Review Posted 17|Jun by Shane K. Firth
Amicia and
Hugo de Rune must travel across plague ravaged fourteenth century France to escape the clutches of the Inquisition and find a way to help Hugo overcome a mysterious illness. Along the way they will find allies and cross new enemies relentless in their search for the de Rune families secrets.
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Review Posted 11|Dec by Shane K. Firth
Slave to the rhythm
Persona 5 has one of the greatest soundtracks, not just in video games, but in anything that's a strong place to start for a rhythm game. That being said, I usually avoid rhythm games like the plague - turns out I just needed one with music in it that I already love.
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Review Posted 10|Dec by James Farley
Handheld Godliness
The
Civilization series has been part of my life since the PC release of the second game way back in 1996. It was partly responsible for all the problems I had with revising for exams as the urge to have just one more turn was always too much. My obsession with the game became so great that I used to arrange LAN games with friends and wed sometimes play for over 24 hours, forming alliances, breaking them and trying to ensure world domination for our respective nations. To this day I would maintain that the game taught me more about the key development points of humanity than I ever absorbed in school. I learned not only the importance of irrigation of land but also why nations must carefully balance scientific research with the accumulation of wealth in order to stay ahead of their rivals.
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Review Posted 5|Dec by James Farley
A mega drive down memory lane
I remember the first time I saw a
SEGA Mega Drive. It was a thing of beauty compared to the blocky, but functional,
SEGA Master System that I had won in a Rice Crispies competition. It would be several years until I would be able to own one for myself. I still have very fond memories of the machine, coming home from school with friends and playing two-player games like
Streets of Rage and
T2: The Arcade Game.
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Review Posted 4|Dec by Shane K. Firth
Feel the burn
Something strange happened when I started the
Spyro Reignited Trilogy - before the game started I couldnt remember anything from the original, but as soon as the intro finished I was off! Almost on auto-pilot, I swept through the first world as if some unseen hand was guiding my way.
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Review Posted 19|Nov by Rob Wood
Bald, beautiful and bigger than ever
The board game
Mouse Trap has a lot to answer for. For the climax of the game to work perfectly, it required careful manipulation of a man on a diving board, tightening of elastic bands, careful positioning of a metal ball (usually lost under a sofa within the first week after Christmas) and surgeon-like dexterity to balance the cage. The payoff to all this handiwork was extremely satisfying in those pre-video game days but once youd seen the trap in action, it was never quite as exciting again.
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Review Posted 1|Nov by James Farley
A narrowing of generalists
TellTale Games is dead and once again I am worried about the future of narrative driven games. Sure, there has been a general increase in quality of story in games over the last five years, but purely narrative-based games once again seem to be under threat.
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Review Posted 26|Oct by Shane K. Firth
Let slip the squads of war
After last years Valkyria Revolution left a sour taste in my mouth I despaired for the future of the franchise. Now comes a proper sequel to the beloved strategic JRPG in the form of Valkyria Chronicles 4. But is it enough to right this franchises course?
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Review Posted 21|Sep by James Farley
Now that the Yakuza series appears to have found a reasonably dedicated following outside of Japan Sega seems intent on releasing remastered versions of the game at a steady pace. It's only a few months ago that I finished playing the last entry in the series, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.
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Review Posted 17|Sep by Rob Wood
No flies on this game
The problems that face many super heroes usually include creating a formula that can stop a deadly virus or deciding how to block that volcano which threatens to wipe out a small country or which fist to punch a giant world-destroying robot with. Most cape-wearing godlike beings aren't too concerned about how to scrape together next month's rent or considering why they can't balance their hero lifestyle and keep a girlfriend. You don't often see Superman struggling with sleep deprivation and failing a chemistry exam. These are just the sorts of situations that appear regularly in
Marvel's Spider-Man and Peter Parker's (aka
The Amazing Spider-Man) humanity and real world issues are the exact reasons I personally love the character and why he has remained a favourite for many comic fans for the last sixty-five years.
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Review Posted 26|Jul by David Turner
A dad's-eye view
I've managed to avoid the world of LEGO games up until now.
Not that I've been trying to. I've always loved the idea of them. A gentle parody of a beloved series is right up my street. It's just none of them have been based on a franchise that could justify me sitting down and spending time with a kids game.
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Review Posted 19|Jul by James Farley
Couch co-op games have recently begun to come back in style. For a while it felt like they were gone for good as developers began to focus almost entirely on the online experience. However, a new breed of independent developers are filling the gap left by the bigger publishers with experiences that can only be played by people in the same room. 'Henchman and Goon's' Pode reminds me to a great extent of a rather forgotten PS2 game released early in the console's cycle, Kuri Kuri Mix. Both games focus on navigating platforms cooperatively whilst solving puzzles. However, Pode's design is significantly more forgiving, although its puzzles are rather more esoteric.
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Review Posted 21|Jun by Shane K. Firth
There's an actual Cities of Gold reference in here
A sock carelessly forgotten under the bed - that is how Forgotton Anne's unforgettable story begins. The world is a busy place and we lose possessions all the time, but what happens to those things? That shoe you saw in the middle of the road that isn't there the next time you walk by? Let me introduce you to The Realm.
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Review Posted 14|Jun by David Turner
Overwatch on wheels
Not many games instantly grab my attention in an overwhelmingly positive way. The last game to do so was Titanfall. I played it at an Expo and it was as if everything that the game was trying to do poured straight into my head.
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Feature Posted 8|Jun by Shane K. Firth
But he thinks it's pretty neat anyway
As someone who reviews video games I face a unique conundrum - what do I do if I suck at a game I'm reviewing? If I was playing it for my own amusement I could just give up and move on, but that doesn't cut it when you have copy to get out the door.
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