I loved my local arcade. The cacophony of electronic sounds, the flashing lights that made ceiling lights redundant, the smoky haze upon entry and that real feeling of a like-minded community as everyone gathered around the Street Fighter machine. It all combined into something special. Sadly, my local arcade, just like the arcade industry, died long ago.

While the arcade in most countries is a thing of the past, its spirit does live on in a way. HMV’s Gamerbase stations in stores around the UK have proven to be extremely popular with gamers who gather together to play solo, competitively, and cooperatively.

First introduced into Glasgow in July 2009, Gamerbase has grown in popularity, hosting tournaments on a national scale. The areas themselves are well laid out, with gamers having ample space between one another, and the walls decorated with a plethora of gaming posters and memorabilia.

Graeme Loarridge is the manager of Gamerbase Glasgow, though this isn’t his first gamer hangout in the city.  “I started with Microplay and we had a loyal customer base.  When HMV asked me about doing Gamerbase then I wanted to bring these people over and grow the community, which we have done.

“On a good week we’ll have over 2,000 unique gamers passing through to play. In total we have around 11,000 accounts here and nationally it is about 40,000 accounts. So it’s doing well.”

Services such as these rely upon their communities, and engaging and encouraging its participation is something Gamerbase has embraced. Tournaments are a regular occurrence, and winners have their names and pictures featured on the site.

Graeme added, “We need the gamers here but if we don’t offer what they want then the interest will wane. Gaming is one of those odd things where, I think, about 90% of guys aged 10-30 play, but most will hide it and be ‘closet gamers’. So we try to show people that this is a social thing, it’s not all about sitting in your bedroom alone and hiding it.”

It isn’t just tournaments that the service uses to entice new and old customers. A very solid working relationship with games publishers has been forged, with Gamerbase locations now a regular fixture for the next big game launch. “A week before launch we had Super Street Fighter 4 on free play for our customers to come in and try out. During that time we had literally hundreds of people come in and play. We also held the UK launch party for the game down south.”

There’s also some attractive cash prizes on offer for those with the skills, “Our national Street Fighter 4 tournament had a £4,000 cash prize for the winner. We also had a nationwide Need For Speed racing tournament with the best lap times getting to contest the UK final in our Reading branch.”

In the arcades of old it was the fighting game that was king; the best way to earn bragging rights was to be simply better than everyone else at Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Graeme thinks that Gamerbase goes beyond a reliance upon one genre however.

“There’s also a lot of play on (military games) Counter-strike and Modern Warfare 2. It’s not just the usual fighting and shooting though; World of Warcraft is always a top three game when it comes to hours played, and Heroes of Newerth was in our top 5 PC games last week. Considering the game hasn’t had its full release yet, it is surprising.”

While the true arcade experience will pretty much never come back to UK shores, there is certainly a feeling of nostalgia that permeates when walking around Gamerbase. Teenagers huddle around a single console playing the latest Street Fighter, solitary gamers try out the latest new experiences, and teams of players get together to practice.

The strong sense of an arcade isn’t lost on Gamerbase’s manager. Graeme feels the same way.

“Whenever I try to describe it to people I do use the phrase ‘a modern-day arcade’. Nowadays we give people the chance to play games they wouldn’t normally play or buy, in a way like the arcade did. There are so many games that the average person can’t afford to buy them all, so they can come in here and pay their £3 for an hour here without having to sink the £40 it would cost to buy the game.”

Since the demise of the arcade, there hasn’t really been anything that has filled that void. For those who miss the buzz of walking into a room full of machines and taking your pick, of both opponent and game, you might want to give Gamerbase a try.

For more pictures from my visit to Gamerbase, check out this blog post here.

Perhaps to appease gamers like my steel-willed friend, developers Warner Bros Games of the  upcoming horror-shooter F.E.A.R. 3 have been consulting with the legendary John Carpenter on some of the scary sequences in the game. To the unenlightened, Carpenter is the man responsible for the creation of the awesomely creepy horror movie Halloween. Carpenter isn’t the only one with a horror pedigree who has a hand in the game, read on to find out who else is and see the announcement trailer.

