A Week In Gaming With Calvin Robinson

It’s been another great week in gaming. Team GodisaGeek have been here, there and everywhere playing as many unreleased titles as one can possible play in a week. We’ve drank copious amounts of ‘Blue Spartan Drink’ and mingled with a shameful amount of celebrities. Put the anime on pause, sit back, grab a cuppa and let me tell you all about it…

Team GodisaGeek kicked off the week by playing some more kinetic games! SEGA invited us down to Fitzroy Square in London to get some hands-on time with their latest up-and-coming releases. For some of the team this was their first time playing with Kinect and Move, so that was a fun experience.

Virtua Tennis 4 in 3D with the Move looks fantastic. A fun arcade tennis game that really shows off Move’s potential. Sonic Riders on the other hand really lets down Kinect, with an un-finished feel to it and non-responsive controls.

I spent quite a while playing Sonic 4 – a game I haven’t touched since E3. My feelings are extremely mixed on this title. It has the gorgeous retro-meets-HD graphics that you’d expect from a modern take on Sonic The Hedgehog, yet the controls have been revamped a little to help newcomers to the series. An almost quick-time style homing jump replaces the regular free-style jumping action that we’d expect to see in a 2.5D platform game. The homing action latches on to objects and surfaces, making the game play feel very on-rails.

As well as the Sega event this week, Team GodisaGeek were also lucky enough to be invited to the Halo Reach Launch Party. Filled to the brim with celebrities including; Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Jemeela Jamil (T4 Presenter), Ben Cohen (Rugby Player), Jason Bradbury (Gadget Show Presenter), Mr Hudson (Recording Artist), Brian Belo (Ex Big Brother Contestant), Ricky Norwood (Fatboy, EastEnders), Devon Anderson (Billie Jackson, EastEnders). We saw Rio, Jemeela, Ben, Jason and Mr Hudson up against a team of Halo players to get their arses royally whooped and handed to them on a spartan platter. There was a room full of Xbox 360’s for people to get involved in some multiplayer Halo Reach action too.

Speaking of Halo Reach Review, our review went live this week. Check it out on the website. Halo Reach scored an 8/10, a score that earnt much controversy with our readers. While it’s no 10, 8 is still a really good score and a must-buy in my eyes.

Personally this week I’ve been playing quite a few MMORPGs. I revisited Champions Online during their one year anniversary event. Such a fun MMO. I mean, who hasn’t wanted to create their own superhero at some point or another?

I’m still playing Star Trek Online too, they’re keeping the content coming, providing a lot of episodes for endgame. I can’t criticise Cryptic – they’re completely focused on keeping STO relevant and doing a good job of it!

I also somehow managed to get some game time in Age of Conan, I’ve been wanting to try out the expansion for a while now. The game is still great looking with a refreshing twist on regular the MMO combat system – they’ve improved content immensely since launch (which I must admit was a little sparse).

Oh and I must not forget a complementary shout-out to Black Prophecy. Since I got my hands on this game at E3 and again at Gamescom I’ve been extremely excited about this latest title from ReaKKtor/gamigo. The graphics are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in an MMO. If this game is anything like KK’s last title, Neocron, then we can expect an incredible depth of content at launch. Keep an eye out for this title – it’s going to be Free2Play, so there’s no excuse not to try it!

This has been another week in gaming with Calvin Robinson. CU@Eurogamer!