Set sail behind the wheel of your own ship as you begin your adventure to become the Master of the Seas. As the Captain it’s your duty to explore the islands of the Caribbean facing many of the characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies like; Blackbeard and his zombies, The French, Spanish and English fleets. For those lucky enough Jack Sparrow will make an appearance during your time at sea… Ok ok he makes an appearance for everyone.

Earning experience, coin and gems all are in a days work for these pirates. Following a series of quests from island to island will see a modest progress of coin and weapons filling the holds of your ships. Added to these are properties that can be acquired for a modest amount, or the more expensive Gem mines for those eager to get bonus upgrades for your crew.

In the early stages of the game you will find that more experienced pirates will make easy prey of your ship but fear not as you acquire more crew (friends) and access to better cannons, weapons and protection you will soon become the one looking down the scope at the juicy pickings of those less fortunate – A pirates life is a hard life you have to earn your place on the seas. I recommend you find as many friends playing this title as you can for a rapid progression towards dominance of the Caribbean.

Download the game here and should you not have any friends playing feel free to add my friend Code: E6L0Y8 for a small boost – Do this under Options (Bottom right – Wrench), then select Promo Code.

Pros:

• The price is right – it’s freemium model, with optional payments for quicker progression.
• It’s a Disney game so it’s safe for all ages
• Who doesn’t love pirates – except ninjas that is

Cons:

• Gems are slow to acquire if you do not pay
• Can’t actually play as Jack Sparrow!

More Photos:

In a way I’m sad to write this review, knowing that after the final moments in Gears of war 3 the Franchise will be forever changed. We fought hard people and paid a dear price, but in the end – brothers stood shoulder to shoulder and took on the challenge instead of rolling over and giving up all hope.

In the time between Gears 2 and Gears 3 a number of major events occurred in the world of the COG – many of which are hinted at during game play, but are detailed in the book Gears of War: Coalition’s End. If you haven’t read this book I’d recommend you head over to your local book store, or click the link and get it delivered, and pick up this book to fill in the missing details.

Putting aside gameplay for now, it’s the 3rd game and gameplay hasn’t changed from the first two, I’ll instead focus on the story-line (no spoilers promise) of Gears 3. Humanity is facing it’s darkest days and both the COG and the Locust have their hands full of with the Lambent right from the start of the game. Delta squad is once again called upon to face odds of epic proportions right from the start of the game.

Taking on the entire might of the horde is one thing, but adding in the explosive Lambent to this struggle for Humanity adds a new level of intensity to this story. New mutations, new tactics and new locations will draw players in, chew them up and spit them out on the other side. Adding in additional support for up to four players in co-op and competitive points co-op brings the comradeship of Delta Squad and the COG to life. While I believe the point system in the competitive co-op is a silly gimmick, and an unnecessary addition, finding a open game to join never seems to be a problem.

Players will also be introduced to a few new weapons, most notable include the Retro Lancer (with a giant Bayonet), the Digger (an underground popup bomb) and the one shot – one kill sniper rifle with an explosive kick. New turits, new shotguns and the new two person Vulocan Cannon will also be found along your journeys, but I’ll let you introduce yourself to these fun toys of destruction.

The voice acting and writing are both fantastic, including dialog from veteran voice actors like John DiMaggio (Marcus), Lester Speight (Cole), Fred Tatasciore (Baird), and Carlos Ferro (Dom). You will also encounter long time fan of the Gears series, Ice-T (Griffin) an unlockable multiplayer character and in game bad ass.

Taking players across the entire length of Sera by Sea, Land and air you will encounter a number of old friends and familiar locations, like Cole’s home town and place of worship – the Thrashball Stadium, and the famous Anvil Gate – a refuge for the last of the displaced citizens of the COG.

New multiplayer modes also enhance this title adding in game modes that allow players to take the roll of the Horde and attack waves of COG soldiers and heroes, play vs matches as either COG or Horde and the return of Horde mode for grinding out levels and kills. With new maps and a few throwbacks, plus the promise of future DLC, hours of game play are just waiting for you to plugin and log on.

