Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes (Xbox)

Knights, elves, orcs, we bet this is sounding like another lord of the rings remake to you and you dont know how wrong you would be in assuming that. Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes is the second instalment in the series although the events in the game come just before those of the first one. If you have played the first then fret not as this is not just another remake. The controls have been tweaked and there are twice as many playable characters now including Walter and PrinceLeinhart.

For those of you who have never played any of the Fingdom Under Fire games, they are third person action/adventure/strategy games where you controll a group leader and you move your troop around the map attacking enemies, or defending certain places. Once you become engaged in battle with the enemy you gain controll of your character, giving you a chance to pulvarise your enemies with your skills...or if just button bash and see what happens. The strategic aspect to the game is the fact that you will get different types of troops such as archers, infantry, cavalry and even things such as wyverns and swamp mamoths which are huge creatures. You can move around up to 5 different groups of allies at a time meaning your main troop with your character might be engaged in battle, fleeing, while you use your archers to put fire on your enemy and perhaps send in a cavalry charge if you have control of a cavalry troop. This really adds to the enjoyment as sometimes you will find yourself in breathtakingly large battles where you just dont know where to start first. In those cases you wont controll every ally on screen, however your allies who are computer controlled are pretty helpful in sticky situations. After each battle you gain points and money depending on how many kills you have. The more kills you get the higher the pay and experience. This is used between battles where you would usually find yourself in a base camp or castle. There you can go to the barracks and 'train' your soldiers. Money is used to buy and upgrade your and your soldier's weapons, and experience is used to upgrade your own and your soldiers stats such as agility, melee, ranged and so on. The melee level of a troop determines their overall level which in turn determines the armor they can wear and weapons they can use. For instance if you want to buy a lever 15 armour then your troop must be level 15 or higher to be able to use it. All other skills that the troop pocesses will depend on their job. The job of a troop is what they are basically, whether its archer, cavalry, or paladins. for instance to change the job of your infantry to archers you will need to ensure they have a 'ranged' skill. Furthermore each troop has elemental skills and these can also determine a troop's job such as paladins which are simply knights with 'holy' skills. The main use of elemental skills though is for magic attacks. These include things such as meteor strike, thunder storm, dark mist, holy explosion and so on. Once again the ability depends on the elemental skill of the troop. These become very handy in battle for instance when you need to heal your troop or you want to weaken the enemy by casting lightning just before you attack. Of course there is also a strategic aspect to every soldier's weapon and armour which further intensifies the amazingness of the game.

The second game in the FUF series boasts more enemies and more attacks to kill those enemies with. Although there are no new troop additions to the game there are already more than enough to keep fans occupied. There is probably a very slight improvement in the game graphics wise although it is barely noticeable. That is not to say that the graphics are bad because they are not. Although the environments can be abit too samey, the characters ooze with colour and life. Perhaps another slight graphical improvement in this game is the fact that there are a few more cut scenes thatn in the last one but the fact that there was only one cut scene in the previous one doesnt do much for the second in the series. Another thing which has been changed slightly for this game is the music. We can gladly say that it is less repetitive than that of KUF: The Crusaders and easier on the ears.

Gameplay wise the game is still very strong. There are now 7 playable characters as opposed to 4, which gives the game alot more depth and increases the longevity. Also more characters mean a bigger range of difficulty levels ranging from easy to very hard. Trust us when we say that the very hard mode is indeed very hard. Furthermore as you may be able to guess, more characters means more variety and a different experience with each character. For instance Urukubarr is incredibly strong and can use his strength to fling enemies across the place like dolls, but he is very slow and unmaneuverable. On the other hand you have someone like Morene, a half vampire who is very agile and uses her claws in quick succession for quick attacks. Of course also most characters have different troops. For example if you choose to be Rupert, Walter, or Ellen their escorting troop will be infantry whereas if you are Urukubarr your escorting troop will be orcs.

For those who have played KUF before they will know that the fighting is very strong. Once again this has been tweaked ever so slightly in the second game and for the better at that. When you need to call one of your commanders for aid you press either the white or black button depending on which of the 2 you want help from. This is an improvement from the previous game where you had to press a combination of 2 of the a,b,x,y buttons. Alot more combinations have been added to the attacks of different characters ensuring more variety in their attacks and cooler moves. There is also a new attack available for every character which can be used when an enemy is down but now not yet dead. It is deadly when executed and incredibly fun to watch your character perform. Button bashing can work when fighting however its not recomended as usually your character will end up performing moves in the middle of nowhere which you cant prevent and this wastes time. After all you have to try and kill your enemies as quickly as possible or your troop will take more damage which will end up in casualties. You can heal the wounded, but you cant revive the dead.

