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Ori and the Blind Forest Review: Style Over Substance?

Ori and the Blind Forest Review: Style Over Substance?

February 14, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

There are video games that you play, and there are video games that play you. Ori and the Blind Forest is the latter. Its prologue weaves a heart-wrenching narrative about life and loss that leaves you close to tears. We'd go as far as to say there's not been an opening sequence this good in the current generation of video games.
Without spoiling much, the opening sets the tone for what lies ahead in spectacular fashion. The game takes place in a dying forest steeped with strange creatures and old mysteries, and you don the role of Ori – a woodland spirit who is propelled into an adventure to save his home. Along the way, you'll defeat treacherous foes, solve a host of puzzles, and explore gorgeous looking environments.
Once the emotional joyride of the initial ten minutes is over you're left to your own devices for most of the proceedings, until the end of the game which does a little more to expound on its powerful opening. The game does leave you slightly short..

FIFA 16 Review: Inclusive, but Is It for Everyone?

FIFA 16 Review: Inclusive, but Is It for Everyone?

August 3, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

It's extremely likely that regardless of the score at the end of this review, you already have an opinion on FIFA 16. Publisher Electronic Arts (EA) put out a demo earlier in the month, the full game was available this week as a free 10-hour trial via the Xbox One's EA Access program, and street date breaks resulted in copies available early in many a retail store (which is how we got our copy). This is why some of you already know if you are going to buy FIFA 16 or not, if you haven't already. If you're looking for validation or a reason to rage, go straight to the score below. As for the rest of you, who are still deciding whether you want to play FIFA 16, keep reading.
(Also see: FIFA 16 Player Ratings: What You Need to Know)
Every year, developer EA Sports tries to justify the need for you to buy its latest football game. We've seen a lot of these annual changes, both big and small. From the monumental jump between FIFA 08 and FIFA 09, to the subtle prese..

Dreadnought Is Team Fortress 2 With Giant Spaceships

Dreadnought Is Team Fortress 2 With Giant Spaceships

April 30, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

With Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft having a gargantuan presence at Gamescom 2015 and grabbing most of the attention, it's easy to forget that the PC can hold its own. One such game that bears testament to this is Dreadnought. It's a space combat flight simulator by Yager, the developer known for Spec Ops: The Line.
The game puts you in the role of a captain of a variety of ships, ranging from nimble corvettes all the way up to the titular dreadnought, which is slow but deathly in the hands of a capable player. We spent some time with Dreadnought's deathmatch mode demo at Gamescom 2015, and came back impressed.
(Also see: Gamescom 2015 Day 5: Super PCs, Dreadnought, Video Games Live, and Retro Fun)
One of the biggest pain points in space games is allowing for vertical movement, and letting the player ascend and descend at will. The first thing that hit us when playing Dreadnought was how easy it is to control the ships. In addition to this, each class of ship is easy t..

ScreamRide [year]

ScreamRide 2026

February 14, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Here's something you may not have known: prior to returning to its roots making space simulation games with the critically acclaimed Elite: Dangerous, UK-based Frontier Developments was responsible for a host of amusement park management games such as the RollerCoaster Tycoon and the Thrillville series. And while Elite: Dangerous is the company's biggest draw what with an impending Xbox One release, if ScreamRide is any indication, Frontier Developments has not forgotten its expertise in letting you make roller coasters and tear them down.
Created to bolster the Xbox One's waning indie catalogue, ScreamRide lets you engineer devious roller coasters, ride them, and, well, turn them into rubble. Unlike the RollerCoaster Tycoon series, there's absolutely no management of anything whatsoever. It could be best described as a four-in-one set of puzzles to play.
All of these sections are presented in a barebones manner, with the game simply showing you these options. The..

Bowling Central Review: Puzzles and Precision

Bowling Central Review: Puzzles and Precision

February 23, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Bowling games are a dime a dozen on the App Store, ranging from realistic fare such as PBA Bowling Spare Challenge to the whimsical Doodle Bowling. There are not too many games, however, that leverage the Apple TV, and this is where the newly launched Bowling Central comes in. It's been developed by Pune-based Rolocule games, and along with AirPlay, also uses the company's “rolomotion” motion-tracking technology.
Rolocule has built a niche for itself by using this combination of technology in the past for other games too, including Motion Tennis and Dance Party. This is true for Bowling Central as well, and if you have an Apple TV or another AirPlay receiver, you can play the game on your television. The combination of motion controls and AirPlay Mirroring means that you can play Rolocule's games to get a Wii-like experience without having to get Nintendo's console.
And while rolomotion provides a slick way to bowl, it's not the only way to play. You can also..

