Onelargeprawn
The new Mad Max movie featured precious little of Max himself, so to fill the gap in the story, we have the video game that focuses almost exclusively on him. Let’s get set for some sun, sand, ridiculous cars, and brutal mayhem as I skip across the dunes to bring you this review.
Tearaway Unfolded is a re-master of the the PS Vita game, Tearaway. In the original, you use the Vita’s unique controls to manipulate the world around the character, making things move, bounce, and come to life. The game obviously had to be remapped to better fit the DualShock 4, so let’s cut and snip and pull and curl to find out how the new game works.
The original Super Mario Bros. came out 30 years ago. Think on that: for some of you, Mario has been a constant: always there, always playable, and always saving a princess. The game has been through seven generations of video game consoles and more besides, and now Nintendo is giving you the chance to take control of the level design, and create the most evil, messed up platform hell ever created. Or a fun joyride–it’s your choice. If you’ve not yet heard of Super Mario Maker, then perhaps it’s time to sit up and pay attention.
Submerged is a PS4 game from the same team of developers and artists who worked on Bioshock (but not the same studio). The game’s claim to fame is that you can go about it at your own pace. I paddle about a sunken city and climb some buildings to bring you this review.
Devil’s Third by Valhalla Studios is one of those games that was heavily anticipated, probably because it’s unusual to see an over-the-top violent game like it on a Nintendo console. The game has had a troubling history, what with game engine shifts and publishers shutting down. Still, it’s here now, and we’ve gone a few rounds with Ivan to see what the devil is up.
We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood and how she went flopping through the forest woods on an errand for her grandma who lived in a house made of gingerbread. On the way, she met a wolf who had just killed and consumed three large hams, and was looking for a dessert with a strawberry-caped topping. And then Red Riding Hood picks up a stray Kalashnikov rifle and goes ape. I think that’s how it goes, doesn’t it? Anyhow, there’s a puzzle game about it by South African indie devs, RetroEpic. Without the Kalashnikov, of course. And this time, Red doesn’t know precisely which cottage is her Grandma’s. And off we go, a skipping through the woods.
You all know by now that the bat-PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight is so bat-ly gimped that it had to be forcefully, vengefully even, pulled from the online batstores. Thankfully, I’m playing one of the decent versions. I become the terror that flaps in the night. No, wait…wrong series. I become the dark detective in the night, and prowl through Gotham’s streets to bring you this batreview of Batman: Arkham batKnight.
If you’re not mainly a PC gamer, you might not be aware of Don’t Starve, a ridiculously successful indie minecrafty roguelike that came out in 2013. Its main claims to fame were the Burtony-Goreyesque graphics and the fact that you were dropped into the game with nary a clue about what to do, and then you just went ahead and did it anyway. Oh, and you die a lot. Do you like games where you die a lot? Unlike many roguelikes, it’s acutally more Rogue-ish than usual, and I’ll explain why.
Who among you are old enough to remember the arcade game Robotron 2084? Or Smash TV? Or any one of those old top down, dual-stick shooter games that spawned an entire genre. If you do, you’re going to have a massive dose of nostalgia in the form of Ultratron, from the same guys who brought you that other nostalgia-fest, Titan Attacks. Let’s get our guns loaded and our transistors blazing. Or was it the other way around?
Platform puzzle games are a darling of the Indie development community for a good reason, among them being the nostalgia effect. They’re difficult to do well, however, and an improperly-implemented puzzle mechanic can come over as boring, fiddly, or even ostentatious. Does Nihilumbra (“nihil” from the latin word for “nothing”, and “umbra” from the latin word for “shadow”. Don’t say I never teach you anything) for the Wii U suffer any of these problems or does it bring a spot of colour to a dark world? Let’s find out.