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Review: Singularity – Unique or Another “Singular” Wannabee

josh — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:00:27 +0000

Welcome to the future… No, scrap that. Welcome to the Past!

Guns, monsters, time control and tons of customisation, this could be good. Not to mention another story of Russia building some super-weapon to destroy everyone else and by everyone else I mean The U.S of A.

The game itself goes quickly from being a F.E.A.R. wannabee to a straight up, blow em’ up, shoot em’ up first person shooter. By F.E.A.R. wannabee I am referring to the scare-you-half-to-death concept, having a freakish looking monster pop up in front of you when you least expect it can scare the holy bejees out of anyone.

For example, walking through a haunting school with only a pistol that does little to no damage to the monsters in question, is seriously daunting. This coupled with the eerie music and the occasional stomach churning visions make for an excellent sh1t-your-pants experience. But as soon as you find an automatic rifle you feel that sense of insecurity disappear, as it mauls the monsters, so even if they do sneak up on you, just open up and see them coat the walls.

This does raise a question though, why have this frightening build-up dread in the first place? I can’t really think of a reason pertaining directly to gameplay but it certainly makes the game more involving. It also makes it stand out from the crowd of other first person shooters (FPS), hence the name Singularity. In truth it does need the scary story line because as a shoot em’ up FPS it isn’t anything special but it definitely gets the job done.

The ability to customise your weapons is pretty rad but pales in comparison to the unparalleled awesomeness of the TMD. The TMD or Time Manipulation Device is an instrument that was designed by the Russians as a type of a mini super-weapon (Think of it as a Weapon of Mass Destruction – Nano) which was intended to be developed into a mega super-weapon. It allows you to age or rejuvenate either objects or more enjoyably enemies, both human and monster.

The concept of time manipulation isn’t exactly a new one; however the specific applications of the TMD in the game appear original. Besides ageing or rejuvenating, the TMD has the ability to grab and throw objects and enemies, purge surrounding enemies and create a time slowing sphere. One of the most awesome ways to kill a monster is to open a time slowing sphere around it and pump a whole magazine into it, watching as your bullets slowly make their way toward it… gruesome but totally rewarding. A final feature of the TMD is it allows you to open time rifts and travel into the past and present. Impressively, the game still has a linear flow despite the timeline constantly changing.

A Russian scientist developed the TMD and a war driven character uses it for the wrong reasons, power. I know, my first thought was also a sarcastic “original”. Your character, an American soldier, is thrown into mayhem on Katorga-12. Katorga-12 is an island that is ravaged by time manipulation gone wrong.

At the get go you are sent back in time, which seems like a vision that will have no consequences but has relevance later in the game. You end up saving an unsavoury character that topples Stalin’s government and becomes the ruler of Russia. You return to the present and many things have changed. One such change is the Geneva Convention ruling on POW’s is inexistent… oh no. The game then proceeds to have you go back and forth in time until you realise that the only way to destroy… can’t say anymore or I’ll spoil it.

Singularity is by no means what the title suggest, unique. The fact is it has been done before and lots. But where it differs is with the customisation of weapons and the TMD, decent twist at the end, requirement of smart thinking gamers on occasions and some gory moments.

Rating

8/10

Guide to the New Apple iPods – Touch, Touch, Click.

brendon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:38:15 +0000

iPod Touch

Apple iPod Touch

iPhone 4 without the phone

New features include:
Two cameras: The first, a front facing VGA camera for Facetime video chat – over WiFi. The second a rear facing ~~5 Megapixel camera capable of HD Video recording as well as some pretty decent pictures~~ camera capable of HD Video recording. Apple have not yet disclosed the rear facing camera’s specifications, although from the looks of things it is most likely going to be somewhere in the range of 0.6 to 1 megapixels. (Thanks @Shaun & @ping – see comments) This is rather poor compared to the iPhone 4′s 5 megapixel camera but I gather this it to keep the iPod Touch super slim.
The retina display, the same awesome screen as in the iPhone 4
A substantially faster processor, the same one as in the iPhone 4, and a video processor, which should allow for some mind blowing games in the future, as well as great multitasking and smoother operation of iOS 4.1.
Game Center: An application that allows iPod users to play multiplayer games over a WiFi network with friends or some random folks. This could either totally rule, or be an app that just sits there gathering dust – still I can’t wait to give it a go!
Design: The case is somewhat thinner than the previous gen iPod Touch, which in itself is phenomenal as the previous gen iPod Touch’ case was only around O.5cm thick.

