NHL 13
Here in Blighty we're less accustomed to ice hockey than our colonial cousins across the pond, so perhaps I can be excused for struggling to get to grips with NHL 13. After touching up my knowledge of the sport's rules and avidly studying with the game's controls, I'm still constantly thrashed by the CPU, without fail. Either that, or a friend and I slip about the ice like Bambi until our head-to-head ends scoreless.
Personal lack-of-skill aside, NHL 13 proved to be quite an impressive title with plenty to keep fans entertained. EA Sports games all feature similar structural foundations and appear to push for the utmost realism. NHL 13 is no different, with fresh emphasis on positioning and a new control method that forces better accuracy. In one respect it's essentially Fifa 13 on ice with awesome in-your-face fist fights.
Alas, times have changed from my days of four-player N64 action on Wayne Gretzky's Hockey and for those who appreciate the depth of realism, NHL 13 sets the bar. If you can master the technicality of it all, that is.
Pro Evolution 2013
While these days I still prefer EA's Fifa franchise, Konami's footie epic has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, transforming far more in many ways than its popular rival has. Evolution, indeed.
That said, it still clearly lacks the same attention to detail and continues to play catchup in terms of graphics, commentary and, of course, licensing, all of which may have contributed to a decline in popularity. Last year, Fifa outsold the franchise by 25:1 in the UK. PES 2013 deserves much more credit than that.
Defenders stick to their positions better, which is just as well, as attacks are fluent and full of clever runs. In fact, aside from the less-realistic way players carry themselves, movement across the pitch just about has the edge to take the accuracy trophy for me. Unfortunately, with Fifa's superior online modes and broader betterments, PES doesn't have the same panache. It's still a hugely commendable alternative, though and offers refreshing gameplay, particularly when six hours a night on Fifa starts to become stale.
Next page: Tekken Tag Tournament 2
COMMENTS
Re: Pathetic
Ok, it's true that most of you will probably have not "missed" Hitman, with the overkill of advertisements recently. But it is still one of the better games out there released in the last few months.
Don't be too misled by our headline, these roundups are meant to wrap up any (good) games that we haven't managed in full multi-page reviews. There's loads of average junk around and we've missed out plenty of titles.
If we only covered small indie titles and completely unheard of console games from the last 2/3 months, I doubt we'd even have 10 (let alone 20 here) that are all rated 70% or more.
Just for the record, the new Hitman rocks! It has drained at least £30 worth of electric at home in the last week, I swear.
Pathetic
Expect far better from The Reg than a bunch of affiliate links to massive brand games that no one's likely to have missed. Seriously, I'm trying to avoid Hitman, which has only been out a week or so and is still doing TV ads.
Very poor show.
Popular games you will have seen and may buy through Amazon
to earn us some affiliate money on our tag rhtopten-20, in time for xmas.
Repeat, Repeat
Virtually all of these are sequels, what about some review of original games or do those not exist anymore ?
Our last "games you may have missed" piece back in August included Journey. Great game and it still gets played often in my household!!
