PC Reviews

1Mar

By StuartNo Comments

Gravel Review – Spiritual Success

Gravel from Milestone has dropped down some steep hills and brings a taste of what rally games could be. It could potentially be classed as a spiritual successor to Sega Rally. I know, that is some big claims, but with its straight forward racing and responsive controls, you could be fooled into it. Gameplay Gravel is classed as the ultimate off-road experience, now that is some hefty claims, but it does live up to it in some respects. During the main portion of Gravel you are taking part in the wildest show on the Gravel Channel web TV, travelling around the world, discovering the wide variety of environments and defying the Masters! Enjoy four different disciplines throughout your Career as a star of the off-road racing – Cross Country, Wild Rush, Stadium and Speed cross –and live t...

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine Review – A Mesmerising Folklore Adventure

1Mar

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

PC Reviews

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine Review – A Mesmerising Folklore Adventure

This gritty and dark American Folklore tale is by Dim Bulb Games and Serenity Forge. It was also founded by Johnnemann Nordhagen, co-founder of Fullbright and programmer on Gone Home and BioShock 2. Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a surreal, poetic journey through American legend and fantasy, featuring delicious art and toe tapping original folk music. It spans a century of US history in the depression era, introducing players to a vast cast of drifters, fortune tellers, and magical creatures – and there’s Sting, yes the musician Sting. https://youtu.be/fnznWYE_wxc Gameplay Having lived for a while in the south, I loved hearing all the old stories, getting lost in the music and visiting vast places of cultural interest on my journeys around Mississippi, Tennessee and New Orleans, ...

27Feb

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

PC Reviews

The Sims 4 Review – Console Controls Conundrum

The Sims has always been a staple of my now limited gaming time. Whenever I get the chance I do tend to load up The Sims 3 and spend an hour or so continuing the mundane life I've created for myself. Now it seems I can do such mundane tasks on a console, with The Sims 4 on Playstation 4. I've never been a fan of The Sims on console, as to be fair it's much more suited to the keyboard and mouse than controller. But, I was willing to give this a shot and to see where it would take me. After the disappointment that was the Xbox 360 version of The Sims 3, I was extremely hesitant to play this. So much so that upon receiving my review copy, I put it off for as long as I could. I lasted about a week before surprising myself and popping the disc into my console. Usually at this point in the...

RiftStar Raiders Review – Loot Your Way To Greatness

26Feb

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

RiftStar Raiders Review – Loot Your Way To Greatness

Space shoot-em ups were pretty much the first style of computer game I ever played as a kid and wow they have certainly come a long way from the days of Asteroids on the Atari ST! RiftStar Raiders by independent developer Climax Studios based in sunny Portsmouth alongside Vision Games Publishing is a top down space shooter that brings the genre to the modern era with 2.5D graphics. Gameplay The story behind RiftStar Raiders is that an alien AI known as Warswarm have waged war on humanity and are attacking the Federation. It is up to you and your team of Raiders to basically shoot all the Warswarm baddies while scavenging and collecting loot to better your weapons, shields and engines. Based on the orbital sin city of Arcadia in the centre of the Far Reachspace, it is down to you ...

Rad Rogers Review – Shoot Em Up Brilliance

20Feb

By StuartNo Comments

PC Reviews

Rad Rogers Review – Shoot Em Up Brilliance

Rad Rogers published by THQ Nordic, is a new take on an old classic. The side scrolling platformer! You take the controls of Rad Rogers, a rambunctious but spirited young boy who maybe plays too many video games. After dozing off at the tail end of a long night of gaming, Rad awakens to find his dusty old console has turned itself back on. Suddenly a vortex emerges and he's sucked into his TV, where he finds himself the star in his very own video game adventure. Dusty is Rad's good-hearted but foul-mouthed, now-sentient game console. His clock speed isn't what it used to be, but what he lacks for in megahertz he makes up for with experience and attitude! Rad & Dusty's adventure begins in the First World, taking them through seven dangerous stages of action-packed, humor-filled, h...