Steve Niles, the comic book and script writer who wrote 30 Days of Night, has inked (or typed on his fancy Macbook) the script for   everyone’s favourite demonic kid Alma’s third appearance.

Here’s a little blurb from WB Games followed by the hilariously voiced announcement trailer:

“To further ensure extreme terror in F.E.A.R. 3, legendary horror director John Carpenter (Halloween, Village of the Damned) and critically acclaimed horror comic and script writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) have provided consultation to enhance several of the game’s frightening aspects. Steve Niles co-wrote the game script with the development team and John Carpenter provided his expertise in crafting the in-game cinematics.”

Heavy Rain is a game that has divided opinions here at Gamer Limit. Some of us think it’s a glorified cutscene with obligatory button presses, others think it’s a welcome change of pace and a great narrative-driven game.

Heavy Rain’s influences are vast; movies like Se7en and Saw are easily spotted. Yet there is one gem of a game that hasn’t been praised for being a visionary of its time, and an obvious influence on Quantic Dream’s big PS3 exclusive. I give you: Road Avenger!

Road Avenger (also known as Road Blaster) was an arcade Laserdisc game that brought together cutting edge narrative and fantastic visuals; it really was the Heavy Rain of its day. Ported as a launch title for Sega’s Mega CD system, the game showed what the system was capable of, bringing the excitement of movies to life. Don’t believe me that it rocked? Check out this intro clip, then tell me I’m wrong.

Taking the role of a vigilante seeking vengeance on the biker gang that killed your wife, Road Avenger immediately tugs at the heart strings with its harrowing introductory sequence.  From then on, it is a desperate race to the end of each level, getting ever closer to the boss of the gang and gaining revenge for your fallen loved one.

What really set the game apart from other Laserdisc titles was the sheer choice of movement as your car tore around streets, beaches, shopping malls, and country roads. Not only would the game give you the old steer left and steer right, but brake and turbo were also included to give more variation than previous Laserdisc king Dragon’s Lair could ever dream of.

The fantastically deep chase scenes in Road Avenger are clearly ripped off by Heavy Rain; why the current rights holders, G-Mode of Japan, haven’t sued yet is beyond me. Perhaps a Facebook group would be the way to get the ball rolling and have Quantic Dream held accountable for their copyright infringement. Just look at Heavy Rain‘s car chase below, then sample a few levels of Road Avenger. See what I mean?

It seems I’m not alone in appreciation of the awesomeness that is Road Avenger. In January this year it was announced that a novel based on the events of the game is set to be released sometime within the next couple of years. The book is being written by Margaret Park and will be published by MMP Publishing.

With a Heavy Rain novel a distinct possibility, it’s great to see Road Avenger getting in there first for the recognition it deserves.  In a recent press release,  Margaret said: “The original concept is ‘Mad Max‘ like, so we’ve decided to make ‘Road Avenger‘ a psychological action drama, which will end up like a cross between ‘Mad Max‘, ‘Ronin‘, and Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Traffic‘. Though we are expanding on a simple plotline, we are straying far from the typical Hollywood attitudes that engulf many fine stories.”

I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean “simple” plot – it was probably a typo. Margaret should know her stuff though, since on the same press release she is described as “an Author and Poet of Psychological and Experimental Fiction Crossover Writings, best described as Stephen King partying with David Lynch in The Twilight Zone”.  I hear King likes to get down, that must’ve been one bad ass party.

Hopefully this has opened your eyes to what now needs to happen; it’s so obvious I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier. Road Avenger must be remade by Hideo Kojima for the Playstation 3, as only the cut-scene king himself could do justice to such a visionary title. Also, only the powerful Blu Ray format (just like the Mega CD before it) could house what is sure to be the future of video games.