Notable Features Carried Over:
Unified Mailbox: Messages from multiple email accounts all viewed in a single inbox. A prominently used feature on my iPhone, that said I hardly ever check my email on my iPod Touch but it is comforting that this feature is there if I ever did get the urge.
Voice control: Switching tracks, choosing artists, shuffling, pausing and playing music.
Nike+iPod: Fully integrated into the device.

iPod Nano

Apple iPod Nano

Completely redesigned.

New Features Include:
Everything: The new design ditches the classic clickable scroll wheel for a small square multi touch screen. From the looks of things the navigation on the Nano will be similar to that of the iPod Touch. Playlists, Podcasts, Artists, Genius etc being icons on the home screen. After you have selected a category, scroll through the lists of songs, albums or podcasts as you would on any other touch screen.
Pedometer: A sort of Nike+iPod lite. Set step goals and upload data to the Nike+iPod website. However, it would have been way cooler to see a full integration of Nike+iPod.
Genius Mixes: Using Apples Genius engine a selection of tracks in a certain genre are compiled to make a playlist taking into account your listening (and shopping for those countries lucky enough to have iTunes) habits.

Notable Features Carried Over:
Radio with Live Pause: By far the best radio on any portable media device. It allows you to pause live radio as well as detect what song is currently playing (and then for our American brethren buy it on iTunes, our developing nation is snubbed once again – still no iTunes for South Africa)

iPod Shuffle

Apple iPod Shuffle

Cable controls? What where they thinking…

New Features Include:
The click-wheel is Back: That’s it really; on the Shuffle – play, pause, next track, previous track, volume up and volume down. This is basically the exact configuration of the iPod Shuffle of two generations ago, when Apple ditched them for a three-buttoned controller on the ear bud cable, which was a rather epic fail. So let’s just forget about that shall we…
Switchable playlists: Switch playlists using VoiceOver – to determine what playlist you’re on – and the next, previous track keys. This was a sorely missed feature on the previous gen Shuffles.

Notable Features Carried Over:
VoiceOver: Click the VoiceOver button (located on the top of the device) and the music softens, a man (or woman) tells you the title and artist of the song you are currently listening to – a useful, rather smart feature.

iPod Touch Ad

iPod Nano Ad

Brendon Ambrose
Editor

Review: TomTom Live Services – Almost Like Having Aki Anastasiou Mounted on Your Windscreen

brendon — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:00:01 +0000

I get my news from two places, the internet and 702. In my opinion, no other radio station does news and current affairs better. Every now and then I like to catch The David O’Sullivan Show, which is interesting and intelligent without coming across as pompous. That said, I avoid Jenny Crwys-Williams’ show like the plague. Albeit, not because of Jenny, but because of her callers-in. They tend to be geriatrics who firmly believe that everyone in 702-land is as interested in their grandkids as they are. Not to mention that without fail, they always begin their tirade with the phrase “Jennyyy! You wouldn’t believe…”

There is one more presenter who I try to hear when I am in the car, Aki Anastasiou. Aki does the traffic and has his own technology show Technobyte, which is rather good. Aki is the only radio presenter that makes traffic sound like fun, the man has a contiguous aura of happiness that even comes through on radio – A 23 car pileup on the M1, 5 hour delay? Fantastic!

Sadly though, I have not heard old Aki’s voice for a while now; I have been using the TomTom GO750 Live which has a live traffic feed that routes me around the congested areas.

