☢️ Can you believe that Half-Life 2 is 20 years old already? Rather than cobbling together a typical anniversary edition to rake in the cash, Valve made an updated version of the game free on Steam to mark the occasion. They also released a two-hour YouTube documentary documenting its development, which is fascinating and nostalgic in equal measure.
Spy Drops attempts to revive PlayStation-era stealth action
Spy Drops wears its inspiration on its sleeve. In the words of its creator, Rainy Night Creations, the upcoming indie title promises “PlayStation generation, low-polygon 3D stealth action”, and its visual language so closely matches its muse that any screenshot could be mistaken for the original Metal Gear Solid. The...
The Dark Knight Rises review - a warning to edgy teen communists
The Dark Knight’s War on Terror analogy ended with Harvey Dent, representing the US, being effectively absolved of his crimes to preserve his image - but in real life, the opposite happened. The disappearing evidence of Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction”, subsequent terror attacks, and the threat of ISIS all...
The Dark Knight review - exploring the post-9/11 Western psyche
If Batman Begins was popular, The Dark Knight was a sensation - and a controversial one at that. I remember listening to a radio debate around whether the film should have received a 12A rating due to its darkness and violence, and while it’s never particularly bloody, it certainly covers...
Batman Begins review - all roads lead to Bruce Wayne
My life will soon undergo significant change, so to mark the end of the current era I’ve been revisiting some of the media that has meant the most to me - watching the films, playing the games, and listening to the music that has served as the background to significant...
🐈⬛ We’ve had another small glimpse of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. During a 90-minute session at the Tokyo Game Show, Kojima Productions showed off a few new cutscenes and an odd Instagram-esque photo mode. The clips got my hopes up that Sam will spend more time with a fleshed-out team on his latest journey, giving more character to a game that had a lot of interesting ideas but too many soulless holograms for my taste.
Parking Garage Rally Circuit review - an addictive '90s-inspired racer
I said at the end of my Concord article that the current triple-A malaise might push me to play more indie games, and it wasn’t an empty threat. Astro Bot was a surprise double-A hit, with a stripped-back scope and simple gameplay loop that made it feel like playing a...
🎮 It’s been a busy month for Sony, who revealed both the PlayStation 5 Pro and a selection of retro grey consoles and accessories for PlayStation’s 30th anniversary. But there’s little to celebrate - the Pro will cost £700, and if you want to play physical games then all consoles in both lineups require a clip-on disc drive that must be registered online. The expense and restrictions killed my interest, and raise questions over the future of console gaming.
Astro Bot review - a shot of pure fun and PlayStation nostalgia
A lot of the weirdness in modern gaming comes from critics and consumers who are overly concerned with the business side of the industry, focused on sales figures, profitability, and competition between manufacturers rather than the quality of the games they play. It’s an odd predicament – perhaps unique to...
Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds - inspirational but sanitised
It’s no secret that Hideo Kojima likes attention, and I’m sure he would have loved the idea of Connecting Worlds, a film that is ultimately part-documentary, part-marketing exercise. This is 100 percent modern Kojima, post-his fashionable makeover circa 2019. There are a lot of arty shots of him in empty...
