The demo is fairly minimal with single round bouts available in either UFC mode, or the all new PRIDE mode which provides a representation of the now defunct Japanese MMA group. There are two fighters available in each mode, which all in all makes for a fairly limited demo which is a shame considering the full game will have over 150 fighters along with the inclusion of the featherweight and bantamweight divisions.

It is also a bummer not being able to check out any of the career mode which will see you fight in PRIDE, the WFA and train for UFC before being called up to the main roster. Everything surrounding the game sounds great fun, and a little taste of some of the depth in this demo would have been nice.

At the end of the day though, Undisputed 3 will live and die by how it comes across in the Octagon, or in the ring for PRIDE fights. The action in the demo is a promising sign of things to come, I took to using the beginner control scheme which provides a simplified method of performing transitions. A quick flick up or down on the right analogue stick on the PS3 control puts you into a major or minor transition. The advanced method requires more stylistic moves on the stick to perform the transition you require.

Even at 720p the in-ring action looks brutal and fierce, I was pleasantly surprised with how good the game looked when throwing different kicks and punches. You also realise that this is a more mature game than THQ stablemate WWE 12 when you see the blood start to fly, and some of the ground and pound moves look deadly.

The demo is definitely short and sweet, but it provides a welcome glimpse of the game with release just a few weeks away. If you want real fighting action, it looks like Undisputed 3 may give you what you want.

UFC Undisputed 3 is released on the 17/02/12 on 360 and PS3.

The Flying Mod opens up the world of Panau like never before. The author Powerslave takes the very core mechanic of Just Cause 2 and disposes of it by removing the parachute entirely, replacing it with the ability to fly. Not the rather pedestrian gliding flight of a man restricted by a chute, but the pure, unadulterated childhood dream of being a superhero.

Spandex costume not included.

The control is flawless. With only a few minutes practise, I was able to speed mere feet from the ground, dodging between buildings and moving traffic before landing atop a speeding military jeep, punching the driver in the face and hurling him into oncoming traffic. Installation is also a simple affair, I was off causing aerial havoc within minutes of clicking the download link.

The sheer beauty of this mod comes from the very open world nature of the Avalanche engine. Just Cause 2 features vast sweeping panoramic views of distant mountains and valleys, and through the power of flight every peak and trough becomes accessible to your very whim. Pick a direction, take a step into the abyss, and soar into the sky. The valleys, bridges and treetops of Panau become your own playthings as you soar on the breeze, sweeping low to follow the path of a river or fly alongside a puzzled motorist.

Parachutes are for chumps

As an added bonus, the AI seem unfazed by your aerial antics. Free flight is a small step away from the parachuting antics of the vanilla game, so the soldiers of Panau find little difficulty in adapting to your new found freedom. Gunfire from the ground is erratic, yet still occasionally deadly to a overly careless superhero, and enemy helicopters will continue to rattle their cannons in your direction, eager to bring an end to your exploits.

Version 4.2 gives you the ability to switch your flying speed between a graceful aerial ballet and a lunatic ‘faster than a speeding bullet’ option. I’d recommend sticking with the former, at least until you’ve had significant practice, as until you’ve got to grips with it, the latter is guaranteed to slam you into the side of a building before you can say ‘is it a bird?’

I needed something special to bring me back to Panau, and I think I may have found it.

The Superman flight mod can be downloaded from Justcause2mods.com

Final Fantasy XIII split fans and critics down the middle, while many loved the change in direction for the series some hated it just as much. Reviewers were scoring the game at around 8 or 9 out of 10, praising the combat system and the production of the game while fans were upset by the lack of freedom and the slog to get through the first third of the game. Die hard fans of Final Fantasy will never like change, and yes from the days of FFVII -IX which was a personal favourite time for me, the game has changed and advanced a lot, but it wouldn’t it be somewhat foolish for a company to bring out thirteen or so games that were near exactly the same.

