For a child of the NES and Master System era like me, it feels like the Gauntlet franchise has been around forever. With the tough-as-nails co-operative arcade beat-em-up coming back into vogue with the rise of indie gaming it was only a matter of time before Gauntlet returned. And return it has with Gauntlet: Slayer…
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Hacknet is a largely text-based game about the perils and quiet victories that come with being a real world hacker. Adelaide developer Team Fractal Alligator (aka Matt Trobianni) has created a game that deals in mental jousts and proves that you can still make a text-based adventure in 2015 that is thrilling and addictive.
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There isn’t a whole lot to explain when it comes to Rocket League. When people ask what it is I tell them that it’s soccer with cars. This much is true, because Rocket League’s unrelenting ability to entertain doesn’t require a complex foundation of expansive gameplay elements. Instead it revels in its simplicity and predilection…
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Gaming historians got pumped when Rare announced an anthology comprising many of their best games at E3 this year. The Rare Replay Collection has arrived and offers something of an industry time capsule, cataloguing the rise and fall of one of gaming history’s most celebrated developers.
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In September 2014, developers The Astronauts released a short but rich game called The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on Steam. I never got to play it but it received positive reviews and was praised for its visuals and unique storytelling. This year the title received an overhaul courtesy of the Unreal 4 engine and was…
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What can I say about Journey that hasn’t been said a million times already? The little game that could, Journey was one of the PlayStation 3’s most pleasant surprises. Thatgamecompany’s unexpected masterpiece has now been ported to the PlayStation 4 with a few choice upgrades to entice new players into its beautiful, undulating world and…
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Just as he did five years ago, Kratos, the patron saint of temper tantrums that would make a two-year-old go “Dude, relax”, has embarked on his latest unstoppable butchery spree and, as usual, anything that gets in his way – from animals to the gods themselves – will receive a profound thrashing.
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A Nest of Vipers is the fifth and penultimate episode of Telltale’s Game of Thrones adventure game and uses its time wisely, placing all four of the disaster-prone Forrester children where they need to be in preparation for the finale.
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Milestone only released their last motorcycle racer, Ride, back in May. A scant few months later and the developer is dropping their second racing sim for the year in MotoGP 15. Despite being the closest thing MotoGP fans have to a Gran Turismo of their own, MotoGP 15 still feels more evolutionary than revolutionary.
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Batman: Arkham Knight is the fourth game in the Batman: Arkham video game series and the third by series creator Rocksteady Studios. The little-known British developer took the gaming industry by surprise with Batman: Arkham Asylum back in 2009. Its innovative combat, smart design and reverent treatment of the Dark Knight left fans gobsmacked. Rocksteady…
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To say TT Games’ ever-expanding stable of Lego-branded video games has been successful is to undersell just how wildly popular their games have been and continue to be. Their stubborn inclusion of couch co-op coupled with clever leveraging of beloved film properties have created a new kind of movie tie-in game. Lego Jurassic World continues…
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The final update to Capcom’s wildly popular fighter, Ultra Street Fighter IV, has arrived on PlayStation 4 bringing with it every last scrap of content from previous iterations. Sony claims that this is the definitive version of the Street Fighter IV experience. It isn’t, but neither is it the complete catastrophe die-hard fans have been…
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Nintendo are taking a bit of a different tack with Splatoon. The venerable video game publisher’s first new IP since Pikminand Animal Crossing debuted back in 2001, Splatoon sees Nintendo create the sort of game no-one ever expected to see from them – a multiplayer shooter. Splatoon revolves around Inklings, childlike hybrids who are part…
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It’s been a year since Bethesda released the PC version of their massively multiplayer online role-player The Elder Scrolls Online. After promising a console version was forthcoming, and then suffering a number of delays, The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited has finally arrived on current-gen consoles. It’s often pretty hard to gauge the success of…
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The newest episode of Telltale’s Tales from the Borderlands might be it’s funniest one yet. “Catch a Ride” picks up moments after the conclusion of Episode 2 and sees Rhys and Fiona’s long con becoming more and more perilous with every new hostile encounter, while adding something entirely new to the Borderlands universe – genuine…
