PlayStation News, Articles and Information for the UK and Europe

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge – Special Edition is the second Monkey Island game to get an HD remake on PlayStation 3, the first being the original Secret of Monkey Island. Like its predecessor, Monkey Island 2 is given the ‘Special Edition’ treatment and like its predecessor, it really is quite special. 

The original version of Monkey Island 2 was released back in 1991, so as you can imagine the graphics are very basic and look well dated by comparison to modern games. 

A comparison between old and new

Thankfully, the clever folk at LucasArts have completely redrawn all the artwork, recreating all the original detail in glorious HD. The graphics, although essentially 2D, look brilliant and still manage to capture the essence of the original artwork.

Building on the success of the remake of The Secret of Monkey Island, the animation in Monkey Island 2: Special Edition goes one step further and actually adds in extra animation frames to make the character movement much, much smoother, which is a pleasant touch. The sound too has been completely redone, with high quality re-recordings of the original MIDI tracks. The only unfortunate omission is the iMUSE system, which was present in the original version but is sadly missing from the Special Edition. Revolutionary at the time, the iMUSE system subtly blended music from one scene into another, rather that sharply jump from one track to another each time you move to a new area or screen. Despite this glaring omission, the music sounds fantastic and again captures the essence of the original, highly popular soundtrack. Read more

PLATFORM: PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade

RELEASE DATE: 13th July 2010 (PSN), 14th July 2010 (XBLA)

RATING: 12 – Violence + Bad Language (PEGI)

DEVELOPER: Hothead Games

PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts

DeathSpank is a new RPG comedy type game available only by digital download on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace for only £9.99. Built by Hothead Studios, who cancelled the third instalment in a popular series known as the Penny Arcade Adventures (which was probably due to development of this game), DeathSpank aims to provide a relatively easy to get into adventure about a stereotypical hero on his perilous quest to get back an artifact – known only as The Artifact. The question is, does it achieve it? And is it worth the £10 price tag?

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PLATFORM: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Naughty Bear didn’t get the same head start on publicity as other recent games such as Demon’s Souls and Red Dead Redemption, which both got a lot of hype pre-release, although it’s bear-based movie spoofs are darkly funny (all of which can be found on their website). But does it have the potential to be remembered in the future? Read on to find out…

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PLATFORM: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC

RELEASE DATE: 26th March 2010

RATING: 15 (BBFC), 18+ (PEGI)

DEVELOPER: Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive

PUBLISHER: Square Enix

Much like the Assassin’s Creed series was in nature, the original Just Cause was a disappointment for most and was criticised for its many bugs and short storyline, but Eidos (now owned by Square Enix) decided to change that with the sequel.The new game boasts a massive playable area and a seemingly endless amount of things to do, with graphics that are reminiscent of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, so it’s no wonder that the Just Cause series is making itself known in the world. One question remains though, like Assassin’s Creed II, has Just Cause 2 manage to fix the problems with its brilliant but flawed predecessor?

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The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a high-definition remake of the original Secret of Monkey Island game that was first released in 1990 for PC, Atari ST, Amiga and eventually several other platforms. The basic premise is that you play a wannabe pirate called Guybrush Threepwood, who sets out on a journey to become a fully fledged pirate in the Caribbean. The Secret of Monkey Island has a very quirky sense of humour and it is this humour that most people fondly remember the series for. There are so few genuinely funny computer games that, even now, the Monkey Island series stands out as among the funniest games of all time.

The gameplay is essentially a ‘point ‘n’ click’ adventure that requires players to explore various locations across the caribbean, collecting objects, talking to NPCs and generally solving puzzles to meet the objectives of the game. Like many adventure games from the early 90s, it is virtually impossible to die or fail in the game, leaving you free to try out as many wacky and inventive ways of solving puzzles as you like, without the fear of seeing a game over screen. Read more

Demon’s Souls is perhaps most famous for two reasons; first, the game’s incredible difficulty. Second, the game’s sheer brilliance. With Demon’s Souls, you don’t get one without the other, and that is the game’s central lure – if you want to play one of the most enjoyable and rewarding dungeon crawlers out there, be prepared for some seriously tough times ahead.

