Staff Profile
- Username
- gbanas92
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- News/Features
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- Avg. Review Score
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A dish best served remastered
We had the chance to sit down and have a chat with composer Jesse Harlin recently about his work on the upcoming ground-up remake of Mafia, Mafia: Definitive Edition. We got to chatting about how an infamous car chase turned into a confidence bolstering music track, what influenced the operatic framing of the...
Mini Review Crysis Remastered - A Poor Remaster of a Pretty Important Game
Not-so incredible Crysis
Everyone remembers Crysis, of course. But what’s easy to forget is Crytek’s PC shattering behemoth of a technical marvel released 13 years ago. The industry has changed rather a lot in that time. For example, 13 years ago, Crysis was a pretty good game. Now? Well, it’s complicated. Memes aside, the PS4 can mostly...
News Rainbow Six: Siege's New Season Operation Shadow Legacy Is Live Today
Sam Fisher and a lot of new changes
Amid the bevy of upcoming game news during the latest Ubisoft Forward was also one final trailer for the new season of Rainbow Six: Siege: Operation Shadow Legacy. Alongside some info about the PS5 port of the title, an animated short was played highlighting gaming legend Sam Fisher's re-entry into Ream Rainbow...
Review Control: AWE - An Intriguing Must for Alan Wake Fans, But No One Else
It’s not a lake, it’s a CONTROLcean
Alan Wake is a property of Remedy’s that has a pretty hardcore, dedicated fanbase. There have been promising signs by way of the spin-off American Nightmare or the more recent instance of Remedy buying back the right to the IP, but Control: AWE is by far the best indicator yet. Much like Control: The...
Review Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series - Star Wars and VR Are Made for Each Other
Be proud of this technological terror
Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series came as a bit of a surprise. We'd expected a bit of a cash grab, but the actual product is decent if unorthodox package. We get a campaign spread across three episodes plus three waves-based challenge modes. There’s actually a surprising wealth of content when viewed...
Feature Best PS4 Music of August 2020
Some choice selections
The looming change in console generation sure isn’t slowing down the great music, huh? August is yet another month absolutely jam-packed with phenomenal music. The quality music shows no signs of slowing down, and of course, we have some games on the horizon sure to offer great tunes as well. You can probably guess what we...
Hands On NHL 21 Is Looking a Lot Like a Hockey Game
Déjà vu
Alright, stop us if you’ve heard this one before: NHL 21 feels a lot like last year’s game. Between all the modes on offer and the actual presentation of the game, you’d be hard-pressed to notice any key differences between last year’s product and EA Vancouver’s newest entry in the chilled sports franchise. Now, in fairness to...
Mini Review No Straight Roads – A Vibrant, Creative Experience Not Without Its Missteps
Mayday Parade
Stepping into the colourful, vibrant world of Vinyl City is a treat. A crazy, dystopian metropolis powered by “evil” EDM music from corporation NSR, No Straight Roads makes a spectacular first impression. Mayday and Zuke comprise rock band Bunk Bed Junction, and it’s up to you to bring rock back into the world. With a...
News NHL 21 Cover Revealed Alongside Gameplay Snippet
Eight is enough
EA Sports has been teasing the reveal of this year's hockey title for a number of days, and at long last, the curtain has been pulled back. For the first time in quite a while, the cover will be graced by the Washington Capitals' "great eight," Alexander Ovechkin. He was last plastered on one of EA's hockey games in NHL 07 -- though...
Review Descenders - An Addictive, Unique Roguelite Involving Bicycles
Started from the top and now we’re here
If someone pitched a roguelite to you, odds are you wouldn’t expect it to be an extreme sports biking game. But that's exactly what developer RageSquid has delivered with its procedural downhill excursion. An odd pairing at first blush maybe, but does the game deliver the goods? Descenders sees you...
Soapbox Rhythm Games Are the Real Stars of PSVR
Move to the beat
Reviewing Pistol Whip recently, I started thinking about PlayStation VR rhythm games and why specifically I seem to like them so much. And after putting some thought into it, I think I finally figured it out. Music is a very physical thing. No matter who you are or what kind of music you hear, some part of you is going to innately...
Review Pistol Whip - One of PSVR’s Best Experiences Yet
Whipped into shape
What happens if you take the precise gun-fu of John Wick and the rhythm oriented action of Baby Driver then shoved it all into a VR headset? Well, you get Pistol Whip. A brilliant rails-shooter-cross-rhythm-game hybrid, developer Cloudhead Games has crafted one of PlayStation VR's best experiences to date. Set amidst the backdrop...
