Reviews

Games Review: Kingdom Come: Deliverance (PS4, 2018) offers a deep and realistic, yet fun and captivating medieval experience

Kingdom Come: Deliverance attempts to give players a realistic medieval action-RPG, complete with a dense and diverse open world. Being heavily based on historical fact, the experience is mostly aimed at history buffs, but can also be enjoyed by casual fans thanks to its capable combat mechanics.

Read more

Games Review: Bayonetta 2 (Switch, 2018): Cranking the absurdity dial way up

Boy, Bayonetta 2 is … a lot, isn’t it? There’s so much going on with this game that I barely know where to start talking about it. Maybe let’s start with the fact that its been re-released on the Nintendo Switch and go from there.

Read more

Games Review: Bayonetta (Nintendo Switch, 2018): Still got it, baby

It’s hard to imagine that Bayonetta was released nearly 10 years-ago now and the apparently superior sequel Bayonetta 2 was 4 years ago! With the newly released Switch port arriving this month, for the most part, it honestly feels like it was made for it today, it just ages well and for a guy that…

Read more

Games Review: The Inpatient (PSVR, 2018): Give me the bad news, doc

The Inpatient for PlayStation VR is a psychological horror game designed by Supermassive Games, who were the minds behind the awesome PS4 exclusive Until Dawn and is set 60 years before that aforementioned title. Those merits alone will sell the game to VR enthusiasts and horror buffs such as myself. After the VR games Resident Evil…

Read more

Games Review: Accounting Plus (PSVR, 2018): Rick and Morty meets The Stanley Parable

Trying to market Account + VR would be like trying to drag a pizza delivery man away from dancing on the side of the road and showing him the power of social media advertising. It’s pointless, the only thing that can help advertise this wonderful, engaging, hilarious adult experience is to just yell at people…

Read more

Games Review: Fe (Xbox One, 2018): Beautiful, but oblique

You ever sit down with a game, settle in with it, familiarise yourself with the controls and prepare for the inevitable hook that will lead you on your quest? My experience with Fe was fine right up until the part where the hook was supposed to arrive. It never did. Forty minutes after booting the…

Read more

Games Review: Lost Sphear (PS4, 2018) finds its place amongst mundanity

Lost Sphear has finally been released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC. A successor of sorts to developer Tokyo RPG Factory’s fantastic I Am Setsuna, while it’s not all bad, its hard not to feel like Lost Sphear has lost the things that made Setsuna special.

Read more

Games Review: The Deer God (Switch, 2018): Why have you forsaken me?

Review enough games for a living and eventually you’ll come across one that feels like it has everything going for it — looks, concept, the lot. The Deer God falls squarely into this category. On paper, it has the makings of an indie darling. In execution, it is a muddled little game that doesn’t seem…

Read more

Games Review: Dragon Quest Builders (Switch, 2018): Portable construction and crunch

Dragon Quest Builders returns for the Nintendo Switch and if you missed it like I did the first few times around, it’s worth a dip in this craft-em-up meets RPG hybrid. Originally released on PS3, PS Vita and then PS4, it has definitely done the rounds, but has developer Division 5 used that time to…

Read more

Games Review: EA Sports UFC 3: A worthy opponent

EA Sports UFC 3 marks EA’s the third tilt at creating an authentic, complex mixed martial arts experience. While it’s not a total knockout punch, it’s safe to say UFC 3 provides hardcore and casual fans alike with a reasonably accessible fighting sim.

Read more

Games Review: Final Fantasy Dissidia NT (PS4, 2018): Fight for your Right

The premise of Final Fantasy‘s Dissidia spin-offs is one we’ve all seen before – the heroes and villains of World A get transported to World B for some wild, yet justifiable reason, and are then thrust into a battle for their lives and the fate of the world. It’s no different here, with Dissidia NT…

Read more

Games Review: Monster Hunter World (PS4, 2018): Shining, Shimmering, Splendid

I’m ashamed to say that I’m a latecomer to the Monster Hunter franchise, with my first taste of monster hunting goodness coming late last year in the delightful Monster Hunter Stories. Given that I enjoyed the title so much, I was looking forward to World, but didn’t realise how much it would blow me away….

Read more

Games Review: Shadow of the Colossus (PS4, 2018): Improving on a masterpiece

Thirteen years after its release on the PlayStation 2, Shadow of the Colossus remains one of the greatest and most successful experiments in the history of game design.

Read more

Games Review: Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker’s Memories (PS4, 2018): System Upgrade Incomplete

Good news for fans of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth — if you liked the original, then you’ll love Hacker’s Memories. Bad news of fans of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth — you’ve seen this all before.