Demon’s Souls was originally released in Japan way back in February 2009 and, seen as a somewhat niche product, was never given a release schedule for North America or Europe. Word of mouth soon spread about the game and after some stunning review scores the game was eventually released in both North America and Europe.

The notorious difficulty level of Demon’s Souls is not due to impossibly hard enemies or unfair ‘leap of faith’ platform negotiation (for the main part anyway) but is simply due to the nature of the game. Players start the game at the bottom rung of the role-playing ladder and as such find enemies tricky to bring down on their own and almost impossible to defeat in large groups. What the game is telling you is that you need to take caution, you need to think about what you’re doing and you need to plan your attacks; running in button mashing will just end in tears. Read more

Aliens vs Predator is essentially the third game in the AvP series started by Rebellion back in 1999. The original game was truly groundbreaking and Rebellion managed to fuse three distinct types of gameplay into one fantastic game. The first sequel was handled by Monolith productions and while it had a more closely integrated storyline and was generally very good, it fell slightly short of the quality shown by its predecessor.

Hopes were high, then, for Rebellion’s return to the series with Aliens vs Predator on PS3, PC and Xbox 360. In a similar fashion to its predecessors, Aliens vs Predator is played out from the point of view of each of the three species; Xenomorph (the Alien), Human (Marine) and Predator (also known as Yautja). Players are free to choose whichever campaign they like to start with and the game can be played straight through with each species in succession or can be split up into chapters played alternately with each species. Read more

White Knight Chronicles was originally released in Japan way back in December 2008 but took until February 2010 to be released in Europe and North America. Releasing the game in the week before the biggest RPG of the year (Final Fantasy XIII), developers Level-5 had their work cut out persuading gamers to buy White Knight Chronicles and the game sank almost without trace, lost in the massive hype for FFXIII.

As a fairly standard JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game), White Knight Chronicles conjures up a run-of-the-mill storyline which unfortunately tends to be quite dull for most of the time. You are the usual ‘zero to hero’ character, Leonard, who has to save the obligatory princess by beating up baddies and occasionally turning into a huge ‘White Knight’ who is essentially a super-powered version of himself with new moves. You’ll only really use the White Knight at boss battles and even then the game is quite easy so you can get away with only using it two or three times if you really want to make the game a bit more challenging. Read more

PLATFORM: PlayStation 3 (Exclusive)

RELEASE DATE: 26th February 2010

RATING: 15 (BBFC), 18+ (PEGI)

DEVELOPER: Quantic Dream

PUBLISHER: Sony Computer Entertainment

When Heavy Rain was first announced in E3 2006, it certainly shook things up, with the tech demo called The Casting it was great to see what the wet-behind-the-ears PS3 could do. Ever since then, Quantic Dream have been teasing us with the looks of such an inspiring and ground-breaking game, including the sole use of quick-time-events (QTEs) throughout the game. Finally, Heavy Rain has been released to the awaiting public, warts and all. But has the game disappointed many with the oodles of hype, or has it just exceeded those expectations? Whatever the reaction was, it was going to rock the community’s world…

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John Marston is just the kind of person who you wouldn’t want to mess with. Full of comic remarks, a load of violence and all in all a gentle soul, this man is the king of the Wild West and most importantly the protagonist of a fantastic story which will keep you hooked in the marvel of the game that is Red Dead Redemption; the Wild West’s answer to Grand Theft Auto.

Now, before I go any further I must say this: Red Dead Redemption is developed by Rockstar, and yes, therefore many aspects are very similar to GTA. But this is no bad thing in the slightest, and even with so many GTA aspects, RDR still manages to be its own, unique game. And what a game it is.

John Marston is an outlaw coming to America to escape his past of violence and betrayal (Niko Bellic anyone?) and before you know it, the ****’s already hit the fan. He is recovered by farm owner Bonnie MacFarlane: and this is where the game really kicks off in the peaceful surroundings of MacFarlane’s Ranch, without a doubt the most relaxing place in the game after the harshness of warfare. The houses are beautiful, the lanes are peaceful, and the people are nice. Obviously being a farm, there are a lot of animals kept here which actually play a part in the story: Bonnie’s missions have you learn the tricks of the trade in farming. How to lasso wild horses and how to herd cows are on the agenda. And so begins the most peaceful start to a game you’ll ever experience, even if herding cows is quite challenging. Sorry, but it just is. Read more