Reviews

BioShock 2 Review

Tuesday, 02 March 2010 Terrance Brown

I can still recall the first time I saw Rapture, it was one of the defining moments in my gaming life with a vista of neon lit buildings on the sea floor greeting me as Andrew Ryan explained how the city would be a bastion for the thinkers and geniuses of this alternative 1960 history. It was something totally different, and once gamers ventured into its depths they never looked back. The first BioShock was a genre defining game that took the foundations which System Shock had laid and set it in a unique setting under the sea with a story that was based on Ayn Rand's theories of Objectivism in her book Atlas Shrugged. When a sequel was announced, most gamers, including myself, were a bit flabbergasted. After all, how could you ever hope to repeat the success and uniqueness of the original ...

Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC Review

Monday, 01 March 2010 Claudio de Sa

So the Vault's been sealed, loot has been plundered, and Pandora is a nice place again. Everyone is happy in the world of Borderlands. Right? Wrong. Turns out those Crimson Lance bullies – with no qualms against using a bunch of new toys to try to kill you – are trying to reassert their dominance on Pandora. So over in Lance-HQ the order is given and General Knoxx, their weapon-hoarding new leader, is packed off to make it happen ...

Dante's Inferno Review

Monday, 01 March 2010 Henry Dowling

These days if you were to mention the divine comedy, the majority of youths would think of something with Will Ferrell in it. There is also an assumption that an epic poem kicks off with a line like "there once was a man from Nantucket". With that in mind, one might consider developer Visceral Games quite brave for creating this hell-fest, based on the first part of possibly the most epic of epic poems, The Divine Comedy by Italian poet Dante Alighieri. This third-person hack 'n slasher may blatantly borrow gameplay mechanics and styles from other renowned franchises, but the final result is a ghastly yet enthralling vision of one man's quest through the depths of Hell ...

Dark Void Review

Monday, 22 February 2010 Henry Dowling

There was a fair amount of excitement leading up to the release of Dark Void. The general ideas have potential, and the pieces of the puzzle seemed destined to come together to form something beautiful. Hell, the game was an inch away from appearing on our list of most anticipated games for 2010. But, being the crystal ball gazers we are, we saw the future... a future where Dark Void comes out with guns a'blazing, but ultimately slips into the murky depths of mediocrity. There are aspects of the game which still manage to shine, but it's just not enough to launch Dark Void up to the stars ...

Bayonetta Review

Tuesday, 16 February 2010 Terrance Brown

Hideki Kamiya seems to have a knack for making over the top Japanese action video games, with Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe and Resident Evil all being listed on his CV. So when you load up Bayonetta and are greeted by the sight of a long haired witch wearing glasses, sucking on a lollipop and killing demons with guns strapped to her feet you shouldn't be too surprised ...

Vancouver 2010: The Official Videogame of the Winter Olympic Games Review

Monday, 15 February 2010 Henry Dowling

I love the snow. I love skiing, snowball fights and building unintentionally disfigured snowmen. So it should be no surprise then that I make a point of watching at least some of the Winter Olympics on the box when it comes around every four years. Sporting events of that magnitude always carry a sense of grandeur, an aura of expectation for greatness, and a spirit of ceremony which is all stylishly packaged for viewers at home with the usual broadcasted overexposure to sponsors' logos and corny mascots. That's the real Winter Olympics. Sadly, much of what makes the event an entertainment spectacular has either been drastically marginalized or is missing entirely in Vancouver 2010: The Official Game of the Winter Olympics ...

Army of Two: The 40th Day Review

Tuesday, 02 February 2010 Terrance Brown

With games aiming to provide a more cerebral experience these days, with deeper storylines and ever more complicated gameplay systems, it's all the more harder to come across a game that is as simple at its core as Army of Two: The 40th Day. Whereas many other games give you back stories that are worthy of epic literature and characters that are well rounded and fleshed out, Army of Two gives you two stereotypical jock mercenaries fighting their way through the streets of Shanghai without even telling you who or why they're fighting until 5 minutes from the end of the game. The important thing is that it doesn't detract at all from the game's fun factor and in fact adds to its sense of cheesy, action packed atmosphere that the game is looking to evoke ...

Darksiders Review

Monday, 01 February 2010 Henry Dowling

If one has to break the gaming experience down into its fundamentals, I think it's safe to say that probably the most important aspect of all, is the pursuit of pure escapism. We play these games because we want to be absorbed into a new world, to switch off from reality for a couple of hours and be whisked away to some fantastical new playground. Vigil Games seems to have cracked that, then, with Darksiders, an action adventure title which, while perhaps not entirely original in terms of gameplay style, does wonders to immerse the player in its gripping tale of cataclysmic proportions ...

Assassin's Creed 2: Battle of Forli DLC Review

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 Mark Botha

If you played last year's stellar Assassin's Creed 2, chances are you've been craving more. You'll be happy to know then that Battle of Forli, the first downloadable content to be released for the game, is exactly that: more Assassin's Creed 2. Unfortunately it is for this same reason that the DLC is a little underwhelming, as it never feels like anything other than simply more of the same ...