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Feature: The Punisher: No Mercy, Battlefield 1943

Network Central: PSN, Xbox Live, WiiWare - download deals, new online releases and monthly hot picks direct to your vidscreen

The inevitable video game drought has come once again. The big spring titles are out of the way and now begins the long run up to the holiday season. Luckily enough though digital downloads are here to save the day. Forget disks and boxes, this is the future, granddad. Login to XBLA or PSN and check out some of these new releases to ear up some of your precious holiday time.

The Punisher: No Mercy
First up is comic book title, The Punisher: No Mercy. An arena-based FPS in a similar vein as Unreal Tournament: fast paced action, lots of power-ups and over the top gore. The main focus is on multiplayer action and has no ties to the 2005 Punisher game or any of the films. There is a single-player mode, however it is made up of four stages and simply involves fighting AI controlled characters with various challenges - such as surviving a certain number of enemy waves, time limits and so on. The single-player also includes graphic novel-style artwork by comic book artist, Mike Deodato. Apart from these few scenes, the only voice acting happens in-game with players spouting generic quips after they’ve either killed someone or been killed by someone else. You can pretty much imagine how the game’s focus, Frank Castle AKA The Punisher, sounds. Essentially the same voice you put on to fool the local delinquents that you’re much ‘harder’ than you actually are.

Multiplayer modes include your standard team Deathmatch, Punish the Punisher, Vigilante and Elimination. There are eight different characters to choose from, each with unique abilities, distinct catchphrases and customisable appearance options. There are also certain ‘mods’ which are similar to Call of Duty 4’s perks - special abilities you can unlock such as Better Armour or Faster Movement.

Running on the tried and tested Unreal Engine the graphics are solid enough, although with some noticeable texture pop-in. Weapons and character models are all fitting of the source material, maps are dark and gritty with some similar settings from the Punisher films. Heads and limbs pop off and blood splatters relentlessly, definitely not for the faint of heart.

However, with a few connection problems and only eight-player games it feels like it just falls short of its full potential. The biggest let down being the difficulty in finding matches. As a PSN-exclusive game lobbies are far from bustling. Consider yourself lucky to find a game with more than five people. This is a huge drawback, though the maps aren’t huge, it still feels a bit empty at times and with the fast paced nature of the game running around looking for people can get a bit tedious.

With these problems this should only be recommended for big fans of the comics, exclusively on the PlayStation store now at £6.29.

Format: PS3 Dev: Zen Studios Pub: Zen Studios Out: 02/07/09 Players: 1, online 2-8

Battlefield 1943
Another FPS now, this time from a recognised franchised and one of the biggest names in the genre. Battlefield is taking you back to 1943. Battlefield 1943 is continuing the series’ conquest mode multiplayer gameplay. No single-player this time - just class-based, vehicular combat and base-capturing action, and it is good. Anyone who has played Battlefield Bad Company should know what to expect here, only this time you have WW2 weapons such as the M1 Garand and the Thompson SMG, and the maps consist of South Pacific Islands, including Iwo Jima.

The gameplay consists of choosing a class - infantryman, rifleman or sniper - selecting a spawn point and then getting straight into the action. The aim is to capture and hold specific points in the map, by hoisting your team’s flag. Holding more bases than the opposing team causes their moral, represented by a bar at the top of the screen, to fall. Whichever teams’ bar depletes first loses. You gain points by capturing bases and killing enemies. Maps facilitate up to 24 players so you might want to jump in a vehicle to aid your speedy conquest, be it a jeep with mounted machine gun, a tank or a fighter plane. The latter of which are notoriously tricky to pilot so you might want to get some practice in before slamming into a cliff.

As with any Battlefield game the core mechanics are perfectly balanced, the classes, the maps - it all feels so right. Something that some multiplayer games might want to take note of. You never feel cheated, and if you lose it is simply because the other team was just better. The game is beautifully simple, yet also lends itself to complex strategy. Once you get to know the maps (which shouldn’t take too long), you’ll begin to think things out instead of just mindlessly running around like a headless chicken.

