TheGamersHub Magazine 11

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In-House:

Operations Manager: Henry M - henry.m@thegamershub.com Productions Manager: Dan H - dan.h@thegamershub.com Content Editor: Vaughn H (Starfox118) - Vaughn.h@thegamershub.co Tech Editor: Ryan P (Ryan.P) - ryan.p@thegamershub.com Media Editor: Lewis W

Team England:

Community Manager: Sam D Staff Writer: Joseph T - joseph.tyler@thegamershub.com Staff Writer: Robby D (Rob95) Staff Writer: Talwinder S (JustaGamer) Staff Writer: Gagan G (gagan0305) Staff Writer: Josh Brown (Tastynoodle) Staff Writer: Andy Elliott


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Team Ireland:

News Editor: Dylan V (dylan365v) - dylan.v@thegamershub.com Staff Writer: Robert D (Rob95D)

Team America:

US Editor: Anthony D (Anthony D) - anthony.d@thegamershub.com Staff Writer: Chris C (Chris C) Staff Writer: Nate D Staff Writer: Liam F (lpfisher) Staff Writer: Vanessa H (Vanessa H.)


Welcome... This is the eleventh edition of TheGamersHub monthly magazine and sadly our last. Each issue brings you the top reviews and news of each month about games and technology. The magazine also includes events that will be happening involving TGH and the community.

About TGH

Set up on July 27th 2009 to provide news, reviews, articles, previews and blogs with a community aspect. We have taken big steps to get where we are today, which wouldn’t have been possible without you. The sites aim was to create a place for budding game journalists to get some experience in the industry and since then we have helped people all over the place to build a respectable portfolio which has lead to many paid freelance jobs in some big publications. We reach 100,000’s of people each month checking out the site and we help provide them with a unique string of relevant content. We have a team in the UK, RoI and the US who report news throughout the year and we have some big plans for the future.


A word from this months Magazine Editors After eleven issues of the online magazine we regret to say that we have decided to bring it to an end. This will be the last issue of the online magazine for the foreseeable future. However this is not the end, we plan on bringing you an exciting newsletter every fortnight straight to your inbox, so keep your eyes peeled for an announcement online! Still, for our last issue we have a huge wealth of content for you to enjoy. Be it seeing the delights of our regular news or the fun previews, reviews and features we’re offering, there is something for everyone to enjoy. This month we have even more screens for Hyperdimension Neptuna MK2, as well as hands on with Ubisoft’s I Am Alive and EA’s Mass Effect 3! Where reviews are concerned we’ve got the latest and greatest, with the fantastic Catherine from Atlus and Deep Silver, as well as Namco Bandai’s incredibly brilliant SoulCalibur V. We’re also bringing you an entirely new feature all about the figures in the industry who have shaped the gaming landscape. Our first article is all about that Japanese gaming god Shigeru Miyamoto. Alongside this we have our Most Anticipated Games of 2012 feature where you can see what the staffers want to be playing this year more than anything else. We also have Blast from the Past and History of a Hero for you to enjoy. Most interestingly of all, the new website is nearly done and ready to launch. As mentioned before, keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming newsletter via website sign up, that way you’ll get all the high calibre content without having to go looking for it! -Vaughn. H

As always you can contact the team for any queires at the-team@thegamershub.com or report any problems with the website or magazine to help-desk@thegamershub.com As usual you can keep up to date with everything thats happening at TheGamersHub either via the website www.thegamershub.com or via the ever popular Twitter page @TheGamersHub, Facebook page or our Youtube channel! Happy gaming guys!


Tribes Beta Hits Mile... Potential iPhone 5 in... Mass Effect 3 Facebo... THQ Axe uDraw Tabl...

Hyperdimension Neptuna... I Am Alive Kingdom of Amalur Mass Effect 3


Catherine Soul Calibur V AMY Choplifter HD

Blast From the Past... Gaming Gods History Of A Hero... TGH Most Anticipated...




Tribes Beta Hits Milestone 1.742 Patch Author: Josh Brown

Following the server outage of both of Hi-Rez’s games, Global Agenda and Tribes Ascend, the massive 1.742 patch for Tribes has gone live. While Tribes is still in it’s long beta test phase, the comminuty feedback has enabled the game to really evolve. The latest patch comes from the work of the thousands of players taking part in the game’s early days to address an array of balance issues across the game’s many classes whilst also fixing the bugs players have reported throughout the testing period. All previous player builds will be reset upon logging into the game with gold and XP returned to give players the chance to respec their characters to compensate for the changes.

You can view or comment on this article here


Potential iPhone 5 in June and iPad 4 in October Author: Vaughn.H

According to a report discovered by DigiTimes, Apple will finally unveil the iPhone 5 in June at it’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference. In January we heard reports that the iPhone 5 production was underway at the Chinese manufacturing plant of Foxconn. And as if to back up such reports, we heard claims from the new Apple CEO, Tim Cook, about new iDevices and “amazing new products in the pipeline”. Another recent report by DigiTimes also claims that Apple plans to launch an iPad 3, along with a new iMac and MacBook Air, this year. The iPad 3 will allegedly be followed by an iPad 4 in October. Personally this doesn’t come as much of a surprise to us as Apple know people can’t get enough of its products, but it seems incredibly silly to launch an iPad 4 potentially 3 – 4 months after the iPad 3 launches.

You can view or comment on this article here


Mass Effect 3 Facebook App Lets You Win Prizes Author: Vaughn.H

That is if you own an Xbox as Microsoft have launched the Mass Effect 3 Facebook application to reward users with avatar props and prizes. The app lets you take part in “missions” which upon completion unlock Xbox 360 rewards and an entry into a sweepstake. The sweepstake prizes include a custom 250GB Xbox 360 themed in either Mass Effect 3′s Paragon or Renegade finish. There will be no in-game bonuses from taking part in the app as EA are providing that themselves with their “handheld/mobile” tie-in. The first mission is now available and to take part all you have to do is sign up. When enough people have signed up you’ll nab yourself a Normandy prop for your avatar. The second mission will arrive next week and will give players a chance to get early access to the Mass Effect 3 demo. To take part you have to submit your best pick up line, or indeed your best put-down if you want to be a renegade. There are a total of 11 missions planned across the coming weeks until the games March 9th release.

