I know we don’t talk often anymore. And that’s my fault. Hands up. I’ve been busy – cheating on you, if you must know – working on other projects. But I still play games. I just wanted to right some recent wrongs – some injustices the majority of the internet has served up lately. Here they are;

Alice: Madness Returns (Metacritic:68, Me: 80)
Alice was an exercise in wonderful art, solid platforming and a tendency to overstay one’s welcome.  The imagination here is stellar, the story is engaging, the characters memorable, the gameplay enjoyable, but ultimately it seemed unnecessarily drawn out in some areas. Yes, entire platforming sections could have been happily cut out and never missed to shorten those lengthy chapters, but have we really gotten to the point where we will complain about a games being too long? Or, more worryingly, have we reached a comfortability as an industry where we can afford to shun platformers when everything else is a shooter? Alice has far too much going for it to ignore it, and after spending 20 hours with it I would happily rate it an 8 out of 10.

L.A. Noire (Metacritic: 89, Me: 65)
L.A. Noire has been garnering a ridiculous amount of hype, acclaim and press since it’s release, but I have to step in and say woah, enough is enough. The tech is fantastic, the locale and setting masterfully crafted. In terms of direction, writing and acting L.A. Noire is second to none. But as a game? As a game it fails. Hard. Walk around a crime scene waiting for your controller to rumble, interview suspects and accuse them if they don’t look you dead in the eye and partake in wholly mediocre chase / shootout / driving sequences.  Realistically, behind all that Hollywood Razzle-Dazzle, this is all L.A. Noire has to offer. Also, an annoying amount of cases can’t be solved because an overarching narrative demands it. This is not good design in a detective game, especially for players that can piece together that a suspect is innocent but are  forced to finger the poor guy for the murder of his wife / boss / cat. If you want to take us on a merry chase because it provides good drama, don’t make your gameplay stand-alone and episodic, because we’ll just feel annoyed we can’t do it justice. At the core of it all, L.A. Noire shines like the stunning diva that she is; spectacular and spoilt.

Top 3 Movies of 2010:

3. Kick-Ass
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
1. Inception

Top 5 Downloadable Games of 2010:

5. Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light
4. Perfect Dark HD
3. Limbo
2. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World The Game
1. Super Meat Boy

Top 5 Portable Games of 2010:

5. Dragon Quest IX
4. Pokémon Black & White
3. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
2. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
1. Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver

Top 3 360 Games of 2010:

3. Halo Reach
2. Splinter Cell: Conviction
1. Mass Effect 2

Top 3 PS3 Games of 2010:

3. God of War 3 (by proxy)
2. Gran Turismo 5
1. Heavy Rain

Top 3 Wii Games of 2010:

3. Metroid: Other M
2. Donkey Kong Country Returns
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2

Top 3 Multiplatform Games of 2010:

3. Bayonetta
2. Darksiders
1. Read Dead Redemption

Top 5 Overall Games of 2010:

5. Darksiders
4. Heavy Rain
3. Mass Effect 2
2. Super Mario Galaxy 2
1. Red Dead Redemption

Top 3 Disappointments in 2010:

3. Castlevania
2. God of War 3
1. Bayonetta

Top 3 Surprises of 2010:

3. Dante’s Inferno
2. Splinter Cell: Conviction
1. Darksiders

Top 3 Things I Regret Missing in 2010:

3. Minecraft
2. Fallout: New Vegas
1. Vanquish

Fallout: New Vegas was a game I’ve been nervous about for some time now. Fallout 3 was easily my personal GOTY in 2008 and, as with anything I love, I’m worry it will be destroyed. The fact that a different developer took the reigns for this next iteration was a constant concern, but one that I found out I needn’t have. I’ve only plugged about four hours into it so far but the tone of New Vegas is a darker, more mature storyline, without the quirky-camp humour that riddles Berthesda’s titles. The graphics are propped up by a four year old engine and are butt-ugly accordingly, but I don’t mind that so much.

The gameplay has matured somewhat too. The same old gunplay is here, with VATs being as delightful as it always was, but there’s a new depth in the game HARDCORE mode – a mode where food and water are a constant necessity, broken limbs stay broken until you make it to a doctors, sleep deprivation is a killer and weapons fall to pieces quicker than my mom during the opening scenes of Bambi. It’s a rough ride but an endlessly fulfilling one.

Super Meat Boy held my attention for the last four or five days with its balls-to-the-wall gameplay and incredible style. I can only compare it to a Tarantino movie – an endless homage but wholly it’s own. Around every corner is a reference to gaming culture and – more surprisingly – the indie side of the games industry, but it tightens these hundreds of strings and pulls them into a unique and awesome game that stands out from the crowd it likens itself to.

At it’s core SMB is a ridiculously difficult platformer, akin only to titles like N+, where wall jumps and mad dashes through perilous levels are the staple elements. It’s frustrating but holds that near-mythical level of one more try, just one more try thanks to it’s super-tight controls, level design perfection and – most of all – fairness. If you screw up, it’s all you, there’s nothing else to blame other than your own incompetence, and it’s this drive to better oneself that will have you screaming into the early hours of the morning.

Early impressions of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow are underwhelming. I was pretty pumped for this game but waited a while after launch before picking this up thanks to what I thought was a pretty mediocre demo. Within days, however, gaming media had me believing once again in the project and I picked it up. I’ve plugged about five hours into it so far, five enjoyed-yet-hampered hours, but enjoyed nevertheless.

There’s a good game in here somewhere. Scratch that – there’s a phenomenal game in here somewhere, but it’s lost. It’s lost amongst poorly designed platforming and combat mechanics that infuriate rather than encourage. It’s a shame these qualms exist because what else is here is truly great. The graphics are beyond stunning. The presentation of everything frontend is awesome – the brilliantly animated sketches of moves you can purchase being a particular favourite of mine. The music is great, the all-star voice acting is professionally delivered, despite reading some of the worst writing in a game I’ve heard since Lost Planet 2. The design – the architecture of the world and the style of the title are really some of the best out there. But a complete package this is not.

Really my biggest gripe – the combat system – is enjoyable (if not a little uninspired – see Bayonetta for an excellent example in how to make a hack and slash engine unique) in theory, the moveset is robust and diverse but the enemy programming brings a nicely built system crashing down. Telegraphing in a hack and slash is a big must for me. If an enemy manages to land a hit without a discerning gamer seeing it coming, that’s a problem. This might be due to my own incompetence, but – and I’m attempting modesty here – I’ve bested Ninja Gaiden 2. It’s not that this game is particularly difficult. It’s simply flawed. Enemies knock you out of air combos by jumping near you, player hit boxes seem overly wide and awkward to consider. The block / counter system is an absolute mess. Finicky details bring down what would otherwise be a competent brawler.

