Kevin, Author at Thumb Culture

16Apr

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Etherborn PC Preview – Effortless, Surreal and Puzzling

Altered Matter bring us the gravity bewildering adventure Etherborn. Will it's simplistic artistic style prove to be a winner winner chicken dinner, or should it be fed to the dogs? Time to meditate and enter the weird and wonderful world before me. Gameplay A soft whispery voice guides me, I must follow the dulcet tones to discover the truth. There is a calming nature about this voice that makes me want to do as she is saying. Etherborn is best played with a controller, but keyboard play is possible for the PC owners that don't have a controller. You can jump, run, inspect and move. This game looks perfect, I love simplicity. So what is it all about? Well if you ever have a stressful day at the office and you fancy not shooting zombies to get it out of your system, well this g...

Don’t Escape: 4 Days in a Wasteland Review – Old School, Old Cool?

11Mar

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

Don’t Escape: 4 Days in a Wasteland Review – Old School, Old Cool?

Scriptwelder bring us Don't Escape: 4 Days in a Wasteland, the sequel to Don't Escape 1,2 & 3. The question is, is it any good, or just a clever name? Well I decided to grab my hammer and chainsaw, as these are always useful, and headed on out into the wilderness to find out. Tally ho! Gameplay Don't Escape: 4 Days in a Wasteland is a classic point and click graphic adventure. Find things, use things, get confused and so on. The style is retro 8 bit graphics, though you can change the font to modernise it. You play a character called David. David has dreams that are really premonitions. Use the dreams to ensure that you protect yourself from the dangers that lurk over a 4 day period. All you have to do is put plans in place to stay safe overnight. Sounds simple enough, good. T...

Atlas PC Review – Yo Ho Ho and a Barrel of Rum Required

21Jan

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Atlas PC Review – Yo Ho Ho and a Barrel of Rum Required

Grapeshot Games and Instinct Games bring us Atlas, a game of ruling the high seas. Have they managed to collect all the pieces of eight, or are they lost at the bottom of Davey Jones' locker? Time to slip into my eye patch and bandana and find out for myself. Gameplay Standard WASD movement keys? Check. Mouse rotation? Check. Click to attack? Check. Well what else do I need to know, let's take over the joint. Atlas at first seems to be a standard survival game. All the attributes are there, food, water, health, crafting, yup, looks like a survival game to me. Walk in the park. Instructions appear on the screen in ghastly text, 1/10 in the corner, so I should probably read them. My reading skills are not the quickest, I like to understand the instructions and take them all...

Bomber Crew USAAF DLC Review – Bigger, Faster, Deadlier, Yankier

15Nov

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

Bomber Crew USAAF DLC Review – Bigger, Faster, Deadlier, Yankier

Once more unto the breach, but this time heading across the Atlantic ocean to get a motley crew of Americans and one of their planes to do a few missions. Let's see what Runner Duck have added to this already good game. Bomber Crew USAAF, here I come. Gameplay As you are all probably aware, this is my third Bomber Crew review, I'm become quite the master of aviation. Click here for the main game review. No need for a tutorial and straight into my first mission. The first thing I noticed was that there are more crew. Well obviously, it's the Americans, so bigger is better. The guns are in different places, there is the usual tail turret, mid turret and under belly turret, but now there are two side turrets midway down the fuselage, and two side turrets at the nose as well. This means...

Call of Cthulhu Review – Afraid of the Light

2Nov

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming

Call of Cthulhu Review – Afraid of the Light

Cyanide Studios brings us Call of Cthulhu, a new version based on the classic role playing game based on the works of H.P.Lovecraft. Where would we be if we didn't have things to base new stuff on? Time to set everything up and play with the lights on, definitely hoping that the atmosphere is good. Just need to pop into my time machine. Gameplay Call of Cthulhu is set in 1924 when everything is a bit more basic. No advanced technology to get to grips with, just an old lighter to help you see. There is a mystery to be solved, and you are just the man for the job. Well being a private investigator it would fall easily within your remit. You start in your office looking around. It seems you are not a very good detective really and about to lose your funding. If only a big case would com...