As a long term fan of the Final Fantasy games I can see just how much they have changed over the years bringing in all kinds of new aspects and abilities for each new game and revisiting and improving the parts we know and love. Square Enix has promised that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be an huge improvement on its predecessor and it’s clear to see that they are determined to make some major developments, so much so that it has all become a little overwhelming. But just what have they changed for the new game and will it be for the better? Decide for yourselves after reading my hands on impressions from the demo and all the inside facts.

Story
It’s been three years since Lightning and co saved Cocoon from colliding with Pulse. Serah, now living in Gran Pulse, is looking for her sister who unknown to anyone has entered a new world, Valhalla, when she fell to the base of the crystal pillar supporting Cocoon. Time gates have begun showing up in New Bodham and further afield and it is said that by passing through one of these gates, one can eventually arrive in Valhalla.

The setting and story for XIII-2 is looking to be a lot darker and more mysterious and can be seen from the sneak peak of trailers and screenshots that have been released. In my opinion XIII was a bit over the top cute and almost kooky in places and made for some rather odd character interactions. Usually Square Enix manage to translate the Japanese humour and characters well but something just didn’t seem to fit. Having the story go to a darker and more mysterious place seems like a good direction and from the short amount of story that I saw in the demo the tone has definitely changed.

Time travel has been done countless times before in many different games and now it’s here for the first time in a Final Fantasy game. You are given the option to travel forward and backward in time to change events that have passed and that are yet to come and the outcomes can change the course of the game. The key word of many people who complained about the previous games shortfalls was linearity, it was too enclosed and straightforward. This addition looks to be opening the game up for more variability and exploration and hopefully the whole time travel experience can be done in a unique and interesting way.

Characters
Passing from sister to sister the main character of XIII-2 is now Serah Farron a character who was never actually controllable in the first game and only really seen during cut scenes. She is set on finding her sister Lightning who unknown to her has entered a new world, Valhalla. Everyone else believes Lightning to be dead and Serah will have a hard time convincing them otherwise.

New to the adventure is Noel Kreiss who has time travelled seven hundred years from the future to change the fate of the human race of which, in his time, he was the only survivor. He claims to have met Lightning and to have knowledge about time travel.

Snow Villiers and Hope Estheim both make a return looking somewhat different and more mature than when we last saw them and Lightning, the main character from the previous game will also be playable for short periods of the story.

The ever lovable, or depending on how you see it, incredibly annoying Moogles have returned to the world of Final Fantasy bringing with them new combat and treasure finding abilities.

Combat
The FFXIII ATB (Active Time Battle) combat system for me was probably the strongest point in the game. It allowed for a fast paced battle against numerous foes and using the Paradigm shift system, fast changes between a team that could cause a large amount of damage and a team that could tank and heal to recover from multiple attacks. The combat system is largely untouched for XIII-2 but some changes have been made. The inclusion of cinematic battle sequences during major boss fights is one such change. These cinematic battles allow you to deal larger amounts of damage than usual and even buff your team providing you can hit a series of buttons in quick succession that appear on the screen. From first hand play I can say that this looks as if it will be a great inclusion to the combat sequences. The cinematic sequences kept me interested, even in the longer battles and increased the pace and excitement.

Moogles have brought with them a new system for entering combat called the Mog Clock. Monsters won’t be seen walking around the map anymore and instead you will have a moogle companion with you at all times that will alert you of nearby foes only. When one does appear the Mog clock will begin to count down and depending on how long it takes you to initiate combat you could be aided or hindered. If you are quick to attack, you may receive combat buffs and the enemy will be immobilised allowing you a preemptive strike. If you take a little time and the enemy notices you, the battle will start as normal with no buffs to your team. If the Mog Clock runs out of time, the enemy will be fully aware and alert and should you fail the encounter you will be unable to retry.

Players can now tame monsters they encounter throughout the game and call on them to fight during normal game play, taking the place of XIII’s Eidolons. Each monster will have different attacks and abilities and can even heal you so choosing the right one for each encounter and situation could make a lot of difference to progression through the storyline.

