Halloween has rolled round again, and so too has my annual commitment to move out of my comfort zone into the realm of horror. Unfortunately, horror games are tricky to get right, the majority falling back on the safe bet of gore and guns, with nothing more than a flickering light to add tension. Even…
Luftrausers completely surprised me. Anything approaching a bullet hell shooter usually bores me to tears; move up, move down, dodge bullets, shoot enemies, continue until game over. How can a genre that appears to thrive on repetition and brutal difficulty have any lasting appeal? That said, through some freak accident, I did end up playing…
Playing Divinity II, the phrase that kept cropping up in my mind is diamond in the rough. Usually, and somewhat unfairly, I wouldn’t give a game like Divinity II a second glance, assuming it would be just another fantasy RPG that I’ve played countless versions of already. By chance though, I did give it a second glance, and…
This always happens. Summer is here, the sun is out, the sky is blue, and I develop an insatiable hunger for horror games. Perhaps it’s for contrast, and I can only truly appreciate good weather after I’ve been shut up for hours in the dark with something that wants me dead. Recently there’s been a…
Convincing someone that Persona 4 Golden is an incredible game can be difficult. When a friend asked what you do in the game, I replied ‘Right now I’m in drama class, then I’m going to study when I get home as the exams are next week, but I want to make time to hang out…
Why aren’t there more superpower sandbox games? Everyone, at some point in their life, has wanted the power to fly, to get away from the mess going on below, and I’m sure I’m not the only one thinks being able to lift a car over their head would be pretty cool. Decent ones come along…
Tombi! (or Tomba!, depending on who you ask) is a hidden gem buried deep in gaming’s past. I first played it back in the days of demo discs that came bundled with magazines, replaying the half hour taster of Tombi! to the point that I can recite it from memory, all because I could never…
I can safely say The Real Texas is unlike anything I’ve played before. Looking at the GOG.com store page, it is apparently a cross between Zelda-style puzzles and Ultima-style inventory and conversation trees. I can’t speak for Ultima, but Zelda is far from my mind when I’m doing my thing in Strange, Texas. Longing for a holiday away…
Oddworld games and I go way back. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee was one of the first titles I owned for my shiny new Playstation One, introducing me to one of the most fascinating worlds I’ve had the pleasure to visit, an unrivalled possession mechanic, and a long list of gruesome deaths. True to its name, it’s a game…
Sometimes I forget the beauty of simplicity. Playing games like Dragon Age: Origins, I enjoy the vast number of variations dialogue choices lead you to, or putting together meticulously selected battle tactics primed for maximum efficiency. Then I play a game like Rymdkapsel, which shows me that stripping away all that unnecessary weight can allow a game to reach…
Trawling through my big bag o’ games, the ones I look out for are those that offer the most bang for your buck. We want quality, but we also want longevity. Call of Duty is a blast for six hours, but unless you’re a multiplayer fanatic, that’s a lot of money for not a lot of…
Google The Room and you’ll come across one of the best so-bad-it’s-good films ever made. Seriously, you should check it out. When you’re done with that, you should also check out Fireproof Games’ The Room on Android and iOS devices, which, controversially, is good by virtue of being a decent game. Let me explain. Upon starting a new game, The…
The Monster Hunter games hold a special place in my heart. As a child I’d watch Jurassic Park with gleeful anticipation of the T-Rex’s ear-splitting roar. I’d imagine a world in which humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time, each of them wary of the other as a dangerous predator. Meeting the T-Rex in the first Tomb…
I’ve been on a Castlevania kick recently, proving my susceptibility to marketing in the wake of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2‘s release. Telling me a game has Metroidvania elements (which, unfortunately, the new Castlevania games seem to lack) is a sure-fire way to grab my attention, whether it’s the Batman Arkham games, Guacamelee or, obviously, any 2D Metroid or Castlevania. I tell you this to…
I see that look on your face. You’re skeptical, I understand. A movie tie-in game? You’ve been there before; for every Chronicles of Riddick there’s a, well, all the other ones. People avoid movie tie-ins like the plague for a good reason. The Amazing Spider-Man deserves a second look before you file it away in…