This has its benefits, The GO 750 Live comes with HD Traffic, IQ Routes and Google Integration. Aki doesn’t come standard with any of these things, but let’s have a look at them anyway.

HD Traffic uses live traffic information to route you around congested areas. A brilliant feature that when I tested, got me to my destination around 20% quicker than my usual, memorized route. The “HD” in HD Traffic is a very smart innovation created by a partnership between TomTom and Tracker. At any given moment there are hundreds of thousands of vehicles being tracked by Tracker on South Africa’s roads. Their location, direction and speed of travel are monitored (anonymously of course) by Tracker and then fed through to TomTom. This gives TomTom comprehensive traffic data throughout South Africa. TomTom also use information provided by the same guys that Aki uses, to get information about any incidents, such as accidents, roadwork’s and the such, on our roads.

The Live devices also have a Google Local Search, what this allows you to do is search Google’s extensive POI (Point of Interest) database and navigate to that destination. This is especially helpful when in cities like Rustenburg, where TomTom’s built in POI database is not as extensive as Google’s. The other advantage is you can see the price range, whether or not a restaurant requires a reservation and the ratings patrons have given it on Google. [After the USA v Algeria game at Loftus, the family needed dinner. Using the Local Search on the GO 750 I found this sweet restaurant in Pretoria - Crawdaddies]

All this information is fed through to your TomTom via a 3G network. All TomTom Go Live devices have a Vodafone SIM card embedded in the device, you are not charged for data and Vodacom’s coverage in South Africa is so comprehensive that wherever you are chances are you will have a data connection. You can also take your TomTom overseas (once you have purchased the map for your destination) and the Live services will work anywhere Vodafone has a network or a partner network.

Interestingly my TomTom, (GO 720) even though it is two and a half years old, also benefits from the launch of live services in South Africa. All TomTom’s new and old (requires an update, just plug it into your PC) units, now come with a service called IQ Routes. TomTom, have a historical overview of traffic information. This allows them to map what roads are congested on certain days at specific times. So, when the TomTom maps out a route for you, it takes into account what roads are most likely congested.

So, what is it going to cost you?

GO 750 Live
a. The device: R3 299
b. Annual updates: Maps will cost around R400 for South Africa and a renewal of Live services for one year will also be a cost option, for R499 for an annual subscription from the second year on.

Your Current TomTom
a. You will have to upgrade to the latest map. This will cost around R400, for the new map, and includes updates for the entire year, then you have to purchase a new map again.

Aki Anastaiou
Free

I do have two gripes. Firstly, advanced lane guidance is yet to be launched in South Africa – Lane guidance basically tells you when you should be in a specific lane. Apparently they are working on it but with our new five lane highways I hope it comes sooner rather than later. Secondly, when I first received the GO 750 Live it was broken, this has never happened with Aki – if for some reason he isn’t there, 702 provides some unfortunate lad to try and fill the mans shoes. Granted, the TomTom support staff where fantastic, but at the end of it all where unable to help. I got the device replaced, which now works perfectly.

Overall, a highly impressive array of services from TomTom. But here is the thing, I miss Aki. As far as I can tell, Aki does not have 3G built in, nor does he have Google’s POI database in his head but I dont care. So, in future the TomTom is turned off and 702 turned on. Aki, your fan in his silly little red car is back.

TomTom Navigation Voices – Darth Vader

Aki Interviewing Aaron Mokoena

__
Brendon Ambrose
Managing Editor

Xbox Kinect VS PS3 Move

josh — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 06:00:03 +0000

Here at TechHuman we believe in speaking our minds, of course tempered with a touch of reality and an unbiased view. That said, from my totally unbiased point of view – the PS3 is rubbish and Xbox 360 is godlike.

Here is a breakdown of the two new comers to the interactive, immersive world of motion controlled gaming.

