HIGH Farming and crafting for days

LOW Repeating the same processes for story progression

WTF How do these teenagers and children keep saving the world?

Return to Popolocrois is a blend of two games—standard anime style JRPG and a farming simulator in the same vein as Harvest Moon.

The former follows a linear story about deception, orphans and missing princes. The latter allows for seed planting, bug collecting and item creation. Unfortunately, with both concepts squeezed into the same game, they each feel a little lackluster in their implementation. I’m guessing that fans of the series will find a lot to enjoy since this new sequel revisits past characters, but as someone whose first Popolocrois experience was this one, I couldn’t help but feel that I was missing something.

As the game opens, we meet Pietro, a rather precocious prince who has already saved the world before hitting his teenage years. Pietro turns thirteen here, and everyone from around the kingdom has come to the castle to celebrate his birthday. In true JRPG style Pietro is soon kidnapped, brought to a different dimension, and of course, needs to save everyone.

The usual JRPG tropes are here: memory loss, orphans, and bonkers dialogue which is so cliché that it’s actually rather endearing, but this isn’t enough to carry the game, especially since the story is linear and repetitive—in order for Pietro to save the world, he must cleanse the earth beneath his feet. He does this by gathering characters from past games and shrinking to jump into gardens so he can kill evil beasties within them. Do this X number of times to light a lantern which opens a dungeon which contains a boss, kill it, and then repeat until the end. If it sounds overly simple, that’s because it is.

There are side quests, but they never go much further than ‘bring X amount of these’ or ‘kill this monster a certain number of times’. It’s all by the book, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but grinding through dungeons with the sole purpose of doing it again in a different area of the map lost its appeal quickly.

It wouldn’t be so bad if the combat was enjoyable, but it’s all a bit vanilla. Fighting takes place on a grid, and the player takes turns to move and fight. There are standard attacks and magical spells, and also the ability to team characters up in order to pull off more devastating moves.

It’s passable for a time, but playing on the easier difficulty (because I was unfamiliar with the franchise) takes out any need for tactics. The difficulty can be ramped up, but when I tested it, all I found was that the enemies hit harder. Popolocrois offers to play itself via auto battling, but frankly, such a feature seems pointless to me. The encounter rate can also be tweaked and set on low, often or frequent, but it’s all a bit sporadic.

While the JRPG side was a bit flat, the farming side is a joy. Mostly.

Pietro starts on an abandoned farm. He’s given a hoe, a watering can and some seeds, which means it’s time to plant crops. This aspect of Popolocrois is enjoyable because of how flexible it is. As time goes on, Pietro takes on more farms which can grow exclusive plants, he’ll expand his home farm to allow for mass production, and he’ll meet people who move into his farm and set up shop.

Apart from standard crop-growing, there’s a chap who’s obsessed with bugs; he hands Pietro a net and gives him a bingo card for catching them. The more Pietro catches, the more the bingo card is stamped in exchange for rewards. There’s also a man who teaches mining, and a smith who can make weapons, armour and trinkets. There are many possibilities, and between crafting in the shop and the buying and selling of produce from the farms, Popolocrois shows its best side.

The colorful graphics and simple character designs are easy on the eyes, and enemies have a Wonderland-style design, often combing several ‘normal’ animals to create a beast. The visuals feel thoughtful and considered. I wish I could say the same for the sound design. The English voice acting is awful and irritating. However, the developers do give the option of using one of two Japanese audio tracks.

The two halves of Return to Popolocrois aren’t equal. By the twenty-hour mark, I was enraptured with being a bigwig farmer, but the JRPG side had lost its appeal. I was essentially grinding out the dungeons not to advance the narrative, but to find items that could be utilised or exploited on the farm. I have to wonder what the experience would have been like had the developer done away with the JRPG side altogether. Rating: 6 out of 10

Disclosures: The game was the retail version, supplied by the publisher and reviewed on the 3DS. The game was completed and played for around 35 hours.

Parents: This game is family friendly. Other than some very minor innuendo, there is nothing to shock or scare here. It’s rated E+ for Everyone by the ESRB.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: The game is fully subtitled and no audio cues are needed while exploring or fighting.

