Gareth Brierley

What with God of War, Hellblade and now Die for Vahalla, I feel like I've moved to Scandinavia, taken up residence next to Thor and live just around the block from Odin. This game however is not frightened to poke a tongue out and give a crafty wink to the whole mythology surrounding everything Norse. But is it worth a table at the great hall of Valhalla? Or is it doomed to that lonely cold walk to the realm of Hel?

Battlezone is as nearly as old as I am, since making its debut in 1980 with state of the art 3D visuals and competitive gameplay. It was basically tank vs tank, but what Atari did at that time for a 9-year-old boy in a smelly arcade was to make you feel like you were in a real battle. Over time there have been many relaunches and updates, including a version for Xbox Live Arcade in 2008. Lately though, PS4 VR gamers have seen a version released that makes you feel like you are in the actual tank, all for no reason other than to make you want to throw up. Thankfully that version - without the big chunk of metal on your head - is what were are playing here today on Xbox One. But does it bring back good memories or ones that I want to repress?

In my line of acting work, I've been insulted more than the average person. I have been abused online, shouted at on chat rooms and of course on stage, sometimes you get a heckle. You learn when to shout back and when to respond to a heckle without causing more trouble or a massive fight. Now in Oh...Sir! The Hollywood Roast you get to experience what it's like to be verbally abused, before learning to perfect the smartest retort or comeback. But will you survive this rhetorical insult and live to fight another round?

I feel that in this last year I've lived most of my life in ancient Egypt. See, after playing over 90 hours of Assassin's Creed Origins and now delving into the fascinating world of the comic spinoffs, it's turned out to be a rather brilliant place to spend a lot of time in... except for the murders, assassinations and political turmoil of course.

So, here we are again, placed back into a world of mystery, intrigue, backstabbing, literature, and art. A sort of action-packed Antiques Roadshow, mixed with murder, sex, and world domination. I loved the first episode of The Council with its storylines, characters, design and brave refusal to dumb down to its audience. Can Episode 2: Hide and Seek keep my level of interest up or is it like the terrible second album?

The classic journey into the woods has had a number of terrifying connotations over the years. Who can forget poor Red Riding Hood and her stalking wolf, or the hobbits getting lost and nearly eaten by spiders? Or more recently, the Slenderman appearing out of nowhere and making your screen shudder violently? Not all woods are places of horror though - in fact, my local has a nice picnic area and a dog washing post. But others still hold many myths and things that lurk in the shadows. Through The Woods is one such game… one in which horror lurks and everything isn't quite what it seems.

The ancient Greeks gave us modern day humans a lot of things, many of which we find invaluable today. Mathematical theories and practices, the fundamentals of democracy and philosophy are just a few of the treats they left us. They also gave us some of the most epic stories, myths, and fables that have become the holding frame for many a movie, game and piece of literature. Titan Quest borrows the epic hero's journey and many fable elements from the ancient Greek cookbook and puts you into the maelstrom of an heroic quest. Are you spartan enough to do it? Or are you more of a doner kebab?

Sometimes a game comes along and it moves the creative goalposts a bit to the left. Sometimes a developer comes along to make all others sit up and scream ‘Wow, you can do that?" Sometimes there's a game that takes a chance with its themes, with its casting, and with its overall concept, in order to become a winner. That developer is Ninja Theory and that game is Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

Dungeons never really conjure up the most pleasant of images, do they? You would never tag along with a guy who asks you to come down to their dungeon for a cup of tea and some cake, and would never go about buying a house to only tell the estate agent that you’ll have to pull out of your dream home because it didn’t have a dark dungeon. The connotations are terrible and with Korgan I'm afraid to say the dungeon world is still as bad a place as it’s ever been. But with some powerful magic, archery and axe play on display, could it actually turn out to be a fun place to hang out?

If I could summon a whole bunch of people to do things for me it would make my life much, much better. Imagine a team of people cleaning the house at your command, doing the shopping or invading a small country. Ok, perhaps it's best to forget that last one. In Masters of Anima, you get the ability to do that very thing, but it's a much bolder and heroic mission your little workers will have to go on than heading off to the local shop to get a pint of milk.

We all love a good murder mystery. We love trying to decipher clues, go through the backstories, study evidence and make some deductions. In the gaming world, you've been able to do this for a while with many different titles; L.A. Noire and the Sherlock Holmes games stand out. But The Invisible Hours is a whole different bag, because it's not really a game and it's not really a movie - it's a piece of interactive theatre. Now, that's not me describing the game, that's the developer’s actual blurb. Intrigued? Well, let's start from the beginning and a murder mystery always starts with a dead body.

"TO INFINITY AND BEYOND PEOPLE". The crowd responded with a smile and a shout. This was going to be a lot of fun. And then the serious business began. Over an incredible weekend at the brilliant gaming extravaganza that was EGX Rezzed, I was lucky enough to play enough games to make my brain melt and my eyes implode with excitement. So, what were my top five highlights? Well, I've tried to Keep this list as  Xbox centric as possible, but I'm going to be cheeky and include one final submission of a game that I really do hope is going to come to Xbox One soon, just because it looks utterly brilliant. I could have included loads more, but here we go….

Books being made into films are the money tree for the majority of Hollywood. Millions of pounds have been made in the movie scene thanks to the likes of the Harry Potter franchise, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit movies. Books being made into games though are a rarer thing. We may well have seen books becoming something that inspires a game, like the Metro trilogy, but here with The Pillars of the Earth things are different. This is a reimagining of a huge Ken Follett novel that was released in 1989 - one that gained critical and commercial acclaim. So does the videogame version of it excite like a thriller that you can't put down on holiday, or is it more like the 1874-1974 accounting ledger for a paper mill?

Huge creatures trampling over cities is a 2018 trend. Rampage, the film based on the old arcade game is hitting the cinemas starring The Rock, a big gorilla, and a huge flying wolf thing. But over in the gaming scene and Extinction has its own big bad monsters hitting us up, and with their own violent agenda to put forward, it's up to you put an end to their bulldozing ways. It's a title that is hoping to excite the David and Goliath within all of us, but is it a giant-killer of a game?

I have twice travelled to Montana in the good old US of A this year. The first time I went as a farmer; plowing fields, raising chickens and selling grain. It was a peaceful time, with the only excitement being whether I had enough fuel for the tractor. The second time I arrived in Montana I was kidnapped by a cult, thrown out of a plane, wrestled a bear and partook in a gunfight with 20 people across a bar. In case you hadn’t guessed by now, Far Cry 5 was the second experience - and it's a mad roller-coaster of a vacation.