However different they are, Rayman: Origins is a game driven by sound. Its symphonic approach between gameplay and design leads to a resulting experience that is rich in melody, rhythm, cadence and harmony. It’s a game that relies on the balance of tempo and action, the delicacy of instrumentation and the delivery of tone. In no game that I have played before has music been such a rich and valuable part of the experience. So much so, that playing the game on mute has a detrimental effect, not only on how the game plays but also on the player. Rayman: Origins could be the first symphony ever written for consoles.

From the menu screen to each of the hand drawn characters and levels, Rayman: Origins attests to a certain quality and standard that is above and beyond much of the animation that exists in games today. With a colour palette that is lively and vivid and an attention to detail that will surprise you from beginning to end, Rayman: Origins is a platformer that is a true delight to behold. Everything here has been considered, from the eyes of animals that will follow you around rooms, to the shiver of a puffer fish before he expands. All of which is shown off in glorious high definition at a constant 60 frames per second that never drops. The glee that is Rayman: Origins’ unique design never fails.

Set in the Glade of Dreams, Rayman and his pals disturb a granny from the Land of the Livid Dead with their snoring. In her vengeful wrath she unleashes Darktoons which brings much dissonance into the world. The attack can only be healed by saving the friendly Electoons that have been caught up in the invasion and hidden around the map. However, what starts as an entertaining and simple tale, fails to ever properly evolve in the game. The omission of narrative drive is no severe oversight but it would have made certain elements of the title perspire with radiance when they unfortunately just glow.

Whether you’ll know it from the start or not, much of the core mechanics of the side-scrolling platformer surrounds these purple Electoons that populate the map. Some are locked in cages and some are only let free when you collect a certain number of Lums, the gold musical sprites that inhabit almost every level. It’s an compelling system, one that is made even more so by the Lums actually informing parts of the level design. They will lead you along certain routes sometimes guiding you past danger, whilst other times they will tempt you into trouble with the promise of a plentiful bounty.

These Lums might, at the start, be a periphery distraction but soon they will become your main concern. The Lums are perfectly entrenched into the experience of the game to such a point that you’ll be doing everything you can to remember their positions as some of them will only be reachable if you follow certain patterns with your jumping or take certain routes. Also your muscle memory will become trained over time to properly take advantage of each of the special King Lums that for a short time double the amount of Lums you gather. The Lums offer a rich musical motif that runs through the entire game and you’ll soon start going out of your way to collect as many as you can to dive deeper into the symphony.

At each turn, Rayman: Origins delivers an experience that is desperately unique yet dripping in knowledge and confidence. The level design never takes a step wrong and is musical in its production, both metaphorically and literally. Nearly every single platform makes a noise when it’s stepped on, each Lum strikes a note when collected and the fish will also serenade you whilst you swim. When it comes to sound and level design Rayman: Origins never drops below brilliant, in fact it’s often staggeringly superb. The fact that you can add to an already excellent soundtrack with your own deft musical flourishes is a fine touch and makes sure you feel part of the performance. Also, the final platforming stage in particular is nothing less than a work of art. By fittingly combing sound and tempo to a stage which is constantly changing as you move through it is worth the price of admission alone.

The difficulty curve in Rayman: Origins is also deft and slight, but you will begin to notice it as you move through the game. Specific areas will require you to make it through without missing a single jump and in some the only way to make it through will be to rely on memory. There’s a lot of trial and error here, but it never feels like it’s born out of frustration or bad design. During one level I was asked eight times if I wanted to leave the stage due to my constant failures. However, it’s evident that the repetition of death and rebirth is part of the overall routine and once you start to trust the developers in their design, you’ll be gurning like a school child the moment you get it right.

Rayman: Origins is an outstanding execution of what it would be like to have an orchestral score written for a videogame. From the ground up, the whole thing has been designed to suit a melody of action and environment. The levels are some of the best I have ever experienced, from escaping the terrors of heartburn, to chasing a red treasure chest over terrain crumbling beneath my feet, to riding a mosquito whilst accompanied by a Kazoo. Add to this a standard of sound design that surpasses much that I have ever heard and you have a title that is utterly, utterly wonderful.

There might be a slight moment when you long for better online functionality though. Leader boards would have been a fantastic addition considering Lum collection and time trials. Also, whereas the drop in-out couch co-op is a much obliged addition, not having online co-op is a strange exclusion. There are not many moments though to mourn these missed opportunities as Rayman: Origins does a fine job of proving that it’s probably one of the best single-player experiences of the year.

A game with one of the highest levels of craftsmanship, design and execution, Rayman: Origins is a constant pleasure and charm. There have been many titles out this year that have gained such equal numerical praise but I promise you that none of them deliver an experience quite like this.

MLG Rating: 9/10
Platform: PS3/ Xbox 360/ Wii Release Date: 25/11/2011

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a physical copy of Rayman: Origins for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of four days on an Xbox 360. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

It would be very easy for me to say that Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is essentially Assassin’s Creed: 2.2, than any real advancement of the series, and to be fair all the evidence points towards such a conclusion. The main gameplay mechanics of traversing wide open roof tops with speed and dispatching enemies with silent precision remain. The story as well, is not only a progression of the previous game but also makes a point of ignoring one of the main characters, further compounding its status as embellishment rather than anything more substantial . Also, all the same issues that plagued Assassin’s Creed: II are found in abundance. The constant screen tear, the heavy and poorly implemented combat and the often meagre animation. There is nothing here in Revelations that hasn’t existed before in any previous game in the series, which include all the technical faults. For nothing to have been addressed by developers Ubisoft and for the same brilliance and belligerence to exist un-accounted for makes it tough not to call Revelations anything other than a precursor, an inbred cousin to its fine lineage.

Taking place after the events of Brotherhood, Revelations finds series protagonist Desmond Miles imbedded inside the Animus.  The device that once transported him into the memories of his ancestors through his unique DNA, the Animus is now holding Desmond’s mind hostage until he can complete all the memory fragments left behind by his distant relative and assassin, Ezio Auditore.

Though it might not be the completion of the now thinly stretched saga, Revelations is instead the conclusion of Ezio’s personal fight against the influence of the Templars. Much older and wiser in Revelations, the alterations in Ezio’s character are a welcome change for the series. No longer is he the brash arrogant upstart with a penchant for revenge, but this time he is a much more considered presence.  His mission to uncover the library and secrets of ancestor Altaïr ibn La-Ahad is one of purpose and honour and not one of violence and vengeance. I for one enjoyed the more matured approach and along with a perfectly understated performance by Nolan North as Desmond, the pair are one of the highlights of the game.