Remappable Controls: The game can be controlled via the D-Pad or the analog. The shoulder buttons are rarely used, and unless I missed something, the touch screen isn’t used at all. The controls can’t be remapped.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options included.

HIGH Clearing an entire floor without taking a hit is incredibly satisfying.

LOW The randomness can make some playthroughs impossible to complete.

WTF Pop culture references, like the Nintendo zapper from Duck Hunt.

25 hours in, and I've only scratched the surface of Enter the Gungeon. I have made progress, though—I've unlocked around 60% of the guns, items and additional features, and the starting area is almost filled out with playable characters and NPCs. However, I've not even seen the final floor of the 'gungeon' yet and I certainly haven't rolled credits.

I'm outlining these things because they illustrate two key aspects of Gungeon: first, that it's difficult, and second, that it can be very, very random.

In the same vein as Binding of Isaac and Nuclear Throne, Enter the Gungeon is a randomly-generated, top-down shooter that asks players to clear floors of enemies before taking on a boss and then moving down to the next area. The concept isn't exactly fresh, but Gungeon brings a lot to the table to differentiate itself from the crowd.

Why are we gungeon-ing? Apparently there's a weapon that exists on the bottom floor capable of erasing the past. Players take control of one of four starting characters in a bid to find this gun. Each character has different abilities or starting equipment, and this variety is part of the challenge. The Hunter starts with a crossbow and a helpful dog, the Convict has a shotgun and molotovs, the Pilot has a lockpick and can haggle with shops, and the Marine starts with armour, one ammo drop and the ability to reload faster. 

This should lead directly into discussing the guns, but first, it's worth mentioning that the tutorial teaches not only how to shoot, but most importantly, how to dodge.

The dodge-roll is perhaps the most vital weapon in the player's arsenal. It not only gets the player out of the way of bullets quickly, but it allows rolling through bullets when timed correctly. It's imperative that the dodge-roll is used and mastered—as the game goes on, some enemies and bosses take a very bullet-hell approach which means relying on the standard movement is an easy way to get killed. 

Now, let's look at the guns, and there's a lot of them. Some are modeled on real life, like the Derringer, M16, Uzi, and Revolver. Others are wackier in their approach—the Glacier gun shoots ice cubes, Void weapons fire energy blasts, Super Soakers shoot streams of water to push enemies back. There's even a T-Shirt Cannon, a gun that fires pillows, and some guns become melee weapons while reloading. Further, many guns are based on pop culture. The proton pack from Ghostbusters, Megaman's arm cannon, and the Nintendo Zapper from Duck Hunt all make appearances.

Gungeon doesn't just offer variety in its firearms, but depth. The Mailbox gun fires envelopes at enemies, but the last shot will always be a package which carries more force and damage. Other weapons have similar quirks, and it's in this minutiae that the game steps out of the crowd. Once enemy patterns are learned and the guns become familiar, knowing when to reload or when to hold onto that last powerful shot are key tactics, and they're vital because Gungeon isn't easy.

The enemies will use flanking patterns, unleash poison or even set everything on fire in a bid to halt the player's progress, and that's before the bosses show up. The final area of each floor contains one of several hulking monsters that spew waves of bullets, fire a myriad of guns at the same time, use freeze shots, gang up on the player, and more. Thankfully, if ever seriously overwhelmed at any point, a special item called a ‘Blank' can be activated to remove all bullets currently in the air, but these blanks are limited. Save ‘em for emergencies!

Being a roguelike, the experience is built on several randomly-generated factors. The first of these is the map itself, which will always be different—rooms change shape and size, and item placements and enemies within will be a surprise each time. The only constant are the shops. One will always appear per floor, but the contents for sale always vary.

Yes, there are times when Lady Luck doesn't smile and a run ends up being slightly dull with minimal guns and the least impressive bosses, but I loved the way Gungeon constantly changed, and it feels fresh each time it starts. I usually had an insane grin plastered across my face as I shot skulls at walking bullets, blobs of goo or massive Iron Maidens. 

