13 Games that won't sell this Christmas: 2011 Edition

HEY! This is 2011's edition of this feature! Click here to read 2012's version!

It's getting to Christmas time now, and there are a lot of great games coming out! Too many in fact. And with many people not being able to spend that much on games, there are a few that are destined to fail. These are the 13 that I believe will miss out on those all important sales. These aren't bad games, but just games that I don't think are mainstream enough to sell well - but I've been wrong before...

Dark Souls

This one I might be wrong about, but still has a big chance of failure. Why? The gameplay. It's too punishing! There are times when the going is good, but not often enough to make this a big seller.
People want fun from their games, not punishment! And this game hands it out in bucketloads.
That, and that only, is the reason I think Dark Souls will miss out - people aren't hardcore enough.



Spiderman: Edge of Time

Let's face it, there's only one superhero people have got their eye on this winter, and it sure ain't old Spidey. While I think EoT looks like it could be fun, it's never going to take the spotlight away from Arkham City. And that is the main reason I think it will fail, but at the end of the day the last few spidey games, (Shattered Dimensions, Friend or Foe etc.), haven't exactly been big sellers either....

X-Men Destiny

X-Men shares Edge of Time's problems really, except X-Men has it worse. Why? Because where Spidey's game may be a bit of fun, X-Men Destiny looks like a repetitive, old-fashioned game that nobody has been too interested in since it was announced. That was harsh I know, but if you ask me - this one will be dead on arrival.



Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

While this is a promising new direction for the Ace Combat series, I'm not sure if it'll be enough to divert the customers' attention away from the two big war games this year, Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. I'm sure this one will still sell to the plane fanatics out there, but how many plane fanatics are there nowadays?

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record


Cash cow were the first words that came to mind when I heard about this one. After the success of the first two DR games, and the downloadable ones that came out recently - what's the next step? Dead Rising 3 maybe? Nah, let's just release the second one again! Laziness surrounds this game, and so only the hardcore zombie fans are going to bother.


Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure

This game, while having an interesting concept, is bound to fail. Why? Because it's going to have to .have some great marketing for the kids to get excited, plus it's going to have to be pulled off well for the idea to work. And Spyro is a series that hasn't had a truly great game in a while.

Goldeneye 007: Reloaded


Well, well, well - the cash cow strikes back. Not only is this just an HD remake of a remake of a game that was released in the nineties, but also - when it comes to shooters - Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 are the ones people are interested in. I predict this one to fly in under the radar and be ignored.


Need for Speed: The Run

Need for Speed really upped its game recently with Hot Pursuit and the Shift series each being great games. Unfortunately, I don't think people will bother with this one. The problem is, you have to be a big car fan to choose this over some of the other games coming out this winter. And no doubt a lot of car fans are going to be looking to Forza 4. So, I think this one will get lost in the crowds.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 


Again, we have a game that is basically just a re-release. While UMVC3 does have a bit of a new look, with a bunch of other new features I'm not sure if it'll be enough. Although, I was a big fan of the first MVC3, so I'm interested, but whether others will be is a different story...


Kinectimals: Now with Bears

This one is going to go one of two ways - success or failure, there won't be an in-between. Either all .the kids will have to have it and parents will rush out on launch night, or everyone is going to realise what a lazy excuse for a game this is. And what a stupid title "Now with Bears." They might as well have called it, Kinectimals: The Lazy Sequel.

Rayman: Origins

As the first proper Rayman game in a while, and one that looks beautiful - I really hope that this sells. Whether it will is a different story. Rayman isn't as big a name as Mario and Sonic - especially to the new generation. So, this one's definitely in the danger zone.


Kirby: Mass Attack/Kirby's Return to Dreamland

Maybe not both of these will fail - but one of them definitely will. Why? Not many youngsters know who Kirby is, and the one's that do think he's some weird sewing thing. Also, with most of the portable gamers looking at the 3DS, which has games like Mariokart and Mario 3D Land out this Christmas, Kirby: Mass Attack will probably get lost. As for Kirby Wii - that could go either way, but Epic Yarn wasn't a huge seller last year, so it'll be interesting....


Those are my picks - but what about you? Comment your thoughts!