I’m hoping it tightens up along the way, I’m hoping it will click a couple more hours in and these niggling concerns will slot into place to make an enjoyable overall experience. Some games have learning curves, I’m hoping this one has an acceptance curve.

A quick batch of mini-reviews of the games – old and new – I’ve been playing lately.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the greatest testament to what the Wii can achieve when developed by the right people. Graphically it’s stunning; beautifully designed and expertly rendered. Aurally it’s a huge leap for Nintendo, with a fully orchestrated soundtrack which sounds simply fantastic. And the gameplay? Well – it’s pure. There’s nothing but fun to be had with SMG2, and the design here for every level is beyond compare. Playing Mario’s latest outing is at once a heart-warmingly nostalgic and astoundingly fresh experience. The imagination on display is mind-blowing and Nintendo have once again raised the bar for Platformers. Utterly addictive and wonderful throughout. Put in 15+ hours so far, 40 stars, will definitely play to completion and beyond

+ Visual & Aural perfection across the board
+ Back-to-roots gameplay as fun as it comes
+ Genuinely challenging
[10/10]

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is Link’s first DS title, released way back in 2007. I’ve been exploring the DS’ back catalogue after getting my new DSi XL and have sunk a lot of time into Phantom Hourglass as of late. It’s a great adventure, beautifully rendered in the Wind Waker style and harnessing the DS’ true graphical potential to create a lush and vibrant cel-shaded world. The game is pretty standard fare, with your journey sending you to a series of dungeons of varying elements – Ice, Fire, Leaf, etc – to collect an array of items – Grapple, Bow & Arrow, Boomerang, etc – to save a princess. The story itself is pretty intriguing and it’s always refreshing to see a true sequel to a Zelda game, but the star of the show is the personality that Nintendo always infuses into their titles. Your shipmate, Linebeck, is a pretty rad dude and the game often has me laughing with its snappy writing. The entire title is completely controlled by the touch screen, and it works really well. It gives a completely new and unique take on the classic Zelda model, shifting things up enough to feel fresh and enjoyable despite the series’ stagnation that I’ve mentioned many times before. I’ve often been wowed by the ingenuity on display here, with new mechanics introduced throughout and really, really great puzzles. The only real problem I have with the game is the constant re-treading of a dungeon called ‘The Temple of the Ocean King’. As you progress through the storyline you constantly return to this time-restrictive temple to delve deeper and get maps to your next location. It’s a pretty fun dungeon and it’s really quite challenging – mostly down to the ticking clock – but every time you return you have to do everything you’ve done before all over again – and this can be up to fifteen minutes of gameplay you’ve already bested – and then potentially run out of time just before the finish and have to start all over again. It’s very frustrating but it wasn’t enough to stop me playing the game altogether, which in itself is a fairly lofty approbation.  Currently in the final stretch of the game, played about 20-25 hours.

+ Classic Zelda with a fresh twist
+ Expertly designed dungeons and puzzles
- Have to replay a lengthy section of the game over and over.
[8.8/10]

My Super Street Figher IV review has been a long time coming, but with good reason. I’ve been playing it too much to even think about taking a moment out to write about it. Indeed, the disc hasn’t left my system since it’s April release day – no small feat, I assure you. Needless to say, I love SSFIV. It’s an update to 2008s hugely successful arcade fighter hit that made the genre cool again, bringing 10 additional characters – two of which are entirely new and awesome – to Capcom’s already wonderful roster, a slew of new stages, new ultras for all characters and a wealth of extra features and modes. All of this on top of one of the best fighters ever made makes this an absolute must buy for anyone with a remote interest in the genre. The gameplay retains the excellent polish and unbelievable balance of the original, and the striking art style is as wonderful as it was in 2008, wowing me each and every time I booted up the title. There’s so much challenge to be had offline and on, and the game and its potential expand exponentially as you yourself become a more talented player.  The irresistible urge to better oneself through the various means the game provides will snatch the attention of all but the most casual of gamers and hold their attention for months. Competition has never been so satisfying as it is on SSFIV’s robust online modes, with dependable servers giving matches the fluidity and split-second response the fighting genre demands. The fighting genre has been weaker than ever as of late, with both a lack of consumer interest and 3D iterations of other franchises to blame, but Super Street Fighter IV is exactly what the fighter used to stand for and should continue to aspire to be; an evolution as well as a throwback, a perfect balance of old and new. Mortal Kombat has already taken heed, and I can only assume other developers will too. For delivering an incredible game and moulding the future of the fighter, I thank you Capcom. Plugged 70 hours into game over single player and multiplayer and still no way near finished with the title.

+ As polished and balanced as they come. An arguably perfect fighter.
+ Balance between initial simplicity and depth upon tutelage appeals to all.
- Seth is still the worst boss fight in a fighter ever, super-cheap motherfudger.
[9.5/10]

As E3 slowly passes us by, it’s only natural for us to wish to be there, playing the new titles on the show floor, chatting with developers, hearing all the announcements first hand, cheering with your like-minded brethren about the latest Zelda and getting a new XBOX 360 for free. Sadly, E3 closed its doors to the public in an upsetting move back in 2007, and in doing so closed the door on the dream many of us share; indeed, for the longest time ‘Go to E3’ was on my wish list, and if it hadn’t also required a transatlantic flight to achieve said dream it would no doubt have been achieved by then.

In 2008 I spent the last few months of the year in Japan, fulfilling a different dream altogether. My infatuation demanded I go, so powerful was this love affair I had with the culture, the language and – yes, cliché and trés lame as it is – the anime, manga, hentai, sailor-fuku, ramen, futons, and all other weeaboo-centric obsessions and oddities. But there, at the heart of it all, was the video game.

If Japan is our hub, Akihabara our Mecca, then Tokyo Game Show is the ultimate gamers pilgrimage. It is a trip all of us wish to undertake at some point or another in our lives, and mine was afforded to me by sheer chance. I had not arranged my trip to the east with the hopes of attending. In fact, I was so caught up in the rest of Japan, so immersed in the country that I was oblivious to TGS until a week before the event. My friend – who was to join me a painful four days after the Makuhari Messe convention complex closed its doors – told me of his incredible disappointment that he would miss the game show to be hosted within, assuming I was already aware and fully booked. I was not, but I soon would be.

