Opinions

These latest and upcoming updates are once again a reminder that PUBG is the father of Battle Royale, and it isn’t ready to have its crown taken away just yet. Many have tried, some have gotten dangerously close, but PUBG shows it isn’t afraid to change things up if they don’t work or become stale.

In a world where games like Forza Motorsport, Gran Turismo and Assetto Corsa exist, it must take pretty big cojones to look at these games and think "I can do better!". This would appear to be the thinking of the fine folks over at Slightly Mad Studios, as in 2015 that’s exactly what they did. The game they produced, Project CARS, looked excellent in the trailers, and with a massive amount of content it looked set to give the big boys a run for their money. But was it all smooth asphalt, or did they crash on the first corner?

On Thursday May 7th 2020, Xbox finally showed some third-party Series X games in action and needless to say, the response was not the most positive.

The latest instalment of Inside Xbox (7th May 2020) finally offered us a glimpse of Xbox Series X gameplay. After months of being battered by geeky technical stats, we could see for ourselves what all the numbers actually mean.

You are a settler wandering the country after a devastating apocalypse, narrowly avoiding further catastrophes and starvation. In front of you is a town with 18 beds and toilets a little too close to the water supply. Their flag is brilliant pink with some kind of irradiated rodent on it. This is the town of Arechester, my town. And this is only part of the creative freedom awarded to your city in Surviving The Aftermath.

Being created as a prequel to The New Order allowed MachineGames to almost treat Wolfenstein: The Old Blood as an origin story for the hero, B.J. Blazkowicz.

Bus Simulator on Xbox One is going to new heights and with the Official Map Extension you get access to a bunch of new missions, areas, and much fun to be had, either alone or online with others. It’s a pretty neat package if I’m honest, providing some great variety to be had in terms of towns, locations, and tricky routes to master.

If you still have your old N64 console and you've never had a chance to play Excitebike 64, I absolutely suggest trying to find a copy, especially if you're a racing fan or motorcross fanatic.

April 2020 will forever be remembered as literally the time everyone did a bit of gardening, banana bread became the UK's national dish for a brief period, and people looked into legitimately buying barrels of oil to make a quick buck. But there were also plenty of easy Xbox achievements and Gamerscore points to unlock too, in what may be the last month where we see a AAA release on this list for a long time.

It seems odd to be talking about football at a time when it has been indefinitely suspended, but there’s an important milestone to celebrate for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa video game tie-in. For anyone struggling with the maths, ten years have passed since its release, hence I’ve decided to reminisce about EA Sport’s successful spin-off from the regular FIFA series and exciting tournament that followed.

In many ways, the state of the world today is reminiscent of the game world of State of Decay. You don't know who to trust, food and toilet roll is in short supply, and if you want to survive you have to learn to get along with some strangers and build them into a lean, mean, zombie killing machine. I didn't say the analogy was perfect! However, while the enemy we face in our day to day lives at the moment is somewhat smaller than a zombie, looking back to State of Decay I can't help but be impressed by how many of the finer details the developers got right.

In the latest in the occasional series designed to celebrate and draw attention to the weird and wonderful variety of international and national days, we have April 27th - National Tell A Story Day. If there is a better fit for an article about gaming, I've yet to come across it.

With years of support, a fantastic throwback to games of olde and superb gameplay, Shovel Knight on Xbox One is an absolute treat. The initial campaign is worth the price of admission alone, but with the plethora of updates over the years, it’s a must have for any gamer. The package delivers something for everyone, beautifully marrying multiple genres in one satisfying bundle. Shovel Knight is a testament of getting your money worth for a game and has definitely dug itself a massive range of incredible content to enjoy.

Hitman Go took the core gameplay focus of Hitman - that of killing specific targets either through imaginative ‘accidents’ or stealthily sneaking up behind them – and put it into a board game situation. Hold up, I hear you say, how does that work?

When The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time hit the gaming market, it no doubt made a cultural impact which ripples through the gaming scene to this very day. Zelda, to some, is the pinnacle of gaming and the entry point to many enthusiasts. Building upon that idea was no doubt a very hard task that would ultimately be built around a lot of hype. Coming off the heat of Ocarina of Time was the broodier, big brother known as Majora’s Mask. It was a sequel that had impossible odds to contend with, but emerged victorious in paving its way.