Games reviewed… eventually
I have a real soft spot for the hard-boiled grim detective trope in narratives. There’s something almost mystical about that image and its portrayals in games - from the cynical poetry of Max Payne’s dialogue to the jaded ultraviolence of Booker in Bioshock Infinite - tend to result in some of my favourite characters in … Continue reading The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Oh I have been looking forward to this one for a long time. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is just around the corner as of time of writing, and though I know I’m not terribly likely to play it on release - such a thing is the antithesis of the patient gamer ethos after all - it … Continue reading Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Games about quarantines, horrific viral epidemics, and people struggling to eke out a living in a crumbling, burning world kind of feel a lot less fantasy and a lot more uncomfortable these days. At least we haven’t had any vampires yet in real life. Vampyr (PC, PS4 [reviewed], Switch, Xbox One) Released Jun 2018 | … Continue reading Vampyr
I am a real sucker for a classic platformer. 3D platformers were a fixture in my youth, with games like Spyro, Crash, Sly Raccoon, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank all games that were major formational parts of my gaming growing up. Some less successful titles did also cross my path, such as Ty … Continue reading Ape Escape 2
If there’s one thing the labyrinthine lore of Kingdom Hearts needed, it’s a prequel. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PS3, PS4 [reviewed], PSP, Xbox One) Released Jan 2010 | Developed / Published: Square-Enix 10 years before Kingdom Hearts we join Terra, Ventus, and Aqua, three young students of the venerable Keyblade Master Eraqus. Terra and … Continue reading Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Some games ask deep and meaningful questions about their players. Questions like “How much control do players have?”, and “Is the violence we express in games merely a symptom of our own, inherently cruel human condition?” Abzu shames all of these petty inquiries. Instead, it asks a truly monumental question of us as players. “What … Continue reading Abzu
I knew I was going to enjoy Control right at the beginning. Our protagonist, Jesse Faden, enters the harsh, brutalist headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control late on one drab New York night. She steps through the doors and into a dull foyer, an abandoned desk ahead of her and a great seal adorning … Continue reading Control
I am a huge fan of Metal Gear Solid. I’d like to say I love all things Metal Gear, but in truth other than a dalliance with the wild hack-and-slash mayhem of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, I’ve not played much outside of the Solid games. When it comes to those games though, oh my word … Continue reading Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
You know what having all this time on lockdown means? That’s right, it’s time to play a lengthy JRPG! The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (PC, PS3, PS4 [reviewed], PS Vita) Released Sep 2013 | Developed: Nihon Falcom | Published: NIS/Marvelous I’d like to preface this review by saying that I know very … Continue reading The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
Well in fairness you can’t build a game set in Victorian London and not do something with the city’s most notorious serial killer now can you? Jack the Ripper (PC, PS4, Xbox One [reviewed]) Released Dec 2015 | Developed / Published: Ubisoft It is London, 1888 and 20 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed: … Continue reading Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate – Jack the Ripper
