The beautiful men and women working over at Frozenbyte responded to my plea of a code to giveaway with exactly that. It’s the same deal as the last two giveaways: simply leave a message in the comment box below and you could be lucky enough to get picked at random. Exciting, eh?

You WILL need to be a Steam user in order to reedeem and download the code. Although if you’re a self-respecting player of PC games, then ideally you’ve already won half this battle.

All regions are groovy to enter.

UPDATE: ‘Sooner rather than later.’ And here we are a month later. Yeah, sorry about that. Needless to say, I picked a god damn winner and that lucky S.O.B. is Shepard! Well done, squire – e-mail me at the address in the header above ASAP and that code is your ho 4 lyf.

As for the rest of you, tough break. Maybe next time you’ll try harder when I pick a comment at random. For shame! I also hope you said the winner’s name in the voice of Wrex from Mass Effect, because if you didn’t then quite frankly I’m GLAD you didn’t win.

While it doesn’t veer too wildly from the traditional formula that we’re all now so well accustomed to, Rocket Riot still isn’t entirely typical of a twin-stick shooter. Rockets shoot out at a trajectory that’s dictated by the direction you pullback on the right thumbstick, meaning that a fairly considered sense of aim is required to get the better of your opponents.

If that sounds complicated in any way, don’t worry because it’s not. Being precise with your shots means that you can take out someone from a distance; and merely tapping the right thumbstick back will result in your rocket drooping to the ground. The former is the ideal way to play but the latter has its uses too, mainly for trying to land a shot on an enemy hovering below you. There are also power-ups floating around Rocket Riot’s blocky stratosphere, although I didn’t find them to alter the flow of action too heavily; notwithstanding the power-downs which have a negative effect on the user.

Both methods are satisfying when employed correctly and whilst becoming a proficient Rocketeer isn’t something exclusive to the hardened players out there, someone who positions their shots correctly will always have the advantage over those who prefer to ‘button-mash’ or whatever the equivalent is here.

Naturally, the single-player bots aren’t as cunning as online opponents, but when they swarm in numbers you have to be prepared to dodge incoming rockets and return fire without being backed into a corner. That may not sound anything new for a twin-stick shooter – Geometry Wars is predicated on constant pressure. The difference manifests when playing against real-life players, where the tension gets notched up a level and the game really starts to come into its own.

Above all else, the most striking thing about Rocket Riot that lends itself a unique selling point is its visual fidelity. All of this fast-paced action takes place on a stylized 2D-meets-3D horizontal plain, fit with destructible obstacles and themed backgrounds, similar to Worms.

Some cool implementations of physical properties come into play when the environment gets blown up, which is a neat touch. But on the whole, Rocket Riot’s colourful, pixelated art style is a very refreshing take on the deluge of modern day titles that work over-time to impress you with realistic shadows and lighting effects.

As a result, its huge array of collectable Matryoshka doll look-a-likes and bright, decorative levels hearken back to an era where personality was key, relative to something like Smash TV back in the day. And much like Smash TV, the bare-bones ‘plot’ that junctions each new batch of levels is amusing in a weird way, but that’s about it. The robotized ‘Rocket Riot! Rocket Riot!’ chant that plays after each victory will also get stuck in your head, whether you like it or not.

You may not be playing Rocket Riot for months to come and it does get slightly repetitive after extended play, but when it comes down the it, it’s simply a fun game that’s brimming with personality. Plus for a decent price of 800 Points, you could do a lot worse on the Live Marketplace right now.

Jolly fun with a great art style

Novelty wears off after a while

Freedom of total destruction has forever acted as a tight leash on the neck of action-based videogames. Growing up, I always heard friends talk about how much more fun taking a rocket launcher to a building would be if it crumbled to the floor on impact. Back then, games like Blast Corps on N64 proved to be the best cure for such wanton destruction, providing satisfaction on a scale even greater than demolishing Lego sets during my years as a tyrannical infant just years before.

But now, after two first-person shooters and floundering around with limited ‘Geo-Mod’ technology on last generation consoles, Volition have created an open-world third-person shooter that seeks to re-invent those old ideals for a new breed of consoles and simultaneously breathe new life into a series which has been left loitering for quite some time.

