Some have said that the Call of Duty games were getting stale (and I think I’d agree with the WWII theme), but clearly Infinity Ward think differently, the break away from COD shows that things are going to keep on changing, and since Modern Warfare was a massive change (in theme if nothing else) then it makes sense to split away.

I recently upgraded my ageing 5 year old PC and screen and so I was able to play the game at full frame rate in the highest resolution it supported. It looks great, albeit a tiny bit aged. The first part of the game had a few lame characters and environments (like the tree village) but after I collected all 5 medallion pieces the game got REALLY good. It surprised me with just how many extra levels I had to fight through to get to the end of the game… and the end of the game was just nuts. I took all my wits and knowledge of the game’s weapons and fighting tactics to make it through alive.

Anyway, Serious Sam 2 is highly recommended if you can grab a used copy cheap somewhere…

Wonderland Archive Online

The Wonderland Archive is a one-stop destination for free custom content for the Wonderland game series. The archive is home to a plethora of user-made material, including over 13,000 free levels for Return To Wonderland, a huge collection of custom textures and 3D models, a complete player guides to the Wonderland Adventure games, and more.

The archive, along with the Wonderland community forum, is a valuable resource for all players of the Wonderland game series.

Visit the Wonderland Archive for more information.

Midnight Synergy Summer Sale

Midnight Synergy wants you to beat the summer heat and stay cool with some great deals. Currently, downloadable games are as low as $6.99 each. Purchase two or more games and receive an additional 20% discount.

Visit Midnight Synergy for more information.

As seen in the new video below the Blob can change into a variety of different objects when he is fed jelly beans. A licorice jelly bean, for instance, will change Blobert into a ladder, while a honey bean will turn him into a hummingbird. Whistling at Blobert causes him to turn back to his normal blobby form.

This latest version takes the best elements of the original and wraps them up in a gorgeous new package which should soon be ready for release on the Wii.

For those who missed it, Project Natal is a technology designed to allow you to play games without a controller. Taking cues from the Wii it removes control systems relying on watching the user move controlling the games based upon their motions.

Thankfully Felicia has managed to confirm, what we had all wondered. Yes, you will look like a bit of a fool flailing around trying to use the system.

Whilst I think this is quite a cool idea, I also think it will only work in certain situations. Microsoft claim it will work on all games but I don’t see that myself. In some situations I can see it being quite an enjoyable alternative, but there will always be people who think it’s daft and there will always be times when the extra control of a traditional controller is required.

Some of the games answer the criticisms aimed at Nintendo for pandering to the casual audiences – giving the more dedicated fans the sort of content they no and love from all those years ago. Below is a sprinkling of the new content they have now announced.

Mario Galaxy 2

Apparently Mario Galaxy 2 is going to be 95% new content, using many of the ideas left over from the first game. All anyone really cares about though, is that Yoshi is back!

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii takes the popularity of the DS version of the game, uses the same side scrolling features and then layers on a 4 player option – making it a totally new experience. I suspect this is going to work best as a party game – maybe even ignoring single play – but it looks like there’s a lot of scope for some crazy multiplayer action.

Metroid Other M

The big one! Developed by Team Ninja, famouse for Ninja Gaiden, and the Dead or Alive games, Metroid Other M is sure to be full of surprises. It utilizes the MotionPlus attachment for the Wii controller, and switches to a third person view point for the first time since the 2d games all those years ago. If the trailer is anything to go by, and I suspect it is, then we’re in for a treat.

Wii Sports Resort

Essentially this is Wii Sports 2 and, much like Wii Sports, it’s been designed to showcase a new piece of hardware – the Wii MotionPlus attachment. This time however the game looks like a more complete offering giving you all manner of new game modes and options to play with. There’s so much potential here it looks like it will be just as much fun as the original.

The game focuses on Sam Fishers fall from grace. Based upon the trailer he has been set up for some crime or other and he now needs to clear his name. The whole thing has a very Bourne Identity feel to it, with Sam openly walking around amongst crowds of people.

My guess is that it’s using the same tech as Assassins Creed since the crowd of people and the dense city scapes fit it really well. I hope it still has the complex, wonderfully lit, interiors of the earlier games in the series to keep the sneaking alive and well.

PDC World Championship Darts 2009 is this years official entry into the catalogue. It features the full roster of PDC players and a vast array of game modes.

On paper it sounds like a darts game would be the perfect fit for Nintendos motion sensing console. You could throw the darts ‘for real’ (hopefully not breaking tvs in the process), and the more casual darts fan heavy audience are exactly the sort of people who would have a Wii in the first place.