Pathfinder: Kingmaker Review – Choose Your Path, Be The King

17Oct

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

Pathfinder: Kingmaker Review – Choose Your Path, Be The King

Owlcat Games have dug deep into the Pathfinder universe to bring us Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Start from humble beginnings and begin your epic quest to rule the lands. Pathfinder has been a popular role playing game for many years and Owlcat Games have brought the experience to the keyboard warrior. Time to strap on some full plate and grab my shield, I feel a campaign coming on. Gameplay Pathfinder: Kingmaker is set in a 3D isometric view. You can zoom in and out, but that's all the control you have. Use your mouse to control the players and get them to interact with the items in the scene. There are several useful functions as well, such as pressing Tab to highlight anything you can interact with. This saves time, a lot of time. What's the plot? You play whoever you want really, jus...

The Light Keeps Us Safe – Early Access – Death is Coming

12Oct

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

The Light Keeps Us Safe – Early Access – Death is Coming

Big Robot Ltd bring us The Light Keeps Us Safe an exploration game where the planet has been taken over by machines. Stay safe, stay alive and save yourself. Time to find a few AA batteries and journey out into the world of darkness for an early access look. Gameplay The Light Keeps Us Safe is the standard mouse and WASD format. Move around, look around, interact with objects and use your resources wisely. The premise is simple, stay alive by the clever use of light. The world has been taken over by machines that seem to have an inexplicable aversion to light. You have a torch. It was a marriage of convenience that worked out well. Keep the torch charged and in return it will keep you safe. Instructions are forthcoming on the screen and there is a strange woman doing a voiceover, ...

Construction Simulator 2 US PS4 Review – Building for the Future

10Oct

By Kevin1 Comment

Gaming, PlayStation Reviews

Construction Simulator 2 US PS4 Review – Building for the Future

Weltenbauer. Software Entwicklung GmbH bring us Construction Simulator 2 US, a building and tycoon game all rolled into one. The big question is, has it laid a solid foundation, or will in crumble under pressure. Hard hat and safety goggles at the ready, I'm going in. Gameplay Construction Simulator 2 US puts you in charge of a construction company. Learn to drive a truck and then heads out into the world and start a business. This is clearly the American dream in full force. A brief tutorial will guide you through the basics of driving and navigation, then you are on your own. Having said that, you get a lot of tutorials on vehicles as you purchase them. With each job completed you gain money and experience to level up, once levelled up you get skill points. These skill point...

Tyler: Model 005 Review – Reboot, Retry, Respawn

2Oct

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

Tyler: Model 005 Review – Reboot, Retry, Respawn

Reversed Interactive bring us the slightly oddly titled Tyler: Model 005, the story of a robot. Not sure if I need to read up on robotics, but rest assured that's not going to happen. Time to put my I into this AI and go on an adventure. Gameplay Set in the 1950s, Tyler: Model 005 suddenly gets booted up after a rather long period of down time. It's my job to guide Tyler though the house to see if I can help him remember who he is. The camera is set to third person so that interacting with my surrounding is easier. Tyler is solar powered and needs light to recharge, any source will do. Fortunately several lamps have been left around the house to help me survive longer. Keep the energy up and everything will be alright. I also have a level of H2SO4, or sulphuric acid to use it's more ...

The Conjuring House Initial Impressions – Should Have Conjured a Game

28Sep

By KevinNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

The Conjuring House Initial Impressions – Should Have Conjured a Game

Rym Games bring us The Conjuring House, a tale of lost people in a haunted mansion. My quest was to find my team mates and maybe get everyone out alive. I had my doubts, but I was going to give it my best shot. Time to grab my pipe and deerstalker and solve away. Gameplay After a intro depicting brief history of the mansion I was at the main menu. I tried to remember what I could as I thought it might be useful. After starting a new game there is a cutscene of my character trying to escape the clutches of evil within the house (not skippable). Unfortunately watching this made me feel quite unwell due to motion sickness. I stopped playing and started again the next day, this time looking away from the screen. Not the best start and I hadn't even played any of the game yet. I started i...