So it was with great excitement that I woke up at 6am on the morning of October 9th, crept out of my Nagoya-based apartment so as not to wake my sleeping flat-mate and hopped aboard a Tokyo-bound shinkansen. I quickly navigated the intricate subway system to Chiba via the Keiyo line, and then zeroed in on Mihama-ku. The train that took me there quickly filled, station by station, with obvious brothers in arms. It was relieving, as diffident as I was towards my navigational skills, to know I was going the right way. From the station I simply followed the ever-burgeoning crowd to my destination.

To say the convention complex was pretty big would be like saying Azeroth is pretty big. I bought my 2,000¥ ($20/£15 approx.) ticket and joined the gargantuan queue. I was hot and already feeling slightly sick – a couple of days later I would come down with a hell of a fever that would have me house-bound for nearly a week – but I was determined. The queue grew longer behind me, and the minutes passed slowly away. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was something I would get used to during that day.

10am finally rolled around and we were allowed to move. The snaking trail our queue formed circled the complex in its entirety, and the walk took ten minutes from the Queue Here start point to the doors of the giant Convention Hall 1. To their credit, the organizers had done something fairly monumental. Of the thousands of people being herded into the same place, the queue never stopped, never slowed. It was the most orderly I’d even seen the human race in such numbers.

Inside however, the reality hit, and it hit hard. It was a cramped, dark, loud and sweaty experience. Mammoth displays towered over me, blasting me repeatedly with intense trailers and dizzying visuals. My senses were assaulted from all sides. The air pumped around me and I was jostled to and fro with the waves of people heading to the Squeenix booth, no, the Capcom booth, wait, the Sony booth. It made it painfully obvious why E3 shut their doors, and what a relief it must have been for the industry and press alike when it did.

Simply to get out of the madness I hopped into the first line I saw – luckily, it was for a title I had a genuine interest in. It was Resident Evil 5 – interest is putting it lightly. I stood in that line for 2 hours next to a Japanese teen named Yoshi, who was surprisingly amiable and whose English was far more competent than my Japanese. We stood under a giant monitor replaying the same Ninja Blade trailer over and over, ad infinitum. We talked about how much we loved Resident Evil 4. We compared our favourite games of all time. We poured over our convention maps and decided on which booths we would visit next. Yoshi was super pumped about Star Ocean 4. Finally we reached the front of the queue. We played, side by side, for ten minutes. I got slapped in the face by disappointment. I would later grow to love the game, but at the time I was heartbroken that Capcom had decided to continue onwards with this new direction of less zombies, more shooting stuff.

The rest of the day saw me avoiding such lines for bigger titles. Instead I talked with the English cosplayers outside, I argued with a developer from The Behemoth game studio over their awful Castle Crashers servers and made small talk with booth babes in broken Japanese. I played lesser known titles I would never have given a chance under usual circumstances and stood in crowds oohing and aahing and sugoi-ing over the latest announcements. I watched famous game types prance around on stage. I ate overpriced food in the restaurant and drank a lot of water because I was getting hella-dehydrated. I left that afternoon full, for better or worse, of Tokyo Game Show, and decided against returning for day two. I’d had enough. It was hard work.

Tokyo Game Show was at once nothing and everything like I had imagined. It was, to put it bluntly, a living hell. The E3 coverage I go through each year has a similar bittersweet taste. I look forward to and dread it in equal measure, because for the week in which the event is held I need to stay stuck to my computer, constantly checking various news feeds and making sure I’m available when the conferences broadcast, otherwise I fall behind and have little chance of catching up at all. It’s like constantly sniping eBay auctions, and it gets tiring. TGS annihilated me in much the same way except all at once, in a single day. But would I have had it any other way?

Hell no. It was awesome. Mission Complete.

Nintendo were somewhat of a joke back in ‘09s junket. I remember watching the live feed and being… disappointed. The Wii Vitality sensor was probably their biggest announcement, and the tail-end reveals of Metroid: Other M and Golden Sun 3 barely saved the show and validated our time. Luckily, this year, Nintendo were all up in our grill from the get go with news we actually cared about. The games. And they couldn’t have started with a more highly anticipated one.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the latest offering in a lineage that needs no introduction. The short trailer that announced the title was greeted with what is now a customary cheer of excitement from the crowd, which was no doubt was echoed around the world as gamers watched the feed online.

The style was immediately striking, a mix of the adult design of Twilight Princess and the beautiful visuals of Wind Waker, whilst the colour palette of the game is a wonderful flashback to A Link to the Past. It’s at once nostalgic and totally fresh.

It was then demonstrated live on stage by Mr. Miyamoto himself. The game boasts 1:1 Wiimote to Sword action made possible with last years WiiMotion Plus addition, and this sounds like pretty exciting stuff. This was a logical next step, no doubt predicted by many, but oh so welcome. It promises to give a much meatier feel to the combat, and of course the implementations this has on the bow and arrow and other such items have already been felt in Twilight Princess to great effect.

Overall however, I can’t help but feel disappointed with the title and its announcement. There was a distinct lack of anything hugely different in the core gameplay mechanics, despite the new control methods. Four years ago I reviewed Twilight Princess and criticized the been there, done that feel the series was developing. Reassuringly we were told it was ‘the last Zelda of it’s kind’ by Nintendo and promised the next instalment would completely revitalize the series, but so far I’m not feeling it. Regardless of change or lack thereof, there is little doubt I’ll love this game. Zelda is my series. I grew up rescuing the other princess, and I’m not about to stop now.

Gaming news continued to flow with an announcement of Mario Sports Mix, a collection of games infused with Mario characters. Pretty standard fare from Nintendo, and over-saturation at its finest, so the less said about it the better.

Wii Party follows suit, and looks to be another addition in the whole Wii Sports / Resort / Play line of games – “Games that drive social interaction”. Basically a collection of titles for your Miis to play around in, and something that won’t be explored on this site.

Next up was a title a more hardcore fanbase can appreciate – the continuation of quite possibly the best RPG series on the Gameboy Advance – Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. The trailer showed the games new look, a very Tales Of style of cel-shading. The gameplay was very old-school, from its dungeon trawling and puzzle solving to its classic battle system and dual-screen summons. As a fan of the series I have to say I am quite excited, despite the trailers distinct lack of Oomph.

A bigger reveal came next with a pretentious introduction: a video played showing roundtable discussions as to why exactly a classic shooter is as highly regarded as it is today. Then these gamers are told that a Goldeneye remake is on the way, to gasps and cheers and ‘Oh My GOD!’s.

