Chew on this
By John Walker on April 25th, 2012.
Telltale’s first episode of their adaptation of The Walking Dead has a lot of work to do. After the terrible Jurassic Park provided an exclamation point at the end of a series of increasingly disappointing releases, reputations need rescuing here. So can the zombie thriller adventure redeem the adventure veterans? I’ve decided Wot I Think.
The Sworce Is Strong
By Kieron Gillen on April 20th, 2012.
Let’s be prosaic to begin with. Sword & Sworcery EP is the result of a collaboration between Superbrothers, CAPY and musician Jim Guthrie. It’s converted lovingly from its initial Apple phoney-paddy-thing format last year, where it was very well thought of. It’s a graphic adventure which stresses atmosphere and style over traditional puzzles. I like it. You probably will too.
I’m being prosaic, because I’m just about to go off on a 500-word micro-essay tangent. I’ll get back to Sword & Sworcery EP eventually. Trust me. And if you’re interested in the game, you better get used to that. You’re in journey-over-destination territory.
Read the rest of this entry »
Save The Trees
By John Walker on April 19th, 2012.
Amanita’s Botanicula is out in one hour, and you’re going to like it very, very much. But, er, we recommend your hold off on purchasing it until 6pm. All the pics in this review can be clicked on for full-size versions, which if you’ve any sense will be gracing your desktop immediately. I’ve played it through and fallen in love, and you can find out why via the magical process of my saying Wot I Think:
Old School Is The New New School
By John Walker on April 18th, 2012.
Spiderweb Software have one intention: to keep making 90s-style RPGs, and to keep making them good. Avernum: Escape From The Pit is their latest, technically the seventh game in the Avernum series (although presented with a fresh start), the 20th game from the developers, and the first of their games I’ve played. So from that perspective, and despite having spent so many hours still only a fraction of the way in, here’s Wot I Think:
All that war and you only scored one? You guys suck...
By Richard Cobbett on April 17th, 2012.
Tribes: Ascend is finally out of beta and ready to welcome all-comers in free-to-play jetpack combat. Is it enough to be the series’ true successor though, or just another casualty of its own reputation? We sent Richard screaming through the air to find out.
I Don't Mean To Bug You
By John Walker on April 11th, 2012.
We’ve seen inside the strange head of Jay “Zeebarf” Ziebarth before, with The Visitor, and its follow-up, Massacre At Camp Happy. Along with Steve “EntropicOrder” Castro (who needs a nickname when you’ve got “Castro”?), they are ClickShake Games, and they’ve just put out the first commercial episode of their Reemus series, The Ballads Of Reemus: When The Bed Bites. It’s rather good. Here’s Wot I Think.
I could never be a mother
By Alec Meer on April 6th, 2012.
I’ve been celebrating Easter by watching hundreds of cute ickle yellow chicks die horribly. And in the game. By which I mean Kyle Pulver’s avian-abusing puzzle-platformer Offspring Fling.
Fifteen or twenty years ago, this would have been on a magazine cover. Several magazine covers, in fact. People would have forked out £40 or £50 for it. It would have been the creation of sizeable team, with a corporation’s annual finances resting on its shoulders. In 2012, a game of Offspring Fling’s cleverness and completeness is $7.99, made by one man and snuck onto the internet with little-to-no fanfare. This isn’t news to anyone, I realise, but occasionally I glance back at how things have changed over the last few years and shake my head in happy disbelief.
Offspring Fling, then, is a puzzle platformer of the sort that used to abound in the early 90s, of the sort where you’re there to rescue the helpless alongside dodging danger yourself. You’re in the feather frame of a mother-bird, collecting her scattered chicks from around cartoon levels occupied by platforms and assorted vicious wildlife then fleeing to the exit.
Read the rest of this entry »
Sooner or later, everybody clicks
By Adam Smith on April 5th, 2012.
My wrestling credentials are top notch. I may not be able to fight my way out of a paper bag or open a bag of crisps, but given that my every relationship relies on the keeping of kayfabe, I’m more in tune with the mental processes of the mountainous men who grapple in the squared circle than an onlooker might think. Given that I also have an aptitude for both pointing and clicking, I am the perfect man to tell you wot I think of Da New Guys: Day of the Jackass.
Remastering The Dungeons
By John Walker on April 4th, 2012.
Almost Human’s Legend Of Grimrock comes out a week today. I’ve finished it, and am here to tell you why it’s bloody brilliant. Sometimes that’s just what a review is for. Don’t worry – we’ll remind you next Wednesday that it’s released, as we have more coverage planned. But now, here’s Wot I Think.
You've got to hand it to him
By Alec Meer on March 30th, 2012.
Rayman: Origins Oranges, the latter-day reboot of the Rayman platform series, made its way to PC yesterday, which was happy news for anyone who picked up on the surprising critical buzz around last year’s console versions. I’ve been bounding through the singleplayer, though have yet to try the co-op multiplayer mode. Here = words.
I’ve pinballed from outright glee to making a pathetic whimpering noise like a dog locked inside a cupboard while playing the resolutely 2D reboot of venerable platformer Rayman, but the glee always returns. It is, especially in its initial zones, a purely joyful experience, showering its player with visual and interactive gifts like a weirdo French Santa. While the visual tomfoolery never ceases – angry mutant oranges, giant forks with the demeanour of a scolding fishwife – it’s nonetheless a precision jumping game that isn’t afraid to inflict suffering.
Read the rest of this entry »
"Monsters? They look like monsters to you?"
By Adam Smith on March 27th, 2012.
Lone Survivor is a superb one-man horror show that has a lovely cat sub-plot, the best soundtrack I’ve heard so far this year and an entirely unexpected sense of humour. It’s not the kind of scary that will frighten the toupée off you, but it’s the kind that might just make you think, reflect and then shudder a little. It might even make you all misty-eyed and forlorn. Here’s wot I think.
