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5 (13) 4 (16) 3 (4) 2 (0) 1 (1) 4.2 starsAverage score of 34 user reviews
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First and last big-budget adventure game of the generation. 0
The late 1940’s are such a fascinating period of modern history. The Second World War was over and most of the soldiers who survived the horrors of the conflict had returned home to their families, but there was still unease in the air, not least because the Cold War was just beginning to hot up. The Second Red Scare in the form of McCarthyism was taking root; with the trial of possible Soviet spy Alger Hiss in 1948 and the House Un-American Activities Committee investigating alleged Communist s...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
An evolutionary step in the right direction. 0
It has been over a decade since the first Deus Ex rolled onto our computer screens and made us think long and hard about the way we approach player choice in video games. Before and since then, only a few games have managed to come close to giving the player the illusion of free choice (namely the likes of BioShock and Fallout 3), but almost none have successfully delivered an experience where your decisions display a marked and dramatic effect on both characters and the gameplay. The first Deus...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Better written, and better characterised than Fallout 3. 0
The post-apocalypse is such a contradiction in terms. The very idea of there being a post-apocalypse should be nonsense, since the apocalypse it meant to be “the end of things”. However, over the past few decades a rich seem of post-apocalyptic fiction has grown and matured, and the Fallout series has been leading the way in terms of video games in this field. In 2008, Fallout 3 brought the much-loved role-playing franchise into the new world, updating the classic gameplay to suit a ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Infuriatingly difficult, yet ridiculously addictive. 0
Super Meat Boy is, very simply, psychotic. That’s the only way I can even hope to start describing it. It was clearly designed by total sadists with the blackest of hearts whose days must usually be filled with reading about how to make cadavers in slaughterhouses be neatly and efficiently sliced by rotating blades, or instructions on how make normal people start foaming at the mouth. Let’s get this straight right now: This game categorically hates all players with an unabated and everlasting fu...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A beautiful game to look at, an ugly game to play. 0
If there is one thing Just Cause tells you, it’s that the Republic of San Esperito is a nation completely full of idiots. Its ordinary citizens are idiots. Its armed forces are entirely composed of idiots. Its tyrannical President, Salvador Mendoza, is a huge idiot. And their underground guerilla forces, the Ejército Revolucionario de Liberación (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army) are the biggest idiots of all. It’s a wonder why the CIA would even bother to f...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Thoroughly enjoyable, but the magic of the original is gone. 0
There was once a game which set itself in an Art-Deco city, located deep beneath the ocean. The game was spooky, immersive and deeply entertaining; partly because the characters and plotline were so interesting, but also because the setting was incredibly unique. However, the founder of that city eventually realised that his creation was a disappointment that he had built upon a set of broken ideals. And in his finest hour, he reminded us all that “A man chooses. A slave obeys.” If a...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Perhaps the finest licensed comic book game ever. 0
I will admit right here at the start that I am what you might call an almost complete comic book novice. I’ve watched the occasionally film adaptation or two, and know some of the general details of certain more famous characters, but when it comes to telling the difference between the Marvel or DC universes, or remembering certain obscure events, places or people, I usually haven’t the foggiest. Not to mention, I haven’t really read a comic cover to cover in my life, since I&r...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Exile is probably the pinnacle of the Myst series. 0
In the nine long years since the initial release of Myst III: Exile, things have changed. Computers have advanced phenomenally, with console gaming systems gaining even greater dominance over the PC, and certain mobile telephonic devices have become even more popular than they already were. Yet, in all that time, there have been no games which are even somewhat comparable to those of the Myst series, and somehow, I doubt there ever will be. Exile is certainly in the running to be considered the...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Darwinia screams uniqueness from every corner. 0
It seems that the guys at Introversion Software just love to feel retro. The game they made after this one, DEFCON, recreated the 1980’s WarGames feel of tactical real-time strategy games. Darwinia however, manages to take you back to the good old days of the first ray tracing software, British ZX Spectrum’s and Acorn Computers, in a totally elegant and accessible way. The game itself transcends categorisation into one specific genre, being part RTS, part God game, and part adventure all in one....
