Leedmees

Leedmees can be compared in many ways to the classic puzzle game Lemmings. Your objective is to transport miniature beings from an entrance on one side of the map, to an exit on the other. While Lemmings relied on clever positioning of ladders and digging in appropriate places, Leedmees is discernibly more unique; it grabs the gameplay mechanics of a strategic puzzle game like Lemmings, and throws them into the modern motion gaming era.

Leedmees’ gameplay is very simple, though that is not to say it is easy. While the game is truly a jump in and play title, that anyone can have a go with, later levels require a great deal of precision, timing and speed. The controls are intuitive, you simply move your body and the onscreen silhouette copies your movements exactly. The Leedmees walk in a straight line, oblivious to their surroundings, so you are in charge of their safety. The objective is to get the Leedmees from their blue entrance teleporter onto your arms. Then comes the hard part – just bend, crouch and rotate your body and arms around, under, and over various in-game obstacles to reach the red exit. As the game progressed we started to learn that speed and precision were key. Movements had to be snappy and fast, but exact or you risk dropping Leedmees. We never found this learning process frustrating though, it was also interesting to experiment with different ideas.

Later levels introduce interesting environmental dangers; they add more strategy and enjoyment to the game. These puzzle mechanics are responsive and create a more engaging and interesting environment. For instance, spears are timed to drop down from the ceiling or poke up from the ground every few seconds to try to catch one of your Leedmees. There are also springs that you have to press down, or up, to allow Leedmees to pass. They feel and respond as you would expect, and flex accurately to the speed of your hand’s movement. The difficulty is balancing all Leedmees on one arm, while they are moving closer to the edge, as you press in the spring with the other hand. Simple? Not really. Fun? Definitely.

Depth is added to this simple gameplay formula in the form of stars. Each level has 5 stars on it for you to collect. If you position a Leedmee so that they walk through one of the stars, they pick it up, and turn a shiny gold colour. Get them to the exit, and it increases your level ranking. If you save all of the Leedmees in a level and collect all 5 stars, you’ll achieve an ‘S’ ranking. This adds a great deal of replayability to the game. We found it hard to get an ‘S’ ranking the first time round on most of the levels. You have to understand the layout of the levels well and figure out exactly how to precisely reposition your body to ensure you don’t drop Leedmees or accidentally impale any (we mercilessly lost countless Leedmees!).

The single-player portion of the game is made up of 3 different worlds, each with 10 levels. This can be finished in several hours, but replaying through each level to try to get an ‘S’ ranking gives the game added playtime. The multi-player component features 3 worlds, each containing 4 levels each. Each player has their own silhouette and the levels are decidedly more complex. This mode requires planning, communication, and teamwork; it is a blast to play. We found that accidental poking and prodding of your team member was a regular occurrence, but it was worth it.

The story of Leedmees is fairly straightforward, and largely absent from the game. Your time is spent working on various puzzles; the actual story is forgettable. The short starting cutscene sets the atmosphere of the game’s environments well though. You are dropped into a mysterious world, alone, with no knowledge of how you arrived. Your body is distorted into the shape of a tall, stick-man. You feel compelled to help these little beings around you, they seem drawn to you. The cutscenes and the environments are simple dark paintings. There’s a haunting, but loveable, quality to both the beings and to the graphics. Likewise the soundtrack of the game is evocative and mysterious, while also full of wonder. It fits in well with the greater feel of the game and definitely adds to the overall experience.

Though we had a lot of fun playing Leedmees, there are various issues we found with the game. Its shortness may annoy some folks, it can be finished in a night (your body would hurt the next day, but it can be done!). We also found that sometimes the onscreen silhouette would not respond to our actions in sections that required you to crouch very low or reach high up with your hand. This was most likely due to the room we had to play with as we were positioned about 7 feet from the Kinect camera. We suspect if you had about 8-10 feet this issue would not arise. Still we always found a way to work around the problem and get our ‘S’ ranking regardless.

Leedmees is an energetic and strategic game once you get the hang of it. You’ll be speedily moving your arms and entire body around trying to pivot and balance your little friends towards the exit. It is the sort of serious arcade puzzle game that Kinect needed.

