GAME CENTRAL: Pick of the summer releases (From Asian Image)

GAME CENTRAL: Pick of the summer releases

1:04pm Saturday 4th July 2009 in

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After a reasonably slow start to the year for gamers, last month saw the release of several eagerly-awaited titles. Some of them have been better than others though..

ARMA II: Out now on PC ArmA-based software is used by armies around the world to aid training, so you can be sure that games don’t come more realistic than this.

ArmA II is stunning, and evokes real emotion when in the middle of an ultra-realistic firefight, but the game is very buggy. Patches are on the way and when they arrive this will provide an incredibly fulfilling experience, but until then you find yourself enjoying the game in spells cut short by teammates freezing or an objective refusing to update.

But I would still recommend it, if you have a powerful enough PC. 8/10.

inFAMOUS: Out now on PlayStation 3 One for comic-book fans – the game features a great good/evil mechanic which encourages you to complete it as a good guy and a bad guy, and even though after a few plays it does feel repetitive, it provides hours of fun. 8/10.

Grand Slam Tennis: Out now on Wii Utilising the Wii remote to add more precision to your shots, this is a good game, but not 100% accurate. When it works it’s great, when it doesn’t it’s annoying, but it’s still the Wii’s best tennis game. 7/10.

Prototype: Out now on PC / PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 Another superhero story, but nowhere near as playable as inFAMOUS. The game combines action and RPG elements well, but awkward controls and some ridiculously frustrating levels ruin the experience. 5/10.

Red Faction Guerilla: Out now on PC / PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 I was looking forward to this but the game only seems to involve running around and smashing things up. I find it incredibly dull but reviews are mixed; try the demo first. 5/10.

Fuel: Out now on PC / PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 This racer boasts of a large, open world, but you soon realise that most of it is empty. It’s just not fun, with poor handling and AI that always lets you win. Burnout Paradise is better. 4/10.

Virtua Tennis 2009: Out now on PC / PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / Wii After 100 career games against the AI, you find that you never drop a point. The game hasn’t advanced enough in recent years and rival game Top Spin is much more fun. 4/10.