Feature Best PS4 Music of July 2020
Another big one
To say June was a big month for Playstation is a bit of an understatement, given that sequel The Last of Us: Part II at long last graced PlayStation 4. But that’s not where Sony’s big exclusives ended, no sir. July also happened to have a certain open-world samurai title from Sucker Punch with quite a bit of hype behind it too...
News Virtual Reality Rhythm Shooter Pistol Whip Delayed on PSVR By Two Whole Days
Oh the humanity
Upcoming rhythm shooter Pistol Whip has had its release date slightly adjusted. The PSVR title that marries the gun-fu of John Wick with the rhythm gameplay that really shines on everyone's favourite headset was originally scheduled to launch on 28th July. But now it's set to release on... 30th July. Okay, it's not a very long delay...
Interview How Game Composers Are Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic
A smattering of guests
Recently, we had the uniquely exciting opportunity to have a chat with a handful of composers around the industry. Some of them are folks we’ve talked to before, but some are brand new faces! We opted to cover a unique and rather pressing topic this time out -- the ongoing worldwide pandemic. More specifically, the impact...
Interview Maintaining Our Humanity with Disintegration Composer Jon Everist
Man vs. machine
We recently had the chance to chat with Jon Everist, composer of V1 Interactive’s curious hybrid of RTS and third-person shooter: Disintegration. We got to discuss the balancing act between these two genres, the rather heart-breaking passing of music legend Ennio Morricone, and the struggle to maintain humanity amidst a synthetic...
Soapbox Beat Saber, or How I Learned To Stop Hating the Song Packs and Love Imagine Dragons
Radioactive! Radioactive!
The final notes slain, Beat Saber takes me back to the menu. My arms can finally rest, having been put through the wringer. Not a full combo, but still an S rank. That’s something, but I’ve full-combo’d this before. I better try again. Just one more try. Just one more. The lights fade. 'Radioactive' starts again, and...
Feature Best Playstation Music of June 2020
The month we’ve all been waiting for
June was a very big month for Playstation, seeing the launch of one of the most hotly anticipated sequels of not just the generation, but maybe all time. The Last of Us is kind of a big deal, and the music is a big part of that. But there were some other really great soundtracks that dropped this month too!...
Mini Review Star Wars Episode I: Racer – This Old Favourite Still Has Some Magic
This is in fact Podracing
Star Wars Episode I: Racer is a downright classic. Launching on the N64 and PC nearly 20 years ago, the game was a brilliant realisation of one of the most compelling scenes from the deservedly lambasted The Phantom Menace. That doesn’t necessarily mean it would stand the test of the time, but luckily -- and with the help...
News Star Wars Episode I: Racer Has a Release Date Once Again
This is finally podracing
With a release date once again, it looks like the PlayStation 4 port of the fondly remembered Star Wars Episode I: Racer is finally set to clear the finish line. Originally slated to hit consoles on May 12th, the game was quickly pushed back to 26th May, before being delayed indefinitely. According to the publisher Aspyr,...
Mini Review 1971 Project Helios - A Tactical Title with an Interesting World
Don't get frostbite
A turn-based strategy game that takes a few pages out of XCOM’s book, 1971 Project Helios is a pretty solid excursion if you’re looking for a few hours of distraction. Presenting a post-apocalyptic world coated in ice and snow, you guide a collection of interesting characters through hordes of enemies to rescue a scientist...
Mini Review Monstrum - A Procedural Game of Horror Hide and Seek
Don't even breathe
Monstrum crafts a genuinely frightening game of procedurally generated hide and seek. As you awaken on a derelict cargo ship and explore its halls, it quickly becomes apparent something else is there with you. Monstrum falls under the run-and-hide genre of horror titles, giving you relatively little with which to defend yourself...
Interview Bringing Some Humanity to Fallout 76 with Composer Inon Zur
Appalachia's changed
Bethesda's pseudo-MMO, always-online world Fallout 76 has had, to put it mildly, a rough time of things. Releasing to catastrophically poor reviews, the game slowly worked its way back to something more closely resembling mediocrity. However, underneath all that was the bedrock of Fallout's amazing-as-ever music, courtesy of...
Feature Best Playstation Music of May 2020
Slim pickings
May was a rather sparse month when it comes to noteworthy soundtracks. Sure, June probably has a surefire masterpiece in Gustavo Santaolalla‘s score for The Last of Us: Part II, but what about the here and now? Well, we have a soundtrack from one of gaming’s most prolific and supremely talented composers, but not very much else...