It’s 2125 and as protagonist Alec Mason, you come to Mars looking for an honest life of work under the wing of your activist brother. When your brother’s conveniently timed murder comes about early on however, you are soon assimilated into the Red Faction, a group of freedom-fighters who collectively seek to take down the tyrannical Earth Defence Force (or EDF). No, you won’t be fighting off any giant red ants, but the call for utter deterioration of the EDF’s lifelines quickly becomes your most important objective.

This is where the open-world aspect of Guerrilla comes into play: completing missions scattered around the map weakens the strength of territories dominated by EDF forces. As a result of liberating areas, the morale levels of the Red Faction become increased, meaning random soldiers join you during battles against the EDF and help defend or overtake specific strongholds.

‘Salvage’ is essentially Mars’ currency and allows the purchasing of valuable weapon upgrades and unlocks. To accrue Salvage, you’re required to be as unashamedly destructive to the surrounding EDF property as you can possibly be: blowing up targets in the grandest way possible permits more Salvage to be collected on the ground amongst all the debris.

But if you don’t completely total a building, potential Salvage may left strewn about, so being as ‘thorough’ as possible with a battered building pays off in several beneficial ways. As you can imagine, blending solid third-person action with an extremely robust and accurate physics engine is where Guerrilla comes in its own. Bearing witness to a building crumble to the ground and at the same time trying to dodge the falling debris from crushing you is almost a game in itself. And even when a large chunk of the ceiling does (rarely) land for a fatal blow, it’s more humorous than it is annoying.

Venturing out into the red plains of Mars however can be a little underwhelming to explore and its population of workers and stragglers don’t necessarily appear to be as down-trodden on a day-to-day basis as much as the narrative might lead you to believe… but honestly, even though the geometry is little more than a battleground for riding around and fighting on, it’s ultimately not required to be anything else but that.

The cornerstone of Guerrilla is its sheer moment-to-moment chaos, a pedigree that revolves around Guerrilla’s destructible core. Your trusty sledgehammer can not only diminish an entire building to rubble, but laying into a fleet of oncoming EDF can be a very gratifying way to go about liberating. Next thing you know, you’re tumbling a space-jeep into the side of an enemy base; or jet-packing over an expansive bridge gap which was penetrated thanks to the remote charges you laid down and detonated just seconds before.

Beefy mech-walkers also become available from time to time, causing swift ploughing justice through the defences of troops and vehicles with the greatest of ease. Even when undertaking some of the more tedious side missions, there’s always moments of ‘Did you just see that!?’ peppered throughout, something which is important to the ‘anything goes’ nature of a sandbox adventure.

Even when a visual barrage of explosions and bodies litters the screen, not only does the game look very slick and run at a respectable frame-rate, but the degree of polish applied to the game’s technical feats is joyfully evident the first time you level even the smallest complex.

Truly, these high production values are of similar penmanship across the majority of game’s technical facets. All weapons – even the humble pistol — feel robust and effective to shoot; and while the vehicles that run course around Mars offer little more than a means of ferrying you from Point A to Point B, they handle efficiently enough to make the journey worthwhile (although a fast-travel option can be unlocked later on as well). And without trying to convey any cynical overtones, what would a third-person shooter be in a post-Gears landscape without an over-the-shoulder aiming model and contextual cover system?

Sure, when you extract some of Guerrilla’s more elusive bullet points, it becomes more of a straight-forward affair, but when these aspects are combined, the end result is an exciting campaign that in turn eclipses the throwaway narrative that lingers on throughout the 10-hour campaign. That said, the story-based missions are arguably the most enjoyable part of Guerrilla’s campaign; and despite repetition seeping in once the grind hits, specific side missions are worth pursuing for the sake of racking up some more Salvage so you can better equip yourself for the tougher levels later on.

On that note, the default Medium setting can get extremely tough down the line, becoming a test of endurance that almost ruins the joy of blowing everyone to kingdom-come without the need for too much headwork. So, if you’re not one to enjoy having your mind numbed by constant onslaughts half-way through the campaign, then you may just be better off beginning on the Casual difficulty and simply enjoying the ride as opposed to wanting to jump off it.