Nothing though should be taken away from the location, where Ubisoft once again pick the perfect scene for Ezio to traverse and trail. Constantinople’s sloping roofs, domed and glorious mosques, tight alleyways and packed streets are a constant joy to behold.  The colour and vibrancy of the place juxtaposes beautifully with Ezio’s moody posture and black dress. It is a pleasure to hear locals discussing your actions, to come to the aid of those that are in need and use your gifted skills to help a town so obviously injured by the Templar authority. All of this alongside a tremendous orchestral score and you have all the parts that make up what has long been the Assassin’s Creed formula.

The benefits of the Orient are not only evident in its environment, with the location offering Ezio the addition of a Hookblade and the relevant skills and knowledge in Bombcraft. The former is much welcomed addition to the series, and certainly does help gloss over navigational inaccuracies that crop up from time to time. Being able to use the hook to travel at speed across zip lines and also act as a failsafe when jumps are wider than you expected makes up for those times you leap in opposite directions through no fault of your own or connect with objects not intended to be climbed and therefore seriously  hampering your progress. Issues of movement that still exist, even since Assassin’s Creed: II.

The Bombcraft is also a welcome distraction to the pace of a parkour specialist as well. Without knowing it you can spend a fair few minutes at the designated tables across the city to make a wide variety of bombs from ingredients you have discovered or looted whilst on your travels. The bombs can help maim, kill or distract enemies and collecting the right parts and piecing it together to then be successfully used can feel instantly gratifying.

However, both the Bombcraft and Hookblade are parts of many things in Revelations that offer depth and detail but are really optional extras to an experience that has been played out many times before. Even Desmond is a forgotten character by the end of the first few segments and you’ll rarely go back to him other than through your own choice. Also, a tower defence mini-game which is called into use when captured Assassin territory comes under threat by the Templars, is an entirely ignorable addition past the obligatory tutorial.

You constantly get the feeling that Ubisoft are once again testing the ground for what could be bigger inclusions should they finally finished off the true Assassins Creed Trilogy. For example, collecting archive fragments in the game unlock parts of a first person absurdist puzzle adventure with Desmond tracking back through his memories before being introduced to the Animus. It is truly an affecting experience. However, at no point is this ever explained or directed to in the game for fear that fans might not agree with where Ubisoft is taking the genre. Completing these very compelling  memories are again all optional and the mountains of intensity on offer from the title is never bragged about but instead left to weep in darkened corner.

It is also evident that Revelations is still trundling along with an engine that is definitely starting to show its age. Unable to cope with the growing size and scope of the title, it can no longer get away with blaming its constant texture popping and clipping as a symptom of the Animus.  Combat is also something that hasn’t altered over the series. Often a clumsy affair that constantly does it best to make you feel inept. Water effects are also below what should be expected of the game and the engine shows a keen indecisive attitude  between Ezio’s eye colour and where enemies should be placed. Having a character change in front of your face during a scene or enemies pop out of nowhere just shows that you have a game that it starting to outgrow its home.

In truth it hurts to see so much good work go un-rewarded, especially when you’re constantly reminded of the sheer excitement that pervades every single Assassin’s Creed title. There are times in Revelations when I had to sit on the floor as there was no edge left of my seat to hold me there. A finely paced race alongside a boat hurtling down rapids and a flying jaunt through several burning ships being some of the standout moments.  There were also times when I could see past the dead soulless eyes of the characters and actually feel connected with the story. The living economy of the city and the micromanagement of your assets, investments and interests is also a potent combination. The multiplayer also returns as a fine antithesis to the proliferation of gung-ho multiplayer tropes that exist today. Its display of tension and pacing makes it a joy to play and a far more rewarding experience, though again it is one that often seems ignored.

As any great Assassin knows, the secret to success is all about position and pacing. Get your approach correct and time it right and no one will know you’ve been there. However, when that pacing gets ignored, interrupted or even discarded the experience can turn sour very quickly. What is often an enriching and brilliant experience in Revelations  is constantly made to feel frivolous through bad design, ancestral errors and most importantly a lack of confidence in the product.

I am certain that there will be another Assassin’s Creed game and I hope it contains all the things that have made Revelations a brilliant ride. For a while fans have been enjoying small tweaks to the mechanics and in return have brushed aside constant bugs and flaws within the design. With the closing of the second chapter in the Assassin’s Creed canon, it is now up to Ubisoft to conclude the trilogy with style.

MLG Rating: 7/10
Platform: PS3/ Xbox 360/ PC Release Date: 15/11/2011

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a physical copy of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of five days on a PS3. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

Released as an enhanced patch for owners of the console release, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, the second iteration of the game is more of an updated version of its previous incarnation than any great overhaul. Continuum Shift II on the 3DS then is no major adaptation of the formula or presentation but aims to provide 3DS players a chance to experience that which has been on home systems and in arcade cabinets for nearly a year.

With a generous roster of characters, an even more extensive set of modes and a story that is desperately deep,  dozens of hours can be spent in BlazBlue without even throwing a punch. It’s almost like Continuum Shift II is the AGM of Fight Club. It’s a strange mix of over the top 2D fighting and meticulous attention to detail with a narrative so baggy that it might have been tied together with silly string.

As fighting goes, Continuum Shift II on the 3DS is a pretty daunting prospect for any player. The level of precision in the range of moves and the finely tuned balance between power and pace in each character is plain to see. A lengthy tutorial takes you from Beginner to Advanced in well judged steps, to give you just the information you need to proceed at a speed that suits. If you still struggle after several hours of tuition then a quick switch from Tactical Mode to Stylish means that combos can be executed with one button press. So those of you with ankles for hands will be able to compete with the best and be treated to a finely animated and colourful battle display.

It’s a shame that in a way,  those who want the challenge of playing the old fashioned style, will struggle with this port from the arcade to the 3DS. Firstly, all the buttons have not been mapped to fit any of those found on the 3DS, and this is never explained in any of the tutorials. So finding out what is the ‘D’, ‘T’ or ‘S’ buttons can be a frustrating effort in trial in error and it often feels counterintuitive to look for things that don’t really exist.

