Weekly Gaming: Doom (PC)
Hey all! So this week I’m looking at ID’s latest take on Doom on the awesome platform that is the PC. It’s hard to put into words how much I genuinely love this game, and how I lost an entire weekend to the game when I really didn’t expect much. So without further ado, go read my full review at the link below! http://www.vgchartz.com/article/264338/doom-pc/ For those of you who are interested, I felt that this review was so different to the original draft I posted that tomorrow I’ll be posted an editorial on the edits that happen to a review before it’s posted over at VGchartz.com. It’s gonna be a long article, but I hope it’s worth it to many of you out there that would like to see the difference. Until tomorrow! -Dan
Weekly Gaming: Tembo The Badass Elephant (Xbox One)
I know I know, it’s weird hearing that Game Freak made a game that isn’t Pokemon, but here we are with Tembo The Badass Elephant. After having just spent 6 and a half hours 100% the game, I have to say, what a weird confusing experience it’s been. If this review seems a bit all over the place, then I apologise, but Tembo The Badass Elephant has unfortunately frazzled my brain. The game starts out easy enough, with the graphics being somewhat charming, and with the story being funny and nowhere near serious in any way. A group called “phantom” has invaded a peanut shaped land, and is holding all civilians hostage. The lands general, in need or urgent help against these bad people, calls in someone he used to work with whilst he was in the jungle. In comes Tembo, and with this huge elephant, a whole new way…
Weekly Gaming: Q.U.B.E Directors Cut (Xbox One)
It’s been a while since I last played a puzzle game for the hell of it. I ended up playing 1010! just for the competition of beating my friends, but otherwise, I haven’t exactly gone out of my way to challenge my mind. After having a productive week in regards to games development and work relating things, I decided to dedicate my entire Saturday night to playing and completing a game. So, sitting in front of my Xbox One, I decided to look back through the many games I’ve purchased and never played, and happened across Q.U.B.E, by Toxic games. I’ve seen the game multiple times in the last few years, but always dismissed it as “just another portal ripoff” before going about my day. It wasn’t until the Develop conference in Brighton that I finally started paying attention to the game when I met Dan Da Rocha. Having spoken…
Weekly Gaming: The Walking Dead: Michonne: In too Deep (PC)
Hey all! I wanted to do less episodic gaming this year (as I swear I played far too many episodic games last year, which is kind of cheating when you’re meant to be completing a game a week!), but here I am, playing another Telltale episodic game. My reasoning for this one is that VGChartz.com needed someone to review Michonne, and since I’ve recently completed watching theTV show from scratch, I wanted to see how one of my favourite characters played out in a game. http://www.vgchartz.com/article/263526/the-walking-dead-michonne-episode-1-in-too-deep-pc/ Unfortunately, as my review above will attest, it does not turn out well at all. When you make a character driven series like The Walking Dead, you have to make sure you actually care about the characters, something Michonne doesn’t allow you, as the player, to do in any way, shape or form. If I had to give the game a score out of 5…
Weekly Gaming: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
I say games are charming quite often on this blog, and with most of these games I usually see them in a positive light. A lot of indie games come under this category, mainly because their aesthetic is so fantastic and cute that it leaves an impression that bypasses the actual gameplay. In these instances, the gameplay could be horrendous, but with the aesthetics looking so damn gorgeous I proceed to overlook a few grievances that would otherwise degrade the experience as a whole (I still write about the gameplay problems, but my overall score may be slightly higher due to the aesthetics alone). Captain Toad manages to be both a charming game in the aesthetic department, as well as in the gameplay one. It’s combination of simple mechanics with oh-so troubling puzzles makes for one of the best experiences I’ve had playing with another person in a long time.…
Weekly Gaming: 1010 (iOS)
I’ve been going around my friends house a lot lately and watching Fairy Tail with him and his sister. On one of these days, his sister happened to be playing a game that looked like Tetris on her iPad at the corner of my eye. Seeing her pic this intriguing game up now and then to give it another go piqued my interest, so I asked her what game it was and set about downloading it. That game in question is 1010!, a puzzle/strategy game where the only obstacle is yourself. The game starts off simple enough: you have a blank grid taking up theist majority of the screen, with three tetriminos at the bottom. It’s your task to put these tertiminos anywhere you would like on the screen, trying to make lines (either horizontally or vertically) to destroy them. Should you not be able to put a tetrimino on the grid…
Weekly Gaming: Hyper Light Drifter (PC)
Hi all! So this week I finally got hold of a copy of Hyper Light Drifter that I backed over 2 and a half years ago. Suffice to say, I was excited to play the game after this much anticipation, and it certainly lived up to my expectations. I can only hope that eventually all the other Kickstarter games I’ve backed are eventually released…. (I WISH). Anyway, if you wish to give the review a good read, click the link below to see it in all it’s glory on VGChartz.com! http://www.vgchartz.com/article/263775/hyper-light-drifter-pc/ As always, thank you for your support, and I look forward to seeing you next week for another game I’ll be completing from my ever-growing games collection! -Dan
Weekly Gaming: Unravel (PC)
Hi all! So this week I take a look at Unravel, Coldwood Interactive’s first indie game. You can read the review over at VGChartz.com below: http://www.vgchartz.com/articles/adminnew/?task=edit&story=263431 I hope you enjoy! and by all means, if you agree, disagree, or want to start a conversation on Unravel, you can always comment below! -Dan
