• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PC, PS3
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Deep Silver
• Developer: Techland
• Players: 1-4
• Site: http://www.deadisland.deepsilver.com/

The original Dead Island was a fairly well received twist on a typical setting for a zombie apocalypse game that exchanged wrecked cities and barren wastelands for a beautiful island resort in the sun. Two years later and minus any headline-grabbing CG trailers, Dead Island: Riptide tries to recapture that twist and invites players to once more slash, bash and punch their way through zombie filled beaches.

Set immediately after where the first game left off more or less (warning: spoilers) the rag-tag bunch of survivors – a washed up rapper, an ex-security guard, an ex-professional sports player and a receptionist – escaped the island of Banoi only to end up captured by the military to have their apparent immunity to the zombie infection experimented on. They are joined by another immune and when the infection spreads once more, they inevitably end up washed up on a different island where an outbreak has also happened. It is the first of many deja-vu moments in Riptide.

While the first game tried to focus on the human connection showing personal pain and loss (in pretty haphazard, lazy ways might we add), Riptide instead focuses less on your characters or other survivors and more on the infection itself and what it could be doing to them. There is some intrigue at least at first, but soon things degrade into pure incoherent nonsense as the zombies take a back seat to the apparent ‘rage’ building up inside the immune you play as. What does that mean? If you’ve seen 28 Days Later you may be able to guess.

A laughably bad plot aside, the gameplay is identical to before. Each character specializes in a weapon type and is encouraged to stick to those, hunting down ones with better statistics as you level up. Combat is still fun to a certain extent (though those who burned themselves out on Dead Island may disagree) but easily gets repetitive if playing alone. Indeed this is a game that can only barely be recommended on the assumption you will never play alone, as the four player co-op is all but necessary to enjoy the experience.

During our co-operative playthrough of the game we suffered numerous bugs, crashes and glitches. Saves seemed to incoherently get out of sync with each other (meaning we had to switch up hosts or have constant hard freezes with no obvious workaround), and the frame rate slowed to a crawl under bizarrely simple circumstances (like throwing a new flare item for dark sections mid-way through).

We caught zombies phasing through doors, walls and fences, quests suddenly vanishing from our log and items disappearing too. There were also minor audio hiccups and, while not a bug, once we noticed that characters barely ever blinked (and when they did it was only with one eye); the shoddy amount of polish started to become apparent. It seemed only the upper bodies of characters had any animation made for them, as another example. There was also a single model used for many of the NPCs in the game who would crop up every so often with different hair (or a different shirt and hat) but same face to handle the side quests scattered about.

Across three main areas, Dead Island: Riptide will last between ten and fifteen hours depending on how many side quests and optional zombie filled areas you choose to tackle without ever really being posed any kind of a challenge, including the hilarious final boss.

The fun, if there is indeed any to be had here, comes from playing alongside your friends. Your friends are needed to laugh along with you at the stupid plot or the glitching zombie corpses you can send flying. Your friends are needed to comfort you as your console hard-crashes because of a glitch. This is not a game that can hold your attention alone, regardless of how much you enjoy the melee focused combat.

Avoid if alone – tolerate if with friends. The score below reflects a co-operative playthrough.

This is Sony’s big chance to do everything right. There are advantages to going last and it will be interesting to see where they go with this. That new Killzone game will probably be shown again and we already know Destiny will be, but anything else is a mystery.

• The show opens slowly, seems to be taking longer to seat everyone than they originally planned. Must be nice to have too many people wanting to see your show rather than having room for people paid to clap.

• Lots of blue and lots of big and small monitors to open and wow is that room is packed with people. Everything goes dark as the opening video plays to some bad music.

• The music then becomes some kind of techno thing with people in coloured boxes matching the PS4 buttons playing around and look foolish.

• Among the videos being shown I spotted a PC free to play game – Warframe.

• Jack Tretton swaggers onto stage to rap music.

• He’s still doing that weird gerbil hands thing when he talks.

• Opening with thanking gamers is a clever way to start a presentation and yet Microsoft didn’t think to do it. Ironic.

• Talks a little about Vita – turns out it isn’t dead yet.

• More than 125 Vita games, but how many of them are actually good? I suppose it makes sense to get the ignored hand held out the way first.

• Talks about Vita supporting indie devs then mentions Batman Arkham Origins for Vita, Counter Spy and Destiny of Spirits. Some fake sounding applause during that section.

• The next Walking Dead game is coming later this year apparently. Or does he mean the existing one just on Vita? Not sure.

• Now Jack is onto talking about the seventh holiday season with PS3.

• They are showcasing The Last of Us now, makes sense I guess since it isn’t out everywhere yet.

• Puppeteer is next, I vaguely remember this. Pretty brief trailer.

• Not sure what this is now – some game involving ghosts? Oh, called Rain and is out this year.

• Beyond: Two Souls is next with some new footage.

• The game looks interesting and it’s nice to see a female protagonist even if it’s a current gen game not a next gen one.

• Gran Turismo 6 is next, let’s move on swiftly.

• Next is publishing partners for PS3 games. Looks like a new(ish) trailer for Batman Arkham Origins. Showing Bane and others wanting Batman dead as per usual. Bit disappointing they show that Joker is in it and obviously not voiced by Mark Hamil.

• Released 25/10/2013.

• Genuine applause at 1960s Batman skin exclusive to Playstation.

• There’s a GTA5 themed PS3 bundle out later this year.

• Now onto the important stuff – PS4.

• Andrew House comes on stage to talk about the console specifically. I remember his weird voice and beard from last year.

• Stop teasing it and just show what the black box looks like.

• Oh, he did. It’s a black box. Albeit far more slick than the Xbox One’s VCR design. More compact too and surprisingly thin.

• A shy designer comes on stage to take a nervous bow. This helps tell the difference between paid for claps and real ones.

• “We focus on our fans.”

• Oh no he’s talking about TV stuff. Michael Lynton of their movie division is on stage to waste time instead of talking about games. We are gamers, not entertainment fans as a whole.

• Sony Pictures Crackle, what?

• Sounds like they are making some kind of unique-to-them Netflix or similar movie streaming program. Not particularly interesting and they are spending a little too much time on this.

• Andrew is back on stage again.

• PS3 is apparently the number one streaming device for Netflix, someone better tell Microsoft.

• “Of course, at its core, the PS4 is about breakthrough gaming experiences.”

• New titles! This is more like it.

• Shu Yoshida comes on stage and does pretty well despite being quite nervous.

• Mentioning that they looked at what consumers want rather than just developers. Good, but prove it.

• He’s joking about how much he uses Twitter to chat with fans answering questions, like it’s a second job.

• 30 PS4 titles in development by Worldwide Studios.

• 12 are brand new IPs.

• They are starting with one exclusive to the PS4. It states as the trailer begins that it is made entirely by the in-game engine.

• It looks like a medieval – no wait, that’s a gun. Old England? The rider bringing a carriage full of gun wielding people is killed by some mysterious thing. Looks like werewolves to me or something similar. It’s called The Order 1886.

• Next is updates on the games revealed earlier in the year at the first PS4 show. A trailer showing off some new footage of Killzone Shadow Fall and the like begins.

• InFamous Second Sun is looking interesting. Knack looks…yup.

• All three are launch titles.

• There’s a 12 minute tech demo from Quantic Dreams to show off real time PS4 graphics that make old men look pretty. Part of it is shown now but the rest is available after the show.

• The old man from the other show is now a wizard of some kind! If this is really all in game then it’s pretty impressive. Dark Sorcerer. It’s revealed it’s as if he is an actor and flops a line. His motions and facial expressions are very realistic.

• Tomorrow at 1pm the whole video will be shown.

• It sounds like indie developers might be next to get the stage.

