Apocalypse (Starring Bruce Willis) | PS1 | Review
Apocalypse starring Bruce Willis. I know what you’re thinking: “it’s a licensed game based off of one of the many movies Willis starred in around the creative boom in the late 90s” but actually the only thing Activision licensed for this game is the likeness & voice of the man himself. When I was a kid & some of my favourite films were the likes of Twelve Monkeys & The Fifth Element I always assumed one day I’d get to see this awesome, non-existent movie. The gloomy & dark cyberpunk atmosphere of the game certainly took inspiration from some of Willis’s best works.
KURI KURI MIX | PS2 | Nothing Like Dark Souls...
Kuri Kuri Mix is an interesting take on the co-op puzzle platformer genre made by From Software....yes, that From Software. Join us as we play through the story mode & go head to head in this PS2 hidden gem!
Yakuza 6 | PS4 | Review
If there's one good thing that has come out of the current generation of gaming it's the huge surge of people realising what they've been missing all these years in the Yakuza series. Ironic then that just as Yakuza explodes into bigger success than ever before, the final chapter in main character Kiryu’s story wraps up. On the other hand, the brand new ‘Dragon Engine’ & promise of future games makes Yakuza 6 both a fresh start & a final curtain. Does it pull it off? Let's find out!
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom | PS4 | Review
Level 5 took a break from milking their cash cow Yo Kai Watch on the baby DS to do what, In the past, they’ve always done best: put square Enix to shame with another huge JRPG that outright rips off mechanics from a Nintendo game. Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a sequel to the sublime Studio Ghibli collaboration...but Studio Ghibli have unfortunately not contributed this time.
The Legend of Dragoon | PS1 | Review
It was the turn of the millennium & the golden age of Japanese RPGs was still in full swing. Final Fantasy was still enjoying its place at the top but many Playstation fans of the time remember The Legend of Dragoon to be one of the biggest contenders to the throne. Having never played the game myself I felt it was time to go back and see if this game by Sony’s own Japan Studio could hold a candle to the much loved Squaresoft.
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Review
Translating the Dissidia Final Fantasy games that originated on the PSP system to the PS4 was never going to be easy. The original & its sequel Dissidia Duodecim were some of the most feature rich games, not just on a handheld but possibly of all time. But now that the series has been given more of an online multiplayer focus in an era of microtransactions & incomplete games, Square Enix & developer Team Ninja have had more ways than ever to mess this one up...but did they?
Puzzle Dimension Review | Successor to Kula World
On Puzzle Dimension’s official website it states that “There have been people asking for a puzzle game like Kula World for modern hardware” and it’s clear that this game hopes to be the answer to that. Directed by Kula World developer Jesper Rudberg, this relatively unknown game came onto my radar through researching the cult PS1 title but now with its spiritual predecessor fresh in my mind, it’s time to find out if Puzzle Dimension was worth asking for.
Kula World Review | PS1
Kula World is a rare Playstation 1 game by an obscure developer called Game Design Sweden. Nevertheless, Kula World seems a very well known game amongst Playstation fans, probably due to its widely played demo published in several playstation magazine demo discs. But how is the game beyond that demo & is Kula World deserving of its cult status?
Kingdom Hearts III: Should You Be Worried?
Kingdom Hearts, what a unique video game franchise. Despite only having two numbered games in the series so far, Kingdom Hearts has a mind boggling amount of entries across an equally mind boggling amount of platforms many of which are essential to understanding the overarching plot. Kingdom Hearts 2.8 is the latest piece of the puzzle and all of it is meant to contextualise and precede the highly anticipated Kingdom Hearts III.....It’s also a load of old bollocks!
South Park: The Fractured but Whole | Review
South Park: The Fractured but Whole, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Stick of Truth is here at last to coincide with season 21 of the South Park TV series. A lot has happened in the humble town of South Park since The Stick of Truth: PC Principal took over South Park Elementary, SodoSopa brought gentrification to the town and the Canadian Devil Beelzaboot released his freemium Terrence & Phillip game to exploit children for money. So, has South Park: The Fractured but Whole changed and matured along with the show and how has Ubisoft inevitably managed to mess it up?
