Ender
Danny 'Ender' Martin has been part of the Zath team from pretty much the very beginning since he met Zath himself at Leeds Met University whilst studying Business IT. He's an avid gamer and a big film buff. Danny graduated from the University of Bradford with a degree in Computer Animation and SFX and now currently works at one of the biggest UK games developers, which will hopefully see some of his ideas hit the gaming world.Here are all the Zath articles written by Ender...
Joe Danger: Special Edition Review (Xbox 360)
March 3, 2012
Finally, I hear some of you say. It was only 18 months ago that Joe Danger was released on the PSN so it’s good to see its release on Xbox LIVE. I have to be honest and say I’d only played a little bit of the game on the PSN and enjoyed what I saw. So I was definitely interested in getting my hands on it again when I heard the Special Edition was being released on Xbox LIVE.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Review (PS3)
February 15, 2012
Naughty Dog have really set the bar with the Uncharted franchise, starting with Drake’s Fortune and the critically acclaimed sequel in the form of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The storylines are like Hollywood blockbusters and the gameplay is second to none. So people were yet again expecting something special with Drake’s Deception. But have Naughty Dog been able to deliver yet another classic?
Free ‘Joe Danger’ Christmas Special Edition DLC On Xbox 360
December 20, 2011
Along with the release of the Joe Danger Special Edition on Xbox 360, Hello Games are throwing out some free, yes that’s right, FREE, festive DLC from 21st December. In case you weren’t aware, it’s nearly Christmas so in keeping with the festive season, you’ll be able to download the Santa DLC which includes a Santa costume, new Quad bike and, when selected, it will snow whilst you’re performing some sick tricks throughout the game.
Not only do you get a new vehicle in the Quad bike, but the controls are slightly different to the bike in that the ATV is faster and more bouncy. So if you’ve already mastered some tricks on the bike then you’ll have to ho-ho-hone your skills once again and try the new Quadbike across all the courses in the game.
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LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 Review (PS3)
November 25, 2011
There’s no more books and no more films, so it’s a welcome sight to see the second installment of the LEGO Harry Potter games hit our shelves. Yet another LEGO game of a popular movie franchise hits our shelves, and I can see how some people could get bored by the amount that are out there. But these games are just too damn fun. So what makes LEGO Harry Potter years 5-7 different from the rest and worth your money?
Jak and Daxter HD Collection Announced
November 12, 2011
As you may know, I have quite a love for the Jak and Daxter franchise so you can only guess my excitement when the Jak and Daxter HD Collection was finally announced.
Ever since I played the first Jak and Daxter game back in 2001, I’ve been completely hooked with the loveable duo and have bought ever iteration of the game since. I was quite disappointed with The Lost Frontier which was released on the PSP and ported over to the PS2 and wasn’t a proper Jak and Daxter game in my opinion. I’ve been dying for Naughty Dog to bring us the sequel we’ve all been screaming for, and this goes some way to filling that void.
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Deus Ex: Human Revolution Trailer Released
June 22, 2011
It’s been a while since Deus Ex was first released. 11 years in fact, and I never actually played the original but I did hear that it’s quite an impressive game. Well now the long awaited action-RPG sequel is upon us which has pricked up my ears and made me pay attention. Just see what we thought of it when we were at E3 2011 in our Day 2 review.
From what I’ve seen of Deus Ex: Human Revolution so far, I’ve been quite impressed and I’m looking forward to seeing some more of the gameplay footage. The story follows an ex-SWAT specialist named Adam Jensen in the year 2027 who is hired to defend a biotech firm in America. Jensen is then badly injured during an attack on the biotech facility and is augmented with cybernetic technology against his will. Jensen then travels the globe trying to unravel to truth to a major conspiracy and not knowing who to trust.
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Brink Review (PS3)
May 30, 2011
Yet another first-person shooter (FPS) game hits our shelves. It seems to be that the majority of big titles released these days are FPS, with none of them really standing alone with something slightly different to make it stand out from the rest. But does Brink break that mould and bring us something new?
Most FPS games allow you to be pretty much a solo player, running around and doing your own thing, killing anyone that stands in your way. There’s been plenty of times when I’ve single handedly won a Deathmatch on Call of Duty doubling my entire teams score (I’ve also been on the other side) as you can work individually. This isn’t the case with Brink however, as it’s vital that you work as a team to achieve your goal, otherwise you’ll find it rather tricky to achieve any objectives.