PS3 Move – Wii’s Bigger Blacker Brother

The PS3 Move is “taking motion control gaming to a whole new level”, well not really. The Wii beat them to it. This is sad to say, but PS3 gamers, gloating about your 8 processors, your 6 axis remote, and your much more powerful machine are one step behind the curve, again.

Move makes use of the Playstation Eye, an ancient technology, that was used for Eye Toy on the PS2; one new feature is the camera now has the ability to track you as you move around.

PS3 Move - Eye Toy

I’m sure not many hard-core PS3 gamers will remember the frivolous Eye Toy. In conjunction with the ridiculous looking Wii like remote, with a ball like growth on top, Move Motion Controller and another plain black Wii like remote – sorry Move Navigation Controller.

PS3 Move - Controllers

The system isn’t exactly going for originality.

That said, The PS3 Move has got precise motion control spot on. The accuracy of your motion is absolutely astounding. With minimal delay and ultra-smooth operation, is where Move distances itself from Wii.

This flailing about with a glowing ball is all good and well, but what about the hard-core gamers?

Well, PS3 has got the technology, eight processors, a killer graphics card and an active backend of software engineers constantly updating the device. With this in mind, I am rather looking forward to Time Crisis: Raizing Storm and Socom 4. Hopefully, in the future we could be seeing the likes of Final Fantasy or Call of Duty making an appearance.

All in all PS3 Move could produce the goods and has already got a strong foothold in terms of games offered. PS3 Move will be good… but Xbox Kinect, that’s going to be something else!

Xbox Kinect – Be That Kickass Ninja, Without A Remote

Let’s start with the main feature – remotes – there are none. No funny looking, colour changing balls or phoney Wii remote wannabees, no no no, just me and a TV screen. All I require is the Kinect sensor and a pair of arms and legs.

XBox 360 Slim - Kinect Bar

Just imagine driving your favourite car at high speeds on your favourite track with almost realistic images, all whilst holding nothing but air. You can look into corners before you take them, change gears, slam on brakes, mash the throttle all with natural movements.

Better yet think of the sheer excitement you could have playing Gears of War in your living room! Some useless Beserker pops you one and you return the favour by literally running up to him, and using your chain saw melee weapon to split him in two. But how you do this is by running on the spot lifting your hands and moving them in the correct direction. I’m not saying Gears of War for Kinect has been developed or is actually going to be, but with Microsoft’s innovative nature, it may become a reality.

Let’s not forget that the Kinect sensor, besides being able to track you like the PS3 eye has also got voice recognition. Yes voice recognition, eat your hearts out. Say hello and it turns on, say goodbye and it turns off! Basically, what’s on the screen just needs to be said and the Xbox will load it.

Another great feature is the ability to connect to another Xbox user and chat live on screen. On top of that you can scan your own clothing or your own gear to be used in game assuming the game has that specific feature. Scrolling through menus is now done by gesturing your hand back and forth. To get to the point the possibilities seem endless!

Now you may be thinking hold on where’s the catch? Well, if the system doesn’t work like Microsoft says it does then it will be the hugest flop. But at the moment the demonstration videos and user’s comments seem to be entirely positive. Kinect is undoubtedly Legendary! No remotes, an already large game development unit in place and Microsoft’s innovative thinking… it is going to EPIC!

Josh “Swift” Sack
Gaming Editor

Review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 – He Didn’t Sleep With Anyone

josh — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:35:33 +0000

Original Wii golf game gets facelift and that’s about it…

As with every other Tiger Woods PGA tour title words like exciting, exhilarating, breath-taking and fun don’t spring to mind. It’s the same game with newer courses, younger professionals and a few extra features.

As I did do the review on Wii, I was expecting somewhat of a more enjoyable experience. I was sorely mistaken. Due to Wii’s lack of graphics processing the game looks quite horrible. PS1 would have given it a run for its money. It doesn’t look smooth and the green and the fairway look the same save the fairway being two tones of green. The golfers such as Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh can be identified but if they looked that bad in real life well then I hope their present or future spouses are the personality loving type.

