This Week’s Games

PlayStation 3-exclusive iNfamous, from Sly Racoon developers Sucker Punch, has been getting solid although not quite glowing reviews. GamesRadar gave it a 7, complaining that the city isn’t much fun to explore and that the last half of the game drags. They didn’t think much of Terminator Salvation either, giving it a 6 and citing the “repetitive set-pieces and on-rails sections” as downfalls. That said, a 6 isn’t bad as far as movie tie-ins go.

Boom Blox Bash Party on Wii – the box for which resembles a Mega CD game – looks like a decent sequel, adding space and underwater worlds and new modes and blocks. Guitar Hero: Metallica is also out this week on Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Reviews have been jolly good, as Metallica themselves probably wouldn’t say.

If none of those take your fancy then there’s SBK 09, which stands for Super Bike Championship and not Snowboard Kids, on PlayStation 2 (yes, PlayStation 2), PSP, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I’m guessing that Virtual Tennis 2009 is worth a look too. There has never been a bad Virtual Tennis game.

Next Week: Red Faction Guerrilla, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, ICO Soccer and Walk With Me! Do You Know Your Walking Routine? Well, do you?

UK Charts

It’s not the easiest fighter to get to grips with, but UFC 2009: Undisputed has managed to knock Wii Fit off the top of the chart. The next two games in the chart are new entries too – Pokemon Platinum at #2 and EA Sports Active at #3. So where’s Punch Out? Nowhere in the top 40 is the answer. It has to make do with #7 in the Wii chart, under the likes of – believe it or not – Hannah Montana: The Movie and Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party.

The next new entry in the top 40 is Capcom’s Bionic Command at #14 followed by a surprise entry at #15 – Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery Of The Mummy on DS. Then there’s Big Family Games at #30 and Damnation – which apparently is a bit pap – at #35.

Night at the Museum 2 hasn’t made the top 40 either, but goes in at #22 in the Wii chart.

When it’s released next month virtual people simulator The Sims 3 will be the biggest thing to happen to PC gaming for a long time. So, it’s no surprise to see that retailers are offering bonuses if you buy it from them instead of their rivals.

If you don’t mind opening your wallet wide then Game has a Collector’s Edition for £44.99. It comes with a 2GB Plumbob USB memory stick, some downloads and £5 to spend in The Sims 3 store.

If it’s a new mouse that you need, then HMV is the place to go – £29.99 gets you the game, a Sims 3 branded mouse and a garish looking wallpaper skin for use in the game. By far the best deal.

The version Play.com are selling, on the other hand, comes with an exclusive Hawaiian floral pattern for £29.99, which doesn’t sound very exciting at all. But it could be worse – GameStation, Amazon and others aren’t offering any pre-order deals.

This Week’s Games

Up for a ruck? Well you’re in luck this week – Punch Out on Wii and UFC: Undisputed have both been getting good reviews, and are now out to buy. If punching virtual humans isn’t your thing and would rather harm dubious looking critters instead then there’s always Pokemon Platinum, a director’s cut of sorts of the last proper DS Pokemon game.

Ben Stiller’em up Night at the Museum 2 has been getting mixed reviews – IGN liked it, heralding it to be one of the better kid’s licensed games before giving it a solid 7.5 but NGamer Magazine on the other hand gave it a kicking and 35%. The average review score is currently 59% for the Wii version and 51% for the Xbox 360 version, going by GameRankings. Somewhere between the NGamer and IGN scores, then.

Another game getting mixed reactions is Capcom’s Bionic Commando. It seems that the bionic arm is hard to control at first, but good fun (you can throw cars!) when you get used to it. GamesRadar gave it an 8, while Retro Gamer dished out 85%. I can’t see it being as popular as Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV though.

Next week: InFamous, Boom Blox: Bash Party, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Terminator Salvation, SBK 09, Aqua Panic and Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of the Metafalica. Which is obviously an RPG.

The Sun has reported that Capcom asked Heather Mills, the one-legged ex-wife of Paul McCartney, to star in Bionic Commando. According to Heather Mill’s Twitter tweets though she was just asked to promote it not star in it. Here’s what it says:

“Got offered to promote an amputee bionic computer game, from a wealthy computer games company I said if you donate a large sum to charity.
The stingy company came back saying they couldn’t, what happened to charitable businesses, seems they just want to exploit and give nothing.
It may make sense to take the offer but I’d rather donate regularly to many charities much more than they’re offering and not be exploited.”

Can you imagine what the game would look like staring Heather Mills instead of a chap with a bionic prosthetic arm? Or how many copies it would then go onto sell? Had The Sun got their facts right it could have been the weirdest thing to happen in gaming for a long time.

