Latest Previews
May2014
First Impressions PS4 Puzzler MouseCraft Whiffs of Tetris, Lemmings, and Mature Cheddar
Dairy glee
Freed from the shackles of financially motivated businessmen, the indie space is awash with bonkers ideas, and Crunching Koala’s upcoming MouseCraft is no exception. The lovechild of Tetris and Lemmings, the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Vita titles puts you in the steampunk shoes of a crazy cat scientist – aptly named...
April2014
First Impressions Taking a Toll Free Tour of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number on PS4
So wrong but so right
Did you like hurting other people? If so, then you were no doubt very happy when a new Hotline Miami game was revealed to be in the works. The critical and commercial success of the original made the sequel a virtual certainty, and with Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number due for release later this year, we got the chance to take the...
First Impressions Beating Up Siblings in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle
Keep it in the family
For the uninitiated, the constant wave of previously Japanese-only titles getting a Western release can be extremely daunting. Despite the recent successes of Persona 4 Golden, Catherine, and even the likes of Demon’s Souls, there still exists a barrier that very few people are willing to cross in the name of newer, more...
First Impressions Sliding Down the Slipway with Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day
Ranko's Creed
In case you're unaware, Short Peace: Ranko Tsukigime's Longest Day is not technically a game in the normal sense of the word. Instead, it's a rather big bundle of delight, featuring four short anime movies from acclaimed directors who brought you cult classics such as the 1988 blockbuster Akira, and a rather quirky gameplay segment...
First Impressions Murdered: Soul Suspect Makes a Compelling Case on PS4
Ghost crimebuster
A plunge from a fourth floor window to the street below isn’t quite enough to kill hard as nails detective Ronan O’Connor. The seven bullets that follow are. The introduction to our hands-on with the PlayStation 4 version of Murdered: Soul Suspect was certainly arresting, and made us eager to find out more about this upcoming...
First Impressions Rolling with the PS4 Port of Skating Smash OlliOlli
Deck the mall
We won’t need to expend too many sentences to summarise the PlayStation 4 port of Roll7’s surprisingly strong skateboarding sim OlliOlli: it’s the PlayStation Vita game amplified to the size of your television screen. Rather than develop the title in-house, the British-based studio has offloaded the heavy lifting to BlitWorks,...
First Impressions Is the PS Vita Dragging Murasaki Baby Back?
Who loves ya, baby?
Murasaki Baby is a gobstoppingly gorgeous title – but it’s yet to prove that it’s an entertaining one. The inaugural escapade by Italian outfit Ovosonico shares similarities with creative director Massimo Guarini’s previous outing Shadows of the Damned, in that it provides an inviting aesthetic, but not enough immediate...
Hands On Ubisoft Abandons Weapons for Watercolours in Child of Light on PS4
Sweet child o' mine
Female protagonists are a rare sight. Most games lean towards a male lead, allowing women to – at most – occupy the role of a sidekick. Child of Light, however, sees a young girl take centre stage in an intriguing PlayStation 4 production. Elaborately named Aurora, the protagonist is a princess, and although her crown slips...
March2014
First Impressions Staying Alive in Alien: Isolation, the Tensest Title on PS4 So Far
Ripley's believe it
That we’ve already sneaked through a short sample of upcoming PlayStation 4 survival horror Alien: Isolation says a lot about the game and its developer. Knowing that it could have easily been haunted by the spectre of Gearbox’s atrocious Aliens: Colonial Marines, The Creative Assembly has instead punctured any scepticism...
Hands On Scouting Out Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes on PS4
Looking foxy
You’re no doubt sick and tired of reading about Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes’ running time, so we thought that we’d give you a break from that line of discussion, and focus on the actual game for a change. Having recently had a chance to go hands-on with Hideo Kojima’s gorgeous next-gen debut, we’ve compiled our...