All in all this is one amazing game and if you have played the first then this is definately worth getting because all the tweaking that the developers have done to it has worked exceptionally well. The second KUF game on the Xbox boasts better graphics with more frequent cut scenes so you can enjoy those "wow" moments more often. Improved gameplay and alot more added content and variety.

Sound 9/10 - a very nice compilation soundtrack that doesnt get too repetitive

Graphics 8/10 - you wont spend very much time looking at the graphics due to the frantic gameplay, however the graphics have been improved since the last game and everything looks more polished

Gameplay 10/10 - Solid gameplay. Absolutely no complaints. All we can say is - we need more!

Value 10/10 - This came out in 2005 so you could probably get it for around £10-15. Even if you were to buy it for £30 it will still be worth every penny. There is tons to do in the game and all the new characters and slight tweaks made to the game have improved it massively.

Final Score 9.2

Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)

As the name might suggest this game is EVIL and it is the fourth in the series. This game is the breath of fresh air all previous Resident Evil games needed. This is the turning point in the series and one hell of a game. This game presents the player with a whole load of stuff such as gore, amazing graphics, things that are just wrong, and things that are so disgusting they will probably make you sick. This game is NOT for the squeamish.

Resident Evil 4 game is set in some weird village somewhere in europe. You are Leon Scott Kenedy, a police agent who is on a mission to save the president's daughter who has been kidnapped and is held in this unknown village. Upon your arrival you will notice that the village seems quiet, too quiet. After three minutes have passed and you have sort of gotten used to the controlls you will encounter your first enemy. Unlike the old Resi games there are no zombies here, eventhough they dont seem to die if you shoot them in the face. We cannot tell you what they are as that may sort of ruin the story so you'll just have to play through it to find out. Throughout the game you will journey through three major locations. The first is the village itself, next you will move onto a massive castle, and lastly you will be on an island. Your enemies will also change depending on the location you're in. In the village you will just get villagers with pitchforks and scythes chasing after you. In the castle you will get vampire looking bald monks and on the island you will encounter mutated and stronger villagers.

This game is all about fluidity and therefore handles much better than the older titles. The action is fast paced and thrilling. There is nothing more satisfying than blowing the head of a mad villager clean off his body. You have a knife in this game which you will probably only use for smashing boxes and crates open for items. The knife is not very effective against enemies as they will just run at you and bite your face. In various part of the game you will encounter a weird looking merchant who seems to be able to hold a rocket launcher in his coat pocket. This guy is very important. He is the one you buy and upgrade your weapons from. He also sells much needed items such as a larger suitcase so you can carry more guns and items and a kevlar (bullet proof) type jacket. As I mentioned earlier he also sells rocket launchers. Unfortunately you can only use them once and thats it, unless ofcourse you complete the game which allows you to buy a rocket launcher with UNLIMITED ammo. He sells sniper rifles, shotguns, handguns, you name it. He even sells a revolver which, if you look at its stats, is meant to be twice as powerful as your sniper rifle or shotgun. If you do buy or find this gun the only use it if you must as it is VERY hard to come across ammo for it. Furthermore you can upgrade your weapon's performance meaning you can increase it's reload rate, its ammo capacity, its power and so on. Think about what you need to upgrade because it does cost quite abit and you wont be able to afford it all as you will still have other weapons and items to buy. We would strongly advise you to upgrade your weapons' ammo capacity, then you will have to reload much less and if that gun currently has no ammo increasing the capacity will give you FREE ammo. Pretty clever that, what with us being the ones who came up with it and all.