Strangely, though, this title isn’t so much of a remake as it is a reimagining. There will be familiarity, not loyalty to the source material. It’s seems to be a slightly generic shooter paying homage to a classic. Strangely, Brosnan’s Bond is now out, making way for a digital Daniel Craig to take his place, which makes for a jarring experience seeing as he didn’t play Bond in the film. Activision – up there with EA in terms of the size of their cash-cow farms – are developing and generally the entire production seems a little half-baked. It’s home to more explosions and set-piece events than the original was ever privy to, thanks to thirteen years of technological advances, but conversely the graphics are poor even by Wii standards. The whole thing reeks of money-hungry shareholders rather than a genuine interest in the IP, and I’d take the reskin-treatment Rare planned for 360 in 2008 over this any day. As we’ve seen from this years re-release of Perfect Dark, a crisp resolution with untouched gameplay makes for a happy nostalgiafan. Needless to say I don’t quite trust Goldeneye ‘10. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

It was my first time seeing Epic Mickey, and although hearing a little about it beforehand I didn’t really know what to expect. The story centres around Mickey travelling through the forgotten worlds of Disney – The Wasteland – inhabited by the rejected characters and locations that never quite made it. Mickey, playing around with the creators brush, accidentally created an ink-blot monster that terrorizes this world, and Mickey sets about to save the world and redeem himself. It’s surprisingly dark and – suitably – epic. The main mechanic is you can manipulate the world with the brush in a seemingly much more direct way than previous titles with similar hooks (read: Okami). You can erase walls and ceilings that are between you and your goals and paint into existence platforms to climb ever higher.

I didn’t think much of the demo – it really didn’t impress me in any way other than the brave new direction Disney are taking their most beloved character. The gameplay felt old and uninspired, as did the design and graphics of the hub level they showcased. Even the Steamboat Willie inspired side-scrolling section – which looked great – featured play that will feel horribly archaic – not classic – to a gamer with the least bit of experience. Right now it seems like one for uninitiated kids – don’t get me wrong, it looks like far better than the movie tie-in garbage they usually have to put up with – it’s just a disappointment it doesn’t seem to hold much appeal to the older fan. Fans of say, the wonderful Castle of Illusion, for instance. It could of course be a huge surprise and success when it finally hits. Definitely one to watch, but I’m keeping my expectations low.

Nintendo continued to revisit old favourites and grand synonyms with Kirby’s Epic Yarn, featuring a very unique art style that has to be seen to be appreciated.

It’s a fun looking platformer that is very refreshing in a genre that has been done to death – pay attention, Epic Mickey. Kirby has a new whip mechanic and the very cool visual style goes a long way to infuse the title with something special. It is worrying, however, that Kirby did not suck a single enemy inside of himself and gain their powers during that entire trailer! I am in fact worried that Kirby will not have this ability in Epic Yarn. Very worried indeed. Anyway, Kirby’s oral powers aside, it looks like a lot of fun and I’ve always dug Kirby, so I’m glad to see the character have the presence he deserves.

Dragon Quest IX got a quick mention, most probably to reignite interest before the long wait for a stateside release is over (July 11th, by the way) This game always has been pretty important as JRPGs go, so it’s great to finally hear that release date and know it wont be long until I’m playing it.

The absolutely stunning Metroid: Other M finally had its place under the spotlight next. It was big news ever since its debut at E309 and carried the entire success of the otherwise terrible conference on its back. Taking over from the massively successful Prime trilogy and its awesome creators, Retro Studios, Team Ninja – of Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive and generally big-boobies fame – are handling development this time around and by the looks of it doing a stellar job. The game switches freely between first person and third person perspectives by pointing the Wiimote at the screen or holding it on its side, respectively. There is also a mix of 2D and 3D gameplay, and the entire title seems so tightly knit into one cohesive, classic-Metroid package that it sits pretty atop my list of most anticipated games. And it’s out in two short months. Oh yes. With Team Ninja working side-by-side with Nintendo on this one, we’re getting a Metroid unlike any other yet somehow more in tune with it’s legacy than any Metroid since Zero Mission. To say I am pumped would be a huge understatement. Check out the trailer below. The music alone is worth your time.

Even with all of this, Nintendo weren’t done. They have a huge wealth of back-catalogue to choose from when planning their future, and 2010 seems to be the year they decided to reach back and grab pretty much everything. Nintendo front man Reggie teased us with some familiar music before stepping aside for something the gaming world has been waiting for since 1996.

Donkey Kong Country Returns – what is there to say that the above video didn’t? It’s rare that a trailer instils you with such utter confidence in a title. Even the aforementioned Other M, despite my huge anticipation in regards to it, doesn’t garner this level of trust. What Retro studios have created here looks foolproof. It’s hard not to get crazy-excited for this title as you see it play out. The crowd went bananas (pun) as I’m sure most of us did too. This was quickly becoming the greatest Nintendo press conference of all time.  And it was about to get a whole lot better.

The 3DS – Nintendo’s next handheld – was officially revealed. As I’m sure you’ve realized by now, the 3DS is already a massive hit with everyone who’s played it. The internet is unanimously abuzz with praise for the device and the effects it produces. The no-glasses-required 3D seems to have its focus on Avatar-esque depth rather than gimmick-pop. It definitely seems Nintendo has something special again, something honestly worthwhile. The ability to produce 3D images without the need to buy-in to the new technology – that is, hugely expensive TV screens – is a massive draw and the device can display both 3D games and movies. Like the PS3’s Blu-Ray player before it, applying this new technology at a comparatively cheap price is going to be a killer way to shift consoles.

Aesthetically the device is similar to the DSi. The top screen is slightly wider than the touch screen below, and embedded into the top of the console is an extra camera for taking photographs in 3D – something I’ve been told is absolutely astounding. There is a ‘slide pad’ where the D pad used to be, which looks to be far more comfortable than the PSP’s painful analogue nub. The D-Pad’s lower position looks to be slightly awkward however, and thinking of playing games on it whilst pressing the face buttons higher up feels strange in my mind. Only experience will confirm or deny this. There is also a slider to reduce or even turn off the 3D effects, a feature which tired eyes will no doubt appreciate.