• Adam Boyes comes on to talk about ‘third party relations’ which sounds more dirty than it actually is.

• This guy is probably the most professionally dressed presenter out of all the conferences so far. Good for him.

• Developers from Supergiant Games are on – most likely to talk about their follow up to Bastion’s success. Transistor is getting its début on PS4 early next year. A trailer plays.

• Proper in game footage is shown, it plays in a very similar style to Bastion did with an interesting art style to it and plenty of sword fighting.

• Sony points out that they allow indie developers to publish their own titles. First shots fired at Microsoft.

• Another trailer begins showing that Don’t Starve is coming to Sony’s console.

• Mercenary Kings, a hand drawn multiplayer shooter.

• Octodad, one of the weirdest things I have ever seen.

• Secret Ponchos – guns and more weird things.

• A zombie stealth action puzzler is next.

• Outlast – sinister looking camera based horror game it seems.

• Odd World! A full remake of the original coming to PS4.

• An impressive line-up of indie developers given a chance to show off. Every game shown is making their ‘exclusive’ début on PS4. Not surprising, really.

• Diablo 3 will have Playstation exclusive equipment, not fussed about that really.

• A video message from Square Enix – what? Couldn’t be bothered coming on stage?

• He’s showing off a new trailer for something. Maybe that Final Fantasy game?

• Noctis is mentioned, so this is FF13 Verses.

• Epic music, new gameplay, people eating soup!

• It was an impressive trailer, maybe it’s finally being released. Oh and it’s been renamed into Final Fantasy 15, I think? Or did they just hint that’s coming soon too? What just happened?

• Another trailer from them next.

• Disney and Square Enix? Yes! Kingdom Hearts.

• Kingdom Hearts 3 is real and it has proper gameplay in the trailer. Very excited about this, as sad it is. However it is only ‘in development’ with no due date given.

• FF14 is exclusive to PS3 and 4 I think he said.

• Some Assassin’s Creed 4 stuff next, not terribly interesting. However a world premier of the game in action follows which is always (always!) better than a trailer.

• A stereotypical Assassin’s Creed stalk and stealth kill section plays out on stage. The game has atmosphere, I’ll give it that. Some explosions later and a run sequence begins showing off the movement system.

• The gameplay froze a bit at the end there, not sure if it cut off where it was supposed to or not but I think that was a little embarrassing.

• The creative director on Watch Dogs is on next to talk a bit more about his game.

• The scenario for the gameplay demo is evading police in order to rescue a friend. As he drives he is caught and a high speed chase ensues. The player guides his friend’s route through armed thugs using cameras and other tech.

• Someone is playing on a tablet to help him – getting kind of sick of this ‘feature’ being shown in all these games.

• Player is encouraged not to kill innocent police officers, ruins their adventuring career instead.

• Playstation gets some bonus DLC for Watch Dogs.

• Some sport stuff next, but it’s impressive showing the real player talking to his rendered computer equivalent.

• The Elder Scrolls Online is next.

• A mostly in game trailer for the game plays, but does reuse some previously revealed footage too. Hows the game can be played first person though which I think is newly shown. Coming Spring 2014.

• The beta for ESO will be exclusive (timed, I assume) to PS4.

• Something new playing now, a world exclusive apparently. A man in the desert approaching a corpse in the desert. Not sure what this is just yet. Mad Max? I was going to make a joke that it looked a lot like that, how strange.

• Jack is back on stage.

• “Without imposing restrictions or devaluing purchases” what?

• PS4 doesn’t restrict second hand gaming – they win.

• Pretty much over now. They just win. Move along.

• Trade ins fine, sell it is fine, lend it is fine. Real applause and cheering goes on for a long time.

• No online DRM. Second biggest cheer from the real audience.

• There is no online check at all very specifically giving the finger to Microsoft. Mentions the 24hr check and points out PS4 will not do that. Kick them while they are down, do it harder!

• I wonder if this means they also embrace the You Tube generation given that they already fully support second hand gaming and Ustream.

• Existing PSN+ memberships apply to PS4 and PSVita and still apply to your PS3.

• Wait this sounds like that on PS4 PSN+ is required for online which is new. If that improves the stability and remains cheaper than Xbox Live that’s fine by me.

• PSN+ members get free access to Driveclub at PS4 launch.

• They also get a new title every month for free – mentions Don’t Starve and other indie games.

• Something special is last. He mentions Bungie so this is obviously Destiny. He also mentions Activision.

• Gameplay premier of Destiny. Shame about the Activision thing, but let’s see what this game is like.

• Looks like the world is in ruins and there’s some kind of makeshift fort area. Pretty looking. Interesting way to do drop-in co-op they literally drop in via a jet. They are going painfully slow but I assure you it is on purpose to build to something.

• I’m getting a Halo meets Borderlands vibe.

• Some fairly generic gameplay later the demo opens up and is a little bit more impressive visually speaking. A third party member joins to the two on stage and they have some terrible fake team talk. A ship in the distance comes crashing down and thankfully shuts them up.

• Something called a public event starts and another fire team appears. Looks like about six or seven of them now having a large brawl. They take out a boss enemy and then a pre-made trailer plays.

• It’s due out in 2014.

• Andrew is back to say that Sony has an exclusive deal with Bungie.

• He’s now talking about Sony’s Gaikai cloud system. He wants to give context to it. Wonder what that means…

• It’s available in 2014 starting in the US. PS3 and PS4, followed by Vita, access to a back catalogue of games which are streamed. Disappointing if you don’t have a decent broadband connection might I add.

• PS4 is £349 – amazing price, surely selling at a loss like they did with the PS3 but clever too. Released ‘this holiday season’ so perhaps not as early as Xbox One.

• “True consumer ownership and true consumer trust” good things to hear. Hope they stick to their words.

Sony wins E3 2013. Really isn’t any question about that. They will also easily dominant the next generation of consoles unless Microsoft does something very quickly. See you next year, everyone!

Ubisoft may well be the most interesting publisher conference this year. I suspect heavy focus on Watch Dogs (though they revealed the trailer they’ll be showing here a few hours early) and more on Assassin’s Creed 4.

• Don’t you steal your own thunder if you release a trailer for one of your big games before your own conference?

• The conference opens with darkness and an announcer. Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains comes on stage. Since he has a guitar I assume he’s famous. He plays it for a bit.

• I’ve been finding the conferences fairly dull so I can’t begrudge them opening with a song.

• Rocksmith using voice commands it seems. A game that does not need a sequel it just needs cheaper DLC.

• How funny would it be if he messed up his own song on it?

• Rocksmith an all new 2014 edition. As someone who has played a lot of the current Rockmith I suggest just getting that instead.

• A woman on stage wearing a hash tag ‘girlwood’ t-shirt. Wait…I remember her. She’s the awful unfunny presenter from last year that had the geek sidekick! This is terrible!

• She talks at the crowd a bit, jokes fall flat. Remembers she’s supposed to be introducing the event. Then goes back to bad jokes.

• More bad jokes.

• Onto Splinter Cell Blacklist – stop talking and show me something I’m actually interested in despite the lack of Ironside.

• She leaves the stage and a CG trailer for Blacklist plays. Fairly typical stuff setting up the general gist of the plot regarding all troops being sent home or a weekly terrorist attack will be carried out. Punctual terrorists!

• After some co-op campaign the Spy VS Merc multiplayer mode is shown a little also before going back to campaign. There doesn’t seem to be an on stage demo sadly which is a little disappointing.

• The presenter is back to talk about Rayman. Not my style but popular I know.

• Rayman Legends – this is already out, isn’t it? No wait this is the one that got delayed after it went multi-platform and annoyed everyone! Bit dangerous drawing attention like that.

