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There will always be room for more takes on soccer manager genre, at least there is if you’ve ever let one get its hooks into you.

For me the Holy Grail has always been CM97/98, many wasted weekends as nights turned to mornings and you’d catch an hour of sleep while a creaky 386 PC ground out the close season update. There have been all sorts of attempts to capture that lightning, sometimes they have just been too complex for their own good.

New Star Manager brings a fresh take and more importantly for consoles a better user interface than suits the medium. No more snapping to and fro between far too many icons, no more floaty cursors relying on your thumbstick that wished it was a mouse, you have to appreciate the design path going from mobile to Switch before PS4 being one of the core drivers here.

New Star is a relaxed and enjoyable take on the manager sim, the pace is fairly pedestrian which makes it a top-corner chill-out game and the mini games along with the in-match controls have raised more than a few smiles in my dugout.

If you are looking for something different that tickles your soccer fantasies, I’d be giving New Star a run out, new signings, fresh legs and all that.

Previously posted at Gerard’s own blog GameJunkieNZ, here’s his view on Observation.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the team behind sci-fi thriller Observation – were fans of movies Alien, Event Horizon and 2001 A Space Odyssey.

The game opens aboard the international space station Observation which is above Earth’s orbit after suffering a catastrophic event. The ship’s medical officer Dr Emma Fisher eventually manages to reboot the ship’s AI Sam [System Administration Maintenance] but Sam receives a strange transmission telling him to “BRING HER”.

Fast forward a bit and after a second event, the Observation finds itself above Saturn, Sam’s core functions compromised and the rest of Observation’s crew missing. Emma tasks Sam with finding out what has happened.

Bethesda seem to have their fair share of ups and downs, especially if you pay much attention the media, social or otherwise. Rage 2 was an interesting moment on that roller coaster given its lukewarm reception after a full-on and suitably anarchic promotional campaign.

Apart from the usual web, bus, media ads. It was interesting to see the local community team stacking their chips on more than a few expo appearances. Their Rage2 Tattoo drive certainly got people talking with mixed feelings, and being right on top of release without any sign of review code, obviously set a few reviewers off on the wrong foot.

I have been toying with these words for a while, and its fair to say Rage 2 got short changed in the review period after release.

Give it a go, because once you do – you realise that Rage 2 is the first person Crackdown you never knew you needed.

The lack of a real first party “Elite” controller on the PS4 has always been a pet peeve of mine, the Xbox has the stunning Xbox Elite controller and us poor PS4 gamers have been stuck with ‘pretty good’ wannabees for years now.

Well things have changed and we have had our prayers answered. Nacon have improved upon the original Nacon Revolution in pretty much every way, but that said, it still has a few niggles too.
When you get down to it, it is a great feeling, well designed and stunningly well made bit of gaming kit but to get the full run down on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, take a look at our latest Video Review below.

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