Aside from the obvious RPG staples of musing, sword slashing and monster slaying, these games couldn’t lie further apart. In fact, The Witcher 2 is far more Dark Soulsian with its hard hitting combat, and further in line with Mass Effect’s focus on story and player-decided consequences.

You’re Geralt of Rivia, a famed monster hunter – or Witcher – who roams the land getting paid to do people’s dirty work slashing ugly creatures in the face. He’s a calm, collected fair-haired bad ass who always keeps his cool. He’s essentially the medieval fantasy version of Ryan Gosling – in Drive, of course, not The Notebook. Even after being falsely accused of regicide at the start of the game, he remains effortlessly swish and sets out to clear his name.

As well as a fantastic lead, The Witcher 2 boasts an incredible supporting cast. There’s a meticulous attention to detail paid to characterisation and personality, and every character is expertly performed. While the voice acting and script are both top notch, there’s a definite ‘rough around the edges’ feel to your surroundings. Animations are pretty janky, characters often look half asleep and the lip-syncing is jarring. You won’t get the flawless fluidity of Uncharted but you won’t be disappointed either, this is storytelling at its very deepest.

Not everything is conveyed in spoken discussion though. There’s an assumption that you’re interested in what The Witcher 2 is offering and a lot of back-story is explained in the game’s extensive journal system. Characters, locations, monsters and a host of other details are all jotted down here for you to stay up to speed. Reading up on past events isn’t mandatory, but it’ll definitely help understanding everything in more detail, especially if you haven’t played the original game.

Even if you haven’t played the PC original, the story here is wonderful stuff, avoiding most fantasy RPG clichés and shoving you head first into a gorgeously violent world. The general populace are foul mouthed, sex driven bastards who’d sooner see you hang than be your friend, while the environments hark to the fantastical norms of grand castles and murky forests without making them feel overly familiar.

Split into three acts and book-ended by a prologue and epilogue, the story dramatically differs as you begin to approach different scenarios. The second chapter’s setting will be completely different depending on how you finalise the events of Chapter 1, and it’s incredible to see how the game diverges between two separate runs through.

Oozing with the satisfying clunk of combat, it doesn’t feel too dissimilar from Dark Souls’ slow paced swordplay. Geralt carries two swords at almost all times: a standard blade for dispersing of human enemies and a shiny silver stabber for killing monsters. You also have 6 magical signs, each of which are surprisingly limited and only useful only in specific combat situations, but once you’ve mastered each one of their uses they’re essential to victory.

Preparation and tactics are both your friends here, too, so don’t go into a fight with your arms flailing hopelessly and expect to come out alive. While we played on the normal difficulty, we weren’t strangers to dipping it down to easy when it all got a bit much, and RPG veterans should expect an enjoyable challenge.

If we had to pick out a few minor gripes it’d be the control scheme’s initial awkwardness, the cumbersome movement and the often-excessive loading screens. The map doesn’t help things, either, often leaving you clueless as to where next. None of these problems are massive drawbacks, but expect a couple of notable annoyances from time to time.

That said, even with a few slight frustrations, The Witcher 2 is entirely great. It’s bloody, it’s rude and it has a plough load of sex. Geralt is one of the coolest characters to grace the RPG genre, and developer CD Projekt has made the transfer from PC to 360 smoother than our cynical minds would’ve expected.

You might not find the room to welcome it into your life – especially if you prefer the more casual RPG – but it couldn’t give a flying poo whether you want it or not. This is mature role-playing at its very, very best.

9/10

Sam White

After a career hiatus of 15 years, Mike Judges’ Beavis and Butt-Head are back to unleash their perspective on today’s society, commenting on everything from music videos to reality TV shows (including MTV favourites Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant).

In the new series Beavis and Butt-Head do Twilight – they believe the only way to get a girl is to become a vampire or werewolf. They try their very best and succeed in getting bitten by a werewolf, who actually turns out to be a homeless person who gives Beavis and Butt-Head Hepatitis C. Delicious.