• It’s finally out December 3^rd. Which, despite what the presenter said, is not very, very soon.

• Another trailer plays for the same game because one trailer is never enough.

• The next game is The Mighty Quest of Epic Loot which sounds like a name marketing came up with to be cool.

• This guy on to talk about it is wearing a sweat top! Not even a shirt. He looks like it’s someone they grabbed off the street a few minutes before. He challenges people to try and steal his loot (I assume a bindle filled with empty food cans).

• A trailer for MQEL as no one will ever call it plays with a Zap Brannigan-esque knight showing off his castle in a less than comical fashion. Ends with him swearing a lot to bleeps for comedic effect because when you can’t be funny swearing will get you there quick.

• The free beta is available to sign up to, though.

• Lady is back “humour and gaming are two of my favourite things” – then why aren’t you good at either?

• South Park The Stick of Truth is next, seemed like genuine cheers as the trailer began. It’s released this year, maybe.

• Finally it is next gen games.

• Pro-tip – don’t insult your gaming audience while trying to get them on your side.

• Good lord either she is massive or Yves is a tiny man. Oh, she’s tall. Someone it seemed cuter the other way and I suspect I was surprised by it last year too.

• A new game called ‘The Crew’ is being shown. It starts in a modern looking garage with a lot of tires so I hope this isn’t a race game.

• It’s a race game.

• Looks multiplayer focused, hence the crew bit. Preforming crimes in customizable cars available sometime in 2014. A developer working on it comes on stage to chat about it a bit.

• “You’ll experience what total freedom is!” Is that with or without an always on connection?

• “We’ve made the entire game a persistent online world.” Oh.

• What is hanging from this guy’s back leg? Just noticed. Is that toilet roll? It isn’t his belt. I should focus on the gameplay demo but honestly now I want to know what that was.

• If you put this next to that Need for Speed game from the other conference you’d struggle to tell them apart. By you I mean me, but I think even those into their car games would say they are similar. Need for Speed with a family friendly version of something like Twisted Metal.

• Yup, hold that controller right in front of your crotch – it makes for a great camera view for the millions of people watching and you’ll enjoy the vibration feedback at the same time.

• They are spending far too long on this game but if nothing else it shows they care about it.

• Noticed that a lot of the civilians they are literally inches from as they speed through the streets don’t react at all to the near death experience.

• As the presenter introduces Watch Dogs I liked to think she was instead talking about the bleak Xbox One future.

• Is this person on to talk about Watch Dogs using a computer to speak? His voice sounds strangely mechanical. It’s actually quite distracting. Very strange.

• A CG trailer (the one they showed before the show) airs again.

• And with that he’s off – that was disappointing. I was expecting an on-stage in game demonstration or something like that!

• They move onto Just Dance 2014 instead?! Wow.

• Do six people really get together to play these games together in the same room? Hope they have an internet connection or Xbox One might report them.

• Further insult to injury as a Raving Rabbids game is next. Does anyone honestly find them as funny as when they first appeared…seven or so years ago? It seems to be a TV show and a game at the same time. A guy on stage to talk about it.

• “Interactive TV show” – if this isn’t on Xbox One I’ll eat my fictional hat.

• Yup Xbox One. Can’t make this stuff up. Also his weird flower shirt is weird.

• Okay, it’s aimed at children so we can’t be down on this too much no matter how bad or tedious it looks.

• I was talking about the Xbox One, by the way.

• This Rabbids game is terrible too, though.

• “Back to core gamer goodness” by which the presenter means Assassin’s Creed 4. Not particularly into a rushed sequel based solely on the phrase “Boat sections are quite fun” seen in numerous AC3 reviews.

• Regardless, a CG trailer for it plays. Pirates and stuff. Assassin pirates. That’s almost like ninja pirates. Don’t you somewhat lose the moral high ground if you aren’t assassinating people who deserve it you’re just stealing from anyone you like?

• At least it wasn’t just a trailer, Jean Geussdon comes on stage to chat about it a little bit. Sadly he isn’t really saying anything that either wasn’t already known or is terribly interesting.

• This is more interesting – proper in game footage. Though it is presented in a trailer style it still looks good. Nothing given away by it.

• A new trailer plays, not sure what this is. A bike jumps into the sky then falls comically. Ah, a new Trials game. I’m sure people will be into this though I admit not playing them.

• It seems Trials Frontier is on mobile and Trials Fusion is on the next generation of consoles. Both are out in 2014.

• Yves is back on, sounded for a minute there that he was going to fire her but it seems to be some other surprise. He’s mentioning open world, online, RPGs. A Massive Entertainment game.

• A trailer plays and mentions Dark Winter but shows very little so far other than we apparently don’t know how to control the world. Now it’s talking about Black Friday and then flu germs that live on bank notes and cause an epidemic. That’s…an interesting concept, I suppose.

• Are they aware that looks like the Heroes logo?

• A man wearing a very camp set of clothing comes on to talk about whatever we just saw.

• About to see a demo where one person is playing on his tablet – presumably everyone else on their console? A city at Christmas is wrecked and in disarray but still no sign of the players yet.

• Jut like that though we see one. Graphics are fairly impressive. I like the minimalistic HUD. Also a second camera confirms he’s playing on the PS4 at the moment.

• Of all the bad fake team talk in these conferences so far, this is the most natural sounding.

• The guy using the tablet is controlling a small flying spy bot type thing that is offering support. It’s almost like people are classes, one person used a group heal. Bit weird for a modern setting game, but interesting.

• After a gunfight they free some locked up police offices and gain XP. They move on through the police station and gain access to the armoury.

• Looks like the impressive gameplay demo is wrapping up, still don’t know what it’s called.

• Tom Clancy’s The Division is the title and despite seemingly being online only was the most impressive thing so far. Out on both Xbox One and PS4.

• The guy comes back on stage to scare the audience with some firecrackers.

• The presenter is on to wrap up and thankfully only tried a couple of bad jokes. With that it is all over.

That was fairly boring for the most part but they ended strong with The Division which has caught my attention and seemed impressive.

EA! What could you do here not to annoy anyone else?

• I hope they talk about how successful SimCity was.

• The show opens with a rather loud trailer of a bunch of title names to terrible music and a giant EA logo.

• I keep forgetting Peter Moore is their CEO and every year I hate him more. He’s on stage, either way.

• No tie but only one microphone so you break even so far, Peter. Mentions both PS4 and Xbox One.

• They kick off with a series that has millions of fans apparently.

• It’s a Plants VS Zombies 2 trailer that opened as a parody to Battlefield. It’s gone full fancy 3D and a lot of the charm is immediately lost. It also doesn’t seem conventionally defence based, but that may just be the trailer.

• Someone wearing a zombie head takes to the stage. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if it wasn’t a mask? It’s a ‘3^rd person action title’. The stuff showing on the screens behind him does look like it actually plays the same just with a bit more 3D graphics.

• After a joke that falls flat someone else comes on stage to talk about it and an on stage demo begins.

• Wait, now it is fully 3D and not as charming. Clearly not made with mobile devices in mind like the first one was. Multiple people playing plants as classes like some kind of horde deathmatch.

• As a dancing disco zombie boss appears I question whether we’ve gone too far with zombies as a concept.

• The guy leaves after shouting that Peggle 2 is coming.

• Now it’s time for more Titanfall (apparently that’s how you write it) and I’m interested in whether this will confirm PC as a release platform as well as Xbox One.

• Available Spring 2014, Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360 – fantastic.

• A video trailer different to the one from the MS conference plays showing interviews with the team making the game.

• There was a weird visual glitch on the trailer and now while it plays I’m hearing audio from backstage I think, or from the crowd watching. Yup there’s definetely more audio playing now and then pretty sure it’s the on stage guys whispering to one another as the trailer plays.