It is now possible for your characters to become wounded during battle, meaning the maximum available health for that character has been reduced and cannot be healed past with normal spells or potions but instead with special ‘wound potions’. Enemies with these certain attacks and abilities and considered very dangerous. Fortunately some abilities that you gain in your Crystarium will have the same affect on enemies and can be used just as much to your own advantage.

Previously Final Fantasy games have not included difficulties and have set all players along the same route meaning that if you get stuck you just need to try again and again or go back and level up your skills before progressing further. However if you are finding it hard going, for the first time Square Enix have included a difficulty setting allowing you to make things a bit easier and hopefully progress that little bit smoother through the game.

Customisation
One thing that I really enjoy about Final Fantasy games are the deep levels of stat and combat customisations that you can experiment with. Being able to focus your character on a certain aspect whether it be damage, healing, tanking or a mixture of all of them and being able to freely choose stats to upgrade and advance is what really makes each persons playthrough of the game unique. This was somewhat lacking in XIII and the usual wealth of options were narrowed.

Luckily for us Square Enix have brought in Tri-Ace, a Japanese developer who are well known for giving their games action packed battle and deep and interesting skill systems. The result is the improved Crystarium system used for adding stats and learning new combat abilities, which will take the shape of the chosen characters weapon. This time around there will be no cap on how far you can advance the Crystarium at any point in the story and you will be able to access all of the main roles for every character right from the start. Instead of being tiered the Crystarium is now advanced in levels and at the end of each of these levels you are given a choice of things to advance, whether it be increasing you accessory capacity, adding an additional attack slot during battle or enhancing a characters role (ie medic, commando etc) allowing new abilities to be learnt. Tamed monsters will also have their own Crystarium allowing you to further improve combat efficiency.

From what I saw of the Crystarium in the demo it seemed a little confusing as to exactly what stats you were levelling up and how exactly it all worked. Compared to XIII it did seem more in depth though and the choice of advancements every time you levelled your Crystarium was a very nice touch.

Entirely new to Final Fantasy is the Live Trigger System. This is much like Bioware’s conversation wheel in that it allows you to choose different directions to take the conversation, each with different outcomes. These decisions can shape the story and multiple endings to the game are possible depending on your actions.

Graphics and Interface
The interface is largely untouched from the previous game with the same layout and only slight changes and updates for some of the new abilities, these all fit in seamlessly though and overall it has a very polished and easy to use feel. The graphics, as always with Final Fantasy games, are beautiful and move seamlessly between mini cutscenes and live controllable action. No major story based cutscenes were included in the demo which is a shame as this is where the graphics usually excel above and beyond what is expected. I’m sure any doubts on this part will soon be put to rest as soon as the full game is out.

—

While the demo is very short, it’s clear to see that Square Enix have taken in a lot of what people have been saying they want from a Final Fantasy game and brought it into XIII-2. They have also taken the time to include some aspects that have never before been seen in the Final Fantasy series. Exploration, customisation, great story lines, beautiful cutscenes and exciting battles are the things that make me keep coming back to every new Final Fantasy game and it sure looks like they are all present here. If everything pays off this looks as if it could be one of the best Final Fantasy games yet.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be released on PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 3rd around Europe.

Running With Rifles is a top-down shooter by Modulaatio Games. Then premise is a simple one: warfare, and lots of it. This is the kind of game I’ve wanted for the longest: a game of endless warfare where you muck in with the other soldiers. You are not special, to begin with. You don’t even start as an officer, if you don’t want to. You are just one of the rank-and-file, and you will die. A lot.

Stepping back, you begin the game  selecting which army you wish to fight with (grey or green). You then select the initial number of occupied bases, which will affect where the battle initially focuses, your initial rank, which will increase and decrease depending on how well you do, the accuracy of the AI, and then the maximum number of soldiers, from 0 to 600. There are also two large maps to choose from. As you can see, there’s already a fair bit of customisation in place.

