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http://www.alternativenation.net/photos/data/500/479dead_or_alive-thumb.jpg Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore (PS2). Here we have the sequel to a fairly popular fighter that most played just for the... ahem, more bouncy aspects of the game. Bringing physics to women's breasts in a fighter just isn't enough, and I found the combat to be lacking compared to a more robust fighter such as the Tekken, Soul Calibur, or Mortal Kombat series. The controls are non-intuitive as far as sidestepping and pulling off special moves goes. As it is one of the older games for the PS2 graphics are about on par with Tekken Tag, somewhat oddly shaded characters detracting from what was promised to be a breast-fest. And like most older PlayStation games, the voicework could have been ever so much better. The good comes with the amazing arenas you're able to take part in - not since 2003's Kung Fu Chaos have I seen such expansive and interactive arenas. Previous fighters included multi-level action, but the...

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Spider-Man 2 - PS2 Activision Movie games are always a hit or miss affair. They either break all expectations and silence the critics or fail miserably. When you have to create a game for the year’s summer blockbuster, you’re always going to have people worrying a little bit. But like the film, the game has had a bucket of money thrown at it and publishers Activision have spared no expense here, making for possibly the best movie game ever made. What the first Spider-Man game lacked was what we enjoyed from the film: a huge urban playground, the ability to swing around at your leisure and doing as you please. So the writers have taken note that Grand Theft Auto is the biggest selling game of all time mainly because you can do whatever you feel like and created Spider-Man 2 in that very same style. The possibilities are limitless and the first time you enter the massive virtual New York you really don’t know where to begin. You can swing around all day and explore the rooftops,...

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http://www.alternativenation.net/photos/data/500/994ics2005-xbox-Screenshot_06-thumb.jpgIndycar Series 2005 Publisher: Codemasters This is the second year that Codemasters have released a game designed for the petrolhead fans of North American oval racing. But is it any good, and have they learned from last year's effort? I know what you're thinking. "It's just going round in circles". That's the number one criticism levelled at this type of racing, that it's just four left turns per lap, and boredom soon sets in. To the casual observer, that's exactly what it may be. This game is not aimed at the casual observer, however. This is a game for the people who know and love oval racing. To correct a couple of misconceptions, all the tracks are not the same. Yes, they are all basically ovals, but there is a surprising degree of variety between the individual tracks. The car must be set up to take this in to account. Try taking your Indianapolis set-up out on the Phoenix...

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http://www.alternativenation.net/photos/data/543/74698128-thumb.jpgFar Cry (PC) Ubisoft/Crytek Far Cry is a first person shooter for the PC brought to us by Ubisoft and German developers Crytek. The game begins with you; Jack Carver stuck on a boat in the middle of a luscious, beautifully rendered paradise. The sky is powder blue and you can see island after island stretching into the distance. It will take you a few minutes when you finally fire up the boat to take in the sheer beauty of the opening screens. Of course, this is only if you have a beast of a PC. I ran this bad boy on a P4, with 1GB memory and a 128MB graphics card... and was still required to keep the settings at next to minimum! The opening level is set on a series of huge, sprawling islands were you are required to reach some sort of building to further the quest (sorry for the brief outlay but this is due to the plot deficiencies... I’ll get to that later). The beauty of the game is that it’s as close to...

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From the days of the Atari onwards, the champions of the side-scrolling shooter genre seemed to be based on you defeating the aliens in your mighty spaceship. You march onwards through ever increasing hordes of enemies and occasionally pick up a smart bomb to clear the screen or make your laser bigger. In Capcom's UN Squadron (often known as Area 88 in many places around the globe), there seems to be an emphasis on making changes to the genre - a reason that has me returning again and again to play this 12 year old game. In UN Squadron, the setting is modern day, using contemporary fighter planes. To begin the game you choose one of three different pilots. Each one offers a unique skill for the battlefield, so choose depending on where you think you might need a hand. One pilot helps maneuvarability, one pilot increases shooting rate, and the last helps you shake off damage easier. The next interesting addition to the shooter genre is the ability to purchase different...

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Publisher: Rockstar Games Developer: Remedy Age Rating: 15 Release Date: Out Now Genre: Action

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Freedom Fighters is one of those games that you really want to enjoy. Unfortunately it is spoiled by repetitive gameplay, a very short game-span and a ridiculously sickening patriotic story-line. A squad based action game is something that people were crying out for but then they got SOCOM and this just does not compare. I bought this game on the mere fact it had 9/10 from the Official Playstation magazine, handing over my cash happily to walk away with a title with so much promise. I was particularly interested in how the multi-player game would turn out as this feature could well be the saving grace or the cherry on top. So in went the two controllers and me and my friend were ready for some urban warfare. Then we discovered somebody had to go America...a fight ensued and I lost. Out came the foot-long hotdogs and the big giant foam hand with "Osama Kiss My Ass" written on it to get me in the mood and off we went. The first thing you notice is the controls, It's a very...

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In life, there are many certainties. Night follows day. Litigation follows building work. And once a year, EA Sports releases a new batch of sports titles which are bought in vast quantites by the public. And yet every year, we find ourselves asking the same questions. Have there been enough improvements to justify another £30-£40 being spent? Have they sold out the game we love for arcade simplicity? And why DO they sell so many? Thus we come to the latest in EA's attempts to bring golf to the videogame market. They've been doing it for a while, but the series arguably took off when they secured the lucrative licence (to print money?) of Tiger Woods, easily the most recognizable golfer in the world. He's probably the one golfer that most non-golfers would be able to identify, and for that reason, it's a marketing man's dream. So what's the game like? It starts out promisingly enough, with Tiger telling us that "It's in the game" while showing off by skimming a ball along...

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The New member of the silent hill family has unleashed. Some parts of this game may be considered violent or cruel, we're warned up-front. I guess the old, "This game contains violent and disturbing imagery" disclaimer wasn't penetrating the denser patches of end-user. For those who have played 1 or 2 in the series may think the Silent Hill quality bubble simply has to bust one of these days - thankfully, we're not there yet. Silent Hill 3 is finally here... and while it's not any kind of gameplay revolution, it's the best, most polished and creepiest of the series. It also gives us an entirely new protagonist: Heather, a teenage girl. She's not a cop or a special agent, not some oversexed cartoon, and certainly not much of a badass. Truth is, she looks pretty awkward and uncomfortable, especially the first time she holds a gun. The fact that a computer-generated character can actually look "awkward and uncomfortable" at all is some kind of tribute to the game's...