PES 2011

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 reinvigorates the series with the most advanced set of improved gameplay additions, control options and to catch up with the evolution of the real-life soccer. Central to its total freedom of play, the game introduces a power bar for each player that allows the user to determine the exact strength and placement of every pass and shot. Balls can now be spread absolutely anywhere with surgical precision, with long balls into space, short passes to feet, and intricate one-twos allowing the player to dictate play and control the tempo of a match.

This freedom of play is also extended via AI routines designed to place every move and decision into the player's hands. No longer will assisted AI intervene during matches; users will now need to sense and react to threats intuitively as opposed to chasing the ball; and passes will not automatically reach the nearest player. Instead, routines facilitate complete control both of the player and their chosen actions in every respect to give the player sublime control over every movement.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum is a gritty tale that rivals just about any graphic novel or motion picture based on the Dark Knight. The game starts off with you driving The Joker to Arkham Island where you will finally put him where he belongs. The opening sequence is one of the most immersive experiences this side of Half-Life or BioShock. Shortly after arrival Joker throws his master plan into effect and escapes the clutches of his guards. This initiates the overall plotline as Batman must then traverse Arkham trying to stop Joker and his goons.


Having the clown prince of crime in control of the asylum leads to Batman brushing elbows with his greatest enemies. Arkham Asylum is the definition of fan service, and with so many jaw-dropping moments, the game really delivers an experience unlike anything I have played since the original trip into Rapture. This is further aided with voice actors from the animated series and visuals that deliver some of the most detailed environments you will ever gaze upon.

At its core Arkham Asylum is a third-person action game that sprinkles in some stealth and puzzle solving elements for good measure. The combat system is one of the most intuitive and unified I have ever toyed around with. Batman’s attacks seamlessly flow into each other, and can be executed with just a couple of buttons. Everything is context sensitive depending on which direction you are facing, and the attacks the enemies are delivering. There is also a counter button that allows you to interrupt incoming onslaughts with a simple button press. The further you get into the game, the more advanced combos and attacks you learn, but never once did I feel overwhelmed with what the game threw at me.

Arkham Island is massive in size. As you progress you will unlock access to new areas to explore. Each one feels unique and contains its own presence. This was one of the more impressive things about Arkham Asylum as I played through the game. No experience was the same from area to area. One minute you are fighting gangs of thugs, the next you are tracking down various people using your detective vision, and the boss fights; let me just say that these experiences have been some of the most enjoyable that I have encountered in a long time, minus the final encounter, which was a tad disappointing.

When you combine all of the aspects of the game together, it really feels like a mesh of some of the best ideas from the last two decades of gaming. As I started the game and was introduced to the Riddler challenges, I noticed areas I could not access due to a lack of a specific gadget. This invokes the classic discovery and retracing your steps made famous in Metroid. There is also a dreary atmosphere and a sense that the environment has been lived in, complete with an insane amount of detail in each room. Look hard enough and hardcore Batman fans will find things such as Riddler’s cell or Scarecrow’s secret hiding place below the elevator shaft. The guys at Rocksteady have done an amazing job of squeezing the maximum amount of fan-service into the game, without making it feel tacked on.

Call of Duty: Black Ops review

The Ojai Valley Inn and Spa sits in the tiny town of Ojai about two hours north of downtown Los Angeles. Built in 1923, it features a full 18-hole golf course, a luxury spa, and 308 deluxe suites situated on a 200 acre plot with picaresque views of the surrounding forest and mountains. It’s hard to top in terms of amenities and creature comforts, and it seemingly offers everything you could ever want in a vacation spot. It’s utterly fitting, then, that this is where Activision chose to hold its review event for Call of Duty: Black Ops [see sidebar Flight Plan on page 2--Ed.]; the lavish surroundings were no doubt meant to lend a measure of sex appeal and ‘wow factor’ to the proceedings, but it was also a good metaphor for Black Ops: The game is a veritable playground that, like the plush resort where I and a handful of game journos from various outlets were sequestered for three days, seems to offer everything you could ever want in a console first-person shooter.


For most gamers, any discussion about Call of Duty starts and ends with multiplayer, but Black Ops features a surprisingly competent single-player campaign that features the most cohesive CoD narrative yet. The core plot isn’t nearly as original or as inventive as it could have been, relying as it does on several well worn twists “borrowed” from various movies, and it suffers from a few issues. Certain plot points are clumsily handled; there are still moments where you have to brute force your way to a checkpoint to trigger the next area; and they beat you over the head with the final reveal, as if they didn’t trust the average gamer to understand what was going on. Still, it’s a solid effort overall whose tone and spirit adequately captures the culture of paranoia that resulted from the tense 60’s era cold war between the United States and Russia, the Cuban missile crisis, and the Vietnam War. Its cast of characters isn’t nearly as likable as Price and Soap et al, but the superior voice acting and motion capture work make it easy to enjoy the seven to eight hour story as it unfolds. It’s especially worth playing because it unlocks a neat little surprise that’s a nice bit of fan service.

