VideoGamer.com Plays

What we've been playing this week.

Tom Orry, Editor - Split/Second Velocity, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

Split/Second looks amazing. There are no two ways about it. If the crash physics and vehicle damage had been better, the Black Rock racer would have earned an easy 10/10 in that department, such is the visual splendour on show throughout every other facet of the game. The sheer spectacle of a cruise ship slamming into the track just meters in front of your high speed car is incredible, and the impact of the powerplays will keep you hooked throughout the 12 episodes on offer. It's just a shame there's not more too it. While it lasts it's thrilling, but it's over all too quickly to be counted among the racing genre's greats.

Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor - Super Street Fighter IV, Xbox 360

Seven in a row. At the end of the thoroughly enjoyable Super Street Fighter IV Staff versus Forum game night, I challenged seven of you to an Endless Battle. The first person to beat me would win a game from the bulging VideoGamer.com Game Cupboard. I won six in a row, picking a different character each time. For the final match, I went for the Question Mark, ending up with bendy-limbed Indian Dhalsim. I admit it, it was a cocky move. And I thought it had backfired - I'm rubbish with Dhalsim. Luckily I remembered all those annoying Dhalsim players who had beaten me online, and decided slowly jumping and hitting fierce punch would be the best course of action. Luckily, it worked. But I want you all to know that for that match, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. The rest of the time, though… yeah, I knew exactly what I was doing.

Neon Kelly, Previews Editor - Red Dead Redemption, Xbox 360 and PS3

Well, it's finally here - and boy was it worth the wait. Over the past ten days I've duelled strangers in the street, cheated at poker, and herded suicidal cattle over the edge of a cliff. I've lassoed innocent prostitutes, dumped them on the back of a horse, and then scared the beast so that it runs off into the baking wilderness. I've ridden head-first into an oncoming steam train. I've had my face clawed off by a cougar. I've shot what felt like half the population of Mexico. I've done all these things on my travels through Red Dead Redemption, and I know that the party has only just begun.

Sebastian Ford, Video Producer - Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Xbox 360 and PS3

Forgotten Sands? What they have forgotten is to give him the right voice…AGAIN! IMHO. When the last Prince of Persia game was released back in late 2008, people were complaining that old Princey should have had a bit more of a Middle Eastern twang rather than the exact same all-American hero voice of Uncharted 2's Nathan Drake. Well that's gone, and been replaced by the thickest, most private-school British accent you can imagine. For me it only really serves to make the guy seem somehow less likeable. A quick look back at the history of entertainment tells us that the guy with the British accent is usually either the lead antagonist, or just a total jerk. Now, I don’t know the full premise of the game, but I'm pretty sure our Prince isn’t meant to be either of these things. But then again, I'm British. I'm a jerk.

Jamin Smith, Staff Writer - Alan Wake, Xbox 360

Alan Wake is the best game of 2010 so far. A bold statement for my first ever VG Plays entry, but I proudly stand by it. Admittedly, I've yet to play Heavy Rain (which I suspect could rival the accolade) but nothing this year has grabbed me in the same way Remedy's psychological action thriller has. Every evening this week I've turned off the lights, donned my headphones, cranked up the volume, and immersed myself in Bright Falls. I'm half way through the last chapter now, and literally cannot wait to see how the story is concluded. Few games hook me so effectively through narrative alone. There's so many other compliments I want to lavish on the game (like its fantastic script, expert use of tension, and second-to-none level design), but due to space constraints I'll simply say this; if you haven't played the game yet, don't deny yourself the experience any longer.