“Rising Star Games is very excited to be bringing this latest project from Suda 51 to the European market,” commented Martin Defries, Managing Director, Rising Star Games. “He is without doubt a legendary creative powerhouse within the gaming industry. No More Heroes is shaping up to be a widely anticipated Q1 title for both the trade and consumers alike. It’s a massively engaging and immersive gaming experience for the Wii. This is exactly the right product to broaden the format’s appeal to a wider, more serious gaming audience.”

Key Features

• Innovative controls – recharge your weapon by shaking the Wii Remote!
• Travis’s fighting action is uniquely controlled via Wii Remote and the Nunchuk
• Customise Travis’s style with over 170 items of clothing to choose from
• Play at your own pace with a free roaming environment – chill out at home, head out on assassination missions or hunt down otaku goodies
• Laugh-out-loud comedy, story line and wacky characters!

Violence, sex, things to see, things to collect, spectacular graphics and even better sound, a sense of humour, a sense of purpose, an insane logic running through every fibre - and enough swearing to get your telly banned by the BBFC. Killer7 creator Suda51 is back, all right.

—————————– 

Travis Touchdown, is a cool dude, who loves gaming & anime, who wins a lightsaber in an online auction and sets off in a mission to become the world’s number one hitman so he can get the girls. From the minute you take control of him, thrown into the deepend, a short cutscene tells you story so far and pressing the A button takes you straight to the house of Hitman Number10.

A very quick tutorial shows you your fighting moves and then you make it up as you go along. The ranked assassins guard themselves with loads of ball - axe - knife holding freaks who at their best will just slow you down a bit, they are laser katana practice before the real master assassins face you in battle I must say all of the assassins i have encountered so far have been fantastic, Completely bonkers and full of blood lust.

When you need to save, head for the big S, and that will take you straight to “the bathroom” yeah you heard… the bathroom, Travis takes a dump to save … how funny is that? ; when his charge is low in the katana (press 1) and he holds the katana at waist height and yanks on it until the batteries recharge.  Some of the other rankedAssassins to kill are Death Metal; Letz Shake; Destroy Man, they get more and more bizarre as you go along and all have different fighting styles / tools.

Its not all about fighting though, Travis has to earn money to enter the prize fights, and to do so he has to take on part time jobs to fund the entrance fee, you can get these at the local job center or various other places, the first major job you do is collecting coconuts, hmm thats easy I hear ya say…  think again batman.. you have to kick and punch the hell outta coconut trees and then carry the buggers back to a coconut seller hehehe it aint no easy task. There is a love interest in all this Sylvia Christal - The very sexy agent from the UAA. A mysterious beauty who arranges the ranking battles of the UAA. Frequently mixes business with pleasure she keeps popping up (and out) quite often which drives Travis insane with lust….

Travis gets around on the biggest bike I have ever seen… it tops 120 on on the GTA style roads when you hit the jet thruster, but be carefull you will come a cropper if your not careful on yer chopper… your able to roam around the city just like in GTA and there is loads to go play with :).

 You will come across various flashing chests that harbor health and battery power, plus what looks like a pirates treasure chest thats filled with money, smash these with your katana to empty out the gaming goodness.
If you want to style Travis up a little, there is a shop that opens up called Area 51, the owner is a bit of a dick but the clothes are wicked… choose all new styles for Travis making him keep his cool…. jackets,  jeans, t’s and sunnies all available at the right price…

The gameplay is superb, fights are repetitive but you just love em and cant stop, pressing B on the wiimote gives you wrestling moves and A charges up the katana for more powerful moves. You learn more moves as you get through the game and they get more and more bizarre. There are some special moves you can pull off, these happen when you doing a Jamie Oliver on the closest of enemies which slice and dice faster than he ever could. The power of the special move is determined by the roll of the slot machine, you will see this in the game.

When an assassin is defeated you are presented with your score board which is fantastically reproduced retro 80’s coin-op scoreboard which fits the game beautifully.
The music score behind the game is very well presented and really gets you into the game, I found myself dancing around whilst slicing and dicing to some nice drum and bass.

My closing statement on this game is:

Travis Touchdown is the man we all want to be, he’s a rock hard geezer with a laser katana, he dont take crap from anyone plus he loves the ladies, who doesnt want to be like that? This is one game on the Nintendo Wii that you should buy, not only for yourself but for your Wii, it breathes a breath of fresh air and fun into your everyday life, letting you live out your bloodlust as a cool hitman who loves the chicks and aint afraid of a bit of blood spatter. Music is cool, no idea why they changed the blood from red to black for the european market and still kept in the swearing go figure… but this does NOT detract from the wonderfully styled graphics easy to use controls and exciting gameplay.