There is a huge list of titles already planned for the console, with Iwata stating the 3DS will enjoy Nintendo’s biggest ever launch line-up. Many were playable at the event, on consoles securely tied around the waists of the show girls that spewed out of every entrance in the theatre. Some were full titles such as the hugely awaited Kid Icarus title, Pit’s first outing in nearly two decades and channelling a new,   Panzer-inspired playstyle. Others, unfortunately, were only tech demos, showcasing the 3DS’ amazing new graphical capabilities on par with the Gamecube (read: Wii), with titles that may or may not make the leap to a full game in the future, including an Ocarina of Time remake. Thanks to the huge support of developers and their upcoming titles it’s easy to invest in the 3DS because it will hit the ground running – unlike Microsoft’s poorly supported Kinect. To see a full list of confirmed games check out Kotaku’s comprehensive guide, including Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid and Street Fighter IV.

It’s obviously something that pictures can’t do justice to, let alone words, and must be seen to truly be believed. I for one am ridiculously excited, and can’t wait to get my hands on it. This is by far the best thing revealed this year – and remember, this was the expo that Dance Central was revealed. A greater approbation does not exist.

Nintendo both surprised and impressed me massively this year. They brought it, and then some. The show was succinct, weighing in at just over an hour, yet full to bursting with big reveals – all of which were sure-fire crowd pleasers. Games and tech were back where they belong – front and centre – and self-fellating comments were sparse. Nintendo knew they had the casual market, and for the first time in a long time turned their attention instead to hardcore fanbase, whilst Microsoft did the exact opposite and appealed to the casual player. And then everyone stood on their heads and spoke backwards. Most importantly the 3DS proved itself to many of its detractors and definitely convinced me of its worth. Nintendo did everything right this year, and I have no problem with saying their conference was the best thing about E3 in it’s entirety.

It’s just nice to see they still care :3

E3 is finally upon us and Microsoft kicked things off today with their press conference, telling us what the future held for their XBOX 360. The verdict? Hit the jump to find out.

Activision opened with Black Ops, their newest instalment in their hugely popular Call of Duty series. It’s a Treyarch title, which means we’re not supposed to care as much, but it still looked pretty good. I thought World at War was a decent game, but hopefully the devs will have followed Infinity Ward’s example and removed grenade spam and infinite spawns. The trailer was very Hollywood in it’s presentation (explodey) and felt like it cost a lot of money. The gameplay they showed off consisted of some people sneaking through a jungle and stealing a helicopter. All in all it was a decent showing, but I doubt it shocked anyone.

Anyway, Hideo Kojima appeared and gave us our first look at the gameplay of his new Metal Gear game; Rising. I have to say I was unimpressed at E309 when he first announced it, but after seeing the title in action I am officially pumped. It looked beyond incredible – Ninja Gaiden style gameplay with massive elemental destruction and full control over the axis of your blade. It seems Raiden can cut through anything; destroying the pillars of an awning to make it crash down upon enemies taking cover beneath it, slicing a van clean in half and – in classic Metal Gear fashion – a comic finale where Raiden cuts a watermelon beautifully. There was also a strange element of ‘Taking’ – what seems to be a kirby-inspired method of stealing the abilities of your enemies by assimilating their glowing intestines? Awesome.

Cliff Bleszinski took to the stage – sans Lancer this year, sadly – and set a good example of shutting up and showing the goods. Three of his cohorts took to the stage with him and they played through an awesome looking jungle level from Gears of War 3, with mutating lambent locust – the lambent berserker was a particular favourite of mine – new old weapons – a Pendulum lancer with a bayonet attachment that packs a mean melee punch – and lots of new kick ass manoeuvres – dragon kicks as you jump over cover, grenade tagging an enemy and kicking them towards their buddies to score a double kill and kicking an exploding locust away from you after you’ve chainsaw’d them. All in all it was a fantastic presentation that I, as a gears fanatic (Gears 2 is still my go-to multiplayer game), loved.

Molyneux did everyone a favour and followed Bleszinski’s lead and let his new trailer for Fable III do most of the talking. It all seems in order, and seems to continue with the high quality the series commands. Some new elements such as sea warfare looks genuinely interesting. The title looks a lot more bloody than what we’ve come to expect and the combat system seems to have received what I thought was a much needed overhaul.

Now, I’m not a huge Halo fan. I have all the games and I plugged a lot of time into every multiplayer aspect of Halo 3, but I usually grimace when the game is brought up in polite conversation. Although I’ve had hours of fun with 3, I thought the original was far too repetitive, in terms of gameplay and level design, to garner the massive amounts of praise heaped upon it and the giant legacy it left, and there are countless other shooters I feel outdo the series as a whole in every aspect. So, needless to say it was a massive shock to me when I was thoroughly impressed at the demonstration of Halo Reach this year. The single/co-op campaign looked awesome. It was packed with unique encounters that were spawned with a very cinematic, set-piece orientated design, rather than just running across another band of grunts. The gameplay looks a lot more instant and weighted – with everything from the controls to the impact of bullets feeling meatier.  I have gone from complete indifference towards the title to quiet anticipation. Come on September, Roll on Reach!

The newly dubbed Kinect – formerly (and preferably) Project Natal – took centre stage next and remained there until the end of the conference. Kinect is, of course, Microsoft’s new motion sensing peripheral. It is able to track multiple people in a fully 3D space and differentiate between them, their appearance and their voices. It was unveiled at last years E3 and has been a curious blip on our radars ever since. This year Microsoft went all out and showed everything the device has to offer.

The demos started with a focus on Player as Controller – something Microsoft touched on last year but didn’t fully explore. A surprisingly charismatic developer named Ron Forbes took to the stage to demonstrate exactly what these capabilities where. He began by waving to log himself in, the machine recognizing him in an instant and booting up his respective account. He then navigated through several menus using only his hands and his voice. He proceeded to show us his favourite part of this years Alice in Wonderland, navigating the entire movie-watching process with the same tools. It was all very impressive and eerily futuristic, watching Ron command the system, “XBOX, Play” to set in motion a paused scene. Gimmick or not, very cool.

Another engineer – this one believably awkward – replaced Ron and showed us the new video chat Natal offers, linking instantly with people on an XBOX or – finally – Microsoft Messenger. The really important thing here is to see Microsoft refusing to rest on their laurels when it comes to communication. They’re already far above what the Playstation 3 offers in terms of sociality, which still refuses to let players have a private chat whilst playing separate games, and they’re still moving ahead and introducing new ways to keep in contact with people, even outside the direct world of their games console. Anyway – the video-chat was awkward, as Laura chatted to her twin sister who lived wherever and had supposedly been given a Kinect. Despite the awful rigidness of the conversation, the tech seemed a little too perfect for the live show, with no delay whatsoever, no loading for videos and what seemed like a very practised routine. I don’t doubt the technology Microsoft were demonstrating – and I was very pleased with the camera tracking Laura’s sister as she moved around the room, very cool – but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find this segment was pre-recorded and acted. What I was most excited about here though is the ability to watch movies with each other, perfectly in sync, with the cameras still appearing at the side of the screen (which I assume will be an optional feature). I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time, so that I may spend time with my long-distance girlfriend or buddies from across the globe and watch a movie together.