Continuum Shift II’s biggest issue is that it suffers from the console it’s on and not really from much of its mechanics or design. The tight and restrictive layout of the 3DS is fine when accelerating a vehicle or firing a gun, but it struggles to maintain the kind of response and accuracy you need for a fighting game like Continuum Shift II. Button presses often feel like they are not registered and trying to play with your hand arched over the console quickly becomes uncomfortable. For added precision as well, the movement of your character is all handled with the D-Pad which whilst suitable for the job, the pad is in such an awkward position on the 3DS that you’ll never feel as effective as you could be.

For the persistent of you though there is certainly plenty to do in Continuum Shift II. The fighting is solid and well directed with just the right amount of kooky and brutal offences that will keep you striving to learn the next combo and perfect your play. Having the moves list for your chosen character on the touch screen of the 3DS at all times is also a nice addition that encourages you in each round to try something new. The D-Pad can make action feel slightly sluggish at times but the focus in Continuum Shift II is to read your opponent and act accordingly by using counters and stringing together combos. In this respect Continuum Shift II is at its most effective.

As well as the simple one to one arcade fighting there are also several different modes to ply your growing trade. You can throw fists in an RPG styled mode called Abyss, or gather an army of fighters to claim areas of enemy territory. Alternatively you can enter the story mode and be lucky to have several fights within thirty minutes of text. Even though through all these modes you’ll be fighting, having the option to delve into several different modes and gain experience across them all is a welcome distraction to prevent monotony.

With each of the characters having their own narrative within the through line of Continuum Shift II, out of all the varied options, the story mode is both the strongest and weakest of the bunch. If you’re brave enough to see each one through to the end then expect chapters lasting  up to forty minutes in length with voice acting that at times is poorly acted and badly mixed. The plot is also probably either the worst thing ever conceived by a human being or a work of tragic and comedic genius. It’s never clear what story this game is trying to tell. I certainly struggled, but those familiar with the series might relish in its outlandish, multi-strand narrative.

I feel that if I wasn’t playing Continuum Shift II on the 3DS I would have enjoyed much more of the whole experience. The console has a detrimental effect on pretty much every aspect of the title. Controls are awkward and uncomfortable to play with, sound often comes across as a terrible tinny mess, and other than local matches, there is no support for online play.

Fighting games always work better when built from the ground up for a specific console, and several concessions to the limitations of the 3DS here and there would have paid dividends, rather than sapping the life out of the title.

MLG Rating: 6/10
Platform: 3DS/ PSP Release Date: 04/11/2011

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of four days on a 3DS. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

Without realising it at the time, Insomniac games couldn’t have picked a better writer than Dumas as inspiration for the latest Ratchet and Clank title. ‘All for one’ might spark depths of spirit and unity from within but they are words that come from a scribe almost obsessed by the omnipresence of despair. Here was a man who once claimed that if God had experienced his life, he would of committed suicide.  He was a man whose skill as a writer was to present the depths of despondency but in the most glorious of fashions and somehow by borrowing one his most famous phrases, Insomniac have managed to create a title that captures this duality of experience.

As the quote mentions above, Insomniac have had little to worry about over recent years. In fact their humour and verve have been responsible for some of my favourite games of the past decade. Now that the Future Trilogy has come to an end the storm is beginning to rage and even though they might not be broken and battered against the rocks, the franchise is certainly starting to get a little soggy.

Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One is a dramatic departure for the series, as for the first time the focus shifts to co-op gameplay rather than the solo experience of the previous titles. It is possible to play Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One on your own but this is a game that has been designed from top to toe to accommodate four players.

By once again failing in his attempts to extinguish the lives of Ratchet, Captain Quark and Clank, Dr. Nefarious kicks into action a contrived plot which brings the four together to fight a common enemy and find their way back home. The game includes much of the same systems of play seen in many of the titles that have gone before it. There are a rich variety of weapons, enemies and platforming puzzles but this time you can choose to be Ratchet, Clank, Quark or Nefarious. However, anyone who has played through most of the series will probably feel just as uncomfortable by the quartet as I.

Even from the start, as a group the four never seem to gel. Mainly due to the fact that their past encounters are mostly ignored to suit the new style of play. Firstly Captain Quark has a prestigious record of being the biggest scaredy-cat of the series, but suddenly he has become a proficient and competent fighter. Strange though this is, Dr. Nefarious is the most unsettling addition of all. Why he even sticks with the group throughout the entire narrative is something that is never made clear and symptomatic of what is an ill-conceived story. Even in cutscenes he drifts in the back ground and is never connected with any of the events in any tangible way. Considering the wealth of characters and allies that could have been used by Insomniac, it is a surprise that they thought it was worth sacrificing years of character development just to have an excuse to put the series stalwarts on screen at once.

As you would expect from any Ratchet and Clank game, there is wealth to see and do, from precarious platforming to plenty of cacophonous combat and it is all presented in the usual style. Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One shines quality in presentation and certainly could be the funniest edition to the series, but the worlds, animation and styling have all been marred by an experience so focused on other things. The biggest culprit of which is the camera.

The second biggest change to the series is the camera is now placed in a fixed position to better capture the action of all four players in one go. Once a great cinematic staple of the series, the camera in All 4 One  never gets the balance right between action and context. Platforms can be hidden behind where the camera refuses to go and routes blocked until the last minute when the camera decides to move on. At times this makes the exploration and enjoyment of the world an unrewarding affair. As if controlled by an overactive director, the camera always tracks the player out in front to help keep the action going, though this is often to the disadvantage to those who are either struggling with platforming elements or others who want to take their time to explore.

Level design is also lacklustre when in the shadow of the franchise, as everything is designed to be inhabited by four players. If you’re looking to play on your own, you’ll find that the world feels soulless and empty. The wide expanses of platforms and the huge vistas on which to do battle are the perfect size for four, but never feel home to someone who wants to keep the experience to themselves. Constantly the design never accounts for the solo player. Even the over game commentary refers to all four characters being on screen at once, though when playing alone, they will only join you when needed in cutscences.