Now I do realise harping on the graphics of the Wii is completely redundant as it was not designed to produce stellar images. So moving right into gameplay, the original Wii golfing game was simple to use and was on occasions enjoyable. This Tiger Wood’s PGA tour seems to use the same system with a few added aspects. Such as true view which is an over the ball view as you take your swing.

The ability to read fade or draw on the ball is useful when planning those precise shots. But it has the exact same feel as the Wii game.
Swing the remote as hard as you can and as long as you had aligned and chosen how the ball will be struck you just won’t go wrong. You can play sitting down, swinging backwards, on your knees and through your legs and all will achieve the same result, unless you change the settings to the most difficult.

It makes up just a tad with the family fun golf mode, which allows you and your family to play through a mini golf themed course. And another mode called “party mode”, no it really ain’t no party, allows you to play against your friends through a series of different holes from different courses.

For golfing enthusiasts this game really can be quite captivating, as you can choose your team for Ryder Cup or play as your favourite golfer or even rise from the bottom as yourself and take down the likes of Tiger.

With the hardest setting your swinging motion definitely determines your accuracy and distance. The realism is quite astonishing once you get the hang of playing on this difficulty setting. Besides the weight of the club and the impact against the ball your motion and swing height really do come into play. These more realistic effects are where I can draw a distinction between this title and the Wii golf game, and of course the look of the menus and HUD whilst playing.

Tiger Woods PGA tour 11 definitely won’t be winning me over, and unless you have a family who are all golfing enthusiasts it won’t be winning you over either. However if you enjoy as close to realism as possible than this is a must have title. In the enthusiast’s case, the driving range is a mere 15 steps away from your bed.

Rating: 4/10

Josh “Swift” Sack
Gaming Editor

Review: Red Dead Redemption – Grand Theft Auto meets Call of Juarez

josh — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:35:27 +0000

John Marston, an ex-outlaw forced out of retirement to hunt down those he once knew as friends. The journey that plays out is bloody long and somewhat complex. As with most sand-box styled games – missions, side missions and small adventures are plenty. You’ll often find yourself engrossed with completing one task when all of a sudden a women who has just had her wagon hijacked comes running, begging for your help. I mostly ignored such asides. On the occasion that I was feeling overly nice to some AI I would gallop after that wagon thief and return it to her.

As for your surroundings, as with GTA they are expansive to say the least. There is no single route or method to attack a bandit’s hideout or rob a town’s safe. Between the extremely far spaced towns and ranches lie deserts, rivers and mountainous plains. Although at first you are spurred into awe by the sheer size and detail of it all, but you quickly realise the fastest way around is by stage coach or use of an “advanced camp site” which you purchase and it enables you to save and travel quickly.

Even with the “advanced camp site” you still spend a lot of time just trying to get to your next mission. Thus leading me to my next point…. DON’T DIE, not ever, do not do it, trust me, please don’t. I cannot stress it enough. Often missions involve riding to a destination &*$%ing far away. Not fun the fourth time round.

Besides needing at least a month of gameplay time to fully complete the game, many missions, well actually most missions are carbon copies of one another. The basic structure: get on horse, ride to a destination, have a chat (that can’t be skipped), get off your horse, choose a weapon, shoot some folk, get back on horse, ride away whilst being chased, shoot some more folk (off horses this time, yay), outrun pursuers, reach safety, get off horse and receive reward.

I do realise that I’m painting a rather bleak picture of this game. Red Dead Redemption does have many saving graces. The dead eye ability, which slows down time and allows you to pick out specific targets and points on their bodies is unbelievably awesome. Taking out six bandits with six bullets in one coordinated fluid movement makes anyone feel like a gunslinging machine.