Now when you start playing this you may notice that the visuals/graphics on this game are good. In fact you will start wondering if this game is really a gamecube game as the graphics are just too good for it. Well this IS a gamecube title and that shows you what the ol' cube is capable of. What really won us over graphics wise were the environments. These are just incredible and you can tell that a lot of work has gone into this game. Villages filled with decaying walls and ruined houses. Marshland filled with mist. This all looks gorgeous and combined with the creepy music this is sure to send chills down your spine. The sound efects on this are as great as the graphics. Ok maybe not THAT good, but they are still quality. When you are walking down a claustrophibic hallway with nothing but a faint light at the end to guide you, the last thing you want to be hearing are groaning noises followed by a repeated 'thud'. You turn around to see whats there and suddenly some mutation jumps on you trying to eat your face. The sound is there for no other reason than to create a creepier environment than the one youre already in and its done a hell of a good job with that. A small negative point though is that this game is not actually scary. Its scary in the way that there is some content in it which makes you think the developers were watching babies die when making this. By it not being scary we mean it's not very jumpy and you wont get many sudden attacks comming at you from the dark which will make you jump.

Tjis will be played as a third person title where the camera will move right behind Leon's shoulder when he takes aim. The game controls very simply. You move forwards and backwards and look left and right with the D pad and you hold the B button to run. The C stick is used for zooming in when using a sniper rifle. To take aim you hold the R button and fire your weapon with the A button. Simple. However here the aiming system differs slightly from other shooting games. Instead of having a crosshair your weapons will all have a laser. This will take about a minute to get used to as you will first feel that the laser is too far right. You can use your knife with the L button, but like we said you wont really be needing it that much.

One final thing you should know about this game is that it has bosses. These arent exactly frustratingly hard. In fact they arent exactly hard although that doesnt mean they dont put up a challenge. Here is where the game will make you question the developre's sanity. The bosses look putrid, well most of them. The least disgusting boss is a mercinary named Hack Krauser (our favourite character) who just grows and massive metal wing type thing from one of his arms. Appart from that the other bosses will usually be oversised and resemble bugs in some way. They will also spew up yellow slime or blood (we're not really sure what it is).

All in all this game is fluid, fast paced and the levels are beautiful and eeire especially with the great sound effects. This is was a horror survival game, but with a new formula it is more of horror action adventure game. This will definately appeal to Resi fans looking for something different and to sadistic manics who enjoy watching people slowly die.

Sound 9/10 - Creepy and engaging althouh it can be a little too quiet at times.

Graphics 10/10 - So far the best on the Gamecube. You wont believe this is a gamecube title.

Gameplay 10/10 - Fast paced and action packed, this game will gives you chills just by playing it.

Value 9/10 - Theres a good 20 hours of gameplay here plus when youi complete it you will unlock two new modes which are very fun and add to the longevity of the game.

Final Score: 9.6

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (XBOX)

This is yet another FPS of the millions that are already available. However this game has a twist. Sort of. What we mean by that is that, in this game, when you die you don't have to start from the previous checkpoint or whatever, but instead you get to switch players. This may sound strange, but bare with us and all will be revealed. In each mission there are a set number of allies that you have, so let them all die and you fail. Basic. Soldiers are classified by their skills - assault, engineer, support and so on. Each different skill is represented by a small, purple coloured circle above the soldier with a shape in the middle. To switch from soldier to soldier you simply have to face them until the circle above their head is white and press Y. Imagine a battle situation: You are amongst a team of ground troops walking to your destination while a tank appears with lots of enemies behind it. Your teammates take on the the enemy infantry and its your job to take out the tank. Instead of wasting your time with grenade launchers and grenades you can just face upwards towards a building, where there would normally be one of your men with a rocket launcher (doing nothing), and press Y. Now before you go mental and accidentally kill yourself by shooting an enemy point blank in the head it is best to take out the tank first. When you've done that you can easily switch back to one of the ground troops. This is a new solution to frequent deaths, and pretty damn cool. If you die then you will automatically control the nearest ally to you. It's a very clever add on that helps bring something fresh to the FPS genre. One thing that this game has, which other FPS's don't feature, is a ranking chart. After each level you are rated on the things you have done in the mission giving you stars. You are given stars for the time taken for you to complete the mission, the number of team mates you had left in the end and so on. For example the quicker you completed a mission the more stars you'd get. You also get ranked on how many points you have gained which are acquired by killing enemies and basically causing some damage. You lose points if you die however. Obviously the more points you have the more starts you get. These stars all contribute to your rank as a soldier. You start of as a private and slowly have to make your way up to general. Although to become general you must also obtain stars from unlocked challenges and hidden objectives which we will explain later on.

