PIXEL GRAVE

Being excited about the new revamp of Simcity having not played a Simcity game since ‘2000’, I preordered the game months before the release date and even bought the British city set (being the anglophile that I am), despite it costing £8, a ridiculous amount of money for just a few extra details. So that along with the digital version set me back ~£53 and am I happy with this bug purchase? No. Paying that much for a game with an awful launch which masks underneath what is a seriously damaged game I can’t help but feel bad for those who put down the huge sum of £65 for the Digital Deluxe version - ouch. It still baffles me how we aren’t allowed refunds for digital games as anyone could throw out any old rubbish, much like this, and just reap the rewards. I could make a long review about the troubled launch and the reason why I don’t like the ‘always online’ DRM but I’m going to assume that most people know about this (it was even covered on BBC News), and don’t want to badger o...

From the creators of the Majesty and Elven Legacy series (yeah, me neither), comes Warlock : Master of the Arcane. This game seemed to apparate itself onto Steam quite discreetly and missed a lot of the spotlight by being released almost at the same time as Diablo 3 as well as Civ V recently going on sale. None the less, it's game play style and fantasy aesthetic encouraged me to take a look. Warlock : Master of the Arcane is a turn based strategy game much like Civilization. In fact, it's so much like Civilization V it could almost be seen as a mod, much like the 'Fantastic Worlds' expansion for Civ II. Though being a Civ fan and disliking the series by each addition and the boredom that comes as soon as your borders are met with each other civilizations, W:MotA tackles this by creating multiple worlds within a game and increases the most fun part - exploration. You begin by selecting a hero with unique perks and units, then other options such as the number of o...

Хорошие новости! (GOOD NEWS)! Relic, the makers of the fantastic Company of Heroes along with other great RTS series: Dawn of War (I & II) and Homeworld among other games (e.g. Outfit), have announced that Company of Heroes 2 will be released in 2013! For those unfamiliar with Company of Heroes. It's a World War 2 real-time strategy game in which you control a company of allied soldiers (and others in add-ons) through the invasion of Normandy. Company of Heroes also boasts completely destructible terrain so no battle is every played out the same way and some events can be totally unpredictable. A great example of this could be attacking an enemy vehicle which suddenly goes 'out of control' and explodes into a nearby building also nesting a squad of enemy troops. It's this immersive, interactive and unique gameplay that makes Company of Heroes of a real joy to play. Company of Heroes also doesn't have a frustrating resource economy during battle th...

I would have had this review finished a long time ago if it wasn't for something particular, but I'll get to that point later on. Wizorb is the name of the game and what it's about - that could be quite confusing when regarding just the name. Essentially it's block breaker in a retro 8 bit aesthetic but up to date by ... hmm, being released today? It's an innocent £2 on Steam for PC & Mac but has also been released on Xbox as an Indie game for, I dunno,  about the same amount of Xbox points as a sock for your avatar. The game takes place in a beautifully created nostalgic fantasy world in which you, the wizard, must turn into a ball and break blocks, monsters, chests, secret doors, bosses and more blocks, to rid the world of evil (probably). At the beginning of each level you see you, the wizard, but only for a split second before he's turned into an orb and his staff into some sort of bigger staff which is now horizontal. It's this panel / staff...

I have to say this outright - XCOM : Enemy Unknown looks fudging incredible. Too long has it been since I've played a damn good strategic tu rn-based game, maybe not since Civ 2 (I felt the later games lacked all the detail the originals had to offer).  Also by Firaxis, XCOM : Enemy Unknown  will place you in control of a secret paramilitary organization called XCOM. As the XCOM commander, you will defend against a terrifying global alien invasion by managing resources, advancing technologies, and overseeing combat strategies and individual unit tactics. Though this new X Com game is not a sequel and has instead been labelled a ' re imagining' and will expand on that legacy with an entirely new invasion story, enemies and technologies to fight aliens and defend Earth. You will control the fate of the human race through researching alien technologies, creating and managing a fully operational base, planning combat missions and controlling soldier movement in batt...

It took only a matter of days after ME3's release that I had heard or read through top news websites such as the BBC that Mass Effect's ending was so disappointing that one gamer had even taken it up with the federal trade commission. So before I'd even started I'd heard this news and had been blasted out of the air-lock of the high hopes ship I had happily been aboard. None the less I was determined to see out the ending of this epic trilogy though I didn't play from any save I had made before. I had played ME1&2 on the Xbox 360 though had somehow lost my save from the first game meaning I've only played each Mass Effect game without any of my previous choices or decisions brought across except for the gaps you fill in through a few questions at the start of the game. I wish I had experienced more of the cross-over between each game as just ticking boxes about which character died and which lived based on the decisions I'd made before made my first ...

With the second series of The Walking Dead coming to a close, videos have emerged for the video game adaptation of Robert Kirkman's popular comic and TV series. Created by Telltale games, it seems to take on a similar art style to the studio's recently created Back To The Future game as well as also being released as episodic titles. The art style also resembles that of comic books, illustrated by Charlie Adlard. Although the TV series and comics are similar they aren't completely parrallel, though this game will NOT follow Rick Grimes, the protagonist and main focus of the latter. If I may add, I feel the fact that the TV series and comics being slightly different a good point as although the comics are way ahead, you aren't watching exactly what you've read and can't predict that events that may happen. Telltale Games have stated that the first episode will be set before Rick Grimes has even woken from his coma (that's not a spoiler, tha...

If there's anyone that really loves retro gaming it's PuppyGames. Though taking a retro aesthetic to all their games this one in particular also burlesques a retro arcade classic that everyone knows and loves and from this, they elevate and improve upon it. The premise is simple - Space Invaders. But these invaders are from Titan, are they're invading Earth, which you need to defend and then take the fight back to them, planet by planet (including the moon). You control your tank using the mouse (or keyboard if you're insane, as it's much slower), to weave among the enemy projectiles and hammer the ctrl or mouse buttons to shoot back and space to launch a smart-bomb. Though there's nothing smart about it, you just hit space and most of the enemies on the screen explode after a flash. As you shoot more enemies down you'll gain money which can be spent on upgrades such as shields, gun-power and even weapon attachments, giving you more projectiles to hurl ...

I keep telling myself, free games can't be good but I'm a huge fan of the original Tribes, I must have played that game for god, I don't know, ages. I got lovingly invited to the beta the day before it opened to the public and spent most of that day tweaking the .ini file as it ran for crap on the only preset options I could choose, reminiscing the day when I tried to move on to Tribes 2 (which I shamefully couldn't). Once playable the nostalgia came flooding back when I spawned with a disc launcher in my hands and vast a panoramic landscape to fly around in. much like a dog being let loose in an empty field, I enjoyed the freedom and smooth game-play until I hit level six and spent most of the time flailing in the air as my dead body came crashing to Earth like the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. When you reach that level you begin to understand how good some of these players are and how essential teamwork, strategy and how to quickly stamp out the voice commands can b...

Trine is a charming fantasy platform with fantastic 3D visuals despite only being navigational in two dimensions. The canvas of the game is vibrant and glowing with true fantasy which draws in you in and keeps you continuing this pleasant and humorous tale. The puzzle elements aren't overly taxing and never angered or had me stumped for too long to discourage me from the game. The developers have cleverly combined three unique and individual characters into the players hands that can be switched between to fulfil specific challenges and tasks though the player is never given a concrete solution to each obstacle and can complete each encounter in their own way. The game is not too short nor too long and has replay value via Steam achievements and finding all the secrets within the game. One annoyance I did find was that if I had to quit the game mid mission then I would have to start from the beginning of that level when I returned; despite having passed numerous checkpoints I sti...