Apparently this game is “a bit likeLayton”. I don’t really know if that’s true, I’ve never played a Professor Layton adventure in my life so I have literally no idea what it entails. What I can tell you about this game is it is a murder mystery puzzle solving adventure about a TV show. Stay with me here. The main character is *insert your name here* and you are one of the brightest puzzle solvers in the world. But only if you do the puzzles right. You apply for a gameshow in which you will go head to head with another person who is the unrivalled champion of mentioned show. Alongside being on TV, you are also solving a murder! As weak as this plot sounds it somehow manages to string itself along and should not be taken too seriously, because you can really have fun with it. The high points of the campaign are surprisingly memorable and it is never tedious or dull, even if the campaign is only a handful of hours long, but this is not a game you would buy for the end result, more the journey.

The opening cutscene was very impressive. I was thinking “this is like playing a regular game, almost the HD standard, but in another dimension!” The first cutscene ended and I’m afraid it was all downhill into characters that look like something out of Duke Nukem 3D and a very peculiar cast of voice actors, who may just be random people Ubisoft pulled out of the street. Though this doesn’t fit modern games it gives it a sort of home grown, natural, 1950′s charm that very few modern games can match. Somehow it manages to pull that off and make it a good, exciting play.

The puzzles, what a puzzle game centres upon can be quite challenging at times. These are mostly physical puzzles, which I’m told differ from Professor Layton’s mostly mental puzzles. These physical puzzles often include moving a shape to find a specific pattern, moving snakes to get a specific one to the end like it’s one free square puzzle etc, etc. They are challenging all the way through the game and put you under pressure time after time. They feel rewarding and that, for me, marks a successful puzzle game. The touchscreen controls are used well and often, which I have no qualms with because the touchscreen controls work very well.

This is an oddball in a world of similarity and bringing a new 3rd party title to the 3DS was a very bold move by Ubisoft and after playing through the first game a sequel would not be out of the question. I would love to see the same development team have another crack of the whip on this one, with perhaps a move to another handheld (The PlayStation Vita would be an empty market for puzzle games, so you don’t have to compete against Nintendo’s own Professor Layton and you get better graphics to work with) and a size up in development time because something tells me that this was not laboured over for years. With some improvements this could be the go-to puzzle series. Take note Ubisoft.

7/10

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RuffiansFC Needs You!!!!!!

Game – Fifa 12

System – Xbox 360

Date – 22/02/12

Start Time – 8:30pm

Finish Time – No set time

Places – 11

DLC – No

Fancy taking to the football field and pulling on the Ruff FC shirt?? This fixture night will be on Weds 22nd Feb at 8:30pm. Our match nights at the moment are having a massive turn out which is fantastic but please book your place below or I might have to have a queue of players on the subs bench …
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If you’ve seen the Ultimate Fighting Championships, then you’ll be aware that it’s quite a brutal sport. Set in an Octagon ring which has a steel cage around it, there is no escape. The only way to get out is to tap out, get knocked out, get a technical knock out or by winning on points. Well that was sounding quite awesome until i mentioned the points bit. But then again, fights can’t last forever………. probably due to laws and legislations. You know what things are like these days!

As a big fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championships and its series of games, i am so glad to see that UFC Undisputed 3 has had some major changes to its control system. This is where i’m going to start things off because i was personally let down by the control system in the previous games from the series.  For me, it was a bit too tricky. But this time, as soon as you load the game up, the first thing you are asked is whether you want to use Amateur or Pro grappling controls. Amateur controls let you perform minor and major transitions by simpling pushing up or down on the right stick. The Pro controls are similar to the previous games where you had to roll your thumb off of the right stick to perform transitions. The introduction of Amateur controls is brilliant because i can recall how hard it was for me to use the right stick way back in Undisputed 2009. There are also tutorials which tell you how to perform different moves but seasoned vets can simply tun these off. So i’m a happy chappy!

The performing of submissions has had a massive overhaul. When you attempt a submission, an Octagon-shaped gauge appears. In order to make your opponent submit you must line up your bar with your opponents’ bar whilst chasing it around the gauge. You have a time limit to make your opponent submit and if you fail within that time limit, your opponent will gain the upper hand.

The return of Title Mode, Title Defence and Ultimate Fight are welcome but there are also loads of new modes and features as well. You can now fight in Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions but the most impressive new mode has to be Pride Fighting Championships. If you’re unfamiliar with Pride FC then let me give you a quick lesson on what it’s all about. Pride FC is now defunct and has been since 2007, yet all of the fighters from Pride FC are included here. Fights take place inside a five-roped square ring with the first round lasting 10 minutes, followed by 2 rounds, both lasting 5 minutes. You can stomp on your opponents head which is quite nasty to say the least, something you are not allowed to do in UFC. Unfortunately there is no career mode for Pride FC but to see it included is a first step and one that i’m glad to have seen the developers take.