Hands On Smoking Out Seattle in inFAMOUS: Second Son on PS4
Burning down the house
Holy smokes, it’s less than two weeks until you’ll be playing inFAMOUS: Second Son. A cynic may argue that the PlayStation 4’s first few months on the market have been dryer than the Sahara Desert, but Sucker Punch is aiming to finally light up your system with a showering of neon and smoke powers later this month. And...
February2014
Hands On Traversing the Trenches of PS4 Shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order
Führious
1981 saw the release of Castle Wolfenstein, a very early Commodore 64 top-down stealth action title that found you angrily taking down the entire Nazi war machine singlehandedly via a series of small, pixelated rooms. Now, some thirty years after the series’ inception, Swedish studio MachineGames is looking to continue the veteran...
Hands On A Fresh Spawn's Journey Through the First Few Hours of Dark Souls II
Soul sister
The Souls series is not for the faint-hearted. Constant deaths, insane difficulty spikes, and an ever present sense of doom are just a handful of reasons behind the brand’s success among a growing niche of brave gamers. Somehow, developer From Software has managed to make its once masochistic franchise a bit of a blockbuster, and with...
First Impressions Turtle Rock Is Transforming Co-Op with Evolve on PS4
Evolve or die
Boss battles are quite common in games. Usually equipped with a sequence of rules, they give you the opportunity to face a gargantuan challenge in search of closure or progression. So what happens when you open this ideology up and create a game that’s a constant non-scripted, unpredictable, and intense boss fight? Well, Turtle Rock...
January2014
First Impressions Toukiden Looks to Forge a Strong Handheld Slay-'Em-Up
Face your demons
From the developers of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors comes Toukiden: The Age of Demons, a monster-slaying, loot-grinding, Eastern-styled action RPG that seems tailored to portable play. Publisher Tecmo Koei's dedication to Sony's troubled handheld console is admirable – but does its newest creation shine like a beacon of...
December2013
First Impressions Shining a Spotlight on Free PS4 Shooter Blacklight: Retribution
No cost CoD
Blacklight: Retribution has never been subtle about its similarities to Call of Duty. The popular Kill Confirmed mode, which first appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, took only a short time to appear in the Zombie Studios developed shooter, and supposed leaked screenshots of Call of Duty: Black Ops II tu
October2013
First Impressions Tearaway Is Cut Out to Be One of the Vita's Best Titles
No glue required
There comes a point when playing Tearaway where it's near impossible to remove yourself from the delightful world that developer Media Molecule has crafted. Indeed, if there was one word we could use to describe the papercraft platformer, it would be 'delightful'. Like LittleBigPlanet before it, the game doesn't appeal to just a...
First Impressions Switching Genres on the Fly in Velocity 2X on Vita and PS4
Oh Kai
During its short spell at the forefront of PlayStation production, FuturLab has profited from its ability to surprise. Straightforward concepts are at the core of the company’s ethos, but the award-winning developer always manages to marry them with clever twists. That commitment to reinvention resulted in the firm refreshing the entire...
First Impressions Defying Death in Dark Souls II
Bonfire rewire
Our stamina bar drained slowly, as engulfed by utter darkness, the ominous sound of a huge armoured tortoise’s footsteps refused to fade into the black. This is the moment that it suddenly became clear that Dark Souls II would live up to every bit of its gruelling reputation – and not only in terms of difficulty, but also in its...
First Impressions Unmasking Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate on PlayStation Vita
Holy handheld, Batman
There’s some serious pedigree behind Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate. The portable spin-off is being assembled by Armature, the Texas-based game production workshop founded by a trio of ex-Retro Studios employees, and is attempting to piggy-back off the success of Rocksteady’s wildly popular Arkham escapades, only on a...
First Impressions Taking Gran Turismo 6 for a Test Drive on PS3
Round the bend
With the next generation of consoles looming, Gran Turismo 6 feels like a title out of time for many. Launching after the PlayStation 4 hits stores worldwide, the PlayStation 3 racer will attempt to go head-to-head with Forza 5 on the Xbox One. It’s a bold move from Sony to forgo its futuristic console, as it would have been a...