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The newest episode of Telltale’s Tales from the Borderlands might be it’s funniest one yet. “Catch a Ride” picks up moments after the conclusion of Episode 2 and sees Rhys and Fiona’s long con becoming more and more perilous with every new hostile encounter, while adding something entirely new to the Borderlands universe – genuine…
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It’s been a year since Bethesda released the PC version of their massively multiplayer online role player <i>The Elder Scrolls Online</i>. After promising a console version would materialise, and then suffering a number of delays, <i>The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited</i> has finally arrived on current-gen consoles. It’s often pretty hard to gauge the success…
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Nintendo are taking a bit of a different tack with <i>Splatoon</i>. The venerable video game publisher’s first new IP since <i>Pikmin</i> and <i>Animal Crossing</i> debuted back in 2001, <i>Splatoon</i> sees Nintendo create the sort of game no-one ever expected to see from them – a multiplayer shooter. <i>Splatoon</i> revolves around Inklings, childlike hybrids who…
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When I heard I was getting to review the new game from Intelligent Systems, I got pretty excited. I’m a fan of Intelligent’s previous work, the <i>Advance Wars</i> and <i>Fire Emblem</i> games and I imagined that <i>Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.</i> would continue the developer’s history of smart design. Sadly, <i>Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.</i> has some serious problems…
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If you aren’t especially into the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre, Blizzard Entertainment is determined to change your mind. I’ve played both of the biggest MOBAs in the world – League of Legends and DOTA 2 – and neither of them took. I’ve tried Smite, I even gave the ill-fated DC Comics MOBA Infinite…
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If you aren’t especially into MOBAs then Blizzard’s latest game, <i>Heroes of the Storm</i>, really wants to change your mind. I’ve played both of the biggest MOBAs in the world – <i>League of Legends</i> and <i>DOTA 2</I> – at different stages and neither of them took. I’ve tried <i>Smite</i>, I even gave the ill-fated DC…
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With only a few days notice before release, Telltale Games have launched the fourth episode of their ongoing <i>Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series</i> onto Steam with other platforms to follow in the coming days. The story of the permanently embattled children of House Forrester continues as small victories have larger consequences, the past…
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<i>The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt</i> is finally here. Years of waiting, delays and many, many trailers with glimpses of what Geralt of Rivia’s next adventure would look like have built fan hype to fever pitch. The question everyone seems to be asking now is: can CD Projekt Red deliver a game that achieves its lofty…
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When Machinegames released <i>Wolfenstein: The New Order</i> in 2014, it took the industry by surprise. A near-perfect blend of shooter mechanics both classic and modern, with a bizarre, pulpy story that cheerfully embraced the ridiculousness of its aging premise, <i>The New Order</i> was a sorely needed shot in the arm for modern-day single-player FPS design….
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<i>Project CARS</i> is that rare sort of game that boasts a healthy ambition in the run up to its release and then actually manages to deliver on it. It gives itself to you, completely, the moment you fire it up and encourages you to play it your way. This, alone, sets it so far apart…
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It’s been a while since a strategy game really grabbed me. The last one that really sparked my interest was Sid Meier’s Civilisation: Beyond Earth which wrapped me tightly in its addictive embrace and refused to let go for weeks. I had a similar reaction to Age of Wonders III’s new expansion Eternal Lords.
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Following a rather painful 16-month delay following one of the biggest narrative reveals in recent gaming history, the second act of Double Fine’s point-and-click adventure Broken Age is upon us. Have Double Fine been able to leap over the crazy high bar they set for themselves with the first installment? When last we saw our…
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Zombies have become the sort of thing you either love or hate. They’re ubiquitous these days and nowhere more so than in video games. I’ve cleaved my way through an unthinkable amount of shambling video game corpses in my time but State of Decay still managed to come as something of a pleasant surprise to…
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Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China is a 2.5D stealth/action side-scroller downloadable title that introduces a new female assassin and a reshuffling of the familiar Assassin’s Creed sneaky-stabby gameplay mechanics and serves as the first chapter in a new Assassin’s Creed series. But is it worthy of the Assassin’s Creed mantle?
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It’s been an exceedingly long wait for PC gamers who were looking forward to getting their hands on Grand Theft Auto V. It finally released, after a nearly two-year wait that was punctuated by delays, with a few new features that allow the PC master race to really make the most of their time in…
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