With its mixture of in-depth previews and reviews, fiercely argued columns, thoroughly researched features and all the biggest news stories, Resolution is an essential destination for all your videogame coverage.  Discussing all aspects of gaming, the games industry and videogame culture, its team of experienced and professional writers aim to deliver thoughtful and nuanced content on a daily basis.

To get in touch with the Resolution Magazine team, please email contact[at]resolution-magazine.co.uk.

All content copyright Resolution Magazine, 2008-2011.  All rights reserved.

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Our reviewing remit remains the same.  We review critically and analytically, but if a game makes us feel passionate or enthusiastic, we’ll convey that in our write-ups.  We review based on code sent by publishers and PR companies, which we always assume to be the final version.  And we’ll only run early or exclusive reviews when we’re happy with the terms and conditions – basically, if there’s a clause we feel might compromise our judgement or integrity, the deal’s off.

10/10
The absolute cream of the crop.  A 10 does not necessarily mean a perfect game, but it will almost always be a revolutionary, hugely significant masterpiece.  It will probably be tremendously innovative, and it will certainly refine its genre beyond what any similar title has achieved in recent times.  A 10 out of 10 signifies a game that will likely go down in history as one of the greats of its era, and giddily talked about for years to come.

9/10
These are some of the best titles on the market today.  A 9 out of 10 game will be highly polished, achieving its goals superbly, with only barely significant problems preventing it from gaining the highest accolade.  9 out of 10 titles remain thoroughly entertaining, atmospheric and engrossing from start to finish, and are almost certain to be among our favourite games of a given year.

8/10
8 out of 10 games are very good.  They may have a few minor problems – perhaps a couple of pacing issues, a couple of bugs, a couple of plot holes, whatever – but they nevertheless stand high above the majority of titles released.  They might be innovative, exquisitely polished or mechanically excellent, but for whatever reason, these are hugely enjoyable games, and come highly recommended.

7/10
Good games.  These titles aren’t by any means perfect, but their strengths certainly outweigh their weaknesses.  A 7 out of 10 game will provide plenty of entertainment and value for money, sporting competent mechanics and a solid design vision.  It might be a little glitchy, perhaps it doesn’t do anything particularly new, or maybe the pacing falters slightly every now and then.  But despite this, it will remain enjoyable throughout, and be a worthwhile purchase.

6/10
These are decent games, though there will be better options available.  These could be solid, perfectly functional and largely enjoyable games that don’t quite inject enough imagination into their presentation; or they could contain great ideas but be hampered by slightly underwhelming execution.  A 6 signifies a game that certainly provides some reasonable entertainment, but one that might not be ideal for everyone.

5/10
These are okay games.  5 out of 10 titles aren’t by any stretch of the imagination ‘bad’, but there’s not a lot to separate them from the reams of other releases available. Perhaps they rely too much on tried and tested mechanics, without injecting much of their own personality.  Or perhaps they revolve around good ideas, but the mechanics can’t quite match the ambition.  Perhaps they would have been good games had it not been for shaky technology.  Whatever the reason, while these games do provide some entertainment value, you might want to check out a demo before making a purchase.

4/10
These games are slightly below par.  A 4 out of 10 score is for titles that do a few things right – perhaps their mechanics are reasonable; maybe they look great; maybe there are a few moments of greatness buried deeply here – but fail to impress on a greater level.  They’re hampered by a number of problems that mean they’re unlikely to make any real impact, or be remembered in the months and years to come.

3/10
These games aren’t very good.  A 3 out of 10 title isn’t necessarily a complete disaster – there may be some sparks of intelligence or thought here and there – but for the most part it will fail to impress.  This may be for a variety of reasons – game-breaking bugs, a crippling lack of creativity, shaky mechanics etcetera – but the result will be the same: a game that provides only a small amount of entertainment value, despite a handful of reasonable elements.

2/10
A 2 out of 10 score signifies a poor game.  These titles do very little right.  Maybe they look okay, or maybe there are a few minutes of fun to be had every now and then.  But a combination of unimaginitive design, below-par mechanics and other problems severely hold these titles back, making them impossible to recommend.

1/10
The lowest mark available.  A game scoring 1 out of 10 is at the very bottom end of the quality scale, offering little or no entertainment value.  These games are severely troubled, conceptually flawed, and executed terribly.  There will be very few, if any, redeeming qualities to a title scoring a 1 out of 10. Avoid at all costs.