You can view or comment on this article here


THQ Axe uDraw Tablet Author: Vaughn.H

Remember those uDraw tablet peripherals that THQ launched a couple of years back? No? Well that will come as no surprise to THQ. Today the publisher announced that thanks to the failed expansion of its tablet peripheral to PS3 and Xbox 360, that cost it $80 million in lost revenue, they no longer have any plans for the device. Speaking at an investor call, they said that the device had shipped a million tablet to retailers, with 1.4 million units of stock left unsold. “We were confident that uDraw would resonate again this holiday, given last year’s robust sell-through” said THQ’s CEO Brian Farrell. “Our confidence was misplaced.” Manufacture of the tablet has ceased and they wont be supporting it with software at all. Farrell says that THQ does have a successful plan for selling the remaining stock, it does however have “no other remaining commitments with respect to uDraw” “We were looking at uDraw as a bridge to this core and digital future, and that bridge turned out to be a plank that we walked off.” Personally, the only thing I can think of uDraw tablets being used for is expensive bricks in the house of the future. You can view or comment on this article here




Hyperdimension Neptuna MK2 Format: PS3 Release Date: February 24th Publisher: NIS America Developer: Idea Factory

Author: Vaughn. H NIS America today unleashed a flurry of new Hyperdimensin Neptuna MK2 screenshots to accompany the already extensive amount the released back in January. As before the game looks pretty damn swish with its anime styled graphics and screens showing off combat. Playing out as a direct sequel to the original Hyperdimension Neptuna, you take control of the previous protagonists younger sister on a mission to rescue them from their imprisonment. Here are a smattering of screens, more are available on the site.



I Am Alive Format: PS3, Xbox 360 Release Date: March 7th Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: In-House

Author: Anthony. D There are many different genres are out there in gaming, but few hold up like the action-adventure genre. They give way to new ideas and new experiences across diverse and expansive terrain. Some feel the pinnacle of the genre has been reached with the Uncharted franchise but we take a firm look at Ubisoft’s upcoming I Am Alive and we feel that Uncharted, may have only been the catalyst to something even greater. Now let us clarify that we are in no way saying that I Am Alive is better than Uncharted; they are in the same genre and feature a few of the similar elements, however I Am Alive’s developers have added to the rather simple, ‘jump here and then climb here’ mechanic that the game utilizes. The amount of activity players do, from jumping to climbing uses up the stamina bar. It adds a depth of urgency to everything and makes the player really feel into

character and keeps the ‘edge of your seat action’ in your face. Another aspect that makes I Am Alive feel in your face and real compared to other postapocalyptic survival titles is that weapons mean more than just shooting someone, their simple presence has clout. You can point a loaded, or unloaded gun, at an enemy and the fact that you may or may not have a bullet in there will change depending on whom you point your gun at. Every NPC in the game has their own intimidation level, it is up to the player to decide who to help and who to intimidate and cheat to get your way. This alone adds an entire depth to the game. In our time playing the title we were able to see the unnamed hero, the ‘everyman’ traverse large scale areas while we bit our nails and hoped for his survival to reunite with his wife and kid. The ‘event’ that caused this apocalyptic scenario is unknown by the

player – in a similar fashion to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road - at this time and it is up to you, like the hero, to figure it out through word of mouth exactly what happened in his hometown of Haventon. All that is known to the player is that it is now one year on from the ‘event’, and it has torn society down to its very core and the game takes from as a raw human instinct. We are assured that there are no monsters or zombies, this is a realistic take on a post-apocalyptic world. I Am Alive is now on our list and it should be on yours. The unique gameplay and interesting story has us set for wild edge of our seat ride that looks to bring players closer to the character than ever before.



Kingdom of Amalur Format: PS3, Xbox 360 Release Date: February 7th Publisher: EA Developer: Big Huge Games

Author: Rob. D Starting out with quite a lengthy cutscene setting up the beginning of the game, you are brought into the character customisation screen upon its completion. Character customisation is quite good, but it’s not the best you’ll see. Featuring four different character classes to choose from including: Almain, who are human like soldiers; Varani, who are Pirates/ Mercenaries; Ljosalfar, who are a elven race, and lastly there’s the Dokkalfar who are sophisticated students of magic. Naturally each race is skilled in certain things, and these skills are already better then they

would be if you picked another race. After creating our character, we entered into the game. At the beginning of the first mission, you’ll find yourself atop pile of bodies, when the mission starts you must find a way out and escape. Starting out in a cavern/dungeon area, straight away you could tell that the games visuals were rather impressive. Upon completing the first mission, and getting outside, the demo really opens up. You get to wonder around the area known as Gohart for a full 45 minutes, where you can do whatever you please, and boy there’s

quite a bit to do. In our 45 minutes we opted to mainly just explore and see what the game had to offer up. The area on offer was surprisingly big; you have the main town area, then some unique caves, and also a rather large forested area. One of my favourite things about the game was how it looked, not only are the graphics bright and colorful, but the fantasy stylings are wonderful. Amalur, really brings back memories of the Fable games, which are impeccable works of RPG art. Whilst exploring in the demo, we came across a whole load of NPC’s to talk to, many of which give you side missions to do, which are all quite fun to do. The dialouge system is the same as what we have seen in Mass Effect series, you choose what you want to say, out of a few different options, and each one gives you different responses from the NPC.


After exploring for sometime, we felt it only right to try and level up our hearty adventurer, and so set out into the forested area to test out the combat some more a. Combat is definitely one of the most impressive things about the game. Being able to have up to two weapons equipped at the same time allows for changeable gameplay strategies. Weapons can vary between, daggers, swords, staffs and more. We settled on dual-wielding daggers, and using a fire staff. You can also use magic in combat, and there are a few spells to try out in the demo, such as your typical fire and lightning. The combat is some of the funnest we’ve experienced in a RPG in a long time, and in the full game it looks like it will only be better; especially with all the new skills and such you will get by leveling up your character. Reckonings levelling system is extremely deep, at least

from what we have seen in the demo, each time you level up you get to choose from a whole host of skills to upgrade. Skills include your typical, lock picking, blacksmithing, stealth, and whole load more. There are also plenty of things to upgrade in each skill, and it looks like it will take quite some time to get each one up. After you upgrade them, you can also upgrade either, might, sorcery, or finesse, each with a host of different things to upgrade. We were very surprised with the amount of skills and such

that you could upgrade, we’re sure that this will keep players occupied for a long time to come too. Reckoning looked to offer so much more but one play through of the demo isn’t enough time to do everything. As for most of our 45 minutes with the game we found ourselves just exploring to get a taste of what the areas looked like, and how they big they are. From what we played though we were very impressed, and this game is definitely going to be worth the money when it releases. Also, if you play the demo you receive some extra content for the full version of the game, as well as extra content for Mass Effect 3 to entice those less interested in this tale of adventure.


