If you’re starting to get itchy feet as you glide around the crazy gunfest that is Gotham City Impostors, then we’ve got some good news. This week you’ll be getting a brand new map, totally free, letting you cause even more chaos in the all new Arkham Asylum map. While it’s not the same surroundings that you’ll find in the game bearing the same name it looks from the trailer like there’s some great spots for a good battle. We said in our review that this game would hinge on the support from the developers, and they haven’t disappointed so far. Check out the trailer, and go and grab the freebie.

Naughty Dog aren’t known for doing things half-arsed, and sure enough The Last of Us is looking mighty impressive already, even though it’s not out for quite a long time. This trailer, showing some tasty action and a slightly redesigned female character, is probably going to be the first of many. We’ll keep an eye out and bring you anything else as we hear it…

Despite missing out on an easy Andrew WK moment, Codemasters have released more DiRT Showdown footage, showing some nice looking night racing around a snow covered fun fair type thing. While the Ferris wheel does its stuff and the party goers hang around in their tents, hot air balloons and trendy cardigans (probably) the racing looks intense, vicious and bloody good fun.

Take a look…

Ghost Recon: Future Solider is the latest addition to the Ghost Recon franchise. The title has been in development for some time since it was first revealed in a Ubisoft earnings call back in early 2010 and when first shown at E3 2010, didn’t exactly get a positive response from the gaming community.

The Ghost Recon franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since they appeared as a tactical PC shooter. Since then I have played numerous games in the series and when the Advanced Warfighter series hit the Playstation 3 I spent many hours playing the multiplayer with a group of friends. So I was hyped when I got a code for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier multiplayer beta.

The beta was pretty limited initially including only one game mode and two maps (I’m aware that another game mode was available via a patch after the initial beta release but I didn’t get chance to try it out). The game mode, called conflict starts with both teams trying to capture a point on the map and keeping it for a set amount of time whilst fending off the opposition. If said team manages to defend the objective for the set amount of time or the opposition over run the objective, another is spawned randomly on the map. This makes for some great shootouts as all players have a rough idea of where the opposition will/should be.

The two maps included in the beta have been designed well. Pipeline is based around an oil pipeline facility.This is a brightly lit map which has an open area in the middle and the surrounding areas being made up of alleyways and multistory buildings, The other map is Mill. This map takes place in a woodland area and is rather murky. It has plenty of waist high cover to hide behind as well as buildings, cars and foliage to help camouflage yourself in.

Before you jump into the action you have to choose what class you want to be and you have the choice of three. The rifleman, who is your standard middle of the road grunt equipped with assault rifles and frag grenades, the engineer, who is more of your up close and personal soldier and has access to gadgets like UAVs and detection grenades and the scout who come equipped with a sniper rifle and optic camo making him nearly invisible whilst not moving. Like all modern shooters, Future Soldier has a leveling system. You gain XP for completing various tasks and completing objectives as well as just for sticking with your team. Once you hit a new level you unlock more guns/attachments and unlock points so that you are able to purchase these items. These levels and unlocks follow the Battlefield model and only apply to the class you are currently playing with, so if you stick with the rifleman for a few levels then decide you want to try the scout, you’re back at level 0. I’m not a fan of this leveling system and find it often stops me changing class due to the time investment in my preferred class, but time will tell.

The game plays like many other third person cover based shooters. If you’re not in cover, most of the time you will end up dead pretty quick. But if you have the right team with you, the game becomes a lot more tactical and engaging. With some coordination, squads are able to complete their objectives well with little resistance against unorganised teams. If your team is the unorganised lot though, you’re in for a rough ride.

A lot of my games seemed to end up with me matched with COD type players who would just run off on their own, get a kill or two, die, respawn and repeat, only interested in their own K/D and not the teams overall performance. Lets hope that these players play the beta and realise the game is not for them and do not buy the retail release. This was not the only problem I ran into unfortunately. During many of my matches I suffered terrible lag/connection issues with the game, leaving me either running around the levels with no one moving, or being booted out of the game completely. Also during my games the hit detection seemed to be pretty bad; I’d unload a few rounds into someones skull and expect them to be dead, only to then be mowed down by them panic spraying bullets at me. These issues I’m putting down to this being a beta, but with the game set to ship on the 25th May I’m a little worried to say the least and am hoping that the beta build is an old one.

Overall future Soldier seems like a competent third person multiplayer shooter and if you have like minded friends to play it, you should have great fun when it’s released. I have no doubt that the game will have a strong multiplayer presence on its release but after the initial period I can see the fast paced shooter fans going back to their shooter of choice leaving the Future Soldier community smaller, but more tactically focused giving them a better gaming experience.

