If you loved Metal Gear Rising enough to consider diving in once again, then the next thing to decide is whether or not you consider a length comparable to that of a single chapter substantial. Like Jetstream, Blade Wolf is given no fresh areas to explore, being tasked instead by Mistral to stalk through remixed (or lazily reversed) regions that you’ll have already sliced your way through as Raiden. Around a third of this story takes place in the VR simulator, but at least they’re not nearly as yellow as the optional VR missions themselves, which can be found scattered about the main regions if you take the time to explore.

What you’re getting is a prequel chapter that delves just that little bit deeper into the relationship between Wolf and Mistral – the red-haired, multi-armed vixen of the Desperado team. Themes such as Wolf’s struggle with human concepts as well as his obvious desire to attain his own kind of freedom are explored, which actually makes some of his actions in the main campaign easier to digest. There aren’t too many cutscenes, but at least the download tries harder to engage than Jetstream did a month or so back. You’ll get a sense that it’s an area that was genuinely worth exploring and if anything, it may have served as a successful experiment should Platinum Games decide to make him a playable character in a sequel.

There’s no escaping the K-9 unit’s lack of strength (not that you’d have known it during his boss encounter in the main storyline), as three hits are enough to put him down on the normal difficulty mode. Stealth is an absolute must, as was clearly the intention if the grading after each location is anything to go by. It’s not a mechanic that’s especially fleshed out, but it’s functional enough that it can be used to thin the herd before all-out war ensues. The game expects you to have played and completed Metal Gear Rising, demanding a good degree of skill on anything other than easy mode. There’s no tinkering with Blade Wolf himself, though points earned can be used to upgrade Raiden in the main game.

Stealing power cells from cybernetic spines must be par for the course for high-level cyborgs of the near future, as it’s a trend that continues for both Sam and Wolf. Chainsawing enemies to pieces is great fun, if not quite as satisfying as it was with a high-frequency blade. Throwing knives and grenades boost the suitably basic arsenal, which you’ll want to use on occasion when the going gets tough. You might experience occasional stutters during these moments, but it’s never intrusive enough to become a major issue. The reused environments are among the most visually pleasing from the campaign, plus a new foe makes for a unique and thoroughly enjoyable boss battle.

Blade Wolf has tried its hand at something different, encouraging stealthy kills over the usual full-frontal assault. Still, by clocking in at around an hour on a first playthrough it’s anything but a must-own, even if the approximate five pound/seven dollar price seems right for the work that’s been put in. The length won’t win over the more casual players, but for those who still can’t get enough of Metal Gear Rising, Blade Wolf serves as a welcome slice of cyber-dog action.

Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine has been a video game darling in production for the last few years and certainly earns a lot of its indie game credentials. It’s beautiful in a unique yet semi-retro way. It has an interesting soundtrack and some fantastic ideas which work about 90% of the time. At the surface, it’s a twin stick shooter by way of Payday: The Heist. You have 1-4 players running around a black and grey map of a building, lighting up a bright, vivid level as they go, but only as far as their field of vision allows. Icons like safes, wall sockets, computers and first aid kits are highlighted on the map and if you’re the lookout then enemies pop up as red blips moving around.

Each level is short, but there are many of them in The Locksmith’s Story (normal mode) and The Pickpocket’s Story (a hard mode retelling of the events). As you go through the levels more items and classes are unlocked. You start with the locksmith who is the master of unlocking, the pickpocket with his trained monkey to steal coins, the lookout who marks where enemies are and the cleaner who quietly knocks out enemies. Later on classes like The Mole add variation with his ability to knock through almost any wall, or the Gentleman who is disguised for a few seconds if spotted by enemies. The items range from the noisy but effective shotgun to plasters to revive allies, wrenches to complete actions and smoke bombs to provide momentary cover. With several different maps and events to deal with, each level feels like it provides a unique challenge to your team. In one level you’re trying to get inside The Gentleman’s trap-filled boat while dodging guard dogs. In another you’re rescuing The Hacker from his secure room in a hospital while the criminally insane rattle around in cages.

The look and sound of Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine is key to the gameplay. The fog of war will block the majority of a level at a time, even after you’ve explored it. As you walk along, you might get a sudden glimpse through a window and a guard’s has a moment where he thinks he can see you. The characters all have their distinctive look and movements, even in their idle positions. Anything you need is highlighted which is a saving grace when four players are on opposite ends of the map, forcing it to zoom out. While the retro aesthetic may be grating to some people, the use of it is interesting enough to blot out any such problems for long. The maps are thought out enough that the toilets are usable, shower curtains can be hidden behind and they do a good effort of showing little pieces of what’s at the edges of the level. You can see the rain falling in the opening level, or the lower levels of the Gentleman’s house through the upstairs windows. It may look like blueprints in the fog of war, but the levels are engrossing to run around in and interact with.

As a single player game, you’re able to take your time, case the joint and find effective ways to complete the map. Like Metal Gear Solid and other stealth games, it’s satisfying to get through each area, work out guard patterns and find the perfect hiding places. As a multiplayer game it’s a whole different monster. Sure, an organised group can probably best a level as quietly and efficiently as single player, but with offline play and friends like yours, you know what it’s going to be like. Someone’s going to play hero, someone’s going to run back for the last coins while the police are searching for you. Just like a heist movie, are you sure you can trust the people on your team?

Both of these methods of playing are fun, although multiplayer Monaco has had me angrier with my best friends than any other game not called New Super Mario Bros U. But in a good way. Even after the game you’re chatting about how that heist went down, what went wrong and how better to plan the next one. Maybe if the mole keeps up his weird wall-digging fixation to break through to the hall outside the safe, but this time the cleaner’s going to sort out the guards on the computers, hack the machines and the other two can pick the safe and loot everything while everyone else is already by the getaway car holding the door open. Brilliant, now you’re thinking like a true thief.

Game reviewed on Xbox 360; purchased by D+PAD Magazine.

It was pleasing to see then that the restaurateur’s behind the diner has opened up a branch on iOS, purveying its unique dining experience and giving us a chance to feed legions of hungry werewolves, zombies and vampires with a flick and tap of our fingers rather than laborious mouse-clicks. Thankfully, the iOS version of the game retains the polish and character of its PC-based original, but now we’ve finally got what we asked for, is this still a diner worth visiting?

Though the lack of physical inputs is often hailed as a short-coming of touch-based devices, their ability to put multitasking (literally) at the tips of your fingers is not to be scoffed at. It is for this reason that Dead Hungry Diner feels so at home on the iPad, and anyone who has played the seminal Plants Vs Zombie’s will know why; the speed and fluidity with which a large multi-touch display allows you to issue orders, place objects and react to ever-increasing odds is second to none, offering an experience that an analogue-stick and buttons could only ever hope to emulate in the loosest, most compromised way.

