VideoGamer.com Plays

What we've been playing this week.

Tom Orry, Editor - Fable II Knothole Island DLC, Xbox 360
After not touching Fable II for over a month I was really looking forward to heading back into Albion to try out the new DLC. There's no doubt that I enjoyed my time back in the game world, exploring with my canine companion DogMintonJermain, but the new quests found on Knothole Island didn't thrill me as much as I'd have liked. You could probably get a good five hours out of the new content if you try to get all the items in the Box of Secrets store, but for me it just felt a bit tacked on. Taken as just another area to explore as part of the main game it's perfectly fine, but as an addition to the main game it adds nothing to the story and as such can't be seen as an essential purchase for Fable II fans.

Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor - Killzone 2, PS3
I've played it, I've finished it, I've conquered it. Killzone 2 has been well and truly beaten by yours truly, but it was by no means easy. The Helghast put up one hell of a fight, and that's because they're smart. Real smart. They use cover as well as you do. They absorb bullets just like you do. They work as a team, poking out of cover rather than jumping out like mindless zombies. They flank when they can, retreat when they have to and refuse to expose themselves unless absolutely necessary. In short, they're damn hard to kill, but I'm treading on broken glass here. There are strict restrictions in place on what I can and cannot tell you. If I say too much, Sony M.I.Bs might storm into the office, even as my trembling fingers are typing this very sentence, bundle me into an unmarked van and teach me a lesson in manners. Shhh. Did you hear that... That sounded like... HRMPH!.....

James Orry, News Editor - Football Manager Live, PC
I've become obsessed with scouring the FM Live database for newly created youngsters in the hope of signing the next global superstar. You see, in FM Live when a player retires from the game world a new youth player is created and can then be signed and trained up in your youth team before being released into your senior squad several seasons later. Not all new players are worth bidding for though, so you'll need to look out for key attributes and remember that even the best coaching can't transform an ugly duckling into a swan. Find a star though and be prepared to have your in-game inbox filled with transfer offers from lazy rival managers desperate to sign your wonderkid. Be warned though, focus on coaching skills and you're likely to spend a lot of time losing to teams managed by players with far superior tactical skills.

Sebastian Ford, Video Producer - Lord of the Rings Conquest, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC
I love the Rings trilogy. I find it to be one of the best sets of films to see you through a day wrapped in a blanket, suffereing from a gruelling hangover. So for me, playing as Aragorn in the middle of the battle of Helm's Deep is, more or less, awesome. I found the co-operative mode with Neon to be the most enjoyable, with him generally taking up the role of archer and myself as warrior. The problem that I have in games like this is that I always find myself diving in the middle of the enemy horde, hacking and slashing to make my way through - something that I could only achieve as a flaming sword wielding warrior, spearheading my personal campaign of mass Orc genocide. However, most of my amusement came from watching the suicidal NPC's throwing themselves off cliff edges, and the floating horses in multiplayer - in fact this amused Neon and myself so much we added it to the video review. On top of that, murdering Frodo in the evil campaign is just plain funny.

For more on what we've been up to this week check out the brand-new VideoGamer.com Podcast.