Other features are included such as 'power-ups' which increase your reload speed, walking speed, fire rate and others. When we say power-ups don't go thinking that these are weird shaped objects lying scattered about on the field, which you can pick up. Power-ups are simply obtained by going on a killing spree and killing as many enemies as you can, as fast as you can. Sounds good huh? Well there's more. There is NO LIMIT on the amount of ammo you have. If you run out of ammo you have to wait for about half a minute and you instantly have a full magazine loaded in your rifle and another 5 spares at your side. This is the perfect game for someone who likes 'going in all guns blazing'.

There is a range of vehicles which you can drive in the game. By 'range' we mean only an armoured jeep and tank, but then again you cant really expect to drive much else in a war game. If you are driving a jeep or a tank you can switch between being a driver and the guy who operates the turret. You can also control two types of boat. They are both exactly the same except that one has a mounted machine gun while the other has a mounted grenade launcher. The tanks can sometimes be annoying to control however and the mortars on the boats cannot move very far upwards which means you cant fire very far.

Graphics wise this game is not average, but not amazing at the same time. It is somewhere in the middle. The environments look nice and realistic and the guns look crisp and detailed. The explosions are well done and the building are, erm, building shaped. The only let down here is that every single enemy (and ally) you face all look identical which makes the game seem abit unfinished.

When you buy this game you will somehow feel that it is unfinished. Like I have mentioned before every ally looks the same as the next and every enemy looks the same as the next. The other let down is the lack of features. By this we mean that there is no multiplayer and no XBOX Live. It can get boring playing the game all by yourself, but fear not as there is a solution to that. As you progress through the game, completing missions and what not, you will unlock challenges. There are about twenty of these ranging from racing to sniping to burying enemies with rocket fire. These challenges take quite a while to fully complete and will add to the longevity of the game. You can also earn medals for things such as "500 shotgun reloads" or "15 RPG kills in a row" and that should keep you coming back for more after you've completed a mission. Throughout the game you also have 'hidden objectives' which are not 'hidden' as such. These are just objectives which, when completed, will give you bonus stars. They are basically things like destroying 15 signposts in a level, or destroying billboards and boxes. They will distract you from your main missions so its best top complete all the missions first and then repeat them for any additional or bonus stars.

This game is a blast. It is the perfect remedy for FPS fever and you know it. You can go in using tactical maneuvers such as fire team rushes, or you can just run in all guns blazing and inflict hell on the battlefield. It's quick, its fun and you don't have to restart from the beginning when you die thanks to the innovative, erm, switching system. This game does not contain any multiplayer content whatsoever, but there are so many unlockables and the urge to become general will keep you coming back for more. One last notice is that if you are more of an 'online gamer' and you have a computer which is online gaming enabled then get Battlefield 2 for your PC and not your XBOX. You will also need to buy the expansion packs although the game is relatively old now they wont cost that much. You can get both of course, the XBOX version containing all the single player action, while the PC version will be all about its multiplayer aspect.

Sound - 8/10 Not bad. Nothing special yet distinctly above average. Good sound effects though.

Graphics - 8/10 Very nice. The weapons look sharp and the environments, realistic. Character design is a bit bland however.

Gameplay - 9/10 An awesome FPS which cant go wrong. It adds some new elements to the FPS recipe which work very well.

Value - 9/10 Incredible amounts replay value here however the only thing keeping this score from being a 10 is the fact that there is no multiplayer option.

Final Score: 8.8

Ninja Gaiden (Xbox only)

Team Ninja, also the developer of the Dead or Alive series has (not surprisingly) explored the concept of being a ninja. No one actually knows much about ninjas except for the fact that they were elite assassins and masters of disguise. In this game you will learn about swordplay, magic and most importantly the way a ninja moves. If this is starting to sound lame to you then just hang on a second and you will be amazed. Or not. But the important thing is that you COULD be amazed so just keep reading. At first glance this might seem like an ordinary third person 'run around while hammering the X button to kill everyone around you' type of game, but its not. This game is hard. VERY hard. Trust me on that one (although it wont actually seem hard at all after you've completed it) before rushing straight into the game on hard mode. The fighting is very 'strategic' meaning that you have to plan your every move as hammering the X and Y buttons (attack buttons) will probably result in you dying and barely scratching your enemies. You're nearly always pitted against numerous strong (or sometimes weak) enemies who WILL most definitely cut away at your health bar if you do not defend. The most important thing to do is block and then counter by pressing X while being attacked during a block. The enemies you fight are numerous ranging from ordinary soldiers and ninja to demons, zombies and bugs, LOTS of bugs. Also at the end of various stages you will get boss fights. These can be quite challenging especially when you have just realized that you are about to fight the toughest boss in the game and haven't got any potions to help you in the fight. Thats just tough luck and you'll have to make do withough although it is guaranteed to make you want to smash your controller into the ground and devour the remains. Once again bosses range from normal height (as high as you) to abnormal (about 20 times larger than you) so some will be hard while others not so much. Sometimes however you will encounter mini bosses, which are weaker than an end of stage boss but strong enough for you to need to use potions to defeat them. As in they are stronger than normal enemies but weaker than proper bosses. Some of these are complete pushovers while others are tough as nails.