That we can mention Plants Vs Zombies in the same sentence as Dead Hungry Diner should have piqued your interest, and this would be a piquing that would be well rewarded should you allow it to reach fruition with an actual purchase. Unlike much of the interactive entertainment that fills the App Stores virtual shelves, Dead Hungry Diner is not a title obsessed with the quick fix; wrapping your head around its rule-sets, its quirks and its often demanding pace takes time, patience and speedy digits. Neither does it take the micro-transaction route, a fact that Black Market Games are keen to point out in its publicity material - ‘It costs £1.49 / $1.99 / 1.79€ and does not have a single in-app purchase’. We have to say it’s refreshing to see a developer not shying away from actively reducing its feature list in such a way, and resisting the quick-bucks that it could have easily reaped from purchasable resources, characters and levels.

In terms of content, Dead Hungry Diner has made the transition intact, with Black Market Games also taking the opportunity to include additional content such as new monster types and an ‘affection mechanic’ (which, we have to admit, the impact of which hasn’t been readily apparent during our time with the game). The core experience has remained untouched, with the player being tasked with satiating the needs of increasingly demanding and numerous customers eager to masticate the Dead Hungry Diners’ signature ‘Brain Berries’. Directly controlling restaurant owners Gabe or Gabby with screen-taps, you dash around the restaurant collecting and delivering buckets of brain berries, cleaning tables, directing guests to seats and ordering resident bouncer, Frankie, to move into action should a fight break out. Move too slow, and impatient diners will leave, harming your profits and ultimately your score. This is the game at its simplest, but the addition of upgradeable spells, differing monster types and the ability to create score-chains by seating guests at tables previously occupied by a creature of the same type creates layers of tactics that must be mastered to achieve that elusive three-star score rating.

Aside from a few content additions, Dead Hungry Diner has also repositioned itself slightly for iOS, most notably with the inclusion of a level select screen allowing you to replay levels in attempt to achieve a high score. This makes perfect sense, as although the narrative is engaging enough, this is essentially a game focussed on time-limits and the mastery of systems and thus serves high-score hunters well.

At its best, Dead Hungry Diner is a pleasing mixture of frantic, reaction-based taps and more considered tactical and long term planning underpinned by a requirement to read and respond to a range of aural and visual cues. Slightly less successful is its endless mode (title ‘All you can eat’), the problem being that the challenge doesn’t increase enough, quickly enough – resulting in sessions that can last slightly too long while failing to deliver a satisfying tonal range. There’s definitely scope for improvement though, and with a few tweaks Black Market Games could make this an essential part of the overall experience.

Dead Hungry Diner’s transition from PC monitor to iOS screen has been handled admirably, and – just as we suspected back in June 2012 – in the iPad it has found a made-to-measure home for its brand of frantic time-management gameplay. Its presentation remains hugely charming, and production values are high throughout and though it arguably could have done more to differentiate this version from its PC sibling, the impact of the change in control method cannot be underestimated. Dead Hungry Diner was always a fun title, and with this latest iteration it has achieved its full potential while giving itself a fighting chance of finding the larger audience that it rightly deserves.

Reviewed on iPad; download code provided by Black Market Games.

Persona 4 Arena succeeds here; it is among the most accessible and easily-comprehensible fighting games around yet the desirable complexity of the genre never feels compromised. This is a result of its three-level tutorial system – firstly a “Lesson Mode” which explains controls and fighting-game staples, then moves into explaining how it specifically differs from other games of its type. This is followed by a “Challenge Mode” of the sort many games have, systematically explaining and teaching each character’s move-list and combo timings. Finally there is the staple customisable training dummy, allowing a player who has mastered the system to try applying it in fixed conditions.

What differentiates it from other fighting games is the deceptive simplicity of each character’s move list. The standard four main attack options mapped to the controller’s four main buttons are present, but there is much more emphasis on differentiating the characters with small libraries of very different moves. A fighting game like Dead or Alive or Street Fighter gives all its characters a large basic move-set of combos – combinations of light, heavy and medium kicks and punches – as well as a smaller number of unique special moves. Persona 4 Arena has four groups of attacks, light and heavy “attack” strings (kicks and punches in combination) and “persona” attacks (projectiles or easily-used basic specials), which are supplemented by health-draining character-specific techniques and throws. This adds spectacle to the game, with summoned assist characters an integral part of combat, but also adds variety as each character’s attacks are unique to them. The result is like a more refined version of the Blazblue games in which the characters feel far more differentiated mechanically, and characterful as a result. What this means in game terms is that the player is more strongly encouraged to focus on a smaller number of favoured characters since there are fewer transferrable strategies.

This much more focused design is inherently divisive; the quite disparate cast of characters can make finding one that suits a play-style require significant time investment and practice and changing character requires learning an entirely new style. This is in some way mitigated by the standardisation of inputs to simple quarter-circles (each characters’ moves require the same basic library of inputs – meaning the challenge is entirely predicated on learning the reach and timings of the attacks). Indeed, as one plays the game over time the apparent lack of ability to transfer learned skills between characters becomes less of an issue – understanding of the game’s systems remains transferrable.

The diversity of design is built on an elegant framework which is as predictable and learnable as any fighting game – and it is this which is Persona 4 Arena’s mechanical draw. The simplifications (such as the automated one-button combos and the standardised inputs) add a strategic element since they provide a learnable basis for strategy. Basic attacks are always short-ranged and always chain in similar ways. Persona attacks factor into these combos in known fashions and can be interrupted – a successful “Persona Break” forbidding their use for a period and impacting certain characters far more harshly than others. The small movelist, in comparison to other games, thus becomes a strategic factor. Furthermore, the prebuilt combos are as restrictive as they are accessible – getting locked into unfavourable move sets can backfire.

The emphasis on differentiation of characters is not only mechanically useful but thematically vital; Persona 4 Arena, unlike many fighting games, not only has the narrative emphasis of a game like Blazblue but also a heritage in an RPG series predicated on socialising and friendship. Rivalries and friendships are the defining thing of the Persona series and so their importance within the fighting game spinoff is significant. Without the series ties – in fighting style, in characterisation and even in UI design and general visuals – all the strengths of the game would be worthless. It is important to note that although the game’s story mode is a continuation of Persona 4’s plot, it is a lighthearted one which explains salient plot points from the original for those who have not played it and seems quite self-aware in its justification for turning former allies against each other. The “feel” is Persona through and through, and long-time series fans will appreciate the references and story in a different way to a newcomer.

