Latest Reviews
Maze runner
No, this isn't the 256th instalment in Namco's venerable arcade classic - the number in the title refers to the infamous glitch from the original Pac-Man. Level 256 was impossible to beat due to a jumble of letters and numbers on the right-hand side of the screen, blocking half the maze. It's this glitch, in fact, that you'll be trying...
Review Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival (PS4)
The beautiful lame
Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival is the latest attempt to resurrect the classic football franchise that began way back in 1989 with the original Kick Off. Back then, games came on cassette tapes a
Review N.E.R.O.: Nothing Ever Remains Obscure (PS4)
Nothing ever remains enjoyable
N.E.R.O.: Nothing Ever Remains Obscure is another entry into the "walking simulator" genre. In this instance, however, developer Storm in a Teacup has tried to address the constant criticism that these style of games don't actually have any gameplay. N.E.R.O. is billed as an interactive visual novel and it definitely...
Review Deadlight: Director's Cut (PS4)
Flickers of hope
Arriving in 2013 as part of Xbox's Summer of Arcade, Deadlight reinvigorated the zombie horror genre with its classic 2D platforming and a uniquely bleak dreary tone. With the release of its next project RIME seemingly in development hell, Tequila Works has decided to revisit its esteemed debut to bring it glossier graphics, tighter...
Mighty big shoes to fill
From the moment that the Kickstarter for Mighty No. 9 was announced, there were enormous expectations placed upon it, and it was always going to be impossible to live up to them. The hype came from Keiji Inafune and a team of Mega Man veterans being at the helm of what appeared to be a spiritual successor to the classic...
Review Trials of the Blood Dragon (PS4)
A e s t h e t i c
For all its faux-eighties foolishness, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was a very clever game. It took an established franchise, gave it a splash of visual variety, and then injected it with some bizarre characters and mechanics. Above all, it was silly, fun, and endearing. Unfortunately, Trials of the Blood Dragon is none of those things...
Review Atelier Sophie: Alchemist of the Mysterious Book (PS4)
Cooking up a disappointment
The premise of Gust's Atelier Sophie: Alchemist of the Mysterious Book is simple. You play as Sophie, who wants to become the best alchemist that she can following the passing of her grandmother, who was also a creator of magical bits and pieces. After discovering that her predecessor's reference book, Plachta, can speak,...
Review Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (PS4)
A study in Sherlock
Barely an hour into Sherlock Holmes' latest case, while helping a young boy named Tom find his missing father, you'll be tailing a shady character as a plucky newsboy, who almost suffocates while climbing up a chimney. Next, as Sherlock, you'll grill a local lord and gather more evidence at Tom's home, but not before taking...
Life is strange
Narrative is often overlooked in favour of the more natural forms of interactivity that are inherent to video games. But in the last few years, we've gotten a series of thoughtful and engaging titles that have really pushed the medium forward in this regard. Not only have they changed our perceptions of what constitutes a game, but...
Soul sacrificed
Frictional Games' SOMA, last year's sci-fi horror follow-up to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, explored the idea of creating a copy of a human being and downloading it into a virtual "ark", thereby preserving mankind in case of global disaster. It proved to be an engaging central conceit, which touched on ideas of identity, morality, and...
Review Mirror's Edge Catalyst (PS4)
Good Faith
When the first Mirror's Edge released in 2008, it performed so poorly on the sales front that it's really quite remarkable that Mirror's Edge Catalyst exists at all. While the original certainly had its fair share of issues, some gamers look back on it quite fondly – especially since there wasn't anything quite like it at the time,...
Review Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- (PS4)
Cometh the hour
Those that played Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (Sign from here on in) uncovered a fighter with depth, fun, and personality; one that introduced real rewards for aggressive play while also boasting defensive options beyond the genre norm. This bodes well, then, for the Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- (Revelator, from here on in) - a newly...
Review Hitman: Episode 3 - Marrakesh (PS4)
Don't Morocco the boat
The beauty, complexity, and atmospheric brilliance of Sapienza was always going to be a tough act to follow for IO Interactive, but the bustling Moroccan city of Marrakesh provides ample room for innovation in this month's new episode of Hitman. With crowded markets, labyrinthine streets, and plenty of interiors to explore,...
Putter fingers
Three Fields Entertainment, the indie studio behind Dangerous Golf, comprises mainly of the same minds responsible for Criterion classics Burnout and Black – and this is abundantly clear from the start. Its debut title is an arcade sports game that shares as much in common with golf as Rocket League does with football. Maybe less...
Review Dead Island: Definitive Collection (PS4)
Six feet under
Arriving as one of the more unexpected remasters of the year, Dead Island: Definitive Collection sets out to resurrect the popularity of the series in the run up to its troubled second instalment. The question is: has the series already been buried too deep for this remaster to restore its reputation? The collection certainly offers...
