Superhot PSVR Review

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Superhot is the super stylish, super interesting, super puzzle shooter that has been a round for a while on PC now. When it was revealed for consoles at E3 I was intrigued, when it was revealed especially for PSVR I was super excited.

Here’s the kicker, the game is played in short bursts or snippets of action, the action moves when you move and is otherwise frozen.

The idea is to move, plan, move – get to the weapons, attack the bad guys in the right order like some methodical Jack Reacher and dodge bullets like Neo from The Matrix. Clear? Good.

For the uninitiated Superhot throws the player into a very stylised first person shooter world, in stark contrast to its peers Superhot has a signature grey/white appearance, which leaves you feeling like you are trapped in some paper diorama. The enemy figures are basically red crystallised mannequins and weapons or objects are black.

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The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind Review (Xbox One)

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Although TESO: Morrowind is being marketed as a new standalone release it is actually only an add-on, a very big add-on, for the existing Elder Scrolls Online experience bundled with the original game. And for those who have yet to jump back into the land of Tamriel with a few friends, now is the time to do it.

Not only has the whole online experience been tweaked, refined, and smoothed out since my review of the initial release of TESO, but now with the inclusion of Morrowind it will bring an immediate smile to anyone who played the original Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind game, and fans of giant mushrooms.

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Splatoon 2, Nintendo Switch Review

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Splatoon is something of a phenomenon for Nintendo fans. Its a title that delivers family friendly arena combat in a fresh and unique way. The game was certainly a favourite on the wiiU, which I admit passed me by, but let’s make amends with that now there’s a Switch in the house.

Splatoon is  franchise with a very well defined sense of character, there is no mistake when you see the artwork or catch a glimpse of a Squid of where they belong. It may be a hard task catching up when you don’t know the history, but it soon becomes familiar, although sense may come later along with buckets of pink and green ink.

Let’s be honest straight up, Splatoon2 is near enough a killer app for the Switch. It is an accessible and addictive online shooter, while there are solo modes to get you into practice it really is all about social gaming. The presentation and wrapping are essential to build the colourful world these creatures live in, but at its heart lies a slick and fun gameplay behemoth that will keep you coming back over and over.

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DeadCore, PS4 Review

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I often think back to the gaming days of my youth. I thrashed my Atari 2600 and later my Sega Master System for hours, banging my head against the ‘wall of difficulty’ in classic titles… and I loved every minute.

However these days, I am use to AAA games holding my hand and making sure every minute is enjoyable.

When I sat down with DeadCore I was met with the prospect of a pure puzzle game…and I got a bit worried.

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Cars 3: Driven to Win, PS4 Review

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The Cars franchise is one of Disney Pixar’s well loved products and rightly so, over the years Lightning and Co. have made it across the line in various videogames, probably most notably in the first incarnation of Disney Infinity.
Here we are in 2017 enjoying the third movie, which incidentally looks like a huge improvement over the second, with Driven to Win – a polished and exciting racing game that picks up after the events of the film.

We’ll just take a pause and speak in hushed tones for a moment, it’s also not just for kids. While the game could be levelled at the younger demographics there is plenty to keep an arcade or avid cart racer fan happy.

Okay, Rev, Rev, Rev – let’s go.

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Wargaming Transports Kiwi Players Back To WW1

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June 13, 2017 – Wargaming recently held its inaugural New Zealand Player Gathering in Wellington, in an effort to bring the local Wargaming player community together, through an insightful historical event.

Over 35 players from Wargaming’s Wellington player community were given the exclusive chance to attend the event which was held at the Dominion Museum.

Focusing on The Great War Exhibition created by master film-maker, Sir Peter Jackson, players were given insight into the historic events and were able to commemorate the role played by New Zealand in the First World War.

ANZ Country Manager, Travis Plane, said he was thrilled that players were able to see a piece of history brought to life. 

“Video games often allow historical moments to gain new life by transporting players into interactive virtual worlds, and at Wargaming we pride ourselves on bringing history to life in our free-to-play games.

“We hope that by hosting these community events we can build greater relationships with our Kiwi players and continue to bring them more of what they want,” said Travis.

Greater involvement with the New Zealand player community has become an important focus for Wargaming.

“We value our player community and this is the first of many events, we are planning in future. For each community interaction, we hope to make it fun, interactive and educational, just like our games,” concluded Head of Player Experience APAC, Michael Mucci.

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Dreamfall Chapters Review (Xbox One)

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Following up on 1999’s The Longest Journey and 2006’s Dreamfall – The Longest Journey, Dreamfall Chapters is the collection of five ‘books’ released episodically on the PC between October 2014 and June 2016. Effectively a series of point and click adventures, the Dreamfall games have been very well received right from the release of the original, The Longest Journey, well, on PC at least.

Back in the golden era of point and click, Lucas Arts reigned supreme and I was a huge fan of the genre on my PC. Unfortunately I’m am far from convinced that these games work well on consoles. Or maybe these games are now too mundane and slow paced for our hectic, need everything now, style of living.

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ARMS – Nintendo Switch Review

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There is no doubt the Switch is benefitting from the introduction of classic franchise games like Zelda, Mario Kart and the upcoming soon to be franchise Splatoon. Everybody is getting a bit of what they really wanted, but what the system also needed was a solid, innovative and new IP, cue the strange and loveable brawler ARMS.

Taking a heap of inspiration from Western friendly Manga styling ARMS offers up an interesting roster of characters that are pitched together in beating each other senseless via their, yes,  ARMS.

Of course it needed a twist, so here it is. The ARMS in question are spring loaded swing them across the arenas extendable arms, all loaded with exciting and varied beating instruments at the business end.

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WipEout: Omega Collection Review, PS4

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Wipeout as a brand is synonymous with Playstation, first spinning up in PS One disc drives back in 1995. Finally some Wipeout love is hitting the PS4, but it’s not a brand new game. Unfortunately it’s a remastering of 2012s ‘Wipeout 2048’ for the Vita and ‘Wipeout HD + Fury’, circa 2008 from the PS3. That said, Wipeout: Omega Collection in 1080p and running at a silky 60fps on the PS4, makes this uniquely Playstation experience….. an absolute blast to play.

Wipeout is a high-speed-arcade-sci-fi-racer based around antigravity ships with shields which use weapon pick-ups to get an advantage on the racetrack. There are a wide selection of ships to be used with different strengths and speeds depending on the race mode being undertaken. Each futuristic manufacturer has a range of ships and these unlock as you level up. There is something along the lines of 50 ships and 25 tracks across all the remasters, with many of the original electronic soundtracks being cleaned up too for the PS4 release.

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Tekken7 Review, PS4

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Tekken a fighting franchise that’s as old as the hills, if there is a block where these games live then Tekken has been around it a few times.

There’s not a lot you can say as far as setup goes, it’s a 2.5D brawler, pretty much in the vein of every other Tekken so far, a huge array of fighters to battle with or against and a deep, complex, emotional narrative.

Maybe the last bit was a tiny lie.

Technically and visually the game is top notch, after waiting a day or so for the 48gig download I was pleasantly surprised by the intro and the shiny looks. The intro to the single player sequence of fights goes along the lines of old spiky hair dude apparently kills someone’s mother when they were young, they try to fight him and get thrown off a very high cliff. Years later (now) old spiky hair dude ends up fighting with and against scarred red eye due, who is something to do with the boy thrown off the cliff, but by now I’ve started skipping. Even when Nina and her leather catsuited bottom come flying into the fray.

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