Back at E3 2008 Microsoft announced that the ‘New Xbox Experience’ would be coming to the Xbox 360 the following November. Along with the dashboard re-design and a raft of other features Microsoft also announced a feature called ‘Xbox Live Primetime’. The idea of ‘Primetime’ was to bring the experience of a live gameshow to the console, with scheduled shows, live hosts and the ability to win prizes. The first of these shows was Endemol’s 1 Vs 100.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the concept of 1 Vs 100, given that there are many different versions of the show around the world (here in the UK it’s hosted by the National Lottery) but I’ll explain it for the benefit of those that don’t know. Basically there are 100 people in what is called the ‘mob’ (at least on this version anyway, as the UK TV version simply calls them the ‘100′) and one person is picked from here to face off against the 100. The ‘one’ and the ‘mob’ is then asked a question, with a choice of three answers, and if the ‘one’ gets this question correct they can then see how many people they have eliminated from the ‘mob’ (those that got the question wrong).  The more they eliminate, the bigger the prize gets.

In the Xbox 360 version the prizes are gamer points, arcade games and, every week, physical prizes including a camera and a car. If the ‘one’ gets a question wrong the mob get a small amount of gamer points or a free Arcade game and the ‘one’ is eliminated. The ‘one’ can also choose to walk away a certain points of the game, taking with them the points that they have earned so far. Unfortunately the prizes weren’t available from the first night of the beta, meaning that some people chose to walk away when they weren’t actually winning anything. It’s still not certain when the prizes will start being up for grabs, but popular opinion is next week.

Of course, with the vast amounts of people playing at the same time (80,000+ on the first night alone) not everyone will get the chance to be the ‘one’ or be in the ‘mob’. Everyone else is put into the ‘crowd’, where they can still answer questions and compete against each other in groups of four. These sessions, as well as the ‘extended play’ sessions (which I’ll get to in a moment), help to increase accuracy and speed at answering questions, which in turn gives you a better chance of getting into the ‘mob’. So, Microsoft says that the more ‘extended play’ sessions you take part in the better chance you have at winning a prize when it comes to the live shows. You won’t get any prizes in ‘extended play’, as there are only 30 minute rounds of 37 questions with no ‘one’. It is basically everyone sat in the ‘mob’ answering questions and competing against each other. If you get the question correct you also get a bonus of points based on how many people got it wrong, and as in the live game you also get a small bonus for how fast you answered the question (even if you get it wrong). The problem with the speed thing is that some people have an impossible response time of ‘0′ seconds simply because they are constantly bashing the ‘x’ button. I don’t know how this could possibly be fun for them , plus it drives their accuracy way down, but I suppose some people just have to flatter their incredibly large ego’s to appear at the top of the speed rankings. Thankfully the speed bonuses aren’t that big, so they can’t rack up a large score just by button bashing.

As for other problems I haven’t encountered many so far, but there has been talk of random disconnections and crashes which are always going to get with a beta. The biggest problem I’ve had is not being able to hear the live host (James McCourt does live commentary on the ‘ones’ performance and the stats during short breaks) on the first live show last Friday. Checking the Xbox forums shows that I’m not in the minority and, although it’s not a major problem,  the breaks can be a bit dull when there’s nothing but silence.

So far the game has been really fun; although the questions can be really hard at times (that’s part of the challenge!). The ‘extended play’ sessions are nowhere near as fun as the live shows, but if you ever want to get a chance at winning a prize (when they become available) you’re going to have to play them. The chances of that ever happening are pretty low, but at least you can enjoy the game for what it is - good old trivia fun!

1 Vs 100 is available for free to all gold members. You can set yourself reminders for upcoming live and ‘extended play’ shows through the Primetime channel which should now be available on your dashboard.

I have always been fascinated with creating little societies and watching them grow. As a kid these societies would be created on paper, and all the growing that these towns and cities would undergo was due to my pencil and imagination; and even to this day I’ll draw maps that plan out futuristic cities, or maps that have the giant mountains and lush forests of a fantasy land. While my imagination can be incredibly vivid, eventually I wanted to be able to watch a virtual society grow on its own through the magic of another great hobby of mine; video games.

