A veteran of the Trophy hunting game, Ben can be found on a day-to-day basis freelance writing and making videos/streaming for TripleJump.
Review The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (PlayStation 3)
Should've remained classified
Serving as a prequel of sorts to the long-running XCOM series, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified attempts to fuse the strategic elements of turn-based tactical alien zap-em-up XCOM: Enemy Unknown with a third-person shooter. Unfortunately, while there are glimmers of entertainment, the concept doesn't quite coalesce into a...
Review The Smurfs 2: The Video Game (PlayStation 3)
Feeling blue
One may assume that the business of producing low-budget movie tie-ins died with the untimely self-destruction of THQ, but Ubisoft has boldly picked up the slack with The Smurfs 2: The Video Game, and, as is normally the case with these sorts of releases, the results aren't particularly positive. The evil Gargamel and his two...
Review Painkiller: Hell & Damnation (PlayStation 3)
Damn it all to Hell
Developers have a nasty habit of referring to their games as ‘old school’ when they know that they may not be very good by modern standards. Pitched as a nostalgic trip down memory lane, and designed to serve as both a remake and a sequel to 2004’s Painkiller, does Painkiller: Hell & Damnation dance with the devil or...
Review Strength of the Sword 3 (PlayStation 3)
One knight stand
The ambitious creation of the talented twosome at Ivent Games, Strength of the Sword 3 isn’t actually the third in a series, but rather a standalone title. Peculiar naming tactics aside, it does do a lot to impress despite its developer's diminutive size. As is often the way with budget fantasy titles, a hellish army is marching...
E3 2013 Watch the Highlights from the Sony PlayStation Press Conference
Magic moments
If you were anywhere but the United States last night, you’d have either had a hard time staying awake – or just given up altogether and slept right through Sony’s most important press conference in years. And what a show you missed. For those of you who were sleeping – and even those who managed to brave the night – point...
Review The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character (PlayStation Vita)
"I'm spinning around, get out of my way"
The latest title to make the jump from PlayStation Minis to budget PlayStation Vita release, The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character has a lot to live up to given its unusual and quirky name – but it doesn’t quite pull it off. In a hellish alternate universe where sea life has claimed the land,...
Review Metro: Last Light (PlayStation 3)
Going underground
Based on the novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro: Last Light is the sequel to 2010’s Metro 2033, and although the post-apocalyptic shooter never arrived at any Sony stations, its successor pulls out all of the stops to make up for lost time. Set in the metro systems of Mother Russia several decades after a nuclear apocalypse, Last...
Review The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (PlayStation 3)
No signs of life
Clearly intended to cash in on the overwhelming success of the TV show and the recent critical acclaim of Telltale Games’ excellent episodic adventure, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct doesn’t so much as explode out of the gate, but, perhaps appropriately, shamble. The ‘plot’ revolves around the TV show’s troublesome...
Review Hungry Giraffe (PlayStation Vita)
Head and shoulders above the rest
Originally launching over a year ago as a free PlayStation Mini with PlayStation Plus, Hungry Giraffe is the latest game to make the jump from watered-down budget piece to fully-fledged PlayStation Vita title. But while we enjoyed Mr. Giraffe’s original outing, do the new features in this upgraded version warrant...
Review Aliens: Colonial Marines (PlayStation 3)
Game over, man
If you’re even remotely plugged into the online gaming ‘ether’, then you’ll be fully aware of the controversy surrounding Aliens: Colonial Marines. Infamously stuck in development hell for several years, the shooter was supposedly passed from pillar to post behind the scenes, and it really shows. One of the first things that...
Review Chimpact (PlayStation Mobile)
Simian-ply amazing
“Chimpanzees are members of the Hominidae family, along with gorillas, humans, and orangutans, and live in large multiple-male and multiple-female social groups called communities. Well known for making nests at the top of tall trees, chimps are constantly falling down 2-300 meters only to have a mysterious force fling them back...
Review Sumioni: Demon Arts (PlayStation Vita)
Not worth the Monet
Sumi-e is a form of ‘ink wash painting’ popularised in Asia approximately 1,400 years ago. It’s a striking art form that aims to capture the soul of its subject rather than attempt photo-realism and has been used to great effect in videogames before, with Okami being a notable example. Developers are always looking for...
Review Gun Commando (PlayStation Mobile)
All outta gum?
It’s been a good 20 years since DOOM blasted its way onto the scene and laid the foundations for the rise of the first-person shooter. Some people may look back on its arrival with dismay given how stagnant the genre has become, but its legacy cannot be denied. Developer Green Hill Studios hopes to capitalise on that with its latest...
Review Haunt the House: Terrortown (PlayStation Mobile)
Phantom menace
The latest in Sony’s PlayStation Mobile initiative, Haunt the House: Terrortown sees you adopt the role of an ethereal being named Ghost and challenges you with the task of scaring people for, well, no apparent reason really. Ghost’s story begins in a clock tower that serves as the game's central hub. With the mysterious music,...
Review Panic! (PlayStation Mobile)
Ooze cruise
Panic! is a birds-eye 'stop-the-slime-from-consuming-the-townsfolk' puzzle game. As part of Sony's recently released PlayStation Mobile initiative, it is compatible with both the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation-certified mobile phones. The narrative relays that a deadly alien slime has attacked the Earth, and you, in your assumed...
Review The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series (PlayStation 3)
Everyday we're shufflin'
Lee Everett’s failed the one golden rule of murdering folk: don’t get caught. As such, he's on his way to prison when civilisation collapses around him. It’s through Lee that you experience the harsh horrors of this new and unrecognisable world, and it’s not long before he, and by extension you, becomes responsible...
Review Jetpack Joyride (PlayStation Minis)
Fun size
You are Barry Steakfries: Nate Drake look-alike, coin collector, and experimental technology thief. Bored of his life in the ‘Secret Underground Laboratory’, Barry makes a one-way bid for freedom. He’s doomed of course, but don’t tell him. It’d break his heart. One of the few iPhone apps to make the jump to PlayStation Minis,...
