Author Profile
- Username
- MatGrowcott
- Articles
- 61 (59 reviews)
- First Article
- Mon 2nd, December 2013
- Avg. Review Score
- 6.3
- Find Them On
- Twitter/X
Review Ar Nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star (PlayStation 3)
Lost in Space
In a world where songs can kill and chatting with semi-naked girls in bathtubs is part of a sacred ceremony, a religious war has split two factions in half. Propaganda and aggression have kept these two groups separate for long enough that neither realises one simple truth: that there are real people on both sides. Ar Nosurge: Ode to...
Review Velocity 2X (PlayStation 4)
2Xcellent
Since the very beginning of video game history, developers have strived to give us new and exciting ways of blowing stuff up in space. Whether it’s deadly invaders from planets unknown or chunks of asteroids, it’s all been in preparation for Velocity 2X. Strap yourself in, grab yourself a glass of tang, attempt to figure out what the...
Review Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited (PlayStation Vita)
On the move, dood!
When someone mentions “hardcore gaming,” your mind probably either springs towards the image of an overweight shut-in with poor hygiene and an obsession with the evils of Call of Duty or, failing that, one of those Korean chaps who inexplicably play Starcraft for six weeks straight. You probably don’t think about a cutesy...
Review Trials Fusion: Empire of the Sky (PlayStation 4)
Looking up
If there was one thing wrong with Trials Fusion, it was that there wasn’t enough chances to fall tens of thousands of feet to your death. The fans have spoken: sometimes smashing your 120MPH bike into a brick wall just doesn’t feel dangerous enough. Don’t worry, though, as Ubisoft has heard your cries for a little more distance from...
Review Gravity Crash Ultra (PlayStation Vita)
Worth the weight?
Gravity has its uses, nobody can argue that. If it disappeared right now, the entire bungee jumping industry would collapse overnight, and there’d probably be some other, less important side effects as well. In some cases, gravity actively works against our goals, highlighted best by Gravity Crash Ultra, and by the many bumps,...
Review Road Not Taken (PlayStation 4)
Rice, rabbits, and unfit parents
Every year, just as the winter starts to kill off the last of the year’s berries, children head out into the forest in a final attempt to boost food stores. Some of the little ones never come back, which seems to panic the parents a little too much considering that they let them go off and do it every year...
Review Trials Fusion: Riders of the Rustlands (PlayStation 4)
Feeling rusty
Trials Fusion was one of the must-have games on the PlayStation 4 when it came out, and its first batch of downloadable content should be something of an event for the million or so people who invested in it. However, what could have been an exciting new set of levels ends up being underwhelming, spinning its wheels over a set of ideas...
Review Might & Magic: Duel of Champions - Forgotten Wars (PlayStation 3)
Pay £7.99 for tagline
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Might & Magic: Duel of Champions - Forgotten Wars is some kind of trading card video game, but that’s short-sighted. No, it’s an investment opportunity of a lifetime – a chance to hand out huge amounts of money in return for digital versions of cards that your other half probably...
Review Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty (PlayStation 4)
Hello. Follow me
Everybody played Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee back in the day. Although the game was available on just about everything, the title’s four-fingered Mudokon was at one point just as recognisable as fellow multiformat PlayStation mascots like Lara Croft. The challenging puzzles and striking design pulled people in, while the clever,...
Review Tour de France 2014 (PlayStation 4)
Tour de Pants
It is Tour de France time, and that means crowds of talented bikers defeating our evil physics overlords and riding through one another across the beautiful French countryside and chunks of England. No? That must just be one of the fantastic new features in Tour de France 2014, a game which also serves up blind robot crowds and a host...
Review Child of Light (PlayStation Vita)
Summer child
It took longer and was more brutal than a rap battle between J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin, but Child of Light has finally made it to the PlayStation Vita. Those of you who have been desperately waiting to see what all the fuss was about can, after almost three months, join Aurora on her rather poetic quest to save the world...
