Sawing And Dropping Them
By John Walker on May 2nd, 2013.
On some levels, so much effort must have gone into Mars: War Logs. Not into the name, clearly – that’s an act of self-sabotage that can only have emerged as the result of some unconscious perspicacity as to the game they’d made. But it’s a big, long RPG, albeit one made of tight near-identical corridors, and they don’t just appear. And that’s just a bit sad.
Punched Out
By Nathan Grayson on May 1st, 2013.
Zeno Clash 2 is the sequel I always wished would come to fruition, but never dared hope for. I mean, if you look at the Call of Duties or even Grand Theft Autos of the world, there’s no real intrigue amongst all the announcement glitz and glamour. We already know roughly what we’re in for. But the original Zeno Clash opened this swirling, cream-colored Pandora’s Box of possibility, only to slam it shut – nearly taking our fingertips in the process – after a mere few hours. It was so weird and alien and gleefully unafraid to just do its own thing. But in the modern gaming world, that also often translates to “it’ll sell 12 copies and confuse even typically adventurous gamers and live on only in the hearts of its most fervent disciples.” Not usually the stuff sequels are made of. Against all odds, however, Zeno Clash did quite well for itself, and Zeno Clash 2 was born. But is the first-person brawling oddity all it’s thwacked (and biffed and zotted) up to be? Here’s wot I think.
Spangles, etc.
By John Walker on April 30th, 2013.
Do you remember that there were decades previously to this one? Far Cry 3 seems to think it does, with the appearance of an expandalone spoof of the 1980s, Blood Dragon. How does this mini-adventure hold up? Here’s wot I think:
A4d
By John Walker on April 27th, 2013.
Ever wanted to play poker with Claptrap, Sam & Max, Brock from The Venture Bros. and Ash from The Evil Dead, with GLaDOS as your dealer? It’s at the least an interesting prospect. But how does it pan out as a game? Telltale found out with Poker Night 2. Here’s wot I think:
You have to build the rope
By Alec Meer on April 26th, 2013.
Don’t Starve is an isometric 2D survival-roleplaying game, set in a randomly-generated fantasy world of threats and food shortages, and from the studio behind Mark of the Ninja. You have to not starve.
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Please Try To Remember That Zombies Are A Metaphor
By Jim Rossignol on April 24th, 2013.
Dead Island: Riptide isn’t just one of the most tastefully marketed games of 2013, it’s also the semi-sequel to one of the best-selling games of the last couple of years. Yes, Dead Island was an absolute smash hit, because everyone wants an open-world zombie survival game. Or wanted, at least. Hmm.
Here’s wot I think.
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What's Yours Is Sublime
By Jim Rossignol on April 24th, 2013.
Monaco won the IGF in 2010 with a compelling prototype and a handsome smile. In 2013 it’s being released as a sprawling, brilliantly-composed heist game that is poised, like a ludological cat-burglar, to steal our imaginations. The years of polish show in layers of features and detail, while the core idea that won the IGF – of single or multiplayer replayable heists – continues to produce gold on every playthrough.
This is one of the most important independent games this year, and might well end up being one of the best-loved games of the decade.
Don't you dare compare it to Myst.
By John Walker on April 23rd, 2013.
Richard Perrin’s atmospheric puzzle explorer Kairo reaches Steam tomorrow, so now seemed a good moment to give it a proper Wot I Think. So, er, here’s wot I think:
Heart-stopping
By Jim Rossignol on April 19th, 2013.
As a games blogger, the question I am most often asked is: “When are you going to go back to school so that you can get a real job, like an accountant or a doctor?” To which I reply: “Look, Mum, Dad, writing about videogames is a real job now. I’ve paid my rent unaided for at least several years.” Then I show them games like Surgeon Simulator 2013 and ask why I would want to be a real anything, when I can be a simulated everything?
Yeah, that’s my philosophy degree talking. Paying for itself, right there.
Whale of a time
By Alec Meer on April 18th, 2013.
The Knife of Dunwall is the second piece of extra content for Arkane’s splendid, if slightly cold, Dishonored, and the first which includes new missions proper. It came out a few days ago, I played it a few hours ago, and then I wrote this.
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Family Matters
By Nathan Grayson on April 18th, 2013.
Papo & Yo is, at first glance, a puzzle platformer about a young boy and his best pal, a multi-ton, bulbous bellied pink gum wad rhino dog. Same old, same old, right? But beneath its sunny, wildly imaginative exterior is the bleak tale of creator Vander Caballero, whose alcoholic father physically abused him and his family when he was a child. And so, when Monster eats a frog (read: METAPHOR), he stops helping you solve puzzles and starts lobbing fiery punches at your tiny cranium. That relationship, then, lies at the heart of Papo & Yo, weaving an extremely personal thread through both story and gameplay mechanics. But does it bind them together or leave them straining at the seams? Here’s wot I think.