Teaming up with a group of people is easy work though. I often hopped online by myself and waited for people to migrate to my game whilst I made my way through several levels. It is hit or miss if you’re going to find people that are willing to perform as part of the team, however. Even though the title exudes the want for unity there is also a staunch competitive element to proceedings, with those collecting the most bolts, killing the most enemies or performing the most co-op actions being declared winner at the end of each stage. Whereas in games like Little Big Planet, these moments to collect and horde were well balanced and used to break up the pace. In Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One however, the bolts, enemies and collectables appear with such frequency that more often than not you’ll encounter players more concerned with winning a level than playing as a team.

There will be plenty of occasions though that even these selfish online denizens will have to perform co-operative tasks. When playing on your own, these are dealt with by a very competent AI Clank. He is triggered into action whenever a gap needs jumping or enemies need a little trimming down. Of course the best fun comes with three other ‘live’ players on screen to take care of the team tasks. Using the Vac-U to suck up bolts and then hurl a pal over to another platform is mechanically satisfying. Other times you’ll be called to direct a raft in unison and even weapons are more powerful when used together.  There isn’t that much variety in the co-op tasks and you’ll encounter the same ones over and again but they at least prove that Insomniac have included practical and fun team mechanics, even if they quickly become monotonous.

Due to the fact that play can essentially be dictated by the one player who reaches an area first or starts a chain of co-op moves, communication is a key aspect to making sure that a random bunch of online hobbyists get along. It would make sense then to include voice-chat in such a multi-player heavy experience. However during my many hours playing online I never encountered one person using the feature and my own attempts to use the headset yielded no response. There was not even an on-screen display to show that I was using the device or any in-game messaging service to let others know that I wanted to communicate. It is of no surprise then that this serious omission of either design or function made much of the online experience at times a desperate chore. Add to this several glitches which forced me on more than one occasion to quit an entire game and the world quickly becomes frustrating and diluted.

You expect such a level of quality from Insomniac because they have been in the sunshine for so long, but the misfit narrative, disastrous bunch of characters,  a camera that is essentially biased to the fastest player, and all of Insomniac’s hard work quickly becomes undone. Everything in-between the sloppy plot never reaches above competent. Enemies are the same variations of those you’ve seen before and the controls feel clumsier than in previous games.

In ways I feel that I’m putting the hammer down hard because I expect so much from an Insomniac  title and there are things in Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One that have taken my interest and shown promise. However, overall the game would have made a better dual experience rather than once forced into four, as in essence there is too much going on to ever provide a coherent title.

What you have here is a game that looks great and is full of life, but so much of it gets either recycled and reused, or is badly focused and poorly conceived. The ambition here far outweighs the results. If it was a shorter, much cheaper title then there could have been more possibilities, but Insomniac have stretched both the series and the characters too far.

MLG Rating: 5/10
Platform: PS3  Release Date: 21/10/2011

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a physical copy of Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of five days on a PS3. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

The third ‘minis’ title from Mediatonic, the UK based development house describe 1000 Tiny Claws as a ‘Sumo-Survival-Smash-Em-Up’. Conceptually the game serves all these descriptions well, but struggles to maintain its unique style in the face of tedium. With a main campaign that last just over 2 hours long, 1000 Tiny Claws shouldn’t be a game that suffers from repetition, but Mediatonic do little over the 25 levels to take advantage of their distinctive combat or environments.

After ‘accidently’ removing a cursed sword from its resting place, a team of flying Pirates start 1000 Tiny Claws with their necks in a noose. However, before the chair is kicked from underneath, the crew are offered an ultimatum to return the sword and hopefully put an end to the curse of bugs that they have unleashed. It’s a simple tale told with a wonderfully comic edge. The pirates speak an amusing garbled nonsense that is marvellously pitched to be just as funny as the script. The visuals match the charming tale as well, with 8 bit styled landscapes and sprites that exude quality and polish.

As Pirate Rena, you travel from floating platform to floating platform, to find your way to Hex Island to put back the sword and save your crew from the drop. However, whilst Rena escorts the accursed weapon home, she might as well put it to good use and remove the tiny critters from each of the islands on her way.

Once combat begins you’ll be transported to environments that lack the sanctity of four walls.  This is a precarious situation for both you and your oncoming critter cavalcade. Made up of five ever increasing waves,  levels can only be cleared once you send each one of the enemies flying off the platform, which is of course before you meet the same fate. Mechanically, combat works similarly to Super Smash Bros. The more damage you hand out on your enemies the further they fly and the same goes for you. One small hit at the start might see you hopping back one step, but as your heart of steel takes more and more punishment, the smallest strike can leave you helplessly falling into Davy Jone’s Locker. Even on this 2D platform the risk and reward system of attack makes early combat interesting, as you can’t all go on an all out assault without the danger of making yourself exposed to being thrown off the island.

The situation is made more delightfully intriguing when environments start to reduce in space and some even deteriorate in the middle of levels. In the early stages, 1000 Tiny Claws can feel unfair but it manages to remain balanced by making you solely responsible for errors and mistakes. For example, you can replenish your health by hitting rare creatures that carry apples. However, these little blighters often like to cling to the outer edges of levels, meaning that making a rash attack will send the precious health flying off the stage with their green bodies following. Also, the best way to get rid of enemies is to juggle them closer to the edge; however that also puts you closer to death. At times it does feel unjust but because you often put yourself into the vulnerable position, it is hard to complain. In addition to this, the well planned environments and varieties of creatures and early combat is more of a tactical affair than it appears and it is a pleasure to use it all to your advantage. Hitting creatures against rocks, or sweeping the gangway clear with a shove of a box adds to what can at times be an intense game of cat and mouse.

As the game progresses however,  what on surface appears as a balanced and reasonable experience slowly becomes infuriating and monotonous. Even though it is the harbinger of the multitude of enemies that you face, the sword you wield is a pitiful weapon. Combat is handled with one button press, and the single combo you can perform is of little use in tight situations. Once you have dispatched a few dozen enemies a powered attack become available and though it’s a relief to sweep multiple enemies aside in one go, as the game moves on your dependency on the special move grows far too great.

What was all seemingly fairly balanced at the beginning becomes out of kilter the more you play. As the game increases difficulty by introducing more enemies to ever decreasing levels, the basic swordplay leaves you at a distinct disadvantage. There are no new combos or skill sets to unlock, which means 1000 Tiny Claws becomes a repetitive slog with multiplying foes and nothing new to challenge them with. The sword which felt impactful to begin with slowly starts to resemble a glorified brush and it’s hard not to think that you are nothing but a steel handled cleaner sweeping the troubles of the island under the carpet.

