Month: March 2020

The Complex Review – Intense Isolation
PlayStation Reviews

The Complex Review – Intense Isolation

Wales Interactive is slowly becoming the ‘go-to’ company for narrative-driven games. They reignited the FMV, interactive film genre with fantastic games such as The Bunker and Late Shift. Does The Complex reach the heights of their previous outings or is just a bit too simple? After a bio-weapon attack in London, the city is on high alert. Dr Amy Tenant, the lead scientist at Nanocell Technology, is somehow connected to the blood-vomiting event that is being circulated in the media. Due to a string of events, she finds herself trapped inside a laboratory deep in the depths of London. With little time and air, will you be able to connect the dots and make the right decisions to uncover the secret that ties the events together? Gameplay Every choice you make matters and that it the ...
Journey For Elysium PCVR Review – A Bleak Window Into The Afterlife…
PC Reviews

Journey For Elysium PCVR Review – A Bleak Window Into The Afterlife…

Journey for Elysium is the debut title from Mantis Games. It's an immersive story-driven title guiding you through your initial steps into the afterlife. After an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign, it would appear the game was rescued by publisher Chronos Interactive and released to the world in October 2019. The game involves walking through a monochromatic world, solving puzzles and interacting with the environment to solve the mystery of your death as you travel to Elysium. Gameplay If you have played any 2-4 hour VR experience that encourages walking around and interacting with the environment, then at this stage you’ve seen them all. What you need for your game to stand-out is a hook; something to really grab your attention. Vader Immortal gave you a Lightsaber, Batman Arkham...
Bug Academy Review – Swarmy Study Buzzies
PC Reviews

Bug Academy Review – Swarmy Study Buzzies

If you had asked me a while back if I would play a game about insects, my answer probably would have been; "Sim Ant?!". Since I was a young boy, I've enjoyed weird little games where you play as insects doing insect stuff. Sim Ant was semi-educational and fun. Bug Academy takes the idea of insect gameplay and adds a whole lot of fun physics. Developed by Igrek Games, and published by Ultimate Games for Microsoft Windows via Steam for a measly CAD$ 11.49, Bug Academy came out on January 14th, 2020. So, without further delay let's jump in and see what the BUZZ is about. (hehe, see what I did there?) Gameplay Bug Academy is a physics puzzler where you control a buzzy swarm of insects to complete various tasks. Igrek Games have laid out Bug Academy as a series of lessons about the various ty...
Shinsekai: Into the Depths Review – Going Deeper Underground
Switch Reviews

Shinsekai: Into the Depths Review – Going Deeper Underground

Shinsekai: Into the Depths is a deep dive into an expansive underwater world. Beginning life as an Apple Arcade exclusive, the Metroidvania, survival puzzler has tunnelled its way to the Nintendo Switch.  Full disclosure. Whenever I hear the words ‘mobile game’, I shudder. All I think of is shovelware trash, littered with microtransactions. Games that are not for real gamers. Yes, when it comes to my views on mobile games, I’m narrow-minded. In steps Capcom, a company who I adore and have arguably been the best developer in recent years. Could they finally pull my head out of my arse? In short, the answer is yes. Gameplay In Shinsekai: Into the Depths, you take control of a silent, nameless protagonist who has been forced to take refuge in the ocean due to the land above being cov...
Animal Crossing Nintendo advenReview – Nookonomics
Switch Reviews

Animal Crossing Nintendo advenReview – Nookonomics

This is my first ever Animal Crossing game. Somehow previous titles have flown under my radar. Quarantined within a fairly small flat with a health pandemic circling the globe and many economies in free-fall, the carefree socialisation and mingling in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons trailers looked massively appealing. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is like a tiny ray of sunshine peeking through ever-darkening clouds. On your not-quite-deserted island nothing can (seriously) hurt you, and the only bugs you can catch are those which are too slow for your net. You don’t need to get into arguments about who is in charge or worry about where your next pay cheque is going to come from. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is exactly what isolated, confined, frightened people need right now. It’s q...
PC Reviews

