When I first heard about Batman: Arkham Asylum, I can’t say I really took interest. Being a casual fan of Batman thanks to the recent movie series, it wasn’t until I had a moment of boredom that I randomly decided to give the game’s demo a shot. I was glad I did – because Arkham Asylum ended up being one of the best games I’ve played – Rocksteady catching many people off-guard by producing a Triple-A title seemingly out of nowhere – creating a [...]
Note: I’m sorry this article is a little late – between juggling a new job, new home, RPG reviews, announcements and of course gaming, I’ve been a little sidetracked with life in general. Anyway – onto the review! The last game I got my hands on at this year’s Eurogamer was one of the many sequels I’m looking forward to next year – Mass Effect 3. While I found the original title took a little getting into, it was a [...]
While new and exciting games come and go, some maintain a special place in our collections – games that, for whatever reason, we enjoy so much that we never tire of them and always enjoy playing. While games such as BioShock, Shadow of the Colossus and Batman: Arkham Asylum are amongst some of the games I would consider the best – they still don’t quite attain this status in my library. That’s not to say that they didn’t do everything right – [...]
With the current trend of video games centered around big, masculine men with big guns (Gears of War, Battlefield, Space Marine, Deus Ex, Call of Duty and so on) – Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland couldn’t be more different - a Japanese RPG starring a young female alchemist on a journey of self discovery. It is the twelfth installment in the Atelier series – a series I have had a very small amount of experience with - and the second in the “Arland” saga. (My [...]
Final Fantasy XIII was a major disappointment to me as a fan of the series – while visually fantastic, the game was a linear experience with uninspired combat that was far too automated for my liking. Gone were the exploratory elements and all civilisation, instead replaced by pretty graphics and overly drawn out battles that only allowed you to directly control one party member at a time, the others left in the hands of less-than-perfect AI. As much as I [...]
Capcom have always been one of my favourite game developers - creating solid games with plenty of content and very often producing games that I would consider among the best. However, some of their best – most notably Devil May Cry, Okami and Resident Evil - were influenced largely by the work of game director Hideki Kamiya, who worked within Clover Studios. However, when Clover was closed, Kamiya became one of the founding members of Platinum Games – creators of Bayonetta, Madworld and Vanquish - a studio I now [...]
This year’s Eurogamer was perhaps my most anticipated so far – my third year visiting alongside my fellow Plus XP team members, Eurogamer 2011 promised one of the most interesting game lineups so far – with new projects from top developers such as Anarchy Reigns from Platinum Games, Street Fighter X Tekken from Capcom and Rage from Doom creators id Software, as well as many a sequel for triple-A titles – including Mass Effect 3, Ninja Gaiden III, Zelda: Skyward [...]
Announced last September, the news of DmC: Devil May Cry left an awful taste in my mouth. Capcom and Ninja Theory’s new version of Dante seemingly ruined the very essence of Dante, turning him from a fun-loving joker into a moody teenager, and changing his entire look and voice. As a huge fan of the original games, and with a lot of questions left unanswered (chiefly, why does Nero have Sparda powers and a magic arm?), the last thing I wanted [...]
Over the last few years I’ve played a number of downloadable titles on PSN and XBLA. To begin with, the majority of these titles were ports of old games, and fairly average arcade games as various developers tested the waters in a new medium. However as time has progressed, there have been a selection of top-quality games produced – well worth the price tags. From 2D side-scrollers with modern engines (Shadow Complex, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2), zany multiplayer brawlers (Castle [...]
Games based on anime can vary in quality – while some can make good use of their existing characters and ideas – such as Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage and Dragonball Z: Budokai 3, others fall short in re-creating the magic of the original material and have little appeal aside from the popularity of the series. Bleach: Soul Resurrección was released on the Playstation 3 this week – on which side of the fence does it fall?