Thus, Persona 4 Arena is a standout game; it marries theme and mechanics closely, and through its apparent simplicity allows a total novice to enjoy it all while layering on levels of strategy for advanced play based on positioning and timing rather than specific dexterity at inputting attacks. This much more strategic aspect is almost a way of translating RPG combat to a fighting game and changing the focus much more towards system mastery. As a result, it accentuates the strengths of fighting games while working to avoid the inaccessibility and confusion that can make them offputting. Most notably, its concessions to accessibility do not compromise the strategic depth, or add alternate control schemes such as one-button special moves only for those players who choose to use them (which simply means that such players are disadvantaged by the simplification against opponents not using it, and do not get a chance to learn the full game); there is one method of playing, applied to all, but that method is easily-understood and standardised.

Reviewed on Xbox 360; game purchased by D+PAD Magazine.

You play America Jones. AMERICA JONES. (Breathe it in, people.) America is a top-class fighter in the underground circuit, but runs into strange issues during a scrap with a seemingly typical thuggish opponent. As a sloppy transition eventually suggests, the fight mysteriously culminates in the untimely shooting of America’s beloved girlfriend Sierra. Naturally, revenge is sought after; and even more naturally, America goes to Snoop for help finding out what happened and settling the score. To be fair, both the story and dialogue, whilst shoddy by anyone’s honest appraisal, could have been a hell of alot worse; and although the concept art-ridden cutscenes are amateurish, it does serve to move the wafer-thin plot along with suspiciously knowing terseness.

America’s battles throughout the two-hour stint are merely window dressing for the rhythm game central to Way of the Dogg. Timed button presses and unique modifiers must be made in time to chapter-specific Snoop tracks blaring in the background (some classic, some less so). If you build up enough meter during a section of a song by hitting all the right notes, a simple QTE prompt leads the way to all-important attacks that diminish your foe’s health and boost your final score. However, not only do the required rhythms confusingly shift from instrumentals to vocals from time to time, but your ability to do so is too often hijacked by having to deal with a host of debilitating on-screen glitches.

Until I rebooted my console (note: not even the game), I had to endure seeing a slice of mid-battle feedback — the word ‘MOVE’ to be precise — lingering in the middle of the screen for at least half the experience. As you can imagine, this makes seeing particular button prompts rather difficult, forcing you to either guess the next button in a chain or glare at the screen to try and make it out before it rushes by. To make matters worse, this occurred alongside the backdrop’s busy scenes of stilted martial combat between America and his combatant, hampering my faculties even more. These scenes, by the way, look fantastically rigid and unmanaged to boot. Think of a teenager’s first attempts at creating stickmen battling each other in Flash and you’re halfway to uncovering the visual fidelity on offer here.

As if this wasn’t problematic enough, there were also times when certain button prompts just didn’t display. Circular prompts normally filled with a green ‘A’ button and the like were inexplicably greyed out with no indication of what needed to be hit (which, still in only some cases, could be remedied by merely guessing correctly). The same issue arose more consistently when presented with vital QTE commands — much to the chagrin of my desire to keep playing. More importantly, the functioning parts of Way of the Dogg aren’t exactly striking anyway. It lacks any real substance despite its theoretically workable mechanics. Even the tutorial is no more than a blackened screen with a few short preambles to fill you in on the fundamentals. Oh, and you’re probably not going to want to play the two-player multiplayer or challenge modes, which basically re-purpose the story content with unattractive leaderboards and combo-based hooks pasted in.

With a little more love, Way of the Dogg could have be a pretty cool rhythm game. Even if its framework is a silly attempt to pasteurise Snoop’s waning branded image and cultural relevance, the basic pitch is still solid and curiously inspired. But in practice, Way of the Dogg’s lifeless rhythm styling and maddening technical hiccups join forces to forge something truly ghetto.

Reviewed on Xbox 360; game purchased by D+PAD

Yet a second run of both the first and second games, with much of the supplementary story material added (something I usually avoid doing) quite changed my view. Mass Effect’s idiosyncrasies were endearing for a period but quickly became too awkward to be truly enjoyable – that the game could be played while ignoring the features in question showed up quite significantly as a shortcoming. The game’s ambition still showed through – it still aspired, in a clumsy way, to be a comprehensive science-fiction experience with everything possible thrown in. The characters were still endearing and the setting still a compelling homage to all manner of science-fiction works. Furthermore, it was short – even with the supplementary missions – sufficiently so that it never became actively boring or difficult to play. My overall impression, however, was that it was a game which was kept from greatness by its mechanical awkwardness.

Continuing into the second game, the changes – the move towards a more mechanically slimline and polished base for telling the same kind of story in the same way – seemed more welcome. They were still not ideal – the game, in its attempts to open up the capacity for exploration in some ways while removing others made suspending disbelief difficult (although not as much as the still-further streamlined exploration of the third game.) Similarly the weapons were too far scaled back in granularity and diversity to be rewarding or worth collecting and upgrading (something the third game ultimately fixed with its system that was an able compromise between the two extremes.)

What, ultimately, changed my estimation of the Mass Effect games was completing them all for the first time. The move towards clean, simple mechanics and the erosion of the awkward edges made quite clear that the series was intended to tell a story; not to specifically allow the player to forge their own narrative as something like Skyrim or Dwarf Fortress might, but to give a limited amount of agency – or the illusion of such – in the telling of a narrative. In essence, it was a shooter game with hub levels. The player was presented at each chapter of the plot with a range of missions, one of which was plot-critical. They could complete them in any order, gather items and characters, gain new abilities and then approach new challenges. If it was an RPG, it was a much more linear and constrained one than perhaps I wanted it to be. Yet understanding what it was – this kind of compromise between the linear shooter and the open-world RPG – made it far easier to enjoy. Arguably this is simply ignoring shortcomings – the series was not specifically marketed as a linear or semi-linear shooter with a fixed start and end point – but it provides a foundation which allows a player to see exactly what the series does well. Any two players’ anecdotes of favourite Mass Effect moments are likely to be very similar; this is not a game with any specific scope for emergent gameplay or randomness, it is a game where the player is expected to see all of the narrative points of interest and interact with them.

A common criticism of heavily single-narrative driven games is that the player has no agency and no illusion of agency over the direction of the story. They are the spectator, often with only limited control over how capable their character is if the narrative demands certain things happen. What Mass Effect does with its conversation trees, and choice of level order, and completely inconsequential diversions and between-mission banter, is make the player feel – even if they are but a spectator in a fixed story – that it is being told the way they want it. Every time one plays the Mass Effect series Shepard will go from the first Promethean relic all the way to fighting Saren, to recruiting a team, to traversing the Omega 4 Relay, to fighting on Mars and on Earth and then choosing the fate of the world. Trying to claim that one has any degree of agency at this level is false (and that the games were talked up as having this is a major criticism of them, for sure).