Review The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine (PS4)
Thank you and goodnight
Blood and Wine could be boxed, sold as a sort-of-sequel to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and no one would really question it. Once again, CD Projekt Red has gone above and beyond expectations; this final expansion not only serves as a fitting end to Geralt's gigantic tale, but it also manages to pack in so much quality content...
Review There Came an Echo (PS4)
Hearing test
When the topic of voice control in games arises, the conversation rarely goes beyond the thought of a tacked-on feature that could easily have been left on the cutting room floor. Shouting at a guard to distract him in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, voice commands in Binary Domain, and issuing orders to your squad in Tom Clancy's Rainbow...
Review Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir (PS4)
By Odin's beard
Odin Sphere looked fantastic back on the PlayStation 2 when it released in 2007, but almost a decade later on PlayStation 4, it looks even better. A stunning side scrolling action role-playing game from Vanillaware, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is a superb remake that oozes quality. The care and attention that's been pumped into this...
Review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan (PS4)
Shell shock
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a property that has had no shortage of video games over the past two and a half decades. Whether it be sidescrollers, platformers, or arcade-style beat-em-ups, the series has seen its fair share of tie-ins. However, when the franchise is mentioned, the most famous instalment brought up is TMNT: Turtles in...
Review One Piece: Burning Blood (PS4)
Let's burn rubber
As is the case with many manga and anime properties, Eiichiro Oda's One Piece – a hugely successful tale of super powered pirates – is a brilliant basis for a fighting game. Thanks to a massive cast of wacky characters, all of whom boast their own crazy combat abilities, a brawler such as One Piece: Burning Blood seems like a...
My God – it's full of stars
Every now and then a game comes out of nowhere with no hype or fanfare and perfectly rocks your video gaming world. Perfect Universe is just such a game – a superb blast of quality indie fun that has an incredibly cool, pretty unique monochrome "hand drawn" art style and a wonderful soundtrack. The title comes...
Blizz-hard to put down
If you've played many competitive multiplayer shooters, then you've likely spent far too much time celebrating – or, indeed, lamenting – your kill death ratio. Long has this little number been seen as a barometer of your success in online battles, and this in turn helped feed a steady stream of gamers into the Team...
Old school of magic
One thing that's evident from the outset of Gareth Noyce's isometric puzzler is the focus on nostalgia. Noyce is somewhat of an industry veteran working for a number of studios over the past 15 years, including the recently closed Lionhead, Geometry Wars creators Bizarre, and Realtime Worlds. Ostensibly an homage to isometric...
Review Fallout 4: Far Harbor (PS4)
Fogging hell
The fog of Far Harbor is to be feared. It inflicts radiation poisoning on those who dare to trek through it, it gives birth to horribly slimy creatures of the deep, and it does an admirable job of obscuring your view of the fiends that stalk the wilderness. The island's residents have a right to fear the mist: it keeps them penned...
Paint the night
You'd be forgiven for thinking Soft Body is a very unambitious game at first glance. The simple 2D graphics give the impression of a simple Flash game, however upon digging deeper we found that it's incredibly ambitious in its attempt to bring two genres together as one. Soft Body blends the action/puzzle genre with a twin-stick...
Shatwen
Shadwen is a third-person stealth-action game that begins with the implied murder of a king at the hands of a skilled female assassin. As the monarch's crown falls to the ground, we see the face of a young girl travelling with the killer, and the game flashes back to a
Review Rocketbirds 2: Evolution (PS4)
Bad egg
Rocketbirds 2: Evolution is the most frustrating kind of indie game. On the surface, this sequel to developer Ratloop's 2013 PlayStation 3 title, Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken, has a lot of things going for it. The game once again places you in the feet of Hardboiled Chicken, a tough-as-nails super-agent assigned to take out the evil...
Leviticus 26:7
It wasn't until Wolfenstein: The New Order that we noticed how homogeneous first-person shooters have become over the past decade. The genre's certainly made strides forward, but from a big picture perspective, we've spent the past decade or so taking cover and performing pot-shots to reach our objectives. However, MachineGames'...
Review Homefront: The Revolution (PS4)
Viva la revolución
The nightmare that surrounded Homefront: The Revolution's development is no secret. After being passed between two different publishers and changing its gameplay in favour of a non-linear style, the title has finally staggered its way towards the finish line after a series of setbacks. But has the extra time and attention poured...
Review Shadow of the Beast (PS4)
Adios, Amiga
Of the numerous reboots, remakes, and remasters this generation has brought us, this one may just be the most drastic. Originally released in 1989 on the Commodore Amiga, Shadow of the Beast was well received and lauded for its mind-blowing visual fidelity. Heavy Spectrum's modern take on the hard-as-nails classic has been a long time...
