77/100 on Metacritic This hyped game going back to 2009 looks to offer something different in the open world genre and does so with its futuristic feel with the protagonist being able to hack into the city's (Chicago) central operating system (ctOS), thus enabling traffic lights, steam pipes, bridges and cameras (to name a few) to be hacked into. A trait of every single citizen also pops up when they're close by, whose phone calls can also be listened to and ATM details hacked for money to be withdrawn later. These additions do provide a fresh feel to the genre. I found the plot to do that as well partly due to being more emotive than the GTAs and Saints Rows of the world. Most of the missions in the campaign involve driving to a location, then stealthing/shooting (generally a choice the player can make)/hacking your way through the level to reach an objective, then escaping the area which often involves a car chase against the enemy and/or the police. The AI are fairly clever, particularly when driving and this is when the hacking comes into play the most that helps you end the chase by obstructing the pursuer. What doesn't work here is that there is a flaw in the game/easy way to lose the target. Jump in one of the nearest waterways, and swim or drive away via boat. There aren't any water police or enemies that want to get their feet wet in this game. It becomes a slightly harder task when a chopper is in pursuit, but even then, once you are traveling by boat the helicopter doesn't keep up. Maybe I was crossing international waters... Along with the campaign there are many side missions, however there isn't a lot of incentive to do these as the upgrades, money and weapons garnered from the campaign is plenty to get you by. Playing on PC, I had to make a minor variation to a file to help fix the aiming, the handling is inconsistent while driving as well, but this could be partly due to my ageing graphics card. (Edit- Having played this on a more powerful rig and on PS4, the handling is fine and the aiming noticeably improves too). I didn't get to enjoy this game in all of its beauty either as my card is getting old as mentioned. The load times are fine. but the game could do with a small patch nonetheless. There is also a drinking game as part of the campaign where as the character is drunk, the movement is inconsistent and buttons need to be pressed when the mouse is on those buttons. If the developer's aim was to pi55 me off they succeeded. This mini-game/level seemed unnecessarily frustrating. This comes down to musical taste, but another bugbear is the soundtrack. The collection of songs on the radio are very poor. There are maybe three I liked, and that's why I normally turned the radio off when driving. The original music by Brian Reitzell is great at times, as is the voice acting and overall sound design. As good as hoped? Maybe not. The missions are too same-same at times and there is too much A-B driving (the fast travel via train is a very useful feature) but from someone unmoved from the GTA series these days this does offer something slightly new. I know people were pi55ed and felt lied to given the very early teaser of this sounded so good, but It's definitely not the unplayable mess and deserving of its negative reputation some like to give it.

'Trackmania: United' (TMU) is the only puzzle/racing game on the market besides its predecessors, making it one of the most original and refreshing games to be released for quite some time. Like the originals, United uses what was good in the previous games, but expands on it to make a fantastic original game, while providing the same type of addictive fun gameplay. It comprises of 4 separate modes: ‘Race’ ‘Puzzle’ ‘Platform’ and ‘Crazy’, each with their own appeals. Race mode is all about beating the clock as best you can, to win “copper” – the type of point system adopted in TMU – which determines how elaborate the construction of your tracks are, (but we’ll get to the editor functions later). Platform is about getting through a tricky course, with loads of jumps. The aim is to do this with the least amount of restarts. Crazy is a small course, in which you have to beat a different CPU controlled car each time. And Puzzle mode involves building a track with limited pieces and then racing the track to try and beat a set time to unlock the rest the next track: the perfect mix of puzzle solving and fun. Not only are there 4 different modes, but also 7 different track environments; Island, Bay, Coast (from TM Sunrise) Snow, Desert, Rally (From The Original Game) and Stadium which is new . All of which have different cars and different feels to each location. Every car can be customized and requires practice and the learning of different driving styles is required. To master them is challenging, but rewarding. All this is excellent; however where the game shines is in the editing. Although a little confusing at first, it is most accessible and you can make a wide variety of tracks, all of which you can share over the internet. I’ve never played a game with an editing system this advanced, or with as many functions as most standard movie editors that you can also access at home on your own PC. This opens up a whole new area of gaming experience, and I’m sure we’ll see many other game developers adopting similar capabilities for their driving games. You can build underground; on hills; over water and in the air. Another first is the ability to direct your own intro and outro movie for the race, adding to an element of the game that was already rich – longevity. With the editing mode you can record your racing performances and become the director of a race you have completed. Ghost editing and skin editing – which is making alterations to the way the appearance of the cars. There are also plenty of downloadable skins, to satisfy every taste. If that isn’t enough you also have an unlimited amount of tracks with hundreds available on the internet that you are able to download in just a few quick clicks of the mouse. The sites are updated daily, and I assure you that you’ll find it difficult to keep up with what’s on offer. Another plus is that each track is very small in size – 8-10 kbs, so it’s more than accessible, even for those under-privileged dial-up users or if you are watching your cap. The only flaws about this game are that it becomes very frustrating. You often have to try several times to complete set tasks within the game, but a saving grace is the short length of each track. It doesn’t sting that much. It could take forever to get a gold medal and trophies on every track. But there is more than enough motivation, as this unlocks all the single player tracks within the game allowing hours and hours worth of multiplayer fun as well. Although there is no split screen action, which for a racing game is always disappointing. Taking it in turns on the same PC, or online play, are the multiplayer options on offer. However, I don’t harp on the few flaws: with unlimited tracks, more cars than you’ll ever need, online play, original gameplay and no other competition insight for the genre on the market, all for just $50, how can you go wrong? If you have played the previous games its not an essential upgrade but still well worth picking up.