Fans of the show have a chance to win limited-edition Beavis and Butt-Head t-shirts. Simply follow MTV UK on Twitter @MTVUK for more details.

As a lead character, Asura is pretty weak, prancing between your hyperbolic Japanese stereotype to a more Kratos-like staple for endless “RARRRRGH” moments in the place of “ATHEEENAAA”. The surrounding cast are slightly more impressive, combating Asura’s monosyllabic sad face mood with a larger variety of personalities. Calm, cool characters highlight the ridiculousness of our lead, but they also serve as an R&R session from all the crazy madness.

Through all the carnage, there is something more emotive. Asura might be a man with six arms; he may also be X, the man with the X-ray eyes, but he’s also a father and a husband dealing with betrayal and loss. The misery and strife that envelops him are hinted at, hell they are pointed at with a big planet-destroying finger, but there’s never enough downtime for the story to take hold, or for you to really care that much about the outcome. He might be a badass, but he’s not someone you’ll really feel sorry for. SORRY, ASURA.

And then, finally, Asura’s Wrath remembers to be an interactive experience and hands you the reigns. When it does, and it barely will throughout the 6-hour period it’ll take for you to complete, it plays like crap. Imagine Child of Eden space sequences where you have to target your enemies and mash a single button, envisage Naruto battle portions where you have to beat the living daylights out of your enemies and mash two or three buttons. Sound like it’s worth £40? It’s probably not. The hugely impressive size of everything is absolutely fabulous to watch, but I want to interact with these sequences far more than I actually can. Why make a game that I can barely play, and when I can I wish I was watching again.

Despite the story – which I loved – and the spectacle – which I also adored – there’s little here to recommend at the current £40 price tag whacked on the front of the box. You think Asura is angry? Imagine if you’d just dropped 40 shiny sterlings on a QTE-driven anime show. It may have you believe it’s different, or that it is attempting to do something so innovative that it deserves your time and attention, but for such a hefty expense, it demands very little of the former to be worth the latter.

5/10

Words by Sam White

Give it time, however, and Reckoning unravels. The plot is a fanciful tale that explores the notion of fate and its effect on the world. Once a lifeless corpse on a pile of other lifeless corpses, you’ve been brought back to life by the immortalising power of the Well of Souls. More importantly, you possess the ability to remove yourself from the restrictions of fate, simultaneously changing your own path and the paths of those around you. Changing fates isn’t as instantly cool as it sounds, but the story holds up pretty tightly and gives just enough to keep you engrossed in the proceedings.

Side quests aren’t as compelling. Your quest menu will almost always be full to the brim with plot points, making forgetting what quest you were doing and why you were doing it an easy task. More importantly, these quests just don’t feel particularly interesting, recycling the same fetch quests to get you on your way without delivering much meaning behind the objectives, and little context to your actions.

Despite the weak offerings outside of the main quest, Amalur is a place you’ll want to explore so much that the banal side quests are but a flaw. It exudes beauty while never particularly grasping an identity of its own, but it doesn’t feel ashamed of being ‘generic’. Any fantasy lover will jump at the chance to explore magical forests, swamps, caves and deserts, and Reckoning delivers that opportunity on a fantastical plate.

The world isn’t as instantly open as Bethesda’s Skyrim but it still feels like an explorer’s paradise. Imagine Fable-esque areas without the loading screens and you’ve got a pretty good idea of how Reckoning’s landscape is presented. With open landscapes come technical errors in abundance. Amalur runs decently on the Xbox360, but a HDD install is mandatory to keep the frame rate steady. Glitches and other interruptions will definitely hinder your experience. Equipped weapons might disappear from your inventory screen, enemies might glitch into scenery and I got stuck on invisible walls from time to time. Luckily, complete crashes were never a problem.

If you’re willing to explore, and you should be to get the best of what Amalur has to offer, you’ll be rewarded with a hefty amount of loot and experience. All this experience can be put to good use in Amalur’s incredible customisation suite. Levelling and assigning experience points betters your characters physical abilities, while separate customisation points can be designated to one of three schools; might, finesse and sorcery.

