F1 2010 (2010, Games for Windows Live) – 8/10 Formula 1 racing game review

Cast / crew Senior Producer: Ian Flatt Senior Producer: Paul Jeal Game Designer: Stephen Hood Technical Director: David Percival Lead Programmer: Mike Stimpson Lead Programmer: Neil Topham Lead Programmer: Ryan Sammartino

F1 2010 (2010) Formula 1 racing based on the 2010 season. Work your way up from the bottom over three, five or seven years to achieve the most prestigious prize in motorsport: the title of Formula 1 World Champion. 8/10 Authentically structured Formula 1 game undermined by the staggering choice not to employ any recognisable FOM television graphics and shipping with a few game-spoiling bugs. The excellent career mode sees you striving to work up from trying not to finish last, through sneaking into the points, being a top ten contender, grasping a rare podium, to winning a race on a favoured track and finally putting together a championship campaign with a top team. It brilliantly insists on having you go through practice and qualifying (which can be time-accelerated) and a minimum 20% race distance (all the way up to 100%) making every event feel like an event. The core racing experience is outstanding; they harry and overtake where possible and this may be the first racing game where I’ve never being unfairly taken out by AI. Gran Turismo 5 may be the best driving game on this console generation, but F1 2010 is the best racing game. Classified 3+ by PEGI. The game is only suitable for persons who have reached the age of 3 or over. Links Eurogamer Head-to-Head: 360 / PS3 Eurogamer Head-to-Head: PC

MotoGP 09/10 (2010, PS3) – 8/10 motorcycle racing game review

Cast / crew Design Director: Luke Smith Art Director: Gylan Hunter Senior Producer: Greg Bryant Lead Software Engineer: Ian Sweeny Lead Artist: Harvey Parker Lead Designer: Tom Goodchild

MotoGP 09/10 (2010) 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP motorcycle racing based on the 2009 and 2010 seasons of MotoGP. 8/10 Successfully allowing the player to get into a flowing riding rhythm with a more accessible learning curve than is usual for motorcycle games, MotoGP 09/10 backs up the core fun racing experience (featuring AI that likes to throw overtaking attempts at you) with a good career mode that sees you juggling engineering research and sponsorship hunting in order to rise to the top as quickly as possible and make the most of your earning potential. Inexplicably, there is no on-screen reward for winning a race: no podium, no jingle, not even a win screen. There is also the barest of win screens for winning an entire championship. Nevertheless, the challenge of playing the game at a difficulty (Severe for me) that requires you to complete the research tasks to make your bike more competitive and move up the field during the season is most fulfilling. Classified 3+ by PEGI. The game is only suitable for persons who have reached the age of 3 or over.

360 vs PS3 vs PC Head-to-Head Face Off: Portal 2

Every so often, Eurogamer run a series of technical comparison reviews for games released on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

This is the latest update to the full list.

Starting with 2011 games, you can hover over the publications icons for a very quick summary.

• Portal 2

Jonathan Creek 2.06 Mother Redcap (1998) – 8/10 black comedy crime drama TV review

Cast / crew Alan Davies: Jonathan Creek Caroline Quentin: Maddy Magellan Writer: David Renwick Brian Murphy: Ken Speed Nicola Walker: WPC Fay Radnor Producer: Verity Lambert Director: Keith Washington Executive Producer: David Renwick

Jonathan Creek 2.06 Mother Redcap (1998) A judge is precisely stabbed to death inside his bedroom while guarded outside the door by two police officers. Bars on the windows prevent any other way in and the police are seriously investigating an assassin who can disappear into thin air. 8/10 With two fun baffling cases to sort out squished into a single episode, this Creek is a good one. Renwick still finds time for the unusual gag as one of the characters is a nudist (and apparently they like to live half-a-dozen to a house) and another sticks her tongue out when she eats which freaks Jonathan out. The two cases turn out to be related which works well as it allows the murder of the judge (which felt pretty obvious as to who dun-it) to have a completely baffling clue (a broken finger nail). I’m not entirely sure about the extra death at the end (SPOILER Brian Murphy’s detective); it doesn’t seem to set up any gag or relate to any story arc, he just dies. This Jonathan Creek episode contains gory and unpleasant scenes, violence. Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over. Links Jonathan Creek Previous Episode: The Problem at Gallows Gate Next episode: Black Canary

Jonathan Creek 2.04,05 The Problem at Gallows Gate (1998) – 7/10 black comedy crime drama TV review

Cast / crew Alan Davies: Jonathan Creek Caroline Quentin: Maddy Magellan Writer: David Renwick Clarke Peters: Hewie Harper Jennifer Piercey: Kitty Stuart Milligan: Adam Klaus Producer: Verity Lambert Director: Keith Washington

Jonathan Creek 2.04,05 Problem at Gallows Gate, The (1998) Adam Klaus’s sister witnesses a woman being strangled and is certain she can identify the killer if she sees him again. Except the man she identifies committed suicide three weeks earlier. 7/10 This double episode takes ages to deliver the mystery, the whole of the first episode, in fact, but keeps things bubbling with some useful comedy including a jazz trumpeter who was blind but secretly had corrective surgery (a good laugh when he walks in on a naked Jennifer Pearcey on a sunbed) and a good gag for Caroline Quentin after her flat is burgled ("it took me ages to get it straight again"). There’s not quite enough mystery for a double-episode (SPOILER we never believed the suicide was real) and the how-dun-it reveal in someone’s kitchen feels completely wrong. That said, the solution certainly turns out more interesting than expected as what we saw wasn’t what we thought we saw, very clever (SPOILER trying to make someone vomit, not trying to strangle them). This Jonathan Creek episode contains suicide, violence and nudity. Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over. Links Jonathan Creek Previous episode: The Scented Room Next episode: Mother Redcap

