Tag Archives: Gaming World

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 : 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 : 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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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : PlayStation Move

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All together now - 'I like to move it, move it...'

This week’s ‘Hidden Gems of the Gaming World’ post talks about a not-so-Hidden-Gem ; PlayStation Move. The thousands of adverts on TV, the web and in magazines mean that this is just about as far away from a ‘Hidden Gem’ as you can get, but I feel like PS Move doesn’t get enough credit for how fun and enjoyable it is, which is why I’d like to talk about it here!

Little known factoid – the PlayStation Move tech and (compatible Move game) Start the Party are the last video game related things that I bought out of my own pocket (the generous bank of Mum & Dad bought Black Ops or me!) and to be honest, I’m incredibly proud of myself for saving up to buy such a brilliant piece of tech.

Now I can’t vouch for Microsoft’s Kinect as I’ve not used it, but it seems the PS Move is right up there as one of the most precise motion-gaming gadgets in existence.

Click ‘Read More’ to find out why you should own PlayStation Move

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Rock Band 3

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Fancy rocking out in style with a plastic guitar? Of course you do!

Rock Band. Developed by Harmonix who are owned by MTV, the Daddy of all things music-related. Published by EA, who know a thing or 2 about creating successful franchises with the Need For Speed, FIFA and the Skate series being just a few of their best series’.

However, despite all of the knowledge and experience possessed by EA, MTV and Harmonix who’ve undoubtedly made the best music game on the market with Rock Band 3, they just couldn’t  make the game sell well, with RB3 selling just 7,386 copies in the UK during its first week, across all formats.

As I just said, I think that Rock Band 3 is a tremendous game and it even took home the award of ‘Best Music Game’ at this year’s Spike VGAs so click ‘Read More’ to find out exactly why you should buy it.

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Age of Zombies

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Age of Zombies Logo

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

You’d be forgiven for leaving your PSP in the darkest corner of a cupboard, unused and accumulating more dust than a Dyson vacuum cleaner.

I haven’t bought a game for my PSP in ages and it only gets used when I’m either incredibly bored, on a long car journey or if my iPhone (God forbid) runs out of battery or goes on the fritz.

New gadgets, new gizmos and a whole lot of distractions (Twitter, I’m talking to you!) means that our PSPs are rarely used though they actually have some of the best games ever seen on a portable console. No, really.

Most of the good games on PSP are either part of the God of War franchise (Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta) or are one of the many PSP minis ; cheap downloadable games that take up 1GB or less of your PSP’s hard-drive

Age of Zombies is one of these awesome minimal-data games and frankly it’s amazing.

Click ‘Read More’ to find out why you should get Age of Zombies

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Hidden Gems of the Gaming World : Tron Evolution

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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 probably won’t). This week’s post discusses how Disney’s Tron Evolution is going to be great but why the fact that it’s a movie game means that you probably won’t get it.

Tron Evolution Logo

Tron Evolution is this week's Hidden Gem of the Gaming World

Image via disnology.com

Tron. The new ultra-futuristic, CGI heavy, Disney movie sequel to the 80s film of the same name. It’s set in the world of a coin-operated arcade game and features an Oscar winner (Jeff Bridges), a handsome newcomer (Garrett Hedlund) and the hotness that is Olivia Wilde.

Right, that’s got you curious about the film, but J Station X is a video game blog.

Well, if you’ve been visiting JSX for a while or if you’re following me on Twitter, you’ll know that i am incredulously hyped up for the film but I’m also (only a little less) hyped up for the game based on it.

If you’ve got some money left after emptying your wallet full of pennies and buttons to buy Call of Duty Black Ops and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood then you most definitely need to get this game.

Click ‘Read More’ to find out why.

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