Gaming articles
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...
🤖 I finally played Astro’s Playroom! I initially wrote it off as a tech demo, but with all the praise for Astro Bot, I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I really enjoyed the flow and variety in the platforming, the unique ideas, and the nostalgic nods to PlayStation’s past. I’ll definitely play Astro Bot next.
Concord's failure should be a wake-up call for the video game industry
What a week it’s been in the video game industry! We’ve witnessed one of the most remarkable failures ever, as Concord - the Firewalk Studios-developed live service game into which Sony had invested so much in the hope it would be the next big thing - was shut down after...
GTA IV's Liberty City is still the best virtual city ever made
In its review upon the game’s release in 2008, GamesRadar called Liberty City “the biggest reason to delve into GTA IV”. Its writers said it was “easily 100 times more detailed” than the map of its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, concluding that altogether, the city was “convincingly like...
Heartbound: An intriguing Early Access indie game about life itself
How does your experience of a game change if you can listen to its developer talk for hours every day? That’s the rather unusual question presented by Heartbound, an Early Access game whose creator is also a streamer. But whether you’ve caught Thor online or not, the indie game has...
Stellar Blade is a challenging and stylistic gaming nostalgia trip
The Stellar Blade demo is here! There are many adjectives that could be applied to Level Up’s much-discussed PlayStation 5 exclusive - beautiful, unique, gruesome, and challenging, to name a few - but for me, more than anything else, the upcoming action-adventure title is a nostalgia trip to previous eras...
The Sims (PC) retrospective
If you think of The Sims today, you’ll likely think of the EA money printing machine and its endless conveyor belt of expansion and stuff packs. The modern games have a cutesy, sanitised face, and the bright marketing material reflects their apparent positioning as a platform for teenage girls to...
Cities: Skylines II review
Cities: Skylines II is Paradox Interactive’s follow-up to 2015’s Cities: Skylines, a city builder that served as a spiritual successor to SimCity in the aftermath of EA’s 2013 mess. In the following years, the original Cities: Skylines received no fewer than 11 expansion packs, as well as a smaller number...
FC 24 Career Mode: Everton – fighting for Premier League survival
It’s been a year since I last updated my FIFA 22 Career Mode series, guiding TSP United into England’s top flight. With my enthusiasm for EA Sports FC 24 yet to wane, I thought it was time to start a new campaign with a new club. A quick note before...
Like a Dragon: Hands on with both new games at EGX 2023
I attended my first post-pandemic EGX this week in London, and while the event itself was certainly subdued compared to previous years, I was very excited to get my hands on two new entries in the Like a Dragon series ahead of their release. While both are brand new games,...
