Jason, Author at Thumb Culture

27Jun

By JasonNo Comments

Nex Machina Review – Dodge, Dip, Dive, Duck and Dodge

Nex Machina, a collaboration between Housemarque (Resogun and Alienation) and legendary game developer Eugene Jarvis (massively famous for Defender, Robotron & NARC), is an explosive arcade experience that gives a strong nod towards the fun coin-op games I used to play down the arcades in the 80s/90s. As I patiently wait for the game to load I am greeted by the intro screen showing a machine of death, its eyes glowing on and off, red with power. The retro arcade electronic music kicks in and I am prompted to press X to continue. Gameplay A list of game options presents itself and allows you to either experience arcade mode; an arena; or a single world. A grin crosses my face as I see that local 2 player co-op is supported (I'm easily pleased as I seldom get to play on my own...

Victor Vran: Overkill Edition Review – Wanderer, Adventurer, Hunter

21Jun

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Victor Vran: Overkill Edition Review – Wanderer, Adventurer, Hunter

Victor Vran: Overkill Edition, developed by Haemimont Games and published by Wired Productions is an award winning isometric action RPG crawler that lets you take on hordes of demons and clever bosses as you battle through your adventure as Victor Vran. Originally made for PC, Victor Vran: Overkill Edition makes its debut on Playstation 4 & Xbox One. Having been completely rebuilt from the ground up, the new improved version running at 60FPS includes two new expansions; Fractured Worlds and the head banging Motörhead: Through the Ages. “We’re delighted to finally bring Victor Vran to consoles, answering the call of many Victor fans,” said Gabriel Dobrev, CEO at Haemimont Games. “We are incredibly proud to have collaborated closely with Motörhead during the development of Mot...

14Jun

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Renowned Explorers: The Emperor’s Challenge Review – Let’s Go Exploring!

Renowned Explorers, by Abbey Games, is a turn-based strategy adventure game available on PC. Set in the 19th century, you are in charge of putting together a team of explorers each with their own skills and traits in a global search to seek out legendary treasures. Following on from their successful launch back in September 2015, Abbey Games released their first expansion More to Explore in May 2016. This included for two new expeditions and introduced a new gameplay mechanic whereby resting the crew around a campfire revealed crew back stories and the chance to gain upgrades. The expansion had such a great response that a second expansion called The Emperor's Challenge was introduced a year later. The Emperor's Challenge expansion takes you and your team of explorers to the Far ...

The Town of Light Review – A Chill Down Your Spine!

12Jun

By Jason1 Comment

PC Reviews

The Town of Light Review – A Chill Down Your Spine!

The Town of Light, by LKA.it and Wired Productions is a first person story driven game that tells the chilling tale of Renée as she returns to her former home, the Volterra Psychiatric Asylum located in Tuscany, Italy, where she had spent much of her youth. Here Renée goes back to discover the secrets of her past and reveals the psychological, sexual and physical abuse that happened within her asylum. The Volterra Psychiatric Asylum has been inspired by real life Italian institutions that were shut down in the late 1970's due to the passing of an Italian law that instructed all asylums to immediately close and return civil rights back to patients. As a result, the now derelict asylum is strewn with the haunting remnants of wards, operating theatres, kitchens and through the eyes o...

11Jun

By JasonNo Comments

News & Updates

E3 2017 – EA Conference Round Up

E3 has officially kicked off for 2017 and here at Thumb Culture, we thought we would round up all the good bits so that you’re kept in the know with what’s coming up in the next few months and beyond! EA has kicked off this year with a pretty strong conference which detailed a whole host of content for existing games and games coming in the future. Some gret titles were detailed by EA, the main one being Star Wars Battlefront 2 which featured about half an hour of pure game play footage played by notable members of the community LIVE on stage. Before we get into the details of the games, a very good point to note right now is EA/Origin Access is currently free for the next week so jump on and give all those yummy EA games a play before the free week ends! Battlefield One A who...

