Xbox Series X

GamingByte Size ReviewPS4PS5Xbox Series SXbox Series X

Dynasty Warriors 9 – Empires Byte Size Review (XSX)

Dynasty Warriors 9 – Empires is the latest in the 1 vs 1000 style of Hack ‘n Slash action titles.

Empires is basically the same game as Dynasty Warriors 9 with an added layer of strategic simulation in play between battles. The genre that also includes the likes of Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi has always been an odd one to me.

The popularity in Eastern cultures is undeniable, less so in Western countries. The shear volume of releases points to them being financially viable at the very least.

Read More
GamingGame ReviewsPS5Xbox Series X

Elden Ring, review

By the time I got an Elden Ring review code, it was release day. I was at work and couldn’t download it until Friday night. Which meant I couldn’t play it until Saturday night, time and TV access permitting (which is not always a thing).

Life is busy, full of commitments that don’t align with a From Software title. Notorious as they are for not allowing the game to be paused.

This review approaches Elden Ring differently.

(An Xbox code was supplied by Bandai-Namco)

Read More
GamingFeature ArticlePC / MacPS5Xbox Series SXbox Series X

Rainbow Six: Extraction, Review

Our resident Rainbow Six: Siege sharpshooter, Nina, returns with thoughts on Ubisoft’s recent spin off PvE shooter Rainbow Six: Extraction.

Up until recently I was a long-standing Rainbow Six: Siege fangirl, but I have drifted away from Siege in recent months.

I don’t like how Ubisoft have allowed what was a great team based, tactical “Clancy” game, morph into a pretty toxic, run and gun shooter. Funnily enough my actual love of Rainbow Six: Siege started back in 2018, not with the core game, but with brief Operation Outbreak event.

Read More
GamingGame ReviewsPC / MacPS5Xbox Series SXbox Series X

Dying Light 2 : Stay Human

Following on from the 2017 fan favourite Dying Light, we sent Dylan into the darkness to fight for his right to Stay Human.

See what he had to say after the click.

Dying Light 2 offers serviceable missions, an overwhelming collection of distractions, and a large city that is impressive to behold yet ultimately repetitive to traverse.

Read More
GamingGame ReviewsMicrosoftPC / MacVideo ContentXbox Series SXbox Series X

HALO Infinite, Review

Microsoft are on a roll there’s no debate Gamepass is the service du jour, Flight Simulator made a massive splash and now we get the Master Chief for Christmas.

Make no mistake the silly season is going to be peppered with the screams of a billion Grunts.

Thanks to Microsoft for supplying the Korucottage team with early review code.

Read More
GamingGame ReviewsPC / MacPS4PS5Xbox Series SXbox Series X

CHORUS, PS5 Review

Space Combat games have always been a favourite genre for me. Starting with Descent back in 1995 and most recently with the excellent Star Wars: Squadrons on the PSVR.

But the genre often struggled to get AAA quality outings. Certainly, any tangible story and world building rarely occurs within them.

BUT, Chorus has literally come out of my blind-spot and some how managed to be both an awesome arcade space combat game, with an interesting story.

Read More
GamingGame ReviewsIndie GamePC / MacPS5Xbox Series SXbox Series X

Iron Harvest: Complete Edition, PS5 Review

Real Time Strategy (RTS) titles like Iron Harvest on Console are a rare beast.

And even rarer is a Console RTS that has a control and user interface (UI) system, which isn’t a finger twisting nightmare on a controller. But it can be done.

Halo Wars and Sudden Strike 4 have nailed the UI in an RTS for Console gamers, and Iron Harvest…almost did.

Read More
GamingByte Size ReviewPlaystationXbox OneXbox Series SXbox Series X

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger HD Byte Size Review (XSX)

Yet again I chuck on the rose-tinted glasses to revisit some good memories from the early days of the original Xbox.

This time it is a bit of an obscure HD remake in the form of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger.

Originally released in 2002 in the gaming vein of Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Banjo-Kazooie, Ty definitely hit a chord with New Zealand and Australian gamers.

Read More
GamingGame ReviewsPC / MacSwitch ConsoleVideo ContentXbox OneXbox Series SXbox Series X

Football manager 2022 review

Football Manager 2022 brings me back to one of my most beloved genres. Having spent the best part of 40 years playing these games. All the way from Kevin Toms’ 1987 Football Manager, through my love affair with CM97/98 to here and today. Sports Interactive are way ahead in this game and it shows.

Yes.It’s make believe and even the best of them look like a spreadsheet, a keen eye soon learns where to look. But, once you’re under and engaged with these players it all starts to become important, to you, personally.

Read More
GamingGame ReviewsPC / MacPS4PS5Xbox OneXbox Series SXbox Series X

Call of Duty Vanguard, PS5 Review

Call of Duty : Vanguard, being the 2021 annual entry to the series Dylan takes us back to WWII to battle latency, with or without Zombies.

Until Vanguard, my relationship with shooters has simmered the last few years. I used to love them. Loved those AA and AAA shooters. I loved CoD 2 – the house-to-house fighting still jostles inside my gaming memories for prime position.

I loved Wolfenstein and Rise of the Triad and Doom and Quake and Singularity and even Timeshift. I’ve enjoyed quite a few Calls of Duty. I even got sent to LA to preview Black Ops 3.

We played MW3 on the morning of my wedding to take our minds off the day. But since then, I’ve just kinda . . . not played many.

Read More