How do you fit obese royalty into your pocket? It’s a question that has bugged us at Gamer Limit for quite some time. Judging by Martin and Simon’s ex-girlfriends we thought they would have the answer, but sadly they weren’t princesses. Lucky for us that Fat Princess, the well received PlayStation Network title, has now been released on Sony’s PSP with the subtitle Fistful of Cake. Perhaps we’ll know now.

The original Fat Princess was a riotous online team game that, once it sorted out its early network problems, had a lot to give. Moving a game that relies so much on its online element to a platform that isn’t exactly famous for games of this ilk does appear to be a risk. So with that said, just how well does it weigh up to its beefier home console counterpart?

Although we generally call home console versions the “bigger brother” to handheld iterations, in this case, Fistful of Cake actually has more content. Six new maps, new multiplayer game types and a nicely extended single player story have been added by developers Supervillain Studios.

The premise of Fat Princess is simple: the red castle has the blue princess, and the blue castle has the red princess. Each team tries to rescue their respective royalty while keeping their prisoner. To make it harder for your enemies’ princess to be returned to her throne, you can ply them with cake to make them fatter, and thus heavier to carry.  It’s like an awesome game of capture the flag with cake, and we all know that everything is better with cake.

Visually, the game retains the same storybook style as the PS3 version, albeit with some expected graphical compromise in the finer details. This compromise isn’t bothersome unless you’re a real graphics nerd, however. Animations are all intact and it really does seem like the game has had to make very few changes. The audio is simply superb, from the music to the posh English voiceover man, it is absolutely stellar.

The single player story, Legend of the Fat Princess, is accompanied by some entertaining story book cut scenes that paint the picture of how the princesses came to be so fat, and the subsequent quest to find a cake that could satisfy their hunger. It’s like the quest for the Holy Grail and Supersize Me were intertwined with a medieval war story. Epic stuff.

The single player campaign isn’t just to make players giggle on the bus, its 15 chapters also serve as a nice induction into the mechanics of princess rescue.  Because there are so many classes to master, it really is best for new players to start here before attempting to hit the online arena.

One complaint about the story mode is that Chapter 3 takes place on the Deep Fried map, a level that is so stressful to play that it should come with a health warning. The lava that surrounds the area is fair enough, but the rising and lowering tide system means you’ll often be stuck on an island, or worse, melted by the lava. Trying to carry your objective back to the castle on this convoluted map is such a chore. Thankfully, once it’s out the way, the game picks up again.

Once you’re seasoned enough with the single player campaign, a quick trip into the online mode should be next on the list. I was initially worried that the online community for a PSP game would be lacking, fortunately my concern was swept away after logging in multiple times and finding a game within seconds, literally seconds. I logged in at different times of day just to see, and each time there was always a game on offer.

Fistful of Cake’s multiplayer is slightly different to the 32 player matches offered up on PS3. Numbers are limited to eight in total, with eight AI controlled players to make up the numbers. While on paper this sounds mildly disappointing, it actually helps focus the matches, giving your actions much more gravity than they would with 23 other players running around too. Good players will find their role stand out, and that they can single-handedly affect the outcome of a game; the same can also be said for poor players.

The new game modes add even more variety to what was already an impressive line up. Particularly fun is Grim Reaper, where one player takes on Death’s hood and scythe, killing enemies with one hit. The other players must gang up to take down the reaping player before fighting to pick up the hood. It’s non-stop action, and perfectly suited to the quick pick-up-and-play ethos of a portable console. As if to confirm the greatness of this mode, it takes place on a map called “Undercaker”.

With such a team-focused game, the lack of voice chat to organise tactics is a blow. Being able to co-ordinate an offensive on an opposing castle is one of the finest moments that the PS3 version of Fat Princess can deliver. Sadly, that doesn’t happen here. The small-sided matches help alleviate this, but after a poor match it’ll be something that grinds.

Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake is a tremendous achievement by Supervillain Studios, making a portable iteration of a console game that has even more content packed into it. Hideo Kojima said he wanted his latest PSP Metal Gear game to be up to the standard of his home console releases; Fat Princess has already realised this. While it isn’t perfect, for those who can get their PSPs online it is a joy to play. Go on and try a slice – you might like it.

