VideoGamer.com Plays

What we've been playing this week.

Tom Orry, Editor - Microsoft Excel, PC

Game of the year? No. This PC exclusive isn't likely to get console fanboys all hot and bothered on internet forums, but it's dominated my life this past week. Its graphics are very basic (although at one point I filled some cells with red - wooo), it has no audio and is really quite niche. Yet I now dream about dragging a row of cells that represent an appointment down a worksheet into a new space. And cutting and pasting. Throw in a day in which I had to cram the schedules for three people into two and it's been one of the best weeks of my life.

Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, PSP

This week a few of you took issue with my Peace Walker review I thought I'd address a couple of points made in the comments. Some of you think I don't know what Metal Gear is all about, based on one of the captions in the review. Well, that was a glib comment supposed to highlight Metal Gear's silly plot, which is very silly indeed. Another suggested the controls weren't bad. Well, sorry, you're wrong. The last paragraph, which details the difficulty we Brits face playing PW multiplayer versus the ease Japanese gamers enjoy. If you have like-minded chums who own PSPs and PW, great - as I said in the review, when played multiplayer, the game's brilliant. But most do not. So, for most, the only option is the PS3's ad hoc party mode, which is terrible, or play it on your own. And finally, some have said that, well, I'm just crap at the game. I'm not brilliant, but I'm not crap. When it comes to Metal Gear, my skill level is average, which has been good enough to get me through all the main Metal Gear games so far released. All I want to do with PW is get through it, to see the story and enjoy it. Is that too much to ask?

Sebastian Ford, Video Producer - Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii

I used to own a Nintendo Wii. I didn't sell it, I didn't give it away, it was in fact stolen from right in front of my TV in my own home no less. That's what I get for hosting a New Year's Eve party? The thing is, I have never really had much more than a fleeting urge to purchase a replacement. Even first-party content for the Wii doesn't appeal to me, certainly not enough to repurchase a console for. Super Mario Galaxy 2, on the other hand, could change this. I have heard the original called 'the best game for the Wii to date' many times before, and it sounds like Galaxy 2 has just claimed the throne. Every moment is joy; the mixture of charm, variety and challenge is so perfect it beggars belief. I had never pictured myself politely asking to borrow the office Wii for an evening of gleeful gaming, but sure enough I pulled up my socks and went right ahead - totally worth it.

Jamin Smith, Staff Writer - Final Fantasy IV, DS

As you read this, the chances are I'm 35,000 feet up in the air with a screaming child kicking the back of my seat. My legs will ache, my back will hurt and I'll probably need the toilet. Good job that I packed Final Fantasy IV before I left to take my mind off all of this. Although I've played all of the games in the main Final Fantasy series at one point or another, I think IV is the game I've poured the least amount of time into. This time around - with improved graphics, new features, and ten hours to kill on a plane - I hope to see the game to the end for the first time. Or at least make a good start on it.