Stuart, Author at Thumb Culture

8Jan

By StuartNo Comments

Last Year: The Nightmare – Scary in the 90’s

Last Year: The Nightmare from Elastic Games comes first as a timed exclusive to Discord. This 6 player 5 v 1 survival horror takes a look at high school and some 90's themes. How does it fair up against some other great asymmetric survival horror games out at the moment? Lets get scared! Gameplay Last Year: The Nightmare takes place on Halloween night of 1996 where a group of teenagers wake up to find themselves trapped in a nightmarish reflection of their home town of Forest Hills. Spanning across the East Side High School Campus this band of teenagers are being hunted by a number of fearsome killers hellbent on capturing and killing each of the teenagers. So who are these teenagers that you will be taking control of and trying to save? Well there is Chad the Jock, Nick the Ner...

14Dec

By StuartNo Comments

Features, Gaming

5 Things To Make Blackout Better

So with Call of Duty Black Ops 4 being out for a little while, and many many hours of frustrating Blackout having been played, it left me thinking on ways that the game could be improved. So here it is, my 5 Things To Make Blackout Better 1, Hardcore Mode So lets start off with something that I feel would be great. Adding a hardcore mode to the Blackout mode would make things a little more interesting. Imagine wandering around the open areas near turbine and suddenly getting sniped from a distance. Yes I know with a well place sniper shot you can get downed straight away anyways, but with the addition of hardcore mode it would bring more emphasis on finding those shadows and using movement between cover. 2, Body Based Damage Other games have used this to great effect, having body ba...

Strange Brigade: The Thrice Damned DLC Review – Continuing The Chaos

5Nov

By StuartNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

Strange Brigade: The Thrice Damned DLC Review – Continuing The Chaos

As you may know, I absolutely loved the Strange Brigade main game, check out the review here. So it was only natural that the latest DLC The Thrice Damned would be right up my street? Right? Lets take a look. Whats New So essentially we join up with the Strange Brigade in The Thrice Damned, a separate story to the main game that thankfully doesnt give you any spoilers as to what happens during your main jaunt into the unknown. Having played through the first two episodes of the The Thrice Damned, Isle Of The Dead and Sunken Kingdom, before we get to the end I thought it was best that I get my thoughts on paper before the third instalment is released this month. So what does The Thrice Damned bring to the party...well a couple of new characters, Tessie Caldwell and Hachiro Shimuz...

GRIP: Combat Racing Review – Too Fast…TOO Fast!

2Nov

By StuartNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

GRIP: Combat Racing Review – Too Fast…TOO Fast!

Before I start going into the review for GRIP: Combat Racing, I just want to leave a gif showing how it makes you feel. Now onto the review. Gameplay In simplistic terms, GRIP: Combat Racing is a track racer, with a splattering of arena combat thrown in for good measure. Loading up the game you are greeted with the main menu, where you can get access to the campaign, single player, online and split screen elements of the game as well as the garage where you can customise your cars with decals and new colourings. Diving into the campaign, you essentially go through tiers of events designed to ease you into the game as well as challenge your skills as a racer. The further up the tier tree you get the faster and more difficult the game becomes, starting with a nice gentle pace, ev...

FIFA 19 Review – To Upgrade Or Not To Upgrade

23Oct

By StuartNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

FIFA 19 Review – To Upgrade Or Not To Upgrade

With FIFA 19 it brings together a few new additions to the previous iteration, however does that mean that it's worth paying full price for this years version? Lets check out whats new this year. Gameplay Part three of The Journey brings a story from three separate angles, Alex Hunter returns, this year you are able to control both Danny Williams and Alex's Half-Sister Kim. With their storylines interchanging and intertwining you are able to switch between them at any time to see what each character is up to. This brings a great addition to the game, expanding the story to see how Alex gets on at Real Madrid, seeing what Danny gets up to once Alex leaves to go abroad and then following the hottest new talent in the Women's World Cup with Kim. FIFA 19 expands the Ultimate Team universe...

Deadstick Bush Flight Simulator First Play – EGX 2018

8Oct

By StuartNo Comments

Features

Deadstick Bush Flight Simulator First Play – EGX 2018

Getting to grips with Deadstick at EGX was a great joy! Deadstick Bush Flight Simulator to give it it's full title, developed by REMEX Software, headed up by private pilot Chris Cheetham, gives us a different take on the flight sim genre. Having spoke to him on the stand whilst being walked through the controls, you gain an insight into why he wanted to bring this game to life. He wanted to bring a sim that focused more on the low and slow flying, but at the same time appealing to anyone who picked up the controller or flight stick. At first Deadstick could be confused as just a standard flight sim, but scratch away at the surface and it turns into a deep game where you are tasked with growing your own flying company by delivering products in many and various forms. So sitting...

1Oct

By StuartNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews, Switch Reviews

Catastronauts Review – Space Madness!

Taking on space with the Catastronauts by Intertia Game Studios is great fun, a couch co-op experience that seems familiar but give you a great variation on the formula. Come with us as we embark on a space adventure unlike any you have experienced. Gameplay In traditional couch co op style, Catastronauts lets you and three friends take control of your own ship. After picking your character you are greeted with a basic tutorial which effectively is a screen that shows you the buttons. Simplistic is the best way to describe the controls. Pick up, Activate and run faster is pretty much all that you will be using. Once Catastronauts has taken you through the controls its straight into battle against an enemy ship. So each round has a different challenge, you have to fire your weapon...

TC Talks Episode 2 – Top 5 Streaming Tips

19Sep

By Stuart1 Comment

Gaming

TC Talks Episode 2 – Top 5 Streaming Tips

So you want to start out streaming but you aren't sure how, or you aren't seeing any growth. We managed to get an exclusive interview with Stallion himself, and he shares his Top 5 Tips for a new streamer looking to get off the ground. Have a watch via YouTube below, or just below download the file direct, or listen on Soundcloud at Thumb Culture, or download it here https://youtu.be/D5WEGhegjyA If you want to check out Stallion, you can find him at the following links. http://www.twitch.tv/stallion_TTV http://www.twitter.com/stallion_TTV We hope you enjoyed this podcast, check back for more podcasts, with more interviews and more exclusives!

16Sep

By StuartNo Comments

Gaming

TC Talks – Episode 1 – Beta’s, Battle Royale and More

Sit back and relax as we bring you the first in the latest podcast series from the team here at Thumb Culture, TC Talks. This episode see's Josh and Alex join Stu while they talk about what they are currently playing, what they are looking forward too as well as how Stuart feels Beta's are effecting game conventions. Then they chat about Battle Royale games and are they too saturated? If you would like to suggest a subject for the team to talk about please leave a comment below! Who knows, we might get you onto the next podcast! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzP-v0_r4-s&feature=youtu.be Alternatively if you would like to download the audio then please click here

11Sep

By StuartNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews, Switch Reviews

V Rally 4 – Return of the King?

We haven't seen a V-Rally game since 2002 with the third instalment hitting the Playstation 2. Fast forward 16 years and we are lucky enough to be graced with V-Rally 4. Will it be a return to the top? Or has that time out really affected the gaming franchise that Kylotonn wants to bring back to life? Lets find out! Gameplay As you can expect from a racing game, the game is all about racing (obvs), but how does it feel? Well lets start off by saying that it feels decent. Its not up to the same standards as other racing games like DiRT and the F1 series, but it holds its own as an arcade feel racer. The cars are twitchy and responsive when you get the hang of them. Don't expect to be able to throw the cars around corners without a fight though. Within V-Rally 4 there are a number of di...