Lassoing horses and then breaking them in to become your own is awesome. But what is more awesome is lassoing robbers and either dragging them back to the sheriff or hogtieing them and putting one on the back of your horse to take back. However, the most awesome, assuming you are a bit of a sadist, is lassoing and hogtieing them in the middle of the wilderness and waiting around to see what wildlife you attract. The auto-lock on feature is also a great idea as it would be extremely difficult to control your horse, aim at the enemy and pull off a great shot. There are an array of guns and weapons, all unique and enjoyable. Changing of apparel comes in the form of piecing together a full outfit through side missions.

The final and most important saving grace, well at least I think so, is the ability to play the game as either a good Samaritan or cunning bandit. Each with their positives and of course negatives. Red Dead Redemption covers all bases for each style and really does give you an interactive gaming experience.

Although repetitive, enduring and monotonous Red Dead Redemption is a fantastic game. Plenty to do, thousands of ways of doing it and a decent story line this game will definitely be pleasing many gamers.

Please just do me a solid and don’t DIE!

Rating : 6/10

Available On: PS3 & Xbox 360

Josh “Swift” Sack
Gaming Editor

Review: EA Skate 3 – Broken Bones = Points, Yes It’s That Kind of Game!

rodney — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:54:20 +0000

Slowly but surely, the gaming world is taking over the real one. Almost everything you can do in the real-world you can now do on your plasma. Take Skate 3 for example, the advantage is the falling aspect doesn’t hurt as much. That said the disadvantage is rather grave – The one thing games cannot replace, girls. Who consequently are far more impressed with real skaters.

The Story line revolves around a young and upcoming skater starting his own boarding company. You complete challenges to gain reputation and spread the word of your business. It is simple: more challenges completed equals more reputation gained which equals more sales and ultimately more money made. EA gains kudos for the variety of challenges. Challenges range from races, photographs of tricks, severely injuring yourself and the such.

The intricacy in which you create your own character is mind blowing. As the game begins you are bombarded with customization options. Tattoo? Blue Shoes? Element hoodie? Emo (I love cupcakes) hair? Why there are so many choices? I want to play ALREADY! Skate 3 has more options than The Sims. I have never seen the point of picking what logo your skater has on his skinny jeans… but it’s nice to have the choices.

Gameplay is complicated and difficult to get to grips with. Moving each analog stick in conjunction with the other in order to perform a kick flip is very tricky. Swing the analog stick just a degree off and that’s you eating dirt. However, once you get the hang of it, learn to pull off mad tricks and sick air the “rad-nicity” escalates.

Skate 3 has a urban sand box styled world. EA have designed the environment exceptionally well ensuring that as you skate from one event to the next, with an abundance of obstacles with which to perform tricks on the way. If skate boarders could design heaven this would be it.

Loading screens provide you with interesting facts that keep you entertained during the unreasonable long load times. These facts include: how far you have bailed, the air distance travelled, tricks performed and how many bones you have broken.

The most entertaining part about Skate 3 has to be the hall of meat challenges. The objective in these challenges is to injure yourself as much as possible. This is achieved by launching your skater off high ramps and cannon-balling head first into a wall. Upon landing broken bones glow bright red showing off how you have mauled your skater. This is a bit sadistic but hey I’m rather competitive so hey, I messed up my character more than you… I win.

Online gameplay was somewhat of a disappointment. It was impossible to find players to skate with. You must assume that everyone is so engrossed with the single player campaign that they rarely venture online. I don’t blame them, only tried the online for the sake of this review. I was perfectly happy sticking with the offline campaign. Sadly, EA believe you don’t have any real friends so a multiplayer option is not available which is a huge problem in the game. Turning to your friend on the couch saying, “dude you wiped so hard” is always better than over a head set. The lack of multiplayer is a major fail.

In conclusion Skate 3 is a great game to play once every few weeks, when you get bored of your other games. When you do play expect laughs as you sit by yourself.

Rating: 6/10

Available On: PS3, Xbox 360

Rodney “Mumbles” Burke
Games Writer

Review: Blur – Taking Road Rage to a Whole New Level!

josh — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:56:36 +0000

Fast driving, great tunes, pimping wheels, a few ramps here and there… oh and I forgot to mention, monstrous power-ups! Honestly with such a recipe it seems as if this could be a good one.