First Impressions Hitching a Ride in the Stalling Grand Theft Auto Online
Grand Theft Manual
Unless you've been hiding away from the federal government for the past week, you'll have no doubt heard about Grand Theft Auto Online's rough start. Connection problems plagued the highly anticipated multiplayer addition to Rockstar's opus, as the title's servers crumbled within minutes of it going live. Even if you were lucky...
First Impressions Testing Our Reactions in Resogun, the Prettiest Game on PS4
Machine of sparkle
If you’ve been unfortunate enough to reside within the general vicinity of this particular author over the past month or so, you’ll have been forced to suffer through an excited recount regarding Resogun. The spiritual successor to Super Stardust HD has been lighting chemical fireworks in our subconscious for several weeks...
Video Reporting for Duty in DICE's Battlefield 4 Beta on PS3
Stand to attention
War never changes – it just gets refined. Never ones to shy away when the world’s plunged into military madness, we’ve been testing our Rambo-esque resolve in Battlefield 4’s beta over the past couple of days. But does the game feel like a true step forward for the franchise, or is it merely more of the same? Check out our...
Hands On Skylanders: Swap Force Looks and Sounds the Part on PS4
Next generation treatment
As we get closer to the release of Skylanders: Swap Force, we’ve obtained better access to the game. Having played through some snatched sections at Gamescom, it was good to be able to take the time to fully investigate the available levels at this year's Eurogamer Expo. Played here on the PlayStation 4, you can see...
First Impressions Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z Covers Us in Zombie Blood
No braaains
The weird Ninja Gaiden spin-off that is Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z surprised us during a recent hands-on. For a series that's always been known for its gory disposition, it feels like proceedings may have gone a little bit overboard, with so much blood and mutilation that we found it difficult to discern what was even happening on screen...
Hands On PS4 Launch Title Knack Is Gradually Gathering Steam
Bigger and better
We’ve had a more turbulent relationship with Knack than the scorned lovers from Wuthering Heights. The throwback platformer in production at Sony’s recently rejuvenated Japan Studio disappointed us earlier in the year, prompting us to ponder the platform holder’s decision to put it at the forefront of the PlayStation 4’s...
September2013
First Impressions Sailing Around Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's Open Waters on PS4
We can almost smell that salty sea air
Only a short time away from launch, Ubisoft has been bombarding the web with countless promotional trailers, developer commentaries, and swag-heavy competitions for months now – but not even this avalanche of content could prepare us for the sense of freedom that we experienced during a recent Assassin's...
Hands On Fighting for Fun in Killzone: Shadow Fall's Next Generation Multiplayer Mode
Guerrilla Games reloads with Warzones
It may be one of the PlayStation 4’s first big exclusives, but Killzone: Shadow Fall finds itself surrounded by heavy firepower. With both Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 set to accompany the release onto store shelves later this year, Guerrilla Games’ next generation excursion to the Alpha Centauri...
First Impressions Sliding and Slicing in Warframe on PS4
Named and framed
Occupying just three PlayStation 4s at Sony's Eurogamer Expo booth, Digital Extreme's free-to-play co-op sci-fi romp shared the same floor as juggernauts like Killzone: Shadow Fall and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Warframe's presence brought a homey feel to the otherwise bustling show, as members of the development team talked...
Preview Pointing a Long Lens at Watch Dogs on PS4
Hack attack
Watch Dogs is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated releases in the PlayStation 4’s line-up, so we were eager to point our viewfinder at a behind closed doors demo of the sandbox release earlier in the week. The title, being played on Sony’s next generation super machine, demonstrated several mechanics from the upcoming hack fest,...
First Impressions Basking in the Glow of Child of Light
Baby bright
The second UbiArt-powered game to be unveiled at Ubisoft’s Digital Days 2013 event, Child of Light – which is launching on both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 – was pitched to us as “a JRPG for those that don’t have the time to invest a hundred hours into a game”. While this quote may trouble some hardcore JRPG fans,...
