Elite: Dangerous [year] - Lost in Space

Elite: Dangerous 2023 – 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 ..

ScreamRide [year]

ScreamRide 2023

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..

Resident Evil 0 HD [year] Review

Resident Evil 0 HD 2023 Review

October 9, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

After the success of last year's Resident Evil HD Remaster comes Resident Evil 0 HD. It's a prequel to the game in a series, that for the longest time, codified the horror genre as we know it. And while it might not have the same sense of uneasiness and tension that typified the first game, it's well worth playing all the same.
Resident Evil 0 HD starts off much like a slasher flick. Except a summer vacation home is replaced with a train, a bunch of naive teens is substituted with special operatives, and a serial killer with a slew of zombies. It's has a corny, almost satirical feel to the proceedings not too dissimilar to B-grade horror flicks. The overall tone harkens back to a time when the horror genre didn't take it too seriously.
The low rent vibe extends to the level design as well. It's rare to find yourself squared up against legions of the newly contaminated. Instead, interactions are limited to just a few enemies on screen at best. With ammo b..

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..

Sony PlayStation TV [year]

Sony PlayStation TV 2023

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..

Batman: Arkham Knight Season of Infamy DLC Review

Batman: Arkham Knight Season of Infamy DLC Review

December 30, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

Batman: Arkham Knight has been one of the most controversial games this year. Although the game itself was well received, it wasn't without its flaws, and we aren't even talking about the highly lacklustre PC port, which even after multiple updates isn't really worth paying for. This aside, another thing the game has drawn flak for is the vast amount of downloadable content (DLC) that publisher Warner Bros. announced prior to launch.
The season pass for the game costs a whopping Rs. 3,330 for six months of DLC on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One; that's almost the price of a new game. And very little of this content was really worth the extra money either. Most of it consisted of character skins, challenge maps, and story missions involving protagonists such as Batgirl and Catwoman. That last part is the only true value being added, but these missions were short adventures, clocking in at around 20 to 30 minutes at best.
(Also see:Batman: Arkham Knight Review – Dark Knigh..

Forza Motorsport 6 Review: Taking Pole Position

Forza Motorsport 6 Review: Taking Pole Position

October 16, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

Most racing games that take a realistic approach are notorious for tough controls, a steep learning curve, and general inaccessibility with issues ranging from poor menu design, to no explanations of crucial features. That's why many of us prefer arcade-style games like Need for Speed over racing simulators like Gran Turismo.
Forza Motorsport 6 tries its hardest to make you a fan even if you don't like racing simulators. It has a well thought out tutorial that explains all the important facets of gameplay. The user interface is a fun to use and easy to understand. But most of all, Forza Motorsport 6 is a joy to play.
It's here that Forza Motorsport 6 saved its best efforts. A slew of gameplay options smartly arranged for maximum visibility mean that you can tweak and toggle almost every aspect of the game. From choosing the difficulty level and car damage, to how aggressive the AI should be, it does everything in its power to keep you playing. Combined with responsive,..

Evolve Review [year]

Evolve Review 2023

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..

Rainbow Six Siege [year] Review

Rainbow Six Siege 2023 Review

December 28, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

In a year dominated by twitchy first-person shooters that rely on reflexes and instinct such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and Halo 5, Rainbow Six Siege is a breath of fresh air for fans of multiplayer shooters.
Based on the Tom Clancy series of the same name, it pits you against human opponents in a slew of match types. As you play, you'll gain access to a host of operators – soldiers with unique tech such as being able to track enemies' locations by their heartbeat or reviving team mates. There is a single-player mode, but it's nothing more than a short tutorial, which does little more than introduce you to the game mechanics, and prepare you for multiplayer which makes up the chunk of Rainbow Six Siege.
The first thing you'll notice about this game is the change in pace. It isn't as zippy as other shooters, yet despite how heavy the armour on your character appears to be, death comes quickly. Each match becomes a frantic scurry to get behind slowly disinteg..

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Review - Worth Playing Again?

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Review – Worth Playing Again?

March 2, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

With every game – from 1983 classic such as Jetpac to the likes of Halo 3 – seeing a release on the Xbox One, it was just a matter of time before 2006's monster hit Gears of War found its way onto Microsoft's new console. For the uninitiated, Gears of War takes place on the planet Sera where humans are at war with a subterranean race of monstrous creatures known as the locust. You're thrust into the role of Marcus Fenix, a soldier charged with a crucial mission that could turn the tide of the war.
The remake, dubbed Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, promises to be the same third-person shooter as before, with some modern day trappings to make it palatable to newcomers and fans alike. Considering how poor some current generation remasters have been – Saints Row 4 and Prototype come to mind – we half-expected this to be a phoned-in attempt at cashing in on the franchise's popularity before Gears of War 4 hits the shelves. However we were pleasantly mistaken.
(Also see..

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

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..