I loved Van Helsing, the 2004 movie with Hugh Jackman tearing through wolfmen, vampires, and all sorts was just too much fun. Sadly, the official game wasn’t up to much. Dracula: Undead Awakening (D:UA) takes that Van Helsing vibe and puts it straight into a top-down shooter for the PlayStation Minis collection.

Originally an iPhone release, D:UA has now been ported for Sony’s ever increasing range of Minis. Just how does this twin-stick shooter translate to the single stick PSP?  Answer: Not too badly, actually.

Setting the mood in a game can be a hit-and-miss affair; a poorly placed piece of music can often ruin what a developer is trying to create. MoreGames Entertainment, however, didn’t miss when they went about creating the music for their title. The gothic-tinged guitar and synth that plays throughout suits the game perfectly.

A common complaint with most indie titles is that the there is usually only a single music track (there are exceptions, obviously) that plays from the start screen straight, right throughout the entire game. D:UA does have just one piece of music, but it is so fitting to the game that the repetition is barely noticed when you’re knee-deep in werewolf carcasses.

It isn’t purely hairy man-beasts on the enemy front, though; there’s a fairly decent ensemble of hell’s occupiers to take on as well. Accompanying the werewolves are little squid-type creatures that move scarily fast – they look very much like the Flood from the Halo series. There are also wraiths that make a most exquisite scream when dispatched, aggressive larvae, zombies, and finally there is the big man himself, Dracula.

Dracula appears only occasionally, but provides a pretty stern challenge. He floats towards your character and, when close enough, unleashes a green lightning attack. Any weapon can be used to kill him, however if a crossbow is used, then an “Omen” will drop at his feet. Collect 10 of these and you will level up. It adds some strategy for how to approach battling Dracula; should you conserve crossbow bolts for him, or gamble that some will possibly appear as a pick-up before his appearance?

For a game with such a simple premise, D:UA actually has a good deal of strategy to it. The main area of strategy is in the “perk” system; after killing a certain amount of enemies, pressing select brings up the perks menu. Many perks have a trade off, further driving home that careful selection is needed. Taking increased armour will mean a decrease in speed, increased damage will reduce your health and so on. Some perks don’t have a trade off, but the best ones carry a risk.

Each of the game’s four modes of play are slightly different. The first game mode is “survival”, which provides an endless supply of increasingly powerful enemies. Weapons are picked up sporadically as pickups on the ground. Super Survival is much the same but with meatier weapons dropped earlier, so it’s kind of super.

Rush mode is for the all action heroes out there. Choose either the chain gun, flamethrower, or grenade launcher, and fight off a heaving mob of enemies – there are no breathers here. Perhaps the most satisfying mode of all is Wave. After clearing a wave, a merchant appears and will sell weapons, health, and ammo, giving players complete control over their armoury. Cash is collected in the form of piles of gold coins dropped by dead waves. Perks in this mode are also slightly different and are more like “leveling up” health, damage, and firing range than unique perks in the other modes.

I found myself sinking most of my time into wave mode, the control over what weapons to use meant I was never stuck with a gun I didn’t like using. I could stock up on crossbow bolts, and not even bother with the rifle. This control over arms is much needed once the enemies become faster and stronger.

There’s just about enough variation in D:UA. Three different maps – Castle Hall, Grave Park, and Frozen Earth – are all different enough in colour, scheme, and layout to avoid becoming stale; a favourite map and game type is quickly found and stuck with. The art direction is typically gothic, with nothing spectacular. The vampire hunter himself isn’t very well animated, but with so much going on, it’s easy to forgive, and not that noticeable.

Dracula: Undead Awakening is another solid port of a good iPhone game. The control scheme works well enough, and the recent price drop makes the title even better value for money than it was before. There’s plenty to like and not much to hate on, a bit more variation in enemy types would be a welcome but small change. Anyone looking for a solid, yet not particularly original, shooter should feel pretty satisfied with their purchase.