Feeling underpowered is never satisfying and getting thrown off the level because your sword misses a hit or gets locked in the one and only combo is cheap. Especially when you have to then start the five waves from the beginning.

There are attempts by Mediatonic to make the game a little bit more appealing beyond the two hour campaign. If you can take the challenge then there are time trials to compete and a survival mode as well. Each level is also graded by medals but they feel like minor conclusions to the frustrations of battle. There is though a brilliant Ships Log to unlock as you go through the game. The log is full of glorious visuals, tight scripting and fabulous design, but it just goes to prove that all the effort seems like it has gone into the wrong places.

1000 Tiny Claws is an interesting game and the early combat is entertaining and engrossing. The humour of the piece is also succinct and exceedingly well pitched. It is just a shame that the early signs of life and individuality fade later on in the game and the sharp increase in difficulty mar an early delight. Like custard that develops a skin over time, 1000 Tiny Claws is an experience tainted by its own design.

MLG Rating: 6/10
Platform: PS3  Release Date: 05/10/2011

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of 1000 Tiny Claws for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of three days on a PS3. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

They are the Chomp bar that you had forgotten about just when your hunger peaks. Or your favourite pen, that you thought you had lost, turning up once again out of the blue. These are what I would call ‘nice’ surprises. Look hard enough and you’ll find that your day will be littered with their shimmering presence. Buy Driver: San Francisco and you can be happy in the knowledge that you own the ‘nicest’ surprise of 2011.

When it comes to the franchise, for too long developer Reflections have been a weeping mess. The superb debut, Driver, was a point by point lesson in how to capture a Hollywood aesthetic and turn every corner into a performance. However, under the shadow of Grand Theft Auto, the innovative development seemed to stall and now on their fourth publisher, expectations for the British team are not exactly towering. It has not been the prettiest of histories.

Other than one previous Wii title, Parallel Lines back in 2004, Driver: San Francisco sees Martin Edmonson take his company onto the next generation of consoles for the very first time. Bringing series protagonist Tanner with them, (the renamed) Ubisoft Reflections have in D:SF a natural sequel to Driv3r. Events have cooled since bad guy, Jericho, shot Tanner in the back in the previous title and not happy with his new jailhouse surroundings in D:SF, Jericho breaks out with Tanner in pursuit. One trip down a blind alley later and from within twisted crumbling metal Tanner is put in a coma and Jericho walks free.  The rest of the game now belongs to Tanner’s subconscious.

It is a theatrical setup for an equally melodramatic plot line, which sees you essentially play D:SF inside Tanner’s unconscious mind  as he nestles within a coma. Quests, missions, characters and details are either parts of Tanner’s own self trying to regain consciousness, or small parts of his cognisant mind picking up on the twenty four hour news coverage of a city at the hands of Jericho. The thrilling thing is, is that Tanner still thinks he is sane, fully alert and intent on bringing down his nemesis.

It all smells of Life on Mars mixed in with Kingdom Hospital. You drive past billboards that say ‘Wake Up’; you hear get well messages streaming from the police radio and try all you’ll like but you’ll never be able to run over a pedestrian. This world, not only affords for some sparkling conversation between Tanner and his (imaginary) partner Tobias Jones, as he tries to convince him he’s not going mad, but also it gives Ubisoft Reflections enough rope to happily swing from.

All the pieces here seem like they belong and so they should in the mind of a petrol head.  Driving is a joy, full of risks and frustration but ultimately, gratifying rewards. The setting looks and feels like a living city and even though he is essentially nothing but a breathing vegetable, here Tanner exists in a world which is purpose built to let him flex his driving muscle.  Each car, race, and journey  feels part of an experience destined for celluloid and they all exist on a stage that is geographically sublime

Music fuels the adrenaline further and as with every inch of the design, you feel like it is a world populated by Tanner’s favourite cars, locations and soundtrack. There is also one spectacular thing that Tanner’s subconscious allows him to do whenever it takes his fancy, which is shifting.

With one easy press of the button, entering Shift gives Tanner a bird’s eye view of the entire city. From this vantage point he can now inhabit any driver of any vehicle that he so wishes and take their place behind the wheel.  It is simple, bonkers, and bizarre.  In one simple shift, Tanner can move from his body into that of a kid taking a driving lesson, a man trying to impress his wife by driving fast, or even a member of Jericho’s gang trying to move up the ranks. The story of the city is told through these plotted shifts that exist in-between your main objectives.

Hopping from one car to another to find you’re the wife of a man being driven to hospital after being bitten by a poisonous spider, or you’re one of two brothers racing to pay for college tuition, feels un-endlessly satisfying. With every shift it feels like there is potential for more. Cop chases can be closed down by shifting into a lorry mid-race and putting it across the chasing pack and missions can be completed on a scale as big as the city as you can move miles in seconds.

Shifting is D:SF’s  gambit and it pays off, and what delivers in the singleplayer delivers tenfold when taking play online. Multiplayer games such as Tag, sees one racer who is ‘it’ have to fend off hordes of shifting combatants changing cars and position at will. What is an effective mechanic in the singleplayer here becomes tactical and tenacious. The paranoia of a shifting crowd will force the player who is ‘it’ off the road, make them drive at speed and encourage them to move in anything other than a straight line. All because of shift there is as much fun online as with Burnout Paradise or Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, if not more.

Not everything though in D:SF is as well implemented as the brilliant shifting. Facial animations might be great but lip syncing is all over the place and for a driving game, the pacing of the story is decrepit. For some reason, which is never made clear, ‘story’ missions remain locked until you’ve completed several ‘city’ tasks, which requires inhabiting other people through shifting. Some of these contain an essence of the plot but others feel more like gleeful distractions and do their best to destroy any narrative tension. 

The police can also do their bit to fizzle out the action by actually being far too overly aggressive when in pursuit. Sure you can shift in their way and cause mayhem but some situations are not built for thinking between two cars. Whilst there is less of a focus between cops and robbers in D:SF, their lack of sincerity does make pursuits messy and clumsy affairs rather than the cinematic showpieces they are meant to be.

It is no doubt that D:SF has found its home on this current generation of hardware. It looks and sounds fantastic, all within a concept that is fittingly just as over-the-top as the cars you’ll drive.  Not all is shining bright though, with severe amounts of screen tear when the action picks up and pacing problems that pick the story apart. Without the glorious shifting D:SF would be good but not great.