Preview Digging Deep into the Trenches in Valiant Hearts: The Great War on PS3 and PS4
War and leash
Ubisoft broke new ground in 2011 with its innovative UbiArt Framework game engine, a technology which allows artists to easily create assets and embed them into interactive environments. We’ve already seen it used to brilliant effect in the recent Rayman games, and since then people have been crying out for it to be leveraged in more...
First Impressions Going Underground With Ubisoft's Watch_Dogs
We go hands-on at Ubisoft's Digital Days 2013
One of many blockbuster titles in Ubisoft’s stable adopting their second screen experience initiative, the potential for Watch_Dogs’ iOS "H_ide" app is high — and in a game where you can hack everything, you’re not quite as unhackable as you might think. At Ubisoft’s Digital Days 2013 event in...
First Impressions Join The Crew - Hitting The Road With Ubisoft's PS4 Open World Racer
Burning rubber
Unique social functions and second screen experiences are the new chic for the video game industry at the moment, with every other publisher attempting to shoehorn in ways to ‘enhance’ your gameplay experience. No publisher is pushing for this innovative change more than Ubisoft and its seamlessly online-integrated race-em-up, The...
First Impressions Revisiting Adolescent Angst in Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls
Holmes alone
Beyond: Two Souls is unlike anything that you’ve ever played before. It certainly shares similarities with developer Quantic Dream’s previous work, but many of those comparisons revolve around the fact that you’ll be interacting with the game world in an unorthodox way. Much like there was an entire sequence in Heavy Rain...
Hands On Cascade Glade Showcases Skylanders: Swap Force on PS4
Next generation
Having had a look at the Winter Keep level in Skylanders: Swap Force, today we’ve got some hands-on with Cascade Glade. Not only that, but we've also moved from the PlayStation 3 to the PlayStation 4. Our initial look at the Cascade Glade level was back when Activision announced Swap Force to a
August2013
First Impressions Skylanders: Swap Force Courts Core Gamers
Trading up
Being talked through a game by the developer and playing it at home is a very different experience. To close this “reality” gap, Family Gamer TV went solo with a full level from Skylanders: Swap Force on the PlayStation 4 at GamesCom. Let’s get the elephant out of the room straight away: jumping is not a big deal in the world of...
First Impressions An Audience with Puppeteer, the PS3 Panto Deserving of a Standing Ovation
Pure theatre
Games like Puppeteer don’t deserve to be sitting out in the wings. You’re more likely to find Japan Studio’s side-scroller nursing a cold cup of coffee and pushing about props than strutting its stuff on centre stage. In an industry increasingly obsessed with leading lights like Call of Duty and Battlefield, there’s becoming...
July2013
Round Up We've Played a Ton of PS4 Games, Read Our Thoughts
Rewind theatre
While you may still be awaiting your first chance to get to grips with the DualShock 4, we’ve been greedily getting hands-on time with a bunch of the PlayStation 4’s biggest games. Assuming that you’ve been visiting the site on a daily basis – and there are no excuses for not doing so – then you’ll already know that...
First Impressions Stepping into the Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Use your illusion
Disney has been investing a significant amount of effort in recent years to put the quality back into its video game franchises and reach out to more adult gamers. With the Epic Mickey series adopting a somewhat darker tone, and the forthcoming classic remake of DuckTales: Remastered, it’s obvious that the media giant has been...
First Impressions Killzone: Mercenary Is the Vita Shooter That You've Been Waiting For
Pride and Pyrrhus
Ever since we first nestled our thumbs on the PlayStation Vita’s petite but precise analogue sticks, we’ve been gunning for a good first-person shooter. Nihilistic Software did the best that it could with a bad hand, deploying Resistance: Burning Skies and Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified into a regrettable crossfire of...