Thankfully I grew up on the likes of Populous and Powermonger. The aim of these two games was pretty different; the former had you manipulating the landscape so your little civilisation would grow and overcome an enemy force, while the latter already had the infrastructure in place and your objective was far more combat orientated. However, it was not the main objective of the two games that interested me, as I was far more interested in watching the little people move around the landscape. Powermonger was better at this, and I would often ignore my army altogether. Clicking on a person would allow you to see such things as their name, age, sex, hometown and more; and each person would also scurry around living their own lives. They would collect wood from a nearby forest, fish from the river, or shepherd the sheep on the fields. It was like having my own world inside my console, and I was their god. I was amazed that a game could do such a thing, and these were only the early days.

Since then there has been literally thousands of god-games. From the tycoon likes of Theme Park, to the virtual cities of SimCity, there is plenty there for the aspiring god in you. While playing these I’ve always found that the main thing I thought needed improvement was the AI. I would often get the feeling that the denizens of my creation were only responding to algorithms, and they would not take the initiative and do something without my say-so. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile, and I think I’ve finally found a game that, at least, feels like I’m simply watching a society go about their daily lives. Of course, these tiny Egyptians need your guiding hand to build the infrastructure that they will live in, as they are not about to build the city on their own, but once it’s there you understand that Tilted Mill wanted this to be more about the people than the buildings they inhabit.

Let’s look at a typical level from the game. You will often start off with nothing more than a few peasant villages on the banks of the Nile. These peasants don’t belong to your city, but you will soon be drawing them in to help set up your basic infrastructure. Firstly, a palace is in order, as the peasants won’t really be much impressed if their Pharaoh lives in the woods. Once this is done you should build a couple of noble estates. These estates are the key to building a prosperous city, as the more estates you have the more farmers you can support, and you will soon discover that farmers are the lifeblood of your empire. Once you’ve got a number of farms built you can watch as they scurry out to the mud banks and start planting fields. The fascinating thing is that each of these farms supports a family. The man of the house will do the planting and harvesting, while the women will go out and shop for wares (which you will need to build as soon as possible, or your farmers won’t stick around for long). The kid will help out wherever is possible, and eventually will be the one who moves out into his/her own job (and often up the ladder too). There are increasing levels of society, and each one needs the level below it in order to support it. Getting complicated, right?

While you place the infrastructure, the people will go out and use it on their own. They all have their own desires that need to be fulfilled, and they will often take it into their own hands if it’s not readily available. For example, if you’re lacking in food (an amount of which is distributed to your workers and estates; plus you, the Pharaoh, of course) then farmers may go out and forage for their own. Be aware though, as this will take valuable time away from other key tasks they should be doing, and if they can’t fulfil these tasks then they’ll start to complain. As you will soon see, the life of a Pharaoh is tough and pleasing everyone is nigh on impossible, but you can at least try. Every decision you make you have a positive effect on one part of society, while a negative effect will hit the other. All this can make the game quite a head scratcher, which should be fun for those of us who like complex city builders.

Eventually you will have a massive support network around your city. Priests will man hospitals, mortuary’s, temples and teach children at schools. People will go to these hospitals for cures, worship at a temple when the need strikes them, arrange a funeral at the mortuary (they will even carry the coffin through the streets) and children will go to school to be the priests of the future, or whatever educated job you assign to them. They will complain if these aren’t available, but when it all works it’s absolutely fascinating to see the city move under its own flow. Servants will follow noblewomen as they go shopping, shopkeepers will look for resources on their own, soldiers will patrol the streets and labourers will quarry limestone before dragging the large blocks to create a pyramid. It’s a whole living breathing ancient society inside your PC!

All this life is beautifully presented in a nice graphical display. While the graphics aren’t top notch by today’s standards, you’d be wrong if you called them ugly. You can zoom out to survey your city and the ants scurrying around in it, and then zoom in right down to the face of a farmer pulling lettuce from a field. The buildings are also incredibly detailed, improving themselves overtime (such as a noble home building a granary). The fact is all this people watching you’ll be doing won’t be ugly. It might be somewhat annoying though, as sound-wise your subjects often have little conversations that, while interesting at first, can often be grating when you’ve heard them repeat for the hundredth time.