• Game still looks good though, a nice take on the stereotypical run and gun multiplayer game.

• Frank Gibeau, president of EA Labels apparently, comes on stage to talk about the new systems and why EA is brilliant. Specifically two engines, but only Frostbite3 matters since the other one is sport based.

• A Dice trailer playing next with lots of snow and still audio of someone clearing their throat now and then. Oh, it’s Star Wars.

• Star Wars Battlefront, though very little was shown other than a ship crashing.

• A car game is next. That is all.

• It’s a new Need for Speed. I use the term new loosely. They specifically point out that the game can be played offline but that online is so much better.

• Wow I zoned out for about five minutes and it’s still this car game.

• I zoned out again – is this a movie star or something? Why is a car on the stage? Why did he say like two things then walk off stage? Is this another trailer for the same game?!

• Wait – that was a movie trailer? Come on!

• Someone on stage now from Bioware (who knows which Bioware since there’s like ten of them now) to talk about Dragon Age Inquisition. It’s out Fall 2014.

• A trailer plays, I suspect this will be all CG.

• Characters from previous Dragon Age games shown along with lots of CG fighting in a war between those who support magic and those who don’t, I assume. Morrigan was narrating it.

• EA Sports – it’s in the game, later, once you download the DLC.

• Andrew Wilson is talking about sports. Along with cars something which offers no interest to me.

• A trailer talking about dribbling plays. I could be more specific for those who didn’t see it live but I think it’s more entertaining not to. Plus then you don’t have to hear about the awful man rapping about basketball on stage. If this is a famous player I wouldn’t know.

• Also yup it’s definitely backstage talking the microphones are picking up because I heard the runner prep the next guy on stage just before he went on. Good work, sound guy.

• A bored sounding basketball player is on stage talking about a boring game in a pre-scripted conversation about how people want real dribbling. He literally just said “Redefining the dribble.”

• NBA Live is back. Yay?

• Now a Madden game for Xbox One and PS4. They seem to confuse what a player is capable of (or rather, how they can influence reacting on the fly) with how an AI would react under pre-programmed circumstances. This is pure nonsense if you stop to think about it for a second.

• “Here’s what everyone has been asking for, a trailer of the new Madden!” Where are these people and how many are not directly employed by you?

• A tiny collection of applause end this part.

• Now football!!! This is why I hate the EA conference every year. It honestly is so boring if you aren’t into sports.

• Someone called Drake on stage. Or is the game called Drake? His name came up on screen simply as ‘Drake’ so I guess he’s like Cher. Must be famous, or something. Talking about FIFA. Is that a golden owl necklace he’s wearing?

• If you’re still here at this stage – they are still talking about football. Check back in five.

• A microphone falls onto the stage. Someone called Bruce Buffer shouts into it. Is this going to be UFC now or something? Yes, yes it is. The president of UFC is a man named Dana? H-oh wait he’s actually quite large, never mind.

• Awkward pause for begrudgingly given applause.

• This is a sale’s pitch on why fighting is good and everyone should allow UFC to be broadcast into their country. Games to follow. Next Spring.

• I will say that I’m glad they aren’t pushing Origin every single second like the last couple of years, but that’s the only plus point so far.

• Battlefield 4 is next and it sure is a game, I think. Two men game on stage and said thanks even though no one clapped or welcomed them. They are talking about how important it is to be CONNECTED and other such words. Subtle.

• 64 players confirmed and air, land, sea combat.

• A commander mode is being added, similar to how the commander role in Natural Selection works. By similar I mean identical beyond that it can be used on tablet devices which is kind of nifty.

• An on stage demo begins with a full group of 64 people visible playing it live. There will be a live stream of the game from their both over the next couple of days.

• Some fake team talk later the playing begins. As usual it looks pretty but generic.

• He said it was a five man mission so I’m a little confused whether this is human enemies or not. If it is then they are acting in a pre-planned manner because if this were a real online deathmatch someone would have been run over by a team mate in a tank by now.

• Boat combat! Speedboat combat! I rate these up there with mo-cap dogs, honestly.

• The demo ends with a building collapsing and a female soldier asking to be backed up. First woman of the event in a gun game, right?

• He ends saying people have always asked for one thing and Dice is going to deliver. This is Mirror’s Edge 2.

• Coming when it’s ready, apparently.

• Moore is back on to ruin the mood by talking about it. Sounds like he might be wrapping this up – is it already over?

• Wow, that really was it. 80% sports 19% Battlefield 4, 1% interesting.

Sports. Too much sports. Same as last year.

Another year – another E3 armchair write up as I suffer through multi-million dollar companies completely missing their mark thanks to the lazy ones amongst us mistaking a game console for Netflix delivery device.

Guesses for what’s on show this year should be easy enough to correctly assume. Microsoft will be doing a hilariously large amount of Reputation Management, convincing us their spy camera TV box also plays games and will end on a big reveal (Halo 5, I suspect since mo-cap dogs fell flat) to make everyone try to forget all the bad stuff. If you DO forget the bad stuff, I hate you.

• Let’s play a drinking game. I bet you thought I was going to say take a shot every time someone says “TV” or “Sports” but nope not that. Microsoft will try to fit in the words “Game,” “Gaming,” “Video Game,” at every opportunity. You will come away remembering those words whether you like it or not.

• The show opens with a trailer from Konami and two men riding horses. Specifically it’s Kojima Productions and so I guess MGS5.

• Fox Engine you are pretty, but your lip syncing is terrible.

• A new breed of stealth it says on screen (he can lean sideways on a horse so people nearby can go “Oh, look, that horse is riding itself.”)

• Parts of the trailer go into fast forward, I’d like to assume this is a real game feature so there’s even less gameplay breaking up Kojima’s pointless lumps of speech heavy exposition.

• The trailer shows the usual ‘odd’ characters (if I were the Red Skull I’d sue Skull Face) the game will feature to a horrible bit of music, but that said it’s a very pretty looking game.

• Don Mattrick and Hideo Kojima take to the stage.

• Oh no, Hideo is trying English.

• Just like that he’s off again and I notice that Don has two microphones on for no good reason.

• Oh, Don didn’t expect the audience to applaud when they did. I assume it wasn’t the press again.

• Yusuf Mehdi takes to the stage again, hopefully this time not to say TV a single time.

• A new thin 360 is available today though to be honest it didn’t look much different to the current black Elite model.

• Gold Members get two free games per month starting with Assassin’s Creed 2 and Halo 3. You really liked that feature of PSN+ huh, Yusuf?

• Just noticed he’s wearing two microphones as well.

• Something never available on consoles before is up next, a ‘global phenomenon’ custom built for 360 (I do mean 360, by the way). Ah, the much rumoured World of Tanks console release I bet.

• Want a neon tank that can almost fly? No? Oh.

• If you did keep in mind it’s been on PC for ages and is free.

• That was an overly long trailer for literally just showing a few different tanks shooting at each other and then it gets extended even further by someone coming on stage to talk about it.

• Long shot of audience confirms most press still just blogging rather than clapping, so it’s the people at the back once more.

• 15 on 15 team warfare. Tanks. Tank on tank action. More tanks.

• How specific can you make a tank shooting game’s control be for a 360 pad?

• Only on Xbox 360. Best not get that Xbox One then.

• The 360 section closes with a trailer showing some more titles coming to the console over the rest of the year. It opens with a very awkward man wearing glasses two sizes too large for his head.

• The game appears to be a platformer about a boy who accidentally curses his brother and gets him kidnapped by monsters. Max The Curse of Brotherhood.

• Bandai Namco and From Software next so this will be Dark Souls 2 for sure.

• This is for you masochists out there. Essentially the same bad game just even more unfair but with better graphics.

