AWARDS SEASON: BEST GAME OF THE YEAR 2005

Overall winner

Shadow of the Colossus

Honourable mentions

Star Wars Battlefront II

POKÉMON MYSTERY DUNGEON: BLUE / RED RESCUE TEAM (2005) REVIEW

Nintendo DS version reviewed.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue / Red Rescue Team is an RPG published by The Pokémon Company and developed by Chunsoft for the Game Boy Advance (Red) and the Nintendo DS (Blue).

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The soundtrack is really good and I think Sky Tower may be one of the best pieces of music in Pokémon ever.

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STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT 2 REVIEW

PS2 and PC versions reviewed.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is a shooter published by LucasArts and developed by Pandemic Studios for the Playstation 2, PSP, Xbox and PC.

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SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (2005) REVIEW

Pushing the Playstation 2 to the absolute limits.

PS2 exclusive.

Shadow of the Colossus is an open-world action adventure game published by Sony and developed by Team Ico for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and Playstation 4.

This review has spoilers!

GAMEPLAY

You would have thought that a game with only three different ways of combat, sixteen enemies - all bosses and no minor enemies and a world with so little to actually interact with possibly wouldn't be that fun. It's incredible how amazing this game is when thinking about it. You're only hopes against these massive hulking tanks is a sword, bow and whatever is in the local environment around you to hopefully help, or even hinder you. None the less it succeeds on so many levels.

The boss fights are fun, exciting and thrilling. They're quite different from most other games as it's not as straight forward as just smacking them until they fall over - well I mean it kind of is but it's got far more to it than that. Each boss feels like a different puzzle to solve, how to scale them, where their weak points are and how you're going to deal with their attempts to throw you off. Whether you're getting chased through a sandy cavern, scaling a massive beast or having to cling on to bosses as they soar through the sky, each boss has it's own challenge and unique way of being dealt with.

The climbing mechanic was really cool, I really liked they way you had to cling on to the controller with R2, as if you were hanging on like in the game, but there were rare moments where the game didn't always go exactly as you would like, whether it was climbing up a colossi the wrong way or even sometimes jumping at the wrong angle. Generally minor and uncommon things but they did provide some degree of frustration when they did happen.

Agro is one of the best video game horses ever. How he was used in some of the boss fights adds so much more to the game and makes some of them so energising, adding so much more pace into some of the encounters was awesome, whether you were having to dodge, escape or manoeuvre for your best chances to bring down certain colossi. I also really liked the way he actually felt like he was his own thing, where you had to kind of work together rather than him just being an extension of the player. He'd even sometimes just wonder around or try to follow you at slower times rather than just remain standing still like he was just another object to be interacted with.

STORY

The story might seem pretty simple on the surface but it actually has plenty of depth to it. One important aspect is how so much is conveyed through the world, or actions within it, rather than specifically riding on characters. There are plenty of interesting themes running through the game that aren't so simple to notice if you're not paying attention.

GRAPHICS

The PS2 is pushed to the absolute limit with this game. The colossi look breathtakingly brilliant, alongside the very well done minimalist landscape. It's incredible how much Team Ico were able to portray yet say so little. There's minimal HUD and very few locations to interact with yet the world feels like it has so much to it. Nothing is really being thrown in your face, and yet it's all just so masterfully crafted that the world invites you to explore it, rather than forcing you to. Little touches like Agro’s mane and Wander’s cloak flying in the wind just add that bit extra to the experience too.

The biggest drawback for the whole game was the frame rate which could drop quite a bit sometimes. For casual players things like that could probably be overlooked but the drops really were noticeable at times and do impact the experience.

Complaints about the camera are a bit overboard, I didn't find it as bothersome as some people did but I feel it certainly wasn't perfect. I love some aspects of it such as when it pushes Wander and Agro off to the side to show off the scale of the nicely built world but sometimes it could be a bit bothersome on some colossi where it made them more challenging because of it struggling to follow where Wander actually was.

SOUND

Shadow of the Colossus has one of, if not the greatest, video game soundtracks of all time. Every time you scale a colossus it feels absolutely epic largely due to the astoundingly good soundtrack from Kow Otani. The score sounds like it was composed for a blockbuster movie, and still wouldn’t be out of place with some of the best movie soundtracks either.

One really important aspect of what makes the soundtrack so good isn't just its grand scale though, in fact it's just the opposite. Sometimes nothing can be better than something and Shadow of the Colossus is one fantastic example of that where the music is usually absent when you're exploring the world with Agro - it's just the sound of the two of you, the wind and the wildlife. It's incredible to just sit back and relax sometimes with the outstanding atmosphere. Then when the next big battle comes about the music just feels that much more exciting.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Around 8 hours long on your first play through, it wouldn’t be out of the question to go back and replay some of the bosses on different difficulties, find all the collectables, or even just revisit the wonderful world and ride around or listen to that incredible soundtrack again.

OVERALL

Shadow of the Colossus will undoubtedly be remembered as both a great swan-song for the PS2 and also as one of the best games to grace the platform. The game is packed with innovative, original ideas and really pushes the boundaries. A couple of performance issues and an occasionally frustrating camera are the only real draw backs to this brilliant game. It's one of my favourite games of all time and a must have for anyone with a Playstation.