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The Power of Five: Evil Star Review

Anthony Horowitz became my favourite author a few years ago due to his incredible Alex Rider series. A little while ago I picked up Ravens Gate, the first book in another series of his called, The Power of Five. I was pleasantly surprised I must say, and it didn't take me long to find book two, Evil Star. But, can it live up to the previous book's greatness? Not really, but it's still an entertaining read.

For those of you who don't know, this series centres around Matt, a teenage boy who seems to have some form of supernatural power. It is written in prophecies that an evil, ancient race known as the Old Ones will emerge from so-called "gates" and will bring about the end of the world. Matt is what's known as a "gatekeeper" and he is one of "the five."
If you haven't heard of this series before, you really need to read the first book - the aforementioned Ravens Gate - before this one.

Evil Star picks up a short while after the events of Ravens Gate, and opens fantastically with a disturbing, yet exciting few chapters centering around Gwenda Davis, Matt's Aunt, no spoilers but it leads to some awesome events that hooks you in to the story nicely.

The story itself is good, although not quite as strong as Ravens Gate. It still has the imaginative, three-dimensional characters that are expected from one of Horowitz' books, but it suffers from some pacing problems mid-way which is a real shame, and I recommend readers who share my opinion to stick with it as things do pick up again.

However, I have to say the ending to this book isn't quite as good as previous Horowitz work either. But, I believe this to be because this book seems to be laying down groundwork for a bigger story, and any loose ends I'm sure will be tied up in the third entry in this series. However, if your not interested in a third book and just want a stand-alone read, then this book probably isn't for you.

I'm sure those people are the minority though, and if you're looking to keep with this series to its climax, then you'll like this book, and I recommend it. Overall, Evil Star is a flawed, but exciting read.

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Daredevil Review

Daredevil (Ben Affleck) is a masked crime fighter who was blinded at a young age, but has had his other senses enhanced. He can hear a pin drop from a mile away. A few years ago Daredevil was brought to the big screen, and the minds of Hollywood tried their best to tell an exciting, action packed origin but this seemed to just include ramming special effects down your throat.

Unfortunately, a mediocre story doesn't help matters. Daredevil is the protector of Hell's Kitchen, a town in America, where crime is everywhere. He finds out that all the crime in the city is linked together by one person, known as the Kingpin, who has hired the assassin, Bullseye to kill an old business partner of his. But Bullseye ends up staying to kill Daredevil too.

Meanwhile, Matt Murdock (Daredevil) meets Elektra, who might as well not even be in this film. For those who don't know, Elektra is a ninja assassin who is supposed to be a total badass. Now, don't get me wrong, in this film she does do a bit of fighting, but is generally made quite weak in comparison to Daredevil, who does some truly ridiculous things in the climax of the story. Had the script accompanied some more space for a Daredevil-Elektra team-up this would have been much better.
The script does however provide some quite funny dialogue between Matt and Foggy, (who is his co-worker).

One of the most annoying things about this film is it tries to be too comic-book-y. I never thought there was such a thing, but the fight scenes are way too over the top-and with the awful special effects it makes them almost unwatchable. There is the odd moment where the effects look quite cool, but this is rare.
And the effects are everywhere - there's no getting away from them. There in the fight scenes, the action scenes, the romantic scenes, they even seem to make up most of Hell's Kitchen! This is intolerable, as even though this movie is now 8 years old, other films released at the time (e.g. Spiderman, X-Men) proved that good effects were possible. So why weren't they used in this film?

I also found the acting to be quite average. Colin Farrell as Bullseye was just very annoying. Bullseye is meant to be a bit crazy, but Farrell just wasn't very well suited in my opinion. I also want to point out my hatred of Bullseye's appearance in this film. The costume department managed to get Daredevil's look, but Bullseye's costume was replaced by a leather jacket/coat. That really sucked. Although they did manage to get his trademark, target shaped scar(?) on his forehead.

Jennifer Garner just wasn't strong enough to fit the aforementioned Elektra's shoes. Elektra is one of the most dangerous women in the Marvel Universe, especially when it comes to one-on-one combat, and I just don't think Garner could pull off such a character.
She and Ben Affleck manage to strike little chemistry in the scenes that are meant to be romantic, but are instead just slightly cringeworthy.