Special abilities like additional spells and powers can be unlocked once you’ve assigned a certain amount of points to each school, and all of this can be removed and restarted if you find the necessary characters to do so. Your abilities as a fate weaver mean you can also play around with playing cards that alter your allegiances to different schools, giving you advantages in certain combat situations, like magical Top Trumps.

The mix of fate cards, abilities and powers all combine to let you switch in and out of combat types at the touch of a button. You can equip two weapons, one primary and one secondary. These can be upgraded, mixed up and combined with additional spells earnt through levelling up. Blocking is counted as a completely separate move, so defensive movements aren’t ‘intrusive’ to the offensive action. Diving around the battlefield, firing off a quick spell, parrying attacks and dealing the final blow with an oversized hammer is something that never gets old.

While Kingdoms of Amalur’s combat stands head and shoulders above other RPGs, its lack of narrative pull and context is something that story lovers will turn their noses up at. The generic world might not inspire a whole new vision of the fantasy genre, but it provides a perfect playground to exploit the best of what it has to offer. You’ll come away from Amalur knowing you had a great time, but you might wonder what you were doing other than exploring dungeons and collecting swords. Just lucky that doing either is an absolute blast.

8/10

Words by Sam White

That is, until you see one. The Vita is a gorgeous device, looking reminiscent enough of the PSP to remind you of its heritage, while still looking suitably revamped. It’s not a toy, by any means, and if you’ve been fumbling around with a 3DS in your pocket for the last year, then you’ll see where Sony has placed its focus.

The beautiful 5” OLED screen dominates the front face, with two small analogue sticks hugging it either side. Elsewhere the console is a traditional Sony affair. Face buttons mirror those of a DualShock controller with the home, volume and power buttons occupying the edges. It’s disappointing to see shoulder buttons in place of triggers – which would have undoubtedly bettered the gaming experience – as well as an overbearing abundance of plastic. Vita doesn’t feel cheap but metal edges in place of the chrome plastic would have raised the profile of an already attractive machine.

While it looks great sitting in standby on your desk, Vita shines brightest when in action. Dual stick controls completely revitalise the handheld experience, allowing console-comparable gaming in places you never thought possible. Coupling the control scheme with incredible visuals, online multiplayer components, the intuitive touch screens and gyroscope capabilities makes you realise the endless possibilities for Vita as a sustainable platform.

The operating system isn’t as fluid as the in-game performance, requiring you to get used to a touch-screen bubble display akin to something on a smart phone instead of the standard Sony XMB, but the fluidity between game and home screen is something that on-the-go players will definitely appreciate. The battery is something they might not be so in love with, though. Sony has done a decent job of squeezing about 4-5 hours of play out of the Vita on a single charge, but features like WiFi, 3G and the brightness level are sure to take that down to 2 or 3 hours. This isn’t too bad, but it could be better.

 The biggest issue here is price. The Vita isn’t cheap and neither is the extra stuff you’re going to need to pick up on launch day. This is where Sony needs to consider their fanbase, looking at ways to make buying one of these sexy machines an instant no-brainer. Expensive proprietary memory cards, full price games and £200+ price tag for the console itself means that you’re going to be spending upwards of £300 when, and if, you decide to pick one up.

Despite the hefty impact that Vita will have on your wallet, the potential for a successful gaming platform is vast. As a machine designed to deliver the utmost brilliant playing experience, Vita is up there as the pinnacle of handheld design. Sadly, until it becomes an affordable investment, Sony might have difficulty selling enough consoles to get those games flying off the shelves.

8/10

Words by Sam White

With XIII-2, Square Enix hve done a questionable thing by continuing the story of its predecessor. The god-awful supporting cast à la XIII are mostly absent, but the continuation of the arc and the similarities in presentation are still enough to secrete that disappointing taste on to your tongue buds.

