Retro Reviews
Review Resident Evil: Revelations (PlayStation 3)
Float your boat
Resident Evil: Revelations’ seafaring setting may bob and weave like a luxury cruise liner should, but beyond the nautical accessories that dress the Queen Zenobia’s corridor walls, this is a game that feels much more familiar than its crafty subtitle would lead you to believe. A high definition port of last year’s Nintendo 3DS...
Review Terraria (PlayStation 3)
Building blocks
Terraria is a strange title. Its 2D world suggests simple fun when compared to the gritty realism that most games portray, while its quirky styling and audio lead to an often comedic atmosphere. Don’t be fooled by the aesthetics, though – this is a release that demands your time and effort if you want to get the most out of it...
Review Star Trek: The Video Game (PlayStation 3)
Below par trek
If you're looking for an epic and exciting sci-fi setting filled with awful, often game breaking bugs – and you didn't already get your fill with Defiance – then Star Trek: The Video Game should be right up your alley. Not even the palpable hype from the impending movie, as well as the stellar cast, can save this generic action...
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 Persona 4 Arena (PlayStation 3)
Velvet boom
Atlus has had to bear the brunt of much criticism from gamers due to its decision to region lock Persona 4 Arena, giving eager European fans no option but to wait a frankly preposterous length of time for the game to release. There’s no denying, however, the quality and brilliance of Arc System Works' take on the fantastic Japanese RPG...
Review Defiance (PlayStation 3)
Hell Bugs aren't the only bugs to worry about
Defiance is an ambitious cross-media experiment that aims to, ahem, defy expectations, and it gets awfully close to doing just that. A rich, expansive universe packed to the brim with lore creates a world that you'll want to explore and learn more about. However, questionable design choices, oodles of...
Review Thomas Was Alone (PlayStation 3)
It's hip to be square
Although 'simple and charming' is a worn-out phrase used to describe the numerous puzzle platformers on the PlayStation Network, there's no question that those three words suit Thomas Was Alone perfectly. Guiding geometric shapes through a gauntlet of hazards and obstacles is the order of the day, but while the cross-buy...
Review Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut (PlayStation 3)
Sinner's software
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut feels like a relic of the PlayStation 2 era, as if it was long forgotten and recently recovered from an old box within a developer's dusty archives. It's decidedly lo-fi, with a framerate that frequently sputters for dear life, regular pop-in, droning, repetitive sound effects, enemies that...
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 Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov's Revenge (PlayStation 3)
Dead in the middle
Real-time strategy games have always been difficult to execute on consoles. Without a mouse, scrolling over huge maps with an analogue stick is far harder than you may imagine, while assigning commands to various buttons on a controller leads to some haphazard control schemes. Enter Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge, a...
Review Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (PlayStation 3)
Top dogma
Dragon’s Dogma originally released last year, and although many praised Capcom for trying something new and exciting, the general consensus was that the game fell just short of greatness. Despite boasting a huge open world, an intriguing class system, and fantastic boss fights, the title faltered on the smaller things like awful menu...
Review Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PlayStation 3)
Boom for your buck
Most first-person shooters settle for a few additional maps, a handful of new weapons, and a couple of bonus missions in their post-release period. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, however, blows that tradition out of the water, delivering a compelling standalone experience that's both out of the ordinary in delivery and subject matter...
Review Injustice: Gods Among Us (PlayStation 3)
Immortal Kombat
When it comes to the fighting game genre, you're often forced to select your preferred type. Are you a player of 2D or 3D titles? Tekken or Dead or Alive? Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat? Each series has its own unique identity, restricting its audience to a specific brand. As such, you'd expect Injustice: Gods Among Us, the latest...
Review Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory (PlayStation 3)
"Is that your 'please punish me' face?"
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is a hard-sell. It’s what reviewers like to call ‘a niche title’, meaning a game that the majority of PlayStation 3 owners will pick up and then swiftly put back down. Set in a land governed by gaming tech, it's the third instalment in the Neptunia JRPG series, a franchise...
Review Dead Island: Riptide (PlayStation 3)
Better off dead
Dead Island: Riptide brings you back to the unfortunate backdrop of the Banoi archipelago where 2011’s flawed Dead Island left off. The infection has spread to a neighbouring island, forcing the four survivors of the previous game and one newcomer (John, a rude ex-soldier) to try and make it through another tropical apocalypse. As...
Review Dragon Fantasy: Book I (PlayStation 3)
Dragged out fantasy
Harkening back to the days of rather basic 2D Japanese RPGs like the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior, Dragon Fantasy: Book I at first appears to be little more than a tribute to the games that created a genre. However, on closer inspection, the title manages to craft its own thoughtful identity through a clever use of...