The presentation went on to announce that Americans will be getting access to sports channel ESPN from their dashboard later on this year, which is probably awesome for them – especially as it is free for gold subscribers.

Finally, the games began to appear, starting with Kinectimals. It’s a virtual-pet game that is a somewhat similar take on last years Milo/Kate demo. It didn’t impress me massively, but it’s still worth checking out for the sheer ad’awwwworable-ness.

Next was Kinect Sports – you know the deal here. It’s Wii Sports but with different controls. It looks wholly competent but it’s unashamed plagiarism is pretty insulting.

Joy Ride followed, and I can’t help but feel it missed the boat somewhat. It was unveiled last year at E3 and announced as a free giveaway to all Live Gold users – and I was really excited – but Microsoft saw profit and decided to turn it into a full retail Kinect launch title with motion controls. In doing so they’ve lost their charitable good will and more importantly let the far superior ModNation Racers cross the finishing line before it. The invisible-wheel method of controlling a racing game just doesn’t sit right with me, and illuminates one of Kinect’s biggest downfalls – it’s lack of tangible presence and force feedback. I focus on Joy Ride here but my fears are for Kinect as a whole – I can’t imagine holding this fake wheel will feel anything other than strange (and tiring to your constantly extended arms), and the fact that you’re feeling nothing in response even stranger. Petting your cuddly Kinectimal, for instance, is all well and good – but it’s not like you can feel anything solid against your hands, regardless of the tiger rolling around joyfully on the screen. I’ll have to play with Kinect before I can truly pass judgment, of course, but for now the real draw are the hands-off games that focus on your body’s movements rather than physical interaction.

Kinect Adventures is to Kinect Sports what Wii Sports Resort was to vanilla Wii Sports. Get all that? Good. I barely did, and I wrote it. It’s seems to simply focus on more outlandish activities than the regular sports package, and it looks fun, it really does. Up until this point though I was entirely underwhelmed by what Kinect had brought to the presentation, and was wondering whether anything would come along that would warrant a purchase.

I wasn’t convinced by Ubisoft’s Wii Fit-esque Your Shape, although the demonstration further solidified the excellent tech behind Kinect. The device scanned in a developers figure and a 1:1 representation of her appeared on screen, kicking bricks and doing some Zen cleansing. Again, very impressed, not interested.

And then Dance Central happened, and blew my mind. I won’t deny that I am a huge Harmonix fanboy and a connoisseur of music-rhythm games in general. I was always disappointed by dancing games however, stomping around on a mat and not dancing at all. They were fun and I own most of them, but they never really felt right. Dance Central looks to change all that, and the integration of Kinect is amazing here – the game literally couldn’t be created on any other system. The title tasks you with performing accurate dance moves in rhythm to the music and Kinetic tracks you and scores you on how well you’re pulling them off. Simple, yet in one genius move Harmonix alone convinced me to purchase a Kinect at launch.

The Kinect presentation closed with something fans have been desperately wanting for years – a motion controlled Star Wars title. The above trailer was billed as gameplay, but I’m going to go ahead and call them big ol’ liars. I don’t believe it for a second, but I hope I’m wrong, as I too would love to get my hands on some sweet lightsabre swinging action. I can’t help but feel, however, that this game would have been more at home on a Wii and utilizing MotionPlus.

The press conference is nearing it’s end, and Microsoft has one last announcement to make. An announcement that was – as is usually the way – leaked a while ago. A new version of the 360 – black, glossy and awkwardly shaped, but desirable nevertheless and out this week. The guts are the same but it’s promised to be ‘whisper quiet’ and no longer prone to overheating. I’ve already made plans to upgrade for no real reason other than technolust. Don Mattick left the crowd in attendance with one final gift – everyone would be getting a new 360 on their way out, “On Microsoft.”

“Holy Shit!” someone cried out.

Holy shit indeed.

Overall the conference was slightly underwhelming. Big reveals were painfully absent and Kinect left me feeling incredibly mixed about its future. It has the potential, but it’s direction seems slightly misguided. My trust, or more importantly, my belief isn’t quite there yet, and I’ll definitely have to try it before it knock it, or otherwise. I’ve always admired Microsoft for focusing on exclusives, letting multiplatform games speak for themselves at their respective seminars or on the show floor, but it was a double edged sword in that the three exclusives were just that: only three. Recently Sony have been making massive strides in exclusivity and Microsoft have to work hard to catch up if they’re to reclaim the pole position they held for so long. The great thing about Microsoft is how they present themselves though; it’s always a blast to watch their polished, quick fire productions and it means a lot to see a developer genuinely enthused about their products. They once again focused on whats important – games over stats, the potential of the future over the success of the past. Last year Nintendo made a horrible mess of their conference, talking non-stop about how great they were doing and giving us very little to actually look forward to. The industry moves fast, and gamers are a fickle bunch. We don’t care how good your last quarter was, we want to know what’s planned for the next, and Microsoft always have that at heart. Always moving, always innovating and constantly striving to deliver us better experiences. I can only hope Sony and Nintendo take heed and deliver stellar performances tomorrow at their respective forums.

The contemporary Sandbox game, pioneered by the Grand Theft Auto series, has become a staple of the games industry, and a somewhat over-saturated one at that. In a strange paradox to what is arguably the genre’s manifesto, open world titles have become boring and repetitive experiences, each a clone of the last. Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption looks to change all that, doing away with the familiar urban sprawl and gritty life of crime in favour of the dusty plains of the Old West.

