Richard Dobson

...and now for something completely different. I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Keith Stuart, games editor for The Guardian, to discuss his recent book, ‘A Boy Made of Blocks’. It’s a tale based on an experience close to Keith’s heart; a father and his autistic son attempting to bond over playing Minecraft together. He had just finished a book signing at the Yorkshire Games Festival after which I was able to grab him for a chat

As someone who was born with only 12 days remaining in the 1980’s, I missed out on the boom that was Saturday morning cartoons. Growing up, I still had them sandwiched in between SM:TV Live or Dick & Dom in da Bungalow but by then, the whole premise of them being shown on a Saturday morning was in decline. Saturday Morning RPG is an attempt to jump-start the nostalgia of waking up at 7am to run downstairs, switch on the family CRT and, what would now be referred to as, binge watch cartoons until your parents woke up. All presented in an episodic RPG adventure.

Skyrim is ace and with the recent Special Edition, the team at Bethesda have been able to make the almost limitless game even more limitless with the inclusion of the mods on consoles. It’s worth noting that loading up any mod at all will prevent achievements being unlocked, but when you read through our list, you will be too interested in what else is out there to completely change the game to care.

As this was my first experience with any Farming Simulator title, I figured the best place to start would be the tutorial. In the top left corner is a panel that shows the controls available to you at that time. What caught my eye was if I held the ‘Y’ button I was able to crouch. Was this a sign that Farming Simulator had a stealth element to it? Maybe a particularly nervous cow produced great milk, but was elusive? I went on a quest to see what else this game could offer.

If, like me, you grew up in the 90s, the games you more than likely remember will be 3D platformers. They were everywhere around the turn of the millennium, and responsible for some of our fondest memories growing up (The original Spyro trilogy still has a place in my heart). But then, they just disappeared. Or rather, stopped being as good before stopping altogether. And as a result, there is a big void in today’s gaming landscape of decent 3D platformers. Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is a 3D platformer. Is it the one to fill the gap?

What do you get if you cross Kula World with an isometric view, add in a design that would be easiest to describe as a futuristic Waterworld, churn it out for a mobile platform then port it over to the Xbox One? One Hundred Ways of course!

Henry is in his mid-40’s and looking for some company and/or an escape after his wife developed early-onset dementia aged just 41. Delilah is also in her mid-40’s who, after having her heart broken 10 years ago, is struggling to come to terms with meeting new people and spends most of her days communicating via walkie-talkie. These may sound like (badly) written lonely hearts column pieces, but these two people and their problems are the basis for the game, Firewatch.

“Please press ‘A’ to play”. Never before have I been greeted like this by a game. Usually it’s simply “Press ‘A’ to start” or even more abruptly, “Press ‘A’”. Star Hammer greets you this far more polite way after the usual developer and publisher logo screens, and it’s almost like it’s giving you a choice as to whether you would like to play or not. Sadly though, pressing A at all may have been the wrong choice.

Normally I would open this review with a bit of a back-story to the game and the developer. But Pac-Man is as iconic as they come, having been around since 1980, and even recognised by people who wouldn’t associate themselves with video games. In essence, gaming wouldn’t be the same without Pac-Man, just like the BBC won’t be the same without The Great British Bake Off. Too soon?

Nuka-World is the sixth and final piece of DLC for Fallout 4. Or the third if you are only counting story-based DLC. Or just the second if you are inclined to not count the Automatron DLC. Whatever it is though, the Fallout 4 DLC releases have seen constant peaks and troughs when compared to previous Bethesda games, and hopefully this final content pack finishes what has been largely a very enjoyable experience on a good note.

After a three-month head start on Steam, Prominence Poker has now made its way on to the Xbox One. Is it a Royal Flush or about as useful as 2-7 off suit hole cards?

The term ‘exordium’ derives from Latin and simply means ‘beginning’. Much has been said regarding 2016’s Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and whether it was a sequel, prequel, or complete reboot? One thing has to be said though, to fully understand the game in whatever state it is in the Mirror’s Edge timeline, without the full Exordium, will prove difficult.

Do not try and use the left analog stick to move your character. I repeat: Do not try and use the left analog stick to move your character. You may spend a good five minutes trying, before deciding your controller is broken. Much like I did. But this is not the case. Your controller is not broken so do not try and take it apart. Dungeon Punks does not utilise either of the analog sticks by default. Changing this in the Settings screen makes the movement a lot easier, but spell execution can become more sporadic.

Firstly, a confession: I have no idea what a Metroidvania type game plays like, having played neither a Metroid game or a Castlevania game. This isn’t the worst gaming crime I have committed though, I will save that one for another time. What intrigued me to try Song of the Deep more than anything else was simply that it was being developed by Insomniac, a company responsible for some of the greatest games during my formative years, and who recently developed a bit of a reputation creating some of the most original weapons across the likes of Ratchet & Clank and Sunset Overdrive.

The term Free-to-Play can instantly conjure up a myriad of negative connotations to the more traditional gamer: parents being fleeced thousands of pounds because they left their child alone for 10 minutes on Simpsons: Tapped Out, the more sinister business model Pay-to-Win, and generally the content of games being a lower standard with revenues not been explicitly known beforehand. This may have been the case during the F2P formative years, but like a reformed criminal, they have come out of the darkness and really got their act together, across all forms of gaming devices.