Features// SPOnG's Review of 2008: April

The Wii got the BBC's iPlayer! It was all a bit shrouded in conspiracy theory about how the Xbox 360 and PS3 didn't get it because Sony and Microsoft wanted to control the content, however. The fact this was never confirmed doesn't mean to say that those two platform holders aren't sinister and thoroughly evil, of course...

Ultimately, however, it was the month of Grand Theft Auto IV. It wasn't as glorious for the folks down under as it was the rest of the world over, however, with Rockstar having a grumble about the edits it had to make to secure the game classification in Oz. It was all about weapons and private orifices, apparently...

We could give you a comprehensive list of all the GTA IV news that abounded in April, but frankly it would swallow this whole feature. Just take a look at the GTA IV-related editorial for April if you don't believe us.

Seeing as not a lot of publishers seemed to want to fire their big guns in the same month as GTA IV, it seemed to be a month stuffed, like a rugby team in a stripper, with previews. SPOnG took a look at Haze a couple of times, Age of Conan, the afore-mentioned Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and, in preparation for the year's biggest game – the multi-player from GTA IV. SPOnG also reviewed echochrome, but we could be accused of jumping the gun a bit, since the European release wouldn't be along until July...

A few games that weren't Grand Theft Auto IV did make it out. Top of the list would have to be Wii Fit (reviewed here) and the glorious Mario Kart Wii from Nintendo. darkSector from D3 launched like a... like a thing thrown from a weird metal glove (a glaive!). We also got UEFA Euro 2008 from Electronic Arts and another title that the publisher would have liked to own but didn't – GTA IV. Did we mention that GTA IV launched? Well, GTA IV launched.