Continue reading »Nintendo Wii 2 To Be Unveiled At E3 2011 & Release Date Of Late 2012
May 1, 2011
We all knew that this would be announced one day, even if it has taken longer for news of Wii 2 to arrive, well now Nintendo have officially come out with the announcement that the Wii 2 will be unveiled in June at E3 2011 with a release date of late 2012 and there’s now news and rumours appearing.
An official name is yet to be released for Wii’s successor, but it currently has a working title of Project Cafe and there are rumours of the console being called ‘Stream’.
Continue reading »Sony Offers PSN Users ‘Welcome Back’ Offer After Hacking
May 1, 2011
Everyone is well aware of the recent PSN hack that has caused Sony no ends of problems, not to mention the 77 million PSN users whose details have been stolen. It’s been two weeks since the hack and still the PSN is down, infuriating gamers still. But Sony have released some details of their ‘Welcome Back’ offer to all registered PSN users.
Every user of PSN will get a free month subscription of Playstation Plus, including those who are already signed up to the service. On top of that, users will be receiving some free “entertainment content” which is going to be different for each region, but no details have emerged as yet as to what each region will get.
Continue reading »Sonic The Hedgehog’s 20th Anniversary Teaser Trailer Released
April 8, 2011
Everyone likes a bit of Sonic the Hedgehog and most gamers will have played the original Sonic either on the Mega Drive or when it was re-released on PSN and XBLA. Well this year Sonic turns 20, which makes me feel pretty old but we’ve been given a little treat.
As I’m a fan of Sonic, of course I ‘liked’ him on Facebook and the other day a teaser trailer was released showing a snippet of what’s to come in Sonics next big outing. But it wasn’t until the 32 second that I really took notice. Why?
Well Sonic was just running along a typical Sonic landscape as he does, then all of a sudden there’re two Sonics. The recent looking blue hedgehog and an old skool looking one.
Continue reading »Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime Review (Xbox 360)
April 4, 2011
Because I was born in the eighties, I’ve always loved Ghostbusters. I was too young to see the first film at the cinema, but did manage to see the second film on the big screen as well as watching the cartoons. You can see from my review of Ghostbusters: The Video Game that I was impressed with the game, so I was hoping for something to match it. The game starts, the eerie Ghostbusters theme tune kicks in…but that’s where the fun stops. Unfortunately Sanctum of Slime falls short.
The story follows on from Ghostbusters 2 with Janosz Poha being sent to the nut house after his possession by Vigo, and in there he meets another minion to a wanna-be God. He then gets duped into collecting a stone for the bad guy. So in come the Ghostbusters to save the day.
The time then moves forward to the present day, but it’s not the original Ghostbusters this time around as they’re too old and tired with all the ghost catching they’re having to do. So they take on a group of rookies to help out, one of which is the nephew of Janosz Poha.
Continue reading »When Do You Know That You’ve Completed A Game?
March 29, 2011
When I was asked this question it did make me think. I don’t have a definite answer to this, as with me it all depends on the game. Before trophies and achievements were unleashed to the world, which gave games more longevity, I was quite content with just playing a game and enjoying it. Games like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank on the PS2 were just a couple of games where I could just sit and enjoy them for what they were.
Whereas games like Final Fantasy are at times a hard slog, and required you to put in around 30 hours minimum to complete. You’ve got side quests, extra weapons and spells to find etc and some people really enjoy doing this. But I prefer to get to the end of the story, and then move onto the next game.
Continue reading »Free Realms PS3 Release Date Announced – Free Console MMO Gaming!
March 13, 2011
It’s been almost two years since Free to Play MMO Free Realms was released on the PC, and it’s finally coming to the PS3 on the 29th March this year according to the Playstation Blog.
Free Realms is aimed more at the younger audience with visuals very similar to World of Warcraft with it’s bright, vibrant colours. Players will be able to jump right in by playing mini quests, themed events, features for social networking and the ability to upload videos to YouTube. You can get involved in combat if you want to, but that’s up to the user and you can also make your way through the many quests available in the game.
Continue reading »Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Release Date Announced
March 13, 2011
Sony has announced an official release date for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (or the Playstation Phone), which will be hitting UK stores from 31st March 2011.
When the Xperia Play is released it will come pre-installed with six games which will include Tetris, The Sims 3, Fifa 10, Bruce Lee Dragon Warriors, Star Battalion and the PSone classic Crash Bandicoot. All the games listed will be Android titles as the phone will run off Google’s Android OS, and as well as the six game listed above, there will be another 50 games that will be available from the Playstation Suite.