Feed Your Console gives Gears of War 3: 9 out of 10.

Pros:

• Epic story line, providing many conclusions to series spanning story lines
• Fun new weapons
• Voice acting is top notch
• Multiplayer game play and DLC extends the value and fun

Cons:

• Point system in the competitive co-op is a silly gimmick
• It’s the last one in the series – all good things have to end

*** Potential Spoiler Alert! This review may contain some minor spoilers to game play, new skills and plot lines for Assassins Creed: Revelations ***

The story starts off retelling the main points of the previous games and mentions the mysterious Apple of Eden that was left behind by “the others”. Desmond is still in a coma and stuck in the animus. He wakes up in the animus on a beach surrounded by strange stone pillars. It’s explained to him by a previous animus user, who is also on “Animus Island”, that his mind is broken and that they’re in the guts of the animus. We learn that Desmond was placed there by someone, thus saving his life because his mind was fracturing blurring the distinction between his memories and reality.

From there we’re reintroduced to a much older Ezio who seems to be recounting his travels to his and the story opens up just as we saw him in the first major trailer for AC:Revelations, in the midst of a battle, surrounded he sees a vision of Altair and allows himself to be captured. His captors are preparing to execute Ezio high above the mountains with a noose wrapped around his neck – it’s here that Ezio performs his escape. Even in his much older state, Ezio still moves with cat-like reflexes as he shadows Altair’s shadow movements during the following tutorial.

Revelations takes Ezio to Constantinople which features 4 districts and Masayaf, the original game’s Assassin stronghold, as he attempts to retraces Altair’s footsteps in the search of a powerful artifact that was sealed away by Altair.  In between each major DNA memory segment, the game takes us back to Desmond in his comatose state on “Animus Island”. At times, dialogue is overheard from the real world explaining what is happening in the real world and through conversations with the other inhabitant.

Animus Island is also home to a series of gateways to Desmond’s mind. Each doorway is accessed only after acquiring a predetermined set of Data fragments found throughout the game. Once acquired, Desmond is thrust into a bizarre first person sequence which has him recounting moments long forgotten as he jumps over minor obstacles and builds paths to bridge the gaps in his memory.

Graphically the game hasn’t changed much aside from a few minor tweaks, some sharper models and smoother animations. The controls are exactly the same with only a few new minor additions, which, isn’t a bad thing because I always felt that the controls were fine the way they were. Much of the audio is recycled from previous titles so expect to hear a lot of the same dialogue from the townsfolk you’ve heard over the last few years.

Some changes to look to include a few new tricks which include crafting bombs, aerial kills with the use of a parachute and the new “Hook Blade”. Using ingredients like Lambs blood, Indian gun powder, sulphur and casings Ezio has a pretty wide array of bombs to build. For example, Cherry bombs create a loud noise and draw guards to the location of the sound while blood bombs give the enemy a sense that he’s been injured thus taking away his will to fight and running away. Crafting bombs require 3 parts – a shell, gunpowder and an effect. The crafting is performed at specific crafting locations peppered throughout the world.

Another notable change in Ezio’s arsenal is called the “Hook Blade”. The Hook Blade essentially makes it easier for Ezio to hit longer jumps or get to those slightly out of reach points by tapping the B button to hook onto the edge allowing him to pull himself up. The Hook blade can also be used to make the slip on your enemies allowing Ezio to hook their clothing and jump over them or create new combat combos.

Series favourites such as recruiting Assassins and purchasing shops are back. Recruiting new assassins to aid in the cause to overthrow the Templar’s control in other cities is both fun and rewarding.  Once these recruits have gained enough experience, Ezio can assign them as a ‘district leader’. These district leaders will also provide new quests to Ezio when he visits their areas. But beware! There are also rival assassins to be on the lookout for, on more than a few occasions, I’ve been attacked by other assassins and had to chase them down, which leads to the next logical question – Who hired them?

The multiplayer experience has also received some attention adding: new locations, characters and modes like Capture the Flag and a story oriented set of quests that reveal more background to the world of Assassins Creed.

