24 public written reviews
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It's simple really, you just don't make any mistakes. Be perfect, but set your targets lower. With gigantic games that are full of ambition they can never hope to deliver on, something as simple as a propeller- propelled kiwi, flying through some nifty levels to some fun music is really cathartic. It just feels good to play, the controls and motion is smooth, the area's are fun even if their not very unique, but…
I won't lie to you, I didn't have a great time playing Elden Ring. I'd just come off of playing Dark Souls 3 and the finale of that series; fighting Slave Knight Gael in an ash strewn desert as thunderous lightning bolts and dark red face-like entities flew from his cape as he pounded his sword into the ground where I was with a frankly epic soundtrack, was pretty much one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. I was…
Normally a second release of a game on next generation systems allows for the developers to not only make the obvious technical improvements but also fix the serious bugs the original version of the game had. Scholar Of The First Sin... feels like a downgrade. It's a upgrade in the way the framerate is better and there are some "improved" graphics in some areas, but it's still a really washed out game. Where my…
Read the full review Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin
Animal Crossing New Horizons is my first game in the series after Wild World which was a game that I really didn't put a lot of time into. It was cute yeah, but I like gritty things, I like Metal Gear Solid, Dark Souls and horror games and the cute outfits they have in the Able Sister's store.... Okay, so I got the game because it was cute. The game begins rather earnestly like a camping trip with cub scout leader…
Once upon a time back in the mists of 2018 I had never beaten a Dark Souls game, sure I'd played them though. I'd tried the broken Prepare to Die Edition of Dark Souls on PC, beat the Asylum Demon and kinda gave up after that (I do that a lot.) I'd even played Dark Souls 2 before on PS3, but I just couldn't get the hang of it, somewhere in my peanut brain I was CONVINCED that deep down that this washed-out pain…
The love for the PS1 era is seemingly as strong now as it was back when the PS1 was the most relevant Playstation console and nowadays it's look seems especially popular with the indie horror scene, with so many games being released in that iconic blocky 3D style. But Murder House goes a little further with it's inspirations being Silent Hill, Resident Evil and VHS Tapes. I have to admit, I turned the VHS filters…
You really can't put those words next to each other, "wholesome" and "horror", but that's exactly what Mundaun achieves. You play as Curdin, a young man who's returned to the valley of his youth in the Swiss Alps, named "Mundaun" (hey the game title!) His return isn't sadly for nostalgic purposes, his grandfather has died and now he's returning to the valley against the wishes of the valley's vicar. Curdin suspect's…
Hey mum, look at me, I'm John Woo! *slomo dives through a window and shoots 3 guys*. It's winter in New York and Max Payne has nothing left to lose and has decided Eff it, he's taking on the criminal underworld on his own, leading him through mansion's, railway station's, seedy hotel's, the streets, rooftops and secret science labs of New York and there's nothing that can stop him anymore. His black leather jacket…
So Factorio looks nerdy. It's one of those games where someone tells you the premise and you're like... "And this is supposed to be fun? How is this is a game?" except the roles are reversed and I'm explaining the premise to someone else and it's after 112 hours of playing it. It lures you in with it's enticing pixel art sprites and the promise of building a giant factory on an alien world, you start the game and it…
Hollow was on sale for £2 and I still felt as though I'd been ripped off. It started with a long monologue and poorly mixed audio before the game began and the first thing that's apparent is the graphics. I played the Nintendo Switch version and the graphics... are glaring, it's so high contrast that the darkness is complete, but the flashlight causes reflections on every single surface and then glares against your…
There's something about HP Lovecraft's literary work that inspires people to make videogames based on it and whilst the 100 year page-turner is still a compelling read today, this particular incarnation of yet another Cthuhlu game won't really stick with anyone. It doesn't commit to one thing and rather seems to have waded itself into every aspect of Lovecraftian horror and mastered none of them. The story feels…
To understand why Slender: The Arrival is such a disappointing let down, you have to grasp why The Eight Pages was such a success. Slender: The Eight Pages took off in popularity because like a slew of well made horror games it put loads into the atmosphere, made your player character feel useless, made your environment confusing and spooky and finally it didn't throw jump-scares in your face. The music was…