With the objective of becoming the city’s most infamous driver, you begin on the lowest class slowly working your way up through the individual bosses and classes. This is done all the while by gaining fans through destroying other drivers, racing like a champ and completing fan demands. The more fans you have the more cars you unlock and the more bosses you beat the more bosses you unlock. Very linear but who needs a deep storyline when gameplay is just so appealing.

You pick up the remote, play for five minutes, you then realise hold on I’m feeling a tad faint. It then dawns on you that you haven’t taken a breath in the past five minutes. You are then forced to click pause, as much as it hurts you to do so, in order to take another breath so you can continue enjoying the game before passing out.

Activision obviously realised that with such a game there would be limited variety in different driving formats. So they stuck with solid basics: racing, checkpoints, demolition, destruction and one on one. However, to make up for the lack of formats they gave drivers an exorbitant amount of cars to choose from, each catered for different driving styles. You can also customise the colour of your chosen vehicle, which is a rather redundant feature.

“I’m in front, yay yay yay! oh what’s that a large glowing rapidly approaching ball of energy?” and to much disappointment my next thought “oh it won’t do any harm it’s far too pretty.” A flashing red warning light appears at the bottom of the screen “ok so maybe I’m wrong, too late” I get sent flipping through the air watching body panels fling off as my car totals. Idiot. Don’t get caught with your pants down, anything and everything is out to get you. From the blind leading the blind: Drive accordingly.

Power-ups, power-ups and more power-ups. Some to blast a hole through a barrier of fellow drivers, some to punish those who can’t keep up and others to protect yourself against the previous two. Within a quarter you soon find that your dream coloured car looks, well nothing like it did and this is before you even get power ups. AI drivers are firm and hold their line well. They know you’re there and react accordingly, by trying to get you totalled. Not cool!

Shunts, barges, bolts, nitro, shields, repair, mines, and shocks, with most having the ability to fire both forwards and backwards, will have you swerving, dodging and racing to your utmost to stay in front or get in front. Power-ups come in the form of glowing drive through markers placed closely together. Being nudged off a barge power-up and then immediately being barged by that same driver will cause major frustration and it happens a whole lot, however realising you have a shunt power-up and then locking on to that driver and obviously firing it gives a warm relieving revengeful feeling.

As for graphics, the cars and damage look more than believable, as the damage is progressive. Power-up effects are stellar and so pleasing you often find yourself slamming into the wall because you missed the turn whilst being consumed by the car ahead of you being flipped by a well shot shunt. Surroundings are well done but as they play a small role they really didn’t need to be anything incredible.

The only criticism I can give it is the lengthy load time. But once loaded and racing you forget all about it and find yourself absolutely enthralled. 4 screen multiplayer is a blast and coupled with the AI will leave you and your friends rolling on the floor laughing. Online team racing is a brilliant aspect and once you get the right teammates together it becomes all too gratifying. Blur really has covered almost everything and if they did miss a trick I was already so impressed that I did not notice its flaws – and I was looking for them!

All in all, blur is a must have. It’s awesome and the best aspect of the game is it just doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is why it is such a jam. It is fast, exciting, skilful and occasionally frustrating. Finally, it doubles as a wicked awesome drinking game… what else does a game need to do?

Rating:
8/10

Josh “Swift” Sack
Gaming Editor

Review: Transformers War For Cybertron – When Being a Big Ass Transformer Just Ain’t Enough.

josh — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:29:54 +0000

YEAAAAH!

WIN A COPY OF TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON Listen to Chai FM (101.9FM) for the question on Tuesday the 29 June 2010 between 7:30 & 8AM. Send your answer to competitions@techhuman.com Competition ends 30 June @ 7:30AM

Question: What is the name of the largest Autobot in the game?

