Dave Whitelaw, Phil Doyle and Euan Taylor wax lyrical - read; force their opinions - on every geeky topic on under the sun from movies and games to comic books and TV.
You can follow Dave, Phil and Euan on Twitter -
@midi2304, @evilninjaphil and @wanderingeuan respectively.
Will Lockhart joins us once again for part two where we ramble on about the following;
FF: DissidiaThe Consolevania forum once again provides a deep well of talent which myself and Iain tap into to make Sonic's Ring even better! This week we are joined by the fantastic Will Lockhart. With so much to speak about, including the new TV season kicking off, the Primetime Emmys and Tokyo Game Show, we ended up speaking for over 80 minutes so I have split this into two parts to make it a bit easier for you. Part one includes the following;
Surrogates Bored To DeathSoul Calibur: Broken Destiny is Soul Calibur IV in your pocket.
Review. Done. What? You were expecting a bit more? Hellfire, come on then, let's pull apart Namco / Ubisoft's new portable 3D fighter. I am not a fan of technical 2D fighters such as the Streetfighter variants on PSP as they tend to have two major problems. Firstly, neither the PSP D-pad or thumbstick are particularly adept at reliably pulling off the required quarter and semi-circles needed for dragon punches and the like. Secondly, my experience is that developers are lazy when it comes to porting these games onto the portable platform so we end up with blocky sprites and stuttering animations. 3D fighters such as Tekken: Dark Resurrection tend to have much more care and attention lavished on them with tighter, slower controls and grander visuals. Broken Destiny carries this tradition on, losing little in translation from PS3 and 360. Players familiar with the series will instantly feel at home in the lush environments of Broken Destiny with most levels ported over. The stage visuals obviously aren't up to the standard of the PSP's big brother but still look crisp and sharp. All 24 of the main characters from IV also make the leap with only the ill-fated Star Wars trio hitting the bench. Character models look as detailed as anything I have seen on PSP so far with the player's avatar moving smoothly and collision, heavy and deliberate - there is a real feeling of impact. Of course, Soul Calibur wouldn't be Soul Calibur without the addition of a guest star and Broken Destiny is no exception. Filling the boots Link and Yoda have previously filled, we have the main protagonist from the God of War series joining us with his twin swords aflaming. For my money, Kratos fits into the roster far better than any previous guest star. While not the strongest or most agile of our warriors, he has good power, takes a punch well and just feels like a Soul Calibur character. He is definitely someone I can see players new to the franchise getting to grips with initially. The controls prove themselves to be very deep after playing for an extended time. At easier difficulty levels, winning is relatively easy with big flashy moves being simple and impressive to look at. Once things get a bit trickier, the same button-mashing that kept your character stylishly dancing around the opponent's best efforts no longer work. It's then that you start to dip the toe into a deep control system that is full of subtlety and craft. The pessimistic among players will consider this a barrier to how far you can progress through this title from casual play. However, those who are willing to invest the time will be able to compete with an AI which at the highest difficulties, punishes the slightest of mistakes. And the AI really is superb, curving in difficulty as you learn everything you need to know. Always difficult but always fair, it strikes that perfect balance of keeping you on your toes knowing that if you had just timed that guard more accurately defeat could have been avoided. The biggest criticism needs to be aimed at a poor main single player campaign. Called Gauntlet, it essentially takes the form of an extended tutorial mode with 34 chapters each composed of five three second battles bookended by cartoon and text stories. We also have a Quick Match mode where you take on an AI filled lobby of players each with different skill levels as indicated by their win/loss records. Unfortunately, this doesn't go far enough to mitigate the complete lack of a straightforward Arcade Mode. Also while the game looks amazing graphically with some dazzling effects when you land an impressive hit or combo, they can be a little OTT at times meaning it isn't always the easiest to follow what is happening onscreen. But really, I am nit-picking a highly accomplished package which achieves much. Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny is a superb looking game with controls doing their best to compensate for the PSPs awkward button layout while a large roster of characters keeps battles interesting and varied. If you already have this title on PS3 or 360, it may be tricky to justify a purchase but you will be missing out on the best 3D one-on-one to ever hit a portable platform.This week, the revolving door of forum guests continues to spin as Iain and I are joined by the dulcet Irish charms of Gerard 'Chuppachup' Boyle. We chew the fat over the following;
Adventureland
Vampire Diaries
True Blood
How Not To Live Your Life
Derren Brown
Wario Shake It Dimension
No More Heroes
Metroid Prime Trilogy
Bit Trip Core/Beat
Dreamfall
Scribblenauts
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Iain and I are joined by the frankly awesome Phil 'evilninjaphil' Doyle. He attempts to bring some intellect to a podcast where we discuss the following;
500 Days of Summer
District 9
Taxidermia
House
9/11: 102 Minutes That Changed The World
Derren Brown
Fight Night Round 4
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Beatles: Rock Band
Guitar Hero 5
House of the Kill: Overkill
Fifa 10 / Katamari / Fat Princess Demo
PS - Phil's sound quality wasn't the best because of the last minute lo-fi recording setup he needed to come up with...
This week, Iain and I are joined by our good friend Ross Hendry from the CV forums. As a fantastic wee threesome, we discuss the following this week;
District 9
Defendor
Defying Gravity
Teen Wolf
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Call of Duty 4
Wet demo
Dead Space / Sam & Max
Tales of Monkey Island chapter 2
Umbrella Academy
Punisher
Disney buys Marvel
Space Hulk
