VideoGamer.com Plays

What we've been playing this week.

Tom Orry, Editor - Saw, Xbox 360 and PS3
While I'd have preferred to be playing Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2 or some more side missions in Assassin's Creed 2, I spent far too much time this week playing Saw. I watched the first couple of movies a few years back, but these days the level of gore and torture on offer is beyond my taste. Still, virtual violence is tolerable, which is lucky as Saw is bloody violent. The initial few puzzles actually gave me hope that this would end up being a fairly smart survival horror game, but it sadly soon descended into repetition and dreadful combat - some of the worst I've ever seen. Still, if you like the idea of cutting a key out of the stomach of a cadaver, Saw might be for you.

Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor – Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Wii
After I finished The Darkside Chronicles, I logged on to YouTube and spent hours watching Resident Evil 2 clips. What a game it was. The graphics were stunning, the monsters were brutal and the atmosphere was intense. But it hasn't aged well. Watching old footage of Leon and Claire running around Raccoon City Police Department, struggling to shoot zombies hidden off screen and wall running while the player spams the square button, is disheartening. It's funny how things don't look quite as good as you remember them looking.

James Orry, News Editor - Assassin's Creed II, Xbox 360
In preparation for the VideoGamer.com Game of the Year 2009 Video Feature I've been attempting to get hands-on time with some of the contenders, and this week I found a free evening to sink some time into Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II. Having played the first game for no more than five minutes I didn't really know what to expect, but came away very impressed. The pace was a little slow going during the tutorial opening sections, but the story has me wanting to know more and the visuals are at times breathtaking. My only problem is having to find time to play Modern Warfare 2, L4D2, Chinatown Wars, Forza 3, Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 and many more over the next few weeks. Oh, FM Live update: Juicy Danglers won the league. Back of the net.

Neon Kelly, Previews Editor - Modern Warfare 2, Xbox 360
Despite some serious competition from Left 4 Dead 2, the highlight of my gaming week has once again been Modern Warfare 2. In fact, I'd go further than that: a particularly entertaining Domination match on Highrise gave me one of my all-time favourite FPS experiences. Seb decided he was going to make a run to capture point B, and announced this plan to the rest of the Xbox Party. Unfortunately for him, I was playing on the opposing side. Half a minute later, Seb shows up and lies down next to the flag - at which point I threw a wad of Semtex into his face. The resulting explosion, and the angry noise made into his mic, was excellent compensation for a piss-poor spell I had while attempting to master Wasteland, earlier that night. To be fair, I should point out that Seb (and Chris, and pretty much everyone else in the [UMum] Clan) completely decimated me on every other map we played. Still, I enjoyed my moment in the sun - however brief it was.

Sebastian Ford, Video Producer - Modern Warfare 2, Xbox 360
Over the week Chris and I set up a page on Facebook declaring that Wednesdays are now to be known as Modern Warfare 2 Wednesdays. You may have seen the picture on Twitter of our setup: two TVs, two 360s, more surround sound than you can shake a stick at, and delicious rum and coke (seriously, delicious). After some initial connection problems we managed to get about 12 players involved. Some party modes followed, then we split into two teams to take on the rest of the internet. Credit must go to Kempoh (GetToDaChoppa), Rougue Soul and Sc00tiePuff Jnr (some dork) for consistently destroying me at every turn. We are team "UMum" and we will break you.

For more on what we've been up to this week check out the brand-new VideoGamer.com Podcast. For something a little more sedate you might also like to give our latest Podcast, Back on Topic, a listen.