Video Games

For some time now, there’s been a growing sense that Bethesda has lost the thread of what made The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series’ so great. If you’ve been feeling the same way, it’s likely that The Outer Worlds will be game you’ve been hoping they would make. Bethesda didn’t make it, but it sure feels…

How on earth has been four years since the last Olympic Games? Mario and Sonic can’t believe it either apparently, reigniting their generations-long blood fued in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Previous titles in this series have been enjoyable, if forgettable, party games, a series of mini-games based on numerous Olympic…

The last time I got to play with Sennheiser’s GSP range of gaming headphones, I came away rather unimpressed. Happily, I’ve found their revised design to be a great deal more agreeable. The GSP-370 range sits at the more affordable end of the scale for Sennheiser, coming in at about $350 AUD. As gaming headsets…

12 years after its original release, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is still considered by many to be the best entry in the series. Developer Infinity Ward has grappled with its legacy ever since, trying to recapture the aspects of the game that made it a hit. In 2019, the roundabout of Call of Duty developers has…

Blizzard Entertainment have announced Overwatch 2 during their annual BlizzCon convention in Anaheim, California. The sequel to the team-based shooter that rocketed to global popularity in 2016, Overwatch 2 promises more heroes, more maps, more modes and a fully-flegded PvE mode. The newest PvP game mode is called Push. It features a large robot that…

Blizzard have announced Diablo 4 at BlizzCon 2019. Marking a return to the series grimdark, gothic horror roots, the publisher debuted both a cinematic trailer and a quick look at gameplay. The game’s look has clearly been inspired by Diablo 2, taking a sincere and “reverent approach” to design. There’s no changes to POV or…

The next expansion in the long-running World of Warcraft series is World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. Sylvanas has taken the crown of the Lich King, crowning herself the Lich Queen and doubling down on her seemingly endless downward spiral into madness and destruction. With the doorway to afterlife torn wide open, the expansion will allow players…

Ghostbusters: The Video Game launched in 2009 to great commercial and critical success, a rarity for a licensed game. It boasted an in-canon story following the events of Ghostbusters 2 and the entire original cast — Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson and the late, great Harold Ramis — reprised their iconic roles. In today’s…

Luigi’s Mansion 3 is exactly the kind of game to get your kids if they love Halloween. Uncomplicated in design and low on overall difficulty, it smoothes over any potential wrinkles with trademark Nintendo charm. It’s spooky in the ways that kids love and is always careful to undercut its low-grade scares with good humour….

Only weeks ago, Naughty Dog announced that The Last of Us Part II would launch on March 20, 2020. This morning, creative director Neil Druckmann announced on the PlayStation Blog that the game has been delayed. The Last of Us Part II will now ship on May 20, 2020. “I know,” reads Druckmann’s post, “It was…

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the greatest role-playing games ever made. I knew that the first time I played it at a preview in January 2015 and it remains true now over four years after its release. CD Projekt Red’s masterpiece/labour of love operates at a scale that would make other genre…

Rarely do you find a puzzle role-playing game where the abilities you use to succeed are as eccentric as its cast of characters. Rarer still is the opportunity to share that experience with another player. This is why the Trine series is so important to me. With Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, developer Frozenbyte has…

I’ve wanted to play a pick-up game of Dungeons & Dragons since attending the very first PAX Australia back in 2013. That inaugural year was the only time I’ve ever attended the show as a punter — by the time the show moved from Melbourne Showgrounds to Jeff’s Shed in 2014, I’d started writing here…

After a barrage of impressive indie titles, I simply had to make another top 5 to round out the rest. So without further ado, let me bring to you the top 5 overall games from the PAX Aus 2019 floor. Keep in mind, we only got to see or play brief moments of the final…

It’s no secret that Marvel’s Avengers appearance at PAX Aus 2019 was one of the biggest, if not the biggest title on the show floor; so you just know we had to hit it up. My 20 minutes with Marvel’s Avengers was an eye opening experience to say the least, as I had shared some…