Fruit Ninja Kinect

Fruit Ninja Kinect is the first Kinect-based Arcade title to be released on Xbox Live, and it starts the show off with a challenging and responsive, if somewhat shallow, gameplay experience.

The game is a rehash of an iPhone title released in 2010, with the game modes and game experience remaining largely unchanged. The basic premise is to slice fruit using arm gestures in the most stylised way possible (and you can even use leg movements if you’re flexible enough!). You rank up more points for slicing fruit in a continuous motion. So lining up 3 or more fruit in a single swipe is essential if you want big score bonuses.

There are 3 game modes to play around with – Classic, Zen and Arcade. In Classic, players swipe and slash fruit, while trying to avoid bombs. If a player misses a fruit, or hits a bomb, they lose a life. Once all 3 lives are lost, you lose! Zen allows you to really focus on getting your swipes exact, with just you and the fruits present. Arcade plays similarly to Classic, except there are no lives to worry about; you simple lose points if you hit a bomb.

Fruit Ninja Kinect has a simple aesthetic feel to it. The various fruits that will be thrown in your direction are cartoony in appearance and suit the game’s style well. The environmental backgrounds are also fitting, for instance you start your fruit-slicing escapades in front of a dojo wall. And the player silhouette is subtle but clearly visible.

The game is arguably one of the most responsive Kinect titles out there. It never feels like effort to get the system to respond to your movement. It just ‘knows’ when you are attempting to strike, and when you are simply moving your arms in a position to get ready for the next wave of menacingly speedy fruits. Additionally, avoiding bombs requires exact positioning, and Kinect performs perfectly here. Whenever I hit a bomb (which was often) it was my fault, it was not Kinect reading my movements wrong.

Only occasionally did I come into problems that resulted in minor frustrations. The game would occasionally end my swipe before I had cut down all the fruit I had wanted to, causing me to lose out on some points. However this will no doubt be

The multiplayer component to the game is fun but requires plenty of room as you fight to swipe every fruit possible (injury may, and let’s be honest probably will, occur). You can even team up with a friend to get the highest score possible, or fight it out against each other.

The game is fairly repetitive, although replay value comes in the form of unlockable backgrounds, player silhouettes and blade colours. You unlock them as you play for completing various challenges, such as obtaining a high score in a certain mode, or slicing a certain amount of fruit. On the main menu there is also a friend leaderboard that updates as your friends get new high scores. I managed to beat a friend’s score by 1 in classic mode, and it lead to some friendly competition. The game facilitates this sort of competition well by making the score so visible right off the bat as you load up the title.

Kinect Fruit Ninja is a quintessential party game. Fun, and tiring, in short bursts, but after several rounds it becomes shallow.

7 / 10

James Bond: Blood Stone (360)

Blood Stone is the most accurate recreation of a Bond film in a video game format. It captures everything that made the films so popular - the tongue in cheek humour, the over-the-top chases and the international plot that takes us all over the world.

The environments and graphics in the game are the first thing that caught my attention. The landscapes that make up the 5 levels of the game are split into different chapters, each diverse and unique - Istanbul, Siberia and Burma to name but a few. The attention to detail in each is fantastic. Even though you'll only catch a glimpse of some areas as you zoom past at 100mph you can tell that Bizzare Creations put a lot of care into creating a realistic, engrossing Bond experience.

The gameplay mirrors Gears of War in many ways. The crouch-poke out to shoot-crouch back gameplay is widely in use here. There's an emphasis placed on slow and steady gameplay. And it suits Bond well. The running-and-gunning approch that made up most past games doesn't feel quite as right as being stealthy, assessing the area and picking guys off one at a time. The controls work well and I think they improve on GoW in some ways. When behind cover, B is vault over and A is go round a corner. Assigning both abilities to one button in GoW leads to mistakes, here, it works well. The car sections, which are numerous, control very well and were enjoyable - to be expected as Bizarre mastered the MSR and PGR series. The guns are typical and most of the time you'll be using either a pistol or a machine gun, some more variety would have een nice.

The gun sounds are accurate and realistic, but don't quite pack a punch or feel like powerful machines. The sound accurately reflects the situations in the game and definitely add to the experience - during fast-paced driving sequences the music is up-tempo and dramatic, and during stealth missions it is suitably slow and tense.

