I was simply blown away by the graphics. The only thing that gave it away that I was in fact watching a computer game was a little ‘Demo’ watermark in the bottom of the screen. The game itself was NBA 2K 2009. Whether you like basketball or not, this game is worth every penny you pay for it. The visuals, commentary and cuts will take your breath away. The sweat on the skin, the shine of the court. Ive not even mentioned the crowd yet. The animations of the crowd are the best I have ever seen. Fact. You’ll see supporters talking to one another, going to buy a hotdog, standing up, sitting down, cheering, booing. They are so life like, and to be honest, I think thats what fooled me into thinking I was watching a live game.

As you fly past the first few levels, the addiction kicks in. The first level can be completed in about 60 seconds if you know the game well. The levels are however rather complex, with hidden areas, mini games, and little cheats.

Like Super Mario collecting coins. Donkey Kong is slightly different in that you collect bananas. 100 bananas = 1 life. Believe me, later in the game you’ll need these lives.

A special shout out has to go to my favourite level of the whole game. The runaway mine train level. The level starts by jumping into a mine train and rollercoasting your way through the level, jumping to avoid ‘baddies’, ducking under and jumping over missing parts of track. The level really is at 100mph. With quick succession broken track and what seems to be quite imposssible long jumps, you end the level shattered. What a game!

As with all ‘season’ games which come out every year, we always compare to past versions and of course competitors. The PES vs Fifa battle has been going on for over 10 years now, every year people voicing their opinions on which is the better football series.

First of all let me point out the positives for this years PES.

• Player faces and kits looking as accurate as ever (with the help of the editors at pesgaming)
• Camera angle. Particularly at the start of the game looks very realistic
• Score and time graphics. Finally PES has put the time and score together on the left hand side so it looks more like when we watch football on television.
• Can win a penalty. This is a dig at last years PES where I started to believe it was actually impossible to win a penalty.
• Stadium editor is a great addition. I have been calling for this for years. Its just a shame it is so limited.

Now for the negatives…

• Tackles and Fouls. Free kicks and Penalties being given even when a player has clearly got the ball first.
• Penalty kick system. Change it, change it, change it!!! I want a power bar and the option to chip, its not difficult. Fifa 10 had it very close to perfect.
• Master League transfers system. Why cant I choose how much im prepared to pay for a player out of my budget?
• Passing. Ive found it really difficult to score ‘arsenal style’ goals this year as the passing pace and accuracy seems worse than ever. I thought it was meant to be the year of ‘freedom’
• Auto kick off. This really isnt necessary. Why did you add this?

I will leave my improvements for another blog. But personally I feel Pro Evolution Soccer hasnt hit the heights that were promised. Although I enjoy playing the game, the fact the ‘rules’ of football are not implemented in the game make it a rather poor title. This isnt football, this is something else.

Allods is a MMORPG recently released by a GPotato. The story takes place in a futuristic universe where two factions are at war against each other. The birthplace of life in this universe got shattered may aeon ago into small island of life called Allods. When someone discovered a way of transport in the Astral, the society bagan to rebuild itself.

The game is free to play, you just have to download the client and create a gpotato account. It is very very similar to World of Warcraft in it gameplay and is surprisingly good for a free game. Spatial ships and endless war await you.

Nvidia’s latest range of graphic chips is a feast of power that will set you wallet on fire. Based on the new Fermi architecture, this range of graphic card is literally what is meant to be the most powerful chip on the planet.

For the price we were really expecting something amazing. But it’s not quite that. First the card is very noisy and seem to get very hot very quickly.

In games tests show that it is indeed very fast but also overkill when used in single monitors set up. An ATI 5870 will do just as good for £100 less.

One of the latest release from Eidos and Square Enix, Just Cause 2 is, you guessed it, the follow up of Just Cause. This new chapter takes place on a island somewhere warm and sunny where rebels causing distress.

You, Scorpio, the ultimate mercenary warrior are hired by the boss rebel (pretty hot chick) to set the island on fire and sabotage everything that relates to governmental organizations.

So off you go, free like a bird, shooting on sight anything that’s even remotely related to the dictatorship.

It’s a pretty fun game, a la GTA where the more caos you cause the more people will try ti get you. You can drive vehicles, planes, helicopters, use mounted gatling, rocket launcher, do amazing stunt jumps and generally have fun killing and destroying.

From us, very good, a must have.

Bioshock 2, the sequel of the most acclaimed games from 2007 as been release world wide in the 9th this month. This second opus was eagerly anticipated by player around the world and the critics all gave it very good reviews.

The story takes place 10 years after the event of the first one. You play the first successful prototype of a Big Daddy, brought back from the dead and in search for its little sister who sending mental help messages.

Thought the game is brand new it uses the same graphic engine so don’t expect a massive improvement on this side. It looks slightly better but nothing major.

Great game anyway and we recommend it strongly.

The video game adaptation of the very successful and acclaimed film from James Cameron is produced by Ubisoft Montreal and Lightstorm Entertainment. It is one of the first games to offer stereoscopic 3D, but you will need special equipment to make the most of it.

The game itself is not like the usual movie to game adaptation and doesn’t follow the story line of the film. Scene starts on the same world, as a human mercenary sold to a private mining company. Introduced to the avatar program you will have to choose which side you want to support and bring death on your enemies.

Where the Na’vi side seems a bit harder the base story line are the same, as well as equipments and objectives.

The game is not bad but could have used the richness of James Cameron’s world in a much better and original way. This is a traditional third person shooter so don’t expect anything revolutionary.

Left 4 Dead was a great game, a zombie killing feast where you and your 3 mates could butcher walking dead bodies by the hundreds.

The second chapter, released recently introduce new weapons, new story line, new bad guys but mainly a new way of getting the job done. Or to be more accurate to not get the job done. Understand that L4D2 is full of new enemies and events to get the party to stop, and through zombies at it.

The addition of melee weapons is surprisingly a big change  in the gameplay. The new settings also bring some daylight scenes, very welcome.

All in all the game is much more than just an extention of the original and is definitely worth it. It was a quick development but we beleive here that Valve made a really good game is such short time.

Bioware, that’s a name any serious gamer should know by now. When they make a game it has this special touch that you can recognise straight away. Games like Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic have a deep story line, beautiful settings and time eating life.

Dragon Age: Origins is no exception. The Tolkien inspired world is about to be ravaged by the Blitch, a horde of ferocious monsters and you will do what you can to not let that happen. Far from the sword and magic cliché, the game has a very interesting story and the graphics are amazing.

After almost completing it the only bad point is how some part of your quest will take you hours and hours to complete and almost feel to long.