Review Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland (PlayStation Vita)
Mix it up
Shop keepers are an important part of almost every RPG, but they very rarely get the attention that they deserve. They focus a bunch of effort into putting together a nice collection of weapons and potions, and do they even get a spot in the final cutscene? Were they even asked? In Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland, you’re...
Review Battle Princess of Arcadias (PlayStation 3)
Such a peach
Being a princess is overrated. You’ll soon wear out your waving hand, you have to speak to poor people (which even poor people hate doing), and the occasional gifted helicopter from the in-laws does little to take the edge off. Being a battle princess, alternatively, is a completely different affair. It means you get to go out and hit...
Review PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate (PlayStation 4)
Above and beyond
Double Eleven probably didn’t need to put this much effort into PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate, but the British-based studio has anyway. By combining both previous Q-Games developed PixelJunk Shooter games into a single package – as well as fix up a variety of small problems along the way – it's managed to take two of the most...
Review Drakengard 3 (PlayStation 3)
The number games
There’s one in every family, isn’t there? One person who has to spoil every gathering, causing drama on social media, and jumping out, murdering people all of the time. No? In Drakengard 3, that’s exactly what happens. As moody anti-heroine Zero, you’ll need to trek across mountains or through lush green forests on a quest...
Review Mugen Souls Z (PlayStation 3)
The questionable quest for cute
There aren’t many games as unusual as Mugen Souls Z. Its main character is a young goddess who carries around a coffin, not for any reason in particular, just because the writers needed some kind of container and that seemed to make sense. That’s not the weirdest thing that you’ll see either. Charged with...
Review Sparkle 2 (PlayStation 4)
Let it shine
There’s a treasure in the world of Sparkle 2 that’s so well hidden that nobody has ever been able to find it. Some people have spent their entire lives trying to track it down, going mad in the process. Naturally, the only way of succeeding where others have failed is to match three or more coloured balls across dozens of levels –...
Review Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi (PlayStation 3)
A novel idea
Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi is one of those rare video games that aren’t really video games at all. Actually, it’s a novel, cunningly disguised as something that you need a controller for. Occasionally the story will be interrupted with a choice for you to make, but largely the main goal is to keep on reading. It may be...
Review Sportsfriends (PlayStation 4)
Couch joustice
Everybody knows that the two absolute worst things about outside sports are being forced to leave the house and actually having to exert energy. That’s where Sportsfriends comes in. Forget about wet weekends on muddy football fields, and think about trashing your BFFs in a fine game of Johann Sebastian Joust instead. With four games...
Review Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium Duels (PlayStation 3)
Pick a card
Trading card games are everywhere these days, mostly thanks to smartphones and the free-to-play model. Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium Duels looks to present the genre in a more traditional way. With thousands upon thousands of cards available to collect and utilise in battle, as well as both single player and online modes, it’d be easy to spend...
Review Stick It to the Man (PlayStation 4)
Scratch and sniff
Stick It to the Man is the story of a young adult with a hand sticking out of his head. This tale also includes aliens, a few clowns, a crocodile with a taste for human flesh, and a skeleton pirate. With the kind of dark humour that you may remember from the likes of Ren and Stimpy – and an art style to match – this is an...
A neighbour's nightmare
If there’s one problem with Rock Band, it’s that most of its content is DLC. Sure, it’s great to be able to pick and choose what you want to play, but purchasing individually means that you’re unlikely to try new things. SingOn tries to solve this problem by going with a subscription model, allowing instant anytime...
Review Dead Nation (PlayStation Vita)
The portable dead
Dead Nation was announced for the PlayStation Vita at E3 last year, and then was promptly forgotten about. A port for the PlayStation 4 came and went, offering the ultimate version of the zombie-filled twin stick shooter for fans who wanted better graphics and all of the DLC. Finally, almost as an afterthought, Housemarque’s...
Review Football Manager Classic 2014 (PlayStation Vita)
Mid-league manager
That there is a Silver Trophy in Football Manager Classic 2014 that rewards you for participating in 30 consecutive seasons – or a couple of hundred hours of play – will be no surprise to fans of the franchise, many of which will have been glued to their computers for the past decade or so. This is a series that’s universe...