So how does the game hold up? It’s good, actually. Really good. At the beginning of the game, you spawn in one of your bases with whatever rank you set for yourself and a weapon chosen at random. Maybe a few grenades, if you’re lucky. Tab brings up a map where your objective is always highlighted, which often involved going to an area of the map and capturing it. By killing every hostile in the area. You are never alone: your allies will have the same objectives and you can (and should) join up with their squads. When you do well, by killing things and completing objectives, you accumulate points. Get enough, and you’re promoted, which is a similar way to how the real military does things. Being promoted allows you to recruit allies into your squad (this is done automatically). At the maximum rank of Captain, you can recruit 7 others. Being killed and ‘accidentally’ killing your own troops makes you lose points, and you can very easily be demoted.

You’ll be glad of allies when you get into a firefight. Combat is quick and brutal. There is an automatic cover system in place, which you need to make full use of if you are to survive more than a few seconds. Two or three bullets can easily kill you, and firefights are usually drawn out by reinforcements from both sides as people die all around you. It genuinely feels as if you are caught in the middle of an all-out war. The urban combat in the second map (which is not in the demo) is really where the combat shines. Forced into close-quarters, entire squads flanking around buildings, machine gunners and snipers setting up on rooftops. It is intense and it is incredible fun. The AI works well and is highly reactive, if a bit supernaturally accurate even on the standard accuracy setting.

I have only two real issues, and they’re both to do with the visuals. One is that, with there being different terrain elevations, it can be hard to tell when someone is on a hill, as the area more or less looks flat. That’s pretty minor, however, and should be fairly easy to rectify. Another issue is that it is incredibly easy to lose track of where you are, even with a yellow circle around your character, and I would say that the number one cause of my deaths is losing track of where I am in relation to the enemy. Maybe it’s just because the game feels a bit too zoomed out for me to always know what’s going on. Either way, it’s something to bear in mind.

I like it. A lot. Future plans include, well… I’ll just give you the list:

• vehicles: jeeps, trucks
• more factions
• medic features, pulling wounded teammates to cover
• boats, think inflatable size
• attack dogs
• weather effects, rain, thunder and lightning, snow
• more light sources: street lights, explosions
• destructible/constructible stuff: sandbag walls, trenches
• editable terrain: trench digging, fox holes, impact craters
• occluded field of view for additional difficulty and more interesting player vs player gaming

Running With Rifles is still in early beta, with €5.25 getting you access to the beta and all future updates. There is a demo that is a few versions old, but purchasing gets you the latest build featuring a new map, tweaks and fixes, and online multiplayer. Do I recommend a pre-order? Yes. There’s a lot here to like already, with more coming all the time. Even if you think you may not like this sort of thing, I would still recommend keeping an eye on it.

In one of my first matches I saw CM Punk clip through the body of Alex Riley.
Beth Phoenix was referred to as ‘him’ and ‘he’ when she helped my custom character lead a beat down on Kofi Kingston.
Yoshi Tatsu attacking when I interfered in a match he was involved in even though we are allies and tag team mates.
AI wrestlers running in the opposite direction to their opponent and attacking thin air.
Michael Cole on commentary.
Performing a running move across the ring with two wrestlers in the way.

The sad thing? These are AI issues I have seen appear time and time again in the recent WWE games and they really detract from the matches. I don’t remember these glaring issues appear in N64 classic WWF Attitude.

Two other points to mention, where are 4-way tag team matches, and why can’t we perform moves on top of a table?

Regardless, I am enjoying the game, and I know Ben has played it a fair bit too. I just know that the game could be so much more than what it is presently.

The Settlers Online is a free to play, RTS game taking from the popular PC series that started in 1993. It is browser based which means no downloads are required and even the oldest of PC’s can handle this with no problems. TSO is following in the footsteps of the recently popular revival of Age of the Empires Online and is currently in beta testing.

After taking over the publishing side of things for Heritage of kings (aka Settlers V) this is now Ubisoft’s fifth original Settlers game and Blue Byte Software’s eighth. It has a very familiar feel and even though I had not played a game in this series for just a few years, I found it easy to jump straight back into the mix of things, building my city from the very basics up to the more visually impressive and battle worthy city that I was hoping for. As with other Settlers games this is not a speedy affair. You find yourself taking time to gather resources, build houses, mines and barracks and wage war against the enemy.