I’ve just jumped off a 20 storey building, grabbed hold of an attack helicopter and ripped the missile launcher from underneath. Having shot it down with its own payload I hit the floor and use my freaky tendril hands to squash an unsuspecting Blackwatch guard between two cars and six innocent passers by. Luckily, I’m only a quick sprint across the rooftops away from being able to change my appearance to a scientist and nobody will be any the wiser. Unless they question how a scientist got onto the roof of a church, but I’ll worry about that later. This is Prototype 2, one of the most over the top, gleefully destructive sandbox games you’ll see for a while.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know much about the Prototype series before GAMEfest last year. At that point, I was sat in a large inflatable room with a lot of other people, being shouted at by a Canadian guy while one of the developers showed us how you could destroy a helicopter with an uppercut. It was an immediate hit with everyone there, and as I pointed out in our roundup of the expo it was instantly one to keep an eye on. Now, after spending a good chunk of time with the game, it was definitely worth the wait.

Playing as Sergeant Jams Heller you end up fighting against the Blackwatch and Gentek corporations as you try to rid the world of the Mercer virus. Luckily (well, sort of Luckily) you’re pretty pumped full of the virus yourself, and through a combination of completing missions and consuming suitable targets into your own body your powers will get more and more beefed up, with more skills unlocked and extra evolutions making you an even more badass killing machine. Some of these skills are tricky to choose, and with a range of new skills or improvements on offer at once selecting the best upgrade for how you want to play is often harder than it appears, especially as so many of them are every bit as cool as the others. If nothing else it drives you on to complete as many side-missions as possible, with most rewarding you with some kind of upgrade.

It’s easy to compare Prototype 2 to other open-city games like Infamous 2 and Arkham City, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. They’re all a similar kind of idea – climb into a big city, follow the main storyline through the game and every now and then duck off to do a few side missions, search for some hidden items or just cause grief to a few random bystanders. Prototype doesn’t quite live up to the visual loveliness of the aforementioned titles though, with destroyed vehicles sometimes half-disappearing into the scenery, explosions looking a little uninspiring and the general feel of the city not quite living up to what we’ve seen before.

That’s not to say Prototype 2 is a bit of an ugly dog, not at all. Climbing to a tall building and looking out over the city is still a hugely satisfying moment, and there’s a great range of enemies and random folk wandering around that you can consume whenever you like. The fighting is pretty good too, with a combination of button mashing and carefully places special attacks giving enough variety to make life interesting. The trophies and achievements give some fun challenges too, such as killing 10 people at once with a single tendril attack, and although I’m never one to play a game to win trophies they give you a few more specific challenges that are good fun. That said, Prototype 2 isn’t quite on par with the others of its ilk, but I’m more than happy to admit it’s not all that far off.

Speaking of specific challenges, buying a new copy of the game will give you Radnet access, which unlocks a series of fun (and pretty tricky) tasks dotted around the three main areas of the map. Unlocked week by week these challenges are either spot-tasks such as collecting a series of items in a certain amount of time, or things to aim for while playing the game day to day. It’s even more to do and even more ways to spend a few hours around the city and while you won’t miss out on all that much without Radnet, you’ll appreciate it when it’s there.

It's unlikely this will end with a friendly handshake...

Prototype 2 isn’t the toughest game you’ll ever play, even on the highest difficulty, but it offers a decent challenge and will last you a good 12 hours or so due to the sheer amount there is to do. It’s easy to get hooked on the idea of chasing down every target DNA strand, every evolution, and every weapon upgrade. Knowing that at some point you’ll be able to destroy a helicopter with an uppercut, or tear the canon off a tank and use it to smash up the rest of the tank… knowing that the perfect sequence of stealthy body consumings will give you the ability to unlock a huge beast which you can kill to gain an extra upgrade, it all adds up to something really quite addictive and very enjoyable.

So would I recommend it over and above Infamous 2 or Arkham City, games that are easily available for £20 or less? Frankly, no. Not quite anyway. Prototype 2 is a very good game, and most people will get a lot of enjoyment out of it, but there are a few little things that just stop it short of being brilliant. But don’t let that put you off if you like the look of Prototype 2, you’ll still enjoy grabbing a random office worker, sprinting up a hugely tall building and throwing them miles off into the distance. You’ll enjoy the over the top destructive nature of pretty much everything you do, and you’ll enjoy running, leaping and gliding across the rooftops with an ease that makes a Parkour expert look like a drunk teenager staggering out of a club at 3am. This is really good fun, even if there are some gaps.

It’s even good enough to forgive the Canadian man who kept telling us off for not shouting back at him loudly enough.

Reviewed on PS3

Bloodforge is a new title from developers Climax, sitting proudly as their new hack ‘n’ slash 3rd person game. XBLA is becoming more proactive on the game front, which is a good thing, I think and although XBLA games are mostly known for their below par gameplay and graphics, I have to say Bloodforge is a nice update to the XBLA catalogue.

Now let me tell you a tale, its one of high adventure… oh and blood, lots of blood!  The start of the game is very cinematic, you find yourself playing in the intro which I very much enjoyed, I like when this happens, you get a great feel for the game, and if you’re like me you enjoy getting as deep into the game as possible. Crom, the person you will be playing in this story, is very much a man’s man and reminds me very much of Conan the Barbarian with the way he interacts with people and just his general personality. Crom is a warrior, and has been fighting for most of his life and decides to give that all up for a chance to settle down and start a family which to me sounds like a great idea. But the Gods have other ideas, and push him into coming back to the fight with some really nasty plans, and that’s really it. Crom is driven by vengeance and nothing else.