This is a shame because XIII-2 corrects some of XIII’s biggest issues. Strict, relentless linearity has been left behind in favour of a far more open structure even though the world lacks connectivity. With freedom and exploration comes more to do but these additional activities feel like they’re included to tick a box, to please the people that XIII should’ve won over first time around.

You play as Serah, the younger sister of XIII’s lead emo, Lightning. Lightning has appeared in Valhalla, an area outside of discernible time. It’s there that she encounters Caius, a hair-dye-obsessed bad guy hellbent on continuing her sulk. Amidst the endless chaos, she also encounters the time-travelling Noel, whom she tasks with travelling back through the void to find Serah and bring her to Valhalla. Simply put, Noel is like Arnie in Terminator 2 and he’s going to stop at nothing to finish his mission.

It sounds complex but XIII-2 is bogged down by labyrinthine storytelling that fails to mask the simplicity of its tale. The objective of ‘find and save Lightning’ is enough to keep you progressing but with little expansion or evolution upon this – let alone the absence of a satisfying finale – XIII-2 feels disparate from the deep, interwoven yarns that series veterans have rightfully come to expect. This is a game that says nine words when three would’ve sufficed.

Captivation is not the cast’s strong point, either. Serah is not the abysmal fairy that Vanille was, but she lacks the personality to be a memorable leading lady. Noel is similar, retaining likeability but missing any trace of greatness. Without other dominant protagonists you’ll find very little else to concentrate on. The heavier focus on just two characters was a chance to increase personal bonds, but the good-not-great leads are impossible to connect with.

Connecting to the world is something you may find problematic, also. It’s beautiful, basking in stunning artistic variety, but the disjointed form created by the Historia Crux – your central time travelling hub – removes any sense of true exploration. It feels like you’re just witnessing various points in time, rather than inhabiting a world. Side quests, optional activities and the earned ability to revisit various points in time are all enough to keep you busy for well over 40 hours, but the magic of discovery is something that’s left to small, arena-like worlds rather than a sprawling metropolis of wondrous existences. Disappointing, especially considering the endless opportunities that time travel provided.

While the open structure improves but doesn’t fully resolve problems, combat still remains strong. The segmented action gauge returns, while paradigms and other complex options have been tweaked to speed up the action. Taking control of only two humans allows you to really focus on your load outs, experiment with tactics and perfect your approach without dealing with upwards of five party members. Tamable monsters add a new level of depth too, successfully lighting a fire in the heart of collectors and completionists everywhere. These critters serve as the third addition to your combat party and can be customised and upgraded like the two main heroes.

Other additions like conversation wheels and QTEs attempt to push the presentation into a more player-influenced territory, but the result is contrived. Annoying on-screen indicators are pointless, and it’s almost as if Square are shouting out that they’ve made changes for us to admire and applaud.

For all their efforts, there’s no doubting that XIII-2 is a better game than its better-forgotten father, but improving on such a huge disappointment isn’t a glorious triumph. XIII-2 feels like it’s treading over covered ground. It improves some issues and fully resolves others, but still has its fair share of troublesome flaws. It’s archaic and unapproachable, lacking narrative pull when it should swim in it. As a game it’s more than commendable, but the Final Fantasy staple demands more than a strong combat system and fancy visuals. Depth of story, pace and the intricacy of character relationships are the foundations that Final Fantasy is built upon. Sadly, much like its father, XIII-2 feels like it’s ready to subside.

6/10

Words by Sam White

The best bits about The Elder Scrolls 5 are the surprises. The places I haven’t found yet, the people I haven’t spoken to, or the mysteries that I am yet to uncover. These unmentioned activities are going to make Skyrim your own unending adventure. Your personal, potentially perilous quest through the northern wastes, plotting a path that is 100% yours. On top of everything purely incredible about Skyrim, this immeasurable freedom is what makes it the best game of this year; one that I will be playing long after the curtains have fallen on 2011.

