Thursday 29 September 2011
IGM - A Game of "Grutte" Proportions: An Interview With Triangle Studios About Cross of the Dutchman
IGM - Riding Out The Storm: An Interview With Rob Storm About Project Stormos
Monday 19 September 2011
Hooked Gamers - Serious Sam 3: BFE Preview
IGM - Parasitus Zero Review
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Hooked Gamers - R.A.W. - Realms of Ancient War Preview
You may be forgiven if you happen to glance at R.A.W. (Realms of Ancient War) and instantly adopt an expression of discontent. Your next choice of words are bound to be "not another Diablo clone!" Well, the developers actually prefer the comparison to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, so take your pick. Now that we all know where we stand with Wizarbox's fantasy hack 'n' slash, the question is whether it will actually be worth picking up as we await the eventual date of Blizzard's third. We went hands on with the game at this year's Gamescom and can say that despite being one of the most generic games alive, it is still fun to play.
Tuesday 13 September 2011
GameTunnel - August 2011 Indie Games Round-Up
Game Tunnel is proud to publish the first truly new Independent Video Game Round-up in almost 2 years. The Monthly Round-Up was a staple of the old Game Tunnel. Welcome to the August 2011 Independent Video Game round-up, the latest in our long-running panels that review all the latest Indie games. Read reviews from each of the panelists on all 10 games in the August Independent Video Game round-up.
Saturday 10 September 2011
IGM - Hard Reset Review
When a game goes out of its way to try and revitalise a style of game that has seemingly gone out of fashion, I am immediately inclined to nod approvingly while politely applauding. Hard Reset is one of those. While it may appear to be a classic shooter at face value, it does break a few rules of the genre. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a slight degradation on top of the old formula, rather than the refreshing quip of innovation that it so clearly wants to be.
Wednesday 7 September 2011
IGM - Outland Review
Finnish game developers have a reputation for being technical experts in their craft. This combined with a spark of creativity has led to a thriving native industry. Housemarque’s Outland is a game that certainly justifies the reputation of their nationality – it is a smooth and visually stunning game.
Hooked Gamers - E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy Review
There is something about being a cybernetic psychic monk assassin that is inherently exciting. In the world of E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy, you play as just that. The game itself is heavily inspired by Deus Ex with its main focus being to allow players a choice as to how they approach each mission. E.Y.E. is also set within a dark cyberpunk world and plays like an FPS/RPG hybrid. The game is fairly deep and gets the blood flowing into those old hardcore gaming veins that were starting to run dry. The game makes a strong impression from the offset but, unfortunately, its premise proves to be just a little too ambitious for the ten young developers at Streum On Studio. What they have managed to achieve is certainly commendable though, and will no doubt be a popular cult game for years to come.
Hooked Gamers - Adrift Preview
Recently forming after a break away from Ubisoft, DONTNOD Entertainment has ambitious intentions. Revealing the premise of their third-person action adventure at Gamescom, the small team flaunted more than just an air of mystery surrounding their carefully chosen words. Prying questions led to raised eyebrows and muted lips, but we left the meeting optimistic and confident of the talent at work on their first effort, Adrift.
Hooked Gamers - Prey 2 Preview
Bethesda invited us behind closed doors to watch an extra long gameplay demonstration of Prey 2 at this year's Gamescom. As fans of the original, we jumped at the chance. Anyone who has played Prey will remember it as a surprisingly fresh shooter. Its gripping Cherokee protagonist Tommy, innovative environmental puzzles and unique spiritual powers made traipsing around the slimy alien Sphere a worthwhile experience. The news that Prey 2 would be dropping all of these features caused something of an outrage, but before condemning the title to a fate worse than hell, consider that Human Head Studios are out to maintain the fresh feeling of its predecessor rather than lazily create another 'more-of-the-same' sequel.
Hooked Gamers - Salem Preview
When describing Salem, there are a lot of familiar phrases that will immediately persuade players to call it a Minecraft clone. But here is an interesting fact: the developers have never played Minecraft. Sitting down with Seatribe at Gamescom, they were very excited to show us their upcoming free-to-play, browser based crafting MMO. Pitched as a successor to their previous effort, Haven & Hearth, Salem gets to grips with the witchcraft of 16th century New England.
Hooked Gamers - War of the Roses Preview
Paradox was proud to announce the Fatshark developed War of the Roses in Cologne. We knew instantly that this was the game we were looking for. We were told to imagine a medieval Britain, full of knights, battlegrounds and castles and to then combine this with potentially large-scale multiplayer battles, complete with a Call of Duty-esque ranking system and stats feedback. We lapped up as much information about the game that Fatshark was willing to feed us and found that we were still left ravenous for more after tasting their delectable comestible.
Hooked Gamers - Legends of Pegasus Preview
Our interest was piqued with the recent announcement of Legends of Pegasus from Novacore Studios, and we were pleased to talk to the developers of this promising sci-fi strategy game at this year’s Gamescom. Our first glimpse at the gameplay unveiled a game that definitely outshone our anticipations, and proved that old and often forgotten genres can still impress when in the right hands.