Mass Effect 3 Format: PS3, Xbox 360 Release Date: March 6th Publisher: EA Developer: BioWare

Author: Anthony. D I personally do not have a Kinect in my household, but Mass Effect 3 with Kinect may be one of those slight glimmers of hardcore gaming that turns fans that are on the fence about the Xbox 360 add-on hardware. What you have to appreciate with the Kinect integration is that the developers know full well that this is not going to be utilized by the entire audience of Mass Effect fans on 360. It will only be utilized on occasion or just to give players another level

to grasp onto while playing. It feels like it was added with the game in mind, not the Kinect itself so it takes what Mass Effect 3 offers and allows it to work with Kinect. For instance, orders that you would say in game like Rainbow Six work (with limitations) in Mass Effect 3 with Kinect. You have to say the characters name first and then direct them to an action, i.e. “Liara, Move” or “James, Follow Me”. It is actually pretty cool to see these functions in action

when you play it. Of course the brunt of all this will fall on Shepards actions and what you are allowed to do. You have combat commands which allow you to switch weapons by simply naming the weapon type. Exploration commands, which include examining items in the world by saying “Examine” or opening doors by saying “open” among other commands.


The abilities demoed were the Soldier Class abilities which included commands such as “Cryo Ammo” to switch ammo types and “Concussive Shot” as well as ability to say “Frag Grenade” to toss a grenade where your gun is aimed. Explorative commands are useful for many of the story based actions like “Reactivate” and “Talk”. It also has very useful commands like “Quick Save” and “Salvage” which of course do as they would. Basically the game takes what words you would see come up and be hitting the A button to utilize and instead saying the words out loud to Shepard and team to streamline menus and accessibility. This does not go without a few downsides that only slightly impair the experience. The Kinect is known for its slight lag on occasions and with voice commands it appears no different. It takes about 1 maybe 1.5 seconds to

process something at times. For the most part this is not a big deal as it mainly happens with weapons and issuing specific commands on characters like “Liara, Singularity”. This sort of lag may only frustrate people and not discern them from the entire experience as it is a fast paced action title. The lack of a “Reload” command is actually a highly requested feature at this point in the development so hopefully by release or soon after it will be implemented. Reload is something we thought would have been obvious to include but Bioware thought that it wasn’t as important. Sure players can just hit X to reload on 360, but if your commanding Shepard in every other way why not reload as well? It would seem like a no-brainer at first thought. Also, Mass Effect 3 is not a party game but if you find yourself in a room with people who may say things like “Use your assault

rifle.” Or “Why didn’t you use singularity?” than you will be in for some frustration as everytime a game related command or word is said by anyone in the room, the Kinect reads it as the player. It is a bit annoying but not many people will play it with a room full of people, right? The Kinect works very well with Mass Effect 3 and the overall gameplay is astounding. The area we played was full of fun new enemies and various explosions that will make many fans happy. It is not without a few flaws but many can be easily overlooked and the Kinect functionality can be seen for what it is in Mass Effect 3, a great step forward in interactive gaming. I hope many games will take advantage of this feature in the Kinect.




Catherine Author: Vaughn.H by the name of Vincent who feels content within the confines of his relationship with long term girlfriend Katherine, who conversely is ready to move things Your experience with Cathforward. Things take a turn erine may differ depending when blonde bombshell, on the choices you make and slightly psychotic, Caththroughout the deeply enerine enters the scene and joyable story, there is one wraps Vincent into a downthing however that wont ward spiral of adultery, change; more specifically debauchery and a complete there are three words that mental breakdown. To wont ever change. “Love make everything worse his Is Over”, get those words recurring nightmares don’t burned into the back of aid him in tackling his dilemyour mind, etched into your ma, or do they? eyeballs, because trust us, The nightmares that plague you’ll be seeing it a hell of Vincent every night actua lot over the 12 – 15 hours ally make the meat of this you’ll spend playing this game. Forming as block game. But, like with Demon’s pulling puzzles, Vincent has Souls and Dark Souls, even to save his hide from the though you’ll get frustratpits of doom by pulling and ed, you wont stop. You’ll climbing blocks to escape jump right back in and keep from the growing horror. playing, wanting to wade in It must be said that these deeper, and climb higher, puzzles are both incredibly into this tangled story of enjoyable, but are mindlove and betrayal from Atbogglingly hard and fruslus’ Persona Team. trating; although once you Catherine is somewhat of surmount them you’ll feel a strange game, not just like a god, especially when because it features copiyou’re facing off against ous amounts of sheep and one of the boss monstrosisheep references, but also ties that chase you from because it is unlike anythe depths. To ensure that thing else you’ve ever really these block sections don’t played. The story centres dull, new styles of blocks around a 32 year old man are brought in which really Format: PS3, 360 Release Date: 10th Feb (EU) Publisher: Atlus Persona Team Developer: Atlus, Deep Silver

mix up the gameplay, and a constant stream of new techniques to learn and master mean that what once looked like a very basic gameplay idea, becomes a very deep thought process that needs to be done quickly and efficiently to get the best score. For us though, the real highlight of the game came outside of the block solving. The small sections in between stages where you could talk to your fellow wall climbers, all of who appear as sheep, proved to be a wonderful respite from the block pushing chaos. The individual stories each sheep had, the tips they could offer, and the hope you could give them from talking really gave you the sense of gratification in seeing them making it through the trials along with you on each stage. After every night of stair climbing action you can relax with an alcoholic beverage at Vincent’s watering hole of choice, the Stray Sheep. Here you can chat to fellow patrons, drink alcohol -which helps improve Vincent’s reaction time in his nightmares (not the greatest advert for drinking responsibly)- and play an arcade machine to


take part in some more block pushing madness. It’s these moments of quiet where the story really takes hold. Idle conversations allude to the private lives and issues of other ‘stray sheep’ who populate the bar, and you slowly realise the nature of their problems. Here you also get to read and reply to texts from both of the games temptresses, and all of your actions have a response on how the game will continue on. It’s very subtle in how it does it, but every text ignored, or indeed replied to in one of many multiple ways, changes how your relationship will progress within the story.

Ultimately though it is the story that will keep you gripped. Usually a game that revolves around a relationship would turn us off, it’d sound like some damn rom com stapled onto the side of a puzzle game, but here it takes a very dark tone to the relationship paradigm. Peppered with such bleak humour and the more than occasional swear, this game’s content really isn’t for the young, after all it is all about sleeping around behind your long term lovers back. Its mature themes however only add to the game’s self awareness of just how crass it can be, and many times erring on

just the right side of tasteful. It’s scriptwriting is excellently done and despite the multiple endings that can come out from the game, it isn’t obvious at all whats going to happen, nor when the story changes to tailor the decisions you’ve made. And of course this is all sweetened by the visual package that wraps the entire thing together.