• New section now opening with Phil Spencer. He’s still wearing two watchers and two microphones and a State of Decay t-shirt. He only talks with his right hand as well, which is odd. I think he might be doing it to keep speech beats.

• Oh, right. He’s going to show a game or something. A trailer plays.

• This is something about Rome. Ah, a very short trailer for Ryse which then opens to in game footage.

• Once again the graphics are impressive, but who knew that Romans had American and British accents. Quick time events lead to finisher moves in a Gods of War esque brawler style. I’m not against QTE finisher moves but the combat does seem to use an awful lot.

• Ah it seems a person on stage is actually playing so perhaps he’s to blame for too many parry-QTE kills.

• Cevat Yerli takes to the stage to talking about Ryse: Son of Rome. You play as a general and command his legion. It’s an Xbox One launch exclusive and will be playable at E3. Yerli then walks off.

• Another trailer plays. The return of Killer Instinct which leaked to everyone a day or so ago.

• Ted Price from Insomniac comes on stage to talk about another exclusive. Sunset Overdrive an open world shooter that ‘changes every day’. Ah, it needs the cloud in some manner – that’s right, repackage that always-not off.

• It looks like Brink if Brink were a cartoon. I also don’t think this is in-game stuff and more a concept trailer type thing. Didn’t give a lot away as the trailer ends, still not sure of how the Azure Cloud adds to anything regarding it.

• It’s a car thing next. Toilet break, everyone!

• Seriously though am I watching an advert for a car or is a game coming?

• It is a game! No wait, it IS a car. They have one on stage for some reason.

• Forza Motorsport 5 – I hope they don’t waste time talking about this for a while.

• The guy on stage talking about this game is one of those guys who love their car just a little too much. I mean in a really creepy way.

• As I do every year, I must apologise to anyone with a genuine enthusiasm for car related games and my inability to pay attention to them for these reports. It has cars. You drive stuff. It learns how you drive or something. Sounds a bit like it helps you cheat, but as I say I’m only half listening.

• Got the subtext here now about seeing your friends even if they aren’t online and so on – more cloud based always-not off.

• Finally something else but sadly it’s Phil Harrison on stage.

• I love the Xbox One constantly being in the background watching everything going on. It’s a vision of the future.

• Oh he’s talking about indie developers and why they shouldn’t hate Xbox One.

• “Seeking out those special games” – and making them get a publisher before we’ll care, am I right?

• Did he just imply it was all thanks to Microsoft that the games he’s about to show are being played so much?

• Minecraft is coming to Xbox One with far less content than the PC version as per usual.

• Quantum Break is being mentioned and my interest was raised, but then they reminded me its an Xbox One exclusive.

• Sam Lake on stage to talk about it. It blends TV and games because reasons. I love you guys at Remedy, but still.

• You play as someone who survived a failed science experiment that caused time to stutter and freeze. An in game trailer plays showing a receptionist having the third worst day of her life. The trailer doesn’t give much away about plot or gameplay, sadly.

• Another trailer of a game from Microsoft Studios plays involving punching, big white owls, a man with poor dress sense. It’s called D4, the trailer gives little away.

• From MS Studios Dave McCarthy comes on to chat a bit. Is he holding an iPad?

• Project Spark is the game he’s – no, seriously – is he holding an iPad?

• A guy talks to his Xbox One telling it to add water and mountains and other pretty things. This looks like it’d get boring after five minutes.

• Oh! Smartglass. Legally distinct tablet from an iPad. He’s using that to put in hills, moats and things like that using his finger rather than his voice. The future is here!

• This reminds me of the old Dark Cloud games as he builds his own village, crossed with the adjective adding aspects of Scribblenauts.

• First horrible pre-practised ‘gamer chat’ of the night.

• “Nice moves, Rockman.” They realize that’s a thing already, right?

• More horrible fake tactic talking between them as one fights while the other alters the landscape to pick on a poor bunch of goblins.

• This ends showing some examples of the worlds and objects other people have made using it so far. It seems creativity is there at least in terms of imitation of existing styles. I guess this will be the Xbox One’s Little Big Planet.

• Next on stage is Marc Whitten without a tie or proper top.

• He talks with one hand and then the other.

• I bet you wanted to see more about Smartglass. I sure do because I still don’t know how it’s any different to any other touch screen device. You can get instant real time stat comparisons because everyone has always wanted to do that at any split second.

• So if I understand this correctly the idea is that while you’re playing, your not-an-iPad can give you hints and tell you stats of your friends etc because you can concentrate on two things at once easily that aren’t close together like the old Dreamcast pad.

• More horrible fake smack talk in a Killer Instinct match.

• With Upload Studio you can edit and personalize video and record commentary with Kinect and upload via the cloud. As someone who does a lot of video editing I can tell you it does not offer enough features to create a good looking cut.

• Xbox One partners with Twitch to stream live, it’s built into it.

• Microsoft Points are gone – first genuine applause from audience.

• Another exclusive plays – Crimson Dragon I think he said it was called.

• The trailer doesn’t seem to have any audio for some reason.

• I hear people booing in the silence of the trailer not playing correctly.

• As the silent trailer ends the fake cheers begin.

• From Capcom two people take the stage about an open world zombie game.

• Dead Rising 3, which is interesting. I don’t think I heard ‘exclusive’ which is good.

• A new protagonist trying to escape somewhere because that is the plot to every zombie thing ever.

• Well there does seem to be a lot more zombies on screen without stuttering as he beats a few up and then flees to the rooftops to observe the area. There is an impressive number of zombies. He breaks into the house he was on.

• He finds a torch and a gun and on the fly is able to put them together.

• To distract the horde he fires a flare then runs down a path that didn’t require the distraction anyway.

• He combines a sledgehammer with a chainsaw.

• Free roam car driving is next as he explores a pretty large area filled to the brim with zombies. One eventually jumps onto the car and almost pulls him out of it.

• Oh no, Smartglass interaction to call in an airstrike. Who knew mechanics had the connections to do that?

• Available this holiday season and, sadly, is Xbox One exclusive.

• John Mamais takes to the stage to talk about The Witcher 3, if I were to guess by his t-shirt.

• Yup, and he said it isn’t exclusive in such a nice way.

• Optional voice commands as an exclusive feature. Everybody must buy this version of it!

• A trailer plays showing in game graphics and combat, looks like the same old pretty decent stuff seen in Witcher 2.

• People from EA and Dice take the stage to barely any applause at all to talk about campaign pack DLC before release. I mean, Battlefield 4.

• A lone cough to the ‘EA Presents’ at the start of the gameplay trailer makes me smile.

• Something goes wrong with this trailer too, it had no sound and so they try to start over. Isn’t technology a pain sometimes?

• Someone does a very childish ‘Ha, ha, ha-ha, ha’ and makes me smile even more.

• This is getting very awkward as people jeer from the audience.

• He isn’t sure whether to talk or walk off.

• Attempt two at the trailer and it seems to have sound this time. Fake applause too.

• Well aren’t these graphics very too much DLC? I mean, pretty.

• Did one character just say to the player’s character “Cracker, get the door”?

• Hang on – someone is on stage seemingly playing yet it was clearly a trailer issue to begin with so is it pretend? Either way I guess the stuff on screen is in game since it looks good but not unrealistically good.

• It also looks a lot like any military game you’d care to mention, like Call of Duty.

• Some combat and jolly boating later, the demonstration ends with unfortunately requires an Origin account. I mean, a plane almost crashing into them.

• Oh, good! A pre-release DLC pack will be exclusively on Xbox One rather than, you know, on the disk.

• Whatshisname is back talking with just his right hand again wearing a new shirt.

• A trailer plays for another game. It’s called Below but it didn’t really give much away.

