Gerard Campbell, Author at koru-cottage.com

MediEvil review: Arise, Sir Dan, zombie hordes await

November 1, 2019 Gerard Campbell 3496 Views HD, MediEvil, Playstation, Retro

The older we get, we tend to look at things we loved or admired from the past through rose-coloured glasses. Thinking they’re better than they actually were. I think this is the case with MediEvil, a game from the era of the first PlayStation and now been lovingly remastered for the modern PlayStation.

Off the bat, MediEvil seems a strange PS1 game to remaster when there are better candidates that could have received the remaster treatment.

I remember playing a MediEvil game on the now long forgotten PSP (PlayStation Portable), and from memory it wasn’t that well received.

Gaming Game Reviews Switch Console Video Content

The Witcher Complete Edition: Geralt of Rivea in the palms of your hands

October 25, 2019 Gerard Campbell 3638 Views Geralt, Handheld, Magic, Switch, Witcher

I’m not really sure what alchemy and magic potions CD Projekt Red & Saber Interactive have evoked to enable one of the finest action RPGs of this generation – The Witcher 3 – to run on Nintendo’s handheld console the Switch but, my God, they’ve done the seemingly impossible and made it happen.

The bottom line here is that yes, The Witcher Complete Edition on Nintendo Switch doesn’t look as good as its console and PC counterparts and pureists will recoil in horror at that, but The Switcher (or Henry Cavil Sim 2019) is an outstanding port of one of the finest action RPGs of all time that is feature complete and I just can’t put it down [I’ve played for hours and hours over the past week].

It’s just perfect for when my better half is marathoning her soup operas and I need something to occupy me.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS4 Xbox One

Greedfall: Colonialism in the New World

September 27, 2019 Gerard Campbell 3471 Views Action RPG, Focus Interactive, Greedfall, Witcher

When it comes to games from publisher Focus Interactive, you sometimes expect things to be a little rough around the edges. Greedfall is no exception, an action RPG set in the 17th Century where colonialism is spreading through the new world.

Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges, but it does have charm that grows on you as you progress.

I guess Greedfall could best be likened to a game like CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher series. Where combat and diplomacy play key roles as you explore towns and other locations in the New World of Ter Fradee. Discovering its secrets – and the cure for a strange affliction called the malichor.

Players control diplomat De Sardet, an emissary of the congregation of merchants. He’s a likeable chap, if I’m being honest, with a cheeky charm and attitude that is instantly endearing.

Gaming Byte Size Review PS4 PSNetwork

Erica: The return of the FMV game

September 12, 2019 Gerard Campbell 4104 Views FMV, Playlink

I didn’t know what to expect when I was offered Erica, a PlayStation-exclusive full motion video game, to review.

It’s not often I go into video games cold, with no idea what I’ve let myself into, but I did with Erica. A full motion video game like we had in the ’90s but better.

Those of us who gamed during the ’90s will know FMV games like Phantasmagoria and The 7th Guest but Erica is nothing like those games.

Firstly, it’s better. Much, much, much better.

Yamagi taking a selfie on Nakamichi Street, Kamurocho.

Game Reviews Gaming PS4

Judgment review: Treading the streets of Kamorucho again

July 21, 2019 Gerard Campbell 5044 Views JRPG, RPG, Third Person, Yakuza

I absolutely love Sega’s Yakuza games, a rich, slightly quirky crime series set in the fictional Japanese city of Kamurocho, so it’s no surprise that I have fallen head first into Sega’s Judgment (PS4 exclusive), a game not directly set in the Yakuza universe but there’s some elements that the two games share, nonetheless.

It’s hardly surprising there are similarities in game play, though: Judgment’s made by Ryu Ga Gotuku Studio (Ryu Ga Gotuku is actually Japanese for Yakuza), the same studio behind some of the latter Yakuza games, and while there’s no appearance of the Dragon of Dogma Kazuma Kiryu in Judgment, the setting is a familiar one for fans of the Yakuza series: Kamurocho, a fictional Japanese city modelled on the real-world Kabukich?, Tokyo’s most well-known “red-light” district.