GO BUY THIS NOW!

Gameplay - 9/10 - Easy to play, controls feel natural, hack n slash loveliness
Graphics - 8/10 - Not next-gen, but they are stylish and totally suit the game
Controls - 9/10 - Wii-Mote and nunchuck are very well suited for this game
Sound - 8/10 - Great voices, fantastic music atmosphere is brilliant
Overall - 9/10 - I loved this game and so will you, its what you have been crying out for, Its fun, ridiculous and hilarious - a must for any adult Wii owner.

This game gets a stonking pimpmywii.co.uk 9/10

March 17, 2008

Are you afraid of the dark? If so, this is a great week to face your fears with a pair of eerie new game offerings on Nintendo’s Virtual Console™. One will plunge you deep underground to navigate perilous caves, while the other puts you on the front lines of a darkly sinister space war. In either case, your frights will give way to serious fun.

Nintendo adds new games to the Wii™ Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Spelunker™ (NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Wander through miles of uncharted caves in search of the legendary underground pyramid and its vast treasures. To complete your adventure, you will swing from ropes and ladders, run across unstable terrain and down ravines, operate elevators, mining carts and rafts. You will collect keys, bombs, flares, jewels, sacks of gold coins and other valuable items as you navigate the hazardous terrain. But beware of the scalding steam vents, poisonous bats and the avenging spirits of dead spelunkers that lurk in every corner of this massive underground labyrinth.

SUPER R-TYPE® (Super NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone — Mild Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): A galactic battle begins. The BYDO Empire of mutant extraterrestrials is back with evil intent and awesome power. Now the evil empire is poised to launch a new attack on Earth. Only the revolutionary R-9, the planet’s most advanced form of defense, stands between these monsters and doom. Fight through seven challenging stages—picking up power-up items as you progress—on the way to each stage’s memorable boss. Is the BYDO Empire invincible? You’ll need lightning reflexes, intuitive moves and a big dose of cosmic luck to hold your own. Better prepare yourself, because the mutants “R” ready for you.

For more information about Wii, please visit wii.com.

Click here to Order the most sought after item for the Wii up to date

Nintendo of Europe Announce April 25th Launch Date for Wii Fit

Nintendo’s new, unique and innovative application for Wii, which is hoping to get all across Europe moving their whole bodies - Wii Fit, is set to launch across Europe on April 25th 2008. Since its launch in Japan on December 1st 2007, Wii Fit has already sold in excess of 1.4 million units to date, making it one of the fastest selling Wii titles in Japan! Wii Fit has been designed to be enjoyed by the whole family. In Japan it has been encouraging family members as a whole to discuss the topic of fitness and take an active interest in understanding their own fitness in a fun and entertaining way, all in the comfort of their own home. Now this unique and dynamic new title is making its way across the waters and is aiming to get people across Europe up on their feet and moving their bodies as they experience daily exercises that combines fitness with fun.

How is this possible? We hear you ask, well its simple, with the introduction of the intuitive Wii Balance Board!

Wii Fit comes bundled with the Wii Balance Board, an accessory developed exclusively for the Wii console that will have a far-reaching impact for all who use it. It’s innovative, exciting and most of all fun and simple for all to use. It is a pressure sensitive, wireless balance board that goes on the floor – so someone can stand on it in front of the TV. It senses weight and shift in balance in any direction and therefore by standing on the Wii Balance Board during activities allows players to follow along to movements ensuring they have full control of the on-screen activities. This allows personal improvement goals to be set to effectively help you and your family to train and stay fit…

Increasing your awareness of the importance that fitness has on everyday life and keeping yourself and family motivated should be easier with Wii Fit. The programme allows up to 8 people to track progress and monitor performance. Once you insert the Wii Fit Disc into a Wii console, a new channel - Wii Fit Channel can be added to your Wii Menu system. Once the Wii Fit Channel is added it enables users to not have to insert the Wii Fit Disc into a Wii console in order for the Wii Balance Board to scale your weight to calculate your BMI, measure the center of your bodily balance and conduct a balance test in order to calculate your Wii Fit Age. It also allows you to monitor how long you did which category of exercise for in one day, all in the comfort of your own home and without the need to keep inserting the Wii Fit Disk into your Wii console each time.

