Guy, Author at koru-cottage.com

Horizon: Forbidden West, PS5 Review

Feb 14, 2022 Guy 1918 Views Guerrilla games, Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon Zero Dawn, Mechanical Creatures, Open World, RPG lite, Third Person

If anyone had doubts that Playstation is the unquestionable home of top-tier, master-class, 3rd person action games, then Horizon: Forbidden West will put any remaining scepticism to rest.

Guerrilla have taken the awesome 2017 ‘Horizon’ I.P and improved on every single element. Not so much as to lose what was unique about Zero Dawn though, they have just refined the overall formula to get about as close to perfection in the Open World genre as one could hope for.

Horizon Forbidden West delivers its story under the assumption that gamers have played and finished Zero Dawn. If you haven’t played it, then… you are crazy! Stop reading and go and play it first!! Or at the very least watch a good story run-down on YouTube.

Gaming Feature Article PC / Mac PS5 Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Rainbow Six: Extraction, Review

Feb 13, 2022 Guy 1864 Views Rainbow Six Siege, Rainbow Six: Extraction, Shooter, Tactical, Teamwork, XCOM

Our resident Rainbow Six: Siege sharpshooter, Nina, returns with thoughts on Ubisoft’s recent spin off PvE shooter Rainbow Six: Extraction.

Up until recently I was a long-standing Rainbow Six: Siege fangirl, but I have drifted away from Siege in recent months.

I don’t like how Ubisoft have allowed what was a great team based, tactical “Clancy” game, morph into a pretty toxic, run and gun shooter. Funnily enough my actual love of Rainbow Six: Siege started back in 2018, not with the core game, but with brief Operation Outbreak event.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS4 PS5 Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

CHORUS, PS5 Review

Dec 4, 2021 Guy 1928 Views Sci-Fi, Space Dogfight, Space Opera

Space Combat games have always been a favourite genre for me. Starting with Descent back in 1995 and most recently with the excellent Star Wars: Squadrons on the PSVR.

But the genre often struggled to get AAA quality outings. Certainly, any tangible story and world building rarely occurs within them.

BUT, Chorus has literally come out of my blind-spot and some how managed to be both an awesome arcade space combat game, with an interesting story.

Gaming Game Reviews Indie Game PC / Mac PS5 Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Iron Harvest: Complete Edition, PS5 Review

Dec 1, 2021 Guy 7888 Views Diesel-Punk, Mech, real-time strategy, RTS

Real Time Strategy (RTS) titles like Iron Harvest on Console are a rare beast.

And even rarer is a Console RTS that has a control and user interface (UI) system, which isn’t a finger twisting nightmare on a controller. But it can be done.

Halo Wars and Sudden Strike 4 have nailed the UI in an RTS for Console gamers, and Iron Harvest…almost did.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS5 Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Guardians of the Galaxy, PS5 Review

Nov 10, 2021 Guy 1754 Views Action RPG, Marvel, Mass Effect, Sci Fi RPG

I had very little basis to be as hyped as I was for the new Guardians of the Galaxy game.

The E3 trailer looked pretty good, even if Star-Lord was presented as bit of a “dude-bro” and the dev team (of modern Deus Ex fame) have a reasonable pedigree in the AAA space. But I had concerns as the Comic book, super-hero genre is hard to get right.

However…against the odds Eidos Montreal crushed it!

With an absolutely fantastic Marvel game and some of the best characters I have experienced since Mass Effect.

Gaming Byte Size Review PC / Mac PS5 Xbox Series X

Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2, PS5 Review

Nov 6, 2021 Guy 3988 Views FPS, Ghost Warrior, Open World, Sniper

Another Guest Spot from our resident Rainbow 6 gamer-girl. Nina has taken a break from clearing rooms in CQB, and dipped into some long distance combat with this review of the new Sniper Ghost Warrior.

When I was presented with Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2 to play, I admit I was apathetic at best. It was a series I’d never played, from a studio I’d never heard of, tackling a genre I’d never been really interested in. But after sinking 15-20 hours of playtime into this game, I am more than happy to say that (we will just call it “Sniper” going forward) has totally exceeded my expectations.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS5 Xbox Series X

Insurgency: Sandstorm, PS4/PS5 Review

Oct 12, 2021 Guy 4133 Views FPS, Online Shooter, Tactical, Teamwork

Rainbow 6 has become a toxic, fluro-laiden, run and gun fest. Ghost Recon is now a soulless open-world monstrosity which as of last week is set to become of all things, a Battle Royale!? And Splinter Cell has been missing in action for almost a decade. What I’m getting at is that the goods on offer for the Tactical console gamer are slim pickings at the moment.

But thankfully dear squad mates, I have good news! Insurgency: Sandstorm has finally migrated from PC to the console and there is now some solid tactical shooter goodness to be had.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS4 PS5 Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Far Cry 6, PS5 Review

Oct 6, 2021 Guy 1802 Views Far Cry, FPS, Open World, Sandbox, Ubisoft

not looking forward to Far Cry 6 at all. I haven’t been interested in a Far Cry game since the brilliant Far Cry 3. I’m happy to say Far Cry 6 has grabbed me in a big way and it is great fun.

There is no great mystery around what sort of game and genre Far Cry 6 is. It’s an FPS open-world action game. Exactly like all those that have come before. This time round it is set in a fictional Caribbean archipelago called Yara, which for all intents and purposes, is Cuba. Ruled by the ruthless “El Presidente” Antón Castillo played by Giancarlo Esposito. Yara is controlled by his military and as expected, there is a grass-roots resistance movement. Which it turns out needs my special ‘Guerrilla’ gamer skills to overthrow the “El Presidente”!

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac Playstation PS4 PS5 Sony

Death Stranding: Directors Cut – PS5 Review

Sep 23, 2021 Guy 1782 Views Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima, Sony

Death Stranding Directors Cut is an odd descriptor for the re-release of a Hideo Kojima game. Kojima is renowned for being that unbridled Game Director with creative freedom aplenty. So, one would expect a game he made was already his “cut”. And I would argue this was especially true regarding the genre bending, Postman Pat simulator, Death Stranding.

Rest assured, Kojima has confirmed that this “sub-title” is essentially a Sony Marketers attempt of saying, this is the PS5 remastered version of Death Stranding with a few extra bits.

Gaming Game Reviews Indie Game PS5

Foreclosed, Review

Sep 13, 2021 Guy 1444 Views Cyberpunk, indie, Shooter, Third Person

Guest writer Nina has taken a trip into this cyber-punk Indie game and has some thoughts to share.

After seeing the Foreclosed trailer at E3 this year, the indie cyberpunk shooter immediately went on my radar. I love the cyberpunk genre, and aside from a few exceptions, there aren’t a lot of games that truly do the genre justice. I will admit though, Foreclosed had my hopes up.

So when I was given the opportunity to review it, I was excited as hell.

Gaming Byte Size Review Indie Game Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Fort Triumph, Byte Size Review

Sep 13, 2021 Guy 1441 Views Fantasy, turn-based strategy games, XCOM

Here at the Cottage we are big fans of XCOM. So the prospect of a new bite sized turn-based tactical game of that ilk on my Xbox Series S was certainly appealing.

Fort Triumph doesn’t manage to hit the quality or depth that our beloved XCOM does, but there is fun to be had for the tactically minded gamer.