NeverDead’s handful of good ideas fall to pieces in Konami’s original action adventure.

In the second part of our Metal Gear 25th anniversary celebration we go behind the scenes of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and defend the under-rated Snake’s Revenge

Metal Gear celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. To celebrate games™ goes behind the scenes of each game in the series. In part one: the original Metal Gear, of course.

Japanese studios have a patchy history with Western collaborations but Kojima Productions and Mercurysteam’s Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow gets it right first time. Find out why in the games™ review.

With four-player co-op and staccato mission structures becoming the norm as all games converge on the single point that is the all-powerful Monster Hunter franchise, does this radical change in direction help or hinder Snake in his latest sneaking mission?

In the concluding part of our mammoth interview with Konami’s Dave Cox we get down to the real details of Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow, including concessions to the modern gamer, references to the classic games, the inspiration behind the boss battles, RPG elements, co-op gameplay, PlayStation Move, vehicle sections and why the Xbox 360 version will come on two DVDs.

When we sat down with Konami’s Dave Cox to discuss the upcoming Castlevania reboot, Cox had so much to say that we’ve had to split his interview into two parts. In this instalment we take an overarching look at the new game’s development and examine the unprecedented collaboration between Spain’s Mercury Steam and Japan’s Kojima Productions.

After a subdued launch and a floundering first few months, Microsoft’s innovative retro gaming service has finally started releasing new content. But is Game Room really back on track or is this a half-hearted attempt to keep an ultimately doomed service alive?