The art direction Climax have taken with Bloodforge is great and it really stands out against other games of its style; they have really made the world a dark and evil place.  This is also shown with the creatures you will fight along the way in this world.  Whoever came up with some of the designs for these creatures deserves a pat on the back. Or a trip to the psychiatric ward. They are interesting to say the least.  The look and the feel of the weapons are good too and what do you think you get a lot of when you start swinging your sword?  Well let me tell you, lots of blood! The game is full of the stuff. Along with melee attacks you also can use magic which is a nice add-on, but I never really used it much, I’m more of a “charge into a group shouting and swinging my war-hammer until nothing is left moving” kinda guy.

Gameplay is full on, you will be button bashing with the best of them to pull off combos, which again, I don’t really worry about, yes they look good and yes they may do more damage but the normal attack looks great too.  I get very twitchy when it comes to fast-paced combat and I normally go for the fast kills. However, I really did get what Climax were trying to do with the combat system and it worked.  It reminded me of some old school games when you could work out combos to do better damage. There is also a nice game style that they have come up with – if some of your friends have got the game as well you can take a look at the leaderboard and see how much blood they have shed on the battlefield in their game, and if they have beaten you you can go back and try and beat them which is a good way of keeping the game going after you have completed it.

However, there are a few rough edges to this otherwise good game. They are not really that big of a problem, but did detract from the game.  The camera bounce got a bit annoying for me, I hated it in the Blair Witch Project and I hate it now, but you only really notice it when you run from place to place but once I noticed it that was all I could see.  Also it would get stuck on objects and scenery if I get too close to things, which when you are fighting in an arena area can get a bit frustrating to say the least. I also felt that game suffered from zoning, as I like to call it, this is when you run into a zone and some form of wall blocks you from carrying on and then that zone is filled with bad guys. Once you have dispatched them the zone falls and you run towards the next zone and then it happens again. It’s not terrible, but does signpost the attacks a bit too much.

Overall Bloodforge is a good game and I enjoyed it very much and for 1200 credits it’s a decent price. If you look at it as a retail title then it still has some way to go, but as XBLA games go I guess things are starting to look up for the reputation of Arcade games on live.

Reviewed on Xbox 360

Rockstar are readying their Max Payne machine before the game’s launch on Friday, and right here we’ve got the launch trailer for you to enjoy. We’ll hopefully have our review up before long, but meanwhile have a good look at the trailer and try not to get too excited, it certainly looks the business.

Time to dust off your defibrillator and polish your pistol (steady…), this weekend you’ll be able to earn double XP whenever you jump online and strut your stuff in any of Battlefield 3′s online modes! If you’re struggling to build up your rank, or are just desperate to get to the top level of your preferred class, this weekend is the ideal opportunity to make up a bit of ground.

Here’s a Battlefield 3 video as well just because it’s good.

This is getting painful now. Ubisoft are teasing us yet again with another Ghost Recon trailer, this time cut in the style of a documentary. With the game’s release just weeks away now, it’s getting ever harder to have to wait for it to hit the shelves.

Why do double-hard army guys always have voices like Barry White though?

Those of you who keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook feeds will possibly know that we’re all set up on Raptr now, spreading the TGR love that little bit further. Well if you’re not already now might be a good time to go and sign up, as Raptr are giving away 2500 copies of Minecraft on the 360 for free – yup, that’s right, just sign up, head to the rewards page tomorrow and if you’re lucky you’ll be one of the lucky ones! While you’re there, head to our page and follow our updates! Here’s all the official stuff…

WHO:
Raptr and Microsoft will give away 2,500 copies of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition to Raptr users as part of the newly unveiled Raptr Rewards program. The Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition reward is one of many available to gamers, just for playing their favorite games.

WHAT:
This is the first time that Mojang’s award-winning game Minecraft will be available on Xbox 360. The Xbox LIVE Arcade version of the game features an innovative new crafting interface, natural controller movements, a full tutorial mode to teach the basics, and an all new split-screen multiplayer mode on Xbox LIVE.  It will be available on Xbox LIVE Arcade on May 9, 2012 for 1600 Microsoft Points.

WHEN:
Gamers can begin redeeming the Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition reward on May 10, 2012 on Raptr.com, but are highly encouraged to join today as all rewards will be offered on a rolling first come, first served basis.

WHERE:
Gamers can learn more about Raptr Rewards  at http://raptr.com/rewards.

HOW:
Eligibility to redeem rewards will be based on games played and ranks earned on Raptr; ranks are determined by time played and achievements unlocked. The Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition reward is available in all Xbox LIVE regions listed at the following link: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/countries.  All rewards will be offered on a rolling first come, first served basis. More details about the reward and who is eligible to earn it, will be available on May 10, 2012.

WHY:
Gamers are encouraged to join Raptr to take advantage of this free game offer, along with numerous other current and future rewards via Raptr Rewards. More than 350,000 rewards will be offered just in the month of May, which include free videogames, downloadable content, beta codes, and major discounts.