Shifting is the main star of the show and what Ubisoft Reflections have managed to achieve and the potential it promises, will without question be their shadow to cast over other driving games to come.  Considering all the Driver titles that have been before it, Driver: San Francisco is the ‘nicest’ surprise of the year.

MLG Rating: 8/10
Platform: PS3/ Xbox 360/ PC/ Wii Release Date: 02/09/2011

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a physical copy of Driver: San Francisco for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of four days on a PS3. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

Developers of Under Siege, Seed Studios, actually do profess on their website that when they first set up in 2006 they honoured themselves as one of the only games developers working out of Portugal. It was probably inevitable then that Under Siege presents the hallmarks of a title that has been coaxed through a room of thorns, but somehow this fledgling studio have managed to bring parts of it out the other side with only a few deformities and scars.

An RTS (real time strategy) game by the numbers, Under Siege plays out like you would expect from much in the genre. Replete with heavy, light and medium units, battles take place in predictable fashion. Grunts at the front, archers subtle but deadly in the background and the powerful mortars and cannons staying even further afield. Add to this a wash of stiff animation and a messy control scheme and Under Siege is something that most players, especially on consoles, will have experienced before.

There is nothing wrong with the ‘If it ‘aint broke don’t then don’t fix it ‘policy, especially when you consider Seed Studios have taken some Armstrong (either Neil or Stretch, you decide) like baby steps with Under Siege. Combat might not be the most thrilling or indeed anything inventive but the saving grace of Under Siege is, no matter where Seed Studios have faltered, there at least shines through ambition.

Take the story for example. A tale straight out of some greater folklore that might not be the most well crafted script or indeed best delivery but here Under Siege has the state of mind to try and implement a greater force to push you into battle, which is arguably all an RTS needs.  The decision though to not explain anything about who characters are or what is going on until the end of the first chapter (which is around the one hour mark) is either one big boo-boo or a stroke of genius.

Under Siege is not a bad looking game either. Animation might be pretty lacklustre but environments and textures are at least rendered well and fields of play are well populated with abandoned villages and ominous scents of war. It is a grand theatre to play in and it is within this space that Under Siege purposefully forces you to think strategically and with well thought out application.

In every stage of Under Siege you will be an outnumbered minority.  At the start of each phase you are given a certain number of spawn points, in which you can call forth only one unit of your choice. Once that unit is chosen you are stuck with it for the entire stage and unless you prepared well by scanning the environment first and deciding the best tactic to advance, you’ll come unstuck very quickly. Under Siege doesn’t take many prisoners and by forcing your tactical hand, early stages can be frustratingly complex but shatteringly satisfying when you get the balance just right.

The system that units employ becomes even more intricate when you add in the fact that each unit ‘carries over’ into the next area. So if one member of a unit of three dies then you’ll only have two come the next stage. There are greater losses to experience than these though, as units that you’ve seen through chapters and levelled up over time can still be extinguished in a second and suddenly you’ll be forced to face difficult opponents with ‘new’ units that you’ll have to build from the ground up. Again, the decision to add these little tastes of an RPG (role playing game) is either one big whoopsie or an idea spawned from a devilishly sinister master mind.

Under Siege has left me split between its intelligence and immaturity. All the pieces of a smart RTS are here but the polish just isn’t there just yet. It doesn’t help that there is also a clumsy control system that doesn’t fit with the title’s requirements that you take care of each and every unit. It’s far too easy to confuse units up or selected them incorrectly, leaving the weak exposed and the strong out of place. Seed Studios have included Move support for the title which one would hope gave more fidelity to managing what is going happening on screen.*

It is hard not to recommend Under Siege to RTS fans because there is just about enough here to provide a welcome palette cleanser to the more destructive and severe iterations of the genre. Under Siege also has enough tit bits to interest the first timer, as it deals specially in tactics, management and organisation, skills inherent in every RTS.  For the price the package also comes with a wealthy online community and a comprehensive level designer. For most, Under Siege might just be the stepping stone or cooling side dish that seasoned players or rookies have been looking for.

MLG Rating: 7/10
Platform: PS3  Release Date: 2/06/2011

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of Under Siege  for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of five days on a PS3. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

*Move controls were not reviewed.

However, just like any attempt at subterfuge, no matter the quality of the misdirection, it is always born out of an honest attempt to achieve success. There is little doubt that City Interactive has taken some legitimate steps to make an engaging and tense shooter, but instead what they have done is end up with an experience that feels false and clumsy.

When shelves are full of pulsing flash bangs of cinematic glory-holes, City Interactive has taken a brave move by putting Sniper: Ghost Warrior into development. What in some AAA titles takes up one mission or several chapters, Sniper: Ghost Warrior attempts to do in around eight hours. The slow, purposeful prose of a sniper being purposefully protracted to almost directly oppose the brash cheap thrills seen in countless titles it shares the shop floor with.

Set in a fictional jungle spanning miles of green shrubbery Sniper: Ghost Warrior follows the heroic pursuits of Sergeant Tyler Wells as he looks to put a bullet into an evil dictator who is busy putting folk down mines and otherwise being a very naughty boy. Not the most engaging of plot lines but it is at least something that keeps the action trundling along, and despite a shaky tutorial, Sniper: Ghost Warrior does achieve an early sense of commanding omnipotence far removed from these few opening teething problems.

If there is one thing that Sniper: Ghost Warrior gets right it is the level of power you feel wielding a gun of great calibre and precision. When walking through the jungle with your weapon at ease Sniper: Ghost Warrior is standard FPS fare, but pressing the L1 button changes the title for the better. Dials across the screen show wind speed and direction, a heart monitor ticks along as you begin to relax and your breath becomes a slow possessive mantra. It is a serious and well thought out mechanic that has just enough aids when played on easy and the right amount of freedom when tackled on the hardest settings. Both powerful and poetic, the mechanic at times makes kills feel honourable, decisive and of course downright satisfying. Hiding amongst the grass and waiting to pick your shot, or bemusing enemies by moving position is perpetually gratifying. It is odd then that there is not much opportunity to employ many of these tactics, but I’ll come on to that later.