Disregarding this sleight of hand and playing the games long after the arguments have died down, long after their value and nature have been discussed – their real merits show through. What remains, beneath the promises and the shortcomings, are a series of games that tell a story and allow the player to alter the fine details – the memorable ones. The actual story missions of both of the first two games are quite unremarkable. What I remember of my most recent playthrough are things like my character failing to resolve a row between Tali and Legion just before the final mission, and so I made the decision to keep the one I agreed with by my side and let the other take their chances (with tragic results). Or that my constant pangs of conscience and attempts to do the best for friends while being disdainful of others resulted in my character being neither forceful enough nor conciliatory enough to successfully press their viewpoint in big arguments and having to rely instead on threats and bluster to muddle through.

In conclusion I think replaying the first two Mass Effect games taught me two things about the series. The first is that neither is, on a fundamental level, a mechanically sound game. The first game is over-ambitious in its attempt to be comprehensive and ends up feeling like awkward busywork. The second is far too pared-back and focused on story-telling over providing mechanical choice and so feels superficial. This is where the third succeeded; it found the missing mid-point on a fundamental, behind-the-scenes level and was probably the best game. Yet here is where my second point comes in. Properly seeing where Mass Effect shines relies on understanding what it is – and that it is not what it was described as. The amount of agency that the player has the illusion of was ultimately unsustainable across three games and so the continued claims that it existed ultimately fell through. The result is a story with fixed start and end points and a procession of known events in the meantime – not an open-world RPG with divergent or emergent stories. And this, ultimately, is where the first two entries – mechanically unsound as they are – succeed far more than the third. The illusion of agency is far better presented, the superficial choices far more memorable. The third game overreached in trying to exceed this foundation and as a result the failures in suspension of disbelief – a constant shortcoming around which the early games skirted – became too great.

The first thing you’ll notice is the wacky presentation, which is a throwback to not only the music of the time, but also to VHS tapes, hammy dialogue and basic cutscenes that owners of the Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) should remember. You won’t find any breath-taking vistas this time around, nor should you ever care to; Blood Dragon is all about taking you by the ‘robo balls’ and leading you across an island filled with enemy outposts, mechanised animals and all the neon blue hallways a good cyber-warrior can handle. It’s all in the name of the retro sci-fi vibe, which the game merrily waves around with reckless abandon.

Things wouldn’t have been complete without the right voice actor, and who better to lead the charge than Terminator’s Kyle Reese? Michael Biehn voices Rex Power Colt; the cybernetic soldier with a penchant for laughable one-liners and a ‘too cool for school’ attitude, standing beside Bioshock Infinite’s Booker DeWitt as an example as to why it’s a cop-out to create a silent protagonist in the name of ‘immersion’ – now we know that’s downright lazy. The quips come hard and fast at various points in the game, and while it’s never quite side-splittingly funny, the delivery is likely to have you smiling right through to the end.

Although lacking in main missions when compared to the original Far Cry 3 (this quest clocks in at under 5 hours with occasional bouts of exploration), there’s plenty of content to warrant the twelve pound entry fee. Side missions provide attachments for your guns, but there’s little reason to hunt like you did in the main game as you won’t be crafting extra pouches or quivers, or even collecting herbs because of Colt’s disdain for drugs. Liberating outposts provides access to more side missions and while many of these adhere to a formula, you might just find a few fun surprises too.

Blood Dragons – from which the game’s name is derived – roam the landscape and are represented by big, glowing icons on the mini-map. These are strong, fierce and shoot lasers when angered, so it’s important to keep low and quiet should one approach. Despite having a prominent role in the campaign itself, they can also be used to your advantage when liberating outposts; you can go in guns blazing if you wish, or you can take out the shield system and throw a cyber-heart to attract the nearest dragon towards enemy forces. There are complications during the story, but to reveal much more would be to rob the game of the surprises that make it a joy to play. Dino fans will have to get their kicks from these glowing lizards for now, as no other new creature types have been added beyond the re-skinned robo-animals.

If exploration was your thing in Far Cry 3, then Ubisoft has you covered. VHS tapes, TV sets and item boxes make up the bulk of the collectibles, rewarding you with new weapon upgrades should you take the time to pilfer around. It’s anything but mandatory, as Rex really does live up to his ‘Power’ middle name; he can seem overpowered at times, at least until he comes face to face with a Blood Dragon or two. It’s all in the name of giving you the power and tools to have an absolute blast.

That’s not to say that the game is perfect, because it really isn’t. The purple and red hues may get tough on the eyes after a while, most gun attachments won’t be available until after you’ve finished the story (unless you leave it until every outpost has been secured, which you won’t), the basic cutscenes can go on for too long and an ill-advised trial section leaves a rotten taste in your mouth close to the endgame. All that said, this is a creative title that evokes a unique theme unlike anything you’ve seen in recent times, when it could have taken the easy route and offered more of the same.

This is a downloadable game that dares to dream big and pulls it off by throwing caution to the wind and letting loose, but on a very solid base of gameplay mechanics. It’s Far Cry 3 with a cyborg hero, a new lick of paint and a heavy dose of imagination. Fans of the FPS genre and anyone with fond memories of the 1980’s owe it to themselves to experience the self-parody that is Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. It might not be an add-on for the original FC3, but this is still downloadable content done right – better yet, releasing it as an Arcade title only broadens its potential audience. Strap in with Sergeant Rex Power Colt and take a trip to a retro future unlike any other.

This review is based on a PlayStation 3 copy obtained from Ubisoft.

Bitterblack Isle is accessible from the starting town, Cassardis, but in order to progress very far you’re going to want to have completed the game and possibly started NG+. Make no mistake, the recommendation for starting the dungeon at level 50 is no scare tactic and this in itself is both a statement of intent, and a potential barrier of entry for any newcomers as it requires a good 20-30 hours of commitment to the main game before you can venture further afield. In this regard Capcom definitely seem to have taken some further cues from Dark Souls, an influence that was hinted at in the main game and is further emphasised here.

Bitterblack Isle itself is a dark and imposing location full of tight passages, dark corners and fearsome enemies pocketed with moments of respite amongst the blackness. The emphasis here is on dungeon crawling, gradually making your way deeper and deeper into the dungeon; unlocking short-cuts as you go, turning corners with dread. All of which is a distinct change of pace to the main game, which often promoted exploration of wide open spaces in which to face off against Gransys’ many large-scale enemies. The lack of this may help differentiate the new content from the old, but the almost complete lack of story hooks leaves it feeling like an exercise in loot hunting and combat, with only those to draw you further in. Bland and awkward as many of the main games NPC and quests might have been, but their absence is felt here, abandoned as you are to this tormented castle.