We’d be surprised if you saw another game this year that pulled of the moving comic look as good as this does; it’s just stylistically beautiful. Taking its artistic influences from anime, with cut-scenes being anime in their own right, the character models and environments look stunning in motion, and picture perfect when still. The general lighter tone that anime seems to bring to a production makes the darker moments all the more sinister. The ‘boss’ levels of the nightmare sections of gameplay contain some of the most disturbed creations you’ll see in a video game. Few things can creep you out, or create a sense of urgency, than a giant rotting baby with a mini-gun for an eye and a chainsaw for a hand, clambering up after you so it can kill you. And if it isn’t that, then it could be a crazed zombie bride with blade like nails waiting to squish you like the helpless bug you are. It’s crazy stuff, but its also some of the best design we’ve seen in a long time.


Catherine isn’t perfect. It’s puzzles are unbelievably hard, so hard in fact the Japanese version came with a patch for ‘super easy’ mode, and it can be confusing to figure out exactly what you ‘should’ be doing to get the desired story outcome, but those are about its only faults. It has tonnes of replay value, with nine alternate, and amusing, endings, as well as a two player co-op and competitive modes to enjoy and a super difficult extra block puzzle mode known as Babel for those seeking an even greater challenge. If we’re honest, this title was completely worth the obscene wait that it took to get it across the Atlantic from North America, and we’re incredibly grateful that Deep Silver took the chance to publish it. It may only be February, but Catherine is easily the greatest game we’ve played this year, and unless something truly spectacular comes along, it’ll stay at our number one. It seems that Atlus’ Persona Team can create an incredible and engrossing game, even outside the Persona series.

Final Score: 4.5/5

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SoulCalibur V Author: Vaughn.H Format: PS3, 360 Release Date: 31st Jan 2012 Publisher: Namco Bandai Games Developer: Namco Bandai

It has been a while since we’ve had a chance to tell a tale of souls and swords, in fact it has been four years since SoulCalibur IV entered the scene in 2008, and that title really failed to deliver the SoulCalibur spectacle. Arguably the last great SoulCalibur came ten years ago with SoulCalibur II, and so it seems fitting that the title to completely relaunch the franchise comes nearly 15 years after the original Dreamcast title, and exactly 10 years from the series highest point. With an immense reputation to live up tp, does SoulCalibur V live up to the lofty heights of its heyday? In short, yes. You’ll be sucked in and love every moment you’re playing this game, at first it seems that there is nothing to fault with the title, however after a few hours of play you’ll begin to see the holes as your rose tinted glasses fall from your face. The faults it does have however aren’t anything that will ruin the game, or even sully your


enjoyment of it, they are in fact just minor niggles that seem to stem from Namco Bandai reigning in their creativity. The first culprit is the lack of modes and instead a larger focus to online multiplayer. There is a singleplayer story, and an arcade mode, but no Vs. Team Battle, no mission based modes (like those seen in Weapon Master Mode) and so any type of longevity comes from the Quick Battle mode where you can win numerous titles from fighting custom made characters. The story mode – 1607 A.D. – places you in the shoes of Sophitia’s son Pratroklus and his search for his sister Pyrrha. It does a very good job of bringing in these two new characters and entwining them around the blades of Soulcalibur and Souledge, it also has some gorgeous cutscenes and rather nicely done hand drawn segues between episodes. Its only real downsides come from the fact it is obscenely short and has zero replay value as the story isn’t overly fantastic and there are no episode modifiers or missions. Another weak point, in comparison to the original’s Mission Mode or SoulCalibur II’s Weapon Master Mode, is how you’re fixed to characters, meaning that if you’re not strong with a certain

person, or don’t prefer their style, you have little hope of winning spectacularly. Moving onto the offline modes you’ll notice some changes in the games formula, most notably that matches now last 3 rounds minimum. Arcade mode has also been shortened down to just 6 combatants and the inclusion of character stories, for each of rather impressive roster of new faces and old, has been removed. Whilst this may not seem like the biggest deal in the world, it means that those new faces have zero backstory and their inclusion in the game might as well be pointless as their motivations aren’t clear at all. Primarily Ezio’s inclusion seems to be given no explanation; he fits in extremely well though, but we would have liked to know exactly why he’s on the trail of Soulcalibur, or indeed maybe Soulblade. Bad points aside though we can now talk about everything that makes this game great, and when we do those rather negative points will melt away. Soul Calibur V is awesome, there is just no other way to really describe it. As you would expect from a Soul Calibur game, this is visually an absolute beauty. Ditching the sweaty sheen that

every character seemed to have in Soul Calibur IV, and ditching the anime styled looks, now characters seem more realistic in their appearance. The stages themselves are glorious to fight on too, and in many of the stages if you cause a Ring Out, or a battle lasts beyond three rounds the stage will move along onto a new phase for you to fight on. It’s a nice touch that really makes some of the longer conflicts quite interesting. Gameplay wise combat is as fluid as ever, and allows newcomers to the series to put up a good fight, as well as letting old stalwarts flex their muscles with some incredible combos. Interestingly a few of the new characters on offer have completely different play styles to what the series has seen before, and so requires even old players to learn the basics all over again. It really brings back the joy of discovering new ways to play and enjoy the game. An interesting addition is the Critical Edge system, replacing the fussy Critical Finishers of SCIV, these little numbers can be utilised whenever you like once a gauge is full enough. It works similarly to Street Fighter IVs Ultra Moves, even down to the point of activation through two


quarter circles and all attack buttons being needed to activate them. You can also implement Brave Edge moves which can deal more devastating blows to some of the standard attacks. It’s a great addition that will bring fans of other fighters into the game because of the sheer familiarity of it, plus the incredibly cool action scenes that play out on the screen when performing one. Other gameplay additions include a ‘Just Guard’ move that rewards players who guard at just the right time, it works in a similar way to the previous ‘Guard Impact’ manoeuvre. And in addition to the series’ trademark 8-way run a quick sidestep manoeuvre has been implemented to make dodging at the last minute a breeze. The largest meat to the game is the vastly improved character creation mode, now allowing players to either start a new creation from scratch, or instead modify one of the series characters. This means you could create new costume variants for each of the combatants, or change the weapon you want them to wield. It’s a nice feature to include, but the majority of people will opt to create their own character from scratch which gives them a huge amount of choice. Now you can alter charac-