I will say that the game is pretty slow-paced, but that can be both a positive and a negative depending on who you are. I like my god games long and drawn out, and I usually find plenty to do while I’m waiting for something else to be completed. For example, if you’re building a large pyramid outside the city you can set-up a labour camp. Labourers will drag stones from nearby quarries, but they’ll also drag stones you’ve gained from trades halfway across the map if you’ve placed cargo-drop off points in a location easily accessible to your main city. The same goes for bricklayers, even if you place more near your building sites the rest from other parts of the map will join in, meaning you have to wait for them to arrive too. It doesn’t bother me though, as I just enjoy watching the people carry out their jobs, and there’s always something else that can be done elsewhere. If you don’t have patience though, then you’ll probably hate it. Then again, if you don’t have patience then maybe the whole city-building genre just isn’t for you.

For its price (£6.93!) Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile has plenty to offer the aspiring god. Maybe I lied when I said it was perfect, but it’s surely one of the best society simulators out there at the moment. Its complexity may turn some away, but if you enjoy sitting down for a good few hours; building a great city and watching it finally work like clockwork then this game is worth every single penny. Plus, you’ll have plenty left over to buy another game, or two.

This is part of the Bargain Bin series, which is dedicated to bringing you excellent games for mere peanuts. Got a bargain you know of? Hit me an email!

Batman in Lego form must rock, right? Star Wars managed to pull it off so why can’t a man in a cape that has no super powers what-so-ever? Despite the title of this post Batman’s Lego cousin’s DS game swings both ways. Plus, it’s probably only going to be awesome if you’re under twelve years-old. That doesn’t mean adults can’t play it (and indeed they will when trying to teach their kids, although to be honest kids usually pick up the game better than their parents. Especially mine, as I still have hilarious memories of my Mum screaming her head off while playing Alex the Kidd on the Master System), but they should probably stick to the console versions of the game as the DS version seems to be a kids only affair.

I say that it’s a kids only affair not because of the presentation (although obviously Lego is marketed towards kids, us adults love to relive our Lego moments too!) but because the game is far too easy. I picked the game up while at my younger cousins house one day and managed to get through a fair number of the 15 levels on offer in no time at all. This is mostly because, when the novelty value of playing a Lego version of Batman wears off, the game tends to be the same all the way through, simply changing the environments and enemies every so often. On each level you’ll fight a number of enemies while using your Lego building skills to solve simple problems. Each level will then end in a boss battle that also requires a solution that my Grandma could probably figure it out. Also, as usual, dying won’t mean all that much (you have no lives) so there’s no real challenge to the game.

Despite all this kids will still find Lego Batman: The Videogame immensely fun (if my cousins reactions are anything to go by) and it’s a perfect option to fill that Christmas stocking of theirs. For us adults that are embarrassingly obsessed with Lego then the Xbox 360, Playstation 2 or Playstation 3 versions will suit us better.

I’ve been playing Far Cry 2 most of the weekend and today (it came out on Friday) and I’m kind of on the fence in regards to my impressions of it. It’s not that it’s a bad game, it’s just that there’s plenty of minor annoyances that bring it down. I’m still enjoying playing it, but I can’t seem to get around the fact that it seems a little too repetitive and may be better if it’s played in short bursts.

Let’s get the good things about the game out of the way first. Firstly, the graphics are absolutely stunning and the games recreation of Africa is superbly realistic and a pleasure to drive around in. When you’re playing on a HD screen you can’t help but let your draw drop the first time you’re driving down a jungle path with the sunlight streaming through the treetops. You’ll also find a number of wild animals wandering around the landscape - which include zebras, buffalo and gazelle, but sadly no predators - which adds an extra touch of realism to the game world.

