Paul Renshaw

Way back in October 2014, Deck13 Interactive released a third person action game called Lords of the Fallen. It is largely remembered for "not being quite as good as Dark Souls" but was a surprisingly solid entry into the genre, and scored a respectable 71% on Metacritic. Deck13 Interactive and Focus Home Interactive have now taken the formula and transported it to a futuristic, dystopian setting where monsters are replaced by exosuit wearing humans and robots. Can this possibly work, given the Lords of the Fallen (and Dark Souls) roots in the sword and sorcery mould? I strapped on my exosuit and went to find out.

I think it’s fair to say that the Sniper Ghost Warrior series has always played second fiddle to that of Sniper Elite, having a reputation that sees it consistently fail to set the world on fire. Well, a few weeks after Sniper Elite 4 shot out of the gate (see what I did there?), Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is here and ready to rumble. The question is, have CI Games brought their A-game this time, or will it be another runner-up?

What a lot of people don't remember is that back in the early 1990s, Capcom did a lot of Disney tie-in games, ranging from Duck Tales to Chip 'n Dale, via TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck, all based on the tea time cartoons that were seemingly omnipresent at the time. These games were, like nearly all the TV and movie tie ins of the time, mostly side scrolling platform affairs, with the sole exception being TaleSpin, which is a side scrolling shooter, with an element of platforming. With games ranging from 1989 to 1993, originally released on the NES, Capcom have decided that now is the time for a retrospective collection to be released. The big question is whether time has been kind to these games, or should they have stayed a dim and distant memory?

When the creators of Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, decide to release a new game, you can almost hear the retro fueled sighs of contentment echo around the world. When that game is revealed to be a retro puzzle adventure game in the old school mode, the sighs turn into a hum of pleasure. Now that the game is here, has the wait been worth it, and does it hold a candle to the old games that are being mentioned? I headed into Thimbleweed Park to find out.

ACA NEOGEO 'Nam 1975 was the very first game released for the Neo Geo way back in 1990. But putting it into a category is somewhat tricky; it is a third person shooter, but with a twist. This game then is genesis for the Neo Geo range - but how does it hold up today, 27 years later?

As those of you who have been following the streams of Bungies Age of Triumph will already know, it released on Tuesday March 28th to a waiting universe. Obviously, I was there to join in the festivities, and to see if it really is the fitting send off to Destiny that Deej et al promised.

So, Destiny 2 is a thing. A thing that is coming on September 8th, and yes, since you ask I have booked the day off work! I'm going to look here at what I can cull from the trailer, any clues as to what it all means, and hopefully refrain from running around, clutching myself while going "Squuuueeeee!"

First up, a confession. I loved the first Mass Effect game and couldn't stop playing it until I finished it completely, then immediately embarked on a Renegade Shep playthrough. When Mass Effect 2 came along, I was so excited that I didn't bother reading any reviews, I just went and bought it and started to play. However, the new direction that that game had gone down didn't sit very well with me, and I never finished it, or even bothered to start Mass Effect 3. So now with the launch of Mass Effect: Andromeda, have EA and Bioware managed to recapture the spirit of the first game or am I doomed to disappointment again? With hope in my heart, I fired it up and blasted off.

As you can probably tell from the title, this game was released back in 1994 for the ever popular Neo Geo home console, and was an amalgamation of two of SNK’s popular fighting games - Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting. It took characters from these two games, mixed them with a few characters from Ikari Warriors and Psycho Soldier, along with some original characters, and created a three on three tag team style game out of it. Initially their idea was to draw fans of each franchise and get them to play KOF, and in that sense at least it was a success, so much so that SNK was able to go on to release games almost yearly right up to KOF 15 in August 2016. So the big question is this: does the mixture blend harmoniously, or is it a sunken souffle of a game? I strapped on my (virtual) black belt and got to grips to find out.

Nostalgia eh? It’s a funny old thing and make no mistake, it seems that at the moment there is a real fad happening for re-releasing old games on modern generation consoles. By and large this is a good thing. As I referred to in my Metal Slug review, I never had a Neo Geo as a kid, and consequently have never played any of these game that are hitting the store. This time, it is the turn of Sengoku to get the treatment, a game which first released way back in 1991, when this reviewer was a fresh faced 18 year old with the world at his feet. So, 26 years on, has time been kind to Sengoku, or should it have stayed a memory?

As I settled down to watch the latest of Bungie's Age of Triumph streams, my mind was full of the teaser shots of the new armour that Bungie had leaked. The still images looked great, and I was looking forward to seeing what community manager, Deej and co had in store. He was joined this week by armour and weapon designers Ian McIntosh and Josh Hamrick, and my goodness they have saved the best for last. As 73,569 people looked on via Twitch, Deej released the details we've been waiting for!

Back in the day, I was never allowed to have a Neo Geo console. The ridiculous cost of the unit itself (£399 at launch, equivalent to £700 now), added to the fact that the games used to regularly retail for over £100 a pop, made my Mum and Dad say "No!" and point out I still had a perfectly good Atari 2600 to play on. Parents eh? I think this is probably why my six year old son has a Wii U, 2DS and various other electronic devices to play with, if you'll forgive the amateur psychology. Anyway, moving on and as a result of this parental decision, I never got to play Metal Slug in the home until now, with the release of ACA NEO GEO Metal Slug for the Xbox One. So, has it been worth the 21 year wait?

First released back in 1996, both as an arcade cartridge and a home cartridge on the Neo Geo system, Neo Turf Masters was a fast paced, two player golf game made by Nazca, who are also known for their Metal Slug game. Neo Turf Masters has had a long and storied history, being converted and gracing such consoles as the PS2, Wii and PSP, alongside the well remembered Neo Geo Colour handheld (I personally don't remember this thing!). Finally showing up on the Xbox One, how have the intervening 21 years treated the game, and will it hold up today?

It's week two and the second livestream celebrating Age of Triumph, the final live update of the Destiny 1 era content which is due to launch come March 28th. "Rituals and Strikes," has taken place - but what did it show? We take a look.

First seeing the light of day on PC back in April 2015, and then PS4 in October 2016, it's finally the turn of the Xbox One to receive Verdun - "the first multiplayer FPS set in a realistic First World War setting", as M2H and Blackmill Games would have it. For the purposes of this review, I'm not going to take exception to that phrase, and I'll be pretending that whole Battlefield 1 game never happened. So, let's sally forth, go over the top, and see if the game has been worth the wait. Tally Ho!