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Opinion: Kinect Has Failed Gamers

In less than two months Kinect will have reached it's 1st birthday. Then why is it that there's practically nothing to show for it, except for bucketloads of sales and a load of disappointed gamers that is.

Kinect, then known as Project Natal caused some serious commotion when it was unveiled at E3 2009. It wowed audiences with promises of deep conversations with virtual teenage boys in Milo and Kate, proper, good, racing and fighting games and a load of other amazing features - 90% of which we still don't properly have on Kinect! Just check out the announcement trailer below! Looking back, I was a fool to think that Kinect could have done all this. But during the excitement of E3 it's easy to be gullible!

Flashing forward to E3 2010 where at a Pre-E3 conference Natal is renamed Kinect and we are introduced to a bunch of horribly casual games (Kinectimals, Kinect Sports, Dance Central, Kinect Joy Ride etc.) and for some, the previous years promises begin to look weak and unfulfilled. But some supporters stayed and many small kids and mums flocked over in interest.

But it was the launch line-up in November 2010 where the truth about what Kinect would be, became clear - the majority of games being sports/fitness based (Zumba Fitness, The Biggest Loser, Your Shape etc.) and the rest being mediocre titles that started gathering dust pretty quickly. It was a couple of months after that £130 investment that my dream of owning the Natal from two years ago finally broke.

Now you can't say Microsoft haven't tried. A quick look at their E3 2011 conference that was dominated by Kinect and Kinect integration in games proves that. But it's not enough. Saying stuff in Mass Effect 3, looking at guns and cars in different ways in Ghost Recon and Forza 4 - it's all gimmicks! Not to mention the recently made Kinect Fun Labs, that should probably be renamed Kinect Gimmicky Pointless Overpriced Apps Labs.

Kinect has so much potential and while you do get odd moments of genius every now and then, (Child of Eden, The Gunstringer), mostly the potential is put to waste. We still have some hope left of some imaginative Kinect games in the form of Steel Battalion, Project Draco, Ryse and Kinect Star Wars, but if those games end up disappointing then sadly yes, Kinect will have failed gamers, and instead will have become every four year old's dream gaming platform.

Will Ryse be able to save Kinect?

I can't speak for everyone so if you dislike my opinion then please comment, or do you agree with
me?

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Child of Eden X360 Review

Child of Eden at the very least is something to look at. A spiritual successor to Rez, it's graphics consist of brightly coloured enemies, explosions and environments - some can really take your breath away.

Child of Eden takes place years in the future when our world is the Internet (only now it's called Eden). Lumi (a young woman) was the first person to be born out of the Internet and so she is the Child of Eden. But Eden is under attack by viruses, and it's your job to destroy those viruses! In that sense Child of Eden is a Rhythm-Action-On-Rails-Shooter!

That's about as deep as the story goes! But this game was never going to be about story. It's about fun. And in that sense it succeeds for the most part. It's a fun game that can be played with an X360 Controller or with Kinect. I went with the Kinect option for the most part. It's not particularly superior, but after spending £130 on Kinect I wanted something to use it with! And for the most part it works well. Using your right and left hands to use different guns is a system that works usually, but when things get more manic at the end of each level, problems occur. And the amount of Kinect-related deaths you get can be pretty infuriating. 


But, that's not to say it's bad on Kinect. There is fun to be had through using Microsoft's motion sensor, it's just that maybe the controller is the more accurate way to go.

The main issue people seem to have with this game is its length - and yes it's not the longest game in the world by a long shot. With only 5 levels it is what many would call short. But it's not too unreasonable. The levels each offer a challenge and so can require playing through multiple times, and if you're a fan of high scores then you're in for a treat! Not to mention the different difficulty levels. I thought it lasted long enough to avoid being a rip-off.

One thing I didn't like about this game, and one thing that may put people off is the lack of checkpoints. If you're anything like me you will find yourself getting to the tail-end of a level, dying, and being sent to the very beginning again, this is one of the most annoying things that can happen in gaming - and it will happen here!

There is a mode titled 'Feel-Eden' in which you can play through levels without taking any damage, but having no danger at all ends up making things a little boring.

