Gaming
Stuart Houghton
So... what the hell is Miitomo? When Nintendo announced it was moving into mobile apps, the smart money seemed to be on iOS and/or Android ports of choice titles from the company’s deeply-stacked library of classic games. Maybe a mobile Super Mario Bros conversion, a phone-sized dose of Super Metroid or the chance to re-live The Legend Of Zelda on your iPhone.But no. Nintendo has released Miitomo - a title that is sorta, kinda, possibly a game but in fact is something closer to a social network. In some ways, it is a sort of spiritual successor to the old Everybody Votes opinion poll channel Read more ...
Steve O'Rourke
The Dark Souls series is a franchise based on steep learning curves, uncompromising enemies, frustration, repetition and reward. It doesn’t suffer fools, it has an unwelcoming personality, and it’s neither funny nor always fun to play.A game that isn’t always fun to play! Now there’s a unique selling point. So why have the two previous instalments been so highly regarded? Why do action RPG fans talk about the trilogy with hushed reverence and knowing looks that infer taming of this unforgiving beast is a rare badge of honour to be worn with pride? Because the payoff, the overwhelming sense of Read more ...
Steve O'Rourke
Sleeper cells get a bad press. The undercover units that seamlessly weave themselves into the fabric of society are normally associated with espionage and terrorism. But what if the sleepers were actually guardians of all that we hold dear? What if they represented the very last defence when order dissolves into chaos and anarchy replaces law?This is the central question at the base of a towering Tom Clancy premise. It’s an ambitious end-of-days narrative about a global pandemic that has brought about the collapse of civilised society, resulting in deep cover agents being activated as a last Read more ...
Stuart Houghton
There is a glut of Match-4 games on every app store and gaming platform worth anything, and a few besides. Just what could this game add to a genre already packed to the rafters with identikit puzzlers and dominated by the all-conquering behemoth of Candy Crush Saga?When Wooga announced Futurama: Game of Drones, it seemed like just another cash-in. Take a well-worn game mechanic and file the serial numbers off, then liberally apply branding in an attempt to fleece fans of the Futurama franchise via sneaky in-app purchases, at least until the reviews roll in and only the die-hard fans of Read more ...
Steve O'Rourke
Far Cry Primal (★★★)Far Cry, one of the best-loved and longest running shoot’em-up games has taken a step back in time, a 10,000-year moonwalk to be exact. Forget about automatic weapons and fancy explosives, instead, get to grips with spears, bows and bumble bee bombs in this caveman "shooter" with a difference.Many of the trademark Far Cry elements remain. It’s still open-world warfare in a tropical setting, you’re still governed by an objective-filled map with core missions and a plethora of side quests and there’s still heaps of wild animals. But in Far Cry Primal you can tame and train Read more ...
Stuart Houghton
How difficult should a game be? How fine should the line be between frustration and reward? Crashlands is a game designed to err on the more comfortable side of that line, steadfastly refusing to punish you too severely for making mistakes while still attempting to offer a challenge.A colourful and laid-back antidote to the grim meathook survival sim genre, Crashlands is partly an exercise in resource management and crafting but the game is more concerned with helping you enjoy its story than in making you starve to death for want of a scavenged mushroom.That’s not to say 'Crashlands' is easy Read more ...
Steve O'Rourke
The ties that bind, the mystery of the human condition and the emotional connections that keep us trussed to our nearest and dearest. Visualise love and what do you see? In the eyes of the Unravel development team it’s a little red thread, the same thread that lies at the heart of this endearing puzzle platform game.Yarny is the pint-sized, wool-based protagonist, an impish figure derived entirely from a single thread of the soft stuff. He’s big on mending broken bonds and repairing the love that can fray over time, and not so hot on multi-hit combos and finishing moves. But when your world Read more ...
Stuart Houghton
The Room 3 is the latest in Fireproof Games' series of tactile puzzle games that invite you to twist, prod and rotate on-screen objects to reveal hidden secrets and activate devious mechanisms. It presents you with intriguing objects and devices that have concealed switches, hidden panels and features that you must find and manipulate in order to progress. Think a Fabergé egg, but with a superhuman level of detail and cunning in its construction.A typical room (don't let the title fool you, there are several) might contain an antique radio that must be tuned in a certain way, using a tool you Read more ...
Steve O'Rourke
Good interactive stories have to walk a game design tightrope. Too little hands-on action and you’re just watching an animated movie. Too much "gaming" and there’s not enough room for the narrative to reach out and grab you. That job is made all the harder when the story is drip-fed over the course of a year. Will the fan base stay loyal? Will newcomers be put off by joining the party late? Gamers can be a fickle bunch. Both The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones pulled it off, but the heavyweight Hollywood duo had massively popular licenses to bolster the offering.Life is Strange relies on no Read more ...
Steve O'Rourke
When a discussion about ‘What was the best game of 2015?" stretches through a whole evening in the pub you know that: (a) you need to stop socialising with games journalists, and (b) 2015 has been a corker of a year in videogames.Crystal balls make great paperweights, as the saying goes, and while just a year ago many games critics were lamenting the lack of original titles in the 2015 release list, few could have predicted the breadth of quality that has punctuated the calendar. It has been a year filled with high-achieving, ambitious games alongside shoestring indie gems. And the good news Read more ...
Steve O'Rourke
Strap yourself into the wingsuit of freedom fighter Rico Rodriguez and launch into an explosive open world game boasting four hundred square miles of beautiful Mediterranean islands to explore. Your mission is to liberate your homeland, the fictional island republic of Medici that’s crumbling under the brutal rule of General Di Ravello. To aid your quest you have access to a massive arsenal of weapons, gadgets and vehicles, combined with the freedom to explore your environment from seabed to sky.Just Cause 3 (★★★★) is a sandbox game where you choose the best course of action. Follow the story Read more ...
Stuart Houghton
Fallout 4 has proven to be one of the year's biggest games launches. A sprawling role-playing game with a huge open world full of danger and decaying beauty, it casts you in the role of the Sole Survivor of an experimental cryogenic vault that has preserved you for two centuries while the outside world has slowly begun to recover from nuclear war. With just a loyal stray called Dogmeat for company, you must venture forth to find your missing child and face your destiny.The post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is vividly brought to life by Bethesda Softworks' relatively small team of artists, Read more ...