16-player multiplayer is also a big component of Guerrilla and will likely be what maintains longevity for many. A very robust matchmaking system works around a levelling system and there are customizable options to tweak that perfect space marine look. Amongst a total of six modes, the focus on destruction is not lost in the multiplayer side of things either. Team-based capture-and-defend action in the form of ‘Damage Control’ is where Guerrilla’s form becomes properly flourished, where opposing sides vie for the power of specific plots of the map and utilize the game’s seasoned arsenal to do so.

This includes a menagerie of power-ups that are exclusive to the multiplayer portion. For instance, the ‘Rhino’ pack enables you with a momentary physical push that barrels you ahead as an unstoppable force, meaning you can smash through building sides and kill enemies in front of you, knocking them off far into the distance. Others grant abilities like invisibility and a vertical thrust, allowing you to reach higher places with a single activation. Unfortunately, you can only use one pack at a time, but there is enough variety in each pack to ensure that the players who learn to strategize with each pack will have the tactical edge over those who don’t.

Alongside a fully-functional and fleshed-out multiplayer, a mini-games collection of sorts under the name of ‘Wrecking Crew’ is available for a group of 4 players, which involves a pass-the-pad series of challenges that are meant for party play. They are actually a lot of fun and succeed as an enjoyable distraction from the competitive multiplayer.

In the most basic sense, the pure glee that arises from knocking down buildings and seeing them crash with visual splendour instantly makes Red Faction: Guerrilla a legitimately fun experience. There are certainly paths left less travelled with Guerrila, such as the hollow story and the empty world, which both fail to be incredibly interesting. But as far as delivering on its promise of unbridled destruction both offline and online, Volition have done a remarkable job in creating an accessible tour-de-force of explosive action that you won’t soon forget.

Does a lot of things right

Its universe is on the bland side

I downloaded Worms 2 when it came out last week, and it’s definitely a lot of fun. It would set you back a modest 800 Microbucks, but thanks to your ol’ Uncle Sean, you won’t need to spend a penny.

Unlike the BF1943 contest (which I will announce the winner of tomorrow), I was told these codes work for all regions. I tested them on both my UK and US accounts and they checked out, so yeah.

To be in for a chance of winning, same deal as last time: simply leave a comment below or add and message me on the blog’s Twitter page.

All regions are cool to enter.

If you leave a comment on this article, be sure to leave your email address and name. Winners will be announced in a few days. Bonne chance!

UPDATE: Sorry for the slight delay, but I’ve finally picked winners once again thanks to the randomocity of random.org and they are: James Joell and Chris! You two lucky sons of guns need to email me (address is in the header) and let me know you still want your coveted codes.

Thanks again for joining in everyone else! Check back soon for a dumptruck-load of new reviews and potentially a new giveaway…

The game is released for download on the PlayStation Network this Thursday (9th July) and is retailing for £10/$15. You’ll need a European PSN account to download the game, but you can create one easily no matter what region you’re from.

To be in for a chance of winning, simply leave a comment below or add and message me on the blog’s Twitter page.

Just remember the code can only be activated by a European PSN account.

If you leave a comment on this article, be sure to leave your e-mail address and name and I will decide a winner sometime this Saturday. You will have to wait a few days to get the game, but it’s free so stop complaining!

UPDATE: The winner has been chosen at random (thank you, random.org) — Diamond!

Thanks to everyone who commented and the one guy that messaged the blog’s Twitter page. You are a good man. Be sure to check out the Worms 2: Armageddon contest still running on the mainpage.

• Instructions for using Promotion Code:

Step 1: Connect the PS3 to a broadband connection
Step 2: Register for a PSN account (more information on www.playstation.com)
Step 3: Sign into your PSN account on PS3
Step 4: Choose Account Management>Transaction Management
Step 5: Select Redeem Promotion Code – this brings up a screen to enter the code you have received
Step 6: Enter code and follow the steps on screen to redeem content

Let’s get one thing sorted out straight away: this is not a good game. There’s not much to be said for its shallow and lifeless recreation of the Terminator universe,  where the most exciting way to prevail is by fighting batles hid behind a brick wall cover and erratically lobbing pipe bombs as if it’s a fireworks display. Familiar-sounding? Yes. But any good? No.

Cover and over-the-shoulder action is the main attraction here, a staple undoubtedly tried and tested a hundred times over this generation. In Salvation, upholding cover does present you with a fresh approach to moving from spot to spot by the application of a radial-based dial that activates when propped behind the first instance of cover. Once a direction is chosen, you’ll automatically zip to the closest available cover and set-up shop so that getting a drop on the enemy becomes much simpler.