Enter the Gungeon is a wonderful mix of intricate difficulty and vast silliness (dodge)rolled into one— Any player partial to roguelikes or bullet-hell games will find a lot to do, and completists will be running around the gungeon for months to come.  Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was obtained via the publisher and reviewed on PC. 25 hours was spent playing the game, and the game was not completed. No time was spent in co-op.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game contains: fantasy violence, mild language and use of tobacco. The game isn't necessarily mature, it contains no swearing and very little blood. However, as it states in the name, it is very much about guns and shooting enemies in both realistic and ridiculous scenarios.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: There are subtitles throughout and visual cues to show enemies off screen.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

 Remappable Controls: It very simply uses the analogue sticks to move and shoulder buttons to roll and shoot, and these can be remapped. The vibration is used frequently but can be switched off. When playing on PC, all button prompts can be changed to represent the control method being used, e.g using an Xbox pad will show Xbox buttons on screen.

If you have a PC or a laptop then stop here — go and buy Prison Architect on a platform with a mouse and keyboard. I'm not saying this because the Xbox One version isn't good, but Prison Architect is a game of minutiae (and at times precision) meaning that using a controller can sometimes be a little hamfisted. If I had the choice between controlling this strategy game with a controller or mouse and keyboard, I'd go with the latter.

Once you've gotten past that step, a sprawling and clever game awaits. Control method aside, I spent time with the XBO preview build. Not everything was open and usable, but what was here gave a great snapshot of what is possible.

There were three tutorials active when I played (there will be five eventually) and each deals with different aspects of building and running a correctional facility.

The interesting thing about these tutorial chapters is that they take place within a pseudo-story environment. In fact, they had me pining for a full game built around the lives of the criminals. What I thought would be dry and filled with instructions and commands ended up being a story of love and betrayal. Yes, you're taught to drag squares to form buildings and you will learn to connect power lines, water pipes and hire staff, but it's all subtly done against a backdrop of crime drama. It's all wonderfully emotional, too. I found myself pulled in and forgot that I was learning about reams of menus.

Of course, once I'd worked through those lessons (expect to spend around 60-90 minutes per chapter) it was time to open a prison of my own. Thankfully you can do so by diving into each menu and picking apart the options, or you can pick prebuilt buildings and get right to monitoring your prisoners — once you've constructed a perimeter wall, cells, a canteen, kitchen, shower block, offices and a myriad of other things, you will have to make sure that your inmates behave, work and, ideally, become rehabilitated.

For a game built around prisons and crime, it's incredibly enjoyable due to its depth. I particularly liked the riot scenario which saw me calling for police to enter the prison and subdue the angry inmates in order to re-establish peace. Of course there are other scenarios involving violence, so a morgue must be built for the bodies and a hospital for the injured. Those pesky criminals also start fires and break things, so the fire service must be called to put out any blazes before you can send in the workman to repair or rebuild.

After spending around 20 hours with the preview, I feel as if I only saw a fraction of what's possible. There's also plenty more to come in the future, such as community-built prisons which will be available for download – the twist is that players will be in the role of a prisoner attempting to escape.

The game has already been well received on PC, and there are thousands of wardens creating everything from county prisons to deathrow fortresses. I can only imagine what the future will hold as this marvellous game grows and grows.

— Dan Lipscomb

HIGH Nailing the effect taps on any of the Axel F mixes.

LOW Finger cramps.

WTF DJ Qbert's sadistically wonderful battle.

If a game evokes an emotion from you, then it has done its job. If it evokes a positive emotion or a sense of excitement, then it has surpassed its job. Few games can both challenge the player while forcing an eye-toothed grin onto a player's face. Settling down to play DJ Hero 2, I never thought that a rhythm game would ever create that spark within me—but it did.

Players who've experienced the first game (which judging by sales figures, were few and far between) will likely have been impressed by the finger tapping, crossfading genius created in such an original title. For those who haven't played it, shame on you. What DJ Hero 2 does, is take everything that made the original so good, and make it better.

The principles of the game haven't changed at all. Players still have to mix two tracks together by crossfading the music from each and adding sound effects and scratches, like a real DJ. This is done by moving a switch left or right, tapping the red button or holding the green or blue button and moving the turntable back and forth, respectively. With this iteration, all of the aforementioned can still be performed. However, these actions have been brilliantly elevated by adding a freestyle technique. What this means is that players can create music how they want, rather than everyone being forced down the same glowing pathways.

