Since its explosion onto the market with the revolutionary Metal Gear Solid in 1998, the series has done nothing but grow to achieve stardom for its gameplay, characters, and let’s not forget the story. I mean, if you haven’t paid much attention to that, chances are you skipped about 40 hours worth of cutscenes.
 Since its ground-breaking approach to the stealth genre around 14 years ago, the chronicles of Snake and Big Boss are still being told to this day. And with the success of Metal Gear Solid 4 (MGS4), and the belief that Metal Gear Solid 5 (MGS5) is going to rock, what better time, as the previous incarnations of Metal Gear have been slowly gathering dust for some players, that they were re-released in all their glory, with a new chance to reach out to a new generation. Well, did Konami do them justice?
 Part 2 of Alex's new highly anticipated Capcom Series review!  Haunting ghosts from the killer7’s past… Graphically, the game also doesn’t fail to be unique. The cell shading and blocky textures suit the game’s peculiar aesthetic while some of the cutscenes are typical Japanese manga cartoons. Speaking of cutscenes, holy shit, they are awesome, and the voice acting is extraordinary too. Fans of the game will unanimously agree the plot is overwhelmingly mind-bending. On one side it tries to take itself seriously as a satire on Japanese and American politics, while also blending it with complete, yet poignant, nonsense. A lot of the time, you’ll be left simply with one thought: what the hell just happened?
 Alex makes his eagerly awaited return with The Capcom Series: Killer7 ‘The Capcom Five’ were a set of five games announced by Capcom in 2002 to increase the Nintendo Gamecube’s popularity and postpone its impending doom, because let’s face it; the far superior PlayStation 2 was kicking its ass. These games have nothing in common besides this intriguing marketing campaign, but it’s sure an interesting mix. Resident Evil 4 is the best known and best selling of the five, shipping over 3 million copies worldwide by the following year. Viewtiful Joe, a unique 2D platformer set in the mysterious world of ‘Movieland’ with astonishing cartoon art style P.N.03, a bland third-person shooter which never became commercially successful Dead Phoenix, which was never released. …and killer7.
 This recently released video provides a truly eye-opening interview with Hideo Kojima and developers from both Kojima Productions and Platinum Games, explaining the foundations of Rising and how Platinum Games became involved.
According to the original dev team, their ideas, namely the decisions to make Raiden’s sword cut anything, while adhering to Metal Gear Solid traditions AND setting the game’s timeline between MGS2 and MGS4, were simply not coming together.
 This guy talks sense. Since that informative trailer of Metal Gear Solid: Rising at E3 2010, where we witnessed the return of Raiden with his new cut-throat stealth-action instalment in the critically acclaimed series Metal Gear Solid, fans were left with mixed opinions but it seemed, looking back, all hope was not lost.
 Raiden was thinking... "Is Revengeance even a word?" After all, the ‘cut at will’ gimmick was the main focus, with little light being shed on the gameplay itself, much less the plot and character depth. Players were duly promised a stealth alternative, where ‘hunter stealth’ – a fast paced, ninja-like sneaking method with emphasis on speed – would be the gameplay equivalent of the more subtle stealth approach MGS fans hold dear. So, although I was frustrated by the series’ digression into action and appealing to mainstream audiences, the morsel of hope that said, ‘Hey, maybe it’ll actually turn out alright…’ clung on to me like a newborn infant.
I can safely say now, after seeing the newly released trailer for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance shown at the Video Game Awards 2011, all hope that once existed has been obliterated into a pool of tears, and replaced with dread and irreversible hate.
Whole new ways to Enjoy the Portal Experience™
If you’ve exhausted the Portal 2 co-op campaign, chances are you’ve been waiting for more exciting test-chambers to endure. But let’s face it – Valve isn’t likely to make an official ‘third game’ in any of their series, and if they do, it may take at least half a decade. That said, being largely stage-orientated, the best we could hope for is DLC.
Well here it is – a shiny new bundle of levels to get you and a friend portalling again! Reviewing ‘Peer Review’, dubbed ‘Art Therapy’ in-game, is somewhat superfluous; it’s free of charge and will come with every Portal 2 copy following its release. So here’s just a quick overview.
Making an incredible game without thinking it would be successful is a tough act to follow. Now that the first Portal had the unexpected popularity, it was time to put some effort in a fully-fledged sequel. But in effort comes change, and Portal 2 was Valve’s attempt in making a bigger, better and innovative portal-based puzzle game, without losing the magic of its predecessor. Then has it been made superior? Can it be treated with the same respect as the last game?
Nowadays, we’re seeing more and more mainstream video games which are guaranteed sales through hype and promotion, yet turn out to lack any innovation or uniqueness. These games survive the short run, but are doomed to be lost in time, forgotten. For a console game to become critically acclaimed, it seems the trend to:
a) Pack as much blood and gore as possible
b) Submerge the player into a clichéd storyline that sounds tolerable enough, while on reflection, it didn’t really sink in
c) Offer a gimmick, which people get tired of and realise that the trailer perhaps made it sound too good
d) Sometimes throw in a multiplayer which everyone will be super-glued to, and then after a while, claim to despise it after racking up several days playing time
Every blue moon, a game comes along which makes us question what makes a console game great, a game which asks us why we like it so much, and we can’t quite answer. A game that gives us a chance to prove to our peers: ‘Video games can be an art form, not just mind rotting, addictive running ‘n’ gunning for losers.’ Valve’s response to this was the phenomenon that was Portal.
The decision to not include any zombies in Resident Evil 4 was indeed brave, but not stupid, as the enemies instead are varied and interesting. We have just the typical murderous infected human, which could be seen holding a variety of sharp/pain-inflicting items, then we have the humans which walk around with the parasitic, spider-like creature bursting out of their head, and sometimes you get the tough-to-kill chainsaw wielding lunatics with a burlap sack over their heads (don’t let them get close). Much tougher mini-bosses can include ten-foot-tall giants, with an assortment of twisted as hell bosses to keep you entertained. Surprisingly, you may find the slightly cumbersome controls fit the fast-paced boss battles really well.
 Before I even begin talking about Resident Evil 4, let’s go back a bit to the series' roots. Resident Evil 1, 2 + 3 for the original PlayStation is without a doubt one of the most respected survival/horror trilogies ever conjured. It may also be an acquired taste. Hard as I try, I struggle getting into these games, for one reason and one reason only: the camera. I think both fans and non-fans can agree the oddly orientated, fixed camera could be better; the argument lies in whether it impedes the quality of gameplay. In my opinion, it makes it incredibly difficult to grasp the gameplay itself. However, it’s also argued that the stubborn controls as a result of the manipulative fixed-point camera make the survival aspect more intense. No conclusion will ever be made; Capcom couldn’t have adopted the exact same camera and control scheme for three consecutive games if they didn’t have a good reason. But, as a result of this, it’s impossible for me to review these games in any more depth.
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