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Byte Size – Far Cry New Dawn Review (Xbox One X)

Barrie Clarke 1792 Views ,  ,  ,  , 

Returning to Hope County 17 years and a nuclear war after the events of Far Cry 5 finds the county some what brighter than one would expect.

The Good – It is the Far Cry 5 we all know and love, but with and excellent splash of colour and some RPG-lite elements thrown in.

The Bad – Like Far Cry 5 you can have an ally along side to help out. Just don’t rely on them to get the job done.

The New – Since the map is effectively the same as Far Cry 5 the addition of Expeditions has been made to create a bit of variety. The Expedition maps themselves are a good mix and some pretty cool locations too.

Overall I found Far Cry New Dawn more engaging that Far Cry 5, considering this is just a re-skin, and what some would argue should have been just a DLC, it shows it has something special.

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Metro: Exodus, PS4 Review

Guy 1612 Views ,  , 

I like Russia. Not so much for the long history of political intrigue or its civil rights abuses, but for its tough people and their underlying ability to just get shit done with very little. The Metro games are about survival in a post nuclear war Russia, and as I just alluded, not surviving in some luxurious capitalist-pig fallout shelter…….but like a tough as nails Russian, on little to no resources, ammunition and intel.

Now, its not lost on me that the developer 4A Games is in fact Ukrainian not Russian. However, as a nation with a long standing connection to Russia, (for both good and bad reasons) it gives them the unique ability to give Western gamers a glimpse into what a post-apocalyptic Mother-Russia might look like. Suffice is to say they know what they are doing and the end result is… brilliant and terrifying.

Check out the Video Review – Click It, Like It, Share It!

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Byte Size – God Eater 3

Richard Armitt 1310 Views ,  , 

The God Eater series is not something I am familiar with, lets have that out in the open. As a sci-fi soap opera, I’m sure it would be interesting to delve into, but as it stands being a virgin in the God Eater universe I’m a little more dazed and confused than leading the charge.

The Good – There’s a deep sci-fi canon on offer if you can listen to the dialogue, and the unfeasible weapons are impressive. The bullet building feature is the highlight.

The Bad – Angsty teen styled dialogue, overly complex controls and too much to remember.

The Ugly – The graphics need a decent feed. Combat missions are way too short.

The combat is fun to a point, but given some of the controls and the reliance on remembering how or when to use certain combos it never really gets past the hack and slash approach for me.

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Crackdown 3 Review – Xbox One

Richard Armitt 1352 Views ,  ,  , 

A long time ago when the xbox360 was young there were games that defined the console, one of them was Crackdown.

Putting you in the shoes of a super-human Agent, the game had you reclaiming an open world one task at a time and mowing down a hefty roster of bad guys. All sounds pretty familiar, well yes it was, but then there were Orbs and the way you skilled up and the subtle effects that came with those skills, not to mention the small army array of weapons at your disposal. Having recently hit the backwards compatible pile and being free to download I had a recent spin around the original and it didn’t disappoint.

Yes, by today’s standard the open world was fairly bare and the cel-shaded aesthetic wasn’t much to write home about. However, the game had chops, big furry, playable chops and people loved it.

There is a lot to like about Crackdown 3, while it may feel like an older game, it is built using a formula that works and you don’t have to worry about getting chores or conversations. As a great example of keeping it simple we have a Crackdown for people to enjoy, a game that doesn’t get bogged down in drawn out narrative, rather a game that wants you to play it.

Get out there and kick some ass Agents.

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Conviction: An Anthem short movie by Neil Blomkamp

Richard Armitt 1349 Views ,  , 

Anthem will be with us by the end of the month and what better way to celebrate it than give us a surprise Short Movie by sci-fi stalwart Neil Blomkamp (District 9 for example).

Given the design and nature of his movies, bringing the Anthem world and its Javelins to life must have been a no-brainer on both sides.

There is currently a teaser up on youtube.

The full short will be available on the 14th.

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Byte Size – Riot: Civil Unrest, PS4 Review

Guy 1303 Views ,  , 

Living in New Zealand in 2019, I don’t tend to be exposed to large scale civil unrest. So as a resident of gods-own, Riot: Civil Unrest immediately caught my attention, for being about something I have little knowledge or experience of,  and frankly it is one of the more unique ideas for a video game I have seen in recent months.

