Category: Xbox 360 Previews

A vampire expansion pack to sink your teeth in

“The problem with Skyrim, is that there’s just not enough to do” is a quote that has never been said and never will be. This is due to the almost endless amount of missions spread across a huge map – you’re unlikely to ever run out of things to do in this epic RPG. So a hefty chunk of DLC with even more things to do and places to explore may seem a little daunting, even to seasoned Skyrim folk. Thankfully, Dawnguard is worth the inital panic.

It can be activated like many other Skyrim missions – listening in on guard conversations, a note from a courier or speaking to the local innkeeper.  The main plot here is thus: Vampires are attacking cities in Skyrim under the command of Lord Harkon who’s aim is to fulfil an ancient prophecy told in an Elder Scroll to destroy the sun. This in turn …

Being arguably the biggest shooter in the world (well, apart from Call of Duty) has its advantages. For one thing, you can pretty much charge whatever you want for DLC… which explains how Microsoft and 343 Industries can charge 800 MS Points for a paltry three new Halo 4 maps. Our poor online change purses ache.

Alright, so that’s an exaggeration. Master Chief’s Crimson DLC also adds a new mode called Extraction, which is essentially King of the Hill, but replaces flags with computers. But bundling a similar game type with three fairly generic maps is hardly a fiscally friendly proposition. Enough whining though. Let’s lay out Halo 4′s new arenas on a cutting slab and dissect what each brings to the DMR-firing, plasma grenade-flinging, Ghost-riding soiree.

First up is Shatter. A reasonably spaced out outdoor environment with rocky outcroppings and plenty of curving footpaths to accentuate the game’s vertical combat, it’s ultimately the most satisfying of the three.

The …

Challenge maps change up the pace of this once methodical stealth ’em up

With DLC there must be a temptation to meddle – to try and add that extra plot point you couldn’t quite squeeze into the development window. Thankfully, Arkane Studios have left the self-contained campaign of critically acclaimed Dishonored alone for its first DLC instalment.

The Dunwall City Trials add-on consists of ten challenge maps. They come complete with online leaderboards so you can play against other players without actually having to, you know, engage in conversation with them.

Within the maps are four different challenge types: Mobility, Stealth, Combat and Creativity (read: ‘Puzzle’). Each one forces you to use the skills you’ve honed in the campaign to complete a unique scenario. There are also Expert maps to unlock if you can master the first set.

There are several standout moments, such as the puzzle challenge ‘Bend Time Massacre’. Here you have to kill a certain number of …

Dawn of the red

Cockneys vs Zombies? Pfffh. Try wrapping your spurs around Cowboys vs Coffin-dodgers. Infecting John Marston’s sweeping Wild West vistas with scores of the living-challenged, Undead Nightmare successfully reimagines Red Dead’s combat with a quirky paranormal twist.

Twisting Redemption’s cavernous Western canvas into a ghoulish world filled with thunderous blood-tinged skies, flaming horses and yetis represents Rockstar’s most ambitious work on the DLC front. It’s an impressive feat, given the care and craft that went into GTA IV’s lengthy and excellent Liberty City Stories episodes.

Marston’s main quest was defined by a lonely sense of mournful exploration as you travelled through the dying Old West. In contrast, Undead Nightmare is as gleefully daft as Marty McFly speeding through Monument Valley in a DeLorean with a posse of Native Americans hot on his tailpipe. Forget redemptive quests to save the charismatic outlaw’s family. Here, all old Johnny is concerned with is ridding towns and outposts of the zombie …

Lukewarm flying mechanics are saved by hot new additions

Dragonborn is a return to everything we love about Skyrim; an intense and immersive storyline centred around your character, boundless possibilities of exploration, with a brand new map, dungeons, side-quests and miscellaneous tasks to tackle.  These elements were certainly lacking in the earlier DLC, Dawnguard and Hearthfire, which are lacklustre and tedious. Watch your digital offspring run through animations and dialogue? Yawn. Build a home using a poor man’s Minecraft tools? No thanks. Previous DLC copped out on choice and originality, but thankfully, Dragonborn delivers.

