*'An alternative view' offers exactly that - an alternative opinion on the game it talks about. It is not a re-review and it does not reflect the opinion of Play Magazine. It is simply there to give the writer of each column an arena to vent.* The first LocoRoco title came about in a time when the PSP was pretty much devoid of interesting releases – the handheld was living up to its reputation as “a PS2 in your hands” all ...

Alright, so the name sums up what it’s all about and stuff, but it’s not very imaginative, is it? Fortunately, I have an extremely fertile imagination that just loves to make up names for things, so I’ve come up with my own shortlist of names. Sony’s gonna read this and think, “Damn! Why did we call it Move when we could have gone with any of these brilliant suggestions?” Never mind Sony. Maybe next time.

It has a name, and it's not Mo-con - even though we coined that term and told Sony we would only expect modest royalties if and when they chose to use it. Nevertheless, PlayStation Move is coming later this year with a raft of games to accompany it. But rather than dwell on the positives of what is coming and what we're looking forward to, I thought I should just get it out of the way and list five games ...

“Have you ever loved someone who was so beautiful and pure, you couldn’t bear to show them your own darkness?” What? Oh, do shut up you boring goth tit. This quote might read like it was taken from the online profile page of some pasty-faced, bandy-legged ninny who says that no one understands him because he’s such an individual, and whose real name is Keith, but insists that everyone call him Blackthorne because it sounds scary and also because ...

Charm is a dangerous thing. Some of the worst, most evil people in the history of the world have been charming individuals. Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, King Leopold II of Belgium, Satan – they’re all charming devils, one of them quite literally. And speaking of Hitler, isn’t turning one of the most horrific and tragic wars of all time into a twee little anime story about the reds fighting the blues ...

Format: PS2 Released: 2003 Reviewed: 107 Score: 92% The Commies have invaded the US, many have been killed and it’s up to you and your merry band of insurg… ‘freedom fighters’ to repel the invading Ruskies and save the world as America always does. And there we have 2003’s Freedom Fighters, from the same studio that brought us Hitman 2 and Kane and Lynch. Wait a minute – that can’t be right, surely? But of course it is – we just forgot to mention ...

Can someone please explain why, in the last 14 years it has been necessary to release 15 ‘different’ Worms games? Okay, so there were a few 3D ones and one that was supposed to be some sort of puzzle game, but the other 11 have just been the same unfair, annoying crap over and over again, and that includes the one recently released on the PSN. It was bad enough enduring these stupid games on the PSone and ...

Bishi Bashi is one of the best games that sold hardly any copies ever! Truly one of the cultest and most heroic videogames of all time. So, what is it? And why should you care? For a start, Bish Bashi Special is a compilation of two titles, Bishi Bashi Super and Bishi Bashi Hyper, that were released separately in Japan, but only as part of this double pack elsewhere. Each is then itself a compilation of about 50 mini-games ...

I'm going to get a train in a few hours. A few hours after that, I'll still be on the train. This is because it takes five hours to get where I'm going. Still, I have my PSP with me, and this will keep me from going insane with boredom. Why? Because Sony's handheld is still relevant, and it is home to some fantastic games well worth your time. With that in mind, might I present you with a few recommendations for fantastic PSP travelling games:...

Older gaming series are being revisited with increasing regularity these days, with the depths of nostalgia being trawled for anything that can be revamped and sold on to a new generation. Frankly, we're not against this - we like seeing some old games come back for a fresh new run, and it's good to see old characters having another chance for glory. But it's not perfect: there are characters who really should have a new game of their exploits made, ...

We've been hearing more about 'Gem'/'Arc', or whatever they end up calling it, over the last few months. It's going to be a wand-like motion controller for PS3, and it's going to be... well, it's going to be a motion controller. That's all we really know. You can shoot orcs with a bow and arrow using it. We're as much in the dark as you are. But aside from a couple of tech demos, what it probably looks like and ...

All the good looks, production values and positive reviews in the world can’t change the fact that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is nothing more than a liberal borrower of ideas. So many games and movies are derived from in the most brash and unimaginative way it’s ridiculous. Indiana Jones? That’s there. Tomb Raider? Happily raided. Gears of War? In like Flynn. And as if it isn’t bad enough they did this one time, Naughty Dog had to come back and ...

PopCap’s deceptively simple puzzle title Peggle, along with its expansion Peggle Nights, was released on the European PlayStation Store yesterday and, under these circumstances, I feel it’s only right I issue a warning to my brothers and sisters of PlayStation. It’s highly unusual that I would take a game that deserved every bit of the 94% score it was awarded in the new issue of Play (on sale yesterday at all good newsagents, exclusive Aliens vs Predator review ...

Imagine you’re waiting for the next big thing. In fact, imagine you’re waiting for something that is being developed under the title The Next Big Thing, which LittleBigPlanet was. It’s supposed to be the… well, you get the picture. It’s hyped up to levels you wouldn’t believe and your appetite is suitably whetted by the lovely-looking screenshots and the promise of a new icon for PlayStation in the form of Sackboy. Then the next big thing finally arrives and it turns ...

(In response to the fine reaction this post received the other day (oh yes, a fine reaction indeed), I thought I'd make this into a regular, hard-hitting and incendiary series of posts. Today we continue...) I’ve just spent a long weekend playing Plants vs Zombies. Yes – that means I was playing on my PC. I can only apologise. But when it comes to playing one of the best zombie-based garden defense games ever made, you have ...

I just ate an ice cream in the shape of a ghost. It was scarier than any Silent Hill game, and a lot less annoying. When I went to the freezer to get my ghost ice cream I didn’t have to try to open about six ‘locked’ ice creams that weren’t actually ice creams before finally finding one that actually opens. The box of ice creams made no attempt to hint at and allude to a wider, scarier ...