The romantic West is coming to an end. The cowboy is a dying breed and the new world’s dawn is fast approaching. You play John Marston, a former outlaw hunting down his ex-colleagues on a bloody quest for revenge and redemption – and would the Wild West have it any other way? The story and the missions you find yourself participating in are a colourful patchwork of every great spaghetti western to date, with everything from herding cattle to jumping aboard runaway trains from your speeding steed. The tale is peopled with and driven by a memorable and instantly likeable cast, with Marston himself taking centre stage. He is a deceptively deep character; a repentant badass who struggles immensely with die-hard old habits and a dark past. He’s brutal and eloquently polite in equal measure, and along with his array of weaponary is in possession of a remarkable warmth and a devilishly dry wit. All of this, along with the marriage of a flawless script and excellent voice acting, culminates in the gaming’s best protagonist since Niko Bellic – also sired by Rockstar. Everything else in the presentation shines, with nothing letting the side down. Oh, and it needs to be said – Red Dead Redemption houses the best endgame, in terms of gameplay and story, I’ve played in years.

The missions are always varied enough to keep you interested, despite consisting of ever-familiar aspects of gameplay: horses and guns. This is, in part, to do with just how good the game feels and how expertly polished the system behind it all is. Rockstar’s RAGE engine is as fantastic as it was in GTAIV, with bandits believably pirouetting and flying with the force and placements of your shots. The shootouts have a fluidity to them that few games can boast, with controls and cover rarely getting in the way of what you want to do. It must be noted, however, that the game can be somewhat susceptible to glitches at times. Usually it’s nothing more than a horse’s legs not animating, with the model instead gliding across the landscape in an eerie fashion, but still – a flaw.

The period weaponary feels nothing short of kick-ass, with a huge range on offer, each feeling more deadly than the last in Marston’s experienced hands. The bolt-action rifles feel particularly satisfying as you blast away the competition with an agreeable click as you load in the next round. In fact, satisfaction is something that Red Dead maintains as a priority throughout. The story missions always house the linear, even formulaic gameplay in a unique shell and each one usually has a grand moment all of its own, be it burning down an entire town with molotovs or mowing down enemies with a mounted browning. Even a brief ‘world-event’ mission, spawned at random and never taking more than a minute to complete, is hugely pleasing as you ride through a group of bandits lynching an innocent and blow them all away. Justice never felt so good.

The world can only be described as awesome – and for once I use that word with the correct definition attached. Upon seeing the vast and beautiful vista spread out before you, be it set against a blazing sunset or in the midst of an ominous storm, it’s hard not to exclaim “Wow.” The graphics – whilst sublime – are not ‘state of the art’. No, like GTAIV before it, the true wonder here comes solely from the incredible craftsmanship put into every aspect of the presentation. Every area of the immense map is wholly unique – no small feat for a gameworld this expansive – but, more importantly, every inch of it breathes. The title delivers a rich experience worth believing, a world worth investing yourself in, and what more can a player ask than this? Towns bustle with life, differentiated beautifully from one another with idiosyncratic architecture and populated with distinctive characters. The barren plains – which could so easily have been as empty as the oceans of Nintendo’s Wind Waker – burst with things to do, places to explore, animals to hunt, strangers to help, gangs to dispatch, bounties to collect, wild stallions to break, flowers to pick and – if you can believe it – so much more. Upon arriving in the world Red Dead had to offer I spent the first five hours of it far from the main storyline, cutting a path all of my own and all to the sound of the game’s beautifully composed score.

Multiplayer is the last hoorah, the final nail into this coffin of near-perfection, and it is delivered as flawlessly as the rest of the package demands. The lobbies themselves are the entire world of the single player campaign, peppered with other players waiting to join matches. Free-roam, as it is called, is somehow as dense as the main game, with a huge checklist of challenges to complete. Doing so will earn experience, levelling up your character and earning better mounts, weapons and avatars to pick from. You can choose to posse up and storm a gang hideout or simply slaughter everyone you come across. You can go up against the law and earn yourself a bounty, consequently luring other players to come and take you down for a reward. There’s such a wealth of things to do in free-roam that it’s difficult to drag yourself away to participate in actual modes such as free-for-all and team deathmatch.

Red Dead Redemption is a masterpiece, from beginning to end, inside and out. To dismiss this game as Grand Theft Auto with horses does the title, its developers and most of all, you, a great disservice. This is an absolute must-play. There are similarities between the series, of that there can be no doubt, but to every parallel there are a hundred discrepancies that set it apart not only from its forerunner but from the gaming world as a whole. It was Rockstar that defined the Sandbox game, so it’s fitting that they are the ones to tear it all down, to re-define it all over again. With Red Dead they not only claim their ownership of the open world, but prove themselves again as one of the best developers of our time.

Played single player to 100% completion over 50+ hours, reached level 20 in multiplayer, 10+ hours played.

+ The best open world to date.
+ Incredible experience allowing you to live a hundred classic Westerns.
+ Massive amount of things to do.
+ Multiplayer is an absolute blast

[9.9/10]

Alan Wake has been in the works and on our radars for nigh on a decade now, ever dogged by rumours of abandonment thanks to years passing with nary a whisper from developers Remedy. Now that the title is finally on store shelves, there can only be one question: was it worth the wait?

Alan Wake bills itself as ‘A psychological action thriller’, even going as far to plaster the self proclamation to their otherwise bare box art. But this is a fallacy. Alan Wake is as classic, PlayStation one horror as they come. Simply being tame doesn’t make it a thriller.

You play the titular Alan Wake, an author getting away for a week with his wife in the quiet town of Bright Falls. Long story short, Wake, in a fog of amnesia, loses a week  and his wife in the process, and so begins his journey to get her and his memories back as the town around him slowly turns a little bit Shining’s Nicholson.

The game plays out as if it were a televised drama, its story separated into six episodes making up the first ‘season’ of Alan Wake.  The story is entertaining throughout; whilst scene-to-scene events are host to cliché twists, horribly blunt references and trite, formulaic writing, the overriding narrative is genuinely interesting and unique as Wake begins to find pages of a manuscript he can’t remember writing, a manuscript that foreshadows terrible fates that await him ahead. It’s an excellent and clever device that builds a wonderful tension when players recognize events from pages they’ve read and realize what new horror is coming. The voice acting maintains the rich, high-production quality the script demands and even the characters, who begin as an entirely unlikable cast, begin to shine after a while. Neat peripheral features further enhance the slick package; televisions are dotted sporadically throughout the game, showcasing a mini-series called Night Springs, a camp, twilight-zone-esque horror show. Radios expand upon the world and characters outside of the direct narrative and each chapter opens with a ‘Previously on Alan Wake’ recap segment and ends with a song from the great soundtrack.

