Is it merely a stopgap until FIFA 11 arrives later this year or can this World Cup title stand on its own merits? The answer is definitely the latter. 2010 FIFA World C…up is a cracking footie sim, with intuitive gameplay, classy visuals and decent sound quality (with commentary from Clive Tyldesley and Andy

With her stunning third album, The Nameless, released this Friday (May 7), Cathy Davey talks to State about losing a record deal, growing into her skin as a writer and performer, her ‘vain attempt’ to write a Cole Porter song, and what it feels like to be a ‘pin-up for bed-wetting indie kids’.
The …

Katy Klaw, Rosa Rex and Olly (single name only, surely that’s sexism) created quite a beguiling blues racket in the Academy 2 recently, supporting Local Natives, and that initial promise is more than followed through on their debut album for London’s Wichita Recordings label, fast becoming the home of quality alternative sounds (Bloc Party, Conor…

The recent launch of Dante’s Inferno (God Of War 2.5 in all but name) upped the ante somewhat in the historical action adventure genre, so GOW3… had to be good. Thankfully, it is.
Kratos’ next gen. debut (the recent re-release of the first two episodes on PS3 notwithstanding) looks and sounds amazing, thanks to

There’s an expectant crowd in Dublin’s Academy 2 for Californians’ Local Natives second visit here, with the majority of the capacity crowd drifting in during a fine set by support act, Peggy Sue.
The Californian five-piece take to the stage without much fanfare..

While always critically lauded, mainstream commercial success has so far eluded Tom McRae. OK, so he’s not going to be bothering either Simon Cowell or the upper reaches of the singles charts any time soon, but his emotionally charged songwriting and uber-passionate delivery should have propelled the English vicars’ son (both his parents were Church…

Duke Special cannot be accused of resting on his considerable laurels, with his latest project a highly ambitious triple-CD set, based around a play, a novel and a silent movie star.
The Stage is the Duke-penned music for Bertold Brecht’s 1939 classic anti-war play, Mother Courage And Her Children…, which ran in London’s National

Mass Effect 2… begins a couple of years after the tumultuous events of the first episode of the epic sci-fi RPG. Humanity’s place in the galaxy seems stronger than ever, but all is not right. Entire human colonies have been disappearing across the solar system without a trace of violence, and it’s up to you

In these genre-bending days of crossovers, where it seems nobody wants to hear if there’s not at least a smidgeon of electronica or a smattering of dubstep in your music, it’s refreshing to hear a band doing a straightforward pop-rock album. On their debut, Arnold Sideways…, Dublin quartet The Chapman Society stick primarily to

OK, we know it’s only February, but we’re already predicting that Dante’s Inferno is going to be one of the games of 2010. This uber-violent hack -n’ slash epic is one of the most addictive titles we’ve set thumbs on in months, and after Assassin’s Creed 2, Dragon Age Origins and Modern Warfare 2…

If, like State, you grew up on a diet of boys’ comics like Warlord, Victor and Commando, then The Saboteur is the game for you. EA’s latest free-roaming action adventure combines two of State…‘s favourite things: shooting Nazis and driving real fast. Seriously, set in WWII-era Paris, this game looks incredible,

It’s impossible to review Fionn Regan‘s second long-player without reference to the not-so-benevolent godfather of folk rock: the spectre of Bob Dylan looms so large over The Shadow Of An Empire…¸ he should be given a co-production credit. This is not the Dylan who crooned metaphysical about life’s big questions blowin’ in the wind,

On first listen, Erland And The Carnival exude the kind of quintessentially English folksiness that could have a sizable bunch of listeners reaching for the off switch. Certainly, the first few bars of album opener -Love Is A Killing Thing’ suggest pastoral idylls and village fairs, but it soon becomes far more Wicker Man… than

Army Of Two‘s main protagonists look like they could be the genetically modified steroid-pumped clones of Sly Stallone and Arnie Schwarzenegger, until they put on their specially created masks (more of which later). Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem, veterans of the passable first Army Of Two …title, are on a mission in Shanghai when