This kind of cross console advertising is not uncommon. Recent editions of EA’s FIFA franchise boldly feature an advertisment for “Xbox 360 Live” (below) on the jersey of, MLS Team, the Seattle Sounders. It seems the big three have more slip ups than Didier Drogba.

Source: SiliconEra via TheSixthAxis

Of course, this is just a rumor for now. The recent amount of HD collections that have been released leads this writer to think that it’s more than just a possibility. If this is the case, and Sony do really have a “facelift queue”, then what other gems could we see in HD? Only time will tell. If this rumor turns out to be true, and there is indeed an MGS HD trilogy in the works, I will – to use a technical term – ‘flip my shit’.

Source: God Is A Geek

I’m not saying that the depth isn’t there, but newcomers can pick up and play with ease. Soon enough they’ll be placing pinpoint passes like Paul Scholes and scoring 30 yard screamers like United’s midfield wizard as well. If players want depth, they can find it. I just think it works better as an arcade-style title than it does as a simulation. The passing is that of a pinball machine. The ball just seems to bounce from player to player before finding an eventual destination. I found it far too easy to string a few passes together before whacking the ball into the back of the net. It’s a tactic that works and works often. Rarely was I intercepted and, even on the harder difficulties, I still triumphed. I also found wing-play to be a doddle. I felt like the AI didn’t want to stop me. This was my second and last tactic employed throughout the rest of my playthrough. Both of them served me well. The AI definitely feels laxed. Even on the harder difficulties, they didn’t pose much of a threat. Maybe it’s because I’m awesome at the game, but I doubt that a lot. I just feel Konami are catering for the player who wants fun over simulation.

That’s no bad thing. The biggest thing I took away from my time with Pro Evo is that it was fun. I had fun running rings around defenses, scoring from outside the box with ease and making precision tackles to save the game. That fun lasted for a while, but soon got tedious. It was still great to play, but something was missing. A challenge. I expect to be shaking in my boots when I come up against the game’s top teams. Instead, they were just another game. For me, that’s not how it should be.

Graphically it’s the best I’ve seen PES. The players on licensed teams all look fairly realistic, but they still retain that ‘uncanny valley’ feel to them. The character models are good, but everyone seems to have the same profile. The environments look really good. Licensed stadiums like Old Trafford look like the real thing and they’re lit really well too. It’s quite uncommon, I feel, to talk about the lighting in a sports game, but this was one of the game’s best graphical features. The way the light shifted was brilliant and at dusk everything looks brilliant. So good, I want my life cast in that exact light. The presentation isn’t bad, but it isn’t good either. The Champions League stuff is brilliant, it feels just like it does on the TV. However, without a full licensing agreement with the FA a lot of it looks outdated. The menu’s are a big problem, probably the biggest the game has. It’s full of Japanese sensibilities that just don’t work. It feels clunky to move around and pretty confusing to navigate. Getting lost in a the menu of a videogame is not something I expect in 2010.

The crowning achievement of this year’s Pro Evo is the movement of players. It feels more natural than ever and, with FIFA boasting their new ‘Personality+’ features, it’s a good job. There was the odd time I didn’t feel in control, but for the most part it felt as it should. It made a die-hard FIFA fan think twice anyway. The problem is that, even with all the improvements, it’s not quite there. There’s still a few things that need sorting out before Pro Evo gets promoted to the big leagues again.

8/10

Pro Evo was the cream of the crop last generation, but that just hasn’t transferred into the HD era. For me, Pro Evo has always looked better in it’s cutscenes and replays than the actual game did. There’s no change here. For the most part, animations look stiff and don’t really flow into one-another. Konami have definitely worked to make their ‘skill’ system similar to FIFA’s and that really works. Performing different skills is intuitive and they can be strung together quite easily. The problem I had is the basic animations were everything the skill system wasn’t. Passing animations looked stiff and the shooting felt canned. Collecting the ball also seemed to be a problem. The subtle right stick movements that work so well in ‘the other’ football sim are really missed here and the flowing nature of football wasn’t present.

With the game coming out very soon, it feels far too arcadey to be the football simulation it was back in the day. It feels stiff and outdated and very Japanese. Everything down to the presentation is full of Japanese sensibilities that just don’t feel right. I’ll try to give my full verdict when the game releases next month, but everything is pointing to PES 11 being runner up yet again.

Earlier this week, Hideo Kojima sent out a ‘tweet’ talking about how he wanted to make a ‘complete’ version Metal Gear Solid 4 – one that would include support for 3D and, the long awaited, trophy support. However with Metal Gear Solid: Rising on the way, he doesn’t have the time. That’s not the end of the story though, Kojima also said: “I wonder if someone else would make it for me”.

That last bit gives us all hope that someone might step in and that MGS4 would, at last, get trophy support. You never know though, maybe this is an elaborate ploy by Kojima to keep an announcement secret. He wouldn’t be the first to lie about his involvement with a game. Would he, Mr. Jaffe?

GamePro contributor, Ben PerLee was told that the game could have a life beyond Sony’s handheld. 

“So after I had done the preview, [Konami] had a Q/A session with us to get our complaints/ideas about the game,” PerLee reported. “Other than the basics, they asked what we thought about if they released it on PSN for the PS3 as well and had online multiplayer.”

It’s not uncommon for developers to ask such questions, so this is definitely not concrete evidence. However, the fact that Konami are even thinking such things is sure to excite fans of the franchise (fans like yours truly). This doesn’t necessarily relate directly to Peace Walker and could be a hint as to Mr. Kojima’s next adventure. Only time will tell.

