For ages 18+
Xbox 360 R1,999
Microsoft’s move controls, Kinect, combined with a harebrained encore of every porky pie you’ve seen of psycho killers amuck in holiday lodges, for some reason, seemed a good idea to the game makers Sega. A torn marriage (you play the dipso husband), a deranged scientist, a Romanian clairvoyant, a duo of barmy ballerinas, a train wreck, and a bunch of over-strung semi-robotic zombies adding to the game’s piercing decibel levels ensure more hysterics than horror. The Kinect interface would’ve redeemed this wretched pass-off for novelty, if only there was more to do than merely jam your boots into doors, or dodge attacks. We give Rise of Nightmares some credit for bringing in a chainsaw sequence to make most of the motion controls. But we couldn’t get past the fact that however hard you try, the character you play is never able to walk a straight line, given how intolerably drunk he remains through the game. For that kind of unimaginative simulation, we have no need for a console – any mirror will do.