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
If you have enough music, Audiosurf is for you. 0
If you have a highly developed and varied taste in music, then Audiosurf just might be the perfect game for you. The small, web-based indie developer "BestGameEver", despite having one of the worst and most clichéd company names ever, have managed to craft something which is psychedelically unique in its own special way. For a mere $10 (or just over £5 including tax) across Steam, you get a game which has a practically infinite number of variations to play through, and coupled with this massive ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Global Thermonuclear War is taken to a whole new level. 0
It can be safely assumed that it is not many people’s dream to devastate the world in a cataclysmic nuclear war. Well, Ronald Reagan and his Soviet counterpart may have been the general exception to that rule. After all, the idea is simply M.A.D. (Mutual Assured Destruction, or a lose/lose scenario), surely? However, that is exactly the situation which the players of DEFCON must face. Inspired both by the 1986 comedy/drama ‘WarGames’, and the 1964 satire ‘Dr. Strangelove’, DEFCON delivers an exp...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
A uniquely compelling game with an intricate storyline. 0
Deus Ex is foremost a unique game in its field. It is really quite unlike any other game I have ever played. It shares territory with titles such as Half-Life and Tomb Raider, but also takes inspiration from some role-playing games as well. It seems to have carved out or invented its personal little niche in the game market, by mixing two normally contrasting game essentials. It manages to successfully combine puzzle, shooting and RPG elements to create a really exceptional atmosphere. While it ...
2 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
A very ambitious, fun and mesmerisingly addictive game. 0
Let’s be clear on this from the very start: I adore Star Trek. Deep Space Nine was rubbish, but the original series and Next Generation were great. So obviously, I’m bound to be ever so slightly biased in favour of any game that gets released about it. However, I can honestly say that Star Trek: Bridge Commander is a really great game… just so long as you are into Star Trek, or anything in anyway ‘sci-fi space’ related.Star Trek: Bridge Commander really is a tactical shooter at heart. The main p...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Pushes action-adventure shooting into a new dimension. 0
Starting at the very beginning, how can you beat a game with a title like 'Max Payne'? It is probably one of the best play-on-words for ages, and is definitely a great brand in the making. Luckily, the game is just as good, if not better, than the catchiness of the title. The game combines a fast pace, great plotline and excellent gameplay to create an experience that is at once immersive, and almost incoherently fun.The story of Max Payne is ultimately one of revenge. Max was your average NYPD ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
About as entertaining and as fun as being boiled alive. 0
Since I was (until relatively recently) the only person who was mad enough to own this game (thankfully, I did not buy it, it was a Christmas present from a far-flung elderly relative, who obviously knew nothing about computer games) I feel reasonably obliged to write a short review condemning it for the entire world to see. Rome: Caesar’s Will is... well, truely abysmal. It is nothing short of a complete waste of time, energy and effort. I pity the staff at Montparnasse Multimedia who had the a...
