 2009 they did say new cars and stuff are been added to the game which I am certainly happy about. The online is decent you can crash into others race against them you can hear other people online chat but I just turn them off I don't chat on it. I think this is a great Burnout game it's like each series of the game it keeps getting better this game is a must own.

The only major downfall for this game is you can only play 1 player offline it makes no difference to me but anyone who wants to play the game with friends are going to have to do it online with a separate console. Oh yeah I hated the fact it look me about 40 minutes to install or updating it now that really did annoy me just warning other player about how long it will take.

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Just what the PS3 needed

Posted : 10 months, 2 weeks ago on 27 December 2008 06:19 (A review of LittleBigPlanet)

LittleBigPlanet is a game that made me finally want to buy the PS3 this game brings back old school platformers and sticks in a bunch of crazy ideas but it's all good. The main character in the game is sackboy and you can dress him the way you want the more stuff you find during story mode the more you can customize stackboy. The Playstation Network also offers themed customization such as Metal Gear Solid and even Street Fighter etc but it comes at a price. Online allows you to play with another person which can help you play the level which is fun and it's a good idea and you can also see if you come 1st or 2nd.
LittleBigPlanet also expands having other players creating new levels which adds more gameplay to the game. The music to the game is quite good and it does suit the game and even the graphics are impressive. If you like little puzzles in the game well there is some here. I think this is one of the best games of 2008 if not the best certainly it's impressive and this is how I like platformers as it reminds me back during the Mega Drive/Super Nintendo days. I got this game free with my PS3 and it was worth it I am looking forward to see what else Media Molecule can do with the game as I have read there in development with LittleBigPlanet 2.

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