Gamer Limit gives Dracula: Undead Awakening 7.0/10

A quick search on the internet for “video game addiction” brings up many results for clinics and organisations claiming treatment for the problem. The website for On-Line Gamers Anonymous even has its own 12-steps and (somewhat dubious) list of addictive games.

Video game addiction is not listed as an official condition by the American Medical Association, however, intense debate is underway about whether it should be included. Why should you care about this? Can video game addiction possibly be as bad as alcohol, gambling, or drug addictions?

According to video-game-addiction.org: “anyone who has experienced it knows all too well – video game addiction is real.” For quite some time, a council of the USA’s leading doctors has been lobbying for it to be added to the mental illness manual, created and published by the American Psychiatric Association. The next manual is due to be published in 2012.

A 2007 article on msnbc.com said: “overuse most often occurs with online role-playing games involving multiple players.” The statement is still true that MMORPGs are the most likely to cause addiction. The persistent gameworld entices the player to continue playing for as long as possible; obviously, the more someone plays, the more they are paying their monthly subscription.

“They never end. You can never truly win or lose the game as a whole,” says the addictive games page at On-line Gamers Anonymous (OLGA). Which is true, yet somewhat naive. I never finish most games that I own, but some I have played through multiple times just for the sheer enjoyment of it all.  However, I have never felt that I was playing through something as if I were “dependent” on it – something that is key to an addiction.

“Playing the game casually will leave you trailing behind others who put in more time, possibly making you feel as if you aren’t as good or are falling behind,” OLGA continues. One look at the XBL leaderboard for Pacman Championship Edition does this to me regularly. It seems that every game of recent times has a way to compare yourself to others, sometimes giving motivation to do better, other times giving despair. This isn’t something exclusive to MMORPGs, although their way of showing another player’s superiority is more apparent.

“Some have been known to find romantic companionship with other people playing the game and value this companionship equal to real life.” This one I feel is a little bit ridiculous; you could adapt this to a warning about online chatrooms and it wouldn’t look out of place. People find romance in every part of life, especially when sharing a common interest, and a lot of it is false love. I doubt walking around World of Warcraft grinding levels makes this companionship any more intense.

“For certain types of people, any type of game can be addictive. Those with addictive personalities may find themselves interrupted by desires to play a quick game of Pinball or Tetris on the computer.” This is the clincher for me, addictive personalities find addiction. Unlike heroin, trying Modern Warfare 2 more than once will not result in a 90% chance of addiction. This should be at the top of the page; if you have an “addictive personality” it is because you are addicted to something, not because the game made you that way.

There are those who are addicted to playing a game – I am completely convinced of that – but I don’t think that it is the games themselves that are doing this. MMORPGs do need to look at themselves and realise that, by making someone spend hundreds of hours in their game world to achieve its richest prizes, they are merely encouraging this kind of behaviour. A line must be drawn somewhere between social conscience and a drive for subscription profits. If not, then the whole industry leaves itself open to pot-shots from the next wannabe Jack Thompson.

In cases of child addiction, the role of the parents has to be called into question. A child that is allowed to go on a 12-hour gaming binge on a regular basis is one that is being neglected by their parents. When I was a child, I loved playing football and joined the local football team. My father came to every game, no matter the conditions, to support me and encourage my development.

When it came to games, he played too, so it was much the same. We sat and completed Resident Evil 2 together and many other titles as well. He also drove me to badminton practice every Friday; he didn’t like badminton but he still took me. See the connection?

He was being a good parent and making the effort to get in on my hobbies and be there for me, whether he fully enjoyed them or not. My mum doesn’t care for games all that much, but she still had a shot of Sonic the Hedgehog when I first got a Mega Drive. She even got in on some four-player Mario Party with my dad, brother, and myself last Christmas.

Good parenting is priceless in a child’s development. Those who are dumped in front of the TV to be babysat will then depend on it, much the same as the child who sits playing Call of Duty all day and night.

