Summertime usually brings with it beer gardens, (the occasional day of) sunshine and music festivals. The latter being the chance to forget troubles of the real-world and just exist in a several day long party. But what if you annual pilgrimage to your festival of choice turns sour when say, the uninvited undead come and crash the party? Find out how you would cope in Dead Island 2: SoLA DLC, out now for Xbox, PlayStation and PC.
Micro Machines was a series of games based upon the collectible toy car range that launched in the 1980’s. The first game was released in 1991 and the series featured 4 main entries, plus a number of spin offs, the last of which released back in 2006. An iOS and Android release came last year but for many, the announcement that Micro Machines World Series is arriving on Xbox One, PS4 and PC will feel like the reboot they were so craving.
The question now though is will it succeed? The gaming landscape has changed completely in the 10 years since the last release, dominated by online gaming and alternative business models.
As I loaded up Momonga for the first time, it occurred to me that a flying squirrel was a strange choice of animal for a game based on pinball. Surely there were more suitable spherical animals out there, but all I could come up was either a hedgehog or an armadillo, both of which had pinball games based on the creature back in the days of the Mega Drive. Said hedgehog needs no introduction (he’s blue and has a fox follow him EVERYWHERE), but the armadillo was in Psycho Pinball. As a massive fan of both, how did the latest animal-pinball hybrid hold up?
One of my biggest fears is being crushed by water pressure. It’s a weird one I know. Not necessarily drowning so much, though that is a fear also, but just being so deep that all your internal organs crumple under the weight. Just touching the bottom of a six foot swimming pool gives me jitters because I can start to feel the strain even then. Which is strange because I love swimming. So why on this planet, the one containing over 70% water commonly referred to as Earth, did I choose to review ABZÛ? To be honest, I’m not sure.
Political injustices of Western Italy in 1978 may sound more like a Mastermind chosen subject than a backdrop for the latest indie game, but that was before Wheels of Aurelia came onto my radar. The game doesn’t pour the politics down your throat like some exceptionally bad tasting waterboarding technique - Lord knows we’ve had enough of that in 2016 - but it uses this time period to provide the characters in the game plenty to talk about throughout their journeys on the Via Aurelia.
Being from Yorkshire myself, any chance to wax lyrical about God’s Own County is alright in my books, and the Yorkshire Games Festival has given me the chance to do just that. This area of the UK has been crying out for a dedicated event with big backing like this for a long time, and the chance to experience the inaugural ‘fest’ has been a privilege.
...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.
Been sailing the high seas with Sea of Thieves? Taken in the treasures of DREDGE? Uncovered the secrets of Skull & Bones? We've finally now reached the Age of Water - as it releases on Xbox, PlayStation and PC.
