Everyone has been very busy this last month as the fiscal year comes to an end, as such we’re all stressed out and a good gaming session is exactly what the doctor ordered.  Here’s what we’ve been relieving the tension with.

ArchangelUK

The Orange Box (X360)
I finally spent money on the game and have already worked my way through it pretty convincingly, sorting out the majority of the achievements.  Yes, even finding all the lambda caches! Achievements are kind of my thing at the moment it has to be said as I try and catch up my senior team members with their massive gamerscores.  Now if only I had broadband so I could get the online ones!  HL2 Episode 1 has irked me a little, as the bridges in the Citadel core broke and didn’t move when they should have, leaving me stranded and screwing up my “One Bullet” run.  I’ve just spent £50 on items from the valve store, so while I sip water from my Aperture Science mug and listen to the soundtrack I can think of the joys of Portal and how I am SO not getting the Neighbourhood Watch achievement on Episode Two.

Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games (DS)
Well it IS my game after all, so with all the demoing and sorting out of things I was bound to have played it more than once or twice.  Hopefully my DS will appear soon so I can go back to reducing my 100m time.

SD! Vs Raw 2008 (X360)
It came with the console deal, and hey I like wrestling - its like a soap opera without the misery and people asking telling their daughters to eat up their chips.  SD! Vs Raw 08 is a hideously flawed game in places (Do you want to relinquish your title? No. You have relinquished your title!) but again its rather good on the achievement points.

SEGA Superstars Tennis (Wii)
Its an early build the version I have alas, but I’ve been enjoying it far too much to care.

Forza Motorsport 2 (X360)
Another bundled title. my driving may be awful but I’m racking up the wins at least.

Mark OC

I have spent most of my time recently travelling around Europe and playing Viking: Battle For Asgard (out on 28th March!). I have also found a little time to play Super Mario Sunshine, Guitar Hero 3, Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (DS), Call of Duty 4 and also revisited an old favourite - Crackdown.

El Magnifico

Football Manager Live has been my main vehicle of play this past month, purely through commitment to work and for research purposes, of course. It remains my ultimate life goal to leave Dynamo Dave FC in a state of financial ruin and see Electronic Hearts as the dominant club at SEGA. Other than that, I’ve been keeping my consoles warm with the following:

Outrun 2 SP
Still awesome at capturing a sense of serious speed, and the drift is enormously satisfying. A killer soundtrack, too.

Ghost Squad
The thinking man’s mindless shooting game.

Professor Leyton and the Curious Village
This is my way of salvaging grey matter after bringing out my savage side on Ghost Squad. A very satisfying puzzler. 

Dave K

I went all retro this month digging out my old Atari ST and sampling some Football Management classic. The original Football Manager got an hour of my time, before I bored of this and moved onto the challenge of guiding England to glory on Tracksuit Manager.

As ever, Football Manager Live & Pro Evo made up my staple gaming diet for February. But, I did manage to squeeze in a little Mario & Sonic on the Wii.

The Big Cheese

Trying to improve my team’s ranking in Football Manager Live BETA, I’ve got a warchest of £2M for the start of the new season and I’m trying to pick up a bargain from my shortlist.
 
Other than that, PS2 Katamari has been revisited, not only for the fantastic gameplay but also for the funky songs. I’ve collected further stars on Super Mario Galaxy, been shooting like a loon on the PS3 version of The Club and been building an empire on Civ 4.
 
Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP is making those long train journey’s whizz by, Cooking Mama 2 and Mario and Sonic DS are also complimenting the handheld fun.