The story is a bit strange so bare with me for a moment as I explain a few things before hand. In Ninja Gaiden you have things called fiends which are basically humans who have lost their sould and mutated. You also have greater fiends of which there are four (I won't go into detail now). These are still mutated humans but they still possess their souls so they have a conscience and all that. The major difference however is that all the greater fiends that you encounter end up being end of stage bosses, and very formidable opponents at that. Anyway, going back to the story. You are a ninja called Ryu Hayabusa from the Hayabusa Ninja clan which suprisingly enough lives in Hayabusa Village. You are part of the 'Dragon Lineage' - a protector of an evil sword named the Dark Dragon Blade. It is carved from the bones of a black dragon and contains the souls of vanquished Black Dragons. The sword itself fed on death and suffering. Whoever wielded the blade will become the devil incarnate (this is actually all explained in the intro movie). Basically one of the Greater Fiends, named Doku, now has possession of the blade and has come to destroy your village. In the first chapter your mission is to stop him (obviously). But as he is has become the devil incarnate and all you will end up losing (sorry if I spoiled that for anyone but I thought it would be quite obvious). The god thing here is you don't actually have to fight him - you can just sit back and watch the beautiful CG cutscene. You don't die as otherwise the game would only last for about one hour, so you begin your quest to find the Dark Dragon Blade and destroy it so it can never be used again.

Throughout the game you will encounter quite a few CG cutscenes. When I say these are the best graphics that you have ever seen in your life I actually mean they are BETTER than quite a lot of the XBOX 360 titles. They are INCREDIBLE and that's not saying much. From every pebble to every blade of grass, it all looks so convincing you will want to jump straight in there. The only thing stopping the cutscenes from looking completely realistic is stuff like zombies, mutated humans, fiends but nonetheless its so realistic that if say your parents walked past and saw one of these cutscenes they might just ask "what movie are you watching". Its THAT good. Moving onto controlls. This handles good, however sometimes it feels too sudden. By this I mean that, because the character is a ninja, he will be doing back and front flips all over the place when all you want him to do is run along a wall straight in front of him. Apart from that the way he moves is amazing. It feels by far better than Prince of Persia. You will be able to reach places you would have never thought of being able to. Imagine this for example: You are in a room the ceiling of which is about 30 meters up. There is another level with adoor leaving out, just below the ceiling. You cant get a ladder out, or a grapple cannon or what not. You have to use your feet. So you start running along one wall, then jump around the corner onto another, then around the next corner to the next wall and so on until you get to the top. The feeling of getting to such a high place just by running up walls is amazing. Apart from a few exceptions the movement is fast and flawless. As I mentioned at the beginning you will be able to use magic or 'Ninpo' as it is called in the game. As you progress you will find items that will increase the amount of Ki you have. The amount of Ki you have is not measured in a bar but in small flame shaped containers below your health gauge. You can only have 5 of these Ki containers. Each magic attack, no matter how powerful, uses up one Ki container so at the beginning you will need to be careful how you use your ninpo. There are four spells that you can learn - The Art of Inazuma, The Art of Inferno, The Art of the Ice Storm, and the Art of the Fire Wheels. The first three I mentioned can be 'leveled up' using special items you find on your quest so as to make them more powerful. Ninpo can be very useful at times. Say your stuck in a corner and being beaten to a pulp by a group of fiends. All you have to do is just simultaneously press the Y and B buttons and sit back while you enemies get fried, or frozen depending on the ninpo attack that you use. It helps keep the game fresh (not that its not) and inventive.

The only downfall in the game is the sound or the general background music playing throughout the game. It gets repetitive after a while as the same tune repeats itself over and over again. The music is just odd and feels out of place. Its not that bad, its just that it doesn't suit the game. A shame really as this does affect the score quite abit.