The ultimate part of Ultimate Fighting Championship rings true – it takes the best parts of wrestling, kickboxing, muay thai and judo and does away with most of their rules. In fact, the only real rule is that you can’t fight like a sissy, punching below the belt, biting, scratching and pulling hair. That’ll be me out of the octagon ring in less than 10 seconds, then.

It’s in a gamer’s nature to skip past tutorials but it’s worth playing through the one that appears at the start. Success depends on knowing how to reverse attacks, get out of grapples and perform takedowns and submissions. Getting out of a submission involves wildly rotating the right analogue stick – I’m sure that a lot of joypads are going to have a few years knocked off their life expectancy because of this.

UK Charts

Wii Fit remains #1 for the seventh week running and its 16th week since launch in April 2008. Just two more weeks at the top and it’ll beat the current record holder Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Nintendo must be cracking out the champagne already.

Battlestations: Pacific is the only new entry in the top 40 at a respectable #10. It also goes in at #3 in the Xbox 360 chart. There are two new entries in the Wii chart as well – Sports Island 2 at #18 and Dance Party: Pop Hits at #37. Yu-Gi-Oh is still popular too, with the latest edition (5D Accelerator) going in at #28 in the DS chart.

Next week’s chart should be more interesting as there’s loads of decent games out this Friday including Pokemon Platinum, Punch Out, UFC 2009 Undisputed, Virtua Tennis 2009 and Bionic Commando. I’ve been playing UFC 2009 Undisputed – its good brutal fun. Not as gory as I remember the Dreamcast version being though.

Users of Amazon Marketplace: When a game is listed as having no instructions it means that there are no instructions with it. So don’t bother e-mailing the seller as soon as you receive your item asking where the instructions are. Because there aren’t any.

Fucking idiots.

Japanese developer FromSoftware made a smart move by deciding to make this Xbox 360 ninja-based brawler. The simple reason being that ninja games are popular on both sides of the world. But let’s face it, any game that lets you smack a giant spider in the gob with a wrecking ball, or crush a mutated woman who has snakes for arms with a steam roller, is bound to sell better than the likes of Ninety Nine Nights and A-Train HX.

Comparisons with Ninja Gaiden II are to be expected. It’s so incredibly similar to Tecmo’s slightly lacking slasher though that with a few nips and tucks it could easily be passed off for a third Ninja Gaiden instalment. Lead character Ken (who Capcom had a hand in designing) has a near identical skill set to Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu, capable of running up and along walls, casting Ninjutsu magic spells and dodging attacks. Other similarities – enemies leave orbs behind that can be used to upgrade swords, the levels are the same length (around an hour each) and Ken can carry weapons the size of small countries without hassle.

This Week’s Games

Slim pickings this week – there isn’t even a single new game out for PlayStation 3. Battlestations: Pacific on Xbox 360 (and PC) is the most prolific, and word has it that it isn’t too bad. Eurogamer gave it a 7, praising the AI and clever mission objectives.

Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade is the only other Xbox 360 offering and it looks like a decent package. Not only does it contain over 20 retro games (Rolling Thunder!) but also all of Namco’s Xbox Live Arcade games including Mr. Driller, Pac-Man CE and Galaga Legions. It’s currently £17.99 at Play.com which sounds like a good deal.

Happy Bakery on DS no doubt does what it says on the bread tin. The same applies for Rock Revolution and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Accelerator.

Next week: Pokemon Platinum Version, Punch Out, UFC 2009 Undisputed, Virtua Tennis 2009, Anno: Create A New World, Bionic Commando, Damnation, EA Sports Active and Night at the Museum 2.

The Official Nintendo Magazine commented on something interesting in their review of EA Sports Active. Despite being bundled with two peripherals to help you keep fit, an hours play burns only 180kcal. Or half a Mars Bar, if you prefer.

180kcal is around the same amount that playing any Wii game will burn off, and also less than going for walk, which takes 240kcal.

The magazine – which has an exclusive of Red Steel 2 this month – suggests that playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band would give you a better workout.

UK Charts

Nintendo must have at last managed to get a steady flow of Wii Fit packs coming into the UK – it has now been #1 in the chart for six weeks in a row. The rest of the top 10 is largely unchanged apart from Rhythm Paradise entering at #10.

Moving down the chart is The Godfather 2, which was #8 last week but now at #12. That’s nothing compared to The Chronicles of Riddick though, which has fallen from #7 to #28. The Wheelman is also leaving the chart no doubt quicker than Ubisoft would like, currently at #32.

In the single format charts Velvet Assassin sneaks in at #19 in the Xbox 360 chart while the bizarrely titled Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis goes in at #30 in the DS chart.