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Feature: Welcome to the baby factory
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s been placed in charge of a tiny prehistoric tribe in deadly Stone Age survival management game, Cro Magnon. Manhome isn’t much of a village, just a ring of knackered tents that provides shelter for a small tribe of hunter-gatherers. The latest fad is fire, and a small…
Feature: More ore
MoonQuest was definitely lying to me. It assured me that what I was looking at was a horse, but I’ve seen a few horses before and I’m pretty sure none of them looked like alien llama-giraffe-monsters. The name tag hung there, daring me to question it. OK, I thought, I’ll suspend my disbelief. I jumped on the supposed horse, wondering if I might be able…
Feature: Aliens like Plunkbat too
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s getting hunted down by streamers in Islands of Nyne: Battle Royale. It's a sci-fi FPS in a lovely alien theme park that also happens to be a massive murder arena full of angry supersoldiers. Islands of Nyne bills itself as a battle royale for the competitive crowd…
Feature: Never start with a mage
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s back on the roguelikes with Wayward Souls. It looks like Secret of Mana, but it’s meaner. It might have been a mistake to play as the mage. Wayward Souls’ dungeons promise death at the hands, claws and slimey appendages of countless beasties, but my first killer was…
Feature: Can YOU survive the tedium?
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s been kicked off the HMS Horace and left stranded on Seeds of Resilience’s deserted island. He’s found a new job though: managing a colony of fellow castaways. Probably more game journalists. The sea’s lousy with them. I’ve been staring at the mostly static screen - an island…
Feature: The Call of the Penguins
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s investigating eldritch goings on in action-RPG Lovecraft’s Untold Stories. Never heard of him. Just when I thought Lovecraft had been mined to death, Lovecraft’s Untold Stories comes along and I find myself protecting giant penguins and blowing up pink blobs of toxic goo. You remember the giant…
Feature: Hide and seek
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s hauling cargo across pirate-infested star systems in space sandbox Objects in Space. It’s so quiet I can hear the dog breathing as he naps in the hallway. I’ve turned the in-game music player off, killed the power to every component on the ship and I’m hurtling through…
Feature: Lost in the woods
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser's off to the 18th century to hunt a forest full of nasty monsters in horror FPS Witch Hunt. He's a very brave boy. Find a bunch of trees and you’ll probably discover a folktale or ghost story set under their boughs. Years ago, I lived right on…
Feature: Scuffle of the Titans
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser has reluctantly returned to the grimdark confines of the 41st millennium. Yes, it's more Warhammer 40K. Our latest helping of gothic sci-fi comes courtesy of Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus. It looks like Warhammer 40K meets BattleTech. Sadly it is not Warhammer 40K meets BattleTech. Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus might…
Feature: "I consider it a brilliant waste of time"
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s learning to be a shipwright in airborne MMO, Worlds Adrift. Brendy looked at the 'pre-early access' version last year and had a good time with its always-there grappling hook and quick ship design, but fell foul of a few rough edges. As Bossa's DIY skyboats affair has…
Feature: Sticks and stones... and ghosts
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s moonlighting as a grouchy stall owner in Medieval Shopkeeper Simulator, a first-person fantasy retail romp. With the chaos of E3 fast approaching, I’m looking for a more sedate racket. No more of this videogame malarky, I’m going to sell rocks and sticks to the impoverished serfs of…
Feature: Plunkshark
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser's running away from sea monsters and hunting down galleons in nautical battle royale, Maelstrom. I wasn’t a happy pirate. I wasn’t any kind of pirate, really; not with only a series of failed fights and a major lack of booty to my name. It was all a…
Feature: Outta lurk
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s looking into what lurks below in It Lurks Below. What is It? What does It want? Is It responsible for all my missing underwear? I’m pretty fond of Terraria, and even more so of Starbound, so It Lurks Below piqued my interest with only a couple of…
Feature: Trust no one
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser's pretending to be an NPC, badly, in the asymmetric game of spies and snipers, SpyParty. How do you get blood out of a tux? Nerves already shot, I extract myself from the conversation I’m using as cover and head towards the golden statue, my prize. This plush…
Feature: Not radical enough
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s trying to win prizes and also senselessly fight strangers in '80s battle royale game show, Radical Heights. With Lawbreakers being left to fend for itself after failing to seduce enough players, Boss Key Productions has pivoted to something that’s undeniably more popular: battle royales. There’s been quite…
Feature: Shipwreck
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser’s setting off in a rickety boat in Make Sail. It looks a bit like Wind Waker, but you get to build your own vessel. Sadly, it doesn't talk. Once a year, usually around the time of Gamescom, I slink off. I stop writing, disconnect from Twitter and…
Feature: Frankensaurus
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser's lost in PixArk, the Minecraft-inspired Ark: Survival Evolved spin-off. It's colourful, whimsical and it's made him extremely grumpy. PixArk feels like the result of an algorithm designed to pick bits from popular games and Frankenstein them into something new. This is nothing new - trying to capture…
Feature: Crowd pleaser
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser is trying to put on a good show in chilly Canadian battle royale romp, Darwin Project. Are you not entertained? I want every game to be good, but I confess that I was ready to hate Darwin Project. See, it’s unashamedly a game for streamers and their…
Feature: Flight of the Rescue Gull
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser's trying to run a successful ocean rescue service in Stormworks: Build and Rescue by building the greatest helicopter ever invented. I don't get seasick. I get sea hungover, but that's really my own fault. The wave of nausea that slammed into me as I piloted my tiny…
Feature: The most dangerous game
Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser's living out his dream of being one of the handsome boys from Supernatural by hunting down demonic beasties in Crytek's multiplayer shooter, Hunt: Showdown. Hunt: Showdown never has any silence to break. It’s always noisy. Every groan, gurgle and scream, even the rustling of leaves -- they…
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