The Good – The scenarios are based around real world incidents, including ‘The Arab Spring’ and the game is nuanced enough, even with its limited art style, to relay how difficult civil unrest is on both sides of the riot line.

The Bad – At times the 8bit art style looks great with cleverly designed sprites, but it very quickly becomes a blur of activity and it is hard at times to know whats going on.

The Ugly – The designers have made a strategy game with only one way to approach any given scenario to properly win, which for an RTS, takes the fun of choice away.

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Resident Evil 2 (2019) Review – Xbox One X

Barrie Clarke 1546 Views ,  ,  ,  , 

Even though this is a remake I don’t want to spoil anything for first time players or absent minded older gamers who are revisiting Raccoon City.

So consider this a SPOILER FREE REVIEW.

Now you would have to have been living under a rock not to have heard of Resident Evil, or Biohazard for those from Japan. The games have been around for over 2o years, along with comics, novels, toys, several movies, and now rumours that Netflix have a Resident Evil series in the works.

I guess that all this longevity and multi format content just shows how good the story and characters are in the Resident Evil Universe. Obviously this game isn’t the second release in the series but a remake of the 1998 version.

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Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, PS4/PSVR Video Review

Guy 1646 Views

I am a flight-sim nerd from waaaay back, but nowadays most of my gaming is on Console and even arcade flight games, especially this generation, are pretty thin on the ground. When I heard Ace Combat 7 was planning a landing on PS4 and PSVR my Top-Gun-Loving heart skipped a beat.

Unfortunately my prayers for a hard-core sim have not been answered, however what I got instead, was one of the most fun Arcade Flight titles I have played in years. It is brilliant! ..and there is some PSVR in the mix too!

To get the full run-down on whats what, and whether ‘Ice-Man’ and ‘Maverick’ will be friends after all…… check out the Video Review below.

Click it, Like it, Share it!

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Byte Size – Hitman 2 Review (Xbox One X)

Barrie Clarke 1518 Views

So everybody’s favourite barcoded bald badass is back and kicking things off in Hawkes Bay, here in good old New Zealand. Who knew we were such a haven for bad guys? Anyone who can make a shaved head and red tie look this good has got my attention, that is for sure. Assuming most, if not all gamers out there will have at least heard of Agent 47.

The Good – Well it’s Hitman isn’t it.

The Bad – If I had to pick on something it would have to be the visuals. Hitman 2, even with One X Enhancements, looks a bit dated.

The Loose Steering Wheel – As you can imagine, there is more than one way to skin a cat, or in this case knock off a bad dude along with other variables in each mission. This means more than a few plays through each assignment will be required.

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LEGO, James Bond Aston Martin DB5

Richard Armitt 1564 Views ,  ,  , 

It’s a little talked of fact, but LEGO gets more sexy the older you get.

As a small boy I enjoyed my LEGO spaceship (which seemed to be enormous), as an adult I can appreciate the set’s wonderful design, joy to build and marvel at how compact and bijou it was… That was me a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, here I am in my late, very late forties loving LEGO and getting all excited about wonderfully crafted city blocks, Ghostbusters Headquarters and Millennium Falcons.

Then before I could take the plunge and convince the grown up I live with that it was ‘all for the kids’ LEGO undid me, they went and released the Aston Martin DB5, the only car I ever cared about and I had to have it.

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Byte Size – Gungrave VR, PSVR Review

Guy 1525 Views ,  ,  , 

Initially I knew nothing about Gungrave, but after a quick Google Search, I came to understand that this is a long standing Anime franchise from Japan and it has had a single video game release back in 2002 on the PS2.

Gungrave’s overarching story is about Brandon Heat or ‘Grave’, a reincarnated death dealer who seeks revenge on evil syndicates and baddies and …well you get the idea.

The Good – There isn’t any. Maybe the character model of Grave, it looks quite good at times, and the tutorial is quite good. But that’s about it.

The Bad – The shooting feels slow, the enemies are mindless cannon fodder and the whole game lacks any identity.

The Ugly – It’s just not fun. Nothing in the game adds anything to the brilliantly immersive VR gaming-space.

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