ter height and build, as well as individual muscle attributes and skin tones, facial features, it really is quite an extensive list. You’ll unlock new items to use from playing through the game and ranking your player level up to new heights. Already though there are an obscene amount of options available, and you can even unlock a fighting style for Tekken’s Devil Jin to create! It seems that DLC could easily be added so you could create brand new fighters with templates from other fighting games, it’s genius and something we hope Namco Bandai expand upon after the games release. Where the online mode is concerned there is quite a lot on offer. Containing a Ranked Mode so you can square off against combatants who are of a similar skill to you, and a mode called ‘Global Colosseo’ lets you select a lobby for text chat and fighting with players from all around the world, including tournaments. One look at the extensive Trophy/Achievements list will show you just how much of a focus Namco Bandai have placed on the online component of the game. Of course the main interest for the online is just how well it works, and with our experiences there was a little slowdown, but

no lag to speak of. Fights were fluid and fast, and we got our backsides handed to us rather easily, but as mentioned, there was zero lag in any of the matches we participated in, which is something very fresh for a fighting game.


Soul Calibur V may not be the 100 percent perfect package that old fans of the series had hoped would arrive, however it seems that Namco Bandai are keen to move away from what made the first two entries utterly perfect, as it is pretty hard to improve upon perfection. This isn’t to say that SoulCalibur V is a poor entry into the series, quite the contrary. No game could be more fitting a celebration of 10 years since the last great entry than this. It blows away it’s fighting game peers, and dispels the awful stench of the series low point SCIV and stands triumphantly over the PS2 exclusive SCIII. It might not be the best of the series, but by god its damn close.

Final Score: 4.5/5 You can view or comment on this article here


AMY Author: Chris C Format: PS3, 360 Release Date: 11th Jan 2012 Publisher: Lexis Numérique Developer: Vector Cell

As a downloadable title, AMY sets to achieve high standards. Since it was announced avid gamers across the globe have been waiting to download this survival horror title. AMY hopes to give players a fulllength story, simple survival horror gameplay, and good graphics. Does AMY hit all this marks as a downloadable title, or is this a complete train wreck?

The story puts players in the role of Lana, who is responsible for an eight year old autistic girl named Amy. Whilst on a train, it’s revealed that Amy was in a hospital for quite a long time to treat her autism, and after drawing some disturbing pictures, the train takes a turn for the worst. A nearby explosion causes a derailment, and soon Lana and Amy are fighting for their lives as they encounter monsters and the military to escape the town. During the course of the game, you’ll uncover secrets that Amy holds.

Sadly, these secrets, or even the story for that matter, are told rather dismally. No matter whom you are, AMY is poorly told from both the cut scenes and dialogue; from beginning to the very end, you’ll find it painful to finish this terrible story.


The gameplay itself mimics the abysmal story with its numerous terrifying woes. AMY is a third-person survival horror title consisting of your more traditional survival horror elements of combat, puzzles, and stealth. The combat sees you facing off against both humans and monsters alike, and your only means of defense is an iron pipe and Amy’s psychic abilities. Puzzles on the other hand have you finding DNA to unlock doors, poorly explained trigger puzzles, or just sending Amy through dangerous territory to push button. Finally the stealth sections are nothing but hiding in the shadows and waiting for the enemies to just pass by, pretty dull really. Other gameplay elements include an infection indictor and the protection of Amy; the infection indictor tracks the progress of Lana’s infection by changing colours. Lana’s infection increases depending on various factors like running, using Amy’s powers, getting hit by enemies, etc. On top of that, Amy is a defenceless girl, whereby Lana is the only protector, meaning that if a monster captures Amy, that monster will start to drain her vitality and kill her. These gameplay elements could have worked, but ultimately fail in the end. Combat is simple, but

has poor detection and repetitive, puzzles are quite boring and not as creative as other survival horror titles. The stealth sections failed to see the meaning of stealth; by giving the enemies super human sight and hearing. The infection indictor even fails at its sole purpose to indicate the infection and do not work at all. Finally, Amy can get stuck quite easily, and becomes quite a hassle babysit. The overall gameplay is quite frustrating and poorly executed. Those who are looking for a survival horror experience will just find more frustration then horror.

Presentation wise AMY is surprisingly actually ok for a downloadable title. That being said, it does suffer from frame rate drops and some screen tearing. The voicing acting is decent, but has no emotion to connect the player and Amy together. Even the soundtrack suffers from a poor score and the ambient noise fails to put the player in an immersive experience. To put it bluntly, AMY is a terrible train wreck. The story is deplorable, and poorly explained from beginning to end. The gameplay is frustrating with its poor combat, uninspiring puzzles, and unnecessary stealth sections as well as other lacklustre gameplay mechanics. Its graphics suffer from frame rate drops and screen tearing, and the voice acting conveys no emotion and the sounds of AMY are the opposite of an immersive experience. Overall, AMY fails at being a survival horror game. This is probably the worst downloadable game of 2012 so far.

Final Score: 1/5

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Choplifter HD Author: Rob95 Format: PS3, 360, PC Release Date: 10th Jan 2012 Publisher: InXile Entertainment Developer: InXile Entertainment

Choplifter HD is the HD version of a game released way back in 1982! Developed by InXile Entertainment, and published by Konami, it released on PSN, XBLA, and Pc, for $14.99. Choplifter was very popular when it released, winning computer game of the year, but does the new HD version hold up, and is it worth buying? Read on to find out. Choplifter HD is a side scroller in which you take control of a pilot, who’s main objective is to rescue civilians who are stranded in dangerous places, such as in cities, during a war, or on top of a burning building. The games location changes quite a bit, sometimes you can be in a desert area, then move into a city, then to a swamp. In each mission you start out at your base, from here you must fly to the first set of civilians and pick them up in your chopper, while avoiding being taking down by enemies. At the top of the screen it shows you exactly where

your chopper is, and how far away from the civilians you are, there are usually a couple of groups of civilians for you to rescue, however your chopper can only support a certain amount, so once full you must fly the civilians back to your base. Your chopper runs on fuel, which is indicated up in the corner, along with your choppers health. Running out of fuel means you’ll crash, and then it’s game over. You can refill your fuel at your base, or somewhere in the level there will be a fuel spot, which is indicated at the top of the map. By pressing X you can boost to help you get places quicker but this also uses up fuel quicker so you must be careful.