• MS are investing in five new studios, but they are only showing a short trailer for one game one of the studios are working on. It’s barely 20 seconds long and almost literally (but not quite) shows nothing.

• Time for another trailer for another unfinished project from one of these studios. Lots of sand blowing about with a hooded figure walking in it. Something shakes the ground around him and then it falls away like there’s been a subterranean explosion. A large robot raises out of the ground with large wings.

• It’s revealed that the hooded figure was Master chief. I can’t wait for Halo 5 Gundam.

• 2014 flashes up on the screen as planned release date.

• Bonnie Ross comes on stage hopefully not to mention TV. Nope, less than a minute in it gets mentioned.

• A new Halo FPS on Xbox One, so not 5 then?

• Mentions cloud as an enhancing feature, subtle.

• She didn’t even say much of anything and is already gone.

• Right hand talkie man is back. I’m distracted by what looks like three blue sheep having relations on his t-shirt.

• Xbox One launches in November, surprising no one because this leaked before the show. £429 in the UK. No one applauded until they realized that he wasn’t going to speak again until someone did.

• His closing speech is sure mentioning games a lot, huh?

• One more exclusive to close the show on from Respawn Entertainment. Get ready for Call of Duty you’re-not-my-real-dad.

• Oh, my mistake. It’s actually futuristic with jetpacks and Gundams and so on so it’s more Call of Duty Halo which makes sense if it’s exclusive. Visuals weren’t that great surprisingly but I do have a soft spot for mech combat. The plot is about revenge, ha.

• The game is called Titan Fall. Or Titanfall, not sure if there is a space there or not.

• Vince Zampella comes on stage not to talk about the juicy stuff we want to hear. He does say Titan Fall focuses on multiplayer gameplay and (of course) the mighty sentient cloud that Xbox One simply can’t live without.

• An on-stage gameplay demo beings for the game immediately showing that it has multiplayer components. They have good taste in voice actors.

• The person playing as a build titan option on his hud. Lots of high jumping, wall runner, jet packing around which looks pretty smooth. Mixed with more so a Battlefield-esque HUD than Call of Duty.

• He eventually summons his titan and gets inside it. Gameplay looks pretty fun.

• The titan he’s riding in gets destroyed but he ejects, lands on an enemy, and destroys it.

• That is the close of the show it seems.

The only exclusives that I will be disappointed to miss, judging on what was shown here, will be Dead Rising 3 and Titan Fall. Other than that it was an improvement on the last two years at least because they didn’t focus on Kinect or Smartglass. The constant subtle reiterations on how important the cloud is for Xbox One was painful.

• Format: PC (version reviewed), 360, PS3
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: 2K Games
• Developer: Irrational Games
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/

To many people the original Bioshock was a prime example of a fantastic gaming experience – a masterpiece of well executed gaming, mood, plot and environment. It made a city under the sea believable. The team responsible for that game now turn their hands to Bioshock Infinite and a city in the sky.

You play as Booker DeWitt, a gun for hire deep in debt willing to do almost anything to weasel his way out of it. He is given the task of visiting the floating city of Columbia, which seceded from the US and is now ruled over by a so-called Prophet, finding a specific girl named Elizabeth and bringing her back to wipe away his debt forever.

Comparisons to Bioshock and Rapture specifically are impossible to ignore, but Columbia is a different beast for many reasons. In Bioshock you were late to the party – you were seeing Rapture years after it fell into death, decay and addiction, lending it (perhaps indirectly) an intimidating air; but in Infinite you are not only seeing Columbia in its prime but are directly responsible for things changing. It’s the first of many ways that the game attempts to come at you from a different direction, to forget Rapture and have a different experience.

It is hard not to appreciate the obvious amount of work that has gone into creating Columbia and we say that both in terms of being a joy to explore but also the attention to detail by the creators. The ironically lofty religious zeal that the city bleeds from every orifice the very moment you get there is unmistakeably purposeful. It feels like there was a reason behind every seemingly unimportant day-to-day moment you see as the game builds to the moment when things start to go wrong for DeWitt.

The moment we speak of is when you join a crowd that is preparing to bombard an interracial couple with balls. It is the first of many examples of the prejudiced opinions of Columbia’s inhabitants. Given the time it is set in and the people occupying the city this never feels desperate, and only ever uncomfortable when it is supposed to be. The player is never expected to side with the racist views of the people around them but nor are they expected to oppose it – it is simply there to be noticed for the most part, and whether you choose to ignore it or use it as motivation or justification for the things you do is down to your own choice.

The game is very well acted by the entire cast and the musical tracks apt for the period. What we were especially impressed by is how the game uses musical cues within the combat. Enemies being hit by critical hits, headshots or special melee finishers all cause dramatic melodic riffs that you’ll soon become acquainted with. It almost seems pointless in terms of achieving anything at first, yet as you become accustomed to hearing the chimes and violin strokes they will add some indeterminable importance that can’t be put into words.

Spending so long talking about the wonderful world you are let loose in to explore, change and irreconcilably damage is easy and a joy to do – partly because the other areas of the game are somewhat unremarkable. If you played Bioshock or Bioshock 2 you will be right at home with the combat that mixes gunplay and Vigors (comparable to the Plasmids of the other games) which delve into the realms of science fiction/fantasy and give DeWitt the ability to do such things as summon a murder of crows to attack enemies.

We were disappointed that there was so little variety in the Vigors available to the player. Essentially they all fall into the ‘press once to launch at foe – press and hold to lay a trap version’ school of play other than one or two exceptions meant for distraction rather than direct damage. It discourages replays when the only difference in powers is their visual representation, and this is confounded by the utter lack of visually distinctive weapon upgrades. Coupled with DeWitt’s inability to ever carry more than two weapons at any one time and the chance (or desire) to experiment compared to the Plasmids of Bioshock is gone.

A further low point is is how insultingly easy the game is even at the default difficulty of medium. We strongly encourage bumping that up straight away if you want any kind of challenge – not that death is ever much of a hindrance, thanks to Elizabeth constantly helping you back to your feet through most of the game. On that subject though the game never feels like an escort mission and you are actively encouraged not to worry about her safety and cut loose in fights, which is a smart thing to do.

Despite rather dull combat without experimentation, Bioshock Infinite is still a terrific experience. Columbia is a remarkable place to explore and even though we preferred the macabre vibe that Rapture exhibited we still appreciated the time and attention to detail spent creating Columbia and the people inside it. The story builds and builds to a mind-bending finish that – if it weren’t for an event in the first 30 minutes which mimicked an episode of Futurama with a disturbingly similar concept for an overall plot – will probably have most people’s jaws hitting the floor. While we would still recommend Bioshock more, we recommend not missing Bioshock Infinite, as a decent experience like this doesn’t come along nearly often enough.

The score below represents enjoying the dramatic journey through a well made setting and story with likeable characters, more than gameplay that – as we said – is fairly forgettable. Keep that in mind depending on what you value more.

• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3
• Unleashed: January 15th
• Publisher: Capcom
• Developer: Ninja Theory
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.devilmaycry.com

When DmC Devil May Cry was first revealed it was met by near-universal cries of “What have you done to Dante?!” and rather than focus on whether Ninja Theory would be able to put a spin on the original game’s storyline and keep the fast paced hack and slash gameplay that fans have always loved intact, Dante’s face remained the main talking point. Were fans right to nitpick the design of the main character instead of worrying about the game? Time to find out.

For those familiar with the setup to the very first game, the basic premise is the same here but with a modernised twist. Mundus, an evil demon lord, is still the game’s villain except this time he has possessed the body of a human and is controlling the world through debt, drugs and biased news networks. Sparda, Mundus’ trusted general, betrays him and becomes involved with an angel, spurring Mundus to murder them both. Skip ahead a few years and Dante, the offspring of Sparda and his lover, is forced to take on the demon king after his whereabouts are discovered.

