Craig, Author at Thumb Culture

Forged of Blood PC Review – Forge Your Party and Retake Your Kingdom

1Aug

By CraigNo Comments

Forged of Blood PC Review – Forge Your Party and Retake Your Kingdom

Forged of Blood is the first game from developers Critical Forge. Forged of Blood is currently only being developed for PC, and it has received the Most Promising Game Award from Game Prime Asia in 2018 and from Pop Con Asia in 2017. Critical Forge is a small independent development team of 8 people, based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It's great to see a small independent team making the game they want to make without having the hand of a larger company telling them what to do. Let's jump in and find out if Forged of Blood is worth your time! Gameplay Forged of Blood is a tactical turn-based role-playing game set in a fantasy environment. In the story, the player takes on the role of Prince Tavias Caenican. The story begins with your father, King Aurelian Caenican being killed as the castle ...

Steel Division II PC Review – World War II Rolls Heavy Into Town

10Jul

By CraigNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

Steel Division II PC Review – World War II Rolls Heavy Into Town

Steel Division II is the highly anticipated sequel to Steel Division: Normandy '44. A few months ago, I had the pleasure of trying out the Steel Division II beta test and let me tell you; I didn't think they were going to be able to improve the game. To my surprise, they sure did. If you haven't read my previous write-up Steel Division II by Eugen Systems is a real-time strategy game, set on the eastern front during World War II. It was released on June 20th, 2019 on Steam. Without further delay, let's jump in and check out the new additions since the beta preview. Gameplay One of the most significant additions to Steel Division II from its predecessor is the Army General mode. Featuring four separate campaigns from Operation Bagration, your goal is to advance and capture each majo...

Project Nimbus: Complete Edition – Nintendo Switch Review – Mecha-fight!

20Jun

By CraigNo Comments

Gaming, Switch Reviews

Project Nimbus: Complete Edition – Nintendo Switch Review – Mecha-fight!

Allow me to preface this review by saying that I am a huge fan of mecha, in both anime and video game form. For those of you who don't know what mecha are, they're giant robot battle suits. Examples include Gundams, Xenogears, Armored Cores, Battlemechs, etc. Sometimes they're very fast-moving, while others they're just huge bipedal tanks that shoot lasers. When given a chance to check out Project Nimbus: Complete Edition on the Nintendo Switch, I couldn't wait to get into it. Developed by GameCrafterTeam and published by GameTomo for PC and Mac first, then ported to Switch, Project Nimbus: Complete Edition promised high-speed mecha dogfighting. Let's dive in and find out how well it delivered. Gameplay Project Nimbus: Complete Edition is a high-speed aerial mecha combat game. Featu...

Rage 2 PC Review – Welcome To The Wasteland

28May

By CraigNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews

Rage 2 PC Review – Welcome To The Wasteland

It's been eight years since the original Rage came out, and honestly until Rage 2 got announced I never thought there would be a follow-up. The original Rage was a fun game, albeit a bit short and linear. My interest was piqued, especially when I saw that Avalanche Studios was also attached to the project. They've had their fair share of experience making a fun post-apocalyptic open world with Mad Max (A game I thoroughly enjoyed). Co-developed by Avalanche Studios and id Software, and published by Bethesda, Rage 2 has high promise to be a good time. Let's jump in and find out how it is! Gameplay Stepping into the post-apocalyptic playground of Rage 2, you're immediately greeted by deranged half-mutant half-tech creations trying to kill you. They call themselves The Authority. Armed ...

Down to Hell PC Preview – Hack and slash and die

16May

By CraigNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Down to Hell PC Preview – Hack and slash and die

I haven't had much experience with 2d hack and slash games, so when I was presented with Down To Hell by Polish developers Red Dev Studio S.A. I figured I'd take a shot. It's very early in its development stage, so it's bound to be a bit janky, Let's find out! Gameplay In Down to Hell, you play as a mysterious lone swordsman, whom after being saved by a girl becomes indebted to her. The girl has become kidnapped by demonic forces, and it's up to you to save her. The gameplay in Down to Hell is very straight forward. The entire game consists of slaying demons that spawn in waves between sections of 2D platforming. There are a few bosses present in the current build. However, it feels like you have to grind out a lot of enemies for the experience to get strong enough to stand a decent c...

