Sonic Generations

Hands-on with the demo

A few months back, I concluded my review of Sonic Colours on a fairly bum note. For the most part it was a fast and fun platformer, and it showed that Sonic Team still have huge creative potential, but they just didn't have the skill to match the creativity with tight, slick gameplay. Judging by the newly released demo of Sonic Generations, I'll be needing to give Sonic Team a little more credit come November.

Tomb Raider

A retrospective that shows why this is one fruitbat who is psyched for the upcoming reboot

The original Tomb Raider games are, without question, the scariest games I've ever played. Well, I say played; after being mesmorised by the very first game on a friend's PC I was compelled to pick up the sequel a few years later. I made it as much as five levels in before the jitters and the willies ganged up and assaulted my nervous system, forcing me to quit to desktop with shaking hands.

There's something, by which I mean several somethings, that I find terrifying about the old-school Tomb Raider. Partly it's the golem-esque thugs who stride towards you in complete silence, not even flinching at a shotgun blast delivered point-blank to the chest. Partly it's the sudden and monstrously unfair traps that wipe out your health bar in a furious storm of pixellated blood. But really, what makes Tomb Raider 1 through 5 so knee-knocking, so breath-catching and so utterly memorable is the pitch-perfect design and atmosphere.