Hooked Gamers - The Dark Eye: Demonicon Preview
The German produced role-playing game, The Dark Eye, has been around for over 25 years and is equal in size, scope and detail to Dungeons & Dragons. But whereas Dungeons & Dragons has been converted into a computer game a countless amount of times, The Dark Eye remains to be a fairly untouched source. This is where The Dark Eye: Demonicon comes into play, hoping to utilize the vast universe of The Dark Eye and convert it into a loyal, fantasy cRPG.
Hooked Gamers - Uncharted: Golden Abyss Preview
Uncharted: Golden Abyss will be Mr. Drake’s first portable outing, hence it seems natural to question whether Sony’s new handheld will be capable of delivering the high expectations of the series. Golden Abyss will need to pull out all the stops to showcase the capabilities of the device and to point the way for the Vita’s future.
Hooked Gamers - Ms. Splosion Man Preview
Twisted Pixel is a small studio that became renown for their blend of laugh-out-loud humour and outrageously fun gameplay. It seemed that success had swelled in their head after The Maw and 'Splosion Man, however, as their last title, Comic Jumper, was a masturbatory exercise that only offered a bland tasting gruel as gameplay. Taking a step back, Twisted Pixel have followed in the steps of the Pac-Man series by creating Ms. Splosion Man. Ms. Pac-Man is one of the most popular games of all time because of the many great improvements it made over its predecessor. Will Ms. Splosion Man be able to follow this example? We managed to get some alone time with the lady herself, and made sure to place our hands all over 'Splosion Man’s other half.
Hooked Gamers - Limbo Review
Limbo is a game that needs no introduction. When Playdead’s side-scrolling debut hit the Xbox 360 last summer, it struck a chord with just about everyone who played it. Fortunately for those who were unable to experience this unique title, a PS3 and PC version has now been released, so there really are no excuses to not pick up this must-play title. Those who already own the Xbox 360 version may want to consider purchasing Limbo once again, not just to support the fantastic talent who made the game but also because some extra content has been added to these new versions.
Hooked Gamers - From Dust Review
Many a year has passed since us mortals have had a chance to take the reins as a mighty deity. Over the years our hands have caused the destruction of civilisations, foiled the plans of overzealous dictators, and created tropical paradises. Quite rightly, the ‘god’ sub-genre of games is a much sought after one, especially as they crop up infrequently and are rarely fun to play when they do. This is why From Dust will immediately grab the attention of the needy and the desperate; those long awaiting souls grasping for a sense of power. Using a well-known formula, From Dust manages to weave its own take on the genre to a pleasant result. The focus of the game is not so much on creating your tribe or civilisation and then taking control over all of the land for yourself. Instead, players partake in what can only be described as an epic battle between a god and Mother Nature.
Hooked Gamers - Ms. Splosion Man Review
Time to drop your linen and start your grinnin’ ladies! Ms. Splosion Man is here, so chalk one up for the girls, because this sequel is definitely a huge improvement over its male counterpart. Splosion Man was a crazy platformer that offered both a challenge and laugh-out-loud gameplay, but Ms. Splosion Man takes the legacy of Ms. Pacman, in which the original is much improved upon, with plenty of new gameplay mechanics and a lot more personality thrown in for good measure.
IGM - Tobe's Vertical Adventure Review
Easily one of the most popular genres for indie developers to work in is the platformer. The reason is because it is a simple formula that offers a fair amount of space for creativity – great for start-up projects especially. Tobe’s Vertical Adventure is yet another entrant from Singapore developers, Secret Base, into this very crowded genre. It sits as the second title featuring the video game nerd Tobe, who is ushered into finding the treasure of King Garuza by his blonde-haired crush, Nana. Previously released on Xbox Live, the Steam release sees Tobe’s Vertical Adventure on the PC for the first time, so how does it manage the port?
IGM - Fortix 2 Review
Oh ye valiant knights, come hither and cast thy magic over yonder to cleanse and save ye once humble origins from the evil Xitrof. Okay that’s quite enough of that. Nemesys Games describe Fortix 2 as a reverse turret defence game, but it seems much more than that with its addictive land-grab gameplay clearly deriving from the likes of Qix. Fortix 2 is designed in a way that makes it very hard to put down due to its satisfying risk-reward gameplay. It is surprising how far a simple idea can go towards making such an addictive and challenging experience.
Hooked Gamers - 4 Reasons Why Halo 4 Could Be The Series' Best
With Bungie moving onto greener pastures and leaving their most famous franchise behind, the future of the Halo series has been left in the hands of off-shoot studio - 343 Industries. The announcement of not only a new entry into the Master Chief storyline, but a whole new trilogy of games has many of us excited, yet we can only doubt the capabilities of 343i, until we hear word of some concrete details. Alas, we do hold faith in 343i, and we have compiled 4 reasons as to why the onset of this new Halo trilogy will hopefully not be a repeat of the disappointment that was the second Star Wars trilogy.
Hooked Gamers - How Arabic Games Are Fighting The War On Error
Video games have become a large part of culture in a multitude of countries around the world. The biggest industries are comfortably located within Japan and America, so it is uncommon to see games represent cultures outside of these – represent them fairly, that is. An exception is Europe, which currently has a growing industry with many indie games grabbing a lot of attention from press, and bigger titles like the Polish The Witcher II: Assassins of Kings and Swedish-developed Battlefield 3 being part of mainstream gaming fare. Quite unsurprisingly, Arabic game developers do not share such a successful story – yet, their work holds a high significance in the future of the gaming industry.
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