Final Fantasy XIII (2009, PS3) – 8/10 JRPG game review

Cast / crew Director: Motomu Toriyama Scenario Designer: Motomu Toriyama Main Programmer: Yoshiki Kashitani Main Character Designer: Tetsuya Nomura Writer (Scenario Concept) Stellavista: Kazushige Nojima Writer (Lead Scenario): Daisuke Watanabe Cut Scene Director: Koji Kobayashi Movie Director: Takeshi Nozue Movie Director: Eiji Fujii Sound Director: Tomohiro Yajima Producer: Yoshinori Kitase

Final Fantasy XIII (2009) 8/10 Final Fantasy XIII is like watching a favourite television DVD box set over the course of several weeks. It’s a genuinely beautiful game and, despite some typically baffling cut-scenes, connects emotionally. The tight focus on story line gameplay to the exclusion of the genre staples of fetch quests and dungeon trawling largely works very well so it’s a shame that some of the bosses require a bit of grinding before they become beatable. The story has a really interesting backbone whereby the planet’s most powerful inhabitants conspire to deliver a cataclysm so devastating that it forces The Creator, God, to return and do something about it. It makes you wonder whether that is what we’re doing to our own planet. This game contains fantasy violence, unpleasant scenes. Links Eurogamer Head-to-Head: PS3 Lens of Truth Head-to-Head: PS3 Unskippable

360 vs PS3 Head-to-Head Face Off: Round 30

Every so often, Eurogamer run a series of technical comparison reviews for games released on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

This is the latest update to the full list.

Starting with 2011 games, you can hover over the publications icons for a very quick summary.

• Dynasty Warriors 7
• Lego Star Wars III: Clone Wars
• MotoGP 10/11
• Red Faction: Battlegrounds
• Shift 2: Unleashed
• Top Spin 4

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) – 8/10 science fiction action movie

Cast / crew Arnold Schwarzenegger: Terminator Nick Stahl: John Connor Claire Danes: Kate Brewster David Andrews: Robert Brewster Kristanna Loken: TX Producer: Hal Lieberman Producer: Colin Wilson Producer: Mario Kassar Producer: Andrew Vajna Producer: Joel B. Michaels Writer (Story): John Brancato Writer (Story): Michael Ferris Writer (Story): Tedi Sarafian Writer (Screenplay): John Brancato Writer (Screenplay): Michael Ferris Director: Jonathan Mostow

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) Judgment Day averted, John Connor has grown up under the radar but the future is about to catch up with him again as two terminators are again sent back through time: one to terminate, one to protect. 8/10 Following up two all-time classics was never going to be easy but talented director Jonathan Mostow delivers a satisfying actioner that is far, far better than anyone could have hoped for. Spectacular and iconic action sequences and Arnie’s one-liners make the movie but the lovely Claire Danes is the cast stand-out. It even boasts a surprisingly unforgettable ending. This movie contains sexual swear words and extreme violence, gory and unpleasant scenes, inferred extreme violence and non-sexual nudity. Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Links Next: Terminator: Salvation

Rise of the Argonauts (2008, PC) – 7/10 action RPG game review

Cast / crew Lead Designer: Charley Price Writer (Story): Rico Sablan Lead Programmer: Matthew Altman Lead Engineer: Ted Cipicchio Casting and Voice Director: Kris Zimmerman Salter Producer: David Marino Brian Bloom: Jason

Rise of the Argonauts (2008) Jason, King of Iolcus, sees what should have been a triumphantly happy day turn to tragedy as his bride-to-be is assassinated on their wedding day. Refusing to accept her death, he determines to track down and retrieve the long-lost, presumed mythical Golden Fleece, capable of restoring life. 7/10 Entertaining, very easy-to-play light RPG with good characters and story but under-developed, if grind-free, action. It makes a nice change to play an aspirational character: someone wise, respectful, and well-spoken. As brought to life through Brian Bloom’s good voice acting, Jason is a largely admirable character who could easily inspire others to accompany him to the ends of the earth and beyond. It’s a pleasure, almost a privilege, to be in his company. This feels like a game made with ambition and love and it’s difficult to fathom some of the contemporary hatred directed toward it. Sure there are a lot of lo-res textures, there is an unfortunate comedy pause between a lot of sentences and PC users have their patience tested with a persistent if unpredictable crash-to-desktop during conversation trees but this is a game featuring guards that open the doors for you in your palace, i.e., it makes you feel like a king, like a good hero, and that’s a little bit special. This game contains extreme and graphic violence. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over. Links IGN Head-to-Head: PC Eurogamer Head-to-Head: 360 / PS3 IGN Head-to-Head: 360 / PS3

Gran Turismo 5 (2010, PS3 exclusive) – 8/10 driving sim review

Cast / crew Producer: Kazunori Yamauchi Director: Kazunori Yamauchi

Gran Turismo 5 (2010) 8/10 It’s so easy to say nothing’s changed but the B-spec mode and in-built track designer are unique for the sim genre, it probably has more cars than every other current driving game combined and the car models are, by some distance, the greatest ever seen in a game. Here’s why Gran Turismo 5 is so great, though. Because each car is different, you’ll come to a championship with a car you’d turn your nose up at but when you climb in you find it’s fun and interesting to drive and you get real pleasure out of driving and mastering it. Moaning about taking over-powered cars into events is counter-balanced by simply choosing not to do so and the Special Events and Licence Tests which control the rules more tightly and provide a superbly pitched challenge. The rest of the game is just for fun and the pleasure of the most communicative and rewarding gamepad driving experience ever created. Even with any disappointments you’ll have, this is still a landmark racing game. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.