To my surprise a friend of mine brought me back one of the craziest products ever from the states, Chocolate Skittles. S'mores, Vanilla, Chocolate Caramel, Chocolate Pudding, and Brownie Batter, are the flavours, a chocolate lovers dream right? Nope each and every one of them is incredibly disgusting, which even my three dogs turned there noses up at. They have been passed around my house twice now and I'm still left with half a bag! None of the flavours are remotely edible, nothing more so than Vanilla which tastes like 'Super Sweetener' soaked in even more sweetener, from the universe know as sweet. Also you have to love the fact that it includes not only natural flavours, but artificial ones as well! Yum Yum

Taste the brown rainbow indeed....

Now I know what your thinking, at least if you know anything about World in Conflict. A game that focuses purely on the action and not with the required strategy, essentially misses the point of the RTS. On that point I would agree with you, its a game which holds the players hand all the way through the single player campaign, with useful tips and restrictions placed on what units can be chosen. But oddly it never feels like an extended tutorial, partly due to the heightened importance of each unit and beauftiful graphics that bring the battle to life.

But all these points are for nil if you don't actually enjoy strategy games such as myself, actually thats not true, they just rarely hold my attention for more than a few missions. With World in Conflict however, this eventuality was completely different with a story which was immediately engaging. Don't get me wrong WiC isn't Shakespeare, with a story line which boils down to the Cold War crisis heating up, but it is the storys role which differs from other RTS. Instead of the story only providing a setting for the build n' blow carnage it is enhanced with nice dialogue, some excellent cut scenes and set pieces. Not only this but the characters are intriguing and continually talk about about the tragic nature of war, and how life is wasted. A brave point to be made by what is essentially a slaughter sim.

What this tiny write up is trying to say is that if you only play first person shooters, or other immediately gratifying games, give World in Conflict a try. Its a game which is truly different from the established genre archetypes, not only this but has an entertaining story, and looks absolutely beautiful. I haven't touched the multiplayer or skirmish mode with AI yet, but on the strength of the single player alone this game deserves to be played by much more people. If you have a PC that can handle the DirectX10 graphics, or are willing to wait for the 360 or Playstation 3 version pick this one up.

Does anyone else have any suggestions for a quality strategy game?

As the credits are rolling now, and the cityscape sits behind the incredible amount of personnel which contributed to the making of the game it dawns on me, GTA VI is a massive achievement in the video game meduim. It isn't the story, the high quality voice acting or the solid shooting mechanic, it is the immersive nature of the world accentuated by the little touches within it. For example, seeing a cop toss out a donut before taking chase, lap dancers which gradually become more and more suggestive as you throw money at them etc. It is the incredible amount of polish which gives the usually placid and plain open world genre new meaning and variety.

Just how important a game GTA IV is didn't dawn on me until about 80% of the way through the story, when I just realised how many things you can actually do in the city. Compared with titles such as Crackdown or Saints Row, the sense of immersion and constant quality in their world's, pale in comparison to (new) Liberty City. I urge anyone who still hasn't finished it, to go back and take part in this world once again, GTA isn't perfect and some missions can be stale. But as you keep playing there will be one aspect which will make you stop for a few seconds in game and think 'wow, thats cool', whether its the people looking in their boot or the smokers outside burger place, orthodex jews quoting literature or people using ATM machines. At times we can all be too busy with doing a mission or running from police or whatever. But much like real life we can only truly appreciate the world, by taking a step back, looking around at our surroundings, and admiring our fellow NPC's design.

What better day to write a review of a game featuring the Le Man series than on the evening that the 24 hour behemoth ended. Not only that, but the good news Grid is its actually quite good, featuring a wide array of racing styles and events. Give the review a go, and if you feel like it, let me know what you think

Just a quickie this time guys, got some more Euro 2008 to watch

I'm 3 hours in to the latest Dragonball Z game, Burst Limit and so far the initial impression has been incredibly mixed. There is some real promise in this title as the fighting system is adept allowing the player to perform world destroying attacks with little efffort, and there real timing and skill is needed to properly utilise the characters from said Anime. But behind the fancy pants new graphics system and fast frenetic action, I and I'm sure other DBZ affectionados won't help feeling like they have played this game before in the guise of Budokai 3.

