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Everspace 2 (PC) review

April 16, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1092 Views Adventure, Everspace, Gorgeous, PC, Space Dogfight

At its heart, Everspace 2 is an arcade shooter – and I’m perfectly fine with that.

Originally funded by a crowd-funding campaign, Everspace 2 has just come out of a two year early access phase.

It describes itself as “a fast-paced single-player space shooter with deep exploration, tons of loot and classic RPG elements.” Well, it’s all of those things wrapped up in a space faring package that will scratch that space combat itch that’s been bugging you for so long.

Gaming Game Reviews Hardware PC / Mac

Returnal PC (review)

March 12, 2023 Gerard Campbell 1126 Views alien planet, Hard, PC, Returnal, rogue-like

Returnal will run well on an ageing GPU like an RX580, which means it still has some life left in it. Sure, it won’t look as good as a card that can push the high frame rates and do ray tracing without breaking a sweat.

More importantly, it’s actually playable on our ageing RX580.

Game Reviews Byte Size Review Gaming LEGO Nintendo PC / Mac Switch Console Xbox One

LEGO Brick Tales Byte Size Review (XSX)

October 12, 2022 Barrie Clarke 1209 Views Byte Size Review, Family Friendly, Gaming, LEGO, PC, Playstation, Switch, XBOX

Who doesn’t like LEGO? I have always been a bit of a AFOL, Adult Fan Of Lego if you were wondering.

Whether it is physical LEGO or LEGO games I have been keen. In recent years LEGO games have been more diverse than the classic movie tie-ins we all love.

Gaming Byte Size Review PC / Mac

Sweet Transit Byte Size Review (PC)

August 7, 2022 Barrie Clarke 1382 Views city builder, Early Access, PC, Steam

Sweet Transit. Not sold on the name. All I visualise is the the cast from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

But anyway, Sweet Transit (Still in Early Access) is the latest game to dive in to the ‘City Builder’ genre, thankfully with a twist to stand out in a crowded market.

Gaming Game Reviews Microsoft PC / Mac PS5

Deathloop, PS5 Review

September 26, 2021 Richard Armitt 1399 Views Action RPG, Bethesda, First Person, PC, PS5, Puzzle, Shooter

Thanks to guest reviewer Mark Isaacson for his in depth Deathloop review.

Set on the mysterious island of Blackreef, you play as highly trained assassin Colt, who awakes to find himself stuck in the same day, every day.

He must slowly piece together clues in order to kill eight targets (Visionaries) before the day ends.

Each visit to the island provides new opportunities to explore, new paths to various objectives and plenty of weird ways to mess up the timeline before it resets.

Hardware Reviews Gaming Hardware PC / Mac

Intel i5-10600K CPU review: The heart of a new PC build

August 22, 2021 Gerard Campbell 1475 Views CPU Review, Intel, PC

Recently, Intel Australia/New Zealand got in touch and offered me the chance to test out its 10th Generation i5-10600K CPU – and I jumped at the chance.

I was keen to have the chance to re-build my PC with a newer generation CPU & see how Intel’s 10th Gen chip compares to the i5 8400 that I had been using for the past four years or so.

A big thanks to Intel Australia/New Zealand for the opportunity.

Gaming Feature Article Indie Game PC / Mac Preview Xbox Series S Xbox Series X

Death’s Door preview (PC)

July 10, 2021 Gerard Campbell 1154 Views Devolver Digital, independent developer, PC

If Devolver Digital is the king of the independent video game, then Death’s Door is the latest jewel in its already glittering crown – and what a big, beautiful, glittering head piece it is!

In fact, Death’s Door could be the sleeper hit of the year that I knew nothing about, but I’m glad I know about it now.

Gaming ATARI VCS Game News Hardware Hardware Reviews

ATARI VCS, Bluemouth confirmed as local distributor

August 14, 2020 Richard Armitt 5244 Views ATARI, ATARI VCS, Bluemouth, console, indie, PC, Steam

The back end of the year and especially November is starting to look crowded. With Sony and Xbox still unconfirmed on launch dates or pricing for their new consoles, the rebooted ATARI VCS is coming in hot.

The big news for Australasia is that Bluemouth have been secured as the local distribution partner for the new “PC/Console Hybrid”. Effective from 14th August 2020, Bluemouth will bring their 17 years of experience to supply Australia and New Zealand.

With Sony and Microsoft still unconfirmed on dates and pricing, November 20th could go either way for the ATARI VCS. It might not have the system selling AAA games that the fans want, but there’s a big enough user base for people to want to try something different.

If the market positioning is right, you’d have to admit. “A third player has entered the game.”

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac Switch Console Video Content

Lonely Mountains Downhill (Nintendo Switch)

May 13, 2020 Gerard Campbell 1428 Views Cycles, indie, Lonely Mountains Downhill, Mountain Biking, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, XBOX

Lonely Mountains Downhill began life as a Kickstarter project by German game makers Daniel Helbig and Jan Bubenik.

Full disclosure here: I backed the project and my name’s in the game’s credits. It also got a mention in my pick of 2019.

As an ageing mountain biker the game appealed to me as a way to enjoy one of my passions. When I’m stuck at home and the weather’s too horrific to don the rain jacket and hit the trails. I was also attracted by its low-poly graphical style, with a blocky, chunky biker and vibrant environments.

Thanks to Lonely Mountains Downhill on Switch, I can now “ride” my mountain bike any time I want. At the office, while I’m lying in bed, while I’m, ahem, in the bathroom. It’s also the perfect thing for when I just can’t bothered kitting up and hitting my local trails. Especially with winter looming and its inevitable wet & chilly weather.

Feature Article PC / Mac

Norton 360 Premium Lifelock, review

March 28, 2020 Gerard Campbell 2009 Views Anti Virus, Norton, PC, Security

Anti-virus software is one of things that’s a little bit like house and contents insurance:

You don’t feel you need it so you wonder why you’re paying the premiums. But something when goes wrong, you’re really glad you had it.

When it comes to anti-virus software, I’ve gone down the free route in the past. AVG, Avast, Karpersky, that sort of thing, which offer basic protection. Without the bells and whistles of the premium products like McAfee or Norton, which is what we’re reviewing here.

Byte Size Review Gaming Indie Game iOS PC / Mac

Byte Size – Objects in Space Review (PC)

March 3, 2019 Barrie Clarke 1096 Views GOG.com, indie, PC, Steam

Objects in Space from the self proclaimed smallest of the small game developers, Flat Earth Games, is so strangely familiar to me and any gamers who played through the 1990’s will no doubt feel pangs of good old retro revival.

The Good – Upgrades to not only your ship but also pretty much every subsystem, along with trading, bounties, exploration, and combat makes for a really full on experience. And because of the gameplay, I found Objects in Space to be quite relaxing to play.

The Bad – For me the biggest hurdle was the font used for communications. When dealing with traders and the likes I found myself having to give my eyes a rest after each paragraph or so.

The Overwhelming – As mentioned, there is a fair amount to take on in Objects in Space, you can just stay in safe systems and trade your way to riches or head out to the new worlds, a much more dangerous affair. Then you have upgrades, trade prices, navigation, repairs, the list is endless in the life of a solo space captain.

Closing Comments – As we say down here in New Zealand and Australia, bit of a Marmite game this one. You will either love it or hate it.