Rampant Rocky, and more from Rage's stand

Rage's stand was buzzing with activity surrounding their four key ECTS titles. Rocky was displayed on Xbox and Cube and won our attention straight away, allowing us to pit the boxing legend against adversaries from the five films, as well as his transcendental self from Rockys I-V. The game is instantly accessible with four key punch types and a block button, which, when gripped allows Rocky to duck and weave with the motion of the analogue stick to avoid blows, also readying himself for uppercuts and roundhouse attacks. The array of fighters was quite marvellous, and we couldn't even place half of them, but those we could were well defined with rippling muscles. Judging by the oohs and aahs from various ladies loitering on the Rage pavilion, the curves and glistening sweat was quite flawlessly executed. It certainly seemed to outdo Codemasters' recent Mike Tyson outing in terms of accessibility and visual prowess. We hope to spend some more time with Rocky and find out what makes him tick when we speak to Rage later on this week. Elsewhere Rage were exhibiting Twin Caliber, the on-the-rails shooter which gives you control of the main protagonist's pistol-toting arms as they trundle around the proverbial hell on earth. Wading through prison complexes packed to bursting with the undead and blasting them with the analogue stick-shoulder button configurations took a little getting used to, but after a couple of minutes both myself and Martin were dispatching them left, right and centre, miraculously making it through to a boss character who then proceeded to electrocute us to our untimely ends. Although the code we saw was having difficulty keeping up with us, the graphics were quite impressive and the body motion was almost perfect, even if perhaps the heads ought to be shifting focus here and there instead of gazing ahead. Given the amount of blood, guts and gore literally flying around as we dismembered zombies, Twin Caliber is sure to receive an 18 certificate, but it's also sure to attract the attention of gamers in search of mindless blasting fun. Lamborghini on Xbox also caught our gaze with instantly gratifying looks, but there were still chinks evident in the gameplay and particularly the physics system. That said, the game proved extremely accessible with a standard control system as we flung the car around the track, boasting plenty of minutiae and minute detail both on the flashy cars and trackside, but perhaps the most impressive aspect was the towering cityscape looming over the track. The final title Rage had for us was Tony Hawk-alike Rolling, and we were immediately struck by how much it reminded us of Aggressive Inline. However, the animation was a cut above the game's only major in-line skating competition, even if level furniture was a bit sparse. We hope to get some more hands-on time with the game, but from a few minutes grinding and hopping about the place, it seemed to be quite a satisfying experience.