For those who enjoyed the Dragon’s Dogma combat and also enjoy a challenge there will be plenty here for them to sink their teeth into. Even the initial bosses you fight are no pushovers, though disappointingly often the increased difficulty tends to manifest itself in super-strong enemies with long health bars rather than genuinely interesting scenarios. Here, unlike Dark Souls, boss battles often become a war of attrition, even when you have your tactics down, grinding away whilst trying to keep your, still wayward, pawns in check and frequently being afflicted by status effects which annoy more than they provide challenge.

It’s disappointing too that many of the creatures that inhabit the isle are merely ‘dark’ versions of enemies you face on the mainland, who act in much the same way save for a new coat of paint and some extra health bars. As such levelling your character, upgrading your gear and hiring the right compliment of pawns are all key factors in progressing, but it’s also a challenge that just feels unfairly weighted at times. The combination of enemies can have a thrown together feel, on occasion you and your pawns are simply bombarded into defeat with no option to fight back. As such learning which areas you can simply run through becomes important, and it’s a shame that the combat isn’t robust enough to make these encounters more enjoyable, for me at least. As it is combat still feels imprecise, the variety of classes you can choose and play-styles the game caters to are still impressive, but too often it feels like you are just performing the same moves over and over with little thought given to actual tactics. For those that battle their way to the final boss there is closure of a sort to the thin story that initiates the extra content, but unless unrelenting challenge and punishing, drawn-out fights are your forte it will be something of a slog for most players.

Still credit must be given to Capcom for striking out in a new direction with Dark Arisen, though perhaps it would have been well suited as a separate DLC release. However for those who enjoyed Dragon’s Dogma for the variety and unique nature of its mix of gameplay styles it can also be seen as something of a misstep. It lacks some of the offbeat charm of the original game and as such its flaws tend to stick out further. The repetition of enemies, often unfair feeling combat scenarios and lack of any real story hooks all add up to make Dark Arisen a tough expansion to really recommend, other than to those to whom such a challenging, combat-focused dungeon appeals. For others, it will prove a welcome chance to return to Gransys but not necessarily the next step in this series that they had wished to take.

Motorcross Madness trades in typical racing game tropes in pretty much every way that counts. The loose racing is familiarly arcadey and makes use of ramps and bumps to propel you into the air where a small number of X-Games-ish tricks and flips can be performed. You accrue boost this way as well, and there’s options to tweak your bike’s capabilities on top of buying new ones for later on when the difficulty begins to spike. Plus, the game’s career mode lets you take up a decent number of unique event types amongst the three distinct locations, ranging from standard racing fare to a slightly more palatable sandbox area in which you explore an area to find any number of collectibles scattered throughout the environment.

A basic online multiplayer suite works well enough to upstage the more predictable A.I. opponents found in the single-player side of things; and the Bike Club, which acts as a hub that tracks various in-game milestones, is also pretty neat. Perhaps the most distinguished feather in the game’s cap is its use of avatars as riders during play. If you read that last sentenced and winced at the idea of avatar inclusion actually being a ‘distinguished feather in the game’s cap’ then you were probably right to do so.

It’s a hard feeling to shake–there’s a good chance you’ve played this game before, just by many different names. The racing itself is perfectly fine and the tracks are well-made for the most part, but it’s all so incredibly conventional and boring. Unless you’re actively looking for a new generic arcade racer to play, there’s no outstanding reason to give Motorcross Madness a spin.

With two games under its belt, Drinkbox Studios has already proven itself to be a developer of some ability; About A Blob and sequel, Mutant Blob’s Attack, were beautifully crafted and frequently inspired platformers embued with a wonderfully authentic 1950’s sci-fi charm. Though the blob has been put on the back burner, with Guacamelee! the studio hasn’t strayed too far from what it is good at, even if it has striven to create a bold new universe with slightly less focus on linear progression. At its core, Guacamelee! fits snugly into the ‘Metroidvania’ mould of platformers, whereby you are free to explore a 2D game world to the extent that your abilities allow; as you acquire new skills, so the world opens up to reveal more of its secrets. As with About A Blob, though Guacamelee! takes a well-worn template it manages to avoid feeling stale through the implementation of strong production values and sharp design.

Without question the most striking aspect of the game (after that title, of course) are its visuals. In a move that may well be a quiet protest at the blob’s gelatinous curves, the world of Guacamelee! is rendered almost entirely in straight lines, with characters and scenery seemingly created by a team of artists denied the freedom of drawing without a ruler. Though this may sound like a recipe for a horribly blocky mess, this is far from the case; Guacamelee!’s world is not only a riot of colour, it’s elegantly constructed, finding a visual style all of its own while paying loving tribute to Mexican culture and folklore that inspire its narrative.

Similarly characterful are the game’s cast. In fledgling luchadore Juan Aguacate – the hero of the piece – Drinkbox have gone for the strong, silent type, crafting a muscle-bound gent who communicates not through words but through his movements, be it his charming, lolloping running animation, his ability to strike dramatic poses to mark significant achievements and, most importantly, his ever increasing mastery of the lucha libre school of fisticuffs. And as a player, mastering this latter skill is important within a game that throws some considerable challenges your way as you attempt to foil the plans of the evil Charro skeleton, Carlos Calaca – who kidnaps the Presidents and threatens to drag the land of the dead into the world of the living.

With a strong sense of identity, charming characterisation and entertaining if somewhat hackneyed plot, Guacamelee! has some strong assets to play with, and as a game it largely delivers. There is a heavy focus on combat throughout, with Juan’s skillset coming complete with juggles, throws and good old fashion punches to the chops. He’s also a nimble platformer and he needs to be – dexterous thumbs are required to negotiate the game’s more tricky platforming sections that require you to utilise not only the usual jumps and double jumps, but also to mix combat moves (flying uppercuts, for example), wall running and an ability to switch between dimensions on the fly. In this – as in About A Blob – Guacamelee! showcases the Drinkbox Studio’s strong eye for game design, with very few ideas being recycled too heavily throughout the game’s running time.

New skills and abilities are drip fed throughout the game in typical Metroidvania-style, and though all are a pleasure to use, their implementation is something of a weak-point, on a macro level at least. The problem is, that there is a degree of linearity in the way that skills are delivered just before areas in which they are required, meaning that there is little of the map searching and head-scratching that Metroidvania fans know and love. In the game’s favour, this helps it whip along at a fast pace (buoyed by the bouncy, energetic soundtrack), but overall, we can’t help but feel that the experience might have benefited from a little more difficulty in this respect. That being said, the latter stages of the game require such a mastery of all your skills, that it’s hard to argue that there is anything tokenistic about any of Juan’s abilities; they all serve a purpose and earn the right of inclusion.

