Ken Talbot

Ken Talbot

Contributor

Author Profile

Ken Talbot has been playing games since they came in the form of cassettes. Over 30 years of experience in all genres and on all platforms, with a particular corner of his heart for Playstation and Nintendo. Ken has worked in the software industry for over a decade, which keeps him close to the tech and business decisions that drive the gaming industry. He loves to play everything, but is an enthusiast for survival horror and fantasy RPGs.

Username
kendomustdie
Articles
76 (66 reviews)
First Article
Tue 24th, May 2016
Avg. Review Score
7.0
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  • Surviving Mars (PS4)

    13

    Review Surviving Mars (PS4)

    Life on Mars

    As entrepreneurial wunderkind Elon Musk reaches out to settle humans on Earth’s little red brother, mankind wonders what awaits us on that alien soil. How will we come to terms with our new existence as off-world colonists? What trials will we face? Well, if it turns out like our first forays onto crimson soil, we’ll scrap the first...

  • Wulverblade (PS4)

    5

    Review Wulverblade (PS4)

    Wolves at the door

    Fully Illustrated’s mud-soaked scrolling beat-'em-up hearkens back to a simpler time of high scores and roast chicken health pick-ups. It's a throwback to a beloved genre with a cartoon aesthetic and historical setting. It's not unique, but visceral action, a charming art style, and loving adherence to period lore sets this...

  • Sky Force Reloaded (PS4)

    8

    Review Sky Force Reloaded (PS4)

    Sky's the limit

    For a remake of a decade old mobile game that liberally cribs from every other scrolling arcade shooter on the market, Infinite Dreams’ Sky Force Reloaded is a surprisingly addictive title. The similarities with PlayStation 4 classics like Resogun are apparent from the outset. A pumping synth score and digitised voices...

  • Hand of Fate 2 (PS4)

    5

    Review Hand of Fate 2 (PS4)

    Dealer's choice

    A mysterious dealer sits in a rickety wagon, casting your fate across the table in an ominous game of cards. He offers cryptic insight into the game itself while dictating your destiny as if it were preordained. This is the basic premise of Hand Of Fate, Defiant Development’s brawler cum tabletop RPG. The dealer presents your...

  • Rogue Trooper Redux (PS4)

    3

    Review Rogue Trooper Redux (PS4)

    Clone army

    PS2 curio Rogue Trooper is an unlikely candidate for the remaster treatment. Taken from the pages of eclectic British comic 2000AD, Sniper Elite developer Rebellion had a decent stab at trying something new with the always swamped third-person shooter genre. Receiving positive reviews, it’s since faded into obscurity.  Hopefully,...

  • ECHO (PS4)

    8

    Review ECHO (PS4)

    Me, myself, and I

    Learning new abilities is something that players takes advantage of nowadays; progression as reward and reward through progression. It is a fundamental aspect of modern gaming, one that makes us feel safe and confident in our ability to learn new skills. But what if learning something new was a potentially dangerous and even...

  • Rogue Trooper Redux Recaptures PS2-Era Action

    4

    Hands On Rogue Trooper Redux Recaptures PS2-Era Action

    Rogue legacy

    Oxford developer Rebellion has quite the checkered history, stretching across 23 years and multiple platforms. Now best known for the ball-busting Sniper Elite series, its output ranges from classic (Aliens vs Predator) to not so classic (Rogue Warrior). Now, alongside fellow UK studio Tick Tock Games, it's revamping a PlayStation 2-era...

  • Hidden Dragon: Legend (PS4)

    2

    Review Hidden Dragon: Legend (PS4)

    Fighting Dragon, Hidden Legend

    Following in the footsteps of Eastern epics like the already classic Nioh and July’s excellent Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, Megafun Games’ Hidden Dragon: Legend is a side-scrolling combat platformer set in Imperial China. The story begins with the amnesiac Lu, who staggers out of a prison massacre and...

  • Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition (PS4)

    31

    Review Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition (PS4)

    Slash fiction

    HD remakes, remastered collections, and celebratory re-releases are a mainstay of the launch slate these days – love 'em or hate 'em. Usually the retread treatment gets lavished on childhood classics or highlights of the previous hardware generation. It's not entirely clear if anyone predicted that infamous schlock fest Night Trap...

  • Graceful Explosion Machine (PS4)

    5

    Review Graceful Explosion Machine (PS4)

    Swiss army spaceship

    There are plenty of arcade shooters on Sony consoles; Housemarque's Super Stardust HD and Resogun pretty much set a gold standard on PlayStation. Other than shifting perspectives and prettier graphics, there aren't that many twists left in the genre. Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine distinguishes itself from the rest of...

  • Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (PS4)

    23

    Review Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (PS4)

    Tactical Samurai Action

    PS2 Stealth classic Commandos 2: Men Of Courage was a unique title that's never really been matched on consoles since. The game had you take control of an elite squad of soldiers in World War II as they tackled clandestine missions behind enemy lines. It was a deeply satisfying and stripped down experience, far removed from...