4 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
A first-rate, highly entertaining follow-up to The Sims. 0
The Sims is, as any sane individual should know (or at least, any reasonably informed sane individual), the definitively best-selling PC game of all-time thus far. It’s managed to ship over 16 million copies since release in February 2000. Following something which achieved such sky high success was obviously going to be extremely difficult. Luckily, the drive and determination of the guys over at Maxis has paid off well. The Sims 2 is truly better than The Sims; in fact it’s probably in a whole...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Max Payne's sequel excels in almost every conceivable way. 0
The original Max Payne gave us a long enough taste of mind-bendingly exciting action and adventure to make us salivate profusely at the mouth with delight, and then quickly took it away before we got too greedy. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne takes almost the exact same approach, but gives us a slightly different game, as well as an even more engrossing experience. Although we all wish the game had been just a little longer, its quality would probably have suffered. For what you get then, Ma...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Here's an offer you cannot afford to refuse… Play Mafia. 0
Illusion Softworks really did create a veritable diamond in the rough with Mafia. It's a game that received relatively little or no media attention, but which really excels in being enormously entertaining and engrossing. It has one or two negative points, but they are quite minor, and mostly easy to overlook. With a fantastic plot, spot-on music, memorable characters and a unique setting, Mafia is to-date the best experience available in gangster themed gaming.Like any true classic gangster fil...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Requires patience and skill, coupled with a dash of good luck. 0
So, I'm sailing through the North Atlantic on a cold, clear evening. It just so happens to be 1941, and I am a fearless and intrepid Nazi U-boat captain, prepared to strike hard at the Allies. My goal: to sink as many enemy ships as possible, without loosing my own boat. Sounds quite interesting from first principles, doesn't it? It's not often in a computer game that you get to play on the side of what are typically classed as 'the enemy', but Silent Hunter III places you in exactly such a role...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
A philosophical masterpiece to remember. 0
Unless you have been living on the dark side of the Moon in recent years, it is likely that you have already heard of BioShock. It generated enormous hype before launch, and has now gained one of the largest aggregate critical review scores ever (according to Metacritic with 96 out of 100, coincidentally the same as Half-Life 2). Whilst the game does have a number of minor flaws, including a final lacklustre ending and sporadic difficultly problems, it is very clear that BioShock is still a fant...
3 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
Mind-bendingly clever, superb fun, and hilariously funny. 0
Tucked away within The Orange Box, Portal at first doesn't appear to be anything particularly special. Considering that Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Team Fortress Two got most of the press coverage beforehand, it is somewhat surprising that Portal has been the most well received and critically acclaimed game included in the package. However, it deserves every bit of credit it has got. The game may be short, but is incredibly sweet, in a humorously dark and twisted kind of way.Set somewhere withi...
6 out of 6 found this review helpful. -
A mediocre, blandly rushed and unimaginative game. 0
If the idea was just put onto a piece of paper, Blue Shift looks like it shouldn't fail in the slightest. To add another expansion to the original Half-Life; one which would play along the same timeline, but from a different perspective from that of Dr. Gordon Freeman and Corporal Adrian Shephard. Whilst Opposing Force did this with notable success, Blue Shift is not so lucky. The game has a solid storyline, but is a miserably short experience, featuring nothing new, and overall feels extremely ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Delivers great, innocent and engaging driving fun. 0
When I was a bit younger, in a simpler and somehow more naive world, I used to play nothing but this game for days on end. If anything, I can credit Midtown Madness 2, along with Worms original and Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's Revenge, for introducing me into the world of computer games. Though the progression of time has opened my eyes to the various shortcomings of this game, namely the poor graphics and non-realistic interactivity of the cities, the racing aspects remain as strong as ever. Mos...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A horrible mess of bugs and errors, which shatters the gameplay. 0
If you were to merely look at a game from face value, Shattered Union has a really fantastic image and back-story. The chronicle is that in 2009, David Jefferson Adams is elected as the 44th President of the United States following a tie-vote, and achieves the remarkable distinction of becoming the most unpopular President in US history (no mean feat, given the work of his predecessor). Over the next few years, a large number of terrorist attacks across the country lead to the introduction of Ma...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Shout 'Lights, Camera, Action!' and roll film, all at once. 0