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So what is Fire Emblem? The game is Strategic RPG, or SRPG for short. There have been a few on portable platforms like the Advance Wars series, the oft-overlooked Ghost Recon Shadow War, and most recently on the big boy consoles, XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Fire Emblem is what happens when the Japanese try to meld Western fantasy tropes with their own jRPG styles. You control an avatar, one you make yourself in Awakening, and move your army around a board-game like map on the 3DS’ top screen. You direct your soldiers through villages, towns, castles and skeleton-infested desert wastes, taking on several cackling baddies. The units all have different abilities such as archers who make ranged attacks, clerics who can’t fight but can heal, or dancers who do a little jig to get your little soldier boy another go this turn. You generally win by defeating the enemy general, letting people escape the map, or simply wiping the board clear of foes.

Pretty standard so far, but here’s where the beauty of Fire Emblem sinks in. Every little man and woman is a character. They have a background story, a personality, and if they die…they die. Much like in XCOM, permadeath is as much of a beloved feature as it is a tooth-grinding nightmare. I have screamed, actually screamed at losing people on my team. A chap by the name of Stahl rubbed me up the wrong way, being a scruffy-looking charmer who got through life a bit too easy, but after a few missions he’s mates with your avatar, with Chrom (the real hero you play advisor to). Then he took a spear to the face. I was an idiot, I let him go ahead a few steps and the enemy took advantage. The enemy, after all, is a total bastard. Make one misstep and they’ll all murder you. And that’s it for Stahl. His story’s done. His budding relationship with the uptight mage, Miriel, was over. A way through the game and she’s still alive, having levelled up, changed classes a couple of times and she’s got it bad for the androgynous monk, Libra.

The Fire Emblem games have always had an emphasis on character. It’s what made me quit Sacred Stones after a few missions, I didn’t have the emotional stamina to be able to keep going. In the Wii’s Radiant Dawn, I’ve lamented losing every single healer I had in two missions. Fire Emblem Awakening knows that it’s all about character and makes that a core part of the game more than any version before it. If you fight next to a character, or paired up into a single unit, then you’ll grow closer. Between battles you might have a chat in the barracks, or just hang out, improving your relationship and improving the bonuses you give each other out in the field. My avatar, Matsu Duunu, took a liking to the brash knight Sully, and the two ended up married before seven missions. The real leader of this rebellion and hero you play advisor to, Chrom, sadly never married until a time jump where he shacked up with a village girl. My shy swordmaster Lon’qu ended up marrying the dark mage Tharja. You end up shipping characters, partly to see how they interact but through weird temporal crazy, you end up with children of the married characters who harvest abilities from both parents. So do you create an ‘optimal’ child or just see what the different combinations do?

You’ll notice I’ve not said much about the story and that’s because it’s fairly standard. You’re an amnesiac man or woman who is collected by some plucky rebels called, The Shepherds. There’s an evil nation, a bunch of bandits and the undead springing up all over the place. There are some nice takes on it, being a hybrid of both the jRPG and Western fantasy sensibilities. While we have callbacks to previous Fire Emblems, they aren’t invasive enough to detract from the story or the gameplay.

The main story is over 20 missions long, with a similar amount of side-quests, so you’ve got a lot to sink your teeth into. Not just that, but there are harder and harder difficulty modes including Lunatic, which will likely fill anyone with dread. You can even turn off the permadeath at any difficulty if you want, you big wuss. Oh, and there’s DLC. Nintendo are embracing the world of DLC now, after all. There’s free Spotpass DLC which allows you to fight classic characters and add them to your roster, bribe them into joining you without a fight or simply buy goods from them. Streetpass does a similar trick but with the avatars of any people you walk past who have played the game. There is paid DLC, too. The first map is free for now, featuring Smash Bros and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon star, Marth. Like the New Super Mario Bros 2 DLC, these maps are bundled together at a discount and are replayable, which makes grinding a few more levels (or a few more relationship connections) so much easier.

If you have a 3DS, enjoy SRPGs (including XCOM you judgemental ‘big console’ owners), interesting character experiences, and weeping when little computer men and women die, then this is a must buy. My flatmate saw the last half of a mission where I was fending off assassins in the night and has bought a 3DS just for this game, and here at D+PAD we’ve been comparing pair-ups and emotional horrors during our experiences of the game. Fire Emblem Awakening is a truly absorbing experience; a game which can make you fist-pump in victory and shout in horror as you watch zombie archers pick off your last Pegasus knight, all while you plan on how you’ll do it all better next time. And for what is essentially a board game-type RPG where little men and women run around a grid, that is pretty damn impressive.

Reviewed on 3DS; Game purchased by D+PAD.

The story is about as basic as it comes; you helm a ship that’s been shrunken down to microscopic size and must cleanse cells and sections of the body of infection. There are a number of stages per cluster, each fitting in to one of a few gameplay types. One has you traversing across a 3-dimensional mini planet, collecting DNA segments and taking down a predetermined amount of enemies hell-bent on your destruction. Another type centres on Starfox-esque forward movement, where evasion is given greater importance than your own attack. It’s a harsh truth of Nano Assault that a single shot is enough to obliterate your ship entirely, though you’ll have at least three tries and some sections do offer checkpoints.

It’s a challenging game then, so you can expect to retry stages having been blown to pieces more than a couple of times. The bosses offer yet another form of play, dropping you in with a fresh perspective for these multi-tiered battles. It’s here that playing offensively is the best path to success, though you should expect these encounters to test both your patience and your evasion prowess as projectiles come streaming in thick and fast. Thankfully, you won’t be jumping in with just your basic attack as the game offers powerful secondary options, albeit with limited ammo. The enemy designs are a suitable mix of alien and organic, like something you might wince at in a book about microscopic creatures.

From a graphical standpoint, Nano Assault Ex will impress. It might not be up to the standards of Kid Icarus, but such a thing would mean surpassing the best. It’s a very pretty B-list game where the 3D depth of field has been used to great effect, despite suffering the occasional stutter and screen tear when the slider is up. It’s never game breaking, yet those who favour a smoother experience might want to toggle it off for the tougher stages. It can seem as if the lasers are being fired through the screen at you (during boss battles in particular) and although it’s exactly what the 3DS should be doing, you might just be distracted enough to suffer a few deaths because of it.

The game itself also packs in a few extra bells and whistles once you’ve finished the main story. Arcade, Survivor and even Boss Rush modes can all be unlocked for those who wish to continue their experience. You can spend coins earned in-game to unlock models and music tracks, but this isn’t an addition you’re likely to focus on for long. At just over ten pounds, this game offers the selection of modes you would expect, though it’s distinctly a single-player affair and should be approached as such. It’s also worth mentioning that without the Circle Pad Pro, standard shots are relegated to the face buttons – it’s something that may initially feel jarring, but it works well enough once you’ve become accustomed and got more comfortable.

