Australian Penthouse

Game and music reviews from the pages of Australian Penthouse. This month: Games with Prototype and Fight Night Round 4, and music with Rancid and Iron Maiden.

PROTOTYPE

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Platform: PS3, X360 & PC

HOT on the virtual heels of last month’s electrically-charged Infamous is Prototype. While the former gives players a selection of abilities that mimic weaponry with a shocking twist and tough moral choices, Prototype is an out-and-out brawler.

The planet has gone to hell in a hand basket as a deadly infection is eradicating the general population. After waking up
in a morgue, presumed dead, Alex Mercer realises it’s up to him to take care of the threat, but it won’t be easy. From there, it’s pretty much Mercer against the world, as he goes up against infected beasties and deadly black ops agents.

With adaptive Parkour skills and the ability to consume anyone or anything as a health boost, Prototype has a unique feel that sets it apart from its competitors. And while it might lack the visual polish of its peers, it’s well worth your time.

Four stars.

FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4

Publisher: EA
Developer: EA Canada
Platform: PS3 & X360

THE greatest boxing franchise in gaming returns with another knockout blow! Fight Night Round 4 picks up where its predecessors left off, by giving players the intuitive boxing they know and love with even more control, and sexier graphics.

For the first time in the series, height and reach matter, which has a dramatic effect on the outcome of bouts. And the control system is sublime. Using the thumbsticks, players flick forward for a jab, quarter-circle forward for a hook, and drop down a little further for an uppercut. It just makes sense and feels extremely organic. Players can create their own fighter and take him on the road to glory, or step into the boots of some of the best of the best and do the rope-a-dope, playing anyone from Muhammad Ali to Mike Tyson.

Easily the best boxing game on the market.

Five stars.

RANCID
LET THE DOMINOES FALL

EPITAPH/HELLCAT/SHOCK

WHILE some acts are chastised for staying the same year-in, year-out, on their seventh studio album, American punk stalwarts, Rancid, thankfully refuse to lose touch with their blue-collar roots and innate punk rock melodic sensibilities.

Let The Dominoes Fall is adorned with rich character portraits, political discourse, and vocalist Tim Armstrong’s trademark rapid-fire delivery; there’s no soapbox or trend-of-the-week flash, just four guys playing it fast and loose, and confidently. Rancid don’t care to impress—and they don’t need to; they know who their fans are, as they remind us on first single, ‘Last One to Die’: “We got it right, you got it wrong, we’re still around,” proclaims Armstrong. Joined by new drummer, Branden Steineckert (formerly of The Used), LTDF is the band’s first work together
since 2003’s Indestructible, yet is closer in feeling to their Epitaph days, and 1994’s Let’s Go and 1995’s …And Out Come the Wolves.

The abum liberally offers up the slash-and-burn punk aesthetic, while also delving successfully into folk (‘Civilian Ways’), ska (‘East Bay Night’) and blues (‘Up to No Good’, featuring Booker T. Jones).

IRON MAIDEN
FLIGHT 666: THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

EMI

IRON MAIDEN’S Flight 666 features live songs from the legendary metal band’s whirlwind Somewhere Back in Time tour, during which they played a total of 90 shows in 38 countries to more than two million fans.

The double CD is the soundtrack to a documentary of the same name, and gives us one song from 16 different cities, from India to Australia and Mexico to Columbia. No, it’s not as good as being at the concert, but what’s great about Maiden’s live CDs is that their lead singer (and pilot), Bruce Dickenson, sure knows how to talk and gee up the crowd. He’s still as fierce as he was 15 years ago.

Flight 666 proves that Iron Maiden, 34 years on, are still a force to be reckoned with.