Welcome to VideoGamer.com Plays, our weekly feature where we give you the inside track on what's been whirring in our disc drives this week. We'll be honest (so if we've been playing Superman on the N64 we'll tell you). But if we've been hammering the latest billion-selling blockbuster we'll let you know about that too.
Tom Orry, Editor - Endless Ocean, Wii.
After reading plenty of exuberant forum posts about the brilliance of Endless Ocean I was more than a little excited when a copy popped through the VideoGamer.com letter box earlier this week. Running a video game website is more stressful than you might think, so the prospect of sitting down with a relaxing game and forgetting about the pile of review code on my desk was quite appealing. A few evenings of scuba diving later, is it really the tranquil experience the hyperbole statements I'd read on forums had lead me to believe? Well, yes and no. It's certainly a huge departure from almost everything I've played this year, with the game itself being about as threatening as a kitten dressed in a soft Pikachu outfit, and the ability to listen to your own MP3s during dives is great. But for most of my time with the game I couldn't stop thinking about where I'd heard one of the included songs before, which annoyed me no end. It's Robyn's "With Every Heartbeat" in case you're wondering. With that helpful bit of knowledge, hopefully you'll be able to get on with the relaxing and forget about pop trivia.
Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor - PES 2008, Xbox 360.
Despite the doom and gloom surrounding this release, PES 2008 is still great fun on the 360. Sure, the online is still borked, and the replays are a joke, but for the odd four-player exhibition match during lunch hour nothing beats it. I fondly remember one game this week where I took the mighty Scotland (let's not mention England shall we?) and demolished James' Equador 1-0 with a rocket from the edge of the area, courtesy of the industrious left-foot of Lee McCullough. If the game's replays were better I would have saved that beauty. Sigh. I'll remember that one on me deathbed I will.
James Orry, News Editor - Viva Piñata Party Animals, Xbox 360.
As a fan of the first Viva Piñata game on Xbox 360 I was quite excited to get my hands on Party Animals. It's far from the perfect party game, but for a change of pace from first-person shooters and PES 2008 it was a refreshing evening of gaming. Importantly almost all the games we played went right down to the wire, largely down to the game's ease of play, making for some really tense finishes. However, having played the game much more than the rest of the gang I invariably came out on top, although as the evening progressed my title as Party Animals Championship Challenge Champion did come under increased threat.
Nick Peres, Video Producer - Mass Effect, Xbox 360.
I have finally managed to get my hands on Mass Effect, the one game I've wanted by my side at night. Now I have started playing it I'm making sure everything I do in-game is perfect. I've already had to change my character's appearance twice due to the nose not looking right. Now, six hours in, I'm thinking of starting again because he looks too much like a member of the village people. As soon as I got back from the doctors I put in a late marathon session and got pretty far... it gets better as the game goes on. Everything from the epic Citadel Alliance base to exploring, Enterprise style, around the nearby systems, Mass Effect truly blurs the line between playing a video game and watching a bloody good movie, film grain and all.
Simon Hunter, Associate Video Producer - Sonic the Hedgehog 2, XBLA.
Sure, I love my MP5 in COD4, my Ferrari Enzo in PGR4 and my Les Paul in Guitar Hero 3, but sometimes you really just want to trade it in for something a lot simpler. So this week I delved into the Xbox LIVE Arcade and dug out Sonic the Hedgehog 2, just for old times sake. Is it as good as I remember? Absolutely - the music, the pace, the feel is still intact. And it sends me right back to those countless fights and resulting suspensions I had back in primary school - how could anyone prefer Mario? Sonic is still by far one of the coolest video game characters ever made. Period. And for 400 MS points, it's a bargain.
