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.
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 »
Blink and you'll miss it
By Jim Rossignol on March 21st, 2012.
The lack of fanfare surrounding the release of Trapdoor’s Warp seems a little odd. Barely anyone seems to have heard of it. That said, EA do seem to be making a habit of not doing too much to hype their digital titles, and seem to be letting these games speak for themselves. Perhaps that okay, too, because games like Warp speak the language of Oh There Goes Cash From My Pocket Again.
Here’s Wot I Think.
Read the rest of this entry »
Pros and Caens
By Tim Stone on March 15th, 2012.
Rocked by mortar blasts and raked by small-arms fire, the heavily-laden Bren Gun Carrier comes barrelling down the track towards us. Any second I’m expecting it to explode like a Roman candle, or lurch, mortally wounded, into a ditch, but somehow it keeps coming. A cheer goes up as it finally bounces into our shrapnel-strewn farmyard and the driver – a dusty sergeant major from the 9th Cameronians – clambers out. “I believe you gentlemen require 6pdr ammo and PIAT bombs. Private Stone?” When I step forward, the visitor tosses me a battered canvas bag. “What’s this, Sir?”. “It’s your old passion for Combat Mission, laddie. Don’t you recognise it?”
Don't Fear The Reaper
By Jim Rossignol on March 6th, 2012.
I have avoided any plot-specific spoilers in this review, and reading it will not reveal any details about how the story unfolds or concludes. Clearly if you want to avoid knowing anything at all about the game, or seeing images from it, then look away now. Otherwise…
It’s done. Commander Shepard has taken the final steps in the grand science fiction tale of the Mass Effects. Now there is only the aftermath, the discussion, the opinions, the DLC, and the inevitable retrospectives. Here’s Wot I Think.
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave A Light On For Me
By John Walker on February 29th, 2012.
What can I do to convince you to play 1000 Amps? The unenigmatic screenshots of black and white levels made of dull tiles are not going to do it. That you’ve never heard of it, nor its developer, Brandon Brizzi’s The Odd Man Out, means you’ve no previous attachment or interest. And if I describe it to you, I still fear it won’t convince you. I’ll have to think of something.
The past is another country
By RPS on February 27th, 2012.
Alec and Adam lurked on opposite sides of the supermarket car park, lying on their bellies, waiting, watching. Each knew the other was out there somewhere – but where? Slowly, they crawled forwards, occasionally hiding behind a trolley rack or starting as an orange plastic bag fluttered past in the gentle evening breeze. Suddenly, Alec was caught in the light of a cash machine, and Adam wasted no time in seizing the opportunity. He reached to his side, and brought up his specially-silenced keyboard. ‘Meer!’ he shouted. ‘You can’t run any longer. It’s too late for you now. It’s time. Time to talk about what we each made of Jagged Alliance: Back In Action.‘ Alec froze, hesistated. He thought about making a break for the pool of darkness behind the wheelie bins, but finally he accepted that he could be fugitive no longer. ‘Alright, Smith, you’ve got a deal! But keep those hands where I can see them.’
Read the rest of this entry »