While this implementation looks snazzy in the animation department, its function feels like a shameful replacement for giving the player a more robust way to traverse the battlefield. Even though it remains a handy commodity throughout the course of the game, its deliberate nature feels too automated and pandering to be fun or rewarding.

This means that repetition seeps in fairly quickly, providing no real incentive to do anything but plod along to the next checkpoint. Constantly skirmishing with the same three enemy types over and over again also inspires no room for creativity within the environment; forcing you to manoeuvre into safe cover where the enemy’s weak point (always the back) is prominently exposed for constant grenade tossing.

A.I. team-mates will serve both as both helpful and irritating in these situations, acting as a means of suppression but also never taking advantage of the more explosive weaponry at their disposal, leaving you to do all the dirty work. Annoyingly, I also had to restart checkpoints or kill myself just to be able to carry on, as I found that friendlies tend to stagnate when faced with the insurmountable odds of a knee-high brick wall.

If the inadequacies of virtual allies get you down, there is a co-op mode available, although it remains a split-screen only affair. No online co-op seems like a considerable step backwards for this type of experience, but enduring wave after wave of T-600s and co. with a local pal might lighten the load regardless; just don’t expect any earth-shattering alterations to the main game.

The story and voice-acting are utterly forgettable and the cut-scenes that intervene the story weld no interesting reason as to why anything that is happening is important to the struggle. On-rails sequences break-up the monotony of the on-foot action occasionally, but the lack of freedom tied to these scripted events is so prohibitive that even the act of blowing stuff up with turrets and rockets becomes joyless tedium.

My feelings on Terminator: Salvation after reaching the ending credits spoke to me as a total bittersweet experience. Playing on Hard (which is really anything but) from beginning to end racks up a nice 1000 achievement points, so if achievements are your thing then Salvation is cautiously recommendable as a short-lived rental. However, if I were to measure the game’s merits as an overall experience, then it’s a different beast altogether. Close your eyes and think about the typical representation of a movie tie-in videogame and you are already thinking about Terminator: Salvation.

1000 points in 5 hours. ‘Nuff said.

Everything else stinks. Boo.

There are few better ways of representing what a pure ‘videogame’ really is than the original Bionic Commando. Its traditional visual style, depthless plot and awesome 8-bit music are all hallmarks of a great game from the late 1980s. It was a big hit, which is why the arcade and NES platformer classic saw a successful re-imagining last year on XBLA and PSN with Bionic Commando Re-Armed. The original’s hook was the ability to swing around the environment as bionic soldier Nathan “Rad” Spencer, a movement-based mechanic that the latest modern update in the series continues.

It’s fair to say that designing a newer version of a revered classic for a different age is likely to come with its potential pitfalls, especially when dealing with a property over twenty years old. The ‘Bionic Commando’ title alone instantly sounds like a 1980s-era throwback to the ten a penny tough-guy Schwarzeneggar flicks designed to spur on a multitude of “That’s so cool!” moments that defined the childhoods of impressionable teenage boys everywhere.

Nowadays, the current generation of sugary youths posses the liberty to blow the heads off incoming Locust swarms and violently run over rival gangs – surely one man and his bionic arm is not enough to satisfy the insatiable kids of today?

Well, ironically, herein lies one of Bionic Commando’s greatest miscalculations: it’s been created with a new “perspective” on who its target audience really is. GRIN and Capcom decided that focusing on the trials and tribulations of a gruff protagonist supported by a cast of overly-aggressive macho stereotypes was the best way to approach a new look for the franchise. Mistakenly so.

Of course, narrative was never the original game’s strongest aspect, and to aim for a style passively related to something like Gears of War may make sense on paper, but the problem lies in how needless of an approach that is for Bionic Commando. As soon as the game begins, an unnecessary torrent of bad B-movie conventions crop up and it just feels out of place.

It also feels as if the gameplay itself suffers from a similar case of identity crisis, but perhaps for different reasons. Spencer’s big ol’ bionic arm means his swinging is a lot more sluggish than what you’re probably used to. Despite these kind of heavy movement deficits being physically correct, shaking the lack of inertia that the Spider-Man games have delivered in recent years is a little tricky. As a result, a slower pace becomes Bionic Commando’s sticking point, which doesn’t always work to your advantage when the enemy’s crosshairs become inescapable thanks to the handicap of plodding around looking for the best place to retreat to.