There are many collectables, and, also like GoW or Left 4 Dead, achievement criteria pop-up and update as you play. There is one for meleeing 150 people, and you'll see your progression as you go through the game - a nice touch that keeps you playing. The collectables in the levels come in the forum of intelligence, and thankfully you can see how many you've collected per level, so you can go back and try and find them all. Add on the achievements that reward different play-styles and there's a fair amount of reasons to play through again. Not to mention the extra-hard 007 difficulty you unlock upon completion.

I couldn't try out the multiplayer as only me and one other guy were online! It's a shame that game communities deteriority so quickly nowadays.

Blood Stone is one of the best, if not the best Bond game since...guess when. The graphics and sound material are fantastic and the gameplay works well. The only downsides are the lack of variety in the gameplay, the shortness of the campaign, and the absence of any playable multiplayer..!


Presentation - 7
Gameplay - 8
Longevity - 6
Originality - 6
Multiplayer - N/A

Overall - 7

Medal of Honour (2010)

The new Medal of Honour was hyped and expectations for it were high. The classic series that began on the Playstation was one that I grew up with. And like many other people, I was hoping for an explosive return to a franchise that has become dull in recent years.

Unfortunately, I ended up disappointed. What the new game offers is a solid rental title. It's fun, but doesn't merit a full purchase.

The graphics are exceptional and the lighting is some of the best I've seen (especially in the night time levels). The environments are realistically set in the middle east, and somewhat varied. You fight from anywhere inbetween a mountain top to a small village. Likewise the sound is spot on - atmospheric and immersive at the right times, with the gun shots having adequate realistic weight to them.

In spite of these promising elements the campaign gameplay dynamics remain locked in the era of the old games. It feels like a glorified version of duck hunt...(i'll explain that!). Aside from some truly impressive set pieces where you have to call in air strikes, or snipe from a distance, the gameplay follows this exact dyamic -> you come across a clearing or a section of a level, and enemies pop out from windows, from behind cars, from behind walls and so forth. Once 10 or so enemies have been killed, your squad calls that all clear, and you move on to the next section. Rinse and repeat.

Now, I realise you may think 'but you've just described every shooter'. But, there is no variety here, an aspect that other shooters demonstrate so well. There are a lack of guns to pick from, I think I used 3 core guns the whole game. And you literally just keep shooting enemies from a distance out of windows or from behind rocks. It gets stale, and in this era of FPS games, where we see expansive environments, exciting stories, imaginative scenarios, this just doesn't cut it!

Another issue was the ease of the game, I personally didn't find it challenging. I played on 'Hard' but only died a few times. Also the game is short, about 4-5 hours long.

On the multiplayer front, the game shines in comparison to the single-player. The modes are a combination of COD and Battlefield. You have the close-quarter, fast-paced side of COD, with the rush/conquest game modes of Battlefield which see you fighting across an expanding level area. The game is solid, though again, nothing original. Other games have done it better, like the two aforementioned titles. There are three standard classes - Soldier, Special Ops, Sniper. You level up as you use each, which lets you unlock more weapons and upgrades.

There are a relatively small number of players, though jumping into games was never an issue for me. The game is however dominated by Snipers. It has not been adequately balanced and there are far too many hiding places for Snipers.

A word of warning - IMPORTANT - dont buy the map pack. EA have taken down the servers as no-one bought it/played it. It will be a useless purchase.

It's a solid reboot of the series, but some old gameplay mechanics keep it from being exceptional. And the multiplayer potential was there, but was not realised. Worth a rent.

Presentation - 7
Gameplay - 7
Longevity - 5
Originality - 5
Multiplayer - 7

Overall - 7

Left 4 Dead 2 (360)

More of the same from the zombie-killing-kings at Valve.

Positives - Superb gameplay; deep and thoughtful. Large variety of online game modes.

Negatives - Lackluster graphics. Tough learning curve online. Lack of offline modes.

Valve has once again coded a uniquely refreshing game. For many of us the thought of beheading, frying, slashing, shooting, *insert standard killing technique*, zombies is an appealing one. From films to books to video games, there's something about the post-apocolyptic state of a zombie-filled world that appeals to us. The Darwinian survival instinct kicks in, the search for food and nutrition is again a basic aim for us, and we always fear what could be behind the next corner or door. Value have undoubtedly greated this unique experience in Left 4 Dead 2.

