There are certain games that fall into a category I like to call “My Dad Would Love This.” Games in this category typically revolve around war or military history, maintain some degree of simulation and are full to bursting with digital recreations of real world military hardware. Now, after eight years of ongoing development, World…
If you’re a researcher, it must be fun when PR comes to you with a dopey pitch. I’m sure the Centre for Disease Management and Public Safety at Melbourne University had a great time with Xbox ANZ’s pitch for a study to promote State of Decay 2. Its focus: “How would cities in Australia and New…
Shadow of War‘s latest expansion, The Desolation of Mordor cuts right to the chase. “Baranor is mortal and carries no Ring of Power. If he does, his story is over. Be careful.” Tackling Shadow of War without Talion’s impressive array of Celebrimbor-backed super powers is an interesting spin on the game’s existing format, pivoting into…
Destiny 2‘s first expansion, Curse of Osiris, wasn’t a complete disaster but it sure as hell wasn’t a good move either. Already losing players to battle royale juggernauts of PUBG and Fortnite, Osiris cost the game a lot of momentum after a strong launch. A good chunk of content and activities were placed behind Osiris’ paywall and…
There is an easy way to tell if State of Decay 2 is going to be your thing or not. How do you react when you realise a game feels like bloody hard work? Do you dig in or do you check out? If you tend to dig in, then chances are you’ll find loads…
After being delayed earlier in the year, The Crew 2‘s release date now creeps ever closer which means its time to start those good, good server stress tests. That means a chance to play a little bit of the game early starting on May 31 when The Crew 2‘s closed beta officially opens. Signups for…
A couple of days ago there was a rumour go around that Microsoft was planning to announce a controller for players with disabilities and limited mobility. Conventional controllers have long been a problem for players with the motor faculties required to deal with all those buttons. For them, and happily, the wait for a first-party…
Let me tell you a story of a man destined for greatness. A barbarian, brutally carving his way through a desolate and dangerous land, where only the strongest will survive. These were the days of high adventure! However, I’m not sure where Conan Exiles fits into this mould. Bringing many elements to the table, it’s…
JBL’s BAR line of soundbars has been due for a refresh for a little while now, and they’ve known it. Good news, the new wave arrives in Australia soon. Here’s what you can expect to see and hear when they hit store shelves.
Last week, Walmart Canada inadvertently spilled the beans on what appeared to be a number of high profile (and mostly still unconfirmed) E3 announcements. Among them was Rage 2, a sequel to id Software’s oddball post-apocalyptic shooter from 2010. Rather than go dark until E3, Bethesda spent a few days teasing an announcement and then…
Esports fans: Gfinity Esports Australia are hosting the FIFA 18 Global Series Qualifier tonight and you’re not gonna want to miss it. Four Aussie players are in the mix, all fighting to preserve their spot on the road the 2018 FIFA eWorld Cup.
We love it when esoteric Australiana finds its way into our entertainment. Take World of Tanks for example. After unleashing the AC1 Cruiser MK1 Sentinel into the game back in 2016, Wargaming now turns to another Australian tank — the Centurion Mk. V, the shuddering workhorse deployed in the Vietnam War. And you can play…
Ever since the amazing game Accounting Plus VR from Squanchtendo and Crows Crows Crows, there was no doubt we needed a Rick and Morty VR game. Now a sweet, sweet collaboration between Owlchemy Games, the dev behind Job Simulator, and Adult Swim Games has become a Rick-ality! See what I did there?
Dragon’s Crown Pro is kind of a lot. A remaster of Dragon’s Crown, a breathless love letter to the side-scrolling fantasy beat-em-ups of the Golden Axe era, the original both succeeded in its mission and managed to piss a lot of people off with its simplistic gameplay married to some of the most absurd character…
With Heroes of the Storm‘s Dark Nexus event now in full swing, players are getting to see a side of the game they’ve never gotten a piece of before — one with lore, one that attempts to explain the bizarre confluence of characters and events that make up the game’s central conflicts. With so much…
A non-trivial amount of my time as a teenager was spent playing Black Isle Studios RPGs. The entry point for many into the Forgotten Realms campaign setting that is the focus of Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons, games like Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale remain important industry touchstones. The foundations they laid for creating complex…
Don’t let the new title fool you. Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia is still a fully-fledged entry in Creative Assembly’s long-running series of historical strategy games. But where older Total War titles have selected a particular real world empire or historical era to focus on, Total War Saga narrows its scope. It focuses not…
Growing up, I was completely obsessed by the Naruto anime, to the point where I once went to a birthday party dressed as series antagonist, Sasuke. It was an embarrassing time. In 2018, Naruto and its sequel anime Naruto Shippuden have long since ended, with the once rambunctious and wild-spirited Naruto all grown up. Having…
Heroes of the Storm, the hero brawler/MOBA title that mashes all of Blizzard’s most popular heroes together like action figures in a toy box, hasn’t ever really felt the need to explain itself. This set it apart from other Blizzard games where lore and backstory have always played a crucial part in keeping players hooked….
The Sons of Dutch are coming. Following their announcement of a trailer drop a few days ago, Rockstar have delivered a two-minute in-game trailer for the hotly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2, the clearest and most interesting look at the game yet.
“When we announced State of Decay 2 last year, we were prepared for cries of ‘Do we really need another zombie game?’” says Undead Labs founder Jeff Strain during his short intro to our little group of games journos at Soultrap Bar in Surry Hills. “Our answer was yes.” It’s the kind of emphatic ‘yes’ I’ve…
I can’t imagine that Retro Studios took on the job of making a new Donkey Kong Country game lightly. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it kept a lot of them up at night. Donkey Kong Country is quite rightly regarded as a masterpiece, a feat of technical wizardry and genius game design even…
I imagine almost everyone who’s ever ridden a motorcycle has heard the same worried refrain from their mum about how motorcycles claim thousands of lives on the road every year. For those who decide to put mum’s mind at rest and stick to a car, TT: Isle of Man is a great consolation prize, an…
It’s good to know that Rockstar can bring us to our knees with a two paragraph, 55-word press release. The latest trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 arrives this Thursday but you’ll need to be up past your bedtime if you want to see it the moment it drops.
The Sony Alpha Awards, an annual competition celebrating the best in Australian and New Zealand photography, has named this year’s prize winning artists and pieces.
7Mate video games program ScreenPLAY surprised fans yesterday afternoon with the abrupt announcement that the show had been cancelled, citing “commercial realities in TV” as the reason for its demise.
After over five years in development, Sony’s Santa Monica Studio’s God of War is back and I think you know by now, it’s a triumphant return for one of PlayStations greatest anti-hero’s and god defying badasses, Kratos.
It’s that time of the month when we all crane our necks to see what we can wring out of Sony for free this month. It’s been a pretty solid run for the PlayStation Plus freebies, with titles like Bloodborne and Mad Max going gangbusters for the platform. This month Sony wants to get you…
The Microsoft Store in Sydney’s Pitt St Mall will be hosting a brand new course these school holidays centred entirely around teaching students about what it takes to succeed in the rapidly emerging world of competitive esports.
Extinction offers up an interesting premise that I was personally drawn to. Being a fan of The Shadow of the Colossus, which this game seems to borrow elements from, it seemed like a no-brainer. What we get however, is an underdeveloped pot of mediocrity that pulls off a few neat tricks, while ultimately crumbling under…
