Today is my birthday – thirty-six, if you must know – and my brother Marcus (whose fifth novel comes out on June 9, don’t forget!) loaded me down with a mountain of treasures, including CD Projekt’s latest, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. I own the original Witcher, on account of a Steam sale, but I never got more than ten minutes into it. Many a positive review of this sequel landed it on my …
I’ve been dreaming of Love for days now. There’s an insatiable desire to stay in the surreal world I’ve come to inhabit. I find myself distracted, eager to return to the moving picture of fantasy, colour and light. To star gaze as the night draws in and to revel in the spectacle…
Where to begin? Stupidest game ever? Most obnoxiously altered voiceover? Highest quotient of clicking? If the open beta available on Steam is any indication, DarkSpore – the pathetic grasp at success so profoundly failed with the medicority of Will Wright’s original Spore – this is not one you’ll want to spend your Galleons on. Why? Because IT SUCKS. Not offensively so, oh no. It sucks in a sad gasp at sucking. It doesn’t even bother …
In a bid to shake off the weariness induced by Grim Fandango, Hailey and I decided to play the first two available chapters of Cockroach Inc.’s The Dream Machine, a gorgeous point and click browser-based adventure game split into five chapters. The Dream Machine tells the story of Victor and Alicia, a young couple who have just moved into an old apartment block. After spending their first night in their new home, the two begin …
I’ve been feeling particularly old within the last week. Maybe it’s down to the harsh realities of adulthood. I’m due to complete the purchase of my first home within the next two weeks and will be a married man in just under three months. As wonderful and exciting as those two events are, they can also be pretty daunting; as I’m sure any married homeowners who read Tap-Repeatedly may attest to. Perhaps however it’s also because the Pokémon …
Another day, another obnoxious PS3 system update. Seriously, since when did my PC become a more convenient system to use than a console? It wouldn’t be so bad if they downloaded and installed in the background but oh-no, merely downloading them requires the full attention of my system locking me out until they’re finished. I’ve got patience, I really have, but when you’ve got a measly 1.2mb connection and just want to sign in to …
“Kill with skill,” advises Bulletstorm’s ad copy. That rhymes so it makes a nice tagline. “Kill as brutally and hideously as you possibly can within only the loosest confines of physics” doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily.
Bulletstorm is exactly what it wants to be: a zany, foulmouthed, crass, absurdly violent fiesta of carnage. And everything about it appears crafted to suit this. Polish developer People Can Fly, working with Epic, have brought their considerable talents for atmosphere, outlandishness, and gleefully gory over-the-topism to bear yet again in a game that really does kind of remind us that “mindless” is not only sometimes a good thing, it can actually be a personality trait.
As my second piece of news, also Steam related, SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd have today announced that Total War: Shogun 2, will be available on Steam on February 22. The press release goes on to state: SEGA and The Creative Assembly are proud to let gamers everywhere know that a demo for Total War: Shogun 2 will soon be available on Steam. The demo will allow all armchair samurai to test their skills …
It wouldn’t be sensationalist to state that RIFT is the most polished and accomplished MMOG BETA I have ever taken part in. And while not fault free, the single problem I did encounter (being unable to login due to queueing issues), was when servers first opened; a problem undoubtedly linked to the sheer quantity of people flooding on-line. The rest of my evening however, was flawless.
It’s difficult to know where to even begin when covering World of Warcraft’s latest expansion set. The game is already so vast as a result of its unprecedented success that to add further content becomes a daunting prospect for anyone wanting to jump in… (warning – may contain spoilers)
Returning to the industrial grime of Killzone 3’s Helghan home world after over 70 hours in the bright clear Middle Eastern maps of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is initially a disorienting experience. Killzone 3, like its predecessor, is a game that at times has an almost suffocating atmosphere. Heavy orange and blue lights punctuate the superbly textured warehouses and military facilities while snow and ash particles continually waft through the landscape…
I’ve always been a turtler. All that progress, pushing forward, actually doing stuff — it’s not for me. I’d rather just sit in my hardy shell, pipe and newspaper in hand, and hatch a plan; a plan to build more walls, a plan to build more towers, a plan to make my shell hardier. Yes, I’m a real-time strategy coward.
Steerpike is many things, my friends: roguishly handsome, devilishly charming, effortlessly-groomed, witty. One thing he is not is well-disciplined. So though I did stick to my guns and refuse to pre-order Fate of the World on Halloween, it is me you’re dealing with… I bought it a few days later. Now, I still have an issue with this game costing £19.99 for the full version (that’s about $40-$50, depending on the exchange rate). Vic Davis …
My first moments in F1-2010 were terrifying. Not the terror of being pursued by brainless zombies in the depths of the Agroprom, no, something much worse. The camera’s field of view swept over the group of assembled reporters with professional soft focus blur and a well dressed reporter stood to ask me a question. I was seated behind a microphone, and I was certain she was going to say, “Tell us about yourself, and why you think you can succeed in Formula-1?”
Not long ago the staff had a Serious Discussion (which lasted 3 minutes and consisted of “why not?”) about whether our First Impressions section should include demos… that is, whether we can state first impressions based on one. It didn’t occur to us to set up some kind of rule about how long the demo should be. After all, size doesn’t matter. What matters is enthusiasm.