Silent Hill | PS1 | Review
It's generally agreed upon that Silent Hill 2 is the definitive fan favourite of the Silent Hill series. Whilst I am still undecided on which game is my favourite, after replaying the original game there were many little details about it which I felt were worth covering in a Retro Perspective review.
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Beta | First Impressions
Square Enix have allowed me access to the closed beta of Dissidia Final Fantasy NT for the PS4 so here are some thoughts and first impressions from a long time Dissidia fan.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice | Review
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is the latest game from English studio Ninja Theory. The studio is perhaps best known for developing the absolutely fantastic DMC: Devil May Cry which dragged the hit and miss Devil May Cry series out of the disappointment of Devil May Cry 4 and the general awfulness of the series’ plot to tell a genuinely intriguing story through beautiful & surreal imagery. DMC was excellent and it wasn’t even their best game, but as much as I love talking about the absolute fact of the excellence of that game, it’s now time to talk about Hellblade and how it might possibly be even better than DMC: Devil May Cry...which is a really great game by the way.
Beyond Good & Evil | PS2 | Review
You know, Ubisoft wasn’t always the god-awful company it is today, shovelling out the same old garbage year upon year. Ubisoft has been responsible for a lot of great games but perhaps most notable of all, is Beyond Good & Evil due to it being both critically acclaimed and a commercial failure. So let’s take a look back at Ubisoft’s cult classic.
South Park | PS1 | The Retro Perspective
Tom joins me once again to enjoy some tasty member berries. This time we play Acclaim's South Park first person shooter from 1999. That's when games were great! Video game journalism was just as bad though....
Resident Evil's Fall From Grace Part 3: Resident Evil 6
Previously in the series we took a look at Resident Evil 4 & Resident Evil 5 but nothing could have prepared us for Capcom's descent in to the pure madness that is Resident Evil 6. For the very first time we play the game and give our thoughts on one of the worst games ever created. Everything from the animations & textures to the characters & inventory, we lay it all bare in this in depth review. Resident Evil 6 truly is one of the markers of the decline in quality of Japanese games and things only seem to be getting worse. Whether by creative bankruptcy, laziness or pure greed, this game series has fallen from a true icon of the gaming industry to a broken, zombie corpse, shell of its former self. At the very least Resident Evil 6 is in fact the scariest game of all time...scary how horrifyingly bad it is.
Enderal | Skyrim Mod | Review
The Skyrim Creation Kit, possibly the greatest video game creation tool ever that isn't designed for that specific purpose. Through it, modders have developed whole systems within Skyrim such as real time strategy, setlement building, tower defense, sex slave simulator...you name it, someone has modded it in to Skyrim. And now, developers SureAI, the same people who brought us Nehrim for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion have created an entirely new game using Skyrim's 'creation engine.'
Rise of the Tomb Raider | Review
If you enjoyed Crystal Dynamics' 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider series then I have some good news, some bad news & some worse news concerning Rise of the Tomb Raider. The good news is that this sequel is the exact same game in almost every conceivable way. The bad news, is that it's the exact same game in almost every conceivable way. The worse news is that all the things that are different about Rise of the Tomb Raider are significantly worse than what's come before.
Demon's Crest | The Retro Perspective
Demon's Crest, a Ghosts & Goblins spinoff and a a game literally everyone should play. Because in the age when indie platformers are being thrown out left, right and centre and a "retro aesthetic" is seen as an instant positive as these indies attempt to be throwbacks to a better era. It takes us a trip back to play an absolute masterpiece (Demon's Crest) to realise that not many of these modern games have actually lived up to their influences. But enough cynicism, let's chat about Demon's Crest for the SNES!
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness | Review
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is an unfinished game. Not in the way you might have heard before; as a complete product that is 20 hours long (far too short for a JRPG of this type, and in the Star Ocean series to boot) and not in the way that Drakengard 3 was unfinished; that game only needed a few bug fixes, a bit of optimisation and a budget to speak of....No.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a completely unfinished game.