9Jun

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Rising Storm 2: Vietnam Review

1960’s music blaring – check. Helicopters – check. 64 player US versus Vietnamese matches on a variety of interesting and unique maps – CHECK. Rising Storm 2 puts you in the shoes of one a range of different soldiers and classes with the aim of battling it out in an unforgiving and hard-core FPS where team work and communication is vital. Gameplay Rising Storm 2 is a follow on PC only FPS title from the makers of Red Orchestra, a hard-core and challenging range of FPS titles which really does rely on good team work and not Call of Duty-esque run and gunning. With the choice of two battling sides, both equipped with a variety of different solider classes, you are tasked with finding a class suited to your play style and then either attacking or defending points from the onslaught ...

Crossout Review – Craft, Ride & Destroy!

5Jun

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Crossout Review – Craft, Ride & Destroy!

Crossout, by Targem games in collaboration with Gaijinent Entertainment (the people behind War Thunder), is a thrilling free to play battle set in a post-apocalyptic world whereby you get to craft and drive your own vehicles into the arena. The year is 2021 and a mysterious viral epidemic known as the "Crossout" has swept the planet killing or changing people into suicidal maniacs. Those that are left on the planet conceal their mutated features and battle with one another for their survival. Gameplay My first impressions of Crossout was that of Mad Max meets Destruction Derby however there is a lot more going on than just driving around and bumping into other vehicles, oh no, you have guns, rockets, chainsaws, spikes and blades as well as a whole host of other vehicle stopping weapons...

1Jun

By JasonNo Comments

Features

Exclusive Interview with Battle Chaser’s Joe Madureira

Following on from my Battle Chasers article that I wrote the other week (which can be found here), fellow Thumb Culturist Jason was lucky enough to meet the creator of the comic book come computer game Joe Madureira while he was at the THQ Nordic London ShowCase. Enjoy his interview! Jason: Hi Joe, I’m Jason and I’m from Thumb Culture and the guys have come up with a list of questions for you. One of our guys Glyn, really wanted to come down but couldn’t unfortunately. Joe: Did you guys just do a write up, like a preview? I feel like I may have read something. Jason: Yeah, Glyn did a write up and absolutely loved the game. Joe: Yeah it was a glowing and positive preview, it was really cool. Jason: He said the soundtrack was really amazing. I was listening out for it and it...

1Jun

By JasonNo Comments

Features

THQ Nordic – Exclusive London Showcase Event

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to THQ Nordic's Showcase Event located within a dark eerie crypt deep below St Andrew's Church in Holborn, London. Having made my way via land and rail I was excited to be one of the first to have a play at the latest builds of their forthcoming titles; Battle Chasers: NightWar, Elex and SpellForce 3 and also get to interview the team behind them. As I descended into the cool and dimly lit dungeon-like crypt I was greeted by the PR crew, Dead Good Media, who enthusiastically led me to the 3 banks of neon lit gaming PC's where I would be spending as long as I wanted playing each of the games. I seriously couldn't wait. Battle Chasers: NightWar was the first game on my list to play, especially after the feedback from fellow ThumbCulturis...

Exclusive Interview with THQ Nordic’s Reinhard Pollice

1Jun

By JasonNo Comments

Features

Exclusive Interview with THQ Nordic’s Reinhard Pollice

As part of the THQ Nordic London ShowCase last week (click here for the event details), one of our writers, Jason, was lucky enough to meet SpellForce 3 & Elex Development Director Reinhard Pollice. Having played both of the games he was keen to have a chat and answer a few questions that we had for him. Enjoy! Jason: Hi Reinhard, so you’re one of the developers behind Spell Force 3? Reinhard: Yeah sort of, I take care of all the projects at THQ Nordic and Grimlore Games which is an internal studio for THQ Nordic, I am their studio manager and development director. I’m wearing a lot of hats! Jason: So a lot of pressure. Reinhard: Yeah, ha ha. Jason: So I’ve had a go on ELEX and SpellForce 3, which I’ve really enjoyed. My first impressions of SpellForce 3 are a cross b...