Gerard Campbell, Author at koru-cottage.com

System Shock remake (reviewed on PC)

June 30, 2023 Gerard Campbell 905 Views Challenging, Hacking, Old School, Rogue AI, System Shock

In 1994, Looking Glass Technologies introduced rogue AI Shodan to the world in the original System Shock.

Set aboard a space station in 2072, the player assumed the role of a hacker who must thwart the evil plans of Shodan, a genuinely unsettling AI who was quite terrifying.

The game was universally praised for its gameplay by critics but was only a moderate commercial success.

Fast forward to 2023 and we’ve seen the release of a remade System Shock from retro game specialist studio Nightdive Studios (Only available on PC at the moment but is coming to consoles later this year).

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac

Stasis Bone Totem (reviewed on PC)

June 21, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1428 Views Adventure, horror themes, indie game, Isometric, point-and-click, Survival Horror

A sequel to 2015 game Stasis, which I never played.

Stasis Bone Totem sees husband and wife oceanic salvagers Mac and Charlie O’Bannon (and robotic bear Moses) stumble across a derelict oil rig run by the Cayne Corporation.

What follows is a Lovecraftian tale that takes the main characters all the way down to an undersea complex and melds themes of an ancient alien civilisation, unnatural human experimentation and Gieger-esque visuals.

Gaming Hardware Hardware Reviews PC / Mac

Intel NUC11 mini PC review

May 6, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1555 Views Beast Canyon, Benchmark, Gaming PC, Intel, NUC mini PC

I’ve dabbled in PC gaming since the days of the Sinclair ZX81 and Spectrum (I’m truly showing my age here).

While modern PC gamers are running graphics cards with 12 Gigabytes of VRAM (and more) and CPUs that are more powerful than anything you could imagine in 1990.

Which brings me to Intel’s Beast Canyon Intel NUC11 PC: A small but mighty gaming PC that is unobtrusive, packs a powerful punch in a small form factor – and there’s not a bit of beige to be seen!

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac

Everspace 2 (PC) review

April 16, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1122 Views Adventure, Everspace, Gorgeous, PC, Space Dogfight

At its heart, Everspace 2 is an arcade shooter – and I’m perfectly fine with that.

Originally funded by a crowd-funding campaign, Everspace 2 has just come out of a two year early access phase.

It describes itself as “a fast-paced single-player space shooter with deep exploration, tons of loot and classic RPG elements.” Well, it’s all of those things wrapped up in a space faring package that will scratch that space combat itch that’s been bugging you for so long.

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

Dredge review: Fishing the deep, dark depths

March 24, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1294 Views Adventure, Dredge, Fishing, indie game, mini-game, Sinister, Spooky

I usually find that when I think about a game at lot when I’m not playing it.

Trying to find solutions to mysteries, mulling over exactly what did that cryptic conversation with a character mean, then I’m usually smitten with that game.

For me at the moment, that game is Dredge, a “fishing” game from a game development studio in my home town in New Zealand, that has buried itself into my mind and I can’t stop thinking about it, I can’t stop playing it.

I’m smitten with this indie gem.

Gaming Game Reviews Hardware PC / Mac

Returnal PC (review)

March 12, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1185 Views alien planet, Hard, PC, Returnal, rogue-like

Returnal will run well on an ageing GPU like an RX580, which means it still has some life left in it. Sure, it won’t look as good as a card that can push the high frame rates and do ray tracing without breaking a sweat.

More importantly, it’s actually playable on our ageing RX580.

Gaming Feature Article Indie Game PC / Mac PS5 Switch Console Xbox Series X

Dredge developer interview: A fishing RPG with a sinister undercurrent

February 26, 2023 Gerard Campbell 3120 Views Drege, Fishing, indie game, Kiwi, Sinister RPG, Small Team

Gerard Campbell caught up with the team behind Black Salt Games.

A young development studio based in Christchurch, New Zealand, making waves with its debut game, Dredge.

Two years in the making, and coming from fledgling game development studio Black Salt Games, comprising the talents of Joel, Nadia, Mikey and Alex.

Gaming Indie Game PC / Mac

Wavetale: Surfing the seven seas

January 29, 2023 Gerard Campbell 807 Views Adventure, Aquatic, Boss Fights, Thunderful Games, Wavetale

In Wavetale, you play as Sigrid.

A young girl who lives on an island above a submerged city of Strandville that lies in an island archipelago.

Wavetale was first released on Google Stadia in 2021 but has now made its way to PC, and is predominately platforming with a smattering of combat.

Gaming Byte Size Review PS5 Switch Console Xbox Series X

Shatter Remastered Deluxe (Switch review)

December 6, 2022 Gerard Campbell 1099 Views Chilling, Classic, FRantic, Handheld, Kiwi, Retro

To show how old I am, I played the original Shatter on PlayStation 3 back in 2009.

Describing it in a review as (and I quote) “one of those simplistic, visually appealing games that has a brilliant soundtrack and wears its retro roots proudly on its sleeve”.

Gaming Byte Size Review PC / Mac

Destiny’s Sword (PC)

October 15, 2022 Gerard Campbell 1509 Views Choose Your Adventure, indie game, Sci Fi RPG, Static Pages, strategy

Destiny’s Sword describes itself as a “living graphic novel”

To me it’s more akin to the Choose Your Own adventure books that were common place when I was growing up – and that’s not a bad thing, believe me.

Told through comic book-style panels, Destiny’s Sword has you commanding a planetary defense force as it works to keep the peace on the planet Cyris.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac Playstation Sony

Spider-Man Remastered: Web-slinging, PC action

August 12, 2022 Gerard Campbell 1081 Views PC Remaster, Spider-man, Superhero, Third Person, Web Slinger

PC gamers, rejoice: You can now play one of the best superhero video games around with Insomniac’s Spider-Man Remastered swinging its way onto PC this month.

The PC port has been handled by Nixxes. A 20-year-old Dutch company renowned for a magic touch taking console titles and getting them to work on PC.