It is in fact the modern twist that most people may have the most difficulty getting over, rather than Dante’s appearance or personality. His attitude remains more or less in keeping with the Dante of a similar age in DMC3 (cocky, slightly arrogant, badass but also with a sense of compassion for humanity) and Ninja Theory is to be saluted for a direct mocking of knee-jerk reactions from fans regarding that.

The modernising of a world secretly controlled by demons may be a case of love it or hate it, and personally we loved it. Above all it felt refreshing and new. Dante is often drawn into Limbo which is the hidden, demon version of the real world – so those worried about dull or plain colours and environments shouldn’t be concerned. Two good examples would be Dante’s twisted trip in Limbo through a colourful demonic nightclub, and a building filled with the tortured souls of bankers.

Gameplay is perhaps the most important thing in a game like this. Despite the modern twist to the plot and pacing, we were actually surprised at how faithful the combat remained to the previous DMC games. We don’t just mean bringing back old techniques (though there is that), but also just how fast, fun, frantic and flowing the combat is. As previous players of the other DMC games we felt right at home. Like former games you are rewarded for mixing the various weapons that Dante gets with more Style Points, and it pays to work out some good combinations when you are faced with some of the harder enemies rather than stick with one thing.

A running theme in the game is demons and angels and this is reflected in combat too – some of Dante’s weapons are considered to be angelic, and some demonic. There are enemies that can only be hurt or stunned by one particular type, which forces you to switch your tactics – especially when faced by a couple of different types at the same time. Another example is an enemy that spreads demonic fire around the floor but, if you’re equipped with a demonic weapon, Dante will take no damage from it.

The game also tends to introduce a new enemy type a little bit before you’ll get a weapon that has some advantage over them, which is an interesting way to spike the difficulty curve and improve your ability to adapt in combat. Even later on in the game it starts giving hints on advanced techniques to take out the tougher enemies, which will help prepare the player for higher difficulties.

If we were to point out some small negatives it would be that the story is fairly predictable (particularly if you’ve watched the trailer for the Vergil pre-order DLC) and that it is far too easy to get up to an ‘S Rank’ (though SSS is the highest possible), both in battle and at the end of mission ranking. It can be argued that players with previous DMC experience may also find the game lacking in challenge without bumping up the difficulty to max; totally new players should find adequate challenge though. If you aren’t interested in unlocking and taking on higher difficulties there is not much to hold your attention after the initial playthrough either, unless you desperately want to unlock skins and collectables (artwork and so on).

The game has 20 missions and on the standard difficulty, it took us almost bang on ten hours to get through them all. There are two higher difficulties available above that from the get go with three or four more unlockable beyond that (including the return of Heaven and Hell mode, and Hell and Hell mode).

DmC Devil May Cry is a surprisingly faithful retelling of the DMC storyline and, despite what naysayers on the internet may think, is both fun to play and respectful to the heritage it is based on. We felt right at home here as previous DMC players, but it’s also accessible enough that it will interest a new generation of people in the franchise. Well worth playing whether you’re familiar with the series or just a general hack n slash fan.

• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Konami
• Developer: Kojima Productions
• Players: 1-2
  
• Site: http://www.konami.jp/zoe_hd/

In a departure from the Metal Gear franchise in 2001, Hideo Kojima pursued his love of giant robots with Zone of the Enders, a mech based Sci-Fi action game. Along with an anime, it also spurred a sequel two years later in the form of Zone of the Enders 2: The Second Runner. Both games have been re-released in this HD collection.

In Zone of the Enders you play as Leo, a young boy inhabiting a space station orbiting Mars which is raided by the BAHRAM group in search of two Orbital Frames it wishes to acquire. These frames are giant robotic suits created with an incredibly poor choice of cockpit location in mind. During the initial attack, Leo flees into a warehouse and accidentally ends up stuck inside the Orbital Frame Jehuty. After being forced to defend himself using the frame, he is asked to deliver it to the people it was originally meant for.

The first Z.O.E. game was a little short on plot and scope. You’re essentially on a delivery run across the space station with some obstacles thrown at you and some weak attempts at debates about killing and pacifism between Leo and ADA (Jehuty’s computer AI) feel very forced. Not only that but the game cuts off rather abruptly, perhaps because Kojima expected a sequel wouldn’t be far behind.

It can be argued that the game was more about the action, which is fair enough. It’s very easy to control Jehuty through the 3D environments and the controls largely work fine. Your distance to your locked-on target determines whether you use a wrist mounted blade or guns, which takes some getting used to. There are also a half dozen or so ‘sub-weapons’ which can heal you or fire like a machine gun and so on to give you a more controllable option in terms of attack type.

Your frame levels up as you engage ‘groups’ of enemies in each area you visit that will attack if they fly close enough to you in real time. You have to do a lot of fighting, especially if you aren’t familiar with the game and need to keep revisiting unlocked areas to find whatever newly spawned upgrade you need to progress further. This doesn’t help combat getting repetitive fairly fast, but this isn’t too much of a problem since the game only takes around four to five hours to finish on your first go and can easily be done in under two on further playthroughs. Other than replaying the campaign, Z.O.E. only offers up a versus mode for two players in terms of extras.

Set a few years after the original, you play as Dingo in Zone of Enders 2. Through a convoluted series of events he ends up in the Jehuty Orbital Frame much the same as Leo was and is blackmailed into using it to help defeat BAHRAM once and for all and stop their nonsensical super weapon from blowing up everything ever.

Z.O.E. 2 makes a lot of positive improvements on the original formula, but also manages to ruin a few things. To get the bad out the way first: Beyond horrific story, terrible acting, tedious tasks, exceptionally short, and absolutely nothing to elicit empathy towards. It actually manages to take something as bland as the plot to the first game and makes it feel superior. Thankfully, you can skip all the cutscenes.

Gameplay is vastly improved. Combat feels faster, is more visually impressive, and flows far better. You’re forced to change tactics from boss to boss and a bigger variety of sub-weapons means that you don’t just need to ram your attack button non-stop for three or four hours. There is also an attempt to give the player more to do, which is appreciated, but as we said, some of the tasks you’re given (like carrying other frames to locations) are just plain annoying.

The second game has similar unlockable extras to the first game (a VS mode for two people) but adds collectables in the form of EX Missions. These unlock bonus missions for Jehuty and also other frames and even includes a retro style space shooter.

Along with a new five minute anime intro, both games have received a reasonable graphical upgrade in terms of how sharp and detailed environments and characters are. The games have also been adapted to play in larger native resolutions without quality loss. Other than that you essentially have the same two reasonably fun, albeit pretty short, adventure games with the same extras they originally shipped with. Achievement and Trophy support has also been included for those into that sort of thing and, in an act mimicking the original release of the first Zone of Enders game, the HD collection includes an exclusive playable demo of Metal Gear: Revengeance.

The games are worth a look for fans of the mech anime style (Gundam, for example) or Kojima die-hards to be sure. For everyone else – at a reduced RRP of £24.99 – Zone of the Enders: HD Collection balances out to be a fair price for what you get, though neither game included can ever be classed as anything other than not that bad.

• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3, PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: 2K Games
• Developer: Gearbox Software
• Players: 1-4
• Site: http://www.borderlands2.com/

Borderlands was a 2009 release which sought to exploit the MMO-style desire of latent OCD suffering gamers across the world to collect bigger and better loot. It saw great success thanks to this feature and a solid co-operative system, despite never really trying particularly hard with plot. Skip ahead to today and Borderlands 2 sets out to build on the success of the previous game while addressing the original shortcomings.