Just to be clear on what I’m reviewing, this is the PlayStation 3 port of the original outing on the Xbox 360, and City Interactive protest that they have made some changes on the original. The press release bulges with bullet points hailing improved graphics, AI and exclusive PlayStation modes, but within all of this hype and development these are nowhere to be seen.

Graphically Sniper: Ghost Warrior is about two to three years out of date, when even then it would of been a average looking title. Textures constantly pop in and out, almost rendering themselves at will. The scenery, which is filled with lush greens and huge vistas look like you’re viewing them through glasses smudged with finger prints and character models are also underdeveloped and wooden, which at least matches the voice acting and terribly un-exciting plot.

Sound is also one awful mess, where all the attention seems to have gone on making the sniping a relevant and realistic experience. All guns, beside the one so generously scoped, sound hollow and repetitive. Music is also made up of many monotonous regurgitated efforts to try and increase tension in a world that is about as tense as a child’s shoelace. Shining brightly beside all of these issues the excellent sniping should have prevailed, but time and again City Interactive show that their attention was focussed on only one aspect of the title.

It is often true that a solider is only as good as the enemy he faces, but it doesn’t take long to realise that the enemy A.I in Sniper: Ghost Warrior is both magnificently intuitive and splendidly dumb. The effect this has is that applying any tactics (as previously mentioned) to the well crafted shooting mechanics is a near impossibility. Most enemies don’t flinch if a guard standing next to them loses their head, so choosing the right moment to shoot becomes nothing but a tactic in time wasting. However, for every guard that doesn’t notice the dead there are also some so acutely aware of danger that they’ll magically find out your position the moment you get them in your sights. It is cheap and unfair and if it is an improvement on the Xbox 360 version then I pity you if you played it, I really do.

To make matters even worse, if the enemy doesn’t spot you whilst covered in swathes of grass and if they haven’t got stuck behind parts of the environment, you’ll soon discover that the all powerful sniper rifle, which makes butter out of wood, can’t even shoot through chlorophyll. Baddies that died behind solid cover manage to survive when hidden behind nothing but green muggy plants. It was something that was amusing in Goldeneye to see bullet holes appearing on fragile objects but here it looks immature, and when your position and success hinges on being hidden, the game seems to force you to mistrust the very mechanics you want to embrace.

The over arching issue is that even though the main mechanic of the game is a success, the environment in which it inhabits is utterly broken. Like a ice cream in a room full of salted razor blades, it might look tempting on a hot day but there is no amount of pleasure that you’ll get from the cone that will make up for your painful and soon to be rotting insides.

What is meant to be a game about the beauties of strain, patience and the ‘pay off’ instead suggests that City Interactive didn’t feel like they were prepared to follow their ideas through. Perhaps worried about reaction and perception in a over prescribed genre, Sniper: Ghost Warrior is a nice idea shrouded in a flawed principle to fit in with everyone else but also be apart from the flock.

MLG Rating: 3/10
Platform: PS3/ Xbox 360/ PC Release Date: 24/06/10 – 28/04/11

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a physical copy of Sniper: Ghost Warrior for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of one week on a PS3. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

Making that jump is never as simple as it sounds. When a short story is being turned into a film, you can’t simply stretch out the words in the hope that you’ll find the images you want inside the blackness of the ink. The same can be said with certain games, especially those that are made for a console that deals in miserly sizes when compared to a normal home television. Like it is with presentation so it is with content. The more it is pulled and squeezed apart from its natural position, the more it becomes diluted, thin and fragile.  Somehow Capybara Games have managed to avoid all of these pitfalls and have produced a title that feels like no simple port.

In ways, CoH is every bit the DS game that was released several years ago. Visually it remains with the same vibrant palette. The storyline is still straight out of your favourite Saturday morning cartoon and the puzzles are no less endearing and challenging. Everything though has been up scaled to be glorious on the bigger screen. Animations are so fresh they look like they have been hand drawn from scratch and the world feels fittingly huge in this larger setting. For someone not familiar with the Might and Magic universe, I could not of felt more welcome in the presence of the five characters that you will in turn play with over the next 20+ hours. Their story is both shockingly heartbreaking and witty, and their floppy hair and revealing clothes feel strangely familiar and instantly relatable.

Though the characters are fleshed out by heart as well as pen and ink, it is the puzzles that remain the key to the experience of CoH. The bastard child of a threesome between Chess, Tetris and Critter Crunch, the player has only one objective and that is to bring down enemy HP by working the fine duality between attack and defence. When troops of the same kind and colour are aligned in groups of three, they form their attack. The outcome of which is based on their individual stats and will amount to a certain number of attack points being unleashed. Make it through the enemy line and those points come off the opponent’s health. Though I am painfully simplifying the process, even spending paragraphs on the subject would still not do the design and structure of these puzzles justice. All you need to know is that Capybara Games both present and execute the mechanics of each of these action riddles tantalisingly well. They also do a superb job of guiding you through each of the puzzle tutorials, so much so that you’ll be hastily running on to the next fight with the feeling of being very well prepared.

So battles will come and go, and characters will adhere themselves to your soft fleshy parts, but within CoH there is still space for nurture and development. Just as you become more accustomed to fighting so will your troops and the avatar they belong to, and each one will level up after every victory, meaning that all moves become stronger and increasingly vital to success. The RPG elements are in no way the lynchpin of the title, but for someone reason they protest to being its bread and butter. Levelling up at times seems like a biased and clumsy affair which can lead to many unbalanced fights, resulting in victories that appear to have been born out of luck rather than any natural skill. There are also limited opportunities to actually gain any XP, with side quests coming in the form of bounty missions mainly against opponents several levels higher than you currently are. For some, they may relish this challenge, but when XP only graces your palms in victory the prospect of multiple failures that will in one instance lead to success is never appealing. Why these elements are made in some part essential to the overall experience of CoH is beguiling. The result is that the story is mindlessly halted whilst you are forced to battle in order to feel like you can compete just to get to the next part of the narrative. Experience is also not carried over from one character to the next. So when you are running in the wild woods battling at the higher levels, suddenly you’ll be off to the city and have to start all over again with another protagonist.

It is restrictive. A restriction that is replicated in the way you navigate the world, as if on one big Mario World map. What should be an engrossing and lively world begins to feel a tenth of the size it should be. Loading screens are also an issue for a game that is downloaded straight to your system. It occurs all too frequently and all just slightly too long that it breaks up any pace that was already stuttering to begin with.

