Category Archives: Hidden Gems of the Gaming World

Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Gotham City Impostors

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World is a new post series here on J Station X that talks about the games that you should buy (though will most likely overlook).Gotham City Impostors Cast Screenshot

How much money do I want to spend in order to show my devotion to my favourite superhero?

That’s a question that most comic book fans have to ask themselves before putting any faith into the notoriously prone-to-failure section of the video games market that is the superhero spin-off game. Many of these games fall flat on their buttock cheeks before they’ve even rescued a any cats from trees.

Considering that Batman Arkham Asylum and err…Batman Arkham City are effectively the only two games of comic book legends to have both played and sold well, so capturing lightning in a bottle with this genre for a third time would be an infeasible task, to say the least.

Somehow the 6v6 multiplayer mayhem that Gotham City Impostors allows may have done the impossible and Bats is only featured in it by name!

Click ‘Continue Reading’ to find out why Gotham City Impostors is worth your time.

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Syndicate

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World is a new post series here on J Station X that talks about the games that you should buy (though will most likely overlook).Syndicate Headhunting Logo

“Syndication for the nation!”, the heralds will cry.

“Corporations, criminals, television shows!”, “Syndicate ALL the things!”, Internet meme posters will bellow from behind their laptop screens.
Meanwhile, you are sat there thinking ‘how on Earth is any of this relevant to my gaming interests?’.

Back in the ancient times of 1993, a game called ‘Syndicate’ was released. It was an “isometric tactical squad” game that put you in charge of four agents with the task of killing, escorting and persuading various high profile figures.

The last game in the franchise (Syndicate Wars) was released almost two decades ago but EA are starting from scratch, rebooting the series and throwing out the clunky, block-like graphics of old, giving it a futuristic look and a myriad of gameplay options to boot for its upcoming 2012 release.

Click ‘Continue Reading’ to find out why Syndicate is worth your time.

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : NeverDead

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World is a new post series here on J Station X that talks about the games that you should buy (though will most likely overlook).NeverDead_Image_for_TGS2010_05

Before you continue reading, I want you to just take a second to picture your perfect game…
You can’t die, but the penalty of losing is still there. You get to save the world. You play as the ultimate badass. The gameplay is more fun than beating pedestrians with sex toys. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that at least one of those was on your list.

Now let’s just say that there was a game that did all of that. A game that encapsulates all of the best bits from games that you know and love, and blends them together like a caffeinated brew of awesome – minus the coffee beans, but will still keep you up at night with all the fun you’ll be having.

Of course, as I’m sure you guessed about 300 characters ago, NeverDead is that game.

Click ‘Continue Reading’ to find out why you should put NeverDead on your wishlist.

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : UFC Undisputed 3

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World is a post series here on J Station X that talks about the games that you should buy (though will most likely overlook).

UFC Undisputed 3 Screenshot 1

It’s easy to overlook the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) genre of fighting games when you have titles like ‘Supremacy MMA’ representing their corner in the same way that rats do for the rodent community.Then there’s the fact that we have so many other fighters on store shelves, there’s EA and their aptly titled ‘EA Sports MMA’, EA again with the Fight Night series and THQ (who are also the publishers of UFC) with the series that eschews realism in every way imaginable, the WWE franchise. We’re hardly stuck for choice.

With all of those games vying for your attention, the absolute gems that are the other two games in the UFC Undisputed series as well as the upcoming addition, UFC Undisputed 3, might get passed up on. That’s why the game is this week’s Hidden Gem of the Gaming World.

Click ‘Read More’ to find out why you should consider the game.

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : FIFA Street

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World is a post series here on J Station X that talks about the games that you should buy (though will most likely overlook).

FIFA Street Screenshot 1

When you’re in the market for a football game, your choices are between the annually-released FIFA or PES games. It’s a choice between realism or sub-par realism, authentic licensed football or ‘playing as ‘Manchester Red’ and having to breach copyright just to type in the proper team name. As difficult as that choice may be for FIFA-heads and PES-nuts alike, EA are throwing another warrior into the footie sim fighting ring with FIFA Street.

FIFA Street has been dead for a few years but thankfully, EA are deciding to pull it out of the vault to dust it off and revamp it for the new generation of gamers, making football games a choice between serious true to life gameplay or pure unadulterated fun.
However, I know that a lot of you will be sceptical about buying into this skills-focused style of football that you’re not used to, which is exactly why FIFA Street is the latest addition to my list of ‘Hidden Gems of the Gaming World’.

Click ‘Read More’ to find out why FIFA Street is worth your time and money.

