March2022
Review GTA 5 (PS5) - Rockstar's Los Santos Is Still One of the Best Open Worlds Ever Assembled
Four stars
It’s staggering to think that GTA 5 got its start on the PlayStation 3. Even today, almost a decade since it first debuted, Los Santos feels more lived in than virtually any other open world. In fact, compared to its urban contemporaries, like Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City, it’s startling just how believable the Hollywood-inspired...
November2021
Review Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition (PS5) - A Stain on Rockstar's Record
Aw, sh*t
Where do we even begin with the GTA Trilogy? Recreating Rockstar’s trio of seminal sandboxes for contemporary consoles should have been a slamdunk, but it’s ended up with more criticism than Tommy Vercetti’s Hawaiian-inspired shirts. This is a compilation that succeeds solely on the strength of its core content, with developer Grove...
October2018
Review Red Dead Redemption 2 - Rockstar's Best Ever Game
Dutch courage
It's almost hard to believe that the first Red Dead Redemption released more than eight years ago. Rockstar Games achieved something quite special with the gritty tale of John Marston, delivering an open world title that was ahead of its time. The genre's come a long way since, but with Red Dead Redemption 2 -- a prequel, despite the...
November2017
Cop a feel
Fun fact: did you know that L.A. Noire actually released closer to the 1940s than to 2017? If you used your detective skills to deduce that this is a lie, then Team Bondi’s noir classic could be your type of game. Newly remastered by Rockstar, the detective thriller is as confounding and cool as it was back in 2011, with a new lick of...
November2014
Review Grand Theft Auto V (PlayStation 4)
It's Always Sunny in Los Santos
A return trip to Los Santos on the PlayStation 4 was inevitable, given Grand Theft Auto V's gigantic success on Sony's previous home console. An open world with real attitude, the game's sprawling American state is still its greatest achievement – it's full of life, it's incredibly dynamic, and it just feels like...
September2013
Review Grand Theft Auto V (PlayStation 3)
Three is a magic number
Michael, Franklin, and Trevor. These three personalities are at the very core of Grand Theft Auto V – one of the most anticipated games of this console generation. Everything that happens within the title revolves around the trio, from the gripping get-rich-quick heists that punctuate the story to the side activities that...
May2012
Review Max Payne 3 (PlayStation 3)
Payne: Killer
Max Payne is a man who can't catch a break. Haunted by the murders of his wife and baby girl, and the loss of the woman who managed to crack through his rock-solid shell, Max has become a washed-up, broken man with an addiction to alcohol and pain killers, waiting on the day for the planet to stop so he can step off. Left with no other...
April2010
Review Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City (PlayStation 3)
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City is the combination of last year's XBOX 360 "exclusive" downloadable content campaigns finally available on the Playstation 3
The episodes, The Lost & Damned and The Ballad Of Gay Tony, both offer complete campaigns from some of Grand Theft Auto IV's "blink and you'll miss them" cameo...
October2009
Review Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (PlayStation Portable)
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an enhanced port of the Nintendo DS game that debuted to critical acclaim earlier in the year
The plot is much more tongue-in-cheek than in the relatively dark Grand Theft Auto IV. You play Huang Lee, the son of murdered crime-lord looking to avenge the death of his father. Unfortunately, Huang's arrival sees him...
Review Beaterator (PlayStation Portable)
Beaterator is a portable music studio developed by Rockstar Games (the Grand Theft Auto guys) in conjunction with hip-hop producer Timbaland
Despite the Timbaland branding, the game is suitable for all genres, with a lot of the samples and loops provided by Timbo suiting pop, rock, electro, garage and more. The "game" is divided into three...