Where Alan Wake shines brightest, however, is its atmosphere. Its fantastic light – or more importantly shadow – effects are integral to this, as are the chilling visual trickery and absolutely stunning rendition of scenery (curiously the character models are Nintendo Gamecube graphics at best, horribly jarring and unintentionally terrifying in equal measure). The hectic battles and quiet lulls are perfectly paced. The wonderful audio engine offers creep-outs on par with the highly acclaimed Dead Space and its classic, casual, almost throwaway frights are far more memorable than the set-piece spooks. This game is a throwback to what the horror genre used to be about, what they should be about, and it nails it

Crushingly, however, it’s in Alan Wakes core gameplay that the title falls flat. The ten hour game is one long corridor from start to finish. Fifteen years ago, back when the horror genre was in its prime, we had expanses to explore, ranging from huge mansions to entire towns. Even the most lacklustre title would at least feign a sense of freedom. With Alan Wake there is only forwards. There are no puzzles and there is no variation. The opening four hours have you trek through a forest – a graphically stunning forest – but an incredibly tedious, linear forest nevertheless. From a gameplay perspective it was one of the most boring introductions I’ve ever played, and I’ve played Darksiders. The entire game is a case of getting from point A to point B, and even the final level – which infuriatingly sees you back in the forest for another couple of hours – takes this baton and runs with it, right into the ground.

Whilst you traverse these expanses the game is interjected with its second gameplay mechanic, the inevitable combat. Shadowy figures will burst at you from the foliage and if you wish to survive you’ll need to defeat them. It’s an uncomplicated affair of keeping enemies at bay with a flashlight and blasting them away with a gun – 2 bullets to be exact – when they become vulnerable. Despite the simplicity, it’s refreshing to truly be in control of a character in a horror game. Indeed, for as long as I can remember the genres greatest challenge has derived not from puzzles or frights but the hideously cumbersome control of the protagonist. Sadly for Wake, however, both Resident Evil 4 and 5 were released since Remedy started work on the project, with a wholly proficient, enjoyable and – most importantly of all – varied combat system. Once you’ve played an hour of Wake you will have seen everything the game has to throw at you. No greater beasts stand in your way before the journeys end, just the same old shadowy humanoids you were exorcising at the beginning.

Wake is the best example of a ‘mixed bag’ I’ve played since 2008s Alone in the Dark, and – for better or worse – its hit and miss nature isn’t the only thing it shares with Atari’s critical and commercial flop. Now, I enjoyed Alone in the Dark. It lacked polish and often failed to feel truly directed, but it definitely had its moments and innovation aplenty. Alan Wake follows suit by delivering a horror game that plays host to real ingenuity but ultimately fails to push the boundaries of its restrictive genre, a goal the developers obviously had in mind and a potential so nearly realized it’s heartbreaking. The game is so fleshed out it’s mind-boggling that the core was left so unattended and weak.

Ultimately, Alan Wake is a disappointment. It’s an incredibly linear race from start to finish, with competent but boring combat. The actual play to be had here instantly pales compared to Capcom’s aforementioned Action/Horror series, despite retaining the scares Resident Evil abandoned so long ago. It’s totally unvaried throughout, with an hours play offering the same experience as the full ten. For fans of the horror genre, I recommend it – I would even go as far as to say it’s a must play. There’s a lot to be liked here, and enough true innovation in areas we see ignored so often – story and atmosphere – to warrant a playthrough. I definitely enjoyed myself, especially once I got past the horrible opening, but it wasn’t thanks in any part to the gameplay. There’s so much to like in Alan Wake’s presentation and package that it’s truly devastating it was wasted on such a mediocre experience, and with nine years of work having gone into it, there’s absolutely no excuse.

Completed game, 10+ hours spent with title

+ Great story and presentation.
+ Superb audio and visuals – for the most part.
- Boring, unvaried gameplay.
- Linear A to B adventure.

7/10

Kate Nash blasted out of MySpace and on to the mainstream scene back in 2007 with her debut album Made of Bricks. Along with the slew of fans she collected she also garnered her fair share of critics who instantly disregarded her as nothing more than a Lilly Allen wannabe. It would be fair to say she had a lot to prove with this, her second album, My Best Friend Is You, so perhaps it’s no wonder it’s been such a long time coming.

So it’s a great up yours to her detractors that her opening track, Paris (1) is such an incredible one. It’s an immediate return to form, instantly showcasing Nash’s lyrical-chatter and indie-pop feel with an all new fast-paced kick to the tempo that really works, and it’s my favourite song on the album. It’s followed by the playfully disjointed and lyrically lurching Kiss That Grrrl (2), a song similar in its familiarity and easy listening appeal.

Things take a turn for the worse, however, with Don’t You Want to Share the Guilt (3) and later in Mansion Song (8) which feature dialogue heavy, obtrusive and ultimately obscene babble. The lyrics are a desperate attempt at injecting social commentary into the work but its spoken delivery is cheap and its messages are base and naïve. One gets the feeling Nash has only just learnt about sex and the words fuck and cunt and it results in something that is wholly embarrassing to listen to.

But luckily it’s only one of Nash’s experiments, with her other endeavours thankfully paying off in full. The repetitive pseudo-loop of I Just Love You More (4) truly outdoes itself, Do-Wah-Doo (5) is a simple, lyrically unloaded sing-along affair that you’ll either love or loathe and Kate returns to her Irish roots with the wicked punk-jig of Take Me To A Higher Plane (6).

MBFIY is undoubtedly an evolution of Nash, though to what exactly even Kate seems unsure. It’s an ensemble piece; an erratic journey through different styles and sounds that can verge on the dangerous side of experimental, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes tracks feel clumsily thrown together leaving us as nothing but spectators to Kate’s random dabbling rather than an audience to anything close to polished. But to lump MBFIY together like this is to do it a great disservice. For every track that feels poorly crafted we are given two or three that are equally as fantastic. The double tap of awful from I’ve Got A Secret (7) and Mansion Song (8) gives way to the intoxicating, deceptively happy-clappy Early Christmas Present (9), the eternal and beautiful crescendos of Later On (10) and the quirky charms of Pickpocket (11).

There’s no doubt that My Best Friend is You is a disappointing follow up to the great debut Nash accomplished with Made of Bricks. Whilst Nash distances herself from her Lilly Allen comparisons – something her distinctive charm and unconvential style suceed at rather than her awkward attempts at maturity – she ultimately sacrifices overall quality and fails to deliver an album as perfect as her first. With four or five rotten songs amongst the fourteen present it’s easy to leave the experience embittered. Subsequent listens, however, go a long way to heal these wounds. The album is full of great tracks that far outweigh what bring the album down. There’s a lot to love here, the trick is just to know what to skip.