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Just Cause 2024

March 29, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

The exploding barrel is a well-worn video game trope. Ever since we first saw these in Doom, these have been a handy way to clear rooms full of enemies with a single shot, as the resulting detonation eliminates them en masse. But what happens when an entire game world is filled to the brim with exploding barrels? The game ends up being Just Cause 3.
Taking place in the fictional island country of Medici, Just Cause 3's irreverent tone, cheesy dialogue, and goofball plot are all reminiscent of older action games and movies. It's highly derivative but enjoyable all the same. In Just Cause 3, you set the world ablaze as former special agent Rico Rodriguez, hellbent on freeing Medici from the iron grip of dictator Sebastiano Di Ravello.
With this comes the opportunity to run amok. The exploding barrel trope takes the form of transformers, satellites, and obviously, fuel tanks – almost every thing in Just Cause 3 can be destroyed in a chaotic haze of fire and smoke.
(Also se..

Is Bloodborne the PS4 Exclusive You’ve Been Waiting for? We Find Out

February 16, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

The PlayStation 4 (PS4) has seen fantastic sales success the world over. Surprisingly, the system doesn't have a single successful exclusive game to make it worth the purchase over an Xbox One. Based on our first impressions, Bloodborne finally changes things. Set in the sprawling city of Yharnam, you find yourself in the role of a hunter in search for a cure for a plague. The plot however quickly takes a backseat, quite intentionally, with one of the early characters telling us not to overthink the situation and just kill monsters instead.
While Bloodborne is low on story, the atmosphere is intoxicating and Yarnham is a visual treat. Sinister buildings house untold horrors, and cobble-stoned streets have burning effigies of lycanthropes, but you won't spend much time sightseeing. Danger and death lurk in every corner of Yharnam. You'll face the psychotic, axe wielding residents of the city, and impromptu boss fights with colossal beasts. Everything in Bloodborne exist..

Star Wars Battlefront Review 2024

November 30, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

The Star Wars franchise is one you either hate or love. From the original trilogy of movies that still hold up quite well to the horrible prequels that are best forgotten, it's one of the more divisive series around. The same can be said about Star Wars Battlefront as well. The game is a shooter that takes place in the Star Wars universe and is developed by Dice, the studio behind the Battlefield games. In Battlefront, you'll duke it out with friends and foes as part of either the Rebel Alliance or the Empire, in large, sprawling battles.
The first thing that's apparent in the game are its high production values. They're second to none. From the icy caves of Hoth to the forests of Endor, there's very little not to like about Star Wars Battlefront visually. Running on Frostbite Engine 3, the same technology that powers titles like Battlefield Hardline, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Need for Speed, Star Wars Battlefront is one of the best looking games we have s..

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..

Rise of the Tomb Raider Evaluation [year]

Rise of the Tomb Raider Evaluation 2024

November 22, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

One of the biggest reasons to own a PlayStation 3, or even a PlayStation 4, is the Uncharted series. They're a fantastic set of action-adventure games in the spirit of Indiana Jones movies and pulp action comics, as well being inspired by the Tomb Raider titles. While the Xbox One might have Gears of War and Halo, Microsoft doesn't have an answer to Uncharted. That's perhaps why Microsoft decided to pay for Rise of the Tomb Raider to be a timed-exclusive on the Xbox One. The game is a sequel to 2013's Tomb Raider reboot, and it's an impressive game, but is it a good enough reason to buy an Xbox One right now?
Set a year after the events of 2013's Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider puts you in the role of Lara Croft, as you explore and shoot your way through Siberia, searching for the lost city of Kitezh which holds the key to immortality. Along the way, you'll bear witness to an engrossing narrative involving the Remnant – local settlers – in confl..

ScreamRide 2024

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..

WWE 2k16 2024

August 26, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

The WWE has been in video games for decades now, back from when it used to be called the World Wrestling Federation. These games aren't always the best games, but the over the top presentation and the accessibility of play means that the WWE games are a great couch multiplayer experience that you can always enjoy with your friends. WWE 2k16 isn't breaking from this tradition either, but along the way, it suffers from a problem that's common to many sports games.
These games need to strike a balance between the presentation as we see it on television – to keep fans interested – but it also needs to be playable, and finding the balance between the presentation and playability is often a challenge. The series is working towards that balance and if you look at the WWE games from WWE 2k14 onwards, you'll see a steady grind that's polishing away rough surfaces and leaving behind a game that's fun for fans and newcomers.
WWE 2k14 was a fun brawler that was grea..

