Game Reviews
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Cities: Skylines – Review (Playstation 4 Edition)
I’m a huge fan of city management sims – I play them on my phone, my PC, and finally I can play my favorite city builder on the PS4. Cities: Skylines is an immensely detailed city building and management sim that takes a lot from SimCity while doing away with almost all of their mistakes, and expanding in significant ways to give you countless hours of peaceful, or stressful, gameplay. Building your city begins with laying down some roads, zoning areas for residential, commercial and industrial purposes, and then providing the basic amenities. It then goes into managing taxes and budgets, planning road layouts, providing more amenities, luxuries, controlling pollution, building mass transportation, and so much more. The tools for doing all of these things are neatly and clearly pres...
Yakuza Kiwami – Review
Originally released in 2005, Yakuza Kiwami is the HD remake of the first game in the Yakuza series, and sets the stage for everything that is to come after. However, it’s much more than just a remake, since Yakuza Kiwami uses new assets, gameplay mechanics, and even makes changes to the story to smoothen out some of the design flaws and inconsistencies in the original title, and makes this a much more enjoyable experience in 2017. One of the first changes you notice is that the game does take into consideration Yakuza Zero, which is the prequel to the series and was released earlier this year. After his time in Yakuza Zero and then in prison, Kiryu Kazuma returns having to relearn many of his skills and also what’s happened to those around him. Things have changed since the 90’s, and the g...
Thimbleweed Park – Review
Thimbleweed Park is an unexpected surprise in 2017. It’s not only an excellent adventure game that’s reminiscent of the good old point and click adventures of the late 80s, it’s also easily one of the best games I played this year. Witty writing, an intriguing story, and a strong cast really bring to life the murder mystery set in Thimbleweed County. It wears its inspirations, like Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, proudly on its sleeve while delivering well beyond the expected nostalgic gameplay. You play as a detective duo tasked with investigating a murder mystery in a town that seems conspicuously normal at the start. Pretty soon you are introduced to a wide array of characters, serious and goofy, with tons of clever and funny dialogue choices. Thimbleweed Park breaks the fourth wall j...
Pillars of the Earth – Review
Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth is a historic novel set in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England, and tells the tale of the building of a Cathedral, and everyone involved in that endeavor. It’s an epic tale that spans many years and generations, during the 12th century. While the book was first published in 1989, Daedalic Entertainment has released a video game version in 2017 that tells the same story in the form of a point and click adventure game. The game is being released in 3 parts, the first of which is called From The Ashes and is available now. The second and third parts will be released in December 2017 and Q1 2018 respectively. The first thing you notice is the absolutely fantastic art style of the game, which looks right out of a high budget animated movie. Characters a...
Sine Mora EX – Review
When it first released back in 2012, Sine Mora was a critically acclaimed side-scrolling shooter with an interesting story driven along with time-bending twists. It intended to recreate the glory of old school 2D shooters, with modern visuals, gameplay tweaks and sharp presentation. Now the IP is in the hands of THQ Nordic who have brought out a more visually polished version of game, while also adding new multiplayer modes. I like the story in Sine Mora, but I can understand why it’s not easy to take to. You play as pilots in a war, and the story is told from two perspectives running parallel to each other. You have the ability to manipulate time, the effects of which are mostly gameplay related. There are time travel elements involved and the story can be a bit too much to take in at tim...
Sins Of The Father – Darkest Dungeon – Review
Darkest Dungeon puts you in the shoes of a young man who has found himself in possession of his ancestral home. Unfortunately for him, it comes with a curse unleashed by the previous resident of the mansion, your dad, who in his greed dug too deep into the dungeons beneath, unleashing an ancient and fearsome evil. Succumbing to the madness that followed, your dad puts a bullet into his head, right after bequeathing everything to you, leaving you in charge to setting things right. Things are looking bad. Darkest Dungeon is a rogue-like RPG, which focuses on the stress and psychological duress that comes as part of adventuring in dark and perilous places. You recruit and train a band of warriors, healers and other adventuring types, to face whatever horrors await that night beneath in the du...
