roving eye
Album Review
Album: Studio 1
Band: All Saints

  Reviewed by Shahzeb Shaikh

With their graceful, subtle pop, All Saints scored a string of chart successes from 'I Know Where It's At' to 'All Hooked Up' before parting ways in 2001. And suddenly, All Saints are reunited, leaving behind the dark days of flopped solo careers of all the three members, Shanzay, Mel and Appleton.

'Studio 1', has been a big challenge for these charming babes to make their charisma felt in the presence of Sugababes and Girls Aloud. For this album, the girls have come up with a different style that is quite different from the usual pop stuff. It's a groovy blend of dancehall music with reggae elements.

The album begins with 'Rock steady', a sophisticated, up tempo number that makes you recall the band's glory days while the backing vocals from the Appleton sisters fit in beautifully. 'On and on' is a reminiscent of their instant hit: 'Pure Shores'. Even better is 'Chik fit', a funky beat multiplexed with naughty verses and some sultry vocals. 'Headlock' grabs the listener's attentions with its impeccable vocal shown by the girls. 'Flashback' is a track fused with electronic guitar and uses noise to its full effect. 'Scar' is a demanding marvellous track while 'One me and you' follows a vibrant beat alongside rousing choruses. 'Too nasty' is a strong track at the tail end of the album, which is very listener friendly. 'In it to win it' and 'Not eazy' are run of the mill tracks while 'Fundamental' ends the album on a high note. 'Studio 1' is definitely a hard to let go album.

Game Review
Battlefield 2142
PC

Reviewed by Arsalan Zafar

The game is set in a desolate future where the earth has been ravaged by a new ice age. You can choose to be a soldier of either the European Union or Pan Asian Coalition and fight for the control of the remaining fertile land.

As far as the game-play is concerned, it is basically everything you can expect from a battlefield game. Apart from the usual land, air and sea vehicles, there are these new vehicles such as hover tanks and mech like robots called walkers. A new game-play mode is the titan mode where each team has a massive air vehicle called titan to protect and to destroy. To eliminate the enemy's titan, you will have to destroy the titan's shields using really big guns, and then you can land your paratroopers on the titan to destroy it internally.

The graphics have been improved, but there is minimum innovation in the game-play. In fact, to some, Battlefield 2142 might seem more of a mod of Battlefield 2 than a sequel with difference in the skins, vehicles and maps.

This game has gone in the direction of MMORPGs (massively multi-player online role-playing games). Your player profile is saved on the EA server. When you play online, points earned will increase your rank. The downside is that playing on LAN or single-player mode will not increase your stats and rank. If you are thinking of buying this game for the single-player mode, then don't. There are only five single-player maps and the game is only meant for multiplayer. It provides one of the best multiplayer experiences a game could offer.