The term ‘fan service’ is also a good way to describe the approach Treyarch took with Black Ops’ multiplayer modes: it’s obvious that they set out to make this installment the definitive online Call of Duty experience, and it helps that such a solid framework had been laid by the previous titles. All the expected mutliplayer modes are here--Team Deathmatch, Domination, Search and Destroy, Headquarters, etc.--and for the most part, they play exactly as you’d expect, with the new map layouts, weapons, and perks having a strong effect on strategy and game flow.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Review

I'm not sure how I went most of the year ignoring details about Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, but it happened. Sure, I knew it was an Assassin's Creed game set in Renaissance Italy and that it would have multiplayer, but that was about it. But once details emerged about the lengthy single-player campaign, new side missions, truth puzzles, and collectibles, that's when my interest started to grow -- after all, those were the aspects I loved from its predecessor. Now, after investing a significant amount of time in the game, I can say that Brotherhood is like a refined and improved version of the already excellent Assassin's Creed 2...with a few caveats.

If there's a fault with Brotherhood (outside of the multiplayer, which I'll touch on later) is that it doesn't do a good job of introducing newcomers to this world of historical memory exploration. If this is your first Creed game, you're just not given the chance to become as emotionally invested in the game's characters as someone who's followed the series from the beginning. The only real back-story you're given is a short video that serves more to refresh returning fans rather than provide sufficient details to newcomers. Character deaths are simple plot devices that become as meaningless as the motives that drive Ezio Auditore and Desmond for most of the story. In AC2, you guided Ezio on a quest for revenge while learning more about the secret cult of Assassins. Here we find Ezio trying to rebuild the Assassin order in the city of Rome. Oh, and trying to retrieve the Apple, again. All in all the story doesn't feel as carefully plotted as that of AC2.


Rebuilding the order of Assassins is more than just a plot device, though. About a third of the way through the game you gain the ability to recruit citizens of Rome to your order; once you do you can obtain contracts from all of the world and send these Assassins to carry out your orders, putting money in your pocket and making your personal team better at assisting you during the game's main missions. There's nothing like highlighting a target in the street and then calling in an Assassin who magically appears from the rooftop, shoving their wrist-blade deep into the man's head before vanishing in a puff of smoke. All the while, you just sit watching on a nearby park bench. It makes Ezio seem like a powerful assassin, a Godfather, coming into his own much like his father before him.

The main story missions introduce a "100% Synchronization" mode that add mini-objectives to each mission; you now have goals like "don't touch the ground while chasing your target," or "complete a mission in under five minutes." Even if you only get "50% synchronization" (for completing a mission but failing to achieve full synchronization) you're still given credit for completing the mission. And you can return to previous missions at any time for "100%." Overall I like the inclusion of being able to play these missions the "right" way rather than just approaching every mission like Rambo, killing any and all who stand before me and my objective. It introduces a thoroughly enjoyable level of re-playability, and obtaining 100% completion also unlocks additional side-missions.

International Cricket 2010 Review

Cricket fanatics may disagree but, in our humble opinion, unless you’re watching “sixes” and “fours” being scored on a regular basis, or embroiled in the faster-paced One Day Internationals or Twenty20 games, cricket isn’t a sport that has the ability to regularly get the adrenaline pumping. Translate that slow-paced sport into a videogame and it's no wonder we find it hard to get totally immersed in its plodding gameplay.

You could say that, in terms of more mainstream videogames, International Cricket 2010 is more like a slow-paced JRPG than a high-octane action adventure, but it is a game full of strategic layers, where composure wins the day over impatience. Anyone who knows cricket will be well aware of this, so as long as you’re not expecting all the whistles and bells of an EA produced sport’s game or a robust, feature-heavy multiplayer mode where it's easy to find someone else online who actually wants to play, then you shouldn’t be too disappointed.


In fact, International Cricket 2010 is as close a simulation to a game of cricket that you’ll have ever played on console, offering a technically sound experience on the pitch that does very well to capture those "exciting" moments. Australian developer, Tricksar Games, who is largely made up of team that bought us the Brian Lara series and last year’s Ashes Cricket 2009, has tweaked and refined the latter, but has improved things commendably this year to deliver as "action-packed" a cricket game as you could possibly expect.