Battlefield 1943 runs on the Frostbite engine which powered Bad Company and introduced the series to destructible environments which, thankfully, return for this instalment. Buildings blow apart, trees are cut down by gun fire, nowhere is safe. This goes a long way to adding to the immersion of the experience - as soon as you jump in you’ll notice the manic nature of battle. Planes plummet from the sky, jeeps burst into flames, brick walls are torn to shreds. This is truly a battlefield. And at £9.99/1200MSP it is perhaps the best value for money yet seen on PSN/XBLA. The drawbacks being, there are only four maps and only one game mode. You simply boot up the game, go to quick match and that’s it. However, the maps are all exceptional fun and finding a match (for the most part) is quick and easy.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone. If you’re a fan of the previous Battlefield games you will love this. If you’re looking for a team-based multiplayer shooter, this is the best one you can get without a disk. The future is here and it is reasonably priced, who reads the instruction manual these days anyways?

Format: PS3, Xbox 360, PC Dev: EA DICE Pub: EA Out: 09/07/09 Players: online 2-24

Stuart Kent

Review: Prototype

Borrowing from open world trailblazers, is this the new gold standard, or still a work in progress?

You are Alex Mercer in a city overrun with disgusting mutants and angry military types, all out to get you. But it’s OK, because Alex Mercer is “a walking slaughterhouse”, in the words of the developers at Radical, the team behind the new open world, superhero game, Prototype. Well, I say ‘superhero’, but it’s more like: pissed off bloke with recently acquired powers that allow him to kill everything in sight.

The story of Prototype kicks off with Alex Mercer walking up in a morgue with no memory of how he got there, or how he gained the ability to shape shift his body in a variety of different ways. Alex can mimic any character he consumes, enabling him to avoid detection from angry strike teams - sent out to kill him - and infiltrate certain buildings. He can also run up the sides of buildings, throw cars halfway across New York city, and form deadly claws, blades and other instruments of nastiness to get the job done.

All of these abilities can be upgraded by using experience points gained from completing story missions or side-quests. The amount of upgrades available is quite staggering. Multiple powers are unlocked as you progress through the game. Each one has its own list of upgrades added to your Movement, Weapon and Vehicle upgrades, so you’re looking at a pretty long list. Needless to say, once you’ve completed the game you’ll feel a whole lot more powerful than you did at the start. The feeling of progression is quite satisfying and gives you an incentive to actually play through the story and not just muck about - which is very tempting.

Unlike most super-powered hard-nuts, who foolishly rely on freakish abilities to fight their enemies, Alex takes advantage of everything he can. You can wield machine guns, grenade launchers, tanks and pilot helicopters. All of which adds to the gameplay variety and gives you various options when undertaking a mission. You can take a more stealthy approach - consume a few guards, use disguises - or (perhaps more likely) go in all guns blazing and just unleash hell upon whoever stands in your way.

Being Alex Mercer really gives you a sense of power, and crucial to this is the free running mechanic. Once Alex starts to sprint he can flip over walls, jump from building to building, and even glide to the ground. And it works brilliantly. Just roaming around New York can take up hours and, naturally, there are plenty of collectable tokens hidden about to keep you occupied. The combat mechanics are equally as satisfying, too. L2 locks on to the nearest enemy and you can switch targets with a flick of the analogue stick. The variety of powers keeps it from getting stale and there are numerous combos and special attacks to sink your teeth into. Prototype is also stupidly gory. People are sliced in half, skulls are crushed, copious amounts of blood are shed - not one for the kids by a long shot. Should you grow tired of dismembering civilians there are a number of side-quests scatted throughout the city - mostly involving killing yet more civilians, or racing across rooftops. These add to the amount of fun you can squeeze out of Prototype once you’ve finished the story missions.

On visuals side the game isn’t exactly mind blowing. Textures are pretty bland, buildings all look relatively similar and there is noticeable pop-in. However, the game runs exceptionally smoothly and the frame rate never drops, even during intense action - of which there is plenty. The shape shifting animations are good, but there is very little variety among the NPCs. Voice acting is passable, although the story never really grabs you in, anyway. Despite these points it doesn’t take anything away from the pure fun that Prototype offers, which is some of the best open world action this generation. If you enjoy open world adventure games, like blowing sh*t up and killing lots of people, then give Prototype a rent.