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Dragon Age Origins

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Dragon Age Origins is this week's Hidden Gem of the Gaming World

Take a generous helping of Mass Effect 2, a lip-smattering amount of Oblivion : Elder Scrolls and an extra kick of creative spice that developing heavyweights Bioware are always sure to season their games with and voila! You have Dragon Age Origins. In much the same way that Activision are the King of sequels and EA are the Godfathers of anything sport related with a year in the title, Bioware are the premier makers of Role-Playing Games. There’s a reason why their critically acclaimed space-RPG swept the board when it came to winning Game Of The Year awards and it’s that same reason that explains why their most recent release (and successor of the Dragon Age brand name) Dragon Age 2 is already being tipped to clean up at awards shows later in the year too, despite the fact that we’re not even a quarter way through the year yet. The reason is that Bioware are just that good at developing games.

Nobody makes an RPG the way Bioware does, though it’s a shame that it’s taken people a while to realise this and so you may have missed out on one of the glittering gems in their RPG crown, Dragon Age Origins ; a pristine example of Bioware’s skills.

Click Read More to find out why you should get Dragon Age Origins.

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Skate 3

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Keep reading to find out why you should get Skate 3.

Flips, grabs, grinds and the inevitably painful bails that most of these tricks result in. These are all some of the moves/stunts/crazy-feats-only-attempted-by-madmen that are possible in Skate 3, EA’s skateboarding simulation game.

As entertaining and thrilling as it may be for us less able-bodied wannabe skateboarders to pull off seemingly impossible tricks by way of our heavily customisable characters in the game, the popularity of the Skate franchise has dwindled recently.

The original Skate game was heralded as a breath of fresh air for the skate-sim genre, with its innovative ‘Flick-It’ control scheme allowing the player to get as close to the real deal without grabbing a helmet and knee-pads and hopping on an actual skateboard, though with the rival franchise of (rather terrible) skate games from the original skate-master Tony Hawk and publishing powerhouse Activision resulting in an over-saturation of the market, it seems like nobody wants to play ‘pretend skateboarding’ any more.

This is a shame because EA’s Skate 3 is nothing short of phenomenal.

Click Read More to find out why you should get Skate 3.

Skate 3 Screenshot 1

Skater pile-up in 3,2,1...

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Shatter

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Keep reading to find out why Shatter is this weeks 'Hidden Gem of the Gaming World'

I love the PlayStation Store. And the XBLA for that matter. For the price just one good hard-copy of a game, you can download ten great ones from the comfort of your own home. I don’t have enough time in a day to complete all of the ace downloadable titles that I’m forever spending my funds on, there’s just that much to choose from.

PSN title ‘Shatter’ is one of these games that is hastily sapping away my free time. Shatter is an incredibly vibrant game with eye-popping visuals and is both frustrating yet limitlessly fun. That being said, you’ve probably never heard of it. I decided to give Shatter a go after I found out that my friend cront ( from our sister site MadGearSolid – @cront on Twitter!) had been playing it. With the knowledge of cront’s epically good taste in the back of my mind, I downloaded it from the PlayStation Store and found it to be so awesome that I’m recommending it to you!

Click ‘Read More’ to find out why you should download Shatter

Shatter Screenshot 1

OMG, A BOSS BATTLE!

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Borderlands

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Borderlands

Keep reading to find out why you should get Borderlands

Meet Borderlands ; Fallout’s younger, wackier and not-actually-related cousin.

Want to spend £40 on the GOTY edition of Fallout 3? Or how about £40 on Fallout New Vegas? Forget it. Spend £30 (maybe even less in some places) on the Game of the Year Edition of Borderlands – an open-world RPG that has more in common with the Fallout games than their shared love of quests and customisation.

Because of other, more established RPGs, like the aforementioned Fallout games, Borderlands is often overlooked as a ‘serious’ game on account of its cartoony-drawn graphics and dusting of light humour but it’s these amusing qualities that make Borderlands different from so many of the other heavy and dark RPGs on the market right now and with several helpings of fantastic DLC (4 DLC packs to be precise) included in the GOTY edition, now is the perfect time to give Borderlands a second chance.

Click ‘Read More’ for more reasons as to why you should pick up the game.

Borderlands Screenshot 1

Been set on fire? Yeah, there's no coming back from that.

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : iTunes 12 Days of Christmas

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Apple

Apple. NOM.

Little known fact : the games on iPod Touch and iPhone are actually really good.

Wasn’t expecting me to say that now, were ya?

Yes, well the games, despite their miniature size, are generally quite fun and offer something for more casual gamers looking for a quick thrill or for hardcore gamers, who are bored with the wonderful world of storylines so complex that you get migraines trying to comprehend them.

Every year, the good ol’ folks at Apple release a completely, 100% free app on the app store for iPhones and iPod Touches that will give you a free download every day, for 12 days, from the 26th of December.

I downloaded the app for my phone last year and got several music videos, 2 TV shows, a film and a game as well as some other awesome goodies. That’s why this year, I’ve downloaded the app again to nab some more freebies.

Click ‘Read More’ to find out why you should download it too.

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