• Fallout 76 (Bethesda, Multiformat)

    January 2, 2019 - By 

    To quote The Big Lebowski, “sometimes you eat the bar… and sometimes the bar eats you.” It is both fair and heartbreaking to say that Fallout 76 has repeatedly eaten the bar since its initial release, largely because the core DNA of the game is so far removed from the traditional Fallout experience expected from fans of the franchise. It has received a drubbing not too dissimilar to the amount of toxic bile that was heaped upon The Last Jedi when it appeared in cinemas. Some of this castigation is justified, and some of it is the usual predictable self-entitled ranting from armchair critics with nothing better…

  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar, Multiformat)

    January 2, 2019 - By 

    After a pack of dynamite fails to ignite, you chase after and then jump onto the top of a speeding locomotive train, hoisting your friend up from the side just before he comes just a hair’s breadth of being cleaned by a passing metal pole. Before you can catch your breath, you are moving through the carriages towards the engine room, picking off enemies with headshots before they can do the same to you. After you halt the train, metal wheels squealing as it comes to a stop, you discover a coach with a hidden room before more bandits arrive…

  • Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (Ubisoft, Multiformat)

    January 2, 2019 - By 

    Just as the creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been building for a decade towards the conceptualisation and creation of Avengers: Infinity War, so the designers at Ubisoft have spent the same amount of time visualising the game world at the centre of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. It is arguably the most vividly realised title to date in the long-running series but it also plays fast and loose with concepts that fans have come to love and expect. These changes – some of which are cursory tweaks of basic mechanics, and some are fundamental shifts in the presentation of the virtual world…

  • Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft, Multi)

    May 29, 2018 - By 

    The Far Cry franchise has never been known for its bashfulness but this most recent episode not so much pushes the envelope as takes that envelope and uses next level origami skills to transform it into a lethal weapon. From beginning to end, Far Cry 5 is a no-holds-barred romp of cartoonish ridiculousness, albeit one with a sting in its tail: while other open world games are set in fairy kingdoms or irradiated wastelands, here the player is invited to frolic in a gonzo vision of rural Montana replete with grain silos, roadside diners, white picket houses, plantation mansions and the like. Look for…

  • God of War (EA, PS4)

    May 18, 2018 - By 

    Put simply, God Of War is not only one of the best games on the current generation of consoles… it is also one of the best games ever released for any console. Yes, this may sound like embellishment, a factually questionable statement similar to those made by overexcited teenage boys just out of their first live concert: “Dude, that was the greatest thing ever, I mean, like forever!” But it’s true: God Of War is out and out excellent, so much so that at times it can be overwhelming. There are so many things happening at once onscreen, so many skill trees to complete and…

  • Wolfenstein II: The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe (Bethesda, Multiformat)

    February 4, 2018 - By 

    What is it that makes Wolfenstein II so enjoyable to play? Is it the slick as oil mechanics, the relentless gunplay, the responsive controls, the ludicrously over-the-top action sequences, the treasure trove of collectibles, the dark sense of humour… or is it the seamless way in which all of these qualities are woven together? Wolfenstein II remains one of the best – perhaps, the best – games of 2017, a superlative product that was made with both the highest standards and a deep love for the franchise. In comparison with similarly themed shooters like Destiny 2 and the much-maligned Star Wars Battlefront 2 and the most recent iteration of Call Of…

  • Okami (Capcom, Multiformat)

    February 4, 2018 - By 

    Capcom may continue to mine their back catalogue for titles to re-release, but if that means that a wider audience will get to enjoy this beguiling adventure, it would be churlish to complain too much. As most gaming folk know, Okami draws heavily on Nintendo’s superlative RPG The Ocarina Of Time, although the nods are more homage than plagiarism, but pushes the genre in a bold direction thanks to the inclusion of several innovative touches. Firstly, there is the influence of Japanese mythology and culture. Playing as Amaterasu, a sun deity incarnated as a white wolf and tasked with ridding the land of…

  • Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Ubisoft, Multiformat)

    November 17, 2017 - By 

    Have we been spoilt by videogames? It is a question that often wanders into the mind, particularly when playing franchises like Assassin’s Creed, in which long gone historical eras are casually presented to us in graphical form as if this is the most normal thing in the world. So inured are we to the alchemy of the craft that we are presented with a moving, to all intents and purposes living, representation of Revolution France, Renaissance Italy or, in the instance of Origins, Ancient Egypt, and we still find room to complain that it is not real enough. Perhaps our desires will…

  • The Evil Within 2 (Bethesda Softworks, Multiformat)

    October 31, 2017 - By 

    …in which we are once again plunged into the broken mind of Sebastian Castellanos. He may sound like an extra member of The Strokes but he is in fact a self-destructive police detective with, naturally, a drinking problem. You already know the drill: Sebastian is a maverick who bucks the system and is going to get his ass in a sling, but underneath his grizzled exterior he’s a sensitive soul who is searching for answers at the bottom of a bottle and trying to forget something very sad that happened to him a long time ago. One might argue that…

  • Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (Bethesda, Multiformat)

    October 17, 2017 - By 

    Nobody should need a second invitation to return to Karnaca, the vividly realised fictional world where much of the action in Dishonored 2 takes place. With its disparate influences of European architecture, Steampunk machinery, Victorian science fiction, few videogame locations are quite as appealing. So, it is with no small amount of joy that we gladly accept a return ticket to this very destination, courtesy of the wizards at Arkane Studios. In Death Of The Outsider, the gamer does not play as royal guard and assassin Corvo Attano but as Billie Lurk, a badass cross between a Final Fantasy heroine and a T-1000: her mechanical…