In the OLGA forums there is a post by “absalom” who tells how addicted she was to World of Warcraft: “it was such a waste of a year! Did the whole raiding thing and then my husband told me he suspected I had a problem when i actually cried cuz [sic] some blood elf got to a titanium vein before I did.” She then told how she managed to break the habit: “I’m trying a tactic of replacing everything I liked doing in that game with an IRL [in real life] equivalent.”

If you think you may have a problem with compulsive gaming, I sincerely urge you to seek advice from a professional. Video game addiction as a label can be debated til the end of days, but the most important point is that support is out there for people who need it. So please, use it.

Browsing through Xbox Live’s Indie titles has made me realise two things: there are a staggering number of vibration “games”, and people sure love to put those zombies in their titles. We’re rapidly reaching the point of saturation, where developers need to give gamers something more to entice a purchase out of them.

So what makes Twin Blades, a side scrolling brawler/shooter that is also available for iPhone, any different from all the other zombie tinged offerings out there?

First, the game’s visuals are lovely.  Everything brims with a rich anime vibe; it’s clear a lot of time has been spent on the game’s art direction.  The main character, simply called “the nun”, is lovingly drawn, with her attire and body nicely animated as she moves. The nun’s scythe, your melee weapon, also has some nice effects as it is swung around.

The rest of the game’s visuals also match up to the nun. Backgrounds look great, from what looks like a quiet French market down to the creepy graveyard. It’s all pleasing to the eye.

Undoubtedly, the stars of the show are Twin Blade’s zombies. There’s quite a lot of variation in them too, with my personal favourites being the kitchen pot-wearing zombie and the heavily bandaged mummy. Some did remind me of Plants vs. Zombies a little too much though, but with the undead, there’s only so much you can do before retreading old ground I suppose.

The aim of the game is to get through the days of the undead that the game throws at you. After getting through a day, which involves its own day/night cycle, you can then upgrade your powers. Upgrades range from the essential air slash (get it ASAP, trust me) to new guns and extra health. The guns all have some very nice graphical effects, but once the “holy beam” is unlocked, you won’t want anything else. It’s just so damn pleasing to use.

There’s an array of squishy sound effects for when the nun dismembers her enemies; these are accompanied by a blood spray onto the screen. In the later, more hectic levels, this spray, coupled with foreground scenery, can make the screen really busy. The soundtrack has a punchy hip hop beat and suits the anime style nicely. It does get repetitive after a long session though. Perhaps another track thrown in to mix it up would have helped.

Repetition isn’t just limited to the music. Sadly, with such limited melee attacks, Twin Blades’ gameplay does become a bit stale; extended sessions can turn into a chore to play. What’s desperately needed is some more combos to add to the unlockable air slash – with a few more added, the depth of gameplay would increase dramatically. Some variation in enemy types, like faster zombies, would also help fight off the déjà vu feeling that sets in after a while.

Press Start Studio has promised to keep the game updated with downloadable content, the first of which appears to be a boss zombie. With this commitment from the developers, and an updated iPad version of the game too, the experience should only get better as new enemies, and hopefully combos, are added to all versions of the game.

At this point however, the game is just too repetitive to hit the high notes it so richly deserves. Sales figures show the game is the number one XBL Indie title in Japan, France, and Spain, so it’s obvious that there’s something here that just needs to be expanded upon. But until these solid foundations are built, it may be best to hold off on taking the plunge.

Gamer Limit gives Twin Blades: 6.5/10

Matt Davis, creator of the popular Avatar Golf for Xbox Live’s Indie section, recently lamented the often critical attitude of gamers to indie sports titles: “You will still get compared to the elite developers and their games,” he complained.

Whether it is fair or not to compare something like Avatar Golf to EA’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour series is an argument for another day, though. Gameloft’s Let’s Golf! for the Playstation Minis collection is what we’re talking about today – a port of an iPhone game that actually does stand up quite well when compared to another full priced title, Hot Shots Golf.

When I say it stands up quite well, I mean that the two games are nigh on indistinguishable. As I first loaded up Let’s  Golf! I actually thought it was a slimmed down version of Clap Hanz’s disarmingly cute golfing series.

