• Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft, Multiformat)

    December 5, 2013 - By 

    Why are pirates called pirates? Because they just arrrr. It’s an old joke but, hopefully, a good one. Speaking of old jokes, some have accused Ubisoft of stretching the Assassin’s Creed franchise well past its elastic limit, claiming that its storyline of virtual reality, crackpot historical conspiracies and rival secret societies has become too convoluted to offer any enjoyment. It’s an argument that, in a medium dominated by annual rehashes of FIFA and Call Of Duty, does not hold much water and, to happily mix that metaphor, is blown out of the water byBlack Flag. As with previous outings, we are once again given access to…

  • Batman: Arkham Origins (Warner Bros., Multiformat)

    December 2, 2013 - By 

    You have to feel sorry for the residents of Gotham City. Since the construction of this fearsome metropolis they have contended with a motley crew of sadistic crimelords, drug-addicted luchadores and a seemingly limitless array of mutants. House prices there must be dirt cheap because the city has a death count higher than those of Ramsay Street, Albert Square and Emmerdale combined. It is, as any geek knows, troubled billionaire Bruce Wayne’s burden to protect Gotham from the evil forces threatening to tear it apart. Since the tragic death of his parents he has driven himself to the edge of…

  • Spelunky (Mossmouth, PS3)

    November 28, 2013 - By 

    There are, so the internet viral says, so many dumb ways to die. This way of thinking inspires Spelunky, a shamefully retro platformer with a devious sense of humour that manages to bridge the elusive gap between “oh, just one more go then” and “oh, I want to impale my own eyes with my joypad”. Your character, an intrepid explorer in the Dr. Jones mould, can be crushed by a boulder, bitten by a snake, manhandled by a yeti, gobbled by piranhas, melted by an ancient mummy’s noxious breath, brain-fried by an alien’s gaze… the variety of deaths is almost endless,…

  • Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Ubisoft, Multiformat)

    September 25, 2013 - By 

    Sam Fisher has the best job in the world. Jetting all over the world, breaking into top secret buildings, snuffing bad guys, always talking in a deep, gravely voice. He’s your archetypal superspy: a service hardened tough-nut with a tendency to occasionally go off protocol but who has a keen sense of right and wrong. Now operating from “the Paladin”, a nondescript cargo plane which actually houses a hub full of advanced comms tech, Fisher and his crack team have been charged with stopping “The Engineers”. These faceless terrorists are threatening to destroy a number of American assets if their…

  • Saints Row IV (Deep Silver, Multiplatform)

    September 18, 2013 - By 

    “With great power comes great irresponsibility” should be the motto of Saints Row IV, which escalates mischief-making to ridiculous levels in a series of increasingly over the top missions. The central mechanics should be familiar to anyone who has invested even a few minutes in a “sandbox” title: you are presented with a fully accessible city packed with challenges such as timed races, shooting galleries and escort quests. However, you will more likely spend your time running riot by blowing stuff up, gesticulating rudely at pedestrians and generally acting the jackass. Saints Row IV stretches this idea like silly putty…

  • DuckTales Remastered (Capcom, multi-platform)

    August 29, 2013 - By 

    In days of old when gamers were bold and self-replenishing health bars weren’t invented, videogames were hard. Rock hard. Titles such as Super Star Wars, Castlevania and Ghosts ‘n Goblins made no concessions to ninnyish players reliant upon bountiful 1ups, mid-level game saves and unlimited continues. This was in part due to the influence of those Japanese fans who preferred their games to be from the more punishing end of the difficulty scale. Further, the limited memory of consoles meant that if you died you were whooshed back to the beginning of a given level. Precision timing was required to avoid spiked ceilings and bottomless…

  • Grid 2 (Codemasters, PC / PS3 / Xbox 360)

    July 26, 2013 - By 

    Driving games tend to fall into several camps. There are those which are made for the type of petrolhead who wants to lose themselves in a multitude of stats and tech specs, and there are those who just want to switch on the console and jump behind the wheel. Thankfully, Grid 2 falls into the latter camp: it’s a fast and at times furious racer with the emphasis firmly placed on gameplay rather than on pin sharp simulation. A loose and to all intents and purposes arbitrary plot is chucked out early on: the fictional World Series Racing league invite you to…

  • Remember Me (Capcom, PC/PS3/Xbox 360)

    July 15, 2013 - By 

    Industry giant Capcom thrives on not only developing hugely successful and innovative franchises such as Street Fighter, Mega Man and Devil May Cry but also publishing a wide range of oddball titles which may or may not recoup the money invested. It’s a brave move to take risks on edgy projects, particularly in an increasingly cutthroat business. Creatively, it sometimes pays off, such as in the case of the gorgeous Okami or the totally bugnuts Asura’s Wrath. However, there is also the possibility of being landed with a dead duck such as Dark Void, whose potential was far outweighed by its humdrum delivery. Remember Me, to be fair, falls…

  • Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games, PS3/PS Vita)

    July 11, 2013 - By 

    Most videogames, whether or not they choose to profess it, are rooted in violence. And we’re not just talking about bête noires such as Manhunt, Call Of Duty or Carmageddon. Something as innocuous as Super Mario Bros. involves jumping on enemies’ heads to make them disappear, and at the end of each final stage the big boss plummets into a fiery pit. Space Invaders is all about the shooting. Street Fighter requires beating your opponent into submission. Even Tetris involves making harmless blocks disappear. Call it “deleting” or “subtracting” if these euphemisms make the killing and destroying more palatable. There is no doubt that to progress in any videogame you must be…

  • The Last Of Us (Sony, PS3)

    June 25, 2013 - By 

    There is an infamous moment in The Happening, M. Night Shyamalan’s justifiably maligned vision of the apocalypse, in which Mark Wahlberg talks to a plant lest it get angry and secrete a neurotoxin which hastens his madness and eventual suicide. The scene is as ridiculous and cringe inducing as it sounds, and illustrates how in the wrong hands a concept can be totally bungled. The link between this box office disaster and The Last Of Us, the most accomplished and original videogame to be released this year, is that when nature turns angry it can be very deadly indeed. The simple yet…