Assassins Creed: Revelations is a lot of the same you’ve come to expect from the series. It has to be with the frequency of releases the series is getting, there’s just no time to flesh out anything new and groundbreaking to the franchise. That’s not necessarily a bad thing considering the big driving factor for me with the Assassins Creed series is the compelling story. The voice cast, townsfolk not withstanding, is still every bit as good as we’ve come accustomed to from the series. I will admit that I’ve grown tired of Ezio and would have preferred to do more with Desmond and/or Altair – I just don’t feel that Altair has been given enough respect.

Feed Your Console gives Assassins Creed: Revelations an 8.5 out of 10

Pros:

• The Story – The narrative is compelling and interesting
• Gameplay – More of the same in a critically acclaimed series can’t be all that bad
• Desmond’s Memory Sequences – Adds some interesting background to Desmond and gives a slower paced break to the game
• Altair – We haven’t seen/heard much of him since the original title. It’s good to go back to the beginning

Cons:

• Audio – I’ve grown weary of hearing the exact same audio from the towns folk for 3 years
• Online Death Matches  – I like the story mode multiplayer, but , I’m just not buying into the multiplayer experience.

Just a quick note to say that I have not yet finished the game and have only managed to get in about 30hrs of gameplay. I know I’ll get a lot of haters on this but seriously, the game really is that freaking big.

Oblivion burst onto consoles in the Spring of 2006. I remember being so amazed by the images I saw online and the intense hunger for a good long RPG, that I rushed out to pick up Oblivion the day it hit shelves. I was both impressed and unhappy at the same time. The Environments looked incredible but the characters all looked spectacularly brutal. I swear each character was only 2 generations removed from Apes walking upright. The gameplay itself was an RPG using a First Person Shooter Perspective which I found to be a little cumbersome, I was always getting lost and every single town I entered wanted me dead or to toss me in jail due to my own ignorance. The sheer size of the game also soured me on the whole experience because it was new and I had never before seen anything so big in a game….but after playing through Fallout 3 and New Vegas, I’m a new man and an old pro at exploring vast worlds…

***Possible Spoiler Alert – Scroll down to avoid***

The game starts off with a cart full of prisoners as they’re being taken to a fort to be executed. Once in the town, the player gets off the cart and begins their character customization. Right off the bat I noticed a remarkable improvement on the character models. From there we get to witness the execution of a prisoner when he’s laid down and beheaded with his head dropping into a basket and his lifeless body being kicked to the side. It’s now your turn to face the hold steel of the executioners blade when out of nowhere, a Dragon lands on a house and begins attacking and destroying the town thus leaving you to your own devices to escape and learn some of the fundamentals of the game which pretty well plays very similarly to it’s predecessor and the true beginning of your quest.

The story is not a direct sequel to Oblivion so much as it takes place a few hundred years later after the Empire began relinquishing territories to the Elven nations because there was no heir to the throne following the Emperors death. The player eventually learns that Skyrim’s civil war is last prophetic event foretold by the Elder Scrolls, which also speak of the return the Nordic god of destruction, Alduin.

Taking the form of a dragon, Alduin is prophesied to consume the world with his servants, the Jills (a race of black dragons). The player character is the last Doväkiin (Dragonborn), a dragon hunter anointed by the gods to help fend off the threat Alduin poses to Skyrim and Tamriel.

***End of Possible Spoiler***

***EDIT***Here’s an extra special follow-up post for all the people whose comments both made me laugh and shake my head. But let’s soldier on good reader. You’ve asked for more detail so here we go.

I will admit , that there is an aspect of the game that I found to be enjoyable though I’m not sure if it was a feature in previous games and I forgot to report back on it – Sue me I’m only human and do this for fun purely based on my love of all things videogames. That aspect of the game I speak of is called “Smithing”. Very early on in the game (right after the escape from the Dragon that’s destroying the town from the beginning***Ooops Spolier Alert!***) the player is introduced to Smithing of weapons and armor. Smithing requires a proficiency in working with various metals such as Iron and using animal hides to make leather in order to make repair, augment and improve weapons and armor. All it really requires are the right ingredients using the forge, the grinding stone, then applying augments to it(where applicable) on the workbench. A minor gripe I have with the Smithing is that it’s unfortunate that it’s not more like a mini-game or had some form of user creation tool to give each weapon/armor a personal touch. Off to the Gallows with me!