Nano Assault Ex finally gives European players the chance to take on a challenge that should have always been available, only now with a few added bonuses and improved movement. That said, those who managed to get their hands on a retail copy won’t find reason enough to spend out a second time. The visuals are undeniably stunning and the gameplay is solid, but despite serving as an obvious purchase for fans of the genre, it’s still a game with questionable mass market appeal. Fast and frenetic, Nano Assault Ex is a game that will test your reflexes in a series of short bursts perfect for that bus ride home.

Reviewed on 3DS; download code provided by Nintendo UK.

BattleBlock Theater opens up with a rather spirited introduction and lays out the game’s quirky motif pretty quickly. Simply put, a sailing boat full of friends and a jovial fellow by the name of Hatty Hattington (you read that correctly) randomly become embroiled in a wild and perilous storm, causing them to crash against the shore of a mysterious island. It turns out, of course, that the island is inhabited by a league of evil cats who have harshly imprisoned your beloved friends. The only way to set them free is to beat a series of unrelenting challenges….So it’s a videogame, in other words.
As you might suspect, this playful conceit is really just the window dressing for a sizeable collection of puzzle platforming levels. The basic approach to each stage in BattleBlock Theater is not to overwhelm with strict time limitations or a demand for precise handling a la Super Meat Boy. Instead, collecting is the name of the game–seeking out the gems and hidden trinkets in each level is the main objective here. Not in the plodding Banjo Kazooie sense, though – you constantly need to subvert the basic layout of each level and use the tools given to you to think outside the box and access certain areas that initially appear out of reach.

The game wisely eases you into this mode of thinking without holding your hand to some patronising extreme. You learn the mechanics of the world around you as you naturally go on and absorb the fundamentals of what works and what doesn’t. The totally solid platforming operates with familiar trappings for the most part, including jump-pads and movable objects that require a little push-and-pull here and there. But importantly, it all fits together very neatly and results in satisfying platforming action that moves along at a brisk pace that gets progressively harsher as you go. Although the first couple of chapters might seem elementary in some ways, this doesn’t mean the game is easy or simplistic. Despite the game’s emphasis on collecting, you can still come to a stage’s conclusion without bothering to amass every last gem or elusive ball of wool if that’s your thing. You can always return for another hunt should you so desire, too.

All of this collecting does serve a purpose beyond unlocking the next set of levels–collecting ten of the aforementioned gems will help release an individual prisoner, granting you a new style of ‘head’ to use for your own animated hero. It’s fun to customise your little dude with different shapes and faces, and always a peculiar treat to find out which randomised cartoon head you’ll be able to starting using after setting a friend free. The range of heads on offer is endlessly amusing, ranging from a cutesy panda to my personal favourite, a square-headed face of seething anger. It’s silly stuff, and there’s a fair number of them to accrue as well. Similarly, it costs five balls of wool to unlock a single randomised weapon. In the single-player, weapons mainly come in handy when taking out pesky A.I. guards dotted about a level. A boomerang, for instance, is useful for clearing out a guard wielding his own bothersome weapon, allowing you to approach a section without being knocked into any number of deathly pools and spike traps. Dying is of little consequence here, however–checkpoints are plentiful and there’s no real punishment for dying repeatedly. Again, the challenge lies in uncovering every corner of a level and collecting the goods along the way as opposed to speeding along for the best time. (That said, there are occasional time trial stages as well).

On top of local or online co-op play for the main story content, there’s a whole other side to BattleBlock Theater – multiplayer for up to four players (both online and offline). In multiplayer, the focus lies in team-based competitive action with a host of different modes to pick and choose from. Standard multiplayer fare exists, such as team deathmatch and king of the hill variants. More creatively though, a couple of modes apply the game’s platforming framework in some genuinely entertaining and clever ways. A standout example is a re-appropriated game of basketball – both teams have nets on either side of the level and a soccer ball (funny on its own) is dropped into the centre, leaving both teams to scramble about and climb and leap their way to a seven-point slam dunk. Plus the mode Ride the Horse, a sort of capture the flag variant with a servile horse-like creature, is equally as frantic and all over the shop.

The multiplayer is a different beast from the more considerate puzzles presented in the single-player content, but still works reasonably well as a fun distraction all the same. There’s a definite sense of frivolousness to it all – the basic elements of the game’s gameplay make it relatively easy to cheese your way into victory and keep the other team at bay. It never alludes to being anything other than a mindless scrap however, and it’s best enjoyed that way. If you get tired of the pre-fab stages, there’s also a robust level editor to create and share your own arenas or download others.

The cuddly charm of BattleBlock Theater tells only half the story – the game boasts a horde of smartly designed puzzle platforming stages as well as a multiplayer suite goofy enough to raise some pure and honest laughter. Whether on your own or with and against some friends, there’s plenty worth chewing through here.

Reviewed on Xbox 360; download code supplied by The Behemoth.

The tale kicks off as Sly, Bentley and Murray come out of retirement to investigate the vanishing of pages from the Thievius Raccoonus, the fabled Cooper family handbook. It’s a mystery that promises twists and turns, some fresh-faced foes as well as new areas ripe for exploration. Old friends such as romantic interest Carmelita Fox return, adding to the (at times playable) character roster, and each will have played a crucial role come the story’s end. It spins an interesting yarn once things get going, and it’s always nice to see a game with a sense of humour where the heroes genuinely seem to be enjoying themselves.

Sly receives a number of useful costumes throughout, allowing him to access new places and get past enemies or traps that were otherwise an issue. These outfits are era specific, though you may find some use for them in other times should you choose to collect all the bottles and rewards lying around. Sly himself is the master thief, traversing cables and picking pockets with ease… he’s also the main star of the game and the one you’ll be spending the majority of your time with. Bentley is the brains behind the missions as well as hacker extraordinaire, and Murray is called in when only brute force will do. Jobs for these heroes are available from the Hideout menu, but they’re required only as much as the story demands. In this sense, things are a bit more linear that you might have hoped. At no point is there a job available for each of the three main leads.

Beyond the usual cast, you’ll also be controlling Sly’s ancestors and making use of their unique skills. We won’t spoil the surprises too much as discovering them (as well as the various eras) is a good reason to continue playing. None of them wear out their welcome, and this extends to the environments themselves. Hub worlds complete with destructible objects and enemies to pick-pocket are the order of the day, but it’s impressive how each job features an interior that’s unique to the task at hand. The same can be said for the variety of many of the jobs themselves, though this can result in gameplay that’s overly simplistic. That said, you had better enjoy a good fetch quest if you’re considering this game; it’s good fun if you’re into that sort of thing, but it certainly won’t be for everyone.