So it may look like a good game, but does it play like one? Quick answer: yes, it plays nicely. Shot selection is instantly familiar to anyone who has used a three-click swing system before (it’s been around since the 16-bit era, so you should have). Clicking the X button starts the swing meter, a second click sets the shot strength, and a third sets how straight you’ll hit it.

So hitting shots is really easy, but there is one niggling annoyance to it. If you hit a perfect shot (full power, perfect direction) the game has a tendency to overpower your shot, sending it a good 10 to 20 yards further than it normally would. When hitting a drive up a par 4 fairway this is great. When trying to land one on the green of a par 3, it becomes a bit frustrating. Adjusting the power of your shot is a way to remedy this, but there will always be that occasion where it happens at the most inopportune time.

When you do screw up, you can always pause the game and select restart hole. Even in the game’s Tournament mode this option is available, so those with less self discipline will find themselves correcting mistakes and winning tournaments first time round. It’s nice to have the option of restarting a hole, as even just one or two misplaced shots can screw up your whole round.

Tournament mode is Let’s Golf’s main mode. Starting with two of four locations available to play, Fiji and England, winning on each course opens up the next two, Scotland and USA. Once Tournament mode has been exhausted, there is Instant Play, which loads up a random selection of holes to play, perfect for a quick blast. Free Hole mode is the place to practice, allowing any one of the game’s 63 holes to be played.

Winning tournaments not only unlocks further courses, but extra characters and costumes as well. These unlockable incentives are what drives the player on, adding a longevity that is rarely present in budget titles.

The game’s only multiplayer mode, Hotseat, is played on the one system, with players passing their PSP between them after each shot. While it’s a fun diversion, the lack of Wi-Fi multiplayer that was present in the iPhone version is mildly disappointing.

Let’s Golf! won’t be winning any awards for originality, but what it does provide is a great little budget game that will last. Some may be put off by the candy coated visuals, but to do so would mean missing out on arguably the best of the Minis currently available. If more Minis are produced matching the quality of this title, we should all be very happy.

Gamer Limit gives Let’s Golf! 7/10

Those lovely folks at Konami, in keeping with the festive spirit, have a very special present in store for Metal Gear Solid fans. A new demo for PSP exclusive Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is now up for download on the Playstation Store.

Codenamed “demo-ops” the teaser will include the missions from the Tokyo Game Show demo, along with some added content. Having played through the TGS demo many times, I don’t think fans will be disappointed. So what are you waiting for? Go get it!

Coming on December 22 with the new Pirates of the Caribbean Premium Level Kit will be that most essential of elements, water! We’ve already killed poor Sackboy in every conceivable way, so we may as well drown him too. A trailer and the full list of everything in this satisfyingly meaty pack is right after the jump.

Before we get to the list, check out this sickeningly cute trailer.

Here’s the list:

• New Gameplay features for Create: Water – Global Water Object, Scuba Gear, Bubble Machine, Water Switch
• 5 Brand new Pirates of the Caribbean themed Levels
• 1 New costume: The Cannibal: Leg Bands, Teeth, Nose Decoration, Hair, Loincloth, Skin
• 4 new music tracks
• A new level background
• 8 Materials
• 14 Decorations
• 27 Objects
• 133 Stickers
• 11 brand new PlayStation® Trophies

The LittleBigPlanet Pirates of the Caribbean Premium Level Kit will cost GBP4.75/EUR5.99.

Check out the official LittleBigPlanet website for a guide on just how you’ll be able to use the wet stuff in your levels.

[Every Thursday is Retro Day at Gamer Limit, so kick back and enjoy the classics. Feel free to check out our full schedule right here!]

Comedy in video games, as with all forms of media, is such a finely balanced thing. One man’s comedic gold is another’s tasteless trash. Being consistently funny is something very few can do; those that do manage it are revered forever.

The LucasArts team of the 90s is one such revered developer, churning out one humorous adventure after another. Their hilarious take on the B-movie horror genre is one of the most loved games of the 16-bit genre. With a name like Zombies Ate My Neighbors, how could they possibly fail?

