Title: The Saboteur

From: Electronic Arts

For: Xbox 360 (R18)

In EA’s The Saboteur you play as a tough-as-nails boozing Irish brawler in Nazi occupied France who joins the local resistance when his best friend is killed. The game has elements of Assassin’s Creed in that you can scale buildings and traverse the rooftops or blend in with the crowd so not to arouse suspicion. It also resembles Grand Theft Auto with the hijacking of vehicles, adult dialogue and content.

The look of The Saboteur is brilliant with its film-noir colouring with splashes of red to symbolise Nazi occupancy. When an area is liberated the colour comes back to realistic hues, which makes it easy to see where you have been.

The vehicle, climbing and shooting dynamics are all excellent, but there are many times where you’ll need your fists to fight your way out of a situation and this is where the game trips itself up. The hand to hand combat targeting is clumsy at best and proves a major frustration. This, along with some shoddy AI leaves me longing for what could have been one of the better games of last year.

Score 75%

Title: Darksiders

From: THQ

For: Xbox 360 (R18)

War – the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse stands accused of inciting a war between Heaven and Hell. Dishonoured and stripped of his powers, War must return to Earth in search of vengeance and vindication.

In this hack-n-slash RPG you take on the guise of War as you battle your way through seemingly never ending hoards of demons – many of them small, but ranging in size up to gigantic and ferocious beasts the size of a city block. With every kill you harvest souls which can then be used to purchase new attacks, weapons and upgrades.

The gameplay is much the same as the God of War series but with that added RPG element. Fight some minions, then some mid-level enemies followed by a boss. There’s plenty of puzzle elements along the way and the boss fights require you to figure out what hurts them and what doesn’t. This isn’t helped by the lack of a health bar on bosses, so there can be a lot of trial and error involved.

The game looks fantastic and plays remarkably well. I’ve barely been able to put it down over the holidays, which speaks volumes when I’ve got bigger titles needing to be played.

Score 90%

Title: Cities XL

From: Monte Cristo

For: PC

It’s been a long time between drinks for the city simulation and in Cities XL, newcomer Monte Cristo has entered the genre with a stunning simulation that looks incredible (if you have the PC with enough juice to handle it), has deeply involved gameplay, reasonably easy to follow controls and menus, and solid online options.

There’s a great deal of realism involved in creating your city’s infrastructure. First you are charged with laying down a road network which can take any form you wish. Dividing the city into zones is next, followed by the placement of buildings. Citizens will come, live their lives, work and expand your city if you’ve set it up right.

But the main difference between others in the genre and Cities XL is that you are restricted to playing the game the way it’s designed to be played if you are to succeed, where in the likes of SimCity 4 you have the freedom to play in an unorthodox fashion if you see fit.

Ultimately, Cities XL will divide simulation fans. As pretty and involved as it is, it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

Score 75%

Logitech Performance Mouse M950

Modern office desks come constructed in many different materials in this day and age but desks made of glass or with high-gloss veneers pose a real problem when it comes to mouse tracking. Optical mice just don’t work on them without a mouse-pad.

I hate mouse-pads. They’re ugly things that I always end up fiddling with, peeling or picking at. For that reason I haven’t used one in years.

Logitech has been the leading innovator in mouse technology for many years and have yet again broken new ground with their Performance Mouse M950 and its Darkfield Laser Tracking technology.

Regular laser tracking technology relies on the ability of the mouse’s sensor to detect the textural derails of the surface. The more irregularities a surface exhibits, the easier it is for the sensor to identify reference points that it can use to accurately measure motion. However, because high-gloss surfaces such as glass are almost completely flat, there are not enough details for a typical laser mouse’s sensor to detect.

To track on glass (that’s at least 4mm thick), Logitech Darkfield uses dark field microscopy to detect microscopic particles and micro-scratches on these surfaces., rather than tracking the surface itself. Similar to the way our eye sees the clear night sky, the mouse’s sensor sees the clean areas of the glass as a dark background with bright dots – the dust. Then, the sensor interprets the movement of these dots to track exactly where you’ve moved the mouse.

The sculpted, right handed shape of the M950 gives you the comfort you need while four customisable thumb buttons put your most important controls – like application switching, opening a favourite folder and zooming at your fingertips. Force-sensitive side-to-side scrolling (software enabled), which is a first in any Logitech mouse, lets you quickly navigate around webpages.

The supplied rechargeable AA battery can be charged either by plugging the mouse into the mains cable or using the USB cable and plugging it directly into your computer. You can then carry on using the mouse as it charges. Three green lights on the mouse itself indicate the charge level and begin flashing when your charge gets low.

I use the M950 for 8 hours a day in my graphic design job and find myself recharging the mouse once a week – and can stretch that out to a week and a half if I turn the mouse off overnight using the on/off switch on the under side.

The wireless mouse speaks to the tiny USB dongle called the Logitech Unifying receiver. This is small enough to safely stay in your computer or notebook and can receive up to five other compatible Logitech keyboards and mice simultaneously.