As with previous Elder Scrolls, Skyrim is a solely single player experience. With the absence of a multiplayer, intrigue and curiosity are your constant companions. What’s in there? What happens if I do this? Where will this seemingly irrelevant side quest lead me? These kinds of questions are rife in Skyrim. They’re the reason you can play for days and days without feeling an ounce of staleness. From the minute you step out into the sprawling landscape, you’re immersed into a world so deep and so richly packed with content that it can be hard to initially fathom what to do. Only by following your eyes and ears will you start to realise how much there is to do, but more importantly, how excellent everything is.

Other than the mighty flying dragons, much has been kept quiet about Skyrim’s main plot and for good reason. You start off like every other entry in the series, a prisoner, this time sent to die for a crime left mostly unexplained. After a dramatic introduction, Skyrim lets you loose into the Nordic highlands. From there it’s up to you where you go and what you do. If you want to follow the main quest, you’ll be lead on a gripping story, following the mystery of the dragon’s return to Skyrim. Key to your involvement is the ability to channel the souls of these beasts as the ‘Dragonborn’, a human with the soul of a dragon deep down in their bellies.

Being Dragonborn isn’t just a case of having a cool title. Paired with the legendary name, you have the ability to learn various different ‘Shouts’. Shouts are basically spells earned by finding ‘word walls’ scattered across Skyrim. With each wall you find, you learn a different shout. Sadly for you, things aren’t as easy as just reading your way to the top. To put these Shouts into action, you need to defeat Dragons and absorb their souls.

Fighting dragons is an important but relatively small part of Skyrim. The encounters are thrilling, putting you to the test as you muster every single offensive move while still keeping a defensive stance to ensure victory. The fire-breathing lizards can show up wherever and whenever, ready to burn you into a smouldering Khajit-crisp. They are the game’s biggest bosses, and watching them circle above you while you carry out your daily tasks is an awe-inspiring sight.

When you’re not slaughtering these hulking beasts in order to expand your hefty collection of Shouts, Skyrim has you covered with a staggering wealth of content elsewhere. Quests will accumulate in your journal while you’re kept busy with the constant stream of interesting new armour or dangerous looking weapons. What’s so impressive is that almost everything is interesting and fun, never dipping the quality or letting dull side stories get in the way. You could go on a sword-swinging adventure with the Companions to usurp a rival group, or engage in the ethereal deeds of the College of Winterhold in their magical haven. Sound a little too above board for you? Get involved with the underground covenant of the Thieves Guild as you slyly snitch pockets or join the ever-murderous Dark Brotherhood as you carry out the will of the Night Mother.

The myriad of quests and objectives will send you across the entirety of Skyrim. From the snowiest peaks of the tallest mountains to the barren tundra and all the way to the far forests and beyond, Skyrim is a stunningly beautiful world that encapsulates fantasy. Taking a welcome departure from the stereotypical landscape we were treated to in Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls V feels more like its own characterised universe, a never ending tale of surprises that has its own incredible history.

Across the nine major cities and hundreds of other locations sprinkled across the wilderness, you’ll witness a huge variety of art styles and architecture types that enforce the richness of the world, the believability of the culture and the all-encompassing nature that is so synonymous with The Elder Scrolls. Dungeons and caves are now entirely more interesting, with puzzles and mysteries contained within every one. No longer is it a case of finding an area, delving inside and coming out feeling like you had seen that environment ten times before, instead luring you in with the promise of new and exciting things.

To get through these dangerous places with yourself intact, you’ll need to slash, cast, sneak and bludgeon your way to safety. Bloody slow-motion finishing moves mix up the hack and slash mayhem and a drastic improvement to the third-person perspective allows you to see your character in all his suited and booted glory. You can now freely mix up your weapons, too. The right trigger controls your right hand, while the left trigger controls your left hand. Want to equip an axe while keeping your left hand available for your helpful healing spell? Go for it. Skyrim doesn’t just let you loose into the world, it lets you mix and match on the fly. The magic system has received a similar overhaul with a lengthy list of spells and curses available to keep the magically minded of you fully entertained.

