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“Investigation music plays” – L.A. Noire

On the unique folly of L.A. Noire, with reference to Ace Attorney, Mad Men, and the allure and decay of beautiful facades

“Live fire exercises” – Brink

Trying and failing to find my into one of the most modern-feeling games yet

“Aristotle vs. mashy spike plate” – Portal 2

The perfect blend of magic and logistics, and how to come back and do it all over again but bigger

“Just have fun” – Zumba Fitness

Zumba Fitness, even more obviously non-functional than Just Dance, spent fourteen weeks as the UK’s #1 game

“Your obscene cyborg dreams” – Crysis 2

First-person shooters took over as one of the leading genres of games in the UK in the early 2000s. This accelerated as part of the Xbox 360’s success,…

“Voice of freedom” – Homefront

After Modern Warfare’s breakthrough success with blockbuster emotional manipulation, the stakes of similar games rapidly escalated. When Infinity Ward themselves needed to up the ante for Modern Warfare…

“A wizard did it” – Dragon Age II

Way back in 1985, Rare predecessors Ultimate scored two UK #1s in quick succession by following up the isometric 3D Knight Lore with Alien 8. The two games…

“Liberate Pokémon? That’s not even possible!” – Pokémon White

Pokémon White is the first new Pokémon game I’m playing which wasn’t for a new system as well. Well, sort of. Yellow, Platinum and Soulsilver could fit the…

“Well, that worked” – Killzone 3

After a deflating twist away from the possibility of a new outlook, what follows is pretty much Killzone 2 again…

“Traffic violation” – Test Drive Unlimited 2

Perhaps Eden Games were right to suspect that great driving on a big map wasn’t enough on its own to stand out. That’s about where the right decisions there end…