I’ve been using the Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 for a couple of years and with its natural ‘handshake’ shape, it has become a natural extension of my right hand. I absolutely love it, despite some of the gel thumb padding having leaked its liquid filling. So when the Logitech Performance Mouse M950 arrived on my desk I was scoffing at how it would have to be something very special to knock my favourite off its perch.

It did, and almost immediately at that. My old Microsoft Wireless has been banished to the drawer ever since, and it would take an unexpected hardware malfunction on behalf of the Logitech for me to pull it out again.

Using the M950 and a stylish glass mouse pad I’ve found the mouse to be incredibly precise and flawlessly smooth to move. All the buttons and features are perfectly placed and fully customisable which increases my productivity by having frequently used tasks at my fingertips.

At $199.90, the M950 is what you would call a premium product on the office peripheral scene and I personally wouldn’t have given it a second glance after seeing the price tag, but having used it for several weeks now, I have no doubt that the M950 is worth every cent.

For laptop users, Logitech have also released the Anywhere Mouse M905 which is more compact and uses the same dongle and Darkfield technology for the cheaper price of $149.95.

Title: Buzz! Quiz World

From: Sony Computer Entertainment

For: PS3

Seeming as it’s party season, I thought I would review a couple of the best new party games on the market at present. The first of which is the latest instalment in the excellent Buzz! franchise.

Buzz! Quiz World is easily the most polished Buzz! game to date. With over 5000 trivia questions, the chances of repeats appearing are slim. After several hours gameplay I haven’t come across any double-ups as yet. There’s all your old favourite characters as well as several newcomers to choose from, each with their own style. One great addition, and it might seem small but somehow makes a huge difference to the gameplay, is the inclusion of a huge database of preset names. Most regular names are in there along with some generic nicknames and titles. Choose your name and Buzz will address you personally and direct his accolades and sarcasm to you by name.

You can customise quizzes and take on players from around the globe individually or as a team. If playing by yourself though, Buzz! Quiz World doesn’t have a lot to offer, and understandably so, as this is meant to be enjoyed with others.

Score 90%

Title: MotorStorm: Arctic Edge

From: BigBig Studios

For: PSP

For the first time the MotorStorm series takes a hiatus from the PS3 and makes an appearance on Sony’s PSP and PS2 consoles. While there are still dirt, desert and mud tracks available, the theme this time around – as if you hadn’t guessed from the title – is snow and ice. This opens up the door for a whole new set of handling dynamics, environmental characteristics, vehicles and pitfalls.

The secret to succeeding in MotorStorm is finding alternate routes to take. Whether the route is quicker all depends on what vehicle you’ve chosen to drive. Big heavy cumbersome vehicles are best suited to the main drags where they can power through the mud or snow and the lighter rides can easily divert down narrow shortcuts. The snow and ice allows for new classes of vehicle to be introduced – Snowpluggers the giant Snowcat also Snow Machines make an appearance and each have their own characteristics.

MotorStorm hasn’t suffered a bit from the switch to the portable format, in fact it seems to suit it quite nicely. There’s plenty of race modes to keep solo players happy for hours on end, but the online multiplayer is a hit and miss affair.

Score 80%

Title: Band Hero

From: Activision

For: Xbox 360

I never got the opportunity to play Guitar Hero World Tour, and with the reported problems that the hardware suffered, I’m kind of glad. Band Hero is very much the same thing, but the drum kit has been given an all important upgrade to make it a little more durable. The yellow and orange ‘cymbals’ are full discs which makes them far more solid and the foot-pedal slots onto the crossbar a-la the Rockband kit which keeps it from moving around. However you don’t need a the new kit to play Band Hero as the GHWT kit will work just fine, as will only a guitar or any combination of instruments you want to use – you can even play with 4 microphones if you wish.

The gameplay resembles the latest Guitar Hero 5 but the mix of songs is purely pop this time around. You can play as your Xbox Live avatar if you wish as well as Taylor Swift herself, No Doubt and Adam Levine from Maroon 5 along with a myriad of weird and wonderful characters.

It’s a fun game, even if it does feel like a bit of a Christmas cash-in in the whole scheme of the Guitar Hero series.

Score 75%

Title: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

From: Naughty Dog

For: PS3

The original Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was hailed as a cinematic masterpiece and for the most part lived up to the praise. But it suffered from some fatal flaws that initially seemed insignificant but went on to prove incredibly frustrating. Its sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves takes everything that the original did right and improves on it in every way possible.

I’m not entering into the epic storyline here, but Uncharted 2 is about as close to taking part in an interactive action movie as any game has ever got. Despite being a third-person viewpoint, you get a genuine feeling of being in Drake’s shoes and experiencing everything he does.

The action flows like a thrilling theme-park ride from start to finish and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Then, when the ride is over, there’s online co-op missions for up to 3 players and online 5-on-5 team battles that play brilliantly.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the “killer app” that the PS3 has been waiting for. This game alone is worth owning a PS3 for.

Score 98%