Professor Layton And The Lost Future, Nintendo DSi
When Professor Layton's faithful young assistant Luke receives a letter from himself 10 years in the future, the pair find themselves embroiled in a plot involving scientists, time travel and a missing prime minister. As in past instalments, the upshot is that you need to solve a cavalcade of puzzles introduced by the game's cast of eccentrics. Brainteasers range from pub-style matchstick games to mazes to classic riddles, all mixed up with a sprinkling of mini-games to add variety. As usual, each puzzle features a little twist, and each can have its challenge softened using a series of progressively more leading hints, purchased with special coins you can find hidden in every scene. The series' trademark charm returns here, exuded by the script, voice acting and visuals, making this a wonderfully accessible and engaging game that requires no dexterity whatsoever.
Nintendo, �39.99
Vanquish, PS3 & Xbox 360
It's the future, and the Russian menace is back, this time in the form of a terrorist cell, the Order of the Russian Star, armed with the former USSR's vast decaying arsenal of weapons. Naturally it's your job to shoot them until they stop. Taking place on a cylindrical space station orbiting the Earth, Vanquish puts you in experimental body armour that lets you jet around the environment at high speed and upgrade the various weapons you pick up. Action is raucous, with firefights an unceasing rush of arcing electricity, giant explosions and shaky-cam movement, framed by the game's sprawling, brightly-coloured environments and a soundtrack that pumps up the adrenaline even further. The blistering pace never falters, maintaining an impossibly high-octane charge that sadly ends after just five or six hours of heroic gunnery. While replaying levels is an inviting prospect, it's hard not to feel a bit shortchanged overall.
Sega, �44.95
Headspin: Storybook, iPad
Telling the simple story of a farm lad on a quest to save a princess from the witch queen, Headspin: Storybook is a puzzle game for those inclined delicately towards OCD. In it, you're faced with a series of spreads from a pop-up book, in which everything on the right hand page needs to be an exact mirror image of the left. To make that happen, you tap objects that are out of alignment to flip them over until everything is perfectly symmetrical, before the clock runs down. Featuring a delightful artistic style that makes the most of its page-turning metaphor, with everything from rainbows to castles popping elegantly into existence, Headspin: Storybook's 20 levels between introduction and defeating the witch queen should take no more than half an hour to complete. But then again, it is the price of a Mars bar, will keep you entertained for considerably longer and won't make you fat and spotty. Bargain.
Brandwidth, 59p
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/23/this-weeks-new-games
No comments:
Post a Comment