I’ve been loving Call of Duty 2 and Project Gotham Racing 3 on my 360, and I picked up a copy of the Perfect Dark Zero tin a couple of days after release. I wasn’t planning on it because it looked pretty average and I’d heard a couple of average opinions, but the positive reviews convinced me to part with my money. It sat on the sidelines while I finished COD2 but now I’ve played a chunk of the single player and put in a couple of hours of multiplayer, and I’m really struggling to see what all the fuss was about. The game just doesn’t seem finished.

Graphically it ranges from very impressive to very average, with a framerate that shouldn’t be as variable as it is on a console as powerful as the 360, and everything has a plastic sheen that just looks at odds with the realistic guns and environments. Bump mapping isn’t the panacea for creating realism and Rare should really understand this. The controls seem overly touchy with some absolutely braindead AI (why would you run at someone who has cover and an M60 when you’re armed with a pistol?), and while I like the armour idea it looks cheesy in execution.

The fact that there are no checkpoints mid-mission is also a huge downer, especially when something as trivial as being seen, often from behind cover, can end a mission and send you all the way to the start. Even one of the cooler features, being able to take cover, has an annoying tendency not to prompt you until you’re already in sight and then to put you on the enemy side of the corner.

Not only that, but it hasn’t taken into account any of the developments in the FPS genre that we’ve seen since Perfect Dark which makes it seem like a bit of a dinosaur. I’m too used to little things like being able to throw a grenade at the press of a button (see Halo, Call of Duty, etc) instead of having to equip, switch to, and then throw them. It’s only a little thing but making grenades less than instinctive takes away the tactics that having them available at all times creates. Little things like that just add up to make it seem like a good FPS from 1999 dressed up in graphics that range from next-gen to making you question whether or not the Xbox 360 is all it’s cracked up to be. Like I said, it just doesn’t seem finished.

At best so far I’d say it’s a 7/10, and Edge’s is the only review that I’ve really agreed with on it. I’ll give it a fair crack before I make a drastic judgement but it’s going to have to pull something special out to impress me.

Peter Jackson may have shed the equivalent body mass of several people in the period between winning the biggest award that any director can receive and the release of his second big project (I’m thinking that carrying all that extra coin around helped lose those pounds), but the release of this is probably his biggest test yet, to see whether that whole LOTR thing was a big fluke. I’d been very optimistic on the basis of the trailers and artwork and now that I’ve seen it I think I was right to – King Kong was thoroughly enjoyable.

WETA once again partially steal the show, and while their Kong doesn’t quite impress in the way that Gollum did a few years back, it’s convincing enough that you’re not constantly questioning whether or not it’s real. Kong is a complete character who you can believe in (I’ll be interested to get the DVD and find out how much of it was Andy Serkis, although the latest Mark Kermode podcast has a good interview on the subject), and the fact that this is the effects house that will be handling the Halo movie fills me with glee to imagine how they could make an Elite look.

Peter Jackson now seems to find it hard to make a short movie with this running at a portly 187 minutes (it doesn’t feel anything like that long), but his fingerprints are all over this. Those who think that LOTR might have removed him from the gross black humour that he made his name with can rest assured, as although this film goes for the more conservative 12A rating, he pushes it as far as he can. Gruesome deaths and creative licence with the Skull Island beasties abound. The performances are all strong, and now that Jack Black has shown that he’s can do a semi-serious role I hope to see more of him outside Tenacious D and comedies.

If I have one complaint it’s that the music was slightly overwhelming, especially in the first half. The grand score suited the action fine, but in the slow first act I couldn’t help but notice it over everything else, which isn’t really what music in a film is supposed to do. Either way, this is the biggest complaint I can think of which means King Kong definitely gets a thumbs up from me.

So the first of the three next generation consoles is here, and I have one in the room with me. Since there’s probably going to be a lot to write, I’m just going to go through all the goodies I got with it, as well as comment on the hardware itself. To start us off this is what I came home with after midnight last night:

• Xbox 360 Premium System
• Project Gotham Racing 3
• Call of Duty 2
• Advanced SCART AV Cable
• VGA HD AV Cable

Project Gotham Racing 3:

When it comes to gameplay PGR3 is, unsurprisingly, Project Gotham, so if you liked the old ones you’ll like it and if you didn’t you probably won’t. This one is essentially the same online/offline formula that made PGR2 so great, but with some additions like a whole online career mode.

Of course early next-gen games are always about the eye candy, and this one doesn’t disappoint: the car models are almost photo-realistic, the environments are all excellent approximations of various cities (plus the Nürburgring), and the whole thing is silky smooth. There are the usual menagerie of effects like bloom and motion blur, but here they’re used to good effect so that they actually enhance the graphics. It plays and looks superb, so at the moment I’d say this is the Xbox 360 game to own.

Call of Duty 2:

A straight PC port wouldn’t usually be anything to shout about at a console launch, but in the current climate of WW2 FPS after WW2 FPS the COD series, on the PC at least, has been a breath of fresh air. It uses scripted events and streams of enemies and allies to do a far better job at making you feel like you’re in the middle of an all-out war than any other game. COD2 on the 360 is a port of the PC version and not the inferior console-only Call of Duty 2: Big Red One which is a good thing in itself, but it looks awesome, runs smoothly, and doesn’t even suffer particularly from the move to a controller.

In fact the 360 version runs better than all but the best PCs, and various message board posts have shown me that the people complaining that it’s not anything better than a PC are from people with stuff like 7800 GTX’s, which cost more than the 360 alone without mentioning the CPU and rest of the kit. This is a first gen game for a new console and already bodes well for future FPS like a little game called Halo 3.

