Much of the foundation EA’s UFC series that was laid back in 2014 has developed nicely, but each sequel, while an improvement, felt like an authentic experience that frustrated fans, and alienated others. Solid mechanics and slick visuals impressed, but a clunky ground game left fans like myself, sticking to strikes and knockouts to avoid […]
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My first few days with Project Cars 3 proved to be an incredibly polarising experience. I consider myself a true fan of racing sims, and while Project Cars 2 stands out as one of my favourites, Project Cars 3 does not; but not in the way you would think. It’s safe to say that Project […]
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Samurai Jack’s fifth and final season capped off a magnificent 16 year run, of which many other Cartoon Network shows would have envied over. Being a huge fan of the series, I flinched a little when I saw the reveal of Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, yet another tie in game that I thought would […]
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Upon seeing PGA Tour 2K21’s reveal, I immediately thought back to all the great memories I had playing golfing games; a sport which I admittedly don’t care that much for. Be it Microsoft Golf, Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour, or even Outlaw Golf, (I bet you forgot that existed) there was something so satisfying about measuring […]
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I knew from the first that Microsoft Flight Simulator was something special. More than just a graphical showpiece, it had a clear goal in mind — to instill the joy and wonder of flight in anyone who decides to install it. It worked. From the earliest trailers, it captured the industry’s attention, an industry that […]
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There’s a lot I like about Dlala Games’ take on Battletoads, but there’s just as much that I don’t. The latest Battletoads arrives almost 20 years after the NES original. It’s a side-scrolling beat-em-up in the same vein as the original, but it makes several changes to the series’ formula that may not sit well […]
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Harvest Moon was the shiz when I was growing up, I played the very first Game Boy version and basically played every handheld iteration afterwards. I loved that game to bits and it’s no wonder that I was immediately drawn to Stardew Valley. Now reverting back to its original Japanese name, Story of Seasons released […]
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If this generation has been missing a particular genre of note, it’s most definitely skateboarding games. You might find it hard to believe, but there was a time when these games ruled supreme, and Tony Hawk was a household name. The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series has remained dormant as of late (we don’t speak […]
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Paper Mario has always been a hilarious spin-off to the beloved Mario franchise, though it did lose its way for a little bit. The Origami King brings the series that I love back from its papery grave and gave me so much more. Long story short, I’m a happy clam. Short story long? Well, read […]
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Carrion is a new Metroidvania game from indie developer Phobia Game Studio. You are fast-moving, utterly vicious monster on the loose in a remote science facility. Carrion delights in taking the tropes of the genre — power creep, exploration and backtracking — and turning them on their ear in ways that are surprisingly effective. One […]
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If my time spent playing countless racing games has taught me anything, it’s that they always have more to give. Whether it’s added modes, tighter controls, improved visuals and refined sound design, it seems as though there is always something to build towards. And much like the legends that have dominated the sport until now, […]
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Upon its reveal, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom stood out in a sea of remakes and remasters. Here, among so many others, was one to look forward to, for the reason anyone looks forward to any remake: I have many fond memories of the original PS2/Xbox version. That said, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini […]
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Deadly Premonition 2. It’s finally here. If you’ve played the original Deadly Premonition, you likely have fond memories of of a laughable game. Its larger-than-life characters, terrible voice acting, stiff gameplay and dull visuals made it perfect fodder for Twitch streamers looking for a game to make fun of. What they didn’t expect was that, […]
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The Elder Scrolls Online‘s latest expansion, Greymoor, has arrived, adding a wealth of new content to the overall game Now, the entire Western Skyrim is open for adventurers to explore. And my gosh is it just beautiful. I’ve never actually played an Elder Scrolls game before, not even for the Switch. This makes The Elder Scrolls […]
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It’s hard for a port of The Outer Worlds to be disappointing. But even though the Nintendo Switch version of one of 2019’s best gaming experiences should be celebrated simply for existing, there’s no denying that this conversion has many flaws. By flaws, ultimately I mean that it highlights just how difficult a task it […]
