PC / Mac

GamingGame ReviewsPC / MacPS4Xbox One

Control, PS4 Review

Control is different to other games I have played this year, yet it still feels very familiar, like a sort of comfort food.

The reality of what is actually happening in Control is like an incomplete painting, masterfully placed just out of reach.

I kept pushing onwards, throughout the game, trying to grasp what the hell is actually going on in this contorted world. It was mind-bendingly magical.  Remedy and 505 Games have made a confusing, engrossing and strangely approachable title….. and I loved every damn minute of it.

Read More
Feature ArticleGame NewsGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

Borderlands 3 is coming in hot

There is no doubt that with a few weeks to go, Borderlands 3 is coming in hot.

Word on the street from Gamescom is full of praise. The hands on demos we’ve seen on social media have been looking great until now, but this feels more straight up.

Its absolutely obvious the Hype Train is at full tilt and won’t be stopping at any stations on its way to September 13th.

Read More
GamingFeature ArticleGame NewsPC / MacPS4Video ContentXbox One

No Man’s Sky: Beyond (yes, we’re excited)

No Man’s Sky has had a journey and a half, considering the theme of the game that’s kind of fair. The team here at koru-cottage have all had dealings with the Hello Games opus. From the early days of those outstanding E3 reveals all the way through to it’s actual release which at the time was PS4 exclusive.

Now we are two days away from No Man’s Sky: Beyond, the game is changing.

Excited, to say the least.

Read More
Game ReviewsGamingPC / Mac

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw Review (PC)

Elite, Wing Commander: Privateer, and Freelancer are games I grew up with and still have fond memories of. Many have tried to recreate, or even reinvent, the open galaxy space trader mercenary game (No Man’s Sky) and many haven’t quite hit the mark. Take the stage Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.

Well, all hail Double Damage Games, they have nailed it, really, really nailed it.

Read More
Feature ArticleGamingPC / MacPS4PSNetworkVideo ContentXBLAXbox One

Call of Duty: ‘Realistic’ Warfare.

Another meaty article from Gamer-Girl Guest contributor, Nina. This time sharing some thoughts on games, the media and how they deal with limits being pushed.

For as long as anyone can remember, the relationship between the video games industry and mainstream media has been riddled with misapprehension. Whenever games are involved in News stories, they’re often antagonistic or misrepresent the medium, usually said ‘articles’ come in conjunction with a Rockstar Games release, when we get the obligatory claims that violent video games make kids violent.

Today, I wanted to focus on the a recent example of a game/media clash that  involves a specific game that is rumored to feature very realistic depictions of war.

That game is, of course, the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019).

A reboot of the original Modern Warfare game, the new COD is set to release on the 25th of October, but Infinity Ward has already treated fans and the media to trailers that show off the game’s new graphic engine and direction. And it’s that last part, the new direction, that has people excited, including me.

Read More
Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

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

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.

Read More
Game ReviewsGamingNintendoPC / MacSwitch Console

Octopath Traveler, PC review

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.

Read More
Byte Size ReviewGamingIndie GameNintendoPC / MacSwitch Console

My Friend Pedro, Switch Review

My Friend Pedro has been coming for a while and every clip I’d seen surface on Social media from developer Deadtoast only got my appetite wetter. Mainly due to it being an ultra violent 2.5D cutout of a shooter with buckets of slow-motion-bulletime-matrix-backflip-shooting to boot.

Once upon a time Jon Woo and Chow Fun Fat brought their movie magic to games with Stranglehold, this is everything they did not achieve; Hi-Octane destruction with very forgiving systems to make it a fun ride.

Read More
Game ReviewsGamingPC / Mac

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

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 …

Read More
Feature ArticleGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

A 2019 look at… Mass Effect: Andromeda.

March 2017- Donald Trump, the freshly minted 45th American President, was banning US travel from various middle eastern countries, London was the subject of a brutal terrorist attack, the UK Prime Minister invoked Article 50 to trigger Brexit and to top it off, a man’s body was found inside a 7m long reticulated python in Indonesia. So, to put it bluntly, March 2017 was a bit shit. 

Thankfully over the same period, the world of Video Games was fucken brilliant, with some of the best games of the generation being released, all to help gamers escape to worlds full of adventure and fun.

The title I wish to revisit from the month of March is a game which has become hugely important to gamers such as myself, Gamers who grew up playing Baldurs Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series…I of course speak of Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Read More
Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered, PC Review

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’…

Read More