• 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…

  • South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Ubisoft, Multiformat)

    November 1, 2017 - By 

    As any fule kno, the list of videogames that have made the transition to successful cinema or television adaptations is shorter than an Ewok’s trouser legs. Last year’s Assassin’s Creed is a case in point: a richly detailed and layered console franchise that was squandered on a half-baked, deeply frustrating movie that in turn made a respectable taking at the box office but ticked off both critics and gaming fans alike. It was not the first adaptation that failed to leap the gap between different media, and it certainly will not be the last. Likewise, the number of films or television programmes…

  • 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…

  • Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Sony, PS4)

    October 13, 2017 - By 

    Not many development houses can boast the same consistent track record as the one trail-blazed by Naughty Dog. The Santa Monica company may not have many intellectual properties to their name but when those franchises include Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted and The Last Of Us, they can afford to be choosy. Each of these releases is markedly a team production, the result of many hours of designers, writers, voice artists, illustrators and coders collaborating to make the best game that they could possibly make. Also, unlike so many rivals who exploit their respective fanbases through drip-feeding perfunctory add-ons or usurious micro-transactions, Naughty Dog expansions appear…

  • Cuphead (Microsoft, PC / XBO)

    October 12, 2017 - By 

    To paraphrase Bill Murray’s character in Ghostbusters, here’s something you don’t see everyday: a side-scrolling shoot-‘em-up presented in the lovingly hand-drawn visual style of 1930s Max Fleischer cartoons. An unhinged fever dream in which Betty Boop is reimagined as a vindictive mermaid with an octopus sitting on top of her baby doll head, frogs in boxing gloves duke it out in a riverboat speakeasy to the manic strains of a hopped-up jazz soundtrack, and a sambaing screen-sized flower pelts its enemies with explosive carrots. This is just a taster – an amuse-bouche, if you will – of the consistently inventive and…