Category:

The Next Innovation?

8/12/2014

By Christopher Money

Innovation and invention is constantly playing a massive part in the revision and expansion of scientific knowledge and current technology. In a little over a century our technology limit has lifted such that we have moved from riding on the back of horse-drawn carts to sending people to other planets. Computing power has significantly jumped leagues ahead – a computer which once took up a whole room has been not only surpassed in processing power and capabilities but shrunk to the size of one’s palm, so it seems only natural that the games industry should also seek to expand and review its practices to change with the times.

Review - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

9/20/2013

By Christopher Money

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell first came to our screens in 2002 and has had a massive following ever since. Thus far, there have been six mainstream releases in the franchise and one handheld exclusive. When it first came into being, while stealth was by no means a new game genre with the likes of Metal Gear and Thief in years past, Splinter Cell learned from both the mistakes and successes of its predecessors, and subsequently delivered a gaming experience that was like no other. That’s not to say it was without its problems by any means – every game has its flaws; in my experience, the game suffered from a tendency to expect utter perfection from the player, which improved as the franchise continued.

Here comes Blacklist, then – a new, "revised" Splinter Cell in the form of another cover-based shooter with some stealth aspects, but its a tried and tested formula.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

5/8/2013

By Christopher Money

These are the words that light up the screen in great blue and pink glowing letters. There are few games that make me say “This is gonna be awesome,” before it’s even started properly. When you start from the main screen, you’re treated to a beautiful, awful cutscene lovingly rendered in 2D, replete with cheesy, over-acted voiceovers and tense, dramatic 80’s backing music. But the game itself is rendered in full next-gen graphics and the combination is brilliant.

April Gaming

4/4/2013

By Christopher Money

April appears to be the Indie release month on Steam, since there’s barely anything in mainstream interests being thrown out there… Just released in the last few days have been an… interesting selection…

Bioshock Infinite (2013)

4/1/2013

By Christopher Money

(Caution - Slight Spoilers)

1912 was an interesting year, with (among other things) three territories gained by the United States, the sinking of the Titanic, the first parachute jump and military use of airships, and an assassination attempt on Roosevelt, who then stepped down in November for Woodrow Wilson. And, if Bioshock Infinite is anything to go by, an entire city floating in the skies was torn apart by political riots when the false shepherd came to steal the lamb of the Prophet.

If that sentence isn’t enough to go by, let me tell you now that the new masterpiece by Irrational Games does, on the outset, appear to be a shooter, but when you delve into it you find a horde of political and religious opinions, all vying for your attention.

Antichamber

3/6/2013

By Christopher Money

Until August of last year, I had been a student, which meant plenty of time to relax and play videogames at my leisure. Since then I’ve been in full-time work, which means every day I get in at about half seven and want to unwind, usually resulting in something I don’t really have to concentrate on to enjoy - such as Just Cause 2, where every landmark is cause for potential explosions, and who doesn’t love explosions?

On the weekends, it’s a different matter, and the last couple of weekends I have been testing myself with Antichamber, a new independent release on Steam from a lone developer who’s worked on this, his first release, since 2009.

The game opens in a black and white room, depositing the player in front of a wall with a cryptic message: “Every journey is a series of choices. The first is to begin the journey.”

February - March Gaming

3/1/2013

By Christopher Money

February 2013 has been a quiet month for Steam releases; it’s been a meagre selection of indie games and a mere couple of big names, one of which has turned out to be objectively abysmal, at least going on Metacritic scores. Unfortunately, massively negative review scores do tend to sway my opinion of whether to buy a game, though I don’t read many reviews, preferring to try most games first-hand.

Arkham 3?

2/14/2013

By Christopher Money

It’s certainly been an exciting opening for 2013 in videogames, with the releases of Antichamber & The Cave, for example (reviews coming soon). But the thing that really got my heart pounding today was the announcement of another sequel in the Batman: Arkham franchise.

Games of 2012

2/8/2013

By Christopher Money

2013 is looking to be an interesting year for video games, with Temple Run 2 for mobile devices already out, besides a trilogy re-release of Hitman in HD, and such probable hits as Bioshock Infinite, GTA 5 and Crysis 3 visible on the horizon. But 2012 was arguably a very important year for video games, and it’s necessary to revisit the hits (and failures) of the previous year in order to have some sort of relative comparison for the new year of gaming – so here’s a brief retrospective of my top ten game releases of 2012.