The Career Mode is back but it’s been polished up and you can now use any fighter from UFC or Pride FC to take through the career mode. You now have to juggle less stats, the actions to perform between each fight are shorter and you can upgrade your fighter’s stats by joining camps and earning cred.

Online sees Fight Camps return and Exhibition Modes and there are also Highlight Reels which allow you to share the best highlights from your fights with the community. The actual online gameplay works very well and is very enjoyable, just like in single player, unless you come up against some handy lad who just gives you an absolute spanking!

The graphics in UFC Undisputed 3 are amazing and the fighters have never looked so real and even the bruises and cuts look realistic. There are new entrances for the fighters and the game has even more of a TV-style presentation that represents the real-life UFC Pay-Per-Views. There are some new animations and the audio work is great but can sometimes become a little repetitive.

UFC Undisputed 3 is by far the best game in the series. Packed with new modes and features, this game is a must-buy for any fighting fan!

12 second review – A new control system, new modes including Pride FC, realistic-looking fighters with over 100 to choose from and by far the most realistic UFC game ever made!

GamerSpy Rating 5/5

Platforms – PS3, Xbox 360

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The Darkness 2 REVIEW

5 years after The Darkness made its debut, Jackie Estacado finally returns in ‘The Darkness 2?.

This time Jackie is even more deadly as he now has 4 extra limbs, courtesy of The Darkness inside him, as opposed to the 2 he had in the first game. With your extra limbs you can throw objects, eat fallen enemies, use objects as shields, grab enemies and perform some lethal decapitations, slash enemies and smash up scenery. You’ve also got both of your hands to wield guns with. Happy days!

A lot of the powers you use were present in the original game but they have now been put into a control scheme and this allows you loads of possibilities. I must say that one very odd execution saw a gargoyle character, wearing a union jack, start urinating on an enemy. Quite bizarre but hilarious at the same time.

The movement is pretty fluid and the action is fast-paced. There’s no daudling about or thinking of tactics here. It’s a simple all out gun and kill first-person shooter with some very quick duck and cover elements. When firing at enemies there is no reason as to why you can’t pull off a headshot from long distance with a machine gun. This is, after all, a comic book style shooter. The more outrageous kills you pull off, the stronger your powers will become.

The AI is where there is a slight let down during combat because the enemies never seem to get any harder to kill. So the stronger you get, the easier things become.

You do have a weakness though, which is ‘light’. After all, this game is about the darkness. If you step into the light, you’ll find that Jackie becomes disorientated. The problem with this is that the game is so fast-paced that you’ll unexpectedly step into the light when running around a corner, only to be greeted by a handful of bad dudes. It’s a bit annoying but won’t put you off the game.

The Darkness 2 has an enjoyable single player play-through and a decent co-op experience but there is little replay value. Once you’ve completed the main story, you’re very unlikely to want to play it through again and you have no reason to, to be honest. The co-op story is the same. I guess there are 4 different characters to play as but other than that, you’re not really going to want to play the game through again. If there was a multiplayer deathmatch mode or some kind of competitive onlin option then things may have been just a little different.

12 second review – A first-person shooter with a good single-player campaign and decent co-op mode. However, a lack of competitive multiplayer doesn’t offer this game much longevity!

GamerSpy rating 3/5

Platforms – PC, PS3, Xbox 360

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Game – Forza 4

Date – Tues 14th Feb 2012

Time – 8.30pm until late

System – Xbox 360

Host – The Mehwarrior2

This gamernight is open to all Ruff Gaming community members not just the Ruff Racing Drivers (Our very own Forza 4 Car Club) and we welcome drivers of all skill levels not just the speed machines like that of Darkestfrost, RaingodZippo and MiketheMute. So from expert to novice any drivers/gamers can take part in the crazy fun that has become part of our …
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Game – F1 2011

Date & Time – Thurs 16th Feb 9pm

System – Xbox 360

Host – LFC Recon

I am Holding an F1 Ruff Night this Thursaday night so get your engines roaring as we will be having some great and intense races around the tracks of F1 – good luck!

My Gamertag is Xo LfC rEcOn Xo if I am not on your friends list.

1: LFC Recon

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Maybe

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With Skyrim and Final Fantasy XIII-2 recently released and smashing the pants off of the charts, is there a new sheriff in town? Is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning the ultimate RPG?

What i always love about an RPG is that before you’ve even started the game, you get to create your character. So the first thing i did was to create a rather handsome chap and called him ‘Elfy’. I usually have trouble thinking of a cool name but not this time, oh no! Elfy was to be my hero to save Amalur from EVIL!