As a flash based browser game goes the graphics are average, but usually players of such games are not so demanding in this respect, but I find it a bit disappointing that after Settlers 7, which was also developed by Ubisoft, the graphics in TSO seem to have taken a large backwards step. Gameplay is very simple and anyone who has played any basic browser based RTS like Tribal Wars or indeed any of the hundreds of Facebook games will feel at home with the pace, feel and look of the game. Taking further leads from Facebook, TSO has implemented a fast track system allowing you to earn gems through gameplay or purchase them with real money, these gems then let you boost a number of aspects like productivity building speed and purchase of resources.

This game will demand your time as the world runs even when you are not active meaning that timing your log-ons could mean the difference between progressing that extra level before anyone else or having more or less success with your attacking prospects. It also takes a lot of trial and error to get your production line running well enough to get the end products like armies and building upgrades as fast as possible.

Overall this feels like it would be a good game to start off your RTS experience if you don‘t mind the slow pace, with plenty of tutorial missions and guidance from other players available. Taking on the players at the top will take a lot of time however and it’s a shame they have not included any PVP aspects as of yet.

The Back to Karkand DLC for Battlefield 3 hit the PC and 360 yesterday while PS3 owners got it last week. (damn exclusivity deals) If you pre-ordered the game you will get free access to the pack which re-imagines four maps from the brilliant Battlefield 2 and also throws in a handful of new unlockable weapons and some new vehicles to play with. If you didn’t pre-order you can get the DLC for £11.99. A steep price, but quite possibly worth it. Hit the jump for some thoughts.

I won’t give a Verdict on Back to Karkand just yet, I have only played two of the maps, Gulf of Oman and Strike at Karkand, the map after which this DLC is named. While the full map choice is limited compared to what could have been chosen, I think that these two maps, along with Sharqi Peninsula and Wake Island really show us what could have been achieved with Battlefield 3 on release.

The more I play the core maps of Battlefield 3, the more I realise that they lack the je ne sais quoi (pardon the French) of maps like Karkand and Oman. Playing these two maps last night was, to paraphrase one of my clan mates, like taking a trip back to your old high school and seeing how things had changed, but still feeling quite at home.

DICE have certainly given these classic maps a makeover, the approach to the Hotel flag on Karkand has been heavily revised, as has Market, while Oman feels like a town which has grown up and expanded in the shadow of the US carrier. Further, for the first time really since I started to play Battlefield 3 I felt like DICE had truly captured that feeling of being in a warzone like they managed with Battlefield 2.

It is pleasing to seeing the Conquest Assault game mode return, one side starting the action with a ticket bleed really kicks up the intensity, and hopefully with lead to an increased level of teamwork. Well, that would require VOIP to be added to the game, but one can live in hope. The assignments to access the new weapons seem like a solid approach to how unlocks should be handled, but I haven’t looked into them in much detail so far.

It does come seem a bit steep to charge £11.99 for this DLC, but you get guaranteed quality maps for your money, which we weren’t able to say about the main game. I’ll be honest that a few more maps wouldn’t have gone amiss, but for now I will take what we have with open arms and bask in the joy that is Battlefield 2 in Battlefield 3.

Chris Evans – My god I love this game, this is worthy of a Red Mist, no questions asked. I played a fair bit of Oblivion, and I sure enjoyed that, but Skyrim is on another level entirely. I wasn’t sold on the introduction, but as soon as I had escaped the dragon and was walking along with that chap at the beginning, I was enthralled. Steam tells me I have played it for 19 hours, and in that time I have barely scratched the surface of what the game has to offer. I have completed a tiny proportion of the main quest and only visited three of the main cities.

The most enjoyable aspect of the title isn’t the main quest line, or indeed the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves Guild, the best aspect of Skyrim is the wilderness. After getting to the first small village after the opening sequence I didn’t bother following any quest markers, instead I started to climb a mountain and was soon caught in a blizzard with a small group of bandits attacking me. After despatching those ruffians I came along my first dungeon and explored every nook and cranny I could find in there.

