Category: Games
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All Hail PS4’s Sleep Mode
And praise be to the Suspend/Resume function. Childbirth is a miracle. I’ve seen a tiny human being come out of another human being twice – the first emerging like a stone skimming over water, the second grumpily being pulled out after refusing to budge, both heralded by the battlecry of…
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Review: Absolute Drift (PC, Mac)
I can’t stop playing *Absolute Drift*, and in order to properly explain why, I have to tell you a little story. My first car was a Renault 19 TXE Sport. 1.7, White, and always happy to oblige; one of my then-students named her Lola, as she was a showgirl. My…
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Review: Galak-Z (PS4)
*Spelunky* has a lot to answer for. Ever since it single-handedly championed procedurally-generated levels back in its enhanced 2012 version, many other games have been lining up to try and emulate its perfect blend of slow progression and brutal punishments. 17-Bit’s *Galak-Z* is the latest to follow this trend, openly…
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Crowdpleasing: The Problem With Guitar Hero’s New Perspective
How the franchise’s return has got its outlook completely wrong. In a past life – a time before Canada and babies – I was playing the last notes of my last song in a gig at a concert location that was basically a Welsh community hall after all the important…
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Review: Crimsonland (PS Vita)
As I got into bed last night I slipped my hand under the covers and something buzzed against it. I instinctively yanked my arm away while something black and striped and angry crawled out from underneath the duvet and headbutted the light in determined repetition. I wish I could say…
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A Flower On A Step – The Pointlessness of Nintendo
“Stop!”, shouted my wife. “You need that!” We’d been playing The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker HD for about an hour, working through Dragon Roost Island – the first real dungeon – between evening snacks and a squealing baby. Some time before this, my son had wanted to hear his…
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Focus On Design: Medal Of Honor (2010)
There’s always been a problem when writing reviews: by their very nature, they’re unable to be objective. Every single human being on the planet perceives things differently, yet some choose to write this perception as if it were fact. This then bleeds outwards into review culture: scan for bulletpoints, scroll…
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Review: Nidhogg (PC)
If games are dancing, then Nidhogg is the Argentinian Tango. Grace and blood, attacks and parries, personal space being fiercely invaded time and time again. Swift moves sometimes sliding into long-held pauses with heartbeat percussion as underscore. The name for developer Messhof’s newly-released fencing-come-LSD-trip comes from a huge dragon featured in Norse mythology,…
Simon Best 