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is the usual plot of Good vs Evil. You’re the good guy (Elfy in this instance) and you have to stop the bad dude from destroying all of humanity. The little twist here is that you’re already dead, well you were. You got resurrected by the mysterious ‘Well of Souls’ and a Gnome also got involved!

What seperates this game from other RPGs is the awesome combat. It’s a hack and slash fest and each attack is done by the simple tap of a button. There are plenty of weapons so make sure you choose the right one for the enemies you come up against. Swords, Daggers, Bow and Arrows are all here as well as other weapons you may have never come across before. Spend skill points to get better weapons and as you level up, you’ll get new moves that allow you to string combos together.

You are able to carry two weapons at one time. The skill points you acquire can be spent in 3 different areas via a skill tree – Rogue, Spellcaster or Warrior. Each area will give you different weapons. You can mix things up and decide as to which two weapons you want to carry. If you’ve been playing for a good while and are not happy with how you’ve spent your points, the game allows you to reset the skill tree and re-spend those points as to how you see fit. Fighting enemies is easy enough as the auto-aim works a treat and always picks the best enemy for you to attack. To be honest, the combat is a little bit too easy, on normal difficulty at least, so you might want to ramp the difficulty level up. The combat is the best part of the game, for me anyway, and it turns this RPG into a kind of action game which also has the usual loot, levelling up and side quests to keep you entertained.

Customisation also comes in the form of weaponnary. You can make your own weapons and armour by using the blacksmith skill and these weapons will be far more useful than any weapons you buy. What i like is the fact that you can name your new creations as well!

Amalur is a beautiful place and you can roam around through towns as you see fit and talk to anyone you bump into. There is a lot of dialogue, but it does give you the option to choose your answer in any conversation. So you can decide whether you want to be a nice chap or a complete moron! RPGs are renowned for interaction and dialogue so this is a welcome feature and there sre some funny moments when interacting with others.

The game will take you well over 50 hours to complete and there are some awesome monsters to kill. But the problem is that the game can seem repetitive. You might do a few side quests that all seem too similar. One quest may tell you to go kill 10 baddies and then the next quest tells you to do the same kind of thing. Taking on side quests can take your focus away from the main story and you may get lost and not remember what you’re supposed to be doing.

As soon as i started polaying this game i was hooked. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning offers you some great battles, awesome creatures, looting, leveling up and plenty of customisation for skills and equipment. It’s an RPG that maybe doesn’t offer the memorable characters, varied quests or massive open-worlds like other RPGs, but it’s plenty of fun and will keep you playing for weeks on end!

 

12 second review – A 50+ hour RPG with fantastic combat, plenty of customisation and loads to explore. Side-quests are sometimes repetitive but overall it’s a great game!

GamerSpy Rating 4/5

Platforms – PC, PS3, Xbox 360

We played and reviewed this game for Xbox 360

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Who’s up for some Forza 4 this coming Friday? We may even do it every Friday there on if we get a good turn out, if you fancy playing let us know here or DM us on Twitter @Gamer_Nights add Belshamaroth 69 to your friends to join in on the night

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This weeks FPS Sunday will be Battlefield 3 on the Playstation 3, if you fancy playing let us know here or DM us on Twitter @Gamer_Nights add Belshamaroth77 to your friends list.

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Everyone that I’ve spoken to recently about the Final Fantasy series has played them when they were growing up and none of them have a bad word about them. Sure, there is a difference in opinion when it comes to which is the best one but nonetheless, each person has a personal favourite. Now I shall confess here, I never played a Final Fantasy game growing up. When I witnessed someone playing them before, I always had the same opinion – what a pile of rubbish. They never appealed to me — the characters didn’t have a gun in their hand and they were not shooting everything in sight however, I had never really given the Final Fantasy games a chance to win me over. Recently, I’ve decided I wanted to change that first opinion I’ve had since about the age of twelve so here’s my story of one Scottish girl playing Final Fantasy X as a newcomer to the Final Fantasy series.

Now I could of started playing with hate running through my blood  but I decided that I would start with a clear mind, cram all my teenage opinions to the back of my head and give FFX at least a couple of hours to try and win me over out of the dark side. It’s safe to say that couple of hours were not needed — half an hour later and I had found a new love in my life to join the likes of Ezio Auditore and Batman. My thoughts for the rest of the night were based around three things; “Why did I ever think these games were crap?”, “My god look at the time! That is no way the time” and “Tidus *swoon*”.

The first element of FFX that grabbed my attention was in fact, the soundtrack. An odd component of a game to pick up on within the first initial hours of playing but nevertheless, it impressed me. I felt each song complimented the story perfectly and with the exception to the Assassins Creed series, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed listening to a video game’s soundtrack so much without having to sit and play the game to enjoy it. I’ve often found myself just chilling out with it playing through my iPod.