I also like how you can approach each situation tactically. I’ve heard some complaints on the Internet that all you seem to do is attack guard posts and objectives guns blazing while tossing a few grenades or Molotov Cocktails. If you have a tactical head on you then this is simply not true. One of the techniques I often do is throw a Molotov Cocktail as I approach then go the opposite direction to the spreading fire. This way you can sneak up behind the enemy and chop into them with your machete. This isn’t the only way of course, but it’s totally up to you when deciding how to approach a situation as the game doesn’t force you to do it one way. Snipe from a distance, go in guns blazing, approach underwater, strap an IED to a jeep and jump out before it hits your objective - whatever you want! Those who say attacking is repetitive just aren’t using their brains. Moreover, the AI can often be pretty smart (although it can also be pretty stupid, such as not noticing you standing four feet away) so get used to them flanking your position and using the foliage as cover (this is both good and bad as half of the time you can’t see where the person who’s shooting at you is, but it also means you need to be constantly aware of your surroundings).

Forget tactical attacking for the moment though, as there are plenty of moments that may frustrate you. For example, it’s annoying to have to fight your way through every single guard post you come across because the guards respawn as soon as you’ve left one. Sure, you can avoid them but this often takes you even longer to get somewhere or is downright impossible due to the way the game often funnels you through these guard points. Even if you try to drive right through them it will be pretty much guaranteed that a few of the enemy soldiers will jump in a jeep or two and give chase. If you get out they’ll make this annoying revving sound as they try to run you over which, unfortunately, has happened to me a number of times. Combine all this with having to drive absolutely everywhere, which you’ll be doing a lot of while also stopping every two minutes or getting attacked by a random patrol (there are buses but they only take you to certain places, and walking is out of the question with a map as big as Far Cry 2’s) as there doesn’t seem to be any innocents in Africa. Not that I’m condoning shooting virtual innocent people of course, it just seems a bit unrealistic that Africa is only populating by gun toting factions.

Far Cry 2 adds a further touch of realism by having vehicles break down on you, which means you have to get out and fiddle with the engine. Weapons will also jam in the heat of battle and eventually explode in your hands, which means you’re better off buying new weapons before each mission as old or enemy weapons will be rusty and unreliable. Getting down to the last bar of health also means you quickly have to find some cover to pull the bullet out or put your arm back in your socket (because we all know that removing a bullet or using a syringe will magically cure all wounds!). All this is cool for the first time but can get a little tiresome when you have to climb out of your jeep in the middle of nowhere for the 300th time, but it at least makes the game a little more exciting. Furthermore, even though it’s supposed to be realistic the act of doing all these doesn’t feel that real, especially when a gun is rusting after 10 minutes of use.

Finally, there’s the multiplayer. I haven’t played all that much of it yet so it may start feeling a little better, but it’s nowhere near on par with Call of Duty 4’s excellent multiplayer mode.  It seems impossible to kill someone with a sniper rifle unless they’re standing still, but that may just mean I suck. Thankfully the game is given extra life with a powerful map editor that allows you to create pretty much any map you want and make them available to play by the rest of the community. I personally can’t wait to see the creations that come out of this, but it’s a shame that the editor is part of a multiplayer mode that isn’t really all that great.

Despite all my objections something keeps me playing Far Cry 2. Maybe it’s the freedom that’s allowed when choosing what to do next, or how to approach a particular objective. Sure, you may only be killing a lot of people and blowing things up when you actually get there but you at least get to do it in a number of different ways. It’s not perfect by any means, and is marred by repetitiveness that is only made worse by trying to mix things up every five minutes with guard posts that only become repetitive themselves. Somehow I’m still finding it fun, but only in a way that an average game can be fun while you try to get the most out of your money. Just get used to being chased across Africa while being shot at by a machine gun turret every few minutes.

Far Cry 2 is out now on PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 (impressions based off this version).

Fracture is Lucas Arts attempt to create a popular franchise other than the Star Wars games that they’ve continually churned out. It’s also not just another futuristic third-person shooter as its big pull is in its unique terrain deformation weapons, some of which you get to play with in the demo. The demo itself opens with some futuristic airplanes flying over the Golden Gate Bridge, which is now over hilly land instead of a stretch of water. This gives you some idea of the story, but the basic gist of it is that two factions (Atlantic Alliance and Republic of Pacifica) are fighting against each other due to conflicting ideologies in a world completely transformed by the effects of global warming and the damage done attempting to combat it. Both sides have access to terrain deformation weapons, so you have to wonder why they don’t just create their own land or sink the enemy into the sea like this Penny Arcade comic points out.