The first batch of good news is that there's a wider variety of animations to enjoy, such as players diving in various ways to catch a ball or raising their bat in the air when they reach a milestone in the match. The character models are also more refined and you’ll get to see and play as all of your favourites cricketers who look sharper, animate better and move around the crease and the pitch more realistically than ever.

Indeed presentation as a whole is excellent, with a smooth menu system and fully customisable HUD that effectively lends a hand in helping you to line up your shots, or switch between deliveries intuitively. The stadiums are decent too (though still not the official ones) and a good atmosphere is generated from the crowds that builds throughout the game and increases during potential match-winning moments. David "Bumble" Lloyd brings his years of experience to the matches in the commentary box, and his familiar voice helps to add an air of authenticity to the action.

On the pitch, it's clear that TrickStar Games has tried to improve things over Ashes 2009 by adding some new features and tweaking the gameplay. It's the same game engine as Ashes 2009, so the pace of the games run identically and anyone who played that last year will be able to get to grips with the largely similar control scheme with little effort. It's a testament that matches, when played on any difficulty above "Normal," mimic the real sport well and no matter how tempting it is, you won't just get away with slogging the ball on every shot; a blend of defensive and attacking play is the only way that you'll be able to win.

This is largely due to some tough A.I. who change the way they bowl to counteract your style of play and who will read your own bowling techniques fairly easily if you don't switch your styles. Ultimately, this means that you have to change the way you play depending on how the opposition plays against you: International Cricket 2010 offers a tactical game of cricket that imitates this aspect of the sport very well.

MSN Messenger Reivew

MSN Messenger for Windows is a feature-rich yet really easy to use instant messaging application that can also be great fun. It's a pity MSN Messenger uses a proprietary protocol, and custom filters (also against instant messaging spam) as well as secure messaging would be nice.
MSN Messenger for Windows lets you communicate with text, SMS, audio and webcam video.
You can use custom smileys, winks, chat window backgrounds and display pictures in MSN Messenger.
MSN Messenger lets you send files, or you can make them available via file sharing.
A searchable history archives contact activity in MSN Messenger.
MSN Messenger lets you play games or share applications, images and calendars.
Integration with MSN Spaces lets you blog easily see other people's posts in MSN Messenger.
You can also make international phone calls and start video conferences as well as group chats.
MSN Messenger lets you specify who can and who can't see your online status or send you messages.
MSN Messenger for Windows supports Windows 98/ME/2000/3/XP, some features require Windows Messenger.
Guide Review - MSN Messenger for Windows 7.5 - Instant Messaging Program
From its modest beginnings, MSN Messenger for Windows has become a real instant messaging powerhouse. MSN Messenger lets you add audio and webcam video to instant messaging's typical text conversations. The latter can be enriched with huge animated winks and smileys. Fresh smileys and content can be added or created easily.

MSN Messenger is surpassing the traditional realm of instant messaging in yet more ways, though. You can, for example, share photos, which music you are listening to, applications and a whiteboard or play games. I'd set an alarm before clicking the "Launch Site" button, though, to make sure you are not wasting more time than you want on the gripping diversions. MSN Messenger also supports group chat, can connect to mobile devices (including SMS) and lets you send or share files easily.

In spite of this oversupply of features, MSN Messenger is easy to use and mostly well organized (with the slight exception of the configuration dialog maybe, but Microsoft never get these right). Of course, MSN Messenger is not perfect. Like other messaging clients, it suffers from the lack of a standard protocol so you can't talk to AIM or ICQ members, for example.

Even if you talk to others using MSN Messenger, conversations can't be encrypted and more filtering to make sure good messages get through while spim — instant messaging spam — is blocked would be welcome, too.

AOL Messenger review

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) has always made it easy to exchange quick messages with your buddies.

Over time, AIM has accumulated a number of features and gimmicks. Not all of them are essential for an instant messaging client, and the news ticker in particular looks a bit anachronistic.

Other features are wonderful to see implemented. There's secure, encrypted messaging, for example. Or the option to automatically run incoming files through a virus checker. Or Talk and Video, which make it easy to exchange voice messages or chat via live video. The way AIM lets you sign in with different buddy names simultaneously sharing one window is really useful.

Unfortunately, there's still some functionality I miss in AOL Instant Messenger. It would be nice if messages could be sent to offline buddies, for example, and an automatic, fast and searchable message history is essential.

While AOL Instant Messenger comes with a basic black and white list of allowed contacts and includes a warning system, it lacks more advanced filtering, and the per-buddy settings are limited.

You can set your own icon, though, and customize AIM with "Expressions" (window backgrounds). You can also send greetings via instant messages easily with AOL Instant Messenger, indulge in group chats or play a number of games. What you cannot do, of course, is send anything to people not on the AIM or ICQ networks.