Latest Reviews
Review The Legend of Korra (PlayStation 4)
Elemental breakdown
For years, Avatar fans have been asking for a good game that represents a franchise with so much potential – but does The Legend of Korra live up to these expectations? For those not familiar with the animation of the same name, it's a television series that's the sequel to Avatar: the Last Airbender. In this world, some people...
Review Shadow Warrior (PlayStation 4)
Crouching tiger, hidden Wang
Take those old kung-fu movies that get repeated endlessly on daytime cable channels, add a dash of retro shooter and whatever random bits of supernatural plot you have lying around, and that’s Shadow Warrior. An overpriced product of a bygone era, its attempts to highlight the way that things used to be do little but...
Review Just Dance 2015 (PlayStation 4)
Because I’m happy
Another year brings another instalment into Ubisoft’s multiplatform dance juggernaut, predictably entitled Just Dance 2015 this time. The aim of the game is as simple as it gets: you have to replicate the dance moves that the on-screen silhouette dancers perform in time with the music and as accurately as you can. The ethos is...
Review Peggle 2 (PlayStation 4)
Ode to joy
Peggle 2 is, as its name suggests, a sequel to PopCap’s incredibly popular mobile game, which sees you using a ball to clear a board of pegs in an almost pinball-esque fashion. This simple mechanic makes it incredibly easy to pick-up and play – but its accessibility also enables an addictive experience, meaning that it can be hard to...
Review Samurai Warriors 4 (PlayStation Vita)
More than a slice
Warriors titles have enjoyed a good run on Sony's underappreciated handheld, with ports of recent releases proving to be decent alternatives to their home console counterparts. At times, portable play suits the hack and slashers better, as you can jump in and out of battle at a moment's notice. The only consistent problem is that...
Review The Walking Dead: Season Two - A Telltale Games Series (PlayStation 4)
Once bitten, twice shy
The first season of Telltale Games’ story heavy zombie game, The Walking Dead, spooked the PlayStation 4 earlier this month, and we liked it very much – even if it didn't run that much smoother than its PlayStation 3 predecessor. Fortunately, The Walking Dead: Season Two is a far superior port. On previous generation...
Review Minecraft: PS Vita Edition (PlayStation Vita)
Brick slayer
So, let’s get the obvious gag out of the way: Microsoft has a better PlayStation Vita lineup than Sony this year. Following the Redmond-based organisation’s somewhat unexpected acquisition of Mojang last month, it was touch and go for all of a few minutes whether Minecraft: PS Vita Edition would ever release at all. Fortunately, it...
Review Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes - 2.0 Edition (PlayStation 4)
Infinity just got bigger
Disney was never going to let Activision control the NFC figurine market, and so last year it delivered Disney Infinity – a family friendly title featuring themed Playsets and a LittleBigPlanet-esque Toy Box mode. Disney Infinity 2.0 improves upon many aspects of the original, as well as bringing the franchise to the...
Review DriveClub (PlayStation 4)
How fast do you wanna go?
It’s been a long wait leading to a bumpy road for racing fans, but DriveClub is finally here. A curious lack of pre-release code and online connection issues has forced us to hold back our thoughts on Evolution Studios' cursed exclusive for a couple of weeks longer than we expected, but having now had a chance to see...
Review Samurai Warriors 4 (PlayStation 4)
Ronin around at the speed of sound
The Samurai Warriors franchise has always played second fiddle to sister series Dynasty Warriors, especially over here in the West. Where the latter is now up to its eighth main instalment, without counting any spin-offs, Samurai Warriors has only just reached its fourth incarnation. To the inexperienced, there...
Review The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series - The Complete First Season (PlayStation 4)
Long road ahead
Telltale Games had been around for quite some time before it deployed the first instalment in its episodic The Walking Dead tie-in way back in 2012. The Californian company had previously enjoyed varying levels of success with its Sam & Max series, but was still looking for a smash hit at the time. That changed when it introduced...
Review MXGP: The Official Motocross Game (PlayStation 4)
Scrubs up fine
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s the mentality that MotoGP maker Milestone appears to be adopting with MXGP: The Official Motocross Game following March’s somewhat unspectacular PlayStation 3 outing. Having been on the receiving end of a bit of a critical soiling, the Italian outfit has now opted to port a...
Review Jet Car Stunts (PlayStation 3)
Trials and error
Jet Car Stunts’ arrival on the PlayStation 3 and Vita marks the popular mobile game’s first foray onto consoles. Historically, adapted smartphone titles end up feeling a little, well, off when they’re converted to consoles – but there are exceptions. The big question, then, is whether Grip Games has managed to make True...
Review F1 2014 (PlayStation 3)
Stuck in the past
One of the hardest things to achieve in a yearly franchise is a hook to keep people coming back. It’s true of not only sports games, but the sports themselves – after all, no one wants to invest time into something that stays the same every year. For Formula 1, the answer has been the biggest shake-up in a generation, with new...
Review Pier Solar and the Great Architects (PlayStation 4)
Pierless
Pier Solar and the Great Architects (or Pier Solar HD) is an updated re-release of a game that launched on the Sega Mega Drive in 2010, and in truth, that tells you just about everything that you need to know. This unashamedly stodgy RPG trades in genre tropes with wild abandon, while brazenly attempting to tug at your nostalgia. And in...