Those Who Remain Preview – Stay in the light

Those Who Remain is a first-person psychological horror game developed by Camel 101 and published by Wired Productions and is scheduled for release on May 15th on PC, Xbox & PS4 with a summer release coming for the Nintendo Switch. Those Who Remain is set in the sleepy town of Dormont where your character named Edward is unaware how much this night will change his life. You need to navigate Edward to unravel what is happening around you whilst surviving the intruding darkness by staying in the protection of the light. Let's jump into this playthrough. Gameplay I have had Those Who Remain in my Steam wishlist for quite a while now so when I had the opportunity to give this demo a try, I couldn’t pass it up. My demo playthrough starts with you, Edward, sitting at his desk, bott...
Murder By Numbers Review – Elementary my dear quadrature
Switch Reviews

Murder By Numbers Review – Elementary my dear quadrature

Remember the 90's? Flannel shirts, MTV, Furby, Tamagotchi's, bowl Cuts, neon patterns, amazing cartoons, and the idea that all robots are sentient. Murder By Numbers dives headfirst into all the nostalgia possible, and in classic 90's fashion, sends you and your robot buddy to hunt down bad guys. Only, instead of muscle-bound action heroes, these criminals will face the wrath of cognitive thinking. Developed by Mediatonic games, Murder By Numbers is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC. Gameplay Murder By Numbers is at its heart a series of logic puzzles (commonly known a Picross or Nanogram puzzle) wrapped in a visual novel. Set in the '90s, you follow Honor Mizhari, an actor who finds herself in a somewhat forced career change. She used to be a hit TV detective but now fin...
Hardware & Tech

Roccat Vulcan 121 Aimo Gaming Keyboard Review – Show Stopper!

With all that extra time you may all of a sudden have sitting in your house, perhaps now could be a good time to take a look at those PC upgrades that you have never got around to.  Roccat kindly sent me a Vulcan 121 Aimo gaming keyboard a few weeks ago to test and wow it really is something else! On first looks, the mechanical gaming keyboard looks striking as it comes out of the box, set on its dark anodized aluminium plate with its black keys seemingly hovering in the air as they sit on the clear Titan Tactile Switches below.  The magnetic palm rest that connects onto the bottom of the keyboard is a lovely touch and it very comfortable when using the keyboard for long durations. The Vulcan 121 Aimo comes fully loaded with all of the high-class features that you would expec...
Hardware & Tech

Roccat Kone Pure Ultra Gaming Mouse Review – Ergonomic Feather

I am quite particular when it comes to mice.  Having come from the days of the heavy mouse where you had to regularly clean your ball and scrape the dirt from your rollers and then advancing to the optical versions I do sometimes struggle when I encounter a lightweight variant.  Roccat was eager for me to try their new Kone Pure Ultra gaming mouse however when I read that it was only 66grams I did start to worry.  Would I throw it off the desk? would it feel cheap? would it be ok under my palm for long durations?  In the past when I have reviewed mice I have been hard to satisfy, particularly when it comes to ergonomics as I can suffer from cramps fairly easily and have had injections for carpal tunnel.  So what did I think of the Kone Pure Ultra? Straight from the box, the first th...
PlayStation Reviews, Retrogaming Corner

Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle Review – DNR?

Wow, well here is a blast from the past!  Thanks to devs Arc System Works, you are now able to play nearly every Double Dragon and Kunio-Kun vintage game as well as a few others taking you right back to the '80s and '90s!  So basically the era when I was a carefree child regularly playing on my Atari St with my dad and my neighbourhood friends.  It's time to don those garish Bermuda short and T-shirt combos, strike up a bit of jive bunny and the master mixers and go back in time with the Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle. Gameplay Do you love 8-bit side scrollers, kicking and punching your way through levels, defeating big bosses and also having the option to play with a mate both offline and on some titles up to 4 players online? Well, let's see what Arc System Work...