I really expected nothing from Haunting Ground, a game I'd never heard of and a really cheap buy from ebay but it was a request from a comment on a video I made to review the game so I bought it. Most of the other horror games I'd been asked to review were lacklustre or frustrating and my expectations were really low... until I got to playing it. It started with this typical 2000's cutscene featuring some fractured…
Blair Witch as a series hasn't had the smoothest run, I can't talk about the previous games but the last two films, the remake and the sequel were both pretty messy and it feels like this game is sort of the same. When I learnt that the Blair Witch game was being made by Bloober team... my fears were pretty much confirmed. I don't dislike Bloober teams games but their approach to horror games is very similar since…
Being armed with nothing but a camera was a stroke of genius, whilst later games tell you to look away from the horror lest it envelop you, Fatal Frame tells you to stare right at it and snap a few shots... lest it envelop you. Walking through a dark, dilapidated & certainly haunted mansion for a brother that should logically either be dead or home with you by now is so tried and true one of the Mario brothers did…
It's kind weird to see Alone in the Dark go and use elements from Resident Evil, a franchise that itself used elements from the original Alone in the Dark, but here we are. This is easily one of my favourite horror games ever but objectively it's far from perfect. The game follows either Edward Carnby or Aline Cedrac as they travel to Shadow Island, one to find the murderer of his dead partner and the other to…
To give you some reference I played Outlast & it's DLC when they were released and it was at the time one of the best horror games I'd ever played, the design took the chases from Amnesia: The Dark Descent, nightvision from found footage horror films, layered that on a base of uncertainty by setting it in an psychiatric hospital and sprinkled on gore. Running from various NPC's down tight corridors and witnessing…
When I got this as a kid I thought it was the most boring possible game I could be given, a hospital management sim? Sheesh, what next, paper folding simulator? Anyway one sunny afternoon I gave the game a go and before I knew it I was entranced. It's like watching an ant colony with the patients and doctors sprites walking around doing their jobs until you get a notification saying one wants to be a videogame…
It seems that bringing back the times of King Arthur and all that jazz have always been popular but for Excalibur 2555AD it seems like they couldn't decide if they wanted to set it in the time of King Arthur or set it in the time of Captain Kirk. From my extremely basic gist on a story, that doesn't make any sense anyway, you play as Beth; apprentice to Merlin who is sent forward in time by the famous wizard to…
Easily one of my favourite strategy/god games on PC, Populous is the story of a young Shaman's journey into godhood. You control the shaman and the her followers and learn to use spells and new technologies to wipe out other shamans who's usually have the advantage in a series of differing scenarios. The gameplay revolves around organising a settlement, gaining knowledge, training your followers, building an army…
War. War never changes, it's always the same thing. Everyone just wants more swill, never satisfied with the swill they have at home. Hogs of War see's you battling your way across the totally real and not made up continent of Saustrilasia, fighting all manner of blatantly evil enemy pigs in a variety of scenarios. Most of which are voiced by the late Rik Mayall. The gameplay is basically Worms but put into the…
Penumbra Black Plague picks right up off where Overture left off and see's protagonist Phillip kidnapped, stripped of his weapons (a thing Frictional Games will adapt into all future titles) and locked in a room in an underground facility deep below the tundra in Greenland. Primarily a horror experience Black Plague excels in it's immersion with another one of my favourite mechanics in the Frictional Games…
So Fluid is a strange concept to me, though any console based music production "game" is especially odd. Fluid is strange in the way it's presented, you control a dolphin and swim around in the ocean until you get your first theme. The first one you get is "Peace", this transports you to a psychedelic FMV backdrop whilst the preset musical composition of "Peace" plays in the background, you can control the dolphin…
Well here we are, I'm 22 years late but it's time to review V2000, having played the game on Playstation and PC I can say with confidence that if you want to beat this game throw the Playstation version out because the slow down will make that game unplayable. From what I understood from the opening cutscene is that a meteor landed and brought with it the virus, that's spread and turned bugs into giant mutant bugs…