A major change in character creation is the removal of a class system. Now you simply choose what race you’d like to be and how you want to look. After that, all your actions pool experience towards your next level. Seemingly pointless skills like athletics and acrobatics have been removed since Oblivion, making way for new skills like smithing to pair up with the new jobs you can acquire from towns folk. With each level you progress, you earn a boost to your health, magicka or stamina, as well receiving as a perk point. Perks are skill-specific, allowing you to really craft your own unique persona as you work your way through each skill tree.

Alongside everything you’ll get up to, the one almost constant thing is the beauty of the world. Skyrim looks gorgeous, with magnificent vistas and an all around sense of place that keeps the word alive. Texture issues are noticeable up close, but at a medium and far distance, Skyrim is one of the best looking games around. Bugs, glitches and screen tear do sometimes distract, but it’s only a brief time before you’re wowed by something else. The more serious issues like environmental pop-in and slow-down have been vastly improved since Oblivion, so it’s an exemplary achievement to put so much detail on screen and have it run so smoothly.

On top of the visual delights, you’ll also be treated to one of the best soundtracks in recent memory, as well as a plethora of top-notch voice acting. As a game, Skyrim does its hardest to keep you fully immersed; this presentation wholly compliments that bold ambition. And that’s where I leave you, fully immersed. Etched deeply within my excitement for The Elder Scrolls V, I had a reserved fear that it wouldn’t live up to the impression that Oblivion left with me five years ago.

Staggeringly, Skyrim managed to blow my expectations out of the water. Despite not being a true revolutionary step in the franchise, Skyrim is the closest thing to it. It’s arguably the best open world game ever made, and I’d go pretty far to ensure that argument is won. Skyrim will eat away at your mind for hours upon hours, and even when you think you’ve done everything there is to do and seen everything there is to see, it will somehow astound you by introducing something new, fresh and exciting. Go explore.

10/10

Sam White

Ten years ago, I was ten years old. Apart from making me realise how quickly time disappears before your eyes, Halo Anniversary is a testament to just how good Bungie’s masterpiece was back in 2001. A vision of brilliance and the superb introduction to one of today’s most recognisable protagonists, Combat Evolved contributed massively to the FPS genre and is responsible in part for the plethora of similar games you see today.

However, despite its importance, many of today’s gamers have not played Master Chief’s first adventure. It came in a time before wireless controllers, HDMI ports, Call of Duty or online gaming. Without the latter, Combat Evolved relied on a stellar single player and the ability to endlessly replay with your friends, either split screen or via the archaic system network link.

Thankfully, the Combat Evolved staples are all left perfectly intact. A ridiculously over-powered scoped pistol brings endless satisfaction, while the gorgeous pop of the assault rifle will make you realise why its absence in Halo 2 caused such an outrage. Even if you’ve assaulted the control room, repeated that fateful encounter with the Flood or fought valiantly through the endless maze of the library a thousand times, Master Chief’s journey across the surface of Installation 04 is undoubtedly the series’ best.

From vast open battlefields littered with enemies and driveable vehicles, to tight-nit corridors that require you to think fast and on your feet, Anniversary has a variety of level designs to keep you on your toes. An incredible arsenal of powerful weapons, great enemy AI and a simple yet alluring story hold the entire campaign together perfectly, resulting in a game that may feel like the standard day-to-day FPS but is representative of something more.

As if it didn’t need improvements, the HD upgrade and remastered soundtrack make it that little bit better. Character animations are more fluid and details more crisp, but the incredible improvements to the environments are what make Anniversary so awe-inspiring. At the simple touch of a button you can whisk back to 2001, to view the game in all its flat-textured glory. It’s incredible to see the comparison, to witness the development of both the franchise and games as a whole over the last decade. A few frame rate issues arise, with drops occurring in busy areas, but for the most part Anniversary is wonderful proof of how good looking the game was for its time, and how HD treatments can enhance an experience when done correctly.