Read more

Games Review: AO Tennis (PS4, 2018): Serving up anything but an ace

Let’s get one thing straight: I love tennis. The Australian Open is no exception, grabbing me from the first round all the way to the final match. So it’s safe to say I was excited for AO Tennis, hoping it would bring tennis games back into the mainstream, a nod to the good old days of…

Read more

Games Review: Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4, 2018): Style, simplicity and super powers

The Dragon Ball series has always been a no-brainer as far as content for fighting games goes. Nevertheless, Dragon Ball games have tended to fall short of what most players assumed should be a slam dunk — they were wonky fighters, focused more on channelling the look and feel of the legendary anime than they were on…

Read more

Games Review: Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds (PC, 2018) Combines Classic Nostalgia With A Modern Twist

The modern era of video games has brought with it a boom of classic JRPG-style games. With the popularity of Persona, Fire Emblem and Pokémon ensuring the genre’s continuing success, it’s no surprise, then, that games like Legrand Legacy exist — games designed to celebrate the history and personality of JRPGs from the past.

Read more

Games Review: Gear.Club Unlimited (Switch, 2017) revs loudly but never quite fires on all cylinders

I guess I’ll start by saying that I don’t really play many racing games. Gear.Club Unlimited hasn’t managed to change my opinion of them either, but neither was it a totally unenjoyable experience.

Read more

Video Games Review: OKAMI HD (PS4, Xbox One, 2017) Don’t Brush This Adventure Aside!

Some games are like a fine wine, they age so well. Especially when the original game is already a great one! The longer they’ve been out, the more widespread the fan base grows, the greater the overall feeling of nostalgia envelopes you when you finally return to it after so many long years (look at…

Read more

Games Review: LocoRoco 2 Remastered: Wholesome and Pure Fun

LocoRoco 2 Remastered doesn’t belong in 2017. Or more accurately, 2017 doesn’t deserve its presence. LocoRoco 2 represents all that is wholesome and pure in the world of gaming, and harkens back to simpler, more innocent times. It’s not the hero that we deserve, but we’re very glad to have it.

Read more

Games Review: Hello Neighbor (Xbox One, 2017): Goodbye player

Dynamic Pixels Stealth Survival Horror is a pretty hefty banner to place on their title of Hello Neighbor, especially after recently trying to drift through games such as Outlast 2 and even the beautifully well made Little Nightmares. Hello Neighbor comes about as close to horror as your nanna’s dirty unwashed knickers: it’s creepy, cringe…

Read more

Games Review: Rumu (PC, 2017): I love feelings

Rumu is the second major release from Sydney-based indie developer Robot House. It’s a game about a little robot vacuum cleaner that lives in a smart home run by an AI named Sabrina — a little guy trying to make sense of a big and complicated place. Rumu, as a game, is much the same —…

Read more

Games Review: RIVE: Ultimate Edition (Switch, 2017): A heady genre blend

It’s been five years since disaster befell Dutch developer Two Tribes B.V. and a large percentage of their staff were retrenched, spelling the end for the studio. They were not, however, prepared to go down without a fight and the remaining staff battled on to complete what would become Two Tribes’ last game, a twin-stick…

Read more

Games Review: Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (PS4, 2017): A pile of weird decisions

There’s almost no reason for you to play Destiny 2‘s first expansion, Curse of Osiris. I’ve tried to find a nicer way to frame the expansion’s futile attempts at justifying its own existence but there’s no getting around it. In a game as massive as Destiny 2, especially one that is designed to keep players coming back,…

Read more

Games Review: Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon (3DS, 2017) are sweet swan songs for the handheld franchise

Fans of the long-running Pokemon RPG series should already know what to expect when the franchise rolls into out a new generation. It all starts with an initial pair of handheld titles – in this case Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon – which is then followed up a year-or-so later with what is essentially a…

Read more

Games Review: L.A. Noire (Xbox One X, Switch, 2017): Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke

Rather than run two entirely separate reviews for L.A. Noire‘s brand new, remastered edition, we thought we’d combine them into a single piece and discuss the merits of each version in turn. The two we’ve chosen to review are the Nintendo Switch version of the game, and the Xbox One X Enhanced version.

Read more

Games Review: .hack//G.U. The Last Recode (PS4, 2017): System Upgrade Complete

Before I begin my review, I’d like to discuss a bit of my history with the .hack franchise. When I first discovered manga, the first volume that I ever read was .hack//G.U.+, an adaptation of the original .hack//G.U. video game trilogy. As a young and impressionable child, the series blew my mind, and when I…

Read more

Games Review: DOOM (Switch, 2017): Non-stop demon destruction, now in your pocket

God, DOOM is good. It’s so good. It was good when we reviewed it on PS4 last year and it remains good now, almost 18 months later, as it debuts on the Nintendo Switch. One of the biggest questions gamers had for the Switch at launch was whether it could support portable versions of major AAA releases….

Read more

Games Review: Ashes Cricket (PS4, 2017): Big Ant rack up an impressive strike rate

I know, I know, it’s a review of a cricket game. Those of you that don’t care about cricket have already regarded the headline of this piece with a disgusted look. Those of you that do like cricket are already wary. Video game representations of sports Australians like aren’t reliably … good. At all. But…

Read more

Games Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Switch, 2017): Return of the King

Reliving the opening moments of Skyrim always feels a lot like going home. The music, atmosphere and landscapes always bring me right back to my first moments with the game, when I first discovered how monumental and incredible the game truly was. It feels strange, then, to be reviewing it in 2017, six years after…

Read more