There are 4 training categories including Aerobic Exercises, Muscle Workouts, Yoga and Balance Games that will help you and your family to develop bodily balance control ability, burn fat in the body, help tone and condition muscles, as well as help increase aerobic stamina. Discover over 40 different activities within these training categories such as Hula Hoop™, Ski Jump, Press-up Challenge, Rhythm Boxing, Rowing Squat, Lunge and classic Yoga poses such as Half Moon, Tree and Crocodile Twist. With all this on offer and much more, Wii Fit along with the Wii Balance Board introduces an accessible and intuitive programme for all the family to enjoy

Through Wii Fit’s training programme, helpful tutorials and encouragements from your on-screen fitness trainer, who will change his or her verbal instructions depending on how you actually perform, and the included Wii Fit Channel, you will continue to have endless fun whilst having the satisfaction of knowing you are aiding yourself, and your family, on towards a path of a healthier lifestyle.

Wii Fit comes bundled with the Wii Balance Board and launches across Europe on April 25th 2008.

Place your order now so to not miss out

Nokia-Sponsored Contest Brings User-Generated Theme Artwork to the Xbox 360^TM

BELLINGHAM, WA (March 17, 2008), Disruptive Media Publishers (DP), the leading provider of lifestyle customization content (gamer pictures and themes) for Xbox LIVE on Xbox 360™, today announced the official launch of the DP Content Creation Challenge. This marks the first time that individual artists have had the opportunity to get their unique content published on Xbox LIVE Marketplace as downloadable Xbox 360 themes, which can then be purchased by the over 10+ million members using Microsoft Points. The contest kicks off on March 17, 2008, and runs until April 28, 2008.

“Since the launch of the Xbox 360, users have constantly demanded the ability to create and distribute their own unique themes, and this has never been possible…until now,” said Clay Branson, Marketing Director for Disruptive Media Publishers. “This contest allows digital art creators a unique opportunity to bring their designs to the largest social network in the living room, with more than 10+ million Xbox LIVE members around the globe and 2.6 million instant messages, text and voice messages sent daily on Xbox LIVE.”

Nokia is the official sponsor of DP’s Content Creation Challenge. Nokia’s new offering is the Nokia N81, which is N-Gage compatible. “This contest is offering Nokia a great way to engage our N-Gage audience where they live and play,” said Nick Malaperiman, Nokia’s head of global marketing 3rd-party games. “We are looking forward to seeing the unique creations that result from the Challenge.”

Xbox LIVE Marketplace is home to more than 9,000 pieces of downloadable gaming and entertainment content and to date there have been over 400 million individual downloads of this content. Some of the most unique content allows for customization of the Xbox 360 system. This customization includes custom faceplates to change the external appearance of the console, as well as themes and gamer pictures that can be used throughout the entire console environment. Themes, which can include up to four unique images, allow users to customize their Xbox 360 user interface. Other personalization includes the player’s Gamer Picture, which is a unique visual identity displayed to the rest of the gaming community.

The Contest Details:
Users can visit www.my360theme.com, where they will find detailed instructions and a content template. Once material has been created to the proper specs, a simple file upload tool will allow users to transfer their content & associated information to DP’s servers. Upon submission, users can also choose to be affiliated with a specific Xbox 360 community partner.

After an internal quality review process, approved content will appear in a community gallery page on www.my360theme.com, where individuals vote to determine the top content. Real-time voting tabulates the top individual themes based on the number of votes received. At the conclusion of the contest, the top individual theme (as voted on by the community) will be officially published to Xbox LIVE Marketplace and, along with having content for purchase by Xbox LIVE users, will receive a grand prize package that includes a 42” HDTV and surround sound home theatre system, a library of Xbox 360 games, a Blu-ray DVD Player and a Nokia N81. More detailed rules are available at www.my360theme.com.

Dynamic leaderboards will also track a “community score” based on cumulative votes for themes affiliated with a community partner. In addition to the individual prizes, the community partner with the highest score will receive additional prizing, including an Xbox 360 game library and electronic store gift cards. DP’s participating community partners include:

• 360style.net
• 360sync
• 360voice.com
• Evil Avatar
• Hawty McBloggy
• Platform Nation
• The10k.com
• Unscripted 360
• Xbox Addict

Sheffield, England – March 13th, 2008 – Video games publisher Lexicon Entertainment are pleased to announce that ‘Aurora: The Secret Within’ has hit gold status and set for a release date of April 25th 2008.

Roswell, 1950 and a sensational rumour from the US Army have surfaced. A flying saucer has crashed near Roswell.
While this unbelievable event is broadcasting, the detective Pileggi falls into a mysterious case about the vanishing of a local farmer. During the investigation, he will discover that his reality has always been an illusion.