Sony PlayStation TV 2024

February 14, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Microconsoles are an interesting lot. They aren't meant to replace your traditional, high-end consoles like the PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Xbox One; they're designed more to give you a taste of big-screen gaming at a relatively low price.

While devices in this category have existed since 2009, what with the ill-fated 3G-enabled Zeebo, competition in the category only heated up in 2012. That's when the Ouya, a microconsole powered by Android, entered mainstream consciousness thanks to a surprisingly well-received Kickstarter campaign.
It's reached a point where Sony has decided to enter the fray with its PlayStation TV. Dubbed 'PlayStation Vita TV' in Japan and parts of Asia when it released in late 2013, the company felt it wise to rechristen it to PlayStation TV (PSTV) — wisely so, given that the Vita hasn't exactly been Sony's most popular console.
Fast forward to February 2015 and the firm has deemed it fit to release the PlayStation TV in I..

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Review | Black Ops three Assessment

October 30, 2017 Richard Gomez 1

Listening to user feedback seems to be a recurring theme for video games this year. Be it grandiose statements from game makers at events like E3 or posts on Steam, it appears to be the buzzword of choice at the moment, on par with “micro-transactions”, “free-to-play”, and “open-world” as one of the more overused words in gaming today.
But what does this have to do with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3? Well, the game's developers at Treyarch have actually listened to what the fans were saying and there's no greater testament to that than Black Ops 3's campaign. Most games in the series limited the campaign to a quick five to six hour romp, meant to be a tutorial for the multiplayer, but Black Ops 3 has a much more engaging campaign for you.
(Also see: Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 – Everything You Need to Know)
The story missions are bigger than what we've come to expect from a Call of Duty game, and our playthrough lasted 15 hours. On finishing it, we were greeted by a ..

Evolve Review 2024

February 14, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Evolve – recently launched for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC – puts you in the claws of a giant bloodthirsty alien monster, or the boots of four hunters that are trying to take it down. The multiplayer game makes you kill or be killed, whether you're playing as one of the four hunters or the monster. Each of these five roles can be filled by either a human player or the computer AI (works offline), and the asymmetrical multiplayer of Evolve is one of its most interesting aspects.
Usually most multiplayer games have you in teams of equal numbers squaring off against each other in a duel to the death, or employ an each man for himself philosophy. Evolve, on the other hand focuses on teamwork for the four human players, and lets the monster player act like a lone wolf. The greater emphasis on cooperative play over individual glory can be seen evolving as franchises such as Pay Day and Left 4 Dead (which was incidentally made by Turtle Rock, the studio behind Evolve) gain promi..

Need for Speed 2024 Review

August 16, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

It's hard to imagine that the Need for Speed franchise has been around for more than two decades now. With its debut on the poorly received 3DO console and sequels finding its way on a host of platforms and devices ranging from Android to Zeebo, we've had a staggering 21 years of Need for Speed, and just as many games in the series.
Need for Speed games are a yearly fixture, much like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, and FIFA. However the franchise took 2014 off in order to reboot the series. The end result is known simply as Need for Speed. Ever since the reboot was announced, publisher Electronic Arts (EA) has been talking up the return to the franchise's roots, taking inspiration from classics like Most Wanted and Underground. That might have been the intention, the end result is a completely different beast, and not in an entirely good way.
Need for Speed (2015) is set in Ventura Bay, a fictional city based on Los Angeles. You find yourself as the game's s..

Don Bradman Cricket Review: If Cricket Is a Religion, This Is Prayer

February 13, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is underway, and there are now more cricket video games than you can keep track of. However, the one cricket game you should play this season is surprisingly the one which has no flashy licenses, no real player names (out of the box at least), and none of that almost TV-like polish that typifies many of Electronic Arts' forays into sports games such as FIFA. The game to play is Don Bradman Cricket, released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is the anti-thesis of cricket video games, but it still delivers both for gamers and cricket fans.
In spite of its many follies, it's the rare sports game that lures you into the zone of thinking “just one more over” and then you find yourself in front of your TV half awake at six in the morning. It expertly traps you into this cycle, tempting you into just a little more, until you sacrifice any semblance of a life outside it.
(Also see: How to Watch 2015 Cricket World Cup Live on Your PC, Smartphone, o..