With this current generation of consoles coming to a close, you would be hard-pressed to find a platform with as many consistent, quality exclusive titles. But the Playstation 4 proves unready to buck this trend, with developer Pixelopus releasing one of the most visually gorgeous and prolific experiences of its kind. Concrete Genie does a bunch…

PAX Rising has always satisfied my craving for new and inventive experiences, and this year is no different. So once again, I decided to roam the floor and dive into as many indie titles as I can, picking out my top 5 indie titles from PAX Aus 2019. Keep in mind, these are not reviews…

Biomutant was extremely weird, and the PAX build was rather janky but that didn’t change one important factor: I think I love it. Biomutant is a game about survival as a tiny mammalian mutant that looks a bit like a koala. Surviving on what seems to be a version of Earth that suffered some massive…

Those already familiar with Dragon Quest XI S would be nodding, big grin on their face, when I write that this is not only one of the best JRPGs to arrive in years, but the single best entry in a legendary series that has spanned decades. That in itself is quite the feat, seeing as…

Months of rampant corporate hints, internal leaks, wild fan speculation and educated media guesses have paid off. Sony have announced that the fifth iteration of their dominant home console will arrive in time for “Holiday 2020.” It also officially has a name: PlayStation 5. PlayStation 5 launches holiday 2020: https://t.co/VuaxUVoBaR #PS5 pic.twitter.com/MPkKyRaHio — PlayStation (@PlayStation)…

While I don’t necessarily understand Codemasters decision to reboot GRID, their pedigree as a developer of skifully designed, fun as hell racing games means I’m willing to take their word for it. From the stellar Formula 1 series to the gritty tracks of Dirt Rally, I had to bite down on the creeping notion that…

Right out the gate, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint frustrated me. For every step the franchise took forward it in this iteration, it seemed to be taking two steps back. There are things to love in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, such as the vast open world, cinematic story and tight gunplay, but thanks to a largely similar…

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is the first major expansion for the popular MMO shooter since developer Bungie’s split from Activision Blizzard in January. Though Bungie has maintained a parade of events and updates for the game throughout 2019, they set themselves a rather high bar to jump over with the new expansion. Here was what Bungie’s…

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair gets a lot of things right, and chief among them: it proves that the character platformer genre, the long-dead moneymaker of the 16-bit era, can still engage and excite in 2019. The original Yooka-Laylee was considered by most to be a good if unremarkable 3D platformer. Created by many of the…

I’ve heard it suggested that the Dark Souls series is a modern take on the Metroidvania genre, and I generally think that’s correct. There are many parallels, from exploration and frequent backtracking, specific save locations, the memorisation of enemy patterns, slow power creep and subtle environmental storytelling. Developers The Game Kitchen have taken this comparison…

With co-op shooter Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint right around the corner, we sat down with the game’s writer and military consultant Emil Daubon for a quick chat about narrative, authenticity, and the great Jon Bernthal.   Emil, so nice to be talking to you today! I am so excited for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, but before…

There’s no better herald of the end-of-year video game rush than the arrival of a new FIFA game, and arrive it does with FIFA 20. There is a specific audience for these games — bring up FIFA around a group of gamers and third of them will immediately lose interest, another third remain neutral, and the remaining third…

Bethesda have now released the first of two substantial expansions for shooter Rage 2, rolling out a brand new story, region and enemy faction tied into Rise of the Ghosts. Said to push up the game’s already bonkers narrative, this new stretch appears to play heavily on the more action-heavy parts of the game with…

It’s been a little over two years since Daemon X Machina was announced at Nintendo’s 2017 E3 Direct and, after suffering through a troubled beta earlier in the year, has finally launched on the Switch. The trailers paint a picture of an amazing mech brawler with a lot of potential. Coming off of Astral Chain,…

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has sparked both anticipation and controversy since its reveal earlier this year. With multiplayer gameplay revealed for the first time last month, gamers are still left with one question; how does it feel in the hands? While the official release is still a while away, the beta has answered many…