The Pentagon has been leading people to believe that Area 51 has been hiding projects about supersonic airplanes or alien technologies. The truth however is that the base was developed for a secret project called Aurora.

A secret project developed for time travel…

Features Include:
• 40 noir’s placing within New Mexico
• 3D rooms exploration
• Original soundtrack and audio effects
• 3D interactive animated characters
• Logical, mathematical riddles and puzzles that gradually get harder
• Multiple choices dialogues, influencing the story
• 3D cut scene movies
• Multiple endings

The latest video game industry sales figures reported by the independent NPD Group show that Nintendo DS™ and Wii™ topped the U.S. charts for February. Nintendo DS sold nearly 587,600 units and Wii sold nearly 432,000.

“Our momentum has not let up since the holidays and we expect it to continue throughout the year,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “We have the industry’s strongest lineup of games for everyone from core to casual gamers.”

February sales, according to NPD, in the United States:

• Nintendo sold more than 1 million hardware units combined, accounting for nearly half (47.6 percent) of all hardware sold.
• Nintendo DS games topped all software sales, with more than 3.6 million units sold. Consumers purchased nearly 2.9 million software units for Wii. Four of every 10 games sold were for Nintendo systems.
• Three games in the top five sellers for February play on Nintendo systems, including two from third-party publishers.
• Nearly 1.7 million accessories were purchased for Wii, more than for any other system. More than 1.2 million accessories were sold for Nintendo DS as well.

For more information about Nintendo, please visit www.Nintendo.com.

The Craziest Handheld Game Ever is Coming This May

SUNNYVALE, CA – March 14, 2008 – Agetec, Inc today announced that it will be releasing LOL for Nintendo DS™ this May. A unique, free-form gaming experience, LOL’s motto says it best: “If the game is boring, then you are boring.”

“We decided not to include a single player mode in the game because that would defeat the purpose. This game was created to be a social game that allows you interact on and off Nintendo DS with your friends,” said Mark Johnson, the producer. “LOL concentrates on the comedic joy of using the imagination of everyone in the room.”

“LOL is a game with endless possibilities that can be played for hours and hours of nonstop entertainment,” said Hiro Fukuoka, producer at Agetec. “As long as you are a fun-loving person with a little bit of an imagination, there should be no reason you find LOL to be anything less than a great time with your friends. It maximizes your creative abilities and puts a fun twist to it.”

LOL is played by one of the players making a challenge in writing to the others. The crazier the challenge, the more fun everyone will have. The person who delivered the challenge chooses an appropriate time limit, and everyone has to answer the challenge on their touch screen however they see fit – with words, pictures, or whatever comes to mind. The host reveals the answers, and everyone votes on a winner who will then decide on the challenge for the next round. Always different and a blast to play every time, LOL will, as its name implies, make everyone laugh out loud.

After being told about the brilliance of Gothic for years by friends, family and RPG sites i was finally given the opportunity to play all 3 through the Box Set “Gothic Universe”.
I have to say, over all they are amazing games and well deserving of their hype, however, all 3 come with their own problems, and it appears that as the game series progressed the developers had fixed one problem but then opened up another.

Gothic 1

is all about a war between man and Orc, forced in desperation the king gathers all the criminals (no matter how minor their crime) and forces them to work in the mines, gathering magical ore to create special weapons to give the humans a major advantage in battle.

In an attempt to stop prisoners from escaping the king calls forth 12 mages to make a barrier, but something disturbed the ritual and the barrier grew much larger then planned, trapping the mages and the whole valley in the barrier as well. The prisoners take advantage of this, kill off the guards and create 3 camps.
They then trade the ore to the king for things they need, such as food, wine and women.

We first see our character as he is being sentenced to be thrown into the barrier, there is no customizable face, no picking hair, no naming, you get what your given and suddenly, and literally, thrust into the world of Gothic with only a letter to the fire mages which must not be opened.
What will catch you first is the amazing fact that the game is fully tailored to create its own world, all lines in the game are spoken, even your character has his own voice and personality, something that is far too rare in older RPG’s, and even though it may sound simple, it really adds deeply to the atmosphere and allows players to indulge in the fantasy world, with fully speeched conversations and some truly unique and stylish graphics it creates a world like no other, and makes it feel like your actually there.
What will catch your attention secondly is the annoyingly complex and glitchy control system, simple things such as looting corpses for items or taking treasure from chests have become seriously frustrating tasks, to see what the body has on it you must hold the left button and press up, you are then given a list of items you can take and to take the item you must hold the left button again and press left, sounds simple enough right? well, it would be, if not for the fact that there is timing and luck involved as well, you must hold the mouse button for between 1-2 seconds before pressing left, and if you do it too fast or too slow, or if the computer just decides not to give you the item, you are thrown across to the back of your inventory and are forced to scroll all the way through it to get back to the items you wish to pick up. This quickly becomes very time consuming, and incredibly boring as well as repetitive.

