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I’ll be honest with you. I’m a bit of a PlayStation fanboy. I’ve never owned an Xbox and I occasionally find myself viewing their exclusive titles with covetous eyes: Below was one of those titles. Like a P.E teacher I used to have, this game has a reputation of being incredibly hard and unforgiving. I am by no means a glutton for punishment kind of player, but I itched to pit myself against the perilous and mysterious depths of Below.
There are events in history that are synonymous with the technologies that made them possible. The Westward expansion and colonisation of America and the idea of Manifest Destiny that accompanied, was in reality only possible because of the presence of the railway.
I knew nothing about the title before it landed in my lap, but a bit of research showed that there was quite some interest in the game through its development. I was afforded the ability to play and review all four chapters.
DID SOMEBODY SAY SHARK?! Now if you are like me, I have always found sharks unbelievably fascinating; the great big beasts of the sea and the different types have always been a slight interest of mine. So, if you are a huge fan of the Jaws movies or even shark week then WELCOME TO MANEATER.
SpongeBob SquarePants is a household name in entertainment today, not only due to the television series but also due to the associated video games, with Battle for Bikini Bottom being the most illustrious title of the bunch. Released initially nearly seventeen years ago at the end of 2003 for Playstation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, and Game Boy Advance, the game has long-lived love lingering around to this day; therefore, publishers THQ Nordic and developers Purple Lamp Studios decided it would be keen to reinvent the game and bring it to modern consoles.
My journey of football games may be slightly different to most, but I started way back with Super Soccer on the SNES and Sensible Soccer on the Amiga 500. I progressed past maybe every football game ever made including ISS64, World-wide Soccer, Super Striker, Fifa and Pro Evolution Soccer.
Creativity can be a cruel and complicated mistress. All too often, a creator is their own harshest critic. I can believe that Picasso didn’t like his own paintings or that Kubrick wouldn’t watch his own films. The lifeblood that fuels creativity is the appreciation and admiration of others. Writers don’t write for themselves; they write for you; the reader. Fury Unleashed is a game that understands this far better than most.
Random Heroes: Gold Edition reminds me of a simpler time in gaming. When consoles used cartridges, control pads had wires and three buttons, and simple sprites were cutting edge. Times have changed, we’ve moved on, but some developers still look back to those early days for inspiration.
Being a late 90s baby, I was unfortunately just a little too late to be part of that generation who grew up on arcade games, waiting in line to slot their coin into the machine. But for those who remember that memory well, you may have heard of Missile Command. It has now made its way onto the Nintendo Switch in the form of Missile Command Recharged with some brand new features!
Every time I enter my profile on my Nintendo Switch, I get greeted by that message when my Pokémon Sword cartridge is inside. With that amount, Pokémon Sword is the third most played title in my library after Animal Crossing and Octopath Traveler.
Stop by the Drill Land amusement park where virtual thrills are themed with virtual drills. Namco’s classic arcade puzzler Mr. Driller returns in style with an HD remaster of 2002’s Mr. DRILLER DrillLand. If you’ve never heard of it, there’s good reason; this GameCube release never arrived on Western shores, until now.
The shootings are not bad for West of Dead, because after all, that’s where it has to stand out. What we have here is a twin-stick shooter with an aerial camera that stands out almost entirely from the frenzy that characterises this type of game. It’s not about moving very fast, shooting at full speed, and dodging thousands of enemy projectiles. On the contrary: West of Dead is a slow and methodical game.
The original Edna & Harvey was released in June of 2008 on PC, very much to mixed reviews. It started as a University Project in Germany; this was a video game very similar in style and animations as “Manic Mansion”, The Secret of Monkey Island series, Sam & Max hit the Road and Day of the Tentacle (all games I loved).
There is beauty to be found in boredom and a magic in the mundane. Unfortunately, in the case of Farmer’s Dynasty, it doesn’t matter how hard it tries, it can’t satiate the same sentiments. ‘More than just an agricultural simulation’ is the tagline, and whilst this may be true, it isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Every so often a game comes along that catches you unawares. The great thing about writing reviews is that sometimes when faced with a list of possible titles, you make a choice based on any number of criteria. This time around, it was the name.
In recent years, popular culture has shifted and I have found myself being horrifyingly referred to as a “retro hipster”. Admittedly, I do collect vintage action figures and retro games consoles. I have done since I was a child in the 90’s. I collect these things because they are tiny windows into the past, little reminders of youth and imagination that I can hold in my hand. Playing through Thy Sword invoked the same feelings of nostalgia and wonder in me.
A very fond memory of mine was choosing a Goosebumps book to read from the bookshelf in my classroom, during our designated reading time. In particular, the choose your own adventure ones. I loved being able to flip back and choose a different path if my story came to an abrupt end, being able to progress and eventually achieve the ‘good’ ending. Well, the Innsmouth Case is just this in game format.
I played and wrote about the first Coma game way back in early 2019. I loved the game. From the art style to the story and the way it unfolded. In fact, once I had finished my playthrough, I reached out to the developers at Devespresso Games and chatted with them for a little while.
If real-life hadn’t got in the way, I could have quite easily completed the single player ‘campaign’ of Star Wars Episode 1 Racer in a few sittings. Harkening back to the good ol’ days of the N64 (among other consoles), this re-release of a 20+ year old racing game has the potential to transport a player back to a simpler time: a time when 2-player local coop and late nights gathered around a TV were commonplace. The fact that I would have finished it in such a short space of time is indicative of how well it has recaptured that magic, but it is also representative of how easy it is.
I am a collector by nature, I think on some level we all are. I collect a wide variety of stuff; from first editions to retro action figures. We collect things without even knowing it, like personal triumphs or emotional scars. Collecting them all; completing the set, can be reassuring. It’s a way to chart progress, learn valuable lessons and take control of something in this crazy world. Book Of Demons called to the collector in me.