Next up is the control scheme – The controls are pretty well just like Fallout 3. Analogue sticks should be self explanatory – Push up and you move forward – Back and you move backward, Left and right strafe. The right stick turns the character. Press down on LS and you crouch, press down on RS and it changes the camera to a 3rd person perspective. B button opens the tree menu with skills, items, map and magic. The Skill tree is laid out as though looking at constellations – beneath each skill, the user can see the features of each skill and the path they take. IE: The first level of  Smithing starts off with proficiency in crafting with Iron as you progress and hone your skills, you’ll eventually be able to create Dragon Armor.  X button draws your weapon and puts it away. A button interacts with people or takes items and Y button jumps. Right trigger swings your weapon where the Left trigger guards unless you have magic equipped in which case, you can hold the left trigger to charge up your spell and release it to cast. LB sprints and only last as long as your Stamina will allow and RB shouts/power moves. Pretty standard fare.

As I said before, and was lambasted for, the map is huge. It very easily dwarfs Fallout. I haven’t yet even seen all of it and it appears to be considerably larger with more destinations to visit and it can take what seems like forever to go from point A to B. Thankfully there is a fast travel option as well as a stable you can go to and pay for a ride or…you can be a total bastard and steal a horse risking life, limb, gold and freedom in the process.

The graphics for Skyrim are a vast improvement over Oblivion and Fallout but still not on the same level as something like Rage’s iD Tech 5(which I find to be one of the sexiest new engines out there right now). The new “Creation Engine” is a variant of the same engine used for Oblivion and Fallout but it’s no slouch.  The environments are lush and lively as expected in this type of game, the animations are smooth and the characters look awesome, however, I didn’t care for how the horses looked while riding them to different locales. When walking over a rock, for example, the horse will just jump up over the rock and fall back down on the other side – I found it to look very unnatural. Surprisingly Skyrim all fits onto one disc and the load times are reasonably short (I can’t speak for the load times when running off disc)I love the way the weather systems look in this game. The weather effects in the game look awesome, in particular in the snowy regions though I did notice that no tracks were left behind. Aside from those minor complaints, everything in the world just feels to be more alive.

I actually encountered a bug when I encountered 2 different NPCs – When trying to interact with them, they don’t actually say anything and the subtitles I have turned on whip by without giving me the opportunity to read what’s going on. My immediate thought was my controller was acting up but, this has happened with 4 different controllers – it appears that this is not a controller issue. Time will tell if this is a common issue Keep an eye out and let us know if you encounter the same thing. Sad Bear face!

The audio is awesome – when I have the luxury of having it turned up loud (the man cave is below my daughter’s room), the bustling sounds of a city, the serenity nature and the ferocity of violent battles really adds to atmosphere. The soundtrack is fantastic, well timed and placed throughout.  As expected from Bethesda, there’s an  insane amount of spoken dialogue, some spoken by celebrities like Max Von Sydow, and Christopher Plummer.

The game is quite challenging especially at the beginning. I’m one of those guys that loves to run in guns-a-blazing (swords-a-swinging in this case) and as I quickly learned that’s just not how to play this game. This is an adventure game that takes it’s time to tell a story and build and I am taking my sweet time plodding through avoiding the main quest for the most part for the time being. I’ve put a great deal of emphasis on Lock picking for all the obvious reasons,  Smithing to have the best weapons and armor, Heavy weapons to deal the most damage and speech to help with persuading people and save some precious gold when buying items – Anything to try and help me get the leg up on this game.

This title is sure to eat up countless hours well into the new year.

In my previous post I stated that the amount of time I had with the game was extremely limited in the grand scheme of things and that I wasn’t a fan of Oblivion assuming you could read between the lines (I didn’t finish it even after repeated attempts – I disliked it that much) but it seems that’s not the case. Also, the hate I get for rating something a 9 out of 10 is staggering (I just might be Public Enemy #1).