For those new to the series, there are a few different modes in Left 4 Dead 2 to get to grips with:

• Campaign: Play through the story offline or online with 3 other people.
• Versus: Play through the campaign, but in a 4 v 4 mode. 4 humans take on the campaign, as survivors, while 4 humans play as 'special' (powerful) zombies, trying to stop the humans progressing.
• Survival: Survive in an enclosed space with 3 friends against increasingly difficult waves of zombies for as long as you can.
  
• Sabotage: Like versus, a 4 v 4 game mode. The survivor's have a timer that ticks down, they need to gather gas canisters and refuel at their base to increase their time. Whichever team secures the most gas canisters wins.

Graphics: The graphics show some slight improvements over Left 4 Dead. The game looks a bit more realistic, the zombies have had revamps and come in greater variety. The environments are brighter and much more varied than in Left 4 Dead. For instance, we move from a mall, to a swamp, to an industrial park. However, when we hold the graphics up to compare them to other top games, they pale in comparisons. They look severely dated compared to titles such as Gears of War 2, Halo ODST, Call of Duty: MW2, Assassin's Creed 2. All these top rated titles share superb graphics throughout. Unfortunately, Left 4 Dead 2 cannot match them in this department.

Gameplay: This is where the game shines. The unique necessity for teamwork is essential in play. There is no rambo-ing. There is no lone-wolf style play. If you fall behind or don't stick together, you lose. This style of gameplay is very refreshing to me. The teamwork that you need to use in this game is completely unique when compared to other online shooters. Especially on the harder difficulties, communication and watching your friend's backs are essential.

Each mode requires slightly different rules and methods of play. In the interest of just giving you an overview, I will just cover the campaign. Essentially the Campaign is split into 5 different scenarios. Within each scenarios, there is between 4-5 acts. To progress from one act to the next, you need to move from one 'safehouse' to the next, from A to B.

On your way there you will encounter random zombies stumbling around, 'hordes' of zombies (massive waves of dozens of insane brain-munchers), and the 'special' zombies. Think of these as the name suggests. There are several. For example, the Boomer throws up his goo on you, the survivors, or, if killed to close to you, explodes and covers you in goo. This goo attracts a 'horde'.

The Spitter can use his ridiculously long tongue to suck in a survivor dozens of feet into him. The Hunter pounces on a survivor attacking him, leaving him helpless; other survivors must then shoot the Hunter off. Other special zombies are the Spitter (like the boomer but with acid), the Wretch (jumps on survivors backs and steers them into danger), and, one more uniquely terrifying enemy..the Tank. He takes a lot of firepower to kill, while chucking cars and pounding survivors to the ground. Fear him.

The variety in enemies adds an extra element of strategy to the game. Each enemy requires a different approach and strategy. Each can also be played in Versus mode.

There are several core guns in the game. A submachine gun, a sniper and a rifle are a few examples. This sequel also introduces melee weapons, be it baseball bat, a chainsaw or a frying pan, all are fun to handle. Though there is little variety they are perfectly balanced. The emphasis is on tactics rather than brute firepower. There are also a variety of other throwable items, such as Pipe Bombs (a beebing device which draws in zombies before exploding them all.

At the end of each scenario is a situation whereby you must stay in one area, awaiting rescue while zombies and special zombies charge at you from all concievable directions. These situations are a blast to play, and require a lot of thought and planning on harder diffculties.

Longevity and Online:

The community for this game is dedicated and plentiful. On the harder difficulties the game takes a lot of work and strategy and there are many people online trying to do this. As with any game, there are jerks in the community, but it's just a fact of life that they will pop up. In my experience, there are a lot of good people online just trying to work together to conquer this tough game that Valve has created.

In conclusion:

All in all, this game can be found fairly cheap nowdays, and is without a doubt worth looking at. Watch a few videos and trailers, read a few more reviews, decide if its for you. In essence, if you want a fun, tactical, engrossing, zombie-killing game, and you're happy to play online, this is where it's at.