Gaming
Helen K Parker
In a world populated by magical sprites, fairies, critters and (every now and then) a killer robot, a mute amnesiac sprite called Mi is about to have a really bad day. Her society - built below the wreckage of a long obliterated humanity - has selected her to carry out a ritual which legend claims will avert the end of the world. She must seek out the six bells of fate and ring them before an ancient clock runs out.Knytt Underground is the third part of the Knytt trilogy from indie developer Nifflas. Combining the two different action dynamics developed in Knytt and Within a Deep Forest, Read more ...
Helen K Parker
I’m sure we can all remember the joys of making collages and tissue-box houses/fortresses as children. And we all remember plasticine, right? Innocent childhood art materials that kept us busy while our parents and teachers put their feet up. Even as adults the most disturbing collages we’ve seen are those presented by Monty Python, and the most disturbing plasticine creation we’ve seen is Morph.But Jack King Spooner is no Tony Hart, and in his newly released sequel to his original freeware game Will You Ever Return? - appropriately named Will You Ever Return? 2 – is the proof that an Read more ...
Helen K Parker
In the world of gaming there are many pioneers, but it is those uninhibited by the constraints of the uber-publishers who have the true freedom to experiment, excel and evolve their art form. It is from the PC diaspora that the most innovative games are coming, where game-makers are limited only by their imaginations. And RAM. And processor speed. And graphics cards.Out this month is one of these innovations. Perspective describes itself as an "experimental first-person perception puzzle game" which utilises two different dimensions in order to create and play around with – you guessed it - Read more ...
Helen K Parker
Dreading a Christmas of teenaged tantrums and drunken debates? Keep the hell-brood occupied with one of the best five releases of the year, listed in ascending order of preference.5. SLEEPING DOGSIf you’ve ever dreamed of roundhouse-kicking your way through the streets of Hong Kong like a souped-up Bruce Lee, and dropping freeflow martial arts moves even Jackie Chan couldn’t choreograph, then this is the game for you. The massively detailed open world, combined with cinematic – if a little over-extended – cut scenes give you the sense you are embroiled in an interactive John Woo movie. In a Read more ...
Helen K Parker
Thomas was alone. And then, he wasn’t. As story-time opening lines go, this one is on a par with "once upon a time" in its simplicity. Simplicity, however, can be misleading. Our eponymous hero Thomas may in fact look like a simple red rectangle with the ability to move and jump, but thanks to a mysterious "event" within the computer programme he is part of, he has also been imbued with sentience. And he is not alone.Described by creator Mike Bithell as a minimalist game about friendship and jumping and floating and bouncing and anti-gravity, the aim of this avant-garde game is to manoeuvre Read more ...
Helen K Parker
If there’s one thing that can ruin the tropical thrill-seeking holiday of a lifetime, it’s got to be waking up, bound and gagged, in the cage of a nasty organisation of modern day pirates who trade in the ransom and murder of yuppie tourists. And so the nightmare begins for young Jason Brody, as he attempts to escape, track down and rescue the rest of his captive yuppie friends and family who are scattered around the mysterious and beautiful Rook Islands.But if you thought fighting pirates in a tropical paradise was going to be all yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, think again. Under the command Read more ...
Helen K Parker
Kurt has fallen asleep on the space-bus on the way home from school. To make matters worse, he has been transported to a strange planet where the buses don’t run anymore, trapped in the apathetic thrall of an evil man at the heart of a terrible conspiracy. To escape the planet you must first travel through its dangerous levels and fight the truly bizarre super-foes sent to prevent you from breaking the evil spell. Bet you’re wishing you forgot your bus pass, eh Kurt?This is a real treat of a platform game, with a beautiful aesthetic and a real sense of humour. A twilight haze overlays Read more ...
Helen K Parker
The year is 2557 and the Master Chief is back. After four years MIA, the Covenant aliens are on the rampage again and it’s up to Spartan 117 and his faithful but depleting AI Cortana to protect humanity from the new and almighty threat of an ancient evil. Sound familiar? That’s because it is. The old chestnut of alien weapons wiping out humanity unless you can shoot your way to the control panel first is rehashed here with so little reinvention you can certainly accuse the developers of being loyal to the original.The game looks and feels exceptional, combat is smooth, Promethean enemies are Read more ...
Helen K Parker
There’s a horse, a chicken and an owl in your living room. You don’t know them, but they sure as hell remember you, and they’ve got some questions that need to be answered. Questions about what you did in Miami in 1989.It’s a great setup to a game which takes its neo-pulp heritage seriously, and its pixelated arcade violence to the extreme. You play a hired killer cutting a bloody swathe through the Miami underworld at the behest of innocuous phone messages. These jobs are as innocent as babysitting, or attending a medical check-up; however, once you’ve driven (in your DeLorean!) to the Read more ...
Helen K Parker
Something very bad is going to happen on 21 December 2012. The end of the world is nigh, and the only way to stop it is to find the key to the site of an ancient civilisation before the evil Knights Templar get there first. A key whose whereabouts can only be located in the genetic memory of one Desmond Miles, who finds himself once again strapped into the magical dentist's chair that is the Animus.Reliving the lives of Desmond’s ancient ancestors, we begin (in what can only be described as a MASSIVE prologue sequence) by following gentleman/killer Haytham Kenway on his journey from 18th- Read more ...
Helen K Parker
I have been fortunate indeed this week, having been given a sneaky peek at the preview build of Wormwood Studio's and Wadjet Eye Games’ upcoming point-and-click Primordia. And from what my time with the game has shown me, it’s going to be an absolute beauty.As we all know, life as an independent engineering robot can be trying at times. Just when you – Horatio Nullbuilt version 5 – have finished fixing one part of your wrecked ship, a marauding laserbot with a serious personality-chip malfunction melts through your hull and steals your power core. If that wasn’t bad enough, your ship, the Read more ...
Helen K Parker
You're on the roof of an abandoned apartment building, eyeing a couple of thugs that stand between you and a kidnapped shopkeeper. Do you (a) rain merry death down upon them via a stylish blade-pistol combo, (b) snipe from afar with your crossbow and incendiary bolts, or (c) possess a nearby rat and attempt to find a crack in one of the walls? After much experimenting, and much reloading, I finally settled on (d): drop a plague-ridden corpse at the guards' very feet, silently knocking them out with sleep bolts as they separate to discover the body's origin.Dishonored is a game about choice. I Read more ...