Steel Division 2 Beta PC Preview – Grand Strategic Gold

30Apr

By Craig1 Comment

Previews & Early Access

Steel Division 2 Beta PC Preview – Grand Strategic Gold

Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to play some of Eugen Systems new World War II Real-time strategy game Steel Division 2. Having played the first Steel Division, I was thoroughly excited to give the sequel a proper try. This time around, the RTS action takes place on the eastern front, instead of Normandie. Steel Division 2 will be the first game from Eugen Systems to be independently published. I was a bit worried Steel Division wouldn't get a sequel due to almost half of the development team going on strike over unpaid wages in early 2018. Steel Division 2 was initially slated to be released on Steam on April 4th but was delayed to May 2nd. It has now been delayed again until June 20th so that the dev team could take player feedback and make changes to the game where ...

Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid PS4 Review – Mighty Morphin’ Fisticuffin’

18Apr

By CraigNo Comments

Gaming, PlayStation Reviews

Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid PS4 Review – Mighty Morphin’ Fisticuffin’

Allow me to preface this review by saying I am a big fan of fighting games. A night of fisticuffs with friends is easily the best reason for leaving the comfort of my own home. Presented with an opportunity to try out a new fighting game featuring Power Rangers, I was quite excited about it. Developed and published by nWay Games in San Francisco Power Rangers: Battle for The Grid is a team fighter similar to Marvel Vs. Capcom. It came out on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One on March 26, 2019, and the PlayStation 4 shortly after on the 2nd of April. This review will be on the Playstation 4 version of the game. Gameplay Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid is a 3v3 team fighting game. You pick from a small cast of characters across all of the Power Rangers series to form your team to fig...

Generation Zero PC Review – An 80’s Robo-Nightmare

2Apr

By Craig1 Comment

Gaming, PC Reviews

Generation Zero PC Review – An 80’s Robo-Nightmare

Generation Zero is the latest offering from the developers at Avalanche Studios. It is a first-person co-op shooter developed for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Generation Zero released on the 26th of March, 2019. Avalanche Studios has had a pretty solid track record in terms of making fun open world games. Mad Max and the Just Cause series are among the titles Avalanche Studios is known for making. Let's get on our rad clothes, break out the boombox and check out the bogus events following a weekend campout with friends. Gameplay I have been looking forward to getting my hands on Generation Zero since I first heard about it. I mean come on, Robots? The 80's? Scavenging for weapons to survive? That sounds pretty awesome, right? In theory, yes, that sounds awesome. In practice, however, it's slig...

20Mar

By CraigNo Comments

Gaming, PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Satisfactory – PC First Look

Satisfactory is a game I've been looking forward to trying out since I first saw the reveal video from E3 2018. Developed by Coffee Stain Studios for the PC Satisfactory is a first-person open world factory sim. Satisfactory is currently only available on the Epic Games Store, but it may come to Steam in the future. Gameplay Once you begin Satisfactory, You find yourself in a drop pod on your way down to the surface of an alien planet. You're then played a little introductory video on the screen in your pod stating that your objective is to build a factory from nothing. The factory is being made to send resources back to Ficsit Inc. for some mysterious purpose. Once you've landed, the first thing you notice is how beautiful the landscape is, but we'll get to that in a minute. After break...

OlliOlli: Switch Stance Nintendo Switch Review – Dropping In For A Good Time

19Mar

By CraigNo Comments

Gaming, Switch Reviews

OlliOlli: Switch Stance Nintendo Switch Review – Dropping In For A Good Time

For as long as I can remember I've been a fan of skateboarding games. From Thrasher: Skate and Destroy and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater up to the Skate series. In recent years there has been a saddening lack of good quality skateboarding games coming out. Then OlliOlli came along. Now, I'll admit, OlliOlli is a game that flew under my radar because I had been so busy with other more significant releases. Now that OlliOlli: Switch Stance has come out on the Nintendo Switch, I've become addicted. Developed by Roll7 and published by Gambitious OlliOlli: Switch Stance collects the two OlliOlli games in one elegant little package for the Nintendo Switch. Winning over 75 awards between the two titles, OlliOlli: Switch Stance is an absolute gem. Now let's drop in and get down to forming a habit! Ga...