After coming round tied up and confused, Steve and Ross discover what lies ahead of them.

Forced to fight it out in an epic retro gaming struggle that features a deadly catch!

Who will win?

It’s SB3 2

1001 No.28: ‘Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament’ (1994)

1001 No.37: ‘Left 4 Dead 2’ (2009)

There is a house in Cheltenham Town. It’s called the Jackinov. It has been the ruin of many an undead and man Ross is starting to look like one.

There are a number of ways to spend new years eve. Some people throw a party and others have a quite night in with close friends and family. At UCHG HQ we greeted the new year by heading south and killing zombies. Lots of zombies…

Through out the night and into the small hours of the morning we blasted, hacked, burned and detonated our way through all five campaigns of the apocalyptic masterpiece that is Left 4 Dead 2. Over 600 heads were removed, 10835 zombies were sent back to the grave and yes we are stronger and faster than Moustachio!

But the bloodshed didn’t end there. No sooner had we emerged from the hordes we received word that our good old friend Gnome Chompski was in trouble. He was trapped within the Dark Carnival campaign and needed to be carried to safety. This meant one of the team would need to drop his gun and carry Chompski throughout the remaining four stages of the campaign. This lead to a number of humorous gnome based kills and panicked cries of “leave me! Just get Chompski?”

So here we are, surrounded by severed body parts, saying good-bye to 2009 and staring down both barrels of 2010!

Happy New Year to you all and remember to look out for the jockey!

This wintery time of year hasn’t cooled our spirits – but that’s mainly because we’ve been back down to HELL!

Yes, all that talk of Doom last week got us in the mood – so in this Big Talk we cover the whole series so far. We brought a camera in on this one too, so you can see for yourselves how these happen – and how much Strongbow is involved!

It was educational even for some of us too – it’s a pleasure to see Steve discuss his specialist subject…

And just a reminder – you can actually play Doom in your browser here: Doom Online

There is a new and much coveted title amongst the piles of games at UCHG HQ. A game so great that not only has it got Brad ending every phone call with “Solid copy on all. We are Oscar Mike!”; it has become his Game of the Year! Brad is away, but has managed to transmit a picture back from the front line –

Ladies and gentlemen, may we present Brad’s Game of the Year 2009:

1001 No.38: ‘Operation Flashpoint 2 Dragon Rising’ (2009)

Now considering that Hitman Blood Money has been Brad’s game of the year for the past 3 years, Dragon Rising has got to be something pretty special to have swayed his narrow and violent mind!

Codemasters have gone all out with this game, taking all that was great about the original Flashpoint and inserting it neatly into everything that Far Cry 2 should have been. The end result is a gritty realistic tactical shooter that allows you to wage all kinds of war over a truly breathtaking open-world environment.

It really is a game of biblical proportions, and proudly proclaims to take the gamer as close to war as they’ll ever want to get! It will have you on the edge of your seat as you sneak past an enemy that greatly outnumbers you; it will place you on the verge of an adrenaline induced heart attack as you fight through villages as part of a large armoured force; and it will also make you shout at people from everyday life in the style of US Marine fire team leader!

One of the games major boner-inducing tools is the option to, when available, call in Fire Support! That’s right, you’re able to call in the big guns or order up an air strike, all at the click of a mouse, and it is nothing short of outstanding in every way. The only draw back is your enemy also has access to the heavy weapons and being mortared is an experience likely to make you wet yourself.

Operation Flashpoint 2 Dragon Rising has even retained the co-op mode that made its older brother so great. So when your done beating the hell out of the Chinese in the single player mode, and the blood has returned to your head, you can do it all again with your mates!

1001 No.36: ‘Left 4 Dead’ (2008)

This is a bit of a break from our usual retro obsession – we actually played something new!

We recently finally got our hands on Left 4 Dead – and my god it’s great. Our first playthrough went on for over 5 hours: we just couldn’t stop shooting zombies in the face! In true UCHG ‘Console Challenge’ style, we filmed the whole thing – and this is our timelapsed vid of the mega monster massacre.

Keep an eye out for the tea-break! And don’t worry, old games will return very shortly…

(For a better viewing experience, make sure you switch to High Quality)

Achievement unlocked!