As I’ve mentioned before, I started really liking the main character, Tidus. Whether it’s wrong for the fact that he is no doubt younger than me or the main one – he’s a video game character, it didn’t dawn on me. There was something about his cheeky humour that he’s surrounds himself with that made me realise that made me love playing as him and notice Final Fantasy X was going to provide me with a brilliant experience that I’ll never forget. I’m not  wanting to spoil too much of the story behind Tidus’ character for anyone who hasn’t played FFX but, for those who have and will know what I’m talking about, I felt like I could relate to Tidus’ background on a certain level.Between the constant arguments with his father and what happened with his mother at a young age as well, even if you can’t relate to what’s happening in the story, the way they are told pluck at the emotional heartstrings. I really enjoyed and admired the storytelling in the game which is where the FFX characters come into this review. Square Enix (was named Square Soft at the time of FFX being released) have really ensured that every character has a gripping and emotional story to tell,  which is unravelled throughout your time playing the game.  As well as Tidus, you can play as a variety of characters such as Auron, who I felt brought an aura of wisdom yet something was mysterious about him that I couldn’t quite figure out. Wakka who brings a high level of enthusiasm and his hair was impeccable. Yuna appeared to be the shy person of the group however there is something about her that makes her a very dangerous woman to be around which I really liked. Adding in the goth-like appearance of Lulu carrying that adorable Moogle and the excitable Rikku and I was rapidly running out of places to hate with this game.

Final Fantasy X isn’t the most recent instalment of the Final Fantasy series, what with it being over ten years old now that we’re in the year 2012, so I fully expected everything visual about the game to be less stunning compared to nowadays. Sure, the initial gameplay graphics are that of which you would expect of a game of FFX’s age – slightly blocky and animations not exactly perfect but, the one thing that shocked me where the cut scenes. After ten yearsm they appeared as if they look as they should belong in a Japanese animated movie with the characters faces reflecting so much emotion, the buildings holding so much detail put into them and the effects on the water along with everything else that Spira offers left me in awe.

As expected, the enemies that you encounter on your time spent playing FFX is something that on one hand, funny and yet on the other, downright frightening. The appearance of some of these enemies have made me laugh and/or be frightened but they’ve always made me admire the work that’s gone into taking a normal ‘monster’ such as wolves or trolls, then making it almost an entire different monster just for the game but , in the process, still maintaining the features of the initial monster such as, the Wendigo for example — appears to be a troll-like monster however has some moves hidden under his fur.

As I’ve mentioned before, 99% of the games that I have been playing recently involved guns and running around as a macho man so FFX provided a real big change of pace for me. My feet (or my hands really) were in unfamiliar territory when the moment for a battle arrived. I had played some turn-based-strategy games growing up, such as Pokemon although, I was never any good at them due to that big ‘S’. Strategy has never my strong point when it comes to games as I forever dive head first into the battles and not think about my actions however; I gave FFX my best shot. With some help from friends and the internet to take down some of the bosses in the game, I now feel more comfortable playing strategy games than what I was before although there is still room for improvement. By me slowing myself down to play the game properly, I found FFX to be a relaxing game to play as I was forcing myself to slow down and just enjoy wonderful world that Spira brings to you.

A feature that I wasn’t looking forward to adapting myself to was the levelling up of the characters. Again, this is unfamiliar territory for me however with the helpful step-by-step tutorials for each part of the process, I was soon dipping my toes into the big sea of levelling up. Soon I was finding my battles easier; strategies were slowly forming in my head, what was the best attack against this type of enemy and so on.

It’s safe to say after playing Final Fantasy X for twenty odd hours although loosing what feels like days, my love had flourished into a massive fan-girling one. My opinion has changed dramatically with regards to not only the Final Fantasy series, but the genre as a whole. As well as wanting to delve into the realms of Gaia, Blue Planet and most recently, Gran Pulse, I want to venture into the spin-off games from the Final Fantasy series – Kingdom Hearts. I really wish that I had gotten into the series at an earlier age as I’ve found that, if FFX is anything to go by, I’ve missed out on an amazing series of games. Providing a game that covers puzzles, strategy battles, action and a compelling storyline, it’s safe to say that Final Fantasy X is a game that I’ve never played the likes of before. I’m surprised at even putting in 20+ hours into playing FFX , which is where most games nowadays would have already drawn to an end,  I’ve still got a lot of story to cover in the game and I’m looking forward to what the experience is like.

If you’ve never played the Final Fantasy games like myself, my one piece of advice would be to go play it, even if it’s just for a couple of hours. FFX deserves at least a couple of hours to try and win over your heart like it has done with mine.

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