Where Anniversary lets down is in its multiplayer. It doesn’t offer a remake of the timeless competitive play seen on the original disc; you’re only treated to Halo Reach multiplayer, a component that’s arguably tainted by the test of time. Multiplayer nowadays isn’t what it used to be and I was disappointed to be unable to recreate the addictive experiences I had with my childhood friends ten years ago. If only the ‘don’t change anything’ approach had been applied to the multiplayer, then this would be one of this year’s best online experiences.

Despite the omission of a proper multiplayer port, the campaign is spectacular enough to keep you coming back for more, whether it’s on your own or with a co-op companion. Anniversary slightly lacks the dirty presentation and unforgettable character that made Combat Evolved such a magical and memorable outing, and veteran Halo fans will notice that minor touches have been lost in the transition, but if you haven’t experienced the original, or you want to relive your time spent on Installation 04, this is the best way to do so on your Xbox 360.

8/10

Sam White

The lovable charm is here in bucket loads but ,for some, so is the overbearing familiarity. Such is the same with Harry Potter Years 5 – 7, a delightful mini-figure adventure that rounds up the second half of the titular series. For some, its downfalls are undoubtedly all to commonplace to ignore,but for a game that thrives on the building blocks of young creativity, Lego Harry Potter Part 2 is a fitting end for your favourite trio of wizards.

Years 5 – 7 takes you from The Order of the Phoenix right the way through to the climactic episode of The Deathly Hallows Part 2, with each vital sequence faithfully recreated in Lego form. The narrative is slim as ever, with the omission of voices requiring you to already know the stories to be properly aware of what’s going on. Despite its lack of any notable dialogue, you’ll still be captured by the cute characters and splendid cut-scenes, which perfectly convey the light hearted flavour. Even the dark tone of the last few books doesn’t stop Years 5 – 7 from putting a wide grin on your face at every opportunity, sapping the depressive threats of Voldemort and his gang of Death Eaters, turning them into almost-likeable buffoons.

In play, Years 5 – 7 stays very close to the traditional Lego formula and somewhat suffers because of it. Progressing through each level, you’ll build bricks to solve puzzles, save friends and unlock secrets hidden throughout the alluring setting of Hogwarts. Combat is simple yet effective, varying from ranged spell attacks to classic hand-to-hand. The targeting system can take a little while to get used to, especially when you’re cluttered with enemies attacking you, and aside from the fun factor it never becomes particularly smooth to use.

Despite the slightly clunky nature of controls trying to dismantle the action, the addictive art of collecting studs and items remains wholly intact. Trinkets and treasures are scattered throughout every level, enticing you to take your time in finding mysteries and uncovering unknowns. As is customary to the series, a myriad of playable characters fill out the experience, providing a reason to go back and replay in Free Mode, or to take advantage of the easy-to-use use drop-in/drop-out co-op mechanics that make playing with a buddy an effortless breeze.

To complete the each of the four storylines, buy every character and find every secret will take a chunk of time, and it’s impressive to see such a simplistic game packed with such a large amount of content. However, while the game boasts both the ingenuity of Lego and the rich lore of the famous wizard’s universe, it doesn’t offer much new for those less in tune with either of the two. For them, Years 5 – 7 will likely just feel like another Lego game that’s come to shower you in studs and collectibles, without offering any revolutionary mechanics or a considerable challenge.

In truth that’s exactly the case, but despite never truly progressing the series forward, the numerable strengths easily outweigh the familiar flaws. Years 5 – 7 is a wonderfully funny adventure that offers magic that most have failed to recreate with such success. It allows you to play on your own or with a friend, with a child or a parent and be consistently amused by the witty transformation of the famous films into endearing little plastic figures.

The charm has never been more endearing, the content more plentiful and the experience more authentic than it is in Years 5 – 7, making it a definite for any Lego fan or Harry Potter buff.

8/10

Sam White

To many, the answer will be a resounding and unmatched ‘yes’. To someone less involved in fan boy wars, like me, the answer is a smaller affirmation, but an affirmation nonetheless. Modern Warfare 3 delivers a bombastic, absurd single player that I loved as well as the same addictive multiplayer that it did last time around, yet sadly offers nothing wholly new to win over those who dislike the franchise.