Anyway, forget the wider story for now as it’s not really that important in the context of this demo. After being dropped off on the ground (just outside the famous Alcatraz Island prison) the Colonel explains how your Entrencher tool works. With this weapon you can raise and lower terrain, as long as you’re aiming at dirt of course, and will most likely be your must used tool in the game. Firing it at the ground either pops up a great mound of dirt or sinks it into the ground, both of which can be used in puzzles and as a means of cover as I will explain later. I know this first part of the demo is intended to be a tutorial but it still has some pretty idiotic moments. For example, after Jet Brody (the awful name of the character you play in Fracture) has been taught how to use the Entrencher you come across a tunnel blocked by a pile of dirt. While it’s pretty obvious what you’re supposed to do Jet goes ahead and states the obvious anyway; ‘the path is blocked’ and then a short while later ‘Colonel, the wall is to high to jump over’. Well, duh, you have a tool in your hand that will remove the blockage or create a hill to hop over the wall, what the hell do you think you have to do?

After these basic ‘puzzles’ you’ll come across the freighter crash you’re supposed to investigate and you’re first weapon (apart from the machine gun you carry). In the weapons cache that the colonel helpfully pointed to you’ll find subsonic grenades, which the colonel cheerfully recommends you waste by throwing at two piles of crates (thankfully there’s an infinite amount of the things in the cache anyway). These subsonic grenades are actually pretty cool, as they’ll blast a big crater in the ground that flings rocks and objects (in this case, the crates) up in the air. Next you have to toss one of the grenades through a window, which blows out the wall and allows you to use the Entrencher to create a ramp of dirt up to the newly created hole in the wall. Up here is your next weapon.

The Bangalore is effectively a rocket launcher that packs a pretty hefty punch. To test it out you’re tasked with firing it at a small shed, which gleefully explodes in a shower of metal. Unsurprisingly Jet is unimpressed by this display so the colonel suggests he tries firing it at a nearby water tower. As the supports buckle and the water tower collapses to the ground there’s a nice little attention to detail as the ground deforms as it realistically would when a heavy object hits it.

The next weapon you’ll find it the Black Widow - which is a sticky bomb launcher.  You can fire up to six at a time and then detonate them by hitting the ‘x’ button (I was playing the 360 version, by the way). The colonel tells you to test them out by destroying the column supports holding up another freighter on a landing pod. With this done another cache drops down and you now have access to the spike grenades. Spike grenades create a column of molten rock that launches up from the ground, which can create an instant platform for you if you throw one underneath you. This time, however, you have to throw one under a piece of metal to create a ramp up to  a window. Up there is the sniper rifle, but that doesn’t really need to be explained to you as it’s your standard video game issue. If you want you can stay in this area before moving on to the next (such as messing around with an infinite ammo supply of each weapon you’ve found).

Annoyingly you’ll be reverted to the standard issue Entrencher and machine gun when you enter the next area. General Sheridan revolts and quickly kills off most of the troops surrounding you and the colonel. What follows is a chase through the prison, but all you’ll be able to pick up for the meantime is the subsonic grenades. Eventually you’ll come across a gun emplacement where you have to employ the use of your Entrencher to create cover for allied troops pinned down by the emplacement. Once you go through a nearby door your faced with nothing but an open stretch of dirt between you and the gun emplacement, so it’s pretty obvious what to do. This is your run-and-gun style play, running along creating cover for yourself while you advance towards the emplacement. Then you can either get behind the emplacement to take out the enemy soldier controlling it or simply do what I did and raise the terrain, stand on top of the new mound and toss a subsonic grenade at the emplacement. It’s worth nothing that the emplacements bullets are powerful enough to lower the terrain you raised to use as cover.

Upon climbing up to the roof you’ll come across some explosive barrels, a staple of pretty much any video game that involves a gun or two. Shooting them will create a huge hole in the roof, which you can then drop through on to the battle below. You’re troops are pinned down behind the columns of a nearby building and, unfortunately, the only thing between you, your allies and a new weapon are a number of enemy troops. Thankfully you can hit ‘Y’ to sprint across Gears of War style to the other side of the battlefield. Unfortunately General Sheridan manages to escape, no doubt setting up the rest of the games story but who cares when you now have access to the torpedo launcher?