Bentley’s hacking mini-games on the other hand aren’t nearly as charming. Taken on their own, they’re not all as terrible as the sixaxis-controlled spark runner (which is at least mercifully short), but it’s how they kill the pacing that impacts the game the most. Making your way atop a trap-laden fortress feels like less of an achievement when you’re forced into a patented Bentley hack, leading to a roll of the eyes and a ‘not one of these again’ groan. Boss fights are typically a case of dying a few times while learning the attack pattern – they provide a good challenge at least, but you’ll be happy to see the back of them once you’re done.

As simple as it can be, Thieves in Time does have depth where upgrading is concerned. Collecting coins and progressing through the story opens up a host of new moves, many of which prove indispensable in later levels. There are a few duds in there too, and we question the point of upgrading Carmelita when she’s so rarely used. Some missions begin with Murray or Bentley, then quickly switch to another member; initially this may come across as strange, but it’s all in the name of keeping things fun. It might not be epic, but at least Thieves in Time provides plenty of animated action for your cash (lasting around twelve hours with moderate exploration). Not only are you looking at a game that’s presented at a lower price than titles lasting half as long, but the downloadable Vita version also comes bundled in for cross-play. However you cut it, fans are getting a good deal here.

Graphically Sly Cooper isn’t quite up to par with much of the PS3 library. It’s certainly striking and boasts a varied palette featuring deep colours, but it just doesn’t impress on a technical level. A few of the hub worlds come across as missed opportunities – perhaps due to lighting plus the same constant time and weather effects – and only two of them stand out as visually impressive locales. Cell shading can be gorgeous when used artistically, but in this area the game is merely competent. The narrated cutscenes on the other hand are fantastic to watch, looking as if they’ve been plucked from a high-end cartoon and providing the characters with realistic expressions of emotion.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is an easy purchase for fans of the series and may just win a few new hearts too. It’s not a console heavy-hitter, nor should you to expect it to offer the usual set-piece cinematics to which we’ve all become accustomed. What it does is try its hand at a good number of gameplay styles, building on the series and expanding the Cooper lore, albeit to varying degrees of success. There’s no escaping that it feels like something of a throwback to the PS2, but there’s also an undeniable charm in the story and characters that might just have you playing to the end. Sly and the gang haven’t quite brought their A-game, but for fans of the series and lovers of the long-forgotten platformer, Thieves in Time is a steal.

You play a monster hunter who turns up at a small village populated primarily by large talking cats and men who all wear chaps. A worrying amount of chaps and a camera way too happy to linger on them. You have a selection of weapons and some basic armour, and with these items you must start hunting the wildlife in the local forests. Once you’ve made a base out in the woods and harvested items (mostly from animal corpses) then you’re ready to see the world and carry on with the Monster Hunter’s Guild. From there you advance with your license, get more missions to perform and more items to harvest and improve your character. It’s all fairly simple, but at the same time, nature is your enemy, and it hates you.

I knew going into this, that Monster Hunter 3 would be the kind of game where I would play on easy if there was an option (there wasn’t) and dinosaurs would still eat my face. Most of the wildlife looks like dinosaurs, or sometimes weirdly armoured versions of things. One of the earliest large monsters was a bear/badger looking thing with plated armour. To take it on, you need better items than what you start with, so you start looking for the components to make a weapon with more durability, more damage. Even then, the odds are good that dinosaurs will eat your face.

The thing is, despite how difficult Monster Hunter can get, it’s really compulsive. You need just one more bear pelt to make your next set of armour, so you set out, even with only a couple of healing potions. Each mission has a bit of attrition to your inventory and desperate hope of rewards. You keep fighting and feel pretty proud of yourself. Those raptor-things and that bear/badger beast had better look out. Then you start taking on even the simpler large monsters like a wacky giant duck or a random encounter with a dragon, then you’re back to square one. This is a game which rewards sticking with it and has a huge difficulty curve as things go on. There are, as a rough estimate, about a billion items which can be acquired or crafted. There are a ton of different ways to fight, from swords, bows, guns, traps, stones and even paintballs to throw at the enemy when everything else is used up and you can’t spare the seconds to sharpen your blade.

There are problems with this game, as well as the massive learning curve. It doesn’t tell you enough about how to get what you want, for starters and has obviously been pitched at experienced Monster Hunters, leaving newcomers stuck scratching their heads with an oversized weapon, pondering what on earth is going on. The levels are also all tiny, a holdover from the PS2 and PSP days, where they had to be small so that the consoles could deal with them. As a reworked version of the Wii title, it manages to both be beautiful and awful all at once. The Wii version was the prettiest game of that console, but on the Wii U, it’s lacking the quality it is capable of. All of this is unnecessary in a game on a modern console, but feels like it’s been left in simply because it was in the last one.

It’s a Wii port, but what little upscaling there is has been effective and the Gamepad is put to brilliant use. Everything from the HUD is moved down to the pad, leaving nothing but the wilderness and a face-ripping landsharks on the screen. If only it was prettier. The panels on the Gamepad can even be customised to give you access to whatever you want on the touchscreen. The mini-map, ‘taunt’ buttons, the inventory and the all-important ‘kick’ button. Okay, not all of it is necessary, but the ability to make the Gamepad prioritise the buttons you want is great and playing a game with no HUD at all is very satisfying. The controls themselves however are awkward as hell. They use different buttons to draw and put away weapons and play only a bit better than the ‘tank’ controls of the Silent Hill and Resident Evil games. Every time there’s something pretty awesome about this game, the impenetrable nature of it gets in the way. For every beautiful vista there’s an invisible wall. For every interesting animal there’s the clunky way it moves and fights. The crafting system is interesting but way too intricate.

Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate is the type of game that can be fun to dip into over a long amount of time, especially as more copies are sold and the multiplayer becomes more established. Though I didn’t get to try it, the connectivity between the 3DS and Wii U versions (allowing transfer of save files and local multiplayer with Wii U players) is also more than welcome, and with any luck is something that is mirrored by future Wii U/3DS releases. There has even been free DLC for Monster Hunter, adding odd quests like stripping off and attacking boars.

If you’re a fan of the series, have OCD, enjoy killing all of nature’s beasts or have a lot of patience, Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate is worthy of your time; it’s a game that arguably makes good use of the Wii U’s unique feaure set and that has a lot of depth to plunder. Sadly, with that being said, one can’t help but hope that the already announced Monster Hunter 4 will be less bogged down by adherence to the aged mechanics, the small areas and the clunky controls that so mar the experience here.

Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate reviewed on Wii U; copy of game loaned to D+PAD by Nintendo UK.