After the genius of the Indiana Jones and Star Wars …games, it was perhaps inevitable that Captain Jack Sparrow and his motley crew would be given a LEGO makeover, and while it’s enjoyable, this game doesn’t quite live up to the exquisite standards set by its predecessors thanks to one rather clunky plot mechanic –

An ingenious puzzle game which will test your grey matter more than your reflexes, Portal 2 (the original game was part of the Orange Box, along with Half Life 1 & 2…) is an experience like few other you will have on any console. Your mission, essentially, is to guide your character though

Anyone expecting Catacombs Mark II on Cass McCombs’ fifth album will find themselves a little disappointed. OK, so he has Ariel Rechtshaid, with whom he created that wonderful album, back on co-production duties, but Wit’s End …has an altogether more laid-back, horizontal feel than its illustrious 2009 predecessor, and there’s nothing as immediate or as

The first Dragon Age game, Origins…, was so successful, there was always going to be a sequel. The fact that it can be credited with winning a new generation of fans over to the RPG genre speaks volumes for its quality, in terms of gameplay, plot and sheer addictability. While the second game isn’t

Imagine an album that combined the beauty and fragility of The XX with the catchiness and raw power of early-to-mid period Radiohead (i.e. when they used to write choruses). Now throw in some Cure-esque basslines, deliciously off-kilter rhythms and simmer with a splash of heavily distorted shoe-gazing. Bliss indeed. Even better is the fact that…

If high octane arcade racing, rather than realism, is your idea of a good time, then you could do far worse than spend some time with MotorStorm: Apocalypse…. The second word in the title refers to the fact that it’s not just dastardly designed tracks that you’re up against this time around, but the

Crysis 2… is a first person shooter where the emphasis is very much on survival, with some of the toughest firefights you’re likely to encounter in any game of the genre. The action has moved from the jungle of the original game to the torn-up urban cityscape of New York, which is under attack from

Not a standard second album, instead Chopped & Screwed… is the result of a live collaboration between Mici Levi and her band and leading contemporary orchestra, the London Sinfonietta last year. It’s Micachu, folks, but not as we know her. The process of chopping and screwing is a hip-hop technique whereby the tempo is halved,

Based on the animated movie of the same name, Rango is an action platformer with superb visuals and cracking voice acting, but the brevity of the single player campaign ensures it falls short of greatness.
This is the Old West, but not as we know it. Rango …is set amongst the lizards, rodents and snakes

In contrast to the likes of Killzone and Resistance, games which aim for gritty realism in their portrayal of battle, Bulletstorm is deliberately in-yer-face and over-the-top, with more expletives than a Sopranos …box-set and enough garishly cartoon violence to satisfy even the most bloodthirsty of adolescent gamers.
The story revolves around a tough-as-nails assassination

Easily the most satisfying game in the series to date, Killzone 3 is a worthy adversary to Halo, Resistance or Gears Of War. Set immediately after the events of Killzone 2…, the game once again plunges us straight into the action, as our ISA team try to extricate themselves from the Helghan

Three albums in a decade isn’t everyone’s idea of a high workrate, but when the songs in question have the intensity of a long dark night of the soul in conversation with Samuel Beckett, Cathal Coughlan and Eamonn Dunphy, it’s easier to imagine that creating these dark arts must be an emotionally draining experience.
Through …

Smart Flesh may have been recorded in a vast, abandoned pasta sauce factory in Rhode Island, but it sounds anything like it. The follow-up to Oh My God, Charlie Darwin… is as warm, fuzzy and intimate as if these 11 tracks were put down in a tiny living room with thick shag carpets, an open

There was always going to be a sequel to Dead Space…, one of the scariest and most addictive shooter/survival horrors in years, and the good news is that it’s just as good as the original. Once again, you play the role of Isaac Clarke, a humble engineer thrust into the role of warrior against