Continue reading »PS3 To Get Online Storage With Firmware 3.60 Update…For Playstation Plus Subscribers!
March 9, 2011
Sony have announced that they will be releasing a nice little extra with firmware update 3.60 which is to be released tomorrow (10th March 2011), which will be the PS3 online storage. But you’ll only be able to take advantage of this if you’re a Playstation Plus subscriber.
So just how will the online storage work? Well each Playstation Plus subscriber will get 150MB of space so they can upload saved game files to access at a later date, and with each save roughly around 1-2MB it gives users plenty of space available to them.
Users will then be able to access their saves on any other PS3 with an internet connection by logging in using their account and going to Saved Data Utility to find the save files. However you will need to wait 24 hours before being able to use the save file on another PS3.
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The Game Maker’s Companion Review (Book)
February 27, 2011
Times are changing fast within the gaming world. Nowadays, there are more and more people creating their own games for the iPhone and Android devices with some of them become big successes.
The good thing about this is that games don’t have to be the best looking title, or give you endless customisation, just as long as they’re fun and easy to play. I’ve always wanted to make my own game and with this is definitely a step in the right direction.
The Gamer Maker’s Companion is the second book, with the first one being The Game Maker’s Apprentice. Unfortunately, I haven’t read the first book, so sinking my teeth into the second book was a bit tricky as it assumes you’ve already read the first.
Continue reading »ScentScape USB Odour Add-On – Games & Movies To Get Smelly?
February 26, 2011
Have you ever been sat there, playing your games and thinking to yourself, “I really wish I could smell what it was like in that dungeon/swamp/blood stained pit”. Well all your dreams have just come true.
A new USB accessory is going to be released for PC and consoles later this year which will allow gamers to smell games like World of Warcraft. It will be called ScentScape and will contain 20 scent wells that will spray out different aromas up your nostrils like Ocean, Forest, Smoke….let’s just hope the smoke smell isn’t actually the ScentScape burning out!! The game will prompt the device to spit out the correct smells when in the right enviroment.
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Alien Breed Trilogy Boxed Set For Xbox 360 Announced
February 25, 2011
It was only last week that we reported that Team 17 were in the process of releasing Worms merchandise to the masses, but now there’s more news coming from the Yorkshire games company.
This week, it’s been announced that Team 17 will be releasing the reboot of the Alien Breed Trilogy as a boxed game with all three games on one disc. It was back in 2009 when the first game of the trilogy was released on the Xbox 360 via Xbox LIVE and was titled Alien Breed: Evolution.
Since it’s original release, it was renamed Impact for it’s release on the Playstation Network and PC via Steam. Since then Episode 2 (Assault) and Episode 3 (Descent) have been released with the PSN version of Descent only being released this week.
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Kinect Sports Review (Xbox 360 Kinect)
February 24, 2011
Sports games seem to be the generic release game for motion controllers. The Nintendo Wii had Wii Sports, Sony had Sports Champions for the Playstation Move, and now Microsoft have Kinect Sports for Xbox Kinect.
Because of that very fact, I wasn’t really expecting a great deal from what Kinect Sports could deliver and although it’s a fun game, it still an average one at best. A few years ago, I would have found a game like this to be well worth the money and it would rarely leave my console as I’d always be playing it. But because of the way games have progressed over the years I need more of a story.
Maybe I’m just becoming a moaning old bugger in my late twenties, or just lazy. This is definitely a party game which is where the majority of the fun is. But as you may have already read in my review of Xbox Kinect, my living room doesn’t have the space to allow 2 or more players unless I do some major shifting of furniture.
Continue reading »Kinect Adventures Review (Xbox 360 Kinect)
February 23, 2011
As you all know by now, Microsoft have released their Xbox Kinect motion sensor ‘controller’, and bundled with the peripheral is Kinect Adventures.
Nobody expects amazing things from release titles, let alone one that’s part of a bundle on release, but occasionally you can hit oil. Unfortunately, this time around, Kinect Adventures is a good, but average title for your Kinect-equipped Xbox 360.
I saw this as merely a game that would get you used to how Kinect works and to help players get used to playing games without a controller in your hand. Don’t get me wrong, the game works well and is enjoyable, but I found myself getting a bit bored after 20 minutes or so.
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