Yes! Online is important to me and I would love to see co-op in a game f this magnitude- No it’s not a deal breaker. Yes those are my views and opinions – No it doesn’t make my opinion right. Yes I see your side – No it doesn’t make your opinion right. No I won’t be changing my original score.

It’s a 9 out of 10 game.

Pros

• Length of the Game – I’m 30hrs in and don’t see an end in sight.
• Replay Value – There’s just so much to do and see the game will no doubt warrant a 2nd or even 3rd play through.
• Sandbox games – I’m a sucker for sandbox style games. This one is huge.
• Graphics – the characters look cleaner and the environments have much more depth resulting in a prettier appearance.
• Sound design

Cons:

• No Co-op – I always get shit for this but I’m a huge fan of coop experiences. This game screams for it.
• Some glitchy animations
• Only encountered 1 bug on 2 different occasions and it did prevent me from understanding what was going on because it was tied to the main quest.

Players will notice a quicker push to level 50, which was the maximum level in Forza 3 that’s gone now. In Forza 4 the maximum level is 150 to reward those die hard Forza fan’s. As I write this I’m already in the mid 40′s and the fact that I’m now given a choice of car’s as a reward time I level is fantastic. I really enjoy the fact that I get to choose my reward. After hitting level 50 the car rewards are gone and replaced with credit bonus’s ranging from 100k to 350k. Car manufacture affinity rewards you to being loyal to your favourite car manufacture. Love Ferrari? only drive Ferrari? levelling your car manufacturing affinity gives you bonuses like free parts, badges and titles for your player card.

You’ll notice in the early stages that the AI is quite different then in Forza 3. In Forza 3 they removed power from the AI to make slower on easier difficulties. This isn’t the case in Forza 4 what they do is reduce there confidence when there in corners. What this does it makes the AI brake earlier into corners which is where you as the player can out break them and slip in front of them. The moment the AI it’s the apex in the corner they will be flat out regardless of the difficulty level.

The key to beating them on the straight’s is to block them down the straights. What I’ve found so far is that this is producing closer, better wheel to wheel racing and I’ve actually lost a few races to the AI. This is a great improvement as generally there really isn’t much of a contest from the AI.

The team over at Turn 10 partnered with Pirelli tires with new data which mean’s the tires in Forza 4 behave exactly as they tests indicate on real tracks on the real cars. Hardcore racer’s will notice that car’s behave a bit different and that’s because Turn 10 made some changes to their steering model, let’s be real not all track’s are smooth and are there some bumps along the way, so expect to see a bit of track bumpiness as well. These changes truly impact the way the car’s handle very different from Forza 3 and for me make it a bit harder to handle with most of the assist’s turn offed.

One of my favourite little features to Forza that is completely separate from the overall in game experience is the ability to navigate the menu’s using my voice and the power of Kinect. When I first discovered this I played around about 5 minutes going Xbox, My Garage. Simple use of Kinect but so very convenient.

Turn 10 has also gone a head to implement the ability for racers to drive with there arms. Gas and Braking are controlled by the game for the gamer and all the racer need’s to do is steer using there arms. I’m not a huge fan of this to be honest and this is suppose to be a sim racer and well this portion of it isn’t but I understand that it’s trying to get the family together. I appreciate that but would rather they hadn’t.

Autovista is a new feature that integrates Kinect into the Forza experience. Imagine your own personal automotive showroom that allows you to fully explore supercars like the Ferrari 458 Italia, Lexus LF-A, 1993 McLaren F1, 2008 Lamborghini Reventon the 2006 Koenigsegg CCX. With Kinect this allows the player to walk around the car, open doors, sit in the car, turn the engine on and most importantly hear what gear head Jeremy Clark has to say about these cars. This is a really cool feature but it’s not available on all cars.

So should you buy Forza 4? that’s the question and since it’s notably the best in the franchise you should. The visual upgrade isn’t significant but the changes to the physics, AI and community are sure to make this game worth your dollars.