“Torpedo? But we aren’t on water Tom!!!’

Ah, but we are playing a game that has everything to do with the terrain below your feet. At this point of the demo you have to hold out while waiting for extraction, and you’re holding out against a constant flood of enemy troops. Thankfully all you have to do is fire your infinite supply of torpedo launcher ammo at the oncoming enemy. The torpedo will go underground and zoom towards your enemy (you can see the ripple on moving across the ground, kind of like the film Tremors) and detonate when you hit ‘X’,. It’s incredibly satisfying to see enemy troops go flying into the air, their last thoughts being ‘Where the hell did that come from?’. It’s kind of both disappointing and gratifying to have an infinite supply of the ammo right next to you, hopefully the full game won’t be so easy. After your extraction arrives you hop into it and so ends the demo.

Fracture has some pretty nice elements, but it all depends on whether or not they extend the terrain deformation elements beyond what we can see in the demo. Of course, for a developer to put everything in a demo would be incredibly stupid but the simple terrain lowering and raising puzzles, plus the original but eventually tiresome cover system doesn’t exactly impress me past the first ten minutes of play. It’s a demo in the end, and it’s a fun 15 minutes regardless of whether or not the full game will turn out to be far more complicated. Right now the freedom that’s supposed to be granted by the terrain deformation feels terribly linear but I suppose there’s always the multiplayer (which does look incredibly fun) if the singleplayer game doesn’t live up to expectations.

You can check the demo out now on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network. The full game will hit our shores on October 10th.

Above: One of galactic formations you may come across while exploring your own galaxy.

The space stage - the fifth and final stage of Spore - is hands down my most favourite of them all. Initially I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t exactly take long to get to the final stage as I burned through the previous four stages in one playthrough (which I got a neat little badge for), but then I realised just how vast the space stage is and discovered the multitude of activities that keep you far busier than you were in the previous stages. When you first leave your home world and enter the galaxy map you are instantly confronted with a multitude of stars around your suddenly insignificant little spaceship. You may start to think that you already have enough to play with, until you pull back even further and see that your section of the galaxy now seems like a tiny blade of grass on your neatly cut front lawn. It’s just incredible to see how big this game is, and it’s something that wouldn’t have been possible without the wondrous procedural generation technology that Spore employs. Why is all this space needed though? Well, checking the Sporepedia at the time of writing shows more than 11 million creations. If you’re going to allow the player to come across the creations of other players then you need a damn big space to allow them to view all of these. Of course, you’ll never see all of them in their entirety as there just isn’t enough time in the world and more are constantly being added anyway. It’s like the big bang, the universe you’re playing in is still constantly being created even as your creatures live in it.

You’ll eventually come across your first space empire, who may initially be hostile or pretty damn nice. In my own game I had the terribly demanding Mada Empire to the north while the lovable (and soon to be dedicated allies) Warzoleski Empire rested on my east. It didn’t take long for my own economical driven Paomons Empire to establish trade routes with the Warzoleski’s, and they were quick to agree to become my ally (possibly because they had their own troubles with the Selznik Empire and didn’t want to be caught in the middle, but maybe the AI isn’t that sophisticated). The Mada Empire, however, demanded I pay them every five minutes and, while I agreed to this at first, this inevitably turned into a full scale war. This was all in the first half-an-hour of play in the space stage, and it got a lot better from then on.

There are plenty of opportunities to earn cash that can be put towards new spaceship parts, establishing and upgrading colonies, weapons and terraforming tools.  Firstly there’s a nice nod to Frank Herbert’s Dune with spice. Spice is produced on every colony you establish (except for those established on barren worlds) after you’ve built the relevant buildings (upping the ‘terrascore’ by terraforming a planet will allow you have more colonies and buildings on that planet, which will produce more spice) you can visit your colonies to pick up any spice produced there. Spice can then be sold in any colony (including your own), providing you have good enough relations with an empire to be able to trade with them. You can also set up trade routes that will eventually allow you to purchase a system and add it to your empire, but that’s only if you’re not a big fan of taking them by force.