  • Iron Crypticle (PS4)

    0

    Review Iron Crypticle (PS4)

    Running the gauntlet

    Remaking the little known but well-received PC title Iron Fisticle – yes, that name is hilarious – Tikipod’s charming medieval twin-stick shooter Iron Crypticle sees you and up to three other co-op partners attempting to rescue the princess of Cryptonia and the kingdom's riches. Naturally, there's a maze of...

  • Serial Cleaner (PS4)

    4

    Review Serial Cleaner (PS4)

    Clean getaway

    Joining the not-so-crowded sub-genre of post-mayhem caretaking sims, Serial Cleaner puts you in the shoes (sneakers?) of a crook hired to clean crime scenes before the cops find any clues. This includes removing bodies, clearing up blood spatter with your trusty hoover, and pocketing evidence for yourself along the way. The kicker is...

  • Killing Floor 2 (PS4)

    10

    Review Killing Floor 2 (PS4)

    Let the bodies hit the floor

    Republished on Wednesday, 31st May 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June 2017's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. It's been a demanding shooter season so far. DICE hit rewind on history and gave us the uniformly proficient Battlefield 1 then...

  • Twisting Metal with Crossout on PS4

    3

    Hands On Twisting Metal with Crossout on PS4

    Wreckin' ball

    On paper, Crossout sounds like a sure thing: a vehicular combat MMO in which you customise battle cars to take into a Mad Max-like wasteland. At first glance, it looks like a delicious hybrid of Rocket League and Destruction Derby. And at this early access stage, the game lives up to those lofty comparisons, but with a few mechanical...

  • BUTCHER (PS4)

    4

    Review BUTCHER (PS4)

    Resurrection of evil

    Last year's fantastic DOOM reboot nailed the energy and relentless forward motion of id Software's industry defining FPS, stripping out any sort of meaningful narrative in favour of a lighting-fast funhouse ride. Yet where DOOM 2016 gave old fashioned mayhem a shiny new coat of paint, Transhuman Design’s BUTCHER keeps the...

  • Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix (PS4)

    26

    Review Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix (PS4)

    The keyblade to your heart

    Not much more can be said of the venerable role-playing series born of two media giants and now more talked about for its mythical third instalment (it's coming guys, it has to be). Over the course of the last few years, Square Enix has retooled and repackaged the entire Kingdom Hearts canon, bundling the games into HD...

  • Has-Been Heroes (PS4)

    5

    Review Has-Been Heroes (PS4)

    Past it?

    Frozenbyte's best known for the Trine titles: a colourful trilogy of platformers characterised by lush fantasy environments and physics-based co-op puzzling. Charming, funny, and gorgeous, they were some of the best examples of the genre on consoles. Has-Been Heroes, however, is a very different beast. The charm is still there, although...

  • This Is the Police (PS4)

    6

    Review This Is the Police (PS4)

    911 is not a joke

    Weappy Games' strategy-cum-noir adventure This Is the Police has you inhabit the day-to-day drudgery of retiring police chief Jack Boyd, grinding out his last 180 days on the force and trying to keep things running smoothly for the city of Freeburg's corrupt mayor. Dogged by allegations of corruption and a career full of regret, we...

  • Ken's Personal PlayStation Picks

    7

    Game of the Year 2016 Ken's Personal PlayStation Picks

    Life is just a fantasy

    It's time once again for the indomitable staff here at Push Square to share their own personal Game of the Year picks. Every year, we herd our writers together and force them to spill their opinions on their five favourite games of the last 12 months. Usually, this involves poking them with a stick until they come clean...

  • Skylanders: Imaginators (PS4)

    9

    Review Skylanders: Imaginators (PS4)

    Crash bash

    Ever since it was kickstarted by Mattel's U.B. Funkeys titles a decade ago, the 'toys to life' genre has become a juggernaut, raking in billions and becoming the bane of parents' wallets worldwide. Skylanders is its flagship, a colourful platforming series with a now gigantic selection of stylised action figures to import into the game...

  • Brut@l (PS4)

    11

    Review Brut@l (PS4)

    Rogue leg@cy

    Anybody remember those dungeon crawlers from the eighties, the ones based on Dungeons & Dragons and made entirely in ASCII characters? Well, for those not versed in the storied history of tabletop and its transition onto the home computer, these titles were the earliest example of the roguelike. Classics like Moria, Angband, and...

  • Solving Mysteries with Sherlock Holmes Developer Frogwares

    4

    Interview Solving Mysteries with Sherlock Holmes Developer Frogwares

    From calibash pipes to eldritch horrors

    Ukrainian developer Frogwares has been making Sherlock Holmes games for 15 years now, slowly improving and reshaping a solid adventure model. The Devil's Daughter is the eighth mainline game in the series and features a younger Sherlock, who juggles the life of a master sleuth with the perils of parenthood. We...

  • Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII (PS4)

    15

    Review Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII (PS4)

    Romance is not dead

    Strategy used to have a comfortable home on PlayStation: ports of Westwood's Command & Conquer series, Bullfrog's Theme games and the likes of Populous and The Bitmap Brothers' excellent Z, can often evoke fond memories in many a 'Station stalwart. But the genre fell by the wayside in later generations, with a slim selection...