Shadowgrounds

Reviews Are Usually really easy. It's a measure of how much money a thing costs versus how much good it makes you feel. Budget reviews should therefore be the easiest of all. You just use maths to make up a new score, right? If a game is one third the price it was before, it should be three times as much value. If something is free, it is of infinitely good value. But value for what? Money? There's no money involved in free things. So what is the value of free things? That's a question for another day, because Shadowgrounds does cost money. It costs a bit over a fiver.

That's a third of what it once cost, but it's not three times as good. In fact, Shadowgrounds is a little bit stale, with its cumbersome top-down shooter action, tired alien storyline, and vast plains of unimaginative mundanity really letting the side down. This will be pleasing only to the most forgiving fans of the genre.

To Any Gamer worth their salt, the sheer mention of aliens and space marines inspires drowsiness in the same calibre as a large dose of Rohypnol. Thank goodness then that Sliadowgrouncls isn't a by-the-numbers FPS, or we'd be asleep at our desk dreaming of the time we found a fiver in the nightclub toilets.

Shadowgrounds is actually a nostalgic top-down action affair -something we haven't seen since long ago, when the chavs now hanging around on our road were throwing toys out of their Burberry prams. However, with some rather luscious lighting and shadow effects, Shadowgrounds turns out to be a satisfying renaissance for the long-missed genre.

Swanning around a downed moonbase and shooting hordes of aliens is the aim of the game. The mouse and keyboard interface are well-utilised and enemies are easily dispatched with a quick cursor manoeuvre. The obligatory shooter weapons all make an appearance too - shotgun, rifle, flamethrower - and can all be upgraded with 'part' pickups for that extra personal touch.

Sadly, Shadowgrounds' success doesn't extend to production: the story is at sub-porno levels and vain attempts at scare tactics are laughable. Plus, while there's a large variety of enemies and boss creatures, Shadowgrounds still isn't what you'd call challenging. Still, if you like a bit of retro, go ahead.