Above: My current play area in the galactic map.  The star with the blue circle around it is a previous save game with another species.

Another opportunity to earn cash is in the form of missions. Missions will range from scanning a planets lifeforms or abducting them to wiping out an infected species or wiping out another empires cities. While you’ll gain money for successfully completing missions it will also increase your standing with the empire your doing the missions for, so you can try to keep on their good side while also being paid by them. Of course, this won’t always save you as particularly troublesome empires will continue to demand higher and higher sums of money with the threat of war, but once you gain enough allies (and their ships in your fleet) it’s not that hard to defend your planets. The problem with the missions, and constant attacks/infections, is that your constantly running around doing something. While being constantly busy in a game is no doubt a good thing it can also get too overwhelming, especially when your dealing with more than one at once and you have to choose which one has the highest priority. Some may say it gets a little repetitive but it’s also incredibly addictive trying to collect badges and more money for upgrades.

My favourite part of the space stage is exploring, as obviously with a game built on users creations there’s plenty to see. Firstly, exploring allows you to find artifacts and other rare items that can be traded for money or added to your collection. You can also discover new tools, such as a tool that allows you to colour the seas on a planet red. However, the best part is coming across new creations. For example, to the north of me is a race of sentient sofa’s currently in the civilisation stage while deep in the stars I witnessed a race of apes fighting a religious war against each other while strawberries wandered the plains. If you do discover a race that’s not yet made it to the space stage then you can install a monolith on the planet (2001: A Space Odyssey style) to help them on their way, meaning they’ll be extremely happy with you. This doesn’t always work out for the best as I did this with a race near my home star and they ended up declaring war on one of my allies, meaning I couldn’t really help them out when they got attacked or I risked losing the new space empire as an ally.

It’s not perfect - it can get extremely frustrating and the camera controls while flying (and fighting) around a planet can be a bit iffy - but it’s extremely fun. You probably won’t enjoy it if you don’t like creating things, as each of your colony needs new buildings (you can use the old ones or other users creations but where’s the fun in that?) . However, it’s great to find something new everytime you play the game and I can’t wait to see how this will be implemented in future games and future Spore expansions. It’s definitely my ‘must play’ of 2008. Forget the DRM drama, buy this game! Who knows? You may actually learn something.

You can see some of my creations below:

Although I said I wouldn’t be able to get hold of Spore for a few more weeks luckily I was wrong and I got hold of it the other day. Since then I’ve been losing a lot of my life to the game, although it’s initially hard to discover why. The problem I have with Spore is that it’s an absolutely excellent idea but the gameplay built around it can become pretty repetitive and, foremost, it lacks a lot of depth. However, the wonderment of it all overrides this extremely basic gameplay.

It’s an absolute joy to explore the universe of Spore, and it makes it even more of an amazing experience when you know that each and every creation that populates your very own galaxy is created by other players. For example, once I’d jumped out of the cell stage of Spore and made it on to land I came across a nest inhabited by a herd of creatures that looked remarkably like elephants, except they all sported nice little mustaches. It’s really unlike any game as you know that each and every time you load Spore up you’ll discover something new, and that’s why Spore is - by far - one of my best gaming experiences of the last few years. To get this experience though you really have to immerse yourself in the game, you have to begin to love your creations and get past the linear gameplay.

Spore is also a big experiment in new technology and I think that everything that goes on in the background while you play will pave the way for games that will use this technology in new and exciting ways. Spore isn’t perfect, and if you’re not a creative person that you may hate it. I do believe that expansions are absolutely needed this time around though, as there’s so much more that can be done with the Spore technology.

I’ll have a full review of the game up sometime in the next few days (or you can check my review round-up here). I also be doing some Spore diary posts over on my other blog if you want to check those out. Feel free to share your stories in the comments section as I look forward to hearing them.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is one of my games to buy in September. Thankfully, for those unwilling to splash the cash to buy the game on release Lucas Arts has gone and released a demo on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. I had a play through the Xbox 360 demo and here are my impressions.