Of course, the multiplayer component is the main attraction. Call of Duty boasts the assets to keep players online for weeks, months, even years if they want to. The community is large enough that you can play continuously, never breaking your perfect rhythm of killing dudes online. It’s this constant feed of options that makes Modern Warfare 3 an incredible competitive experience.

Key to the multiplayer addiction is the persistent progression system. Leveling up is a never-ending stream of rewards as you’re gifted guns, perks and additional goodies to keep your arsenal interesting. Switching load outs is as easy as ever, with the new weapon specific perks allowing you to diversify your character more than ever before.

Once you’ve honed your character to best suit your needs, the mayhem begins. New game modes accompany the familiar ones while an array of new maps host the apocalyptic spectacle. Fresh additions like ‘Kill Confirmed’ mix up the formulaic proceedings of a Team Deathmatch game, now requiring you to retrieve the dog tags of your fallen enemies in order for your kills to register. Another new game type, called ‘Team Defender’ is essentially King of the Hill in the Call of Duty universe, where double points are awarded for each kill when holding a specific point of the map. These are small additions in the midst of the features unmoved from previous iterations but they’re welcome nonetheless.

Similar touches are seen elsewhere, ones those less competitively adept players will definitely appreciate. Dubbed ‘Support Strike Packages’, they essentially harness your kills without the need for a consecutive streak. The rewards given are less aggressively devastating than the ones in the Assault and Specialist packages, which require consecutive kills to earn, but the essence of rewarding players of all skill levels is something I, an inept CoD player, found immensely rewarding.

When you’re done with battling others, Modern Warfare 3 returns the Spec Ops mode from previous games. Some minor changes have been made here too alongside the existing objective-based missions that can be played with a friend. Survival mode – essentially Horde/Firefight – sees you fighting off wave upon wave of AI opponents that do their damn best to kill you at any opportunity. I personally found Spec Ops relatively underwhelming, especially having been wowed by the recent Horde mode seen in Gears of War 3, however the option to play with a friend without murdering other real life players is a notable positive.

Of course, behind all the excellent multiplayer action is a disappointingly short single player campaign that many may overlook as they dive headfirst into the multiplayer pit. Despite its brevity and the ridiculousness of the plot, the campaign is made great with excellent depictions of some of the world’s most recognizable landmarks. It’s truly awe inspiring to see an all-out war in downtown Manhattan that isn’t caused by aliens, just as much as it is to ride a runaway tube train through the London underground.

Amongst the nonstop gunfire there are some attempts to cause real emotion, along with a poor way of trying to spark a little controversy to perhaps live up to the notorious airport sequence seen in Modern Warfare 2, but none of this succeeds. The characters are distinguishable amongst the war torn wreckage, but you never connect with them and you don’t particularly care what happens. You play this campaign to be impressed at the scale and to witness the epic culmination of the franchise, not to engage in loving conversations with your comrades.

The entire thing is displayed at a wonderfully consistent 60fps, while the now-dated engine tries valiantly to keep the visuals afloat. It doesn’t look bad by any stretch of the bullet-riddled imagination, but compared to current releases it has to be said that Modern Warfare 3 is up to 2011 standards. Luckily, the game scrapes through and manages to keep you shell-shocked enough with its solo spectacle and addicted to its online mayhem so to ignore the graphical shortcomings.

In all, Modern Warfare 3 is everything you expected with little extras sprinkled here and there, in order to bolster the action. It wont convert anyone who decided they dislike the series back in 2007, but for those willing to move straight from Black Ops to the next big FPS, Modern Warfare 3 is a godsend. It encompasses a ludicrous plot, an endless competitive experience and the precise controls of its predecessors. Simply put, it’s the best game in the franchise since Call of Duty 4, and that’s not a bad achievement is it?

9/10

Sam White