One new thing added to the game, which affects the gameplay quite a bit, is the ability the to turn your chopper towards the screen, the reason behind this being because some buildings have enemies on them, which can not be destroyed unless you are in this position. Usually when you are landing to save civilians you have to do this, as there are many enemies on buildings who will kill you. other new features include, online leader boards, and achievements/Trophies. Each mission you play, is rated out of five starts on how you performed. If you save every civilian, and do it quickly, you can be sure your going to get five stars, but if you don’t then you


may lose out on some stars. The more stars you get, the more missions, new choppers, and more. Graphically InXile, did quite a good job updating the game, to make it look modern. The game is graphically as good as most XBLA games. Overall Choplifter HD is quite a fun downloadable game, there’s plenty of missions available, the locations vary quite often to keep the game fresh, it’s fun trying to get as many stars as possible to unlock new choppers, and this also adds replay value. Despite the game being quite fun, I found the price point to be a bit steep, $14.99 is quite high, as other XBLA games, such as Trine are the same price, and even better games, with more content can be found cheaper then this. If you’re a fan of the series I recommend picking it up, if not, maybe wait until a price drop.

Final Score 3.5/5 You can view or comment on this article here




gaming gods

...Shigeru Miyamoto


Shigeru Miyamoto was born on November 16th 1952 in Kyoto, Japan. From an early age he began to explore his home town, Sonobe, and the surrounding forest. His explorations as a child have been a key part in his creations throughout his career. Miyamoto is a very famous name in gaming at the moment, but his start with Nintendo was a coin-operated arcade game called Sheriff. In 1980 Miyamoto helped create the game ‘Radar Scope’ as an attempt for Nintendo to breach the American gaming market. Although the game was a moderate success in Japan, it was a complete failure in America. With Nintendo on the verge of financial collapse the CEO, Hiroshi Yamauchi, tasked Miyamoto with converting the unsold Radar scope games into an all new game. Miyamoto did this with Nintendo’s Head engineer, Gunpei Yokoi, supervising the project. For this conversion, Miyamoto spent a lot of time thinking of possible plots and storylines, and various concepts that could make a good game. He eventually settled on a Love triangle between a Gorilla, a Carpenter and an Ape. This concept was based loosely around Popeye and Bluto fighting for the love of Olive Oyl. Bluto was changed into an ape as part of this new concept, with the ape being the pet of the main character. With ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘King Kong’ named as influences, Donkey Kong was the first game that had more time spent on the storyline than the programming. Miyamoto had high hopes for this new concept, but lacked the technical skills to program it himself. Instead, he consulted with technicians to see whether his ideas were possible. He wanted each character to be a different size and move differently, but Yokoi deemed them to be too complex. After several failed concepts, the eventually decided that they would use ladders for travel and barrels for obstacles. Although the 4-man programming team wasn’t too

keen on it, they also settled for having different levels. Donkey Kong was a success, leading Miyamoto to design Donkey Kong Jr and Donkey Kong 3. Miyamoto’s success earned him a position at Nintendo, and he eventually started a new Game based on a character from Donkey Kong. The Carpenter, Named Mario Segale by the American testers, became Mario, and Miyamoto gave him a brother, Luigi. This then became Mario bros. Yokoi suggested that in the new game Mario should be given some form of super human ability, like falling from large heights without being harmed. Mario’s appearance in Donkey Kong, Namely a moustache, overalls and a red cap, led to Miyamoto making him more like a plumber in Mario bros that a carpenter. After the success of Mario Bros and Donkey Kong, Miyamoto made several more games with Yokoi, including Ice Climber and Kid Icarus. This soon led to a sequel in the Mario series called Super Mario Bros. Once this game had been made, Miyamoto started a completely new game, The legend of Zelda. In both the Mario and the Zelda series, Miyamoto concentrated more on gameplay than high scores, an idea that was almost unheard of in games of the time. The Legend of Zelda took a new direction by forcing the player into non-linear gameplay, i.e. making the player solve riddles and puzzles to continue through the game. Zelda was a very influential series, pioneering the idea of an open world. Miyamoto worked on numerous sequels to both the Mario and Zelda series. Super Mario Bros 2 was a huge success, and so was The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link. These then spread to other well known titles along each series line.


In the early ‘90s Nintendo launched Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, Headed by Miyamoto. Nintendo EAD was given 15 months to develop the game ‘F-Zero’ as a launch title for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. When Nintendo released the Nintendo 64, Miyamoto started concentrating on making games for the new console. Although this mostly consisted of previous franchises, it was still immensely successful. The first release, Super Mario 64, had a large amount of time spent on it. Originally, the idea was to have a fixed-path layout, meaning the player has to play the game in a certain order. Eventually, Miyamoto decided to have a free-roaming layout for the game, but put a few fixed-path aspects of the game in. Even though you could play any level whenever you wanted, you still had to get a certain amount of stars to progress to the Bowser battles and the other levels. After Super Mario, which had been directed by Miyamoto, came Ocarina of Time. As part of a new direction for Nintendo EAD, Miyamoto produced The Ocarina of Time and led the team of Directors. Each Director was in charge of a different part of the game. Originally, this game was going to be played in 1st-person perspective, but when they introduced the idea of a child Link, it was decided that the character should be on the screen as well. In the following years Miyamoto and his team produced several spin off games like Mario Kart 64 and Mario Party, as well as producing Zelda: Majora’s Mask. This new Zelda game was designed using the same engine as The Ocarina of Time, so it only took a small team 18 months to make. Unfortunately, Ocarina of Time was such a monumental success that the team were at a loss as to what could follow on from a game which sold 7 million units. They eventually settled on the 3-day gameplay system to ‘make the game more compact,

while still providing deep gameplay.’ Every time that Nintendo released a new console, Miyamoto created a new game. The Zelda and Mario franchises were stretch further and further, getting stronger with each additional game. I’ll admit, even I am surprised at how much this man has done in his career. This article is nothing but a mere summary. I’m sure that after this, you will probably agree, that this many is truly a God of gaming, a messiah to which millions owe a debt of gratitude. He has managed to create 2 of the most successful gaming franchises in the world, Mario and Zelda, and has managed to carry them on without ruining them, which happens to many game franchises. He has also pioneered the world of gaming, dragging it from the dark ages of highscores to the modern utopia of the openworld, free-roaming masterpiece that so many games use today. I personally think of him as the Zeus of Gaming Gods, the God of all Gods. Many will agree, and with good reason.