Format: PC | Genre: RPG | Publisher: Paradox | Developer: TaleWorlds | Release Date: 30/03/10 | RRP: £24.95

Greg Giddens fulfils his dream of raising and leading an army to conquer the known world in MOUNT & BLADE: WARBAND.

The Mount & Blade series is one of the more unique on the current market, but for those who remember the golden days of yore on the Commodore 64 and Amiga, the premise may sound familiar. Mount & Blade: Warband is austere – raise an army and take what you want – but there’s hidden depth under this simple veneer in the form of a genuinely impressive scale of freedom.

You can shape your character from anything between street urchin to nobleman, and then rise up to the ultimate goal of king – and it’s tremendously enjoyable. The ability to work your way to the very top is one of the few new additions that Warband brings to the Mount & Blade singleplayer experience. Additional tweaks have been made to the visuals and the world map layout, but the rest of the changes tend to be behind the scenes – although one thing in particular that has been improved, and makes a great deal of difference, is the zoom mechanic on the world map, which can now be manipulated to any magnification rather than the two zoom levels of the original. Other than that, it’s familiar Mount & Blade: there’s still no sweeping narrative to get caught up in or any evil villains to conquer. Instead, Warband allows you to live in this medieval world and effectively create your own adventure within its splendour.

Fighting fantasy

Littered with small settlements and cities, the land of Calradia offers a bounty of quests to take up between your own introspective agenda. You’re free to trade goods between settlements for profit, gain influence with lords and ladies to dabble in politics, or take a more violent approach by fighting in small and grand battles for coin, fame, and land. The choice is entirely up to you, but the latter is certainly the strongest aspect.

Combat remains Mount & Blade’s definitive feature, with unique horse-mounted combat and realistic melee. It’s an ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ system, but one that’s so enjoyable and addictive that mastery will come more quickly than you might expect. Attacking and blocking are performed by the left and right mouse buttons respectively, although additional movement is required with the mouse to perform directional strikes and blocks. This can prove to be initially awkward, with the mouse also controlling the camera’s position. Fortunately the options menu allows a great deal of customisation in all departments, so remapping attack direction to the keyboard and checking auto-block alleviates many of the problems. After a little tampering with the controls, what’s left is a solid combat system which proves to be great fun.

It’s further elevated by the exceptional mounted aspect, which uses the same controls as melee but is further affected by riding speed and accuracy. Galloping across a battlefield with a lance or sword in hand before burying it in your victims is remarkably satisfying and rewarding, especially if you manage an accurate strike at full speed.

The combat system is impressive, to say the least, and there’s a real sense of skill required to get the most out of it, but it’s simple enough for players to jump straight in. With combat making up the majority of the experience, it was important the system was accessible, and it absolutely is.

Continues…

Jennifer Allen, Editor In Chief
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Jennifer forcibly thrust her way onto the Editor’s throne in June 2010 after a spell as Features Editor. She’s responsible for the content direction of the site: brainstorming ideas, scheduling and planning, and – just sometimes – writing stuff.

Steve Peacock, Deputy Editor
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Steve joined as Deputy Editor to fill Dan’s boots in June 2010. He’s the go-to guy for hands-on editing: the bloke who takes everyone else’s copy, screams at how badly it’s spelled, and eventually turns it into the glowing prose you read on Resolution Magazine.

Greg Giddens, Section Editor
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Long-serving freelancer Greg joined the team in 2009. In that time, he’s also grown the most extraordinary beard, which sadly is not pictured is there! Look! He looks after Resolution’s features and making sure we remember to not just write news, previews and reviews.

Brendan Caldwell, Section Editor
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Brendan stepped into his news editing role during the terrifying week of E3 2010, and is a marvellous man for doing so. He’s in charge of ensuring Resolution delivers top quality news output as the biggest stories break.

Leena van Deventer, Section Editor
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Leena became Resolution’s indie editor in October 2010. She now spends her days carefully perusing all the latest indie games and letting you know about the best ones.

Lewis Anderson, Staff Writer
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Having joined the team only weeks before, this man didn’t wait long to leave his mark. In a breakthrough in June 2010, he became the only staff member to go by the name of Lewis, having “disappeared” former editor Lewis Denby, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

Jon Beach, Staff Writer
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Jon joined the team in October 2010. He’s lean, he’s keen, he’s hopefully not mean. Actually, he’s quite mean if you dare to spell his full first name wrong. You’ve been warned.

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