The bad news for anyone who completed last year’s original Assassin’s Creed title is that the brooding hero of that game, Altair, is not the star of the sequel. The good news, however, is that even if you loved the original, which State did, the follow-up improves on it in practically every way.
While…

Taking its cue from the likes of Guitar Hero and the obviously named Rock Band, Lego Rock Band does pretty much what you’d expect: puts you behind the mic, drums, bass or guitar in a brand spanking new, plastic (oh no) band and lets you warble, strum, wallop and bang your way to virtual…

Let It Beep is an interesting title for Tennessee quintet Royal Bangs’ sophomore effort, but it only tells part of the story. A much more explanatory moniker would’ve been Let It Beep, Bang, Crash, Bounce…. and Rock. Coming across like a younger, more focused Flaming Lips (particularly on the evidence of this year’s Embryonic),…

Courting controversy seems par for the course with Call Of Duty’s Modern Warfare franchise, such is the realism of the violence on display, but the developers at Activision and Infinity Ward have outdone themselves this time, with this game making headlines all over the globe, including spots on most of our country’s top talk-shows,…

Like a throwback to the early days of Hawkwind, Jethro Tull and other quintessentially British musical absurdists (even mythical speed metallers Sabbat), The Witch And The Robot deal in decidedly weird folk/prog fare (or should that be fayre), with enough quasi-mystical lyrics to embarrass a sci-fi convention. That said, it seems this particular bunch…

Not since an early teenage flirtation with Dungeons & Dragons has State ever really embraced the role playing genre with anything even approaching gusto, so it’s a testament to just how good Dragon Age: Origins is that we’ve lost sleep, been late for work and even spent time on a bus worrying about which…

Right from the start of Californian quintet Local Natives’ debut, it’s clear that this is something special. Gently melodic guitar is joined by a ridiculously insistent drum-beat for all of 39 seconds, before Taylor Rice’s dreamy vocals enter the fray: “Oh some evil spirit/ Oh some evil this way comes/ They told me how…

It’s Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Pinocchio as you’ve never seen them before: covered in blood and other bodily gore. Fairytale Fights takes a glut of familiar characters from your childhood, from Jack (of beanstalk fame) to the naked emperor (minus his new clothes), and puts them in a 3D platformer that tries…

Like a cross between Indiana Jones and Lara Croft (albeit without the gravity-defying figure that made the latter such a hit with teenage male gamers), Nathan Drake is back and he’s in trouble… big trouble.
Uncharted 2 begins with our hero coming to consciousness on a wrecked train carriage, that just happens to be…

Named after an audio equipment manufacturer, Chicago quartet Califone trade in mostly acoustic, alt. country and folky tunes. Not that you’d ascertain that from ‘Giving Away The Bride’, their opening salvo on this, their second long-player: it’s all staccato percussion, groaning samples and ethereal vocals. It’s experimental and exciting, like a lo-fi Beck out-take…

Christmas is fast approaching in Massena, a small township on the border between New York State and Canada where tattoos, trailer-parks and thrift stores are the order of the day, and Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is in trouble. When her gambling addict husband disappears with all the money they’ve saved to pay for their…

The latest instalment in Microsoft’s Forza franchise does pretty much what you’d expect a modern racer to do: delivers high octane thrills, with some cracking tracks and a host of the sweetest cars in the world. Forza 3 is bigger, better and more fun than ever before, regardless of whether you’re a casual arcade…

Following two releases as Preston School Of Industry, Spiral Stairs (Scott Kannberg to his mum) releases his first album under that particular moniker, but it’s certainly not a solo album in the traditional sense. Indeed, the former Pavement stalwart roped in a motley collection of alt-rock luminaries, including former Preston School of Industry graduates,…

There was a time when Sub Pop was pretty much a byword for screeching guitars, pummelled drums and hammered bass strings, but last year’s eponymous Fleet Foxes album changed all that. Perhaps, like the grunge generation it sound-tracked, Sub Pop has grown up. Certainly, Seattle’s Grand Archives have more in common with Robin Pecknold’s…