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The Last of Us Part II is not a game for everyone. It’s a game that builds on the original in unexpected ways. It seeks to challenge the player emotionally and philosophically, posing hard questions to which you may not have an answer. It’s likely not the game you are expecting at all. And that’s […]
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Borderlands remains one of the most important staples in recent gaming memory, as the granddaddy of looter shooters. Sure, many have learned, but none have quite mastered this unique blend of first-person gunplay, humour and exploration in the same way that Borderlands does. By now, most of us scavenged the land of Pandora, in search […]
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2006’s DS classic Clubhouse Games was a huge hit, to absolutely no one’s surprise. The perfect marriage for handheld gaming, it stylishly bought together a comprehensive index of 42 classic card and board games which have been etched into history for a good reason. Everything from Chess and Blackjack to Ludo and Solitaire was included, […]
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When Xenoblade Chronicles was originally released for the Nintendo Wii in 2010-12, it felt like a tectonic shift in the way we talked about JRPGs. Suddenly, people were talking about the niche genre’s shiny new, universally acclaimed story as the genre’s pinnacle, as if Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises never existed. The deep-world of […]
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Beloved first-person shooter BioShock has finally arrived on the Nintendo Switch. The Bioshock Collection combines all three games in a single package, along with all available DLC. The BioShock collection has been available on current platforms since 2016. And now here we are, BioShock playable on-the-go… Big Daddy… Chasing you… anywhere you go… Oh lord. […]
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It’s been a minute since I’ve reviewed a Hyper X headset. Over the last few years, HyperX have gone from a PC hardware manufacturer famous for high performance memory and gaming drives, to a real contender in the peripheral space. With the Cloud Flight S, the latest premium tier addition to their lineup, HyperX looks […]
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It’s not enough to simply write that the new remaster of Saints Row: The Third features, and is defined by, substantial “graphical enhancements”. The off-the-wall Volition title, the one where they decoupled the series from “GTA clone” criticism and carved their own successful niche, has gone through a complete overhaul. And it’s fucking gorgeous. We’re […]
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Hindsight really is 2020. Mafia II: Definitive Edition has become the latest in a slew of remakes and remasters to fill out this very strange year’s release calendar. Originally released in 2010, Mafia II is a fairly standard crime family story. You play as migrant son Vito Scaletta, freshly returned to the fictional Empire City […]
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If it bleeds, we can kill iT — unless it’s a beloved IP that bleeds money, in which case we can plumb it for nostalgia value. This has been the recent fate of the Predator franchise, which has enjoyed a recent resurgence 2018’s The Predator. Given the renewed interest, a video game tie-in makes a […]
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After ridiculous amounts of hype on Switch and PC, wickedly over-the-top side-scrolling shooter My Friend Pedro has parkoured its way to the PS4. With it, the title has brought all the juicy adrenaline, fist-pumping acrobats, and stylish gunfights with it. Not bad for a game where you’re killing people because a weird floating banana told […]
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2K has moved incredibly quickly on XCOM Chimera Squad. It was announced out of the blue in mid-April, and launch day was only a week later. 12 hours after the announcement, I had a review copy installed on my home PC. Fast is Chimera Squad‘s watchword. It has a much higher resting heart rate than […]
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In a media landscape full of remakes and remasters, it takes a masterpiece to stand out. Such is the case with Final Fantasy VIIÂ Remake, a modern take on an RPG considered one of the greatest of all time. Here it takes on another accolade — it’s also one of the greatest examples of how to […]
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I’ve never played an Animal Crossing game before. This might make me a terrible Nintendo fan. My curiosity was piqued by Animal Crossing: New Horizons in the lead-up to its launch. It seemed to offer something calming and unchallenging in a global moment of hardship and complexity. Fans have now had over two weeks to […]
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A remake of Resident Evil 3 was only a matter of time. After Resident Evil 2′s critical and commercial success, it made sense for Capcom to continue their hot streak. And so, only a year later, it’s here. Resident Evil 3 proves the franchise is alive and thriving, creatively reimagining and modernising older titles in its […]
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Two games I never finished have been repackaged, remastered and released as a solid double package. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the hell out of my brief time with both Bayonetta (2009) and Vanquish (2010) but it was at a point in my life when video games ebbed out of my radar for a […]
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