Set a few years after the first game, an ancient vault on the planet Pandora has been opened and a new element called Eridium has begun appearing across the landscape, morphing it as it goes. The Hyperion corporation (one of the gun makes also featured in the first game) led by Handsome Jack have descended on Pandora to rid it of its bandit population and find what other secrets might be hidden there. You play as one of four new Vault Hunters tricked by the promise of challenge and reward, brought to Pandora only to be promptly back-stabbed by Jack and left for dead in the snow.

What is immediately obvious and consistent throughout the whole game is that Gearbox has made a far bigger effort to break up the inevitable monotony of kill quests, fetch quests and finding slightly better guns by breathing far more life in Pandora and its denizens. Rather than spatter tiny bits of humour here and there ,it instead intertwines consistently good humour in with plots (both main and side) that try hard to keep things entertaining. Yes, this might be a generic kill quest you’ve just been sent on, but it’s to deliver pizza to and kill four mutants parodying Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Granted that pop-culture references aren’t for everyone, it’s worth pointing out that the humour is of a high enough standard to not rely only on those. What especially helps is how good an antagonist Handsome Jack is. Right from the off you will be harassed by him and this will carry on throughout the game. It is a testament to excellent character writing that you will love, hate and be annoyed by Jack at the same time. He is genuinely funny, while also being horrifically evil. His speeches bob and weave between silly and sinister expertly – such as one occasion where, while laughing, he tries to recount the time to you that someone tried to kill him with a spoon, only to let slip at the end that he murdered them in front of their wife and children by gouging out their eyes.

What can’t be ignored is that at its core Borderlands 2 remains about the loot. You will want to find bigger and better loot. Each big chest is just waiting to potentially contain something shiny depending on how the game randomly ‘rolls’. It’s intoxicating to find a new gun, even if it’s only slightly better than one you are currently using. Far more life has been given to the guns too thanks to more unique characteristics between different manufacturers and a new element (called slag) and a new weapon type called E-Tech (Eridium infused guns that make them act very, very uniquely).

We were able to play through the whole game and most of True Vault Hunter Mode (New Game+) without ever feeling that the game got too monotonous – which is a step up from our experience with the first game. What helped was playing the game co-operatively, and once again we would strongly advocate that if you plan to play a Borderlands game never, ever play it alone as the monotony would be far more likely to set in regardless of how good the plot is. Up to four people can play one game and even play the same class if they want.

Were we to pick faults with the game, it would be in the characters you play as. They have been given a bit more life than the cast of the first game (who, ironically, are given even more life this time thanks to heavy inclusion in the plot) but that doesn’t excuse the fact they lack progressive depth. The cast this time around are essentially just copies of the original classes with very little changes.

Having only one active ability which you gain at Lv5 also feels a bit weak. Yes, each class has three skill tress to spend points in that you earn with each level after that, but these are all largely passive buffs or upgrades meaning from Lv5 onwards your ability will never really change. It doesn’t seem too ridiculous to want to have more than that, especially when it seems like so much care has been put into every other aspect.

You can of course play as every class to mix things up a bit and the game tries to encourage this by a new system called ‘Badass Ranks’. These ranks give you permanent, relatively small buffs (for example 0.6% more shield capacity which can be increased by 0.4% per time you pick it) across all characters and the ranks can be earned on each character you make. Say one character you have might have gotten all Badass Ranks possible for using sniper rifles – if you make another one they can earn them over again and add to the growing pot of ranks to spend.

On the assumption that you enjoy collecting loot and have at least one other person to play the game through with and don’t mind that the game has a Season Pass for four DLC packs, it’s hard not to recommend Borderlands 2. It’s almost worth it just for the experience of meeting Handsome Jack alone, who will probably find his way into internet lists alongside names like GlaDos and The Joker.

• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3, PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Activision
• Developer: High Moon Studio
• Players: 1 (offline), 2-12 (online)
• Site: http://www.transformersgame.com/

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is the follow up game to the surprising hit Transformers: War for Cybertron released a couple of years ago (which we also enjoyed). Though it borrowed much from other third person shooters of the time (Gears of War in particular) its pleasant mix of retro homage and nods to recent cartoons and movies appealed to a wide audience and age range. Can this new title kindle the same positive response?

Set a non-specific number of years after the outbreak of the war between Autobots and Decepticons, Fall of Cybertron centres around the closing moments of said war as the last of the Autobots led by Optimus Prime prepare to flee their dying planet. They’ve lost the war and the opening tutorial shows their attempt to flee being impeded by their enemies, before flashing back in time a little to show how events led to that point across thirteen varied chapters playing as both sides.

The biggest change in terms of the main campaign this time around is that there is no drop-in/drop-out co-operative mode for up to three players. It comes across like this was perhaps a purposeful decision meant to allow for a more focused story designed around a single person but, in practise (bar only one or two small sections), there is little in the game that doesn’t feel like it would have been a better experience if you could have at least one other player there with you.

Listening to criticisms made of the previous game, it’s obvious that High Moon has tried to make the planet seem more alive and varied. You’ll visit quite a few different locations (though there is still a familiar feel between them all despite the colour palette change) and switch it up between characters who fly, drive or have unique abilities like Jazz’s tether for hooking your way through open areas. The biggest selling point they have focused on this time though is the addition of the Dinobots. Who doesn’t want to stomp around as a huge robot T-Rex? They even made it plausible within the confines of the story how they came to be.

The overall tone of the story is a bit more gritty and dark than the previous game, though it is difficult to sympathise with a race of transforming machines even if they are being mercilessly executed. That said, the story is still entertaining enough and is a decent length; but the overall appeal will still very much depend on how familiar you are with, and enjoy, the source material.

As in War for Cybertron, the game is littered with references to the 80s cartoon, the more recent movies, comics and the newest iterations of the cartoon as well. Fans of all ages will simply love noticing the carefully place parodies or nods and references made to all these different sources, and it strongly reconfirms that High Moon is a group of individuals who know and understand the Transformer universe very, very well.

Once again it is Peter Cullen that leads an overall decent cast lending their voices to the characters. With the years of experience under his belt it is to be expected that he knows what he’s doing, but it’s still impressive to hear him manage to make Prime sound as good as he does even now. Music is a little less noticeable than the previous game but still nice enough.

On a technical side the only things of note we would bring up is that we suffered one crash during a playthrough of the main story, and stages beginning off the tail-end of a cutscene would often have visible texture loading. There were a couple of instances where there was so much happening at once that the frame rate would visible suffer and stutter also.

A Horde style mode returns and is the sole form of co-op available for up to four people. The multiplayer also returns and a majority of changes from the previous game are all bad. The four selectable classes are far less diverse, with only one ability quick slot (instead of two) and two powers to chose from (instead of four). Rather than provide class specific kill-streak rewards, powerful usable items are now just scattered around the stages too. This promotes rewarding the camping of these items (in particular one which regenerates health far too well) and fails to reward players that are doing well naturally.

We mentioned previously that the Dinobots were clearly the focus of this game. High Moon, perhaps working off information gained directly from Hasbro, knew that everyone wanted those characters. You get to play as one in the campaign but that’s it. What? You want to use them in the multiplayer? Well then, it’s time to buy some on-disc DLC. It comes across as desperate to use such a horrible tactic and is genuinely infuriating that they would go this way. The only thing more infuriating is playing the multiplayer after the Dinobot skin pack was ‘released’ and seeing 90% of people online using them.

Money-grabbing disc based DLC aside, Fall of Cybertron is a good game. To a fan of Transformers it would be an amazing game and it’s clearly who it was made for. Those who aren’t fans my still find something here since it’s not every third person shooter available that also lets you change into a vehicle at will or command a giant robot the size of a city.