Games, Books and Films

The Eternal Night proves to be a most prophetic name for what is undoubtedly Spyro’s darkest gaming hour. Fans accept the series hasn’t hit the same highs in recent years as the original trilogy managed on the PSOne, but Spyro’s fall, even since 2004’s decent A Hero’s Tail, is simply cosmic. A New Beginning (the… Read More

Off the back of three progressively more excellent PSOne releases, Syphon Filter unexpectedly took nose-dive of epic proportions in 2002 with its disastrous PS2 debut, The Omega Strain. Few series have suffered such a sharp decline in fortunes from one instalment to the next, but the good news is, Dark Mirror reverses the trend in… Read More

When it comes to console gaming, Star Wars has had a decidedly chequered past, with a very high turnout of mediocre titles offset by only a modest selection of good ones. However, its quirky union with LEGO has lead to one of the series most memorable instalments for some time.
LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game… Read More

Ah, if I’m not mistaken, this is one for the connoisseurs. XII Stag was never a game Joe Public was going to rush out and buy on-mass – one look at the reverse side of the games case reveals that much – instead, it’s targeted at those who wished the days of hardcore shoot ‘em… Read More

It’s hard to shake the feeling that Dead To Rights 2 was conceived a generation or so too late. Little of Namco’s usual style, flair and assured quality are in evidence, meaning the player is left to battle with dated gameplay mechanics and a half-baked story that’s defined by its anonymous cast. When mixed with… Read More

As you may already have deduced, Warriors Orochi 2 is rather similar to the fifteen other ‘Warriors’ themed hack ‘n’ slash ‘em ups that have invaded the PS2 over the last few years and the target audience thus remains much the same; those who find its gameplay unchallenging and repetitive will find plenty to dislike,… Read More

2D scrolling shoot ‘em ups, whether they’re of the vertical or horizontal disposition, seem to have become a dime-a-dozen on the PS2. As the genres strong points and weaknesses tend to be expressed universally throughout the range available, separating the best from the also-rans can often come down to little more than personal taste.
Steel Dragon… Read More

The true essence of an RPG, in my own opinion, is cut down into certain qualities such as character progression, storyline addiction and gameplay execution and over the decades a certain few has lived up to my expectations. Released in 2002 from Genki, does Jade Cocoon 2 have the right balance of the above to… Read More

With games like Resident Evil, horror survival games, in my opinion have taken a turn for the worse. Action depicts gameplay meaning the ‘horror’ aspect really has been taken out of the game; I mean what has happened to the original ‘scary’ adventures such as Silent Hill and Project Zero?
I thought all was lost when… Read More

Spyro’s third PlayStation2 outing (and sixth console appearance in total) saw something of a rebirth for the purple dragon. Despite its immediate predecessor, A Hero’s Tail, managing to recapture a good deal of the variety and simple, fun platforming antics of the revered PSOne instalments, many felt change was needed to allow the series to… Read More