Hint! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_for_Cybertron – search “Omeg…”

Transform from a ballistic speeding ‘hover-car’ into a machine gun wielding robot soldier as you slide past a group of enemy soldiers, turn around and render them all into scrap. Do this a million times and still you never find yourself getting bored.

Let’s start with the story, unlike the previous two Transformer games, it doesn’t follow the movies. So by deduction it is not a movie game, yay. That means we can assume it will actually be a good game, which it is. It has the foundations in place. Does it deliver? Hell yeah it does! Huge guns, huger enemies, even huger environments, great explosions, oh and did I mention the ability to transform, what’s not to like! It begins with the Decepticon’s mission to reopen the energy bridge and allow dark energon to corrupt Cybertron so that Megatron can take over. You then play as the Autobots trying to allow Cybertron to recover and put the power back into the right hands. This allows everyone to play both sides and thus everyone can enjoy playing as their favourite characters from the comic and the movies.

Often I found myself being outnumbered and outgunned and having to use the same system of finding cover, destroying a few bad guys, then once evenly balanced coming out from cover and bolting towards the nearest enemy to melee him into oblivion. But this is not to say that there is only one way to take out the enemy. With the use of different weapons all gamer styles can be accommodated. If you enjoy taking cover and picking them off from afar then be my guest. However, if you feel that you need to get up close and personal then expect a rewarding metal on metal thud accompanied by a spray of transparent purple oil on your screen as the enemy disintegrates into shards of twisted parts.

The graphics are nothing spectacular but definitely do the job. Certain elements such as the larger outer space and “nervous system cores” outshine the duller tunnels and pathways. Explosions and certain weapons can sometimes produce eye catching images. All in all, you won’t necessarily be amazed but you definitely won’t be disappointed.

Most transformer fans would have noticed that transformers are pretty huge compared to the average human. In War for Cybertron, Megatron and Optimus Prime are dwarfed by their surroundings and other utterly monstrous transformers. Flying through a massive plasma cannon and dodging rockets and enemy fire on your way to the cannon’s delicate cooling system in an attempt to destroy it only to find out it isn’t an inanimate cannon but rather a humongous Decepticon leaves you jaw dropped and drooling at the sheer size of it all.

Online multiplayer and escalation are a series of epic events regardless of who you are playing with or against. And with the ability to customise, yes I did just say it “customise”, your own transformer the possibilities of enjoyment are astronomical. With ‘Power Struggle’ (capture the flag), ‘Deathmatch’, ‘Team Deathmatch’, ‘Conquest’ and ‘Code of Power’ game styles everyone is catered for. Specifically with ‘Code of Power’ where players vie for the possession of a giant melee weapon one will find oneself shrouded in enjoyment.

Transformers: War For Cybertron is one awesome game whether playing online or co-op campaign excitement and thrills will be had. This game is both intensely fun and just plain intense and really does make up for the previous two title’s downfalls – and they were plenty, so based on the fact that one game makes up for them – and then some – tells this is one must-have title! I kid you not go and get it.

Rating 8/10

Josh “Swift” Sack
Gaming Editor

Vuvuzela 2010 – The Best Selling App in the iTunes Store!

arieh — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:47:26 +0000

The French left early, The Italians couldn’t fight, the Americans waited until the last moment and the English are left to fight the Germans. Sound familiar? Well it’s surprising you can hear any sounds at all after 3 weeks of Vuvuzela blasting.

Vuvuzela Graph

And now you don’t have to overtly tell people that you’re the kind of idiot who would blow a vuvuzela in a shopping centre by actually carrying a vuvuzela. But like so many other situations, the universe has decided to say : “There’s an app for that.”

This one called “vuvuzela 2010” in particular, and it’s now free, so if you just spent $500 on a new iPhone 4, firstly, don’t hold it by the sides, secondly I hate you, and thirdly if you want everyone else in earshot to hate you even more, well, like we said. There’s an app for that

iTunes App Store

Arieh Esra
Assistant Editor

News: Apple Announces New iPods & iTunes 9