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Review – Supernatural Sherlock

19Feb

By TC Staff WriterNo Comments

PC Reviews

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Review – Supernatural Sherlock

A handful of developers that used to be part of Developer, People Can Fly teamed up to create their own development studio, The Astronauts. These people created a title back in 2013 called, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, which eventually saw a Redux version arrive in 2015, with the game being remade in the Unreal Engine 4 rather than the previous, Unreal Engine 3. The game also landed on PS4 around this time, and as such it was exclusive to PC and PS4. However, fast forward to 2018 and the Xbox One version has arrived. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a first-person mystery title in which players control a Detective with a supernatural ability -more on that soon- who is on a case to find a missing boy, Ethan Carter. As he wanders around a large map he stumbles across bodies of the kidna...

Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame Review

13Feb

By JohnNo Comments

PC Reviews

Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame Review

Monster Energy Supercross is the latest official release from Milestone in Partnership with Feld Entertainment Inc. Their aim is to allow gamers to experience what is considered by many to be the most competitive and highest profile off-road motorcycle racing championship in the world. Now, right up front I want to be honest with you all and say I’m not an avid fan of the sport, I do enjoy Speedway, so I have an appreciation for bike racing. But, it did mean that going into this review my knowledge base of the riders and tracks was pretty limited. Monster Energy Supercross is available on all major gaming platforms (PS4, XBox One, Switch & PC). This review however is being done based on the PS4 release. So as someone who wasn’t a fan before playing the game, the question is did I...

13Feb

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Dynasty Warriors 9 Review – Big Trouble in Little China

Fancy playing a massive open-world hack n slash game set in China? Well you're in luck as publisher Koei Tecmo along with developer Omega Force has produced Dynasty Warriors 9, the latest instalment, and largest, of the Dynasty Warriors series. Available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Pc, I have been fortunate enough to don my best samurai outfit and wield the largest sword I can find to bring you my findings young Daniel Son. What are Dynasty Warriors I hear you ask? Well, the award-winning gaming series is a spin-off from the 1985 turn-based strategy "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by Koei and is loosely settled around the Chinese historical text "Records of the Three Kingdoms" depicting the events of the late Eastern Han dynasty 184-220AD and the Three Kingdoms period 220-280AD. ...

Kingdom Come: Deliverance Review in Progress – Bohemian Rhapsody

13Feb

By StuartNo Comments

PC Reviews

Kingdom Come: Deliverance Review in Progress – Bohemian Rhapsody

Ever since Kingdom Come: Deliverance by Warhorse Studios had been announced it was well and truly on the radar here at Thumb Culture, and after finally getting our hands on this ultra-realistic medieval RPG we are happy to report that overall its a great game with a few frustrations. Read on to find out... Gameplay So the gameplay element is where it all is on show, being an RPG if you don't get those gameplay elements right, Kingdom Come: Deliverance will fail even before its begun to canter. So the RPG elements of the game work pretty well, essentially the more you practice a particular skill the better you get at it. So if you want to be better at sword play, then head down to battle arena and get practicing. Having a focus on realism in Kingdom Come: Deliverance gives it a few ...

Sociable Soccer Review – The Beautiful Game?

12Feb

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Sociable Soccer Review – The Beautiful Game?

For gamers of a certain age there will be fond memories of playing a simple but awesome football game called Sensible Soccer back in the 90s. For me it was THE number one game to play with my friends on our Atari ST. Fast forward to now and Jon Hare who was the designer behind my favourite game back then has reappeared on the gaming scene with Sociable Soccer. Made by Tower Studios and Combo-Breaker, Sociable Soccer is currently available on Steam Early Access for £14.99. With my misspent youth seemingly like a distant past I was more than happy to get my boots back on and take to the pitch! Was Sociable Soccer going to win a trophy or go for an early bath? Gameplay Sociable Soccer has a simple, easy to navigate menu currently displaying as "Boss mode", "Trophies", "Options" an...