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 (PlayStation 3)
On par
The threat of stagnation with annual sports titles is something that EA faces with a large chunk of its catalogue. This year's iteration of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 is no exception, delivering another enjoyable digital facsimile of golf, with just enough tweaks and additions to tempt truly committed fans into upgrading. For everyone else,...
Review Guacamelee! (PlayStation 3)
Viva la lucha
Besides being a brilliant pun, Guacamelee! is a potent mix of platforming and brawling, wrapped-up in a cartoon-styled Mexico. The delightful Metroidvania-inspired adventure takes plenty of props from the greats that solidified the genre, but gracefully manages to maintain its own charm and personality, resulting in a digital download...
Review BioShock Infinite (PlayStation 3)
Queen Elizabeth
Columbia doesn’t feel all that familiar at first. Zachary Hale Comstock’s secluded slice of Americana promptly presents itself as a sunbaked tapestry of carnival attractions and hallowed gardens; a blue skied paradise basking in the ideals of a prophet bold enough to secede from the sodom of the corruption lurking below, and set...
Review Darkstalkers Resurrection (PlayStation 3)
Once bitten, twice fly
While Capcom’s Darkstalkers franchise has never enjoyed the same level of fanatic enthusiasm as its bigger brother Street Fighter, the monster mash of fighting games has still maintained a devoted following despite not receiving a true new entry since 1997. Ardent fans have been howling for the return of Felicia and company...
Review Jeremy McGrath's Offroad (PlayStation 3)
Rally no good
Jeremy McGrath garnered much fame during the 90s, even earning the title ‘King of Supercross’. So, any fan of the man would hope that Jeremy McGrath's Offroad lives up to the name on the box. Sadly, this is a dull and repetitive paint-by-numbers racing game. The title does the minimum required for a game of this generation and...
Review Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PlayStation 3)
Crime traveller
It’s fairly obvious that newcomer Sanzaru Games has poured its heart and soul into Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. The long-awaited fourth instalment in PlayStation’s premier theft simulator is bursting with reverence for the franchise that Sucker Punch introduced over ten years ago, and that’s evident in every inch of the...
Review Germinator (PlayStation 3)
Best left in the incubator
We’ve seen our fair share of bubble-puzzle games over the last few years, each attempting to put a new spin on the genre, be it through engaging art styles or subtle but original gameplay tweaks. Germinator attempts the latter, requiring you to match up coloured germs in order to make them expand and explode, hopefully...
Review BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner 2 - Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (PlayStation 3)
Jump up to get down
BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner 2 - Future Legend of Rhythm Alien raises eyebrows by virtue of being different. At first glance, it looks like the kind platforming game that we've all played dozens of times before. But as you explore the mechanics, it soon becomes evident that it's actually a music game cleverly disguised as a...
Review WRC Powerslide (PlayStation 3)
Stuck in the mud
Simulation racers are not for everyone. Settle down for a casual round of Gran Turismo 5 with the folks from the cricket club and you’ll spend more time staring at barriers than the actual road ahead. It’s with that in mind that Italian developer Milestone has concocted WRC Powerslide, an isometric riff on its hardcore licensed...
Review Tomb Raider (PlayStation 3)
Uncharted territory
Lara Croft, one of the most iconic protagonists in gaming, has finally returned with a contemporary tale designed to reboot the Tomb Raider series. And it's a magnificent comeback. Crystal Dynamics' new take on the heroine mixes combat and exploration in a compelling fashion, resulting in one of the best action adventure titles...
Review God of War: Ascension (PlayStation 3)
Banishing demons
God of War: Ascension is the strange type of title that could only exist at the end of a console’s lifespan. The prequel to Sony Santa Monica’s savage Spartan series thrives on years of iteration, delivering the slickest entry in the series yet. But it’s also bankable, and as a non-numbered instalment in a long-running...
Review Urban Trial Freestyle (PlayStation 3)
Trials Devolution
The runaway success of the Trials series on the Xbox 360 has exposed the need for a motorcycle platforming game on the PlayStation 3, and, finally, a mere four years since the release of Trials HD, a clone of the series is available on the PS3 and Vita. Sadly though, it fails to bring the magic of the Microsoft games to Sony's...
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 Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires (PlayStation 3)
Far more than pushing square
In many ways, Dynasty Warriors' long running Empires spin-off series is more refined than the set of original games that form their basis. Typically, they add in new characters, weapons, and stages, overhaul a few mechanics, and overlay everything with relatively simple strategy elements. Indeed, Empires games are known...