Preview Hopping Away from The Evil Within, the Scariest Game on PS4
Lopped legs
Despite what the developers may tell you, survival horror is as dead as the butchered corpses that once tormented the genre. Franchises that founded the format – the likes of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and, to a lesser extent, Alone in the Dark – have gradually shed their endurance aspects, favouring rote supernatural shootouts in...
First Impressions Brash Is Back in Wolfenstein: The New Order on PS4
Reich for the stars
Wolfenstein: The New Order is unashamedly old-school. The product of Swedish upstart Machine Games – a new outfit comprised of Starbreeze veterans – the revamp endeavours to ditch the conventions that have consumed the first-person genre over the course of the current generation, evangelising classic staples such as medkits,...
Preview Sending Smoke Signals in inFAMOUS: Second Son, the Hottest Exclusive on PS4
Turning up the temperature
Despite a stellar track record, there’s still an air of scepticism surrounding Sucker Punch. The small Seattle-based studio – which was officially inaugurated into the Sony Worldwide Studios family in 2011 – has fashioned some stellar software over the years, but it’s yet to land a smash hit on the scale of...
First Impressions Killzone: Shadow Fall May Be the Most Strategic Shooter on PS4
Helgasp
Killzone: Shadow Fall is the release that will make you believe in the benefits of next generation hardware. Guerrilla Games’ first-person launch title shoots down any questions regarding the PlayStation 4’s ability to impress visually, responding emphatically with elegant dappled lighting and richer textures than a mercenary’s bank...
First Impressions Behind the Wheel with DriveClub, the PS4 Racer That Wants to Keep You on the Road
Team pursuit
Evolution Studios does not consider PlayStation 4 launch title DriveClub to be just another racing game. The talented Runcorn-based outfit sees its latest vehicular outing as more of a social service – a hub that will keep you hooked by allowing you to interact with friends, recruit your own personal team, and sit in the cockpit of...
First Impressions The Playroom May Be the Most Impressive Use of PS4 Yet
Minigame compilation makes us believers
Expectations can be curious things. If you’re already extremely excited for something, it can be hard for that unfortunate entity to live up to the standards that you’ve assigned to it. As a consequence, it’s easier to be surprised when your anticipation at rock bottom. And that’s exactly what happened...
First Impressions Could the PS4 Controller Be Gaming's Greatest Ever Input Device?
We wrap our eager fingers around the DualShock 4
It’s been almost 16 years since the PlayStation’s primary input device last demanded real scrutiny. The introduction of the DualShock in late 1997 ushered a new standard for video game control that hasn’t changed a whole lot over the past decade and a half. Sure, the peripheral has been host to...
June2013
First Impressions Stomping Around with Knack on PS4
Hands-on gameplay reveals PS4 processing power
With the number of games slated for the PS4 launch Knack may have slipped under the radar somewhat. However, PS4 System Architect Mark Cerny saw fit to take on the role of game designer and we think for good reason. The main character in the game is a Robot that attracts and controls a variety of relic...
First Impressions Dancing with Cat Ears in Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F
Big in Asia
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F is a very unique rhythm-based game. Inspired by the dominant Japanese Vocaloid craze – a piece of software that allows users to create songs – Hatsune Miku is a virtual anime-style Japanese idol and digital singer, with a vocaloid sound sampled from the voice of Japanese voice actress Fujita Saki. At a...
First Impressions Turning the Pages of Wonderbook: Book of Potions
Brewing up a storm
Wonderbook may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for families, and those of an inquisitive nature, it offers a totally new way to play games. The only problem, up until recently, was that there was only one title that used the novel peripheral, Wonderbook: Book of Spells. Fortunately, last month saw the release of
First Impressions Is The Last of Us' Multiplayer Mode Worth Surviving?
Twelve weeks later
Those still lamenting the shock execution of Zipper Interactive last March will find a lot to like about The Last of Us’ closely guarded multiplayer mode. Unlike the single player campaign’s strictly personal tale, the competitive component sees you cultivating a stronghold of survivors, fighting against enemy factions to...