I have to say, it’s great to be wandering the streets of Kamurocho again with it’s bright lights and streets layered with signs and craziness.

Game Reviews Gaming PC / Mac PS4 Xbox One

Observation review [PC]: When a sentient AI goes bad …

July 10, 2019 Gerard Campbell 3468 Views Devolver, Observation, Sci-Fi

Previously posted at Gerard’s own blog GameJunkieNZ, here’s his view on Observation.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the team behind sci-fi thriller Observation – were fans of movies Alien, Event Horizon and 2001 A Space Odyssey.

The game opens aboard the international space station Observation which is above Earth’s orbit after suffering a catastrophic event. The ship’s medical officer Dr Emma Fisher eventually manages to reboot the ship’s AI Sam [System Administration Maintenance] but Sam receives a strange transmission telling him to “BRING HER”.

Fast forward a bit and after a second event, the Observation finds itself above Saturn, Sam’s core functions compromised and the rest of Observation’s crew missing. Emma tasks Sam with finding out what has happened.

Game Reviews Gaming Nintendo PC / Mac Switch Console

Octopath Traveler, PC review

June 26, 2019 Gerard Campbell 4031 Views 16-bit glory, RPG, Switch, turn based

I had no idea what to expect when my editor asked me if I was keen to take a look at Octopath Traveler on PC.

I’d obviously heard about Octopath Traveler on the Nintendo Switch but that was about as far as it went. That said, I’m about mixing things up, so I said “Why not?”. The game is, after all, a big deal apparently.

It’s fun, too.

Game Reviews Gaming PC / Mac

Total War Three Kings: Chinese dynasties & tactical battles, PC Review

June 11, 2019 Gerard Campbell 7577 Views Chinese Han Dynasty, Creative Assembly, real-time strategy, Total War series, turn-based strategy games

Dear readers, before I start this review, I want to apologise. Apologise for how late this write-up is.

I really wanted to get my thoughts on Total War Three Kings posted sooner than I have but I blame Asobo Studio’s [simply amazing] A Plague Tale: Innocence, a game I bought a few days after a download code for Total War Three Kings landed in my inbox. “I’ll look at it for a few hours then get stuck into TW,” I said. “It’ll be all sweet,” I said.

Well, best laid plans of mice & men and all that …

Byte Size Review Gaming PS Vita PS4 Switch Console Xbox One

Shakedown Hawaii: A dinosaur making his way in the modern world, PS4 and Vita

May 23, 2019 Gerard Campbell 3755 Views 16-bit glory, 80s humour, dinosaur CEO, pop culture

Shakedown Hawaii is a cynical statement about today’s modern age told through the eyes of a dinosaur who is stuck in his ways & is unprepared to change.

Shakedown Hawaii is an open-world game with a mix of driving, shooting and wandering around where missions can be as simple as stealing a speed boat for some misadventure to renaming an unpopular energy drink so it appeals to gamer culture.

You can also literally buy every single building in the game. From shoe shops to clothing outlets to automative dealers that repossess cars, the world is literally yours for the taking. Shakedown Hawaii doesn’t take itself too seriously, either.

Shakedown Hawaii is just the ticket to scratch that 16-bit itch.

Game Reviews Gaming PC / Mac PS4 Xbox One

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, PC Review

May 15, 2019 Gerard Campbell 3942 Views Rebellion, Sniper, WW2

I’m hunkered down in the second floor of a bombed-out building in war-torn Berlin. It’s 1945, World War 2.

Out of a window to my right, I see a gaggle of German soldiers, gathered behind barricades. The troop truck they jumped out of is parked nearby. Lying on the ground is the body of a Nazi collaborator, his body limp and lifeless, taken out earlier by a sniper shot from my trusty Springfield M1903 sniper rifle. He has papers I need to retrieve – but I need to clear the area first.

Making things a tad difficult is the German tank parked to my left, its turret trained on my position. I start to sweat and weigh up my options.

I decide I’ll take out the soldiers, one by one, with my sniper rifle then deal with the tank – and this is where Sniper Elite V2’s single greatest feature comes into play: The focused sniper shot.

Click through to see ‘what happens next’…