Author: james
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Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel Review
FromSoftware have had a good track record with their downloadable offerings. Dark Souls 1, 2, and Bloodborne had extra content that expanded on the story of their respective universes, while offering a stiff challenge that only the most devout followers could truly appreciate. Their first batch of extra content for Dark Souls III however, may…
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Just Cause 2 Review
For those not familiar with Just Cause, the original was a slightly above average game which took clear inspiration from Grand Theft Auto. Just Cause offered up a slightly bland island setting and the ability to use a grappling hook on certain items. Can Just Cause 2 take the ideas of the original and execute…
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Batman – The Telltale Series: Episode 4 Review
Something that annoys me to no end are complaints against a story where supposedly ‘nothing happens’. Usually that’s not actually the case – the person involved just has difficulty separating their task-oriented personality from their leisure. The only obligation a story has is to be an experience – not to accommodate our obsession with performance…
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Medal of Honor Review
Despite the name, this Medal of Honor is in fact the sixth game in the series to be released on PC (including two expansions) with countless spinoff titles having also been released on consoles. Unlike previous games, however, this particular title has managed to attract the attention of a lot of mainstream media – due…
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Lode Runner Review
In 1983, IBM released the PC XT, the final episode of M*A*S*H was aired and BrØderbund released Lode Runner. A lot has happened in the intervening 26 years – is the original game, represented pretty faithfully here, still relevant? Does (or should) anyone care? We had a look and, if you can’t be bothered reading…
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Enslaved: Odyssey To The West Review
Remember when you were a kid, and you would call out that you were going to the park, and your mum would yell back to take your little sister, and off you’d go, and she’d cry and moan the whole way? Enslaved is exactly like that. Except that it’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where…
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Uncharted: Golden Abyss Review
Games in the ‘Uncharted’ series are what you call Marquee Titles (with capitals!) It’s the kind of successful series that platform holders hope will make you buy their flash new system when it first comes out, just because there’s a new Nathan Drake adventure to play with. The first three Uncharted titles have all been…
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based strategy game, available on PC, 360, and PS3. If you’re interested in finding out more about the specific implementation of the mechanics, or would like to know how the graphics (or other technology) compares to other titles, be sure to check out. Hadyn’s coverage of the title comes from…
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Rage Review
id Software. The name of the company is synonymous with the entire first person shooter genre – it’s not something anyone else can claim, and for good reason: they invented it*. So when they release a new one, the world pays attention. Their last new IP, Quake, was rather successful. It took the concepts crafted…
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Homefront Review
After playing Homefront I cannot help but feel bad for Kaos Studios (the developer) because you can tell a lot of love and work was put into it. The problem is that when you put all of that aside there is, sadly, almost nothing special about this first person shooter. Set in the year 2027,…
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Torchlight Review
In 1997 a few good folks got together and made one of role-playing gaming’s standout and breakthrough titles. Three years later they did it again. No, this review is not about Diablo – but it is about a game that’s its virtual clone. And that’s to be expected, Torchlight was developed by Runic Games –…
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The Godfather II Review
Firefighter. Astronaut. Policeman. These were all pretty stock-standard responses from kids when asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. However I’m pretty sure I wanted to be a Don – much to my primary teacher’s shock. Coppola’s trilogy of masterpieces portrayed a gritty, dark but overwhelmingly attractive view of the Mafia. There…
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Final Fantasy XV Review
Final Fantasy XV (FFXV) has been a long time coming. The world first found out about the game when it was announced as Final Fantasy Versus XIII in 2006 and it’s walked a troubled path to release since then. Despite all this, the team behind the game persevered for a decade to deliver the game…
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Ashes Cricket 2009 Review
As England and Australia currently battle it out in the Ashes series overseas, cricket fans will soon be able to step up to the crease with Ashes Cricket 2009. Cricket games definitely are few and far between (in fact if memory serves me right, the last one we saw was back in 2007). This time…
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FIFA 17 Review
Usually I struggle to come up with new things to talk about with each annual update of FIFA – but not so with FIFA 17. There are a number of changes to the franchise this year, starting with the obvious graphical changes now that the game has ditched the Ignite engine. Instead EA have opted…
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The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai Review
Games like Super Mario Sunshine and Tamagotchi: Corner Shop have been bringing “virtual housework” to the medium of video games for years; imagine, then, how tentative and nervous a game called “The Dishwasher” made us here at Gameskeys when we first heard about it. Fortunately the subtitle “Dead Samurai”, in addition to making the game…
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Splinter Cell: Conviction Review
Despite being nearly a pensioner, Sam Fisher’s still got it. Scaling buildings, severing spines and suspending himself upside down by his thighs for extended periods of time are still no problem for our aging hero. In fact now he’s growing himself a beard – which we imagine can only triple his awesomeness once fully grown.…
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Military Madness: Nectaris Review
If you’ve ever played an Advance Wars game (Gameboy, GBA, DS) or Field Commander (PSP), you’ve a pretty good idea of what to expect from this new Xbox Live Arcade retro remake: turn-based strategy on a hex grid with a military theme. For those new to the genre, don’t be afraid – this isn’t some…
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F1 2017 Review
I’m going to admit it. I was a bit worried when I loaded up Codemasters’ latest racer. Formula One games haven’t gone well for me in the past. I’d crash and fail for hours. Finally I’d turn all the assists way up, turn the difficulty down as far as it would go, and try to…
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Yahtzee Review
Formerly with Milton Bradley but now part of the Hasbro games stable, Yahtzee is a game with origins tracing back through time, although it can be more definitively traced to 1956, when it was first filed for as a trademark. But now it can be traced to the games section of the Xbox Live marketplace,…