TGH Most Anticip 2011 was a fine year for game releases, heck it was a huge one in terms of promotions and November was so thick with releases it became a trudge just to wade through it to get to December’s quiet period and the build up to January and February’s big releases. Finally though February is upon us, and with games launching once again through February and March before the quiet period of the Summer, we turned to our expert staff and asked them what games they were looking forward to most and why.

Tal S: The Last Of Us

Josh B: Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon I love the ‘interactive cinematic experience’, City

deep characters, heavy story & smooth gameplay, breath-taking cinematics all rolled into one. Plus I’m a sucker for the 3rd person action adventure game, and while there isn’t much more info out on the title yet, the recent trailer gave me a good feel of Uncharted & Enslaved’s similar styles of gameplay, mixing combat and platforming on the fly. Yes, I know it’s Naughty Dog too, but they’re not the only ones who can make a mind-blowing cinematic experience, but I do agree, they are one of the best. I’m gonna be chomping at the bit for every drop of info that comes out between now & possibly Autumn/Fall 2012. Sorry Olympics, but you’re not on top of my ‘best thing this year’ list this time. Oh yes, sprinkle some zombie type enemies, huge draw distance graphics, solid voice work & a little bit of survival horror-esque restricted ammo & supply levels (this a post-apocalyptic scene after all). In my opinion, this could be this year’s ‘total package’ video game title.

It may seem strange to choose the this over the bigger releases of the year, but Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is a big title on my mind right now. I have an odd little history with the Resident Evil franchise and absolutely adored the feeling of pure fear from turning each corner of Raccoon City during the outbreak of the second and third games. The music, shuffles and groans of the zombies and the remains of those who hadn’t yet become one of them. While I think charging through the city guns blazing may destroy any feeling of chlostrophobic horror, the pure fact of running around post apocalyptic Raccoon City before its destruction and refacing the enemies of the past is something that really excites me. Having the chance to see the events through the eyes of another party while anticipating a run in with the series’ main survivors is an experience I just can’t wait for!


pated Games 2012

Chris C: Silent Hill: Downpour

Vanessa H: Metal Gear Rising: Revengence

As a huge fan of both survival and psychological horror games, Silent Hill: Downpour has gotten my attention over the years. Over those years, Silent Hill: Downpour has been somewhat of a mystery to me. The mystery of Silent Hill: Downpour is for the good, because little is known about the story and what the full capabilities the gameplay holds. The developer Vatra Games and publisher Konami have been keeping the mystery of Silent Hill: Downpour, which has sparked my interest due to these reasons. Why is Murphy Pendleton in Silent Hill? What dark secrets will Silent Hill hold this time? Why is it raining in Silent Hill? So many questions that need to be answered from a hardcore Silent Hill fan who has high hopes for this title. In the end, Silent Hill: Downpour might be the savior of the dying horror genre. With the official release finally set on March 13, 2012. I am ready once more to return to Silent Hill.

I’m definitely looking forward to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance the most in 2012. I was first introduced to the series with MSG4: Guns of the Patriots, but it was pretty much love at first sight. For me it had everything down to a tee, from the visuals to the concept to the music. The strategy along with the story is what I loved most with MSG4, and even though MGR will be a spin-off of the series I have high expectations. My close second is a tie between SoulCaliber V and (obviously) whatever COD comes out in November.


Rob D: Yakuza: Dead Souls

Anthony D: Hitman: Absolution

There are many big games coming out in 2012, and already I feel like I will be broke before we even reach March! Although there are many games coming out, one stands out as my most anticipated and that is Yakuza Dead Souls. If you know me, then you know how much of a fan of the Yakuza series I am. Ever since playing Yakuza 3 back in early 2010 I have loved the series and it has become one of my favourite series on PS3 to date. Dead Souls is a unique take on the franchise as it includes zombies, I for one am getting sick of zombies but since it’s a Yakuza game I am very excited to see what they have done with it. Despite the game coming out in Japan last year, and the graphics looking dated, I still can’t wait to get my hands on it, as I expect to spend 30+ hours in the game like I’ve done with past Titles in the series.

It is one of my favorite franchises and it after a long hiatus it is back and continues the unforgettable story of Agent 47, genetically engineered super Hitman. My hype meter cannot go high enough for this game after seeing it demoed. Awesome is pretty much the only word I can use to describe it. Mix awesome with a little bit of legendary and maybe you have about one-quarter of the absolute awesomeness that I am expecting from this title. You think after setting the bar for myself so astronomically high I am set for disappointment though. I however have complete faith in the awesome team over at IO Interactive who have been with the series since its incarnation. If anyone can do 47 justice it is them.


Vaughn H: WipEout 2048 Luckily I don’t have to wait too long for my most anticipated game of 2012. Despite the incredibly strong line up for this year across all formats, the title that steals my heart the most is a launch title for Playstation Vita, WipEout 2048. Having been a WipEout fan from the first title on PSX every instalment fills me with joy. The PS Vita title excites me so much because it’s got all the appeal and spectacle of WipEout HD Fury but in the palm of your hand! I can take it with me and experience the thrills of online play and enjoy the sumptuous visuals and incredible soundtrack on the go. I’m most looking forward to seeing what the new tracks are like and experiencing the origins of the AntiGravity racer, as this title goes right back to it’s roots. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, especially as it takes a high level of skill just to take part in a standard race, but it’s my We have to say that it’s one great year for gaming drug, and personally I can’t wait to games, and that it could well top last years feel that high again. high grade offerings. We want to know what games you’ve been looking forward to this year. Sound off on the comments found on the article webpage!


BLAST from the PASt Grim Fandango

Format: PC Release: 1998 Genre: Point & Click Developer: Lucasarts

Author: Vaughn.H

If someone came to you and told you that one of the greatest games you’ll ever play started out in the office of a travel agent selling deluxe package trips for his roster of clients, you’d probably think that they we’re absolute fools for liking such a monotonous game. However you’d be totally wrong. What makes Grim Fandango so special, and astronomically good, is it’s humble opening that spans into a genre defining adventure, albeit an adventure that tested the boundaries of traditional game design. Created by the gaming mastermind that is Tim Schafer, Grim Fandango took the point and click adventure title up and beyond it’s traditional forms of The Secret of Monkey Island and Beneath a Steel Sky, and threw in the rather unexpected introduction of 3D models and pre-rendered backgrounds. It was thanks to its unique visual style that these, frankly awful, models looked as beautiful as they did back in 1998, and arguably still do now. But even though the 3D world added an entirely new way to explore and interact in the environment it also threw up some tough challenges for the team, and for the player too. As Grim Fandango saw you stepping into the shoes of Manny Calavera, a travel agent who sold package trips to the departed on their journey across the Land of the Dead to the Ninth