May2013
Preview Combating Death and Depression in The Last of Us' Bleak New World
Just the two of us
We hope that you cope well in a crisis, because you’re going to need nerves of steel in order to navigate The Last of Us’ nightmarish vision of the future. A near-final build of the hotly anticipated PlayStation 3 exclusive demonstrates just how developer Naughty Dog intends to masterfully turn up the tension, as a slow jaunt...
April2013
Preview Thawing Lost Planet 3's Winter Wonderland
Peyton the ice
It’s a good thing that Lost Planet 3’s set to release at the tail end of the summer, because you won’t want to play the Spark Unlimited-developed prequel when it’s cold outside. The third-person shooter takes place a long time prior to the events of the first game, with the snowy setting of E.D.N. III still trapped in the...
Preview Doing Business with the Spirits in Sony's Twisted Soul Sacrifice
An arm and a leg
Soul Sacrifice, the nightmarish action title dreamed up by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, has already gained one stellar review in Japan, giving the PlayStation Vita a prolonged shot in the arm in the process. With the imminent Western release just a few weeks away, Sony’s released a gigantic playable demo for the title in both...
Preview Finding Our Sea Legs with Resident Evil: Revelations on PS3
High and dry
Handheld to console ports are a common symptom of the end of a generation; an opportunity for publishers to squeeze a few final pennies out of an established install base while the bulk of its workforce quietly turns its attention to impending hardware. Much like MotorStorm: Arctic Edge and Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier before it,...
March2013
First Impressions Is BioShock: Infinite Any Good with the PlayStation Move?
Shooting sinners with pinpoint precision
While we’re not quite finished with our BioShock: Infinite review yet, we figured that we’d bring you a few impressions of the title’s PlayStation Move controls to tide you over while you wait. Sony made a big deal out of the support during its E3 press conference in 2011, hauling creative director Ken...
First Impressions Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC Is One Party That You Shouldn't Skip
Cheery bye
Commander Shepard has walked a long and dangerous road – and with Mass Effect 3’s final DLC offering, Citadel, that road comes to a heartfelt and engaging end. What starts off as an opportunity to unwind and relax at the galaxy’s centre of operations takes us on a rather wild ride absolutely packed with cameos and in-jokes. The...
Preview Sailing the Seven Seas in the Seamless Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
We brave seasickness for an in-depth look at Ubisoft's upcoming sequel
Cities are a thing of the past. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, the next annual entry in Ubisoft's stealth-heavy series, will switch firm ground for the rumble of the ocean, as the franchise embraces pirate lore with a stumble and a swig of rum. Evolving the naval mechanics from...
First Impressions Taking Sides with Skyrim’s Dawnguard DLC
Bloody good
Consider Dawnguard’s arrival on PlayStation 3 a late Hallowe’en present from Bethesda. The latest The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim expansion is full of vampires, creepy rituals, spooky old castles, and a lot of violence. There’s also a lot of epic questing thrown in for good measure, too. Just like Dragonborn, there’s an awful lot...
February2013
First Impressions Make a House a Home with Skyrim's Hearthfire DLC
Sitting beside the furnace
Hearthfire isn’t quite what you’d expect from a piece of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DLC. This doesn't offer an epic journey into the heart of an unknown land – it’s about expanding your experience through lovey-dovey stuff like making you and your spouse a new residence from scratch, or adopting children. In...
First Impressions Exploring The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC
Back to the brink
After more than a year without DLC, the PlayStation 3 version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim finally gets some love from Bethesda. In this case, the latest Skyrim DLC to release on other platforms is the first on PS3 – and it’s arguably the best of the bunch. In an attempt to make up for the delay, Bethesda and Sony saw fit to...
First Impressions Is Bentley's Hackpack Worth Your Coins?
Firewall flattener
Sony’s sneaky Sly Cooper series has always enjoyed a wide array of mini-games. The emphasis certainly became more pronounced in later entries, with Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves dividing fans due to its hearty helping of side content. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time – the fourth entry in the series – follows in its predecessor’s...