Mimpi Dreams [year] Review

Mimpi Dreams 2026 Review

May 9, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Pleasant music, beautiful art, and engaging gameplay, make Mimpi Dreams, a puzzle platformer made by Silicon Jelly featuring a cute little dog as the protagonist, one of the nicer indie games that we've seen. It's a sequel of iOS game Mimpi, and it tasks you with helping out princesses in distress. The entire game is set in the dreams of Mimpi, the dog protagonist. You'll have to help the dog think its way out of several puzzles, which don't necessarily adhere to real-world rules of physics. It's all a dream and the goal of the game is perhaps to ensure that the dog wakes up happy, which was good enough for us to allow the developer some creative liberty.
With pleasant music playing in the background, we took up the task of helping Mimpi solve puzzles in the game. The basic gameplay mechanic is similar to most puzzle platformers. You can move Mimpi towards the left or the right – as with most side-scrollers – and the dog can jump over obstacles. There are five..

Elite: Dangerous [year] - Lost in Space

Elite: Dangerous 2026 – Lost in Space

October 13, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

Space simulation games have been in the news of late, and not for good reasons either. Be it Star Citizen's long drawn and very public development controversy, or the underlying sigh that punctuates every display of No Man's Sky, the fact is that these are games of grand ambition and scale, that want to put you inside a vast galaxy to explore and immerse yourself in. The sheer scope and size is quite frankly why they have no firm release date.
And then there's Elite: Dangerous for the Xbox One. Much like the aforementioned games, it too, is a space simulator. There isn't much of an underlying narrative or sweeping story. You're thrown into a vast open galaxy with a small ship and very little money with the objective of surviving and perhaps even thriving in space. You can resort to piracy, assassinations, trading, and bounty hunting among other means to get by. And you won't be alone: depending on how you decide to play, you'll occupy the same space ..

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Review: Bad Looking, but Great to Play

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Review: Bad Looking, but Great to Play

February 17, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

This generation of consoles has seen many high definition remasters of games, from heavy hitters like Grand Theft Auto V to scrappy indie titles like Guacamelee. If you're playing a game on your Xbox One or Playstation 4 then chances are that you've heard of it before, if not experienced it already. Final Fantasy Type-0 HD fits into this category. It's a remaster of a PlayStation Portable (PSP) game that never made it out of Japan until now. Much like the recent games in the series (except Final Fantasy XIV), its a heady mix of futuristic technology and magic.
The game is set in the world of Orience. Its four kingdoms are at war and you control Class Zero, an elite group of fourteen student soldiers who can wield weapons and magic. Each member is named after a card in a pack such as Ace, Seven, and Jack. After the prologue, you'll find yourself in an academy that is reminiscent of Hogwarts in the sense that its essentially a school for magic. There's a definit..

Pro Evolution Soccer [year] Review: It's Fast but Is It Fantastic?

Pro Evolution Soccer 2026 Review: It’s Fast but Is It Fantastic?

September 17, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

The fight for the top football game of the year has been hotly contested for years between Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) and EA Sports' FIFA. Every year, Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) makes yet another 'comeback', and its latest stab comes in the form of PES 2016. We liked the little we played of the game at Gamescom 2015, but does the full game match up? Read on to find out.
The first thing you'll notice in PES 2016 is how fast it is. Every single action on the pitch, from passing, shooting, or heading, is all done at an almost manic pace. It's very different from FIFA 16, which rewards thoughtful, strategic play.
On the other hand, each match in PES 2016 is an adrenaline-fuelled romp that has you acting on instinct. It rewards attacking and creative build ups. This means that if you enjoyed earlier instalments of FIFA, which played up pace over other attributes, then you'll find yourself right at home with PES 2016.
(Also see: Six Things You N..