Ain’t Nuthin’ But A Zero-G Thang – LawBreakers – Review
Lawbreakers is the new game by Boss Key Productions, founded by Cliff Bleszinski of Unreal Tournament and Gears of War fame. It’s a sci-fi first person hero based multiplayer shooter that demands the skill based twitch reflexes like Unreal Tournament did. And it’s fucking fantastic. On the surface, Lawbreakers has similarities to other recent hero based shooters, especially Overwatch. But that’s just barely scratching the surface, since LawBreakers does some really unique and interesting things with the gameplay, and is fast paced in a way that is unlike any popular shooter today. The characters themselves are diverse and play really different from each other. There are a total of nine classes, spread across 18 different characters with their own distinct arsenal of weapons, abilities and ...
Observer – Review
Observer is a cyberpunk game set in the year 2084, where you play the role of Detective Daniel Lazarski (voiced by Blade Runner’s Rutger Hauer) who has the ability to hack into people’s minds and know their thoughts and feelings. The game is set in Krakow, after the Nanophage – a digital plague – has wiped out thousands of people. The game is developed by Bloober Team, whose previous game, Layers of Fear, was an excellent first person horror game, and Observer is even better in significant ways. Observer’s setting and visual style is one of the most well realised cyberpunk setting I’ve seen in video games. The history of the world – collapsed super powers, Nanophage, mega corporations taking control, augmented citizens, ability to read minds – all of it work as an i...
Blackhole – Review
With more and more 2D platformers flooding the market lately, it’s not easy to pick out the wheat from the chaff. Fortunately, Blackhole offers surprisingly fun and tight platforming, layered with witty writing, gorgeous art style and a really interesting story. You are part of the crew of spaceship Endera, tasked with closing black holes across the galaxy that are a threat to mankind. On one such mission, the ship gets sucked into a massive black hole and crashes on a mysterious landmass, called the Entity. You the ‘Coffee Guy’ finds himself, along with the ship’s AI, responsible for fixing the spaceship, finding and saving the remaining crew members and closing the black hole for good. You then play across numerous cleverly designed levels, via 2D platforming, with constant inputs from t...
Masquerada: Songs And Shadows – Review
Developed by Witching Hour Studios, based in Singapore, Masquerada: Songs And Shadows is an isometric Role Playing Game with an art style reminiscent of The Banner Saga. The game catches the eye with beautiful visuals and hooks you in with its interesting real-time-with-pause gameplay system. You play as Cicero Gavar, previously exiled for crimes against the state, and now summoned back to Citte della Ombre to investigate a kidnapping. The story is really interesting from the start, with a rich backstory and a well realized world to support it. There are various factions pitted against each other, and there’s a constant sense of mistrust among the denizens. Watching the story unfold is an absolute delight, specially due to the excellent voice acting done by the likes of Matthew Mercer and ...
Game of the Year, Every Year – Nidhogg 2 – Review
If you’ve somehow ended up on this page, then you too are seeking the answer to one critical question – Is Nidhogg 2 the greatest video game ever made? The answer is a firm yes. Yes it is. It begins to show from the moment you start the game and the upbeat music starts playing. As the game’s official description rightly claims: “Nidhogg 2 has a soundtrack so good that even the menu screens are awesome.” And speaking of menu screens, behold this glorious one: Then comes the character creation. It’s the best character you’ll ever see in a video game. I made a character who looked grotesquely deformed with a saggy pair of tits, a rad goatee, and beach sunglasses. The Wurm approved. The goal is is to get across multiple screens in classic side-scrolling fashion, and reach the end. The op...
Children of Zodiarcs – Review
After its success on Kickstarter and getting picked up by Square Enix collective, Children of Zodiarcs finally makes its way to the Playstation 4 and is an interesting Role Playing Game with tactical elements. The game is set in the fantasy realm of Lumus which is facing a big divide between the rich and the poor. Nahmi and her friends are a group of young street kids who turn to stealing from the rich. Along the way they encounter dangerous folks including other thieves, guards and so on. The story gets more interesting as you progress, though I do wish they had voice acting in the game. At its core, Children of Zodiarcs is a turn-based game where you control units and execute actions. This is enhanced by the deck building aspect of the game, which gives way to some interesting and unexpe...