Now I understand why Atari trusted Dimps with this latest entry into the long list of mainly underwhelming DBZ games, after all their previous efforts in the Budokai series are considered to be the best attempt at emulating the shows fights. However giving the Budokai system a graphical update and changing the way plot queues and transformations are used within the showdowns does not equal a worthwhile sequel. If anything Burst Limit feels like more of a port of Budokai to the latest generations and a real missed opportunity.

The story mode is a replicated version of the Budokai 1, running from the Saiyan to Cell Games Saga's and once again stopping before the really crazy characters occur in the Buu Saga. Apart from feeling like an obvious attempt to extend cashflow and marketing on the inevitable DBZ: Burst Limit 2, it is rather unfortunate to think that DBZ fans are dumb enough to fall for the same trick Dimps pulled off with their previous attempts at cracking the eternal money spinning shell.

Graphically Burst Limit does look surperb but after the initial hours worth of play, the shine comes off and what we are left with is a wire mesh of a game which most DBZ fans will have undoubtedly have played before. If you want a to play a fighter based in a 2D plan which can use 3D attributes with powerful DBZ fighters and attacks play Budokai 3. Not only is it cheaper, but also is the result of 3 iterations work of tweaking and extending, a formula, which I would bet my mortgage, Burst Limit will be repeating.

As always it seems to be the eternal rule for DBZ games, but if you love the series you will enjoy this game. But after 8 Dragonball Z games (3 Budokai's, 3 Tenchaikais, Super and Sagas) and 4 different developers in 5 short years, better DBZ games should be getting made. Don't get me wrong Burst Limit isn't awful, its just a little drab and lacks anything significantly new apart from the new look. There is a constant feeling that the developers Dimps didn't want to try anything new, it was enough that the cherished series was appearing on truly next generation consoles for the first time, Wii doesn't count. Hopefully the next few hours will continue, because as much as I am a fan of DBZ, this is getting dangerously close to the 'must sell on Ebay' pile.

It was my birthday this past sunday, was a really cool day meeting up with everyone again, and always great to see the family. But more importantly, much more importantly, I received Race Driver: Grid for the xbox 360. Its a game, which I recommend anyone who has ever fantasised about being a race driver pick up because it is awesome! The marketing campaign surrounding Grid has emphasised its efforts to put the fun back into racing, with shorter races, dramatic crashes and stunning graphics. Okay it has all these but these aspects aren't its greatest strength,its all in the flashbacks, a lot has been written about itin reviews but until you try playing Forza, Gran Turismo or PGR you don't realise how much you miss it, or what a great addition it is. Here are a few snippets from the review I'm currently writing on:

"Its all in the handling which always feels just the right side of bone breakingly fast, yet still controllable in the right hands. It feels right and conquerable yet challenging, especially with the later cars which can be bought with your earnings."

"There is also the team dynamic, where you are in charge of buying cars, deciding what events to drive, hire team mates, and decide on your teams colour scheme. It my sound a bit shallow, but these aspects provide a nice alternative to just racing competitors in different disciplines all the time, a segway to the action if you will. Not only that but while racing its interesting to look at what your team mate is doing, or narrowly avoiding him in a corner is another fresh ingredient which Codemasters have added. This sort of play has been missing from racing for a while, yet is all important in the motor sport reality, and a fine refinement to the racing genre."

"Grid feels varied, challenging and immediately immersive with more of a 'just one more race' factor than any other I have played for years."

In completely different news, it really feels good to have some quality time to play some quality games. This summer has started off fantastically well, hopefully with Dragonball Z: Burst Limit released on friday the great gaming will continue.