PC / Mac

Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

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

Gerard Campbell 1165 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.

Read More
Game ReviewsGamingNintendoPC / MacSwitch Console

Octopath Traveler, PC review

Gerard Campbell 1671 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.

Read More
Byte Size ReviewGamingIndie GameNintendoPC / MacSwitch Console

My Friend Pedro, Switch Review

Richard Armitt 1096 Views ,  ,  , 

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

Gerard Campbell 3344 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 …

Read More
Feature ArticleGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

A 2019 look at… Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Guy 1113 Views ,  ,  ,  , 

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

Gerard Campbell 1531 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’…

Read More
Byte Size ReviewGamingPC / MacPS4Switch ConsoleXbox One

Byte Size – Mortal Kombat 11, PS4 Review

Guy 1711 Views

We thought it was time to send Guy into a Mortal Kombat to prove his worth, and surprisingly it didn’t FINISH HIM!

I will be the first to put my hand up and say, I can at times be a bit stuck in my ways when it comes to the types of video games I play. Shooters, RPGs and short-form Indie experiences tend to be my ‘jam’ these days.

That said, in recent months I dove back into a genre I hadn’t touched for almost 10 years, Fighting Games, and I have really bloody enjoyed it.

Read More
Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4PSNetworkPSVR

Falcon Age, PSVR Review

Richard Armitt 1304 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.

Read More
GamingHardwareHardware ReviewsPC / MacPS4Switch ConsoleVideo ContentXbox Oneyoutube review

LucidSound LS41 7.1 Headphones, Video Review

Guy 1703 Views ,  ,  , 

LucidSound is a relatively new kid on the block in the world of headsets, but they have put their flag in the sand and launched with a specific focus on gamers.

LucidSound shipped their first headset in March 2016, but they have some history in the gaming audio space, as the founder Chris Von Huben, was the founder of the very successful Triton gaming accessories company, which he sold to MadCatz in 2014ish, he then went on to start LucidSound.

Von Huben indicated he wanted to bring the aesthetic of Beats by Dre but build in the natural core control schemes gamers need.

The LS41 is the 2019 flagship 7.1 wireless model for LucidSound and it certainly holds true to the idea of being the ‘Beats’ headphones for gamers. Well made with excellent features and are now my go-to PS4 headset, hands-down. I love them.

Check out the full Video Review below and remember to Click, Like and Share.

Read More
Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPS4Xbox One

The Division 2 – PS4 Review

Richard Armitt 1362 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.

Read More
Feature ArticleGamingPC / MacPS4PSNetworkXBLAXbox One

Anthem – Post release considerations, PS4

Richard Armitt 1163 Views ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Anthem, you will have heard of it no doubt. Anybody with the slightest toe dipped in to Gaming, Social Media or having seen the odd Bus drive past will be familiar. Being the latest title from Bioware the stakes were high and it has to be said, Bioware fans can be a fervent pack when they are poked with a stick. Let’s be straight up from the front.

The company has delivered a game that does not stick to their modus operandi, fair enough, but the fans didn’t know and they’re upset.

The company has tried to deliver a game du jour, moderately massively persistently online, bullet sponge enemies and heaps of customisation.

The company has actually delivered a flawed, but fun game that can be enjoyed on different levels if you forgive a few structural issues.

This is probably a good time to say, this isn’t a review in the traditional sense, there are various reasons for that, but the key ones will be the method of Anthem’s launch and popularisation, alongside the pack mentality and vocal rejection of the game by anybody with a phone and some data for Twitter.

Read More