A mysterious cult formed around the original Dragonborn, Miraak, stands as your nemesis in this expansion, as they challenge your superiority as the true legendary hero.  After they fail to assassinate you in the street you find a cultist’s corpse holds a mysterious note, which leads you to Raven Rock and the start of your adventure. Fans of the Bloodmoon expansion for Morrowind on PC are …

Four classic maps reloaded with goodness

Re-releasing old maps for new games can be a ballsy Hail-Mary pass for a popular shooter. Infinity Ward learned this lesson the hard way from hostile fan reaction when they started releasing re-skinned CoD4 maps for Modern Warfare 2. With Battlefield 3 resurrecting the classic Karkand map pack, the toss and hope long ball is thrown again. Sports metaphors aside, is Return to Karkand worth the price, or is it an easy money-spinner?

Rest assured this DLC is no mere cut-and-paste job of its predecessor. In fact, the four maps included – Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island 2014 and Sharqi Penninsula-  are fully rebuilt on Battlefield 3′s Frostbite 2 engine. Sure, there are areas that will trigger your nostalgia-glands into a state of fond lactation, but in every sense that counts these maps feel new. Even if you never played them originally, these maps are still great and add a refreshing …

BioWare splashes back at the haters with a beast of an adventure

As the dust settled in the wake of the outrage caused by Mass Effect 3’s ‘controversial’ ending, Bioware dropped the first piece of DLC for their genre-defining game. Mass Effect 3: Leviathan confusingly rewinds continuity by taking place ‘during’ the main campaign. This causes an immediate head-scratch moment as you try to figure out how to actually start the mission- especially if you are among the numerous gamers experiencing the well documented post-completion glitch. To cut a long story short, the mission is activated by checking your private terminal for a new message from Admiral Hackett.

Rocky start aside, Leviathan is a strong piece of story-telling that’s clearly designed to cater for those who just can’t get enough of Shepard’s heroic mission. Shepard receives the tantalising news that there is a being named ‘Leviathan’ hidden somewhere in the galaxy who has the power to destroy Reapers. With galactic …

More zen-balanced battling in this first expansion pack

Finishing Dark Souls should be a triumphant moment. You should feel incredible. You’ve beaten the game with the reputation for being unforgiving and unrelenting. You’ve overcome any expectations and you’re a better person for it. There should be a parade.

Instead what actually happens after the initial endorphin rush is you’re met with a solemn understanding that you’ve run out of Dark Souls to play. There’s a New Game Plus, sure, but that’s just reliving the same experience again. Dark Souls excels when you’ve completed a segment where it took hours of hammering away, then you have to move on to the newest section, struggling to learn the intricacies that will allow you to progress. It’s not really a game about difficulty, it’s a game about discovery and experience; once you’ve completed an area it can’t surprise you again.

The Artorias Of The Abyss DLC isn’t a remedy for Dark Souls withdrawal, …

Lost (and really lonely) in space

Being empowered with a badass squad comprised of a rhino-sized space goldfish, a telekinetic soldier and an ET assassin is amazing. So quite why Commander Shepard chooses to do a Roy Orbison and only the lonely his way through his latest DLC mission is anyone’s guess. While there are cute touches for Normandy obsessives here, a squad-less Shep robs combat of much of its tactical flavour.

Still, the initial concept for Omega is one long-term fans should appreciate. Whisking you back to a space station last seen in Mass Effect 2, the add-on adventure channels the bleak palette of the Spectre’s second suicidal game.

Treading over nostalgic ground is bound to appeal to punters who know their Raloi from their Reapers. And Omega earns further goodwill by bringing back Aria T’loak. The sultry alien mob boss was last seen plotting on the Citadel during Mass Effect 3’s main campaign. It’s her quest for power …