22.
23.
Life is one long sand bunker.
Angry Birds Transformers Trailer Takes Us Back To The 80’s
I’ll be first to admit that a new addition to Rovio’s *Angry Birds* franchise is not something we’d usually rush to cover. However, when the trailer to *Angry Birds Transformers* looks like it’s ripped directly from a worn VHS and scored with NEW MUSIC FROM THE COMPOSER OF THE 1986 ANIMATED MOVIE, it’s hard to resist the masterful pulls of nostalgia. Watch!
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Mario Kart 8 Has Incoming DLC And It’s Brilliant
Because, if anyone’s going to show how to do DLC properly, it’s Nintendo. New Tracks! New characters! Yoshi colour variants…
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PlayStation Plus and Xbox Games With Gold: September’s Free Games
Want some new games? Of course you do. Check out September’s offerings for the two competing subscription services.
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Review: Crimsonland (PS Vita, also available on PS4 and PC)
As I got into bed last night I slipped my hand under the covers and something buzzed against it. I instinctively yanked my arm away while something black and striped and angry crawled out from underneath the duvet and headbutted the light in determined repetition. I wish I could say that my response was calm and measured, but it was more like Free Willy jumping out of the aquarium with a high-pitched yelp to match. It was dealt with.
Now, imagine that scenario but you’re in the middle of a swarm of *hundreds* of these bastards and all you have is an machine gun. Or replace the bugs with zombies, or lizard men, or tiny red demons, or mechanical spiders that split into *more* spiders, and more spiders, and *more* spiders, when you destroy them. Welcome to *Crimsonland*, where *Borderlands* meets *Earth Defense Force* in a bloodied frenzy.
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Ubisoft Gives Up On WiiU
Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, EVE Valkyrie, No Man’s Sky: Our Grand Return To Space
It’s a wonderful time. Finally, after years of neglect and half-assed mobile entries, the space game is back. *EVE Online*’s held the ground for a few years, but its systems and politics are incomprehensible to all but the most devout of players. These emerging titles, together with seemingly mandatory support for the Oculus Rift VR headset, hold the promise that’s been burning in the hearts of everyone who’s been raised on a diet of *Star Wars* and *Battlestar Galactica*: to sit in the cockpit and twirl through the stars in the hot bloom of a thousand enemy lasers.
Focus On Design: Medal Of Honor (2010)
*Focus On Design is a spotlight on the mechanics and structure of a chosen game and as such is filled with spoilers.*
There’s always been a problem when writing reviews: by their very nature, they’re unable to be objective. Every single human being on the planet perceives things differently, yet some choose to write this perception as if it were fact. This then bleeds outwards into review culture: scan for bulletpoints, scroll to the score, and allow our own personal opinion to be instantly coloured by that of another. Reviewers balance expectation against result, gorging on the game to complete it within the review window, and often a marketing agenda will shape these initial expectations in order to compete with a rival publisher’s title. This can create a tidal wave of negativity for any game that falls into such a trap.
Review: Nidhogg (PC)
If games are dancing, then *Nidhogg* is the Argentinian Tango. Grace and blood, attacks and parries, personal space being fiercely invaded time and time again. Swift moves sometimes sliding into long-held pauses with heartbeat percussion as underscore. The name for developer Messhof’s newly-released fencing-come-LSD-trip comes from a huge dragon featured in Norse mythology, whose primary interest was the chewing of both life-trees and on the bodies of the unfit for eternity.
And once this game has you, there couldn’t be a more apt title.
Simon’s Best Games And Movies Of The Year
It’s time to interrupt the endless barrage of Christmas calories
that I seem intent on shoving down my throat as quickly as possible
seriously, it’s like Gluttony Man in Se7en
but I don’t have my body tied down,
my arms are wilfully ladling anything alcoholic or sweet or tasty into my mouth
like it’s going out of fashion
to round up what I think have been my personal favourite games and movies of 2013.
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Great Moments Of The Generation: Vanquish’s Opening Hour Staples Jaw To Floor
Shinji Mikami is a man involved in redefinitions. He created the modern horror genre with *Resident Evil*. He defined third-person stylish action with *Devil May Cry*. He followed these by redefining action games with *Resident Evil 4* and made the funniest, most hardcore brawler ever in the sublime *God Hand*.
Then he took a look at one of the staples of Western game design – the third person cover shooter, popularised by *Gears Of War* – and casually made a game that bests all of them. That game, *Vanquish*, isn’t just a standout moment of the generation, but is also one of my all-time favourite games. And it’s really down to jawache.
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Great Moments Of The Generation: Leaps Of Faith In Mirror’s Edge
I had to go full circle with *Mirror’s Edge*. It took two returns and three purchases to finally become friends with DICE’s parkour adventure. First, there was love at the sight of the first trailer; blue skies and scrubbed white buildings as a playground for first-person running. Next, obsession with the demo, learning the quirks and characteristics to try and get the best time. But, then came the full game.
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Great Moments Of The Generation: The Trials Of Trials HD
Redlynx’s *Trials HD* burst onto the Xbox 360 in 2009, a shiny update of *Trials 2* that had been a PC favourite for a long time. The transition to console brought a few things to the table – a more playful attitude, perfect controls, and hundreds of Back buttons becoming suddenly spotlessly clean as impatient thumbs hammered them repeatedly.
For not only is *Trials HD* tense, brutal and gratifying, it’s also king of the *just-one-more-go*.
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Great Moments Of The Generation: Uncharted 2’s Jeep-Hopping
The extra power of the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation heralded an important development in gaming: the dreams of matching the cinematic narrative style so prevalent in Hollywood could finally be realised. In hindsight, this strictly linear approach had arguably more failures than successes – for every *Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare* there was a *HAZE*, every *Heavy Rain* matched by a *Turning Point*. It was clear that pure power wasn’t enough – it had to be utilised not only by expert coders, but also by writers and directors who understood the need for deep, compelling characters in an exciting story.
And the absolute peak of this new wave was Naughty Dog’s expertly constructed *Uncharted 2*.
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Great Moments Of The Generation: Tomb Raider’s “I’M COMING FOR ALL OF YOU”
Tomb Raider! How did that even happen? A burnt out franchise starring a bygone star of a gaming age where breasts (and size thereof) were equal to guns (and size thereof). The next in a long line of adventure games that were quickly paling under the harsh cinematic light of *Uncharted*. The ubiquitous *reboot* of a *beloved icon* that was going to be *darker* and *grittier*. Yaaaaaaawn. Time to roll over and stay down, Lara.
But developer Crystal Dynamics had a twin-prong plan; make Lara real, and tell a *bloody good story*. Continue reading “Great Moments Of The Generation: Tomb Raider’s “I’M COMING FOR ALL OF YOU””
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