For example, freestyle crossfading tracks can be mixed at their own rhythm. When it works after cutting lyrics in unusual places or being placed in time with the opposing beat, I felt as if I really was in control of the music. The same can be said for the freestyle scratching. A standard scratch path creates a sound fitting for each track. The freestyle path reacted to my movements—I'd move slowly and a low pitched drawl sounded, while moving swiftly gave a high-pitched squealing scratch echoing from my speakers. When I timed it right, freestyling made me feel like a rhythm genius.

While the freestyle tapping doesn't have the same wow factor, it's still a welcome addition. Rather than just tapping the red button to add effects when the path says to, players can tap at their own pace at specific times. Done correctly, it adds a depth to the mix. Most people know the synth sample from the opening of "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa. During the mix, timing the freestyle taps right will replicate the synth sample in perfect rhythm.

Rhythm games were originally intended to give the player a sense of skill and talent for a vocation that they may not try in the "real world." When real guitarists and DJs pull off a face shredding riff or a seamless mix, I imagine they feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. DJ Hero 2 manages to deliver this feeling to the player in every song by balancing the difficulty wonderfully.

Playing on medium, the game is easy enough to boost confidence but holds onto enough of the difficulty to push the player into trying harder and landing critical points in the freestyle sections. Moving up in the difficulties, of course, rewards more smiles as players learn to hit harder scratches and faster crossfades.

A standout feature besides the actual mechanics of mixing has to be the battles between the player and other DJs. These involve both sides mixing the same tracks, but trying to "outmix" the other's freestyle attempts. It's an invigorating game mode and battling the likes of DJ Qbert is staggeringly wonderful as the mix gets passed back and forth, accompanied by sound effects that bait the opponent on. As the pace quickens and fingers land with the right timing, it's nothing short of perfection. If players get tired of mixing against the AI, there are options to venture out into the online world and take on other plastic DJs around the planet.

Thankfully, for a game with a need for such perfect timing, there's no online latency whatsoever. Games are easily found, and if it seems thrilling to better the AI with perfect mixing, beating someone sitting on the other side of the world is utterly uplifting.

Try as I might, I struggled to find any downsides to DJ Hero 2. The only possible negative the average gamer might encounter would be the track list, as it obviously won't appeal to everyone. Obviously, the majority of the music revolves around the dance and Hip Hop scene. However, considering the title of the game, such a selection is to be expected.

Even if the tunes aren't all things to all players, that shouldn't hold anyone back from putting cash down and picking up one of the most original games to grace consoles for some time. DJ Hero 2 is sublime. If it suffers the same lack of sales the first game did, it'll be a crying shame. Rating: 10 out of 10.

Disclosures: This game was obtained via retail store and was reviewed on PlayStation 3. Approximately 15 hours were devoted to the single player modes, and 3 hours were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game contains lyrics and mild suggestive themes. This game is very child-friendly as there is no violence and even naughty lyrics are overdubbed with sound effects to hide said naughtiness.

Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Since this game utterly hinges on music, it's entirely unplayable to deaf players.

Did You Know Bullseye Seats Two?

HIGH Riding Bullseye for the first time.

LOW Completing the game so soon.

WTF Kicking a villager through a U-shaped cactus to score a field goal.

I've only spent 30 minutes playing Toy Story 3 the video game by myself. The other 20 hours were spent with my three-year-old daughter next to me, both sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of one of the best family games for quite some time. It's rather safe to say that this game is not your ordinary, run of the mill movie tie in. What Avalanche has created is not only a faithful, playable version of the movie, but an open world game that puts plenty of others to shame.

The campaign follows the plot of the movie very loosely. Unfortunately for the adult gamer, everything is a little simple. It's very much a standard platforming affair—jump here, go there, collect that—and aside from the vibrant and cutesy characters, there is little to differentiate the game from any other low-rate platformer, but when playing it with a child, it becomes a very different beast.

Younger children will struggle with many of the moves that the characters must perform, particularly on the later, more action packed levels. I find it hard to think that a child could control a speeding Bullseye dodging falling boulders with split second timing, or that one could defend against swarms of robots rapid-firing characters into oblivion. 

However, allow the child to sit beside and let them point out the objectives, and watch a wonderful team appear. There are plenty of objects to collect and things to do, and when a child spots them and points them out excitedly, it's really something special.