Although that doesn't stop it from being a good game. At the end of the day this is a fun game, and something that will stop your Kinect from gathering dust for a little while. And due to poor sales, it can be picked up cheap pre-owned and it's even being packaged with new Kinect sensors along with Kinect Adventures, so there has never been a better time to pick it up if you can get past the sometime inaccurate Kinect controls, and an annoying lack of checkpoints. It's by no means perfect, but it is one of the more interesting uses of Kinect on the market.

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Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides Review

In my opinion the Pirates films have been going downhill since the first sequel. I believe that the first film was the only truly excellent one. But this fourth film really brings the series to a new low.

Not even Captain Jack can save this train wreck...

At this point in the review I normally give you a brief outline of the story, but this time it's hardly worth bothering. The story is weak, nonsensical stuff surrounding a load of pirates all working for other people, all trying to find the fountain of youth. Throw in a bunch of Mermaids and "Zombies", that really aren't zombies at all, and you get a story that could have been okay, but instead is just boring and turns this film into a two-hour sleeping pill. 


This movie really could have benefited from a bit of effort, but sadly this series has become just another cash cow for the people in Hollywood to milk. Instead then, it's told terribly, with a weak script adding to it's troubles.

Pirates 4 tries to be exciting, it really does. There are explosions, sword-fights, and more - but none of it is exciting, because it's all so overly choreographed and unrealistic. I know the Pirates series isn't about realism but some of this is ridiculous, predictable stuff that even makes the action scenes boring.
And it's Captain Jack himself that adds to this because you know he's going to get himself out of any situation with many witty comments to spare - or at least Hollywood thinks their witty. The truth is that the Captain Jack character is done now. He was funny 5 years ago, now though it's just getting a bit dull.

McShane is just one actor who isn't given a chance to shine...

And Penelope Cruz proves herself to be a pointless addition to the film with a boring character who ends up failing to bring anything to this story - not even a love interest. And you know this from the start due to her character's absence in the later films (this is a prequel - although that's never made very clear!). 
But to be fair, Cruz isn't the only boring character. None of the supporting cast is given anything to interesting which is a great shame because the cast is full of talented actors.

There are no redeeming qualities to this film. The story is weak, the script is poor, the acting is average, and the stunts are boring. Not to mention the weird continuity errors with the rest of the series. I knew this series was going downhill but I was shocked to see by how much. This is a lazy film and one to avoid.

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Deus Ex Still at No. 1!

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is at No. 1 in the UK Videogame Top 40 for the second week now, managing to hold off new-entry Driver: San Francisco despite a 50% drop in sales.

Driver: SF does manage a strong entrance at No. 2 though. Other new entries this week include Madden NFL 12 coming in at No. 6 (despite the fact that no one in the UK plays American Football).
The only other new entry this week is Codemaster's disappointing Bodycount which comes in at No. 36.

Here's the Top 10: (UK All-Formats, All-Prices)

1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
2. Driver: San Francisco
3. Zumba Fitness
4. Rugby World Cup 2011
5. Lego Pirates of the Carribean
6. Madden NFL 12
7. Call of Duty: Black Ops
8. Cars 2
9. FIFA 11
10. The Sims 3

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Alex Rider: Scorpia Rising Review

I'm a real Alex Rider fan - always have been. I've read all of the previous books (which I think is fairly important if your reading this one) and now here we are at the final mission. Was it a worthy end to the series? A resounding yes.

Anthony Horowitz continues his fantastic descriptive, yet action packed writing in Scorpia Rising. We open with Scorpia being hired by a rich old Greek man who wants the Elgin Marbles, (which have been homed at the British Museum for years), returned to Greece. And so Scorpia builds a genius plan circulating around Alex Rider and a twin of his who last made an appearance in Point Blanc (Book two of the Alex Rider series).


It's hard to say any more without spoiling things, but what I can say is that the writing is gripping - not once did I get bored of Horowitz' tremendous techniques! The book is also fast-paced which makes everything feel so relentless on the hero that it becomes hard to put down.

Everything about this last Alex Rider book is well done - the writing is great and so is the story. We see new sides to long-term characters like Jack Starbright, Smithers, Mrs. Jones and Alex himself! And the final few chapters are just as dramatic as you'd expect from one of Horowitz' books.