Somehow, I convinced myself that I had to stop playing Skyrim as much as I was, I feared it would completely take over my play time. Sadly that meant I have become entangled once more in Football Manager 2012, but I know that I will soon head back to that frozen world, even if it is only to become a werewolf like Nick.

Seriously, this game is brilliant, I saw one of my cousins recently and he was asking whether he should ask for Skyrim for Christmas, I enthused to him that he definitely should get it. This is a gem of game.

Nick Wheeler – If Skyrim has taught me one thing, it’s that there are few problems in life that can’t be solved by turning into a werewolf and killing everyone.

I am Druss. Wanderer of the snow-fields of Skyrim. Dragon slayer. Vampire hunter. Saviour of that guy chased by bears. In my spare time I enjoy chopping wood for the local lumber-mill, catching fish with my bare hands and transmogrifying into a giant terrifying beast of the night.

Since becoming a werewolf I’ve formed a new outlook on life. First thing I did was rid myself of that damned horse. Slow, lumbering and smelly it was, plus I could never find a space to park it in the stable. But now, ignoring the seconds of agonising bone-snapping trauma involved in transformation, all my travelling needs are taken care of with my own four paws. No matter the distance, miles of snow-covered landscape are devoured by the rhythmic thundering of my paws, as is any poor helpless wildlife that happens to cross my path.

In combat I am devastating. My claws rend both human and animal flesh with equal speed. But in the rare event I do find myself outmatched, I carry one final ace up my sleeve. There are few things in Skyrim that can run away as fast as a werewolf. Call it cowardice, but for me it’s an extension of the simple pleasure of watching the landscape drift by under my feet.

Us wolf-people have a somewhat bad reputation. My appearance at social occasions in wolf-form does seem to be frowned upon by the attending guards, no matter what vintage wine I bring. Perhaps it’s my tendency to dribble on the carpet, shed hairs on the rug and chase horses, I’m not sure. Or maybe it’s the fact that I have a habit of tearing people limb from limb before feeding on their mangled remains. Who knows, I’m no expert on court etiquette.

On the rare occasions where decency or clothing standards dictate a hairy wolf-man is not acceptable, I carry additional protection in the form of an ancient two-handed axe, Wuuthraad. Since coming into my possession, the already legendary axe has never been far from my reach, smashing its way through the faces of those who stand against me. I hear there are people out there able to control the elements with magic and spray fire from their fingers, but I just hit things with my axe until they don’t get up any more.

Part of my brain is screaming in the background saying this isn’t a game, it’s too easy. But the weapon I carry is enormous, heavy and sharp. I’d probably be a little more concerned if it didn’t rend foes in two after only one strike. So fights may be a little one-sided, so what? I just lopped off a bandit’s head with one blow and watched it bounce down a flight of stairs, and now I’m going to turn back into a wolf and eat his family.

Happy days.

Michael Johnson – I feverishly tore open the box, slamming the DVD in my tray and spent 20 minutes fidgeting as the game installed upon my trusty warhorse of a PC. I had done my best to ignore the hype, but it had taken a hold of me nonetheless and I was excited.

You can imagine my disappointment then, when it turned out that ‘Skyrim’ was not the experimental cloud-based Anilingus adventure I had been expecting. I held on to a vain hope that after the wagon based expository intro, we’d get to the real meat of the game. But within five minutes I’d accepted that this was in fact a game about Dragons and Beards. And not even a saucy one like The Witcher 2. In fact, it may even be the least saucy game ever made. Those of you have married in Skyrim, will have presumably snorted out laughter at TES V’s version of courtship, which seems to involve wearing a necklace and entering into a business partnership (in fact the main perk of marriage is that it comes with a shop!).

