Stuart, Author at Thumb Culture

18Oct

By StuartNo Comments

FIFA 18 – A 2 Good 2 Bad Review

It's that time of year again when EA release their iteration of FIFA to go up against Konami's PES, this year FIFA getting the 18 treatment. So how does FIFA 18 hold up against the rest and what do we think of the game as a whole. Rather than give you a run down of what the game is about, i'm going to come at this from a different angle. For those of you that watch Match Of The Day 2 you will know all about this. The feature on the show where the pundits look back at the weekends action and give their best and bad bits. So without further ado, lets take a look at the 2 Bad side first (I always have bad news first) 2 Bad New Standing Tackle So a new standing tackle system has been introduced where you have to charge up your tackle, the further your tackle bar goes up the harder the tackl...

18Oct

By StuartNo Comments

PlayStation Reviews

WWE 2K18 Review – Laying The Smackdown

WWE 2K18 is the latest iteration of the WWE franchise from 2K Sports. Being developed in collaboration between Yuke's and Visual Concepts we are treated with some great visuals, but some frustrations at the same time. Let's take a look at how the game stands up in a market where it has no competition. Gameplay Controlling your wrestler in WWE 2K18 is straight forward, left stick to move, left stick in combination with a specific button to carry out grabs and strikes. It starts getting a bit confusing when you are trying to perform a specific move, say for example picking an opponent off the mat when you have downed them. This became my first frustration, each button has a number of actions assigned to them depending on the type of button press you carry out. Example in point, the Circle ...

Fanatec CSL Elite Wheel Review – What A Wheel

12Oct

By StuartNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Fanatec CSL Elite Wheel Review – What A Wheel

Having spent a number of hours, a large number of hours racing using the Fanatec CSL Elite wheel it was about time I gave my review of the hardware. Firstly I need to say a big thank you to the people over at Fanatec for being so generous with their hardware and providing us a CSL Elite setup and for making this article series possible. Videos will be going up on the YouTube channel which will include unboxing and setup as well as just some random fun videos that hopefully you will enjoy. Thanks and enjoy the article. Now this review is going to vary from the usual reviews you will see on the site and I will attempt to split it into a few different categories. So bear with me as this all comes together. First Impressions When you start to open the box on your shiny new CSL Elite wheel...

EGX 2017 – Interview with COO of Slightly Mad Studios Rod Chong

5Oct

By StuartNo Comments

Features

EGX 2017 – Interview with COO of Slightly Mad Studios Rod Chong

So whilst at EGX I got the opportunity to ask Rod Chong the Chief Operating Officer a few questions about Project Cars 2. So here for your reading pleasure is the transcript of that interview. Stu: This game feels a bit more raw, its different, its definitely more realistic. I play with a Fanatec wheel and its ridiculous. Rod: The philosophy behind the tyres in particular has changed, it was a couple of months after project cars 1 was out and we sat down with a couple of Bentley racing drivers (Guy Smith), put them in their cars and they were going around Bathurst and going up the hill and the back end stepped out, he corrected as you would a real car and spun. He looked at us, "that's not real, i would have been able to catch it" and then we stuck David Brabban in the simulator,...

4Oct

By StuartNo Comments

PC Reviews

NBA Live 18 Review – Swish or Air Ball?

NBA Live 18 returns for another year that, in previous years, has been dominated by a certain other basketball game. However, EA Tiburon have returned with what they feel could be the game that puts them back on top. Let's have a look and see! Gameplay There are a few new gameplay elements this year, included a new one on one control system. This sees you having to get the defender off balance by using dribble moves, and likewise as a defender you have to guess the direction the offence is going to drive. Guessing correctly and timing it right cuts off their attack and gives you an opportunity to steal the ball and start off on a counter attack. Using a defensive assist button allows you to stay in front of the ball carrier and then it makes it easier to try and cut them off when they dr...

NASCAR Heat 2 Review – Rubbing’s Racing Harry

25Sep

By StuartNo Comments

PC Reviews

NASCAR Heat 2 Review – Rubbing’s Racing Harry

NASCAR Heat 2 is quite clearly a sequel to NASCAR Heat, but having not played the first iteration I was able to go in to this game with a clear mind. Although how much of a good thing that will be is left to be seen. Developed by Monster Games and published by 704Games, NASCAR Heat 2 takes on the massively popular racing franchise over in the USA. So does it cut the mustard with an F1 fan like myself? Gameplay The gameplay of NASCAR Heat 2 is summarised in the following words, Round And Round. Essentially it's an oval racer which challenges you to draft your opponents in order to overtake and make your way through the field. Sounds simple right? Well, you would be a fool to believe so. It's tactical and brutal, go down to low on the corners and you can quickly find yourself facing onc...

23Sep

By StuartNo Comments

Features

EGX 2017 Daily Summary – Day 2

If you haven't read the EGX day 1 summary then head over to here and have a quick read...go on it's ok, I can wait.... Welcome back! Now it's time for the summary of Day 2, as the previous article it will be a short summary of the days events, purely so that you get a flavour for what EGX is all about. So let's get stuck in with the first game... Raging Justice When I received the press release for Raging Justice is instantly reminded me of classic side-scrolling beat em ups such as Street Of Rage and Double Dragon, but with a really nice claymation style to the game. You can imagine my excitement when I took control of the game and it was EXACTLY what I expected. MakinGames is made up purely of Anna and Nic and after speaking to them both you can see exactly why they wanted to ...

22Sep

By Stuart1 Comment

Features

EGX 2017 Daily Summary – Day 1

So it's that time of year again and rather than bombarding you with tens of other articles, like you would find elsewhere, we at Thumb Culture thought it might be best just to give you a bit more of a personal account of the day. So that if you have never been to an EGX show before, you will get a taste of what you might expect. The day started with a bit of a wild goose chase trying to determine where you pick up press passes from, if only we knew that its the same place as EVERYBODY ELSE! Rather than being sent all the way to the other end of the Birmingham NEC. Once we picked up our press passes, we were straight in and faced with the familiar low light setting, noise heavy playground for gamers' to try out the newest and latest games. Having made a few appointments it was time fo...

Steering Wheel Series – The Fanatec Hardware

15Sep

By StuartNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Steering Wheel Series – The Fanatec Hardware

Having been a huge fan of the racing game genre for a long time, I consider myself to be a decent racer when it comes to using the controller. Playing games like Project Cars, Driveclub, GT, and many more, I always felt like something was missing. Could a steering wheel make me better? This was a big question that always rocked around inside my head, and finally i decided to find out. After reaching out to the good people at Fanatec who generously donated some brilliant hardware it was time to finally find out if using a wheel made me better. The Hardware For this I am using the Fanatec CSL Elite PS4 Starter Kit, with an additional Loadcell kit. To those of you that aren't familiar with this allow me to elaborate. The Fanatec CSL Elite Racing wheel is officially licensed for use...

Sonic Mania Review – Getting All The Feels

11Sep

By StuartNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Sonic Mania Review – Getting All The Feels

Sonic makes his return in Sonic Mania and he is bringing a few friends. The game is developed by Headcannon and PagodaWest Games and published by Sega for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. The game was announced to commemorate Sonic's 25th Birthday and features remastered 2D graphics and animations as well as stages from games of old, and a few new ones for good measure. Gameplay The gameplay of Sonic Mania is simplistic at heart, but as with every other Sonic game that has come before it, it has a great challenge. Following the events of Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic and Tails receive a powerful energy reading from Angel Island and board Tails's plane, the Tornado, to investigate. However, Doctor Eggman has sent an elite group of robots, the Hard-Boiled H...