I’ve always been looking forward to a Star Wars game which effectively makes use of the force powers that mark both the Star Wars films and the Expanded Universe (such as the novels). In previous Star Wars games it never really seemed like you controlled the most powerful force in the universe, but I’ll put this one down to the lack of technology rather than the shortcomings of the developers. In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed you have all the power of the force at your hands, and we all know that it’s far more fun using the force on the dark side. The demo is pretty short but extremely sweet, and it gives you enough time to get to grips with the new spectacular ways of using the force while easily leaving you wanting more.

After a short cinematic featuring the great Darth Vader himself - and where you learn that Starkiller’s (the character you play) father, a Jedi, was killed and Vader took him as his apprentice - you’re thrown straight into an Imperial shipyard with the task of hunting down a Jedi and killing everyone abroad (including Imperials). The first few corridors let you get to grips with your force powers (although there is a short tutorial as well). They’re packed full of droids and crates that you can throw around to your leisure using the force grip. To use your force grip you select your target (Starkiller auto targets when you look at something) and press the right trigger. Once it’s up in the air you can control it by moving the right and left sticks up and down to move the object up and down or forward and back. You can throw the object by pointing the left stick in the direction you want to throw and hitting the left trigger. There’s an especially cool moment in this first area where you can pick up an object with your force grip and throw it through a window, sucking everything in the immediate area out into space before the bulkhead shield slams down.

Your force grip comes into better play when you’re faced with a group of soldiers, be them rebel or imperial.  In the demo you usually approach them from a distance, such as in one of the TIE Fighter (which, incidentally, you can pick up and throw with the force grip) hangers, so you have ample time to grab something with your force grip. For instance, you can grab an explosive barrel and launch it into a group of soldiers, the resulting explosion killing some of the group while knocking the others to the ground. If you’re brave enough you can approach and take them out with a lightsabre (see next paragraph) but I much prefer grabbing hold of one with the force grip and tossing him across the room, possibly into a set of explosive barrels. When floating a guy through the air there’s neat little touches such as him grabbing hold to a handhold on the ground, or grabbing old of a comrade as he floats past so they both go flying around. You can also use the force push that will send anyone in the way flying, and as Starkiller increases in level this is one of the moves that will get more powerful. In the demo you can also use the force push to rip through heavy bulkhead doors, while the force grip allows you to bend support struts into the oncoming path of TIE Fighters. The force grip controls can take some getting used to, especially in the heat of battle where it’s easy to target the wrong thing. Also, you have to be quick as a laser bolt can make you drop whatever you have in your invisible grasp.

Starkiller is a pretty athletic guy and has a set of fluid movements in his arsenal. You can jump fairly high, especially combined with the double jump, and slam down with the lightsabre - which is perfect for landing in the centre of a group. You can also execute the force push in mid-air, which also lets you extend the blast downwards. You can combine lightsabre attacks with the force grip, such as dragging a person towards you with the force grip, slashing them with the lightsabre and sending them flying with your lightsabre still impaled in them. Your lightsabre then returns to you, spinning through the air like a boomerang. If all else fails you can just hit ‘y’ and execute a lightning bolt - which has the ability to take down a few guys if they’re standing close together.

The end of the demo - which comes far too early in my opinion - see’s you fighting an AT-ST Walker. Large enemies like these are where the double jump comes in handy as you can jump up and slash at it in the air - which comes in handy for avoiding the laser fire. While you’re on the ground you can avoid the rapid laser fire from the walker (and the storm troopers around it) by using the dash skill. When you get the walker down to a certain level of health a QTE (Quick Time Event) will activate, which means you have to press the button that pops up on screen with perfect timing. If you do this correctly Starkiller will slash the walker in two from the bottom up, which ends the demo.

Flinging storm troopers around is pretty fun, but it’s hard to see how this can get you through the entire game. If Lucas Arts manages to put out a decent storyline and also manages to expand on the innovative force powers seen in the demo then Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be a pretty wild ride. From the variety of settings and moves seen in the media released so far it just may turn out to be one of the finest Star Wars games yet, and a very action packed one at that.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is released for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, N-Gage and the iPhone on September 19 (UK).