Skyrim doesn’t really have much time for things like ‘drama’ or ‘relationships’ or ‘good writing’, but it doesn’t really need them. It gives us an astoundingly large world, packed with places to explore, people to help or kill, loot to grab, weapons to craft or enchant and quests to complete. And despite the lack of passable prose, it manages you to draw you in to this beautifully crafted realm, full of snow-covered mountainsides, howling gales and starkly beautiful waterfalls, nestling in the otherwise rugged landscape. It also has INFINITE DRAGONS – the ultimate spectacle and they lend the game a sense of grandeur (the wonderful score by Jeremy Soule doesn’t hurt either).

Skyrim is a place that begs to be explored, The Elder Scrolls games may not give us freedom to change or really even affect the central narrative (or the ancilliary stories that run parallel), but they make up for this by giving us the most impressive world in gaming, filled with treasures and secrets, traps and monsters, friends, foes and dragons. We make our own stories in Skyrim (although I may have to turn to fan-fic after the misleading title gave me false expectations).

Jordan Harling – Until Skyrim I had never really understood the allure of the Elder Scrolls games. I had played Morrowind briefly and Oblivion fairly extensively and wasn’t really impressed. It was clear to me that both were technically extremely good, with massive world maps and deep quest lines but there just wasn’t any emotional weight to the games. The worlds felt strangely hollow and the NPCs lifeless.

This isn’t the case in Skyrim and it’s not easy to quantify why, which is a complement to the subtle changes that have been made to the AI. Thanks to the new radiant AI system NPCs act much more realistic than in previous games. Drop a pile of items in the middle of a town and some characters will pick them up for you, others will take them for themselves and some may even shout at you for littering.

The more realistic NPCs add a much greater sense of emotional weight to each quest, you’re not just completing a fetch quest for a robot, you’re adventuring for a family heirloom for Idolaf Battle-Born. This extra connection makes hacking your way through the interwoven quest trees feel much more satisfying in previous games.

One area where Skyrim hasn’t really improved though is in combat. Melee attacks don’t carry the weight they should and battles frequently turn into tedious bouts of clicking until yourself or everyone else is dead. Had Bethesda implemented a system more similar to the one found in Dark Souls then Skyrim may well have been the closest thing to a perfect game I’ve ever played. However, even with the flawed combat Skyrim is a sublime game, one that no doubt will be competing for many people’s Game of the Year award.

The struggle is as always between the dark side and the light side and this is the recurring theme throughout the main hub of the story. There are four classes in each faction and each class has its own unique storyline that can be shaped by the player. The good old Bioware conversation wheel is back and for good reason. Being able to shape the dialogue gives you a more personalised feel and more attachment to your character, which is something that I feel many MMO’s I have played lack. Sure there are huge quest lines and plenty of story but every time you play through with another character it stays the same. This is not the case with Star Wars:The Old Rebublic. Answering in certain ways can lead to you gaining light side or dark side points which, if enough of either are gained, can shape the story for your character and the way they react in conversation.

There are plenty of side quests and areas to explore that don’t feel out of place or forced upon you and what I played of the storyline was very in depth and enjoyable. I found myself easily accustomed to the UI and how everything works. In fact there is almost nothing about this beta that I dont like… almost nothing.

If you’ve ever played any recent Bioware games then you will be well accustomed to the initial feel of the game. The graphics, voice acting and quest cut scenes much like Mass Effects and apart from the fact that there are other players running around doing the same quests as you, this could quite easily be a single player game (there are plenty of multiplayer elements to the game also). It seems at least to me that Bioware have played it very safe with this game and that for me is a little disappointing. No doubt this game will be great in some ways, but I was hoping for a revolution from a game that has received so much hype. Something that was going to bring a lot of ‘new’ to the table and not so much of the seasoned elements of every other Bioware game brought together.

This is after all only the beta and this is what testing is for. I can’t base any kind of a review off just a few levels of gameplay from a test build. What I did play of SW:TOR was enjoyable but the ‘new’ feeling you get when first install a game just wasn’t there for me and that was a shame. No doubt I will be buying this game on or soon after release in the hope that something has changed and as I’m not playing any MMO’s at the moment this will probably serve as a filler until something better comes out in 2012.

If you wish to see some gameplay from the Beta click here to watch the initial levels and storyline of the Jedi Knight.