May2023
Mini Review Railway Empire 2 (PS5) - Locomotive Strategy Sim Has Signal Failure
All aboard the innovation train
Throwing us into the brink of a revolution, Railway Empire 2 starts in 1830 at the dawn of the age of railways. It’s an exciting time for the rail industry, with many competing companies wanting a piece of the pie and many discoveries changing the face of rail travel. There are various game modes, including a...
July2022
Review Matchpoint: Tennis Championships (PS5) - Unforced Errors Spoil Solid Gameplay
We don't love it
Tennis is one of the most popular sports on the planet, but publishers are having a nightmare capitalising on its potential. French outfit Nacon has already had a couple of attempts with the two Tennis World Tour titles – and the two Australian Open endorsed entries, AO Tennis – but now it’s the turn of Kalypso Media to serve...
March2021
Review Spacebase Startopia (PS5) - Deep Space, Shallow Management Sim
In space, no one can see you disco dance
Spacebase Startopia is a management simulator based on Startopia, released way back in 2001 on PC. Much like in the original, you're put in charge of a series of doughnut-shaped bases that you’ll need to turn into fun places for aliens to live, work, and play. Every visitor has a wallet filled with Energy...
September2020
Mini Review Port Royale 4 - Dull Strategy Game Fails To Float Our Boat
Yo Ho Hum
Port Royale 4 starts well. The opening cinematic shows footage of shady piratey characters doing shady piratey business, and it's backed by a rousing soundtrack that makes you want to sail the seven seas looking for plunder. But any hopes you might have of swashbuckling adventures are almost immediately dashed after starting up the first...
September2019
Review Tropico 6 - Dictator Simulator Brings The Goods
It's-a me, Tropico
Tropico 6 is a political strategy game that puts you in control of a tropical island nation, and asks you to maintain power by any and all means necessary. Assassinations, bribes, rigged elections - it's pretty much a Kim Jong-il simulator, only with an irritating-at-first-but-you'll-be-humming-it-later mambo soundtrack. Perhaps...
November2018
Review Project Highrise: Architect's Edition - An Architect for Success
Building sim-plicity at its best
Project Highrise: Architect’s Edition fills a niche on the PlayStation Store as a return for the building simulator genre, following initial success on Steam in 2016. This sim however puts you in control of skyscraper development specifically, as opposed to traditional city sims. As the chief architect in charge of...
September2018
Review Shadows: Awakening (PS4)
Emerging from the shadow of Diablo
PS4 adventuring takes to a dark new dimension with Shadows: Awakening – which might at first look like a Diablo-'em-up copycat, but actually brings a unique new spin to the isometric single-player RPG genre. You step in the wraith robes of a demon summoned from the Shadow Realm – known as a...
August2017
Dad's Barmy
Sudden Strike 4 is a real-time strategy game set in World War II featuring three separate campaigns – one for the Allies, the Germans, and the Soviet Union – based on real battles. There’s over twenty missions in total, and these are presented to the player without any political pandering or moral high-grounds. World War...
April2017
Review Vikings - Wolves of Midgard (PS4)
Howling for you
Vikings - Wolves of Midgard is an action role-playing game stuffed with blood, beards, and loot. It's immediately comparable to other dungeon-crawling hack and slashers like Diablo, right down to the near identical radial equipment menu. Vikings certainly doesn't shy away from its inspirations, but it's so by-the-numbers that you do...
February2016
Review Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders (PS4)
Elementary, my dear Hastings
If you go into Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders expecting the next LA Noire or Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, you'll be sorely disappointed. But if you pick up this police procedural with the hope of a slightly charming puzzle whodunnit with some good game mechanics, you may be pleasantly surprised. Like all...
October2015
Review Grand Ages: Medieval (PS4)
Everybody wants to rule the world
Strategy games aren't normally associated with console gaming, instead favouring PC, Mac, and Linux as their platform of choice. This is why it's important for Grand Ages: Medieval to succeed: to bring the genre to a brand new audience. Developed by Gaming Minds Studio, the brains behind Port Royale 3 and Patrician...
May2015
Review Tropico 5 (PlayStation 4)
Havana good time
Back when Bullfrog was considered a big name, construction games were all the rage. The likes of Theme Park and Theme Hospital were among the most popular releases on the PSone, but as the genre increased in complexity on computers, these console ports became increasingly less common. Tropico 5, then, is something of a rarity: a...