RATCHET: DEADLOCKED / GLADIATOR (2005) REVIEW

A different direction.

PS2 exclusive.

Ratchet: Deadlocked is a shooter published by Sony and developed by Insomniac Games for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and Vita.

GAMEPLAY
Co-op story mode

Weapon mods

The way levels are designed means you end up playing the game for about 3 minutes before another brief cutscene showcasing the next part of the level. I found this to be slow and annoying really, a step back from the swift and fast pace of the previous games. I feel even if the levels were just one uninterrupted

The game does miss the platforming sections, and to some extent I didn't really find the weapons a major improvement over the previous games which leads to the game feeling a bit stale at times, I found myself wanting to take breaks often, rather than be on the edge of my seat for the next part like most of the other games in the series.

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SOUND
Commentators repeat themselves far too often

VALUE FOR MONEY

Considerably shorter than the other games in the series, being around 6 hours long, meaning it takes almost half the amount of time to beat than the others.

OVERALL
This game should be really fun, but sloppy game design holds it back from really being great. However it is a good game though, and worth checking out if you enjoy the franchise, or shooters.

SPYRO: SHADOW LEGACY REVIEW

NDS exclusive.

Spyro: Shadow Legacy is a platformer published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Amaze for the Nintendo DS.

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SLY 3: HONOR AMONG THIEVES (2005) REVIEW

I went in expecting more stealth platforming, but ended up with pirate sea battles.

PS2 exclusive.

Sly 3: Honor among Thieves is a stealth platformer published by Sony and developed by Sucker Punch for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and Vita.

GAMEPLAY

With the ability of hindsight I think it's worth mentioning just how innovative this game and the two before it were. The climbing mechanics, stealth system, parachute, sailing and more were features that were way ahead of their time and appeared in other franchises later.

As per the other second game, all three main characters are fine; with Sly still the most fun to play as, I actually thought Bentley was improved in this game, as his levels sometimes felt even more fun than Sly’s a couple of times. The Guru is a one dimensional bore of a character, who has two moves, that’s it. You can’t attack, sneak, only turn into something or use mind control. Why did they bother with him? Why not just give one of three main characters that ability?

I thought the RC tank part from the 2nd game was bad, but somehow the Dimitri levels are almost on par with them. I almost got repetitive strain injury playing the boss you have to fight with him. The grappling hook to the RC helicopter is far worse than the abilities that it had in the second game, it’s a bit of a mess in the first level you play with it, as it can’t aim correctly. The Panda King is a pointless addition that wasn’t needed, not to mention how he is brought in at the end of episode four, yet never really appears in the next two.

STORY

A regression from the heights that the second reached, with a less intricate story and many questionable segments, I don’t have the fingers to count how many times I asked myself why some parts were necessary.

In fact, let’s point some out. Why was the Panda King needed? Bentley was the brains and the demolition expert in the second, why not just expand his role a little bit? Dimitri was in because they needed a diver, for some reason that wasn’t foreseen, Bentley is a turtle and Murray is a hippo, neither of them could do it? Penelope’s original skill was also something the Cooper Gang already had, but her skills as a mechanic made it more justifiable, not that they knew that beforehand.

The problem is that all the levels just felt forced really, that they needed a story to go alongside the game. In the end there were about eight playable characters, it would have been much better to just expand on Sly, Murray and Bentley’s skills. All the other characters really felt so pointless too, as the gang had already beaten Dimitri and the Panda King before, why would they need their skills anyway? I know you're not supposed to take they story very seriously but Band of Thieves had a delightfully good one and this one failed to follow up with that quality.

GRAPHICS

The same as the first and second game really.

SOUND

Voice actors and SFX are all good and the music is fine.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Reintroduction of the master thief Challenges are a poor choice as an attempt to add length to the game, which is considerably shorter than the first two.

OVERALL

Sly 3 is still a good game at heart, but it really feels as if so many marks have been missed with this game. I found myself getting so frustrated with it at times, something I rarely, if ever, felt about the previous two. There are some interesting ideas thrown in, such as the ship combat, or the fighter plane, and there are even fewer turret sections. The game fails in other places though, such as all the additions to the Cooper Gang and regression of the story.

IMPERIAL GLORY REVIEW

PC version reviewed.

Imperial Glory is a strategy game published by Eidos Interactive and developed by Pyro Studios for the PC.

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STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH REVIEW

PS2 and NDS versions reviewed.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is an action game published by LucasArts and developed by The Collective for the Playstation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.

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NINTENDOGS

NDS exclusive.

Nintendogs is a simulation game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS.

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PSYCHONAUTS

.

 version.

Psychonauts is a game published by  Majesco Entertainment and developed by Double Fine for the Playstation 2, Xbox and PC.

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LEGO STAR WARS: THE VIDEO GAME

PS2 version reviewed.

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game is an action adventure game published by LucasArts and developed by Traveller's Tales for the Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance and PC.

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