Format: PS3 (version played), Xbox 360, PC Dev: Radical Entertainment Pub: Activision Out: 12/06/09 Players: 1

Stuart Kent

Review: Ghostbusters: The Video Game

They’re back to clean up the town

When one of the most beloved comedy films of the 1980s, Ghostbusters, was announced to be getting a game adaption, excitement and much baited breath followed. After all, people been subjected to more than their fair share of terrible movie licensed games. Ghostbusters: The Video Game has rolled into town, and you know what? It’s actually more than half-decent.

From the moment the title screen is displayed you’re greeted with Elmer Bernstein’s wonderfully jovial score, and things don’t stop there. The game has literally been saturated in fan service slime. Ray Parker Jr.’s synonymous theme tune, Ecto-1, crossing the streams, it’s all here. Many of the original cast members have reprised their roles for the game, and while the vocal performances aren’t nearly as energetic as the film’s classic comedy moments, there are still some small chuckles to be had.

You play a new recruit, who is constantly referred to as ‘young blood’ or ‘rookie’, who’s learning the ropes and testing out the ’busters latest, and most dangerous, experimental gadgetry. The game takes you to number of familiar locations as you uncover the source of the strange paranormal disturbances that are once again sweeping New York. The story - written by Aykroyd and Ramis - is classic Ghostbusters, but feels like it is missing that much needed rising action, midway through the game.

Busting ghosts is frightfully fun in the versions produced by Terminal Reality. The shoulder buttons fire your proton stream and allow you to temporarily bind ghosts. Fire it for too long though and it will overheat, forcing you to cool off your proton pack. Once you have sufficiently weakened your paranormal quarry you can attempt a capture with your trap, which can be released at any time. To capture a ghost you must hold them with your capture stream and guide them towards your trap, which will automatically begin dragging them into its glowing mouth. There is also additional equipment for your proton pack, such as the slime gun, the super-powered meson collider, and upgrades to purchase.

In each level you’re partnered with one of the Ghostbusters, investigating deserted hotel corridors, library basements, alternative dimensions, museum exhibitions, a ruined castle and finally Central Park graveyard. Your PKE metre picks up spectral trails, scans ghosts and uncovers hidden passageways and objects. There are some pretty exciting encounters with the likes of Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man early on. Virtual Bill Murray and company look convincing enough, as does much of the world they inhabit. However, though the gameplay is enjoyable, there are a number of instances where the business of busting becomes taxing.

To begin with, some of the game’s mechanics are only used one or twice in the entire game. One section in the game’s final level asks you to use your slime tether to activate a gate switch. There are no text prompts or visual highlights, so you’re forced through trial and error to discover how to open the gate. And as it turns out a completely different weapon and mechanic is needed. This isn’t the only place where the paranormal exterminators’ numbers don’t quite add up.

As cool as it is, the proton stream isn’t the most accurate of weapons. So, when tasked with eradicating the chairman - whom you fight on a square platform surrounded by stream-blocking sewage pumps and angry ghosts - aggravation dawns quickly as you fail again and again to hit his minuscule weak spot. Your AI companions are competent enough, but almost useless in battle. ‘Ghost blasting’ the hordes of minor ghouls that attack adds little to the overall game, and if anything, dampens those moments in between the true ghost-trapping excellence.

Even if single-player doesn’t leave you feeling all that great, there’s still online multiplayer. Several modes are available and all of them can be played with up to three players. You earn money for bagging ghosts and completing jobs, which also increases your ranking. There are also rare ghosts to capture and leaderboards. At the time of playing, I experienced a number of server issues, mostly in-lobby, and game disconnects. Nevertheless, the act of hunting ghosts as a team is massively fulfilling, under the right conditions.