December2012
First Impressions LittleBigPlanet 2's Cross-Controller Expansion Actually Works
Second screen
LittleBigPlanet 2’s hotly anticipated cross-controller add-on launches later today in North America (tomorrow in Europe), and we’ve already been lucky enough to experience the content's first couple of stages. For those out of the loop, the $4.99/€4.99 expansion adds several new cross-controller levels to the PlayStation 3 game...
Preview On the Rob with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Back to the Cooper
There’s more variety crammed into the opening chapter of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time than most games manage across an entire campaign. Within the first three hours of the PlayStation 3 sequel, you’ll have performed two heists, spent an afternoon fishing, and even completed a rhythm action mini-game in which an anthropomorphic...
November2012
Preview Committing the Combat of Remember Me to Memory
Pressen matters
Earlier this year, we were lucky enough to receive a behind the scenes presentation from DONTNOD Entertainment, where co-lead designer Philippe Moreau helped demonstrate the brawling and melee mechanics in Remember Me, its Capcom published third-person action-adventure. It was clear that Nilin, the acrobatic female protagonist, was...
October2012
Preview God of War: Ascension Is Familiar but Fantastic
Monster mash
Playing God of War: Ascension is a lot like riding a bike after a brief hiatus: for a few fleeting moments the gameplay feels foreign, but then everything clicks into place. Sony Santa Monica’s fourth outing in Greek mythology bashes you over the head with the many combos you’ve spent years perfecting, and then it invites you to...
Preview Sitting Behind the Wheel of GRID 2
Test drive
Ask any racing fan what their favourite gaming experience has been over the past five years, and there’s a good chance that Codemasters’ Race Driver: GRID will rank at the sharp end of their list. Since its release in 2008, GRID has developed something of a cult following, thanks in part to its strong racing heart and fine damage...
Preview Hitting Some Winners with Sports Champions 2
Down the line
The furore surrounding the introduction of new motion peripherals back in 2010 meant that the excellent Sports Champions got lost in the shuffle. Sony pushed the mini-game compilation as the first must-have title for the PlayStation Move, but post-release discussion almost always centred on the title’s technology rather than the game...
Preview Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Goes for the Throat
Come out swingin'
There are three things we’ve come to realise while writing this preview for the latest Metal Gear outing from Platinum Games. First, we still can't type "Revengeance" into a text document without hating ourselves – it's not a word, it isn't cool, it sounds dumb. Second, we’ve learned that we’re okay with Konami releasing a...
Preview Fumbling Through the Dark with The Unfinished Swan
Blind man's buff
It’s difficult to discuss The Unfinished Swan without drawing comparisons to Journey. Just like thatgamecompany, developer Giant Sparrow has been taken under the wing of first-party powerhouse Sony Santa Monica. Furthermore, it has signed a three game exclusivity deal with PlayStation. Indeed, the only noticeable difference...
Preview Wonderbook: Book of Spells Makes Reading Magical
Muggle science
The outrage and controversy caused by Wonderbook: Book of Spells’ elongated E3 showing has made it difficult to discuss the augmented reality experience objectively. And yet here we have one of the most unique and commercially viable casual gaming products Sony has produced since the Eye Toy. The Harry Potter spin-off doesn’t have...
September2012
Gore blimey
Over the course of the last few years, the Resident Evil series has been content to rest on its laurels, with some suggesting that it would only take one truly exciting survival horror title to come along and cast the once groundbreaking series into the annals of history. Each new title from the franchise has been presented with shiny...
July2012
Preview Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Brings Beauty to PS3
Ice queen
It's been four long years since Level-5 announced its Studio Ghibli collaboration project, Ni No Kuni, during an interview with Japanese Famitsu magazine. In the time since then, Namco Bandai has been working hard to bring it to North America and Europe. So how are things shaping up so far? It was expected that a partnership with Studio...