Underworld. When you take a look at the games visual styling, along with its general setting, it’s clear that it’s influenced by the Mexican festival of El Dia De Los Muertos, or ‘The Day of the Dead’, even Manny’s name is a reference with Calavera being Spanish for skull. It certainly was a very odd setting for a point and click adventure title, and it’s storyline spanning across 4 years led to a somewhat disjointed tale of the underworld, regardless its charms shone though. Due to being a 3D game, the mouse pointer was removed from the screen, leading to making Manny’s head do the ‘pointing’ for you. Moving around the pre-rendered 3D environments would see Manny’s gaze move to another interactive object, a press of the use button would see you ‘click’ on the item. It was a smart way to deal with this new technology, but it was also a very taxing way to make a game; no longer could a stuck player click on the screen to chance the way forward, now they had to know where they were going and what they were doing. Many of the puzzles on offer were much harder than what was available in other games in the genre, and it comes as no surprise to learn that on Manny’s four year adventure you’re going to find progress is slow for a fair while.


This was pretty much the only trouble with Grim Fandango, it’s obscene difficulty and so it’s very up and down progress. Due to the games development process each of the years in the games story feels different, and so some years – such as Rubacava in year 2 – are excellent, whilst others feel a little lacking. It’s evident that from the lack of sequel, or even attempt at another point and click adventure of the same scale or using the GrimE engine, that it wasn’t the most viable way to create a game. However it should be noted that if it wasn’t for Grim Fandango would we have the 3D interactive point and click adventures that Teltale games are producing now? Most likely we wouldn’t, or at least not in the same way they are produced now. Grim Fandango never sold very well, but it’s a title that is loved unequivocally by all those who have played it. It gained universal praise from critics everywhere and has formed a cult following of gamers who yearn for it to

be brought back into the limelight. It would be nice to see a re-make or even a steam port for the title, but a sequel or follow on would be too much too late for the game, only sullying its brilliant status and context. Grim Fandango is a game that deserves to be played by all, no matter how frustrated they could possibly get with it too, It’s a title that should be played by all, in fact it cries out to be played! It may be a hard one to come across now, and even harder to play on a modern PC but it’s worth all of the effort. Thanks to the guys behind ScummVM, Residual will allow you to play both Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island, the only two games to use the GrimE engine.


Red - Kanto Pokemon Champion

History Of A Hero

Author: Josh Brown

The fascinating, ever expanding world of Pokémon has grown substantially throughout it’s fifteen year period. But for many of us, we grew up with the original 151 critters. Generation I as they call it. And with it, came the original anime series people loved. A full on story of sorts to the protagonist of the original Red/Blue/ Yellow games. Though due to the fact Ash hasn’t yet reached the champion status our game protagonist did back in the day, and because we are not an anime site, this weeks History of a Hero looks back to the heroic efforts of the original Pokémon Champion – Red. Red stars as the silent protagonist of the original Pokémon generation. The Red, Blue, Green and Yellow versions of the classic Gameboy craze starters all had you controlling the silently enthusiastic trainer. Even if you made him share your name while he became a second persona of yourself, he’s still officially known as Red to his many onlookers. More focus tends to be shown toward Red because of his reappearance throughout in the series and because of the memories he left in the minds of the early generation players. At the end of his original adventure we saw him take down his childhood rival and next-door neighbour, Blue, the then region Champion, to take his spot as the new reigning master and final obstacle of a trainer’s adventure in the Kanto region. Though once Pokémon stepped into it’s second generation, the player started anew with a fresh trainer from Johto. After an adventure spanning twice the length on Red’s own, players were treated by a surprise awaiting at the summit of Mt. Silver – a final showdown with Red himself. The simple shock of seeing him again so suddenly, without any warning, was enough to send excited shivers down the backs of fans as he responded to your click with “…” before the fight began and you truly learned of his identity. Reaching his position of Pokémon Champion wasn’t done simply through the Gym Challenge primarily set out for the purpose. While Red of course did complete the gym challenge like many other budding trainers, he single-handily

brought the devious band of thieves, Team Rocket, down at the same time. The lone boy from a small town became a one-man-army against a organised crime syndicate. Thwarting their plans multiple times and even beating the godfather like character at the foot of it all – Giovanni. During the remakes of Red’s original adventure in Pokémon FireRed or LeafGreen, we learn a little bit more about how Red became the champion atop Mt. Silver. Following his victory against Blue, he rejected the option of taking the reigns in favour of continuing his training by heading out to the Sevii Isles cluster of islands. Here, Red defeated a small subsidiary of Team Rocket thugs and proved to them the closure of their organisation. Setting up the events of Team Rocket’s revival in the generation II games. It can be assumed Red later went on to challenge the Johto gyms before settling upon Mt. Silver as his desired training spot – The habitat of the strongest wild Pokémon back in the day.


Those of you who grew up with the series will undoubtedly see the resemblance Red has to Ash (Satoshi) from the Pokémon animated show. While they do look somewhat alike and his more lengthy, still on going quest to become a master may better suit the goals his video game version met in such a short time, it is probably safe to say the animated version is a mere reimagined version of Red’s story as apposed to game canon. Like an alternate version. Series creator, Satoshi Tajiri (who the show character’s name was derived from) once stated that the Pokémon Adventures manga, which followed Red in it’s original arc more closely resembled the story he was trying to convey. Leaving the animated Red counterpart even further into the “alternate version” theory mentioned earlier with his manga counterpart being a more precise version of Satoshi’s original character. No matter how you look at it, even if you did start Red on his journey, give him your name and beat the Pokémon League as you controlled him. He isn’t an embodiment of you. Red is the

face ok Pokémon through and through. His adventures through the regions carried on long after you moved on to the other games and he became the powerful boss-like character the series, and the fans, craved. His actions and influence are what made him deserving enough to earn his place as the pinnacle Pokémon game character as his model would later appear in the Stadium games, Battle Revolution, Colosseum, Gale of Darkness and many, many others. Whether he’ll ever turn up in the main series again is unknown, but those wanting to see more of Red’s actions can get a general fix from his protagonist appearence in the early Pokémon Adventures manga volumes. The way Satoshi Tajiri wanted.


When is the next issue of TheGamersHub Magazine?

Sadly, there will no longer be any more issues of TheGamersHub Magazine. Instead MahookyMedia will be producing a monthly newsletter, which will include TGH along with the other sites that are part of the network. This shall be released fortnightly when TGH has finished their new site development. All articles found in the magazine can also be found on site at www.thegamershub.com


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