I’m back folks. It’s been a hella long summer with far too much going on and even less time to play games. Sorry it’s been so quiet around these parts lately but that silence is going to end in a hurry.

It’s now been 11 years since the Deus Ex first franchise launched and 4yrs since the last title none of which, have I played for various reason. This game was completely off my radar until about a year ago when new details began to emerge and I immediately took notice. The videos looked sharp and the premise sounded like it could be really fun. Needless to say, I needed to play this game. I picked up the title on a beautiful August day and raced home to play it only to find that I was needed elsewhere. I’ve only just recently had the chance to play this game which is why this is coming out so much later than the game’s initial launch.

I purposely avoided reading reviews but paid close attention to the game’s MetaScore and was more than a little excited learn that Deus Ex was garnering some very strong praise. I wish I didn’t know what everyone was ranking the title. I’m actually feeling rather let down by the game.

Deus Ex Human Revolution is an action RPG made by Eidos Montreal that puts the player in the shoes of Adam Jensen, a security chief for the wealthy and powerful corporation, Sarif Industries. After an attack on Sarif HQ, Jensen confronts a powerful mercenary with various augmentations and is savagely beaten and shot in the head. Adam survives the attack thanks in part to Sarif who spends a great deal of money on augmentations to Adams body. Remarkably, Adam is back on his feet just 6 months after the events of the Prologue and is thrust into a story of corporate conspiracy and espionage.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution uses multiple facets of gameplay that include Hacking, Exploration, Combat and Stealth. All of which have their strong and weak points. The hacking aspect of the game is actually quite fun and depending on your hacking ability can really handcuff progression. If you allow yourself to be traced when hacking a system, it will trigger an alarm to the security forces causing you to flee or fight. I tried both and found that fleeing to a safe location and fighting from there was always the best way but it can be extremely time consuming.

While progressing through the game, the player earns XP – once enough points are gained, the user can then level up a variety of augmentations that cater to the above mentions “Pillars of gameplay” to accommodate each players specific style of play.

The graphics look nice but slightly dated when compared to other titles and some of the locales are sharp but the level layouts were confusing and the HUD Map system didn’t help matters.It’s nothing more than a Letter and number designation with the distance displayed beneath (ie: Main mission = M1,2,3 etc Secondary = S1,2 3, etc). I often found myself wandering around trying to follow the HUD only to end up in a dead end and needing to turn all the way around.

Overall I found Deus Ex: Human Revolution to be a decent game but it’s anything but a great title. It’s hard to find anything that stood out as a great feature of Human Revolution. Something felt unfulfilled for me with this game and I can’t quite put my finger on it – but it helped to bridge the gap between the slow period of the summer to the balls to the walls fall release schedule that’s sure to have my bank account crying for mercy. I’d strongly recommend it as a rental only.

Feed Your Console gives Deus Ex:Human Revolution a 6.5 out of 10

Pros:

• A good distraction when nothing else is available

Cons:

• run and gun game is less than run and gun

Pay attention oh ye of short attention spans and boarder line dyslexics! The name of the game is “GunStringer” and not “Gun Slinger.” The importance of this distinction will quickly become apparent as you read this review.

GunStringer by TwistedPixel, uses Kinect to cast you as the puppeteer of a gun slinging wood sliver on a mission of revenge from beyond the grave. Getting weird enough for you yet sunshine? It gets better when you realize that you shoot things with the same quick cocking of the forearm you employed to pick off opponents as a ten year old – back when you played “cowboys & people with fewer guns.” Was that politically correct enough for you?

The stylish presentation of this all happening within an old puppet theatre is a neat idea and the production value is good. Unfortunately, the game itself is basically a conveyor belt of targets mixed with flashes of imagery reminding one of midway shooting games.

There’s some cute mixing of live action with the game play and it has a healthy sense of humour. However, cute-factor and one-liners aside, my sense of fun wore off long before I inflicted carpel tunnel syndrome on myself. I swear, one of these days’ peoples hands will just start randomly flying off while playing Kinect.