Certain levels heighten this teamwork. A memorable moment was a stealth-based level in which the toys must escape Sunnyside Daycare. The level itself is well-designed and makes excellent use of light and dark areas. It challenges the player without ever punishing them unless they make a foolish mistake, but the beauty of these levels is that they're very open, allowing the player to solve problems and explore pathways in their own time—perfect for suggestions from a child watching in suspense.

The main story is over rather quickly, easily be finished in around five hours. However, that's never a problem because Toy Box mode is waiting. This mode allows the players to enter a Wild West area of the game called "Woody's Roundup," easily the game's selling point. It would be easy for me to sit here and call it something lazy such as "Grand Theft Toy Story" or something similar, but it is so much more than that.

Choosing one of three characters (Woody, Buzz or Jessie) players are tasked with completing missions for the local residents. Ham, the piggy bank, is mayor of the town and starts off by introducing the villagers. Once kids have met Slinky, Stinky Pete and others, it's time to get down to business—and business can refer to anything from modifying houses and stores, to dressing up the villagers, or even stopping highway robberies.

Everything is wonderfully simplistic, and it's all the better for it. Asking a child whether they want to decorate a building like Nemo is like asking if they want a cookie. Of course they want to do it, and even as a 28 year old man I had a great time dressing people up as various characters from Pixar movies. There are also races in cars or on Bullseye, a stunt park for Hot Wheels cars, slime that shrinks and grows things that you throw it at, a camera to take pictures for billboards in the game, and so much more.

Even though I controlled the characters, my daughter always felt a part of the game, shouting for me to help Slinky round up the cows or to race Bullseye through the horseshoe checkpoints. She was enjoying it just as much as me. Even the wife came over at one point, picking up the second controller and dropping in for some co-op. We both agreed that what the game achieves for kids is the ability to transport them into the world of Woody and the gang. For adults, it's a venture back to their own childhood.

Of course, it's all a bit simple for the dexterity of grown-up thumbs, but who really cares when children sit by your side and smile as they watch animated heroes controlled by their real heroes—their parents? Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

— by Daniel Lipscombe

Disclosures: This game was purchased from a retail store and reviewed on the PS3. Approximately 20 hours of play were dedicated to the single player mode and the game was completed. Only offline co-op mode is available, and approximately 3 hours were spent in this mode.

Parents: Although this game is ideal for children, it does contain very mild cartoon violence and comic mischief. It is in no way offensive and represents what would be seen in any Pixar movie.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: You won't have any problems. There are subtitles in abundance and all moments of gameplay are usually accompanied by visual cues.

I'm beginning to get used to moving through the XMB with the… wand? and now I can select pretty much anything with a few deft flicks of the wrist. So far (touches wood) I haven't had any issues with lighting interfering with the system, as others have. So, the love affair continues.

RUSE

After spending a couple of hours with the strategy title, I can only reiterate at how marvelous Move will be for these genres. RUSE utilises the navigation controller to move the camera back and forth and side to side, while the wand (let's call it a wand) selects units on the field and rotates the camera.

One concern I had was how precise it would be when a lot was happening on screen at once and while it was tricky to get to grips with, once I'd nailed it I was feeling at home. I wouldn't say it was a suitable substitute for a mouse and keyboard, but this is the best console players will get.

With Move in place, I would expect developers to be porting their strategy titles over very soon.

Resident Evil 5

It may be worth me saying that Resident Evil 5 was my favourite game of last year and myself and good friend Andy finished it four or five times together. In fact it is one of the few titles that I got every achievement on. So, I've played it a lot. Using Move felt like playing it for the first time, again.

To say it's similar to Resident Evil 4, would be wrong. It is, but the aiming is tighter and playing this way actually adds a lot more tension. The latter of which is quite impressive seeing as I've watched every cutscene and experienced each set piece many times.

Again, it takes a while to get used to the controls, but bizarrely it's more because of the HD visuals than anything else. Obviously I've played similar games and control systems on the Wii, but with the Hi-Def graphics it just takes a while to adjust. I only played briefly, but I'm desperate to play through again… unfortunately I have to wait for my wingman to pick up Move.

Conclusive?