That said, the general swinging itself isn’t always cumbersome per se; in fact, when it works, it works well. Latching onto buildings and cueing up lines throughout the environment can be fun. Again however, the linearity of every level is compounded by restrictive ‘radiation’ barriers that surround the world’s parameters, killing you almost instantly if you accidentally or even voluntarily venture into its harmful, fumigated area. A punishing result of this is that hunting for hidden secrets and collectibles devolves into a chore that ends up being a distraction not worth pursuing and kills any hint of exploration that initially seems winked and nudged towards.

When this distinction is applied to progression within the game, life becomes considerably more difficult to bear when dealing with larger enemies that call for a little more universal use of the world around you. When I’m somewhat enjoying the moment-to-moment experience of traversing around the world and fighting off enemies only to be thwarted by the bullshit barriers around me instead of my actual presented threats, four particular words come to my mind: test your game more.

Combat is also rather hit-and-miss: the flower-spouting power of the pistol simply feels out of place in a game where feeling like a badass is a high priority and standard third-person shooter weaponry such as the obligatory rocket launcher usually only prove vital to equip during boss encounters.

Although generally satisfying to use in combat, the arm itself also feels like a bit of a crutch, relegated to a ‘quick and dirty’ role of dispensing large waves of enemies at hectic points without the need for too much input, which sort of feels like a cop-out. Despite these flaws, the aiming model is still decent enough that the sections heavy on shooting don’t cause any severe headaches when trying to at least land a shot.

Zip-kicking and shooting above the surface is juxtaposed with swan-diving down narrow underground tunnels, making for some diverse and good-looking locations to fight through. Broadly speaking, Bionic Commando doesn’t especially look spectacular, but it does do the job to an acceptable standard. Spencer’s makeover does look a little weird however; I’m not sure I entirely approve of floppy dreadlocks in my action heroes, but that’s just me.

A fairly throw-away multiplayer component for 16 players also comes packaged along with the 10-12 hour-long campaign, including all your favourite generic multiplayer modes like Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Maps are built with a strong presence of verticality, meaning that a mix of ascension and decsension is required to stay on top. Alongside a valuable matchmaking system, the basic foundation of the main game is what separates Bionic Commando’s online offerings from most other disposable multiplayer portions. So if the draw of the main game’s swinging mechanics in a competitive online space appeals to you, then you’ll probably dig the multiplayer action on some level.

On the whole, Bionic Commando is a game with one too many dysfunctions going on at once. The nostalgia so closely associated with the original platformer has seen a total 180; and while the absence of a head-exploding Hitler is understandable, the balls-out ‘hardcore’ mentality just doesn’t contrast well next to the largely tepid form of action that ferrying a bionic arm brings about. While Bionic Commando isn’t a truly terrible game, its overall characteristics are far too muddled to stand out in today’s market and equally becomes lost in the shuffle of everything else that has been released within its twenty year gestation period.

Occasionally has its moments

Not so strong overall

How is everyone at Replay Studios feeling now that ‘Velvet Assassin’ has been released on store shelves?

We are more than happy of course, as it always takes such a long way to finish a game and there has been so much energy put into Velvet Assassin. We are relieved so many people tell us they like the game. But still, it has not been released in some major European countries, among them Germany, and so the tension keeps up until we get the feedback from those countries.

What are your thoughts on the responses on the game from critics and players?

We always knew what our game could do and what it could not. So, we already expected the reaction from critics and players exactly the way it came up now. We knew that the game is a strict stealth game and has a pretty linear path and we never made a secret of this. So, we also knew that there would be those loving the game and those hating it. That depends on many things: whether you are a stealth fan or not, like to play the “hardcore stealth”, like female characters or not, like the topic of WWII or not, can abstract from other game and understand the intention of Velvet Assassin…

Now we have the gamer community split into two factions – and we like that…

Velvet Assassin is set during WWII, but gamers often have a jaded outlook on games based in WWII nowadays. Even so, Call of Duty: World at War ignored the modern setting that Call of Duty 4 had established and still managed to sell millions of copies and maintain an avid online community.