Compared to many other movie licensed games, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a remarkable achievement. It has the characters you know, and love, some smart uses of physics and, most of all, the art of catching ghosts is great. Yet, the story isn’t fresh enough to be considered a true sequel, plus a lack of helpful hints and one too many trivial enemies, are less than funky. Far from the disaster of biblical proportions that many feared, it’s a wonderful homage to Ghostbusters. It’s not classic, but busting really does feel good.

Format: PS3 (version played), PS2 Dev: Terminal Reality Pub: Sony Out: 19/06/09 Players: 1, 2-4 online

Aaron Lee

Review: UFC 2009 Undisputed

“Guys, guys. Can’t we settle this with words?”

Since the days of great Gladiatorial spectacles, and perhaps even before then, we humans have relished a bit of old fashioned one-on-one violence. Boxing, martial arts, wrestling, schoolyard fights on the muddy pitch - you name it, people watch it. With the exception of the last one, most of these are considered actual sports. Well, there are contact sports and then there’s the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which pretty much makes all the others look like puff-pastry scuffles. In UFC, if your opponent is not writhing in pain from your vice-like grip or out cold on the floor, then the fight isn’t over.

If you’ve seen any footage from the testosterone-fuelled UFC television series, you’ll be pleasantly surprised (or possibly horrified) by how accurately Yuke’s has recreated the sport. A range of fighting styles are present - including kickboxing, muay thai and judo - and this ensures the game feels true the sport’s mixed martial arts claim. Strikes yield devastating results time after time, and character models are nothing short of superb. Fights get considerably tougher as you and your fatigued opponent frantically grapple with each other to earn victory. And much like the on-screen battle you’ll have to grip your controller like the horns of a wildebeest to stay competitive.

Control is the main event here and, for the most part, it’s a real winner. As with many fighters, the face buttons throw your punches and kicks. The left-hand shoulder buttons are for aggressive strikes, while the right-hand ones are for defence. However, it’s the analogue sticks that give you added control to inflict gratuitous pain. They work in a number of different ways depending on your stance - standing, clinched, ground or submission. To perform a simple takedown you move the left stick in direction of your challenger. If you’re on the ground you flick or half-rotate the right stick in order to escape or attempt a transition.

For the game’s teeth-clenching finishers, clicking the right stick on the ground, once your opponent has been sufficiently weakened, will initiate a submission - pulling or twisting a pressure point until they finally tap out. The downside to this is that performing or escaping specific actions can be irksomely difficult, if you don’t know the precise analogue motions or button combinations. This can be seen most clearly when pinned, where the lack of stability to pin-escapes often leads to bewilderment. A couple of refresher courses in the tutorial menu are advised. UFC 2009 is the type of game that rewards those who practice regularly.

Filling out the smorgasbord of modes in UFC 2009 is exhibition, online multiplayer, classic fights - which task you with recreating the finishes to classic matchups to unlock TV clips, and career. Before getting started you’ll be prompted to create a custom fighter. The surprising deep range of customisable options, from appearance to fighting technique and hometown, will give you leave to design your dream fighter in meticulous detail.

Career mode is made up of a series of ranked bouts and assorted tasks. When you’re not in the Octagon bruising faces, you’ll be sparring, doing promotional work for your sponsors, improving your technique with helpful training goals, or recuperating your strength for the next big fight. Some of the menus can be tiresomely slow and unnecessary - before long you’ll likely check career emails solely for matchmaking or professional fight offers. KOs will be a piece of cake in the early rounds, but once you’re into the top ten things get considerably harder. If you manage to win the title belt there’s still the Hall of Fame trophy to claim, so, there is lots to keep regular players coming back.

Boasting animations and hit responses that would make even the hardest bruiser twitch, competent career and multiplayer modes, and satisfying, if a little fiddly at times, gameplay, UFC 2009 Undisputed pulls no punches. THQ have turned up the heat once again. Fight Night is going to have a tough time beating this champ.

Format: PS3, Xbox 360 (version played) Dev: Yuke’s Pub: THQ Out: 22/05/09 Players: 1-2, online 2

Aaron Lee