The controls are simple with your left hand controlling the puppet strings with very basic movements and your right hand acting as your trusty Colt – which in this game is equivalent to an assault rifle. The controls are simple, but it does take some coordination – playing this game, one looks like Doug Henning trying to make a dove appear under a handkerchief. The overly enthusiastic targeting system is arcade inspired all the way – I kept waiting for a plush toy to drop in my lap. Oh cripes! Not another stuffed banana!

That’s not to say that there is no skill in this game. Learning the sensor movement range and taking slow aim are key tricks. It’s kind of like figuring out just where to shoot the clown in the mouth at the fair. What?! Another freaking plush banana!?

Boomers will no doubt be disappointed that GunStringer is not a nostalgic trip into a Westworld fantasy, but only mild dyslexia would even suggest that was ever the intention. Frankly, this game might have gone over better if it had featured a well armed and angry Pinocchio shooting carpenter ants.

While I may not be willing to condemn GunStringer to Boot Hill, I won’t hold up a stagecoach to pay for a copy either.

Well shucks pardner, I hate to be harsh but a 4 out of 10 at best. The long and short of it is that you won’t get $40 of distraction out of this one unless your kid is hyperactive and violent.

Catch the trailer here:

This game is a PSP Mini just out; I can’t put my PSP down since downloading it and now my kids wanna play!
The game Carnivores is a graphically rich environment full of the sounds and little creatures you would expect to see and hear while on Safari hunting dinosaurs. You must start small and prove yourself a master hunter of all the different parks to travel through, but once you have earned enough trophies you will be ready for the ultimate challenge of hunting the greatest dinosaur of them all: T – Rex, King of all Dinosaurs.

The games controls are a little to get used to but once you catch the hang of it you will really soar to new heights’ while combining all of your hunter instincts to survive. The 3D world is breath taking and the game plays just like the other Big Game hunt types, a good game overall for just having some fun.

I would rate this game a two thumbs up due to the nature of the game, I myself love hunting stuff! And for all the animal activist out there you can even hunt in a more humane fashion by using non-lethal means, but you earn less points.

Carnivores is action-packed game and full of excitement with breath-taking scenes that will keep you jumping out of your seat, even if you are a “seasoned hunter”.

Keep an eye out for Carnivores: Ice Age ($3.99) coming to a PSP near you on August 31, 2011.

Duke Nukem 3D changed my life. Now, I either have to be an outright liar, a victim of some kind of nostalgic psychosis or one of the bigger (not to mention older) gaming geeks you’ve ever met.

I first played Duke Nukem as a shareware side scroller. When Duke was reborn as a first person shooter, it wasn’t a hard sell to get me playing it.

So, aside from the addiction putting an end to my desire to see daylight, how did it change my life? Well, it led to me working with TEN (Total Entertainment Network) which was the first Windows online gaming network. Officially the first network was Kahli, but it was matching software running in DOS.

Duke was the flagship game for TEN and they had exclusive rights to run it on their network. It helped them build a huge community and break new ground. TEN would eventually fail because people weren’t ready or willing to pay for gaming at the time, but that’s a whole different story.

Duke Nukem 3D was the last of the “lockstep” games. Before the UDP protocol essentially revolutionized online gaming, players were at the mercy of the weakest connection when playing a game such as Duke. You’d be in the middle of this amazing firefight and then suddenly, everyone would just freeze up, waiting for someone with a bad connection to catch up. Quake and UDP changed all that forever.

It’s taken 15 years for someone to finally release another instalment of this legendary franchise and I have to tell you that it’s more of a letdown than Starship Troopers 2 (OK, maybe that’s harsh). From the cheesy, seemingly slapped together intro to the over the top sexism masquerading as machismo, this game so desperately tries to leverage all that nostalgia that it pulls a muscle and falls down flat.

“Duke Nukem Forever” is an apt title because this game will spend forever in the dollar bin at Wal-Mart. I wanted to love this game desperately, but everything from the clunky multiplayer mechanics to the “tacked on” cut scenes and a story line with all the flow of a glacier, just shot a chicken through my heart.