Whilst I am sure it will do well with darts enthusiasts for novices (such as myself) it’s less rosey – unfortunately when playing there were a few niggling issues that made it less fun than it could have been.

When you first insert the disc you’re given a whole host of menu options which mean little. The obvious starting point was ‘practice’ as I don’t know much about the sport – so that’s where I headed. You’re asked to pick a player and get a brief tutorial. You’re then given a shot of the board, and your chosen character split screen stylee. Now whilst this is the same as when watching it on the tv, I think this is the first mistake the game makes. The board should fill much more of the screen. All of it in fact.

I realise they want to make use of the licensed players but from a novices point of view it’s hard to see where you’re meant to be aiming those pointy arrows and it essentially reduces the size of the actual gameplay area.

You then have to aim you dart with the pointer before ‘throwing’ the dart using a real dart throwing motion (make sure to tighten the Wiimote strap!). Unfortunately this is made slightly awkward since the Wiimote is considerably larger than the average dart, and the requirement to hold the ‘A’ button whilst swinging, then letting go to throw, makes it even more cumbersome.

The need to split aiming and throwing is totally understandable, and works great in games like Boom Blox, but I did find the throwing rather woolly. There seemed to be no correlation between where you aim, the throw and where the dart ends up in the board (invariably not where I aimed). Also I found it hard to distinguish the board from the darts making it difficult to see what I had done once I had thrown.

The other small problem I had was the variety of game modes. Giving people loads of ways to play the game is fantastic but if, like me, they don’t play the chosen sport then they will need clear instructions of what all the different modes mean. I played a few games not realising my score was not changing – and then not understanding the rules when I did find where they were.

All that said there are some nice features hidden away. The create a player mode is quite cool and gives players a way to make themselves feel even more involved with the game.

If I had made the game I would have put more focus on the Career mode and locked off many of the game modes using them as as rewards unlocking the game types as the players proceed. This would give people more involvement with the games and make them feel more attached to the character, in turn encouraging them to play more.

Visually speaking the game is surprisingly good. The menus bland but all of the real world players likenesses have been created. As I mentioned above minus marks go to the dart board display – some extra time tweaking would have made a lot of difference.

I am convinced that a darts game could work well on the Wii. Boom Blox shows that the aiming and throwing thing can be made fun. Unfortunately as it stands there’s not enough to keep the non darts fans entertained. With some tweaking of the interface and input mechanisms I think PDC Darts 2009 could be quite an enjoyable experience.

Much of the fault lies with me, since I am not a Darts fan I found everything generally a bit confusing, however I think that it’s the game developers job to remove the confusion and create and enjoyable experience. Unfortunately this didn’t work for me, but I suspect Darts fans are bound to love it. The licensed characters and wealth of game modes are great – they just need to spend some time enhancing the actual gameplay experience to open the game up to less experienced darts enthusiasts.

Of course I’m not the target market for PDC World Championship Darts 2009 and seeing it at number two in the games chart in my local games store last weekend shows how little I know!

The game initially starts with four game modes to choose from – Classic mode is your standard, match-3 mode removing gems by matching three or more horizontally or vertically and to progress to the next level you have to fill up a bar by matching and removing gems, you keep playing until you cannot perform anymore moves.

Action where you are against the clock, so you have to keep matching gems to keep the timer going, if the timer runs out then it is game over, this can get frantic as the timer starts to get gradually quicker, great fun.

Endless mode, is exactly what it says, unlimited moves, no time, nothing special, just ongoing fun.

My favourite, however, was Puzzle mode, where you have to remove gems which are placed in a specific way, this adds a bit more thinking to the game and gets quite challenging, there are many puzzles in this mode, and they get tricky as you progress, I spent many hours just playing this mode alone. You can get hints if you are stuck but you do lose points for this.

There are also a few secret modes to unlock as you progress through the game, which adds to the longevity of the game, but to be honest if they were not there, you will always come back to the original modes.

The visuals are crisp and clean and although in HD, they are nothing to shout about, but then it really doesn’t need to look overly amazing as the gameplay gets you hooked early on. The voiceover guy sounds like he should be doing the voiceovers in a Mortal Kombat game, which is very amusing. There are leaderboards for all the modes so you can compare your score to your friends and other players around the world, and trophies are also available to collect.

If you know of Bejeweled then you will like this a lot, if you haven’t it’s worth downloading the demo to try it out. Basically this is an addictive little game you will dip into for 5 minutes, then realise you have been playing for hours!