There is little though that can really blight much of this charming game. CoH reminds you that titles sometimes don’t just sit in their genre; instead they can occupy places that end up being both entertaining and enriching. Playing the title is constantly a delight and destructive to anyone just wanting to hop on for just a ‘few minutes’.  Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes is rich and wildly diverse in a structure that could have left it feeling painfully rigid.

P.S

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes also comes with an online multiplayer feature which also includes leaderboards. However, due to recent problems with the PlayStation Network this has not been possible to review, but in no way has affected the overall score.

MLG Rating: 8/10
Platform: PSN/XBLA  Release Date: 12/04/2011
Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a copy of Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of one week on a PS3. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

When looking back along the strange history of everything since the first two Ghostbusters films, all the signs point to the fact that Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime was to be such an obvious failure. In fact it is a testament to the strength of the original movies that their wonderful charm has survived reasonably intact after a good part of three decades. Though several television shows and twelve video game titles later it was probably no doubt inevitable that someone was to produce such an abhorrent abortion as the aforementioned Sanctum of Slime sooner or later, and this now is a title that finally seems to have brought some shame to the Ghostbusters brand.

No game before SoS has made me play through levels so unimaginative and unfair and made me feel so cheated and underappreciated that I have wanted to physically scratch its digital data from my PS3’s hard drive.  This title is not just a disappointment because it tears at beloved memories of what made the movies great events to watch but also because it tears away at what we know makes a great game.

It has only been around two years since we had the last Ghostbusters title on our shelves, a release that couldn’t be more juxtaposed when compared with G:SoS. Back then we were lucky enough to have a full console release, produced in part by the original cast members of its celluloid equivalent. This time around, just a few years later, only the Ghostbusters name survives and instead SoS is a title that is doing its honest best to disassociate its self from anything that might of made previous games a success. Even the original characters that were always full of wit and presence are shockingly quick to show no enthusiasm for anything that is happening in SoS at all, instead they force four new ‘rookies’ to play out the thirteen chapters of the title. All worrying signs for this new Ghostbusters outing.

Whereas in both of the Ghostbusters films the plots were brilliant weaves of ghost stories and humour that allowed rhythmic and solid progressions to glorious and impulsive set pieces, somehow SoS has been able to create a story that is so dour and predictable that it bears no resemblance to what made the franchise what it is. That is not to say that they didn’t try, but jokes often fail to hit the mark and the story of an evil lord rising again after a zillion years is far from original. It doesn’t help either that the way that the story is delivered, through comic book storyboards, is so cumbersome and derogatory.  Characters appear like slits of fat and the waves of text that appear across the poor animation tend to rip any heart out of the narrative. The fact that developer Behaviour has included a trophy that can only be attained by not skipping a single cut scene shows how much faith they had in their disastrous attempts at a cohesive storyline.

Technically there is not much wrong with G:SoS , Behaviour Interactive has at least developed a game that performs its functions correctly and looks ok. When I wanted to start a game everything flowed simply and jumping into the first location was a breeze, which is the way it should be.  It doesn’t look like a bad game either, with on screen characters animated well and environments suitably malleable by both the effects of the destructive hoards of ghosts and by the Proton Gun. Controls are simple as well, which makes early ‘bustin’ a pleasure. Only two buttons are ever really called into use during play and the anologue sticks are reserved only for controlling your character and for aiming the direction of the Proton Gun.  As I said, technically this part of G:SoS all works fine, and getting to grips with the busting weapon of choice does ‘feel good’.  What ever Behaviour does that is a reasonable success though just feels like it is all gaming by numbers. Even the gameplay is so simple in its design that there is nothing much that is bad about it but it is just the same idea recycled over and over again and there is nothing here that warrants much attention.

On screen with you all the time is your three rookie counterparts who are more than happy to be replaced with local or online players should you get lonely playing on your own. At the moment there is a strong online community, because if there is one thing that SoS does do well is that it encourages you to seek out online play. This won’t be out of curiosity though but necessity as you’ll soon realise that the artificial intelligence of your fellow work mates is so downright moronic that if they shared a brain cell it would die of loneliness. This means that pretty soon into SoS you’ll be looking for someone else to fill their boots.  Sure the ridiculous nature of the single player gameplay is somewhat laughable now, but at the time it is so frustrating that you almost wish for death to strike you down rather than try and play through another level. A.I characters are essential to your success but they are also invisible to your cause. In fact they are almost too helpful at times, wandering blindly into trouble without a care for their own safety. Also the enemies don’t seem to notice them either, so all their attention will be focussed on you and you alone, making certain sections actually impossible to complete without pleading for external help. It surprises me that a game and franchise so heavily reliant on companionship and communication gives you A.I that is so utterly puerile and punitive to your experience that literally no part of the single player campaign is any fun at all, let alone playable.

Even when I got to play with others online to try and circumnavigate some of this terrible design I was only greeted with the same repetitive play in the same overused locations. This was only made slightly less frustrating because someone else who had a gun actually knew which end of their body they had to breathe out of. Multiplayer does make things a little better, but if increased screen tearing and slow down are better things to be hoping for then you know it is just time to give up.

G:SoS really does try to be a better game. However, whenever it thinks it is achieving anything of any remote importance is only really achieving an ounce of that which I would expect from a game with such a strong heritage.  A child losing at Connect Four achieves more in the long run than this game ever will and my own brain feels cheapened by having played it. You’ll feel cheap when you get your first Proton Gun upgrade and it works more like a downgrade and you’ll feel cheap when halfway through the game you revisit all the same levels for a second time to develop a story that was nothing but a single celled amoeba in the first place.

There is part of me that wants to find something nice to say about G:SoS but I really don’t think there is anything gracious I could say to a title that is so achingly bad that  it actually led me to believe that the developers where having a laugh at my expense. When G:SoS isn’t failing in one instance it has hardly the capacity to succeed at the next. The more things you begin to forgive the more glaring and painful mistakes will start to become clear. Never before has one title got me so angry, not only for producing what is a repetitive, boring and badly designed experience, but for taking a well loved franchise and making me feel like it is just fondling it’s genitals with gloves made of razor wire.

MLG Rating: 3/10

Platform: PSN/XBLA/PC Release Date: 30/03/2011

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of four days on a PS3.