VideoGamer.com Plays

What we've been playing this week.

Tom Orry, Editor - Test Drive Unlimited 2, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

I've only really scratched the surface of this open-world racer/lifestyle sim from Eden Games, but what struck me is how bizarre the opening is. I don't remember another game beginning with a dream sequence, but this one does it surprisingly well. One minute you're at the very peek of glitz, glamour and luxury, dancing at a party full of young, good-looking people, the next you're screaming down a seaside road in a glistening red Ferrari, and the next you wake up to find you're just a valet. You even get a "tap tap" sound as the car's real owner knocks on the window to try and bring you back into the real world. Only time will tell if the game as a whole is as dreamy.

Neon Kelly, Deputy Editor - Deus Ex: Human Revolution PC, PS3, Xbox 360

It feels like forever since Square Enix dropped the first of their beautiful, attention-grabbing trailers; it's actually only been about 10 months. Expectation is a dangerous thing, especially when your excitement is based upon pretty CGI videos. Now that I've actually played Human Revolution for myself, I feel I can loosen the restraints on the hype-beast growling around in my guts. I'm still keeping him on a leash though - the Deus Ex brand is very close to my heart, and I know now that I'll be disappointed if the final game is anything less than a diamond. Still, it's looking damn good so far. Stay tuned for not one but two previews over the coming weeks.

Martin Gaston, Staff Writer - LittleBigPlanet 2, PS3

If LittleBigPlanet 2 has one main flaw (other than the controls, but I've been banging on about those for years) it's that it feels like a well-produced tasting menu. Ideas are introduced, played with for a few minutes and then discarded to make way for some new trick. I'm certainly enjoying it a lot more than the original, but it feels a bit like Media Molecule are opening the door to loads of possibilities but never going the full distance with them. It's like the creative director has a touch of ADHD, and is never comfortable with developing LittleBigPlanet 2's many wonderful bits into something more meaty.

What I'm basically trying to say is this: maybe some budding level developer will create and share a devious Sackbot level for me to play. Please? Pretty please? I'll heart it and everything! Oh, and LBP.me is chuffing genius.

Jamin Smith, Staff Writer - Pokémon BlackNintendo DS

Last week I told you about Walt. He's an Emboar now, the third and final form on his evolutionary journey. Taking a break from my relentless march towards the Elite Four, I decided to train up and evolve the rest of my squad. I started with Gurdurr, the fifth-gen equivalent of Machoke, to give that some context. After an hour or two without an evolution, however (by this point he was level 40), I decided to give him a rest and swap him out for Boldore (think Graveller with this one). I spent a further couple of hours roaming caves and dark patches of grass until he reached level 42, but still no luck. Even after four hours of concentrated training, the immortal words "What? Boldore is evolving!" refused to grace the screen of my DS. After a little Googling, I soon learnt that both Boldore and Gurdurr only evolve after a trade. Pokémon Black and White doesn't hit store shelves in the UK until March 4. FML.

Emily Gera, Staff Writer - The Movies, PC

It's that Lionhead Studios game you never played. I originally played The Movies back in uni, and when I say played I mean tinkered with obsessively in an attempt to push the game to its limit. With a Sims-like philosophy that had you creating a film studio from the ground up, Movies let you hire actors, buy sets, and then create short films that you could later edit and throw up online. You could give your stars makeovers, even taking them down a grim and extreme path of plastic surgery. My male stars were given D-cup chests, my newly signed lady starlets had new faces minutes after walking into the studio. It's a brilliant little Sims-alike, surprisingly funny, really recommend.