The 1990s was a golden period for LucasArts, it seemed that virtually everything they touched turned into gaming gold. Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and Grim Fandango being some of my particular favourites. While a lot of their output was geared towards the PC market, consoles were never neglected too much.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors (ZAMN) took the irreverent humour that had become a LucasArts staple, and placed it into a top down shooter for the SNES and Sega Genesis. The goal was pretty straightforward: control either Zeke or Julie, and rescue all of your neighbours while killing any unholy abomination that decided to get in your way.

Killing these creatures was all sorts of fun, as the weapons used weren’t exactly conventional. Your default weapon was a water pistol filled with holy water, grenades were replaced with soda cans, and instead of a chainsaw there was a weed-whacker. Find yourself outnumbered? Just drop a blow up clown, complete with giant red nose; those zombies find it instantly more attractive than your retreating character. Another nice little touch is the varying effectiveness of each weapon against a certain enemy. Vampire problem? Best grab that crucifix. Werewolves? Silver cutlery will do the trick nicely.

Each level required at least one neighbour to be rescued before the exit door for the level appeared; the incentive for saving more than one was much-needed extra lives. These neighbours were strewn across the levels and, as with pretty much everything in this game, raised a chuckle. Babies on trampolines and a fat Elvis impersonator are two of the funniest. Rescuing these survivors wasn’t always easy though, some were in difficult areas or behind locked doors that required a key.

Although the key word in ZAMN is zombies, there were plenty other monsters thrown in too. Knife-throwing demon babies, chainsaw wielding giants with hockey masks, werewolves and vampires, even alien pod people turn up.

It wasn’t the funny weapons, great characterisation, or wonderful atmosphere that cemented ZAMN’s place amongst the cult classics of the era; it was the game’s co-op mode that did that. Playing through the maze-like levels while sharing a screen with another player just intensified the feeling of fun. Many weekends were spent arguing with my friend over which path to take through the shopping mall, whether to fight or flee, and whose fault it was that we died before the end again.

Given the time period and all of the horror influences, plus the fact it appeared on the SNES, it was inevitable that the game would end up being censored somehow. Some cuts were trivial, such as Australia requesting the chainsaw wielders be replaced; in their place were lumberjacks with axes. Nintendo’s deep fear of anything resembling red blood meant that the game over screen, which was originally red blood running over the screen, was replaced with far less violent purple slime. Even the game’s name was edited in Europe to simply Zombies.

ZAMN was almost universally praised upon release, earning respectable review scores. Total magazine gave it 91% and hailed it as “so funny you’ll probably die laughing”. Not everybody was impressed, however; Edge magazine was particularly critical: “If there was more to it, Zombies Ate My Neighbours could have been great. As it is, the different styled backgrounds and the addition of some end of level guardians does little to inject life into what is basically a pretty dead game.” Even the mighty LucasArts team of the 90s couldn’t please everyone all of the time, I guess.

A true sequel was never truly realised, although the underwhelming Ghoul Patrol was re-worked in development to be a continuation of the story. Sadly, it never managed to recapture the magic that its predecessor had in spades.

As with many classics of the 16-bit era, ZAMN has been ported onto Nintendo’s Virtual Console . Playing with a capable partner puts this game up there with the best co-op experiences available on the VC; definitely one to add to the purchase list. Perhaps one day Konami will see fit to treat us to a proper update, with lovingly redrawn sprites and backgrounds. Until then, though, I’ll quite happily stick with the original.

Easily the best piece of content in this week’s Playstation Store update is this brilliant costume. Capitalising on the release of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2, players of Little Big Planet can now dress their Sackboys up in Ezio’s hooded garb.

Hit the jump for some more “aww!” inducing pictures and a price.

The Ezio Sackboy is available for $1.99/£1.59, a pretty reasonable price for the best costume yet released.

Look carefully at the image below, further proof that LBP is simply fantastic? I’d say so.

source: Kotaku.com

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