What inspired you to base the game’s narrative in this time period? Do you think WWII games still have the potential to excite audiences?

Well, there were many things that culminated in the idea of making a game on World War II: First, we wanted to create something that is unique and had not been there before. Of course, WWII games have been done before – but they have never been designed from this artistic perspective and have never been developed by the Germans themselves. We saw it as a great challenge to reinvent this game topic completely. We wanted our game to have a cinematic feel, like a film, and the topic of WWII is a good topic for a game with such high claims.

As long as you are able to reinvent a topic new – and there is a lot that has not been told about WWII – then people will be interested in it. And this is also true for WWII games like ours: the perspective is important, the message behind it, the protagonist and the whole gameplay. If you keep this in mind and do not simply produce another WWII-hooray-war-action shooter, then the audience will still go for the topic.

For the most part, Velvet Assassin’s main protagonist Violette Summer is less sexualized than your typical female hero. Is that something you wanted to achieve from the start and do you think that women in games deserve to be represented in a positive light?

We always wanted to have an authentic woman with brain and tactics and not, like our creative director sometimes says: a ‘tits monster’. Otherwise the game would have completely lost its authentic story and background and also lost the artistic approach we had to the realization of this topic would not have worked out. Sure, the character must be interesting and why not pretty to look at-but the story as a whole must never suffer because of an obviously sexualized main character.

Finally, is Replay Studios already hard at work on its next project? What can we expect from you guys in the future? Perhaps DLC support for Velvet Assassin?

No DLC for Velvet Assassin, but probably a sequel. And if not a sequel then I can tell you we will have another great and exclusively lovely project. The next project is already in line!

Velvet Assassin is out now for Xbox 360 and PC (developed by Replay Studios, published by SouthPeak Interactive).

Reprising the same characterization focus that the original Godfather employed, you play as Dominic – a member of the Corleone family who is promoted to Don by Michael Corleone (Pacino-less of course) after the murder of an important family member. Essentially, Dominic is an avatar in all but name as the vast character customizability allows the creation of whatever form of Dominic you wish to assemble. Beginning in New York, you’ll also visit Miami and Cuba in aid of building up your criminal empire. This is where the game’s staple comes in: finding different methods of intimidating shop-keepers who are currently protected by a rival family and over-taking said businesses.

Be it an unfriendly jab, a gunshot to the kneecap or the trashing of a store’s goods, each owner has their weak-point that needs to be pushed. Though it’s initially fun, the repetition of beating up and coercing shop-owners into giving your family a cut for protection means that you’re required to re-do the same things over and over, especially as the game progresses and you own more locations. Thankfully, Don’s View is a valuable tool for managing the extortion of local businesses, defending territories and keeping everything in check. While the functionality doesn’t get considerably deep, being able to send off your own hired men to defend or re-take a business is a welcome approach to taking some of load off your shoulders, even when they’re not always completely successful.

Without trying to inadvertently describe a finance simulator, the ability to uphold a managerial or personal approach is undeniably not actually a choice – you’ll spend most of your time personally taking out rival family members alongside your crew (because you know it’s only business, right?): bruisers, safecrackers and demolitions experts are just a few of the types of professionals offering their assistance; though some prove more useful than others for all types of situations.

For instance, an arsonist is primarily useful for intimidating a shop owner by burning down a counter at a bar or strip club but during a heated fire-fight, the point for such a class of soldier becomes nothing more than babysitting a goon with a gun.  On the flipside, an astute demolitions expert can gain you access to specific entries to buildings that are otherwise non-reachable. Additionally, he can attach a timed bomb to any car at your maniacal whim, which is pretty awesome. When it’s your turn to pull the trigger, the feedback is decently satisfying. Shotguns feel powerful and un-lockable weapons like silenced pistols open the door to undertaking a pseudo-stealth methodology when attacking an enemy.

If there’s one defining flaw to the nature of each of the three cities, it’s how poorly they are represented. Although it makes sense from a technical standpoint, each city feels even smaller than any individual borough in GTAIV and extremely less detailed. The car physics also feel very stiff and don’t compensate enough for the style of handling that comes with the 1950s timeframe. Alongside dodgy lip-syncing and a lack of facial expression, the poorly-implemented ragdolls and character animations mark the presentation down to a shamefully unfinished state. It all culminates into a game that graphically feels overtly inferior to sandbox games released in the last year.