If not to make it worse fighting is equally annoying, your not allowed to just slash your sword, instead you must make a running start before your allowed to attack, making the best tactic for beginners is to run around in a circle slashing your sword like a nutter until you finally kill whatever poor and now dizzy creature has tried to eat you.
This does not make an entertaining experience, and if by some luck and with the patience of a god you get used to the system and start to learn a few more battle tactics, you will find annoying little glitches and errors through out the game, all of which make the game far too frustrating to play. I myself am currently stuck in some mines, with the only way out being up a ladder, however every time i climb the ladder our unnamed hero does some weird spasm half way up and chucks himself off it.

Though, even through all its errors and problems, it still boasts 30+ hours of game play and with plenty of re-play value due to the 3 different factions you can play as, each of which have their own quests.
The world is very dynamic, and reasonably realistic, you will see people go about their daily lives, eating, sleeping, urinating, cooking, forging weapons, most of which you can do yourself.
While the game has some really good features which was brilliant and very creative for the time, I suggest giving the first game a miss, or possibly playing it last, as it may put you off a truly amazing gaming experience that could only be delivered by Gothic.

Gothic 2 

You will be glad to know however the these glitches and errors seem to have been stamped out in the second game, its control system remains mostly the same but with most of the annoyances cut out. You will find this game much more satisfying the first.

The story is, after the defeat of the Sleeper (the last boss of the first game) our unnamed hero was buried alive under rubble and left there for weeks before finally being summoned from under the rubble up to the wizard Xardas’s tower, here the hero finds that in the sleepers final scream he yelled a command to the dragons to come and destroy the lands, the dragons have created an army of lesser beasts and plan on laying waste to the world.
With his equipment still laying in the rubble of the sleepers temple and being weakened from the weeks he spent buried alive the unnamed hero must start from scratch with only basic equipment.
With the barrier round the valley destroyed you are finally outside in a new area, now there is no New Camp, Old Camp or freaky cultist camp, and if for some reason you want to venture back into the valley you will find that some areas have changed and the valley is now over run with orcs and the home to a few dragons, in the area where Old Camp once was, now only stands the castle, where New Camp once was is now buried under ice, and where the freaky cultists was, is now bordered off by a fence, put up by orcs.

The game is a straight up sequel, the story follows directly on from the first, you will meet a lot of old characters and everything feels and acts out pretty much the same (with out the annoying glitches), even the graphics are pretty much the same, but with a little more detail to the environments and some touched up textures.

This is most certainly the game you should start off on, even though you wont really know the characters as well as you should, and a few parts of story are missing to you, you can always catch up on the first game after you have finished with this one, and it will allow you to play with out horrible glitches putting you off.

Gothic 3 

While the first 2 games are true masterpieces in their own little ways, its the 3rd that REALLY stands out, its one of the most enjoyable gaming experience i have ever had the pleasure of taking part in, and shows why the series has such a strong and loyal fan-base.

In the third we meet up with our hero once again, but this time you leave the lands of the last 2 games behind and sail to a new continent, one that is controlled by orcs.
The second you start playing you are thrust into deep and bloody combat with a small army of Orcs, brandishing a special Orcslayer Sword, you, Diego, Milten, Gorn (your 3 loyal friends that have helped you through the previous 2 games) and a whole army of peasants fight to the death to take back a small town which has been enslaved by the Orc army.
While in the first 2 games the hero starts weak, in this one he has not forgotten his battles with Dragons and Orcs, and comes with amazing fighting powers, making some fights feel more like Dynasty Warriors then the struggled combat of the first 2.

After liberating the town you are allowed to travel freely in a new world, and this world lives, through all the games i have played i have NEVER seen any game as realistic as this, if you pick someone to follow you will see them go through their entire day, they will wake, go about their work, when they get hungry they will cook, eat, work some more, and when it gets to night they go to bed, and the living, breathing world does not end there, head into the wilderness and you will see packs of wolves hunting and eating animals, wild boar sniffing for berries, hunters hunting and skinning animals and people stood round camp fires listening to musicians playing their instruments.