The film industry may be massive and sprawling today, but it is important to remember that it wasn't always that way. The rise of Hollywood is a story of style, money and glamour, mixed in with some fantastic cinema. So, here is a tycoon game which allows you to play through that rich history of film, from the roaring twenties all the way into the 21st Century. Also, I don't know about you, but I have always wanted to have a game in which I could make the most wild, dramatic and cinematic films ...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
A rather average experience, which feels like a step back. 0
Alright, let's try and get this over with as softly and smoothly as possible. Although I regret having to say it, when you compare Invisible War to the brilliant original of Deus Ex, the follow-up frankly falls painfully short of the inevitably large expectations which had been previously built up. A combination of small environments, a clunky inventory, lacklustre characters and storyline unite to present an experience which feels both superficial and stripped down. Now, some of the blame can p...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Tropico is every budding Presidente's dream. 0
Sitting behind a big desk in a tropical climate, dictating the daily running of an island nation has got to be one of the more enjoyable jobs in life. Look at Fidel Castro: he did a similar job for so long, eventually only his ill health could force him out of office (despite the CIA's more than 600 documented unsuccessful attempts to assassinate him over the years). It is thankful then that PopTop Software has given us a chance to follow in the footsteps of Che Guevara et al. by constructing a ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
This 'interactive movie' is an exciting story to unravel. 0
To begin with, it is very clear that Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy in the US and Canada) has some extremely fascinating ideas, and an innovative style of gameplay which no other game can match, or for that matter has even attempted. Overall it is a distinctly strange game, there being nothing else like really it before or since. Whilst not all of this totally fulfilling (and can occasionally be quite frustrating), it does present an interestingly different way of approaching story, themes and t...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Shines with the brightness of a nuclear detonation. 0
Being someone who sadly has not had the opportunity to play either of this game's prestigious predecessors, and neither having known the wonders Cyrodiil within Bethesda's previous game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (although this has now been gladly rectified), I approached Fallout 3 not knowing exactly what to expect, since I had no bar to judge it against. What I discovered was a game packed to the brim with a unique atmosphere, a fantastic sense of scale and grandeur, a solid plot and huge ...
5 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
Immersively throws you into an imagined Third World War. 0
It has to be said, a lot of interesting things happened in the year 1989. For a start, it just so happens to be the year I was born, early in February. The Exxon Valdez ran aground of the coast of Alaska in March, resulting in a devastating oil spill. In June, there were demonstrations by students in Tiananmen Square, Beijing against the Chinese government. In video gaming, the Sega Genesis console was released in August. Further, the various revolutions in the Eastern Bloc sparked the fall of t...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Oblivion is truly a shining beacon for RPGs. 0
Let's be straight: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has received a lot of praise over the past few years, and is widely heralded today to be one of the greatest games of all-time. Whilst some of this may have been hyperbole or exaggeration, the game certainly deserves considerable recognition for its achievements. Oblivion is definitely a truly groundbreaking game; both in terms of style, gameplay and technical presentation. It gives you an interesting, detailed and fantastical world to play aroun...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
If you stick with it, Wii Fit can work in an engaging way. 0
So, it's here. The bright, shining future we had all been waiting for. Games designed, not to be played by sitting on a sofa casually clicking buttons, but by actually engaging in some form of exercise. Or, is it? At heart, Wii Fit is really an extremely simple collection of various balance mini-games and physical exercises, but in reality it manifests itself as something slightly greater than the sum of its parts. If you take it seriously, are in for the long run and use it as intended, Wii Fit...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
A good game, hampered by lousy porting and technical issues. 0
Let's be clear: Saints Row 2 is certainly in the running for what could be called a GTA-clone. It lets you loose in a large, free-roam city to wreak havoc as you see fit. You have innumerable vehicles to hijack, and you partake in various street gang-related story missions. But instead of this being a derogatory comment against Saints Row 2, I mean it with the greatest of respect, since this title succeeds in doing something GTA does not. The game manages to hit all the right boxes for psychotic...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Excellent, but plotless fun for the destructively inclined. 0
Mars. The red planet has always been a fascinating setting for science fiction. H. G. Wells imagined green Martians who would invade and attempt to conquer the planet, whilst Philip K. Dick had humans eventually terraforming and colonising the surface. Red Faction is a series which has followed the latter approach, both in this game and one of the previous instalments. Guerrilla throws the bland, first-person shooter gameplay of its mediocre predecessors straight out of the window, reinven...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful.
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