Scorpia Rising is definitely a fantastic end to a series that has always been entertaining, and one that I will miss. If you're really aching for some more Alex Rider after this, then I've heard that Horowitz is working on a new series based on the adventures of Yassen Gregorovich (Long-term readers will know who that is). If you've read the past Alex Rider books you have to get this one, if not then you should definitely read the previous one's first - but either way, make sure you don't miss this book.

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Limitless Review

Limitless is all about a guy who (at least at the beginning of the film), is down on his luck. That guy is Eddie (played by Bradley Cooper).

The film doesn't hesitate in telling us what a loser Eddie is, and in the first few scenes alone we see that he has a book contract that he has fallen behind on, his girlfriend, Lindy, breaks up with him, and we find out he was engaged once - but that never worked out either. On top of all this Eddie's looking pretty rough right now too.

Fresh from being dumped, Eddie bumps into his ex-fiance's brother, Vernon, who comes across as a nice guy. They meet up and it doesn't take long for Eddie to tell him about the book deal going down in flames, and so Vernon tells Ed about this pill. He claims it's government approved, completely safe, but won't be on the market for months. It is the clear pill and it's what this film is about.

Bad looking Eddie, getting some "help" from ex's brother, Vernon

The science goes that we only use a small part of our brain's overall potential. This pill unhinges our entire brain and basically makes you a very clever person. Of course Eddie takes it, and he soon sees the benefits. 
I'm not going to give away much more about the story, but lets just say that this pill isn't as amazing as it looks at first glance. On top of that, Eddie does end up grabbing some attention and soon things go from bad to worse. But that's enough story, I always try to avoid giving out spoilers in these reviews.

I did enjoy Limitless. I thought the acting was strong throughout, and that the film was generally well paced and I never really got bored. There is also a narrative from Eddie which on numerous occasions offered some comic relief, which was welcome in between the more serious moments of the film.

I also enjoyed the camera effects that came into play once the drug was taken by Eddie or anyone else. It put across the type of high that the characters must have been feeling very well.
But unfortunately, at some points in the middle of the film I thought these effects were slightly over-used and made it confusing and hard to figure out what was happening. Fortunately, these times only happened once or twice and didn't ruin the film for me.

However something that did end up tainting this film was the ending. As I said before I don't give out spoilers in these reviews so I'm not going to tell you what happened, but for me it seemed to leave a lot of unanswered questions. This was made worse by the fact that I found the finale to be so exciting, so the ending just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Despite this, Limitless was a good film which I enjoyed a lot, and my criticisms with the ending shouldn't stop you from renting or buying it. Despite the fact that it has some dark underlying themes of drug addiction it still manages to stay entertaining.

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The Fighter Review

I was sceptical as I went in to see The Fighter. I didn't think I'd like it purely because I didn't like boxing, but I was wrong. You realise very soon that this film is not about just boxing - far from it.

The film is about two brothers. The older one, Dick (Christian Bale), is a former boxer who keeps telling people he's making a comeback, despite the fact that he has a drug addiction that means he can't help his own brother train like he's meant to. The younger one, Mick (Marl Wahlberg), has been boxing for a few years but has had little to no success.
The film tells the story of these two brothers as they fight, not only other boxers, but their family and their own personal demons to become the best.

This film was incredible. For me it had a slightly slow start but once it got on it's feet it was a real winner, and the rest of the film was very well paced.

The acting was fantastic througout - not only were Bale and Wahlberg great as the two brothers, but also Amy Adams was fantastic as Charlene (Mick's girlfriend), and Melissa Leo was impressive as Alice - the mother who thought she was giving her children the best. This is complimented by a great script full of highs and lows.

Leo and Adams are just as good as the two leads.

Seriously, this film is an emotional rollercoaster. The conflicting emotions of the brothers wanting to be better, not just for them but for their children, and the other family members who start to feel left behind as Mick starts to think big are truly touching. There were points when you could really choke up, which is something I didn't expect from a film like this.

Although you don't have to like boxing to love this film, there are boxing scenes in it. I don't like boxing very much but I found these boxing matches to be brilliantly played out and very exciting. This was magnified in the final match which was absolutely gripping.

At first I thought I would hate this film. I don't like boxing, so why would I like this? WRONG. This film is fantastic, whether you like boxing or not you owe yourself to see this - and it's a true story!

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