4. Doom 3: BFG Edition
Feel like the spark's gone out of the shooter genre? Pick up this glossy, HD-friendly remaster and marvel at just how far we've advanced since id Software discovered that demonic possession is a fine way of explaining away boring spawn patterns. Doom 3's space station setting is a nice place to visit, admittedly, but you'll win every fight the same way - by clamping the trigger down and backing out of reach.
5. Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters
Ergh, a comicbook movie spin-off! Which trades fairly unimaginatively on an established archetype! Which is actually a decent laugh given a reasonable tolerance for camp dudes in spandex! Rise of the Manhunters is a particular treat when enjoyed in company, thanks to an extensively idiotic library of object-summoning moves which allows for a fair degree of personalisation. I favour spiked balls and a chaingun, myself. Matt's been known to get busy with a giant emerald sawblade.
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters review
6. Hunted: The Demon's Forge
I really wanted to love this one, but it's not quite as alluring as the elevator pitch "Gears of War meets Diablo" makes it sound. The two leads animate like marionettes covered in glue and beachballs, the cover-driven fights lack the structure to compete with Gears of War's tactical blasting, the "dungeons" are corridors with a few (admittedly robust) side areas, and the level editor's a lame duck. Still, warm up with a few pulp fantasy novels (you know, the ones that have maps on the inside cover and ludicrous subtitles), and you should enjoy yourself, just about.
Hunted: The Demon's Forge review
7. Inversion
While we're on the subject of crass Gears cash-ins, how about this disgracefully muscle-headed effort from the team behind Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary? Its contribution to the third-person shooter genre is malleable gravity - catapult a splodge of blue sci-fi juice at somebody's feet, and you'll hoik the poor sod skywards for the purposes of idiot-proof evisceration. There's a multiplayer component which features maps that wrap round 180 degrees, which is kind of fun.
17 comments so far...
Clanger67 on 11 Jan '13 said:
Must say i really quite enjoyed Dead Island and am quite looking forward to Riptide.Must say i didn't go into it with massive expectations.And while the story isn't really that mind bending think it looks pretty good despite quite a few bugs.Otherwise quite good for a bit of mindless zombie bashing and quite tactical with weapon degradation and how it gets harder.Quite a lot put me in the mind of Dead Rising except you have a lot more freedom about where you can go and no time limit.Also when you get the vehicles is quite good fun.
Will admit though i haven't tried any of the others except Doom 3 on the pc when it first came out and the demo for Sniper Elite.Was going to get Doom 3 at some point when i first heard word of it but after the review and wondering if it would stand the test of time being a typical id corriodor shooter,have changed my mind unless i can get it mega cheap.
GossipHound on 11 Jan '13 said:
Dead Island for me as well - great fun in co-op. Put a lot of time in it so was devastated when my save file got corrupted and I lost my level 48 character and plague samurai sword. Haven't been back since
OXM ETboy on 11 Jan '13 said:
If only I'd played the Way of the Samurai games on Xbox 360, I'd probably "recommend" one of those here too. The PS2 originals were terrifying timesinks, given a taste for samurai B-movies.
Baryonyx on 11 Jan '13 said:
Dead Island and Dante's Inferno were great games. Not perfect, but refreshingly characterful in an increasingly grey gaming landscape. Hunted was also worth playing too.
RickyBlaze on 11 Jan '13 said:
I think I would have loved Dead Island. I was about half way through adn really enjoying it when the infamous save file corrupt kicked in.
I have never forgiven the makers of this game for taking months to fix it, by which point I had given up and sold it on...
Actually, did that save corruption ever get fixed?
Metalrodent on 11 Jan '13 said:
I quite liked Fracture, its pretty old now and wasn't amazing when it came out. But there was some great fun to be had by crushing a man with the ceiling and various other dirt warping based shenanigans
Grummy on 11 Jan '13 said:
Really is one to add to this list.
It's about as badly made a game as you'll find, no particular glitches, but it would barely pass as decent by last gen standards of visuals and sound. Also, the length of the game is wholly dependent on how long you play it. It thrives on its replayability and multiple choice storylines, which really only amount to the same 4 or 5 stories slightly different. I think I remember reading that the Bioware staff were all playing it shortly before making ME3. Despite that though, for some reason, it's just really really nice to play. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
delmariachi on 12 Jan '13 said:
Dead Island and Dantes Inferno were pretty good,,
Dead Island took a while but rewarded in the end, albeit after a lot of fetch and carry quests.. Dantes Inferno was actually quite enjoyable, although the end boss was a bit of a let down down and the trials were a pain, my missus thought I was possessed by a drunken sailor, the amount of cussing I was aiming at it.. Still all in all, if ya find them cheap, give em a go..
Bonescrubs on 12 Jan '13 said:
Have Dead Island, played a bit of it and really enjoyed it despite it's slightly rough appearance. Definitely going back to it. Tried the COJ: Bound by Blood demo. Thought it was OK, though I will probably wait for Gunslinger now. As an FPS fan Doom 3 is a no-brainer, just haven't got round to buying it yet.
Kinect Star Wars? Bought it for the kids, they played it for like half an hour, got bored and went back to their Lego games. I traded it in a few days later, and they've never asked to play it again, let alone noticed it's gone. That was seven months ago...
comabob on 12 Jan '13 said:
I really dont get the hate for Bound In Blood - it was awesome.
As far as my guilty pleasures go - Conan, Splatterhouse, Saboteur and BOTH Kane N Lynch games are some of mine.
Have to agree on Dantes Inferno and Dead Island - both really good games.
FishyGinger on 14 Jan '13 said:
I've not played any of these (played doom 3 on pc though). Is that a good or bad thing?
SidTheSloth on 14 Jan '13 said:
>Sniff<
I lament the exclusion of Dynasty Warriors...
And Samurai Warriors... 
And Warriors Orochi... 
(And Warriors: Legends Of Troy)...* 
>sniff<
Do Viva Pinata/Alpha Protocol count?
We're quite Pinata friendly around here but i've had more than one friend in the real world raise an eyebrow at its colourful existence on the shelf.
I've heard great things about Rise of the Argonauts & Viking too...?
*The games i single handedly hold responsible for the sheer number of controllers i've gone through this gen!
comabob on 14 Jan '13 said:
Viking was brilliant, ROTA is good but has its issues - Alpha Protocol was highly under appreciated - good shouts sid!
Kloudrunner on 21 Jan '13 said:
Once while under a heavy case of the Flu i put on a copy of Two Worlds and hated it while laughing at the horrible voice acting. By 8 hours in i found myself enjoying it. As soon as this notion dawned on me i quit the game, traded it in and tried scrubbing myself clean. To this day theres still a spot i cant quite get out.
SilentDark on 21 Jan '13 said:
Well for me it's not even that much of an embarrassment but Duke Nukem Forever.
The game isn't entirely terrible but admitting to liking it is akin to blasphemy. This game was never going to be awesome after ten billion years in development. The fact that it got out the door is a story of persistence that approaches legendary.
CunningSmile on 21 Jan '13 said:
Hardly the most rousing review though is it?
Randy Pitchford has pretty much admitted that Gearbox knew DNF was shit, but they needed to get it out the door to secure the rights and start on a better game.
FishyGinger on 21 Jan '13 said:
I liked it
Sure it wasn't great. Or even that good. Possibly missed average by the teensiest of margins. Could just about muster crap. But I still enjoyed it.