If you don't have a particular interest in third person games, then play this and THEN see how you feel. This game is the definition of third person action adventure. The story is enthrilling and the gameplay fast pased and incredably enjoyable. This is one to look out for especially with graphics capable of matching those of the XBOX 360. However I recommend that you buy Ninja Gaiden Black instead as that is the SAME game but with more features such as an easy mode and a sort of mission mode which is not related to the story. It is simply ten stages, with each stage having a certain ammount of enemies that have to be beaten. You can use this mode to help you with the story. The only difference is that the bosses in Ninja Gaiden Black are harder. It makes no difference which you buy, although the first is older so may cost less. Its up to you.

Sound 7/10 - Does'nt really 'fit in'. It's not bad, it just sounds odd and out of place for a game like this.

Graphics 10/10 - Easily the best on XBOX and are capable of beating the graphics of most XBOX 360 games.

Gameplay 10/10 - Smooth, fast and extremely thrilling. It will make you feel like a ninja.

Value 10/10 - There are many items in the game to collect which unlock the original Ninja Gaiden on the SNES. After you complete the game you can then unlock harder modes which consecuently unlock more things.

Final Score: 9.4/10

Payback (GBA)

This is basically like GTA advance, except it's much better. Yes this is another one of those 'hit and run' games where you can get in a car and drive over every civilian you see or take out the chaingun and dish out the pain. It may be on the GBA but everything is 3D. Only the person whom you controll looks like a small black dot but the rest is absolutely IMMENSE. The picture that I have uploaded to the left/above this text is actually from the game. The enviroments have got a great deal of depth in them and give the game a large feel. There are two things that you can do in this game really and the they are, either go on a killing spree and try to kill everyone, or try doing the missions and getting the least ammount of stars possible. In each level there is a certain amount of money that you must gain in order to complete that level. You gain money by killing people and completing missions. You can get bonus points for doing things such as, hi-jacking a car and then driving over its original owner (this also works with policemen). There are two levels in each city. The variation between the two levels in each city are the missions and the ammount of money you have to get in order to complete the level. The only dissapointment is that there are only three cities which means that there are only six levels to complete. There is also an extra rampage mode to keep you playing after you've completed the game. Each level however is massive and takes quite a long time to get from one end to another. There are loads of missions and loads of different types of cars available for you to steal. Each car has it's own unique properties. For example some cars may be quick but with bad handling and others may have great handling but be very slow. Withought doubt the police cars are quickest. This game is also quite realistic in alot of ways, and in some ways too realistic. When you do missions on the second city you will find that the lake is frozen, so you will be able to slide across from one side of the city to another. The way in which this may be too realistic is that when you get shot by a policeman (usually carying a shotgun) then you will die unlike in GTA where you could get shot ten times and still be alive. Also the cars blow up much easier if shot. At some point in the game you can fly a helicopter, but it's not much fun as the helicopter moves too quickly and the controlls are jerky. If you want a GTA type game for your GBA(sp/micro) then get this because you will be making a mistake if you buy GTA advance, unless you are a big GTA fan. The graphics are amazing and the levels are huge, thus making this a pleasantly enjoyable game.

Sound 7/10 - Some pretty good tunes and sound effects. Not the best, but they do the job.

Gameplay 7/10 - Some cars handle great while others dont. The rest is pretty basic.

Graphics 10/10 - Immense. Absolutely amazing. Best graphics on a GBA so far.

Value 8/10 - There are only three cities but fortunately there are loads of missions and weapons to keep you entertained.

Final Score - 7.9

Soul Calibur 2

From my personal opinion this game has been overrated by other games magazines. The reason why I think this is because unlike theses games magazines I have also played Soul Calibur (1), alot. One thing that has beeen ruined by Namco are the voice overs. In Soul Calibur (1) the voice overs are in Japanese and sound great while they have been changed to english in Soul Calibur 2. The reason why this is bad is because they have not only translated the phrases from Japanese into English, but they have also used the same speed with which the phrases are said. You might be hearing something like "The name's Mitsurugi. Dont forget it!" and the pase of the pronounciation of the words will sound very strange. For example they might talk slowly and then suddenly start talking very quickly.