Review NBA 2K15 (PlayStation 4)
Three-peat
There’s no question that NBA 2K has become the gold standard when it comes to basketball simulators, raising the bar year-after-year with great modes such as ‘My Career’ and ‘My GM’ that allows fans of not only the sport but also the league experience to fashion their own careers. Where this franchise has made its money, though,...
Review Don't Starve: Giant Edition (PlayStation Vita)
The mysterious beyond
Our review for roguelike survival title Don't Starve and its Reign of Giants expansion discussed the gaming equivalent of Marmite. With its unforgiving, trial-and-error gameplay, it will either leave you in utter frustration, or hook you like fellow crafting sim MineCraft. But with the title now available on the PlayStation...
Review Skylanders: Trap Team (PlayStation 4)
Money trap
Whether you’re a seven-year-old or a 30-year-old, there’s joy to be found in the Skylanders series. Whether it’s the cheesy humour and cute visuals, the simple puzzles and combat, the imaginative heroes and villains, or perhaps the detailed collectible figurines, this uber-popular property has you covered. And capturing your...
Review Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus (PlayStation Vita)
Well rounded
First impressions count for a lot in this fickle industry. Whether it's art style, design choices, or DLC policies, it's surprisingly easy to lose all interest in a game that doesn't initially match up to your personal preferences. For Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus, this is a big problem, as from the word go, you're bombarded by big,...
Review The Evil Within (PlayStation 4)
Clair de Loony
The Evil Within knows how to make you sweat. Tango Gameworks’ disgusting debut outing will leave you teetering on the precipice of failure with every twisted encounter, causing you to curse your shortage of resources or your character’s lack of superhuman strength. This is a game that, like its survival horror superiors, isn’t...
Review Dust: An Elysian Tail (PlayStation 4)
Elysian feels
You wake up in the middle of a field with no idea who you are, or what you’re doing. A totally foreign winged creature flitters about, its aggravatingly chipper voice flinging questions at you incessantly. The ornate sword at your feet can also talk, but thankfully its voice is mercifully sombre. It informs you that you need to go on...
Review Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (PlayStation 4)
Dim same
In a gaming sphere that currently adores sandbox and open world games, too few gamers would recognise the name Wei Shen. Sleeping Dogs' lead is a troubled character who makes the likes of Aiden Pearce seem annoyingly lacking in the personality department, and the aforementioned title that our chaotic cop comes from is often similarly...
Review Chariot (PlayStation 4)
Chariots of fire
Quebec-based Frima Studio is no stranger to indies on the PlayStation brand. For those who aren’t familiar, the developer made the entertainment Young Thor and A Space Shooter for Two Bucks for PlayStation Minis. It’s now crafted its very first PlayStation 4 title called Chariot – a physics-based, 2D platformer. In the game, a...
Review Fibbage: The Hilarious Bluffing Party Game (PlayStation 4)
Sweet little lies
If you’ve got a poker face like Lady GaGa, then Fibbage is for you. This is an intriguing bluffing game for two to eight players, which takes an interesting twist on the typical quiz genre, prompting you to enter ridiculous, silly, or downright rude pieces of trivia, with the aim being to convince your pals that they’re true...
Review Defense Grid 2 (PlayStation 4)
Ivory tower
Tower defence is a tricky genre to get right: it must strike the perfect balance between simplicity and challenge to avoid any dullness. Add in a home console controller that allows less inputs than a mouse and keyboard combination, and you have yourself a disaster waiting to happen. Defense Grid 2 seems to get the formula just right,...
Review Ar Nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star (PlayStation 3)
Lost in Space
In a world where songs can kill and chatting with semi-naked girls in bathtubs is part of a sacred ceremony, a religious war has split two factions in half. Propaganda and aggression have kept these two groups separate for long enough that neither realises one simple truth: that there are real people on both sides. Ar Nosurge: Ode to...
Review Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PlayStation 4)
That’s what we’re Tolkien about
It’s natural to be sceptical about licensed video games, and everyone has the right to feel this way about them, especially when a blockbuster-sized one comes around with a burden of expectations and hype to live up to, despite having a broad ancestry of mediocre releases. Of course, we’re referring to...
Review Alien: Isolation (PlayStation 4)
RIPley
Creative Assembly’s greatest challenge with Alien: Isolation was always going to be keeping the title’s gruesome game of cat and mouse interesting over the course of a complete campaign – and it would have succeeded, if it knew when to roll the credits. There’s always a cry from money conscious consumers for more content, but SEGA’s...
Review Slender: The Arrival (PlayStation 3)
A walk in the woods
The mythos of Slenderman shouldn’t be much of a mystery anymore. The abnormally tall creature with no discernible facial features and a rockin’ tuxedo has blown up in popularity these past couple of years. This is mostly due to popular web series Marble Hornets, but another thing that added to the creepy character’s...
Review Anomaly 2 (PlayStation 4)
Turning the tables
Tower defence is more of a niche genre for a particular subset of gamers. The slow pace and constant, strategic management of resources that characterises the games may sound like either a fun time or a monotonous drag to you, but something like Anomaly 2 is, er, an anomaly. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play as...
