Dark Souls Dark Souls
London - Most videogames have to work hard to generate an atmosphere of menace. Dark Souls (PS3, Xbox) HHHH doesn’t even have to break a sweat. Long before it came out, gamers were whispering about “the hardest videogame ever made”.
From the moment you switch on, your knuckles are white: it was four-and-a-half minutes before my plucky knight disappeared for ever under a demon’s gigantic hammer.
Dark Souls’ idea of a tutorial is a few messages that pop up saying “Here’s your sword” and a couple of slow-moving zombies to practise on, then that’s it. Bang. You’re dead.
It’s a grimly exhilarating experience unlike anything else on the gaming landscape, but it’s definitely not for everyone. As a game site said: “If you play games for fun, this is not for you.”
FIFA 2012 (all formats) HHHHH is comfortably the best sports game so far this year, with tackles that look as if they really hurt. After last year’s smash hit FIFA 11, makers EA could have easily pushed out a much more meagre update, but here we get massively overhauled ball control and some superb new “social” modes, including the chance for fans to earn points for their favourite teams in a new “global league”.
It’s a little intimidating unless you’ve played FIFA before, but it takes a no-holds-barred approach to ensure realism at all costs, even if that makes it tougher for beginners. Persist, though, and you’ll be well rewarded. - The Mail on Sunday