Another dissapointment is that some of the characters from the first Soul Calibur game are made to look, quite pathetic in this one. The two biggest dissapoinments are Astaroth and Cervantes De Leon. Astaroth wears trousers, and in his second costume he wears purple clothes with a purple mask which has whiskers coming out of it while Cervantes' armour looks worse and Cervantes himself is made to look pale as if he was just about to be sick. Most of them are made to look huge by having massive armour. Everything else however is pretty much the same. The graphics are virtually the same as the ones in Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast. The storyline is also still crooked, as somehow everyone manages to find Soul Calibur/Edge and they ALL end up having that one weapon. All the moves are the same, with a few extras thrown in. There are also a few new characters such as Raphael and Necrid. It is good to think that namco have used a different spacial characters in each version of Soul Calibur 2. For instance if you were to buy this game on the Game Cube then you will have Link as your special character, whereas if you bought it on the XBOX you will get Spawn. The good thing about this game is that Namco have added in quite alot of extra features into the game like 'Weapon Master'. This lets you design your own unique weapons which you can use to fight with. But like I said everything is pretty much the same and in some cases has taken a turn for the worse. The fighting, which I have not menshioned yet, is still top notch so that is what makes the game so amazing. All in all this game is very similar to Soul Calibur (1) because it has not been improved sufficiently enough. The fighting experiences are what keep the game's hopes up, and nothing else.

Sound 7/10 - Classic Soul Calibur tunes which, most of the time, are unfortunately blocked by the sound effects.

Gameplay 9/10 - The fighting is top notch as in the first game, and NEVER gets too boring.

Graphics 8/10 - Some improvements have been made from the previous game, but sadly, not enough.

Value 9/10 - There are loads of new modes to select, characters to choose from, and levels to fight in.

Final Score 8.0/10

Mech Assault 2: Lone Wolf (Xbox only)

"Mech Warrior; destroy all signs of enemy movement in the area." The sound pulsates through your nerves. All is silent. Your enemies are pelting metal and laser into you. And when you are ready, you UNLEASH HELL. This is probably THE most destructive game that I have ever played or seen. EVERYTHING is destructable, well everything except for the ground that is. The feeling of destruction is awesome. Imagine yourself walking through a large city. Every part of it is fully interactible. You could launch a few rockets into a building, and it will go crashing down. That is the feeling of power. Unlike Mech Assault (1), however you can get out of your Mech (Giant robot) and get into other things, such as planes, turrets, tanks, battle armor etc. If you are in battle armor it means that you can actually hack into enemy Mechs. When you do so you will be required to quickly press the required buttons on your controller. Do it right and the Mech gets deactivated, and ready for you to get into. The Mech may be the strongest weapon, but there are some levels in which you are required to get into other vehicles, or sneak behind enemy mechs with absolutely no protection. There are so many Mechs to choose from in the game. Some are more powerful and therefore slower whereas others are not as powerful, but much faster. If you think that you have made a mistake in picking your Mech, then if you find another one you can just get out of yours and get into the one you found. Also when you defeat an enemy Mech, they will go crashing down and explode with extreme power unleashing a great surge of electricity. So make sure you don't stand too close to an enemy Mech when it is just about to explode. Each Mech only has three different weapons. They obviously vary between different Mechs but it does feel quite limitless. First of all you have your weak gun, which can be either a chain gun or a weak laser blaster. Then there are the homing weapons which are always rockets. And last but not least you have your Mech's special weapon. In most Mechs you need to charge up your special weapon before firing it, but if you have charged it to the max and then hit an opponent with it, he would have suffered quite a lot of damage from that. Although when doing this you have watch a meter on your screen that shows you how heated up your Mech is. If your Mech overheats you will have to wait a few seconds until it cools down so that you can start firing again. The storyline is pretty good and unlike the first Mech Assault game you get cut scenes in this one. The graphics on the cut scenes are pretty good, and the cut scenes themselves add more depth to the storyline. Altogether this game feels amazing, and the gameplay is very fluent and most importantly, destructive. However many enemies you are fighting with at once, the frame rate is perfect and never falters. This game is a must have for all XBOX owners.

Sound 7/10 - It's quite silent actually. The music picks up as you start fighting.

Gameplay 10/10 - Stunning. The frame rate never falters and the sense of destruction is thrilling.

Graphics 9/10 - The cut scene graphics are pretty good as are the ingame graphics. They are still no match compared to Ninja Gaiden or DoA graphics.

Value 9/10 - There are LOADS of levels to explore and vehicles to use. The multiplayer maps are a lot and big. Maybe too big in some cases.

Final Score - 9.1