Konami have announced that it will be they that will be publishing the latest attempt at rapaoke (see what I did there?) and that the game will be releasing this ‘fall’ on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii.

Only a handful of the game’s tracklist has been revealed thus far (listed after the jump) so I really don’t know how this will pan out. Hopefully it’ll be (and Ryan will agree with me on this) more Jurassic 5 than Soulja Boy.

• 2 Pac – I Get Around
• 50 Cent – I Get Money
• Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg – Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang
• Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx -Gold Digger
• Lil’ Wayne – A Milli
• Notorius B.I.G. – Juicy
• Slick Rick – Children’s Story
• T.I. featuring Rihanna – Live Your Life
• Wu Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.
• Young Jeezy featuring Kanye West – Put On

As far as we know the demo exactly the same as the one released at TGS earlier in the year, so if you know your Japanese there’s no need to download this. Do it anyway though. I mean, c’mon, it’s Metal Gear.

So I started my playthrough ready to hate this game, but by the end I kind of appreciated it. That’s not to say the game is great, it’s far from it, but it’s not as terrible as a game based off of a series of, fairly mediocre, horror movies might sound. The game takes place between the first two movies in the franchise and you take control of Detective David Tapp, a minor character from the first movie, who’s trying to track down The Jigsaw Killer. You’re healed by Jigsaw after taking a bullet in the chest and taken to the, now abandoned, Whitehurst Asylum. The game starts with you trapped in the iconic reverse bear trap and you have to escape, otherwise your head will be in a million bits on the floor. Pretty standard stuff in the Saw universe I think you’ll agree.

Escaping traps like this requires you to complete a fairly simple quick time event. Once you’ve removed yourself from the jaws of death, it’s time to go get Jigsaw. Of course, it’s not going to be easy. Along the way you’ll come across a series of ‘tests’. These tests come in the form of people who’ve crossed paths with Tapp in the past. It’s in these tests I think Zombie Studios could’ve made this game a hell of a lot more interesting. These scenarios are basically a device for driving the story forward and I never really felt satisfied by the outcomes. I think this is a massive missed opportunity for some ‘moral choice’ gameplay. Getting to choose what happens to these people would’ve made a lot more sense gameplay-wise because that’s what the series is all about. Secondly it would’ve stopped the game from being just another mediocre survival horror. It’s not like this could’nt have been done either. There is choice involved at some points, but it isn’t enough to really have an impact on the game as a whole.

Story-wise I think fans of the movies will be pretty satisfied. The game follows the conventions of a Saw movie pretty well. There’s certainly scenarios that people will be used to by now, and that could prove a sticking point for some. Others might see the opportunity to get more of that wonderful Saw story too tempting not to pick this game up. Who am I trying to kid? No one, and I mean no one, watches those movies for the plot. There’s a few familiar faces here too, but it won’t affect the experience of non-fans, because they’re the same characters you’ve seen in every other torture porn (yes, that’s an actual genre now) movie going. This is a game for fans though, there’s no doubt about it. I certainly wouldn’t have played it had I not been reviewing it.

Besides the QTE’s in trap situations there are a number of other elements that make up this game, some of which came as quite a surprise. The majority of the game is a third person action game. You wander through the darkened, stereotypical, horror movie environments hitting other ‘game players’ with improvised weapons as they come at you and that’s about it. Combat feels really unresponsive and clunky. I didn’t expect much, but this is pretty bad. It’s certainly no Dead Space, that’s for sure. There are some puzzle elements here too. These usually involve Tapp foraging around inside a dead guy in the morgue or sticking his hand in a toilet bowl filled with feces and dirty needles. Oh these writers, so inventive. You’ll be happy to know then that the game isn’t really up to scratch in the graphics department, otherwise there’d be some stomach-churning moments.

Like the rest of the game, Saw is pretty average in the graphics department. Everything looks, pretty much, as it should. The environments are dark and menacing. Just the typical horror movie affair really. The one thing I appreciated was the lack of repetition in the environments. Sure, there was a little bit, but the majority looked different enough to the point where I never felt I was retracing my stepts, even though I was in a completely different area. The character models aren’t much to shout about either, they look alright, but with the amount of darkness employed in the game, it didn’t really make much difference to me. However, this might be different for the Saw die hard. The only real problem I had graphically was the texture pop in, thankfully it didn’t occur to often.

Another really nice presentation feature was the voice of Tobin Bell. He provided the distinctive tones of Jigsaw for the game and thank god. Without him I don’t think the character would’ve come across right at all. Speaking of Jigsaw, his omnipresence is key to the movies and it’s been captured perfectly here by Zombie. Sadly, Bell is the only Saw cast member to provide his voice for the game. The lack of Danny Glover wasn’t really a problem, but it would’ve certainly been a nice touch.

The one thing I really have to compliment Saw on is the scare factor. I wasn’t really expecting much as I can usually sit through a saw movie pretty unphased. This game really did have me on edge a lot of the time and, I’ll admit it, I played it exclusively during the day. The darkened asylum, combined with Jigsaw’s commentary really worked well and I think survival horror fans will enjoy their experience in Whitehurst. However, the game can get pretty repetetive so don’t go in expecting something fantastic. Konami could have a good franchise on their hands here, but much improving needs to be done before it can compare with the likes of Silent Hill and Resident Evil.

I want to play a game. Just not this one.

6/10

The game will be available to download in Europe on Thursday and will cost £8. Not bad for the best game ever made, eh?