Dragon Age 2 (PC)

On first impressions BioWare's sequel to the massively successful Dragon Age: Origins is a big, fun all-action role-playing experience, but somewhat lacking in depth of gameplay compared to its predecessor. Dragon Age 2 has been streamlined say the developers, but a section of the franchise's dedicated fanbase claim it has been watered down.

That all depends what you expect and what you want from an RPG. Apart from a welcome aesthetic overhaul, which has simplified and improved the in-game heads up display, the streamlining process also means that some of the traditional, but perhaps more mundane aspects of the role-playing experience have been sidelined.

SpaceChem on Steam

SpaceChem has been out since the start of 2011, but just hit Steam, the iTunes-style game downloading community from Valve (who you may remember from such computer games as Half-Life...).

We took the chance to have a look at this futuristic logic puzzle and try to work out whether it's any good or not.

While any game has its good and bad points, SpaceChem manages to leave a pretty wide gulf between the two - it has excellent points, and terrible points. The gameplay itself, thankfully, is absorbing and intricate; it's mostly just the presentation that lets it down.

Weirdly, the above video does a far better job of outlining the principles of SpaceChem than any of the in-game literature. It's also a chance to hear the incredible soundtrack, composed by Evan Le Ny, which helps to keep the frustration at bay on the more challenging levels.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3)

Right, new feature time guys and girls. We haven't done game reviews on Popsiculture before now, mostly because we aren't big gamers, and I have only recently become the proud owner of a Playstation 3 (320GB, slim, and oh so sexy...check out Amazon for probably the best PS3 bundle deals on the internet). Yep, after certain adverse football results at the weekend, I was forced to cheer myself up by spending some serious money on the first console I've owned in a decade, with two brand new games, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.

The Lowdown

Once we had overcome the technical difficulties associated with linking said PS3 to a Sony Bravia LCD VPL-AW15 projector, and Altec Lansing FX5051 speaker system, the first game in to the slot was Need for Speed, for some hi-def, big screen, surround sound action, racing around the beautifully rendered scenery of Seacrest County. Not that there's much time for looking at the scenery, as the game launches you straight in to Career Mode, and reveals a strange definition of a career in this fictitious little corner of America, where you are by turns either a maniacal criminal street racer, or a maniacal Police driver.