Duke Nukem rightfully occupies a special place in gaming history, but “Duke Nukem Forever” sadly appears to be the result of someone burying Duke in the pet cemetery – not pretty.

Pros: A nostalgic break worth renting if the boys are coming over for beers.

Cons: Poor overall gaming experience with a “slapped together” feeling which can’t hold your attention for more than a couple of hours.

Feed Your Console gives Duke Nukem Forever a 3 out of 10.

Catch the official Trailer:

Rockstar is one of those companies that announces games and people immediately sit up and take notice. L.A. Noire, the joint effort from Team Bondi and Rockstar is no different. As one of the more highly anticipated titles this year. Noire hopes to leave an impression on gamers and quite an impression it is.

Set in the backdrop of LA in the 1940s, L.A. Noire puts the gamer in the shoes of a young and ambitious war hero turned LA Police Officer, Cole Phelps. His first real call is to the scene of a murder where the player is shown the basics of how to move and perform detective work. Knowing that this could be his big break he along with his partner immediately set out in search of the perpetrator. This sets Phelps up for a fast tracked career amongst the ranks of L.A.’s finest police officer.

The detective work is done by searching crime scenes for clues all of which will give Cole other options when it times comes to  interrogate suspects and question witnesses. When searching for the clues the controller will jolt ever so slightly in your hand letting you know that something is nearby that requires investigation and an ominous musical score plays gently in the background and will stop once all the clues have been found letting the player know that they can move on. Not all “clues” have bearing to the overall outcome of the particular case but you do get ranked at the end of each case based on how thorough your interrogation/question skills and detective work was.

When interrogating suspects or witnesses, Cole has 3 responses Lie, Doubt and Truth. All of which will have illicit different responses. The player has to really pay attention to who they’re talking to as they NPC will display certain tells if they’re giving the truth, unsure or full of it. All I can say is pay attention to their eyes they tell a whole lot. If you’re completely unsure, you can go back and look over the evidence and notes before making the decision or your detective’s intuition. Using intuition uses a point to remove one answer giving the user a 50/50 shot at making the right guess but don’t use your intuition points carelessly because you won’t get it any back until you level up.

The game plays just like Grand Theft Auto but much tighter and more refined. When getting into the drivers seat, Phelps opens up his trusty note book and decides what location is going to be his destination. The customary “GPS” Style navigation then pops up in the corner. En-route to these destinations, you will hear calls out for police assistance, provided you’re driving a Police Car, and can then either respond or ignore the call which turns into a side mission. The side missions vary from something as routine as stopping someone from committing suicide to putting an end to a hostage taking. They’re tonnes of fun and a nice distraction from the overall story – another thing to note about the side missions is they help raise your rank in the police force thereby opening up more intuition points which do come in handy with some of your more formidable Suspects.

Graphically this game floors me. I am completely enamored with the graphics in this game and am still amazed that developers are able to up the ante graphically with this aging technology. The voice acting is very good and the musical score is fantastic.

For those of you who love searching for items and collectibles, there is no shortage of that here. There are 13 papers all of which have a video sequence telling a story, a variety of true to life Landmarks from LA in the 1940s and the never ending search for all the different cars from the era. This is sure to please the completionists out there.

Those of you looking for balls to the walls high paced action may be disappointed as LA Noire is really about the atmosphere, Story and the homage being paid to the movies this game so heavily draws inspiration from. L.A. Noire has managed to find the perfect balance between Detective work and action. This is one o those rare games that tries to do something a little different than the norm and succeeds. This is a must buy game. If I had to gripe about anything it would be the fact that there are  absolutely no Multiplayer options. I think it’d be fun to solves cases with friends and play the Good Cop Bad Cop sort of roles.

Pros:
Graphics are extremely impressive
Sound – Great music and voice acting keep the Story moving along
The Story – Pays a great deal of respect to the films it’s inspired by

Cons:
Little Replay Value
No Multiplayer Option

Feed Your Console gives L.A. Noire an enthusiastic 9.5 out of 10