Gareth Brierley

In the dark old days of the early 90s, ice hockey was pretty much my staple diet in regards to sports videogames. There were many different versions available back then, thus was the popularity of the puck smashing sport in gaming at that time. We loved the fighting, we adored the fast paced action and we still couldn’t work out what the hell “icing’ was. But we knew it was bad. Fast-forward twenty five years and I’m spending some time with the latest ice hockey title - EA SPORTS NHL 18 - and interestingly enough the only one of the year to truly represent the sport. The question is… does it still have that fun playability?

It's probably one of the most anticipated Indie games of all time - but now Cuphead is here!

How many dungeons have you entered in your gaming lifetime? I think I’ve probably ventured into the tens of thousands. You see, we all drop into these deep holes in the ground, even though we know what to expect - a load of horror, gore and torment. In the real world however I’ve only ever been in two dungeons and there wasn’t anything scary about them whatsoever. There were no chests of gold, no strange creatures, and certainly no huge bosses. Just a damp smell and a couple of candles. Can Songbringer, the new indie game by Wizard Fu give me a better experience than my damp dungeon?

Every now and then I have a dream that I’m back again in school in the 1980s. I still don’t know the correct answers to any of the questions my teacher is asking me. My uniform is really too tight to wear. I’m always late for class and I‘m due a kicking from school's friendly bully at lunch time. Thank god it's all a dream. Well in The Coma: Recut, that world of nightmares and schools are examined and played out in a fresh new take of the horror game genre. And it's all available now.

When NASA initially started considering the first manned missions to the Mars, they had to look at all the possibilities and probabilities; how would man survive for a length of time in space? They took into account the water and food supply, whilst worried over the disintegration of the body and muscles. But the one thing they were really worried about was… boredom. That’s what new space explorer Morphite has to try an address as well, because this explorer sees a lot of jumping between solar systems to be had. It does however mix it with some exciting gameplay. But is that enough to keep the monotony of space travel far away?

Space: the final frontier. Are you ready to buckle up, put on your space pants and go out into the unknown and explore new worlds?

I know there are lots of problems in the world at this moment in time, but at least we’re not facing my three biggest fears - an alien invasion where we’re all captured and paraded around naked in petting zoos on the moon, fish taking over London, or the invasion of giant robots which are all set to kill us. However the third one is the basis of a new game, Jettomero - but this giant robot isn’t trying to kill us intentionally, he’s trying to save all of human kind.

Being scared to death, jumping at any tiny sound, feeling the hairs on your arms stand up, and seeing something nasty lurking in the shadows. These are the familiar feelings you might have when experiencing any kind of horror - whether it’s watching the latest scary movie, reading a horrific book or, like me, going out to buy a pint of milk from the local petrol station. And that fear factor gets multiplied even further when there are a few friends sharing the experience… except maybe when my mates and I go to the petrol station together. In the latest game to bring us survival horror, White Noise 2, that’s exactly what the experience does best - playing the nightmare out whilst your online friends are beside you. Hold on... WHAT’S THAT BEHIND YOU???

Prequels are strange things. It’s like buying a book, reading the last page first and then ploughing through the book knowing what the ending is going to be. Yes there are interesting ways to tell a story from a different angle, and yes there are some good examples of it, like the new Planet Of The Apes movies for example. But the main problem is you know that the lead characters are not going to die. So what happens if you change the lead, to instead see things focus on the best friend, filling in some of the gaps of that story at the same time? Well my friend, that’s what the new Life is Strange has done. But is it successful?

I think I love robots. Yes, sometimes they turn on their masters and eventually kill all humankind as we know it, but on the bright side they’re a lot of fun - and to be fair there are a lot of good ones around who don’t want to murder you. We’ve already had WALL-E, that weird kid and the teddy bear in AI and Metal Mickey. In Planet of the Eyes there is also a great robot - it has no name, but you will grow to love it as you play through this interesting sci-fi indie game. But will you do the robot dance after playing?

Space pirates have always been in our hearts and minds. We have the legendary Han Solo, that blue guy in Guardians of the Galaxy and everyone else when I’ve spent time playing Elite Dangerous. Pirates, whether they are in the sea or in deepest space have a romantic air about them, with their swashbuckling antics, treasure plundering and exploration of the unknown. In Blacksea Odyssey the romance of the old salty sea rogue is still very much alive, but this time round you are called a space huntsman instead of a pirate. But the real big question is will you be Captain Blackbeard or Captain Pugwash?

There have been hundreds of films, TV series’ and games about alien invasions. The human race always seems to get destroyed at first, but then we finish up with Will Smith punching an alien in the face whilst muttering the immortal line “Welcome to Earth”. It’s a David and Goliath story we love to see retold again and again. But in X-Morph: Defense the focus has been switched, with us playing as the alien who are invading earth, whilst those pesky humans are the enemy. But is it as good as Will Smith’s first contact with an alien race?

Numbers and horror have gone together forever. The way you have to say “Candyman” five times before he appears, room number 237 in The Shining where everything and anything horrific happens to the family looking after the hotel, and Friday the 13th Part 7 for just… being a terrible train wreck of a film. Well, Wales Interactive have brought us a new horror title, and it has a number in the title too. But is it as scary as a pair of twin girls in a hallway, or about as terrifying as your uncle with a sheet over his head moaning in the downstairs cupboard?

The world of the RPG always makes me remember back to my time playing D&D in a caravan with two mates decades ago. Back then it wasn’t trendy or cool to like playing D&D, there were no Stranger Things and you found the bars of London full of roleplayers eating hummus. It was a sort of secret affair that you did in the shadows. When I get to play a game like Pillars of Eternity all those feelings come rushing back and I long for complicated character development, interesting and deep story arcs, and bloody huge magical weapons. But does Pillars of Eternity make me relive fond childhood memories or childhood nightmares?

Prepare yourself for an adventure of a lifetime. An adventure which will involve battles, learning about your inner soul, learning about ancient lore, some more battles, some relationship bonding and a lot of exploring strange beautiful but dangerous lands. Are you ready for it? Well if you are and you like your RPGs full of the above, then Pillars of Eternity could be a must purchase for you.