The one downside is that it only supports eight players over Live which is quite poor. It’s enough I suppose, but surely 16 can’t have been that tough when Perfect Dark supports 32?

The Hardware:

The console is a handsome beast and even though it isn’t actually much smaller than the regular Xbox it looks a lot more svelte. I’ve got the premium one with the silver disc tray but the Core version looks nice with the white tray too, and when the system is standing up it’s very pretty. My only issue is that when the DVD drive is spinning it gets loud, but not so loud that you notice when you’re playing a game. When you’re not running a disc it’s probably even quieter than the current Xbox and mine hasn’t gotten particularly hot like some people have reported.

The controller is just a thing of beauty. The wireless one is light and very comfortable to hold, and the new layout (the black and white buttons are replaced by digital shoulder buttons known as “bumpers”) actually makes the Xbox version of Pro Evolution Soccer 5 play decently. The Xbox Guide button is a useful way to check your Live status and certainly a welcome feature, but by far the coolest thing that the button does is allow you to do it turn the console on and off by holding it down, even with the wireless controller. It’s a little thing but I’m surprised that it hasn’t been done before now.

One thing that had me worried was how good it would actually look on my standard TV which is part of the reason that I bought the VGA cable, but I really needn’t have bothered. The VGA gives a great picture on a standard PC monitor and provides a nice preview of how good it will look when you eventually get a nice HDTV, but with standard RGB SCART it gives a nice boost above the current gen consoles, certainly to an extent that makes £280 a decent investment. I was hugely impressed with both COD2 and PGR3 at the standard definition and it will just make them that much sweeter when I get a nice HD LCD.

For a more comprehensive look at the hardware from a UK perspective I recommend taking a look at the NTSC-uk hardware review, and then read HardOCP’s for a really in-depth look.

Overall Microsoft have something really special in this console, and I can’t wait for the big new games like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter to start appearing in January/February. The ball is well and truly in Sony’s court.

Xbox 360 demo pods have started appearing around the country in the last week, with most (if not all) Virgin Megastores packing them as well as a select few branches of GAME. I saw the one in the Southampton Virgin Megastore beckoning to me when I was checking out the DVD sale (Band of Brothers tin for £19.99 = bargain of the century), so I took the opportunity to play around with all of the demos (in English this time so I knew the controls) and some of the videos, as well as update my TGS impressions on the hardware.

First of all the TV that they’re running on is just beautiful. I think it was the Samsung LE23R41B but either way I really want one and it’s gone up my list of possibilities for when I invest in an HDTV next year. I’m just waiting for Sky HD to launch so that the prices will start to plummet.

The 360 hype has really grown the look of the hardware on me, and it looks great. Smaller than I seemed to remember and a hell of a lot nicer than the current Xbox, which I never really disliked anyway. It certainly won’t be something that I’ll be hiding away. The controller is also a thing of beauty – it looks bigger in pictures for some reason and when I last used it I compared it to the Logitech Cordless Precision for the Xbox, a comparison which I stand by. It’s quite small but feels substantial and fits the hand very nicely, although it did seem that the shoulder buttons could be uncomfortable to use at the same time as the triggers. I’m willing to put that down to the awkward mounting of the controllers on the demo pod (too low for me and not much movement).

Games-wise, I played all the way through the Call of Duty 2 demo which seemed the same as the TGS one except with the controls in English so that I knew what I was doing and could use grenades (both smoke and explosive) effectively. That made it more fun and I can’t wait to play through the whole game. Kameo looked really nice and seemed pretty inventive, but it didn’t really strike a chord with me. I might rent it at some point but I can’t see myself buying it. With King Kong I tried a bit of fighting as Kong (having played the adventure sections on the Xbox) and it looked good, but the framerate was suffering and I didn’t like it as much as I enjoyed the Driscoll sections. I’m still hopefully getting that one for Christmas, though.

The interface of the pod was designed to look like that of the dashboard and it was very slick. None of the options were accessible but you could see most of them and, as someone who loves to fiddle with options with new kit, I’m looking forward to going through all those lovely menus almost as much as I am the games.

I’m really up for a new console now. The next few days is going to go incredibly slow…

Mario Kart DS came out here today so I got a copy and having spent some more time with it my previous opinions haven’t changed. If anything, I like it even more than the quick blast that I had a couple of days ago. The last two Mario Karts, Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA) and Mario Kart Double Dash (GCN) didn’t strike the same chord with me that the first two, especially Mario Kart 64 (many disagree with me on that one, I know) did, but this one just seems to work. No gimmicks like the tag teams of the Cube version, but makes some real progress for the series unlike the GBA one.

Single player is fairly standard fare, with the prerequisite Grand Prix, Time Trials, etc and the addition of various missions which give you tasks to do within increasingly strict time limits. It doesn’t help the single player become the real draw (which it obviously isn’t), but it’s a change of pace from the racing. Speaking of racing, you’ll want to jump right in at 100cc or 150cc because it will make the races faster and the rival AI more competitive, and if you’ve played Mario Kart before the 50cc races are frankly a cakewalk.

Apparently what everyone wants out of this game, however, is multiplayer. That’s always been where Mario Kart’s heart is and this is no different. Playing against people in the same room is as seamless and easy as you’d expect with no lag issues whatsoever, and, impressively, online multiplayer over Nintendo’s WFC service (take note Sony: you’re now the only ones without a dedicated online service) is seamless and easy with no lag issues whatsoever. I had a couple of games which ran perfectly and setup couldn’t be easier. The fact that Nintendo now have wi-fi infrastructure bodes well for future games and from what I’ve seen this couldn’t be a better flagship title. I know what I’m going to be playing until the Xbox 360 comes out next week.

My friend code is 141793886571 so feel free to look me up online.