Shacknews is reporting that in an effort to keep Tomb  Raider Underworld High on the rankings on Metacritic, Eidos has a PR firm tasked with trying to convince publications and websites to hold off on their reviews if the scores are below a certain score. A story on 1up refers to the story first being broken when GameSpot U.K. journalist …

So yesterday we spoke about how well the LittleBigPlanet reviews are doing and it was only on Monday that we mentioned that Gears 2 was also receiving high praise from all over the Internet. Well today (actually yesterday) is Resistance 2’s turn with the first full review being published by IGN and with the reviewer summing it up nicely with …

Unfortunately no matter how hard we try we just can’t really make Gears of War and Resistance enemies, they don’t compete directly against each other and they are both great games. However that won’t stop us from trying, I guess there will be someone out there who is rich enough to own a PS3 and a Xbox 360 but can’t …

The issue that we all face is that with game prices being what they are, not everyone can afford to splash out on every game that interests them and in many cases, gamers and consumers in general are left to the opinions and impressions of a game reviewer to let them know whether or not a title will be worth their hard earned money.... As a game reviewer, albeit one that is fairly new to the game, I understand that I have a responsibility to our readers to give them a fair and truthful impression of my experience with a game. Even though experiences will change from person to person, we still have the ability to explain the games' positive and negative sides and give the reader a good idea of what he will be getting himself into if he decides to purchase that game. While all the above is required for a game reviewer to do a decent job, there is one thing that reviewers seemed to have forgotten, an important element that makes up the very reason that we play games in the first place: Fun.... Is it because the gaming industry has grown so much, adding more pressure to reviewers as they realise that their words are being read by more and more people everyday?... More importantly, most gamers actually get the time to fully experience the games that they play as opposed to being hammered with a ridiculous deadline that destroys any chance of allowing the reviewer to actually enjoy it to it's fullest. We also need to ask how important any technical aspects of a game are and whether or not they give us sufficient reason to recommend or condemn a game. Now we all know about the age old debate of how important graphics are to a game but I am speaking about something completely different.... While I would never defend a company that has not done a great job of ensuring a flawless experience, one must wonder whether or not a few minor issues are enough to completely shoot down a game, especially if the game is still a whole lot of fun. One has to wonder if some of the seasoned reviewers out there have actually fallen so deep down into the business side of the gaming industry that their views have become jaded. If you take the new Lucasarts effort, The Force Unleashed, you will see that many reviewers have claimed that the gameplay is no fun and that the force powers don't feel as fun as they should. Back in the real world, I have now had the chance to speak to a couple of everyday gamers who have been playing through the game and to tell you the truth, I have yet to meet anyone who hasn't told me that they are having a nothing but a great heap of fun with the game and the force powers.... Reading through many of the review summaries on Metacritic, I have to wonder what reviewers are so scared of lately.... What I am seeing lately is that I will read through two dozen review summaries that all leave me with a positive outlook on the game.... EGM and 1UP have now switched to a letter grading system (A+, C- etc.) because they feel it gives a better indication of the games' worth and also puts it into a grading system that many of us can relate to.

By Philip Dunkley and Christo Eagleton So everyone has been waiting for the review on this title, as it’s been stirring some pretty good reviews in the industry. Firstly I apologise that this has taken a bit longer than expected, but we have a little surprise for everyone this time around. We managed to secure the help of Christo Eagleton, …

By Philip Dunkley So EA released their new Freestyle brand with the launch of this title, Facebreaker. I really hope that this is not the direction of the series, because if it is, they are in for a torrid time. I can understand companies releasing titles towards the end of the year to cash in on the mid-year slump, but …