I won't conclude my opinion as yet as tomorrow I will be spending time with a few more demo's, namely Eyepet and Echochrome II. One thing I never thought I would say, as usually I feel that this motion control lark is a bit pointless, but whenever I pick up the Sixais… I kind of miss Move. There's something about the tech that just fits. Maybe it's being able to reach in and out of the field rather than just move a crosshair or wave a bat.

I'm very excited to see what Sony and other developers have planned for the future.

The other day, I sold my Xbox 360. Finally after all that time of going back and forth, the time had come to list it on eBay and try to make some money out of it. It had been sitting on my bedroom desk unused for a while now and as most of my gaming is being done on the PlayStation 3, I thought it time to dedicate myself to Sony's console.

Anyway, as I'd made a nice sum from the 360 I thought I would treat myself to Move, Sony's new motion control system. So, off I trotted to Tesco to buy it. I would have gone elsewhere but I had a voucher for Tesco that gave me £6 off if I spent £40 or more. I bought the Move starter pack and a navigation controller, too. I decided to pass on most of the games, for now, as I'd heard most were rubbish.

It didn't matter as I had the demos and I knew that there were a few games on PSN that had my interest. Oh, and I rented RUSE, as well.

My first reaction to Move was how sturdy the unit felt. It has a nice heft to it and fits comfortably in your hand. My second thought was, "I have to use the strap here as it's nice and smooth and will fly from my hand." The Move controller is lovely, the buttons are placed very well, although I'm not keen on the positioning of the start and select buttons. As they are on the sides, they aren't as easy to reach quickly as the other buttons.

I wasn't all that impressed by using the Move controller to navigate the XMB. It just doesn't feel fluid enough and often times I overshot the thing I was actually trying to select. I'm sure over time I could get used to it, but I will stick with using my controller or the navigation controller.

Tumble

Wow, how to explain Tumble. It's like reverse Jenga or a cross between Jenga and Boom Blox. If you're buying Move, this should be the first game you play/try. This is mainly because it shows off exactly what Move can do. The 1:1 movement is tremendous, it sounds stupid to break it down so simply but the controller on screen does move exactly as your hand does. But, also, you can move within the depth of the field.

So, to start with Tumble teaches you to pick up blocks, move them around the screen and slide them through hoops in the foreground and background. The idea of the game is to build towers by balancing blocks, or in later levels, blowing them up. It's a great game, one that not only uses your mind but uses the dexterity of your hands. So, don't give it to Grandma as her shaky hands will bring your tower down in seconds.

Sports Champions

I only had time to try Table Tennis and the first thing that jumps out is how "grown up" it feels compared to Wii Sports. Not just through the HD graphics but through the minute movements of the swing mechanics. Adding spin to your ball is so easy and playing makes you feel rather empowered.

Tiger Woods 11

As a massive golf fan, both in real life and in virtual worlds I was looking forward to trying this. And I was not let down, at all. It's tough to play at first, mainly due to that 1:1 movement. Tilting the club even slightly will add fade or draw to your ball. This of course means that your first few swings will likely drift miles of course.

Once you're used to the controls the game feels remarkably intuitive. Only stopping to aim your ball pulls you from the experience of playing golf. If you're a fan of Tiger Woods, this is a must have as, for once, motion control makes the game better.

Flight Control HD

Everyone's favourite iPhone game is now HD and is controlled with Move. So, amazingly intuitive and it works very, very well on the big screen. This is where move shows another trick from its sleeve, but a simple one. The Move controller makes a superb pointer. If developers don't take advantage of this by making more RTS's and Point and Click's for the system, then they are mad.

Each path you form in your mind is exact on the screen, the only thing that can let you down is a shaky hand. It's still as fun and addictive as ever, but Move takes it to a different level. For only £3.99, if you aren't buying this, you will regret it.

Thoughts.

When developers take use of what they have here, Move can take the PS3 to an entirely different level. Games that are awkward on console will finally have a home and those silly mini games will become a different beast with the minute motions achievable with Move.

Of course I haven't tried any action games such as Heavy Rain or any of the future games like Dead Space 2, but with the intricacy of the pointing I can only think that Move will feel wonderful to use. Move is a triumph in motion control, it may even convert the critics.