Weekly Gaming: Sound Shapes (PS4)
There seems to be a theme going recently. First I review a simplistic platformer with amazing music called 6180 The Moon, then I review another simplistic platformer with fantastic music called 140. Whilst Firewatch broke that combo (ccccccc-combo breaker!), here I am yet again writing about a simplistic platformer with amazing music. Where Sound shapes differs is in the fact the music isn’t just awesome, it’s a part of the game’s core mechanics. It all starts off simple enough, and like any normal platformer, the controls are straightforward: move from left to right, making sure to avoid any red items on the screen. You play as a blob of sound which is able to stick to some surfaces that match it’s own colour, or turn black to move faster (without the benefit of sticking to surfaces). As you make your way through levels you’ll notice that everything around contributes to…
Weekly Gaming: Firewatch (PC)
As weird as it sounds as a games writer, I haven’t purchased and played a game so close to it’s release date in quite a while. Maybe it’s because of my backlog of games (I keep buying them faster than I can play them!), or maybe its because it’s been quiet on the release calendar, but either way, I couldn’t stay away from the enticing adventure game that has everyone deep in conversation: Firewatch. So what is Firewatch? Another walking simulator if you want to break it down to its very foundation. Just like Gone Home or Dear Esther, the whole game is about a narrative unfolding, with the exploration of the place you’re in (in this case, a national park) being only a sub-task to the games narrative itself. Unlike the aforementioned titles, Firewatch thankfully takes the exploratory narrative game one step further, and tricks the player into thinking…
Weekly Gaming: Teslagrad
I’m genuinely surprised that in all my years of gaming, I hadn’t played Teslagrad sooner. It’s charming graphics and genuinely fantastic puzzle mechanics are exactly what I look for in indie games, and Teslagrad does not disappoint. And yet, here I am, 3 years after it’s original release date stiill having not played it. So what gives? Well until the game was being re-released on Xbox One and a professional contact offered me a review copy, I jumped at the chance to give the game a go (only just realising that I also own the game on PS3 and PC already). So what does this 3 year old indie game offer that keeps it so intriguing and fantastically charming in the modern age of the indie revolution? to put it simply: everything. The first thing that draws your attention about Teslagrad is its aesthetics. The simple, fantastically animated hand drawn models…
Weekly Gaming: 140 (PC)
I know I know, I seem to be on an abstract indie platforming stint at the moment, what with 6180 the moon last Friday and this week indie hit 140. I mean, who can blame me? These games are short, but both award winners because of how far they push their simplistic mechanics. Having restrictions really is a fantastic thing in the world of games, helping to push creatives to their limits when it comes to original and refreshing games. So what is 140? As with last weeks 6180 The moon, the title really doesn’t tell you anything about the game, and seemingly feels quite random. Again, like 6180, 140 is an abstract (think simple shapes and colours) platformer, where the player must make their way through 3 different levels, making sure to keep their jumping and movements in tune with the music constantly playing in the background. Simple premise…
Weekly Gaming: 6180 the moon (PC)
I’m not sure what brought me round to playing 6180 The Moon. The naming certainly wasn’t a part of it, with the name only being semi-descriptive as to the games purpose and nature. I suppose it was just blind luck that I happened across it, which is indeed lucky considering my Steam library has over 640 games. Regardless, the fact of the matter is I’m glad I happened across it, as 6180 is one of my favourite puzzle games I’ve played in a long while. Simple but hard. That one sentence is one of my favourite game mechanic philosophies of all time, and one that 6180 the moon pushes perfectly. The premise is simple; get to the end of the stage using traditional platforming mechanics but with one huge twist: jumping off the top of the screen or bottom will make you reappear on the opposite side instantly. What seems simple…
Weekly Gaming: Coffin Dodgers (PC)
I’m a bad person. I was given Coffin Dodgers months ago to review, when the game was about to come out to drum up hype. Problem was, I had a lot of other things going on, so I kept putting the game off until I had some downtime so I could properly invest some quality time into the game. With my “52 games in 52 weeks” going again this year, I sat down at my PC, finally downloaded the game, and gave myself a few hours to see what Coffin Dodgers had to offer. When first booting it up, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgia for old PS1 games. The simplicity of the presentation, from the introduction, to the story, all felt so much like games I remember from my childhood. The simple characters, with funny names, and extremely limited tutorial all added to this nostalgia, resulting in my first…
Weekly Gaming: Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)
It’s genuinely insane how much adoration and annoyance I have for Nintendo games. On the one hand, they make absolutely charming games that are addictive for days, weeks, years even until you’ve collected everything a game has to offer. I remember doing just that with Super Mario 3D Land, collecting everything (yep, every single stage twice as Mario and Luigi + secret stages) the game had to offer. But my annoyance comes from the fact that they make the same games every generation of consoles, with the aesthetics being one of the only things they mix up with recent iterations (Yoshi’s Woolly World & Paper Mario come to mind). Thankfully, Super Mario 3D World is not one of those games, and as a consequence, is some of the most fun I’ve had on a Nintendo game since 3D land all those years ago. You see, whilst most other nintendo IP’s have…