While so far the realism of the world sounds nothing more then a brilliant little gimmick, you will learn that its a key part of the gameplay. Draw your sword near someone and they will instantly challenge you to put it away, don’t do as they command and they will attack you, as well as call to friends to help out, if you defeat them you wont have killed them, just knocked them unconscious, this DOES have consequences, as they wont speak to you any more and bad things will be said about you in the town which they live in, meaning that even more people wont speak or trade with you, 1 fight can cost you a lot of failed quests and the restriction of using shops carrying items you may need.

As you travel freely around the world you will come across new towns/citys and hidden rebel camps, each have amazing amounts of freedom and allowing some very serious moral choices to take place, do you join the Orc mercenaries and slaughter the rebels for money and an easy access to information, or do you struggle with the rebels, collecting bundles of weapons and arming the slaves to build an inside army ready crush the Orcs in a huge, bloody, and overly satisfying battle for freedom?. Its this freedom of gameplay and choice that allows Gothic 3 to become a true must have for any RPG gamer, it has the huge and beautiful world of Oblivion, but the moral choice, consequences and open dynamic world of Fable, it really is the best RPG ever made.

I wish I could write more about these games, but they are just far too huge to be able to do them any justice in text, you really must play them to get the full depth of their world, and in fact, the title Gothic Universe is a suiting title to show how huge these games really are.

Over all the graphics of the first 2 games are bad compared to todays standards, but still have a unique charm and the feel of a living world which makes up for them, and with the bonus of no loading times in-game you are never taken away from the fantasy world with “Please do not turn off your computer - Loading”.

The graphics for the 3rd game aren’t “next gen” but they are pretty close to Oblivion and use Pixel Shader 3.0 and most the latest technology.

The sound effects and voice acting can be a little corny at times, but they add to the atmosphere and throw in a little extra humor which most modern games are missing.

The controls for the first 2 are very complex and take a lot of time to get used to, but once your in they quickly become comfortable and feel somewhat natural.
Controls for the 3rd are much improved and simplified, making the game damn near perfect, and topped with an hugely in-depth fighting system, favoring Timing, Skill and Style over Stats, really make this game truly brilliant and easy to handle.

While the first game is VERY bugged and somewhat raw, 2 and 3 are very nicely polished and have had some serious effort put into making them perfect.

All 3 games are HUGE, and the whole box set is said to have over 300 hours of game play in them (i beleive that does not include replay time, and with each game having different factions with unique quests, you WILL replay them, so to get the most out of the games you will probably play all 3 games 3/4 times each, making the box set will worth its £20 price tag).

This is a box set you MUST have, if you have ever enjoyed an RPG, this will be the perfect box set for you.

Gothic 1

Gameplay - 4/10 - While it is a very impressive game, it far too bugged to really enjoy.

Graphics - 3/10 - they are old and don’t fair well in todays market, but they do still have style.

Controls - 2/10 - probably the worse part of this game, overly complex and not worth learning.

Sound - 8/10 - some of the sound effects are brilliant and the dialog is fully voiced, well worth the creators efforts and a true saving point for this game

Overall - 4/10 - Worth a miss unless you really need to learn the story.

Gothic 2

Gameplay - 8/10 - A flawless version of the first, true proof that sequels can beat the original while still staying true to it.

Graphics - 4/10 - Same as the 1st, but with a few extra details put in.

Controls - 4/10 - Overly complex, pretty much the same as the 1st game, but these ones work better and don’t frustrate so easily

Sound - 8/10 - Brilliant, pretty much same as the first, but with a few little changes to old characters personalities.

Overall - 7/10 - A masterpiece in its own world, this is what the first game should have been, in-fact, miss the first game and pretend it never existed, play this instead.

Gothic 3

Gameplay - 9/10 - Slow when you need a rest, but bloody, and involving when you need action, everything is realistic and you really see your actions taking effect on the world, damn near perfect.

Graphics - 8/10 - Not next-gen, but they are as close as you can get with out crossing over, the world is magnificent, huge and highly detailed.

Controls - 9/10 - A real improvement from the first 2, and make it a wonderful and stress free game to play, they really couldn’t have improved something any more then this.

Sound - 8/10 - Nothing too special, but there is some nice humor and realism to the voice acting and sound effects.

Overall - 9/10 - About as close to perfect as a game could possibly get. A saving point for the box set and worth a lot more then £20.

My best advice is to go to Play.com and hit Buy as fast as you can.