[REVIEW] Honest Hearts (Fallout New Vegas DLC, Xbox 360)

Wow, doesn't time fly when you're up to your eyes in other stuff... Before I whizz off to York for a week-long intensive uni project, I thought I'd spend a few minutes telling you all about Honest Hearts, the second downloadable content pack for Fallout New Vegas. After getting woefully and embarrassingly stuck somewhere in the Sierra Madre in Dead Money, I was a little apprehensive about going back to a previous save and starting this one, in case FNV had suddenly got really hard in the few months I hadn't played it.

My fears were put to rest just a few minutes in. Although the baddies in this particular area (above the top edge of the map, it is mentioned that you are headed towards Utah.) are armed to the teeth with submachine guns, they wear little to no armour as they are based on a kind of alternate reality wasteland tribal group. Which makes the removal of their heads from a distance all the easier. I found the story to be quite engaging - without trying to give too much away, this is the story of Joshua Graham, also known as The Burned Man, who is mentioned during the main quest plotlines as an associate of Caesar who turned against him. This is his story, and what he's been up to all this time in exile in the Zion National Park.

Now onto the good stuff - the new perks, items, and so on. The level cap has been raised by 5 again, so I can try and get myself closer to wiping out those Deathclaws at Quarry Junction (anyone got any tips? Seriously, I'm desperate here.) New perks have been added, such as the delightful Eye For An Eye (10% extra damage for each crippled limb you have) and Fight The Power! which gives bonuses against any authoritative figures in uniform such as NCR, Legion and Brotherhood of Steel. There are also new items and recipes, mostly based around the datura plant, known for it's use as a poison, a hallucinogenic and a general nasty piece of work.

All in all, I enjoyed this DLC very much. The scenery was beautiful, and there was even rain, for the first time! (Can't vouch for it's acidity, though.) The plot was good, and kept me entertained for a good 4-6 hours which in my opinion is SUPERB value for money, especially considering some games *cough*Bulletstorm*cough* are rumoured to last only 8-10 hours. Next on the agenda, Old World Blues!

For keeping me entertained and helping me procrastinate over my uni work, a solid 4/5!

[REVIEW] Alice: Madness Returns (Xbox 360)

Admittedly I have never played American McGee's Alice, the predecessor to this game, although I read Through The Looking Glass when I was a kid, and am vaguely aware that it's really a woeful tale of mental illness. Within the first minute or so of the gameplay, Alice comes across a small boy who has had his pants stolen by another boy in the institution. She tells him, "Wear bloomers" and my hopes are raised for some very dark humour indeed. The game starts with Alice having to pop to the chemist to pick up her prescription, and we see that the streets of London are paved with half-starved hookers and smelly street urchins, and an odd cat that wants to be chased.

As you might expect, this is where Alice's problems begin. Her first hallucinatory experience (or "cut-scene", as I shall call them) ran quite jerkily, although that doesn't seem to be the general rule which I'm glad about, because visually this game is very pretty. Unfortunately it does seem to suffer from the same problem as a lot of third person perspective games - a bit of a wanky camera. I find that I tend to get disorientated if the camera doesn't automatically centre itself when the character is running forwards, hence in Madness Returns I find myself running into the camera perspective quite a lot.

Another thing I find particularly frustrating is the combat system. Again, the camera causes most of the hindrance, although I think a lot of my problems are due to being relatively inexperienced in the hack 'n' slash genre - perfectly timed dodges are NOT my forte. A lot of the platforms have that "sudden death" feel to them, possibly because I keep falling off a lot - however, I work on a "third time lucky" basis, that is, if I don't do it the third time, I'll give up and play Fallout instead. One particular puzzle involving leaping onto moving invisible platforms (!) particularly got on my nerves!

Now onto the good bits. This game is exceptionally creepy for a BBFC 15 rated game in my opinion, even if The Husband does say I have the courage of a wussy child (I got freaked out by Unstoppable, which is a 12, embarrassingly enough.) The NPC's have an aura of griminess befitting of the era, and the whole story makes me feel uneasy. But that's what it's supposed to do, so I can't fault it there! The soundtrack is very atmospheric and certainly adds to the sense of wonder/terror.

Overall, I have to give Alice: Madness Returns 3 out of 5, due to wanting to launch the controller at the telly. If you are a more patient soul than me, consider it a 4 out of 5, but don't say I didn't warn you! :)