Multiplayer is also featured but – perhaps expectedly – takes a large step backwards in allowing the online exploration of an open world. Instead, standard multiplayer modes of the deathmatch variant are played on sections of the single-player’s geometry that have been reduced to overly-intimate multiplayer levels. As is the case with tacked-on multiplayer modes, the online play fails to be prolific enough to remain entertaining for longer than an hour, if even that.

The phrase ‘black and white’ aptly describes my experience with The Godfather II: as a straight-up game I had a fairly good time with it, but as a loosely-connected bridge to the narrative events of the films, it’s not as appealing. If you’re the sort that has profound memories of the films and would wish to preserve them intact, EA’s sequel to the original videogame adaptation may feel like too much salt on the wound. Yes, the nature of the game’s approach to narrative lessens the grand cinematic stature of the films to an even lower level than the original Godfather game. But if you couldn’t care less about the treatment of the source material and simply want to enjoy a decent sandbox shooter with an RTS-inspired twist, then there are definitely moments of fun to be had in The Godfather II.

A (slightly) different take on the genre

Doesn’t feel quite “done”

As wrestling continues to die in its present state, it’s nice to be reminded of the golden days. The days where showboating and camp costumes were king, the audience believed that what they saw was honest and real and wrestlers weren’t all just generic tough guys. THQ wants to re-capture that lost period of the wrestling world with Legends of Wrestlemania and for the most part have done a good job in doing so.

Legends of Wrestlemania’s main draw is its heavy digging into decades of WWF (sorry, WW) nostalgia, with plenty of archive footage that will make any fan happy, even if some of it may seem old-hat at this point. With over 40 playable wrestlers such as “Rowdy” Roddy Piper to The Rock, an expansive amount of Wrestlemania history is covered, even though omissions such as “Macho Man” Randy Savage make me a very sad brother indeed. Regardless, the game includes so many popular names that finding a favourite comes about quickly.

As one of Legends of Wrestlemania’s most interesting bullet points, the most well-known clashes feature as matches that you can relive or rewrite, spanning from the entirety of the event’s ornate history. The coolest part of “re-living” classic bouts is being provided with certain objectives to carry out that reflect what actually happened during the match, allowing for more of a tight focus if you’re trying to achieve all the goals. As such, it’s completely possible to veer away from doing any of the objectives and just play at your own whim, but that’s defeating the purpose.

In fact, most of the modes are enjoyable, especially as a simplified workaround to Smackdown’s recent dive into over-complexity. Legends of Wrestlemania certainly tastes better as a simplified ‘lite’ version by that comparison, which is both a good and bad thing. On one hand, learning the fundamentals is pleasantly accessible, but for some mastering them may perhaps be too accessible.

Mindless button-mashing will perform the basic wrestling necessities of kicking, punching and grappling, but it’s the dull QTE events that spoil the moment. Initiating Hulk Hogan’s devastating leg-drop over and over is not something that gets better with repetitive on-screen button cues. While this does lend something to the game in terms of its presentation (the brief cut-scenes look a lot more believable than canned animations), it really doesn’t feel very involving. Somehow however, this proved as greater entertainment than the entirety of the hugely disappointing TNA iMPACT! which practically finished as soon as it began in my mind.

Still, even something that game did right was undoubtedly its re-digitization of its federation’s wrestlers and arenas: to that end, Legends of Wrestlemania presents itself admirably with well-modelled wrestlers and appropriately brash menus, even if the dreadful over-pixelated grooming of the crowd sours the view somewhat. In terms of online play, multiplayer suffers from a lack of players in the ring, which is unfortunate for those with the desire to pummel like-minded Hulksters across the globe.

THQ has taken a commendable first step into ushering in a wrestling franchise that isn’t a direct product of WWE. Instead of taxing you with punitive complications and a learning curve to overcome, Legends of Wresltemania takes the friendly approach and kindly holds your hand as you journey through the glitzy glory of wrestling’s eclectic past. That said, if you’re waiting for a new breed of wrestling games that overtakes Smackdown’s current position, then keep looking.

Accessible barrier to entry

Lacks any substantial punch