Game Reviews

Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

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

Gerard Campbell 1094 Views ,  , 

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.

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Byte Size – ESO Elsweyr Review (Xbox One X)

Barrie Clarke 1803 Views ,  ,  , 

OK, so firstly I must apologise for the delay in getting this review done. I have only just been able to consistently log in to the ESO servers in this last week. Now every time a new DLC is released for ESO there is a spike in users and some problems are expected but typically you get in within a few attempts. Not this time.

Welcome to the land of the Khajiiti, cat-like desert dwellers, famed for their prowess in the mercantile arts. Elsweyr is a diverse land of grasslands and canyons. Unfortunately the growing of Moon Sugar has been rudely interrupted by the return of dragons to the area.

Can you save the land from the dragons?

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Octopath Traveler, PC review

Gerard Campbell 1561 Views ,  ,  , 

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.

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Game ReviewsGamingPC / Mac

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

Gerard Campbell 3107 Views ,  ,  ,  , 

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 …

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Game ReviewsGamingPS4PSNetworkPSVR

BoxVR Review, PSVR

Richard Armitt 1724 Views ,  ,  , 

Look, I am the first to admit I can’t play rhythm games, my physical structure does not generally move to music in any shape or form without a massive amount of encouragement or threats.

Yet, here I am, really enjoying the music and movement co-ordination with BoxVR.

Overall, BoxVR isn’t going to replace an actual gym or a six mile run, but it does get you off the couch and it does help you to break a sweat. I can’t say it has changed my life, but I will say this, there is a spring in my step that wasn’t there in this tired old body a couple of weeks ago and I am looking forward to my next session more than the Triple A game I’m supposed to be playing.

Think on that.

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MLB The Show, PS4 Review

Guy 1086 Views ,  , 

They say a change is as good as a holiday. Well, me playing a Major League Baseball video game is certainly a change, but a holiday, mmmm I’m not so sure.

That said after a fair bit of work and outright learning the hard way about baseball type-stuff, I have come to appreciate and enjoy MLB The Show more than I would ever expected too.

I actually came to really enjoy MLB The Show 2019. Which surprises me as the first 30 minutes was confusing and frustrating. But after some self-education I appreciated the attention to detail and the clever application of a real world sport to the digital realm.

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Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, PC Review

Gerard Campbell 1450 Views ,  , 

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’…

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Days Gone, PS4 Video Review

Guy 1000 Views ,  ,  , 

Days Gone is yet another in-house Sony AAA release to add to the long line of PS4 exclusives this generation, and I can say at the top, its certainly continuing Playstations trend of exceptional first party exclusives. That said, I’m not sure I would put it shoulder to shoulder with the likes of God of War or Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Days Gone, or how I have come to lovingly refer to it “Red Dead: Motorcycle”, is excellent. It perhaps doesn’t boast the narrative chops of some of the games I have mentioned above, but it is still stellar and heaps of fun.

For the full run down, check out our Video Review below.

Remember, Click it, Like it, Share it.

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World War Z Review – Xbox One X

Barrie Clarke 1286 Views ,  , 

World War Z, the game is based on the 2013 movie which is based on the 2006 book by Max Brooks. But I’ll add a word to that last sentence, LOOSELY, as the movie is loosely based on the book, the game is loosely based on both source materials, very loosely based.

What makes World War Z stand out in the crowded herd of zombie books, movies, and games is pretty obvious for anyone who has seen the movie is the speed and swarm-like behaviour of the zombies. Whether it is stacking up against barriers to use combined weight to bring it down or making a massive pile of zombies to scale over walls, the World War Z zeds are fast, big in numbers, and have an incredibly dangerous herd mentality. For me it is the one thing that saves the game from disappearing into the pile of slain zombie games.

But with its cheaper price point and swarming zombies World War Z is a blast, so check out World War Z or be left 4 dead…

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Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4PSNetworkPSVR

Falcon Age, PSVR Review

Richard Armitt 1230 Views ,  ,  , 

Since launch PSVR has been a platform full of experiences and a lot of them either off the wall or surprisingly original. Falcon Age probably sits in those two camps with a 20/80 split.

A brave new single player experience from Outerloop Games, a Seattle based Indie company with a pretty tight team roster. It shows in the way the game has been crafted, it is deep without being complex and does exactly what it needs to. Built from the ground up as a VR title the game is a sci-fi adventure in the shoes of Ara, a young girl imprisoned by some temperamental robots on a barren planet.

Pretty straightforward then, the first few game days get you into the control scheme nicely by running some prison day-to-day routines and forcing you to converse with one of your captors. Some of the humour, writing and art style here start to feel like a nod toward Portal and that’s okay.

It’s a setting that serves the purpose of the story, but feels light on structure, which isn’t that big a deal when you remember this is a game, in VR where you can fist-bump your Falcon before sending it off to rip up a rabbit.

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Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

The Division 2 – PS4 Review

Richard Armitt 1300 Views ,  ,  , 

I’m taking my time with The Division 2, partly because of commitments, but mostly because I am enjoying it so much.

Back in the late seventies I grew up on a diet of movies and books, the ones that stuck were the post apocalyptic adventures. There was something about being stranded in an empty world, picking over the ruins left by society that appealed to me deep down, I mean really deep down.

Here we are three years later in 2019, the world we live in is bit more crazy, while the world of The Division has moved on about seven months, which is allegedly enough time for you to have cleaned up New York. Once you get the introduction out of the way and open up your path to the White House the game kicks in proper and boy, it really delivers straight up.

The Division 2 is a rare beast, its a game that arrived fully finished, fully tested and fully delivers on its promises. Me, I’ll still be filling my kleptomaniac pockets as I trawl my way through the incredibly detailed vision of Washington.

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