The remake that all fans have been asking for for years has finally arrived. As with the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy it has been remade to a near-tee. The nostalgia is once again intense once the disc gets popped in. The additions to the original are largely the customisation that can be made to the characters and karts. You earn 'cash' by racing, more so when racing online, that can be spent on customisation items. It's well worth noting as well that this also includes the Crash Nitro Kart tracks. I replayed the original not long before this and the only noticeable gameplay difference is the difficulty. To be successful on the hard difficulty here, you need to be a master of the turbo boost. It was a challenge on the original but not to this degree. On the other hand, medium difficulty is far too easy and most often a bore when racing against AI. This is its largest flaw and the major gameplay difference. Turbo boosting for a whole race is incredibly unappealing to me as a gameplay mechanic which is what you need to do to win against the best online or on the most challenging difficulty. One of the other issues is the HUD. When you have one lap remaining or when you have knocked someone out in battle modes, the message pops up in the worst possible spot it could, obstructing your view. It's crazy that it passed through testing. I don't think this is dissimilar to the original, but after winning a CTR challenge, race or relic challenge I really don't need to see my character on the podium every time, particularly when these cut-scenes aren't instantaneously skippable. I also don't need to be taken back to the centre of that stage. Why can't you respawn near the track you've just played? Overall, there are some minor annoyances and hopefully there will be some additions to the online side of things, but all in all it's what every fan wanted from the remake. Gameplay 4.5/5 Graphics 4/5 Sound 4/5 Difficulty 4/5 Originality 3/5

The key to a great game is replayability, so when you can play a demo of a game with the same teams, with only one half of a match over and over and over and over, well you get the point, it shows that it's a good game. This was the case for me and ISS PRO 98. I couldn't find the game anywhere to buy for ages so I played the demo repeatedly, being Brazil vs France. When I finally got the full game I won the World Cup with most if not all of the 32 countries. This game showed me how good soccer could be with a controller and I never looked at a FIFA game the same way after this. It also got me more into the sport of soccer which I am very thankful for. For its time this was the best sports game ever and is still fun to play today and after playing 'ISS Pro' years later, this was a sizeable jump forward in gameplay. Gameplay 5/5 Graphics 4/5 Sound 3/5 Difficulty 4/5 Originality 4.5/5

This remains as one of my favourite FPS games of all time and one that I replayed a number of times back in the day. While it is being remade, due to its cel shaded graphics, it has aged much better than other games from the early '00s and has always stood out graphically. The plot is interesting, bearing a number of similarities to the Jason Bourne series. Gameplay 4.5/5 Graphics 4.5/5 Sound 4.5/5 Difficulty 4.5/5 Originality 4.5/5